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France formally recognises Palestinian state
France has formally recognised a Palestinian state, becoming the latest in a wave of countries to take the step.
Speaking at the UN in New York, President Emmanuel Macron said “the time for peace has come” and that “nothing justifies the ongoing war in Gaza”.
France and Saudi Arabia are hosting a one-day summit at the UN General Assembly focused on plans for a two-state solution to the conflict. G7 states Germany, Italy, and the US did not attend.
Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Andorra and San Marino are also due to recognise a Palestinian state, after the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal announced recognition on Sunday.
International pressure is ramping up on Israel over the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza and settlement building in the West Bank.
Israel has said recognition would reward Hamas for the Palestinian armed group’s 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Israeli forces are currently carrying out a ground offensive aimed at taking control of Gaza City, where a million people were living and a famine was confirmed last month.
The French leader told the conference that the time had come to stop the war and free the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas. He warned against the “peril of endless wars” and said “right must always prevail over might”.
The international community had failed to build a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, he said, adding that “we must do everything in our power to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution” that would see “Israel and Palestine side by side in peace and security”.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud also addressed the UN, on behalf of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
He reiterated that a two-state solution was the only way to achieve lasting peace in the region.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would set up a new financial instrument to work on Gaza’s reconstruction.
“We must all do more,” she told the UN General Assembly. “This is why we will set up a Palestine Donor Group.”
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres referred to the situation in Gaza as “morally, legally and politically intolerable” and said a two-state solution was the “only credible path” for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas – who was blocked from attending the UN General Assembly in person after the US revoked his and other Palestinian officials’ visas – addressed the conference via videolink.
He called for a permanent ceasefire and said Hamas could have no role in governing Gaza, calling for the group to “surrender their weapons” to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
“What we want is one unified state without weapons,” he said.
Abbas also condemned Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel and addressed Israelis, saying: “Our future and yours depends on peace. Enough violence and war.”
Macron said France was ready to contribute to a “stabilisation mission” in Gaza and called for a transitional administration involving the PA that would oversee the dismantling of Hamas.
He said France would only open an embassy to a Palestinian state when all the hostages being held by Hamas are released and a ceasefire had been agreed.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Dannon, spoke to reporters shortly before Macron’s announcement.
Dannon said a two-state solution was taken “off the table” after the 7 October attack and called this week’s talks at the UN a “charade”. He also refused to rule out Israel annexing the occupied West Bank.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted there will be no Palestinian state to the west of the River Jordan, and President Isaac Herzog said recognising one would only “embolden the forces of darkness”.
Ahead of Macron’s announcement, the Palestinian and Israeli flags were displayed on the Eiffel Tower on Sunday night. A number of town halls in France also flew Palestinian flags on Monday, despite a government order to local prefects to maintain neutrality.
Pro-Palestinian protests also took place in some 80 towns and cities across Italy, where Giorgia Meloni’s government said recently it could be “counter-productive” to recognise a state that did not exist.
In Germany, the government has said Palestinian statehood is not currently up for debate, and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul explained as he left for New York on Monday that, “For Germany, recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of the process. But this process must begin now”.
[BBC]
Sri Lanka will face India in the semi-finals of Asian Games men’s tournament after their quarter-final clash against Nepal was abandoned without a ball being bowled in Nisshin, Japan. The game was called off prior to the toss, with rain having begun hours prior to the scheduled 9am local start and not looking like abating.
Sri Lanka’s progression was assured by virtue of their higher seeding in terms of the ICC T20I rankings – Sri Lanka, alongside India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are the four seeded teams in the tournament. On Monday, India had qualified over Afghanistan after another washout, again by virtue of their higher. Similarly, Pakistan’s qualification was assured following a rain abandonment in their quarter-final against Hong Kong.
In the 2022 Asian Games, Sri Lanka had been eliminated at the quarter fial stages by Afghanistan. Another washout in the semis against, India though, will see the latter qualify for the final.
A few hours later, the fourth quarter-final between Bangladesh and Malaysia was also washed out. Bangladesh will now face Pakistan in the first semi-final on October 1, followed by India vs Sri Lanka later on the same day
(Cricinfo)
The Bangladesh vs Malaysia abandonment on Tuesday completed a quartet of rained off matches in the Asian Games men’s tournament. The match was called off two hours before the toss, with the teams told not to even turn up at the venue.
Bangladesh, by virtue of higher seeding, go through to the semi-finals where they will now face Pakistan on October 1. Earlier in the morning, the Sri Lanka vs Nepal fixture was also called off due to rain, with Sri Lanka advancing into the semi-finals where they will meet India.
There is, however, some good news, as the weather forecast in Nisshin is better for the semi-final and the medal match day, on October 1 and 3, respectively.
In the last edition (2023), Bangladesh had lost to India in the semi-final but won the third-place playoff against Pakistan to take home the bronze medal. They had won the bronze in 2014 as well and Bangladesh’s best finish was winning the gold medal in 2010, when they beat Afghanistan in the final.
(Cricinfo)
OpenAI will not release its new AI model – GPT-6.1 Astra – due to safety concerns, the ChatGPT-maker confirmed on Tuesday.
The AI system – which performs tasks like browsing the web and using apps by itself – “didn’t quite meet the bar” of the company’s standards, Saachi Jain, head of safety systems at OpenAI, said.
On Tuesday, OpenAI also issued an update on incidents, that occurred in June but were not made public until last week, in which its models accessed Australian government websites and systems without authorisation.
Those incidents and similar breaches by models developed by major AI firms have in recent weeks intensified the debate around the risks posed by the technology.
Top AI leaders including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic boss Dario Amodei have urged the industry to slow the pace of development due to concerns about risks associated with the technology.
OpenAI’s decision, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, is a rare instance of a major AI developer pulling a new release over safety concerns.
The model fell short in terms of “staying within scope and authorisation, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it’s done,” Jain said.
“We want to make sure our model development is safe no matter whether that’s in the company, or when we ship it to users. But when we ship it to users, we have an extremely high bar in terms of safety and alignment,” she added.
The flagship GPT-6 Astra agentic model was released in September and specialises in complex reasoning and executing tasks autonomously. OpenAI said it was the result of “years of research and big bets”.
OpenAI is set to hold its annual DevDay developer conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, where it is expected to make several announcements. It is unclear if a new version of Astra will be among them.
The company’s security controls have come under intense scrutiny after several high-profile incidents involving its technology.
Last week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that a rogue OpenAI agent had hacked into gove4nment websites and systems in June in what experts said was the first known case of its kind in the world.
Albanese criticised OpenAI for notifying the Australian government through a generic email address rather than making direct contact with officials.
OpenAI said in a statement on Tuesday that it was sorry for the incident and that it “should have handled our response better”.
Services Australia, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, the Victorian Department of Health and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare were all affected, OpenAI clarified.
The firm said it launched investigations into the incidents as soon as it became aware of them in mid-August and notified the affected organisations between 10 and 24 September.
“Our aim was to give affected agencies a detailed account once our investigation was complete,” OpenAI said, adding that it should have shared early findings more promptly and kept Australian authorities updated.
OpenAI added that it will develop “practical approaches” to how developers and governments identify and disclose future AI incidents.
(BBC)
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