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Australians will vote in a historic referendum on 14 October to decide whether to enact an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
If approved, the vote would recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the country's constitution, and establish a permanent body for them to give advice on laws.
The proposal is the subject of fierce debate in Australia.
The country has not had a successful referendum in almost 50 years.
For it to succeed, a majority of Australians need to vote yes. There also needs to be majority support in at least four of Australia's six states.
The composition, functions and powers of the body - whose advice would not be binding - would then be designed and debated by the parliament.
Announcing the poll date at a rally in Adelaide, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the vote "a once-in-a-generation chance to bring our country together and to change it for the better".
The Voice would be "a committee of Indigenous Australians, chosen by Indigenous Australians, giving advice to government so that we can get a better result for Indigenous Australians", he said.
"You're being asked... to say yes to an idea whose time has come - to say yes to an invitation that comes directly from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves."
It was recommended by a historic document in 2017 called the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Drafted by more than 250 Indigenous leaders, the statement is considered the best - though not unanimous - call to action for reforms which affect First Nations Australians.
Australia is the only Commonwealth country that has never signed a treaty with its Indigenous people, and advocates say the Voice is an important step towards reconciliation.
Indigenous Australians face disproportionate levels of disadvantage across society - something Australia has long struggled to address.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton, a Voice opponent, says there it not enough detail behind the proposal, and controversially asserts it could racially divide Australians.
But many No campaigners - including Mr Dutton - have been accused of race-baiting and spreading disinformation.
They have in turn accused the Yes campaign of elitism and of dismissing valid concerns of everyday Australians.
Mental health advocates have warned the intensity and tone of the debate is taking a toll on Indigenous people.
Australia last held a referendum in 1999, when it opted not to become a republic.
Only eight of Australia's 44 referendums have been successful - the most recent in 1977. None have passed without bipartisan support. | Australia Politics |
North Korea has fired two ballistic missiles off its east coast as Kim Jong Un's sister warned of "using the Pacific as our firing range".
The missiles were launched on Monday morning local time and fell into the sea outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, the country's coast guard said.
There were no reports of damage to aircraft or vessels.
Japan's defence ministry said the missile launches "threaten the peace and security of Japan, the region, and the international community".
North Korea's state media KCNA confirmed it had fired two projectiles, aiming at targets 245 miles and 209 miles away.
It said the "multiple rocket launcher mobilised in the firing... is a means of tactical nuclear weapon" capable of "paralysing" an enemy airfield.
The incident comes just two days after North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the sea off Japan's west coast, in what state media described as a move to strengthen its "fatal" nuclear attack capacity.
In response to Saturday's launch, the US and South Korea held joint air exercises on Sunday.
Those exercises prompted a warning from Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un.
Read more:
Meet Kim Jong Un's 'precious' child - and possible successor
Kim Jong Un shows off North Korea's growing nuclear arsenal
She said that South Korea and the US were "openly showing their dangerous greed" and were making an "attempt to gain the military upper hand and predominant position in the Korean Peninsula".
She added: "I warn that we will watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us.
"There is no change in our will to make the worst maniacs escalating the tensions pay the price for their action.
"We are carefully examining the influence (the military drills) would exert on the security of our state.
"The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the US forces' action character."
North Korea says the military drills are a rehearsal for invasion but South Korea and its allies say they are defensive. | Asia Politics |
Independence Day 2023: 5 Short Speeches In English For Kids
Marking the 77th Independence Day 2023, delve into a compilation of five impactful speeches.
On this 77th Independence Day in 2023, we celebrate the remarkable journey of our nation. In honor of this occasion, we present five concise speeches that embody our spirit of freedom, unity, and progress.
These speeches pay tribute to our enduring nation and inspire us to continue striving for a brighter future.
#1: Celebrating Freedom and Unity
Good morning everyone,
Today, as we gather to celebrate Independence Day, let's remember the sacrifices made by our forefathers who fought tirelessly for our freedom. Independence is not just about being free from external control; it's also about unity and working together as a nation. Let's cherish the diversity that makes our country rich and unique. As students, you are the future of this nation, and your actions and ideas can shape our progress. So, let's take this day as an opportunity to reflect on our responsibilities towards our country and work towards making it even better. Happy Independence Day!
#2: Embracing Our Heritage and Progress
Hello everyone,
On this remarkable day, we honor the spirit of our nation's independence. We are the inheritors of a legacy that has stood strong against adversities. Our country has grown in leaps and bounds since gaining freedom. As students, you are the torchbearers of progress. Let's value our traditions and culture while embracing innovation and modernity. Let's strive for knowledge, for it is knowledge that empowers us to make informed decisions for our nation's growth. Happy Independence Day!
#3: Responsibility Towards a Brighter Future
Dear students,
Happy Independence Day! Today, we remember the leaders who guided us through our struggle for freedom. As we enjoy the rights and privileges they secured for us, let's also remember the responsibilities that come with them. Our country's progress depends on our actions. Let's be responsible citizens who contribute positively to society. Whether it's protecting the environment, promoting equality, or pursuing education, each of you can make a difference. The future of our nation is in your hands.
#4: Unity in Diversity
Respected teachers and fellow students,
Independence Day reminds us that despite our diverse cultures, languages, and traditions, we are all united as one nation. Our unity is our strength. As students, you have the power to build bridges and foster understanding among different communities. Let's celebrate our diversity and use it to create a harmonious society. This Independence Day, let's pledge to stand together, supporting each other's dreams and aspirations. Happy Independence Day!
#5: Gratitude and Aspiration
Hello everyone,
Today, we gather not only to celebrate our freedom but also to express gratitude to those who made it possible. The journey to independence was marked by sacrifices and determination. As students, you have the responsibility to honor those sacrifices by making the most of the opportunities you have. Dream big, work hard, and contribute to the growth of our nation. Let's remember that our actions today will shape the India of tomorrow. Happy Independence Day! | India Politics |
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- Announcement on start of truce could come in few hours - Qatar
GAZA/JERUSALEM, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The release of hostages under a temporary truce between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants will not happen before Friday, Israel's national security adviser and the U.S. said, dashing hopes of relatives that some would be freed on Thursday.
Israel and Hamas agreed early on Wednesday to a ceasefire in Gaza for at least four days, to let in humanitarian aid and free at least 50 hostages held by militants in the enclave in exchange for at least 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel.
The starting time of the truce and release of hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel has yet to be officially announced. An Egyptian security source said mediators had sought a start time of 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Thursday.
Speaking on Thursday morning, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majid bin Mohammed Al Ansari said an announcement on the beginning of the truce could come in the next few hours. Qatar has been mediating in the negotiations on the truce.
"The negotiations on the release of our hostages are advancing and continuing constantly," Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a statement released by the prime minister's office.
"The start of the release will take place according to the original agreement between the sides, and not before Friday," it said.
White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson said final logistical details for the release were being worked out. "That is on track and we are hopeful that implementation will begin on Friday morning," Watson said.
But there was no let-up in the fighting early on Thursday, reports said.
Palestinian media said Israeli aircraft and artillery struck Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis in at least two waves and 15 people were killed. Attacks were also reported in several other parts of Gaza, including the Jabalia and Nuseirat camps.
There was no immediate comment from Israel and Reuters was unable to independently verify the reports.
In Israel, sirens warning of incoming rocket fire from Gaza blared in communities near the border with the enclave, the military said. There were no reports of damage or injuries.
Israel's public broadcaster Kan, citing an unidentified Israeli official, reported there was a 24-hour delay in the truce because the agreement was not signed by Hamas and mediator Qatar. The official said they were optimistic the agreement would be carried out when it was signed.
"No one said there would be a release tomorrow except the media ... We had to make it clear that no release is planned before Friday, because of the uncertainty that hostages' families are facing," Kan quoted a source in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office as saying.
Israeli media, citing anonymous officials, reported the pause in fighting with Hamas also would not start before Friday. Israel's Ynet news website reported that Israel had not yet received the names of the hostages slated for release by Hamas.
Since the Hamas attack on southern Israel that surprised the government and shocked Israelis, five hostages have been recovered alive. Israel says 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians and about 240 hostages of different nationalities taken hostage by Islamist gunmen.
In retaliation, Israel has subjected Hamas-ruled Gaza to a siege and relentless bombardment. More than 14,000 Gazans have been killed, around 40% of them children, according to medical officials in the territory.
'NEED TO KNOW THEY ARE ALIVE'
Netanyahu made no mention of a potential delay in implementation of the agreement during a press conference late on Wednesday. Hanegbi's statement was released about an hour after the press conference.
"We need to know they are alive, if they're okay. It's the minimum," said Gilad Korngold, who said he drew just a measure of comfort from the deal between Israel and Hamas and was among those who was still awaiting word of relatives. Seven of his family members, including his 3-year-old granddaughter, were taken hostage.
"I want everybody back. But I think - and it's a very tough decision - but I think the children and women must be (first). They are most fragile...they need to get out."
The U.S. also hoped that aid would begin reaching Gaza in large volumes within the next few days, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said.
The 50 hostages would be released over four days at a rate of at least 10 daily, Netanyahu's office said. The truce could be extended day by day so long as an additional 10 hostages were freed each day, it said.
Israel's justice ministry published a list of 300 names of Palestinian prisoners who could be freed.
Hamas said the initial 50 hostages would be released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children imprisoned in Israel. Hundreds of trucks of humanitarian, medical and fuel supplies would enter Gaza, while Israel would halt all air sorties over southern Gaza and maintain a daily six-hour daytime no-fly window in the north, Hamas said.
The truce agreement, the first in a nearly seven-week-long war, was reached after mediation by Qatar and seen by governments around the world as potentially easing the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza is the "most dangerous place in the world to be a child," Catherine Russell, head of the United Nations children's agency UNICEF, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. More than 5,300 Palestinian children had reportedly been killed since Oct. 7, Russell said.
Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washinton; writing by Grant McCool and Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Cynthia Osterman & Simon Cameron-Moore
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Middle East Politics |
A man who lived in the northern outskirts of Buenos Aires was operating as Argentina’s largest Nazi material distributor from his family home, federal police announced Wednesday after an investigation lasting nearly two years. According to the authorities, who arrested the suspect after agents staged an undercover purchase operation, he sold more than 300 titles, including Nazi propaganda, works glorifying Adolf Hitler, Holocaust denialism and World War II revisionism, through various websites.
The investigation began in mid-2021 following a complaint from the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA). “We received a complaint about a website that disseminated anti-Semitic content online,” said Commissioner Fabián Villagra, head of the Terrorist Investigations Unit of the Argentine Federal Police. “The investigations lasted almost two years. Initially, we had a user name, to which we managed to put name, surname, and [identity] document. Then we arrived at the person’s home where the material was being printed.” The man, who has not been identified by the authorities, had been distributing the books on Mercado Libre, the largest online trading platform in South America. When his account was terminated, he continued through a webpage of his own.
The detainee’s website, Librería Argentina, remains online and offers a catalog of hundreds of titles. His website describes itself as “specialized in war themes related to the two World Wars and the political, philosophical, and spiritual movements at work in them.” Describing the catalog as “marginalized books from the most popular bookstores regardless of their inclination,” some of the first titles on the list are related to fascism and Aryan “ethics.”
During the raid in the municipality of San Isidro, in the wealthy northern suburbs of Buenos Aires, authorities seized 222 books, 140 covers for unprinted copies, and two office printers. The haul seized by federal detectives was displayed Wednesday in a room at the headquarters of the Mounted Police Corps in the Argentine capital. Among the titles confiscated were various editions of Mein Kampf and a recruitment manual titled The SS calls you!
Investigators also found a wide variety of titles from around twenty different publishers, ranging from Holocaust denial and the bombing of Gernika by Nazi Germany and Francisco Franco’s Nationalists in Spain, to apocryphal biographies of American automobile magnate Henry Ford and Argentine anti-Jewish pamphlets. Many of the books displayed symbols such as swastikas, the Reichsadler — the imperial eagle of German National Socialism — and the Iron Crosses, a military decoration used by the Nazis during World War II.
The police used the latter to prosecute the crime under a law against discriminatory acts. “The mere exhibition of this type of symbology constitutes an infraction as it justifies, vindicates and even venerates the atrocities committed by the Nazi National Socialist regime against the Jewish community,” the authorities said in a statement.
“It is incredible that there are people producing this type of material, and worrying that there are people who consume it. That is the challenge we have to work on,” said Marcos Cohen, a DAIA vice-president, during the announcement.
Librería Argentina will no longer be able to receive orders from customers, but many of its books are still circulating online in a word-of-mouth market among comments on other, less explicit titles. “Hello! I just bought this book, by any chance do you have The SS calls you! SS-Hauptmat Sieghels Edition?” asks one user in a post on the same e-commerce site used by the detainee. The seller replies: “Hello, good morning. Yes, we have it, but it cannot be published on Mercado Libre. We will write you privately to tell you how [it can be obtained]. If you have any queries, please contact us.”
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Welsh rugby could be included in the list of sports that have to be shown live on free-to-air TV if the Senedd called for it, a UK minister has said.
Sir John Whittingdale's comments in the Welsh Parliament come amid concerns more rugby matches could go behind paywalls.
Autumn internationals have been shown on Amazon Prime since 2020.
Plaid Cymru's Llyr Gruffydd feared that the same could happen with the Rugby World Cup.
Tory MP Sir John appeared before the Senedd's culture committee on Thursday.
Under the so-called "crown jewels" list of sporting events the Rugby World Cup final, the football world cups, the Olympic Games and Wimbledon finals have to be shown on terrestrial television channels such as the BBC, ITV or Channel Four.
At the committee Mr Gruffydd asked if the UK media minister whether he had looked at the "relative importance of rugby to us here in Wales, and how that could be better reflected in broadcasting rights".
"We've seen the autumn internationals last year go behind a paywall [Amazon Prime], there's even been the mention of potentially the next Rugby World Cup going the same way," the Plaid Senedd member said.
"You look at the viewing figures in Wales, rugby is right up there."
The former culture secretary said it was a "very difficult balance" because the sports authorities were "keen to maximise the income for their sport" and he was "reluctant" to tell them "who they can sell their rights to or not".
Pressed further, Sir John said it was "quite difficult to say" that "rugby matches involving Wales should have a difference level of protection to rugby matches involving England".
"I think rugby is attracting a lot of attention at the moment in England, and I'm not sure it would be right to try and distinguish between the important of a sport in one part of the United Kingdom against another part of the United Kingdom," he told the committee.
But, stressing the importance of rugby to Wales' identity, Labour MS Alun Davies warned of the danger that "technological possibilities and profit margins define who we are and, all of a sudden, we've lost who we are as a country and as different nations".
Sir John replied: "I would say that while broadcasting is reserved [a UK government responsibility] sport is not.
"We've always said that if the Welsh Parliament argued very strongly that for the good of sport in Wales that we needed to look again at the listed events, we would look at it."
"So it's not closed."
The hearing session took place as part of the Senedd culture committee's inquiry into public service broadcasting in Wales. | United Kingdom Politics |
Afghanistan’s Taliban government announced Friday that China had formally accepted its ambassador to Beijing, hailing the move as an “important chapter” in growing ties between the two neighboring countries.
The announcement, yet to be confirmed by China, would make it the first nation to host a Taliban ambassador since the Islamist group regained power from an American-backed government in Kabul two years ago.
Neither China nor any other country has formally given recognition to the de facto Afghan administration.
An official Taliban foreign ministry statement said that Hong Lei, the director-general of the protocol department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, accepted the copy of credentials from the newly appointed ambassador, Asadullah Bilal Karimi.
Hong called Karimi’s arrival an “important step in further strengthening and expanding the positive relations” between Beijing and Kabul.
“China respects the national sovereignty and the decisions of the people of Afghanistan. It does not interfere in the internal Afghan affairs, nor has it done so in the past,” Hong said in Friday’s meeting, according to the Taliban.
Karimi assured the Chinese side that “there is no threat to anyone from the territory of Afghanistan, and regional stability and security is in the interest of all.”
The new ambassador, in his early 30s, served as the deputy spokesman at the Taliban-led information ministry until recently.
Beijing has sought to sustain its close engagement with the Taliban to help prevent the conflict-torn South Asian nation from plunging into chaos again, which could encourage anti-China militants to use Afghan soil to threaten Chinese security.SEE ALSO: Taliban Says Plans to Formally Join China’s Belt and Road Initiative
The Chinese government invited Taliban delegates to its global Belt and Road Forum in October this year, marking the first high-profile multilateral gathering de facto Afghan rulers have attended since returning to power.
Last September, China became the first nation to appoint an ambassador to Kabul under Taliban rule. Other countries either retained their previous ambassadors or appointed the heads of their embassies in a charge d'affaires capacity, which does not require presenting credentials to the host government.
State and private Chinese companies have shown interest in investing in Afghanistan, with some signing contracts with the Taliban in recent months. However, international banking sector sanctions have deterred foreign investors from undertaking major initiatives.
Around 20 neighboring and regional countries have kept their embassies operational or reopened diplomatic missions since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, when all U.S.-led Western troops withdrew from the country and ended their two-decade-long involvement in the Afghan war.
Washington and other Western countries have since moved their Afghan diplomatic missions to Qatar to ensure they can sustain humanitarian aid for millions of Afghans.SEE ALSO: Regional Countries Mulling Simultaneous Taliban Recognition, Pakistani Envoy Says
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s neighbors and regional countries, including Russia, India and Turkey, have allowed the Taliban to take control of Afghan diplomatic missions on their respective soils, which are being run at charge d’affairs level.
The Taliban’s global isolation mainly stems from their sweeping curbs on Afghan women’s rights. They have forbidden teenage girls from receiving an education beyond the sixth grade and barred most women from public and private workplaces across the impoverished country, where half of the population needs humanitarian aid.
The de facto authorities are under sustained international pressure to remove restrictions on women, govern the country through an inclusive political setup, and prevent terrorists from operating out of Afghan soil.
The male-only Taliban government has rejected criticism of its policies, saying they are aligned with local culture and Islamic law. They also have claimed no terrorist groups operate in the country.
The United Nations has ruled out granting Afghanistan’s seat to the Taliban until they address international concerns and end their harsh treatment of women. | Asia Politics |
Budapest says it will not approve any EU support for Ukraine that requires unanimity, including sanctions against Russia, until Kyiv removes a Hungarian bank from its list of "international war sponsors".
Hungary confirmed on Wednesday that it is blocking the disbursement of €500 million to reimburse member states that provide Ukraine with weapons because the war-torn country put a Hungarian bank on its list of "international sponsors of war".
Ukrainian authorities put the OTP Bank on its list of "international sponsors of war" on 5 May, arguing the financial institution has continued to operate in Russia despite sanctions and because of its "de-facto recognition of the so-called 'people's republics' of Donetsk and Luhansk".
Péter Szijjártó, Hungary's Foreign Minister, said on Wednesday from Vienna following a meeting with his Austrian counterpart that the move is "scandalous and unacceptable" and the latest example of the Ukrainian government's "increasingly hostile" stance toward Hungary.
He once more cited Ukraine's threat to close Hungarian-minority schools in the Zakarpattia Oblast and an alleged threat by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to bomb the Druzhba pipeline that links Russia to Hungary via Ukraine as other examples.
"Hungary cannot agree to decisions that would require the European Union and its member states to make further economic and financial sacrifices" as long as the bank is listed as such by Ukrainian authorities, he added. He also reiterated that Budapest will veto the EU's 11th package of sanctions against Russia currently being negotiated by ambassadors in Brussels over the issue.
EU foreign and defence ministers were expected to approve the disbursement of the next tranche of the European Peace Facility (EPF), worth €500 million, when they convene in Brussels for meetings on Monday and Tuesday.
The EPF, set up in 2021, is an off-budget fund through which the EU provides its partners' armed forces with equipment and infrastructure in a bid to prevent conflicts, build peace and strengthen international security. It has also been used to partly reimburse member states for the weapons they provide Ukraine.
Seven tranches have so far been approved for a total amount of roughly €3.6 billion.
A senior EU official said the bloc will be dealing with this latest Hungarian veto "as we always deal with any question, which is through dialogue and trying to listen to different parties and trying to talk to our member states and of course trying to talk to Ukraine, which is our key partner, a key friend of the European Union."
The source added that OTP Bank is not the only European company listed by Ukraine as a sponsor of the war but that Hungary is the only member state so far to have complained.
A senior diplomat from an EU member state described Hungary's move as disingenuous, and its timing as unfortunate as Kyiv prepares to launch its much-anticipated counteroffensive.
Hungary, they added, should be trying to resolve the issue bilaterally with Kyiv instead of taking this up at the EU level and holding hostage some of its decision-making ability.
It is not the first time Hungary has held up negotiations on sanctions against Russia or the disbursement of an EPF tranche. It demanded for instance to remove certain names from the EU sanctions list, including Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, and secured an exception to the oil embargo o continue to receive Russian fossil fuel via pipeline.
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Governments that overregulate artificial intelligence are risking grave and lasting consequences, Omar Al Olama—the world’s first minister of AI—has warned.
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Governments that overregulate artificial intelligence are risking grave and lasting consequences, Omar Al Olama—the world’s first minister of AI—has warned.
In fact, the impact could be so dire that it may consign a society to a fate similar to the Ottoman Empire, which lost its place as a beacon of advancement when it refused to adopt the printing press.
Speaking at the Fortune Global Forum in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates cabinet official drew on a cautionary tale from history.
During the Middle Ages, Islam’s caliphate stood at the height of civilization, attracting learned scholars the world over and giving birth to new fields like algebra.
However, in its 1515 repudiation of the printing press the empire rejected math and science—forfeiting its claim as a leading center of culture.
The 1450s invention by Johannes Gutenberg had democratized literacy for the first time—making books affordable through mass production in the West. However, in the Middle East, the Ottoman power center in Istanbul saw the device as a threat to the established order.
The UAE minister of AI said the issues policymakers are now facing with regard to AI—such as its impact on job losses, misinformation, and fear of social upheaval—are very similar to the problems faced by the empire’s then leader, Sultan Selim I.
“We overregulated a technology, which was the printing press,” said Al Olama. “It was adopted everywhere on Earth. The Middle East banned it for 200 years.
“The calligraphers came to the sultan and said: ‘We’re going to lose our jobs, do something to protect us’—so, job loss protection, very similar to AI,” the UAE minister explained. “The religious scholars said people are going to print fake versions of the Quran and corrupt society—misinformation, second reason.”
Lastly, Al Olama said, it was fear of the unknown that led to this fateful decision.
“The top advisors of the sultan said: ‘We actually do not know what this technology is going to do; let us ban it, see what happens to other societies, and then reconsider,’” he explained.
Reskill, retool, and retire
Instead, 33-year-old Al Olama, who was picked in September as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in AI, argued that governments have a duty to hold the center ground on the contentious issue.
Policymakers need to ensure their constituents are not sacrificed on the altar of progress by a private sector that must compete to stay in business, he explained.
“What we need to be having is a dialogue about, how do you upskill professionals within governments to be able to regulate in the most effective manner to ensure their population is not left behind,” he said.
Al Olama said the UAE’s approach revolves around “three Rs”—reskill, retool, and retire.
Those workers whose jobs will be disrupted by AI need to become proficient in a different workforce role that is still needed.
Others who retain their role will have to be provided with the means to ensure they can fully take advantage of AI to increase their productivity.
Workers too old to be retrained will be offered the opportunity to retire early.
“What happens here is that people feel like they have a choice, people feel this is not something dictated on them. This is something they can actually play a part in or [watch] from the sidelines,” he said. “It’s better for us to be proactive rather than reactive.” | Middle East Politics |
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) -The government of Ethiopia’s Amhara region asked federal authorities on Thursday to “take appropriate measures” in response to intense clashes between local militiamen and the military.
The request follows several days of fighting in towns across Amhara, the country’s second-biggest region, between federal forces and the Fano militia.
Fano fighters backed the military during a two-year civil war in the neighbouring Tigray region that ended last November, but a simmering feud in recent months has burst into the open this week.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Amhara regional president Yilkal Kefale said the unrest was causing significant human, social and economic damage.
“It has become difficult to control the situation through regular legal means. Therefore we respectfully call upon the FDRE (federal) government to take appropriate measures based on the required legal frameworks,” Yilkal said in the letter, which was published by Ethiopian state-owned media.
It was not immediately clear what those measures might be.
The fighting was prompted by an operation by the military to push Fano fighters out of certain areas, according to a diplomatic source.
A doctor in one Amhara town told Reuters on Wednesday that his hospital had received more than a dozen patients injured in clashes.
Ethiopian officials have not provided detailed accounts of the situation on the ground, but Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister, Demeke Mekonnen, on Wednesday called the situation “concerning”.
On Thursday, mobile internet access was down in parts of Amhara region, according to residents. Flights to Gondar, Amhara’s second-biggest city, and to the holy town of Lalibela, where there has also been fighting, had been suspended, a spokesperson for Ethiopian Airlines said.
Spokespeople for the federal government and the Amhara regional administration did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Clashes on the outskirts of Gondar continued for a second day on Thursday, a local official there, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told Reuters.
Fano is a part-time militia with no formal command structure. Its relationship with federal authorities has soured in recent months over what some in Amhara say is a disregard for the region’s security.
Violent protests erupted across Amhara in April after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered that security forces from Ethiopia’s 11 regions be integrated into the police or national army.
Protesters felt the order was meant to weaken Amhara. The federal government denied this and said the objective was ensuring national unity.
Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Giles Elgood, Andrew Heavens and Alison Williams
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Africa politics |
BRUSSELS -- Belgian authorities said Wednesday they were “actively” searching for an asylum-seeker of Palestinian origin after media reported that he had threatened an unspecified attack.
The Brussels prosecutor's office said it was aware of the threat mentioned in the media and added police forces were out looking for him. Only last week, an Islamic extremist shot dead two Swedes and wounded a third. Authorities said the Tunisian suspect died following a police operation trying to arrest him.
The search for the man comes on the eve of a two-day European Union summit in Brussels, where the 27 EU leaders will gather to discuss, among other things, the Israel-Hamas war.
Last week's killings laid bare inefficiencies within the government and judicial apparatus, which had allowed the suspect to roam free in Brussels even though Tunisia had actively sought his extradition. The justice minister resigned over the incident last weekend.
Since the attack, the terror alert level in Belgium was raised to the second highest level, meaning the threat is considered “serious.”
The federal prosecutor’s office also announced Wednesday that it detained a suspect with the semiautomatic rifle that was used to kill the two Swedes. He would be questioned later Wednesday before a decision on an arrest is made. | Europe Politics |
Sept 10 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Ukrainian troops pressing a counter offensive against Russian occupying forces had advanced on the southern front in the past week while there had also been movement near Bakhmut in the east.
Zelenskiy's latest comments on the state of the three-month-old counter offensive appeared to confirm assessments by other officials of gains, however modest, in the east and south.
"Over the past seven days we have made an advance in the Tavria (southern) sector," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "There is movement in the Bakhmut sector. Yes, there is movement."
Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces were holding their ground on other fronts in the east -- Avdiivka and Maryinka near the focus of Russia's main attacks, and Lyman and Kupiansk, also subject to Russian attempts to advance further north.
Near Avdiivka, the head of the local military administration said Ukrainian troops took advantage of Russian forces focusing on one sector to advance and capture part of the village of Opytne south of the city.
"In my opinion, this is very significant," Vitaliy Barabash told national television. "To be frank, the enemy overlooked this southern direction a bit."
Barabash called the advance a "thunderous assault operation" and said fighting was underway in the settlement.
Avdiivka, site of a major coking plant, has been under near-constant Russian attack for many months.
The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces reported successes near Bakhmut -- theatre of nearly a year of pitched battles until it was captured by Russian troops in May.
In its evening report, the General Staff reported "partial success as a result of assault operations" near Klishchiivka, a village on heights south of Bakhmut -- seen as critical to recapturing the town.
The report also described a measure of success near Robotyne -- a settlement Ukraine captured late last month -- as part of its drive southward through Russian-held areas to the Sea of Azov.
Zelenskiy and other officials have said the counter offensive requires time, and they have dismissed criticism in the Western media that it is proceeding too slowly because of tactical errors, like placing troops in the wrong locations.
In an interview with The Economist published on Sunday, Zelenskiy said making steady progress was essential to maintaining morale.
"Now we have movement. It’s important," the publication quoted him as saying.
He suggested a big breakthrough could lie ahead.
"If we push them from the south, they will run," he was quoted as saying.
Reporting by Nick Starkov and Ron Popeski; Editing by Leslie Adler
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Europe Politics |
'New design always comes with delay and additional cost': Dutton argues existing Virginia class nuclear submarines are 'best option'
Peter Dutton has warned that selecting a new design for Australia's nuclear submarines "comes with delay and additional cost", arguing America's existing Virginia class submarines are "the best option for us".
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has doubled down on his comments that Australia should seek to acquire America’s Virginia class nuclear submarines, rather than a British or new trilateral design.
Mr Dutton said that if the goal was to achieve a nuclear submarine capability as quickly as possible, then America’s existing Virginia class submarines are “the best option”.
“There is great capacity in the American system, particularly if we are able to pay for additional lines in Connecticut and elsewhere, including in Australia, to build blocks here, to support the program development otherwise,” Mr Dutton said.
The Liberal leader also warned that going with a new design rather than an existing class of submarine would lead to time and cost blowouts.
“The first of anything in defence is always problematic,” he said.
“If you’re talking about a frigate, if you’re talking about a tank, if you’re talking about a submarine, the new design always comes with delay and with additional cost.
“That was the problem with the French proposal – the design takes years and years and years.
“And that’s the risk around the [nuclear submarine] project.”
This contrasts with recent comments by Defence Minister Richard Marles, who said the “optimal path” for Australia’s nuclear submarine program was a “truly trilateral” solution – comments that suggest a new design.
Despite his preference for America's Virginia class submarines, Mr Dutton said the opposition would support whatever decision the government makes.
"If they decide to go with the Brits, if they decide to go with co-design, if they decide to go with the American Virginia class, we will support that decision because we want that acquisition as quickly as possible," he said.
On Wednesday the Liberal leader said that when he was defence minister in the previous government the advice to him was that there was no extra capacity in the UK submarine program to support additional demand from Australia.
This led Labor’s Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy to accuse Dutton of being “incredibly irresponsible”
"I think those comments from Peter Dutton are incredibly irresponsible. This was a man who received classified briefings up until the 21st of May on this program," Mr Conroy said.
"He is either being mischievous or he isn't privy to the latest information."
Mr Dutton rejected the criticism, calling Mr Conroy a “junior Woodchuck” sent out because Defence Minister Richard Marles “didn’t want to come out himself.” | Australia Politics |
Barnaby Joyce launches another attack over PM's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras march, stating Alice Springs deserved 'a little more time'
Barnaby Joyce has blasted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for treating Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade as "more important" than the crime crisis in Alice Springs.
Barnaby Joyce has doubled down on his criticism of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese choosing to march in Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade on Saturday.
Mr Albanese will be the first sitting Australian PM to march in the World Pride festival, alongside Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
However, Mr Joyce has repeatedly blasted the the Labor leader’s lack of dedication to fixing issues in Alice Springs, which is grappling with a youth crime crisis.
The Nationals MP said locals were “annoyed” with the Mr Albanese for spending more time at the tennis or at the LGBTQIA+ party than in the embattled outback town.
“I just think that [visit] deserves a little bit more time than four hours,” he told ABC’s RN Breakfast on Monday.
“He spent more time at the tennis. He probably spent more time at the Woodford Folk festival. And this was another issue where he believes it’s a great thing to go and he’s the first Prime Minister to march and good luck to him.”
The criticism was aimed at Mr Albanese's attendance of three nights at the Australian Open in January, in contrast to four hours on the ground in Alice Springs.
A back-and-forth ensued with the show's host Patricia Karvelas, who questioned the comparison and said the two events were “vastly different”.
“One is about a group that has suffered their rights being abused over years and the other is a tennis match. They are different,” Karvelas said.
Couldnât miss the chance to officially open Pride Square in Newtown today.— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) February 11, 2023
And to unveil the pride flag beacon â a colourful celebration of diversity.
Every Australian deserves respect and equality â no matter where you live or who you love. pic.twitter.com/CZpvDt5itc
Mr Joyce declared the citizens of Alice Springs were having their rights abused in response and the attention it had received from the Prime Minister was “not paramount”.
The comments come only a week after Mr Joyce first announced his opposition to Mr Albanese's Mardi Gras appearance and stressed the importance of the crime surge in northern Australia.
“Does that mean the Mardi Gras is more important than the law-and-order issue for the people of Central Australia,” Mr Joyce said on Sky News Australia last week.
“Whose kids are being assaulted, whose women are being beaten senseless - all that’s happening there."
Today weâve taken further action to strengthen alcohol restrictions in the Northern Territory.— Natasha Fyles (@NatashaFylesMLA) February 14, 2023
With the passing of the Liquor Amendment Act 2023, all town camps and communities will be dry zones.
The Northern Territory government introduced the urgent Liquor Amendment Bill last week after a review from Regional Controller Dorrelle Anderson recommended for alcohol bans to be reinstated in response to the crisis.
The alcohol bans were in effect within days and dry zones will remain in place across Central Australia until alcohol management plans can be developed by each community.
Any communities that wish to lift restrictions on alcohol can vote to have them removed but will require 60 per cent of residents to agree to the changes. | Australia Politics |
The standoff between gunmen and Kosovo authorities at a monastery near the border with Serbia ended Sunday night, authorities in Pristina said, following a police operation to regain control of the area.
“We put this territory under control. It was done after several consecutive battles,” Xhelal Svecla, Kosovo’s minister of internal affairs, told reporters after the standoff was over.
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The announcement follows a chaotic day that began early Sunday when a police patrol was ambushed near the village of Banjska close in a complex attack that saw one Kosovo law enforcement officer killed and another wounded.
The gunmen fled to a nearby monastery where they barricaded themselves in and traded gunfire with Kosovo police for hours, with at least three assailants shot dead in the melee.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti had said at least 30 heavily armed gunmen were surrounded by authorities in the complex and called for their surrender.
Svecla said police made several arrests during the clearance operation and seized a large amount of weapons and equipment. However it remained unclear if all gunmen had been apprehended during the sweep.
The attack and ensuing firefight marks one of the gravest escalations in Kosovo for years, following months of mounting tensions and stalling talks between the government in Pristina and Serbia.
The Serbian Orthodox Church also confirmed that gunmen had stormed the monastery in Banjska, where pilgrims from the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad were staying.
Pictures released by Kosovo authorities showed several heavily armed gunmen wearing uniforms, barricading themselves in at the monastery.
“We can see armed people in uniforms… they are firing on us and we are firing back,” Kosovo police official Veton Elshani told AFP by phone from Banjska.
Police later said in a statement that at least three attackers had been killed and one arrested during the firefight. Another four civilian suspects carrying radio equipment and weapons were also arrested.
Kosovo police also confirmed that the Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings between Serbia and Kosovo had been closed following the incident.
‘Standing ready’
Kurti’s comments at a press conference came hours after he called the ambush an act of terrorism and pinpointed the blame on the Serbian government.
“Organised crime with political, financial and logistical support from officials in Belgrade is attacking our country,” Kurti wrote on social media.
The NATO-led KFOR mission said its forces were present in the area, “standing ready to respond if required”.
According to Kosovo law, government authorities are not allowed to enter Orthodox properties, including churches and monasteries, without first receiving permission from the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was set to address the media on Sunday evening.
According to the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo, the president’s press conference would “debunk all the lies and hoaxes of Albin Kurti, the creator of chaos and hell in Kosovo”.
Tensions
The attack came more than a week after talks between the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo centred on improving ties failed to make a breakthrough during EU-mediated negotiations in Brussels.
The EU has been trying for years to resolve the long-running dispute between the Balkan neighbours that has soured relations since their war more than two decades ago.
Brussels believed it had broken the logjam by hammering out a plan to normalise ties in March, but since then there has been minimal progress.
The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell condemned Sunday’s attack, calling the targeting of police “hideous”.
“The responsible perpetrators must face justice,” Borrell wrote on social media.
Tensions in the troubled north have been smouldering for months, following the Pristina government’s decision to install ethnic Albanian mayors in four Serb-majority municipalities in May.
The move triggered one of the worst bouts of unrest in the north in years. Demonstrations followed, as well as the arrest of three Kosovar police officers by Serbia and a violent riot by Serb protesters which saw more than 30 NATO peacekeepers injured.
Kosovo remains overwhelmingly populated by ethnic Albanians, but in the northern stretches of the territory near the border with Serbia, ethnic Serbs remain the majority in several municipalities.
The tussle in the north is just the latest in a long list of incidents to rock the area since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. That was nearly a decade after NATO forces helped push Serbian troops from the former province during a bloody war that killed around 13,000 people.
Belgrade – along with key allies China and Russia – has refused to recognise Kosovo’s independence, effectively preventing it from having a seat at the United Nations. | Europe Politics |
Azerbaijani troops are on the edge of the separatist stronghold of Stepanakert in Azerbaijan’s Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, prompting residents to hide in basements in fear, according to a rebel envoy.
The development came on Friday, three days after Azerbaijan launched intense fire on ethnic Armenian rebel positions in what it called an “anti-terrorist operation“. It demanded they lay down their arms and the separatist government disband.
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A day later, Nagorno-Karabakh authorities agreed to the military demands, but talks on how the region will be reintegrated into Azerbaijan have not reached a final agreement.
“The situation in Stepanakert is horrible. Azerbaijani troops are all around the city. They are on the outskirts, and people fear Azerbaijani soldiers could enter the city at any moment and start killings,” separatist spokeswoman Armine Hayrapetyan told the Agence France-Presse news agency on Friday.
Hayrapetyan, who represents the separatist government’s information centre in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, said Stepanakert and other parts of Nagorno-Karabakh have lost most basic services since Baku’s offensive on Tuesday to recapture the enclave populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.
“No electricity, no gas, no food, no fuel, no internet and telephone connection,” Hayrapetyan said. “People are hiding in basements.”
Armenian separatists agreed to lay down their arms in the face of clashes that they said killed 200 people.
“We have so many casualties, dead and wounded people,” Hayrapetyan said without providing details.
Humanitarian aid
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan said it was delivering food and other humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh’s 120,000 people on Friday.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said two 20-tonne trucks with food and hygiene products as well as two trucks with bread were dispatched to Nagorno-Karabakh on Friday, travelling on the road from Aghdam, which lies east of the region.
Supplies for Nagorno-Karabakh previously had come from Armenia to the west.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Friday said at a government meeting that there was no immediate need for the region’s ethnic Armenians to leave their homes but said Armenia is prepared to receive as many as 40,000 evacuees if needed.
Jeyhun Bayramov, Azerbaijan’s foreign minister, said at the United Nations on Thursday that his country is determined to guarantee Nagorno-Karabakh residents “all rights and freedoms” in line with the country’s constitution and international human rights obligations, including safeguards for ethnic minorities.
Talks with Nagorno-Karabakh in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh will continue, he said.
In Armenia, anti-government demonstrators took to the streets of Yerevan on Friday for a third day to protest the government’s handling of the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Opposition parties accused Pashinyan of making too many concessions to Baku and demanded his resignation.
Small groups of protesters blocked streets across the Armenian capital, promising to hamper the holding of Pashinyan’s cabinet meeting scheduled later on Friday.
Police detained opposition politician Andranik Tevanyan, one of the protest organisers.
Pashinyan said on Thursday that his government “will be acting firmly but in line with law” against the protesters.
“My appeal, the government’s appeal, remains the same: Remain calm and don’t cross the limits of law in this emotional and difficult time,” he said in a televised address.
Nagorno-Karabakh had been under Armenian separatists’ control since a 1990s war between the Caucasus arch-foes.
But in 2020, Baku launched a six-week war, which ended in a Russian-brokered ceasefire that saw Armenia cede swathes of territories it had controlled for three decades.
The deal was seen in Armenia as a national humiliation, which opposition parties blamed on Pashinyan’s mishandling of the war. | Europe Politics |
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Grant Peck, Associated Press
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BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s king on Friday reduced former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s eight-year prison term to a single year following the divisive politician’s return last week from 15 years of self-imposed exile.
Thai media, citing Justice Ministry sources, reported that Thaksin can apply for parole after serving one-third of his sentence, or four months. They said the former leader, who was transferred to a hospital after a brief prison stay because of reported frail health, could remain there for that period with permission from the Correction Department’s chief.
The decision by King Maha Vajiralongkorn was published in the Royal Gazette, making it effective immediately. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, giving the king the final word on pardons of convicted criminals.
Thaksin was ousted as prime minister in a military coup in 2006 and accused of corruption, abuse of power and disrespecting the monarchy. He fled Thailand in 2008 when he faced prison time on charges he described as politically motivated.
It is widely believed that Thaksin, 74, returned out of hope that a new government friendly to him would reduce his sentence, and that he may have made a deal with authorities.
READ MORE: Former Thai leader returns from exile and goes to jail
Hours after Thaksin’s return, Srettha Thavisin of the Thaksin-affiliated Pheu Thai party won enough votes in Parliament to become prime minister, ending more than three months of uncertainty after national elections in May. Pheu Thai was able to cobble together a majority by forming a coalition with pro-military parties linked to a 2014 coup that ousted a government formed by Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra.
The decree granting Thaksin royal clemency said he had acknowledged his guilt. It said Thaksin had worked to benefit the country and was loyal to the monarchy, and could use his knowledge and abilities to help the nation and its people.
After returning to Thailand, Thaksin was sent to prison but was quickly transferred to a state hospital because of what the prison described as high blood pressure and low oxygen, difficulty sleeping and tightness in his chest.
Thaksin became prime minister in 2001 by promoting populist policies and using his telecommunications fortune to build his own political party, and was easily reelected in 2005.
READ MORE: Populist party and outgoing administration work to form Thailand’s next government amid 3-month deadlock
Thailand’s traditional royalist ruling class felt threatened by Thaksin’s popularity. His ouster set off years of sometimes violent confrontations between his supporters and opponents. Political parties with his backing continued to win elections but were forced from power several times by the courts and the army, both bulwarks of royalism.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, who is also acting justice minister, dismissed speculation that Thaksin was being treated with special leniency.
He said in a telephone interview on Friday that Thaksin will be treated as a normal convict and will be returned to prison to serve his term once his health issues are cleared up. Wissanu will soon lose his positions when Srettha’s government takes office.
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At least 60 Russian soldiers are reported to have been killed or wounded by friendly fire as they made a hasty retreat from the village of Opytne, close to Donetsk’s Sergey Prokofiev International Airport in eastern Ukraine.
The claim was originally made by Yuriy Mysiagin, a Ukrainian member of parliament, in a Telegram message on Sept. 10, which was later confirmed by Russian milbloggers and other Ukrainian sources.
Mysiagin said that Russian fighters had been “retreating to new positions chaotically and almost in a panic.”
He said that other Russian forces had mistaken their troops for Ukrainians attempting to recapture territory near the airport. The hurried exit resulted in the troops coming under fire from their own artillery.
“The result was 27 dead and 34 wounded. Approximately half of the wounded had their arms or legs blown off and several pieces of equipment were lost,” he said.
The pro-Kremlin bloggers confirmed the incident saying that 200 or so Russian troops around the village of Optyne were retreating to “more favorable positions,” as Ukrainian forces were overwhelming their defenses around the village.
One blogger said “Unfortunately, not everyone retreated clearly and harmoniously. Some of the fighters retreated to new positions chaotically and almost in panic.
“As a result, a tragedy occurred, our soldiers died … [by] the fire of their own artillery.”
A Ukrainian Colonel, Konstantyn Mashovets, corroborated the event in a detailed account of what had occurred in a Facebook post. He said that a combination of panic and poor coordination among the Russians caused the debacle.
“For some unknown reason, the enemy artillery began to fire, not near the front line or behind Ukrainian positions in order to suppress our firepower, but on the positions occupied by this unit,” Mashovets said in the post on Sept. 10.
Ukrainian forces, aided by the friendly fire incident were able to advance through the village and onwards towards Pisky, a village to the southwest of Opytne.
While Kremlin spokesmen maintain that Moscow’s forces are launching counterattacks against Opytne, they are making little progress as the village is cut off from the Russian front line by a river.
Lack of training as conscripted Russian troops are rushed to the battlefield has been widely blamed for several instances of friendly fire against their own troops.
An Aug 14 report in the New York Times quoted a serviceman from Ukraine's 129th Territorial Defense Brigade with the callsign “Kherson” who had witnessed Russians firing on their own forces near the village of Neskuchne, a village retaken from the Russians in June.
“The Russians attempted counterattacks, tried to squeeze us out, to encircle us but everything happened as we envisioned… as the Russian troops began to retreat, Russian forces fired rockets at the battlefield, killing their own men,” Kherson said. “They buried quite a lot of their own guys on that day.”
An ISW report in November quotes the former Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) Security Minister, Aleksandr Khodakovsky, claiming that Russian friendly fire may have caused up to 60 percent of total Russian casualties between May and November 2022.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese issues desperate final plea for Indigenous Voice amid flailing support for the proposed body
The Prime Minister has mounted a desperate campaign to get the Liberal Party on board with the Voice to Parliament in the face of lacklustre support for the proposed body.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has launched a desperate plea to try and get the Liberal Party on board with the Indigenous Voice to Parliament as support for the proposed body flails ahead of the upcoming referendum.
The First Nations Referendum Working Group – comprised of a broad cross-section of representatives from Indigenous communities across Australia – met with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in a bid to secure his support on Thursday afternoon.
Addressing the group at the outset of the meeting, Mr Albanese said he remained “hopeful and optimistic” about the chances of a positive outcome for the Voice in the referendum later this year.
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“My government is very committed to this. We’ll continue to put everything into this campaign,” he told the group.
“And I know that, increasingly, this will be an opportunity to bring the nation together.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, alongside Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Julian Leeser, attended the working group for the first time on Thursday.
There is no indication that the Liberal Party are any closer to an official stance on the Indigenous Voice after attending the working group, however.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Leeser said he “didn’t learn anything” that he didn’t already know.
He pointed out that the government had followed an “unorthodox” process in developing the Voice to Parliament referendum by not holding a Constitutional Convention or a public committee.
A spokesperson for Mr Dutton told the ABC after the meeting the Party would “continue to be constructive” and had committed to further engagement with the working group.
It has been reported that Mr Dutton will meet with the group again on February 17.
Getting the support of the Liberal Party is crucial for the Prime Minister, as all eight of the 44 referendums which have passed since Federation have received bipartisan support.
The Nationals have already formally announced they will not support the Voice to Parliament.
The Greens’ support is teetering on the brink, with First Nations spokesperson Lidia Thorpe becoming increasingly vocal in her disapproval of the Voice in recent weeks.
Ms Thorpe wants a Treaty before a Voice to Parliament – a stance at odds with much of her partyroom and the Uluru Statement itself, which calls for a Voice before a Treaty.
The Greens are set to embark on a two-day retreat in Victoria before Parliament resumes to try and reach a consensus on their formal position.
Support for the Indigenous Voice generally is flailing, with a poll commissioned by the Nine Newspapers indicating support amongst the public has fallen from 53 to 47 per cent.
A YouGov poll commissioned by The Saturday Telegraph yielded similar results, with less than 50 per cent of voters saying they would back the Voice in a planned referendum.
A lack of detail appears to be a key sticking point for Australians.
YouGov’s director of data science Dr Shaun Ratcliff told the Daily Telegraph a majority of voters “aren’t really sure what the Voice is about”.
“Very few people are overwhelmingly confident that they understand what the Voice is and how it will work,” Dr Ratcliff said.
Hearing from the representatives of the Referendum Working Group this afternoon in Canberra.— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) February 2, 2023
We want to deliver the best outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. pic.twitter.com/MMrxn6xex5
These fears will only be compounded by news that Indigenous leaders expect to take up to six months after the referendum to finalise a model for the advisory body.
For a referendum to pass, it needs to receive a double majority, meaning it must be approved by a majority of voters across the nation as well as a majority of voters in a majority of states.
This indicates the sheer size of the task ahead of Mr Albanese, although he has publicly remained confident in the Voice’s passing.
He has also defended the proposal against criticism from the public and Opposition over a perceived lack of detail. | Australia Politics |
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DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli media say the Hamas militant group has released the first batch of hostages under a cease-fire deal Friday, including 13 Israelis who have been held in the Gaza Strip for nearly seven weeks.
The media cited Israeli security officials.
Twelve Thai nationals were also released, according to Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.
In all, 50 captives are set to be freed during a four-day truce.
Israel is set to free 150 Palestinians over the next four days, as part of the deal. Thirty-nine prisoners are to be freed Friday.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A four-day cease-fire between Israel and Hamas began Friday, allowing sorely needed aid to start flowing into Gaza and setting the stage for the release of dozens of hostages held by militants and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
There were no reports of fighting in the hours after the truce began. The deal offered some relief for Gaza's 2.3 million people, who have endured weeks of Israeli bombardment and dwindling supplies of basic necessities, as well as for families in Israel worried about loved ones taken captive during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which triggered the war.
The first exchange Friday afternoon would involve swapping 39 Palestinian prisoners — 24 women, including some convicted of attempted murder for attacks on Israeli forces, and 15 teenagers jailed for offenses like throwing stones — for 13 Israeli hostages, Palestinian authorities said.
Just before that exchange was set to happen, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin later said in a tweet that 12 Thai nationals were also released. An Israeli official confirmed that the Thai captives left Gaza and were en route to a hospital in Israel. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the releases with the media.
The truce raised hopes of eventually winding down the conflict, which has flattened vast swaths of Gaza, fueled a surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and stirred fears of a wider conflagration across the Middle East. Israel, however, has said it is determined to resume its massive offensive once the cease-fire ends.
On Friday, it brought quiet after weeks in which Gaza saw heavy bombardment and artillery fire daily as well as street fighting as ground troops advanced through neighborhoods in the north. The last report of air raid sirens in Israeli towns near the territory came shortly after the truce took effect.
Not long after, four tankers with fuel and four with cooking gas entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt, Israel said.
Israel has agreed to allow the delivery of 130,000 liters (34,340 gallons) of fuel per day during the truce — still only a small portion of Gaza’s estimated daily needs of more than 1 million liters.
For most of the past seven weeks of war, Israel had barred the entry of fuel to Gaza, claiming it could be used by Hamas for military purposes — though it has occasionally allowed small amounts in.
U.N. aid agencies pushed back against the claim, saying fuel deliveries were closely supervised and urgently needed to avert a humanitarian catastrophe since fuel is required to run generators that power water treatment facilities, hospitals and other critical infrastructure.
The Israeli military dropped leaflets over southern Gaza, warning hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who sought refuge there not to return to their homes in the territory's north, the focus of Israel’s ground offensive.
Even though Israel warned that it would block such attempts, hundreds of Palestinians could be seen walking north Friday.
Two were shot and killed by Israeli troops and another 11 were wounded. An Associated Press journalist saw the two bodies and the wounded as they arrived at a hospital.
Sofian Abu Amer, who had fled Gaza City, said he decided to risk heading north to check on his home.
“We don’t have enough clothes, food and drinks,” he said. ”The situation is disastrous. It’s better for a person to die."
Both sides agreed to release women and children first, in stages starting Friday. Israel said the deal calls for the truce to be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed.
Early in the day, ambulances were seen arriving at the Hatzerim air base in southern Israel, preparing for the release. Those freed will then be taken to hospitals for assessment and treatment, Israeli officials said.
Among the Israeli citizens to be freed some have a second nationality, according to a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the details with the media.
Israel’s Justice Ministry published a list of 300 prisoners eligible for release, mainly teenagers detained over the past year for rock-throwing and other minor offenses. Three Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released for every hostage freed.
The hope is that “momentum” from the deal will lead to an “end to this violence,” said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Qatar, which served as a mediator along with the United States and Egypt.
But hours before it came into effect, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was quoted telling troops that their respite would be short and that the war would resume with intensity for at least two more months.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also vowed to continue the war to destroy Hamas’ military capabilities, end its 16-year rule in Gaza and return all the hostages.
Israel's northern border with Lebanon was also quiet on Friday, a day after the militant Hezbollah group, an ally of Hamas, carried out the highest number of attacks in one day since fighting there began Oct. 8.
Hezbollah is not a party to the cease-fire agreement, but was widely expected to halt its attacks.
The war erupted when several thousand Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking scores of hostages, including babies, women and older adults, as well as soldiers.
The soldiers will only be released in exchange for all Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, according to the Islamic Jihad militant group, which is reportedly holding about 40 hostages.
It is not clear how many of the hostages are currently serving in the military or whether the militants also consider reserve soldiers to be “military hostages.”
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, Israel is currently holding 7,200 Palestinians on security charges or convictions, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 13,300 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which resumed its detailed count of casualties in Gaza after stopping for weeks because of the health system’s collapse in the north.
The ministry says some 6,000 people have been reported missing, feared buried under rubble.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its death tolls. Women and minors have consistently made up around two-thirds of the dead, though the new number was not broken down. The figure does not include updated numbers from hospitals in the north.
Israel says it has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, without presenting evidence for its count.
___
Mroue reported from Beirut and Rising reported from Bangkok. Julia Frankel contributed from Jerusalem.
___
Full AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war. | Middle East Politics |
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Issam Adwan, Associated Press
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Over 180,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are packed into U.N. shelters as Israeli warplanes pound the tiny territory of 2.3 million people after their Hamas militant rulers launched an unprecedented weekend attack on Israel.
Among them is 27-year-old Sabreen al-Attar. She sprang into action when she heard rocket after rocket whoosh over her farmland in Beit Lahiya just south of the Israeli border on Saturday. She knew from experience that Israeli retaliation would be swift and severe.
WATCH: Fears of bigger war grow as Israel-Hamas fighting continues after surprise attack
Grabbing her children, al-Attar rushed to one of the dozens of shelters set up in schools run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City. There, blasts of unprecedented intensity punctuated hours of steadily declining conditions Monday as food and water ran out.
“When I escape, I do it for my children,” she said, her hands trembling. “Their lives rest on my shoulders.”
But residents say there is no real escape in Gaza, which has been under a suffocating 16-year blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt. When war breaks out, as it has four times since the Hamas militant group seized power in 2007, even U.N. facilities that are supposed to be safe zones risk becoming engulfed in the fighting. The United Nations said that an airstrike directly hit one of its shelters Sunday and damaged five other schools-turned-shelters on Monday. There was no immediate word of casualties.
In the downtown Rimal area, Gaza City’s bustling commercial district with high-rises home to international media and aid organizations, al-Attar hoped she would be safe. Rimal had until then not been an immediate Israeli target, unlike border towns or densely populated refugee camps.
But as the Israeli military went neighborhood to neighborhood with rapid and intensifying airstrikes, the heavy bombardments reached the heart of Gaza City, transforming the affluent neighborhood into an uninhabitable desert of craters. Rimal was also hit by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza’s bloody 2021 war, but not to this extent.
Israeli bombs that struck Gaza’s flagship Islamic University, government ministries and high-rises in Rimal, starting Monday afternoon, also blew out the windows of al-Attar’s shelter, shattering glass everywhere, she said. Life there, crammed with 1,600 others, was full of danger and deprivation but al-Attar said she had no choice but to stay, telling her boys — 2-year-old Mohammed and 7-year-old Nabil — to keep away from the windows.
“The night was very, very difficult,” she said Tuesday. “We have nowhere else to go.”
The bombing in Rimal and the potential risks of sheltering in U.N. schools highlighted the desperate search by Gaza civilians for refuge, with the territory’s safe spaces rapidly shrinking. There are no civilian bomb shelters in Gaza. Ahead of the Israeli military’s warning to civilians on Monday that Rimal would be hit, families staggered into the streets with whatever belongings they could carry and without a destination.
In a briefing Tuesday, Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht suggested Palestinians should try to leave through the Gaza border crossing with Egypt — a seemingly impractical suggestion.
While Hamas officials operating the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing said Tuesday that Gazans who had registered in advance could cross into Egypt, the number of those allowed to travel has typically been small. That has led to backlogs and waiting times of days or weeks, even in calm times.
“There is never a Plan B here,” said 31-year-old Maha Hussaini, as she watched terrified Rimal residents flood her Gaza City neighborhood further south just as bombs began to fall there, too. Israel accuses Hamas of endangering Gaza’s civilian population by placing weapons and missile launchers in densely populated areas. It also accuses them of using civilians as human shields. So far, the Gaza toll stands at about 700 dead and thousands wounded, according to Gaza health officials, a punishing response to the militant group’s attack that has killed over 900 Israelis. More than 150 Israeli civilians and soldiers have been taken captive.
Israel says it takes pains to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas sites in Gaza, which is heavily built up and has scant open space. Israel accuses Hamas of endangering Gaza’s civilian population by placing weapons and missile launchers in densely populated areas. It also accuses them of using civilians as human shields.
But the military long has carried out airstrikes in crowded residential neighborhoods, inevitably harming civilians and civilian infrastructure. Hamas authorities on Monday reported the destruction of seven mosques and 15 civilian homes that killed many members of the same family.
The Israeli defense minister also has ordered a “complete siege” on the already blockaded Gaza Strip, vowing to block food, water and fuel from the territory.
“None of us even know what ‘safe’ means in Gaza,” said 28-year-old Hind Khoudary, who was hunkered down in the upscale Roots Hotel as deafening explosions thundered.
“These are not people with (militant) affiliations, these are people from higher classes, foreign organizations and media,” she said of those around her. “But on days like this, there is zero difference.”
Residents described a dangerous dance around the heavy Israeli bombing — fleeing home, crashing at relatives’ apartments, fleeing again to U.N. schools and then starting all over again in an attempt to find some sense of safety.
“It is better than dying,” said 37-year-old Muhammad al-Bishawi, exhausted as he hustled between a U.N. shelter in Gaza City and his home in Beit Lahiya to secure food and other supplies before returning.
On Saturday after the massive Hamas attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Gaza civilians of the horrors to come, promising to unleash the full force of the Israeli military on the strip.
“Get out now,” he said, addressing Palestinians in Gaza. “Because we will operate everywhere.”
Khoudary was listening to him as the airstrikes intensified, trapped in her home with nowhere to run.
“Why didn’t he tell us where to flee?” she asked. “Because we’d really like to know.”
Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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A Paraguayan government official has been replaced after it was revealed that he signed a memorandum of understanding with representatives of a fugitive Indian guru’s fictional country, who also appear to have duped several other officials in the South American country.
Arnaldo Chamorro was replaced as chief of staff for Paraguay’s agriculture ministry on Wednesday shortly after it was revealed that he signed a “proclamation” with representatives of the United States of Kailasa.
On Kailasa’s website, the fictional country is described as the “revival of the ancient enlightened Hindu civilizational nation which is being revived by displaced Hindus from around the world”. It is led by a self-styled guru, Nithyananda, who is wanted in India on several charges, including sexual assault. His whereabouts are unknown.
Among other things, the 16 October “proclamation” expressed a “sincere wish and recommendation for the government of Paraguay to consider, explore and actively seek the establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States of Kailasa and support the admission of the United States of Kailasa as a sovereign and independent state in various international organizations, including, among others, the United Nations”, according to a copy of the agreement posted on social media.
Representatives of the fictional country met with Chamorro and the agriculture minister, Carlos Giménez, Chamorro said in a radio interview.
During the interview, Chamorro recognized he didn’t know where Kailasa was located and said he signed what he characterized as a “memorandum of understanding” because they offered to help Paraguay with a variety of issues, including irrigation.
The revelation sparked a scandal – and lots of social media mockery – in Paraguay but it’s hardly the first time self-described representatives of the United States of Kailasa duped international leaders. Earlier this year, they managed to participate in a UN committee meeting in Geneva and also signed agreements with local leaders in the United States and Canada.
Photos posted in Kailasa’s social media accounts also showed representatives of the fictional country signing agreements with local leaders of the María Antonia and Karpai municipalities. The social media account celebrated each of these signings.
Representatives of the United States of Kailasa participated in two UN committee meetings in Geneva in February, according to media reports.
In March, Newark city hall in New Jersey acknowledged it had been scammed when it signed a sister city agreement with Kailasa. | Latin America Politics |
Editor’s Note: This report includes details of sexual assaults and violence.
Cries pierced the air as a car full of women and children crossed into Chad from war-torn Sudan. A woman, in the late stages of pregnancy, lay in the backseat, lifeless and soaked in blood. Her children wailed at her feet.
“I sat next to her in the car,” said Butheina Nourin, describing her perilous escape from Sudan’s Darfur region alongside the dead woman. “Her name was Fatima. I don’t know her surname.”
Fighters from the powerful Sudanese paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and their armed allies manned checkpoints along their route, Nourin said, demanding money from every passenger in exchange for safe passage.
This brutal method of extortion has become widespread in Darfur, according to dozens of witnesses who recounted similar incidents to CNN.
The vast western region of Sudan is the site of what has been widely described as the 21st century’s first genocide, with largely Arab militias systematically killing non-Arab African groups who make up the majority of the local population.
A growing body of evidence, including first-hand accounts, expert testimony and verified social media video, suggests that the RSF has revived those tactics in Darfur, and exported them to other parts of Sudan as it fights a war with the country’s military.
Since mid-April, Sudan’s army chief Abdul Fattah al-Burhan has largely waged his offensive from the sky, aerially bombarding RSF positions in residential areas and inflicting a civilian death toll.
Meanwhile, RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) has strengthened his tactical military positions by driving civilians out of their properties and employing the well-worn playbook developed in Darfur: Kill, terrorize and expel.
Fatima’s story is just one example. Eyewitnesses recalled that, by the time the car carrying her arrived at the last of the RSF positions, she had run out of cash. Only a few kilometers separated her, her two children and her unborn child from the safety of Chad.
“She told the fighters she had spent all her money at other checkpoints,” eyewitness Nourin said. “They shot her immediately.
“The bullet went through one side of her head and exited the other. We all screamed.”
Russia’s mercenaries back Hemedti
The interest, influence and material support of Russia’s notorious paramilitary group Wagner in the region is also exacerbating the violence, CNN has found.
According to intelligence officials, eyewitnesses at key transit points and CNN’s open-source analysis, Wagner has been arming the RSF using supply routes that run through the Darfur region.
“What is not in doubt is Wagner’s role in this, it has been supplying the RSF with arms and supplies through Darfur,” one Western intelligence official told CNN.
“It follows Wagner’s modus operandi. Create chaos and seize power,” another intelligence source active in the region added.
A months-long CNN investigation uncovered an increase in Wagner supplies to the RSF that began in the run-up to Sudan’s conflict. Armaments appear to have been shuttled into Sudan through key transit points: Russia’s air and naval base in the Syrian coastal region of Latakia, Wagner bases in Libya, and Bangui airport in the Central African Republic.
The weapons were also transported into Sudan through overland routes, extending a robust relationship that predated the war, where the country’s military leadership, headed by General Burhan, granted Moscow large concessions in the country’s gold mining industry in exchange for weapons and political backing.
That quid pro quo helped finance Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine while entrenching Sudan’s military junta, especially Hemedti, who had a meteoric rise to power from a leader of the RSF’s previous incarnation, the Janjaweed.
The Janjaweed – or “devils on horseback” – was later absorbed into Sudan’s security forces. Former dictator Omar al-Bashir gave Hemedti a nickname: Hemayti, “my protector.”
Before Sudan’s current war erupted in mid-April, Hemedti was the second most powerful person in government.
He allied with his now bitter enemy, Burhan, to stifle a democratic movement that helped overthrow dictator Bashir in 2019. The two generals then aligned to lead a coup against an internationally recognized transitional government in 2021, and crushed a pro-democracy protest movement. More than 100 protesters were killed in the 2021 anti-coup demonstrations.
Their rivalry flared into open warfare in mid-April, and CNN’s reporting has found that Wagner has dropped its wholesale support for the military junta in order to back one side in the conflict – the RSF.
The UN says at least 860 people have been killed since the start of the current conflict, with about 6,000 injured across the country as of June 3. Around half a million people have fled Sudan, with more than 1.4 million internally displaced.
Echoes of ethnic cleansing
A near shutdown in telecommunications in Darfur means that most of the information about the violence now playing out there has trickled out through newly arrived refugees.
Reports of atrocities committed by RSF fighters and their allied militias, clearly identified by their uniforms, are consistent across dozens of testimonies. They include arbitrary killings, the wholesale destruction of vital civilian infrastructure, the looting of homes and hospitals, and even mass rapes.
“I saw the aftermath of torched internally displaced people (IDP) centers and witnessed the RSF raiding residences,” said Hussein Haran, a human rights activist who was in the Darfur city of el-Fasher when the fighting broke out before fleeing to Geneina, another city in the region, and then to Chad.
“Even the hospitals were looted. At Geneina’s research hospital, they stole the blood bank, and they spilled the blood all over the street,” Haran, who works at the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), told CNN.
“The only way I can explain this is that they didn’t want to leave a drop of blood for the ethnic Africans [who claim no Arab ancestry] being treated at the hospital. This is an ethnic cleansing project,” he added.
On Wednesday, the RSF abducted and executed West Darfur Governor Khamis Abbakar, according to the Sudanese military. The RSF denied responsibility for the killing, blaming “outlaws” without providing further detail.
Some claims are nearly impossible to verify during active fighting, but satellite imagery from the area paints a clear picture. At least three cities and 10 towns and villages in Darfur have been partially burned to the ground in the past month alone.
At least one food market in Geneina, which hosts more than 100,000 people internally displaced by violence over the last two decades, has been torched. A school-turned-IDP center was also set alight in the city, according to satellite photographs.
Many of the interviewees depict an emboldened RSF that is better armed than its previous incarnation two decades ago.
“The scale of the fighting in Darfur today eclipses that of the early 2000s,” said Kholood Khair, founder of the Confluence Advisory, a Khartoum-based think tank. “The Janjaweed of 2003 definitely couldn’t have done what the RSF of 2023 has done.”
Khair added: “But having enriched himself and positioned himself so well, despite the tumult of the past four years, Hemedti is in a position where he’s able to do exactly that.”
More than 300,000 people were killed in the ethnic cleansing campaign by the Janjaweed and its Arab militia allies in the early 2000s. A precise death toll is almost impossible to tally, as many of those killed were dumped into mass graves. Then-President Bashir was charged by the International Criminal Court in 2010 with crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in relation to the Darfur conflict. He still has not been handed over by Sudanese authorities to the ICC to stand trial.
Since then, the RSF has extended its reach beyond Sudan’s borders into Libya, and, crucially for Hemedti’s international clout, into Yemen, where the group aided a devastating Saudi and Emirati military effort to crush Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Hemedti’s power reached new heights after he helped overthrow Bashir in 2019 and went on to become the military junta’s deputy leader. His ties to the United Arab Emirates and Russia appeared to have consolidated his political power and helped turn him into one of Sudan’s wealthiest men.
Verified video of rape in broad daylight
Another characteristic of the ethnic cleansing in Darfur of the early 2000s was mass rapes, extensively documented by experts and rights groups. According to witness testimony, that brutal tactic is back in full force.
“The strategy of raping women has been used extensively by the RSF,” said Hala al-Karib, regional director of women’s rights group SIHA. “The RSF have used it in Darfur to humiliate the indigenous Darfuri population for 20 years.
“The sad part is that they became very comfortable with it because they were never held accountable for it.”
Dozens of incidents of sexual assault, including gang rapes and the assault of female minors, have been confirmed by non-profit groups and experts since the start of the latest conflict. Most of these occurred in Darfur. The United Nations says it has received reports of sexual assault on humanitarian workers in the region.
In late May, the Sudanese government’s Combating Violence Against Women Unit recorded at least 36 cases of sexual assault in the Sudanese capital and 25 cases in Darfur, with 18 perpetrated by men in RSF uniforms.
But Sudanese activists claim that the assaults are much more widespread. In one case described by SIHA, 24 women and girls were abducted at the Daman hotel in south Darfur and repeatedly raped for three days. The oldest woman was 56 years old and the youngest was 14, according to SIHA.
Rapes are also being reported in the capital, where the RSF has repeatedly commandeered people’s homes, expelling the residents and looting their belongings, while combating air attacks by the Sudanese military.
In a video obtained and verified by CNN, one fighter is seen raping a woman in the front yard of a Khartoum home while another, wearing RSF uniform, stands outside keeping watch.
“For the people that say there is no rape, this is rape,” says the person surreptitiously recording the video from across the street.
“And this guy stands there to make sure (the perpetrator) is protected,” the person says, panning to the man wearing RSF uniform and acting as a lookout. “This is happening in public, on a main street and with total audacity and insolence.”
In a voice recording obtained through SIHA by CNN regarding another incident, a woman in the capital said she was forced to watch as her two young daughters were raped by RSF fighters. “They beat us with weapons,” she said, describing the raid on her home. “We told them we had no money and no gold.”
“They raped my two daughters and they were screaming at the top of their lungs. We were screaming as well,” she said, her voice choked with emotion.
“I had to hold my son back from going to his sisters. I said if you go to them, they will riddle you with bullets.”
The atrocities have only intensified and proliferated over the course of the war, say activists and experts who argue that impunity has propelled Hemedti’s rise to power since his time as a leader in the Janjaweed in the early 2000s.
“Nobody in Sudan has more blood on their hands than Hemedti,” said Sudan analyst Eric Reeves.
In a statement to CNN, the RSF vehemently denied the allegations of rape, arbitrary killings and targeting of civilian infrastructure. It accused the Sudanese army of “indiscriminately bombing” civilians and claimed that RSF uniforms worn by the perpetrators in witness testimony were “counterfeit.”
“The RSF upholds international law and is dedicated to safeguarding Sudan,” the statement said. “Any actions inconsistent with this principle do not reflect our values, and we are committed to ensuring that those who violate the law are held accountable.”
The group also denied links to Wagner.
Hemedti on the world stage
In recent years, Hemedti has been invited to capitals around the world, including Moscow, Cairo and Abu Dhabi.
He and his forces were further elevated after he cracked down on people-smuggling routes operating from Sudan to Libya, as part of an onward journey to Europe. The European Union has sent at least $200 million to Sudan’s government over the past decade to stem migration.
Hemedti would go on to boast about this in interviews with international media. “[The EU] lose[s] millions in fighting migration, that’s why [it has] to support us,” he told Al Jazeera in 2017.
“The international community created this monster. They are raping women because they can,” women’s rights activist Karib said of the RSF. “They know the ramifications. They know the impact. They know how terrorizing it is. People run away.
“It’s a tried and tested method from Darfur that’s now being used across Sudan.”
In a statement to CNN, the US State Department said it had “received deeply disturbing reports about an increased number of attacks, gender-based violence, including sexual violence … The majority of such acts are reportedly attributable to the RSF.”
The fear now among the Sudanese and some in the international community is that Wagner’s involvement in the war has helped make Hemedti “bigger” and “badder.”
“The reality is that Hemedti is incredibly useful to Wagner,” the Western intelligence official told CNN. “He has tribal and kinship links across Africa and there is incredible concern about the damage that a bigger, badder RSF – emboldened and supported by Wagner – could wreak not just in Sudan but in the entire region.”
Wagner’s presence in and financial interests in Africa are well documented, but the violence in Sudan appears to have given the group a fresh opportunity.
Wagner chief Yeveny Prigozhin did not directly address CNN’s request for comment on Wagner’s support for the RSF and its role in fueling the current atrocities.
In a sarcastically worded statement, he said Wagner had trained all the military bodies in Sudan, including the RSF, and blamed American interference for the country’s current turmoil. He claimed there had been “no sexual crimes in Sudan” while Bashir was in power.
The State Department also acknowledged Wagner’s involvement in Sudan. “Engagement with the Wagner group simply brings more death, destruction and instability,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the violence continues to intensify with no sign yet that the diplomatic process between the rival factions will bring a permanent end to the conflict. The Sudanese must fend for themselves, while they face what they describe as the hallmarks of genocide.
“The situation right now is much worse than it was in 2003. The Janjaweed militia was not as powerful as it is now,” said SIHA’s Darfur-based Hussein Haran.
“The RSF is as powerful as the state. They have much more power now and more capabilities… and they are committing genocide and ethnic cleansing.”
CNN’s Alex Platt, Allegra Goodwin, Celine Alkhaldi and Mostafa Salem contributed to this report.
Edited by Ed Upright and Laura Smith-Spark
Photo editing by Toby Hancock
Editor’s note: This report would not have been possible without the contributions of Sudanese journalists whom we are not naming for their safety. | Africa politics |
LANDI KOTAL:
Taking law into their own hands once again, a group of local tribal clerics has banned music in weddings along with dancing of the transgender persons in Khyber tribal district of KhyberPakhtunkhwa (K-P). A group of 26 clerics gathered on Friday and unanimously announced the decision, adding that local clerics would not perform the nikah in those weddings where music and dancing will be performed. “If any one refuses to obey this order or go against it, then the last rites of the entire family will not be performed by clerics,” says a written letter signed by at least 26 clerics.
Furthermore, the notification says that local residents would also be asked to boycott such families and clerics will not attend their marriages too. The group also announced banning celebratory aerial firing in weddings. Talking to The Express Tribune a local resident said that the announcement was made by the clerics but the Jirga called for the purpose was attended by the local political figures as well as tribal elders. This is not the first time that local hardline clerics have banned music and dances by transgender persons in tribal districts.
In September 2017, a group of local clerics torched television sets and musical instruments in Landi Kotal area of the then Khyber Agency. These instruments had been collected during ‘raids’ by clerics on music parties and homes. In July 2021, an organization of local clerics and elders banned the visit of women to shopping centers and bazaars in Parachinar in Kurram tribal district of K-P without a male companion. Local residents said that the organization Hussaini Tahereek shared the decision on its Facebook page as well as on WhatsApp and it was widely copied and shared on all social media platform by its members. Hussain Tahereek is led by a local cleric and former Senator Maulana Abid Hussaini who is considered an influential figure locally.
He enjoys the support of other clerics in the area. Similarly, in July 2022, a Jirga of local elders of ultra-conservative Salarzai, Bajaur tribal district, banned the entry of women or couples in the picnic spots, terming it against the local traditions. The Jirga was held under the supervision of Jamiat Ulema-eIslam Fazl (JUI-F) and was addressed by JUI-F district amir for Bajaur Maulana Abdur Rashid. Maulana Rashid announced the decision agreed upon including ban on the entry of women in the hill stations calling it vulgar. “Taking women to picnic spots could not be allowed under the cover of tourism,” he added, saying that if government failed to take any action in this regard then the Jirga would ban it. The Jirga also demanded that local residents should be recruited in the various departments in the district and non-locals will not be accepted.
In February 2021, local elders of Tehsil Mamond in Bajaur banned the visit of womenfolk to the Citizen Facilitation Center (CFC) as well as their phone calls to local FM Radio stations. It was announced that violators would be punished with Rs10,000 fine. | Asia Politics |
- Ukraine is firing an artillery shell that lays mines built to destroy tanks.
- The US has sent Ukraine over 10,000 of these rounds along with the 155mm howitzers that fire them.
- These mine-laying artillery shells are designed to force desperate choices.
The Russian troops defending the front lines against Ukraine's advance are discovering a danger lurking behind them, and it's one that threatens to make their positions more precarious.
The danger comes from an artillery round being fired over their heads.
"THE ENEMY IS REMOTELY MINING OUR REAR, ROUTES OF SUPPLY OF AMMUNITION AND RESERVES," wrote Alexander Sladkov, a prominent pro-Russian milblogger, in a Thursday Telegram post.
Sladkov wrote that Ukraine is firing the Remote Anti-Armor Mine System (RAAMS), a US-made artillery round that lays anti-tank mines in flight. The US has sent Ukraine over 10,000 of these rounds along with the 155mm howitzers that fire them out to a range of nearly 11 miles.
The mine-laying artillery shell is designed to force desperate choices. Vehicles must run a gauntlet laid with mines to deliver fresh troops, ammunition, fuel, and food to front-line positions. It also can be used to set traps along escape routes for forces on the front lines.
The mines self-destruct at certain times depending on the variant, some in under 24 hours and some more than a day later. Sladkov suggested these munitions, which Ukraine was first observed using in December, could be countered or defeated
"These mines self-destruct after 4 hours, the M73 variant - after 48 hours," he wrote. "Engineering reconnaissance (sappers checking routes) easily cope with them." Whether it's as easy as this pro-Russian voice argues is debatable as this community has a tendency to downplay threats while overselling Russian capabilities.
The dangers for Russia are multiplying. Ukraine's counteroffensive appears to be underway, and Kyiv's forces are attacking Russia's positions with Western-made tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery, and other weapon systems that could force them into a retreat along paths that might be mined. | Europe Politics |
The West African nation is a hub for those trying to enter Europe via neighboring Libya and Algeria.
Why did Niger revoke the law?
According to a statement from the government, junta leader General Abdourahmane Tchiani signed the order repealing the 2015 law as it "did not take into account the interests of Niger and its citizens."
The repeal erases previous convictions under the law and all those convicted would be considered for release by the Ministry of Justice, said Ibrahim Jean Etienne, the secretary-general of the ministry.
The repeal of the law further complicates the relations between Niger and the European Union (EU). Tensions have been high since the EU slapped sanctions on the country after a military coup deposed President Mohamed Bazoum in July.
The repeal is seen as the junta's effort to regain local support.
Law aimed to curb illegal migration
Initially backed by the EU, the 2015 law aimed to curb illegal migrant flows but adversely impacted local economies in desert regions like Agadez.
According to UN estimates, up to 4,000 migrants can pass through Agadez every week without travel documents.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that the now-repealed law was effective in decreasing irregular migration in Niger.
The law targeted people smugglers who faced up to five years in prison if convicted.
Some residents of Agadez, a desert city heavily impacted economically by the previous law, have welcomed the repeal. A local resident told Reuters news agency that he used to make thousands of dollars a month driving migrants through the desert.
"I'm going to start again," he said. "We are very happy."
However, the recent revocation of the law is causing concern among experts.
Ulf Laessing, the regional office director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for the Sahel in Germany, was quoted by the DPA news agency as saying: "Now the horror scenario is unfolding for Europe."
ss/fb (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa) | Africa politics |
Venezuela takes control of gang-run prison that had pool and a disco
President Nicolas Maduro congratulates security forces for dismantling facility which had become the "centre of conspiracy and crime" for Tren de Aragua gang.
Venezuela has seized control of a prison from the hands of a powerful gang with international reach, in a major operation involving 11,000 members of its security forces.
The Tocoron prison had served as the Tren de Aragua gang's headquarters, where it had installed amenities such as a zoo, a pool and gambling rooms, according to an investigative journalist recently interviewed by the AFP news agency.
The prison was described as a "hotel" for the gang leaders, with a bank, baseball field, a restaurant and even a disco.
In a statement, the government congratulated law enforcement officers for regaining "total control" of the prison in the northern state of Aragua, adding the operation had "dismantled a centre of conspiracy and crime."
And in an official proclamation, President Nicolas Maduro praised "today's great success in the fight against criminal organisations."
After the government announced a complete evacuation of the jail, Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos told state broadcaster VTV that the inmates were being transferred to another facility.
An AFP team saw security officers carrying motorcycles, televisions, air conditioners and microwaves out of the jail.
'Hotel' for gang leaders
Tren de Aragua, Venezuela's most powerful local gang, is involved in crime countrywide and has spread its tentacles to neighboring nations.
According to an investigation by Venezuelan journalist Ronna Risquez, the gang has some 5,000 members.
It emerged a decade ago, and is involved in kidnappings, robberies, drug trafficking, prostitution and extortion. Tren de Aragua is also connected to illegal gold mining.
The InSight Crime think tank says the gang is also a major player in migrant smuggling.
Risquez told AFP the gang "took advantage" of Venezuela's economic and political crises over the past decade to expand operations, and is now present in at least eight other Latin American countries .
She said Tocoron had been entirely in the hands of the gang.
"Inside, the men I have seen with guns are prisoners belonging to the organisation. They guard the prison but not for the state."
The gang's leader is Hector Guerrero Flores, who was serving a 17-year sentence in the prison for murder and drug trafficking, said Carlos Nieto, coordinator of A Window for Freedom, a prison rights NGO. | Latin America Politics |
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BEIJING (AP) — China’s top diplomat welcomed four Arab foreign ministers and the Indonesian one to Beijing on Monday, saying his country would work with “our brothers and sisters” in the Arab and Islamic world to try to end the war in Gaza as soon as possible.
The ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Indonesia chose to start in Beijing a tour to permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, a testament to both China’s growing geopolitical influence and its longstanding support for the Palestinians.
READ MORE: Jordan’s foreign minister criticizes Israel’s war on Hamas, calls for immediate cease-fire
The ministerial committee stressed Monday the need for an immediate stop to “military escalation” in Gaza and to propel the political process forward with the goal of lasting peace, as well as “hold the Israeli occupation accountable for the blatant violations and crimes in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank,” according to a statement published by the Saudi foreign ministry on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the foreign diplomats that their decision to start in Beijing shows their high level of trust in his nation.
“China is a good friend and brother of Arab and Islamic countries,” Wang said in opening remarks at a state guest house before their talks began. “We have always firmly safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of Arab (and) Islamic countries and have always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people.”
China has long backed the Palestinians and been quick to denounce Israel over its settlements in the occupied territories. It has not criticized the initial Hamas attack on Oct.7 — which killed about 1,200 people — while the United States and others have called it an act of terrorism. However, China does have growing economic ties with Israel.
The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, called for an immediate cease-fire and the entry of humanitarian aid and relief to the Gaza Strip.
“There are still dangerous developments ahead of us and an urgent humanitarian crisis that requires an international mobilization to deal with and counter it,” he said.
He added they appreciated the resolution issued by the United Nations Security Council, calling for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in Gaza, “but we still need more efforts and cooperation.”
The visit came after Arab and Muslim leaders condemned the “brutal Israeli aggression” against the Palestinians at a rare joint summit of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation hosted by Saudi Arabia last week.
The secretary general of the OIC, Hissein Brahim Taha, is also accompanying them on the trip.
China — the world’s second-largest economy after the U.S. — has become increasingly outspoken on international affairs and even gotten directly involved in some recently, albeit cautiously.
In March, Beijing helped broker an agreement that saw Saudi Arabia and Iran reestablish ties after seven years of tension in a role previously reserved for longtime global heavyweights like the U.S. and Russia.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes on the Gaza Strip have so far killed more than 11,500 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. Another 2,700 have been reported missing, believed buried in rubble.
“This isn’t Israel’s first war against the Palestinian people,” said Riyad Al-Maliki, the Palestinian Authority foreign minister. “However, Israel wants this to be its last war, where it takes full control of the Palestinian people’s presence on what’s left of the historical land of Palestine.”
Israel’s ambassador to China, Irit Ben-Abba, said Monday, that her country is allowing sufficient humanitarian aid into Gaza in collaboration with international organizations and that “putting pressure on Israel in this regard is politically motivated and is not conducive to the humanitarian assistance which is needed.”
She also said that they hoped for “no one-sided” resolution by the Security Council and that they expected a clear statement calling for the “unconditional release of the 240 hostages” who were abducted by Hamas during its attacks, “rather than calling for a cease-fire.”
Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang in Beijing and writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
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"Our land is drying up and our water is polluted," says Nati Machaca, one of the protesters manning a roadblock in the village of Purmamarca, high in the Andes mountains.
Ms Machaca is a spokeswoman for the indigenous groups living in Jujuy, a province in northern Argentina.
Jujuy is located in what has become known as the "lithium triangle", a stretch of the Andes straddling the tri-border area between Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, which holds the world's biggest reserves of lithium.
The metal is used to make rechargeable batteries for everything from smartphones to laptops.
It has become especially sought after as electrical cars, which also use lithium in their batteries, are becoming increasingly popular.
Argentina is the world's number four lithium producer, but some residents of Jujuy say not only are they not benefiting from the industry, but that their way of life is under threat as a result of it.
Lithium extraction requires huge amounts of water - about two million litres per tonne.
And locals like Nati Machaca, who live off the land and raise cattle in this predominantly rural area, fear it is drying the soil and polluting the water.
"If this goes on, we will soon starve and become ill," she warns.
The position of the more than 400 indigenous groups inhabiting these mountains is complicated by the fact that many lack legal titles to the land where they have lived for centuries - long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s.
Ms Machaca is a case in point. She lives on a piece of land her grandfather bought from the landowner he worked for.
"Back then it was all verbal agreements," she explains, "but there's no proof".
She and many like her, who have no legal documents to back up their claims to the land, could now face eviction under a controversial constitutional reform approved in June by the governor of Jujuy, Gerardo Morales.
"[Governor] Morales comes after the land because he knows it's where the lithium is," says Ms Machaca.
The new constitution also limits the right to protest, but that has not deterred the indigenous communities, who have blocked the roads to the lithium mines.
Police were deployed to remove them, but the protesters say this made them more united and determined.
"We are not moving. The land is ours, the lithium belongs to us," they insisted.
In total, there are 38 lithium mining projects in northern Argentina, of which three are already up and running.
Much of the lithium in this area is located beneath salt flats in the form of lithium brine.
In order to reach the underground deposits, companies first have to drill. The brine is then pumped to the surface into artificial ponds, where some of the liquid is allowed to evaporate before the lithium is extracted through a series of chemical processes.
Local communities warn that the impact on the environment of lithium mining is considerable, both because of the huge amounts of water the process requires and the air and water pollution the chemicals used in the extraction can cause.
According to Marie-Pierre Lucesoli though, companies are making great efforts to optimise the use of water, as well as to reduce the use of fossil fuels, with almost all lithium mining plants being planned to work with solar energy.
Ms Lucesoli is the manager of the chamber of mining in neighbouring Salta, a province which is also rich in lithium, and she is adamant that the processes for obtaining lithium are "evolving on a daily basis with the aim of becoming more sustainable".
But Néstor Jérez, chief of the Ocloya people, remains concerned about the impact current lithium mining is having and future projects could have.
Indigenous groups like the Ocloya seek to live in harmony with Pachamama (Mother Earth), whom they worship in ceremonies.
And it is from her that Néstor Jérez says they draw the strength to oppose the mining projects: "She is the guarantor of life, so we will defend her whatever it takes."
He is not swayed by the argument put forward by Ms Lucesoli, who says that lithium mining generates local employment, and that with it comes educational and training opportunities.
"Wealth is not only about the economic improvement of the inhabitants, but also about the improvement of the quality of life that will last for many generations," she says.
Feeling their concerns were not being addressed, the indigenous groups set off on a march to the capital, Buenos Aires, to make their demands heard by the national government.
The march, called "Malón de la Paz" (Raid for Peace), is modelled on similar indigenous protests held in 1946 and 2006.
Those taking part in this third "Malón de la Paz" say they are determined not to give in until the constitutional reform backed by Governor Morales is revoked.
But they stress that their struggle is much wider than for the land they live on.
"Mining is harming biodiversity and aggravating the climate crisis," those marching to the capital said.
Meanwhile, Ms Lucesoli argues that lithium will contribute towards curbing climate change, as it is a key element in producing the batteries needed to switch from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles. For her, it is part of "the energy transformation to decarbonise the world".
She does concede though that "the business sector needs to inform the community more" in order to raise awareness among the people who oppose lithium mining.
But those manning the roadblocks in Jujuy and the many who marched to Buenos Aires insist they will not give up their resistance.
"This is not just for us: it's for the future generations and the entire humanity's well-being."
All photos by Natalia Favre and subject to copyright | Latin America Politics |
July 20 (Reuters) - Iraq's president said late on Wednesday he would summon the United States ambassador to Baghdad over critical remarks by a U.S. State Department spokesperson regarding the Iraqi government's treatment of a top Iraqi Christian leader.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday criticized a decision by Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid to revoke a decree that had recognized Cardinal Louis Sako as head of the Chaldean Catholic church in Iraq and allowed him to oversee its assets.
Sako was a key organizer of Pope Francis' landmark 2021 visit to Iraq and has strong support from the U.S. and European governments, who view him as a peace-builder in a country plagued by conflict.
Sako had condemned Rashid's move, which he claimed was made at the behest of an Iraqi Christian militia leader close to Iran, and announced his departure from Baghdad to Iraq's semi-autonomous northern Kurdistan region.
"I will say we are disturbed by the harassment of Cardinal Sako ... and troubled by the news that he has left Baghdad," Miller told a press briefing.
"We look forward to his safe return. The Iraqi Christian community is a vital part of Iraq's identity and a central part of Iraq's history of diversity and tolerance," Miller said.
Rashid was "disappointed by accusations leveled against the Iraqi government" by Miller and so would summon the ambassador, a presidency statement said.
Defending his decision, Rashid has said it was aimed at correcting a constitutional anomaly as presidents had no business recognizing heads of religious establishments. He said the move was not aimed at undermining Sako, whom Rashid said he respects.
On Monday, the Vatican Embassy in Baghdad in a statement said that it "regrets the misunderstandings and inappropriate dealings concerning the role of ... Sako as the custodian of the properties of the Chaldean Church."
Iraq's Christians once numbered around 1.5 million, but the minority community has been reduced to the low hundreds of thousands in the two decades since the 2003 U.S. invasion and the years of sectarian bloodletting that followed.
The community, one of the oldest in the world, was decimated first by al Qaeda’s rise in the early 2000s and later by Islamic State, the extremist group that brutally persecuted Christians and other minority faiths and sects from 2014-2017.
It has struggled to recover since Islamic State's 2017 defeat, plagued by high unemployment and the difficulty of returning to historical Christian areas, some of which remain controlled by militias.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Middle East Politics |
Another entire junta battalion surrendered to the Brotherhood Alliance in northern Shan State on Tuesday, the 33rd day of Operation 1027 – the coordinated offensive in northern Myanmar led by three ethnic armies that has proven that the junta’s heavily armed military is far from invisible.
The offensive has also inspired other resistance forces across Myanmar to step up attacks against the once-powerful and still hated military, known as the Tatmadaw in Myanmar.
Brotherhood Alliance member the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) said that the entire Light Infantry Battalion 125 surrendered to it in Konkyan Township of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone, which is located along the border with China in northern Shan State.
MNDAA spokesperson Le Kyar Wen told the media on Wednesday that the number of junta solders who surrendered was still being verified.
The battalion’s surrender gives the ethnic Kokang army complete control of Konkyan, the northernmost part of Kokang Self-Administered Zone.
Three ethnic armies – the MNDAA, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army – jointly launched Operation 1027 on October 27, swiftly seizing a massive number of junta bases and towns across northern Shan and Rakhine states as well as in upper Sagaing and Mandalay regions.
Other resistance groups, including the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) – the armed wings of the civilian National Unity Government – and powerful ethnic armies have been following the Brotherhood Alliance by stepping up attacks on regime targets and bases across the country to support Operation 1027.
An estimated 500 regime troops have surrendered or abandoned their bases since the Brotherhood Alliance launched the offensive.
On Nov. 12, all of Light Infantry Battalion 129 – 127 soldiers and 134 or their family members –surrendered by transferring their base, weapons and ammunition to the MNDAA and allied resistance groups in northern Shan State’s Laukkaing Township.
Each member of the battalion, which had been led by Major Kyaw Ye Aung, was given 1 million Kyats (about US$476) and evacuated to safety by the Brotherhood Alliance.
On October 20, 41 troops from Light Infantry Battalion 143 also surrendered to the MNDAA, abandoning their base near Kan Mong Village in northern Shan State’s Kunlong Township.
The troops who raised the white flag were allowed to return to their families after the MNDAA gave them money to cover their travel expenses.
Due to massive, coordinated offensives since Oct. 27, the regime has lost nearly 300 bases, over a dozen towns and control of the main trade routes between Myanmar and China.
Its military – which proved to be overstretched at the launch of the offensive – has lost hundreds of soldiers since then. | Asia Politics |
Keir Starmer has continued to resist calls to sack rebel frontbenchers who have demanded a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Labour leader tried to reclaim the initiative amid a growing revolt among activists, MPs and shadow ministers over his stance on Israel’s offensive in the Strip. Israel’s Defence Forces have launched a ground operation against Hamas terrorists who slaughtered at least 1,400 Israelis when they unleashed a series of attacks on October 7.
He has called for a humanitarian “pause” to allow in vital aid and for people to flee the war zone. But senior figures frontbenchers Yasmin Qureshi, Jess Phillips and Imran Hussain have joined calls for an end to the fighting. Shadow Justice Minister Alex Cunningham pressed for an "immediate ceasefire" less than an hour before Mr Starmer delivered a speech at the Chatham House foreign affairs think tank.
Following his address, about a dozen pro-Palestinian protesters surrounded his Land Rover Discovery as police battled to clear a path from the building in London’s St James’s to the vehicle. Chanting demonstrators shouted: “Keir Starmer you can’t hide, we charge with you genocide!” and “Keir Starmer you’re a liar, we demand a ceasefire!” as he emerged.
One man banged a snare drum while others waved Palestinian flags as the atmosphere deteriorated. Police forced back protesters as the car pulled away, speeding to a junction. One activist was pushed against a wall after apparently trying to get in front of the Land Rover.
In his speech, Mr Starmer repeatedly insisted his response to the crisis was shaped by responding to both the massacre of Jews in Israel by Hamas and the "humanitarian catastrophe" unfolding in Gaza. Hamas would be "emboldened" by a ceasefire and start preparing more atrocities, the Labour leader said.
"While I understand calls for a ceasefire at this stage, I do not believe that it is the correct position now,” he told guests. "A ceasefire always freezes any conflict in the state where it currently lies and, as we speak, that would leave Hamas with the infrastructure and the capabilities to carry out the sort of attack we saw on October 7 - attacks that are still ongoing; hostages who should be released, still held. Hamas would be emboldened and start preparing for future violence immediately."
A humanitarian pause is the "only credible approach", which could see "the urgent alleviation of Palestinian suffering”, he said. Pressed by reporters why frontbenchers who are bound by collective responsibility - the principle that they adopt a unified position - were not being fired after breaking the rule, he admitted: "It is for me to address collective responsibility, I recognise that. It matters and I take that duty extremely seriously, but I put it in the context of understanding what is driving people in the call for a ceasefire, which is in my judgement not the call that we should be making as things stand."
But despite reinforcing the importance of collective responsibility, he swerved saying whether those breaking it would be sacked. He insisted there was "unity" in Labour over the "key issues" of seeking a two-state solution, the need to alleviate suffering in Gaza and to assert Israel's right to self-defence.
Mr Starmer also warned of “the rising temperature on British streets” amid a surge in anti-Semitic incidents and fears around a spike in Islamophobia. “On the Islamophobia, the anti-Semitism that is going up in this country - yes, of course, I’m concerned,” he said. “The numbers have gone up hugely and it shocks me that Jewish schools have had red paint painted on their walls, that Jewish families are having to hide their identity, that Muslim women are telling me they don’t feel safe going on public transport, that mosques are telling me, ‘We are having to ramp up our security’, that Muslims are saying, ‘We are being held to account for things that others have done that are nothing to do with us’. I am worried about that and I think all of us, but particularly politicians, have a duty to work in all of our communities to ensure that we tackle that sort of hate crime, that sort of hate, head on.” | United Kingdom Politics |
By Alice Taylor | EURACTIV.com Est. 5min 26-09-2023 (updated: 26-09-2023 ) Content-Type: News News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. While the death toll was one officer and three terrorists on Sunday, this increased to five on Monday as Prosecutor Naim Abazi announced another two terrorists were found dead. [EPA-EFE/DJORDJE SAVIC] EURACTIV is part of the Trust Project >>> Languages: DeutschPrint Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram The Russian Foreign Ministry, a government spokesperson and the Russian Embassy in Belgrade have all reacted in support of Serbia over what the European Commission has called a cowardly terrorist attack in the north of Kosovo on Sunday. In the early hours of Sunday morning, a Kosovo police patrol was ambushed by some 30 heavily armed gunmen, accompanied by armoured vehicles, leaving one officer dead and another wounded. The men fled to a local monastery, where they barricaded themselves in and traded gunfire with police for hours. While the death toll was one officer and three terrorists on Sunday, this increased to five on Monday as Prosecutor Naim Abazi announced another two terrorists were found dead. On Monday, just hours after the attack, Serbian President Aleksander Vucic met the Russian Ambassador to Serbia, Alexander Bocan-Harchenko. Vucic said he had informed the ambassador of the ‘brutal ethnic cleansing organised by Albin Kurti with the support of part of the international community’. Russian government spokesman Dimitry Peskov also commented on the situation and supported Serbia. “The situation is extremely difficult. In Kosovo, we see a traditionally biased attitude towards the Serbs… The situation is very, very tense and potentially dangerous, we are monitoring it very closely,” he said at a news briefing. Later in the day, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a strong statement against Prime Minister Albin Kurti. “There is no doubt that yesterday’s bloodshed is a direct consequence of Albin Kurti’s course to incite conflict and cleanse the territory of Serbs. He intends to create international pressure on Serbia to recognise the independence of Kosovo”, the statement reads. Russia and Serbia have long enjoyed a close relationship, and Belgrade has consistently refused to align itself with EU and Western foreign policy objectives, including sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. Instead, it has fostered closer ties, sending delegations to Moscow and signing cooperation agreements. This included security chief Aleksander Vulin, sanctioned by the US State Department over alleged ties to corruption, destabilisation, and organised crime in the region, attending the Moscow Security Conference. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla-Schwarz called out the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, for his choice of words when commenting on the situation in an initial statement on Sunday. “Terrorists kill police, and you call on ‘all actors’? Now, a word of support for the police? Not even against terrorists? Did you also refer to terrorist attacks in Spain as ‘hostilities’? What a shame. How can EU members tolerate this cynicism any longer,” she asked. Borrell’s statement called the siege “ongoing hostilities” and “attacks” and called on “all actors” to “de-escalate”, shying away from the word “terrorist”. But a subsequent statement from Borrell referred to a “terrorist attack” and was echoed in a post by the EU Delegation in Pristina. German Ambassador Jorn Rohde went one step further and called out Srpska Lista, the ethnic Serb political party in Kosovo, to “stop its silence and join us all in our clear stance against this murderous attack.” Meanwhile, President Vjosa Osmani declared Monday a day of mourning for Bunjanku, with all institutional flags, including those of the US embassy and the EU delegation building, flying at half-mast. A memorial service was also held in the Albanian capital, Tirana, in one of the main squares. Bunjanku was also declared a “Hero of Kosovo” by Osmani, who passed the honour on to his family members. “On behalf of the citizens, I award the order “Hero of Kosovo” to sergeant Afrim Bunjaku. He has fallen heroically in defence of the country”, declared the president. The daughter of Bunjaku gave a eulogy at his funeral, saying, “ I promise you, Dad, I will always be proud of you. I will always follow your path. We will always remember you with longing and conviction. My hero. My Dad.” An advert in Times Square, New York, also paid tribute to the police officer and thanked the Kosovo police force for their work. In northern Kosovo, those on the ground say the situation remains tense, and civilians are scared following the terrorist attack. “There is a strange silence in the city. This is the most difficult moment since the war’s end,” Marko Jakšić, a lawyer and politician, told Euractiv.rs. (Alice Taylor | Euractiv.com, Milena Antonijević | Euractiv.rs) Read more with EURACTIV Russian agents bribed Czech public figures to spread propaganda Languages: DeutschPrint Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Topics Politics The Capitals | Europe Politics |
The Shin Bet and the IDF on Sunday night disclosed a video showing Hamas bringing back two foreign hostages, a Thai man and a Nepalese man, to Al-Shifa Hospital on October 7.
One video shows a group of Hamas terrorists dragging a man into one of the hospital entrances, clearly against his will since he openly resists, though he is overpowered.
Another video shows a man on a stretcher who appears to have been wounded in his chest, with a large amount of blood coming out, as well as with one of his legs severed.
The IDF did not identify which foreign hostage appeared in each video.
However, the IDF said that the videos were clear evidence that Hamas used Shifa as an operations center connected to the October 7 attacks on Israel's South and the taking of hostages.
There was no statement by the IDF about where these hostages are now, but in recent statements, IDF officials speculated that a number of Hamas terrorists had escaped from Shifa with hostages.
Besides these videos, the IDF had already shown that it found bodies of Israelis killed on October 7. | Middle East Politics |
HONG KONG, July 6 (Reuters) - Police in Hong Kong arrested a man on Thursday suspected of links to pro-democracy activists based abroad, picking him up at the city's international airport a day after arresting four others for various national security offences.
Police had issued arrest warrants days earlier for eight prominent overseas-based activists, including Britain-based former Demosisto member Nathan Law, and offered bounties of HK$1 million ($128,000) for information leading to any arrest.
Citing unnamed sources, media in Hong Kong connected the four men arrested on Wednesday to an online platform known as "Punish Mee" that was allegedly used to provide financial aid to the eight wanted activists overseas.
"Police do not rule out the possibility that more arrests will be made," the police said in a statement on Thursday that withheld the name of the latest man arrested, but gave his age as 24 years.
One source with direct knowledge of the matter identified him as Calvin Chu Yan-ho, a former member of Demosisto.
The pro-democracy group was disbanded in 2020, hours after China imposed a national security law in Hong Kong. Its former leader, Joshua Wong, was arrested January, 2021, and charged with conspiracy to commit subversion for participating in an unofficial primary election organised by democracy supporters.
Ivan Lam, a former Demosisto chairman, was reportedly among the four men arrested on Wednesday.
China's enactment of a sweeping national security law in 2020 has been criticised as a tool of repression by governments including the United States. Chinese authorities, however, say it has restored stability in the city after protracted pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Asia Politics |
While the whereabouts of an American nurse and her young child reportedly kidnapped in Haiti late last week are still a mystery, the alarming surge of abductions taking place in the country demonstrates a clear and growing danger for both foreign travelers and Haitian citizens.
The efforts to locate Alix Dorsainvil and her child continued Tuesday -- five days after they were reportedly kidnapped. Dorsainvil was working near Port-au-Price with El Roi Haiti, a Christian aid organization, when the group says she and her child were taken by unknown assailants -- the only publicly known details regarding the apparent abduction.
U.S. officials have been tight-lipped, declining to share any information that may put their efforts to recover the two in jeopardy.
"We're in regular contact with Haitian authorities and continue to work with them and our U.S. government inter-agency partners, but because it's an ongoing law enforcement investigation -- there's not any more detail I can offer," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday.
Miller declined to say whether the department knew who exactly was holding Dorsainvil and her child, or whether they had requested anything from the U.S. in exchange for their freedom.
The investigation will almost certainly be sharply constrained by the Haitian government's own limitations. The country admits that gangs control 80% of its capital city's streets, creating a wide blind spot for law enforcement.
On Thursday, the deteriorating security situation also prompted the State Department to order all family members of U.S. government employees and non-emergency U.S. government employees to leave Haiti.
The crisis in Haiti is worsening, but it is not new: The State Department has for years warned Americans against traveling to the country, classifying it a "level four" -- its most severe travel advisory -- meaning U.S. citizens should not visit because of a "greater likelihood of life-threatening risks" and the department's limited ability to provide assistance.
Haiti's problems compounded in July 2021 when its president was assassinated. The country's interim leader, Ariel Henry, has struggled to rein in gangs, resulting in escalating violence and exposing the government's tenuous hold on power.
In the fall of 2022, the battle for control appeared to hit a chaotic crescendo when gangs blockaded Haiti's largest fuel depot, crippling movement within the country, cutting off clean water supplies and exacerbating a cholera outbreak before negotiations ultimately cleared access to the energy source.
While the situation in Haiti remains dire, groups monitoring crime within the country say reports of offenses such as abductions had appeared to be on the decline -- until they started to spike again in recent weeks.
The decrease, analysts say, was brought on not by the country's authorities or direct assistance from international governments, but by Haitian citizens stepping into de facto law enforcement roles, creating what are known as "vigilance brigades" to patrol their own neighborhoods.
But Diego Da Rin, a Haiti expert with the International Crisis Group, said the gangs are now winning out over those groups, resulting in a resurgence of violent crime.
"That self-defense movement has waned over time," he told ABC News. "Gangs need to resume their criminal activities and kidnapping is one of their main sources of income. Gang leaders have to pay their soldiers or else risk being overthrown."
Da Rin says there have been a number of recent cases involving foreign nationals kidnapped in Haiti that have been resolved with the victim being released after a ransom is presumably paid. This could be a cause for some optimism in Dorsainvil's case, Da Rin said. But he adds there have also been disturbing incidents involving captors filming themselves harming victims as a play to extort payments -- and that law enforcement will likely be able to do very little to intervene even if they can identify the criminals.
"The Haitian security forces and U.S. forces present in Haiti are not able to enter the areas where most kidnapped people are held -- they're located in gang strongholds, neighborhoods where security forces haven't been able to enter for months or even years," he said.
Nearly 10 months ago, Henry urged foreign militaries to help restore law and order in Haiti. The world's leading powers have waffled -- uneager to embroil themselves in the conflict, especially when the Haitian public has signaled disapproval of outside intervention.
On Saturday, the government of Kenya announced it was ready to lead a multinational force into Haiti, a development that was welcomed by the West.
"We are committed to finding the resources to support this multinational force," Miller said.
However, the plan faces a number of hurdles, and even if it ultimately succeeds, U.S. officials say it will likely be weeks or even months before it bears any result.
Renata Segura, the deputy director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the International Crisis Group, says the mission could also backfire.
"There is a danger that this force could just consolidate power for Henry, an illegitimate Prime Minister -- particularly because we don't see the likelihood of elections taking place anytime soon," she said.
"The fact that Kenya is volunteering is significant," Segura continued. "We do hope that the Henry administration doesn't take this as a signal that they can stop negotiating with the opposition, because we are very concerned about the possibility of unrest and protests if people think that this is just something that is going to benefit Henry." | Latin America Politics |
Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson to file complaint to Australian Communications and Media Authority over ABC's Alice Springs coverage
Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson has indicated she will file a complaint to a major media authority against the ABC over its “distorted” reporting of a community meeting in Alice Springs.
Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson has hit out at the ABC after the national broadcaster depicted an emergency community meeting in Alice Springs as full of “white supremacy”.
The Opposition communications spokeswoman on Friday said she was "disgusted" by the reporting and she would file an official complaint against the ABC to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) over its coverage.
“I’m equally disgusted by this reporting, it’s rubbish reporting,” she told Sydney 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham.
“It’s a breach of the ABC’s statutory duty, this is of course a duty under the ABC Act … to report the news accurately and impartially.”
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Ms Henderson called on ACMA to investigate the ABC for breaching its code of practice and said she wanted to see a retraction, apology and a review of the company’s journalistic training and supervision.
The Senator added she was concerned the media authority does not possess strong enough powers to sanction the ABC and could only provide recommendations.
“The law needs to be changed so the ACMA can really throw the book at ABC,” Ms Henderson said.
The ABC came under fire this week after it reported an emergency town meeting to tackle youth crime in Alice Springs was a “disgusting show of white supremacy”.
Locals told Sky News Australia on Wednesday the report selectively chose three interviewees that undermined community fear and painted it to be racially motivated.
"The tension and violence and anger in the room was really palpable and was clearly all-around white supremacy and the safety of white people in this town,” a meeting attendee told Indigenous Affairs reporter Carly Williams on the ABC’s Radio National AM program.
Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson told reporters on Wednesday he urged the ABC to retract its report which was not an accurate depiction of the meeting.
Mr Paterson said it attempted to spark a race war.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton and Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price were among those who slammed the broadcaster's coverage.
More than 3,000 Alice Springs residents attended the meeting, fed up with battling rampant crimewaves – which critics said the ABC failed to address in its reporting.
“This is a monumental fail, (ABC’s) report monumentally distorted what happened,” Ms Henderson said.
The ABC doubled down in the face of the outrage on Wednesday.
The national broadcaster backed its report and said it "incorporated a range of perspectives, including from residents and the business community" in a statement.
"Many strong and conflicting views are expressed within the community, including some that are confronting, and the news coverage reflects that and doesn’t shy away from it," the ABC statement said.
Ms Henderson said while she could understand that reporters make mistakes, it was a "disgrace" that the ABC defended itself.
“The buck stops with David Anderson who is the editor-and-chief in name only,” she said. | Australia Politics |
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup and later led a reluctant Pakistan into aiding the U.S. war in Afghanistan against the Taliban, has died, officials said Sunday. He was 79.
Musharraf, a former special forces commando, became president through the last of a string of military coups that roiled Pakistan since its founding amid the bloody 1947 partition of India. He ruled the nuclear-armed state after his 1999 coup through tensions with India, an atomic proliferation scandal and an Islamic extremist insurgency. He stepped down in 2008 while facing possible impeachment.
Later in life, Musharraf lived in self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid criminal charges, despite attempting a political comeback in 2012. But it wasn’t to be as his poor health plagued his last years. He maintained a soldier’s fatalism after avoiding a violent death that always seemed to be stalking him as Islamic militants twice targeted him for assassination.
“I have confronted death and defied it several times in the past because destiny and fate have always smiled on me,” Musharraf once wrote. “I only pray that I have more than the proverbial nine lives of a cat.”
Musharraf’s family announced in June 2022 that he had been hospitalized for weeks in Dubai while suffering from amyloidosis, an incurable condition that sees proteins build up in the body’s organs. They later said he also needed access to the drug daratumumab, which is used to treat multiple myeloma. That bone marrow cancer can cause amyloidosis.
Shazia Siraj, a spokeswoman for the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai, confirmed his death and said diplomats were providing support to his family.
The Pakistani military also offered its condolences as did Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the younger brother of the prime minister Musharraf overthrew in 1999.
“May God give his family the courage to bear this loss,” Sharif said.
Pakistan, a nation nearly twice the size of California along the Arabian Sea, is now home to 220 million people. But it would be its border with Afghanistan that would soon draw the U.S.′s attention and dominate Musharraf’s life a little under two years after he seized power.
Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden launched the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from Afghanistan, sheltered by the country’s Taliban rulers. Musharraf knew what would come next.
“America was sure to react violently, like a wounded bear,” he wrote in his autobiography. “If the perpetrator turned out to be al-Qaida, then that wounded bear would come charging straight toward us.”
By Sept. 12, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Musharraf that Pakistan would either be “with us or against us.” Musharraf said another American official threatened to bomb Pakistan ”back into the Stone Age” if it chose the latter.
Musharraf chose the former. A month later, he stood by then-President George W. Bush at the Waldorf Astoria in New York to declare Pakistan’s unwavering support to fight with the United States against “terrorism in all its forms wherever it exists.”
Pakistan became a crucial transit point for NATO supplies headed to landlocked Afghanistan. That was the case even though Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency had backed the Taliban after it swept into power in Afghanistan in 1994. Prior to that, the CIA and others funneled money and arms through the ISI to Islamic fighters battling the 1980s Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan saw Taliban fighters flee over the border back into Pakistan, including bin Laden, whom the U.S. would kill in 2011 at a compound in Abbottabad. They regrouped and the offshoot Pakistani Taliban emerged, beginning a yearslong insurgency in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The CIA began flying armed Predator drones from Pakistan with Musharraf’s blessing, using an airstrip built by the founding president of the United Arab Emirates for falconing in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The program helped beat back the militants but saw over 400 strikes in Pakistan alone kill at least 2,366 people — including 245 civilians, according to the Washington-based New America Foundation think tank.
Though Pakistan under Musharraf launched these operations, the militants still thrived as billions of American dollars flowed into the nation. That led to suspicion that still plagues the U.S. relationship with Pakistan.
“After 9/11, then President Musharraf made a strategic shift to abandon the Taliban and support the U.S. in the war on terror, but neither side believes the other has lived up to expectations flowing from that decision,” a 2009 U.S. cable from then-Ambassador Anne Patterson published by WikiLeaks said, describing what had become the diplomatic equivalent of a loveless marriage.
“The relationship is one of co-dependency we grudgingly admit — Pakistan knows the U.S. cannot afford to walk away; the U.S. knows Pakistan cannot survive without our support.”
But it would be Musharraf’s life on the line. Militants tried to assassinate him twice in 2003 by targeting his convoy, first with a bomb planted on a bridge and then with car bombs. That second attack saw Musharraf’s vehicle lifted into the air by the blast before touching the ground again. It raced to safety on just its rims, Musharraf pulling a Glock pistol in case he needed to fight his way out.
It wasn’t until his wife, Sehba, saw the car covered in gore that the scale of the attack dawned on him.
“She is always calm in the face of danger,” he recounted. But then, “she was screaming uncontrollably, hysterically.”
Born Aug. 11, 1943, in New Delhi, India, Musharraf was the middle son of a diplomat. His family joined millions of other Muslims in fleeing westward when predominantly Hindu India and Islamic Pakistan split during independence from Britain in 1947. The partition saw hundreds of thousands of people killed in riots and fighting.
Musharraf entered the Pakistani army at age 18 and made his career there as Islamabad fought three wars against India. He’d launch his own attempt at capturing territory in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in 1999 just before seizing power from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif had ordered Musharraf’s dismissal as the army chief flew home from a visit to Sri Lanka and denied his plane landing rights in Pakistan, even as it ran low on fuel. On the ground, the army took control and after he landed Musharraf took charge.
Yet as ruler, Musharraf nearly reached a deal with India on Kashmir, according to U.S. diplomats at the time. He also worked toward a rapprochement with Pakistan’s longtime rival.
Another major scandal emerged under his rule when the world discovered that famed Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, long associated with the country’s atomic bomb, had been selling centrifuge designs and other secrets to countries including Iran, Libya and North Korea, making tens of millions of dollars. Those designs helped Pyongyang to arm itself with a nuclear weapon, while centrifuges from Khan’s designs still spin in Iran amid the collapse of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
Musharraf said he suspected Khan but it wasn’t until 2003 when then-CIA director George Tenet showed him detailed plans for a Pakistani centrifuge that the scientist had been selling that he realized the severity of what happened.
Khan would confess on state television in 2004 and Musharraf would pardon him, though he’d be confined to house arrest after that.
“For years, A.Q.’s lavish lifestyle and tales of his wealth, properties, corrupt practices and financial magnanimity at state expense were generally all too well known in Islamabad’s social and government circles,” Musharraf later wrote. “However, these were largely ignored. ... In hindsight that neglect was apparently a serious mistake.”
Musharraf’s domestic support eventually eroded. He held flawed elections in late 2002 — only after changing the constitution to give himself sweeping powers to sack the prime minister and parliament. He then reneged on a promise to stand down as army chief by the end of 2004.
Militant anger toward Musharraf increased in 2007 when he ordered a raid against the Red Mosque in downtown Islamabad. It had become a sanctuary for militants opposed to Pakistan’s support of the Afghan war. The weeklong operation killed over 100 people.
The incident severely damaged Musharraf’s reputation among everyday citizens and earned him the undying hatred of militants who launched a series of punishing attacks following the raid.
Fearing the judiciary would block his continued rule, Musharraf fired the chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court. That triggered mass demonstrations.
Under pressure at home and abroad to restore civilian rule, Musharraf stepped down as army chief. Though he won another five-year presidential term, Musharraf faced a major crisis following former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in December 2007 at a campaign rally as she sought to become prime minister for the third time.
The public suspected Musharraf’s hand in the killing, which he denied. A later United Nations report acknowledged the Pakistani Taliban was a main suspect in her slaying but warned that elements of Pakistan’s intelligence services may have been involved.
Musharraf resigned as president in August 2008 after ruling coalition officials threatened to have him impeached for imposing emergency rule and firing judges.
“I hope the nation and the people will forgive my mistakes,” Musharraf, struggling with his emotions, said in an hourlong televised address.
Afterward, he lived abroad in Dubai and London, attempting a political comeback in 2012. But Pakistan instead arrested the former general and put him under house arrest. He faced treason allegations over the Supreme Court debacle and other charges stemming from the Red Mosque raid and Bhutto’s assassination.
The image of Musharraf being treated as a criminal suspect shocked Pakistan, where military generals long have been considered above the law. Pakistan allowed him to leave the country on bail to Dubai in 2016 for medical treatment and he remained there after facing a later-overturned death sentence.
But it suggested Pakistan may be ready to turn a corner in its history of military rule.
“Musharraf’s resignation is a sad yet familiar story of hubris, this time in a soldier who never became a good politician,” wrote Patterson, the U.S. ambassador, at the time.
“The good news is that the demonstrated strength of institutions that brought Musharraf down — the media, free elections and civil society — also provide some hope for Pakistan’s future. It was these institutions that ironically became much stronger under his government.”
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Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed to this report. Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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Follow Jon Gambrell and Munir Ahmed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP and www.twitter.com/munirahmedap. | Asia Politics |
The Israeli ambassador to the US says he is hopeful a deal for the release of a significant number of hostages will be reached "in the coming days".
Michael Herzog told ABC "serious efforts" were being made, but that the fewer details he revealed, "the better the chances of such a deal".
Hamas took an estimated 240 people hostage during their 7 October attacks which killed 1,200 Israelis.
Qatar, which has been mediating, also says a deal is "close enough".
The Washington Post newspaper has reported that Israel and Hamas are "close to agreement on a US-brokered deal that would free dozens of women and children held hostage in Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting", citing "people familiar with the emerging terms".
Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Sunday that only "very minor" practical and logistical obstacles remain, adding that "we are close enough to reach a deal".
The US has not confirmed any details of progress.
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson posted on X: "We have not reached a deal yet, but we continue to work hard to get to a deal."
And Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a full ceasefire.
Qatar has been playing a leading role in mediation efforts to secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
The small, gas-rich Arab Gulf state is home to the political leadership of Hamas, which has had an office in the capital, Doha, since 2012, headed by its leader Ismail Haniyeh.
On Saturday, protesters calling on the Israeli government to prioritise securing the release of hostages walked from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem before holding a demonstration outside Mr Netanyahu's residence.
Mr Netanyahu has been criticised for not doing more to free those held by Hamas.
In a press conference on Saturday night, he said the first goal of the war was to destroy Hamas, the second was to return the hostages and the third was to eliminate the threat from Gaza.
"We want answers," said protester Ari Levi, who had two family members - including his 12-year-old son - taken by Hamas from kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October.
"It's not normal to have children kidnapped for 43 days. We don't know what the government is doing, we don't have any information," Mr Levi told the AFP news agency.
"I want the government to bring them home to us," said Dvora Cohen, 43, whose brother-in-law and 12-year-old nephew are both believed to be held by Hamas.
This week Israel's military said it had found the bodies of two hostages - 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss and 19-year-old soldier Noa Marciano - in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has launched a massive retaliatory operation - involving air and artillery strikes as well as ground troops - with the aim of eliminating Hamas.
The Hamas-run health ministry says the death toll in Gaza since then has reached 12,300. More than 2,000 more are feared to be buried under rubble.
More on Israel-Gaza war
- From Gaza: Giving birth with no painkillers under the bombs in Gaza
- From Israel: Hostages' fates haunt Israel as Gaza war intensifies
- Explained: The faces of hostages taken from Israel
- History behind the story: The Israel-Palestinian conflict | Middle East Politics |
NEW YORK -- It has been 25 years since the body of Matthew Shepard was discovered in Laramie, Wyoming. The gay college student had been tied to a fence post, tortured and left to die.
The murder drew national attention to violence against gay people, and attracted the interest of theater director Moisés Kaufman, who turned the horror into art with “The Laramie Project.”
This 25th anniversary has triggered deep sadness for Kaufman, founder and artistic director of the New York-based Tectonic Theater Project. He wonders about all the things Shepard could have become.
“Every year around this time, it’s painful to remember, but this one has hit particularly hard,” Kaufman tells the AP.
After Shepard's 1998 killing, Kaufman and members of Tectonic traveled to Laramie and wrote the play based on more than 200 interviews. “The Laramie Project” is a poignant mix of real news reports, and actors portraying friends, family, police officers, killers and other Laramie residents.
This week, Tectonic is marking the anniversary by gathering the original cast and creators, and some of the people represented in the piece for a staged reading and conversation as part of the 2023 Shepard Symposium at the University of Wyoming.
“The Laramie Project,” one of the most frequently performed plays in high schools, has been performed in more than 20 countries and translated into more than 13 languages. It is among the top 10 most licensed plays in America.
“Precisely because it wasn’t about Matthew Shepard, precisely because it was about the town of Laramie is why it continues to resonate,” says Kaufman.
"We were hoping that it wouldn’t be relevant anymore. But it is every day more relevant. Hate crimes all over our nation are at much higher rates than they were when Matthew Shepard was killed."
He points to an increase in anti-Asian incidents since the pandemic began, and assaults on transgender and gender-nonconforming people.
In 2009, Kaufman was on hand as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed by then-President Barack Obama. The act expanded the 1969 federal hate-crime law to include crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
“The Laramie Project” has consistently been the subject of pushback by some conservative school districts, and this year faces banishment from Florida stages due to what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Elsewhere, theater creators across the nation say school censorship is getting worse, particularly around material with LGBTQ+ themes. Cardinal High School in Middlefield, Ohio, canceled a production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” due to content issues.
Kaufman is also alarmed that the Lansing Board of Education in Kansas voted to remove the script of “The Laramie Project” from the school curriculum.
“There has always been — since the inception — a couple of theaters every year where the board of the school says no. All right. But this last year was the first time that the book itself was banned from a classroom.”
Kaufman has always been cheered by the students who find a way to perform the play despite barriers, becoming what he calls artist-activists. “My belief is that the best art occurs at the intersection of the personal and the political,” he says.
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits | Human Rights |
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of the Armenian capital after Azerbaijan launched a full-scale military assault on the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The demonstration came amid rising discontent with Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, the inaction of Russian peacekeepers and the failure of western governments to stop bloodshed.
The announcement of a ceasefire in the disputed enclave on Wednesday appeared to involve the de facto capitulation of local defence forces and looked set to fuel the political unrest in Armenia, piling pressure on Pashinyan.
Protesters smashed the windows of government buildings on Yerevan’s central Republic Square late on Tuesday as they scuffled with police in an attempt to get inside.
Security officers responded by throwing stun grenades into the crowd.
“If we had good leadership, we would be able to resist what is happening,” said Sarhat Petrosyan, an architect and former member of Pashinyan’s government who was out protesting. “All these people are ready to go and fight.”
“If he [Pashinyan] can’t do anything, he should resign,” said another protester, Svetlana Abramyan, a pensioner. “He’s a coward.”
Dozens of civilians and troops were killed and wounded in the mountainous South Caucasus region, according to local officials, in what Baku said was an “anti-terrorist operation” to dismantle the longstanding Nagorno-Karabakh government and eliminate “illegal Armenian military formations”.
Azerbaijani officials said they had reached a ceasefire agreement involving the withdrawal of all local defence units from Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrender of arms and heavy equipment.
Many in Yerevan believe that Baku’s ultimate goal is to ethnically cleanse Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognised as Azerbaijani territory, of its predominantly Armenian population estimated to number about 120,000.
“What is going on is an Armenian genocide,” said Yuri, a protester on Republic Square. “It’s a genocide in the 21st century.”
A total of 36 people were injured in a night of scuffles between police and protesters in Yerevan, according to the country’s ministry of health. Opposition groups have pledged that demonstrations will continue in the coming days.
Pashinyan, who led Armenia through its defeat in the second Karabakh war three years ago, made it clear from the start of the fighting that he did not intend to authorise a military intervention to counter the Azerbaijani offensive.
As Russian peacekeepers, believed to number about 2,000 soldiers, appeared either powerless or disinclined to intervene during the 24 hours of conflict, Baku also seemed to rebuff international calls for peace from the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and other western diplomats.
Some senior Armenian officials have singled out Russian peacekeepers for not doing more to stop the violence. “If Russia wants to stay in the region then it should take some steps to stop [ethnic cleansing and genocide]. If it doesn’t stop what is happening then the answer to the question: ‘Does Russian want to leave the region?’ can only be yes,” said the secretary of Armenia’s security council, Armen Grigoryan, according to local reports.
At the same time as the protests on Republic Square, a smaller gathering took place Tuesday night outside the Russian embassy in Yerevan.
Several hundred demonstrators chanted “murderers, murderers, murderers!” and blocked Russian diplomats from entering and leaving the building.
“Russia provoked the fighting,” said Hayk Hamburbzumyan, a programmer who was standing outside the embassy. “We want to get rid of the Russians once and for all. In 400 years, this is the first time Russia is not as strong as it was. We have an historical opportunity to get rid of them.”
Another protester, Mary Papoyan, said: “They don’t want to protect us, they want to control us.”
Traditionally strong ties between Russia and Armenia have frayed in recent years as Moscow, mired in its own war in Ukraine, has done little to prevent Azerbaijan tightening its grip over Nagorno-Karabakh – including with a nine-month blockade that led to major food shortages.
As tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh rose, Pashinyan appeared to make overtures to the west, and Armenia is hosting a rare joint military exercise with the US.
Yerevan’s pro-western course has provoked some anger in Moscow, with the head of the state-owned network RT, Margarita Simonyan, asking mockingly on Tuesday: “What’s up with Nato? Are they not protecting you?”
Before the announcement of a ceasefire, the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh had continued unabated overnight with residents reporting heavy shelling of the enclave’s capital, Stepanakert.
Pashinyan’s government is likely to be able to withstand opposition protests as it continues to fully control the security services, according to the Yerevan-based political analyst Tigran Grigoryan.
However, any killings or forcible removal of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan would not only be a consequence of Russia’s unwillingness to intervene, but a failure of US and EU diplomacy, Grigoryan said.
“Ethnic cleansing is taking place on their [Russia’s] watch … But if the EU and US don’t act, they will lose all their credibility alongside Russia.” | Europe Politics |
- Summary
- ECOWAS bloc gives ultimatum to Niger's new military leaders
- Pro-coup protesters burn French flags in Niamey
- Military takeover was Sahel region's fourth since 2020
NIAMEY/ABUJA, July 30 (Reuters) - West African nations imposed economic and travel sanctions on Niger's new military leaders on Sunday, threatening to use force if they fail to reinstate ousted President Mohammed Bazoum within a week.
The 15-nation ECOWAS bloc's response to the Sahel region's seventh coup of recent years came as pro-junta supporters in Niger's capital Niamey burned French flags and stoned the former colonial power's embassy, drawing tear gas from police.
Images showed fires at the walls of the French Embassy and people being loaded into ambulances with bloodied legs.
At an emergency summit in Nigeria to discuss the coup last week, leaders of the Economic Community of West African States called for the constitutional order to be fully restored, warning of reprisals if not.
"Such measures may include the use of force," their communique said, adding that defence officials would meet immediately to that effect.
ECOWAS and the eight-member West African Economic and Monetary Union also said that with immediate effect borders with Niger would be closed, commercial flights banned, financial transactions halted, national assets frozen and aid ended.
Military officials involved in the coup would be banned from travelling and have their assets frozen, it added.
Similar sanctions were imposed by ECOWAS on Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea following coups in those countries in the past three years. Although the financial sanctions led to defaults on debt - in Mali in particular - it only made the juntas agree to timelines to return to constitutional rule.
The military coup in Niger, which began unfolding on Wednesday, has been widely condemned by neighbours and international partners including the United States, the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and former colonial power France.
They have all refused to recognise the new leaders led by General Abdourahamane Tiani.
Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, receiving close to $2 billion a year in official development assistance, according to the World Bank.
The United States, France, Italy and Germany have troops there on military training and missions to fight Islamist insurgents. Niger is also the world's seventh-biggest producer of uranium, the radioactive metal widely used for nuclear energy and in nuclear weapons, as well as for treating cancer.
ANTI-FRENCH PROTESTS
Ahead of the ECOWAS summit, the military leaders warned against any military intervention.
"The objective of the (ECOWAS) meeting is to approve a plan of aggression against Niger through an imminent military intervention in Niamey in collaboration with other African countries that are non-members of ECOWAS, and certain Western countries," junta spokesperson Colonel Amadou Abdramane said.
"We want to once more remind ECOWAS or any other adventurer, of our firm determination to defend our homeland."
At their invitation, thousands of people rallied in the capital on Sunday, particularly targeting the French Embassy.
"We are here to express our discontent against France's interference in Niger's affairs. Niger is an independent and sovereign country, so France's decisions have no influence on us," said protester Sani Idrissa.
After gathering in a public square in central Niamey, some headed to the diplomatic mission.
"Down with France!" "France Out!" read placards they held.
Similar to events in neighbouring Burkina Faso in September last year following a coup, some protesters tried to climb the walls of the embassy, while others stomped on burning French flags. Some youths threw stones at the embassy building before the protesters were dispersed by Niger national guard.
France condemned the violence.
"Anyone who attacks French nationals, the military, diplomats, or French interests will spur an immediate and uncompromising response from France," the Elysee said in a statement.
The Niger military rulers later asked protesters to abstain from vandalism and destruction of property.
The European Union and France have cut off financial support to Niger and the United States has threatened to do the same.
Sunday's ECOWAS communique thanked nations in line with the bloc's stance but "condemned the pronouncement of support by foreign governments and foreign private military contractors."
Russia's Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who remains active despite leading a failed mutiny against the Russian army's top brass last month, has hailed the coup as good news and offered his fighters' services to bring order.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Africa politics |
Rishi Sunak's Cabinet away day in the Elizabethan splendour of Chequers was meant to be the latest step in the new Prime Minister's drive to show the country that the grown-ups are back in charge.Detailed presentations were organised on each of his five pledges and ministers were sworn to secrecy in a bid to prevent private disputes spilling out into the public gaze as they had when Theresa May gathered her own ministers at the Buckinghamshire retreat.The mood was meant to be 'business-like'. Yet the noises outside were hard to ignore. Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi had failed to take the hint that he is no longer wanted and turned up despite having his presentation cancelled. 'No one wanted to catch his eye,' said one of those present.And disastrous new polling suggested that the Tories were losing the 'Terry and June' voters in their forties and fifties, who have been the bedrock of recent Conservative election wins. Rishi Sunak's (pictured) Cabinet away day in the Elizabethan splendour of Chequers was meant to be the latest step in the new Prime Minister's drive to show the country that the grown-ups are back in charge The cabinet travelled to the Prime Minister's estate in Chequers today amid the growing rowForty miles away, Boris Johnson was reminding voters – and Tory MPs – that he is still here, posing for pictures with former cabinet ally Nadine Dorries ahead of a major TV interview next week on her new Talk TV show.Inside the Chequers drawing room, the news was scarcely more encouraging. Elections guru Isaac Levido did not 'sugarcoat' the dire opinion polls. There was, he said, only a 'steep and narrow path to election victory'.Even this would require not just a laser-like focus on delivering the public's priorities, but also an iron party discipline of the kind Conservative MPs have been unable to muster for some years now.What is more, he said, any turnaround in the polls is likely to take many months to emerge. Local elections in May will be difficult. The Conservatives may still be trailing Labour by a wide margin come party conference time in October, making it harder than ever to persuade jittery Tory MPs to knuckle under.Labour's commanding poll lead is 'soft' and enthusiasm for Sir Keir Starmer is far from baked in. But the Tories cannot afford more infighting.Meanwhile, Mr Johnson waits on the sidelines as allies try to calculate if and when he will get the opportunity to return. Or rather, he doesn't wait on the sidelines at all.Mr Sunak's team proudly boast they are attempting to run a 'no news' government, in a bid to calm things down after last year's political turbulence.But Mr Johnson is only too happy to fill the news vacuum. This week, his trip to Ukraine and passionate call to arms in the Daily Mail appeared to have a galvanising effect on Western leaders, who finally agreed to send vital tanks to Kyiv just days later. Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi (pictured) is facing increasing pressure to go following revelations over his tax affairs A new poll by People Polling today gives Labour a 29-point lead with voters, up five points in a week. The former prime minister is nominally loyal to Mr Sunak. He has not uttered a word of criticism in public since being forced from office last summer – and his decision to back a Tory rebellion over wind farms only served to hasten a government U-turn that was already looking inevitable.But his allies and supporters have not gone away. 'If the local elections are bad and the polls stay bad, then Rishi could find himself looking very vulnerable very quickly,' said one MP sympathetic to the former PM. 'People will start to panic and look for a proven winner.'But others disagree. One former minister pointed to the growing list of Tory MPs already declaring they will call it a day at the next election, including ex-Cabinet heavyweights like Sajid Javid and talented rising stars such as Dehenna Davison and Chloe Smith. 'Nobody really believes the return of Boris is a viable option. People sitting on majorities of 3,000 in the Red Wall are not sitting around thinking, maybe Boris can save my seat. They are massively depressed – they know the game's up and they are brushing up their CVs.'Allies of Liz Truss also warn that she is ready to rock the boat on both tax and Brexit if Mr Sunak strays too far to the political centre ground.Jeremy Hunt yesterday did his best to calm the growing clamour for tax cuts, with a promise of jam tomorrow.For now, the PM has to focus on what he can control. But even here, alarm bells are ringing. The handling of Mr Zahawi's case, in particular, is causing growing disquiet among Tory MPs, who fear it points to a hesitant streak in Mr Sunak which could prove fatal.During a TV clip recorded at the Chequers summit, the PM was not asked a single question about his five pledges – but did face a barrage of enquiries about why he is holding on to a minister who has admitted being fined by the taxman while serving as Chancellor. 'It is baffling,' said one minister. 'I understand that Rishi wants to be seen to be doing things by the book, but every day Zahawi stays in post, it is doing us damage. He is obviously going to have to go, so why delay?' Boris Johnson (right) was reminding voters – and Tory MPs – that he is still here, posing for pictures with former cabinet ally Nadine Dorries (left) ahead of a major TV interview next week on her new Talk TV show Sir Keir Starmer joked he and Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner were going for a 'singalong' with Sir Rod Stewart after their visit to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, EssexSenior Tories believe Mr Sunak has only six to nine months to make an impact before the countdown to the next election becomes deafening. After that point, opponents – whether in the Civil Service or the House of Lords – will know that they can block anything by simply dragging their feet.Some ministers report that parts of the Civil Service are already 'looking ahead to Labour' and stalling for time on controversial proposals. Yet there is still no sign of the promised legislation to stop the small boats crisis. And below the surface, there is simmering anger over the 'botched' distribution of £2billion in levelling up grants last week.Many Tory MPs are enraged to find that, after being encouraged to campaign for local projects, they are now being told they never had a chance because their areas had received grants in a previous round. 'People have been made to look like chumps and they are apoplectic about it,' said one minister.'The thing that is worrying people is that this government is supposed to be delivering a return to competence. Part of the problem is that some of the ministers involved look like they've given up and checked out. Michael Gove is one of them, but he's not the only one. Rishi needs to deal with them.'Sometimes leaders and governments feel like they cannot get a break. In a bizarre twist on Thursday, Sir Rod Stewart rang in to Sky News to say it was time to 'change the bloody government'.The ageing rocker, a long-time Tory supporter, said he was incensed by the state of the NHS and the Government's refusal to give nurses an inflation-level pay rise. One Tory MP noted that Sir Rod had left the UK in 1975 to escape Labour's 83 per cent top rate of tax, only returning from LA in 2014. 'It's a bit rich for Rod Stewart to be lecturing us about public spending,' he said.But a senior Tory source insisted that the controversy surrounding Mr Zahawi had failed to knock the Chequers summit off course. 'It was a really good meeting,' the source said. 'After dinner, everyone left with a real sense of purpose and unity, which is what we are going to need to turn things around.'The situation with Nadhim is tough. But the Prime Minister genuinely believes it is better to take the right decision rather than the convenient one, even if it takes a little longer. The review will come back and if it requires a tough decision then it will be taken.' | United Kingdom Politics |
SEOUL, South Korea -- A U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea on Thursday in a demonstration of strength against North Korea, as the North’s leader reaffirmed his push to bolster ties with Russia.
The USS Ronald Reagan and its battle group came to the southeastern South Korean port of Busan after participating in a trilateral South Korean-U.S.-Japanese maritime exercise in international waters off a southern South Korean island earlier this week, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.
The aircraft carrier is to stay in Busan until next Monday as part of a bilateral agreement to enhance “regular visibility” of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear program, according to an earlier Defense Ministry statement.
It’s the first arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier in South Korea in six months since the USS Nimitz docked at Busan in late March, the statement said.
The arrival of the USS Ronald Reagan is expected to enrage North Korea, which views the deployment of such a powerful U.S. military asset as a major security threat. When the USS Ronald Reagan staged joint military drills with South Korean forces off the Korean Peninsula's east coast in October 2022, North Korea said the carrier’s deployment was causing “considerably huge negative splash” in regional security and performed ballistic missile tests.
The U.S. carrier’s latest arrival comes as concerns grow that North Korea is pushing to get sophisticated weapons technologies from Russia in exchange for supplying ammunitions to refill Russia’s conventional arms stores exhausted by its protracted war with Ukraine. Such concerns flared after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia’s Far East last month to meet President Vladimir Putin and inspect key weapons-making facilities.
Many experts say Kim would want Russian help to build more reliable weapons systems targeting the U.S. and South Korea. Washington and Seoul have warned that Moscow and Pyongyang would pay a price if they move ahead with the speculated weapons transfer deal in breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban any weapons trading with North Korea.
On Thursday, Kim and Putin exchanged messages marking 75 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
In his message to Putin, Kim said he was “very satisfied” over “an exchange of candid and comprehensive opinions” with Putin during his Russia trip, while expressing a firm belief that bilateral ties will develop onto a new level. Kim also hoped that the Russian people would defeat “the imperialists’ persistent hegemonic policy and moves to isolate and stifle Russia,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Putin, for his part, told Kim in his message that he was satisfied with the fact that bilateral ties continue to positively develop in all aspects, KCNA said. | Asia Politics |
BUCHAREST, Aug 27 (Reuters) - One person died and 57 were injured after two explosions at a liquefied petroleum gas station in the Romanian town of Crevedia near the capital Bucharest on Saturday.
After the first explosion, the fire spread to two fuel tanks and a nearby house, leading authorities to evacuate everyone within a radius of 700 meters, while traffic on the main road nearby was blocked, according to the government's emergency response unit (IGSU).
A second explosion occurred at the LPG station on Saturday evening injuring 26 firefighters, Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat, who is in charge of the emergency response unit, told reporters.
The fire was contained by Sunday morning, and the prosecutor general has taken over the investigation.
Most of the injured were people from the services who intervened. Eight people were intubated after suffering severe burns, the government said.
"We think four of the patients will more than certainly be transferred tonight to hospitals in Italy and Belgium," Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu told reporters after an emergency meeting with the state agencies involved in handling the crisis.
Arafat said the gas station did not have authorization to operate, hotnews.ro reported.
LPG is widely used in Eastern Europe as fuel as it is significantly cheaper than gasoline or diesel.
Reporting by Marek Strzelecki and Luiza Ilie; editing by Christina Fincher, Daniel Wallis and Hugh Lawson
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Europe Politics |
Economy
Economic Collapse: What Can Other Countries Learn From Pakistan's Classic Economic Downfall?
Pakistan's economic crisis is one of the world's most unusual economic collapses. A country that is completely reliant on foreign aid and remittances from Pakistanis working abroad was doomed to fail economically.
Over the course of its history, Pakistan's manufacturing capacity has been demolished by successive governments' flawed, and erroneous policies regarding the economy and also foreign policy because the economy can not survive without sound foreign policy.
Pakistan used to act as a henchman for Western countries in order to control the Soviet Union's communist expansion, and for this Pakistan was rewarded billions of dollars during the reigns of every Pakistani general, with the majority of these rewards coming during the reigns of Zia-ul-Haq and Parvez Musharraf.
Zia was rewarded in dollars for Afghan jihad, and Musharraf was rewarded for the country's assistance during the US army's stay in Afghanistan to control Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
But, these generals never spend the majority of the funds on the welfare of the country. The majority of the funds are either laundered by generals or politicians for the purpose of expanding their properties in the United Kingdom, Canada, or Australia, or they are spent to promote state-sponsored terrorism groups fighting against India in the name of Kashmir.
The Pakistani government also takes expenses for granted which is why they become spendthrifts and spend billions for bureaucrats' welfare.
Pakistan has also adopted a policy of blackmailing the world in the name of nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation, as it is the region's only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons after the major powers.
They have digested extended funds from the International Monetary Fund 22 times, but the IMF is not in the mood to extend funds without conditions for the 23rd time. The International Monetary Fund has imposed stringent conditions in order to extend the loan, and if Pakistan fails to comply, the IMF has stated that it will not extend the loan for the 23rd time.
As a result, Pakistan is currently caught between a rock and a hard place. That is why they are knocking on the door of everyone including the Jewish Rothschild family, the religion Pakistan recognized as hostile to Pakistan's state religion because of Palestine.
Therefore, Pakistan is a one-of-a-kind case, and there is a lot to learn or avoid for countries that intend to follow the rules Pakistan devised to nearly destroy their own country.
Lessons To Learn From Pakistan's Economic Condition:
Pakistan's economy is going through history's worst economic crisis. Even now, the Pakistani government and army are providing freebies to their disciples and others only to make themselves happy.
This is one of the Pakistani government's flawed long-term and short-term policies, for which the country is now begging for money from everyone, including individuals. The Pakistani government is now requesting money from non-resident Pakistanis living abroad.
1. First Pakistani government has to take care of its fiscal management.
As previously stated, Pakistanis have a habit of wasting money on frivolous items and pointless foreign trips that serve no purpose for the welfare of the country. The Pakistani government is also providing billions of dollars in subsidies without checking the status of beneficiaries. Every government does take these kinds of publicist measures to attract voters to their flock. Therefore, Fiscal management is the paramount importance to reduce useless expenses from the country's exchequer.
2. Artificially controlled Petrol and diesel prices.
Pakistan artificially controls its energy prices by providing subsidies using the country's forex reserves. This is one of the primary causes of the country's currency depletion. Pakistan has a long history of borrowing crude from Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the name of religion; however, both of these countries have now refused to lend free crude to Pakistan.
Pakistan is like an old habit that will never die because the country has never earned a penny with dignity.
3. Building Infrastructure of no use.
The Pakistani government has never planned before constructing any projects within the country, they always blindly believed in others for their own needs. A good example is China Pakistan Economic Corridor, Pakistan took billions of dollars from China to build Power Plants without proper grid connectivity and those power plants are also not in the right place to provide electricity with greater efficiency.
4. Excessive spending in the defense sector.
Pakistan spends billions on defense, accounting for 75% of the country's budget. The defense budget in Pakistan is large because the country is run by the Pakistani army from behind the curtain. Pakistani democracy is a charade; the country's political system is basically a kleptocracy.
5. Chinese loans.
Pakistan has had a habit of playing both sides. hey play both the United States and China, and they deceive both in the name of regional support and strategic position. China invested billions of dollars in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), causing Pakistan's bilateral debt to rise to $27 billion, an enormous amount for a country like Pakistan; now, China is demanding repayment without providing debt restructuring relief.
6. Illegitimate move from infrastructure to a service-based economy
Pakistan is obsessed with India's moves, and they intend to imitate everything India does. As a result, the Pakistani government decided to shift from manufacturing, which was still in its infancy, to the service sector. Pakistan attempted to take shortcuts to earn money and failed miserably because they should have cemented their place in manufacturing quickly and then slowly shifted their focus to service. Because there is no use of service in the country if the manufacturing industry does not exist. Manufacturing is the foundation of any country's economy because it solidifies the country's economy.
7. Political chaos.
Although Pakistan is a democracy, the country is actually run by the Pakistani army rather than political leaders. Pakistani political leaders are merely the face of democracy, which is why the Army always destabilizes governments in order to promote the most amenable governments to their own agenda. As a result, the world is still witnessing the brawl between former Pakistani general Qamar Javed Bajwa and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was deliberately toppled.
8. State-Sponsored Terrorism.
Pakistan is the only country on the planet that has promoted terrorism as a state policy since its inception and continues to do so today. Pakistan promotes terrorism in the name of Kashmir to harm India, and their sponsored radicalized people travel around the world to promote terrorism. Pakistan is now on its own ball game; the Pakistani army formed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan to cause trouble for India by infiltrating Kashmir, but their plan failed miserably, and the terrorist group is now bleeding Pakistan every day. They recently attacked an Islamabad Mosque and the Karachi police headquarters.
9. Rampart Corruption.
Corruption is a common occurrence in Pakistan. Pakistani politicians, army generals, and bureaucrats are looting Pakistan every day to enrich themselves. They are building mansions and buying islands, and some are doing business in the United States after stealing from the Pakistani state.
Therefore, Pakistan's economic collapse will teach every nation on the planet to learn something and, most of the time, avoid doing things that will harm the country, as previously stated.
There is only one solution for Pakistan; Pakistani political parties must work together to find a common ground to improve the country's economy rather than engage in pointless debate, which is still prevalent even in this economic situation.
Pakistan must first obtain $1 billion from the IMF. Nonetheless, Pakistan's all-weather ally China has approved a $700 million loan, which will be transferred to the central bank this week. These kinds of moves will push Pakistan deeper into an economic crisis. | Asia Politics |
Thousands of people have died and thousands more have been injured since the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and total siege of the neighboring Gaza Strip, leaving the region on the verge of all-out war.
Click here for updates from previous days.
Latest headlines:
What we know about the conflict
The war, which has now moved into its second stage, according to Israel, has passed the one-month mark.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured since Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials. In the neighboring Gaza Strip, at least 14,854 people have been killed and 36,000 have been injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Aid workers and officials fear that Israel's call for an evacuation of the northern part of Gaza is precipitating a humanitarian disaster as electricity and other supplies have been cut off in preparation for what appears to be an imminent ground offensive.
Humanitarian groups have urged Israel to call off the evacuation and agree to a cease-fire, even as the country has asserted a right to defend itself -- a right the United States endorses.
Israel’s President Herzog to meet with Elon Musk Monday
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog is set to meet with Elon Musk on Monday afternoon, his office said Sunday.
"Against the background of the ongoing war with Hamas, President Isaac Herzog will tomorrow (Monday), meet with businessman Elon Musk, who is visiting Israel," the president's office said in a statement Sunday evening.
"[R]epresentatives of the families of hostages held by Hamas, who will speak about the horrors of the Hamas terror attack on October 7, and of the ongoing pain and uncertainty for those held captive," the statement continued. "In their meeting, the President will emphasize the need to act to combat rising antisemitism online."
The meeting will be closed to the media.
The Tesla boss also owns social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Abigail Idan’s aunt asks for privacy for the family as they reunite
Abigail Idan’s aunt, Ella Mor, has asked for privacy for the family as they reunite with the 4-year-old, who was released earlier Sunday after being held hostage since Oct. 7 by Hamas.
“She just landed in the hospital and she’s being checked and taken care of,” Mor said in the video. “I want to thank everybody for all of your love and support. It’s amazing, and thank you so much.
“I just want to say she has family, and we’re taking care of her, so don’t worry about it, and it’s very important to let her be now with the family, and no press and photographs and paparazzi,” she continued. “It’s very important for her safety and health right now, so thank you so much.”
Hamas says it would be willing to extend truce
"The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas is seeking to extend the truce after the end of the four-day period, by seriously considering increasing the number of released detainees as stated in the humanitarian truce agreement," Hamas said in a statement Sunday.
The AFP news agency reported that a source close to Hamas said the group also informed mediators of its willingness to extend the current truce.
-ABC News' Ayat Al-Tawy
Biden, Netanyahu speak about hostages, latest developments in Gaza, White House says
President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday about the latest developments in Gaza, including the release of more hostages, the White House said.
"The President welcomed the release of hostages by Hamas over the past three days, including a young American girl. The two leaders also discussed the pause in the fighting and surge in much needed additional humanitarian assistance into Gaza," the White House said.
The Israeli prime minister's office also issued a statement following their conversation, saying they spoke with "great excitement" about the hostages who were released, including 4-year-old Abigail Idan.
"What a joy to see her with us. But on the other hand, what a pity that she returns to the reality of not having parents. She has no parents -- but she has a whole nation that embraces her and we will take care of all her needs," Netanyahu's office said.
-ABC News' Justin Ryan Gomez | Middle East Politics |
In context: The sudden rise and advancement of artificial intelligence systems over the last few months have brought fears of its potentially harmful effects on society. Not only might AI threaten human jobs and creativity, but smart machines' use in warfare could have catastrophic consequences. To address this danger, the first global Summit on Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain (REAIM) was held last week, leading to countries signing an agreement to put the responsible use of AI higher on the political agenda.
Co-hosted by the Netherlands and South Korea last week at The Hague, the REAIM conference was attended by representatives from over 60 countries, including China. Ministers, government delegates, think tanks, and industry/civil organizations participated in the talks. Russia was not invited to take part, while Ukraine did not attend.
The call for action signed by all attendees apart from Israel confirmed that nations were committed to developing and using military AI in accordance with "international legal obligations and in a way that does not undermine international security, stability, and accountability."
US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Bonnie Jenkins called for the responsible use of AI in military situations. "We invite all states to join us in implementing international norms, as it pertains to military development and use of AI" and autonomous weapons, said Jenkins. "We want to emphasize that we are open to engagement with any country that is interested in joining us."
China representative Jian Tan told the summit that countries should "oppose seeking absolute military advantage and hegemony through AI" and work through the United Nations.
Other issues signatories agreed to address include the reliability of military AI, the unintended consequences of its use, escalation risks, and the way humans need to be involved in the decision-making process.
In 2019, the DoD said humans will always have the final say on whether autonomous weapons systems open fire on live targets. As for those unintended consequences mentioned in the statement, some fear India's push into AI-powered military systems could lead to a nuclear war with Pakistan through the increased risk of pre-emptive strikes.
Some attendees did note the benefits of using AI in conflict, especially in Ukraine, where machine learning and other technology has been used to fend off a larger, more powerful aggressor.
"Imagine a missile hitting an apartment building," said Dutch deputy prime minister Wopke Hoekstra. "In a split second, AI can detect its impact and indicate where survivors might be located. Even more impressively, AI could have intercepted the missile in the first place. Yet AI also has the potential to destroy within seconds."
Critics say the statement isn't legally binding and fails to address many other concerns around AI's use in military conflicts, including AI-guided drones.
More fears over AI's many potential applications in war were raised last week after Lockheed Martin revealed its new training jet was flown by artificial intelligence for over 17 hours, marking the first time that AI has been engaged in this way on a tactical aircraft. Elsewhere, former Google CEO and Alphabet chair Eric Schmidt said that artificial intelligence could have a similar effect on wars as the introduction of nuclear weapons. | Global Organizations |
Greece's conservative New Democracy are set to win Sunday's elections but are well short of the majority for an outright victory, an initial exit poll suggests.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's party is heading for 36-40% of the vote.
Predecessor Alexis Tsipras's centre-left Syriza is well behind on 25-29%.
If neither party can form a coalition then Greek voters will return to vote in a second round in early July.
Greek experts have warned that the exit polls may prove unreliable because many voters refused to reveal which party they had backed.
If the results are confirmed, Mr Tsipras may look to establish a coalition with centre-left rival Pasok, which is set to win 9.5-12.5% of the vote, according to the joint exit poll by six polling agencies.
Mr Mitsotakis's centre right has governed Greece for the past four years, and can boast that the country's growth last year was close to 6%.
However, the election campaign was overshadowed by a rail tragedy in February that killed 57 people, many of them students.
Opposition parties highlighted the disaster as a symptom of a dysfunctional state that has been pared down to the bone after years of economic crisis and under-investment.
Four years ago winning 40% of the vote was enough to secure a majority in Greece's 300-seat parliament.
Now it requires more than 45%, because the winning party is no longer entitled to a 50-seat bonus in the first round, making a second round more likely. | Europe Politics |
On the surface, Joe Biden gave Israel a clear green light to continue its military campaign in Gaza on Wednesday night, and endorsed its claim that Hamas has been using the al-Shifa hospital as a command and control headquarters.
His remarks in San Francisco after a meeting with Xi Jinping will delight Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.
But the pattern of US behaviour since the war started is to provide public support alongside private caution. Behind the scenes the tensions are escalating, and issues around the Israeli strategy are unresolved.
Indeed, the frank admission by Eli Cohen, Israel’s foreign minister, on Monday that Israel had “two to three weeks” before it faced significant diplomatic pressure for a ceasefire may prove optimistic. It is said the IDF has prepared short- and long-term campaign plans, dependent on the political environment in which they operate.
Clues that Israel is under pressure are surfacing.
In San Francisco, Biden said the Israeli modus operandi in raiding the al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza showed Israel had changed. He said: “It is a different story than I believe was occurring before, an indiscriminate bombing,” implying the US had demanded a different tactic.
Western officials continue to ask searching questions about Israel’s future strategy.
One British diplomat said: “This idea of safe zones [for Gaza civilians] makes us very leery. You have to make sure you do not put people into jeopardy by kettling them into a location. The UN is very leery about safe zones and they are 100% correct because they all remember what happened in Srebrenica, northern Iraq and Rwanda. Yes, you can put a tented camp in the left-hand corner of Gaza, 5km up the coast and 1km in, it might sound good on paper, but the reality on the ground is you cannot do that unless everyone with a gun agrees to respect it.”
Similarly, the raid on the al-Shifa hospital has not been seen in Israel and the American press as quite the slam-dunk moment Biden presented. It was high-risk and high-reward in that it would, according to Israeli claims backed up by the US, reveal Hamas had indeed been using the hospital as a command and control centre.
The Jerusalem Post analysis, broadly supported by New York Times investigations, asked how 2,000 Hamas fighters had evaporated. Saudi, UAE and Qatari diplomats all issued statements dismissing the Israeli claims.
Israel may legitimately argue it needs more time to search through a vast complex and dig deep beneath the building, but more time was the plea of UN weapons inspectors in Iraq in 2003, and eventually they drew an embarrassing blank.
Most western officials are more inclined to believe Israel rather than Hamas, and it is striking that US intelligence before the raid claimed independently that Hamas had committed a war crime by installing a command post in the hospital. But in a very polarised war, each side is going to interpret the evidence to fit their prejudices.
The US also seems unhappy with what it is hearing of Israel’s postwar plans. In an interview with the Financial Times, the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, insisted Israel could not leave a vacuum in Gaza and that this would require a very strong Israeli presence. As he was saying this, Biden was reiterating that an Israeli re-occupation of Gaza would be a very big mistake.
In New York, the US envoy to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said a sustained peace must put “Palestinian people’s voices and aspirations at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza”. She added: “It must include Palestinian-led governance, and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority. It must include a sustained mechanism for reconstruction in Gaza. And it must ensure there is no use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism or violent attacks. And it must include a pathway to a two-state solution”. That leaves the US and Israel some way apart.
In this context it is possible to see the US decision to abstain rather than veto the UN security council resolution calling for prolonged humanitarian pause on Wednesday as significant. It was the UN’s fifth attempt to reach a common position.
The US had on 18 October raised a lonely hand to veto a more ambitious Brazilian resolution on the basis that the resolution did not criticise Hamas, or assert Israel’s right to self-defence. The latest resolution, drafted by Malta, also contained no criticism of Hamas – a point the US envoy made to the security council – but the US clearly felt the climate of diplomatic and public opinion had swung against Israel enough in the past month to make a further veto inadvisable.
It was the first time the UN security council had come to a collective view on Israel and Palestine since 2016. The resolution may have been a tepid call for pauses, and one that Israel immediately rejected, but as one NGO observer said sometimes you don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.
There is a further concern; western capitals are deeply worried by the spillover effect of Gaza on the global south’s support for sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
One senior former British diplomat said this week: “There is a lot of distrust here and a suspicion amongst their leaders that when we urge them to impose sanctions, the west does not hurt that much from sanctions but they do. This I fear will get worse because of what is going on in Gaza at the moment where they believe we show double standards and give what they will see as unconditional support for Israel. So the sooner that Gaza is over the better, but I would be surprised if there are no scars from this.”
Ultimately this may come down to political calculation. Netanyahu, judging by the polls, has no option but to plough on in the hope that he can regain the mantle of Mr Security and save his job by eliminating Hamas.
But Biden, a friend of Israel but not of Netanyahu, has his own calculations to make. The US’s strength is built on the quality and range of its international alliances, the so-called “shield of the republic”. That shield is looking battered to the extent that Iran, playing a canny diplomatic game, is broadening its friendships across the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, no friends of Hamas, want this war over.
Most worrying for Joe Biden, so do the American people. A Reuters-Ipsos poll showed 68% of Americans supported a ceasefire. | Middle East Politics |
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian military commanders said Friday that their troops had recaptured more territory from Russian forces at the scene of the war’s longest and bloodiest battle, for the eastern city of Bakhmut, but it wasn’t clear if this marked the start of Kyiv’s long-expected counteroffensive.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Ukrainian forces had stepped up attacks north of the region while denying speculation by Russian military bloggers that the Kyiv forces had achieved “defense breakthroughs.”
The 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of territory that Ukrainian forces south of Bakhmut retook this week represented a significant gain and will protect an important supply chain, according to commanders of Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, a special forces unit that led the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he met with the top military commanders Friday, noting that Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi reported his forces “stopped the enemy and even pushed him back in some directions.”
In his nightly address to the Ukrainian people, Zelenskyy praised his troops and noted the low morale of the Russian forces.
“The occupiers are already mentally prepared for defeat. They have already lost this war in their minds,” he said. “We must push them every day so that their sense of defeat turns into their retreat, their mistakes, their losses.”
In a statement on Telegram on Friday, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar confirmed that Ukrainian forces gained ground around Bakhmut, reiterating statements from military commanders earlier this week.
In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. has assessed that Bakhmut remains contested territory.
“Ukrainians have not given up their defense of Bakhmut and the Russians haven’t given up their attempts to take Bakhmut,” Kirby said. “Every single day, the lines change back and forth. I mean, sometimes block by block.”
The U.S. maintains that Bakhmut has limited strategic value but that Russia has absorbed an enormous loss of troops and weaponry in the battle for the former salt-mining town that has been grinding on for eight months.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the millionaire owner of Russia’s private military contractor Wagner who is a frequent critic of the Russian military, slammed it again for losing ground around Bakhmut and exposing his forces battling for the city.
In a video statement Friday, Prigozhin mocked the Russian Defense Ministry’s report claiming that its forces regrouped to take more favorable positions, saying they effectively fled and “our flanks are crumbling.”
He warned that the Ukrainian forces have reclaimed key heights around the city and effectively unblocked the key supply link to Bakhmut. Prigozhin again accused the military leadership of refusing to provide sufficient ammunition to Wagner.
“You must immediately stop lying,” Prigozhin said, addressing Russia’s military leaders. “If you fled, you must prepare new defensive lines.”
Prigozhin — who seems to use harsh criticism to pressure the Kremlin for more support and improve his stature — alleged the Defense Ministry’s failure to protect Wagner’s flanks amounted to high treason and could result in a “great tragedy” for Russia.
Apparently denying Prigozhin’s claim of abandonment, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian airborne units are still supporting ground forces to “stop the attempts of the Ukrainian armed forces to counterattack on the flanks.”
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, explained the spat as being “reflective of increased panic in the Russian information space over speculations about planned Ukrainian counteroffensives.” This indicates increased concern among leaders of Wagner and the Russian Defense Ministry as well as “reflecting Kremlin guidance to avoid downplaying Ukrainian successes,” it said.
Ukrainian military officials have dismissed speculation that the fighting and forward movement in Bakhmut signaled that its anticipated counteroffensive was underway. Zelenskyy said in remarks broadcast Thursday that Kyiv was delaying the campaign because it lacks enough Western weapons. Some saw the comments as designed to keep Russia guessing about Ukraine’s next move.
Addressing the nation Friday evening, Zelenskyy said more arms were coming “to defeat the aggressor and restore peace.”
The territorial gains occurred near the Siversky-Donets canal, between the villages of Ivanivske and Kurdiumivka, according to a commander of the 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. He spoke on condition he be referred to only by his call sign of “Rollo,” in line with Ukrainian military protocol.
“This was the enemy’s bridgehead, which they intended to use in their future attacks along the canal, in the direction of Kostiantynivka,” he said. “We had to neutralize the enemy and push them to the other side of the canal.”
Another commander and a military spokesman corroborated his account.
Kostiantynivka is part of an important logistics chain that leads to the city of Kramatorsk.
Rollo said the gains followed other successes, including one that secured an access road near Khromove, north of Bakhmut, and another that allowed Ukrainian forces to reclaim lost positions in the Industrial College inside Bakhmut city.
The assault south of Bakhmut was followed by a reported increase in Ukrainian offensive actions near the city of Soledar on Thursday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. Russia repelled 26 Ukrainian attacks carried out by over 1,000 soldiers, the ministry said, adding that up to 40 tanks were involved.
The slow and grinding fight for Bakhmut has been costly for both sides, with Ukraine seeking to deny Russia any territorial gains despite its marginal strategic significance. Ukrainian forces are stationed in the city, while Russian troops are attacking from the north, east and south.
In other fighting, at least two people were killed and 22 injured elsewhere in the country since Thursday, according to figures from the Ukrainian President’s Office.
Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said a Russian strike hit Kramatorsk, where some Ukrainian military units are based, destroying a school and residential building. Russian shelling hit 11 cities and villages in the region, killing 12 civilians, he said.
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A Russian naval ship has been damaged in a Ukrainian naval drone attack in the Black Sea, Ukrainian sources say.
The assault reportedly occurred near the Russian port of Novorossiysk, which is a major hub for Russian exports.
Russia's defence ministry said it had repelled a Ukrainian attack on its naval base there which involved two sea drones, but did not admit any damage.
But Ukrainian security service sources say the Olenegorsky Gornyak was hit and suffered a serious breach.
They told the BBC a sea drone was carrying 450kg (992lb) of dynamite when it hit the ship.
Russia made no mention of any damage in its report of the incident.
Sea drones are small, unmanned vessels which operate on or below the water's surface.
A video sent to the BBC by a source with Ukraine's security service appears to show the drone approaching a ship thought to be the Olenegorsky Gornyak.
The footage shows a vessel travelling right up to the side of a ship before the feed cuts out, apparently on impact.
Another unverified video is thought to show the ship listing to one side.
The Olenegorsky Gornyak is a landing ship, designed to launch amphibious forces close to shore for beach landings but also to dock and quickly unload cargo at ports.
Any damage to it may interfere with Russia's efforts to resupply forces fighting in occupied southern Ukraine.
The Novorossiysk port temporarily suspended any movement of ships following the assault, according to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which loads oil on to tankers at the port.
Research by BBC Verify suggests Ukraine has carried out at least 10 attacks with sea drones - targeting military ships and Russia's naval base in Sevastopol, as well as Novorossiysk harbour in a previous attack.
This is based on announcements by Russian and Ukrainian authorities, and local media reports. Ukrainian defence sources have told CNN that sea drones had also been used in an attack on the Kerch Bridge in Crimea in July.
This is not the first time Ukraine has tried to hit the Novorossiysk port, and the reasons are obvious.
Around 1.8m barrels of oil are exported from there every day - around 2% of the global supply.
It is also an important naval base for Moscow.
Clashes in the sea have increased in recent weeks, after Russia abandoned a UN deal that enabled grain to be safely exported between Russia and Ukraine across the water.
Ukrainian ports have been pummelled by Russian drones and Kyiv seems to have been keen to respond.
It is also more willing to admit to strikes involving sea drones than the attacks seen further inside Russia.
President Zelensky has warned of the war "coming to Russia", despite suggesting a peace summit could happen "as early as the autumn".
Neither side appears overly keen to set the conditions for that.
Earlier this week, Russia attacked big Black Sea ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk, where authorities said 60,000 tonnes of grain were destroyed, as well as ports on the River Danube.
Separately on Friday, Russia also said it had downed 10 Ukrainian aerial drones over Crimea. | Europe Politics |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! It was the summer of 1979, and I was 29 years old. Laurie, my wife, and I were excited to spend two weeks exploring Spain. Our adventures led us to a medieval city nestled on the northern tip of Africa’s coast called Tétouan in Morocco. Tétouan was a city of locals, not tourists. We were walking in the marketplace — a good mixture of all ages, with little kids and older people all coming and going through the onion-shaped archway. That’s when I saw her. GOFUNDME NAMES THE MOST GENEROUS STATES AND CITIES OF 2022She was about 20 feet from us, lying flat on her stomach, belly on the ground, pulling herself across the uneven cobblestones. Her hands were dirty and bloodied, covered with cuts and open blisters. I looked at her feet, which were limp and torn. Her legs dragged behind her body as she clawed her way, inch by inch, to the edge of the street. It took me a few seconds to fully grasp this woman’s misery. Don Schoendorfer, founder of Free Wheelchair Mission, giving away the millionth wheelchair. People were spilling around her as she kept her limbs close, trying to avoid being trampled. She was almost invisible to everyone around her. The crowd was sweeping us down the street, unfazed by the woman’s plight, so we stepped back against a nearby wall. Is anybody going to do anything about this? I wondered. Is everybody just going to ignore her? "We have to do something," I said to Laurie, trying to keep my voice low so as not to draw the attention of the people hurrying by. She nodded, obviously thinking the same thing. We looked up and down the street, craning our necks to scan the shops nearby, searching for something to buy her, anything with wheels. People kept rushing past her, avoiding her as if she were somehow defiled. But before we could gather our thoughts and figure out a way to help her, she was gone. The woman had vanished into the crowd. We returned home. I continued working as a biomedical engineer, focused on raising my daughters and building my company, but the memory of that woman stuck with me. Many years later, as I walked through our living room past the eyesore of an old antique wheelchair I had collected a few years prior, I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks. My thoughts snapped back to Morocco, to that woman in the marketplace with her bloodied hands and blistered feet. How many people are there just like her in the world? I wondered. How many people could be lifted up off the ground if they only had a wheelchair? I began to do some research on wheelchairs sold in the United States. Most looked like they belonged in a hospital, not a home. I wonder if there’s a way to make a wheelchair look more like a living room chair, only with wheels, I thought. Don Schoendorfer, founder of Free Wheelchair Mission, authored the new book, "Miracle Wheels: The Story of a Mission to Bring Mobility to the World." I didn’t know much about how to build a wheelchair. By definition, I knew that I needed two wheels and a chair, at the very minimum. I began sketching out designs for a prototype that would be durable yet lightweight, easy to produce, and affordable to transport. Several materials crossed my mind: steel, metal, and plastic. But for the longest time, I was stuck. I kept asking myself, What’s the least expensive, most durable chair in the world? We were approaching the end of lawn-furniture season in California when the answer suddenly came out of the blue. The white resin lawn chair. Many years later, as I walked through our living room past the eyesore of an old antique wheelchair I had collected a few years prior, I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks. My thoughts snapped back to Morocco, to that woman in the marketplace with her bloodied hands and blistered feet. How many people are there just like her in the world? I wondered. How many people could be lifted up off the ground if they only had a wheelchair? They were all around me, these chairs — scattered across backyards, patios, and pools. They were easy to clean and remarkably inexpensive to buy, especially in the fall. I was excited at the prospect of designing a wheelchair from a white resin lawn chair. Tinkering in my garage, it wasn’t long before I’d built the first 100 of what we now call "GEN_1" wheelchairs. In 2001, our humanitarian nonprofit, Free Wheelchair Mission, was born. CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER This name, we believed, would best help us communicate to the world our mission and values. We were on a mission to make sure everyone who needed a wheelchair had one. And we wanted to give our wheelchairs away for free. There was never a desire to sell them, even inexpensively. Don Schoendorfer, founder of Free Wheelchair Mission, assembles one of the more than 1 million chairs he has donated. Over the past two decades, Free Wheelchair Mission has distributed wheelchairs to over 1.3 million people living in 94 countries across five continents. But our work is far from over. Right now, there are still an estimated 75 million people worldwide who need a wheelchair. Many are forced to live on the ground, or be carried wherever they go, or live in isolation. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe loss of mobility changes everything. But the gift of mobility also changes everything. It transforms not only the lives of people living with disabilities but also their families, caregivers, and whole communities. That’s why I tell our story in my new book "Miracle Wheels: The Story of a Mission to Bring Mobility to the World," not only to share with you my journey to find purpose but also to encourage you to find purpose in your own journey by helping others in need. Dr. Don Schoendorfer is a biomedical engineer, inventor, entrepreneur and humanitarian who lives in Santa Ana, California. Armed with an undergraduate degree from Columbia University and a PhD in mechanical engineering from MIT, Don spent nearly 25 years in the medical device industry, designing cutting-edge innovations resulting in more than 60 patents to his name. | Human Rights |
The state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch whose rule spanned seven decades, is taking place in London. Read the Order of Service. The Queen died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96, prompting an outpouring of grief across the UK and around the world. King Charles III, the late monarch’s son and heir, will be joined by the rest of the royal family and leaders from across the world for the service. The Queen will be buried later in Windsor. See the funeral route here. (James Manning/Pool via Reuters) Princess Anne, one of Elizabeth II’s four children, is now following the Queen’s hearse to Windsor in a car. Anne is the only child to accompany every leg of the Queen’s final journey from Balmoral Castle in Scotland since the monarch’s death on September 8. The journey of the Queen’s hearse to Windsor is now underway along the crowd-lined streets of central London. Some onlookers have thrown flowers towards the vehicle as it passes. Many are standing in silence, while others can be heard cheering for Elizabeth II one last time. The hearse will travel along main roads rather than motorways, presumably to give more people a chance to glimpse the coffin. The route has been closed for the procession. The Queen’s coffin has been carried into the state hearse, and it will now be driven in procession through west London and to Windsor for her burial. (David Ramos/Getty Images) The royal cortege has now arrived at Wellington Arch. Here, the parade will perform a royal salute and the British national anthem will be played before the hearse departs for Windsor and the Queen’s burial. Once it has left, the King and Queen Consort, the Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the royal family will leave by car. After the procession leaves, the bells at Westminster will ring fully muffled for the afternoon – a convention that only happens following the funeral of a sovereign. The muffled bongs are achieved by attaching leather patches that dull the sound of each bell, called muffles – a centuries-old tradition. (Jason Cairnduff/Reuters) As the Queen’s lengthy funeral procession snakes towards Wellington Arch, minute guns have been fired from London’s Hyde Park. (Andrew Boyers/Reuters) Onlookers lining the Mall are watching as the Queen’s lengthy and impressive funeral procession makes its way towards Wellington Arch. The procession features a vast display of British and Commonwealth forces. Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin, followed by her family, have already turned around the Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace and are approaching Wellington Arch. There, the coffin will be moved to the state hearse and driven to Windsor for the burial. Hundreds of people gathered outside Belfast City Hall in Northern Ireland on Monday to watch the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on big screens. Some mourners sat on blankets or folding chairs while others stood on the grass outside the civic building in the Northern Irish capital as they watched the service. Military veterans wearing medals and children playing made up the diverse crowd, according to UK’s PA Media news agency, with a solemn silence as the service drew to its end and God Save the King was played. The Books of Condolence at Belfast City Hall will remain open until 8 p.m. local time [3 p.m. ET] on Monday evening, according to Belfast City Council. Members of the public have also been leaving floral tributes in the Garden of Remembrance. (Hafsa Khalil/CNN) Standing by the Mall in central London, where the procession with the Queen’s coffin will pass by on its way to Windsor, Jan Gard, 68, said the funeral service had brought up a flurry of emotions for her. First, there was sadness over the Queen’s death, and then the poignant symbolism of the funeral crowd singing the British national anthem ‘God Save the King,’ as Charles III has become the new monarch. The service “was beautiful because she (the Queen) was Christian and she served God and her people,” Gard said. She added that when she saw the Queen’s coffin on the livestream, “it really hit me. I was born the year of her coronation and so it means something to me.” (John Sibley/Reuters) The Queen’s coffin has set off for Wellington Arch, where it will be transferred to the state hearse and driven to Windsor for a committal service at St. George’s Chapel this afternoon. The route from Westminster Abbey is lined by the Armed Forces all the way to the top of Constitution Hill. The procession is being led by Mounties of Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and followed by representatives of the George Cross foundations from Malta, the former Royal Ulster Constabulary, as well as representatives from the United Kingdom’s National Health Service – including May Parsons, the nurse who administered the first Covid-19 vaccine. Detachments from the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth are also in the procession, followed by detachments of the British Armed Forces who hold the privilege of a special relationship with the Queen, including mounted elements of the Household Cavalry. (Hannah McKay/Pool/Reuters) King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort, are leading the royal family on a somber walk behind the Queen’s coffin. Many guests at the funeral stooped their heads as the family passed. The coffin has now left the Abbey and will move towards London’s Wellington Arch. Outside, troops in formation salute the procession. (Phil Noble/Pool/Reuters) The card placed on top of the Queen’s coffin, alongside the flowers, reads: “In loving and devoted memory. Charles R.” (Jack Hill/Pool via Reuters) The funeral for Queen Elizabeth II has concluded and the late monarch’s coffin is now being carried out of Westminster Abbey. It will proceed through London to Wellington Arch, from where the Queen will make her final journey, towards Windsor, to be buried. The Queen’s Piper, Warrant Officer Class 1 (Pipe Major) Paul Burns, is playing the traditional piece “Sleep, dearie, sleep” inside Westminster Abbey. The Queen’s coffin will soon be carried out of the abbey. The British national anthem, “God Save the King,” has been sung inside Westminster Abbey to bring the Queen’s funeral to a close. Outside the abbey, applause broke out on the Mall – the road which links Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square – after the national anthem ended. Some people were seen climbing on bollards there to get a better view of the road. (Marko Djurica/Pool/Reuters) A two-minute silence in honor of the Queen has begun at Westminster Abbey and across the country. It follows a rendition of “The Last Post,” a short fanfare played at remembrance services and military funerals. The crowds outside Westminster Abbey have paused to stand in silence, alongside mourners inside the building. The Dean is pronouncing the blessing, as Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral service draws towards a close. “God grant to the living grace; to the departed rest; to the Church, The King, the Commonwealth, and all people, peace and concord, and to us sinners, life everlasting; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen,” he read. The choir and congregation is now singing the third hymn – Love divine, all loves excelling – which is a Welsh tune, and was also performed in 2011 the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey. The arrangement is by James O’Donnell, a former organist at the abbey. An anthem – composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams for the Queen’s Coronation in 1953 – is being sung by the choir. It follows a number of prayers that were read in honor of the late monarch. The choir sings: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Alleluia! Amen. (Gareth Fuller/Pool Photo via AP) The Queen was consulted on the Order of Service for her funeral over many years, according to Buckingham Palace. The Dean of Westminster prepared the Order of Service in conjunction with Lambeth Palace, which is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The King’s Master of Music, Judith Weir, composed a new piece of choral music for the state funeral service, called ‘Like as the Hart,’ according to Buckingham Palace. It is being sung by the Choirs of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal of St. James’s Palace. The second hymn “The Lord’s my Shepherd” was sung to the Crimond tune. The tune hails back to a parish in Aberdeenshire, not far from Balmoral Castle in Scotland where the Queen died. The hymn was also sung at the Queen’s wedding to Prince Philip, and according to Buckingham Palace, the young Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret summoned the Master of Choristers to the Palace in the lead-up to the day, so that they could sing him the descant that would be used. The same descant was sung at the state funeral, Buckingham Palace said. Queen Elizabeth’s broadcast during the Covid-19 lockdowns ended with “We will meet again,” Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby reminded mourners as he wrapped up his sermon in Westminster Abbey. “We will all face the merciful judgement of God. We can all share the Queen’s hope which in life and death inspired her servant leadership,” he said. “Service in life, hope in death; all who follow the Queen’s example and inspiration of trust and faith in God can with her say: ‘we will meet again.’” That concluded Welby’s sermon. (Ben Stansall/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) “In 1953 the Queen began her coronation in silent prayer just there, at the high altar,” the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in his sermon at Westminster Abbey. “Her allegiance to God was given before any person gave allegiance to her,” he continued. “Her service to so many people in this nation, the Commonwealth and the world had its foundation in her following Christ.” “In all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered, when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten,” Welby continued. “The grief of this day, felt not only by the late Queen’s family but all round the nation, the Commonwealth and the world, arises from her abundant life and loving service – now gone from us.” “And we pray today especially for all her family, grieving as every family at a funeral, including so many families around the world who have themselves lost someone recently,” he added. “But in this family’s case, doing so in the brightest spotlight.” Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is delivering the sermon, following a rendition of the hymn, The Lord’s My Shepherd. “Come holy spirit, and fill our hearts with the balm of your healing love. Amen,” he said. “The pattern for many leaders is to be exalted in life and forgotten after death. The pattern for all who serve God famous or obscure respected or ignored, is that death is the door to glory. “Her Majesty famously declared on a 21st birthday broadcast, that her whole life would be dedicated to serving the nation and Commonwealth. Rarely has such a promise being so well kept, few leaders receive the outpouring of love that we have seen,” Welby continued. (Hafsa Khalil/CNN) Donned in a black and white feathered hat and in a hand-sewn pearl button suit, Pearly Queen Michelle Thorpe, 55, said she decided to come to the Mall – which links Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square – as she loves Queen Elizabeth II. The Pearly King and Queens are an instantly recognizable London institution dating back 150 years. They evolved from Coster Kings and Queens, who were elected as leaders of London’s street traders, according to their website. Traditionally, each Pearlie sews their own pearl button suit before being crowned, often decorated with family symbols: a heart for charity, a horseshoe for luck, for example. Next to Thorpe is her husband is Jimmy Jukes, in a similarly ornate outfit as he is a Pearlie King. “My favorite memory was receiving my MBE [Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire] from Her Majesty The Queen in Buckingham palace in 2015,” he said. “We’re here for our affection for the Queen and say goodbye for the final time.” (Phil Noble/Pool/Reuters) Liz Truss, the UK prime minister, is reading the second lesson from John 14: 1–9. Truss has been in the job less than two weeks; she met the Queen two days before the monarch’s death to formally take up the role, in what would be the Elizabeth II’s final act of official service. Her reading follows a rendition by the choir by Judith Weir, Master of the King’s Music. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you,” Truss reads. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. “Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” (Peter Cziborra/Reuters) You could hear a pin drop on the Mall in central London as silence descended at the start of the Queen’s funeral in Westminster Abbey. While there are no screens, hundreds of mourners are able to hear a radio broadcast of the funeral. People are standing still, gazes lowered. Some are staring into the distance as the broadcast pipes the singing choir in Westminster Abbey. Before the broadcast, 11-year-old Carly Orton from Buckinghamshire said despite not being able to see anything, “I wanted to experience the crowds and it’s been amazing so far.” Left to right: Kindarti, Maya Orton and Carly Orton (Hafsa Khalil/CNN) She came with her mother Maya Orton, 42, and family friend Kindarti, 40. “I’ve been to all the events like the platinum jubilee and I’m glad I can pay my respects to the Queen,” Kindarti told CNN. Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland is reading a lesson. Formally known as Baroness Scotland, she was Attorney General under Tony Blair for three years – the first woman to hold the post. The reading is from 1 Corinthians 15: “Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming,” she reads. “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. The opening hymn, The Day Thou Gavest, Lord Is Ended, is sung by mourners inside the Abbey including King Charles III and the Queen’s relatives. Those present sing: “The day thou gavest, Lord, is endedthe darkness falls at thy behest,to thee our morning hymns ascended,thy praise shall sanctify our rest.We thank thee that thy Church unsleeping,while earth rolls onward into light,through all the world her watch is keeping,and rests not now by day or night.As o’er each continent and islandthe dawn leads on another day,the voice of prayer is never silent,nor dies the strain of praise away,The sun that bids us rest is wakingour brethren ‘neath the western sky,and hour by hour fresh lips are makingthy wondrous doings heard on high.So be it, Lord; thy throne shall never,like earth’s proud empires, pass away;thy kingdom stands, and grows for ever,till all thy creatures own thy sway.” The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle MBE, Dean of Westminster, is opening the Queen’s funeral service with a bidding. “In grief and also in profound thanksgiving we come to this House of God, to a place of prayer, to a church where remembrance and hope are sacred duties,” he said. “Here, where Queen Elizabeth was married and crowned, we gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God, our maker and redeemer.” “With gratitude we remember her unswerving commitment to a high calling over so many years as Queen and Head of the Commonwealth,” he said. “With admiration we recall her life-long sense of duty and dedication to her people. With thanksgiving we praise God for her constant example of Christian faith and devotion. With affection we recall her love for her family and her commitment to the causes she held dear.” “Now, in silence, let us in our hearts and minds recall our many reasons for thanksgiving, pray for all members of her family, and commend Queen Elizabeth to the care and keeping of almighty God.” (Hannah McKay/Pool/Reuters) King Charles is wearing a Royal Navy no. 1 tailcoat with a sword. His military uniform includes the following medals: Queen’s Service Order (New Zealand) Coronation Medal Silver Jubilee Medal Golden Jubilee Medal Diamond Jubilee Medal Platinum Jubilee Medal Naval Long Service Good Conduct Canadian Forces Decoration The New Zealand Commemorative Medal The New Zealand Armed Forces Award. (Jack Hill/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) A choir sings as Elizabeth II’s coffin is carried down the aisle of Westminster Abbey. King Charles III, Princes Andrew and Edward, and Princess Anne are following their mother towards the front of the abbey. They are joined by several of the Queen’s other descendants, including Princes William and Harry. Camilla, the Queen Consort, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, The Duke of Kent and Prince Michael of Kent have joined the royal procession behind the coffin as it makes it way through the abbey. Watch the moment here: The Queen’s coffin is being carried into Westminster Abbey after a short procession from the Westminster Hall, where it lay in state. Elizabeth II’s funeral service is beginning. Waiting for the Queen’s coffin in Parliament Square is a tri-service honor guard of three officers and 53 rank-and-file from each service with colours draped. It is accompanied by a Band of the Royal Marines with Drums draped and muffled. In a few moments, the coffin will enter Westminster Abbey and the service will begin The State Gun Carriage carrying the Queen to Westminster Abbey has a fascinating history. In the care of the Royal Navy since 1901, it was removed from active service for Queen Victoria’s funeral. It has also been used for the funerals of several other monarchs, including those of King Edward VII, King George V and King George VI. It also featured in the funerals of the Queen’s first prime minister, Winston Churchill, and her cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten. In keeping with tradition, the gun carriage is being drawn by 142 Royal Naval Ratings, who are service personnel. It is flanked by the bearer party, pallbearers made up of the Queen’s service equerries, as well as detachments of the King’s Body Guards of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, The Yeomen of the Guard and the Royal Company of Archers. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters) King Charles III is leading the royal family on foot behind the Queen’s coffin. In a similar formation to that we saw when the coffin was conveyed to Westminster Hall last week, the King is walking in a line with his siblings, Princess Anne and the Princes Andrew and Edward. Behind them is William, Prince of Wales, Harry, the Duke of Sussex and Peter Phillips, the son of Princess Anne. They are followed by Anne’s husband, Vice Admiral Tim Laurence, the Queen’s cousin, the Duke of Gloucester and the Queen’s nephew the Earl of Snowdon. Staff from the household of the King and Prince of Wales are bringing up the rear. There is an incredible military presence in the royal procession. Flanking the Queen’s coffin is the bearer party, which is founded by the Queen’s Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, and 10 pallbearers made up of former equerries to the Queen, as well as detachments of the King’s Body Guards of the Honourable Crops of Gentlemen at Arms, The Yeomen of the Guard and the Royal Company of Archers. The procession is being led by 200 musicians: A massed Pipes & Drums of Scottish and Irish Regiments, the Brigade of Gurkhas, and the Royal Air Force. Directly behind the coffin is the King and members of the royal family and the King’s Household. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters) The Queen’s coffin is being taken in a procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey on the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy. The coffin is draped with the Royal Standard, and the Instruments of State – the Imperial State Crown and regalia – are laid upon it along with a flower wreath. The wreath – which has been made in a sustainable manner – contains flowers and foliage cut from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Highgrove House at the request of King Charles III. It sits in a nest of English moss and oak branches. The flowers included are: scented pelargoniums; garden roses; autumnal hydrangea; sedum; dahlias; and scabious. They are all in shades of gold, pink and deep burgundy, with white elements to reflect the Royal Standard. The foliage that has been included in the wreath was selected for its symbolism – rosemary (for remembrance), myrtle (an ancient symbol of a happy marriage), and English oak (symbolic of the strength of love). The myrtle was cut from a plant grown from a sprig of myrtle that featured in the Queen’s wedding bouquet when she married Prince Philip in 1947. The Queen’s coffin has been placed on the State Gun Carriage, and the procession that will take the late monarch to Westminster Abbey has begun. The Queen’s four children, including King Charles III, are following her coffin on foot. Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin has been lifted from the catafalque in Westminster Hall, where the late monarch has been lying in state, and will now make its way towards Westminster Abbey. The bearer party carrying the coffin is founded by the Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. As monarch, Elizabeth II held the position of Company Commander of the Grenadier Guards’ Queen’s Company, making a personal review of the unit once every decade. “Their 12 very best soldiers will have been selected to provide the bearer party at Her Majesty’s funeral,” the British Army’s website said. Elizabeth II has been lying inside Westminster Hall since Wednesday, and mourners have been constantly filing through the building to pay their final respects. (Joe Maher/Getty Images) King Charles III’s car is on the way to Westminster Hall, where the new monarch will grieve his mother as he follows her coffin. Meanwhile, cars taking other members of the royal family to Westminster Abbey have also departed Buckingham Palace. Some members of the Queen’s family, including her four children and Princes William and Harry, two of her grandchildren, will walk behind her coffin as it moves from the hall towards the abbey for the funeral. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters) Liz Truss, Britain’s new prime minister, has arrived at Westminster Abbey, shortly after the other people to have held the post walked down the aisle. Truss met Queen Elizabeth II just two days before she died, to formally take up the role. Before her arrival, Tony Blair, Boris Johnson, David Cameron, Theresa May, Gordon Brown and John Major – all the living people to have previously occupied Downing Street – took their seats. (Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images) Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, have now taken their place inside Westminster Abbey. (Phil Noble/Pool/Reuters) US President Joe Biden has stepped out of his car and entered Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s funeral. He walked into the church hand-in-hand with first lady Jill Biden. Troops march through London before the beginning of the funeral. MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images A procession of members of Britain’s armed forces is underway in London, as the start of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral nears. The Royal Navy, Air Force and the Yeoman of the Guard at Westminster Abbey are among those represented. Elizabeth II’s coffin will soon be removed from Westminster Hall and be carried towards the Abbey for the funeral service. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan said Queen Elizabeth II was “symbolically queen of the world,” as royals from across the globe descend on London for her funeral. Speaking outside Buckingham Palace on Sunday, Rania told CNN’s Becky Anderson that Queen Elizabeth was “public service personified.” “She is a woman who pledged her life to the service of her people, and for 70 years never once fell short of that promise,” she continued. “(She) was the queen of England, but she’s also symbolically queen of the world. She means something to all of us.” Queen Rania is in London along with her husband, King Abdullah II, to attend Queen Elizabeth’s funeral and meet with King Charles III. She told CNN that Elizabeth II’s advice to her when she was beginning her reign was to “always be there” and have ”a sense of duty and discipline.” Referencing the queues and the atmosphere around the UK, the Jordanian Queen remarked on how the British people have responded to her passing. “It’s been a rough couple of years for the UK … trying to negotiate a deal with Europe post Brexit, a pandemic, the cost of living, inflation, it has been tough. But I’ve never sensed the sense of togetherness that I feel today in the UK. She was a unifying force during her lifetime, but she is also unifying in her passing.” She said King Charles III has a “deep respect for what is tradition and custom … but he’s also embracing of the future and of change and of everything new. Her Majesty was like that as well. She was always a reminder of where you came from, but also where you’re going.” On Charles III’s relationship with the Middle East, Queen Rania told CNN he has “a deep understanding of our region, a deep respect. “He’s a very wise man. I have no doubt in my mind how much he will enhance relations not just with our world, but every part of the world.” Watch the interview here: CNN Kieran Feetham and his family arrived at the Mall, near Buckingham Palace, at around 6 a.m. local time on Monday morning so that they could “be a part of history.” After the funeral service at Westminster Abbey, a procession will set off for London’s Wellington Arch and will pass through the Mall, which links Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square. “The Queen has been a constant for us, she is the Queen … everyone around the world knows who that is when you mention her,” Feetham’s wife, Sarah, 38, told CNN. Their 8-year-old son, Leo, said he would much “rather be here than at school.” Everyone in their group shared anecdotes about why the Queen was important to them. Linda Coombe, 68, remembered “seeing the Queen in a car when I was a little girl when she visited Cornwall.” People queue to pay their respects to Britain's Queen Elizabeth in London on September 18. (Marko Djurica/Reuters) Perhaps the most enduring image of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing was “The Queue” – a miles-long line of mourners who waited to see the late monarch’s coffin and captured the imagination of the nation in the process. At times, the queue stretched for more than four miles through London and the waiting time was frequently well over 12 hours. The Queen’s lying-in-state ended earlier on Monday morning, and the final person admitted to Westminster Hall told PA Media news agency: “I was the last person to pay my respects to the Queen and it felt like a real privilege to do that. “I’d already been round once, I went in at 1.15 this morning,” Chrissy Heerey said. “It’s one of the highlights of my life and I feel very privileged to be here,” she added. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II photographed at Windsor Castle in Windsor in May. (Ranald Mackechnie/Buckingham Palace/Associated Press) Beaming at the camera, a joyous Queen Elizabeth II smiles in a new photograph released by Buckingham Palace on the eve of her state funeral. The photograph was taken back in May ahead of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations at Windsor Castle. Ahead of the service, King Charles III thanked the public for their support and messages of condolence since the death of his mother. The new monarch said he and wife, Camilla, the Queen Consort had been “moved beyond measure” by the public outpouring of love and affection seen during the couple’s tour of the nations that make up the United Kingdom over the last week. Meanwhile, the Queen Consort paid tribute to the late monarch in a televised message on Sunday, saying she will always remember the Queen’s “unforgettable” smile. In a 3-minute video, interlaced with archive footage of the Elizabeth II, Camilla praised the Queen for “carving her own role” as a “solitary woman” in a male-dominated world of international politics. “She’s been part of our lives forever. I’m 75 now and I can’t remember anyone except the Queen being there,” the Queen Consort said. US President Joe Biden, watched by first lady Jill Biden, signs a book of condolence at Lancaster House in London on September 18. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images) As Britain mourns, America’s “special relationship” with its one-time colonial master completes another cycle of its enduring life. US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived in Britain Saturday, visiting Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin as she lay in state in the ancient Westminster Hall the following day. They later attended a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by King Charles III and the Queen Consort. Paying tribute to the Queen earlier last week, Biden told King Charles III his mother helped strengthen their nation’s bonds, her “dignity and constancy deepened the enduring friendship and special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.” It is perhaps no surprise she did; her reign was born in the prime of that “special relationship.” It was the UK’s wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s insistent trans-Atlantic diplomacy that helped win American support for Britain in World War II. In his famous “special relationship” speech in Missouri on March 5, 1946, six years before Princess Elizabeth would become Queen, Churchill suggested a creed for the nations: “Here is the message of the British and American people to mankind. Let us preach what we practice – let us practice what we preach.” The Queen would live Churchill’s words to the letter, and significantly he would be her first and formative prime minister. She would later see in another 14, although none with a reputation quite as fearsome as his. In 1946 Churchill arguably laid the groundwork for decades of close cooperation, from trying Nazi war criminals, to global peacekeeping duties, to standing alongside America after al Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks. The relationship worked both ways; President Bill Clinton helped the Queen’s government establish peace in Northern Ireland in 1998, a peace that Queen Elizabeth worked tirelessly to strengthen. During his phone call last week President Biden “conveyed his wish to continue a close relationship with the King.” People assemble on the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace ahead of the Queen's funeral. After the service, the sovereign's flag-draped coffin will travel by hearse down the Mall to her final resti | United Kingdom Politics |
US and Western officials are being careful not to weigh in on the events unfolding in Russia because of how Russian President Vladimir Putin could weaponize any perceived involvement by the west in the escalating crisis, sources familiar with the administration’s thinking told CNN.
Officials across the administration convened emergency meetings on Friday night to assess the events, which unfolded so quickly that they caught US and European officials off guard, the sources said. Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the private Wagner military group, vowed Friday to retaliate against Russian military leadership over an alleged strike on a Wagner military camp and has since claimed control of military facilities in two Russian cities.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s office confirmed Saturday that he spoke with officials from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and the European Union.
During the discussion, “Secretary Blinken reiterated that support by the United States for Ukraine will not change,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, adding that the US “will stay in close coordination” with Western officials.
Britain, meanwhile, held a meeting of its emergency government task force to discuss the unfolding events, a UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson told CNN.
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stalled earlier this year, US officials determined last year that there was an internal power struggle underway between the Wagner group and the Russian government, CNN previously reported. However, US and European intelligence officials did not predict that Prigozhin would move to storm the Russian region of Rostov with his forces, according to sources familiar with the intelligence.
“It’s so hard to tell how much was talk and how much was real,” one of the sources told CNN. “The tension had been building for so long without anything actually happening.”
On Friday, Prigozhin, once an ally of Putin, accused Russia’s military leadership of killing a “huge amount” of his mercenary forces in a strike on a Wagner camp – which the Russian Ministry of Defense has denied – and vowed to retaliate. Prigozhin also claimed that Moscow invaded Ukraine under false pretenses devised by the Russian Ministry of Defense, and that Russia is actually losing ground on the battlefield.
After swiftly claiming control of military facilities in two Russian cities, Prigozhin has warned that his troops would head to Moscow. In response, Putin has vowed to punish the “armed uprising.”
A European intelligence official told CNN that the “temperature had obviously been building,” but few could have predicted what Prigozhin was planning. The official said the West will be watching how this plays out in the next 24 to 48 hours, after which supply shortages will likely start kicking in for Wagner forces.
It is not clear to US or European officials how far in advance Prigozhin was planning the rebellion. One source familiar with Western intelligence said it appeared that it must have taken at least several days to organize. Another source, however, noted that Rostov is very close to the frontlines in Ukraine so it may not have required much forethought.
“Russia’s weakness is obvious. Full-scale weakness,” Zelensky said in a tweet. “And the longer Russia keeps its troops and mercenaries on our land, the more chaos, pain, and problems it will have for itself later.”
CNN’s Lauren Kent, Mariya Knight, Rob Picheta, Simone McCarthy, Tara John, Katharina Krebs, Josh Pennington, Uliana Pavlova, Helen Regan, Andrew Raine, Sophie Tanno, Hafsa Khalil, Tori B. Powell and Adrienne Vogt contributed to this report. | Europe Politics |
Sierra Leone police arrest senior military officers over plot to undermine democracy
Sierra Leonean authorities have arrested high-ranking military officials following credible intelligence that they were working to undermine the nation’s democracy and plotting to unleash violence on its citizens.
“In that regard, several arrests have been made and the suspects are assisting the police with the investigations,” reads a statement released on Monday by the police headquarters in Freetown, Sierra Leone, located on George street.
The arrests were made by the police to prevent President Julius Maada Bio’s democratically elected government from being overthrown, as happened last week in the Republic of Niger when President Mohamed Bazoum was deposed by a military coup.
The suspects had intended to cause disruption across the country under the pretexts of upcoming protests, according to information uncovered by the police.
“Preliminary investigations have revealed that these individuals planned to use purported peaceful protests between 7th to 10th August 2023, as a guise to unleash violent attacks against state institutions and peaceful citizens,” the statement reads.
“Despite continued efforts to consolidate our hard won peace and democratic gains, there are individuals at home and abroad that continue to undertake actions meant to derail the peace and tranquility of the country,” the Sierra Leonean police asserted but assured the nation’s security sector had the situation under control.
Relations among member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have become sharply divided after Burkina Faso and Mali forged an alliance with Niger Republic and have turned to Russia for assistance in providing weapons to fend off attacks from the military intervention ECOWAS has planned in retaking Niger from the junta.
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“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”
The reason for the accident was unclear.
He also warned against violence, saying the police will not tolerate any act that threatens the peace and well-being of the country.
He also argued that the Electoral Act did not mandate the use of IREV, only that of BVAS machine.
Mr Ogundeyi said that the suspect was charged to court on Monday and remanded at the Ikoyi custodial facility.
I can be Nigeria’s president with two credit passes, Tinubu’s ministerial nominee Mohammed tells Senate
“So, I didn’t bother you with many certificates, but I know I have the qualification for that,” Bello Mohammed told the Senate. | Africa politics |
North Korea has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Japan's government has said.
The defence ministry confirmed it was launched on Saturday, flew for 66 minutes and landed in the Sea of Japan.
It comes after Pyongyang showed off its massive military might in a parade that included more than a dozen ICBMs.
On Friday, North Korea threatened to unleash an "unprecedentedly strong" retaliation to any military drills between South Korea and the US.
The annual springtime exercises, which are due to start next month, are designed to help fend off North Korea's increasing nuclear threats. But Pyongyang has long insisted the drills are in preparation to invade North Korea.
Saturday's missile, which is the first to be launched since new year's day, splashed down west of Hokkaido, in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) at 18:27 (09:27 GMT), Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said. An EEZ is an area of the sea that a country has jurisdiction over. Japan's is a 200-nautical mile area off its coast.
It landed some 900km (560 miles) away, and reached an altitude of 5,700km, government spokesperson Hirokazu Matsuno said in Tokyo. While that is incredibly high - the edge of space is about 100km - it is not the highest a North Korean missile has flown.
ICBMs are particularly worrying because of their long range, including mainland United States.
Japan's Defence Minister Hamada Yasukazu said Saturday's missile would have been able to do this, with a possible range of 14,000km.
"This series of actions by North Korea threatens the peace and stability of Japan and the international community, and is absolutely unforgivable," Mr Matsuno said.
South Korea's military reported the missile was launched from the Sunan district, north of Pyongyang, where the international airport is located. It is also where North Korea has launched most of its recent ICBM tests.
North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes are banned by the UN Security Council. But this has not stopped Pyongyang from continuing with its weapons development, and holding elaborate military parades to show them off.
Just over a week ago, Pyongyang showed off its largest display ever of intercontinental ballistic missiles in a midnight military parade which was attended by leader Kim Jong-un. | Asia Politics |
The main opposition leader in Seychelles, Patrick Herminie, has been charged with witchcraft, along with seven others.
Police say the case is related to the discovery of two bodies exhumed from a cemetery on the island of Mahé.
He has denied the charges, telling local media that his prosecution is a "political show" to taint his image.
Mr Herminie plans to run in the 2025 presidential election under the banner of the United Seychelles Party (USP).
A magistrates court on Monday freed him and six of his Seychellois co-accused on bail of 30,000 Seychelles rupees ($2,100; £1,745), but ruled that a Tanzanian suspect should stay in custody until the next court appearance in November.
Mr Herminie and his co-accused face several charges, including possession of items intended for use in witchcraft, conspiracy to perform witchcraft and procuring services related to witchcraft, according to local media reports.
Prosecutors allege that the opposition leader's name appeared in a WhatsApp message between a Seychellois national and the Tanzanian suspect, who was arrested on 21 September at the main international airport.
The Tanzanian was found with items related to witchcraft, including stones, black wooden artefacts, small bottles of brownish liquid, a collection of powders, and documents with strange language and "demonic and satanic" symbols, they said.
The documents were similar to those found in Catholic churches and other places that had been vandalised in Mahé, Seychelles' largest island, prosecutors further alleged.
Mr Herminie, who served as the speaker of Seychelles' parliament between 2007 and 2016, told local media that more than 40 police officers had raided his party's offices in the capital, Victoria, on Friday.
He added that the officers searched for items related to witchcraft, including "bones, body parts, and objects associated with Christianity" but did not find any.
Mr Herminie described his arrest as "a political show" by President Wavel Ramkalawan to "eliminate those who he knows will remove him from power in the 2025 elections", the Seychelles News Agency reported.
President Ramkalawan has not commented on the case.
Mr Herminie has said he does not believe in witchcraft.
"In Seychelles' history, there has never been until now, a political party leader arrested for superstition and witchcraft. This is something new and it is shameful for Seychelles," he was quoted as saying. | Africa politics |
Hundreds of Afghans who risked their lives to work with the UK in Afghanistan and fled the Taliban are now stuck in neighbouring Pakistan as they wait to be relocated to the UK.
Some have told the BBC their days are spent living in fear, as Pakistan starts a crackdown on migrants without visas after cross-border tensions rose.
Marzia was an English teacher for the British council. She is heavily pregnant and has been waiting for a UK visa for eight months.
"My physical and mental health are not good," she says.
"When the Taliban government took over Afghanistan our life was in danger because of the work that we did for UK government. We had to live in hiding."
Marzia is just one of many Afghans who worked for or with the UK in some capacity before foreign forces hastily withdrew when the Taliban retook power in 2021. Others are former translators for the British army, people who worked on British led projects to encourage democracy and equality in Afghanistan - all told they qualify for the UK government's resettlement schemes. All are in Pakistan because the UK government asked them to come so they could process their visas.
Some have been here for months, others for more than a year, as they wait for news of a new life in the UK. And while they wait, they have no legal access to an education or work.
Most we spoke to didn't want to be quoted. Those who did asked for anonymity; we have changed their names. Many told us they were afraid there could be repercussions for their case, or that they or their family back in Afghanistan could be in targeted by the Taliban. The Taliban government has said there is an amnesty for former Afghan government soldiers, contractors and translators who worked for international forces.
Marzia says her passport was taken by the UK authorities on her arrival and that the visa she arrived in Pakistan on has run out.
In late September she says she was told by her caseworker at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) - her point of contact in Pakistan - that she should not leave her guest house.
It's meant she has already missed a doctor's appointment and doesn't know what to do about the birth.
"It's impossible for me to give birth to my baby inside my hotel room. There isn't any facility [or] anyone to help me," she says.
Her voice quickens as she speaks. "Me and my baby's health will be in danger. We worked for them, [now] it's time for them to help us."
Five other people with expired Pakistan visas also said the IOM, or their guesthouse quoting the IOM, said they should not leave the premises.
When asked, the IOM told the BBC that they had "not given the advice mentioned", saying: "IOM only advises to leave information about their whereabouts at their accommodation reception when leaving the premises to ensure follow up and support when and if needed."
Waiting for answers from the UK
We spoke to people on two UK government schemes known as ARAP - Afghan Relocation and Assistance policy - and ACRS - Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme.
In September, the government said around 2,730 people - "principals" and their dependents - were on these programmes in Pakistan.
As there is no way for the UK to process visa applications in Afghanistan, once people have been approved by the scheme and passed initial security checks they are asked to make their own way to a third country - usually Pakistan - so their biometrics and final checks can be completed.
Even leaving the country is difficult; there is a long waiting list in Afghanistan for nationals seeking passports and obtaining a visa for Pakistan can take months. We spoke to several people who, despite the amnesty, said they lived in hiding from the Taliban government, others who say their homes were raided.
In Pakistan, the UK government pays for their rooms and food, and many told the BBC that they were told to bring minimal money to avoid issues at the border, which has now all but gone.
They say they were told or assumed they would only spend a few weeks in Pakistan but have found themselves stuck with no answer from the UK.
One charity that works to campaign for Afghan interpreters, the Sulha Alliance, told us that they knew of many who had waited for more than a year and some for nearing two.
The group's co-founder Sara de Jong said the schemes were essential lifelines, but that "their execution has been too slow and ineffective".
"Too many Afghan interpreters and others, who we promised to bring to safety more than two years ago, are still left in Afghanistan, or waiting in Pakistan or other third countries," Prof de Jong told the BBC.
A UK government spokesperson said: "We continue to honour our commitments to bring eligible Afghans to the UK, and we are issuing new visas to people in Afghanistan and other countries for resettlement here.
"The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help at-risk people in Afghanistan and, so far, we have brought around 24,600 people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for our Afghan resettlement schemes."
This figure includes British citizens and others with settled status already who were evacuated from Afghanistan during the operation in 2021 as a government website explains; 21,526 were on the ACRS and ARAP programmes.
'Our lives are 100% in danger'
Jamal was a translator with the British army. He proudly shows me pictures of his time in uniform. He has spent more than five months in Islamabad and is currently staying with his children and wife in one room. He is unable to work legally, the only lessons his children have are English lessons online.
"I left my parents in Afghanistan who need my support. I don't have job here to do something. My children missed one year of education because of Covid, after that the Taliban came [and] we missed the education of our children in Afghanistan. Now we also missed the children's education in Pakistan."
He is joined by Qasim, who worked with UK authorities. After six months living with his family of 10 in one room, he says he wishes he had not come.
"In Afghanistan, girls can't get an education, but here none of my children can either," he told us bitterly.
He feels that by joining the scheme, he would be at more risk were he to return.
"Before we left Afghanistan, if our lives were at 50% danger, now they are in 100% danger."
Their fear of the police in Pakistan has intensified. While they say that they were always aware of the risk of being stopped while on the street, a little over a week ago others on the ARAP programme told them that police had entered their hotel in the early hours, taking several to a police station, only to release them a few hours later.
"A person's personal life wherever he happens to live should be safe, but even that is not respected," says Qasim. "After the police started raiding hotels, Afghans have been under a lot of stress, not only my family but others too, it has caused them psychological problems; this is a severe action of theirs which no one can tolerate."
Jamal agrees.
"There are no guarantees as to whether we will be arrested or not," he says.
The BBC has been shown a message issued afterwards by the British authorities saying that after questions raised of Pakistan police possibly entering hotels, they "are continuing to work with the Pakistani authorities to resolve issues around expired visas⦠and will take action to quickly resolve incidents should they arise".
But the two men and others the BBC spoke to remain very nervous.
As with Marzia, they do not have their passports and their Pakistan visas have expired.
'British government - do something quick'
We asked the government about the legal status of those on the ARAP and ACRS programmes in light of the recent crackdown by Pakistan authorities on illegal migrants, but were not given a response.
Pakistan has said its efforts to crackdown on illegal migrants are not targeted at Afghans, but the minister that announced the policy said that 1.7 million Afghans live in Pakistan illegally.
Analysts say the move is the result of increasing tension between the two countries - Pakistan has accused the Taliban government of harbouring militant groups that attack Pakistanis.
Afghanistan denies this and says that Pakistan police are harassing Afghans even if they do have the correct documentation. The fallout will affect the many Afghans who have fled across the border to Pakistan over decades.
Amid the politics, those on these UK government schemes wait daily for an email or call that they will be leaving.
"I supported them; I stayed with them side by side; shoulder by shoulder, and I supported them on the frontline, but I don't know what the British government is doing with us," says Jamal. "They left us behind, many years ago."
"My request from the British government is to please, do something quick, and take us to the UK because [it is not] good for us here." | United Kingdom Politics |
Inheritance tax could be scrapped in Tory bid for votes
Downing Street is holding talks about scrapping inheritance tax as part of a “totemic” offering to voters before the general election.
The Times has been told that there is a “live” discussion among senior figures in No 10 about abolishing the levy as the Conservative Party’s headline tax offer next year.
It had been widely assumed that the Tories would opt to cut income tax by as much as 2p, which would cost about £13.7 billion a year. However, there are concerns that any savings would be dwarfed by the impact of mortgage rate rises and inflation.
Inheritance tax would be cheaper to cut, at a cost to the Treasury of about £7 billion a year, and supporters argue that it could be a “gamechanger” in blue wall seats in the south of England that the Tories are defending.
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Rishi Sunak wants to cut taxes but is said to be pessimistic about the prospect of doing so given the level of inflation, which is running at 8.7 per cent. Nevertheless, senior Conservatives and many of those around the prime minister believe that their party needs a major concession on tax to win the next election.
Inheritance tax is charged at 40 per cent for estates worth more than £325,000, with an extra £175,000 allowance towards a main residence if it is passed to children or grandchildren. A couple can share their allowance, meaning most parents can in effect pass on £1 million to their children without any tax being paid.
Two senior government sources confirmed that there is a discussion at the highest level of government about scrapping inheritance tax, providing inflation falls significantly. They said it would be a manifesto pledge for the election rather than something to be implemented next year.
One source familiar with the discussions said the policy would be framed as an “aspirational” offering to voters. “There is a conversation about making it a values issue,” they said. “Labour will attack it and say it only benefits the wealthy.
“It’s about being an aspirational country. You work hard, play hard and pass on your wealth. It’s a live discussion. Even though most people don’t pay inheritance tax it polls incredibly well. It would be a totemic offer.”
Another senior government source said: “Inheritance tax feels very egregious to a lot of people. It just seems very unjust.
“It is a wedge issue that it would be very hard for Labour to follow. It would also have far more impact politically than, say, cutting a couple of pence off the rate of income tax.
“One of the challenges we face is that we’ve put a lot of effort in lifting people out of tax entirely, but we’ve got very little political credit for it. It is hard to get people to vote for the party of low taxation when they’re not paying tax at all in the first place.”
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A No 10 source distanced Sunak from the discussions on inheritance tax, saying: “The current economic situation means that [the] government is completely focused on halving inflation — to help people have more in their pockets at the end of each month.
“This kind of future-scoping speculation just isn’t on [Sunak’s] mind at the moment and requires a different kind of economic environment to the one we are operating in.”
The most recent Treasury figures show that only 3.76 per cent of UK deaths a year resulted in an inheritance tax charge. However, YouGov polling for The Times suggests that people significantly overestimate their likelihood of actually having to pay the tax.
About a third (31 per cent) of people think that their assets will be enough to attract inheritance tax when they die, and 15 per cent expect to receive an inheritance large enough to attract the tax. Only 5 per cent of voters said the threshold for inheritance tax was £1 million.
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank, said it was “not sensible” to be looking at tax cuts at all given broader economic circumstances. “This is absolutely not the time to be talking about tax cuts, either in the short term, medium term or long term,” he said.
“The only way the government’s current plans add up is because they have pencilled in impossibly tight spending targets after the next election.”
Johnson said there might be a case to “reform” inheritance tax by reducing the 40 per cent rate on some estates and removing some of the exemptions that allow very wealthy people to avoid the tax altogether. However, he said that abolishing it entirely would increase the “advantage” of those whose parents were “already wealthy”.
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One former cabinet minister said scrapping inheritance tax would be key to giving blue wall voters a reason to vote Conservative. “It is an incredibly unpopular tax in the seats that we need to hold on to at the next election and it is a policy that Labour would have to pledge to reverse,” they said.
“Politically it would be a very canny move, because even though most people won’t actually pay inheritance tax many people think they will and feel very strongly about it.”
Asked by YouGov which potential tax cuts they would favour most, 24 per cent of people backed a cut in VAT and 22 per cent said reducing income tax. Abolishing inheritance tax was chosen by 10 per cent — but this rose to 17 per cent among those planning to vote for the Liberal Democrats, who are the main threat to the Tories in blue wall seats.
Rishi Sunak is walking a tightrope. He knows maintaining a reputation for economic competence is critical (Oliver Wright writes).
He also knows that unless he can differentiate from Labour on tax he will be going into the next election with very little to offer.
But it is very hard to make the sums add up in the economic circumstances.
The first problem is inflation. Any move to cut taxes now would be seen by the Bank of England as an economic stimulus that would almost certainly result in keeping interest rates higher for longer. For many this would wipe out any positive effect of tax cuts on their disposable income.
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Yet even if Sunak and the Bank succeed in taming rising prices that is not the only obstacle to a pre-election giveaway.
In last year’s autumn statement Jeremy Hunt put off the task of getting the UK’s finances on to a sustainable footing until the after the next election.
This includes plans for real-terms tax rises and a freeze on public sector spending until 2028 to fill a £55 billion hole. Since then, if anything, the fiscal situation has deteriorated, making it hard to see how Hunt could make the numbers for tax cuts add up without providing Labour with valuable ammunition on proposed cuts to public services.
Abolishing inheritance tax could be used as a way to signal political intent without a huge upfront cost. Sunak might not have to promise to bring the measure in at once to reap a reward. Most people are not expecting to die imminently and so a pledge to reduce and then abolish the tax could signal intent without them having to pick up the bill immediately.
Labour would argue that it would benefit only the better-off. Yet YouGov’s polling shows the majority of voters do not realise that most parents can pass on £1 million without paying any inheritance tax at all.
More than half the electorate also think that the tax is either unfair or very unfair.
The trap for Labour is that it becomes a dividing line that gives potential Tory voters a reason to back the party while not undermining Sunak’s wider economic credibility.
Given the state of the nation’s finances it may be Sunak’s best option. | United Kingdom Politics |
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has hit out at the Prime Minister’s response to the Alice Springs crisis, accusing him of not listening to Indigenous voices.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese touched down in the beleaguered Central Australian town on Tuesday to announce a spate of measures aimed at easing rising crime rates.Senator Price has slammed the response, which includes restrictions on takeaway alcohol purchase and the instalment of a Central Australian controller to evaluate appropriate action in the community.Stream your news live & on demand with Flash for $8/month and no lock in contracts. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2023“This government has failed Territorians over and over and over again,” she told Sky News on Friday.She accused the Prime Minister of not listening to “people on the ground” and ignoring Aboriginal voices who were calling for stricter measures.“It is Aboriginal people in our communities screaming out and calling before the legislation came to an end to maintain the alcohol bans,” she said.“It is racism to ignore those Aboriginal voices that are calling for the solutions, that have the solutions.”Senator Price has been warning about the lapsing of alcohol bans since last year, and in June predicted violence would increase in Alice Springs if grog was allowed back in the towns.She has been united with Indigenous politicians across the aisle in her fierce criticism of the legislation’s lapse.Labor MP for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour has also been outspoken about the repercussions of booze being allowed to flow in once dry communities.Ms Scrymgour used her maiden speech to Parliament last year to highlight her concerns around the lapsing of the Stronger Futures legislation – the laws controlling liquor in Central Australia.Senator Price - who hails from Alice Springs and served as a councillor on the town’s local council for six years – has vowed to continue fighting for vulnerable residents in the outback community.According to data from the Northern Territory Police, 2022 has seen domestic violence related assault in Alice Springs spike by 53 per cent and alcohol related assault by 54 per cent.“I will continue to fight for these families that are looking after these kids and are upholding their human rights,” she said.“We might have had the Stolen Generation. We’ve got a neglected, abused and traumatised generation now and they’re right there for all of us to see in our streets.“Enough is enough.”Senator Price is currently working on a private member’s bill to reinstate the ban until alcohol management plans can be put in place.Other Indigenous members of Parliament have indicated a willingness to work with her on the legislation, she said. | Australia Politics |
The death of a well-known actress, killed in crossfire in the north of Khartoum, has shocked residents of Sudan's capital as they hear of more and more friends and relatives caught up in the fighting.
Asia Abdelmajid, who turned 80 last year, was famous for her theatre performances - first coming to prominence in the 1965 production of the play Pamseeka.
It was put on at the national theatre in Omdurman to mark the anniversary of Sudan's first revolution against a coup leader. She was considered a pioneer of the stage - and the country's first professional stage actress, later retiring to become a teacher.
Her family say she was buried within hours of her shooting on Wednesday morning in the grounds of a kindergarten where she was been most recently working. It was too dangerous to take her to a cemetery.
It is not clear who fired the shot that killed her in the clashes in the northern suburb of Bahri. But paramilitary fighters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who are ensconced in their bases in residential areas across the city, continue to battle the army, which tends to attack from the air.
The RSF says the military tried to deploy members of the police's special force unit on Wednesday - but the group alleges it rebuffed their ground offensive.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has called on the warring factions to stop the fighting immediately, before the conflict escalates into an all-out war.
With a military jet flying overhead as I write and WhatsApp messages arriving with more bad news of my friends caught up in the fighting, it feels like neither side is serious about ending their deadly confrontation.
"I was sitting with my brother in the sitting room when we heard the loud noise of the shell and the dust coming from the kitchen - we thought the whole wall had just collapsed," my friend Mohamed el-Fatih, a fellow journalist, told me.
His apartment in Burri, east of the army's headquarters in central Khartoum, was bombed on Monday night.
"My neighbours upstairs and downstairs were terrified and screaming, we had to evacuate immediately to another area."
His suburb is completely occupied by the RSF and rockets are often fired from the military headquarters where it is believed Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the army chief, and his aides are staying.
My friend Hiba el-Rayeh has also just been in contact in great distress after her mother Sohair Abdallah el-Basher, a respected lawyer, and two uncles were killed last Thursday in a shell that came from a bridge over the River Nile directed towards the Presidential Palace. They were living close by.
Her uncles had actually come to help them escape during one of last week's so-called humanitarian ceasefires.
In another suburb called Khartoum 2, to the west of the military headquarters, estate agent Omer Belal has decided to stay and guard his home.
The 46-year-old has sent his family to a safer district while he and a few other men in the neighbourhood seek to protect their properties from the looting and armed robbery that is occurring across the city.
People's houses, banks, factories, supermarkets and clothing shops are all being ransacked.
Another friend, who asked not to be named, spent five days in a restaurant in Khartoum 2 when the battles first broke out on 15 April.
He managed to escape during the first shaky ceasefire. First he went to the north of the city then decided to go to overland Ethiopia, a trip that took five days.
Now in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia' capital, he messaged to say he had seen piles of bodies as he left Khartoum 2.
Basil Omer, a medic and volunteer, described fleeing his flat when it was shelled in al-Manshiya, east of the army headquarters.
"We spent three days only sleeping on the ground. In the end it was impossible to stay there, I sent my children and their mother to el-Gezira state with my in-laws and I went to stay with my parents in Khartoum North," he said.
I live in Omdurman, regarded as one of the safest places in town - though bullets are constantly flying through people's windows.
A couple of days ago my neighbour was shot by a bullet in her leg while she slept following an airstrike, which have been happening about two times every hour. Although there were fewer strikes on Wednesday.
The Sudanese factions have agreed to a new seven-day truce starting on Thursday, but given that they are currently meant to be observing a humanitarian ceasefire and previous ones have broken down - none of us are holding our breath.
Each day we grow more despondent. Most residents of Khartoum feel abandoned and at a loss that the international community seems unable to exert their influence to bring the generals to heel, given they managed to get them to agree to share power with civilians in 2019 after long-time leader Omar al-Bashir was ousted. | Africa politics |
Iran called on the French government Sunday to “end the violent treatment of its people” following a wave of rioting triggered by the police killing of a teenager.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Twitter also urged Iranian citizens to “refrain from making unnecessary trips to France” and told those already there to avoid “conflict areas,” warning of the “insecure and unpredictable situation.”
France has been rocked by a major wave of violent street protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old of Algerian origin, identified only as Nahel M., in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday.
The government has deployed tens of thousands of security forces and made hundreds of arrests as rioters have ransacked shops and torched buildings and vehicles in multiple cities.
Kanaani said “the French government is expected to put an end to the violent treatment of its people by respecting principles based on human dignity, freedom of speech and the right of citizens to peaceful protests.”
The unrest in France has made headlines in newspapers in the Islamic Republic, which was hit last year by nationwide protests and launched a major crackdown on what authorities labeled “riots.”
Iran’s wave of unrest was sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini after her arrest for breaching the country’s strict dress code for women.
Iran has blamed Western powers for stoking those protests in which hundreds were killed including dozens of of security personnel. Several people have been hanged for participating in the protests.
Last month, Iranian senior intelligence officer Mohammad Kazemi claimed that some 20 countries including the United States and France were involved in fomenting the unrest.
Kanaani in October slammed France’s support for Iran’s protests and its condemnation of Iranian security forces’ actions against them as “clear hypocrisy” and “interference in the affairs of other countries.”
The United States, Britain, and the European Union have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Iran over its response to the protest movement.
According to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), Iran has executed over 300 people this year.
Campaigners accuse Iran of stepping up executions to strike fear into the population as the leadership moves to quell the protest movement that erupted in September. | Europe Politics |
WASHINGTON -- Fencing and construction workers greet visitors to the Lincoln Memorial, signaling that — for the moment — the monument to the nation’s 16th president is a work in progress.
And so is the nation Abraham Lincoln saved and the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned at its steps nearly 60 years ago at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
The spectrum of visitors to the Lincoln and MLK memorials and the African American Museum of History and Culture ranges from a 10-year-old elementary school student born in Colombia to a 70-something college advisor and retired military veteran. At least one visitor was at the original march as a child. They agree that portions of King’s speech have become a reality while some remain unrealized. Several note as well that the gains took a multiracial coalition to achieve.
Washington Resident and 1963 March Participant
Diane Miller was 12 years old when her mother gathered up Miller and her siblings “and had us march from 3rd and R Street down to the reflecting pool, which I think is about five miles," the now 72-year-old said. “On that day it was just exciting to merge into groups coming out of different streets, marching all the way down here.”
Miller, who intends to participate in the 60th anniversary, said she especially remembers the diversity of the crowd. “To be honest it was the first time I saw a group of Anglo-Saxons or white people,” she said. "It was my first time realizing all white people were not against black people. So it was a joyous occasion for me to participate.”
Miller, who was on a vacation Bible school field trip with People’s Congregational United Church of Christ, said she reflects on that day and believes much of what King spoke of has come to pass, but there are still battles. “We're still trying to integrate into a society that did not accept us in the beginning.”
The future, she said, lies with the young people. “It’s very important that we encourage our youth today to continue to build themselves stronger.”
Veteran, Academic Adviser and Pastor
Tommie Babbs, 72, an academic advisor for the State University of New York at Buffalo served more than three decades in the military. The positives he has seen predate King's speech, especially the diversity of the people who struggled alongside King. “A lot of white people took blows like we did. A lot of white people sacrificed. So this was an American movement.”
He thought a major step came when Barack Obama was elected president — twice. “You know, it wasn’t a fluke. It was intentional,” he said. “That made me trust America, believe in America, believe in the ideal of America.”
Babbs said his hope is that people will judge one another by their character and that is achieved through communication. “Once we get to know each other, once we have a conversation with each other, once we talk to each other, then color seems to go away.”
Visiting the city with other military veterans, the Buffalo resident Air Force veteran, said there have been dark times, including the race-related shooting in 2022 at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo that left 10 people dead and several others wounded. The incident was sparked by racial hatred but “it backfired because it brought so many white people together with Black people.” People of all races and ethnicities helped, he said.
Civil Rights Attorney
Cynthia Robbins, who declined to give her age, was on the church field trip with Miller. She became a civil rights attorney because “I believed that Martin Luther King’s dream can be a reality. I believe that the arc of history does bend toward justice.”
That fight is critical now with the growth of white supremacists and hate movements and actions, such as the curtailing of part of the Voting Rights Act and the use of affirmative action in providing equal opportunities.
Her own dream is people will embrace King's message and see that there is still work to do and that the fight for justice is not about one race or another. “I think the most important thing of Martin Luther King’s work to me is that it is a continuous effort that we must continue to press on, that we can’t take justice for granted."
Incoming College Freshman
Zahir Harris, 18, visiting the District with the Village Initiative Project out of Bridgeport, Connecticut, said he remembers hearing King's March on Washington speech in middle school. The movement behind that march, he said, is unfinished but he can see its successes in his own life as he walks around freely, eats where he wants, and chooses a college freely. Minorities did not have that advantage during King's time, he said.
From Colombia to Greenville, South Carolina
For Tomas Galeano, 10, it was his first visit to Washington, D.C., here with his parents from their home in Greenville, South Carolina.
Born in Colombia, his family moved to the U.S. three years ago. When he looks at the memorial he thinks of freedom. “Here in the United States, everyone can have their freedom. It doesn’t matter who they are or what they have gone through.”
He knows of King through school and watching and listening to YouTube and he credits the late civil rights leader for how he is treated. “When I started school, I was really nervous about how people would react to me about being from different country," he said. “But, I was really impressed and happy from what it turned out because everybody treated me with respect and equality.”
He said students need to be taught more about the late leader and to live as he did: " Try your best. Try your hardest. Never give up.”
The Dream Speech
About a mile from the steps where King spoke the type-written speech he read from that day is on loan to the African American Museum of History and Culture. Small groups walk up to the display in the Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom” gallery almost reverently. One or two visitors stay there reading every word.
Jan Gunning, 74, professor emeritus in economics at the Vrije Universiteit in Holland, lived in D.C. decades ago and worked at the World Bank. “It’s one of the great speeches in history," he said, adding that while the written words are impressive it is King's oral delivery that makes the speech memorable. “The power is in the way he spoke, the way he brought the crowd with him.”
Asmatiek Fields, 34, was star-struck by the chance to see the speech that King created and read from that day. He talked about how he might share that with students at his school. “I got kids who won't see it,” he said.
The women's basketball team coach at Truett McConnell University in Cleveland, Georgia, said the words of the speech while inspiring, also brought “a lot of emotions. There's a heavy feeling to it, just thinking of the timeline and what was going on.” | Human Rights |
Fawaz Qafisha cracked his front door open a few inches, stuck his head through the gap and squinted against the sun. The street outside was almost completely dead, save for an Israeli soldier who was sitting on a garden chair placed opposite Qafisha's house, facing the front door.
Before Qafisha had even adjusted his eyes to the light and spotted us coming down the road towards him, the Israeli soldier had sprung to his feet, raised his rifle halfway and ordered Qafisha back inside.
The falafel cook, aged 52, gestured for us to hurry.
"This is how it is any time we try to open the door now," he said, as we entered.
"We are not even allowed to stand at our windows."
Qafisha, who was born and raised in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, is a resident of H2, a dense and heavily fortified district that is home to 39,000 Palestinians and roughly 900 Israeli settlers considered some of the most extreme in the occupied territory. The Palestinians and Israelis of H2 are separated in some places here by just a few feet, and surrounded by cameras, cages, checkpoints, concrete blast walls and rolls of razor wire.
For more than 40 days now, since the Hamas attack on Israel, 11 Palestinian neighbourhoods within H2 - comprising about 750 families - have been under one of the harshest lockdowns imposed on the area for more than 20 years. H2's population is almost entirely Palestinian, but the district is under the total control of the Israeli military, which has for the past few weeks been forcing Palestinian residents back inside their homes at gunpoint.
Qafisha and his family of nine had barely left the house, he said. He did not want to take any risks. "You saw what happened when you arrived," he said. "We have a door we cannot open and windows we cannot look out from. We do not have any freedom. We are living in fear."
Qafisha's house sat just off Shuhada Street, once one of the busiest Palestinian market streets in Hebron. In 1994, a massacre of 29 Muslims by a Jewish extremist nearby led to riots, which in turn prompted a crackdown by the Israeli army. The army closed Palestinian businesses and later welded the front doors of the Palestinian residents shut.
Since then, the Palestinians of the area around Shuhada Street have lived through shifting restrictions on where they can go, when, and how. Flare-ups in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have often led to some form of lockdown, but several residents told the BBC that this was the harshest they had ever experienced.
A few hundred feet up the road from Qafisha's house, Zleekhah Mohtaseb, a 61-year-old former tour guide and translator, was staring down from her rooftop, watching a young Israeli settler shouting to himself as he meandered slowly down Shuhada Street.
Mohtaseb had had spent all her six decades within a stone's throw of where she stood now, she said. Directly across Shuhada street, no more than 20 feet away, was Hebron Cemetery, where 10 generations of her family were buried. Once upon a time, she could walk straight across the street and into the cemetery. Now it took her an hour by car.
"The settlers," she said, shaking her head, as the young Israeli walked past her welded-shut front door. "They can do what they want. They are the chosen people."
Mohtaseb had seen a lot in her lifetime in Hebron, but the past 40 days had been among the most tense, she said. Hours after Hamas attacked Israel, in a murderous rampage that left an estimated 1,200 Israelis dead, Palestinian residents of H2 received messages from the Israeli military telling them that they were no longer allowed to leave their homes. Israeli soldiers began forcing people off the streets at gunpoint, including Mohtaseb. "Those first two weeks were hell," she said.
Two weeks after it began, the curfew in H2 relented slightly, allowing the Palestinians to leave their homes for certain hours on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Then this past Thursday, as Mohtaseb was preparing to meet us, three Palestinian militants from Hebron attacked an Israeli checkpoint dividing the West Bank from Jerusalem, killing one soldier and wounding five. Immediately, she knew that the attack would prolong and intensify the crackdown in H2.
"Everyone says that Israel has the right to defend herself. Fine. We are not against it. But what about us, the Palestinians?" she said.
"Many times we were attacked, many times we were killed, many times we were forced from our homes. Where was this right to defend when the Palestinians were attacked?"
H2 began life in 1997 when Hebron was divided into two sectors, under an agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Israel. H1, populated entirely by Palestinians and controlled by the Palestinian Authority, accounts for roughly 80% of the city. H2, which accounts for just 20% of the city, is populated almost entirely by Palestinians but controlled by the Israeli military. Within H2, the area around Shuhada Street and the Ibrahimi Mosque is the most fortified by checkpoints and guard posts. It has seen decades of tension, violence, and terror attacks from both sides.
"This is the closed place inside the closed place," said Muhammad Mohtaseb, a 30-year-old hospital security guard, sitting on the roof of his house opposite the mosque.
"We are completely surrounded by checkpoints," he said. "Even on a good day, I cannot drive a car, no car can come in with Palestinian number plates. If I want to bring something to my house, I have to carry it half a kilometre from the checkpoint. When I got married, I bought all new furniture for my bedroom, but I had to take it all apart into pieces on the other side of the checkpoint to get it through the turnstiles, then rebuild it on this side."
That was a good day. Since 7 October, the freedom even to move around in the street was gone. When we arrived at Mohtaseb's home, just like at the home of Fawaz Qafisha, a soldier sprang towards the door and ordered Mohtaseb back inside.
Up on the roof, Mohtaseb rolled a cigarette and looked out over the empty streets. With three of his four children out of school - the H2 schools have all been closed - Mohtaseb had been at home and away from work for 40 days. Fortunately for him, his employer had been understanding and was still paying him.
This was not the case for everyone. Qafisha, the falafel cook, had been unable to fulfil his work responsibilities since the lockdown began, because he could only go out three days a week, and on those three days the allotted hours did not match the hours he would need to travel for work anyway. And unlike Mohtaseb's employer, his had not been understanding. "In these jobs, if you work you eat," he said. "And if you don't work you don't eat."
Qafisha had borrowed money several times from friends, to buy food for the family, but he was running out of options. "Anything that you spend you cannot replace," he said, sitting in his living room, away from the window. "So we are sinking."
The following morning, there was another armed attack on Israeli soldiers by a Palestinian militant, this one in Hebron itself. This time it resulted in only the attacker's death. But a few hours later, another message was sent out via WhatsApp from the Israeli military to the Palestinian residents of Shuhada Street.
"A notification for the residents of Shuhada Street," it said. "You are forbidden to be in the streets for one week." And if they left H2, it said, they would not be allowed to re-enter until the week had passed.
The lockdown in H2 was a "blatant example of how Israel is implementing collective punishment in the West Bank", said Dror Sadot, a spokeswoman for the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem.
"The Palestinians in Hebron are paying a price for something they didn't do," said said. "People cannot go to work, children cannot go to school, they are having trouble getting water and food. It is collective punishment, and it is illegal under international law."
The Israeli military told the BBC in a statement that its forces operate in the West Bank "in accordance with the situational assessment in order to provide security to all residents of the area."
"Accordingly, there are dynamic checkpoints and efforts to monitor movement in different areas in Hebron," it said.
Among the Israeli settlers living in H2, in the hardline Kiryat Arba settlement, is Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir. On Thursday, Ben Gvir, who has personally overseen the distribution of thousands of new rifles to West Bank settlers since October 7th, said that Israel should take the same approach to the occupied territory that it was taking in Gaza, where more than 11,000 Palestinians have now been killed. "Containment will blow up in our faces," Ben Gvir said, of the West Bank. "Just like it did in Gaza."
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since 7 October, by settlers or in clashes with the military.
On Wednesday, just a few hundred metres from Ben Gvir's house, Areej Jabari had gathered a small group of women into a knitting circle in her home in H2, in defiance of the Israeli orders not to move in the streets that day. This was only the second successful gathering since the lockdown began, and there were only eight women present, down from around 50 who usually gather once a week at the mosque. The women there had got there by sleight. "We sneak through the side roads and between the buildings," said Huda Jabari, Areej's younger cousin, with a grin.
The women have learned, this long into the lockdown, to observe the Israeli soldiers and move when they are not looking. They use one another's houses to avoid checkpoints within H2, entering the front door in one sector and emerging from the back door into another. "In normal times, 50 families pass through my house to get around," said Areej's mother Sameera, whose own house sat in the shadow of Ben Gvir's.
Areej took us up to her roof to show us her view, over an Israeli military base and guard post close to her house. Below us, Israeli settlers passed by along her street, which she was no longer allowed to use.
Since 7 October, Areej had been coming up here to the roof with her video camera to gather footage of the soldiers and send it to B'Tselem, the human rights organisation. In return, the Israeli military arrived at her house last Saturday and forced their way in, she said. "They broke my press card and warned me not to take any more video or post anything on social media."
They also forbade her to go up onto her roof, she said, or look out of her windows on Fridays or Saturdays, when the Israeli settlers use her road to walk from the settlement to the Jewish holy site near Shuhada Street.
The IDF told the BBC that it was aware of the incident Areej described and was following up with the specific soldiers involved to examine what happened. "We are taking this incident very seriously," a spokesperson said.
To Areej, it did not feel particularly out of the ordinary. "Any time something happens they put more restrictions on us," she said. "The goal is to divide us, to split the area into small pieces and to pressure us to leave."
She was standing up against the railing around the roof of her home, looking out over H2. "I call this area the fortress of steadfastness," she said. She opened her video camera and pointed it in the direction of the Israeli guard post down the road.
Muath al-Khatib contributed to this report. Photographs by Joel Gunter | Middle East Politics |
Labor has won a by-election in the federal seat of Aston in Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs.
The result is considered a major blow for the Liberal Party, which now only holds five federal seats across Melbourne.
Aston has long been safe Liberal territory.
Two hours into vote counting, the ABC's chief election analyst Antony Green said Labor's Mary Doyle appeared to have a clear lead over Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell.
"This is a devastating swing," Green said.
"Mary Doyle will be the first Labor member for Aston since 1990."
The by-election was triggered by the resignation of sitting Liberal MP Alan Tudge in February.
Mr Tudge suffered a 7.3 per cent swing against him at the May 2022 federal election but retained the seat by 2.8 per cent.
Both the major political parties consider Saturday night's decisive defeat of the Liberal Party very unexpected, ABC political journalist Patricia Karvelas said.
Ms Doyle lives outside Aston, albeit in the adjacent electorate of Deakin, and has lived in the broader area for decades.
Aston has a higher proportion of families with children than other seats and a higher percentage of mortgage holders.
The seat has a large Chinese-ancestry population of 14 per cent, compared to a nationwide figure of 5.5 per cent and an internal post-election review of the Liberal Party's performance revealed that the government suffered heavy swings against it in seats with large numbers of Chinese voters.
The by-election was billed as the first opportunity for voters to deliver a verdict on the Albanese government's performance so far, particularly in the context of the cost of living crisis gripping Australia.
The Aston contest was also seen as a referendum on Peter Dutton's leadership of the Liberal Party.
More to come. | Australia Politics |
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has inspected Russia’s hypersonic ‘Kinzhal’ missiles as well as strategic, nuclear-capable bombers in the latest stop on his tour of Russian space, military and other technological facilities in the country’s Far East, according to Russian-language news media reports.
Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Russia’s Primorsky region, announced Kim’s arrival in the city of Artyom, about 40km (25 miles) northeast of Vladivostok on Saturday.
Kozhemyako released a video showing a smiling Kim’s arrival on board his private, armoured train and being greeted by children presenting flowers.
After arriving in Artyom, Kim then travelled to the Vladivostok airport just outside the city where he was shown Russia’s nuclear-capable strategic bombers and other warplanes by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other senior military officials.
Shoigu introduced Kim to Russia’s latest missile, the hypersonic Kinzhal – which means ‘dagger’ in Russian – an air-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads.
The Kinzhal has a reported range of 1,500 to 2,000 km (930-1,240 miles) while carrying a payload of 480kg (1,100 pounds). It may travel at up to 10 times the speed of sound (12,000 kph or 7,700 mph).
Kim was also shown three models of strategic bombers – the Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22M3, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency, aircraft that are regularly used by Russia to launch missiles in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“It can fly from Moscow to Japan and then back again,” Shoigu told Kim of one of the aircraft.
Kim was shown asking how missiles were fired from the aircraft. A Russian official told him that the strategic bombers were one of the key parts of Russia’s nuclear forces.
Starting his visit to Russia on Wednesday by holding a summit with President Vladimir Putin at Russia’s main Vostochny Сosmodrome spaceport, North Korea’s leader next reappeared on Friday in the far eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur for a visit to a plant producing Russia’s Su-57 fighter jets.
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said on Saturday that during his visit to the aircraft plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Kim expressed “sincere regard” for what he described as Russia’s rapidly advancing aviation technologies, which he said were “outpacing the outside potential threats”, a comment Russian media also highlighted.
Russia’s cabinet on Friday released a video showing Kim on an elevated platform looking at the cockpit of an Su-57 warplane while listening to its pilot. Kim also beamed and clapped his hands when an Su-35 fighter jet landed after a demonstration flight.
Experts have said that potential military cooperation between Russia and North Korea following Kim’s visit could include efforts to modernise North Korea’s outdated air force, which relies on warplanes sent from the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Kim was also scheduled to visit the Russian naval ships in Vladivostok later on Saturday.
Putin and Kim discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine, and deepening cooperation when they met on Wednesday, but the Russian leader told reporters that Moscow was “not going to violate anything”, referring to longstanding sanctions imposed on North Korea by the United Nations.
The United States, however, has warned that Russia has advanced in talks with North Korea to gain access to stockpiles of artillery and rockets that can be used by Moscow in its war in Ukraine. | Asia Politics |
Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPR
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Sisters, wives, mothers, cousins of the community gather and mourn at the Qusra wake for for four of the six men killed in Qusra, Palestine.
Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPR
Sisters, wives, mothers, cousins of the community gather and mourn at the Qusra wake for for four of the six men killed in Qusra, Palestine.
Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPR
QUSRA – Palestinians in the West Bank and inside Israel are wondering how much harder their lives may become as they watch the punishing Israeli airstrikes raining down on Gaza.
There's a total siege of basic goods, hospitals are running out of fuel, people are running out of food and more than 4,100 Palestinians have been killed, over 1,600 of them children.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres has said the Hamas attack – that killed 1,400 Israelis and saw Hamas take some 200 hostages – does not excuse this "collective punishment." He has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and demanded Hamas release the hostages. Two were released today.
But the bloodshed is not contained in southern Israel and Gaza.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
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A child rides his bicycle past a torched car in the Palestinian village of Qusra in the occupied West Bank.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
A child rides his bicycle past a torched car in the Palestinian village of Qusra in the occupied West Bank.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
Beyond the frontlines of this war between Israel and Hamas, Palestinians inside Israel and the occupied Palestinian West Bank say their lives and their lands are more in danger now than ever before.
In the days following the Hamas attack, the worst killing of civilians in Israel's history, at least 74 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Many in settler violence according to witnesses and human rights groups.
The Israeli human rights group B'tselem has been documenting some of the attacks and sharing videos online.
In one, an Israeli settler, accompanied by an Israeli soldier, shoots a man at point blank range.
Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPR
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Ma'ad Raed Awda leaves behind a toddler. He was killed after settlers entered Qusra and attacked according to witnesses in the village.
Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPR
Ma'ad Raed Awda leaves behind a toddler. He was killed after settlers entered Qusra and attacked according to witnesses in the village.
Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPR
The worst of these attacks so far were in the Palestinian village of Qusra — where, at first, four people were killed. Then, when the villagers tried to mourn their dead in a funeral procession, witnesses said armed settlers lay in wait and shot and killed a father and son.
It started last Tuesday when armed settlers from the neighboring settlement of Esh Kodesh came into this Palestinian village in the northern West Bank and attacked a house, witnesses said.
A video shows masked armed men hurling rocks at the windows of the home on the edge of the village. A mother and her young children were inside alone.
A call went out for the young men of the village to rush to the house and help. In a grove of trees they came under fire and three were killed. Later that day, witnesses in this village said, the Israeli military came into Qusra and shot another of their residents.
Now, images of the dead are plastered everywhere. They're affixed to cars and on the walls of homes and offices. The backdrop of these posters are Palestinian flags and printed at the bottom of the posters are the words "martyr" and "killed by the bullets of settlers."
The Mayor of Qusra, Hani Awda Abu Alaa, said residents here are living in terror.
"The attacks on Qusra are ongoing and are on a daily basis," he told NPR's Morning Edition.
He points to the walls of his office covered in pictures of violence by Israeli settlers. A damaged mosque. Burned down olive groves. A man killed.
"Wherever you look here, it's attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers, the worst of which was the one we had a few days ago," he said.
The mayor said even their funerals are not safe. He said he worked with Israeli authorities that control this area to make sure they could have safe passage on the road they'd use to mourn the first four men that were killed. But they found settlers and soldiers in their path, he said.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
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The Mayor of Qusra, Occupied Palestinian Territory on Oct. 14, 2023.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
The Mayor of Qusra, Occupied Palestinian Territory on Oct. 14, 2023.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
"It was a trap," he said. "They had posted on their social media that we will take revenge. These people are violent all the time against the people of Qusra and the neighboring villages. But the war empowered them."
Under the cover of the war in Gaza and rocket fire on Israel, there has been a significant increase in settler violence across the occupied West Bank against Palestinians, according to researcher Dror Etkes of the Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem, who has studied Israeli land policies around settlements for decades.
"The entire politics of this place is constructed on fear and racism, this is how this place is constructed," he said. Etkes added that though it is too early for exact figures on how much violence has increased, "I don't think that I would be wrong if I would say that in the last week, we have seen increase of hundreds of percents."
For these attacks, there appears to be no accountability.
There've been no arrests in connection with the six killings in Qusra, according to the Israeli police. The incidents are under investigation. That seems to be the case for all the attacks since the war began. A lawyer who represents settlers accused of violence told NPR that there have been many shootings on Palestinians since Oct. 7th and not one arrest.
In response to a query to the Israeli military on whether one of their soldiers killed a Palestinian in Qusra, the military said it was checking but didn't respond with further information.
Meanwhile, in Qusra they mourn.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
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Women gather and mourn at the wake for the six men killed in Qusra.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
Women gather and mourn at the wake for the six men killed in Qusra.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
Relatives mourn as they hold a poster of one of the men they say was killed in an attack by armed settlers on this village. His name was Abada Sa'ed Abu Sarour.
Women gather to mourn in Qusra. One holds up pictures of the dead, one by one. "Let Biden see," she says. "This young man is his mother's only son. This one has a baby. What did they do to Biden or Israel?"
At the gathering hall in the center of the village, women come to pay their respects to the family members of the dead. They sit side-by-side on couches, pillows and plastic chairs, crying as they pass around and kiss posters of the men who were killed.
Hassan Mohanned Abu Sarour was among the young men who heeded the call to help when the armed settlers attacked. The 21-year-old was shot. His mother sits quietly in the hall, her aunt and cousin drape their arms around her protectively.
She can't speak in the midst of her grief, so her cousin Hanan Awda speaks on her behalf.
"He was helping his father to save money in order to build a small house," she said. "He was a polite kid."
The goal of this violence she said is to make it untenable for Palestinians to stay on their land. That depopulation has already happened in other places. In at least two villages, Al-Qanub and Wadi Al-Sik, there are no Palestinians left because of violence by Israeli settlers.
"They want to evacuate us from our own lands. They say these lands are ours, not yours," Awda said.
The settlements are illegal, with the U.N. Security Council saying they violate international law. They're also a detriment to any future peace. The Oslo Accords in the 1990s raised expectations among Palestinians that the West Bank along with Jerusalem would be part of their future state. Today, though, Israel maintains authority in the West Bank.
The road from Jerusalem to Qusra shows how far beyond reach a two-state solution seems to be. Palestinian villages dot the horizon alongside Israeli settlements that are rapidly expanding.
Billboards are erected on the main highway advertising real estate projects for new and cheaper housing for Israelis. The settlement expansion has been encouraged by the Israeli government.
The recent surge in violence amid the growth of settlements has dimmed Mayor Abu Ala's sense of hope.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
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Posters of those killed adorn walls and doors of community.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
Posters of those killed adorn walls and doors of community.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
"I see the future as a bleak future. I see it as a black future," he said, adding that "we are not against the Jews. We are against the extremism of the settlers encouraged by government officials."
At the limits of Abu Alaa's village he points to empty land. A local businessman who planned to erect a building has abandoned the project. The farmers who tended chickens here are also gone, afraid of settler violence. He points to the hilltop across the way, to three settlements and an Israeli military outpost. There, he said, is where settlers come from to attack them.
"Their intention is to separate us from the villages and cities in the West Bank," Abu Alaa said. "They've cut us off from the south, they've cut us off from Ramallah."
Nearby the young men of Qusra have tried to block the road with stones to stop would-be attackers.
For the mayor, that separation and the pressure to abandon these lands echo what's unfolded in Gaza –- where Palestinians have lived under a 16-year blockade implemented by Israel and Egypt.
"These people in Gaza have been under siege for so long and have been killed in such a way, this is why the war took place," Abu Alaa said. "If our situation continues here with settler attacks, the same thing will happen. People will start feeling the same way as Gaza."
It's not something he wants or agrees with.
"The more aggressiveness on the one side, the more the aggressiveness from the other side," he said. "I address the Israeli people and say enough killings on both sides."
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
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An Israeli settlement on the outskirts of Qusra.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
An Israeli settlement on the outskirts of Qusra.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
NPR's Ari Shapiro met with a settler from the neighboring settlement of Esh Kodesh, which is where the villagers of Qusra say the attackers came from.
With an M16 hanging at his waist and a Glock on him, Nati Romhas lived in the area since the late 90s and said he helped establish a few of the new Israeli settlements in the area. Rom believes life in the occupied West Bank is a battle and hopes other Israelis are coming around to his view.
"Unfortunately, in the last years, because of the propaganda and progressive things, like, disarm, so many of the villagers were disarmed," he told Shapiro. "Now we are working very hard to solve this and to give guns to the people, to civilian groups."
The future Rom aspires to is one that doesn't include Palestinians.
"The future is that we will be able to eliminate the snake," Rom said. "They all want to kill us, some of them telling it straight away, and some of them keep it to themselves."
Rom denies that settlers from Esh Kodesh fatally shot any villagers in Qusra. Asked if there are any good people in the village, Rom said, if so, they need to immediately evacuate.
Though Nati is more militant than other settlers, the most violent wing of the settler community is "not a small group," said Etkes. And many across the spectrum do see their presence in the occupied West Bank as part of an existential struggle.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
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A view of the occupied Palestinian territory Qusra village with encroaching Esh Kodesh in distance.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
A view of the occupied Palestinian territory Qusra village with encroaching Esh Kodesh in distance.
Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPR
In a settlement called Eli at the top of a hill surrounded by olive groves, husband and wife Gedaliah and Elisheva Blum are convinced Israelis and Palestinians are locked in a battle that proves they cannot live side-by-side.
"I don't think it's a battle over land. I think it's a battle over culture. It's a battle over ideologies," said Gedaliah, who wonders "at what point do we say we can't live with these people?"
But Elisheva Blum is certain of one thing. There's no going back to the way things were.
"The way I see it is that the lion has been sleeping," she said, referring to Israel. "It's just gotten woken up." | Middle East Politics |
Spain is holding a highly unusual election next Sunday at the height of a scorching summer, after four years of left-wing rule.
Current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the vote in response to a dismal performance at the May local elections in which his Socialist party came second to main rival, the conservative Popular Party.
No general election in Spanish history has ever been held so late into the summer, in this country of 48 million people. The timing of the 23 July vote has been widely criticised when temperatures in many parts of Spain have reached 40C and up to 10 million Spaniards are on holiday.
The Popular Party (PP) under Alberto Núñez Feijóo have their eye on victory but their lead has narrowed in the polls. To win a majority, they need to secure more than half the 350 seats in the lower house of parliament. Spaniards will also vote for their upper house.
Neither the PP nor the Socialists are projected to win enough votes to govern on their own. The conservatives would likely need the support of far-right party Vox, while Mr Sánchez would look to left-wing grouping Sumar.
Sexual consent, nationalism and the economy
LGBT and gender issues have become prominent campaign issues in the run-up to this election. Opposition parties PP and Vox have staunchly criticised the left-wing government's new laws on transgender rights - including making it easier for people to change their legal gender - and abortion.
They have also attacked Spain's controversial "Only Yes Means Yes" law on sexual consent. It was passed only last August but created a loophole that cut jail time for over 1,000 convicted rapists - and Mr Sánchez ended up having to apologise and push through changes.
The very existence of gender violence has been questioned by some Vox party officials, causing tensions with their potential conservative partners.
Nationalism has been a hot issue too. The PP and Vox have labelled Mr Sánchez a "traitor" for pardoning jailed pro-independence leaders and downgrading the crime of secession.
One highly effective right-wing tactic has involved targeting the prime minister with a slogan for relying on separatists to pass key reforms.
He has been denounced for his pact with Basque separatist party Bildu, led by Arnaldo Otegi, who was jailed for crimes by the Eta militant group.
The slogan Que te vote Txapote, meaning "Let Txapote vote for you", refers to another Eta militant who carried out a number of deadly terror attacks.
As Spain experiences worsening droughts and heatwaves, most parties have measures to fight climate change. Only Vox's electoral programme fails to mention the issue entirely.
The biggest issue for most voters is the economy, even if much of the campaign has focused on other issues. Spain is enjoying a period of growth and inflation slowed to below 2% in June, one of the lowest levels in Europe.
But dismal jobless figures are one of the opposition's most frequent lines of attack against the current government. In May, Spain had the highest unemployment rate (12.7%) of all EU countries.
Who to watch
Pedro Sánchez
He became the first politician in Spain to snatch power from a sitting prime minister through a no-confidence motion in 2018. Then he narrowly won a confidence vote in January 2020 to form Spain's first coalition government since democracy was restored in the late 1970s.
Pedro Sánchez, 51, is seen as a passionately pro-European integrationist and speaks English fluently; he has lectured in economics in Spain and had a spell working for the UN high representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
His brand of governing has been labelled Sanchismo, and his opponents have styled the election as a choice between Sanchismo or Spain, suggesting he is a threat to the country, its traditions and values.
He has spearheaded a law to bring dignity to victims of dictator Gen Francisco Franco, backed a rule giving workers the right to menstrual leave and laws expanding abortion rights.
But this snap election could be a gamble too far, as his party trails his conservative rivals. He has accused the PP of seeking to put Spain in a "sinister time machine" with the support of far-right Vox and take the country back to "who knows where".
Alberto Núñez Feijóo
The Popular Party leader has knowingly cultivated a low-key image, saying recently that "what for some may be boring, I think for the majority of citizens are qualities that a prime minister should have".
But he was seen to have won the only head-to-head TV election debate, telling Mr Sánchez he had no right to give lectures on governing pacts as he relied on separatists.
A former civil servant born in Galicia in Spain's north-west, he has led the conservatives since 2022.
He has gained a reputation as a safe pair of hands, serving as president of the former national health service and of the postal service.
Santiago Abascal
He has led the far-right Vox party he helped found in 2014, and he is known for his controversial declarations. He has said he does not believe in climate change and he has criticised the "totalitarian law of gender ideology", which he claims criminalises men.
Last month, he used the riots in France to call for tougher immigration policies. "Europe is threatened by mobs of anti-Europeans⦠who are unwilling to adapt to our way of life and our laws," he said. "Europe cannot continue to accept immigrants from Muslim countries."
Vox has already reached coalition deals with the conservatives in dozens of cities and three autonomous regions - Extremadura in the west, Valencia in the east and Castille and León, north of Madrid. In the Balearic Islands, Vox have reached a pact with the PP but have no positions in government.
Now Mr Abascal is looking for a share of national power too.
He has cultivated strong ties with other European far-right and nationalist groups, from Hungary's ruling Fidesz and France's National Rally to the Brothers of Italy party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Ms Meloni has given Vox's election campaign her backing, recording a video to reaffirm the parties' "great friendship".
Yolanda DÃaz
If Vox are the potential kingmaker for Alberto Núñez Feijóo, then for the Socialists it would be Yolanda DÃaz's Sumar (Unite) alliance of 15 left-wing groups.
A former Communist, she has been Spain's second deputy prime minister as well as labour minister and she is keen to be Spain's first female leader too: "because women's time has come, and women want to be the ones who make history".
Sumar have made a big pitch for the youth vote, pledging â¬20,000 (£17,139) of funding to help 18-23 year-olds to kick-start their lives.
Ms DÃaz is a popular politician who has helped increase the Spanish minimum wage to â¬1,259 and scrapped unpopular labour laws.
Who's favourite?
While opinion polls have narrowed, the conservatives and Mr Feijóo are favourites to win. But they may need to form a coalition with Vox to form a majority and avoid repeat elections.
Latest polls put the PP on 32-34% of the vote and the Socialists on 28-29%. Vox are on 13-14%, slightly ahead of Sumar with 12-13%.
To win an absolute majority a party needs 176 seats, so no party would win outright with these results.
PP and Vox: An uneasy partnership
Although Vox has made great strides in securing power-sharing deals with the conservatives in three of Spain's autonomous regions, and lesser deals in Murcia and the Balearic Islands, Mr Feijóo is less than enthusiastic at the prospect of governing with the far right.
The PP leader has seemed rattled by his rival's accusations of a "shameful" pact with Vox.
In their TV debate Mr Feijóo said Vox's Mr Abascal would not be a member of a prospective PP government "if I don't need the votes". He even offered the Socialists' Mr Sánchez a pact for the losing party to support the winner so that neither would need to rely on either the hard right or left.
But Vox could be the only option. Last month Maria Guardiola, the PP president of the western Extremadura region, said she would never govern with a party that "dehumanises immigrants" and that "rubbishes" LGBT rights.
She later changed her mind and welcomed Vox into her government, stating that "my word is not as important as the future of Extremadura".
As well as taking a hard line on gay marriage, adoption by gay couples, abortion, euthanasia and transgender rights, another big issue that has driven support for Vox is its unequivocal stance on opposing Catalan nationalism.
It has also taken a dim view over the status of Gibraltar, a British overseas territory at the southern end of the Iberian peninsula.
Last year Vox objected to reports of talks between the UK and Spain by warning that "any agreement that does not go through the recognition of the Spanish sovereignty of Gibraltar is an act of treason against Spain". | Europe Politics |
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the Netherlands’ longest serving premier, said Monday he will leave politics after an early general election sparked by a dispute over migration that led to his government’s resignation.
His decision means the end of nearly 13 years in power for the conservative leader sometimes called ” Teflon Mark ” because scandals that plagued his four different administrations did not stick to him.
Rutte, the 56-year-old leader of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, or VVD, announced his decision at a hastily arranged parliamentary debate to discuss the fall of his latest governing coalition.
“Yesterday morning I made a decision that I will not be available again as a leader of the VVD. When a new Cabinet takes office after the elections, I will leave politics,” he said.
Rutte called it a “personal decision, regardless of the developments in recent weeks.” There was no immediate indication who might replace Rutte as leader of the VVD. The party’s parliamentary faction is led by Sophie Hermans, Rutte’s former political assistant.
No date has yet been set for the election, but it is not expected before October or November. That means that Rutte will likely remain in office as caretaker prime minister for months. He is expected to attend a NATO summit that starts Tuesday in Lithuania.
READ MORE: Dutch prime minister announces resignation after ruling coalition fails to agree on migration policy
In the 27-nation European Union, only Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been in charge of a country longer than Rutte, but their leadership styles could not be more different.
Orban, in power for a full 13 years and counting, has turned Hungary into his vision of an “illiberal democracy”and increasingly smothered all dissent, while Rutte navigated a Western democratic system at its most eclectic and exuberant.
But the Dutch prime minister’s four-party ruling coalition resigned Friday after failing to agree on a package of measures to rein in migration, an issue that often has divided the EU as a whole. Rutte said it was a unanimous decision prompted by “irreconcilable differences” among the partner parties.
Supporters and opponents alike called it the end of an era.
With uncanny political savvy, Rutte at times managed to twist the arms of not just his coalition partners but also opposition lawmakers to pass new policies and remain in charge of governments that provided enough glue to hold together his politically fractured nation of nearly 18 million.
In the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Dutch parliament, no fewer than 20 parties are represented. To some extent, the diverse lineup reflects the European trend of the political center losing ground to voices on the far left and particularly the far right.
Rutte steered the Netherlands through crises ranging from the coronavirus pandemic and flooding to the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. Even his political opponents praised his handling of the aftermath of the plane’s downing by pro-Russia rebels. About 200 Dutch citizens died.
Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son Bryce and the son’s girlfriend, Daisy Oehlers, were among the 298 passengers and crew members killed, said she and other bereaved families regularly met with Rutte to discuss efforts to establish the truth about what brought down the plane and to bring to justice those responsible.
“He attended many gatherings (of) relatives and has always been very compassionate and supportive. He always took the time,” Fredriksz-Hoogzand told The Associated Press.
“I personally regret that he steps back, but given the circumstances, I understand. But for (the) MH17 case, it is a loss in my opinion,” she added.
Rutte, who often cycles around The Hague to get to and from meetings, also became known for seeking forgiveness for past Dutch government policies.
When a parliamentary commission said that governments, several of which Rutte led, had put energy profits before the safety of people in northern Groningen province, where earthquakes from gas extraction destroyed homes and the lives of families, he apologized.
“We stand here cap in hand,” he said earlier this year.
Two years ago, his third government also resigned to take responsibility for a scandal involving investigations into child welfare payments that wrongly labeled thousands of parents as fraudsters, again hurting hundreds of innocent families. He pledged his government would continue working to compensate affected parents as quickly as possible.
“We are of one mind that if the whole system has failed, we all must take responsibility,” Rutte said.
Rutte’s party nevertheless won the ensuing election, and he formed his fourth government with the same four parties that made up the coalition that collapsed last week. This time, though, the political rot set in early, and after 1½ years, he was not only unable to hold together his coalition, he was accused by some of setting up its fall with demands that at least one party could not accept.
Despite the many scandals that tarnished his governments, Rutte remained popular among voters. His departure throws the election wide open and could open the door for a shift to the political left or further to the right.
Such was Rutte’s acumen to reconcile political fire and ice that he was mentioned over the years as someone to lead both the European Union and NATO. He has not pursued either post, yet.
Jesse Klaver, leader of the opposition Green Left party, said Rutte’s stated exit from politics marked a “historic day” but that “his departure was unavoidable” as the prime minister’s fourth and final coalition crumbled in acrimony.
Caroline van der Plas, leader of the Farmer Citizen Movement, a populist party that was the shock winner of provincial elections this year, was not ready Monday to declare herself a candidate to replace Rutte.
“At some point in the campaign, I will make it clear whether or not I will be running for prime minister,” she said.
Casert reported from Brussels.
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Finland will slash spending, cut immigration and tighten up citizenship rules under a new four-party coalition government including the far-right Finns party and headed by the conservative leader Petteri Orpo.
The coalition of Orpo’s National Coalition party (NCP), the Finns, the Swedish People’s party (RKP) and the Christian Democrats has a majority of 108 MPs in the 200-seat parliament and was unveiled on Friday after 11 weeks of sometimes stormy negotiations.
Analysts have described it as arguably the most rightwing administration in Finland’s history. A radical austerity programme has already been promised, and the Finns party is taking a hard line on development aid, the climate crisis and immigration.
“This is the result of hard work,” Orpo, the prime minister designate, told reporters in Helsinki. “A common line had to be found; trust and faith that these four parties can form a functioning government. But Finland needs change.”
The centre-right leader said the country’s “wellbeing is at stake, and therefore the government must be able to change pace. If Finland is strong and its economy is in order, we can take care of basic services and care for the weaker in society”.
Orpo, whose party – along with the RKP – favours work-based immigration as a way to boost the economy, appeared to have agreed to a crackdown on immigration to secure support for his projected €6bn in welfare and other savings.
“We’ve had to make cuts and savings even where we felt bad. But at the same time, we are making sure that tomorrow will be better,” he said.
The nationalist Finns party, which was previously in government from 2015 to 2017, will control seven of 19 ministries, public broadcaster YLE reported, including finance, foreign trade and development, social affairs, justice and the interior.
Its leader, Riikka Purra, said the incoming coalition had agreed to cut refugee quotas, raise the bar for work-based immigration, and make it more difficult for foreigners to obtain citizenship.
“I am delighted that together with our negotiating partners we have agreed on an immigration package that can rightly be called a paradigm shift in immigration policy,” Purra told reporters.
“Finland has been the only Nordic country with a looser immigration policy. This changes now.”
The government aims to halve the number of refugees it receives through the UN refugee agency from 1,050 a year to 500. It also plans to establish separate social security benefit systems for immigrants and permanent residents, which experts have said could violate the constitution.
The NCP won 48 seats in April’s elections, with the Finns finishing on 46 and outgoing prime minister Sanna Marin’s centre-left SDP on 43, after a campaign marked by her rivals’ accusations of excessive state borrowing and public spending. | Europe Politics |
HAVANA, July 10 (Reuters) - Cuba on Monday accused the U.S. government of bearing "direct responsibility" for the protests that rocked the Caribbean island two years ago, marking the largest demonstrations since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.
"The United States has a direct responsibility for the disturbances of July 11 and 12, 2021," the Communist Party-run Granma newspaper said in a front-page editorial ahead of the anniversary of the protests. It provided no evidence to back the accusations.
The newspaper said people were openly incited and provided with funds from the United States to break the law in acts of robbery and assault - even as Washington strengthened its sanctions while Cuba's economy struggled due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The editorial also denounced a "campaign of disinformation and slander" through social networks.
"Slander promoted by the White House, related to events it sponsored in 2021, is used as a pretext to maintain a policy of maximum pressure against Cuba," it said.
This policy, designed by the administration of Donald Trump, was being "severely applied" by the current administration of President Joe Biden, it added.
In July 2021, thousands of Cubans took to the streets across nearly 50 cities in the country shouting "freedom" to protest a deepening economic crisis, the worst in three decades.
Frustrated by long lines for food, public transport, fuel and medicine, more than 140,000 Cubans have since October 2021 migrated to the United States, according to U.S. government figures.
The protests were short-lived and Cuban authorities have since sentenced hundreds to prison on charges ranging from public disorder to sedition, prompting calls of human rights violations from activists.
The U.S. State Department said it was not behind the 2021 protests and reiterated calls for the immediate release of some 700 Cuban political prisoners.
"As the entire world knows, the Cuban people protested for themselves," a U.S. State Department official said, adding that "the regime continues to violently repress virtually any kind of peaceful public dissent and detains, harasses, and threatens families of detained protesters who dare speak publicly about their detained family members."
The European Union has also urged the Cuban government to release the protesters.
"More than anything, this editorial reflects the state of relations between the United States and Cuba," said Arturo Lopez-Levy, a foreign relations expert at the Autonomous University of Madrid. "A climate conducive to at least reducing tensions over the issue has not been built."
Lopez-Levy said the release of prisoners would be "very difficult" as long as the U.S. maintains hostile policies on some fundamental matters.
Two years after the protests, some Cuban emigres have called for events to commemorate the date. Though additional plain-clothed security officials were seen in some parts of the capital on Monday, Havana's streets remained quiet.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Latin America Politics |
Antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes in London have soared amid the Israel-Hamas war, the British capital’s Metropolitan Police force said Friday
The Met, the UK’s biggest police force, said there had been 218 antisemitic offenses in London between October 1 and 18, compared to 15 in the same period last year, a rise of 1,353 percent.
The force added that Islamophobic crimes had increased from 42 to 101 during the same period, up 140%.
Police boosted patrols across parts of London and deployed officers to religious schools and places of worship following Hamas’s terror onslaught against Israel on October 7, the deadliest attack in the Jewish state’s history.
“Regrettably, despite the increased presence of officers we have seen a significant increase in hate crime across London,” the Met said, adding it had made 21 arrests for such offenses.
The arrests included a man detained on suspicion of defacing posters of missing Israelis. Another man is accused over ten incidents of Islamophobic graffiti on bus stops.
The British government has said there should be “zero tolerance for antisemitism or glorification of terrorism” on Britain’s streets.
Last week, it announced £3 million ($3.7 million) of extra funding to help protect the Jewish community from antisemitic attacks.
Tens of thousands of people rallied against Israel last weekend in London and other UK cities.
Another march is organized for London on Saturday. More than 1,000 officers are to police the event, the Met said.
The force reiterated that while supporting Hamas — a banned terrorist organization in Britain — is a crime, general expressions of support for Palestinians, including flying the Palestinian flag, are not criminal offenses.
Some 2,500 Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip stormed into Israel by land, air and sea on October 7, killing some 1,400 people and seizing 200-250 hostages of all ages under the cover of massive rocket fire at Israeli towns and communities. The vast majority of those killed as gunmen seized border communities were civilians — men, women, children and the elderly, with entire families executed in their homes and over 260 slaughtered at an outdoor festival, many amid horrific acts of brutality by the terrorists.
The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza says over 4,100 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the Hamas onslaught. The figures issued by the terror group cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include its own fighters and the victims of a blast at a Gaza City hospital on October 17 caused by an Islamic Jihad missile misfire that Hamas has blamed on Israel.
Israel says its offensive is aimed at destroying Hamas’s infrastructure, and has vowed to eliminate the entire terror group, which rules the Strip. It says it is targeting all areas where Hamas operates, while seeking to minimize civilian casualties. | United Kingdom Politics |
Two Ukrainian missiles have targeted a bridge linking Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula, Moscow says.
Videos on social media show plumes of smoke rising near Kerch bridge. Russia's defence ministry said S-200 missiles had been used and shot down causing no damage.
Ukraine has not commented on the alleged attack.
There have been at least two other attacks targeting the bridge in the past few months.
The Kerch bridge was opened in 2018 and enables road and rail travel between Russia and Crimea - Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in 2014.
It is an important resupply route for Russian forces occupying parts of southern Ukraine.
Russia's defence ministry said that Ukraine had targeted the structure on Saturday at around 13:00 (10:00 GMT).
It identified the missiles used as S-200s - guided, Cold War-era surface-to-air weapons originally designed to destroy enemy aircraft that have apparently been adapted for ground-attack use.
The country's foreign ministry meanwhile said that "such barbaric actions... will not go unanswered".
Crimea's Russia-appointed governor Sergei Aksyonov later said that a third rocket had been shot down over the Kerch Strait.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia said it had shot down 20 Ukrainian drones near the peninsula.
An adviser to Mr Aksyonov said that traffic was halted and the smoke was an intentional "screen" generated by the military.
While Kyiv has not confirmed the attack, nor the weapons used, it would be the latest in a number of Ukrainian attempts to damage the bridge.
Last month, the Ukrainian website Euromaidan Press claimed that converted S-200 missiles had been used to attack the bridge as well as two military targets in Russia's Rostov and Bryansk Oblasts.
Also last month, two people died and another was injured when the bridge was struck by explosions.
Kyiv did not officially confirm it carried out the attack, but a source in its security service told BBC Russian it was behind it and that water-based drones had been used.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said afterwards that the bridge was a legitimate military target that supplied Russia's war effort "with ammunition on a daily basis".
"Understandably, this is a target for us. And a target that is bringing war, not peace, has to be neutralised," he added.
An explosion on the bridge in October still remains a mystery.
Footage from the time showed a huge fireball erupting as a number of cars and lorries made their way across the bridge.
The bridge was partially closed and only fully reopened in February.
Kyiv has repeatedly said it plans to retake Crimea and all territories seized by Russia since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
An apparent increase in military operations around the bridge comes as Kyiv presses its summer offensive against Russian forces in the Ukraine's east.
Mr Zelensky has conceded that advances have been "slower than desired" as his Western-equipped forces face Russia's well-prepared defensive lines.
Moscow has also blamed Ukraine for a series of drone attacks on Moscow, including strikes on the Kremlin and a tower block housing government ministries.
While not officially confirming they were Ukrainian operations, Mr Zelensky said that "gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia ... this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process."
Meanwhile, Russia continues to attack civilian targets in Ukraine, including deadly missile strikes that destroyed a blood transfusion centre in Kharkiv and a residential area in Zaporizhzhia in the last week. | Europe Politics |
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers to the Korean Peninsula on Friday in its latest show of force against North Korea, days after the North staged massive anti-U.S. rallies in its capital.
The long-range B-52 bombers took part in joint aerial drills with other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets over the peninsula, South Korea's Defense Ministry said in a statement. The bombers' flyover is the latest in a series of temporary U.S. deployments of strategic assets in South Korea in response to North Korea's push to expand its nuclear arsenal.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korean waters for the first time in six years. The USS Michigan's arrival came a day after North Korea resumed missile tests to protest previous U.S.-South Korean drills that it viewed as an invasion rehearsal.
The South Korean Defense Ministry said the B-52 bombers' deployment boosted the visibility of U.S. strategic assets to the peninsula. It said the allies have been demonstrating their firm resolve to strengthen combined defense postures and will continue joint drills involving U.S. strategic bombers.
On Sunday, more than 120,000 North Koreans participated in mass rallies in Pyongyang to mark the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War. During the rallies, officials and residents delivered speeches vowing "merciless revenge" against the United States over the war while accusing the U.S. of plotting an invasion on North Korea.
The Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war. The U.S. stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea as a deterrence against potential aggression by North Korea.
Since its June 15 launches of two short-range ballistic missiles, North Korea hasn't performed any further public weapons tests. But the U.S. bombers' deployment could prompt it to launch weapons again in protest.
Enhancing "regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets" to the Korean Peninsula was part of agreements reached between U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during their summit in Washington in April. Biden stated at the time that any North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies would "result in the end of whatever regime" took such action.
Since the start of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 missile tests in a bid to enlarge its arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles targeting the U.S. mainland and South Korea. The allies have responded by expanding their military exercises.
In late May, North Korea launched a rocket carrying its first spy satellite, which ended in failure, with the rocket plunging into the sea soon after liftoff. North Korea has since repeatedly said it would attempt a second launch, saying it's crucial to build a space-based surveillance system to cope with what it calls U.S. hostility. | Asia Politics |
Previous missile and rocket tests have demonstrated that North Korea can send satellites into space, but many experts question whether it has cameras sophisticated enough to use for spying from a satellite because only low-resolution images were released after past launches.
During his visit to the country’s aerospace agency Tuesday, Kim said that having an operational military reconnaissance satellite is crucial for North Korea to effectively use its nuclear-capable missiles.
Kim cited what he described as serious security threats posed by “the most hostile rhetoric and explicit action” by the United States and South Korea this year, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. He likely hopes to pressure his rivals on issues including joint military drills and international economic sanctions on North Korea.
Kim said “the military reconnaissance satellite No. 1” had already been built and ordered officials to speed up preparations for its launch. He said North Korea must launch several satellites to establish an intelligence-gathering capability, KCNA said.
North Korea has said its ongoing run of weapons tests, including its first test-launch of a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the U.S. mainland last week, are a response to joint military exercises between the United States and its regional allies South Korea and Japan. North Korea has carried out about 100 missile tests since the start of last year, including about 30 this year.
The U.S. and South Korean militaries have been expanding combined drills in response to North Korea’s growing nuclear threats. This week, the allies launched a 12-day aerial exercise involving some 110 warplanes and staged a one-day naval missile defense exercise with Japan.
Spy satellites are among an array of major weapons systems that Kim publicly vowed to develop during a major ruling Workers’ Party conference in January 2021. Kim also pledged to build other weapons systems including solid-propellant ICBMs, nuclear-powered submarines, hypersonic missiles and multi-warhead missiles. North Korea has since conducted tests of such weapons, but it is not clear how close they are to operational.
After North Korea launched a test satellite last December, it publicized black-and-white photos showing a space view of South Korean cities. Some civilian experts in South Korea said at the time the photos were too crude for a surveillance purpose and that they were likely capable of only recognizing big targets like warships at sea or military installations on the ground.
Kim’s sister and senior North Korean official Kim Yo Jong said the test satellite carried a commercial camera because there was no reason to use an expensive, high-resolution camera for a single-shot test.
Kim Jong Un said one of the objectives for its spy satellite is acquiring an ability to “use pre-emptive military force when the situation demands.”
Tuesday’s KCNA dispatch focused on U.S. military assets like aircraft carriers and long-range bombers that have been deployed in South Korea in recent months, but made no mention of possible targets in the mainland U.S. That could imply that North Korea intends to use its reconnaissance satellites to identify key targets in South Korea, including U.S. military bases, in order to attack them with short-range missiles.
Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said North Korea will likely inform international maritime and telecommunication authorities of its launch plans, likely sometime between May and September.
Putting a reconnaissance satellite into orbit would require a long-range rocket. The U.N. bans such launches by North Korea because it views them as cover for testing its long-range ballistic missile technology.
North Korea placed its first and second Earth observation satellites into orbit in 2012 and 2016, but foreign experts say neither transmitted imagery back to North Korea. The U.N. issued sanctions over those launches.
North Korea has avoided fresh U.N. sanctions for its recent ballistic missile tests in 2022 and this year because U.N. Security Council permanent members Russia and China didn’t support U.S. and and others’ attempts to toughen sanctions on it. | Asia Politics |
Nov 24 (Reuters) - The European Union is dealing with an increase in legal and illegal arrivals by migrants, prompting some member states to temporarily re-introduce border controls within what is normally a zone of free movement.
The bloc's Schengen rules allow such action "as a last resort" in cases that are deemed serious threats to internal security or public policy.
These countries have reinstated stricter checks:
* Austria introduced checks at its border with the Czech Republic in October, set to last until Dec. 6.
As of November, it extended border controls with Slovenia and Hungary until May 2024, citing pressure on the asylum reception system, threats of arms trafficking, criminal networks linked to the war in Ukraine, and people smuggling.
* Denmark in August tightened border control for arrivals, including those from Schengen countries, at Copenhagen airport to boost security after incidents of Koran burnings.
It has prolonged checks on the Danish-German land border and in ports with ferry connections to Germany until May 2024, according to an EU commission report.
The government said it was responding to an increase in irregular migration, and cited threats posed by terrorism and organised crime, foreign intelligence espionage and the war in Ukraine.
* Germany announced controls in September on its land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, set to stay in place until Dec. 4. Berlin said it needed to respond to an immigration surge and high levels of smuggling.
Germany, which has Europe's biggest economy, has seen a sharp increase of first-time asylum requests this year.
Berlin has also extended land border checks with Austria until May 2024, saying this was in response to what it called a strain on its asylum reception system, security threats linked to Middle East terrorism, and the war in Ukraine.
* Italy reinstated police checks at its northeast land border with Slovenia as of Oct. 21, saying some migrants in transit on the Balkan route could be terrorists.
The controls will be in place at least until Dec. 9. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said in October they would likely be extended into next year.
* Norway, which belongs to the Schengen arrangement but is not an EU member, reinstated border controls in its ports with ferry connections to the Schengen area as of Nov. 12. It pointed to threats to its on-shore and off-shore infrastructure, and from foreign intelligence services.
These controls should last until May 5, 2024.
* Poland has extended temporary controls on its border with Slovakia until Dec. 3, pointing to migrants' efforts to illegally enter from there.
The government was rocked by a "visas for cash" scandal earlier this year, when the opposition accused it of being complicit in a system where people received visas at an accelerated pace without proper checks after paying intermediaries.
* Sweden strengthened checks in August on its borders, giving border police more power including body searches and increased use of electronic surveillance.
The same month the government raised Sweden's terrorism threat level, saying it had thwarted attacks after Koran burnings triggered threats from Islamist militants.
As of November it extended the border checks until May 2024.
* France as of November reintroduced controls on its borders with Schengen members, citing what it called terrorism threats. The controls should last until April 30, 2024.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin had announced reinforced security in October at the Belgian border after the killing of two people by an assailant in Brussels.
* Slovakia's government on Nov. 20 approved keeping temporary controls on its border with Hungary until Dec. 23. The government is seeking to limit the number of illegal arrivals, having said in November that it detained roughly 500% more migrants who arrived illegally this year compared to 2022.
* Slovenia on Nov. 17 extended border controls with Schengen members until Dec. 9, The government cited armed conflict in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa, and elevated threats from organised crime and terrorism.
It also plans to re-introduce controls on those borders for six months, from Dec. 22.
In October, Slovenia had deployed police on border crossings with Croatia and Hungary.
TIGHTENED BORDERS WITH NON-EU COUNTRIES
* Finland on Nov. 24 temporarily closed all but one of its eight passenger crossings to Russia, after more than 700 migrants arrived at different border stations in the span of two weeks.
Helsinki says Moscow is responsible for transporting the unusually high amount of migrants to its border, which the Kremlin denies.
No reopening date has been announced yet.
Compiled by Olivier Sorgho and Stéphanie Hamel in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi and Frances Kerry
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Europe Politics |
Russian and Ukrainian forces are reporting intense fighting along the border of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and southern Zaporizhzhia regions as Kyiv’s military attempts to break through the front lines and recapture territory in an ongoing counteroffensive.
The new reports came as Russian missiles attacked the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih early Tuesday, killing at least 11 people and injuring 28, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih city military administration.
Air defenses shot down three cruise missiles over the city but there were also “incomings” that hit civilian infrastructure, authorities said, adding that a five-story apartment building was on fire.
Rescue workers are still trying to reach one person trapped under the rubble of a residential building hit by a missile, according to city officials. A day of mourning has been declared for the victims on Wednesday.
The latest battle reports came from Moscow-backed officials and military bloggers who detailed clashes south of the town of Velyka Novosilka along both sides of the Mokri Yaly River, where Ukrainian forces have made gains in recent days.
Ukraine on Saturday seized several small villages along the river, according to geolocated video. And on Sunday, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said Kyiv’s advances in the area amount to between 5 and 10 kilometers (3 to 6 miles).
Late Monday, a senior Russia-appointed official, Vladimir Rogov, spoke of heavy fighting in an area known as the Vremivka Ridge, claiming that higher ground remained under Russian control.
Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed Zaporizhzhia administration, said on Telegram that Russian attack helicopters were in action, and that in the vicinity of the village of Urozhaine, “reciprocal shelling and heavy fighting of ultra-high intensity continues.”
Rogov conceded that Ukrainian forces were “holding their positions on the northern and eastern outskirts of the village.”
Russian forces are trying to repel Ukraine’s breakthrough with counterattacks, according to the unofficial Russian Telegram channel, Operatsiya Z.
The channel said Monday that Ukrainian forces were trying to take higher ground to “create conditions for advancing,” and assessed that their aim was to advance toward the Russian-occupied hub of Staromlynivka.
Elsewhere Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukrainian Land Forces, said Tuesday that Ukrainian troops have continued “the defense operation in the Bakhmut direction.”
“Our soldiers are advancing, the enemy is losing ground on the flanks,” Syrskyi said.
Ukrainian officials also claim advances towards the direction of the port city of Berdiansk over the past day.
“The area taken under control amounted to three square kilometers,” spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Andriy Kovalov, said Tuesday.
Battle for Makarivka
In the Donetsk village of Makarivka, Ukrainian forces had “already been driven out by the quick and effective counterattack of the 127th Division,” said Rogov, the Moscow-backed official. CNN cannot independently verify battlefield reports and other accounts paint a gloomier picture for Russian forces around Makarivka.
Ukrainian deputy defense minister Maliar said Monday that Makarivka was one of seven villages recaptured by Ukrainian forces in the past week.
Russian military bloggers have also been reporting intense combat in the area, with one Telegram channel called “Our Donetsk” saying the Ukrainians “managed to deepen and advance through the wooded areas, threatening with further advance to encircle” nearby Russian units.
There is no way to verify these unofficial reports, but they are consistent with a pattern in the fighting that has evolved in the last week.
“Our Donetsk” acknowledged that Russian troops had been forced to abandon Neskuchne – just south of Velyka Novosilka – for a second time, “retreating to positions where they would not be encircled.”
It said the Ukrainians were “accumulating forces” in the area, and heavy fighting continued.
Meanwhile, one of the most prominent Russian bloggers, Voenkor Kotenok, said late Monday that a senior Russian officer was killed as troops of Russia’s Fifth Army were forced to leave Makarivka.
Voenkor, who has 423,000 subscribers, said in a Telegram post that “as a result of an enemy missile attack, the Chief of Staff of the 35th Combined Arms Army, Major General Sergei Goryachev, was killed.”
There is no independent verification of the death of Goryachev, a highly experienced commander, and no word from the Russian Defense Ministry.
Voenkor said that “according to representatives of the command of the United Group of Forces (S), the army has lost today one of the brightest and most effective military leaders.”
Another well-known Russian military blogger, WarGonzo, acknowledged Monday that earlier “victorious statements” about the situation in Makarivka were “premature.”
“The settlement is still a place of fierce fighting…The enemy is bringing in infantry in small groups, using light equipment, which makes it difficult to defeat them quickly,” the blogger said on Telegram.
“Despite expectations, we have failed to retake the village by the end of the day. We hope there will be success in this regard tomorrow.”
By contrast, Russian military bloggers are claiming that Ukrainian efforts to advance south of Orikhiv, in another part of the southern front, have been resisted, with several saying the Ukrainians had lost a significant number of demining tanks in an area known to have been heavily fortified by the Russians with minefields and tank traps.
Geolocated video appears to show Ukrainian armor losses in this area.
“The enemy is doing everything to hold the positions it has captured,” Maliar, the Ukrainian deputy defense minister, said Tuesday.
“It is actively using attack and army aircraft, and is conducting intense artillery fire. During the offensive, our troops face continuous minefields combined with anti-tank ditches. All of this is combined with constant counterattacks by enemy units on armored vehicles and the massive use of ATGMs and kamikaze drones,” she said.
‘Ultimate goal’
In his nightly address Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the fighting in the Donetsk-Zaporizhzhia border region is tough but Ukrainian forces are recapturing territory.
“The battles are fierce, but we are moving forward, and this is very important. The enemy’s losses are exactly what we need,” Zelensky said.
“Although the weather is unfavorable these days – the rains make our task more difficult – the strength of our warriors still yields results.”
Zelensky also said “the most important and hottest” operational areas are in the Tavria and the Khortytsia directions.
The commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces and the general of the Tavria operational-strategic group reported “on the success we have achieved, on the front areas where we need to reinforce and on the actions we can take to break more Russian positions,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky’s chief diplomatic adviser Igor Zhovkva told CNN Monday that the “ultimate goal of the counteroffensive campaign is to win back all the territories, including Crimea.”
Zhovkva would not give details on the counteroffensive actions underway.
He also sought to tamp down any expectations that the campaign would achieve rapid results, saying it could take many months for Ukraine to achieve its aims.
CNN’s Olga Voitovych, Sharon Braithwaite and Andrew Carey contributed reporting. | Europe Politics |
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky appears to have confirmed that his country's long-awaited counter-offensive against Russia has started.
"Counteroffensive and defensive actions are taking place," he said on Saturday.
But he added that he would not talk in detail about which stage the counter-offensive was in.
Ukrainian troops have advanced in the east near Bakhmut and in the south near Zaporizhzhia, and have carried out long-range strikes on Russian targets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a video interview published Friday that: "We can definitely state that this Ukrainian offensive has begun."
Speaking in Kyiv, after talks with the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Mr Zelensky described the Russian leader's words as "interesting".
"It is important that Russia always feels this: that they do not have long left, in my opinion," he said.
Ukraine's military commanders were in a positive mood, Mr Zelensky continued, adding: "Tell that to Putin."
Mr Trudeau announced 500 million Canadian dollars (£297m) in new military aid for Ukraine during the unannounced visit.
A joint statement issued after the talks said Canada supports Ukraine becoming a Nato member "as soon as conditions allow for it", adding that the issue would be discussed at the Nato Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July.
Drone debris hits Odesa homes
The news conference followed an overnight Russian strike in which three people died and dozens were injured in the southern city of Odesa.
Falling debris from a shot-down Russian drone started a fire in a residential block in the Black Sea-port city, Ukrainian officials said.
A separate overnight Russian attack targeted an airfield in the central region of Poltava.
Ukraine's air force said the Odesa attack, which lasted six hours, involved eight land-based missiles and 35 drones, and that air defence units were able to shoot down 20 drones and two cruise missiles.
"As a result of the air fight, debris from one of the drones fell onto a high-rise apartment, causing a fire," Natalia Humeniuk, the southern military command's spokesperson, said.
Emergency services said 27 people, including three children, were wounded, and that the fire had been quickly put out. Twelve people were rescued from the building, they said.
Images showed an apartment building in Odesa heavily damaged, with debris covering rooms and windows blown out. Others showed a large crater on the ground.
An airfield in the central region of Poltava was also hit by a Russian attack early on Saturday, with the local governor saying it involved ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones. He said it caused damage to airfield infrastructure and equipment.
A 29-year-old was killed in a separate attack in the northeast Kharkiv region, officials said.
Meanwhile, fighting has escalated in recent days in the key southern Zaporizhzhia region, Russian officials say, with Ukraine forces reported to be trying to regain access to the Sea of Azov, which would split Russian forces.
Ukraine's hope of advances in the region, however, could be hindered by huge flooding in the south of the country after the Nova Khakovka dam was destroyed last week.
The flooding has covered around 230 square miles (596 sq km) either side of the Dnipro River.
Nato and Ukraine's military have accused Russia of blowing up the dam, while Russia has blamed Ukraine. | Europe Politics |
The U.S. is beefing up its use of fighter jets around the strategic Strait of Hormuz to protect ships from Iranian seizures, a senior defense official said Friday, adding that the U.S. is increasingly concerned about the growing ties between Iran, Russia and Syria across the Middle East.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters, the official said the U.S. will send F-16 fighter jets to the Gulf region this weekend to augment the A-10 attack aircraft that have been patrolling there for more than a week. The move comes after Iran tried to seize two oil tankers near the strait last week, opening fire on one of them.
The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of military operations in the region, said the F-16s will give air cover to the ships moving through the waterway and increase the military's visibility in the area, as a deterrent to Iran.
The U.S. Navy said in both instances the Iranian naval vessels backed off when the USS McFaul, a guided-missile destroyer, arrived on the scene.
In addition, the defense official told reporters the U.S. is considering a number of military options to address increasing Russian aggression in the skies over Syria, which complicated efforts to strike an Islamic State group leader last weekend. The official declined to detail the options but said the U.S. will not cede any territory and will continue to fly in the western part of the country on anti-Islamic State missions.
The Russian military activity, which has increased in frequency and aggression since March, stems from growing cooperation and coordination between Moscow, Tehran and the Syrian government to try to pressure the U.S. to leave Syria, the official said.
The official said Russia is beholden to Iran for its support in the war in Ukraine, and Tehran wants the U.S. out of Syria so it can more easily move lethal aid to Lebanese Hezbollah and threaten Israel. The U.S. has seen more cooperation, collaboration, planning and intelligence sharing, largely between midlevel Russian and Iranian Quds force leaders in Syria, to pressure the U.S. to remove troops from Syria, the official added.
There are about 900 U.S. forces in the country, and others move in and out to conduct missions targeting Islamic State group militants.
The U.S. does not believe Russian aircraft plan to drop bombs on U.S. troops or shoot down manned aircraft. But there are concerns that Russian pilots will knock a Reaper drone out of the sky and that Moscow believes that type of action would not get a strong U.S. military response, the official said.
As an example, in March, a Russian warplane poured jet fuel on a U.S. surveillance drone and then struck its propeller, forcing the U.S. military to ditch the MQ-9 Reaper into the Black Sea. The incident spiked tensions between the two countries and triggered a call between their defense chiefs but led to no direct military response.
Last week, Rear Adm. Oleg Gurinov, head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria, said the Russian and Syrian militaries have been doing joint training. In comments carried by Syrian state media, he said Moscow is concerned about drone flights by the U.S.-led coalition over northern Syria, calling them "systematic violations of protocols" designed to avoid clashes between the two militaries.
The most recent incident was Friday morning, when a Russia aircraft flew repeatedly over the at-Tanf garrison in eastern Syria, where U.S. forces are training Syrian allies and monitoring Islamic State militant activity. The official said the Russian An-30 aircraft was collecting intelligence on the base.
The U.S. did not have fighter aircraft in the area and took no direct action against the Russian flight. | Middle East Politics |
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A U.S. Department of Defense official confirmed with Fox News that the Pentagon is in the planning phase of sending Iron Dome missile defense systems to Israel as the country continues to fend off missiles fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip by Hamas terrorists.
"The U.S. will be flowing additional Iron Dome support to Israel," the defense official said. "As a result, the Department of Defense is currently engaged in planning to support the provision of U.S. Iron Dome batteries to Israel."
On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists conducted a surprise attack on Israel, making it the deadliest attack on the country in 50 years.
The attack included over 3,000 rockets, drones and commando raids that targeted Israeli cities, military bases and infrastructure.
Israel’s air defense system, the Iron Dome, neutralized about 90% of the incoming threats, the Israeli military said.
The system was created to protect Israeli civilians from rockets and mortars fired by militant groups in Gaza and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, making its debut in April 2011, when it stopped a Grad rocket heading toward Ashkelon that was fired from Gaza.
Iron Dome operates using a sophisticated radar system that detects incoming projectiles from about 40 miles away. It then calculates the trajectories of the projectiles and discerns their potential threats by firing a launcher containing 20 interceptor missiles to intercept any rocket deemed dangerous.
Last week, U.S. Reps. and Brian Mast, both Florida Democrats, announced they were spearheading a bipartisan coalition to urge the Department of Defense to transfer to Iron Dome systems to Israel.
The U.S. owns two Iron Dome systems that are "sitting idle and not being used," according to a press release from Moskowitz and Mast, and that the units were purchased in accordance with the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.
"Every time the Iron Dome is used, it saves thousands of innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives from Hamas terrorists," Moskowitz said. "Now more than ever, the United States must stand with Israel in their war against terrorists who wish nothing but to destroy Israel and the people that live there."
The U.S. Department of Defense is in the process of bolstering forces in the Middle East to deter a wider conflict, but also bolster stability and defend national security interests.
On Tuesday, U.S. Department of Defense spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed that the New Jersey Air National Guard's 119th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron arrived within U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility, adding additional F-16 fighting Falcon Squadrons into the mix to deter further aggression in the region.
The U.S. Navy announced last week it would be sending the USS Mount Whitney to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea as tensions in the Middle East rise amid the Israel-Hamas war.
The USS Mount Whitney, the Navy’s command and control ship, left Gaeta, Italy, on Wednesday to join the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group in support of U.S. Operations in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, which was in the Eastern Mediterranean, is heading to the Persian Gulf, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Saturday.
Also in the area is a special operations capable Marine rapid response force of nearly 2,000 Marines and sailors known as the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is moving closer to Israel via the Red Sea. The group includes the amphibious ready groups USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall.
Kurt Knutsson of the CyberGuy Report and Fox News contributed to this report. | Middle East Politics |
Elements of two Ukrainian Marine Brigades have crossed the Dnipro River and captured two villages three to four kilometers inland, but the strength of the bridgehead and Kyiv’s future plans for operations on the left bank of Ukraine’s biggest water obstacle are still unclear.
Russian Telegram channels led by the Kremlin-associated RybarZ on Wednesday said that four amphibious combat teams from Ukraine’s 35th and 36th Marine Brigades launched a crossing of Ukraine’s biggest waterway from jump-off positions near the right bank town of Pridnistrovske in the early morning hours.
The Ukrainian Marines, according to those accounts, advanced inland to the villages of Poima and Pishchanivka against little or no resistance and began digging in.
The Russian blogger Vladimir Rogov said the situation around the Ukrainian bridgehead currently was static with both sides trading artillery and mortar fire and hunting each other’s infantry with attack drones.
Russian military blogger Vladimir Kulikovsky in Wednesday comments said the Marines’ river crossing was preceded by three days of “intense artillery fire” targeting Russian positions on the river’s left bank. Russian drones had destroyed the boats the Marines used to cross the Dnipro and Russian ground troops were counterattacking to prevent the Ukrainians from getting fully entrenched, he claimed.
Rogov in a Wednesday blog said Ukrainian reconnaissance squads also had landed by boat and were active in the village of Krynok and on Kazatsky Island, but that Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) troops at those locations appeared to be raiders rather than line infantry intending to hold positions. There was no outside confirmation.
Located some 10 km upriver from the major Ukrainian city of Kherson, Prydnprovs’ke is the site of one of the few railroad crossings of the Dnipro.
The strategically-critical rail bridge there was blown up by retreating Russian troops in November 2022, but its foundations possibly suitable for use by Ukrainian troops attempting to re-bridge the river, remain in place.
Multiple speculative maps appeared on social media on Wednesday attesting to a major Ukrainian river crossing at the site of the broken rail bridge, however, without many details.
Kyiv Post found no reports in the public domain of Ukrainian army attempts to deploy ferries, assault bridges or other means capable of supporting the transfer of heavy military equipment like tanks, artillery or infantry fighting vehicles to the Dnipro’s left bank.
Terrain in the area of the Marines’ river crossing is largely swampy and wooded, and thick with canals, mosquitoes and lakes. Before the war the region was popular with sports fishermen but outside the summer season thinly populated.
Ukrainian special operations troops operating in small boats in May kicked off a campaign of raids and cross-river attacks both north and south of Kherson, in most cases according to Ukrainian military statements leaving before Russian reserves were able to respond. Ukrainian territorial defense infantrymen conducted foot patrols in the region in July and August.
The Russian military, mostly unable to bring up artillery to attack the Ukrainian raiders because of long-range Ukrainian artillery on the other side, in recent weeks, has intensified air strikes on cross-river Ukrainian patrols and suspected patrol locations.
Local social media on Wednesday said Ukrainian troops were in the two villages in strength, and some posters said the Marine presence was more substantial than Ukrainian raider and small boat raids in the past. Kyiv Post was unable to confirm the accounts independently.
A near-total Ukrainian army lockdown about operations potentially crossing the Dnipro River appeared to be in effect. The Army General Staff daily situation estimate, usually the single most authoritative source of official updates on Ukrainian military operations, did not even mention the Kherson sector.
The latest report touching on Marine activities on the Kyiv-sanctioned AFU StratCom Telegram channel said nothing about combat, instead reporting on amphibious infantrymen practicing marksmanship with recoilless rifles and automatic grenade launchers and an unnamed training area.
Images and information published by the 36th Marine Brigade in its own information feeds showed the unit to be in combat in the eastern sector around the villages of Opytne and Vodiyane into the latter half of September, and conducting training through mid-October.
The training focus per those sources was work-up and induction of new recruits, marksmanship and operation of light air defense weapons.
One of 36th brigade’s two battalions, the 501st, on Oct. 14 published images of drone operations geo-located to the Dnipro River left bank.
Other video published by the Marina-associated attack drone section Grifon showed images of Ukraine-operated hobby drones fitted with explosives striking Russian troops in positions geo-located to Poima village.
2. Poima. Likely 15/10— Dan (@Danspiun) October 18, 2023
🇷🇺TG has for weeks picked up that🇺🇦marine units were concentrating so should not be a surprise.
Also 36th Marine Bde's 501 Batt has just conducted a FPV strike in Poima on a UAZ-452.
If Rybar's map is correct this area is now UAF.https://t.co/9LQJQgKYDr pic.twitter.com/dcTJgm99BX
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter | Europe Politics |
Idlib, Syria – A top armed opposition group operating in Syria’s last rebel stronghold says it will continue to carry out operations against the Syrian government as government forces and their ally Russia ramp up aerial attacks on the region.
A recent uptick in violence, particularly over the past week, has targeted Idlib governorate in northwestern Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented the killings of 23 fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group once linked to al-Qaeda.
According to Imadeddine al-Khatib, an HTS commander, the government escalation is directed against Idlib’s “stability and development”.
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‘Breaking the enemy’s morale’
The HTS has been targeted by government forces and the Russian air force in all the areas it controls, including swathes of Idlib and parts of the adjacent provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.
According to the Syrian Civil Defence, a group of volunteer emergency workers also known as the White Helmets, at least 52 civilians have been killed this year in Idlib governorate and 208 wounded.
The latest civilian casualties were a man and his teenage grandson killed last week when Russian warplanes targeted an abandoned water-pumping station in the village of Arri west of Idlib city.
According to the Syrian Ministry of Defence, however, dozens of HTS fighters were wounded or killed in the attack, which it claimed struck “terrorist headquarters” on Wednesday.
The HTS refused to comment on the number of its members killed. Al-Khatib dismissed the scale of the Syrian government’s escalation in Idlib, saying the group has succeeded in “breaking the enemy’s morale”.
“This month saw two operations in Ain al-Bayda and Nabi Yunus, both areas that are important strategic locations,” he said. “Our fighters were able to shoot down about 30 enemy soldiers and officers.”
Al-Khatib said the group’s defences are “better than ever” after learning from past mistakes, adopting new strategies and fortifying its front lines.
“We have many deterrent tools and weaponry that have proven their effectiveness, and our missiles and mortar shells can reach Syrian and Russian operations rooms and meeting sites,” he said.
The commander added that the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are weak in the face of international economic and political upheavals.
“Russia has fallen into the quagmire of the war on Ukraine and cannot start new battles,” he said.
The rebel-held Idlib region is home to about three million people, about half of them displaced from other parts of the country.
Military mobilisation
The HTS has rebranded itself over the years, severing its ties to the transnational al-Qaeda group and portraying itself as a more moderate group with local aims. It has become the most powerful rebel group in northwest Syria.
In 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, who back opposing sides in Syria’s war, brokered a ceasefire in the country’s northwest. The so-called de-escalation zone has largely held, but periodic clashes and Syrian and Russian air raids have continued.
Those clashes have escalated in recent weeks. The HTS’s recent increase in cross-front-line attacks against Syrian army targets has most likely been an attempt to express its opposition to a recent wave of regional reconciliation with al-Assad, analyst Dareen Khalifa said.
“The group retains the capacity to conduct … asymmetrical attacks against regime targets,” she said, explaining that the group is focused on pushing back against government advances in the northwest territory.
According to Abbas Shareefa, a Turkey-based Syrian political affairs analyst, the group has the most fighters among the armed opposition groups in the region.
“There have been developments on the military front, such as the use of unmanned drones and using advanced technology in operations,” he said.
While there are no official statistics about the number of HTS fighters, Shareefa said they are estimated at 7,000.
“Most of them are locals who were displaced from their towns and cities and villages in the regime-controlled areas,” he said. “Foreign fighters are few.”
Civil governance
The HTS’s influence is reflected in its position as the main actor in northwest Syria in terms of the economy, security and governance, Shareefa said.
“Regional and international coordination and communication goes through HTS, such as the movement of goods or the passage of humanitarian aid,” he said.
It also has a self-styled civilian authority, called the Salvation Government, that provides a variety of civil services, such as tax collection, internal security, and supervision of the health, education and agricultural sectors.
The Salvation Government is politically Islamist, but in contrast to the Taliban or ISIL (ISIS), it is not “draconian”, Khalifa said.
The HTS “has not enforced the harshest interpretations of Sharia law, nor has it compelled women to veil their faces or banned mixed-gender gatherings in restaurants”, she said.
In its approach to political Islamist governance, the HTS “emphasises the importance of remaining compatible with Syria’s mainstream religious traditions and mores”.
“The bar is very low,” Khalifa added, “and many Syrians in Idlib and beyond will rightly insist that HTS should be pressed to allow more room for personal freedoms.”
For al-Khatib, the civil services operate in tandem with the battles fought against the government.
“We have found great challenges in the liberated north due to poor infrastructure and a massive population pressure as a result of the forced displacement of the people to this territory,” he said. “So it was necessary to offer a decent life to the Syrians who have been deprived of that for decades.”
“Victory on the military front does not come out of nothing but requires stability and self-sufficiency,” he added.
“These services serve the battle of liberation and relief for our people.” | Middle East Politics |
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Several thousand people briefly took to the streets across the Gaza Strip on Sunday to protest chronic power outages and difficult living conditions, providing a rare public show of discontent with the territory’s Hamas government. Hamas security forces quickly dispersed the gatherings.
Marches took place in Gaza City, the southern town of Khan Younis and other locations, chanting “what a shame” and in one place burning Hamas flags, before police moved in and broke up the protests.
Police destroyed mobile phones of people who were filming in Khan Younis, and witnesses said there were several arrests. Dozens of young supporters and opponents of Hamas briefly faced off, throwing stones at one another.
The demonstrations were organized by a grassroots online movement called “alvirus alsakher,” or “the mocking virus.” It was not immediately known who is behind the movement.
Hamas rules Gaza with an iron fist, barring most demonstrations and quickly stamping out public displays of dissent.
The Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, prompting Israel and Egypt to impose a crippling blockade on the territory. Israel says the closure is needed to prevent Hamas, which does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, from building up its military capabilities.
The closure has devastated Gaza’s economy, sent unemployment skyrocketing and led to frequent power outages. During the current heat wave, people have been receiving four to six hours of power a day due to heavy demand.
“Where is the electricity and where is the gas?” the crowds shouted in Khan Younis. “What a shame. What a shame.”
Protesters also criticized Hamas for deducting a roughly $15 fee from monthly $100 stipends given to Gaza's poorest families by the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar.
There was no immediate comment from the Hamas authorities. | Middle East Politics |
Justin Trudeau and Giorgia Meloni spar publicly over LGBTQ rights at G7 summit
In an unusual display of open disagreement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Friday took public potshots at each other. The spat happened as the two world leaders were attending the Group of Seven (G7) leader summit in Japan's Hiroshima. The topic of this spat, as per reports, was LGBTQ rights.
The disagreement, as per Bloomberg, started when just ahead of closed-door talks, Trudeau criticised Meloni and Italy on camera.
"Canada is concerned about some of the positioning that Italy is taking in terms of LGBT rights, but I look forward to talking with you," said Trudeau.
Trudeau's comment left Meloni visibly bristling and annoyed. Later, after the closed-door meeting, while talking to reporters, she accused the Canadian prime minister of being a "victim of fake news" and even said he was a "bit rash" in his comments.
Speaking in Italian, Meloni also said that after their talks he now probably understood that what gets written about her doesn't correspond to her reality.
As per a statement released by Justin Trudeau's office, the Canadian prime minister also raised his concerns about LGBTQ rights in Italy during the meeting. The statement added that the Italian prime minister had defended her government's position and stated that they were following court rulings related to LGBTQ matters.
While speaking to the press, Meloni pointed out that she hasn't changed any existing legislation on LGBTQ issues in Italy.
In March, Meloni's far-right-led government ordered city councils to stop the official recording of both parents in same-sex couples. Instead, they were instructed to only acknowledge the biological parent.
The move was denounced by gay rights activists as "homophobic". Speaking at the time, Alessia Crocini, the president of Rainbow Families, a non-profit organisation "supporting LGBTQ+ parents and their children", said the move exposed the Meloni government's homophobia.
"This government is the maximum expression of homophobia."
"Meloni says that for a child to grow up well, they need a mother and father, even if decades of research say otherwise. It is insulting to hundreds of thousands of families with two same-sex parents," she said.
Italy's law doesn't recognise same-sex parents and Meloni has previously stated that every child is entitled to a mother and a father.
She also remarked that people identifying with a gender other than what was assigned to them at birth are victims of ideology. In a magazine interview in March, the Italian prime minister said "Being a man or a woman is rooted in who we are, and can’t be changed."
(With inputs from agencies)
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A gunman who shot dead two Swedish football fans in Brussels last Monday had escaped from prison in Tunisia.
Belgian prosecutors say Abdesalem Lassoued had been sentenced to 26 years in prison in 2005, reportedly for crimes including attempted murder.
He escaped in 2011, managed to board a small boat and arrived illegally on the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Lassoued eventually moved to Belgium, where he applied for asylum. When rejected, he fell off the radar.
The Tunisian authorities had asked Belgium to return Lassoued home in August 2022. Belgian officials received the extradition request, but failed to process it.
Belgium's Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne resigned on Friday over what he called a "monumental and unacceptable error with dramatic consequences".
On the evening of Monday 16 October, Lassoued, a 45-year-old man from Tunisia, started shooting at passers-by with an assault rifle in central Brussels.
He then chased people into the hallway of an apartment building, where he shot and killed two Swedish football fans, and injured a third. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
After a manhunt the gunman was tracked down at a cafe near his home in Schaerbeek, northern Brussels, on Tuesday morning. He was shot dead by police.
"I sincerely want to apologise to the victims and their loved ones," Mr Van Quickenborne said during his resignation speech. "I am not looking for any excuses."
He said he wanted to take "political responsibility for this unacceptable mistake".
Brussels public prosecutor Tim De Wolf blamed understaffing in his office for the failure to act on the extradition request.
He said the extradition file had been received in September last year and had probably been forgotten in a file cabinet.
"None of the colleagues involved remember what became of this specific file a year ago. There is no trace of it being handled," he said.
The prosecutor did not mention why Lassoued had been jailed, but Belgian media are reporting that he was imprisoned for two attempted murders.
The attacker had lodged asylum applications in Norway, Sweden, Belgium and Italy.
In 2016, the Italian intelligence services identified him as a radicalised subject and started to monitor him.
It also emerged that Lassoued had served a two-year prison sentence in Sweden for drug trafficking. According to Swedish media, he was arrested in Malmo for possessing 100g (3.5oz) of cocaine.
The attack in Brussels, which resulted in the death of a man in his 70s and a man in his 60s, has shocked Sweden.
"I think this is one of the first times Swedes have been targeted like this because of their nationality," Maja, a dual Swedish-British citizen who lives in Brussels, told the BBC.
Following a string of Quran burnings by anti-Islam activists in Sweden, the government has been warning of a heightened risk to Swedish nationals.
Copies of the Muslim holy book have been burned outside embassies, mosques, and the Swedish parliament.
This has sparked angry reactions in Muslim countries, and in August the terror alert was raised to the second-highest level following threats by Islamic extremists.
"I always thought that having a Swedish passport was such a positive thing," Maja said. "But times have really changed."
The Swedish Security Service, known as Sapo, said it was "working closely with the Belgian authorities".
The shooting is being treated by the Belgian prosecutor as a terrorist attack - and comes at a time of heightened security concerns across Europe linked to the Israel-Hamas war.
Belgium has announced extra security measures in response to last week's attack. The public prosecutor's office in Brussels, federal judicial police and railway police will all get additional staff.
The flow of information between the immigration service, the police and the judiciary will also be strengthened. | Europe Politics |
Several of Monday's papers give details of the new powers which the government is reported to be considering to deal with protests.
The Sun says the prime minister wants to make it easier to ban marches and demonstrations, after what happened on Armistice Day. It says "clambering on statues" and using fireworks at protests could be prohibited, while laws on "glorifying terrorists" would be hardened. "Never again," the paper's headline reads.
The Daily Telegraph echoes the latest words of Home Secretary Suella Braverman - saying the government aims to toughen laws to prevent protests that - in her words - "pollute" the streets. It reports the prime minister wants to remove any doubt that the police can and should intervene on hate speech.
The Times reports that Rishi Sunak will meet the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, on Monday or Tuesday - and is expected to ask why more arrests weren't made, despite images of marchers waving swastikas and wearing "Hamas-style' headbands. The paper says Sir Mark is expected to emphasise that officers quelled disorder despite facing unacceptable violence.
The Daily Mirror focuses on what it says are growing calls for the home secretary to quit. The paper has a photo of Suella Braverman at the Cenotaph on Sunday, 24 hours after the Armistice Day violence which it says she helped to incite. "Have you no shame?" the Mirror's headline asks, under a picture of far-right protesters clashing with police on Saturday.
In contrast, The Daily Mail says the home secretary is defying critics who want her sacked. The paper says she's come out "fighting" with her condemnation of the "ugly scenes" at the weekend, after being accused of stoking up tension.
The i reports that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is considering pre-Christmas cuts to inheritance tax and stamp duty, to - as the paper puts it - "lift Tory gloom". It says many Conservative MPs believe such a move is key to defeating Labour at the next general election. The chancellor has previously said he won't cut taxes while inflation remains high. But the paper suggests that figures out this week could show inflation has fallen below five per cent.
The Guardian reports that thousands of babies and toddlers are being admitted to hospital in England each year with lung problems - probably linked to their living conditions. A senior doctor, Andy Knox, tells the paper that damp and mould-ridden homes are having a "profoundly negative impact on the nation's health". Figures suggest damp is five times more common in private rented homes than in owner-occupied ones. The housing department says everyone deserves to live in a safe and decent home, and that's why the government is determined to crack down on rogue landlords.
Finally, the papers capture the solemnity of the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph. The Telegraph says peace and dignity prevailed, as the King laid a wreath for the fallen. The Mirror says there was a "dignified silence after Saturday's melee". For the Express, Remembrance Sunday was a "balm to our troubled soul".
Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox. | United Kingdom Politics |
Hundreds of civilians are confirmed to have died already in Syria in a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that has toppled houses in every city and village across northern Syria and southern Turkey. Thousands are still stuck under the rubble.
3000 White Helmets volunteers are on the ground searching for survivors and pulling the dead from collapsed buildings. They urgently need your support to respond to this disaster, to find survivors and transport hundreds of injured people to hospital in freezing snow and rain.
The White Helmets are in a race against the clock. Please stand with the people of Syria and the first responders and give what you can now to help the people impacted by this disaster
All of the White Helmets teams are working full capacity to save everyone they can, but with their limited resources, this is a herculean task. Several hospitals buckled in the tremors and the health system in northern Syria is already severely depleted after years of deliberate attacks by Russia and the Syrian regime. That's why the White Helmets urgently need your support to act quickly to provide resources, shelter, and care for injured people who have lost their homes.
Your donation will help source more equipment to respond to all the incidents and fuel to transport the injured. Hundreds of people have been made homeless and the volunteers are rushing to set up emergency shelters as years of bombing have left full neighborhoods at risk of collapsing.
When the bombs rain down, the White Helmets (also known as the Syria Civil Defence) rush in. In a place where public services no longer function, these humanitarian volunteers risk their lives to help anyone in need â regardless of their religion or politics. Known for their distinctive headwear, the rescue workers operate in the most dangerous place on earth and have saved more than 100,000 lives over the past five years.
Former bakers, tailors, engineers, pharmacists, painters, carpenters, students and many more professions besides, the White Helmets are volunteers from all walks of life. Many have paid the ultimate price for their compassion â 252 have been killed while saving others.
The volunteers save people on all sides of the conflict â pledging commitment to the principles of âHumanity, Solidarity, Impartialityâ as outlined under international humanitarian law. This pledge guides every response, every action, every life saved so that in a time of destruction, all Syrians have the hope of a lifeline. Their inspiring work has earned them recognition at the highest international levels and they have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times.
The White Helmetsâ motto is taken from the Quran: 'to save a life is to save all of humanity'. In a conflict where too many have chosen violence, the White Helmets wake up every day to save the lives others are trying so hard to take.
âIn every mission there is a 50% chance Iâll live and 50% chance that Iâll die. But in the end, Iâve left my mark. Iâve left children who are going to live and complete our future.â
As Syriaâs peaceful revolution descended into conflict in late 2012, the Syrian government began dropping bombs on homes and neighbourhoods in areas outside of their control. These strikes were the first explosions of an aerial war on civilians that would lead to tens of thousands of deaths and millions displaced from their homes.
In the areas under attack public services no longer functioned so groups of volunteers formed to provide emergency response in communities across Syria. These self-organised groups would respond to the cries of their neighbours and friends trapped under the rubble. They had no specialised equipment or training and were powered only be their concern for human life.
In March 2013, some of these volunteer teams received their first training in Turkey on the work of âurban search and rescueâ from a training organisation that specialises in response to natural disasters, such as earthquakes. With this training the groups became more organised, establishing civil defence centres and specialised teams.
By 2014, there were teams in seven governorates across Syria. In October 2014, these teams voted to form one national organisation, the White Helmets (or Syria Civil Defence) and pledged allegiance to a set of international humanitarian values and principles as laid out in the Geneva Conventions.
The White Helmets is led by a democratically-elected Leadership Council that represents teams across the country, headed by Raed al Saleh who was formerly the Head of the White Helmets in Idlib, northern Syria.
The work of the White Helmets has expanded in response to the needs of the communities they serve, now providing essential services to millions of people. Their work includes fixing electrical grids, maintaining sewage works, clearing rubble from roads, removing unexploded weapons, as well as community education and preparation for future attacks.
The White Helmets have emerged as heroes of the communities they serve. Their work has done what the world has failed to â restore hope to people who now know that, no matter what, there is someone there to help.
âKilling people is easy, saving lives is hardâ
The White Helmets have had female volunteers since their formation â now there are 221 women who are trained in medical care and light search and rescue work.
Like their male counterparts, the female White Helmets started out doing search and rescue work. Seeing the needs of their communities, the female teams have now expanded their work to provide trauma counselling, community education to help children and families prepare for attacks and recover afterwards, and in areas where there are few medical services, they have opened women maternal health clinics.
âI help injured civilians every day knowing that this will give my daughter and my country a better life.â
The White Helmets are being targeted for daring to operate outside the control of the Syrian regime and showing the world what is happening in Syria.
Their data and eyewitness testimonies, as well as photographic evidence, have been vital sources of information for international investigations into war crimes compiled by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and human rights groups. These crimes include the use of chemical weapons, the collective punishment of civilians through starvation sieges and the targeting of hospitals and medical facilities. The leading perpetrators of these crimes, the Syrian government and its ally Russia, are targeting the White Helmets on the ground and attempting to discredit their work online and in the media.
252 volunteers have been killed in the line of duty since 2013. More than half of those have been killed in âdouble-tapâ strikes where Syrian regime and Russian warplanes return to the site of a bombing to target the rescue workers. Their centres and teams of volunteers have been hit by missiles, barrel bombs and artillery bombardment 238 times in just over 18 months between June 2016 and December 2017.
As frontline humanitarians, they are protected by international humanitarian law. Although they work exclusively in areas outside of government control, they have saved lives from all sides of the conflict, including that of government soldiers.
They are also subjected to constant attack online â both personally and through a hate-filled Russian-backed disinformation campaign carried out by bloggers, bots and trolls. This online war is designed to create doubt and confusion about the facts on the ground. Ultimately these efforts to discredit the White Helmetsâ work is to obscure the reality of war crimes being committed by Russia and the Syrian regime.
The White Helmets dream of an end to their work pulling bodies from under the rubble and a time when their beloved Syria is at peace. When this day comes the White Helmets want to play their part in rebuilding a Syria where everyone's rights are realised.
Already they are dealing with some of the most visible remnants of the war â unexploded weapons. They have trained teams who are clearing farmlands so that farmers can start growing the crops needed to feed communities. They are restoring schools so children can return to learn in safety and securing roads so that everyday journeys are no longer a matter of life and death.
In a country where more than half of the population have been forced to flee their homes, the White Helmets want to help rebuild these homes and help rehouse families who want to return.
The White Helmets will also continue to provide essential services, such as the maintenance of electrical grids, sewage works and water mains, while the generational task of reestablishing state provision is undertaken. The work of rebuilding Syria is not just physical, it will take years to bring communities back together and the White Helmets want to help build those bridges.
âWhen I heard the sound of the Civil Defence bulldozer, I started to feel some hope that I might live. Slowly, the stone started to be removed, rock by rock. All of the weight started to lessen. I was able to breathe, to hear their voices. It was difficult to open my eyes but I opened them a little and saw them wearing their white helmets. I was so happy that I was out of the rubble.â
Safety googles
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First aid kit
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The White Helmets:
an Oscar-winning Netflix documentary
Last Men in Aleppo
A feature documentary following the efforts of the White Helmets of Aleppo. Winner of the Grand Jury Documentary prize at the Sundance Film Festival
Fighting for life in Syriaâs vicious civil war: 60 Minutes - CBS
White Helmets of Syria: TIME magazine | Middle East Politics |
NATO allies have gathered at RAF Lossiemouth to take part in the biannual Formidable Shield exercise, which aims to improve joint live-fire, integrated air and missile defence interoperability.
The exercise, which will run until May 26, is the largest of its kind to be held by NATO this year and involves more than 20 ships, 35 aircraft, and almost 4,000 NATO personnel.
As part of the exercise, RAF Typhoons and P8 Poseidon aircraft, French Navy Rafale M jets, and Italian Air Force Typhoons supported by an Italian Air Force KC 767 A tanker will fly from the Scottish airbase. Other NATO allies will also participate in live-fire exercises at ranges in northern Scotland and off the Scottish coast.
Wing Commander Tim McAuley, Officer Commanding Station Operations at RAF Lossiemouth, highlighted the significance of the exercise in terms of improving integrated air and missile defence capabilities: “Exercise Formidable Shield is an excellent example of the UK taking a leading role in the development of integrated air and missile defence with our NATO allies. I am delighted that RAF Lossiemouth, through the efforts of our ground crews and ops staff, are at the centre of this exercise helping to protect our people and counter a growing threat.”
McAuley also noted that RAF Lossiemouth’s location near fast jet training areas allows it to provide the multi-domain exercise area needed for an exercise of this type: “In utilising the array of low-level flying areas in Scotland and Tain Range, our allies are able to incorporate challenging and realistic targets into the exercise environment.”
The exercise is designed to enhance Allied interoperability in a joint live-fire, integrated air and missile defence environment, using NATO command and control reporting structures. Allied nations will practice and assess their ability to share situational awareness and carry out NATO-level mission planning.
The Commander Task Group, Integrated Air and Missile Defence, has embarked aboard the Spanish Navy Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate ESPS Blas de Lezo that will provide the command and control function for the exercise. The Spanish frigate will operate with the US 6th Fleet for the duration of the exercise.
The exercise involves 13 NATO Allied and partner nations, including Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Ground units consisting of radars, Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems will also be used during the exercise. | Europe Politics |
SEOUL, Nov 28 (Reuters) - After decades of satellite surveillance by foreign governments and analysts, North Korea has sent its first spy satellite on a global orbit with a message to the world: we can watch you too.
On Tuesday North Korean state media said leader Kim Jong Un had reviewed spy satellite photos of the White House, Pentagon and U.S. aircraft carriers at the naval base of Norfolk.
North Korea last week successfully launched its first reconnaissance satellite, which it has said was designed to monitor U.S. and South Korean military movements.
Since then state media has reported the satellite photographed cities and military bases in South Korea, Guam, and Italy, in addition to the U.S. capital.
"Remember when you got that toy you always wanted at Xmas and were so excited you wanted to tell everyone about it?" Chad O'Carroll, founder of the North Korea-focused website NK News, said of the KCNA reports in a post on X.
So far, Pyongyang has not released any imagery, leaving analysts and foreign governments to debate how capable the new satellite actually is.
South Korea, which said on Tuesday the Nov. 30 launch date for its own first spy satellite on a U.S. Falcon 9 rocket would be delayed by weather, has said the North's satellite capabilities could not be verified.
There's no reason to doubt that the satellite could see the large areas or warships North Korea claimed it could, as even a medium-resolution camera could offer Pyongyang that capability, said Dave Schmerler, a satellite imagery expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS).
"But how useful those images are depends on what they want to use them for," he said.
For medium-resolution satellites to be useful in a conflict, North Korea will need to launch many more to allow more frequent passes over key sites, Schmerler said, a goal that the North's space agency has said it is pursuing.
"It's a big leap for them going from zero to something, but until we can see the images they're collecting, we're speculating on its use cases," he said.
Jeffrey Lewis, another researcher at CNS, said a state media photo of Kim examining the satellite images with his daughter suggest they may be panchromatic, a type of black-and-white photography that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light.
North Korea released panchromatic imagery of downtown Seoul after a rocket launch in December 2022 in what it said was a test of the satellite control, image taking and data downlink for its eventual military reconnaissance satellite.
Tuesday's photos were the latest in a series of images of what KCNA described as "major target regions".
Kim also inspected satellite photos of the Andersen Air Force Base in the U.S. Western Pacific territory of Guam and a U.S. shipyard and airbase in Norfolk and Newport, where four nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and a British aircraft carrier were spotted, KCNA said.
Commercial imagery of those cities on Nov. 27, the day North Korea says it captured its photographs, was not immediately available.
The United States and South Korea have condemned the satellite launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any use of ballistic technology.
Reporting by Hyonhee Shin Editing by Chris Reese, Sandra Maler and Gerry Doyle
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Asia Politics |
Hussein Malla/AP
toggle caption
Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit are shown south of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 29, 2019. The U.S. imposed sanctions Sept. 6, 2023, on a Sudanese Rapid Support Forces paramilitary commander for acts of violence and human rights abuses committed by his troops in their conflict with Sudan's army.
Hussein Malla/AP
Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit are shown south of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 29, 2019. The U.S. imposed sanctions Sept. 6, 2023, on a Sudanese Rapid Support Forces paramilitary commander for acts of violence and human rights abuses committed by his troops in their conflict with Sudan's army.
Hussein Malla/AP
CAIRO — A drone attack Sunday on an open market south of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, killed at least 43 people, activists and a medical group said, as the military and a powerful rival paramilitary group battle for control of the country.
More than 55 others were wounded in the attack in Khartoum's May neighborhood, where paramilitary forces battling the military were heavily deployed, the Sudan Doctors' Union said in a statement. The casualties were taken to Bashair University Hospital.
The Resistance Committees, an activist group that helps organize humanitarian assistance, posted footage on social media showing bodies wrapped in white sheets in an open yard at the hospital.
Sudan has been rocked by violence since mid-April, when tensions between the country's military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, burst into open fighting.
The RSF blamed the military's air force for Sunday's attack, though it was not immediately possible to independently verify the claim. The military, meanwhile, said Sunday afternoon that it didn't target civilians, describing the RSF accusations as "false and misleading claims."
Indiscriminate shelling and airstrikes by both factions are not uncommon in Sudan's war, which has made the Greater Khartoum area a battleground.
The conflict has since spread to several parts of the country. In the Greater Khartoum area, which includes the cities of Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri, RSF troops have commandeered civilian homes and turned them into operational bases. The military responded by bombing these residential areas, rights groups and activists say.
In the western Darfur region — the scene of a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s — the conflict has morphed into ethnic violence, with the RSF and allied Arab militias attacking ethnic African groups, according to rights groups and the United Nations.
AP
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This is a locator map for Sudan with its capital, Khartoum.
AP
This is a locator map for Sudan with its capital, Khartoum.
AP
Fierce clashes ensued over the weekend in al-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, following an attack on a military facility by the RSF, local media reported.
Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, expressed concerns Sunday about the clashes in al-Fasher. Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, the U.N. official called for warring factions to stop fighting "so that humanitarians can bring in food, medicine and shelter items to those who need them most."
The war has killed more than 4,000 people, according to August figures from the United Nations. However, the real toll is almost certainly much higher, doctors and activists say.
The number of internally displaced persons has nearly doubled since mid-April to reach at least 7.1 million people, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Another 1.1 million are refugees in neighboring countries, according to figures released last week by the International Organization for Migration.
Chad received about 465,000 refugees, mostly from West Darfur province where the RSF and its Arab militias launched scorched-earth attacks on non-Arab tribes in the provincial capital of Geneina and its surrounding areas, according to the U.N. and rights groups. | Africa politics |
The exit polls from Poland's election have Eurocrats grinning like Cheshire cats.
After years of estrangement and antagonism, Poland's centrist opposition Civic Coalition, has a simple message for Brussels: "We, the fifth-largest country in the EU fold, are back!"
The fact that they're led by former European Council chief Donald Tusk means the EU believes them.
Brussels has been deeply worried about Poland's election.
Little was said in public. EU figures don't want to be seen as interfering in national votes, but behind closed doors there was a tonne of euro-nail-biting.
Poland and Hungary have long been viewed as the EU bad-boys: flawed democracies and EU-hostile.
They were accused of flouting the bloc's democratic norms.
In Poland's case, Brussels withheld billions of euros of funds, pointing at the Polish government taking away women's rights over their own bodies by virtually outlawing abortion, and threatening the independence of the judiciary and press freedom too by taking hold of the state broadcaster.
Hungary and Poland also repeatedly stood in the way of agreeing new EU-wide measures to tackle migration and implementing ambitious EU climate goals.
So far there are only exit polls to go on, but Brussels is doubly delighted at the expected outcome as it seems to buck a trend much-feared by the EU - the apparent renaissance of the Eurosceptic hard right across much of the bloc.
Those forces are polling strongly in France, Austria and Germany. Populists just won the election in Slovakia.
Civic Coalition promises to return to the European mainstream, though it won't be easy. The outgoing hard-line, conservative Law and Justice party is expected to retain a big chunk of parliamentary seats, limiting room for manoeuvre for Poland's new government.
Still, when I spoke to European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, he was upbeat. He hoped the tensions "haunting" relations with Poland would now dissipate, describing Warsaw as a core member of the European family.
Russia is another reason Brussels is keen to thaw frosty relations with Poland. Moscow sees any disunity amongst Ukraine's international backers as playing to its advantage.
But Warsaw's tough line line against Russia was unlikely to waver, whoever won Sunday's election.
It's a historic enmity. From that defence perspective, Nato was far more sanguine about Poland's election result than the EU.
It does not want to be drawn into the domestic politics of national governments, but Warsaw has played an increasingly high-profile role in the military alliance since Russia's invasion of Ukraine,
Nato's ambassador to the US, Julianne Smith, told me what she observed on visits to Poland was a dedication by the Polish people - not just the Polish government - to continue supporting Ukraine.
"They're right there. They border Ukraine, they feel this war differently than some of the other allies across the alliance.
"It's very close to their daily lives. And for that reason I think we can count on Poland, we feel quite comfortable with counting on them over the long term, irrespective of who might be in power."
Even before the outspoken Donald Trump became US President, Washington was deeply frustrated that its European allies didn't spend more on defence. It's delighted Poland spends 3% of its GDP on making itself feel safer. And it's thought unlikely Civic Coalition will reverse that.
In fact, Poland is so worried the war in Ukraine could spill over its borders, that it announced plans to invest in enough equipment and personnel to become Europe's strongest army by 2026. | Europe Politics |
Brits fed up of the weather and their salaries could be snatched by a team of Aussies coming over with a view to nabbing skilled workers.
Australians in one of the country's most sun-drenched cities are coming over later this month in a bid to get some of us to move there for work - where we could be earning up to three times as much.
The city of Perth is currently battling a major shortage of workers, and are prepared to offer incentives to lure us to the other side of the world.
Doctors, teachers, nurses, police officers, mechanics and dentists are needed in the Western Australian city, as well as plumbers, builders, hospitality workers and miners.
The mission forms part of a trade deal the Aussies have made with the UK as the country looks to fill 31,000 vacancies.
It's hoped the promise of more sunshine, better wages which are up to thrice as much as they are in the UK, and a better cost of living, will be enough to pull people over.
Police and Defence Industry minister Paul Papalia will lead a delegation of recruiters heading to London, Bristol, Edinburgh and Dublin to encourage us to jump ship.
Paul said: "We are here to steal your workers by offering them a better life in one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
"Western Australia is a fantastic place to live and work.
"Our wages are higher and our cost of living is lower. Our health system is world-class. You will be taken care of.
"Most of Perth’s population lives a short drive from the beach, where parking is free.
"There are no tolls on our roads. We don’t have anything close to what would be considered a traffic jam by UK standards.
"And if you don’t want to drive public transport is also capped. The most you’ll ever pay for a one way ticket anywhere is £2.86.
"That’s all it will cost you to get a train from the airport to the city centre.
"And we have free buses in our entertainment precincts and business district.
"Perth is a beautiful, clean and vibrant city, with food, bars, pubs and restaurants to cater to all tastes."
According to financial analysts, a nurse earning £30,000 in the UK could expect to earn up to £50,000 in Oz.
The average salary in Perth is around $80,000 (AUD), or about £46,000.
Household energy bills in Australia however are currently at about £1,376 a year on average - compared with the eye-watering £2,600 price cap for Brits.
And for a more quintessentially British frame of reference, the typical price of a pint in Australia is $9 - about £5. | Australia Politics |
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese under fire for spending more time at the Australian Open than in Alice Springs amid crime crisis
Anthony Albanese is under fire for how much time he spent at the Australian Open after a short trip to Alice Springs, with critics drawing parallels to his predecessor’s infamous trip to Hawaii.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been blasted for “chugging beers” and enjoying the Australian Open finals after he travelled to crime-riddled Alice Springs for a short trip.
Mr Albanese spent the weekend in Melbourne where he attended three nights of tennis in a row, enjoying Friday’s semi-final, Saturday’s women’s final and Sunday’s men’s final.
In contrast the Prime Minister spent only four hours on the ground in Alice Springs last Tuesday, where soaring youth crime has made national headlines.
Manager of Opposition Business Paul Fletcher questioned the timing of Mr Albanese's tennis trip due to the pressing issue of rampant crime in the Northern Territory.
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“It’s a perfectly reasonable question. The Prime Minister spent a lot of time at the tennis… but there are pressing issues in relation to the safety of Indigenous Australians in Alice Springs,” he told Sky News Australia on Tuesday.
“Let’s see some focus from the Prime Minister on this pressing issue of public safety.”
Melbourne radio presenter Neil Mitchell was even more scathing while interviewing Labor’s Bill Shorten, likening the behaviour to that of his predecessor’s awfully timed Hawaii trip.
“I don't deny he should go to the tennis, it's a good thing. But three days and a few hours in Alice Springs. We have a real crisis there,” Mr Mitchell said on 3AW on Tuesday.
“The Prime Minister has to do something and he has to be seen to do something. At least ScoMo paid his own way to Hawaii, we paid for Albo to go to the tennis.”
There's problems in Alice Springs so #airbus @AlboMP is pushed into doing something so goes there for 4 hours then goes to the tennis and spends 6 hours there doing selfies ect... This is has to be the worst PM in Australian history. Imagine if Scott Morrison did same?— ð â ðð¦ðº ð³ï¸âð ð¸ Golden Girl (@Terri_1987a) January 28, 2023
Meanwhile Senator Jacinta Price told The Herald Sun she found images of Mr Albanese "chugging beers" and eating ice cream at the Australian Open an “insult and a kick in the guts”.
“For the people of Alice Springs to see the PM spending more time relaxing and chugging back beers at the tennis than what he did on the ground in Alice Springs,” she said.
The Prime Minister was not the only famous face to attend Sunday's spectacular Djokovic versus Tsisipas final, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, Bill Gates and former pies boss Eddie McGuire also in the crowd.
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten defended Mr Albanese and said he was a hard working Prime Minister with his focus on Alice Springs.
"He’s one of the hardest working blokes I've ever met. He was working on Saturday, Lunar New Year celebrations in Box Hill. Sunday he was out in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, yesterday in St Kilda," Mr Shorten told Sky News Australia.
"It’s cheap politics. The main game is Alice Springs and that is the Prime Minister's priority.
"But the problems in Alice Springs have been 25 years in the making and we take that most seriously."
Following community outcry and national coverage, Mr Albanese visited Alice Springs on Tuesday afternoon and threw his support behind a number of Northern Territory Government measures.
The pressure led to reinstating bans on the sale of takeaway alcohol on Mondays and Tuesdays over the next three months as well as limiting transactions for customers. | Australia Politics |
The citizens of Poland have voted. A government that combined conservative Catholicism with “soft” Euroscepticism (they won’t leave the European Union but they despise it) will now likely be replaced by a government led by a passionate EU advocate. This will be as radical and wrenching as Donald Trump’s assumption of US power in 2017 after eight years of Barack Obama.
Radical and wrenching political transformations are presently in vogue. The Fratelli d’Italiaparty dominated the September 2022 election in Italy and brought Giorgia Meloni to power—a politician of a conservative-nationalist Right unknown in Italy since World War II and determined to amplify its country’s voice in the EU. In France, Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (formerly the Front National) occupies the same political space as Meloni’s party. Le Pen is presently the favourite to win the next presidential election (though it will be 2027 before she has a chance to either prove her popularity or see her third attempt at winning that contest fail). The right-wing coalition government in Sweden has, over the past year, cut away at the social-democratic consensus with which the country has been identified for decades. Among large European nations, only the UK expects to see a victory for the centre-Left Labour Party next year, with very little change to economic and social policy likely.
For almost a decade, Poland has been deeply divided. In part, this is because Poles living in small towns and country villages prefer the pious nationalism of the Pravo i Sprawiedliwosc (Law and Justice) Party led by Jaroslaw Kaczyński, who is deeply religious and harbours a stony hatred for Russians and Germans. Polish urbanites, on the other hand, largely vote for centrist and left-wing parties. Among these, the major force is the Platforma Obywatelska (Civic Platform) of Donald Tusk, a former prime minister (2007–14) who is as strongly wedded to the EU as Kaczyński is to conservative Catholicism. During the campaign, Kaczyński repeatedly alleged that Tusk is a stooge acting for European (especially German) interests. The opposition side, meanwhile, depicted the Law and Justice government as a monstrous institution, determined to drag Poland into a deeper and more all-embracing authoritarianism than exists in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.
Nearly two weeks before the vote, I attended a vast protest march in Warsaw’s centre, which ended beneath the grandiose Soviet-built Palac Kultury i Nauki(Palace of Culture and Science). Seeing the gathering, and walking beside it for a time, offered a glimpse of the PiS’s manipulation of the media. Several hundred thousand people marched that day—not a million, as Tusk claimed, but certainly many times more than the 60,000 reported by state media, which barely featured the multitude in its news programmes.
A young woman named Dominika—a lawyer who helped me with an unfamiliar language and a recalcitrant ticket machine at the metro—earnestly asserted that this would be the last chance for those opposed to the Law and Justice to vote. There would be no next time. The day after the vote, she sent me a text: “I told you we must win the elections. Today is a new beginning for this country, it is the most important moment of this century. We are back! We won!” Those words echoed the post-election rhetoric of Tusk himself. “We won democracy,” Tusk declared at a rally after the results were announced. “We won freedom, we won our free beloved Poland. … This day will be remembered in history as a bright day, the rebirth of Poland.”
Law and Justice remains the largest party by some distance, but it has few, if any, allies among the smaller parties. Tusk does have allies, and this will enable him to forge a coalition with considerably more seats in parliament than PiS can muster. But he will have to change his tone: for a future leader of the country to frame his victory as rescuing democracy, freedom, and the state itself from the clutches of the present government will only widen the gulf that the past decade has opened up in Polish society. That gulf must be narrowed if a new administration is to enjoy nationwide legitimacy, and if democracy itself is to continue.
Much of the responsibility for that gap-narrowing will fall to PiS. Its campaign described the opposition parties as something like traitors to the state, which would make their supporters complicit in national treachery. It has been PiS that has cowed nearly all the media channels into subservience; it has been PiS that has made abortion illegal in all but the most extreme circumstances (a damaged or dead foetus); it has been PiS that encouraged dislike of gays and others by declaring “LGBT-free zones”; it has been PiS that manipulated the constitutional and other courts to suit its political agenda, prompting the EU to withhold €24 billion in grants and €12 billion in loans from the pandemic recovery programme.
At the heart of that dispute with the EU, however, is a battle over which law, European or national, should take primacy in the event of a conflict—a battle by no means confined to Poland. Piotr Müller, the Polish government spokesperson, has said that “the supremacy of constitutional law above other legal systems stems literally from the Polish constitution.” Hungary likewise believes that its law is supreme. Italy’s Meloni is reluctant to tangle with an EU that is providing it with record amounts of recovery funds. Nevertheless, she plainly favours Italian law’s primacy and is testing the strength of the EU’s veto on the matter.
The issue is an existential one. The EU is likely to avoid a showdown with Poland now if, as expected, the PiS government is replaced by the Civic Coalition of parties. But in the Union’s presently febrile state, the quarrel over sovereignty is certain to arise elsewhere, as other nations and powerful right-wing parties chafe at their loss of legal supremacy. This is a fight the EU cannot afford to lose. It believes that:
[W]here a conflict arises between an aspect of EU law and an aspect of law in an EU Member State (national law), EU law will prevail. If this were not the case, Member States could simply allow their national laws to take precedence over primary or secondary EU legislation, and the pursuit of EU policies would become unworkable.
This, more than any other argument between Brussels and the member states, is the one which most strongly reminds the member states that they are subservient to the Union. It is at once the EU’s strongest card and its weakest link. A strengthening of the Eurosceptic New Right parties, coupled with a loss of momentum in Brussels, will likely result in further attempts to limit integration, and even to take back powers the states have surrendered, including the primacy of domestic law within their own borders.
Tusk strongly believes in the primacy of EU law, but must try to reunite a fractured country which has, under PiS, been taught to see the European Union as more of a threat to sovereignty than a family of which its citizens are proud to be members. The PiS leaders, Kaczyński and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, have worked hard to reduce the EU’s pretensions to greater power. In a speech earlier this year, Morawiecki gave a succinct view of a Union seeking power at the expense of nation states: “Smacking others with the whip of ‘European values’ without agreeing on their definition or understanding what changes must be made by particular countries is […] self-destructive for the European Union. … Do we really want a pan-European cosmopolitan elite with immense power but without an electoral mandate?”
Tusk could only view such a speech with contempt; his commitment to the EU and further integration is total. After his first period as prime minister, he moved to Brussels to become president of the European Council, the body which brings together the leaders of the member states. In that capacity, he was dismayed by Brexit, calling it “one of the most spectacular mistakes in the history of the EU” and “the most painful and saddest experience” of his five years in the president's office. He blamed David Cameron, who was then UK prime minister, for the “mistake” of organising a referendum “he had no chance to win,” and even asked the British prime minister if the result was “reversible.” When the two men spoke the morning after the vote, Tusk was still hoping that the decision could be undone. Saving the UK from Brexit, by whatever means, was more important to him than observing the result of the referendum, which Cameron had said would be binding.
But Tusk is flexible enough to change his mind. He once believed, as PiS still does, that abortion ought to be severely limited, and only moderated that view when he returned from Brussels to lead the opposition. He may yet leave at least some of his passion for the EU’s further integration behind him as he shapes a premiership not too antipathetic to disappointed PiS voters. The Euroscepticism of the departing government ran deep and is shared, at least to some degree, by many of the smaller nations and by the growing ranks of the far-Right continental parties.
In Poland, I spoke with former PiS government minister Ryszard Legutko, a conservative intellectual, university professor, and close ally of Kaczyński. The “extreme polarisation” in his country, he says, is “very violent—I see it between the forces for sovereignty, and those who want Poland to become totally dependent on external institutions, [such] as the EU or other European countries” (by which he means Germany). In a speech he delivered in the European parliament earlier this year in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Legutko stated that Europe is ruled by “the big guys, and the biggest of these is Germany. They never bother to consult anyone, and they call that leadership.” He laid two grave mistakes at Germany’s door—opening Europe to mass immigration (in 2015, during Angela Merkel’s chancellorship) and the “long and murky political romance” with Russia, largely aimed at securing cheap energy.
PiS and Kaczyński overplayed the German and Russian cards, laying every sin of omission and commission at the doors of both. Nevertheless, memories remain strong of Poland’s violent bifurcation and occupation during World War II, and of the Soviet Union’s ruthless imposition of communism, even among those with no direct experience of that era. One of the PiS policies that Tusk has said he will continue is the demand for reparations from Germany for that occupation—a demand estimated to be US$1.5 trillion, a third of that country’s GDP.
Still, Tusk's enthusiasm for the Union will likely benefit him as prime minister, particularly among the highly educated and young. Poles accept the EU (though they have not adopted the euro currency) and would be very unlikely to vote for a Polexit. But the desire for real sovereignty remains following centuries of foreign oppression and the dismemberment of the country by Austria, Prussia, and Russia for over 120 years at the end of the 18th century. Poland’s fraught and bloody history has understandably made its citizens protective of their country's sovereignty. If Tusk deploys his undoubted political skills to good effect, he may be able to heal the country’s deep political fissure. But he will need to set a limit on the “Europeanisation” of his country if he is to reassure his fellow citizens that self-governance will be safe in his hands. | Europe Politics |
By Sarah Easter
On August 19, it will have been two years since the government changed in Afghanistan. Life is now both completely different than it ever was, and also the same.
Below are three scenes from life in this new Afghanistan, where women and girls are forced to confront disproportionate challenges in the face of hunger, economic upheaval, and restricted access to education.
“Anything to feed my family”
“We were alone when we left Pakistan to come to Afghanistan,” says Fazil, 60, father of seven.
He is sitting on a brown carpet in front of his house in Kabul, surrounded by his wife, Sherbano, 35, and his four daughters.
“We were living in a camp for internally displaced in Pakistan,” he says. “I had hoped that I could find work in Afghanistan. I was doing some shoe repairs in Pakistan, but I could not find a job here.”
With a huge working-age population in Pakistan, an increasing number of workers are moving to other countries for employment; after India, Pakistan annually sends abroad the second-largest grouping of workers in South Asia, mainly to the Gulf region.
However, in Afghanistan the unemployment rate is the highest it ever has been. In 2021, the unemployment rate surged up to 13.3 percent of the population.
After arriving at a refugee camp in Kabul in 2015, Fazil had to provide for his family.
“I went through the garbage cans to find food.”
“I often went at night and picked up the rubbish from laborers at construction sites,” Fazil remembers. “During the day I went out on the street and begged for food. Anything to feed my family.”
They didn’t cook back then; they just ate what they could find, and, on some days, they did not eat at all.
Today, 95% of the population in Afghanistan is facing food insecurity, even though there is no food shortage. The markets are still full of fruits and vegetables, but many people can’t afford to buy them.
Increasing global energy and food prices, combined with the drought’s impact on agriculture continue to drive inflation in Afghanistan.
In the year after the political change in August of 2021, the price of the food basket had increased by almost 35 percent.
Due to his hypertension, Fazil is nearly completely paralyzed on the left side of his body. His wife Sherbano has already had three surgeries in the last two years.
“The only medicine that I can afford is what is in this bottle,” says Fazil while holding a blue plastic bottle filled with water.
“I blow on it and pray and wish that it will help my wife.”
Last year, the family lost their three-year-old daughter, who suffocated on a bean.
“There has been a lot of tragedy in our life, but now we can continue our life through the support of CARE,” he says.
CARE helped the family by giving them 40 chickens, equipment to feed the chickens, and a coop. The family also received training on how to take care of the little farm they had established.
Now, Sherbano and her daughters sell the eggs from the chickens in the neighborhood and generate income that helps them with their daily expenses.
“I do not have to go begging anymore, and I am very thankful. We can now develop our farm further to save my family,” Fazil says. “We already have 20 new chickens. This is our main source of income.”
“Without this, we do not have anything.”
As Fazil talks, Sherbano enters the chicken coop with a green plastic bowl and starts collecting the eggs. Today, she collects 52 of them.
In a small tent in the courtyard of her home, she puts a metal pan on a small blue gas cooker to start dinner for her family. The eggs are not only used to generate income but also to feed her family.
“Now we can eat twice a day,” Fazil says. “I am very happy that we survived and do not go hungry anymore.”
“This was a very dark day for girls”
In front of the school many excited girls are waiting for the gate to open. Many have come very early, even hours before school is supposed to start. Then, a teacher comes out to meet the girls and tells them that they have to go home. They have to go home, because they are girls. Secondary school will not open for girls today.
It is March 23 in Afghanistan.
“I cried every day, after I was told that the schools are still closed. This was a very dark day for girls. At first it was hard for me to believe. I think we were all shocked,” remembers Fatima, 18. She would have been going to 11th grade.
“When I was a little girl in school, I saw girls wearing very nice and special clothes,” says Fatima, sitting next to her sister Zahra on a cushion on the floor in the living room. “I asked my teacher about it, and she told me that they were wearing their graduation clothes.”
“I wanted to know if one day I will also be wearing those clothes and was very happy when she said yes.”
“But I never reached that level.”
She has not been to school for three years now. First due to the COVID-19 pandemic, now the restrictions are depriving a whole generation of women and girls of their right to education.
“I lost my hope. Not being able to go to school has a negative effect on every girl. I feel depressed and mentally stressed. When I look into the future, it is dark. We suffer every day without school. We had ambitions, but now we lost ourselves,” says Fatima.
She wants to be a doctor but given the current restrictions she will not be able to attend university and study to become one.
It’s a tragedy for Fatima, but also for a country with 13.8 million women and girls.
Without adequate medical education for women, there will not be trained female healthcare workers. And without trained female healthcare workers, there will be a lack of female doctors, nurses, midwives, and nutrition counselors.
Culturally, women need female healthcare workers to treat them, because women’s healthcare can’t be done by a man.
Women are already often struggling to access health care due to costs, including for transportation to a health facility, and for medications and supplies for which patients are obliged to pay.
This will only worsen with girls not going to school.
The employment and education bans on women and girls over the past two years have erased earlier progress and heightened their mental health needs. This is significantly slowing the recovery efforts of the country in the short and long-term.
“A little hope”
“Now I only have free time. I am very grateful to be able to join CARE’s small savings group. It helps me to stand on my own two feet. I learned how to save money for myself and how to start a business. I do embroidery now and now have a little hope,” explains Fatima while smoothing out the wrinkles in the packaging of her work.
She is holding a piece of linen fabric with flower embroidery, which she wants to sell as a tablecloth.
Women and girls receive training in handicraft skills by CARE, but also on how to save money and how to generate income through business.
Fatima and her sister Zahra, 22, sell their embroidery at the local market. They go and find a small shop owner in between food stalls in the bustling city of Kabul, who might buy their handicrafts.
“I am always scared when we go out to sell our work,” says Zahra because of the security situation in her hometown. Once they find someone who is willing to buy it, they hurry back home.
“It is only a little profit, but it helps our family.”
Zahra and Fatima’s father lost his job a few months ago. He was a driver, and the owner of his rental car needed the car back to sell it, because the economic situation has worsened.
“I am grateful that Fatima helps the family, but I want her to be able to continue her education and fulfill her wishes,” says Zainab, the girls’ mother.
She cried a lot, when she heard the news that Fatima had to stay at home and could not go to school.
“My message to the world is to open the doors to schools again, so girls can reach their hopes and wishes, and we mothers can stop crying.”
Finding the power to go on
The lights suddenly turn off, the humming of the sewing machine dies down, and it is very quiet in Surya Ali’s working station. The traditional Afghan dress with bright colorful stitching is not finished; she still needs to add a whole part. But the only option is to continue by hand.
The capital city of Afghanistan turns the electricity off every day.
“You never know when it is off, or when they will turn it back on again,” says Surya Ali, 39, mother of eight.
Some areas only have power in the mornings, some only for a few hours in the afternoon.
The mother is a tailor and sells her dresses at the local market or to shop owners. “I never received an education, so I taught myself how to sew because when I started there was a good market for these skills and I could support my family,” she says.
But the economic situation only got worse.
“I lost everything because my contract to produce dresses was terminated. So, I started my own business.”
She is self-taught and learned by watching other businesses closely. “I saw other companies have logos, so I applied it to my own business and created a logo for myself.”
CARE supported Surya Ali with two solar-powered sewing machines that she can use even if there’s no electricity flowing to her home.
“I asked if that was possible, because I need to have a way to work with all the power outages,” she explains. With the machines she has increased her production. Before she was able to produce one dress a day, now she makes up to four dresses every day.
“I now have 40 percent more income than I used to have and can support my family,” she says. Her husband lost his government job and is now retired, so it is Surya Ali who sustains her family. However, the economic situation in Afghanistan isn’t getting better.
“Many customers cannot afford to buy dresses,” says Surya. “Before I had 25 employees, but a month ago I had to let nearly all of them go because I could not afford their salaries. Now I only have six employees.”
In addition to her tailoring business, she receives some income from teaching girls how to sew.
“The girls are not allowed to go to school at the moment, so they come here to learn,” she explains.
She says she hopes to have branches of her business in other districts in Afghanistan in the future and even expand to have international exports. “As a woman and mother, I am happy to be able to support my family, to have my own business and to stand on my own two feet,” she says.
One of her students is her own daughter Manucara, 16, who would be going to 10th grade. “She knows how to sew now, I taught her. She even made her first own dresses, which makes me very proud. But I am also sad for her. She wishes to be a doctor but cannot continue her education. We thought it was temporary, but the schools are still closed.” | Middle East Politics |
Drivers in New South Wales will be offered the chance to buy carbon offsets when they renew their car registration in a step critics have described as a “gimmick” that could undermine efforts to cut transport emissions.The NSW treasurer and energy minister, Matt Kean, announced the scheme on Friday saying it would give people “looking for practical ways to take action on climate change” more ways to cut their emissions.“More and more NSW drivers are opting for electric vehicles each year, however this scheme gives those drivers who haven’t made the switch yet the option to offset their emissions instead,” he said.When drivers of light vehicles receive their registration renewal, they will be offered the option to buy between $5 and $200 worth of Australian carbon offset credits. No overseas offsets would be bought.Kean said buying $80 of credits was the equivalent to offsetting 2.4 tonnes of CO2 – the average annual emissions of a light vehicle in the state.The transport sector was responsible for 22% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, with half of that coming from passenger vehicles, Kean said.But critics have lambasted the scheme for potentially deterring people from reducing their emissions. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup “This creates completely the wrong impression for consumers,” Bill Hare, an Australian climate scientist who advised the UN on appropriate use of offsets, said. ”It is a real concern to see the New South Wales government legitimising this through an official scheme.“At worst that could undermine people’s intent to find ways to reduce emissions from driving. Offsets don’t really reduce emissions, and they don’t compensate for an emission of carbon dioxide coming out of the tailpipe of a car.”He said the NSW government should focus on a more rapid rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure rather than promoting “gimmicks such as offering to offset drivers emissions per year for $80”.Hare said the best ways for people to cut their transport emissions are to use more public transport, bicycles and to get an electric vehicle.“New South Wales has a good set of policies here but these could be strengthened to make it easier for people in different circumstances to move to electric cars,” Hare said.Dr Jennifer Rayner, head of advocacy at the not-for-profit Climate Council, said public transport improvements and steps to make it easier for people to walk and ride were two key changes to shift people “away from polluting cars altogether”.“Given the range of clean transport options that are readily available, the focus for this sector should be on achieving near absolute zero emissions. This means getting as close to zero emissions as possible with minimal use of offsetting or ‘net zero’ accounting,” Rayner said.She said Australia was one of the only OECD countries – alongside Russia – that did not have fuel efficiency standards for new vehicles, which made the country “a dumping ground for expensive, polluting petrol and diesel cars”.Polly Hemming, director of the climate and energy research program at the Australia Institute, said the state government was “promoting the idea that you can just cancel out fossil fuel emissions” and this risked delaying the switch to low emissions transport.The use of carbon offsets has become increasingly controversial, with questions outstanding over whether some Australian tree-planting and forest regeneration projects have actually cut emissions.John Connor, chief executive of the Carbon Market Institute which represents stakeholders in the carbon offset industry, said there was “clearly more to be done” on transitioning transport away from fossil fuels.But he said this transition could not happen overnight and it was “unhelpful to simply dismiss offsetting” which, he said, was an important tool available for consumers to take responsibility for emissions.Making the announcement, the NSW government said it had appointed Corporate Carbon Advisory as the offset provider for the vehicle scheme and regeneration projects across the state would be supported.The scheme was part of the government’s zero emissions transport strategy, the government said, that included $209m for EV charging infrastructure.Stamp duty had been removed for EVs costing less than $78,000 and EVs costing less than $68,750 are eligible for a $3,000 rebate, the government said. | Australia Politics |
North Korea launched two missiles from a submarine in the waters of the Sea of Japan Sunday morning local time, according to the state-run news agency KCNA.
The “strategic cruise missiles” were launched from a “8.24 Yongung” submarine, according to KCNA – the same vessel used to test North Korea’s first submarine-launched ballistic missile in 2016, CNN previously reported.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said earlier Sunday that North Korea fired at least one unidentified missile from a submarine near the port city of Sinpo in the South Hamgyong province.
KCNA claimed the missiles flew for over an hour, traveling roughly 1,500 km (932 miles) per hour and performing figure-of-eight shaped patterns before “precisely” hitting a target.
The Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea “expressed satisfaction” after the drill, KCNA reported.
The US and South Korean intelligence authorities are analyzing the incident, JCS said.
The launch took place three days after North Korea on Thursday fired off at least six short-range missiles into the Yellow Sea.
State media reported last week that Kim said the artillery units should be prepared for two missions, “first to deter war and second to take the initiative in war, by steadily intensifying various simulated drills for real war.”
Pyongyang is conducting its winter training and intelligence authorities in the US and South Korea are monitoring it, South Korea’s Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.
Tensions on Korean Peninsula remain high
On Monday local time, US, South Korean and United Nations Command forces on the peninsula were expected to begin the 11-day Freedom Shield exercises, which “will integrate elements of ‘live exercises’ with constructive simulations,” US Forces Korea (USFK) said in an earlier statement.
At the same time, field training exercises dubbed Warrior Shield will take place, it said.
Meanwhile, the US and South Korean air forces have been conducting regular air exercises. Last week, a US B-52 bomber was escorted by South Korean fighter jets as it flew into the South’s air defense identification zone, USFK said Monday.
The US-South Korea exercises are expected to be the largest the two allies have put on in years, since they scaled back such military displays in 2017 when then-US President Donald Trump tried to offer an opening for North Korea to negotiate an end to its long-range missile and nuclear weapons programs.
That opening has long since closed, with North Korea last year conducting a record number of missile tests while pledging to develop its nuclear program to arm the missiles.
The North’s missile testing has slowed in 2023, but tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high.
Analysts see little reason to think things will cool down.
“This is likely only the beginning of a series of provocative tests by North Korea,” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said of Thursday’s missile firings.
“Pyongyang is poised to respond aggressively to major US-South Korea defense exercises, as well as to President Yoon’s upcoming summits with (Japanese) Prime Minister (Fumio) Kishida and (US) President (Joe) Biden.”
“The Kim regime may order missile firings of longer ranges, attempt a spy satellite launch, demonstrate a solid-fuel engine, and perhaps even conduct a nuclear test,” Easley said. | Asia Politics |
Thousands of people mounted furious protests after dozens of copies of the Holy Quran were burned in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, leaving several officers injured, police said on Monday.
Police said they fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse a crowd of “at least 10,000 people” overnight from Sunday to Monday as they tried to attack the two men accused of destroying copies of the holy book, police officer Ajbahar Ali Shaikh told AFP.
Another police officer said at least 14 policemen were injured in the clashes, but did not have details of injuries among protesters.
The two men were arrested in the northeastern city of Sylhet — one of the most conservative parts of Bangladesh — and said that they had burned the Holy Quran as they were “very old and some had printing mistakes”.
Shaikh, naming the accused as school principal Nurur Rahman and Mahbub Alam, said police had “seized 45 copies of the burned Holy Quran”.
Some Muslim scholars say disposing of the Holy Quran that is no longer usable is permissible if done respectfully.
Last month tensions flared between Muslim countries and Sweden and Denmark following several protests involving public desecrations of the Holy Quran — including setting pages alight.
Both countries have condemned the desecrations but upheld their laws regarding freedom of speech and assembly.
Bangladesh has a population of 170 million, 90 per cent of whom are Muslims, with the rest made up largely of Hindus and Christians.
Violence over religious sentiment is common in the South Asian country, and minorities face frequent attacks over rumours of alleged blasphemy and defamatory posts mocking Islam on social media. | Asia Politics |
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S. Korean teachers at high risk of mental health issues, survey findsBy Moon Ki Hoon
Published : Sept. 5, 2023 - 17:44
Nearly 4 in 10 teachers in South Korea are at high risk of depression, a recent survey by the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) showed. The survey also showed that 1 in 6 experience suicidal thoughts, highlighting serious concerns about mental health among educators in the wake of recent suicides in the teaching community.
Conducted jointly with Green Hospital in Seoul, the online survey ran Aug. 16-23 and involved 3,505 teaching staff across different grade levels. The survey incorporated the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), a widely recognized measure for potential clinical depression risk. The results showed that 24.9 percent of respondents reported "probable" depressive symptoms, while 38.3 percent indicated "definite" symptoms. Female educators reported higher symptoms at 40.1 percent compared to 28.9 percent of their male counterparts.
These figures are significantly higher than the nationwide sample of adults, where only 8-10 percent reported definite depressive symptoms, said Dr. Yoon Kan-woo of Green Hospital, who presented the findings in a press conference Tuesday.
Adding to these concerning figures, 16 percent of teachers reported contemplating suicide in the past -- a rate two to five times higher than the general populace. Of those surveyed, 4.5 percent admitted to making specific suicide plans.
The survey also revealed a direct correlation between mental health issues and instances of abuse from students and parents. Of those who experienced verbal abuse, 63.1 percent reported that it came from parents, while 54.9 percent reported it came from students, when multiple answers were allowed. Of the respondents who experienced physical abuse, 96.5 percent identified students as perpetrators.
"These results show that South Korean teachers are experiencing severe burnout. This is a structural problem that the government must address," the KTU stated in a press release.
Repeated instances ranging from harassment to abuse by parents and unruly students have led to large-scale protests from teachers all across the country. Thousands of teachers gathered in Seoul on Monday to hold a mass rally and have threatened to take leaves of absence in protest, prompting school board officials and the government to promise legal steps to better protect teachers from mistreatment.
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