parliament

Oct. 24 (UPI) — Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivered her first policy speech to the parliament Friday, focusing on economic security and boosting defense spending.

Takaichi, 64, became prime minister on Tuesday and is the first woman to lead Japan. She is the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, which is conservative and nationalist.

She plans to pursue aggressive fiscal spending to revitalize Japan’s economy and boost defense spending to address security challenges, she said in her speech Friday, Kyodo reported.

“Wage growth outpacing inflation is necessary, but simply leaving the burden to business will only make it harder for them,” The Japan Times reported Takaichi said. She said her government will soon create an economic stimulus package backed by a supplementary budget.

Takaichi said her administration will tackle rising costs of living as a “top priority,” and said she will raise defense spending to 2% of the gross domestic product by March, two years ahead of target.

“I will turn (people’s) anxieties about the present and future into hope and build a strong economy,” Takaichi said. “We need to proactively promote the fundamental strengthening of our nation’s defense capabilities” to deal with “various changes in the security environment,” Takaichi said.

She said she will abolish the provisional gasoline tax rate, which was a campaign promise, to help reduce inflation. The prime minister said she would do it during the current session, which goes through Dec. 17. That tax has been in place since 1974.

Lifting the nontaxable income level from $6,700 to $10,473 this year is another plan she put forward to boost the economy.

Addressing another campaign promise, she said the government will begin discussions on creating a second capital to be a backup in a crisis. This was a pet project of the JIP, the far right political party with which she and the LDP formed a coalition. Called the Osaka Metropolis Plan, its goal is to reduce the concentration of power in Tokyo, Japan Wire said.

JERUSALEM — Vice President JD Vance criticized on Thursday a vote in Israel’s parliament the previous day about the annexation of the occupied West Bank, saying it amounted to an “insult” and went against the Trump administration policies.

Hard-liners in the Israeli parliament had narrowly passed a symbolic preliminary vote in support of annexing the West Bank — an apparent attempt to embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while Vance was still in the country.

The bill, which required only a simple majority of lawmakers present in the house on Wednesday, passed with a 25-24 vote. But it was unlikely to pass multiple rounds of voting to become law or win a majority in the 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu, who is opposed to it, also has tools to delay or defeat it.

On the tarmac of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport before departing Israel, Vance said that if the Knesset’s vote was a “political stunt, then it is a very stupid political stunt.”

“I personally take some insult to it,” Vance said. “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.”

Netanyahu is struggling to stave off early elections as cracks between factions in the right-wing parties, some of whom were upset over the ceasefire and the security sacrifices it required of Israel, grow more apparent.

While many members of Netanyahu’s coalition, including the Likud, support annexation, they have backed off those calls since U.S. President Trump said last month that he opposes such a move. The United Arab Emirates, a key U.S. and Israeli ally in the push to peace in Gaza, has said any annexation by Israel would be a “red line.”

The Palestinians seek the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for a future independent state. Israeli annexation of the West Bank would all but bury hopes for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians — the outcome supported by most of the world.

Gaza’s reconstruction and Palestinians’ return

Vance also unveiled new details about U.S. plans for Gaza, saying he expected reconstruction to begin soon in some “Hamas-free” areas of the territory but warning that rebuilding territory after a devastating two-year war could take years.

“The hope is to rebuild Rafah over the next two to three years and theoretically you could have half a million people live (there),” he said.

The war caused widespread destruction across the coastal Palestinian enclave. The United Nations in July estimated that the war generated some 61 million tons of debris in Gaza. The World Bank, the U.N. and the European Union estimated earlier this year that it would cost about $53 billion to rebuild.

The Israel-Hamas war has killed at least 68,280 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Intense U.S. push toward peace

Earlier this week, Vance announced the opening of a civilian military coordination center in southern Israel where some 200 U.S. troops are working alongside the Israeli military and delegations from other countries planning the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza.

The U.S. is seeking support from other allies, especially Gulf Arab nations, to create an international stabilization force to be deployed to Gaza and train a Palestinian force.

“We’d like to see Palestinian police forces in Gaza that are not Hamas and that are going to do a good job, but those still have to be trained and equipped,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said ahead of his trip to Israel.

Rubio, who is to meet with Netanyahu later on Thursday, also criticized Israeli far-right lawmakers’ effort to push for the annexation of the West Bank.

Israeli media referred to the nonstop parade of American officials visiting to ensure Israel holds up its side of the fragile ceasefire as “Bibi-sitting.” The term, utilizing Netanyahu’s nickname of Bibi, refers to an old campaign ad when Netanyahu positioned himself as the “Bibi-sitter” whom voters could trust with their kids.

In Gaza, a dire need for medical care

In the first medical evacuation since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday the group has evacuated 41 critical patients and 145 companions out of the Gaza Strip.

In a statement posted to X, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on nations to show solidarity and help some 15,000 patients who are still waiting for approval to receive medical care outside Gaza.

His calls were echoed by an official with the U.N. Population Fund who on Wednesday described the “sheer devastation” that he witnessed on his most recent travel to Gaza, saying that there is no such thing as a “normal birth in Gaza now.”

Andrew Saberton, an executive director at UNFPA, told reporters how difficult the agency’s work has become due to the lack of functioning or even standing health care facilities.

“The sheer extent of the devastation looked like the set of a dystopian film. Unfortunately, it is not fiction,” he said.

Court hearing on journalists’ access to Gaza

Separately on Thursday, Israel’s Supreme Court held a hearing into whether to open the Gaza Strip to the international media and gave the state 30 days to present a new position in light of the new situation under the ceasefire.

Israel has blocked reporters from entering Gaza since the war erupted with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents dozens of international news organizations including The Associated Press, had asked the court to order the government to open the border.

In a statement after Thursday’s decision, the FPA expressed its “disappointment” and called the Israeli government’s position to deny journalists access “unacceptable.”

The court rejected a request from the FPA early in the war, due to objections by the government on security grounds. The group filed a second request for access in September 2024. The government has repeatedly delayed the case.

Palestinian journalists have covered the two-year war for international media. But like all Palestinians, they have been subject to tough restrictions on movement and shortages of food, repeatedly displaced and operated under great danger. Some 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli fire, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“It is time for Israel to lift the closure and let us do our work alongside our Palestinian colleagues,” said Tania Kraemer, chairperson of the FPA.

Brito and Lee write for the Associated Press. Lee reported from Washington. AP writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.

Shots were fired outside Serbia’s parliament in Belgrade, injuring a supporter of President Aleksandar Vucic, who called the incident as a “terrorist attack”. Police say the 70-year-old suspect acted alone after setting a tent ablaze near a pro-government encampment amid year-long anti-Vucic protests.

Appointment clinched via a last-minute coalition deal, but government remains without a majority, leaving the risk of instability.

Japan’s parliament has elected ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi as the nation’s first female prime minister.

A protege of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Takaichi received  237 votes in the 465-seat lower house of parliament on Tuesday to confirm her in the role.

The victory follows a last-minute coalition deal by her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party (JIP), also known as Ishin, on Monday. However, her government is still two seats short of a majority, suggesting a risk of instability.

Takaichi replaces Shigeru Ishiba, ending a three-month political vacuum and wrangling since the LDP – which has governed Japan for most of its post-war history – suffered a disastrous election loss in July.

Her victory marks a pivotal moment for a country where men still hold overwhelming sway. But it is also likely to usher in a sharper move to the right on immigration and social issues, with little expectation that it will help to promote gender equality or diversity.

Takaichi has stonewalled measures for women’s advancement. She supports the imperial family’s male-only succession and opposes same-sex marriage and allowing separate surnames for married couples.

The LDP had earlier lost its longtime partner, the Buddhist-backed Komeito, which has a more dovish and centrist stance.

Komeito ended the partnership due to its concerns that the LDP was not prepared to fight corruption.

“Political stability is essential right now,” Takaichi said at the signing ceremony with the JIP leader and Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura. “Without stability, we cannot push measures for a strong economy or diplomacy.”

JIP will not hold ministerial posts in Takaichi’s Cabinet until his party is confident about its partnership with the LDP, Yoshimura said.

After years of deflation, Japan is now grappling with rising prices, something that has caused public anger and fuelled support for opposition groups, including far-right upstarts.

Like Abe, Takaichi is expected to favour government spending to jumpstart the weakened economy. That has prompted a so-called “Takaichi trade” in the stock market, sending the Nikkei share average to record highs, the most recent on Tuesday.

But it has also caused investor unease about the government’s ability to pay for additional spending in a country where the debt load far outweighs annual output.

Shortly after the lower house vote, Takaichi’s elevation to prime minister was also approved by the less-powerful upper house. She will be sworn in as Japan’s 104th prime minister on Tuesday evening.

Takaichi is also running on a deadline, as she prepares for a major policy speech later this week, talks with United States President Donald Trump and regional summits.

If bill is signed into law, Portugal would join several European countries which already have full or partial bans.

Portugal has approved a bill to ban face veils used for “gender or religious motives” in most public spaces that was proposed by the far-right Chega party and targets burqas and niqabs worn by Muslim women.

Under the bill, approved by parliament on Friday, proposed fines for wearing face veils in public would range from 200 to 4,000 euros ($234-$4,670). Forcing someone to wear one would be punishable with prison terms of up to three years.

Face veils would still be allowed in aeroplanes, diplomatic premises and places of worship.

According to local media reports, the bill is now set to be discussed in the parliamentary committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms, and Guarantees – a body responsible for reviewing legislation related to constitutional matters.

If signed into law, it would put Portugal alongside European countries, including France, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, which already have full or partial bans.

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa could still veto the bill or send it to the Constitutional Court for checks.

During Friday’s parliamentary session, Chega leader Andre Ventura was confronted by several female lawmakers from left-wing parties who opposed the bill, but it passed with support from the centre-right coalition.

“We are today protecting female members of parliament, your daughters, our daughters, from having to use burqas in this country one day,” Ventura said.

In a post on X, he wrote: “Today is a historic day for our democracy and for the safeguarding of our values, our identity and women’s rights.”

Andreia Neto, a lawmaker from the ruling Social Democratic Party, said before the vote: “This is a debate on equality between men and women. No woman should be forced to veil her face.”

Two out of the 10 parties in parliament abstained from the vote – the People-Animals-Nature party, and the Together for the People party, according to local media reports.

The parties have suggested that the proposal incited discrimination.

Only a small minority of Muslim women in Europe cover their faces, and in Portugal such veils are very rare.

But full-face coverings such as niqabs and burqas have become a polarising issue across Europe, with some arguing that they symbolise gender discrimination or can represent a security threat and should be outlawed.

Oct. 5 (UPI) — Syria is electing Parliament officials Sunday, paving the way toward a more democratic future after more than 50 years of dictatorship.

An electoral committee appointed by current president Ahmed al-Sharaa was in charge of developing regional groups comprised of local council members to facilitate the election process, the New York Times reported.

The votes will determine who makes up two thirds of the People’s Assembly, while al-Sharaa will choose 70 officials himself.

“As a transitional period, there is a difficulty to hold popular elections due to the loss of documents, and half of the population is outside of Syria, also without documents,” he said, per the BBC.

The election comes some 10 months after al-Sharaa unseated the former president, Bashar al-Assad, marking an end to a civil war that spanned 13 years.

In May, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Sharaa to lift previously imposed sanctions that had taken effect while Assad was helming the country.

An interim constitution guiding the five-year transition of government power was signed .

Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been forced to step down after a wave of anticorruption protests left 19 people dead and more than 100 injured, but tens of thousands of protesters remained on the streets, blocking roads and setting fires to parliament and other government buildings.

“In view of the adverse situation in the country, I have resigned effective today to facilitate the solution to the problem and to help resolve it politically in accordance with the constitution,” Oli wrote in his letter to President Ramchandra Paudel on Tuesday after his administration was blamed for the bloodiest outbreaks of unrest in a decade.

Defying an indefinite curfew, thousands of young Nepalis returned to the streets of Kathmandu on Tuesday, demanding change and clashing with riot police. Some protesters set fire to government buildings.

The demonstrations – called the protest of Gen Z – erupted after the government blocked platforms, including Facebook, X and YouTube, saying the companies had failed to register and submit to government oversight.

But the protests spiralled to reflect broader discontent. In particular, many young people are angry that the children of political leaders – so-called “nepo kids” – seem to enjoy luxury lifestyles and numerous advantages while most youth struggle to find work.

On Tuesday, despite the government rolling back its order and the apps returning online, protests reignited, spreading from the capital to multiple cities nationwide.

“The Nepal government has fallen, the youth have won the protest,” said key protest figure Sudan Gurung, in a post on newly restored Instagram. “The future is ours.”

President Ram Chandra Poudel, the ceremonial head of state, appealed to the protesters to engage in discussions to find a peaceful resolution and stop further escalation.

In a video message, Nepalese army chief Ashok Raj Sigdel urged protesters to stop the demonstrations to prevent further loss of lives and property and to come forward for dialogue.

Nepal’s struggle with weak governance

The upheaval is the most serious since 2008, when street demonstrations brought down Nepal’s centuries-old monarchy.

Despite democratic reforms, the Himalayan nation of 30 million has struggled with weak governance and endemic corruption. Economic opportunities remain scarce, forcing millions of Nepalis to seek work abroad in Gulf states, South Korea and Malaysia, sending money home to sustain their families.

With youth unemployment running at about 20 percent last year, according to the World Bank, the government estimates that more than 2,000 young people leave the country every day to seek work in the Middle East or Southeast Asia.

Oli, 73, had been in office for his fourth term since July last year, becoming the 14th prime minister in the post-monarchy era. Two cabinet ministers resigned late on Monday, citing “moral grounds.”

Witnesses said protesters torched tyres, hurled stones, and set fire to the homes of several politicians.

Local media reported that military helicopters evacuated ministers from besieged houses. Crowds also ransacked the prime minister’s residence and set alight the Singha Durbar government complex, which includes parliament and key ministries.

Footage circulating on social media showed former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife, along with Foreign Minister Arzu Rana and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel, being attacked by demonstrators before soldiers intervened.

The United Nations rights chief, Volker Turk, said he was “appalled” by the violence and called for talks.

Those appeals did not seem to be heeded.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the headquarters of a major publisher – the Kantipur Media Group – was burning, and called on “protesters not to target journalists”.

Kathmandu’s airport remains open, but some flights were cancelled after smoke from fires affected visibility, airport spokesperson Rinji Sherpa said.

Videos show Nepal’s parliament on fire as protests continue, with Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli and other top ministers resigning over mass anti-corruption unrest that left at least 19 people dead.

PARIS — Legislators toppled France’s government in a confidence vote on Monday, a new crisis for Europe’s second-largest economy that obliges President Emmanuel Macron to search for a fourth prime minister in 12 months.

Prime Minister François Bayrou was ousted overwhelmingly in a 364-194 vote against him. Bayrou paid the price for what appeared to be a staggering political miscalculation, gambling that lawmakers would back his view that France must slash public spending to repair its debts. Instead, they seized on the vote that Bayrou called to gang up against the 74-year-old centrist who was appointed by Macron last December.

The demise of Bayrou’s short-lived minority government — now constitutionally obliged to submit its resignation to Macron after just under nine months in office — heralds renewed uncertainty and a risk of prolonged legislative deadlock for France as it wrestles with pressing challenges, including budget difficulties and, internationally, wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the shifting priorities of President Trump.

Hunt for a replacement

Although Macron had two weeks to prepare for the government collapse after Bayrou announced in August that he’d seek a confidence vote on his unpopular budget plans, no clear front-runner has emerged as a likely successor.

After Gabriel Attal’s departure as prime minister in September 2024, followed by former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier’s ouster by parliament in December and Bayrou now ousted, too, Macron again faces an arduous hunt for a replacement to build consensus in the parliament’s lower house that is stacked with opponents of the French leader.

As president, Macron will continue to hold substantial powers over foreign policy and European affairs and remain the commander in chief of the nuclear-armed military. But domestically, the 47-year-old president’s ambitions are increasingly facing ruin.

The root of the latest government collapse was Macron’s stunning decision to dissolve the National Assembly in June 2024, triggering a legislative election that the French leader hoped would strengthen the hand of his pro-European centrist alliance. But the gamble backfired, producing a splintered legislature with no dominant political bloc in power for the first time in France’s modern republic.

Shorn of a workable majority, his minority governments have since lurched from crisis to crisis, surviving on the whim of opposing political blocs on the left and far-right that don’t have enough seats to govern themselves but can, when they team up, topple Macron’s choices.

Bayrou’s gamble

Bayrou, too, rolled the dice by calling the confidence vote, a decision that quickly backfired on the political veteran as left-wing and far-right legislators seized the opportunity to oust his government, seeking to increase pressure on Macron.

Bayrou conceded in his last speech as prime minister to the National Assembly that putting his fate on the line was risky. But he said that France’s debt crisis compelled him to seek legislative support for remedies, in the face of what he called “a silent, underground, invisible, and unbearable hemorrhage” of excessive public borrowing.

“The greatest risk was to not take one, to let things go on without changing anything, to go on doing politics as usual,” he said. “Submission to debt is like submission through military force. Dominated by weapons, or dominated by our creditors, because of a debt that is submerging us — in both cases, we lose our freedom.”

At the end of the first quarter of 2025, France’s public debt stood at 3.346 trillion euros, or 114% of gross domestic product. Debt servicing remains a major budget item, accounting for around 7% of state spending.

Le Pen wants new election

The 577-seat National Assembly interrupted its summer recess to convene for the extraordinary session of high political drama. Macron’s opponents worked to leverage the crisis to push for a new legislative election, pressure for Macron’s departure or jostle for posts in the next government.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen called for Macron to again dissolve the National Assembly, seemingly confident that her National Rally party and its allies would win a majority in another snap legislative election, positioning it to form a new government.

“A big country like France cannot live with a paper government, especially in a tormented and dangerous world,” she said in the National Assembly.

Pressing problems

In a last-ditch effort to save his job before the vote, Bayrou warned that France is risking its future and its influence by racking up trillions in state debts that are “submerging us,” pleading for belt-tightening.

Macron’s chosen successor will operate in the same precarious environment and face the same pressing budget problems that dogged Bayrou and his predecessors. Macron himself has vowed to stay in office until the end of his term, but risks becoming a lame duck domestically if political paralysis continues.

Under the French political system, the prime minister is appointed by the president, accountable to the parliament and is in charge of implementing domestic policy, notably economic measures.

Arguing that sharp cuts are needed to repair public finances, Bayrou had proposed to cut $51 billion in spending in 2026, after France’s deficit hit 5.8% of GDP last year, way above the official EU target of 3%.

He painted a dramatic picture of the European Union’s No. 2 economy becoming beholden to foreign creditors and addicted to living beyond its means. He castigated opponents in the National Assembly who teamed up against his minority government despite their own sharp political differences.

“You have the power to overthrow the government, but you do not have the power to erase reality,” Bayrou said. “Reality will remain inexorable. Spending will continue to increase and the debt burden — already unbearable — will grow heavier and more costly.”

Leicester writes for the Associated Press.

CUTTING Angela Rayner loose will not end the trouble she has caused Sir Keir Starmer – in fact it could get a whole lot worse.

Millions of appalled voters will rightly expect her to scurry sheepishly off into the deep freeze along with any future ambitions.

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But to her legions of militant supporters, she is far from a busted flush – she is a martyr, and soon quite possibly their Red Queen over the water.

It is no secret Rayner is far to the left of Starmer, and that theirs has always been a tricky forced political marriage.

Remember when Sir Keir tried to clip her wings in 2021 only to end up giving her a promotion after she kicked off big time?

Now outside the Cabinet tent – and with no real sense of loyalty to the PM – she could turn from his right-hand woman into a right old headache.

Many in the Labour tribe are already furious with Starmer for turning his back on the left-wing causes he once championed.

From welfare, to taxes, to migration, there is no shortage of issues on which soft-left MPs are ready to scrap with No10.

As the PM tries to stem the bleeding to Reform with more hardline policies, those rows will only intensify.

Especially given Jeremy Corbyn’s new rabble and the Greens threaten to sap voters from Labour’s leftward flank.

In this looming battle for the soul of the party, it is easy to see Rayner emerging as the socialists’ standard bearer.

With the might of the unions and members also on her side, Rayner could quickly accumulate a large powerbase.

Maybe one even big enough to mobilise against her old boss.

Think of the grief Boris Johnson or Nigel Lawson caused Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher from the backbenches, leading to their downfalls.

Starmer had no choice but to push Rayner out.

Her fate was set as soon as Sir Laurie Magnus threw the book at her for breaking the ministerial code.

In this looming battle for the soul of the party, it is easy to see Rayner emerging as the socialists’ standard bearer

His gushing, personal, hand-written goodbye note is as clear a sign as any that he wanted to give her the heave-ho in as gentle a way as possible.

But it might not stay friendly for long.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

The vote comes a week after Paetongtarn Shinawatra was removed from office amid an ethics scandal.

Thailand’s parliament has elected Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the conservative opposition Bhumjaithai party, as the country’s prime minister.

The vote on Friday means Anutin will replace Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, who was dismissed by the Constitutional Court last month over an ethics scandal.

Anutin secured victory over Chaikasem Nitisiri, the candidate of the populist Pheu Thai, with the support of the liberal People’s Party.

That backing from the largest party in the 500-seat parliament was premised on a promise from Anutin to call a general election within four months.

While voting and counting were still proceeding, the Bhumjaithai leader was confirmed to have won more than 247 votes, the required majority from the House of Representatives’ 492 active members.

His final total must be certified after voting is completed. He and his government are expected to take office in a few days after obtaining a formal appointment from King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Veteran Anutin’s election deals another blow to the Shinawatra clan, which has been a mainstay of Thai politics for the past two decades.

Their populist movement has long jousted with the pro-military, pro-monarchy establishment, but has been increasingly bedevilled by legal and political setbacks.

The dynasty’s patriarch, Thaksin Shinawatra, flew out of Thailand in the hours ahead of Friday’s vote, bound for Dubai.

Anutin once backed the Pheu Thai coalition, but abandoned it in the summer in apparent outrage over Paetongtarn’s conduct during a border dispute with neighbouring Cambodia.

This is a developing news story. More to follow shortly …

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemns killing of prominent politician Andriy Parubiy as ‘horrendous murder’.

A prominent Ukrainian politician and former parliament speaker has been shot dead in western Ukraine, officials said, as a search was under way to find the attacker.

Andriy Parubiy, who also previously served as secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, was killed in the city of Lviv on Saturday.

The Prosecutor General’s office said a gunman had fired several shots at Parubiy, killing him “on the spot”. The attacker fled, and a manhunt was launched, it said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the killing as a “horrendous murder” and offered his condolences to Parubiy’s family and loved ones.

“All necessary forces and means are engaged in the investigation and search for the killer,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

Parubiy, 54, was a member of parliament and had served as parliamentary speaker from April 2016 to August 2019.

He was also one of the leaders of mass protests in Ukraine in 2013 and 2014, calling for closer ties with the European Union.

Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko and Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko have just reported the first known circumstances of the horrendous murder in Lviv. Andriy Parubiy was killed. My condolences to his family and loved ones.

All necessary forces and means…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 30, 2025

Ukrainian officials did not immediately release a possible motive for the fatal shooting.

The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, said finding the killer and establishing the circumstances of the attack was of utmost importance.

“This is a matter of security in a country at war, where, as we can see, there are no completely safe places,” he wrote on Telegram.

Tributes poured in from colleagues in parliament and the government, praising Parubiy’s contribution to Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty and independence during the 2013-2014 protest movement.

Former President Petro Poroshenko said on Telegram that his killing was “a shot fired at the heart of Ukraine”.

“Andriy was a great man and a true friend. That is why they take revenge, that is what they are afraid of,” he said, lauding Parubiy’s contribution to building out the Ukrainian army.

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also described Parubiy as “a patriot and statesman who made an enormous contribution to the defence of Ukraine’s freedom, independence and sovereignty”.

“He was a man who rightfully belongs in the history books,” Sybiha wrote on Telegram.

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The EU Commission made its opening move in implementing the trade agreement reached on August 21 with the United States, but the legislative proposal for tariff reductions on a wide range of US industrial and agricultural products will face a tricky path through the European Parliament which will start considering the measure next week.

This legislative move should offer immediate relief to the EU automotive sector, as the US committed to retroactively lower its 27.5% tariffs on EU cars to 15% from 1 August, once the Commission proposed the legislation. 

Among the concessions granted to the US, the Commission’s proposal provides for reducing tariffs to 0% on the vast majority of US industrial products – ranging from machinery to pharmaceutical products, some chemicals, plastics and fertilizers – for which the EU aims to break its dependence on Russia. The proposal also targets some agri-products, such as fruits, juices and certain seeds.

“This is not costly for us,” a senior EU official said, pointing out that existing tariffs levied by the bloc on these products are very low.

The Commission has also declared privileged access to its market for certain agricultural products, whose tariffs will be reduced — such as certain vegetables, fruits and grape juices.

Tariff-rate quotas are also planned for 20 product groups, including pork (25,000 tonnes), dairy products (10,000 tonnes), cheese (10,000 tonnes), and soybeans (400,000 tonnes), which will benefit from 0% tariffs below the set thresholds.

Despite a trade agreement widely seen as heavily tilted in favour of the US — with the EU facing 15% tariffs under the deal — Brussels foresees the possibility of suspending these tariff advantages on US products if the US fails to implement the 21 August agreement, or if a sudden surge in US imports on the European market poses serious risks to EU industry.

The legislative proposal needs the buy-in of the European co-legislator, the European Parliament and the EU Council, which represents the member states.

MEPs responsible for monitoring trade issues will meet for what promises to be a heated session on 3 September, with some having criticised the deal as unbalanced. Sabine Weyand, Director-General of DG Trade and one of the chief negotiators, will attend to answer their questions.

“Politically, some MEPs saw the conclusion of the agreement as a humiliation and a surrender,” French liberal MEP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne told Euronews, adding: “Especially since we were promised predictability — yet Trump is already threatening tariffs on countries implementing digital legislation. The Commission is clearly uncomfortable.”

On top of the proposal on tariffs reduction, the MEPs are waiting for a second legislative proposal on the whole deal.

“We need to understand the agreement much better before we can be decisive and say yes or no,” Swedish MEP Jörgen Warborn (EPP) told Euronews, “I’m myself concerned because I have not yet understood whether the deal was compatible with WTO rules.”

According to WTO rules, any country that grants a preferential tariff to one country must extend those terms to others.

“There is a lot of turbulence when it comes to trade at these times. We need a rule-based space and not that the EU is part of breaking WTO rules,” Warborn added.

Within the S&D group, some are betting on the continuation of the negotiations to improve the deal.

“The deal is quite unbalanced and we need to see real effort from the EU Commission to obtain more exemptions and a clear path for an agreement on steel and aluminium,” a lawmaker from S&D said, adding: “Otherwise we should go back to the possible countermeasures.”

The deal published on August 21 does not address the aluminium and steel sectors, which remain subject to tariffs of up to 50%.

A RIGGING row has erupted after Labour rebuffed Nigel Farage’s demand for Reform representation in the House of Lords.

The Brexiteer has no peers in the upper chamber and asked Sir Keir Starmer to grant some.

He sent a letter to the PM — who has ultimate say over appointments — arguing the “seismic shifts” in British politics merits some Reform seats.

Although they have just four MPs, Mr Farage’s party is leading national opinion polls.

He has in the past called for the Lords to be replaced with an elected chamber akin to that in the US.

Mr Farage said: “Whilst Reform UK believes in a reformed House of Lords, the time has come to address the democratic disparity there.”

But Defence Secretary John Healey told LBC: “This is the same Nigel Farage that called for the abolition of the House of Lords and now wants to fill it with his cronies.

“I’m not sure Parliament is going to benefit from more Putin apologists like Farage.”

While PMs technically have the final say on House of Lords appointments, they grant opposition parties some peers.

When Sir Keir nominated 30 Labour lords in December, he allowed six Tories to be elevated to the upper legislature.

Hitting back at Mr Healey’s remarks, Reform deputy Richard Tice last night accused Labour of not playing fair.

Denying they were “Putin apologists”, he told The Sun: “It’s a democratic outrage and another old-fashioned establishment stitch-up. They are essentially rigging the system against the new party, changing the rules of the game.”

In his letter, Mr Farage noted Lib Dems have 76 peers but received 600,000 fewer votes than Reform last year.

Sir Keir previously pledged to abolish the Lords but he is not expected to carry out plans before the next election.

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An Australian politician and convicted rapist has resigned from parliament moments before he was to be kicked out, after losing a legal challenge to remain.

Gareth Ward, 44, was last month found guilty of sexually assaulting two young men, aged 18 and 24, between 2013 and 2015, and is now in custody pending sentencing.

Earlier this week, Ward launched a legal bid to stop the New South Wales (NSW) parliament from expelling him, but it was dismissed on Thursday after the court rejected arguments that the move was an “affront” to democracy.

Plans to expel him on Friday were thwarted when, less than two hours before a vote to remove him was due, Ward quit as the independent member for Kiama.

Ward’s resignation letter was received by parliament at 09:08 local time on Friday (00:08 GMT), shortly before a vote at 10:30 was due to expel him.

His resignation – which comes years after the sexual assault accusations first emerged – means Ward will no longer receive a parliamentary salary.

It also triggers a by-election in the south-coast NSW electorate Ward has held since 2011.

In 2021, Ward quit as a state government minister and left the Liberal Party, but refused to leave parliament and was re-elected in 2023.

During his legal challenge, Ward’s lawyers argued that attempts to kick him out of parliament before the appeals process was finished was “an affront to the foundations of representative democracy”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns told the media on Friday that Ward’s resignation “should have come earlier”.

“If you are convicted of some of the most serious charges – sexual assault in NSW – you can’t sit as a serving member of parliament drawing a parliamentary salary,” the Labor leader said.

“How can you represent your community from behind bars?”

Opposition leader Mark Speakman labelled Ward’s legal bid to stay in parliament “disgraceful”, and accused the former MP of “playing games” with the public and parliament.

Ward, due to be sentenced next month, has said he intends to appeal the guilty verdict.

Ukraine’s parliament has voted to restore the independence of two key anti-corruption agencies, moving to defuse the country’s biggest political crisis since Russia’s invasion.

Lawmakers on Thursday voted 331 to 0 in favour of the bill, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted last week following pressure from thousands of protesters and top European officials.

The measure now goes to Zelenskyy for a signature.

More to come…

Knesset lawmakers vote 71-13 in favour of annexation, raising questions about the future of a Palestinian state.

Israel’s parliament has approved a symbolic measure calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank.

Knesset lawmakers voted 71-13 in favour of the motion on Wednesday, a non-binding vote which calls for “applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley” – the Israeli terms for the area.

It said that annexing the West Bank “will strengthen the state of Israel, its security and prevent any questioning of the fundamental right of the Jewish people to peace and security in their homeland”.

The motion, advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is declarative and has no direct legal implications, though it could place the issue of annexation on the agenda of future debates in the parliament.

The idea was initially brought forward last year by Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who himself lives in an illegal Israeli settlement and holds a position within Israel’s Ministry of Defence, where he oversees the administration of the West Bank and its settlements.

The West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. Since then, Israeli settlements have expanded, despite being illegal under international law and, in the case of settlement outposts, Israeli law.

Palestinian leaders want all three territories for a future state. Some 3 million Palestinians and more than 500,000 Israeli settlers currently reside in the West Bank.

Annexation of the West Bank could make it impossible to create a viable Palestinian state, which is seen internationally as the most realistic way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Last year, the Israeli parliament approved a similar symbolic motion declaring opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Hussein al-Sheikh, deputy to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said the motion was “a direct assault on the rights of the Palestinian people”, which “undermines the prospects for peace, stability and the two-state solution”.

“These unilateral Israeli actions blatantly violate international law and the ongoing international consensus regarding the status of the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank,” he wrote in a post on X.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement that it strongly rejects any motion for annexation.

The ministry stressed that the “colonial measures” reinforce a system of apartheid in the West Bank and reflect a “blatant disregard” for many United Nations resolutions and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which was issued in July 2024.

The statement, carried by the official Palestinian Wafa news agency, also warned that such actions deliberately undermine the prospects of implementing a two-state solution.

The ministry added that while settlement expansion continues, de facto annexation is already occurring on a daily basis.

Following Israel’s deadly war on Gaza, Israeli forces have intensified attacks on Palestinian towns and villages in the occupied West Bank, displacing thousands of Palestinians and killing hundreds. Settlers, often backed by Israeli soldiers, have also escalated assaults on Palestinians, their land, and property.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The United States has deported five immigrants from Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos to Eswatini, a small country in southern Africa where the king still holds absolute power.

Eswatini says it is holding the men in correctional facilities until they can be sent to their home countries, after it became the latest nation to accept third-country deportees from the U.S.

Here’s what to know about Eswatini:

The king rules supreme

Eswatini is one of a few countries that are still absolute monarchies, and the only one in Africa. That means the king has absolute power over government and is not just a figurehead or a ceremonial ruler.

King Mswati III has ruled Eswatini since 1986, when he turned 18 and was allowed to take his place as the monarch. He can make decisions by decree. He succeeded his father, Sobhuza II, who died in 1982.

The 57-year-old Mswati III has long been criticized for ruling over a government that suppresses political dissent while he lives a lavish lifestyle in one of the poorest countries in the world.

The king is reported to have 11 wives and has been the subject of scrutiny for buying luxury cars. His wealth has been estimated at between $200 million and $500 million, while the World Bank says more than half of Eswatini’s 1.2 million people live on less than $4 a day.

No political parties

Political parties were banned by Sobhuza II in 1973. Some exist now, but they are not allowed to play any role in elections or the political process and have been reduced to civic society groups. Candidates seeking public office in Eswatini’s Parliament or Senate have to stand as individuals without any party affiliation and are generally approved by traditional leaders loyal to Mswati III.

Pro-democracy protests have grown in recent years and Eswatini authorities under Mswati III have been accused of crushing them using the security forces. Many dissidents live in exile.

Previously Swaziland

The country was previously known as Swaziland but changed to Eswatini in 2018 after the king announced it should revert to its traditional name in the Swazi language. It was Swaziland when it was under British colonial rule, which ended in 1968.

Severely affected by HIV

Eswatini has been severely affected by HIV and has the highest prevalence in the world, with an estimated 26% of the adult population HIV-positive, according to the United Nations AIDS agency.

It has made significant progress in confronting that scourge but has been highly reliant on foreign aid to do that, including assistance from the U.S., which has now been cut by the Trump administration.

Imray writes for the Associated Press.

Slovenia will join several other countries that have legalised the practice, including Australia and Belgium.

Slovenia’s parliament has passed a law giving terminally-ill adults the right to end their lives, after a majority of voters backed the move in a referendum.

Lawmakers approved the bill on Friday, with 50 votes in favour, 34 against and three abstentions, meaning that assisted dying will be allowed in cases of unbearable suffering in which all treatment options have been exhausted.

The right to assisted dying will not be available in the case of unbearable suffering resulting from mental illness, according to Slovenia’s STA news agency.

It is expected to come into force in the coming weeks.

In a consultative referendum last year, 55 percent of Slovenians voted in favour of assisted suicide. Opponents of the law may try to gather enough support to force another referendum.

The country’s Commission for Medical Ethics said this week that it remained firm in its position that the bill carries high ethical risks despite several amendments during its passage through parliament.

Tereza Novak, a lawmaker from the governing Freedom Movement, which had supported the bill, told parliament that the “right [to assisted dying] does not represent a defeat for medicine”.

“It would be wrong for medicine to deprive people of their right to die if they want to and medicine cannot help them,” the liberal MP said.

The conservative Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) has denounced the bill, saying it “opens the door to a culture of death, the loss of human dignity and the minimisation of the value of life, in particular of the most vulnerable”.

The vote means the central European country will join several others that allow terminally ill people to receive medical help to end their lives, including Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as some states in the United States.

Last month, the UK parliament voted to legalise assisted dying, although the bill must still clear the upper chamber of parliament.