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Netanyahu Intensifies Attacks On Albanese Over Palestinian State Recognition
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday intensified his personal attacks on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, criticising his government’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state and claiming it had permanently harmed Albanese’s political record.
Diplomatic ties between Australia and Israel have soured since Albanese’s centre-left Labour government last week announced it would conditionally recognise Palestinian statehood, following similar moves by France, Britain and Canada.
The decision prompted Netanyahu to launch a personal attack on Albanese, and he doubled down on his condemnation in an interview to be broadcast on Sky News Australia.
“I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters,” Netanyahu said, after describing Albanese earlier this week as “a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”
Sky News Australia released the comments ahead of the broadcast of the full interview on Thursday at 8 p.m. (1000 GMT).
Albanese Downplays Netanyahu’s Criticisms
Albanese on Wednesday played down Netanyahu’s criticisms, saying he did not “take these things personally” and that he treated the leaders of other countries with respect.
Last week, Albanese said the Israeli prime minister was “in denial” about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the U.N. has warned of the risk of widespread starvation and international pressure is growing for Israel to allow unrestricted aid into the territory.
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, in separate letters sent on Wednesday to both leaders, urged them to discuss differences through diplomacy rather than public posturing.
“We write to express our deep dismay and concern at the recent ‘war of words’,” the letters said.
“If things need to be said publicly, they should be said using measured and seemly language befitting national leaders. Australia and Israel are mature democracies, and their governments need to act accordingly,” the council said.
Israel this week revoked the visas of Australian diplomats to the Palestinian Authority after Albanese’s government cancelled the visa of an Israeli lawmaker over remarks it considered controversial and inflammatory.
Netanyahu has been facing global pressure over Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 60,000 Palestinians according to the enclave’s health ministry, and displaced most of the population.
Israel’s military announced the first steps of an operation to take control of Gaza City on Wednesday, calling up tens of thousands of reservists despite many of Israel’s closest allies calling for it to reconsider.
The offensive began after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 more hostage. Israel is currently considering a new ceasefire proposal.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Thailand’s Shinawatra Family Faces Triple Court Cases, Threatening Political Stability
Thailand’s billionaire Shinawatra family is preparing for a string of high-stakes court rulings beginning Friday, which could challenge its political strength amid the possibility of an early election and ongoing economic instability.
Thailand’s Shinawatra political dynasty has been at the heart of two decades of intermittent turmoil, and its latest battles will culminate in rulings that could unseat Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra for an alleged ethics violation and put her influential but polarising father Thaksin Shinawatra back in prison.
Thaksin Shinawatra Faces Trials
A court will on Friday rule if Thaksin during a 2015 media interview insulted the powerful monarchy, a serious crime in Thailand which carries lengthy jail terms of up to 15 years for each offence.
Another court will decide 18 days later if the tycoon’s 2023 detention in a VIP hospital wing, instead of jail, means his prison sentence for abuse of power and conflicts of interest was not fully served.
Both Shinawatras have denied any wrongdoing.
Unfavourable verdicts for Paetongtarn, 39, and Thaksin, 76, a divisive backroom operator and driving force behind the government, could reduce the family’s bargaining power and lead to an earlier-than-scheduled election, which their once formidable Pheu Thai party is not in the best shape to contest.
“A new election will definitely take place by mid-2026 or maybe sooner,” said Thammasat University law professor Prinya Thaewanarumitkul.
“The chances of Pheu Thai regaining the popular vote in the next election are very unlikely.”
A spokesperson for the Pheu Thai-led government declined to comment on the upcoming court rulings.
Uncertainty Looms
The Shinawatra family are undoubtedly a survivor, having prevailed through two military coups and three court rulings that collectively toppled three of their governments and five prime ministers.
It is unclear how the courts will rule, with numerous permutations for what comes next in Thai politics.
The coalition government of Paetongtarn, which is suspended pending the Constitutional Court’s August 29 ruling, is sinking in opinion polls, under intense public pressure and hanging onto power by a thread.
The verdicts come at a critical moment for Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, which is struggling with weak growth, high household debt, slowing tourism and investor concern over policy continuity.
Paetongtarn is accused of violating ethics in a June telephone conversation with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen that was leaked as both countries were on the brink of an armed border conflict, which erupted a month later. A ceasefire is now in place.
Paetongtarn’s predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, was dismissed by the same court a year ago, and if she suffers the same fate, or resigns, parliament must choose a new premier from a shrinking list of candidates submitted before the 2023 election.
Her Pheu Thai party has only one candidate left, the low-profile former justice minister Chaikasem Nitisiri. But the 76-year-old would need help from Thaksin or Pheu Thai to rally support from a shaky coalition that holds a razor-thin majority.
Other candidates include former interior minister Anutin Charnvirakul, whose party exited the governing coalition in June, and former premier and coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha, who quit politics and is now a royal adviser.
Opposition Wants Constitutional Reform
The anti-establishment opposition People’s Party, the largest in parliament, has signalled it may back Anutin if he agrees to dissolve parliament this year and seek constitutional reform.
Unfavourable court verdicts would make it harder for seasoned dealmaker Thaksin to keep Pheu Thai in government, but some analysts say he still has backing from a powerful conservative establishment that wants to keep the progressive opposition at bay.
“The conservative camp has chosen Thaksin,” said Olarn Thinbangtieo, a political science lecturer at Burapha University.
“Chaikasem would be picked as a short-term prime minister and dissolve parliament when the timing is right.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
Trump Administration To Screen Visa Applicants For Signs Of ‘Anti-Americanism’
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump announced it will evaluate applications for work, study, and immigration visas by checking for signs of “anti-Americanism.” Any such conclusion would be held against the applicant, raising concerns about potential consequences for free speech.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a “policy alert” dated Tuesday that it gave immigration officers new guidance on how to exercise discretion in cases where foreign applicants “support or promote anti-American ideologies or activities” as well as “antisemitic terrorism.”
Trump has labeled a range of voices as anti-American, including historians and museums documenting U.S. slavery and pro-Palestinian protesters opposing U.S. ally Israel’s military assault on Gaza.
“Anti-American activity will be an overwhelmingly negative factor in any discretionary analysis,” USCIS said.
“America’s benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies.”
‘Anti-American Activity’
The announcement did not define anti-Americanism. But the policy manual refers to a section of federal law about prohibiting naturalization of people “opposed to government or law, or who favour totalitarian forms of government.”
The full text mentions supporters of communism or totalitarian regimes and people who advocate overthrow of the U.S. government and violence against government officers, among other factors.
USCIS said it expanded the types of applications that have social media vetting, and reviews for “anti-American activity” will be added to that vetting.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said the step hearkened to the 1950s when Senator Joseph McCarthy hunted alleged communists in a campaign that became synonymous with political persecution.
“McCarthyism returns to immigration law,” he said. Anti-Americanism “has no prior precedent in immigration law and its definition is entirely up to the Trump admin.”
In April, the U.S. government said it would begin screening the social media of immigrants and visa applicants for what it called antisemitic activity. Rights advocates raised free speech and surveillance concerns.
(With inputs from Reuters)
US Judge Orders Elon Musk To Face Suit Over $1 Million Giveaway
A US federal judge on Wednesday ordered Elon Musk to face a lawsuit by voters who allege he misled them into signing a petition supporting the US Constitution, lured by a chance to win his $1 million-a-day giveaway.
US District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin, Texas said Jacqueline McAferty plausibly alleged in her proposed class action that Musk and his political action committee America PAC wrongly induced her to provide personal identifying information as part of the giveaway, late in the 2024 election campaign.
Lawyers for Musk and America PAC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
America PAC
Musk founded America PAC to support Republican Donald Trump’s successful 2024 presidential run.
McAferty, an Arizona resident, said Musk and America PAC induced voters in seven battleground states to sign his petition by promising that $1 million recipients would be chosen randomly, as in a lottery, though the voters had no real chance to collect.
She said voters who signed were also required to provide names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.
‘Red Flags’
In seeking a dismissal, Musk listed several “red flags” as proof he had not run an illegal lottery.
He said these included statements that the $1 million recipients were “selected to earn” the money and expected to become America PAC spokespeople, defeating the idea that the payment was a “prize.”
Judge Disagrees
But the judge cited other statements suggesting the defendants were “awarding” the $1 million, and the money could be “won.”
“It is plausible that plaintiff justifiably relied on those statements to believe that defendants were objectively offering her the chance to enter a random lottery–even if that is not what they subjectively intended to do,” Pitman wrote.
The judge was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2014.
Musk had also rejected the suggestion that petition signers suffered harm by providing contact information. Pitman said an expert in political data brokerage could testify what that information was worth for voters in battleground states.
Election Day Lawsuit
The lawsuit was filed on Election Day, November 5, 2024.
A day earlier, a Philadelphia judge refused to end Musk’s giveaway, saying that city’s top prosecutor failed to show it was an illegal lottery.
Musk is a Texas resident, and his electric car company Tesla is based in Austin.
The case is McAferty v Musk et al, US District Court, Western District of Texas, No. 24-01346.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Human Rights Watch Reports Mass Killings By Rwanda-Backed Rebels In Congo
M23 rebels backed by Rwanda killed no fewer than 140 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in July, Human Rights Watch reported on Wednesday.
The rights group emphasized that violence in the region continues to escalate despite ongoing peace efforts supported by the United States and Qatar.
The advocacy group provided new details about the killing spree according to reports in July. It said total killings in Rutshuru territory in July may exceed 300, echoing similar findings by the United Nations last month.
The report included interviews with civilians that HRW said had survived the killings, elaborating on how the attacks had taken place. One woman, who saw M23 kill her husband with a machete, described being marched all day to a river with about 70 women and children.
“They told us to sit on the edge of the riverbank, and then they started shooting at us,” the woman was quoted as saying. She said she survived after falling into the river without being shot.
Another man said he watched M23 rebels kill his wife and four children aged nine months to 10 years from afar, after failing to make it back in time to save them, according to the report.
Washington Peace Agreement
On June 27, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement, raising hopes for an end to fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more this year.
M23 has previously denied any role in the killings. Rebel official Benjamin Mbonimpa said on X that territories overrun by the group were well administered and that M23 was gratuitously blamed for the massacres.
A statement from Congo’s foreign affairs ministry said the atrocities cast a shadow over the sincerity and commitment of stakeholders to the Washington peace agreement and the ongoing Doha talks.
HRW said the witness accounts indicated the attacks took place in at least 14 villages and farming areas near Virunga National Park in eastern Congo in July.
Citing 25 witness accounts, medical staff, U.N. personnel and other sources, HRW said most victims were ethnic Hutu, with some ethnic Nande.
HRW urged the U.N. Security Council, European Union and governments to expand sanctions, press for arrests and prosecutions, and called on Rwanda to allow U.N. and independent forensic experts into areas under M23 control.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Brazil: Bolsonaro Accused Of Drafting Asylum Appeal To Argentina, Police Say
Former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro allegedly prepared a letter addressed to Argentine President Javier Milei seeking political asylum, according to federal police on Wednesday.
The letter had been saved on Bolsonaro’s cell phone in February of last year, two days after his passport was seized, police reported. It was unclear whether it had been sent to Milei.
An Argentine government source said that Milei’s office had not received a letter.
The document was part of the final police report that formally accused Bolsonaro and his son, Eduardo, of working to interfere in an ongoing legal process in which the former Brazilian president is on trial for plotting a coup. The trial is set to start in September.
The police also found an audio from Bolsonaro asking Martin de Luca, a lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group and video-sharing platform Rumble to review a social media post that Bolsonaro was preparing last month with compliments toward Trump.
“The audio attributed to Jair Bolsonaro demonstrates that the former president acts in a subordinate manner to the interests of foreign agents,” the police report said.
House Arrest
Bolsonaro was put under house arrest this month after Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes found the former president failed to comply with restraining orders imposed on him for allegedly courting Trump’s interference in the case.
Legal representatives for Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
De Luca said in a statement on Wednesday evening that he had been targeted for “standing up to Alexandre de Moraes” and that his correspondence was routine legal guidance.
“Offering feedback on a short public note or transmitting a public court filing is entirely ordinary. Yet these routine actions are now twisted into conspiracy theories,” de Luca said.
In a post on X, the younger Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman who moved to the U.S. and has been advocating in Washington on behalf of his father, said his work in the U.S. was never aimed at interfering in any ongoing legal process in Brazil.
Trump has referred to Bolsonaro’s trial as a “witch hunt” and called it grounds for a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods, while the U.S. Treasury targeted Moraes with financial sanctions.
Rumble has been suspended in Brazil since February after a decision from Brazil’s Supreme Court, which said the social media platform did not comply with court orders. The firm is suing Moraes before a U.S. court, together with Trump Media.
In a Supreme Court decision based on the police report, Moraes gave Bolsonaro’s lawyers 48 hours to clarify his repeated failure to comply with the restraining orders and his flight risk.
Last year, The New York Times published security footage that showed Bolsonaro had spent two nights at the Hungarian embassy in Brasilia. Moraes later closed an investigation into whether he sought asylum, citing lack of evidence.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Taiwan To Hike Defence Spend Above 3% Of GDP In 2026
Taiwan will raise its defence spending to over 3% of GDP next year, signalling its strong commitment to regional security, Premier Cho Jung-tai said on Thursday.
The move comes as China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has ramped up military and political pressure over the past five years to assert its claims, which Taipei strongly rejects.
But Taiwan also faces calls from Washington to spend more on its own defence, mirroring pressure from the United States on Europe. This month, President Lai Ching-te said he wanted to boost defence spending to more than 3% of GDP next year.
Threshold Breached
Cho told reporters 2026 defence spending would reach T$949.5 billion ($31.27 billion). At 3.32% of GDP, the figure crosses a threshold of 3% for the first time since 2009, government figures showed.
“This is another concrete demonstration to the world and to our people of our determination and ability to safeguard national sovereignty and security, maintain stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region, and fulfill our shared responsibilities to the world,” Cho said.
NATO Model
Taiwan was following the “NATO model” to include spending on the coast guard and veterans in total defence expenditure, he added.
Taiwan was including spending for the coast guard in its total defence budget for the first time, two senior officials briefed on the matter separately told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“They are standing on the frontline,” said one, referring to the coast guard, which figures in regular stand-offs with China’s coast guard and would, in time of war, be pressed into the navy’s effort to defend Taiwan.
Military Modernisation
Taiwan’s government has made military modernisation a key policy platform and has repeatedly pledged to spend more on its defences given the rising threat from China, including developing made-in-Taiwan submarines.
China’s air force flies almost daily missions into the skies near Taiwan, and holds periodic war games, the last in April.
China is also rapidly modernising its armed forces, with new aircraft carriers, stealth fighter jets and missiles.
In March China unveiled a rise of 7.2% in this year’s defence spending, to 1.78 trillion yuan ($248.17 billion), outpacing its 2025 economic growth target of about 5%.
($1=30.3650 Taiwan dollars)
($1=7.1724 Chinese yuan)
(With inputs from Reuters)
South Korea: Japan’s Pact On Comfort Women Stands, Says Lee
South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung has affirmed his commitment to honour existing agreements with Japan related to its colonial-era rule over the Korean peninsula, including those addressing the issue of Korean women forced to work in Japanese military brothels.
The legacy of Japan’s colonisation from 1910 to 1945 is politically sensitive for both countries, with many surviving “comfort women”, a Japanese euphemism for the sex abuse victims, still demanding Tokyo’s formal apology and compensation.
Lee, whose liberal Democratic Party has opposed the deal, made the comments in an interview with Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper published on Thursday ahead of his Tokyo summit this week with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
‘Undesirable To Overturn It’
“For South Korean people, that agreement by the previous administration is very difficult to accept, but it is a promise as a nation, so it is undesirable to overturn it,” Lee told the paper, referring to the 2015 pact.
In that agreement, struck with South Korea’s then-conservative government, Japan apologised to the victims and gave 1 billion yen ($6.8 million) to a fund to help them.
The governments agreed the issue would be “irreversibly resolved” if both fulfilled their obligations.
Source Of Friction
The issues around comfort women and forced labour during wartime have regularly been a source of friction between Japan and neighbours South Korea and China.
Lee said the victims were a “heartbreaking issue” for South Koreans and urged Japan to acknowledge the truth and continue to talk to them, the paper added.
Japan was a “very important country” and he wanted to strengthen economic and security ties with Tokyo, Lee said, as he reiterated the importance of three-way ties with Japan and the United States, the paper said.
After the Tokyo summit, Lee will head to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump.
North Korean Issues
Lee’s interview touched on security issues, particularly the shared concern with Japan over the nuclear and missile programmes of their neighbour North Korea.
Both countries have stepped up security cooperation with key ally the United States in recent years to counter North Korea’s threats.
Lee said his administration would lay the groundwork to ultimately dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, through talks with Pyongyang and close cooperation with Washington.
“(Our) policy direction is the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” Lee’s office quoted him as saying in the interview. “Phase 1 is a freeze on nuclear weapons and missiles, Phase 2 is reduction, and Phase 3 is denuclearisation.”
North Korea has so far dismissed Lee’s peace overtures as “gibberish” and a “pipedream”.
($1=147.4100 yen)
(With inputs from Reuters)
Europe Must Step Up On Ukraine, Says US VP JD Vance
US Vice President JD Vance stated on Wednesday that European nations must shoulder the lion’s share of financial responsibility for ensuring Ukraine’s security guarantees, emphasising a shift in burden towards regional stakeholders.
President Donald Trump wants to strike a peace deal to end Russia’s three-and-a-half-year-old war in Ukraine.
One of Ukraine’s key priorities remains securing firm guarantees against future Russian aggression. While President Trump has ruled out deploying American troops on the ground, he has indicated that the United States could extend air support if necessary.
European countries have formed a “coalition of the willing” that would commit forces to guarantee Ukraine’s security.
With Trump testy about billions of dollars in US military aid to Ukraine so far, the White House has said Washington will not continue “writing blank checks” to fund Kyiv’s defense.
Trump wants to shift more responsibility for the costs to European allies.
Europe Expected To Take Lead Role
“I don’t think we should carry the burden here…. The president certainly expects Europe to play the leading role here,” Vance told Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” show.
“No matter what form this takes, the Europeans are going to have to take the lion’s share of the burden. It’s their continent, its their security, and the president has been very clear – they are going to have to step up here.”
Current Situation
Vance said Russia wants some Ukrainian territory, “most of which they have occupied but some of which they haven’t.”
Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine, and Trump has said “land-swapping” and changes to territory will be crucial for any settlement.
Ukraine opposes conceding any territory, a position President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said is enshrined in the country’s constitution. But Kyiv currently lacks the military capacity to retake all Russian-held areas and has limited diplomatic leverage to force a withdrawal in the short term.
(With inputs from Reuters)
China Urges Closer Ties With Pakistan, Afghanistan
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to enhance trilateral engagement across all levels, as China looks to deepen security cooperation with its neighbouring countries, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Wang, who attended a three-way meeting with his counterparts in Kabul on Wednesday, said the countries should continue to build strategic mutual trust and deepen security cooperation.
China is ready to understand and support issues involving each country’s core interests and firmly oppose external interference in the region as well as any organisation or individual undermining each other’s national sovereignty, the minister said, according to a readout on Thursday.
Eradicating Terrorism
“It is necessary to improve the security dialogue mechanism, deepen law enforcement and security cooperation, strengthen the fight against transnational terrorist activities, and eradicate the breeding ground for terrorism,” Wang said.
The readout did not mention any terrorist groups, but a report by Chinese state media Xinhua on Wang’s meeting with Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi mentioned the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
The report cited Wang as saying China hopes Afghanistan will intensify efforts to combat such terrorist forces.
China shares a 596 km (370 miles) border with Pakistan that runs through the Karakoram Mountains, extending from the tripoint with Afghanistan to the disputed area with India near the Siachen Glacier. With Afghanistan, China shares a 92 km (57 miles) border that meets Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan territory.
East Turkestan
The countries border China’s northwest Xinjiang region, which had in the past been beset by conflict which Beijing blamed on Islamist militants and ethnic Uyghur separatists who say they seek to establish an independent East Turkestan.
Wang also conveyed to his counterparts that China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan should work towards expanding development cooperation, boosting trade and investment exchanges, and strengthening network connectivity, in order to promote regional stability and shared prosperity.
(With inputs from Reuters)