Paramilitary shelling hits Sudan’s presidential palace: army source

ANKARA: Turkiye is determined to construct a canal project intended to relieve pressure on the busy Bosphorus Strait, when financing is secured, a government minister said on Thursday, despite widespread criticism over its possible environmental impact.
President Tayyip Erdogan laid the foundation of the canal in 2021, aiming to connect the Black Sea north of Istanbul to the Marmara Sea to the south and prevent accidents in the Bosphorus.
The initiative, described by Erdogan as his “crazy project” when he revealed it more than a decade ago, was estimated to cost some 75 billion lira ($1.95 billion).
Critics have questioned the viability of a waterway running 45 km (28 miles) through marshland and farms on the western edge of Istanbul, and say it will wreak environmental havoc, destroy a marine ecosystem and endanger some fresh water supply for the country’s biggest city.
The plan was shelved in recent years largely due to economic turmoil, lack of financing, and public opposition.
“We have not abandoned the Kanal Istanbul project. It is not on our agenda today, but when the day comes, the right financing is found, we will definitely do it,” Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said.
He was speaking a day after Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum said the project was not, and had not been, on the government’s agenda for some time.
Uraloglu’s comments come amid a widening legal crackdown on opposition members of the Istanbul municipality, including senior personnel that the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) says were responsible for environmental matters among other issues. The CHP runs the municipality.
In March, a court jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, from the CHP, as part of the months-long crackdown. The mayor is seen as Erdogan’s main political rival and leads him in some polls.
Imamoglu has denied all charges against him, while the CHP, other opposition parties and Western powers have said his arrest was a politicized move to eliminate a potential electoral threat to Erdogan, who has run the country for more than two decades.
His arrest has triggered mass protests and economic turmoil, but the government denies any influence over the judiciary.

LONDON: The British government is in talks with its French and Saudi counterparts over official recognition of a Palestinian state, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has revealed.

Discussions are set to take place at a conference at the UN in June, The Guardian reported.

So far, 160 countries recognize Palestine, including most recently Spain, Norway and Ireland. If a deal can be reached, it would mean adding two permanent UN Security Council members — and key allies of Israel — to that list.

Lammy told the House of Lords International Relations Select Committee that EU countries’ recognition of Palestine had made little to no difference on progress toward statehood, and that the UK wanted something more than to make a symbolic gesture.

“It’s unacceptable for any group of people to have lived with no state for longer than I’ve been alive,” he told the committee.

“No one has a veto on when the UK recognizes that Palestinian state … We’ve always said that recognition isn’t an end in of itself, and we’ll prefer recognition as a part of a process to two states.

“(French) President (Emmanuel) Macron has had a lot to say about that, most recently, alongside the Saudis, and of course we’re in discussion with them at this time.”

Lammy said a viable state could not include Hamas remaining in power in Gaza, and a full demilitarization process of the enclave would need to be undertaken.

He added that the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is a threat to a two-state solution, and that settler violence against Palestinians is “shocking.”

He also took aim at Israel for its continuing prevention of aid entering Gaza, saying: “The blockade of necessary aid into Gaza is horrendous, the suffering is dire, the need is huge, the loss of life is extreme.”

On April 9, Macron said France would likely recognize a Palestinian state at the June conference, following an official visit to Egypt.

He later said the move, which would be the first such act of recognition by a G7 state, is intended to “trigger a series of other recognitions … including the recognition of Israel by states that do not currently do so.”

Michel Duclos, a special adviser at the Paris-based think tank Institut Montaigne, told The Guardian that the outcome of the June conference “may be nothing more than a roadmap or set of proposals.”

He added: “The dilemma for France may soon become more challenging — can it continue postponing its recognition of Palestine while waiting for a true two-state momentum? Or would further postponement undermine its credibility?”

Saudi Arabia has made clear that normalizing ties with Israel is conditional on a pathway to achieving a two-state solution.