Amman, May 1

 King Abdullah II of Jordan has stressed the necessity of an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during a meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

At the meeting, the king highlighted the need for urgent action to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and called for protecting innocent civilians, the state-run Petra news agency reported on Tuesday.

He emphasised the significance of consistently providing sustainable humanitarian, relief, and medical aid to the region through all possible means, Xinhua news agency reported.

Cautioning against any military action in Rafah city in southern Gaza, the king warned that the catastrophic effects of the Gaza conflict could extend to the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the broader region.

Meanwhile, the king stressed the significance of supporting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, considering it the lifeline for around two million Palestinians in Gaza.

The king also called upon the US to play a role in finding a political horizon to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution, viewing the solution as the only way to ensure the security of Palestinians, Israelis, and the entire region.

On Tuesday, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Blinken discussed efforts to de-escalate the situation in the region and prevent any Israeli attack on Rafah.

They discussed the dangerous deterioration and escalation in the West Bank and the need to start implementing a comprehensive plan to end the Israeli occupation and achieve a just and comprehensive peace within the framework of the two-state solution, Petra reported. AGENCIES

Jerusalem, May 1

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to launch a ground attack on Rafah “with or without” a deal with Hamas.

Speaking in a meeting with families of hostages, Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel has begun the evacuation of Palestinian civilians from Rafah, according to his office as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

“We will enter Rafah and eliminate Hamas battalions there, with or without a deal, to achieve the total victory,” he added.

Israel considers Rafah as Hamas’s last major stronghold in the Palestinian enclave.

Rafah is Gaza’s southernmost city, where about 1.2 million Palestinians have been seeking shelter.

The remarks were made as Israeli and Hamas negotiators were in Egyptian-brokered talks on a deal for a ceasefire for the nearly seven-month-long Gaza conflict, that will secure the release of hostages. AGENCIES

Cairo/Tel Aviv, May 1

 During the ongoing negotiations in Cairo on a ceasefire in the Gaza war, details have emerged about a proposal for an agreement submitted by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing Egyptian officials, that the proposal – which Israel was involved in drafting but has yet to approve – envisages two stages.

The first stage would involve the release of at least 20 hostages within three weeks in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners. The duration could be extended by one day for each additional hostage, it said.

A second stage would include a 10-week ceasefire in which Hamas and Israel would agree to a more extensive release of hostages and a longer pause in fighting that could last up to a year.

“Israel has gone above and beyond in showing flexibility to reach a deal,” the Times of Israel newspaper quoted an Israeli official as saying on Tuesday. For example, the number of hostages to be released by Hamas in the first step has been reduced.

Israel is also open to the possibility of Palestinians who fled the fighting into the south of the sealed-off Gaza Strip returning to the north without Israeli security checks, it said.

One of the options currently being examined is for Egypt to take over the security checks, the Israeli newspaper continued.

The Israeli government is expecting a response from Hamas to the latest offer on Wednesday evening, the newspaper quoted the Israeli official as saying.

Israel is prepared to send a delegation to the indirect negotiations in Cairo in the coming days, the Wall Street Journal quoted Israeli and Egyptian officials as saying.

Israel sees the latest proposal as a “last chance.” If an agreement with Hamas is not reached soon, the planned ground offensive in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza will begin, Israeli media recently quoted senior officials as saying.

Preparations for an offensive in Rafah are continuing, one official told the Wall Street Journal.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday that Israel was negotiating in good faith and Hamas should accept the proposal.

Hamas insists on an end to the war, which Israel rejects. The two sides are not negotiating directly but via Egypt, Qatar and the US acting as mediators. AGENCIES

Tehran, May 1

 An Iranian nuclear official has said that Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, would visit Iran in the coming days, according to media reports.

Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said the IAEA Chief is scheduled to attend the International Conference on Nuclear Sciences and Technologies held in the central Iranian province of Isfahan from May 6 to 8 and hold talks with Iranian officials, including AEOI President Mohammad Eslami, Xinhua news agency reported.

The AEOI Chief earlier this month reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to nuclear activities that align with its cooperation with the IAEA, while addressing the agency’s concerns over “ambiguities” in the country’s nuclear programme, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency.

Eslami also stressed Iran’s adherence to the safeguards agreement and the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the report said.

Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, accepting restrictions on its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions. However, the US withdrew from the agreement in May 2018, reinstating sanctions and prompting Iran to scale back some of its nuclear commitments.

Efforts to revive the JCPOA commenced in April 2021 in Vienna, Austria, but despite multiple rounds of negotiations, no substantial progress has been reported since the last talks in August 2022. AGENCIES

Berlin, May 1

 German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has denied having suppressed concerns within government authorities during the decision-making process on the country’s nuclear phase-out.

Nothing had been concealed in the debate about the nuclear phase-out, adding that all files would be made available to the responsible Bundestag committee, Habeck told the German TV programme Markus Lanz late on Tuesday.

In a piece published over the weekend, the magazine Cicero alleged that key government ministries sought to block the public release of internal reports raising concerns about the final shut-down of reactors and suggested that operations could be extended at some nuclear power plants.

Habeck and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, both members of the Green Party, denied the allegations raised by the magazine and defended the handling of the nuclear phase-out at their ministries on Friday.

A Cicero journalist fought for the release of the files in court – and received two thick dossiers.

Until then, Habeck’s ministry had only handed over part of the requested documents, justifying this with the confidentiality of the adviser’s discussions.

Habeck said on the Markus Lanz programme that now that a court had clarified the matter, the files would be released.

The minister rejected the accusation that he would have proceeded differently had he read internal reports raising concerns about the final shut-down of reactors and suggesting that operations could be extended at some nuclear power plants.

The planned closure of Germany’s final nuclear plants became a major political debate in 2022 since it came amid an energy crisis in Germany after Russia cut off shipments of natural gas. AGENCIES

Rome, May 1

 Environment Ministers from the G7 nations committed themselves to phase out the use of coal by 2035 as part of a wider effort to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of fossil fuels.

Climate, Energy, and Environment Ministers gathered on Tuesday in Reggia di Venaria, just outside the northern Italian city of Turin, for the latest working session for the G7, which is headed by Italy this year, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ministers agreed to a host of energy and climate-related goals, including encouraging the development of renewable energy sources, increased collaboration on energy from nuclear fusion, a reduction in emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases, and to “break away” from Russian imports of natural gas.

The participants of the two-day summit focused on measures to eliminate the use of coal and later phase out all fossil fuels. These measures are part of the nations’ commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

Though the agreement says countries will eliminate coal use by the “first half of the 2030s” — in other words by 2035 — it did allow for that deadline to be changed if it remained on “a timeline consistent with keeping a limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise within reach”.

That caveat is aimed at giving more flexibility to countries highly reliant on coal power, such as G7 member states Germany and Japan.

The 1.5-degree target compared to pre-industrial levels, which the United Nations target has imposed to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, was again reiterated last year at the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties in Dubai. AGENCIES

London, May 1

 More protests have been held outside factories across the UK by campaigners against military arms being sent to Israel.

Organisers said more than 1,000 workers and trade unionists demonstrated outside BAE Systems sites, as well as the London offices of the Business and Trade department.

They said the aim was to show solidarity with Palestinian workers.

The Workers for a Free Palestine group said it was escalating its tactics by targeting BAE Systems and the government department on the same day.

Members of the group protested outside factories in Glasgow, South Wales and Lancashire.

Tania, a trade unionist and organiser for Workers for a Free Palestine taking part in the London protest – who did not want to give her full name, said: “Our movement forced the issue of an arms embargo onto the table and polling shows the majority of the British public want to see arms sales to Israel banned, yet the government and also the Labour Party continue to ignore the will of the people.”

“The government has sought to play down the scale of its arms supplies to Israel, but the reality is UK arms and military support play a vital role in the Israeli war machine, and evidence that three British aid workers were killed by a drone partly produced in the UK shows the extent of British complicity in Israel’s genocide.”

Today’s protests were the latest in a series of demonstrations outside factories in recent months. AGENCIES

Islamabad, May 1

 Danesh Kumar, a Senator in Pakistan’s upper house has gained the attention of all during the ongoing Senate session for highlighting the forced abductions and conversions of Hindu girls in Pakistan’s Sindh province.

“Daughters of Hindus are not a booty that someone should forcibly change their religion. Hindu girls are being forcibly converted to Islam in Sindh. It has been two years since innocent Pooja Kumari was abducted. The government does not take action against these influential people,” Danesh said while addressing the Senate session.

He stated that the forced abduction and conversion of Hindu girls is being done by influential people and religious groups, who enjoy the support of the political powers that continue to target religious minorities, especially Hindu minority girls.

Abducted and forcibly converted to Islam, they are married off to Muslim men.

Danesh mentioned that all of this is being done under the pretext that teenage Hindu girls are converting as per their free will.

“For many influential religious groups, such conversions and marriages are celebrated considering it to be a devotion to Islam. However, the teaching of Islam preaches otherwise. The law/Constitution of Pakistan does not allow forced religious conversions and neither does the Holy Quran,” he said.

Danesh has raised an issue that has been haunting Pakistan for years as many global bodies have raised serious reservations and concerns over Islamabad’s inability to put an end to the ongoing suffering of religious minorities.

There have been innumerable cases of girls from the minority Hindu community being forcibly abducted, converted and married off to Muslim men, most of them twice their age or even more.

The United Nations (UN) recently slammed Pakistan over what it termed as an “alarming situation” at the continuing lack of protection of young women and girls belonging to minority communities in the country.

“Christian and Hindu girls continue to remain vulnerable to forced religious conversion, abduction, trafficking, child, early and forced marriage, domestic servitude and sexual violence,” read a UN statement.

“The exposure of young women and girls belonging to religious minority communities to such heinous human rights violations and the impunity of such crimes can no longer be tolerated or justified,” it added.

Highlighting the legislative and judicial failures to protect vulnerable underage girls, the UN experts have underlined that early and forced marriage cannot be justified on religious or cultural grounds, adding that consent is irrelevant when the victim is a child under the age of 18.

“The matter is not limited to only forced conversions and marriages of Hindu girls; it is being validated by the courts, who invoke religious laws and justifying keeping victims with their abductors rather than allowing them to return to their parents,” said Hafeez Tunio, a local journalist from Sindh province.

“Perpetrators often escape accountability, with police dismissing crimes under the guise of love marriage,” he added.

While the matter of forced conversions is pivotal and needs immediate and urgent attention of the government, experts say non-application of relevant provisions of Pakistan Penal Code, coupled with failure of the parliament of Pakistan to adopt further legislation to address the issue of forced conversions and marriages of minority women and girls, has further encouraged influential religious groups to continue with their vicious agenda, which they shelter under the facade of religious teachings and its spread. AGENCIES

Tehran, May 1

 A senior Iranian maritime official has said the entire crew members of an Israeli-linked container ship seized earlier this month by Iran’s naval forces near the Strait of Hormuz were safe and in full health.

The caretaker for maritime affairs at Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation (PMO), Ali Akbar Marzban, made the remarks while elaborating on the latest condition of the crew members of the Portuguese-flagged container ship, MSC Aries, which was seized by the Navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on April 13, the PMO’s official website reported on Tuesday.

Iranian authorities said the vessel, which was operated by London-based Zodiac Maritime, a company owned by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, had violated international maritime law and failed to respond to inquiries, Xinhua news agency reported.

Marzban said that out of the 25 crew members from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia and Estonia, a female crew member, who was an Indian deck cadet, had been transferred to her home country, while the remaining 24 were all safe and in good health.

“The entire crew members are freely on the ship and enjoy all the necessary rights,” he added, noting that they had Internet access and could keep in touch with their families via phone.

The PMO official stressed that the embassies concerned were briefed on the situation, adding that their ambassadors and representatives had met the crewmen and could do so in the future.

Marzban said the PMO had informed the shipowner’s representative and the government under whose flag the ship was operating that it was possible to send a portion of the crew members back to their home countries in compliance with maritime and shipping conventions.   AGENCIES

Tel Aviv, May 1

 The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, arrived in Israel where he will meet the country’s President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to push forward the Gaza ceasefire deal .

This is the seventh visit of Blinken since the war between Hamas and Israel broke out on October 7, 2023.

The Israel Prime Minister’s office in a statement on Tuesday night said that the meeting with Herzog will be held in Tel Aviv while Blinken will interact with Netanyahu at the latter’s office in Jerusalem.

The Secretary of State will also meet Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi. Blinken will also meet the families of the hostages.

The top US diplomat arrived in the Middle East on Monday and had interactions with the Jordanian and Saudi officials regarding peace in the region.

Israel has agreed to the suggestion of the mediators for the release of 33 of its hostages (women, elderly, and those suffering from diseases) in the custody of Hamas in exchange for around 600 Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails. Many of these Palestinians kept in jails are accused in murder cases.

Blinken had earlier announced that he would not arrive in Israel during his present visit to the Middle East but sources in Israel Prime Minister’s office told IANS that there were some bottlenecks in the indirect mediatory talks being held at Cairo between Hamas and Israel.

The Secretary of State will be discussing with the Israeli leaders the issues leading to the blockade in mediatory talks.

Netanyahu had warned that if the mediatory talks being held at Cairo do not materialise, Israel would invade the Rafah region in the Gaza Strip. AGENCIES