Residents pick up the pieces after deadly blast at China chemical plant
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Pakistani PM: I was honoured to meet my dear brother President Ilham Aliyev in Lachin
“I was honoured to meet my dear brother President Ilham Aliyev today in the beautiful and serene city of Lachin,” PM Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X platform.
“I thanked him for Azerbaijan’s unwavering support to Pakistan in the recent Pakistan-India conflict.
We reaffirmed our shared resolve to deepen Pakistan-Azerbaijan ties across all domains and to continue our work together for regional peace and prosperity. This exemplary spirit of brotherhood is guided by the love and affection between our peoples, whose hearts beat together.
Long live Pakistan Azerbaijan friendship!” noted Pakistani PM.
Residents pick up the pieces one day after deadly China chemical blast
The blast happened just before noon on Tuesday at a plant operated by Shandong Youdao Chemical in the city of Gaomi. 19 people were injured and six more remain missing, according to state-run Xinhua news agency. Local officials have not yet released the results of air quality tests.
Black and gray smoke was still rising from the smoldering facility as emergency services continued to tend to the site. Local officials have not yet released the results of air quality tests.
The blast happened just before noon on Tuesday at a plant operated by Shandong Youdao Chemical in the city of Gaomi, sending plumes of orange and black smoke into the sky and littering the roadside with debris for more than a kilometer.
Nineteen people were injured and six more remain missing, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Yu Qianming, a 69-year-old farmer, showed roofing that had fallen in and windows that had shattered, but said nobody in his home had suffered any injuries.
Yu said he and his wife felt safe in their home as long as the wind continued to blow north, but added they had moved their grandchild elsewhere as a precaution.
Shandong Youdao Chemical was established in August 2019 in the Gaomi Renhe chemical park, according to the company’s website.
The plant develops and produces chemical components for use in pesticides and pharmaceuticals, employing more than 300 people on a site of more than 47 hectares.
Macron navigates rocky path to recognising Palestinian state
French President Emmanuel Macron is leaning towards recognising a Palestinian state. But diplomats and experts say such a move may prove a premature and ineffective way to pressure Israel into moving towards a peace deal with the Palestinians. They say it could deepen Western splits, not only within the already-divided European Union, but also with the United States. French officials are weighing up the move ahead of a United Nations conference, which France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting between June 17-20. France would become the first Western heavyweight to recognise a PalestinianState. But there are no indications for now that any new Muslim or Arab states are ready to move towards normalising ties with Israel with the ultimate prize of normalising relations with Israel in the form of normalisation with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. French diplomats are scrambling to ensure the best conditions are in place for him to make the decision, including full assessments at the UN conference on the reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarming Hamas or future reconstruction of West Bank.
Summary No decision taken but Macron favours Palestinian recognition
Paris wants to create momentum as two-state solution dissipates
Israeli lobbies to convince Paris to change course
PARIS, May 28 (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron is leaning towards recognising a Palestinian state, but diplomats and experts say such a move may prove a premature and ineffective way to pressure Israel into moving towards a peace deal with the Palestinians.
They say it could deepen Western splits, not only within the already-divided European Union, but also with the United States, Israel’s staunchest ally, and would need to be accompanied by other measures such as sanctions and trade bans if recognition were to be anything more than a symbolic gesture.
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French officials are weighing up the move ahead of a United Nations conference, which France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting between June 17-20, to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel’s security.
If Macron went ahead, France, home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities, would become the first Western heavyweight to recognise a Palestinian state, potentially giving greater momentum to a movement hitherto dominated by smaller nations that are generally more critical of Israel.
“If France moves, several (European) countries will follow,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Reuters.
Macron’s stance has shifted amid Israel’s intensified Gaza offensive and escalating violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and there is a growing sense of urgency in Paris to act now before the idea of a two-state solution vanishes forever.
“We must move from words to deeds. Faced with facts on the ground, the prospect of a Palestinian state must be maintained. Irreversible and concrete measures are necessary,” Macron’s Middle East adviser Anne-Claire Legendre told delegates at a preparatory meeting in New York on May 23.
Diplomats caution that while Macron now favours the move, he has yet to make a final decision, and things could change – including a potential Gaza ceasefire accord – before mid-June.
However, his diplomats are scrambling to ensure the best conditions are in place for him to make the decision, including full assessments at the UN conference on the reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarming Hamas or future reconstruction.
ISRAELI LOBBYING
Israeli officials have spent months lobbying to prevent what some have described as “a nuclear bomb” for bilateral relations.
The idea that France, one of Israel’s closest allies and a G7 member, could recognise a Palestinian state, would certainly infuriate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
When Britain and Canada joined France this month to say they could impose concrete measures on Israel and commit to recognising a Palestinian state, Netanyahu issued a firm rebuke, accusing the leaders of the three countries of antisemitism.
Diplomats say Canada and Britain remain lukewarm for now about recognition, suggesting the priority is to make a difference on the ground, something that may dampen Macron’s ambitions.
According to two sources familiar with the matter, Israel’s warnings to France have ranged from scaling back intelligence sharing to complicating Paris’ regional initiatives – even hinting at possible annexation of parts of the West Bank.
Whether that would materialise seems unlikely, given the likely international fallout fuelling one of Israel’s greatest fears: deepening isolation, particularly with regard to Europe, its key trade partner.
“(But) the reaction will be negative across the board (in Israel),” Tamir Hayman, Executive Director at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) told Reuters, adding it would feed an ultra-right narrative in Israel that the world is against it. “It would be useless and a waste of time.”
SHIFTING FRENCH VIEWS
Macron strongly backed Israel after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, which killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages. But he has steadily sharpened his language against Israel over its actions in Gaza, where the death toll among Palestinians has risen to more than 50,000, according to Palestinian health officials.
“We need to move towards recognition. Over the next few months, we will,” Macron said during an interview on April 9.
Even then, he hedged, setting vague conditions and saying he aimed to build momentum with a coalition backing France while nudging Muslim states toward recognising Israel.
However, there are no indications for now that any new Muslim or Arab states are ready to move towards normalising ties with Israel.
Saudi Arabia, the ultimate prize for Israeli normalisation, is in no position for any rapprochement given the anger in many Muslim countries over events in Gaza.
“Regional peace begins with recognising the state of Palestine, not as a symbolic gesture, but as a strategic necessity,” Manal Radwan, an adviser to the Saudi foreign minister, said in New York on Friday.
She did not mention the possibility of recognising Israel.
Macron’s critics argue that recognition should come as part of negotiations towards a two-state solution – not before – and warning that an early move could weaken incentives for Palestinians to engage.
Underlining divisions within the EU, one European diplomat said: “It is our view that this recognition would not be helpful now or encourage more action within the member states.”
Others say recognition must be twinned with other measures such as a Europe-wide ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territories and specific sanctions on Israeli officials.
French officials say they will not be swayed by such criticism or by the Israeli pressure.
“If there is a moment in history to recognise a Palestinian state even if it’s just symbolic then I would say that moment has probably come,” said a senior French official, adding that Macron may also want to leave a trace in history before his presidential mandate expires in 2027.
Additional reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Alistair Smout in London Editing by Gareth Jones
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Residents pick up the pieces after deadly blast at China chemical plant
Residents take stock of damage after blast at chemical plant in eastern China. Blast killed at least five, spewed out chemicals and shattered windows as far as a kilometre away. Official Xinhua news agency said 19 injured, with six more missing. Local officials have yet to issue the results of air quality tests on Tuesday, after a column of orange and black smoke billowed from the plant in Shandong province. The plant develops and makes chemicals used in pesticides and pharmaceuticals, the company said on its website, with more than 300 employees at the site. It is due to open in August 2019 in the Gaomi Renhe chemical park.
Item 1 of 10 A view of the site of the chemical plant explosion in Gaomi, Shandong province, China May 28, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura
GAOMI, China, May 28 (Reuters) – Residents near a chemical plant in eastern China were taking stock on Wednesday of the damage to their homes after a huge and still unexplained blast killed at least five, spewed out chemicals and shattered windows as far as a kilometre away.
Plumes of black and grey smoke lingered over the plant at Gaomi, a city in the eastern province of Shandong, a day after the explosion, which the official Xinhua news agency said had injured 19, with six more missing.
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Farmer Yu Qianming said he and his wife had moved their grandchild elsewhere as a precaution, although they felt safe in their home as long as the wind kept blowing in a northerly direction.
His family had escaped without injury, the 69-year-old said, while showing Reuters roofing material that fell and windows that shattered in the blast.
Local officials have yet to issue the results of air quality tests on Tuesday, after a column of orange and black smoke billowed from the plant.
On Wednesday, vehicles patrolled the perimeter of the site that sprawls over more than 47 hectares (116 acres), while drone footage showed multi-storey buildings flattened by the blast.
Liu Ming, a 60-year-old who lives 500 m (547 yards) away, said she was considering moving after her home and clothing store suffered extensive damage, though she did not have any firm plans yet.
She showed Reuters window frames pulverised by the blast, with shards of glass strewn among boxes of thread and clothes on the floor.
Several shops away, another store owner had a minor head wound from the blast, which happened while he was eating lunch.
Set up in August 2019 in the Gaomi Renhe chemical park, the Shandong Youdao Chemical plant develops and makes chemicals used in pesticides and pharmaceuticals, the company said on its website, with more than 300 employees at the site.
Blasts in recent years at chemical plants in China have included one in the northwest region of Ningxia in 2024 and another in the southeastern province of Jiangxi in 2023.
In 2015, two massive explosions at warehouses of hazardous and flammable chemicals in the port city of Tianjin that killed more than 170 people and injured 700 prompted tougher laws on storage of chemicals.
Another blast that year at a Shandong chemical plant killed 13.
Reporting by Nicoco Chan, Go Nakamura and Xihao Jiang; Writing by Joe Cash; Editing by Michael Perry and Clarence Fernandez
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Residents pick up the pieces one day after deadly China chemical blast
Five people have been injured in the blast in Shandong province, China. The blast is believed to have been caused by a strong gust of wind. The cause of the blast is not yet known, but authorities are investigating. The incident is the latest in a series of natural disasters in the region over the past few years. It is the first time the area has been hit by such a powerful blast.
Black and grey smoke was still rising from the smouldering facility, as emergency services continued to tend to the site. Local officials have not yet released the results of air quality tests.
GAOMI, China (Reuters) -Residents near a blown out chemical plant in China’s eastern Shandong province on Wednesday assessed the damage to their village and monitored the wind, fearful of toxic fallout from an explosion that killed at least five people a day earlier.
Nineteen people were injured and six more remain missing, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Yu Qianming, a 69-year-old farmer, showed Reuters roofing that had fallen in and windows that had shattered, but said nobody in his home had suffered any injuries.
Yu said he and his wife felt safe in their home as long as the wind continued to blow north, but added they had moved their grandchild elsewhere as a precaution.
Shandong Youdao Chemical was established in August 2019 in the Gaomi Renhe chemical park, according to the company’s website.
The plant develops and produces chemical components for use in pesticides and pharmaceuticals, employing more than 300 people on a site of more than 47 hectares (116 acres).
(Reporting by Nicoco Chan, Go Nakamura and Xihao Jiang; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Michael Perry)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.