World

LONDON — One of two British lawmakers who were denied entry into Israel at the weekend accused the Israeli government on Monday of being motivated by "control and censorship".

Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, from the governing Labour Party, flew from London to Israel on Saturday but were blocked from entering the country and deported.

The pair had been due to visit the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank.

"This act was not just a diplomatic affront. This wasn't about security. It was about control and censorship," Mohamed told the UK parliament.

She added that it had been "a challenging few days".

Yang said she had not anticipated "the risks of detention and deportation from a British ally".

"People around the world are listening to us, our voice is powerful, and we must continue to use it without fear or favour," she told MPs.

Delivering a statement on the incident to lawmakers, UK Middle East minister Hamish Falconer said it was likely the fist time that British MPs had been "barred" from entering Israel.

"It is no way to treat democratically elected representatives of a close partner nation. We have made this clear at the highest levels in Israel," he said.

Falconer said the Israel government's decision had apparently been taken based on comments the two MPs had made in the House of Commons.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Saturday called the move "unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning".

But Israel said the lawmakers' claim to be part of an official parliamentary delegation was "found to be false, as no official body in Israel was aware of such a delegation's visit".

"Further questioning revealed that the purpose of their visit was to document the actions of Israeli security forces and spread hate speech against Israel," the interior ministry statement said in a statement.

Israel resumed intense strikes on Gaza on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. Efforts to restore the truce have so far failed.

According to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, at least 1,391 Palestinians have been killed in the renewed Israeli operations, taking the overall death toll since the start of the war to 50,752.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis made a surprise public appearance on Sunday as he mingled with crowds at the Vatican just two weeks after leaving hospital for a serious case of pneumonia.

"A good Sunday to all. Thank you very much," the 88-year old pope said as he was pushed through Saint Peter's Square in his wheelchair after a mass dedicated to the sick.

Surrounded by a mass of smartphones and cameras, and attached to nasal breathing tubes, his voice was fragile but more audible than in his last public appearance on March 23, when Francis greeted crowds before leaving the Gemelli hospital. Before that, the Argentine had not been seen since February 14.

Francis is, in theory, undergoing two months of convalescence following his life-threatening health scare, with strict rest, no public activity and no contact with crowds ordered.

Yet the Jesuit spent Sunday morning blessing the masses gathered on the sunny square, in an encouraging signal for his health two weeks before Christians the world over will celebrate Easter.

"I was very overwhelmed to see the holy father because I did not think that his state of health would allow him to greet us," Italian doctor Dora Moncada told AFPTV, admitting to have "cried out of emotion".

His eagerness to reach out to the flock, however, comes against the advice of his doctors, who have urged him to avoid meeting groups of people to limit the risk of infection.

"He's doing better, that's clear, and he wants that to be seen," a Vatican source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"He's not yet well enough to deliver a message, but well enough to make a gesture... and show up," the source added.

Blessed be the doctors 

According to his doctors, Francis almost died twice during his time in hospital, the longest and most fraught in his 12 years as head of the Church.

His physical state has sparked speculation that the pontiff might hang up his papal crook after the example of his predecessor Benedict XVI, who quit in 2013 citing his declining mental and physical health.

A few minutes before his surprise appearance, the leader of the globe's 1.4 billion Catholics received the sacrament in St Peter's Cathedral, the Vatican said in a statement on Telegram.

"We were not expecting him, until for myself I saw it on the screen -- I couldn't believe it," said Janet Muchengwa, a nurse who came from the United Kingdom.

As in previous weeks, Francis did not read out the customary Angelus prayer, which was published in written form instead.

"I pray for the doctors, the nurses and the healthcare workers, who are not always helped to work in adequate conditions and who are even, sometimes, victims of attacks," the pontiff wrote.

"Their mission is not easy and must be supported and respected."

His message went on to offer a prayer for an end to the world's conflicts, mentioning in turn Ukraine, Sudan, neighbouring South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, quake-hit Myanmar and Haiti.

Pray for Gaza 

Francis likewise prayed for the Middle East and especially Gaza, where Israel last week again launched a ground offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In the Palestinian territory "people are forced to live in unimaginable conditions, without shelter, without food, without drinkable water," the pope said.

"Let the weapons fall silent and dialogue begin again," he added, calling for the freeing of the hostages held by Hamas since its October 7, 2023 attack that began the war.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has suffered a series of health woes in recent years.

The pneumonia he suffered means that Francis will require physical re-education to recover the use of his voice.

He is being assisted in his recovery by healthcare workers night and day at his Vatican residence.

Francis has not seen any visitors beyond his closest colleagues since his release from the Gemelli Hospital.

Yet he has taken up his papal duties again, notably in editing and putting his signature to documents, according to the Holy See.

He has, however, been forced to reduce his usual frenetic schedule, and the scale of his involvement in the religious events leading up to Easter -- the holiest period in the Christian calendar -- is so far unclear.

MOSCOW — A senior Russian official involved in negotiations with Washington said on Sunday that Russia and the United States could reach out to each other again as early as next week.

Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin's international economy envoy, told Channel One television in an interview that the next contact between the two sides could happen "already next week", the TASS news agency reported.

Dmitriev, who is the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, visited Washington last week -- the most senior Russian official to do so since Russia launched its military offensive in Ukraine.

He told Russian journalists that he saw "positive dynamics" in the relationship.

In his latest interview, however, Dmitriev said that there are "undoubtedly still a large number of enemies of Russia in the American government".

"So there is now a fragile hope that dialogue has been restored," he said, while citing a need to counteract "information attacks".

Dmitriev has played a key role in the rapprochement between Russia and the United States, taking part in the first round of talks with US President Donald Trump's officials in Saudi Arabia in February.

PARIS — France's far right planned to rally supporters on Sunday after their leader Marine Le Pen was convicted of embezzlement and banned from public office, a move that set the country's political scene alight ahead of 2027 presidential elections.

The bombshell judgement stunned France's political establishment, and some leftwing forces and the centrist camp also planned to stage counter-rallies on Sunday.

"People of France, let us mobilise to defend freedom, save democracy and support Marine!" Le Pen's National Rally (RN) party said on X ahead of the protest in Paris.

The far right is on the rise in France. Polls indicate Le Pen, 56, would easily top the first round of the two-round presidential vote if she ran.

She describes herself as the "favourite" to succeed President Emmanuel Macron.

On Monday, Le Pen, 56, was found guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds and given a partly suspended jail term and an immediate ban on holding public office.

Her supporters branded the ruling politically motivated, but Macron insisted the French judiciary is "independent".

US President Donald Trump called the sentence a "witch hunt" by "European leftists using lawfare to silence free speech, and censor their political opponent".

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou rejected that remark as "interference" in French affairs, in a newspaper interview released Saturday.

He added that it was "neither healthy nor desirable" to stage a demonstration against the court ruling, insisting French institutions allowed for "the separation of powers and the defence of justice".

"The Republic is under threat," Greens leader Marine Tondelier said on X, urging supporters to rally in central Paris on Sunday.

Macron's Renaissance party, led by former prime minister Gabriel Attal, 36, gathered in the northern working-class Paris suburb of Seine-Denis. Bayrou has been invited to attend the meeting, which has been in preparation for weeks.

"One of the questions that will arise on Sunday is whether or not we want France to become Trump's America", said one of Attal's associates.

‘Victimisation' 

Jordan Bardella, the 29-year-old head of the National Rally, said the ruling would only boost support for the party.

He has called the far-right rally in Place Vauban in Paris's affluent 7th district "a mobilisation not against, but in support of French democracy."

According to police sources, 8,000 people are expected to attend.

Le Pen has worked to turn the party into an electable mainstream force and rid it of the legacy of her father, its co-founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died in January and was frequently accused of racism.

The latest survey by pollster Elabe for broadcaster BFMTV, released Saturday, showed her with up to 36 per cent of the vote.

Even some of her fiercest opponents say the far-right leader should be allowed to stand in the 2027 vote. She has lodged an appeal.

But now Le Pen risks seeing years of progress undone, political observers say.

After the ruling, she accused authorities of using a "nuclear bomb" against her.

She compared herself to Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader who died in an Arctic prison in 2024 after being jailed under President Vladimir Putin.

"Indecent to the end," said left-leaning daily Liberation in its verdict on that claim.

"She is forced to adopt an anti-establishment point of view and position," said Jean-Yves Dormagen, president of Cluster17, an opinion analysis institute.

"Victimisation works with her voters."

The National Rally is the largest single party in parliament and can complicate life for Bayrou, who does not have a majority in the lower house.

His predecessor Michel Barnier was ejected from office last December in a move backed by Le Pen.

The Paris Court of Appeal said it would examine Le Pen's case within a timeframe that could potentially allow her to contest the polls if her conviction is overturned or her sentence changed.

WASHINGTON — Washington is revoking all visas for South Sudanese passport holders and blocking new arrivals, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday, complaining the African nation is not accepting its nationals expelled from the United States.

The State Department "is taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and prevent further issuance to prevent entry," Rubio said in a statement.

It was the first such measure singling out all passport holders from a particular country since Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20, having campaigned on an anti-immigration platform.

Rubio accused the transitional government in Juba of "taking advantage of the United States," saying that "every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country... seeks to remove them."

Washington "will be prepared to review these actions when South Sudan is in full cooperation," Rubio added.

The world's newest country and also one of the poorest, South Sudan is currently prey to tensions between political leaders.

Some observers fear a renewal of the civil war that killed 400,000 people between 2013 and 2018.

YANGON — The death toll from a major earthquake in Myanmar has risen above 3,300, state media said Saturday, as the United Nations aid chief made a renewed call for the world to help the disaster-struck nation.

The March 28 quake flattened buildings and destroyed infrastructure across the country, resulting in 3,354 deaths and 4,508 people injured, with 220 others missing, according to new figures published by state media.

More than one week after the disaster, many people in the country are still without shelter, either forced to sleep outdoors because their homes were destroyed or wary of further collapses.

A United Nations estimate suggests that more than three million people may have been affected by the 7.7-magnitude quake, compounding previous challenges caused by four years of civil war.

The UN's top aid official on Saturday met with victims in the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, situated close to the epicentre and now grappling with severe damage across the city.

"The destruction is staggering," Tom Fletcher wrote in a post on X.

"The world must rally behind the people of Myanmar".

The new toll was announced after the country's military junta chief Min Aung Hlaing returned from a rare foreign trip to a regional summit in Bangkok on Friday, where he met with leaders including the prime ministers of Thailand and India.

The general's attendance at the summit courted controversy, with protesters at the venue displaying a banner calling him a "murderer" and anti-junta groups condemning his inclusion.

His armed forces have ruled Myanmar since a 2021 coup, when they wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a multi-sided conflict that has yet to be resolved.

The junta has reportedly conducted dozens of attacks since the earthquake, including at least 16 since a temporary truce was announced on Wednesday, the UN said Friday.

Years of fighting have left Myanmar's economy and infrastructure in tatters, significantly hampering international efforts to provide relief since the quake.

China, Russia and India were among the first countries to provide support, sending rescue teams to Myanmar to help locate survivors.

The United States has traditionally been at the forefront of international disaster relief, but President Donald Trump has dismantled the country's humanitarian aid agency.

Washington said Friday it was adding $7 million on top of an earlier $2 million in assistance to Myanmar.

SEOUL — Thousands protested in the South Korean capital Saturday in support of disgraced ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was removed from office a day earlier over his bungled martial law declaration.

South Korea's Constitutional Court unanimously ruled on Friday to remove Yoon over the December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, triggering fresh elections to be held by June after months of political turmoil.

A long wait for the court's ruling had heightened tensions in the Asian nation, fuelling far-right support for Yoon and weekly rival rallies in capital Seoul.

His supporters took to the streets in the capital and braved the rain on Saturday, chanting "impeachment is invalid!" and "nullify the snap election!"

"The Constitutional Court's decision destroyed our country's free democracy," said protester Yang Joo-young, 26.

"Speaking as someone in my 20s or 30s, I'm deeply worried about the future."

Yoon had defended his martial law attempt as necessary to root out "anti-state forces" and what he claimed were threats from North Korea.

But there were many scenes of jubilation in Seoul on Friday from those opposed to Yoon's rule, with people hugging and crying after the ruling was delivered.

Yet Yoon had found backing from extreme religious figures and right-wing YouTubers who experts say used misinformation to court support for the former star prosecutor.

"Yoon's presidency has revealed the societal cracks based on political polarisation and misinformation," Minseon Ku, a postdoctoral fellow at William & Mary Global Research Institute, told AFP.

The court ruled that Yoon's actions in December had posed a "grave threat" to the country's stability.

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung is seen as the frontrunner in the next election, experts say, and his party has taken a more conciliatory approach towards North Korea.

Some Yoon supporters were worried about the prospect of a Lee presidency.

"I honestly believe South Korea is finished," said pro-Yoon supporter Park Jong-hwan, 59.

"It feels like we've already transitioned into a socialist, communist state."