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LUXEMBOURG: Recognizing a Palestinian state will help keep alive the peace process in the Middle East, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden said as his country prepares to take the step next week.

Of the UN’s 193 member states, 147 already recognize a Palestinian state, but none of the Group of Seven major economies did so until now.
The Luxembourg Grand Duchy is among a raft of nations including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France and the UK that plan to join their ranks at a UN summit in New York on Sept. 22.
“I would like the Israeli and Palestinian peoples to keep hope alive that one day they will be able to live in peace,” Frieden said in an interview.
The recognition will be “a key moment in this process ... an important step in a long march toward peace and stability in the region,” said the 62-year-old center-right leader, who will be in New York to represent his country.
Last week, the General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a text supporting a future Palestinian state, albeit without Hamas.
“We will see on Monday what the Arab countries have to say. The fact that they condemn Hamas is new. Hamas must go and Arab countries must help us to achieve this,” Frieden said.
The US has also opposed recognition and denied US visas to the Palestinian delegation to the UN.
The UN General Assembly on Friday voted to allow President Mahmoud Abbas to address its annual meeting of world leaders by video. 
The motion passed by a vote of 145-5, with six abstentions.
“The state of Palestine may submit a pre-recorded statement of its president, which will be played in the General Assembly Hall,” said the resolution.
“Everything we do is not against the Israeli people but is intended to stop the atrocities we are seeing in Gaza,” said Frieden.
Luxembourg, one of the EU’s founding members, supports proposed EU sanctions against Israel including curbing trade ties, he added.
“If they don’t listen to us, unfortunately we will have to move toward sanctions,” he said of Netanyahu’s government.

KATMANDU: Nepal’s interim prime minister pledged on Friday to fight corruption, create jobs and raise living standards in her first public comments since coming to office after youth-led protests toppled the government.
Sushila Karki said the protests — that left at least 72 people dead and forced her predecessor K.P. Sharma Oli to quit — had been triggered by frustration over growing corruption and other failings. Authorities have said more than 2,100 people were injured in the unrest that raged for two days last week. Arson and vandalism caused extensive damage to private and public property, including the complex housing the prime minister’s office, the Supreme Court and the parliament.

“We must accept the fact that the protests took place because of the failure to fulfill the spirit and objectives of providing good governance and prosperity enshrined in the constitution,” Karki said.
She spoke on Nepal’s national day, marking the 10th anniversary of the proclamation of the constitution.
The former Supreme Court chief justice was appointed to the post last week following talks between representatives of the protesters, the president and the army chief Karki — the first woman to lead Nepal — was tasked with holding parliamentary elections on March 5.
She said the government was committed to creating employment, raising the quality of life and increasing transparency in its work.
Losses from the damage could reach $1 billion to $1.5 billion, Kulman Ghising, minister for energy, physical infrastructure, transport and urban development, said.
Ghising visited some public buildings set ablaze in the capital Katmandu and appealed to Nepalis at home and abroad to contribute to the reconstruction.
A Supreme Court official said some hearings were taking place in tents as most court structures, documents and IT systems were destroyed during the unrest.
Police spokesperson Binod Ghimire said officers had received more than 30,000 emails after asking the public to send in videos, photographs and other documents to help them investigate the violence.
The unrest has heightened risks to Nepal’s economic and fiscal outlook and may pressure its credit metrics, rating firm Fitch said on Friday.