World
UNRWA funding must continue to avoid 'collective punishment': Lenarčič
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) must continue to receive “adequate funding” to avoid a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, has said.
His warning comes as uncertainty mounts over the future of the EU’s development aid to UNRWA.
The agency is at a breaking point after Western countries suspended donations following allegations twelve of its staff members were involved in Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel, which left more than 1,200 Israelis dead and sparked a war in Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 29,000 Palestinians.
The serious allegations, levelled by Israel on the same day the UN’s top court ordered it to prevent genocide in Gaza, sparked fears of possible infiltration by Hamas, designated a terrorist organisation by the EU, into the Western-funded UN agency.
The European Commission, one of UNRWA’s largest donors, said in January it would **review**its funding in light of the steps taken by the agency to audit its recruitment procedures, bolster its internal oversight mechanisms and vet its 30,000-strong workforce.
It is not yet clear whether the next scheduled EU payment in development aid of €82 million, due this week, will be suspended or not.
But Lenarčič suggested that failing to prop up UNRWA while a humanitarian disaster grips the Gaza Strip would have “catastrophic consequences” and put regional stability at risk.
“In line with EU values – and while we are working constructively with UNRWA on the reinforcement of their internal controls, an audit carried by EU-appointed experts and the vetting system for their staff – it remains of crucial importance to provide UNRWA with adequate funding,” Lenarčič told the European Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.
“We have to be clear, there is simply no substitute for UNRWA,” Lenarčič explained. “Individual accountability must be ensured. But collective punishment cannot be the answer.”
Several nations suspended payments to UNRWA in the wake of the scandal, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. Others, like Spain, Ireland and Belgium, continued their support.
While the EU has not suspended deliveries of humanitarian aid, the sudden exodus of Western donors has dealt a devastating blow to the donor-reliant agency, which says its deliveries of humanitarian cargo have halved since January.
Fewer trucks carrying aid have been able to enter Gaza in February compared to January and December, and the UN has warned that pockets of famine are appearing in Gaza. Many humanitarian organisations, including the UN’s World Food Programme, have paused food deliveries to the north of the enclave given that the chaos wrought by the humanitarian crisis has made conditions unsafe for relief workers.
UNRWA’s commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini said earlier this month he hoped the EU would continue to back the agency, and that his conversations with the Commission to safeguard future funding had been “very constructive.”
Josep Borrell, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, also strongly suggested that European assistance would flow as originally anticipated given that UNRWA had launched the investigation that Brussels had called for.
MEPs split on UNRWA
But the EU and its 27 member states have consistently failed to consolidate a common position on the war between Israel and Hamas since it broke out in October, with leaders taking divergent stance on the conflict.
Those rifts were evident during a tense debate between Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the plenary chamber in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
Several MEPs, predominantly from left-leaning groups, claimed Israel had failed to provide concrete evidence to back their claims that UNRWA staff had taken part in the October 7th attacks.
Lenarčič also confirmed the Commission had not yet received evidence to back the claims, and that to his knowledge neither had any other donors.
Last Wednesday, the Washington Post published a video that Israel alleges shows a UN relief worker participating in the October 7 attack. But UN leaders have continued to underline that the allegations are yet to be corroborated.
Another camp of right-leaning MEPs fiercely condemned the Commission for injecting cash into an organisation they say is infiltrated by Hamas militants, and denied that its work in Gaza was irreplaceable.
Directly addressing Josep Borrell, Swedish MEP David Lega of the centre-right European People’s Party said: “You’ve said you fully trust you and leadership to get to the bottom of alleged complicity in Hamas terrorism.”
“What will it take for you to understand that your trust is frankly irrelevant if UNRWA loses the trust of parties involved?” he went on, adding that EU aid to Gaza must go to more “responsible, more neutral, more trusted partners.”
“Without UNRWA, Palestinian children will starve,” Malin Björk, from The Left, responded.
“How do we distinguish between different human lives? Why is a Palestinian life not worth anything?” she asked.
Barry Andrews, an Irish lawmaker from the Renew Europe group, called on member states to make decisions “not based on punitive political decisions but on evidence” and on the Commission to restore its payments to support the “irreplaceable and heroic work of UNRWA.”
World
EU pushes for end of Iran war in a manner where ‘everybody saves face’
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The European Union’s foreign policy chief said Tuesday that the bloc is consulting with Gulf countries to potentially “bring forward proposals for Iran, Israel and the U.S.” to get out of their war in a situation where “everybody saves face.”
Kaja Kallas, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, made the remark to Reuters, adding that “it would be in the interest of everybody if this war stops.”
“We have been consulting with regional countries like the Gulf countries, Jordan, Egypt, [about] whether we could also bring forward proposals for Iran, Israel and the U.S. to get out of this situation so that everybody saves face,” Kallas was quoted as saying.
“The problem with wars is that it’s easier to start than to stop them, and it always gets out of hand,” she also reportedly said, noting that the EU is willing to assist “diplomatically to bring the parties together to really stop this war.”
TRUMP SEEKS WARSHIPS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES TO HELP SECURE STRAIT OF HORMUZ
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, left, and President Donald Trump. (Omar Havana/Reuters; Nathan Howard/Reuters)
Kallas also pushed back after President Donald Trump said over the weekend that, “Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe.”
“Nobody is ready to put their people in harm’s way in the Strait of Hormuz,” Kallas told Reuters on Tuesday. “We have to find diplomatic ways to keep this open so that we don’t have a food crisis, fertilizers crisis, energy crisis as well.”
TOP COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL RESIGNS IN PROTEST OF US WAR AGAINST IRAN
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the new leader of Iran. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Trump said on Truth Social on Saturday that, “We have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability, but it’s easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile somewhere along, or in, this Waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are.”
U.S. Central Command footage showing strikes on Iranian mobile missile launchers. (@CENTCOM via X)
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“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated,” Trump wrote. “In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE!”
World
Ex-Belgian diplomat ordered to stand trial over murder of Congo’s Lumumba
Etienne Davignon, 93, is the only one alive among 10 Belgians accused by the Congolese leader’s family of complicity.
Published On 17 Mar 2026
A 93-year-old former Belgian diplomat has been ordered by a Brussels court to stand trial over the assassination of Congo’s first prime minister and anti-colonial icon, Patrice Lumumba, in 1961.
Lumumba, who became the prime minister of the country – now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo – upon its independence from Belgium on June 24, 1960, was ousted in September of the same year and later killed by a Belgian-backed secessionist rebel group just months later on January 16, 1961.
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But in 2002, a parliamentary investigation found that Belgium was “morally responsible” for Lumumba’s death.
On Tuesday, Etienne Davignon, 93, a former European commissioner who was a junior diplomat at the time, stands trial over his death, marking the first trial related to the murder of Lumumba.
He is also accused of being involved in the murder of Lumumba’s political allies, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito.
According to prosecutors, Davignon, who is accused of war crimes, had participated in the unlawful detention or transfer of Lumumba and deprived him of his right to an impartial trial.
Prosecutors added that Davignon had subjected Lumumba to “humiliating and degrading treatment”.
If the trial goes ahead, Davignon would be the first Belgian official to face the courts in 65 years since the prime minister was killed and his body was dissolved in acid.
While 10 people were accused of being complicit in the murder of Lumumba, Davignon is the only suspect alive.
Lumumba’s family members brought the case, which Belgian federal prosecutors have since taken up.
His granddaughter Yema Lumumba told the Reuters news agency after the ruling that it was a “step in the right direction”.
“What we want is to search for truth and establish different responsibilities,” she added.
The family’s lawyer, Christophe Marchand, also told the AFP news agency that “It’s a gigantic victory”.
“No one believed when we first brought the case in 2011 that Belgium would prove capable of seriously investigating this,” he said, adding: “It’s very hard for a country to judge its own colonial crimes.”
Gold-capped tooth
As African countries pushed for independence from their European rulers in the 1960s, Lumumba rose as an anti-colonial hero, though his government lasted only three months.
At just aged 35, Lumumba was executed in the southern region of Katanga, with the support of Belgian-backed mercenaries.
The only known remains of the killed leader, a single gold-capped tooth, were taken from the daughter of a deceased Belgian officer who was involved in the disappearance of his remains.
During a ceremony in 2022, his remains were returned in a coffin to DRC’s authorities.
During the handover, then Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo reiterated the government’s “apologies” for its “moral responsibility” in Lumumba’s disappearance.
World
Cuba’s entire electrical grid collapses, leaving whole island without power
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Cuba plunged into an unprecedented blackout after its entire electrical grid suddenly suffered a total collapse on Monday, briefly leaving roughly 10 million residents in total darkness.
“At 1:54 p.m. local time, there was a disconnection of the national electrical grid resulting in a complete power outage across Cuba which includes the Havana metropolitan area,” the U.S. Embassy in Cuba said.
The nationwide outage comes just two days after a large crowd of protesters, fed up with the island’s energy crisis, were caught on camera attacking a local Communist Party headquarters in Cuba, ransacking the building and attempting to set it on fire.
Efforts to restore electricity are currently underway across the island, with reports indicating that power is slowly returning to some areas.
RUSSIAN ‘DARK FLEET’ TANKER BELIEVED TO BE DELIVERING OIL TO CUBA, DETECTED OFF US COAST AMID TRUMP BAN
A woman with her son signals a car on a dark street during a blackout in Bauta municipality, Artemisa province, Cuba, on March 18, 2024. (Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images)
“The causes are being investigated and protocols for restoration are beginning to be activated,” the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Cuba said Monday afternoon, referring to the island’s disrupted National Electrical System of Cuba.
Cuba’s electrical grid has grown increasingly unstable over the years due to aging infrastructure, fuel shortages, and economic restrictions that have limited the country’s access to energy resources – including Washington’s long‑standing oil embargo and recent U.S. actions that disrupted Venezuelan fuel shipments, a key source of the nation’s energy.
Power outages have become a frequent occurrence across the country, disrupting water supply, refrigeration and communications.
“Officials in the US gov must be feeling very happy by the harm caused to every Cuban family,” Cuban Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Carlos F. de Cossio said in response to Monday’s blackout.
MILLIONS LOSE POWER ACROSS CUBA AS TRUMP SANCTIONS CONTINUE TO FUEL ONGOING ENERGY CRISIS
Neya Perez, 86, paints the nails of her neighbor Reyna Maria Rodriguez, 77, during a mass blackout across most of the country, in Havana, March 4, 2026. (Norlys Perez/Reuters)
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Friday that no fuel has entered the country for the past three months. Since then, electricity generation has relied heavily on a “considerable contribution from renewable energy sources.”
The total collapse of the power grid came just as officials announced updates to their solar panel project in Villa Clara, describing it as a “national security necessity” amid ongoing restrictions on fossil fuel imports under the Trump administration.
“Amid a context of severe energy constraints and a recurring economic lockdown, #Cuba takes another firm step towards electric sovereignty,” the Villa Clara Electric Company said Monday morning.
“This connection comes at a critical time: Washington maintains severe restrictions on our country’s access to fossil fuels, funding and technology. Betting on renewables isn’t just environmental — it’s a national security necessity.”
As the island continues to face rolling power outages, residents have been urged to brace for significant disruption and unplug all nonessential equipment, “leaving only essential devices powered on until service stability is restored,” the Villa Clara Electric Company said.
A family has dinner during a blackout in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Havana on Sept. 28, 2022. (Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)
Last Saturday, in a rare display of public dissent driven by frustration over widespread blackouts, anti-government protesters in Cuba reportedly targeted a Communist Party office by hurling rocks, shouting “liberty” and igniting large fires at the scene.
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The rally, caught on video, began peacefully in the city of Morón late Friday but escalated into violence within hours, Reuters reported, citing local sources.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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