Europe must combat antisemitism as thousands of Jews abandon the continent, top Jewish leader says

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the European Jewish Association, attends a Gala dinner during a two-day summit meeting of Jewish leaders from across Europe to discuss the rise of antisemitism on the continent, in coastal town of Larnaca, Cyprus, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP)
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the European Jewish Association, attends a Gala dinner during a two-day summit meeting of Jewish leaders from across Europe to discuss the rise of antisemitism on the continent, in coastal town of Larnaca, Cyprus, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 14 January 2025

Europe must combat antisemitism as thousands of Jews abandon the continent, top Jewish leader says

Europe must combat antisemitism as thousands of Jews abandon the continent, top Jewish leader says
  • Margolin said 2025 will be a “critical year” for European Jews because the course of action that governments will take to combat antisemitism will determine the future of Jewish communities on the continent

LARNACA, Cyprus: Governments across Europe need to immediately take action against a precipitous rise in antisemitism that’s driving thousands of Jews to abandon the continent, the leader of a prominent European Jewish organization said Monday.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the European Jewish Association (EJA), said some 40,000 Jews have already left Europe in recent years with no intention of returning as a result of a rise in antisemitic sentiment.
Instead of a wave of solidarity with Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that triggered a war now in its 15th month, Margolin said antisemitism has skyrocketed by 2,000 percent, according to statistics he says have been collated by organizations that monitor antisemitism.
Margolin said 2025 will be a “critical year” for European Jews because the course of action that governments will take to combat antisemitism will determine the future of Jewish communities on the continent.
“There’s still a chance that Jewish people will be living in Europe,” Margolin told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of a gala dinner honoring former Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades for his efforts to foster closer Cyprus-Israel relations during his tenure.
“But if the governments of Europe will not take serious measures that we are demanding from them in this year this is the beginning of the end of Jewish presence in Europe,” he said.
His said the EJA, the largest Jewish organization in Europe representing several hundred Jewish communities, brought together Jewish leaders from across the continent for a summit on tackling rising antisemitism.
He said European governments need to move beyond mere verbal condemnations of antisemitic behavior and take effective action to ensure the safety and security of Jewish institutions and Jews practicing their customs in Europe.
Authorities also need to establish a “code of conduct” by which demonstrations against Israel don’t devolve into antisemitic protests, Margolin said.
These immediate steps should be accompanied by “strong and swift” punishment of individuals found guilty of antisemitic actions.
Over the long term, Europe needs prosecutors who have a clear understanding of the many forms antisemitism can take, as well as programs introduced in schools to educate people against antisemitic attitudes.
“But more important is the willingness of the government to combat antisemitism,” said Margolin.
The EJA chairman said antisemitism is “coming from all sides of the political spectrum” as Russia’s war in Ukraine fuels concern and uncertainty within Europe that’s compounded by “demographic change.”
Margolin attributed political shortsightedness to European elected officials who “pretend to think that everything is just alright” and “do not understand the emergency of combating antisemitism.”
He said his organization chose to hold the summit in Cyprus because Jewish people on the eastern Mediterranean island nation feel “very, very welcome” and secure while the government has close relations with the state of Israel.
According to Margolin, opposition to the Jewish state is the prime reason for antisemitism in Europe.
“The moment the government is friendly toward Israel and understands and defends Israel’s right to defend itself, it reduces a lot of tension against Jewish people,” Margolin said.


China accuses US of cyberattack on national time center

China accuses US of cyberattack on national time center
Updated 10 sec ago

China accuses US of cyberattack on national time center

China accuses US of cyberattack on national time center
  • The NSA allegedly stole sensitive information from the National Time Service Center’s staff in 2022
BEIJING: China on Sunday accused the US National Security Agency of carrying out cyberattacks on its national time center following an investigation, saying any damage to related facilities could have disrupted network communications, financial systems and power supply.
The Ministry of State Security alleged in a WeChat post that the US agency had exploited vulnerabilities in the messaging services of a foreign mobile phone brand to steal sensitive information from devices of the National Time Service Center’s staff in 2022. It did not specify the brand.
The US agency also used 42 types of “special cyberattack weapons” to target the center’s multiple internal network systems and attempted to infiltrate a key timing system between 2023 and 2024, it said.
It said it had evidence but did not provide it in the post.
It said the time center is responsible for generating and distributing China’s standard time, in addition to providing timing services to industries such as communications, finance, power, transport and defense. It had provided guidance to the center to eliminate the risks.
“The US is accusing others of what it does itself, repeatedly hyping up claims about Chinese cyber threats,” it said.
Western governments in recent years have alleged hackers linked to the Chinese government have targeted officials, journalists, corporations and others. The ministry’s statement could fuel tensions between Washington and Beijing, on top of trade, technology and Taiwan issues.
The US Embassy did not immediately comment.

Protesters out in force for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ rallies across US

Protesters out in force for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ rallies across US
Updated 10 min 11 sec ago

Protesters out in force for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ rallies across US

Protesters out in force for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ rallies across US
  • With signs such as “Nothing is more patriotic than protesting” or “Resist Fascism,” in many places the events looked more like a street party

WASHINGTON: Huge crowds took to the streets in all 50 US states at “No Kings” protests on Saturday, venting anger over President Donald Trump’s hardline policies, while Republicans ridiculed them as “Hate America” rallies.

Organizers said seven million people marched in protests spanning New York to Los Angeles, with demonstrations popping up in small cities across the US heartland and even near Trump’s home in Florida.

“This is what democracy looks like!” chanted thousands in Washington near the US Capitol, where the federal government was shut down for a third week because of a legislative deadlock.

Colorful signs called on people to “protect democracy,” while others demanded the country abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency at the center of Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown.

Demonstrators slammed what they called the Republican billionaire’s strong-arm tactics, including attacks on the media, political opponents and undocumented immigrants.

“I never thought I would live to see the death of my country as a democracy,” 69-year-old retiree Colleen Hoffman said as she marched down Broadway in New York.

“We are in a crisis — the cruelty of this regime, the authoritarianism. I just feel like I cannot sit home and do nothing.”

In Los Angeles, protesters floated a giant balloon of Trump in a diaper.

Many flew flags, with at least one referencing pirate anime hit “One Piece,” brandishing the skull logo that has recently become a staple of anti-government protests from Peru to Madagascar.

“Fight Ignorance not migrants,” read one sign at a protest in Houston, where nearly one-quarter of the population is made up of immigrants, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

While animated, the protests were largely peaceful.

But in downtown Los Angeles, police fired nonlethal rounds and tear gas late Saturday to disperse crowds that included “No Kings” protesters, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“After thousands of people gathered to express their constitutional 1st Amendment rights peacefully earlier in the day, nearly a hundred agitators marched over to Aliso and Alameda” where they used lasers and industrial-size flashing lights, the LAPD Central Division said on X.

“A Dispersal Order was issued and the demonstrators were dispersed from the area,” it added, without specifying if any arrests were made.

Trump responds

It was not possible to independently verify the organizers’ attendance figures. In New York, authorities said more than 100,000 gathered at one of the largest protests, while in Washington, crowds were estimated at between 8,000 and 10,000 people.

Trump’s response to Saturday’s events was typically aggressive, with the US president posting a series of AI-generated videos to his Truth Social platform depicting him as a king.

In one, he is shown wearing a crown and piloting a fighter jet that drops what appears to be feces on anti-Trump protesters.

His surrogates were in fighting form, too, with House Speaker Mike Johnson deriding the rallies as being “Hate America” protests.

“You’re going to bring together the Marxists, the Socialists, the Antifa advocates, the anarchists and the pro-Hamas wing of the far-left Democrat Party,” he told reporters.

Protesters treated that claim with ridicule.

“Look around! If this is hate, then someone should go back to grade school,” said Paolo, 63, as the crowd chanted and sang around him in Washington.

Others underlined the deep polarization tearing apart American politics.

“Here’s the thing about what right-wingers say: I don’t give a crap. They hate us,” said Tony, a 34-year-old software engineer.

‘Country of equals’

Deirdre Schifeling of the American Civil Liberties Union said protesters wanted to convey that “we are a country of equals.”

“We are a country of laws that apply to everyone, of due process and of democracy. We will not be silenced,” she told reporters.

Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the Indivisible Project, slammed the Trump administration’s efforts to send National Guard troops into Democratic-led US cities, including Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, Portland and Memphis.

“It is the classic authoritarian playbook: threaten, smear and lie, scare people into submission,” Greenberg said.

Addressing the crowd outside the US Capitol, progressive Senator Bernie Sanders warned of the dangers democracy faced under Trump.

“We have a president who wants more and more power in his own hands and in the hands of his fellow oligarchs,” he said.

Isaac Harder, 16, said he feared for his generation’s future.

“It’s a fascist trajectory. And I want to do anything I can to stop that.”


Bolivia votes in runoff election, marking pro-market shift and US embrace

Bolivia votes in runoff election, marking pro-market shift and US embrace
Updated 19 October 2025

Bolivia votes in runoff election, marking pro-market shift and US embrace

Bolivia votes in runoff election, marking pro-market shift and US embrace
  • The race pits centrist Senator Rodrigo Paz against conservative former president Jorge Quiroga
  • Runoff between two pro-market candidates from privileged backgrounds signals an epochal shift for Bolivia

LA PAZ: Bolivians vote in a presidential runoff on Sunday that marks a decisive rejection of the socialist government and a likely foreign policy shift closer to the United States after decades of frosty relations. The race pits centrist Senator Rodrigo Paz against conservative former president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga. Both candidates have pledged to strengthen diplomatic ties with Washington – strained since 2009 – and seek US-backed financial support to stabilize Bolivia’s fragile economy. The runoff between two pro-market candidates from privileged backgrounds signals an epochal shift for Bolivia, following two decades of dominance by the leftist Movement to Socialism party, founded by Evo Morales and once backed by the country’s Indigenous majority.
For some voters the finalists echo the conservative governments of the 1990s, which championed privatization and close relations with the United States. Morales, who took power in 2006 and was Bolivia’s first Indigenous leader, pursued alliances with Cuba, Venezuela and Russia, and nationalized the oil and gas industry.
“This election marks a political turning point,” said Glaeldys Gonzalez Calanche, analyst for the Southern Andes at International Crisis Group. Regardless of the outcome, “Bolivia is heading in a new direction,” she said.
Quiroga has promised “radical change,” including deep cuts to public spending and closing or privatizing loss-making state-owned companies. Paz favors a more gradual approach, maintaining social programs for the poor while promoting private-sector growth. Opinion polls show Quiroga with a narrow lead. A September Ipsos survey gave him 47 percent support to Paz’s 39 percent, though Paz outperformed expectations in the August first round.
Voting stations open at 8 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) and close at 4 p.m., with initial results expected after 9 p.m. The winner will take office on November 8.
Voters want economic change
Paz in late September announced plans for an economic cooperation deal worth $1.5 billion with US officials to ensure fuel supplies, while Quiroga is pushing for a $12 billion international bailout backed by multilateral lenders.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that both presidential candidates “want stronger, better relations with the United States,” after decades of anti-American leadership. “This election is a transformative opportunity,” he said on Wednesday. Some Bolivians have voiced fears of austerity measures such as those seen in neighboring Argentina under President Javier Milei, though Paz has rejected drastic spending cuts and Quiroga insists his policies will benefit ordinary Bolivians. Support for the Movement to Socialism all but collapsed in the election’s first round.
Inflation has surged to 23 percent since the start of the year, while fuel and dollar shortages have crippled consumer demand. Natural gas exports – once Bolivia’s economic engine – have plummeted, straining the boliviano currency and limiting fuel imports.
In La Paz’s commercial district, appliance stores are shuttered and shops empty of customers. “There are months with zero sales,” said Mercedes Quisbert, head of the local Importers’ Association. Up until this year, shopkeepers and street-sellers had been just about managing to weather the crisis, she said – but not anymore.
Bolivia has one of Latin America’s highest rates of informal employment, with around 84 percent of the population working outside the formal labor market, according to official data. Millions rely on buying and selling goods to make a living.
“We’re basically surviving,” said Marcela Martinez, 52, as she compared prices at a market in La Paz. She was planning to vote for Paz on Sunday. “We need new people to come in.”


Japan’s LDP, Ishin agree to form coalition government, Kyodo says

Japan’s LDP, Ishin agree to form coalition government, Kyodo says
Updated 19 October 2025

Japan’s LDP, Ishin agree to form coalition government, Kyodo says

Japan’s LDP, Ishin agree to form coalition government, Kyodo says
  • Sanae Takaichi’s path to succeed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had seemed all but certain
  • But then the long-ruling LDP’s junior partner, Komeito, quit their 26-year coalition

TOKYO: Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party have broadly agreed to form a coalition government, setting the stage for the country’s first female prime minister, Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday.
Sanae Takaichi, leader of the conservative LDP, and Hirofumi Yoshimura, head of the smaller right-leaning group, known as Ishin, are set to sign an agreement on their alliance on Monday, Kyodo said.
Calls to the LDP and Ishin headquarters to seek comment went unanswered outside business hours.
Ishin’s co-head, Fumitake Fujita, raised expectations for a deal on Friday, saying the two parties had made “big progress” in coalition talks.
Ishin lawmakers will vote for Takaichi in an election to choose the prime minister in parliament on Tuesday, but the party does not plan to send ministers to Takaichi’s cabinet initially, the news agency said.
Takaichi’s path to succeed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had seemed all but certain after she won her party’s presidency early this month. But then the long-ruling LDP’s junior partner, Komeito, quit their 26-year coalition, setting off a flurry of negotiations with rival parties to select the next premier.
In an effort to get Ishin on board, the LDP offered to keep working toward banning donations from companies and other organizations and exempting food items from Japan’s sales tax, Kyodo said.
Ishin has proposed eliminating the tax on food items for two years.


Tropical storm kills family of five as hits Philippines

Tropical storm kills family of five as hits Philippines
Updated 19 October 2025

Tropical storm kills family of five as hits Philippines

Tropical storm kills family of five as hits Philippines
  • The family, including two children aged two and 11 years old, were crushed to death when a tree fell on their house
  • Fengshen hovered over Manila Bay late morning Sunday with gusts of up to 90 kilometers an hour

MANILA: Tropical Storm Fengshen killed a family of five Sunday as it plowed across the Philippines’ main island Luzon, police and disaster officials said.
The family, including two children aged two and 11 years old, were crushed to death when a tree fell on their house at daybreak, police official Sonny Ombajino said by telephone.
The incident occurred at a village near the town of Pitogo, about 153 kilometers (95 miles) southeast of Manila, as the storm raked across the southeastern section of Luzon overnight.
Fengshen hovered over Manila Bay late morning Sunday with gusts of up to 90 kilometers (56 miles) an hour and was poised to strike provinces north of the capital Manila, the state weather service said.
At least 47,000 people left their homes and headed to government-designated temporary shelters across southeast Luzon since Saturday, local disaster officials said, as the weather service warned of possible coastal flooding and landslides.
The Philippines is hit by around 20 storms and typhoons each year, routinely striking areas where millions of people live in poverty.
Scientists warn that storms are becoming more powerful as the planet warms due to human-driven climate change.
Fengshen comes as the country reels from a series of major earthquakes that killed at least 87 people over the past three weeks.