Foreign News
Israel Vows to Build Jewish Settlements, Rejects Macron’s Call for Palestinian State
“Do not threaten Israel with sanctions” as it will continue to build a “Jewish state” on the ground,” Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, warned on Friday.He also rebuffed a call by French President Emmanuel Macron for establishing a Palestinian State.In open defiance of international law, Katz claimed that world powers may recognize a Palestinian state “on paper.
”Katz made the remarks during a visit to Sa-Nur, an illegal outpost in the northern West Bank that the Tel Aviv government recently decided to officially designate as a settlement for illegal Israeli settlers. In a direct message, Defense Minister Israel Katz targets French President Macron and European allies.He also dismissed the potential international consequences.He said: “They will recognise a Palestinian state on paper, while we will build the Jewish Israeli state on the ground.“Don’t threaten us with sanctions. You will not make us bow.“The State of Israel will not kneel before threats.”His comments came hours after President Macron stated that recognising the State of Palestine was a “moral duty”.Macron also reiterated that France may move toward official recognition during an upcoming international conference focused on the two-state solution.Earlier this week, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the Israeli Security Cabinet had secretly approved the establishment of 22 new illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.In response, the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now issued a statement Thursday, revealing that 12 of the newly approved settlements were previously unauthorised outposts and farming sites established in recent years.According to Peace Now, there are currently 156 illegal settlements and 224 outposts across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with over 736,000 illegal Israeli settlers living on occupied Palestinian land.The international community, including the UN, considers the Israeli settlements illegal under international law.The UN has repeatedly warned that continued settlement expansion threatens the viability of a two-state solution, a framework seen as key to resolving the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.(AA/NAN)
A palliative care nurse in Germany has been sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of the murder of 10 patients and the attempted murder of 27 others.
Prosecutors alleged that the man, who has not been publicly named, injected his mostly elderly patients with painkillers or sedatives in an effort to ease his workload during shifts overnight.
The offences were committed between December 2023 and May 2024 in a hospital in Wuerselen, in western Germany.
Investigators are reported to be looking into several other suspicious cases during his career.
The unnamed man had been employed at the hospital in Wuerselen since 2020, after completing training as a nursing professional in 2007.
Prosecutors told a court in Aachen that he showed “irritation” and a lack of empathy to patients who required a higher level of care, and accused him of playing “master of life and death”.
The court was told that he injected patients with large doses of morphine and midazolam, a type of sedative, in an effort to reduce his workload during night shifts.
He was arrested in 2024.
When issuing the life sentence, the court said that the man’s crimes carried a “particular severity of guilt” which should bar him from early release after 15 years.
He will be able to appeal the verdict.
Prosecutors have said that exhumations are taking place to identify further potential victims, which could see the man put on trial again.
The case bears similarity to that of former nurse Niels Högel, who was handed a life sentence in 2019 after he was convicted of murdering 85 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany.
A court found that he administered lethal doses of heart medication to people in his care between 1999 and 2005.
He is believed to be the most prolific killer in Germany’s modern history.
Cameroon’s 92-year-old leader Paul Biya has been sworn in for another seven years as president in a ceremony at the country’s parliament in Yaoundé.
Biya won a controversial eighth term in a fiercely disputed election last month.
He has been in power for 43 years, and addressed only one campaign rally before the election.
The nonagenarian, the world’s oldest head of state, won 54% of the vote, compared to the 35% of Issa Tchiroma Bakary, according to the official results.
Tchiroma Bakary maintains he was the rightful winner of the poll and has accused the authorities of fraud, which they have denied.The announcement of the result led to major protests across the country.
From Dan Amasingha, Minna
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Niger State chapter has appealed to all the stakeholders in Niger State to ensure that November 1 local government polls are peaceful.Chairman of CAN in the state, Most Rev. Dr. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna called on residents to come out en masse to exercise their franchise during the local government council elections.
The State CAN Chairman advised that voter apathy is not a good sign for the process and urged residents to actively participate in the forthcoming Local Government Elections. Yohanna, who is also the Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese in a statement in Minna urged eligible voters who have registered to go get their Permanent Voter’s Card from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC office.According to him; “the 2025 local government elections are around the corner, I want to appeal to those who are yet to collect their PVCs to quickly collect them to avoid unnecessary rush and to regret in the future.”He therefore called on all Christian faithfuls to participate actively in the electoral process adding that “it is your civic right.”In his words, the Chairman said: “I call on all residents to participate in the November, 1st Chairmanship and Councillorship elections.“Let it be known that we are the determinants of who leads us at the local and grassroots levels. As Christians, we must participate actively in politics either as members of political parties or as electorates.“To avoid voter apathy, let us come out and vote in the people of our choice into various offices”.He admonished political parties to feed candidates that can provide basic amenities and meet the yearnings of the people.According to him, there is a need for all Bloc leaders both at the State and LGA level, leaders/heads of churches to call on their members not to sit on the fence but to participate actively and to ignore statements like “Votes do not count”.While calling on security personnel to discharge their duties, he appealed to Nigerlites to conduct themselves peacefully during and after the elections and avoid any acts that will bring about break down of law and order in the state.Bishop Yohanna also called on the INEC to publish and announce PVCs collection centres to enable those who registered online to pick up their cards.
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