WORKERS CAPITAL

Aging Europe: Rising costs threaten EU pensions

Nik Martin

DW

August 16, 2024

Europe's population is aging fast, forcing EU states to spend more on pension benefits. While governments want to raise the retirement age, savers are calling for a more flexible approach.

Eurobarometer data showed only 23% of EU residents have an occupational pension scheme

 Pond5 Images/IMAGO

Europe's demographic time bomb has been ticking for decades, with societies of European Union countries growing older and people living longer. More than a fifth of the European Union's population is now aged 65 or older. That figure is expected to reach a third by 2050. The World Health Organization warned last year that 2024 would mark the first time that over-65s would outnumber Europe's under-15 population.

Despite large increases in immigration over the past two decades, the continent still needs to attract enough workers whose taxes can help cover the growing cost of public pensions. Economists predict that by 2050, there will be less than two workers in Europe for every retiree, compared to three now.

Meanwhile, the annual public pension bill has reached more than 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 17 of the EU's 27 states — all but one of them in Western Europe. In Italy and Greece, pensions cost public finances more than 16% of GDP.

Raising retirement age irks workers

To help address the exorbitant and rising costs, several EU states have tinkered with their public pension systems, including by raising their retirement age. France, for example, faced months of angry protests last year over plans to force older workers to retire at 64, up from the current age of 62.

Other European countries have gone further, including the United Kingdom, which plans to keep people working until 68 from the mid-2040s onward. Women in Britain used to retire 5 to 7 years earlier than men, but a move to equalize the pension age sparked compensation demands for the affected women.

"The Dutch have recently reformed their pension system, but it's not achieving the set goals," Hans van Meerten, a European pension law professor at Utrecht University, told DW. "Also, in Germany, Belgium and many other European countries, I don't see the necessary reforms. They are digging their own graves."

Some EU states are raising retirement ages, so workers will have to wait longer for pensions

Andrey Popov/Depositphotos/IMAGO

Added to the strain on Europe's public finances, millions of people are still not saving enough in private or occupational pensions meant to complement their state pensions. Data from the Eurobarometer last year showed that only 23% of EU residents have an occupational pension scheme and just 19% own a personal pension product. The figures vary hugely between EU states.

A separate survey by the Insurance Europe trade body found that 39% of respondents are not saving for retirement — the figure was even higher among women and workers over 50. Many of those that do are frustrated with their investment outcomes.
Low returns, inflation hurt savers

"Over the past decade, Europe's pension crisis has significantly worsened due to persistently low real returns that have not been sufficient to outpace inflation," Arnaud Houdmont, director of communication at the Brussels-based investors' body Better Finance, told DW. "That has resulted in a substantial loss of purchasing power for savers."

Wealthy country, poor pensioners: Old age poverty in Germany  12:33

Analysis by the Finnish Centre for Pensions found that nominal returns on pensions worldwide averaged 8% last year. But after the decades-high inflation that followed the COVID-19 pandemic was taken into account, the returns were just 2%. Eurozone inflation peaked at 10.6% year on year in October 2022.

Houdmont said high fees, poor asset allocation and a lack of transparency in pension products were also to blame for lower returns.

Slow rollout of portable EU pension

To help address the savings shortfall, in March 2022, the EU introduced the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP). The scheme allows workers to build up an additional pension, which is fully portable when moving to other EU states. However, only one country — Slovakia — has rolled out the scheme.

"PEPP has been in force for two and a half years," van Meerten said. "But the big investment funds say they don't have the expertise to roll out PEPP products alone and are seeking other partners."

The problem, say some pension experts, is that PEPP is also overcomplicated and restrictive. PEPP is also seen as unwanted competition for investment funds like BlackRock or Fidelity, whose largest clients are large Dutch, Norwegian and German pension funds representing tens of millions of European savers.

The arrival of neobrokers like Trade Republic have helped more Europeans to save

Michael Bihlmayer/Chromorange/picture alliance

Van Meerten is advocating for PEPP to be simplified and more flexible as some EU countries don't give the new pension scheme the same tax advantages as other retirement savings products.

Several industries in EU states — from Germany's chemical and metal sectors to France's national railway operator — have their own occupational pension schemes. Almost 60% of German workers who pay social insurance contributions belong to such plans. These schemes often give savers, especially those with physically demanding jobs, the option of retiring early, among other perks.

Workers demand more pension flexibility

Consumers are demanding more flexibility in their investments and retirement age. The rise of neobrokers like Robinhood, eToro and Germany's Trade Republic, which give users the ability to manage their investments on smartphone apps, has somewhat usurped Europe's many cumbersome and overcomplicated pensions systems.

Traditional finance providers argue that mobile investment apps encourage users to take uninformed and unnecessary risks that could hurt their long-term returns, while advocates say they have made investing simple, cheaper and more transparent.

In the future, more EU governments could allow workers to put some of their state pension savings directly into the stock market, like Sweden, whose private pension funds have collectively negotiated lower fees that have helped retirement funds to grow.

Van Meerten thinks workers would be more motivated to save if they were given more say in how their investments are managed and when they retire.

"Do you want your savings to be green? Do you want to invest in Israel or not? Let the individual decide. Why should social partners or trade unions decide this for you?" he questioned, referring to union-run pension schemes.

Houdmont from Better Finance warned of a day of reckoning in the mid-term due to the "shifting burden" from public to private pension savings, which he said savers weren't ready for.

"There is a good chance that the next generation of Europeans will retire considerably poorer and later than their older peers," he said.

Edited by: Ashutosh Pandey

ANOTHER NATO SUCCESS

Is Libya on the brink of a new civil war?

Cathrin Schaer

DW

August 16, 2024

With two rival governments at either end of the country, ongoing political ruptures and, now, fresh military mobilization, there are fears Libya could be heading toward more violence and fighting.

Forces loyal to the Libyan government in the east were seen moving toward rival territory in the west last week, sparking fears of renewed fighting 

(2022 file photo)Image: Yousef Murad/AP Photo/picture alliance

Over the past week, various international bodies have sent out the alarm.

In a statement, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya said it was monitoring "with concern the recent mobilization of forces in various parts of Libya."

The organization, known as UNSMIL, urged "all parties to exercise maximum restraint and avoid any provocative military actions that could be perceived as offensive."

On Thursday, the Delegation of the European Union to Libya expressed similar concerns. "The use of force would harm stability in Libya and lead to human suffering. It should be avoided at all cost," it said in a statement.

Longtime Libya watchers were more direct, suggesting that, after around four years of relative calm in the country, civil war might be about to break out once again.

The warnings came in response to last week's large mobilization of militias affiliated with one of Libya's two rival administrations.

Since 2014, Libya has been split in two, with opposing governments located in the east and west of the country. A UN-backed administration known as the Government of National Unity, or GNU, is based in Tripoli in the west, and its rival, known as the House of Representatives, is based in the east, in Tobruk.

At various times over the last decade, each government has tried — and failed — to wrest control from the other.

The government in eastern Libya is supported by former warlord-turned-politician Khalifa Haftar, who controls various armed groups in his area. It was Haftar's forces that appeared to be moving toward Tripoli late last week. In 2019, Haftar attacked the city but was eventually forced to sign a cease-fire in 2020.

Haftar said troops under the command of his son, Saddam, were marching in order to secure Libyan borders, to fight drug and human trafficking and to combat terrorism. However, military analysts suspected other plans.

The government in western Libya is headed by Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, although recent political ruptures have endangered his position

Image: Yousef Murad/AP Photo/picture alliance

Haftar's forces have wanted control of Ghadames airport and its surroundings for some time, Jalel Harchaoui, a North Africa expert with UK-based think tank the Royal United Services Institute, told French newspaper Le Monde. Controlling Ghadames "would significantly enhance his territorial stature in relation to Algeria, Tunisia and Niger," said Harchaoui, and would also block access for the rival GNU.

If Haftar's troops seize Ghadames, it "would officially mark the collapse of the 2020 cease-fire," Tarek Megerisi, a Libya expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

In response to the troop movements, a range of other militias that support the Tripoli government in the west were told to increase their combat readiness.
Will there be another Libyan civil war?

The day after Haftar's mobilization was sighted, a clash between two militias in Tajoura, on the coastal outskirts of Tripoli, left at least nine dead. However, local media later reported this had been motivated by an assassination attempt on one of the militia leaders.

And this week, the situation in Libya seems to have calmed again. But the danger remains, experts told DW.

Libya has experienced political instability since the end of the 42-year dictatorship headed by Moammar Gadhafi (pictured) in 2011

Image: Abdel Magid Al Fergany/AP Photo/picture alliance

Emadeddin Badi, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who focuses on Libya, sees Haftar's latest moves as a kind of ongoing "brinkmanship."

"Many of the actors [in Libya] are engaging in this, to see how far they could go in kind of taunting, or sidelining, or undermining their opponents," he said. "A zero-sum mentality still prevails," he added, referring to the fact that opposing factions in Libya believe that one of them must eventually run the country, as opposed to working together for unity.

"Libya continues to unravel quietly, with indications mounting that rival governments are regrouping for something big," Hafed al-Ghwell, executive director of the North Africa Initiative at Johns Hopkins University's Foreign Policy Institute in Washington, wrote in an op-ed for the website Euronews last week. With all of the different militias, Libya is in danger of becoming a "mafia state," he said.

Foreign interference keeping Libya from the brink?

Both Libyan governments are also supported by an array of foreign powers. The government in the west is backed by Turkey; the administration to the east by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Russia. Previously, the UN and others have pushed for various international backers of the two sides in Libya and their soldiers to leave the country.

There have been regular clashes between militias competing for power since 2020, but the situation has mostly been calmer

Image: AA/picture alliance

However, as Badi explained, their presence is probably preventing further violence in Libya right now. "Ironically, the only thing that has really prevented a relapse into all-out war is foreign influence in the country," Badi told DW. "A balance of forces exists between the Turks and the Russians and others, and there's a loose geopolitical understanding about not engaging in full-scale conflict again."

Attempts to unite the two halves of the country by, for example, holding a national election, unifying security forces, administrative functions or a national budget, or setting up an interim unity government, have come to nothing. In fact, the international community has become accustomed to dealing with two administrations when working with Libya on oil supply or migration issues.

But analysts like Badi, al-Ghwell and Megerisi have all argued that simply accepting the status quo in Libya — where there are two separate governments supported by increasingly mafia-like militias — no longer works.

"Actors [in Libya] have been emboldened through the impunity that they have been afforded by the international community," said Badi.

"Libya has largely been neglected by the international community since 2021 and many have deluded themselves into thinking that Libya could remain stable in the long run, either with this status quo or through facilitating deals between the factions that have carved the country up for themselves. But this policy of pretending that conflict can be contained, is not working," he said.

"And that mirage — that Libya is fine, it's stable — is slowly collapsing right now."

Edited by: Martin Kuebler

Fire contained at historic London arts centre

London (AFP) – Priceless artworks housed in London's Somerset House, including paintings by Van Gogh and Monet, were unaffected by a fire that erupted at the historic building on Saturday, according to the gallery.


Issued on: 17/08/2024 - 

Smoke rises from a fire located in the roof of Somerset House beside the River Thames 

© James RYBACKI / AFP

Around 125 firefighters and 20 engines worked to tamp out the flames that ripped through the roof of the western wing, bringing the blaze at the more than 450-year-old site under control before 7:00 pm (1800 GMT).

"The fire at #SomersetHouse is now under control and investigations into the cause will begin," the London Fire Brigade posted on social media site X.

The neoclassical cultural complex stretching along the Thames River was meant to be hosting a breakdancing competition on Saturday when a column of smoke began wafting above the centre, prompting dozens of calls to the fire department.

"The fire was located in part of the building's roof space," London Fire Brigade's Assistant Commissioner Keeley Foster told reporters from outside the landmark, according to a statement.

"The age and design of the building proved a challenge for crews as they initially responded."

There were no reports of injuries as staff and visitors had left the building by the time fire crews arrived, the brigade added.

Home to Queen Elizabeth I before she was crowned in 1558 and to Anne of Denmark, Somerset House said in a notice on its website that it "will remain closed until further notice".

The landmark cultural complex in the heart of London hosts a range of creative businesses and arts spaces, including the Courtauld Gallery, which counts Vincent van Gogh's "Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear" among the masterpieces in its collection.

"The Courtauld Gallery has not been directly impacted by the fire and it will remain open," the Somerset House statement said.

Footage taken from central London showed thick plumes of smoke rising above the building, which stretches for around 180 metres along the banks of the River Thames.

The courtyard of the grand building hosts music gigs in the summer and a popular ice rink in the winter, appearing in the 2003 film "Love Actually".

It also appeared in the 2008 movie "The Duchess", starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes, as well as Tim Burton's 1999 horror movie "Sleepy Hollow" and two James Bond films.

"Crews have been working incredibly hard through the very hot weather and heat of the fire to protect Somerset House from further damage," Assistant Commissioner Foster said.

"Crews will remain on scene into tomorrow, carrying out further operations."

© 2024 AFP

ZIONIST IMPERIALISM DECLARES WAR 

Palestinians say two dead in Israel West Bank drone strike

Nablus (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Palestinian officials said two people were killed in an Israeli air strike in the occupied West Bank on Saturday that the Israeli military said targeted a "terrorist cell" in the Jenin area.

Issued on: 17/08/2024 - 

First responders gather around a car hit by an Israeli drone strike in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin 

© MOHAMMAD MANSOUR / AFP

"Two bodies were transferred to Jenin public hospital after the occupiers (Israeli forces) bombed a car in the centre of the city," the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the strike was carried out by an "Israeli drone".

The military said in a statement that it had carried out an "air strike on a terrorist cell in the Jenin area".

Video footage posted online showed a vehicle on fire in the middle of a street, while some images showed a crowd around a charred car, trying to open the doors.

"There are dead people in the car," shouts a man as a stretcher is brought by rescue workers.

The Palestinian health ministry said two people were killed in the strike, which the Israeli military said targeted a "terrorist cell"

 © MOHAMMAD MANSOUR / AFP

Since Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, violence has flared in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 and separated geographically from Gaza by Israeli territory.

Since October 7, at least 635 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers, according to an AFP count based on Palestinian official figures.

During the same period, at least 18 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks, according to Israeli official figures.

Israeli strike on Gaza leaves 18 members of same family dead

Issued on: 17/08/2024 

Video by:|FRANCE 24

An Israeli airstrike Saturday killed at least 18 people, all from the same family, in the Gaza Strip. The attack came days after the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza announced the death toll surpassed 40,000 in the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war, and just hours after officials from the United States, Egypt and Qatar wrapped up two days of cease-fire talks with a message of hope that a deal could be reached.

Gaza war elevates danger of a polio outbreak

By Mike Heuer

More than 640,000 children in Gaza need two doses of the polio vaccine to prevent an outbreak in the war-torn area, the United Nations says. 

File Photo by Marshall Wolfe/EPA-EFE

Aug. 17 (UPI) -- The war in Gaza has prevented Hamas from vaccinating local children against the disease as displaced Palestinians crowd into tent encampments 10 months after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

Wastewater tests in July revealed the existence of the virus that causes polio in Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah.

One person has tested positive for the disease that the Mayo Clinic said is an illness caused by a virus and primarily affects the nerves in the brain stem and spinal cord.

The World Health Organization said vaccinations eradicated polio in Gaza but the war has created a breeding ground for the virus that causes polio.

Related

Rebuilding Gaza was 'Herculean' task before war; crises will outlive bombing

Gaza cease-fire talks resume as health ministry says 40,000 Palestinians dead

U.S., Egypt, Qatar call on Israel and Hamas to resume cease-fire talks

"The impact on the health system, insecurity, inaccessibility, population displacement and shortages of medical supplies have contributed to reduced immunization rates," the U.N. agencies reported.

"Coupled with poor quality of water and destruction of sanitation, there is a heightened risk of vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio and other outbreaks."

The WHO and UNICEF said the war needs to be paused to effectively vaccinate more than 640,000 children under 10 in Gaza. Each would need two doses of the polio vaccine type 2 to effectively protect children against polio.

Polio can cause partial paralysis and might lead to troubled breathing and death for those afflicted with it, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The United Nations said the vaccinations only could be done when the "safe and sustained access of protection of health workers" is assured.

U.N. agencies say only 16 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are "partially functional" while 48 out of 109 primary healthcare facilities are operational.

Before the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, about 99% of Gazans were vaccinated against polio, but that percentage dropped to less than 90% during the first quarter of 2024, the WHO and UNICEF reported.

Polio cases decreased from 350,000 globally in 1988 to only 12 in 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

Before polio vaccines became available in the 1950s, polio paralyzed more than 15,000 people each year in the United States.

Shock, grief as Israeli Lebanon strike kills 10 Syrians

Wadi al-Kafur (Lebanon) (AFP) – Sobbing relatives thronged Sheikh Ragheb Hospital Saturday after an Israeli air strike killed 10 Syrians, including two children, who had escaped war at home only to die in south Lebanon.


Issued on: 17/08/2024 - 

Relatives mourn over the bodies of four members of one family killed in the air strike © Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP


The early morning strike hit a building in the Wadi al-Kafur area of Nabatieh, killing the 10 including a mother and her two children, Lebanon's health ministry said.

Israel's military said aircraft had struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.

At the hospital, relatives and friends of the victims expressed shock and anger at their sudden deaths, with women dressed in black weeping and wailing.

"Two of my sister's children were killed, another is in intensive care, and my other nephew is also in intensive care," said Hussein Al-Hussein, holding back tears as he listed relatives killed or wounded in the strike.

"They were sleeping, they didn't know anything. They were young labourers, and the Israeli air force targeted them."

The civilian toll from the strike was one of the highest in southern Lebanon since Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging near daily cross-border fire during the Gaza war.

The official Lebanese National News Agency reported that the casualties were Syrian refugees and labourers working at the factory that had been hit.

Inspecting the damage after the deadly air strike © Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP

Israel's military, on its Telegram channel, said its air force had struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility overnight "in the area of Nabatieh", about 12 kilometres (seven miles) from the border with Israel.

Omar al-Shahud, who works in the factory, said he was lucky to escape death because he did not live in the targeted annexe.

"Six of my relatives were killed. They had nothing to do with" the war, he said in an angry voice.

"They were workers who came here to earn a living."
In red shrouds

In a nearby room, crying relatives mourned a family of four: the factory building's concierge, his wife and two children aged four and one and a half, a family member told AFP.

Their bodies were shrouded in red cloth and adorned with flowers.

Lebanon has long heavily relied on Syrians for manual labour, especially in agriculture and construction.

A medic treats a man wounded in the air strike © Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP

Beirut says it currently hosts around two million Syrians -- with almost 785,000 registered with the United Nations.

Earlier in August, the health ministry said four Syrians were killed in an Israeli strike on the south.

The cross-border violence between Lebanon and Israel has killed 581 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but including at least 128 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.

At the site of Saturday's strike, concrete rubble, metal wreckage and a few items of children's clothing and shoes was all that was left of the building that was targeted.

Standing beside his bombed-out factory, Hussein Tahmaz insisted the facility was "100 percent civilian".

He pointed to the wreckage of a red truck.

"Here we used to park and load our goods," Tahmaz said.

The building that was hit was an annexe to a two-storey factory warehouse where the concierge, his small family, and workers lived, mayor Khodr Saad told AFP.

"What did these children do to deserve this? They fled their country to escape death, only to find it here," he said.

© 2024 AFP

Israeli strike kills 10 Syrians in southern Lebanon, health ministry says


Issued on: 17/08/2024 


Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli air strike on Saturday in southern Lebanon killed 10 Syrian civilians, as the Israeli military reported hitting weapons stores of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. "The significance of this [attack] is that you're seeing a similar number of civilians and what that lets you know is there’s going to be an escalation and indeed that have been dozens of rockets that have been fired into Israel in the hour since we’ve learnt that news”, FRANCE 24’s Irris Makler said, reporting from Jerusalem.

© 2024 AFP

FINALLY THE TRUTH BE TOLD 

Hamas official dismisses US optimism over ceasefire deal

(AFP) – A senior Hamas official on Saturday dismissed optimistic talk by US President Joe Biden that a Gaza truce is nearer after negotiations in the Gulf emirate of Qatar.


Issued on: 17/08/2024 - 

Palestinians inspect the site of a deadly Israeli strike in Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip © Eyad BABA / AFP


"To say that we are getting close to a deal is an illusion," Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP. "We are not facing a deal or real negotiations, but rather the imposing of American diktats."

He was responding to Biden's comment Friday that "We are closer than we have ever been."

Biden spoke after two days of talks in Qatar where Washington tried to bridge differences between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas which have been at war for more than 10 months in the Gaza Strip.

Previous optimism during months of on-off truce talks has proven unfounded.

But the stakes have risen significantly since the late July killings in quick succession of Fuad Shukr, a top operations chief of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Their deaths prompted promises of retaliation from Iran and Hezbollah and fears of a wider Middle East war.

Trying to avert a broader conflict, Western and Arab diplomats have been shuttling around the region to push for a Gaza deal which they say could help avert a wider conflagration.

Children sit in the back of a small vehicle piled high with belongings as their family flees fighting in the Deir el-Balah district of the central Gaza Strip © Eyad BABA / AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed back to the region this weekend in a bid to help seal a deal.

Hamas officials have objected to "new conditions" from Israel in the latest proposal drawn up by Washington.

Israel's delegation expressed "cautious optimism" about the prospects for an agreement after returning from Doha, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Saturday.

"There is hope that the heavy pressure on Hamas from the United States and mediators will lead to the removal of their opposition to the American proposal, potentially allowing a breakthrough in the negotiations," it said.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy urged all parties to "engage positively and flexibly" in the negotiations.

"We underline the importance of avoiding any escalatory action in the region which would undermine the prospect for peace," they added.

"There is too much at stake."

Strikes in Lebanon, Gaza

As efforts towards a truce continued, so did the killing in Gaza and Lebanon.

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli air strike in the southern Nabatieh area killed 10 Syrians, including a woman and her two children.

A man inspects the damage after an Israeli strike, which Lebanese authorities said killed 10 Syrian refugees in the Nabatieh area of the south © Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP

The strike was among the deadliest in south Lebanon since the onset of near-daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah following the start of the Gaza war.

Israel's military said it struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.

In Hamas-run Gaza, the civil defence authority said an Israeli air strike killed 15 people from a single Palestinian family. The deaths in Al-Zawaida helped push the Gaza health ministry's war death toll to 40,074.

"We are in the morgue seeing indescribable scenes of limbs and severed heads and children who are dismembered," said Omar al-Dreemli, a relative.

Israel's military told AFP that overnight its forces had struck "terrorist infrastructure" in central Gaza from which rockets were being fired.

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike in Al-Zawaida, central Gaza, which the civil defence agency said killed 15 people from a Palestinian family © Eyad BABA / AFP

"Reports were received that as a result of the strike, civilians in an adjacent structure were killed. The incident is under review," it said.

The war has destroyed much of Gaza's housing and healthcare infrastructure, leaving children vulnerable to preventable diseases.

The United Nations appealed Friday for seven-day pauses in the fighting so it could vaccinate children against polio, as the Palestinian health ministry reported Gaza's first polio case in 25 years.

'Bring them home'

Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead. More than 100 were freed during a one-week truce in November.

The Israeli military says 332 soldiers have been killed in the Gaza campaign since the ground offensive began on October 27.

In Israel, Blinken will seek to "conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees", the State Department said.

Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators are working to finalise details of a framework agreement initially outlined by Biden in May. He said Israel had proposed it.

Israelis in the northern port city of Haifa demonstrate in support of a deal that will bring Israeli hostages home © AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP

Thousands rallied in Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities on Saturday demanding a deal that would bring home the remaining Gaza hostages.

"We all know there's a real possibility for a deal," said Mor Korngold, hostage Tal Shoham's brother.

"These are crucial hours for my brother, for the hostages, for the soldiers, for those displaced from their homes, for the entire country."

In a joint statement after two days of talks in Qatar, the mediators said they would meet in Cairo "before the end of next week", hoping to seal an agreement.
Gazans on the move again

As truce talks took place, thousands of civilians were on the move again after the Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders ahead of imminent action in central-southern Gaza.

"During each round of negotiations, they exert pressure by forcing evacuations and committing massacres," said Issa Murad, a Palestinian displaced to Deir el-Balah.

Over the past day, troops expanded operations around Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis including by "eliminating" militants who had fired munitions toward Nirim, just outside Gaza, Israel's military said Saturday.

Witnesses told AFP air strikes hit the Hamad residential towers in the city's northwest.

In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said two people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a car in the northern city of Jenin that Israel's military said targeted a "terrorist cell".

burs-lb-it/kir/srm

Blinken returns to Israel in Gaza truce push as Hamas rejects US ‘diktats’

By AFP
August 18, 2024


Smoke billows over the Hamad residential towers in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Yunis after an Israeli bombardment on Saturday © Bashar TALEB / AFP


US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due in Israel on Sunday as mediators seek to cement a Gaza ceasefire deal, while a senior Hamas official dismissed “American diktats” in negotiations.

Making his ninth trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war broke out with the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack, Blinken is expected to meet Israeli leaders before truce talks resume in Cairo in the coming days.

US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have said negotiations to clinch a ceasefire in the more than 10-month-old war were making progress, and US President Joe Biden said “we are closer than we have ever been”.

But Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri undercut the cautious optimism, telling AFP that signs of progress after two days of talks in Doha were “an illusion”.

“We are not facing a deal or real negotiations, but rather the imposing of American diktats,” he said.

Previous optimism during months of on-off truce talks has proven unfounded.

But the stakes have risen since the late July killings in quick succession of Iran-backed militant leaders, including Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, and as the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip has deepened with a feared polio outbreak.

After mediators announced they had put forward a “bridging proposal” to close remaining gaps between the warring sides, Hamas said it rejected “new conditions” from Israel and called for a plan outlined by Biden in late May to be implemented.

Before Blinken departed for Tel Aviv on Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office called for “heavy pressure” on Hamas to reach a breakthrough.

The Palestinian group as well as some analysts and Israeli protesters have accused Netanyahu of hamstringing a deal to safeguard his hard-right ruling coalition.

“We have a prime minister that is not so much willing to release the hostages, to finish the war, because he has he own interests,” Yossi, a 53-year-old protester, said as thousands rallied in Tel Aviv demanding a deal to bring home the captives still held in Gaza.


– Strikes in Lebanon, Gaza –


As efforts towards a long-sought truce continued, so has the violence in Gaza but also in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Lebanon, where Hamas ally Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces throughout the war.

Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli air strike on Saturday in the Nabatieh area killed 10 Syrians, including a woman and her two children, one of the deadliest attacks on south Lebanon since October.

Israel’s military said it struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.

In Hamas-run Gaza, the civil defence agency said an Israeli air strike killed 15 people from a single Palestinian family.

“We are in the morgue seeing indescribable scenes of limbs and severed heads and children who are dismembered,” said Omar al-Dreemli, a relative.

The Israeli military told AFP its forces had targeted rocket launchers in central Gaza and that it was looking into “reports… that as a result of the strike, civilians in an adjacent structure were killed”.

The deaths in Al-Zawaida helped push the Gaza health ministry’s war death toll to 40,074.

Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

The war has destroyed much of Gaza’s housing and healthcare infrastructure, leaving children vulnerable to preventable diseases.

The United Nations appealed Friday for seven-day pauses in the fighting so it could vaccinate children against polio, as the Palestinian health ministry reported Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years.

– ‘Conclude the agreement’ –

Iran and its regional allies have vowed retaliation for Haniyeh’s death in Tehran, an attack which Israel has not claimed responsibility for, and for an Israeli strike in Beirut that killed a top Hezbollah commander.

Western and Arab diplomats have been shuttling around the region to push for a Gaza deal which they see as the best way to avert a wider conflagration following the high-profile killings.

In Israel, Blinken will seek to “conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees”, the State Department said.

The proposed deal, which Biden outlined on May 31 but attributed to Israel, would freeze fighting for an initial six weeks and lead to the release of hostages and prisoners.

During Hamas’s October 7 attack, militants seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead. More than 100 were freed during a one-week truce in November.

In Gaza, civilians have been on the move again after the Israeli military issued fresh evacuation orders.

“During each round of negotiations, they exert pressure by forcing evacuations and committing massacres,” said Issa Murad, a Palestinian displaced to cental Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.

Israeli troops have also expanded operations around Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis, Israel’s military said Saturday.

In the West Bank, Israel said late Saturday it had killed “two senior Hamas officials” in Jenin.

Hamas’s armed wing confirmed the deaths of Ahmad Abu Ara and Raafat Dawasi, saying they had been responsible “for planning and executing several qualitative operations”.

burs-lb/ami

Turkey battles forest fires for third day

Izmir (Turkey) (AFP) – Firefighters were battling a strong forest fire in Turkey's Aegean city of Izmir for a third day on Saturday, AFP reporters said, a day after hundreds of local people in nearby villages had to be evacuated.


Issued on: 17/08/2024

Firefighters battle a strong forest fire in Turkey's Aegean city of Izmir for a third day 

Firefighters said they had partially beaten back the flames that have been threatening the port city over the last three days, although fires were still burning in the nearby forests.

In the northern suburb of Ornekkoy, AFP journalists saw the charred remains of several buildings and vehicles in an industrial zone while grey smoke billowed into the sky.

"We don't know what to do. Our workplace is located in the middle of the fire. We have lost our livelihood," said 48-year-old Hanife Erbil, who earns a living collecting paper and plastic waste.

Firefighters battle a strong forest fire in Turkey's Aegean city of Izmir for a third day

The pine trees that once crowned the surrounding hills were also burned.

"It was such a beautiful route, it smelled of pine trees everywhere. It makes me want to cry," said taxi driver Ayhan.

The smell of smoke was hanging over the city, the third most-populated in Turkey.

Firefighters from other Turkish cities have been sent as reinforcements and the army has been mobilised.

"Everyone is working hard. I'm on my 36th hour of service. We can say the fire is partially under control," said Izmir firefighter Arjin Erol.

-Evacuations-

The fire started on Thursday and spread quickly to residential areas by winds blowing at 50 kilometres (30 miles) an hour.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 900 residents in five affected districts had been evacuated Friday night in Izmir.

The fire in the western province of Izmir damages houses 

On Saturday, those villages remained empty for security reasons, except for a handful of volunteers who left food and water for animals living in the forest, AFP journalists saw.

Wild animals, cats and dogs died in the fire but no human victim has yet been reported.

The fire damaged 16 buildings and affected 78 people, with 29 of them admitted to hospital, the Turkish health ministry said.

"Currently, two planes and eleven helicopters are continuing to intervene," said Agriculture and Forestry Ministry Ibrahim Yumakli, after the strong winds had earlier grounded the helicopters and water bombers.

Residents of the city should not be worried, he added.

Four helicopters were dropping water on the flames throughout the day, backed by two planes, AFP journalists witnessed.

Around 1,600 hectares (3,900 acres) have been affected, the minister said, adding that the challenging terrain was making it difficult to put out the fire at its origin.

- Fresh flames-

Five other fires continue to rage in forest areas in other cities in Turkey, including northwestern Bolu and Aydin in the west.

And new fires broke out again in Izmir late on Saturday engulfing several districts including Bayindir and the popular holiday resort of Cesme, local mayor Cemil Tugay said on social media.

The authorities have controlled the fire in Cesme that lies across the Greek island of Chios, he said.

Officials said seven people were detained in Izmir over alleged links to the fire.

To come to the a

id of its regional ally, Azerbaijan has sent a water bomber plane, the Turkish presidency announced.

Scientists say climate change makes extreme weather events including heatwaves more likely, longer lasting and more intense, increasing the risk of wildfires.

In June, a fire that broke out in Mardin in southeastern Turkey claimed the lives of 15 people.

Observers ho

wever say Turkey has made progress since it was hit by the worst fires in its history in 2021.

At the time President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government was criticised for its failure to mobilise due to a lack of planes and helicopters.

PHOTO © Yasin AKGUL / AFP

© 2024 AFP

Thousands of wildfire evacuees return to Jasper, Canada

Agence France-Presse
August 17, 2024 

Smoke rises from a wildfire burning in Canada's Jasper National Park in July 2024, in a photo released by the park (Handout)

Thousands of residents who evacuated Jasper, a beloved tourist town in western Canada partly destroyed by a massive wildfire, were able to return Friday, authorities said.

Approximately 25,000 residents and tourists were forced to flee the area three weeks ago as the fire suddenly swelled, outpacing firefighters' capabilities.

"It will be long, it will be difficult," Mayor Richard Ireland said on social media Friday, adding that "we will rebuild, side by side, stronger than ever."

The fire, touched off by lightning strikes in the drought-stricken area, destroyed more than 350 of the 1,100 buildings in the town, which is home to some 5,000 people.

As of Thursday evening, the fire was estimated to be 33,000 hectares (13,400 acres) in size, the biggest in a century to hit vast Jasper National Park, which attracts some 2.5 million tourists a year.

The fire could burn for months more, authorities have warned, scorching a region known as one of Canada's natural gems, which is famed for its scenic mountains, lakes, waterfalls and glaciers.

Returning has proven difficult for some residents, who came home to discover their town scarred and defaced.

"As you enter into the town and see the fire residue, and everything around it, that is when it becomes emotional," Clara Adriano, whose business was destroyed, told public broadcaster CBC.

In total there are 104 active fires in the province of Alberta.

Canada's western region has been hard-hit by wildfires this summer.

Repeated heat waves and dry conditions, both likely linked to global climate change, are believed to be key factors, scientists say.

Venezuelan opposition, regime backers to hold rival protests


By AFP
August 17, 2024


Venezuelans in Mexico protest on August 10. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has called demonstrations Saturday for more than 300 cities in Venezuela and abroad - Copyright AFP/File ALFREDO ESTRELLA
Andrea TOSTA

Venezuela’s opposition and regime supporters will vie for the streets of Caracas Saturday in rival demonstrations amid a political crisis sparked by the election victory claimed by strongman Nicolas Maduro but widely rejected at home and abroad.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has called demonstrations for more than 300 cities in Venezuela and abroad, what she called a “Protest for the Truth.”

On Friday, she urged supporters to “keep up the fight.”

Anti-Maduro protests have claimed 25 lives so far, with nearly 200 injured and more than 2,400 arrested since the July 28 vote that both the president and opposition say they had won.

Machado, who had her presidential candidacy blocked by institutions loyal to Maduro, will be at the Caracas march despite having been largely in hiding since election day.

Maduro had called for Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who replaced her on the ballot, to be arrested. He accuses them of seeking to foment a “coup d’etat.”

Venezuela’s CNE electoral council proclaimed Maduro the winner of a third six-year term until 2031, giving him 52 percent of votes cast on July 28 but without providing a detailed breakdown of the results.

The opposition says polling station-level results show Gonzalez Urrutia took more than two-thirds of the vote.



– ‘Lies, repression, violence’ –



Maduro’s victory claim has been rejected by the United States, European Union and several Latin American countries.

Machado called in a live Instagram broadcast Friday for people to “keep up the fight” and stand strong against Maduro’s strategy of “demoralization” through “lies, repression, violence.”

Neighbors Colombia and Brazil on Thursday called for fresh elections in Venezuela, but Machado said this would show “a lack of respect” for the popular will already expressed on July 28.

On Friday, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, traditionally a leftist ally of Maduro, took a harsh tone, describing the regime in Caracas as “very unpleasant” as he insisted it release a detailed vote breakdown.

In a radio interview, Lula declined to label the Maduro government a dictatorship, but said it had an “authoritarian bias.”

The Organization of American States approved a resolution in Washington Friday urging Caracas to “expeditiously publish the presidential election records, including the voting results at the level of each polling station.”

And in a joint statement Friday, the European Union and 22 countries called for an “impartial verification” of the election outcome.



– Cyber ‘attack’ –



The CNE says it has been unable to release the results due to a “cyber terrorist attack” on its systems, though the Carter Center observer mission has said there was no evidence for such a claim.

The opposition, for its part, says it has had access to 80 percent of paper ballots cast, which show that Gonzalez Urrutia won handily.

The ruling “Chavista” movement, named after Maduro’s socialist predecessor Hugo Chavez, has also called demonstrations for Saturday in Caracas “in support of the victory” of the president in office since 2013.

Maduro has asked the Supreme Court, also said to be loyal to him, to “certify” the election result.

“Venezuela’s conflicts… are resolved among Venezuelans, with their institutions, with their law, with their Constitution,” he insisted on Thursday.

Maduro’s reelection to a second term in 2018 was also rejected as illegitimate by most Western and Latin American countries.

Trump's strategy on climate? Amplify myths about Harris

Washington (AFP) – An unrelentingly bitter US presidential race, defined by name-calling, attack ads and stunted campaigning, has so far left little space for discussion about climate change, despite the world experiencing unprecedented heat and disasters.

Issued on: 18/08/2024 -

US Vice President Kamala Harris at the COP28 United Nations climate summit in Dubai on December 2, 2023 © Karim SAHIB / AFP/File


But with Donald Trump now facing Kamala Harris rather than Joe Biden, the Republican has used recent rallies to echo misinformation and memes on X, including fictional bans on red meat and gas stoves.

The aim? To undermine Harris.

"Kamala called for slashing consumption of red meat to fight climate change," Trump said during a July 27 rally in the state of Minnesota.

The Democratic nominee would "get rid of all cows … and I guess that at some point, they'll go after the humans," the former president added, echoing "depopulation" conspiracy theories that have plagued Harris in right-wing spaces since she waded into the topic of "climate anxiety" among younger generations at a White House press conference last year.

J.D. Vance, Trump's running mate, amplified the claims in an August 3 speech in Atlanta, saying Harris "wants to take away your gas stoves, she even wants to take away your ability to eat red meat."

Such climate myths took on a life of their own on X, encouraged by conservative commentators in swing states and MAGA accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers.

However, Harris made no such campaign promise.

She has cooked with a gas stove herself and noted in a 2019 environmental panel that she "love(s) cheeseburgers from time to time," although she has supported the idea of updating dietary guidelines.

"A tried-and-true tactic in politics is to misrepresent your opponent's positions to make them sound extreme and unacceptable. Trump and Vance are doing exactly that with Vice President Harris's positions on climate action," said Edward Maibach, director of George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication.
Harris's climate record

The false narratives add onto Trump and Vance's criticism of the vice president's stance on issues such as fracking, a violently disruptive underground oil and gas extraction technique.

Harris initially advocated banning the practice in 2019 before becoming Biden's running mate in 2020. She has more recently sought to avoid questions about it, particularly in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania where fracking is big business.

Still, climate activists have mostly saluted Harris, whose environmental stance has historically been to the left of the president -- notably in going after oil companies as California attorney general.

The Biden administration also pushed a renewable energy shift in passing the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in reducing carbon pollution in US history.

A supporter holds up a sign as former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leaves after casting his vote in Florida's primary election on August 14, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida © CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP

Trump has vehemently opposed the legislation, adopting the slogan "drill, baby, drill" to sum up his fossil fuel-friendly approach.

The League of Conservation Voters, an environmental advocacy group, told AFP the Trump campaign's amplification of misinformation on "widespread bans" constitutes "ridiculous scare tactics" perpetrated to undermine recent "climate progress."
Potential to 'backfire'

Responding to AFP's request for comment, Harris spokeswoman Lauren Hitt did not address specific claims from Trump and his running mate, but said the Democrat "is focused on a future where all Americans have clean air, clean water, and affordable, reliable energy."

Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly dismissed the threats of climate change.

"The biggest threat is not global warming, where the ocean is going to rise one-eighth of an inch over the next 400 years," he told Elon Musk on X in mid-August. Musk officially endorsed Trump in July.

More than a third of registered voters disagree, saying global warming is very important to their vote in the 2024 election, according to a recent survey from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

"I suspect the tactic will backfire with a relatively smaller number of uncommitted voters, most of whom are concerned about climate change," Maibach said.

"Trump and Vance attacking VP Harris on her climate positions will hurt them more than help them."

© 2024 AFP

Harris in campaign dash before protest-shadowed convention


By AFP
August 18, 2024 

A Chicago police officer photographs people posing before a mural of US Vice President Kamala Harris outside the United Center ahead of the Democratic National Convention - Copyright AFP Charly TRIBALLEAU

Danny KEMP

Kamala Harris takes her surging US presidential campaign on a battleground bus tour Sunday, before heading to the Democratic National Convention for a star turn that will be shadowed by protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

The vice president, riding a wave of enthusiasm after replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket less than a month ago, will dash to the swing state of Pennsylvania to push her case against Republican rival Donald Trump.

Then the 59-year-old will jet to Chicago for a rapturous reception from Democrats, who have dared to hope again after an astonishing turnaround which has seen Harris wipe out Trump’s lead in the polls.

Security will however be tight with tens of thousands of protesters expected to rally from Sunday and then on every day of the convention against the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza.

The demonstrations are expected to begin on Sunday and continue on Thursday, with major gatherings scheduled for Monday and Wednesday in particular.

The four-day Democratic bonanza comes hot on the heels of one of the most tumultuous election cycles in memory, including an assassination attempt on Trump and the 81-year-old Biden’s stunning withdrawal.

The 78-year-old Trump has struggled to adapt to a shake-up which has suddenly made him, instead of Biden, the oldest presidential candidate in US history.

Trump has lashed out at Harris with increasingly bizarre personal insults despite appeals by Republicans to stick to the issues.

As he too headed to Pennsylvania for a rally on Saturday, the former president doubled down on his confrontational style, saying that he was “much better looking” than Harris and branding her a “lunatic.”

Pennsylvania, in the US rust belt, is perhaps the most prized of all the swing states that could define the 2024 race and the candidates are making repeated visits there.

New Democratic standard-bearer Harris was squeezing in some crucial campaigning with running mate Tim Walz on Sunday, launching a bus tour from Pittsburgh before making multiple stops across western Pennsylvania to woo blue-collar voters.



– ‘Decency and dignity’ –



All eyes will turn on Monday to the Chicago convention, which is Harris’s big chance to tell her story to an American public that is still getting to know the candidate after her rapid rise from being merely Biden’s vice president.

Harris is due to speak on the final day on Thursday, but CNN reported that she will also appear on stage with Biden when he gives his speech on Monday, in a show of unity despite the president’s new lame-duck status.

The ageing president is reportedly still frustrated by the way Democrats pushed him out after a catastrophic debate performance against Trump in June.

But Biden is expected to focus on passing the torch and on the threat to democracy posed by Trump as he seeks to cement his legacy by helping his vice president to victory.

He will be backing the new nominee as well as trumpeting his own administration’s successes in recovering from the Covid pandemic and “restoring decency and dignity to the White House,” the campaign said.

Biden will “make the case for Vice President Kamala Harris” and “highlight the stakes of the election for all Americans,” it added.

First Lady Jill Biden will also take to the stage on Monday, while former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are also expected to appear during the week along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Taking the stage on Wednesday will be Harris’s vice presidential pick Walz, the folksy Minnesota governor who has made his name with attacks on the “weird” Trump and his running mate Vance.

Midway through the convention Harris and Walz will break off to campaign in Milwaukee in Wisconsin, another battleground state, before returning to Chicago — reportedly for a speech by Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff.