A British backpacker has pleaded guilty to killing a man in Australia after hitting him while riding an e-scooter with an alcohol level more than three times the legal limit.
Alicia Kemp, 25, from Redditch, Worcestershire, had been drinking with a friend on a Saturday afternoon in May when she was kicked out of a bar because the two of them were drunk, the court heard earlier.
The pair hired an e-scooter in the evening, and Kemp was driving at speeds of 20 to 25km/h (12 to 15mph) when she hit 51-year-old Thanh Phan from behind on a pavement in Perth’s city centre.
The father-of-two hit his head on the pavement and died in hospital from a brain bleed two days later.
Kemp’s passenger was also hurt in the crash – sustaining a fractured skull and broken nose – but her injuries were not life-threatening.
In Perth’s Magistrates Court on Monday, Kemp – appearing via video link – pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death while intoxicated. The charge carries a maximum 20-year prison term.
Prosecutors dropped a second charge of dangerous driving causing bodily harm to her passenger.
Earlier, the court heard that Kemp’s blood alcohol content level was 0.158 after the crash, more than three times the legal limit of 0.05 in Australia.
Prosecutors said CCTV footage showed Kemp’s “inexplicably dangerous” riding before she struck Mr Phan, who was waiting to cross the road.
In a statement from Mr Phan’s family earlier this year, the structural engineer was described as a beloved husband, father, brother and dear friend.
Kemp’s lawyer Michael Tudori said she was relieved after pleading guilty and hoped to be sentenced before Christmas, according to local media.
“You could see she was ready to say those words, you know, she’s obviously done something stupid,” Mr Tudori told the ABC.
Kemp, who was in Western Australia on a working holiday visa, will remain in custody until her sentencing. (BBC)
Australia will recognise a Palestinian state in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced, drawing condemnation from Israel.
Albanese said on Monday that his government would formally announce the move when the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meets in New York.
“A two-state solution is humanity’s best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza,” Albanese said at a news conference in Canberra.
Australia’s announcement comes as Canada, France and the United Kingdom are also preparing to formally recognise Palestine at the meeting next month, joining the vast majority of UN member states that already do so.
Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon said recognition of a Palestinian state will do nothing to end the war in Gaza, telling the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC): “We reject the recognition, unilateral recognition.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also slammed the Australian announcement as a reward for Hamas for its October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, repeating the Israeli government’s stance on all recognition announcements thus far.
This latest recognition comes about a week after hundreds of thousands of Australians marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to protest Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking a day after the protest, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong told ABC that “there is a risk there will be no Palestine left to recognise.”
“In relation to recognition, I’ve said for over a year now, it’s a matter of when, not if,” Wong added.
The opposition Liberal Party criticised the move, saying it put Australia at odds with the United States, its closest ally, and reversed a bipartisan consensus that there should be no recognition while Hamas remains in control of Gaza.
“Despite his words today, the reality is Anthony Albanese has committed Australia to recognising Palestine while hostages remain in tunnels under Gaza and with Hamas still in control of the population of Gaza. Nothing he has said today changes that fact,” Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley said in a statement.
“Recognising a Palestinian state prior to a return of the hostages and defeat of Hamas, as the Government has today, risks delivering Hamas one of its strategic objectives of the horrific terrorism of October 7.”
The Australian Greens, the fourth largest party in parliament, welcomed the move to recognise Palestine but said the announcement did not meet the “overwhelming calls from the Australian public for the government to take material action”.
“Millions of Australians have taken to the streets, including 300,000 last weekend in Sydney alone, calling for sanctions and an end to the arms trade with Israel. The Albanese Government is still ignoring this call,” Senator David Shoebridge, the party’s spokesperson on foreign affairs, said in a statement.
The Australian Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) also criticised the announcement, describing it as a “political fig leaf, letting Israel’s genocide and apartheid continue unchallenged, and distracting from Australia’s complicity in Israeli war crimes via ongoing weapons and components trade”.
“Palestinian rights are not a gift to be granted by Western states. They are not dependent on negotiation with, or the behaviour or approval of their colonial oppressors,” APAN said in a statement.
According to Albanese, Australia’s decision to recognise Palestinians’ right to their own state will be “predicated on the commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority (PA)”.
These “detailed and significant commitments” include the PA reaffirming it “recognises Israel’s right to exist in peace and security” and committing to “demilitarise and to hold general elections”, Albanese said while announcing the decision.
The PA is a governing body that has overseen parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the mid-1990s.
It has not held parliamentary elections since 2006 and has been criticised by some Palestinians for helping Israel to keep tight control over residents in the occupied West Bank.
Albanese said the commitments secured by Australia were “an opportunity to deliver self-determination for the people of Palestine in a way that isolates Hamas, disarms it and drives it out of the region once and for all”.
Hamas has been in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007 when it fought a brief war against forces loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Monday that his country’s cabinet will make a formal decision on Palestinian statehood in September.
“Some of New Zealand’s close partners have opted to recognise a Palestinian state, and some have not,” Peters said in a statement.
“Ultimately, New Zealand has an independent foreign policy, and on this issue, we intend to weigh up the issue carefully and then act according to New Zealand’s principles, values and national interest.”
Peters said that while New Zealand has for some time considered the recognition of a Palestinian state a “matter of when, not if”, the issue is not “straightforward” or “clear-cut”.
“There are a broad range of strongly held views within our Government, Parliament and indeed New Zealand society over the question of recognition of a Palestinian state,” he said.
“It is only right that this complicated issue be approached calmly, cautiously and judiciously. Over the next month, we look forward to canvassing this broad range of views before taking a proposal to Cabinet.”
Of the UN’s 193 member states, 147 already recognise Palestinian statehood, representing three-quarters of the world’s countries and the vast majority of its population.
Under its 1947 plan to partition Palestine, the UNGA said it would grant 45 percent of the land to an Arab state although this never eventuated.
The announcements by Australia and New Zealand on Monday came hours after an Israeli attack killed five Al Jazeera staff members in Gaza City and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to threaten a full-scale invasion of the city in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 61,430 people, according to Gaza’s health authorities.
More than 200 people, including 100 children, have died from starvation under Israel’s punishing siege, according to health authorities. (Aljazeera)
The Bank of England on Thursday cut its key interest rate by a quarter point to four percent, the lowest level in 2.5 years, as it bids to boost a UK economy threatened by US tariffs.
Alongside the expected decision, the BoE forecast British economic growth to hit 1.25 percent this year, slightly better than the central bank’s previous estimate of one percent.
“The direct impact of US tariffs is milder than feared, but more general tariff-related uncertainty still weighs on sentiment,” the BoE said in a statement after studying data gathered by UK businesses.
London and Washington reached an agreement in May to cut levies of more than 10 percent imposed by US President Donald Trump on certain UK-made items imported by the United States, notably vehicles.
The quarter-point cut on Thursday was the BoE’s fifth such reduction since starting a trimming cycle in August 2024.
“Interest rates are still on a downward path, but any future rate cuts will need to be made gradually and carefully,” its governor, Andrew Bailey, said following Thursday’s decision.
The BoE voted 5-4 for the reduction, but not before an unprecedented second vote owing to a three-way split among its nine policymakers that prevented a necessary majority result.
Initially, four members voted for the reduction and four for no change. One member called for a larger cut of 0.50 percent, before switching in favour of a quarter-point drop, as voted for by Bailey.
It was the first time since the BoE became independent of the UK government in 1997 that a second vote had to be held.
“Looking ahead, interest rates are expected to be 3.5 percent in a year, which is slightly higher than before the (latest) meeting,” noted Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group.
Expectations that the rate will remain at four percent for longer boosted the British pound.
The BoE’s main task is to keep Britain’s annual inflation rate at 2.0 percent, but the latest official data showed it had jumped unexpectedly to an 18-month high in June.
The Consumer Prices Index increased to 3.6 percent as motor fuel and food prices stayed high.
The BoE on Thursday predicted that the annual inflation rate would peak at four percent next month.
Latest official figures show that Britain’s economy unexpectedly contracted for a second month running in May, and UK unemployment is at a near four-year high of 4.7 percent.
This is largely down to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government increasing a UK business tax from April, the same month that the country became subject to Trump’s 10-percent baseline tariff on most goods.
Finance minister Rachel Reeves welcomed the latest rate cut, saying in a statement that it helps to “bring down the cost of mortgages and loans for families and businesses”.
The US Federal Reserve last week kept interest rates unchanged, defying strong political pressure from Trump to slash borrowing costs in a bid to boost the world’s biggest economy.
Asked about US tariffs following the decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told a press conference: “We’re still a ways away from seeing where things settle down.”
The European Central Bank is meanwhile widely expected to keep rates unchanged at its next meeting, with eurozone inflation around the ECB’s two-percent target.
But that could change, according to some economists, based on how Trump’s tariffs affect the single-currency bloc. (Punch)
Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said, marking another escalation in the 22-month offensive that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed most of Gaza and pushed the territory into famine.
Ahead of the security cabinet meeting, which began on Thursday and ran through the night, the Israeli prime minister had said Israel planned to take control of the entire territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas.
The announced plans stop short of that, perhaps reflecting the reservations of Israel’s top general, who reportedly warned it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israel’s army after nearly two years of regional wars. Many families of hostages are also opposed, fearing further escalation will doom their loved ones.
The resolution by the security cabinet will still need to be approved by the full cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday.
Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids there, returning to different neighbourhoods again and again as militants regrouped. It is one of the few areas of Gaza that has not been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders.
The plan would mean sending ground troops into territory making up approximately 25% of Gaza.
According to Israel’s Channel 12, the plan is being framed as a limited operation rather than a full invasion, apparently to placate military chiefs wary of long-term occupation. The chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, has reportedly warned that occupying Gaza would plunge Israel into a “black hole” of prolonged insurgency, humanitarian responsibility and heightened risk to hostages.
A major ground operation there could displace tens of thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the territory.
The plan would force approximately 1 million Palestinians in Gaza City and other areas into evacuation areas in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. According to sources familiar with the details of the meeting, the evacuation of Gaza City is scheduled to be completed by 7 October.
The Israeli security cabinet’s decision has ignited protests both at home and abroad. Thousands of demonstrators are preparing to take to the streets over the weekend, while families of the remaining hostages held in Gaza fear an escalation could doom their loved ones. Dozens of them protested outside the security cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Thursday.
Former top Israeli security officials have also come out against the plan, warning of a quagmire with little added military benefit. The Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, denounced the cabinet’s move on Friday, calling it a disaster that would “lead to many other disasters”, including the death of the hostages and the killing of many soldiers, as well as costing Israeli taxpayers tens of billions and causing “diplomatic bankruptcy”.
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said Israel’s decision was wrong and urged it to immediately reconsider. “This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed,” he said in a statement.
The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, said the Israeli government’s plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip “must be immediately halted”.
Netanyahu’s office said that under the plan to defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army would prepare to “take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones”.
An Israeli official had earlier said the security cabinet would discuss plans to conquer all or parts of Gaza not yet under Israeli control. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal decision, said that whatever was approved would be implemented gradually to increase pressure on the Palestinian militant group.
Palestinians, at least 90% of whom have already been displaced at least once by the war and of whom nearly one in 10 have been injured in Israeli attacks, are braced for further misery. There is little remaining of the healthcare system and aid agencies such as the UN have been largely shut out by Israel.
Aya Mohammad, a 30-year-old Palestinian who, after repeated displacement, had returned with her family to Gaza City, said: “Where should we go? We have been displaced and humiliated enough. You know what displacement is? Does the world know? It means your dignity is wiped out, you become a homeless beggar, searching for food, water and medicine.”
At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals. (Guardian)
More than 60 countries around the world are scrambling to respond to the latest wave of US tariffs announced by Donald Trump, which came into force on Thursday.
Industry representatives in rich and poor countries warned of job losses as the tariffs upended a decades-old world trading system with rates ranging from 10% to 39%, 40% and 41% for Switzerland, Brazil and Syria.
All over the globe, leaders were attempting to put contingencies in place after Trump’s tariff threats turned to reality at a minute past midnight Washington time.
The Brazilian government said it was planning a state aid plan for companies affected. The president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said the duties were “unacceptable blackmail”.
Switzerland said it was seeking new talks with the US after a last-gasp mission to Washington by its president, Karin Keller-Sutter, failed to stop a 39% tariff blow that industry group Swissmem described as a “horror scenario”.
In a statement after an emergency meeting with Keller-Sutter, the Swiss cabinet said the tariffs would “place a substantial strain on Switzerland’s export-oriented economy”.
“For the affected sectors, companies and their employees, this is an extraordinarily difficult situation,” Keller-Sutter told reporters.
Taiwan is also continuing talks with the US. Its president, Lai Ching-te, said the 20% rate imposed on the key Washington ally was “temporary”.
Ireland, which is locked into an EU-US deal setting the tariff ceiling at 15%, said it would publish a new plan for diversifying an economy that relies heavily on US multinationals including Intel, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, all in Trump’s crosshairs.
Despite a last minute reprieve from Trump for Lesotho with tariffs dropping from 50% to 15%, the impoverished African nation said it was already hurting.
Textile industry players in the country – which produces jeans and other garments for US companies including Levi and Walmart – said the uncertainty around tariffs over the past few months had already devastated the sector, with orders cancelled and jobs cut.
Laos, which, like Brazil and Myanmar, was hit with a 40% rate, was among those handed a steep increase in import duties because of a trade imbalance with the US.
“A 40% tariff is just a nail in the coffin for any industry trying to ship to the United States,” Johannes Somers, the executive chair of the garment manufacturing firm Diep Vu, told Agence France Presse.
“We estimate about 20,000 workers or more could be impacted,” added Xaybandith Rasphone, the head of the Association of the Lao Garment Industry.
The sweeping “reciprocal” rates were announced by the White House a week ago, just before a previous 1 August deadline was due to elapse.
Just before the tariffs came into effect at midnight, Trump claimed on social media that billions of dollars would start flowing into the US as a result.
However, while the customs duties make countries’ exports more expensive and less competitive, they are payable on import and usually passed on to the customer.
“The only thing that can stop America’s greatness would be a radical left court that wants to see our country fail,” the president wrote in capital letters, referencing an ongoing case in the US court of appeals, which is considering whether he exceeded his authority in imposing the tariffs.
Some trading partners had already secured reductions through negotiations or by striking deals, including the UK, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan and the EU.
The EU is the only trading partner where its baseline rate of 15% will include previous tariffs. It means, for example, cheeses that are normally hit with import duties of 14.9% will be taxed at 15% and not 29.9%.
However, the deal has only been implemented in part with tariffs of 27.5% still being imposed on EU car imports while the details of the US-EU deal are being finalised.
Hildegard Müller, the president of the German car industry federation, said the EU-US deal had “brought no clarity or improvement” to the industry.
“The sectoral tariffs on cars and automotive parts of 27.5%, which have been in effect since April and May respectively, remain in place and place a significant burden on German automakers and automotive suppliers, as well as on transatlantic trade.
“It is important that the promised agreement is reached now and the relief measures are implemented promptly,” she said.
India’s 25% tariff rate could rise to a total of 50% after Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday imposing an additional levy in retaliation for the country’s purchase of oil from Russia. Delhi has 21 days to respond. Trump has threatened to use the same tactic on other countries that supply Russia. (Guardian)
The population of Japanese nationals fell by a record amount—more than 900,000 people—in 2024, official data showed, as the country battles to reverse its perennially low birth rates.
While many developed countries are struggling with low birth rates, the problem is particularly acute in Japan, where the population has been declining for years.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has called the situation a “quiet emergency,” pledging family-friendly measures like more flexible working hours and free day care to try and reverse the trend.
Last year, the number of Japanese fell by 908,574, or 0.75 per cent, to 120.65 million.
The decline—for a 16th straight year—was the largest drop since the survey began in 1968, the internal affairs ministry said Wednesday.
Foreign resident totals, however, were at their highest since records began in 2013.
There were 3.67 million foreigners as of January 1, 2025, representing nearly three per cent of the whole population in Japan, which was more than 124.3 million as of that date.
The overall population of the country declined by 0.44 per cent in 2023.
The latest figures come as the government struggles to raise stubbornly low birth rates, while frustration over inflation and other concerns among some voters prompted the rise of a new opposition party with a slogan of “Japanese First”.
The anti-immigrant party has falsely claimed foreigners enjoy more welfare benefits than Japanese nationals.
Foreign nationals are helping address labour shortages exacerbated by the ageing population, and most commonly hold jobs in the manufacturing, hospitality, and retail sectors.
By age, Japanese nationals aged 65 and over accounted for nearly 30 per cent of the population, while the age group between 15 and 64 made up 60 per cent, both minor increases from the previous year.
Japan has the world’s second-oldest population after tiny Monaco, according to the World Bank.
The number of births in Japan last year fell below 700,000 for the first time on record, health ministry data released in June said.
The fast-ageing nation welcomed 686,061 newborns in 2024—41,227 fewer than in 2023, the data showed. It was the lowest figure since records began in 1899.
The shrinking population is also gutting rural communities, with the number of abandoned homes in Japan soaring to almost four million over the last two decades, government data released last year showed.
Many of the homes belong to people living in major cities who have inherited them from relatives and who are unable or unwilling to keep them renovated.
The world’s oldest person, Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka, died at the age of 116 in December.
Women typically enjoy longevity in Japan, but the expanding elderly population is leading to soaring medical and welfare costs, with a shrinking labour force to pay for it. (Punch)
A helicopter crash has killed all eight people on board, including the nation’s defence and environment ministers, according to Ghana’s government.
Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed were among the victims of the crash in the southern Ashanti region of the country, said Julius Debrah, chief of staff to President John Mahama, on Wednesday.
“The president and the government extend their condolences and solidarity to the families of our comrades and soldiers who fell in their service to the nation,” said Debrah.
Also among the victims were Alhaji Mohammad Muniru Limuna, deputy national security coordinator and former minister of agriculture, and Samuel Sarpong, vice chairman of Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) party.
Boamah was helming Ghana’s defence ministry at a time when armed groups across its northern border in Burkina Faso had become increasingly restive.
While Ghana has so far avoided a rebel spillover from the Sahel – unlike neighbours Togo and Benin – observers have warned of increased arms trafficking and of fighters from Burkina Faso crossing the porous border to use Ghana as a rear base.
A medical doctor by training, Boamah’s career in government included stints as communications minister during Mahama’s previous 2012-2017 tenure. Before that, he was the deputy minister for the environment.
As Ghana has pursued increased diplomacy with Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – all ruled by military governments who have broken with the ECOWAS West African regional bloc – Boamah led a delegation to Ouagadougou in May.
He had been set to release a book titled, A Peaceful Man in an African Democracy, about former President John Atta Mills, who died in 2012.
The Ghanaian Armed Forces had reported earlier Wednesday that an air force helicopter had fallen off radar after taking off from Accra just after 9:00am (09:00 GMT). It had been headed towards the town of Obuasi, northwest of the capital.
The statement had said that three crew and five passengers were on board, without specifying at the time that the ministers were among them.
All flags were to be flown at half-staff, Debrah said, while the presidency said Mahama had cancelled his official activities for the day. (AlJazeera)
People with a record of violence or domestic abuse will be prevented from owning firearms under new rules in the United Kingdom following a series of killings in recent years.
The new guidance, issued on Tuesday, came in response to concerns raised by coroners and campaigners after shootings in England’s Woodmancote and Keyham.
Police officers will be instructed to interview partners or other household members of people applying for a firearms licence to identify signs of domestic abuse.
Other factors that could make someone unsuitable to own a weapon.
They must carry out additional checks to ensure people with a record of violence are not permitted to hold a firearms licence.
The move came two years after an inquest found that “catastrophic failures” in the licensing system had meant Keyham gunman Jake Davison had been allowed to own a shotgun despite his history of violence.
Davison, then 22, killed his mother and four others, including a three-year-old girl, in an eight-minute shooting spree before taking his own life in August 2021.
Evidence of dishonesty will also be considered against an application, including the withholding of relevant medical history.
Robert Needham killed his partner, Kelly Fitzgibbons, and their daughters, Ava and Lex, with a legally owned shotgun at their home in Woodmancote in 2020.
He was given a licence even after admitting that he had failed to disclose a history of depression and work-related stress.
Emma Ambler, Fitzgibbons’ sister, welcomed the changes but said there was “still some way to go.”
She said: “I still believe that holding a gun licence is a privilege and not a right.
“The priority has to be the safety of society, and it’s so important to stop these extremely dangerous weapons falling into the wrong hands, which these changes will go some way to doing.”
Tuesday’s changes will also mean applicants for shotgun licences now require two referees rather than one, bringing the process into line with the rules for other firearms.
Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said: “Only those who meet the highest standards of safety and responsibility should be permitted to use shotguns or firearms.
“It is crucial that police have full information about the suitability of all applicants for these lethal weapons.
“The events in Woodmancote in 2020, Plymouth in 2021, and other cases provide a tragic reminder of what can happen when these weapons are in the hands of the wrong people.
“We must do everything we can to protect the public.”
Controls on shotgun ownership could be further toughened after another consultation, due to be launched later this year, that will also seek views on improving the rules on private firearms sales.
The new consultation follows the case of Nicholas Prosper, who killed his mother, Juliana Falcon, and siblings Giselle and Kyle Prosper in Luton in 2024.
Prosper, 19, had been able to purchase a shotgun and 100 cartridges from a legitimate firearms dealer after forging a licence.
He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 49 years after pleading guilty to the murders earlier this year. (Guardian)
Canada plans to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday, a major policy shift that drew an angry response from US President Donald Trump and was rejected by Israel.
Carney said the move was necessary to preserve hopes of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a long-standing Canadian goal that was “being eroded before our eyes.”
“Canada intends to recognise the State of Palestine at the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025,” the prime minister said.
This makes Canada — a G7 nation — the third country, following recent announcements by France and the United Kingdom, to signal plans to recognise a Palestinian state in September.
Carney said the worsening suffering of civilians in Gaza left “no room for delay in coordinated international action to support peace.”
Israel blasted Canada’s announcement as part of a “distorted campaign of international pressure,” while Trump warned that trade negotiations with Ottawa may not proceed smoothly.
“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine,” the US president wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.”
Asked by reporters if there was a scenario where Canada could change its position before the UN meeting, Carney said: “There’s a scenario (but) possibly one that I can’t imagine.”
Canada’s intention “is predicated on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to much-needed reforms,” Carney said, referring to the body led by President Mahmoud Abbas, which has civil authority in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Carney said his plans were further predicated on Abbas’s pledge to “hold general elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarise the Palestinian state.”
With Wednesday’s announcement, Carney positioned Canada alongside France, after President Emmanuel Macron said his country would formally recognise a Palestinian state during the UN meeting, the most powerful European nation to announce such a move.
The Israeli embassy in Ottawa said, “Recognising a Palestinian state in the absence of accountable government, functioning institutions, or benevolent leadership, rewards and legitimises the monstrous barbarity of Hamas on October 7, 2023.”
The PA’s Abbas welcomed the announcement as a “historic” decision, while France said the countries would work together “to revive the prospect of peace in the region.”
Canada’s plan goes a step further than this week’s announcement by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer said the UK will formally recognise the State of Palestine in September unless Israel takes various “substantive steps,” including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza.
Carney stressed that Canada has been an unwavering member of the group of nations that hoped a two-state solution “would be achieved as part of a peace process built around a negotiated settlement between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.”
“Regrettably, this approach is no longer tenable,” he said, citing “Hamas terrorism” and the group’s “longstanding violent rejection of Israel’s right to exist.”
The peace process has also been eroded by the expansion of Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, Carney said.
The prime minister said a two-state solution was growing increasingly remote, with a vote in Israel’s parliament “calling for the annexation of the West Bank,” as well as Israel’s “ongoing failure” to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
He framed his decision as one aimed at safeguarding Israel’s future.
“Any path to lasting peace for Israel also requires a viable and stable Palestinian state, and one that recognises Israel’s inalienable right to security and peace,” Carney said. (Punch)
Joan Anderson, who coined the name for the hula hoop and played an unsung role in its rise, has died age 101.
The former model was visiting her native Australia from her home in the US when she spotted groups of people swivelling wooden hoops around their waists.
She was so mesmerised by the growing craze in Australia that she had one of the strange new toys shipped to the US.
The 2018 documentary Hula Girl retold Ms Anderson’s story of dubbing it the hula hoop after the hip-swivelling Hawaiian dance, and how it was she and her husband who first showed it to a toy company boss.
It went on to sell millions and become a global sensation – but the couple went uncredited for their role in its rise.
Recounting meeting the boss of American toy conglomerate Wham-O in the early 1960s, Ms Anderson told documentary makers: “We told him, ‘we’ve called it the hula hoop,’.
“He said, ‘looks like it has some merit, if it makes money for us, it’s going to make money for you’.”
Ms Anderson claimed the deal was sealed with a “gentleman’s handshake” and it began to fly off the shelves in the US.
But in the years that followed, the firm’s boss “kept putting us” off, Ms Anderson said, and the pair eventually filed a lawsuit which resulted in a modest financial settlement – but crucially, no formal recognition of their role in its rise.
Later accounts of its invention mentioned how an “Australian friend” brought an early version to the US.
She told documentary makers: “I think that bugged me more than anything. It was never reported correctly at all. I was not a ‘friend’.”
Born Joan Constance Manning in Sydney on 28 December 1923, she worked as a swimsuit model and met Wayne Anderson, a US Army pilot, on Bondi Beach and married him soon after.
Speaking to the BBC, the filmmaker behind the story of Ms Anderson’s life said: “Telling Joan’s story was such a rewarding experience.
“She was 94 when we met and even with everything she’d been through, she had lived an amazing, full life.
“Seeing her finally get the recognition she deserved after all those years was incredible.”
Ms Anderson died on 14 July at a nursing home in Carlsbad, California, having lived “a wonderful life”, her family said.
She is survived by two sons, a daughter and six grandchildren. Another son, Carl, died in 2023. (BBC)
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