France has denounced Australia’s “very inelegant” move to leak a private text message from President Emmanuel Macron to the Australian premier about a submarine deal that Canberra later unilaterally dropped, deeply dismaying Paris and sparking a diplomatic row.

Several Australian media outlets reported that Macron had texted Prime Minister Scott Morrison two days before the announcement of a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United States, and Britain, which led to the cancellation of a decade-old multi-billion-dollar Australian deal with France.

“Should I expect good or bad news for our joint submarine ambitions?” reads Macron’s text message.

Canberra had signed the deal with France to receive conventional diesel-electric submarines, but it scrapped the contract after secretly negotiating and signing the new partnership with the US and Britain, which is known as AUKUS and would allow Australia to acquire American nuclear-powered submarines.

The development has sent diplomatic relations between Canberra and Paris into free fall since September. France has accused both Australia and the US of betraying it, and Macron has hit out at Morrison for lying to him.

The leaking of Macron’s text message to Morrison has raised speculation that the French president was less surprised by the cancellation than he has claimed.

A source close to Macron, however, said that the text did not undermine Paris’ narrative. “On the contrary, this SMS shows that the president did not know that they were going to cancel the contract,” AFP quoted the source as speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“We knew that the Australians had some issues, but they only concerned technical aspects and the timetable, as with every big contract like this one,” the source added.

French Ambassador to Australia Jean-Pierre Thébault also reacted to the leak on Tuesday, saying that it had been a setback “in terms of truth and trust.” He said the text “demonstrates that until the last minute, we didn’t know where things were heading to.”

“You don’t behave like this on personal exchanges of leaders who are allies. But maybe it’s just confirmation that we were never seen as an ally,” Thébault said.

Thébault also warned world leaders that “there will be leaks, and what you say in confidence to your partners will be eventually used and weaponized against you one day.”

There were also reports that suggested the text message leak could have been engineered by Morrison’s office in retaliation for Macron’s “lying” charge.

Speaking to reporters in Dubai on Wednesday, Morrison did not dispute a suggestion that his office had leaked the text message, simply saying, “Claims had been made and those claims were refuted… what is needed now is for us to move on.”

He also said he would “never make any apologies” for scrapping the French contract, which he said was “not going to do the job that Australia needed to do.”

Source: Presstv

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday asked Pope Francis to visit India, a significant opening towards the head of the Catholic Church who has long sought an official invitation to the Hindu-majority country.ADVERTISING

Modi, 71, invited Francis during a meeting at the Vatican on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome.

“Had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis. I had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues with him and also invited him to visit India,” Modi said on Twitter after the talks.

The pope, 84, has been on record saying that he wants to visit India. The Vatican had even drafted a schedule for a papal trip several years ago, according to religious news website Crux.ADVERTISING

“Thank you very much for your visit. I’m happy, I’m very happy,” a smiling Francis said as he grasped Modi’s hand at the end of the visit, according to footage released by the Vatican.

Modi replied: “I would like to see you in India.”

Francis, leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics, is hoping to push the defence of religious freedom in the world’s second most populous country.

Activists say that religious minorities in India have faced increased levels of discrimination and violence since Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.

While Muslims, who make up around 14 percent of the population, have borne the brunt, Christians, who account for just over two percent, have also suffered a rise in reported violent attacks.

The last papal visit to India was made by Pope John Paul II in 1999.

‘Cordial’

Saturday’s Vatican visit was Francis and Modi’s first meeting. A senior official in the prime minister’s office told AFP the “very warm” talks — scheduled to last 20 minutes — went on for nearly an hour.

In an unusually short note, the Vatican described it as “a brief conversation” in which “the cordial relations between the Holy See and India were discussed”.

Modi’s office said the leaders discussed “fighting climate change and removing poverty”. There was no mention of the red-button issue of religious freedom.

Under the pretext that Christians are seeking forcibly to convert Hindus, more than 300 violent incidents have been recorded this year, according to a report by a group of NGOs released this month.

This included a reported attack on a prayer house by around 200 members of the BJP and Hindu groups in the northern state of Uttarakhand in early October.

The local head of the BJP said the prayer house held “suspicious gatherings”.

At least three states run by the BJP have passed legislation aimed at preventing “forced conversion” and dozens of people have been arrested.

Others plan to follow suit including Karnataka, where priests have come out in protest.

Modi’s government denies having a Hindu agenda and insists that people of all religions have equal rights.

Source: AFP

Queen Elizabeth II has cancelled her planned engagement at the U.N. climate conference, accepting doctors’ advice to rest, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday.

The 95-year-old monarch has “regretfully’’ decided that she will no longer travel to Glasgow to attend the reception on Nov. 1 — a move that will dash the hopes of Britain’s Conservative government, which is anxious to show the importance of the session to the fate of the planet. The climate conference runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 and her appearance was meant to kick it off in style and splendour.

“Her Majesty is disappointed not to attend the reception but will deliver an address to the assembled delegates via a recorded video message,’’ the palace said.

The news came after the sovereign held virtual audiences Tuesday at Windsor Castle — the first since revelations that her doctors ordered her to rest last week. The sovereign greeted the ambassador of the Republic of Korea during her first technology-aided appearance since she was driven to London’s King Edward VII’s Hospital on Oct. 20 for “preliminary investigations.” She returned to her Windsor Castle home at lunchtime the next day.

The queen underwent the medical tests after she canceled a scheduled trip to mark 100 years since the creation of Northern Ireland, and the palace said she had “reluctantly” accepted advice to rest for a few days. The matter was not related to COVID-19.

Her doctors ordered rest last week after a hectic few days in which a monarch who likes to be seen by the people carried out a hectic series of events. She held audiences with diplomats, had a reception at Windsor Castle for global business leaders and attended the horse races at Ascot.

Her hospital visit last week came amid general disquiet about Elizabeth’s health. Days earlier, she was seen using a walking stick at a Westminster Abbey service marking the centenary of the Royal British Legion, an armed forces charity. Though she had used a cane in 2003, it was after she underwent knee surgery.

The queen’s husband, Prince Philip, died in April 2021 at age 99. Though Elizabeth has enjoyed robust health throughout her life, she is Britain’s longest-lived and longest-reigning monarch. She is due to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee — 70 years on the throne — next year.

Source: AP

Former US president Donald Trump announced plans Wednesday to launch his own social networking platform called “TRUTH Social,” which is expected to begin its beta launch for “invited guests” next month.

The long-awaited platform will be owned by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which also intends to launch a subscription video on-demand service that will feature “non-woke” entertainment programming, the group said in a statement.

“I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech,” Trump, who was banned from Twitter and Facebook in the wake of the Capitol insurrection carried out by his supporters on January 6 this year, was quoted as saying in the statement. 

“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced. This is unacceptable,” he continued.

The Trump Media & Technology Group will merge with blank check company Digital Acquisition Corp to make TMTG a publicly-listed company, the statement said.

“The transaction values Trump Media & Technology Group at an initial enterprise value of $875 Million, with a potential additional earnout of $825 Million in additional shares (at the valuation they are granted) for a cumulative valuation of up to $1.7 Billion depending on the performance of the stock price post-business combination,” it stated.

Ever since he was banned from the world’s dominant social networks as punishment for stirring up the mob that ransacked Congress on January 6, Trump has been looking for ways to reclaim his internet platform.

In May he launched a blog called “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” which was touted as a a major new outlet.

But Trump, who was also banned from Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat in the wake of the Capitol mayhem, canceled the blog just a month later.

Former Trump aide Jason Miller launched a social network called Gettr earlier this year, but the former president has not yet joined it.

(AFP)

Colin Powell, a US war hero and the first Black secretary of state who saw his legacy tarnished when he made the case for war in Iraq in 2003, has died from complications from Covid-19. He was 84.

“We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,” the family said in a statement posted to social media on Monday.

The retired four-star general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who served four presidents made his reputation as a man of honor distant from the political fray — an asset in the corridors of power.

“General Powell is an American hero, an American example, and a great American story,” George W. Bush said as he announced the nomination of Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants who became the Republican president’s secretary of state in 2000.

“In directness of speech, his towering integrity, his deep respect for our democracy, and his soldier’s sense of duty and honor, Colin Powell demonstrates… qualities that will make him a great representative of all the people of this country.”

But he found it hard to live down his infamous February 2003 speech to the United Nations Security Council about the alleged existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq — the evidence he presented was later proven to be false.

“It’s a blot… and will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It’s painful now,” Powell said in a 2005 interview with ABC News.

Tributes nevertheless poured in from Congress, where Democratic Senator Mark Warner praised Powell as “a patriot and a public servant,” while House Republican Peter Meijer described him as a rarity in the modern age: “a true soldier statesman.”

The family statement said Powell had been fully vaccinated.

Source: AFP

The United States announced Friday that it will allow entry to foreign travelers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, by both land and air, starting November 8.

“This policy is guided by public health, stringent, and consistent,” tweeted White House assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz in announcing the news.

In an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, US borders were closed after March 2020 to travelers from much of the globe, including the European Union, Britain and China, India and Brazil. Overland visitors from Mexico and Canada were also banned.

The months of restrictions led to both personal and economic suffering.

Under the new policy that was outlined last month, vaccinated air passengers will need to be tested within three days before travel, and airlines will be required to put in place a contact tracing system.

Earlier this week, a White House source said the land border opening would happen in two phases.

Initially, vaccines will be required for “non-essential” trips — such as visiting family or tourism — though unvaccinated travelers will still be allowed into the country for “essential” trips as they have been for the last year and a half.

A second phase beginning in early January 2022 will require all visitors to be fully vaccinated to enter the United States by land, no matter the reason for their trip.

Source: AFP

US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a major new Covid vaccine donation for Africa and promised greater commitment to the continent as he welcomed his first African leader, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta.

Meeting at the White House, Biden and the Kenyan president promised to work together on climate change and ending violence on the Horn of Africa, although there appeared to be no headway on Kenya’s hopes on a trade deal.

Biden announced that the United States would immediately donate another 17 million doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the African Union, on top of 50 million doses already sent.

“As a continent we are lagging well behind the rest of the world in terms of being able to vaccinate our people,” Kenyatta told Biden in the Oval Office.

“So any additional support like the president just mentioned is greatly welcomed and we look forward to that continued partnership,” he said.

Biden has vowed a leadership role for Washington on vaccines at a time that infections remain stubbornly high in parts of the United States where people refuse widely available shots.

Most of sub-Saharan Africa has vaccination rates in the single digits, at the mercy of foreign donations due to the lack of indigenous production and prohibitive costs of mass purchases.

Kenyatta is the first African leader to visit Biden’s White House amid a slowdown of travel and summits as a Covid-19 precaution.

“I’m committed to further elevating our ties with Kenya and nations across Africa as a whole. But Kenya is the key,” Biden said.

‘Doing a good job’

Biden has promised a new focus on democracy after the courting of autocratic leaders by his predecessor Donald Trump — who also made no secret of his lack of interest in Africa.

Long seen as a pillar of stability, Kenya was wracked by political violence including after 2017 elections but Kenyatta has since made peace with his once-bitter rival Raila Odinga.

Kenyatta, who has vowed to fight corruption, came days after the Pandora Papers investigation which found that Kenyatta, together with six family members, owned a network of 11 offshore companies, one valued at $30 million.

Biden did not address the allegations during the brief appearance before reporters but called for “strengthening financial transparency” and praised Kenyatta’s record.

“I want to thank you for your leadership in defending the peace, security and democratic instincts of the region and your country,” Biden said. “You’re doing a good job.”

Aligned on climate, shift on trade

Kenya is the current president of the UN Security Council and in that capacity as pushed to end fighting in neighbouring Ethiopia, where hundreds of thousands of people are facing extreme hunger.

Kenya is a longstanding US security partner, working closely in another neighbor, Somalia, in combatting Al-Shabaab jihadists.

Kenyatta said he was speaking to Biden about the “fight against terrorism” but also about climate change, ahead of a high-stakes UN conference in Glasgow next month.

“Our country, our continent is the least in terms of emitting but pays the highest price,” Kenyatta said, welcoming Biden’s commitment on climate change since taking over from Trump.

Kenyatta also made a pitch on trade. The Trump administration began talks with Kenya on a free-trade deal; little progress was made but Biden has shown scant sign even of restarting talks amid a growing domestic backlash against big-ticket accords.

Trade “is vital not only in terms of further entrenching American interests on the continent but also in helping us achieve our social-economic agenda,” Kenyatta said.

A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Biden administration would be “working closely” with Kenya on trade but acknowledged: “We are thinking through how we approach foreign trade.”

Kenya is worried as the landmark African Growth and Opportunity Act, which lets sub-Saharan nations with good governance export without duties to the vast US market, is set to expire in 2025.

Source: AFP

At least 11 people were killed and seven others were missing after heavy rain across the Philippines flooded villages and triggered landslides, authorities said Tuesday.

Severe Tropical Storm Kompasu drenched swathes of the most populous island of Luzon on Monday as it swept across the archipelago nation towards the South China Sea.

Six people were killed and two missing in landslides in the landlocked mountainous province of Benguet, and one person drowned in the province of Cagayan, the national disaster agency said.

Four people were killed as flash floods hit two towns on the western island of Palawan, where five other people are still missing, officials added.

The coast guard said its personnel involved in the rescue effort also recovered three other bodies in the northern province of Ilocos Sur, but the disaster agency could not immediately confirm if the deaths were related to the storm.

“Eleven municipalities were flooded but it subsided this morning,” Cagayan provincial information officer Rogelio Sending told AFP.

Major highways and bridges were flooded, he said, but the water was retreating Tuesday as the storm bore down on the Asian mainland.

“Around seven to eight barangays (villages) are still flooded… due to clogged drainage or lack of drainage,” said Earl Timbancaya, a disaster officer in the city of Puerto Princesa on Palawan.

“But it’s subsiding now.”

The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms and typhoons every year, which typically wipe out harvests, homes and infrastructure in already impoverished areas.

Because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, climate change increases the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall.

Source: AFP

Since the pandemic hit in March 201, rich countries have been promising to take poorer nations under their wing. Countries like the US, the UK and Canada started buying up vaccines, promising to donate hundreds of millions of doses. They have not delivered on those promises though. Dozens of countries say COVAX, the organization in charge of the equitable distribution of vaccines, won’t even respond to calls or emails from top diplomats.

By the end of 2021, rich countries will have a stockpile of one billion spare COVID-19 doses. Here in Britain, with most adults double jabbed, more than a million people have now been offered a booster shot. But will 3 doses be enough protection here, when 98% of people in low-income countries remain unvaccinated.

All along the WHO has warned that the pandemic is not over anywhere, until it is over everywhere. Now it says the world stands on the precipice of failure, and that hoarding is not only immoral, but stupid.

Even many European countries lost hope in COVAX months ago; taking matters into their own hands. Countries like Russia and China were quick to fill orders from countries like Hungary and Slovakia that couldn’t wait for the European Union to deliver. But countries that can’t afford to pay are still waiting for handouts.

Source: Presstv

Three national US monuments will have their protected status restored Friday, continuing Joe Biden’s efforts to roll back the environmental policies of his predecessor.

Under Donald Trump protections around natural areas — often home to endangered species or archaeological sites — were rolled back, outraging conservationists and Native American communities.

“President Biden will sign three proclamations restoring protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments,” the White House said Thursday.

Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante will return to its original size of 1.87 million acres, after Trump cut about 45 percent of its land in 2017. Bears Ears will actually expand under Biden’s plans.

In maritime areas — Northeast Canyons and Seamounts — the capture of red crabs and American lobsters will be slowly reduced under new fishing protections, until the practice is banned there from September 2023.

Biden will sign the orders on Friday, US media reported.

The areas are home to more than 100,000 archaeological sites, including rock art that is at least 5,000 years old and the remains of 21 previously unknown dinosaur species.

Source: AFP