Asselborn calls for recognising Palestine

Luxembourg foreign minister Jean Asselborn has said that the grand duchy would recognize Palestine if France would lead the way. "We Europeans must show that Palestinians also have a right to their own state," he said in an article published on Wednesday in the German daily “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. Asselborn says divisions within the European Union make it impossible to lead an active Middle Eastern policy. Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Latvia abstained during the symbolic UN vote to show opposition to Donald Trump’s announcement that the US embassy in Israel would relocate to Jerusalem.

Fijian rugby players land in Lux.

The “Fiji Times” takes up the story of the four rugby players from the country’s Lelean Memorial School-based academy who have arrived in Luxembourg as part of a student exchange programme. Taniela Tuirabe, Vilitati Dakili, Luke Verebasaga and Peni Raivatilai will stay in the grand duchy for three months. “It is a big achievement for them to be part of the program and at the same time get the experience and it is a good way to market the academy overseas,” said former Fiji international Seremaia Bai.

May and Macron strengthen Le Touquet accord

“The Guardian” reports that British prime minister Theresa May and French president Emmanuel Macron have signed an agreement increasing Britain’s contribution towards border control in Calais and in speeding up the asylum process for migrants entitled to claim refuge in the UK. Macron has been reported as saying recently that France could no longer be Britain’s “coastguard” without concessions from the UK to help ease the migration crisis on France’s Channel coast. “The Guardian” writes that under the new treaty “Britain will agree to accelerate procedures for accepting legitimate asylum seekers currently blocked in Calais, including those seeking to rejoin their families in the UK and unaccompanied children, and will pay more for transport security and maintaining the border in the French port.”

EU suspends Kenya project

“The Washington Post” is one of the few news outlets reporting that the European Union has suspended funding for a $35 million water conservation project in Kenya. The announcement by EU ambassador to Kenya, Stefano Dejak follows the fatal shooting of a tribesman by government forest service guards in the Embobut Forest. The EU had apparently previously warned that it would take action if force was used against locals. “The EU insists on full respect for the rights of indigenous people, and the conservation work…was never expected to involve any evictions or use of violence,” the EU statement said.