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French Hard-Left MP Suspended for Waving Palestinian Flag in Parliament

French leftist La France Insoumise (LFI) party member of parliament Sebastien Delogu waves a Palestinian national flag during a session of questions to the government at the National Assembly in Paris on May 28, 2024. (AFP)
French leftist La France Insoumise (LFI) party member of parliament Sebastien Delogu waves a Palestinian national flag during a session of questions to the government at the National Assembly in Paris on May 28, 2024. (AFP)
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French Hard-Left MP Suspended for Waving Palestinian Flag in Parliament

French leftist La France Insoumise (LFI) party member of parliament Sebastien Delogu waves a Palestinian national flag during a session of questions to the government at the National Assembly in Paris on May 28, 2024. (AFP)
French leftist La France Insoumise (LFI) party member of parliament Sebastien Delogu waves a Palestinian national flag during a session of questions to the government at the National Assembly in Paris on May 28, 2024. (AFP)

France's lower house of parliament on Tuesday suspended a deputy from the hard-left Les Insoumis (LFI) party for 15 days for waving a Palestinian flag in the National Assembly, bringing proceedings to a halt for about an hour.

"This is not tolerable," National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet said as she suspended the session and excluded deputy Sebastien Delogu whose deputy's pay was also halved for two months.

Delogu waved the flag in support of Palestinians amid a barrage of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The war has polarized public opinion around the world with France's LFI positioning itself as a defender of the Palestinians.

"I waved the Palestinian flag in the National Assembly ... because as I speak, France sells weapons, sells parts to supply the Israeli army," Delogu told reporters. "There is a genocide going on there."

The incident took place as junior trade minister Franck Riester was answering a question about the situation in Gaza, where Israel's offensive against Hamas has stirred global condemnation for the high civilian toll. 

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New Zealand Navy Ship Sinks Off Samoa

A view of a New Zealand Navy vessel on fire, as seen from Tafitoala, Samoa, October 6, 2024, in this picture obtained from social media. Dave Poole/via REUTERS
A view of a New Zealand Navy vessel on fire, as seen from Tafitoala, Samoa, October 6, 2024, in this picture obtained from social media. Dave Poole/via REUTERS
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New Zealand Navy Ship Sinks Off Samoa

A view of a New Zealand Navy vessel on fire, as seen from Tafitoala, Samoa, October 6, 2024, in this picture obtained from social media. Dave Poole/via REUTERS
A view of a New Zealand Navy vessel on fire, as seen from Tafitoala, Samoa, October 6, 2024, in this picture obtained from social media. Dave Poole/via REUTERS

A Royal New Zealand Navy vessel ran aground and sank off Samoa but all 75 crew and passengers on board were safe, the New Zealand Defense Force said in a statement on Sunday.

Manawanui, the navy's specialist dive and hydrographic vessel, ran aground near the southern coast of Upolu on Saturday night as it was conducting a reef survey, Commodore Shane Arndell, the maritime component commander of the New Zealand Defense Force, said in a statement.
Several vessels responded and assisted in rescuing the crew and passengers who had left the ship in lifeboats, Reuters quoted Arndell as saying.
A Royal New Zealand Air Force P-8A Poseidon was also deployed to assist in the rescue.
The cause of the grounding was unknown and would need further investigation, New Zealand Defense Force said.
Video and photos published on local media showed the Manawanui, which cost the New Zealand government NZ$103 million in 2018, listing heavily and with plumes of thick grey smoke rising after it ran aground.
The vessel later capsized and was below the surface by 9 a.m. local time, New Zealand Defence Force said.
The agency said it was "working with authorities to understand the implications and minimise the environmental impacts.”
Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding told a press conference in Auckland that a plane would leave for Samoa on Sunday to bring the rescued crew and passengers back to New Zealand.
He said some of those rescued had suffered minor injuries, including from walking across a reef.
Defense Minister Judith Collins described the grounding as a "really challenging for everybody on board."
"I know that what has happened is going to take quite a bit of time to process," Collins told the press conference.
"I look forward to pinpointing the cause so that we can learn from it and avoid a repeat," she said, adding that an immediate focus was to salvage "what is left" of the vessel.
Rescue operations were coordinated by Samoan emergency services and Australian Defense personnel with the assistance of the New Zealand rescue center, according to a statement from Samoa Police, Prison and Corrections Service posted on Facebook.
Manawanui is used to conduct a range of specialist diving, salvage and survey tasks around New Zealand and across the South West Pacific.
New Zealand's Navy is already working at reduced capacity with three of its nine ships idle due to personnel shortages.