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Four major Western nations recognise Palestinian state, to fury of Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the move.

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Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal all recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday in a move borne out of frustration over the Gaza war and intended to promote a two-state solution, prompting a furious response from Israel, Reuters reported.

The decision by four nations from the West, which has traditionally allied with Israel, aligned them with more than 140 other countries also backing Palestinians’ aspiration to forge an independent homeland from the occupied territories.

Britain’s decision carried particular symbolism given its major role in Israel’s creation as a modern nation in the aftermath of World War Two.

“Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“The man-made humanitarian crisis in Gaza reaches new depths. The Israeli government’s relentless and increasing bombardment of Gaza, the offensive of recent weeks, the starvation and devastation are utterly intolerable.”

Other nations, including France, are expected to follow suit this week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the move.

“I have a clear message to those leaders who recognise a Palestinian state after the horrific massacre of October 7: You are giving a huge reward to terrorism,” he said, referring to Palestinian militant group Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the nearly two-year war in Gaza.

“And I have another message for you: It will not happen. A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.”

The Hamas-led attack on Israel killed 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s ensuing campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to local health authorities, spread famine, demolished most buildings and displaced most of the population – often multiple times.

“It is a human duty of every respectful and free human being in the world to support Palestinians during the ordeal they are going through and Britain’s role now comes within this,” said Sharaf Al Tarda, a Palestinian resident of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Hamas welcomed the move but said it must be accompanied by “practical measures” to end the war in Gaza and prevent Israel from annexing the West Bank, read the report.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said recognition would help pave the way for the “State of Palestine to live side by side with the State of Israel in security, peace, and good neighbourliness”.

Starmer wrote to Abbas to confirm Britain’s decision, noting that London had backed a Jewish homeland in 1917 while also pledging to protect the rights of non-Jewish communities.

Western governments have been under pressure from many in their parties and populations angry at the ever-rising death toll in Gaza, images of starving children and their states’ inability to rein in Israel, even continuing to provide arms.

Londoners voiced mixed reactions on Sunday.

“A whole lot needs to happen and peace needs to come to that region,” said 56-year-old charity director Michael Angus. “This is the first step in actually acknowledging that those people have a right to have somewhere to call home.”

Announcing his country’s decision, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said it would empower those seeking peaceful co-existence and the end of Hamas. “This in no way legitimises terrorism, nor is it any reward for it,” he added.

Portugal’s Foreign Affairs Minister Paulo Rangel said this recognition was a “fundamental line of Portuguese foreign policy”. Speaking to reporters at the headquarters of Portugal’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York, he said: “Portugal advocates the two-state solution as the only path to a just and lasting peace…a ceasefire is urgent.”

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, did not comment immediately on the decision by three of its allies to recognise a Palestinian state, but President Donald Trump has previously made clear he opposes such a move.

Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he would propose that the cabinet apply sovereignty in another Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory, the West Bank. That would represent de facto annexation of land seized in a 1967 war.

British troops captured Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire in 1917, and in 1922 the League of Nations awarded Britain an international mandate to administer Palestine during the post-war deal-making that redrew the map of the Middle East.

Mandy Damari, the British mother of released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari, told Reuters on Sunday that Starmer was “under a two-state delusion” given that the Gaza Strip’s government was still Hamas whose mission was to destroy Israel.

“He is rewarding Hamas for the 7th October barbaric and savage attack on Israel when the hostages are still not back, the war is not over and Hamas are still in power in Gaza.”

Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, watched on his phone as Starmer announced Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state.

At the London headquarters of the mission, which may now be upgraded to an embassy, there were smiles and embraces, Reuters reported.

“Today is a moment when the UK Prime Minister and the British government, on behalf of their people, stand and say: ‘We must correct history, we must right the wrongs’,” Zomlot said.

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Israeli attacks kill 31 Palestinians in Gaza, including children

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At least 31 Palestinians, including six children, were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza City and Khan Younis since early Saturday, according to medical sources cited by Al Jazeera.

The strikes came a day before Israel is scheduled to reopen the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, marking the first reopening of the border crossing since May 2024.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said that more than 500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since a United States-brokered ceasefire came into effect on October 10.

According to local health authorities, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 71,769 Palestinians and wounded 171,483 others since it began in October 2023. In Israel, at least 1,139 people were killed during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, with approximately 250 people taken captive.

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Guterres warns of UN’s ‘imminent financial collapse’

In his letter, Guterres said “decisions not to honour assessed contributions that finance a significant share of the approved regular budget have now been formally announced.”

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The U.N. chief has told member states the organisation is at risk of “imminent financial collapse,” citing unpaid fees and a budget rule that forces the global body to return unspent money, a letter seen by Reuters on Friday showed.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly spoken about the organisation’s worsening liquidity crisis but this is his starkest warning yet, and it comes as its main contributor the U.S. is retreating from multilateralism on numerous fronts.

“The crisis is deepening, threatening programme delivery and risking financial collapse. And the situation will deteriorate further in the near future,” Guterres wrote in a letter to ambassadors dated January 28.

The U.S. has slashed voluntary funding to U.N. agencies and refused to make mandatory payments to its regular and peacekeeping budgets.

U.S. President Donald Trump has described the U.N. as having “great potential” but said it is not fulfilling that, and he has launched a Board of Peace which some fear could undermine the older international body.

Founded in 1945, the U.N. has 193 member states and works to maintain international peace and security, promote human rights, foster social and economic development, and coordinate humanitarian aid.

In his letter, Guterres said “decisions not to honour assessed contributions that finance a significant share of the approved regular budget have now been formally announced.”

He did not say which state or states he was referring to, and a U.N. spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Under U.N. rules, contributions depend on the size of the economy of each member state. The U.S. accounts for 22% of the core budget followed by China with 20%.

But by the end of 2025 there was a record $1.57 billion in outstanding dues, Guterres said, without naming the nations that owed them.

“Either all Member States honour their obligations to pay in full and on time – or Member States must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse,” he said.

U.N. officials say the U.S. currently owes $2.19 billion to the regular U.N. budget, another $1.88 billion for active peace-keeping missions and $528 million for past peace-keeping missions.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Guterres letter.

Guterres launched a reform task force last year, known as UN80, which seeks to cut costs and improve efficiency. To that end, states agreed to cut the 2026 budget by around 7% to $3.45 billion.

Still, Guterres warned in the letter that the organisation could run out of cash by July.

One of the problems is a rule now seen as antiquated whereby the global body has to credit back hundreds of millions of dollars in unspent dues to states each year.

“In other words, we are trapped in a Kafkaesque cycle expected to give back cash that does not exist,” said Guterres, referring to author Franz Kafka who wrote about oppressive bureaucratic processes.

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Man sprays U.S. lawmaker Ilhan Omar with liquid, disrupting Minnesota event

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Police arrested a man who sprayed Democratic U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar with a foul-smelling liquid in Minneapolis on Tuesday as she condemned the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Minnesota.

Omar, the frequent target of political insults from President Donald Trump, was uninjured. A security guard immediately grabbed the man and took him to the ground, according to a Reuters witness and video of the town hall event, Reuters reported.

Police said they arrested the man for third-degree assault.

In her remarks, Omar was criticizing ICE and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, demanding that Noem resign after the recent shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during Trump’s immigration enforcement surge.

“ICE cannot be reformed, it cannot be rehabilitated, we must abolish ICE for good, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment,” Omar said, to applause.

Moments later, a man seated in a front row stepped toward her and sprayed her with the contents of what police described as a syringe, telling Omar, “You must resign.”

Omar defiantly took a few steps toward him, with her hand raised, before he was subdued.

She continued her remarks after a short break, resisting associates’ urging to seek medical attention, saying she just needed a napkin. Her office later issued a statement saying she was OK.

Forensic scientists were gathering evidence at the scene, Minneapolis police said in a statement.

A Reuters witness said the liquid smelled of ammonia and caused minor throat irritation.

“I learned at a young age, you don’t give in to threats,” Omar told the audience, after refusing to suspend the event. “You look them in the face and you stand strong.”

Trump has repeatedly targeted Omar in public remarks and social media posts, also taking aim at her Somali nationality.

“Ilhan Omar is garbage,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting in December. “She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.”

Omar, 43, came to the United States as a 12-year-old girl and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.

On Tuesday, U.S. Capitol Police said its threat assessment cases rose in 2025 for the third year in a row, spiking nearly 58% from 2024.

In 2025, it investigated 14,938 instances of statements, behavior, and communications directed against members of Congress, their families, staff, and the Capitol complex, it added, up from 9,474 in 2024.

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