BRICS heads of state express support for expansion of group

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, China's President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pose for a picture at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. (Reuters)
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Updated 24 August 2023
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BRICS heads of state express support for expansion of group

  • South African President Cyril Ramaphosa: BRICS stands for solidarity and for progress. It stands for inclusivity, sustainable development and a more just, equitable world order

JOHANNESBURG: The leaders of the BRICS countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — expressed their support for expanding the alliance during the 15th BRICS Summit on Wednesday.

On the second day of the BRICS summit in South Africa, the group’s leaders and delegations gathered for the heads of state opening remarks. Each head of state made a speech detailing their proposals, pressing global issues and current developments for BRICS.

“BRICS stands for solidarity and for progress. BRICS stands for inclusivity and a more just, equitable world order. BRICS stands for sustainable development,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

Each leader expressed support for expanding the membership of BRICS while stressing the importance of retaining its true purpose.

Ramaphosa referenced the admission of South Africa to BRICS and how the addition of another member nation “strengthened the BRICS family.”




South African President Cyril Ramaphosa address the 15th BRICS Summit being held in his country. (AFP)

“We once again stand in another momentous moment where more than 20 other countries are seeking to be part of the BRICs family, and I know as BRICS leaders you are discussing this matter and giving close attention to it,” Ramaphosa said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech highlighted that the world was undergoing a shift and entering a new era of turbulence.

“We the BRICS countries should always bear in mind our founding purpose of strengthening ourselves in unity and in a strong sense of responsibility in enhancing cooperation across the board,” Xi said.

He urged the deepening of business and economic cooperation to boost economic growth, arguing that development was an unalienable right of all countries and not just a privilege reserved for a few.

Discussing the conflicts in the Russian-Ukrainian war, the South African president commended the BRICS members on their efforts to bring about a peaceful end to the conflict.

“We agree that this type of conflict is best brought to an end by negotiation,” Ramaphosa said. “BRICS members will continue to be supportive of various efforts to bring this conflict to an end through dialogue, mediation and negotiation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin made remarks on the reforms of international financial systems. Ramaphosa responded by highlighting a decision to be announced shortly on international financial systems reforms, as this marked one of the important discussion topics of the BRICS leaders retreat the previous day.




Russian President Vladimir Putin makes remarks virtually at the 15th BRICS Summit being held in South Africa. (AFP)

During his speech, made virtually, Putin highlighted that BRICS was working to develop effective mechanisms for trade settlements, currency and financial control.

“Over the past decade, BRICS investment in the global economy has doubled, and the cumulative exports reached 20 percent of the overall indicator,” Putin said. “We are successfully implementing the strategy for BRICS economic partnership 2025, namely strengthening bilateral cooperation in such areas as diversification of supply chains, de-dollarization and transfer to local currencies in our mutual economies.”

Ramaphosa said: “The world is changing. New economic, political, social and technological realities call for greater cooperation between nations. These realities call for a fundamental reform of the institutions of global governance so that they may be more representative and better able to respond to the challenges that confront humanity.”

During his speech, Brazil’s president Lula Da Silva said that “BRICS should act as a force for understanding and for cooperation.”

Da Silva highlighted the power BRICS holds, and that it represented 41 percent of the world population and was responsible for 32 percent of GDP purchasing power.

“The BRICS — we should say all (countries) — suffer the consequences of war,” he said.

The Brazilian president said that the Ukraine war showed the limitations of the UN Security Council, adding: “BRICS is a forum to discuss the main issues that affect peace and world security.

“The quest for peace is a collective obligation and imperative for a fair development and a sustainable development,” Da Silva said.

“Haitians, Yemenites, Syrians, Sudanese and Palestinians all deserve to live in peace, it is unacceptable that global military spending in one year goes beyond 2 trillion dollars while the FAO says to us that 735 million people are in hunger every day in the world,” he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed new areas for BRICS nations’ cooperation — in space exploration and research, cooperation in skill development, education and technology, joint efforts in the protection of big cats, and shared know-how and cooperation in the traditional medicines ecosystem.

As part of the leaders’ speeches session, a draft declaration to establish a BRICS Youth Council is in the final stages of consideration by the heads of state of BRICS.


Israeli private eye accused of hacking was questioned about DC public affairs firm, sources say

Updated 5 sec ago
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Israeli private eye accused of hacking was questioned about DC public affairs firm, sources say

  • Private investigator Amit Forlit was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport on April 30 over American cybercrime and wire fraud charges

Private investigator Amit Forlit was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport on April 30 over American cybercrime and wire fraud charges

 

WASHINGTON: An Israeli private investigator sought by the United States over hack-for-hire allegations previously told colleagues that he had been questioned by FBI agents over his work for the Washington public affairs firm DCI Group, according to three people familiar with the matter. Federal law enforcement’s interest in DCI, which has not been previously reported, shows a years-long US probe into cybermercenary activity is wider than publicly known.
The FBI declined to comment. DCI, a public relations firm that has worked on behalf of hedge funds and multinationals, said in a written statement that “we direct all our employees and consultants to comply with the law.” Private investigator Amit Forlit was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport on April 30 over American cybercrime and wire fraud charges. Prosecutors in London said only that Forlit engaged in a “hack for hire scheme” on behalf of several clients, including an unidentified Washington-based PR and lobbying firm. He was released two days after his arrest following a procedural error by British authorities.
He was rearrested on Thursday on the same charges and has since been released on bail, according to Britain’s National Crime Agency and a London court register published Friday. The register said Forlit surrendered his passport and was ordered not to leave the country. The 56-year-old’s lawyers did not return repeated messages. In a deposition made public in 2022, Forlit said, “I’ve never commissioned hacking and never paid for hacking.” Reuters revealed the existence of an FBI investigation into the cybermercenary industry in 2020. The only person known to have been convicted in connection with the inquiry, Israeli private investigator Aviram Azari, was given a 6 2/3 year sentence last year. Forlit acknowledged in his deposition that Azari had done work on his behalf. Privately, he expressed concern that he was being sought by American law enforcement following Azari’s arrest, according to three associates. The associates said Forlit told them he arranged a meeting with FBI officials in the US embassy in London in late 2021 to gauge whether he would be arrested if he visited the United States. It was at that meeting that the FBI quizzed him about his work for DCI, they said.
The associates spoke on condition of anonymity to relay the content of private conversations. Forlit is separately being sued in New York federal court by aviation executive Farhad Azima, who accuses the Israeli of being party to the theft of his emails in 2016. He denies the allegations. A review of court records tied to Azima’s litigation shows that Forlit had business with DCI. A Citibank document made public in August 2022 as part of Azima’s discovery effort in Florida shows Forlit’s company, then known as SDC-Gadot, listed DCI Group as one of its three “major customers.” Citibank declined to comment on the document.


NYC college suspends officer who told pro-Palestinian protester ‘I support killing all you guys’

Updated 13 min 43 sec ago
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NYC college suspends officer who told pro-Palestinian protester ‘I support killing all you guys’

  • An unidentified protester filmed the officer at Thursday’s graduation for the College of Staten Island, part of the public City University of New York system that was rocked by a recent police crackdown on campus protests

NEW YORK: A campus safety officer at a public college in New York City has been suspended after footage circulated online showing him cursing at pro-Palestinian protesters during a graduation ceremony and saying he supported killing them all, the school confirmed Friday.

An unidentified protester filmed the officer at Thursday’s graduation for the College of Staten Island, part of the public City University of New York system that was rocked by a recent police crackdown on campus protests.
In a highly edited video shared by Instagram accounts affiliated with student protest organizers, a demonstrator can be heard yelling at the officer, “You support genocide!”
“Yes I do, I support genocide,” says the officer. “I support killing all you guys, how about that?”
In another clip posted in the video, the officer can be heard hurling an expletive at another protester, followed by “your mother.”
Phone calls and emails seeking comment from the officer on Friday were unsuccessful. A person who answered a number listed under his name hung up when a reporter identified themself, and emails were not immediately returned.
CUNY confirmed the suspension Friday but declined to provide details, such as whether the officer was on paid leave.
“We condemn the offensive language used by a CUNY officer,” College of Staten Island spokesperson David Pizzuto said in a statement. “His words don’t reflect the values of the College of Staten Island or the 50 officers on our Public Safety staff. The officer has been suspended pending a full review of the incident, and we will take further action as appropriate.”
Protest camps sprang up across the US and in Europe as students demand their universities stop doing business with Israel or companies that support its war efforts. Organizers seek to amplify calls to end Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which they describe as a genocide against the Palestinians.
The United Nations’ top court ordered Israel on Friday to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire for entire Palestinian territory. The International Court of Justice has said there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies.


French city postpones Israeli film festival amid Gaza tensions

Updated 24 May 2024
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French city postpones Israeli film festival amid Gaza tensions

  • The city council did not give a reason for the postponement
  • The Shalom Europa festival said on its Facebook page that “events” had forced the decision to hold the event at a “calmer” time

STRASBOURG, France: An Israeli film festival in the eastern French city of Strasbourg has been indefinitely postponed as the Gaza war rages, authorities said Friday.
The Shalom Europa festival has been hosted in the city for 15 years and was scheduled to be held from June 16 to June 20. But France has reported an increased number of anti-Semitic attacks since the Gaza war erupted on October 7.
The city council did not give a reason for the postponement but said Strasbourg “has always supported the Shalom Europa festival and will continue to do so. It promises to help hold the festival on a date that is opportune for the organizers.”
The Israeli community group that organizes the event did not reply to AFP requests for comment.
The Shalom Europa festival said on its Facebook page that “events” had forced the decision to hold the event at a “calmer” time, adding that “The safety and well-being of our participants is our absolute priority.”
The French Jewish community, the third largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials.
On May 17, French police shot dead a man who set fire to a synagogue in the northern city of Rouen.


UK government ‘unequivocally failing’ Palestinians in Gaza, says charity adviser

Updated 24 May 2024
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UK government ‘unequivocally failing’ Palestinians in Gaza, says charity adviser

  • Save the Children official questions UK’s commitment to upholding international humanitarian law
  • Young people in Gaza enduring ‘the most dangerous and dire situation for children anywhere in the world’

LONDON: Palestinians in Gaza, and particularly young people, are being “unequivocally failed” by the British government, a charity adviser said on Friday.

Liz Bradshaw, Save the Children’s senior adviser on the Israel-Hamas conflict, told The Independent newspaper that a “shameful failure by the UK government” was having a huge impact on youngsters living through “the most dangerous and dire situation for children anywhere in the world.”

Health officials in Gaza say more than 35,000 Palestinians, over half of them women and children, have been killed in the territory since Oct. 7 and the outbreak of an Israeli retaliation for a Hamas attack in southern Israel, which claimed around 1,200 lives.

Bradshaw said UK arms sales to Israel were having a “high impact” on the lives of Palestinian civilians. David Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, recently admitted that he was “not really interested” in stopping weapon sales to Israel.

Children in Gaza faced immediate physical risk “from horrific blast injuries caused by the use of explosive weapons in intensely dense populated areas, like Rafah, or from amputations, leaving them in agonizing pain,” Bradshaw said.

She added that, in places like Rafah where the Israeli military is engaged in an offensive, people were facing repeated displacement “in some cases, four or five, six times condensed into ever smaller areas, where frankly, there just simply aren’t the conditions for that number of people to survive.”

According to Bradshaw, children in Gaza are in acute need of mental health support to deal with the “lifelong” psychological scars they will have gained from what they have witnessed.

She also called into question the UK government’s commitment to upholding international humanitarian law and to protecting civilians suffering in Gaza.

“The UK speaks in very powerful terms about protection of civilians in other parts of the world like Ukraine, so why are we not seeing the same level of commitment and concern in relation to Palestinian children in Gaza?” she asked.

“It’s pretty abject stuff. We hear a lot about the deep concern that they have, but frankly, their deep concern is meaningless to children in Gaza. And it’s meaningless to our staff who are desperately battling against the odds to help children. We need action, not words from this government, and it’s long, long overdue.”


Germany, Portugal say time not ripe to recognize Palestinian state

Updated 24 May 2024
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Germany, Portugal say time not ripe to recognize Palestinian state

  • “There is no clarity about the territory of the state and other questions related to it,” Scholz said
  • Montenegro said Portugal was also “not in the position to” recognize a Palestinian state

BERLIN: The leaders of Germany and Portugal said Friday the time was not ripe to recognize a Palestinian state, after three other European nations announced plans to do so.
“We have no reason to recognize the Palestinian Authority as a separate state now,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a press conference after talks with Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro.
“There is no clarity about the territory of the state and other questions related to it,” he said.
“What we need is a negotiated solution between Israel and the Palestinians that amounts to a two-state solution... but we are still a long way from there,” he said.
“Symbolic recognition of statehood does not bring us further” toward the goal, he added.
Speaking at the same press conference, Montenegro said Portugal was also “not in the position to” recognize a Palestinian state.
“We are waiting for the (related) issues to be further discussed within the European Union,” he added.
Ireland, Norway and Spain on Wednesday announced they intended to recognize the State of Palestinian next week.
The announcement drew fury from Israel, which warned of “serious consequences” for ties with the European nations.
For decades, formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been seen as the end goal of a peace process between Palestinians and Israel.
The United States and most western European nations have said they are willing to one day recognize Palestinian statehood, but not before agreement is reached on thorny issues like final borders and the status of Jerusalem.