No Repeat of Jerusalem Incident Will Be Accepted, France Says

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot poses for photographers overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, right, from the Mount of Olives during his visit to Jerusalem, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP)
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot poses for photographers overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, right, from the Mount of Olives during his visit to Jerusalem, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP)
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No Repeat of Jerusalem Incident Will Be Accepted, France Says

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot poses for photographers overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, right, from the Mount of Olives during his visit to Jerusalem, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP)
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot poses for photographers overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, right, from the Mount of Olives during his visit to Jerusalem, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP)

A repeat of an incident in Jerusalem that saw armed Israeli security forces entering a property administered by France must never happen again, France's foreign minister said ahead of summoning Israel's envoy on Tuesday.

Two French security officials with diplomatic status were briefly detained on Nov. 7 after Jean-Noel Barrot was due to visit the compound of the Church of the Pater Noster on the Mount of Olives.

The site, one of four administered by France in Jerusalem, is under Paris' responsibility and it not the first time that problems have arisen over France's historic holdings in the Holy City.

"It is an opportunity for France to reiterate that it will not tolerate Israeli armed forces entering these areas, for which it (France) is responsible, for which it ensures protection," Barrot told France 24 television when asked what the ambassador would be told.

"And to strongly reaffirm that this incident must never happen again, meaning that Israeli forces enter armed and without authorization."

Israel's ambassador is due to meet Barrot's chief of staff at the foreign ministry on Tuesday.

Israel's foreign ministry has said that every visiting foreign leader is accompanied by its security personnel, a point that had been "clarified in advance in the preparatory dialogue with the French Embassy in Israel".

Diplomatic relations between France and Israel have worsened since President Emmanuel Macron called for an end to the supply to Israel of offensive weapons used in Gaza.

The French government also attempted to ban Israeli weapons' firms from exhibiting at a trade fair in Paris and has become increasingly uneasy over Israel's conduct in the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.



China’s Xi Jinping Will Visit Russia in 2025, Russian Ambassador Says

Chinese President Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, greets the audience at a meeting celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) and its handover to China and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) at the Macao East Asian Games Dome in Macao, China, 20 December 2024. (EPA/ Xinhua / Xie Huanchi)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, greets the audience at a meeting celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) and its handover to China and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) at the Macao East Asian Games Dome in Macao, China, 20 December 2024. (EPA/ Xinhua / Xie Huanchi)
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China’s Xi Jinping Will Visit Russia in 2025, Russian Ambassador Says

Chinese President Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, greets the audience at a meeting celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) and its handover to China and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) at the Macao East Asian Games Dome in Macao, China, 20 December 2024. (EPA/ Xinhua / Xie Huanchi)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, greets the audience at a meeting celebrating the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) and its handover to China and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) at the Macao East Asian Games Dome in Macao, China, 20 December 2024. (EPA/ Xinhua / Xie Huanchi)

China's President Xi Jinping will visit Russia in 2025, Russia's state-run RIA news agency quoted Moscow's ambassador to Beijing as saying early on Friday.

"As for concrete bilateral events, I can say that the appropriate plans are actively being drawn up," ambassador Igor Morgulov told RIA.

"What can be said that is no secret, in terms of priority, is that the chairman of the People's Republic of China is expected in Russia next year."

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation from Reuters.

Putin visited China in February 2022, proclaiming a "no limits" partnership days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. He was in Beijing again last May, after his re-election by a landslide, welcoming a "new era" of relations focusing on opposition to US policy.

Xi was received in the Kremlin as a "dear friend " in 2023 after he obtained an unprecedented third term in office.

Morgulov also told RIA that China, which has refrained from condemning Russia's 34-month-old war in Ukraine, understood the basis for the conflict "inasmuch as they are coming up against many of the same challenges -- the US and its allies are boosting pressure on China in the Asia-Pacific region".

NATO, he said, is "devising plans to move its military infrastructure" into the region.

Russia and China had to respond to US policy jointly, he said.

"In the international arena, it is up to our countries to respond further with a 'dual counter-action' to the 'dual deterrence' which the West is trying to pursue with regard to Russia and China," RIA quoted him as saying.

China, working with Brazil, has put forward a peace plan for the Ukraine war, calling for a freezing of battle lines and taking into account the security interests of both sides.

Russia has expressed support for the proposals.

Ukraine, which has proposed its own plans to end the conflict - the latest of which includes a request for NATO membership - has dismissed the China-Brazil initiative as serving Moscow's interests.

Russian forces currently occupy about 20% of Ukraine's territory and have recently been advancing at their fastest pace since the early days of the war.