World
EU ‘held hostage’ by Hungary over Russian oil ban, Lithuania claims
![EU ‘held hostage’ by Hungary over Russian oil ban, Lithuania claims EU ‘held hostage’ by Hungary over Russian oil ban, Lithuania claims](https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/06/70/42/42/1000x563_cmsv2_eb636ec7-2004-53e7-83c5-d295aca80663-6704242.jpg)
Regardless of not being on the official agenda, Brussel’s proposed Russian oil embargo was on Monday looming massive over a gathering of overseas affairs ministers with accusations some member states are holding the bloc “hostage”.
The proposal to section out Russian oil throughout the bloc was unveiled 12 days in the past by Fee chief Ursula von der Leyen.
However in contrast to the 5 earlier sanction packages that have been swiftly accredited by the 27 capitals, negotiations have stalled with no decision seemingly in sight.
4 member states significantly depending on Russian fossil fuels — Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia — are demanding the European Fee enable them to proceed importing Russian power previous December 2024, which already constitutes a major delay from the remainder of the bloc.
Hungary is seen as the first hold-out with Prime Minister Viktor Orban describing the oil ban as an “atomic bomb” for his nation’s financial system.
‘We can’t be held hostage’
Talking upon arriving on the Overseas Ministers Council in Brussels on Monday, Lithuania’s Overseas Affairs Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, argued that “now, sadly, the entire Union is being held hostage by one member state who can’t assist us discover a consensus.”
Requested particularly if he had a message for his Hungarian counterpart, he replied: “We have now to agree. We can’t be held hostage.”
“The Fee actually supplied some options which we have been as too relaxed. We’re speaking nearly of a ban of oil that will finish, the section out, by December 31 of 2024,” he went on. “That is a really, very broad scope. I believe all people anticipated that this may be sufficient and I can’t clarify why it is not.”
“One of many options may very well be to assist Ukraine to decouple itself from Russian oil and gasoline as a result of as you recognize, the member state who can’t assist us discover a consensus depends on the visitors from Ukraine so if the visitors could be stopped from Ukraine, the sanction query could be solved altogether,” he added.
An try to interrupt the impasse final week when von der Leyen travelled to Budapest to satisfy with Orban failed. Officers burdened afterwards that the discussions have been over Hungary’s logistical and infrastructure issues following accusations that Budapest could also be attempting to leverage its acceptance of the bundle to be able to safe extra funding.
Hungarian Overseas Minister Péter Szijjártó rejected the accusation on Monday in a press convention streamed on his Fb web page, telling reporters: “I do not perceive what the Lithuanian Overseas Minister is saying.”
“It is a lie that we might maintain the entire union hostage,” he mentioned.
EU ‘will succeed’
He mentioned final week that the nation would want almost €800 million to be able to improve its infrastructures to obtain fossil fuels from different locations.
And he added on Monday that Hungary will want between €15 billion and €18 billion to transition away from fossil fuels, suggesting that almost all of that must be financed by the EU.
The bloc’s overseas affairs chief, Josep Borrell, in the meantime instructed reporters on Monday that “we’ll do our greatest to de-block the state of affairs”.
“I can’t be sure that it will occur as a result of the positions are fairly sturdy. However I believe that if we perceive the actual state of affairs of some Member States and all of us make an effort to current a united entrance in opposition to Russia, we’ll succeed,” he additionally mentioned.
The Fee’s much-anticipated RePower EU initiative, to be unveiled on Wednesday, is now much more eagerly awaited as a result of the monetary contributions to help the pricey power transition of member states it ought to embrace may assist transfer the needle on the oil ban.
Some diplomats nevertheless worry that Orbán may wish to drag the talks till EU leaders meet on 30 Could for a rare summit the place a political, relatively than technical, resolution may very well be discovered, sources instructed Euronews.
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World
American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 5 others 'brutally murdered' by Hamas right before rescue: IDF
![American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 5 others 'brutally murdered' by Hamas right before rescue: IDF American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 5 others 'brutally murdered' by Hamas right before rescue: IDF](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/09/hersh.png)
Hamas terrorists killed six hostages Saturday, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, as Israel Defense Forces closed in for a rescue attempt in the tunnels deep below Gaza’s Rafah.
Goldberg-Polin’s family confirmed his death early Sunday. His body was one of six recovered on Saturday. The IDF revealed that Hamas killed the hostages, who had been held for nearly 11 months, just as they were on the brink of freedom.
“According to our initial assessment, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them,” IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement.
Goldberg-Polin, 23, was abducted at a music festival in southern Israel during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against the Jewish State. He lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the attack. His body was recovered Saturday in the tunnels under Rafah, along with Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sergeant Ori Danino.
DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS ISRAEL MUST ‘WIDEN THE GOALS’ OF WAR TO RETURN RESIDENTS TO THE NORTH
Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin has been confirmed dead. (Israel’s Minister of Defense)
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, “He who murders abductees – does not want a deal. We are in a difficult day. The heart of the entire nation was torn.”
“Along with all the citizens of Israel, I was shocked to the core by the terrible cold-blooded murder of six of our abductees.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he “embrace[s] their families with all my heart, and apologize[s] for failing to bring them home safely.”
A dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, Goldberg-Polin immigrated to Israel with his family in 2008 at the age of seven, according to a statement from his family. He leaves behind his parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, and his two sisters.
Goldberg-Polin’s family and friends traveled the world demanding his release and met with world leaders, including officials in the Biden administration.
President Biden said he is “devastated and outraged” by the news of Goldberg-Polin’s death.
“It is as tragic as it is reprehensible,” he said. “Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”
Vice President Harris, also the Democratic nominee for president, said her prayers are with Goldberg-Polin’s loved ones as they mourn his loss.
“Hamas is an evil terrorist organization,” Harris said. “With these murders, Hamas has even more American blood on its hands. I strongly condemn Hamas’ continued brutality, and so must the entire world. From its massacre of 1,200 people to sexual violence, taking of hostages, and these murders, Hamas’ depravity is evident and horrifying.”
ISRAEL KILLS PALESTINIAN COMMANDER MUHAMMAD JABER ‘ABU SHUJAA’ AS FIGHTING INTENSIFIES: IDF
![Hersh Goldberg-Polin](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/09/1200/675/polin.png?ve=1&tl=1)
Goldberg-Polin, 23, was abducted at a music festival in southern Israel during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. (IDF)
“The threat Hamas poses to the people of Israel — and American citizens in Israel — must be eliminated and Hamas cannot control Gaza,” she added. “The Palestinian people too have suffered under Hamas’ rule for nearly two decades.”
“A few hours ago, we informed the families that the bodies of their loved ones had been located by IDF troops in an underground tunnel in Rafah,” IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a statement. “According to our initial assessment, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before we reached them.”
Fox News’ Yonat Friling contributed to this report.
World
Photos: Mass polio vaccination drive kicks off in Gaza amid Israeli strikes
![Photos: Mass polio vaccination drive kicks off in Gaza amid Israeli strikes Photos: Mass polio vaccination drive kicks off in Gaza amid Israeli strikes](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/AFP__20240901__36F32UL__v1__Preview__PalestinianIsraelConflictHealth-1725178114.jpg?resize=1200%2C630)
Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies on Sunday began a vaccination drive against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory ravaged by nearly 11 months of Israeli bombardment.
Authorities plan to vaccinate children in central Gaza until Wednesday before moving to the more devastated northern and southern parts of the Strip, aiming to inoculate about 640,000 children. On Saturday, a few children were vaccinated before the formal start of the campaign.
“This is the first few hours of the first phase of a massive campaign, one of the most complex in the world,” said Juliette Touma, communications director of UNRWA, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency.
“Today is test time for parties to the conflict to respect these area pauses to allow the UNRWA teams and other medical workers to reach children with these very precious two drops. It’s a race against time,” Touma told the Reuters news agency.
Israel and Hamas, which have so far failed to conclude a deal to end the war, said they would cooperate to allow the campaign to succeed.
The World Health Organization said on Thursday that Israel has agreed to limited pauses in its military operations to facilitate the campaign. There were initial reports of Israeli strikes in central Gaza early on Sunday, but it was not immediately known if anyone was killed or wounded.
Hospitals in Deir el-Balah and Nuseirat confirmed that the campaign had begun on Sunday. Israel said on Saturday that the vaccination programme would continue through September 9 and last eight hours a day.
The vaccinations will be held at some 160 sites across the territory, including medical centres and schools. Children below 10 years of age will receive two drops of oral polio vaccine in two rounds, the second to be administered four weeks after the first.
Gaza recently reported its first polio case in 25 years – a 10-month-old boy, now paralysed in the leg. The WHO says the presence of a paralysis case indicates there could be hundreds more who have been infected but are not showing symptoms.
Most affected children do not experience symptoms and those who do usually recover in a week or so, the UN health agency said. There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. When polio causes paralysis, it is usually permanent. The disease can be fatal if the paralysis affects breathing muscles.
The vaccination campaign faces a host of challenges, from ongoing war to devastated roads and hospitals shut down by the war. About 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced within the besieged territory, with hundreds of thousands crammed into squalid tent camps.
Health officials have expressed alarm about disease outbreaks as rubbish piles up and the bombing of critical infrastructure has sent putrid water flowing through the streets. Widespread hunger has left people even more vulnerable to illness.
“We escaped death with our children and fled from place to place for the sake of our children, and now we have these diseases,” said Wafaa Obaid, who brought her three children to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah for vaccination.
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