British trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack have joined other bands and musicians in seeking to block their tracks being streamed in Israel as part of a cultural boycott campaign over the war in Gaza.
The Bristol natives said they had joined "No Music for Genocide", a new collective of musicians modelled on the "Film Workers for Palestine" group.
From the music, film to publishing industries, growing numbers of Western artists are calling for a cultural boycott of Israel over the Gaza war, hoping to emulate the success of the apartheid-era blockade of South Africa.
With most Western governments resistant to major economic sanctions, musicians, celebrities and writers are hoping to build public pressure for more action.
GAZA (Reuters) - Israel's military said it had expanded operations in Gaza City on Friday and bombarded Hamas infrastructure, while displaced Palestinians traumatised by the advance said they had no means to flee.
"The situation is really bad. All night long, the tank was firing shells," said Palestinian Toufic Abu Mouawad, who left a camp for the displaced with nowhere else to go.
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India said on Friday it hoped Saudi Arabia would keep in mind mutual interests and sensitivities between the two countries, two days after Riyadh signed a mutual defence pact with New Delhi's old foe Pakistan.
Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan signed the pact on Wednesday, and although few details have been made public, analysts said it could mean Riyadh will have a de facto nuclear shield under the agreement.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan does not plan to recognise a Palestinian state at U.N. meetings this month, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said on Friday.
But he also said that for Tokyo, which supports a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, it is not a matter of whether to recognise a Palestinian state, but when to recognise it.
"I'm aware voices calling for the recognition as a state are getting louder in the international community as well as in Japan," Iwaya told a press conference.
By Thomas Escritt
BERLIN (Reuters) - A 30 million euro one-time payment to the Palestinian Authority that Germany was hoping to announce next week to coincide with European allies' formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been held up by sceptical legislators, Bild newspaper reported.
British trip-hop group Massive Attack announced they are joining a new music industry initiative to block their music in Israel and have also asked for their songs to be removed from Spotify.
The Bristol natives said they had joined "No Music for Genocide", a collective of musicians modelled on the "Film Workers for Palestine" group, which has also called for a cultural boycott of Israel over the war in Gaza.
Palestinian authorities have arrested a key suspect in an antisemitic attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris which left six people dead in 1982, French prosecutors said on Friday, as France gears up to recognise a Palestinian state.
The deadliest antisemitic atrocity in France since World War II was blamed on the Palestinian militant Abu Nidal Organization which was categorised as a terror group by the US and Europe.
By Andrew Mills
DOHA (Reuters) - An elderly British couple detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan in February were released and flying to Doha on Friday after Qatari mediation, an official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Barbie and Peter Reynolds' family had been concerned for their health and their ability to survive Taliban custody.
An elderly British couple detained in Afghanistan for almost eight months arrived in Qatar after their release by Taliban authorities on Friday amid concerns for their health, an AFP journalist reported.
Taliban officials have declined to say why they arrested Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, in February as they were returning to their home.
"We've been treated very well. We're looking forward to seeing our children," said Barbie, in a red headscarf, standing next to her bearded husband, near a plane on the tarmac at Kabul airport.
