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Protesters blockade UK defense giant’s factory over Gaza

Protesters blockade UK defense giant’s factory over Gaza
Protestors and trade unionists blockade BAE Systems Rochester, during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza, in Rochester, Kent, on Nov. 10, 2023. (Reuters)
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Updated 10 November 2023
AFP
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Protesters blockade UK defense giant’s factory over Gaza

Protesters blockade UK defense giant’s factory over Gaza
  • Demonstrators brandished banners and placards reading “no business as usual” and “taxpayers have blood on their hands”
  • They said it was part of an “international day of action for Palestine”
Updated 10 November 2023
AFP
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LONDON: UK trade union members on Friday blockaded a British military equipment maker in southeastern England, calling for a cease-fire in Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
Demonstrators brandished banners and placards reading “no business as usual” and “taxpayers have blood on their hands” outside the gates of the BAE Systems factory in Rochester.
Organizers said they were aiming to shut down the factory “which provides components for military aircraft currently being used by Israeli forces in the bombardment of Gaza.”
They said it was part of an “international day of action for Palestine” organized in response to a call by Palestinian trade unionists.
Since the Hamas attacks in southern Israel on October 7 — in which Israel says 1,400 people were killed and 240 taken hostage — Israel has bombarded Gaza relentlessly and sent in ground troops.
The Palestinian territory’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 10,800 people have been killed in Gaza, many of them children.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that a cease-fire without the release of the hostages would mean “surrender to Hamas.”
Aid organizations said on Thursday that a full cease-fire is needed to get help to civilians in Gaza wounded in Israeli bombardments, and to transport crucial aid to the 2.4 million people living in the besieged territory, one of the most densely populated in the world.

Topics: War on Gaza BAE Systems demonstrators

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Ethiopia ‘not interested in war over Somalia row’

Ethiopia ‘not interested in war over Somalia row’
Updated 35 sec ago
AFP
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Ethiopia ‘not interested in war over Somalia row’

Ethiopia ‘not interested in war over Somalia row’
Updated 35 sec ago
AFP

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he had “no interest in getting involved in a war” as tensions mount over his deal with a breakaway Somali region.
In January, land-locked Ethiopia signed an agreement with the separatist region of Somaliland to lease a stretch of its coastline for 50 years. The deal sparked outrage in Somalia, which has refused to accept Somaliland’s independence since it was declared in 1991.
Speaking to his parliament, Abiy described the deal as a “development agreement” based on its long-standing need for maritime access.
“We have demanded access to the sea, which is what it is all about. We will not take offensive action, but we will defend ourselves effectively if something happens,” he said.
Somalia has described Ethiopia’s deal with Somaliland as “illegal.”
It expelled Ethiopia’s ambassador in April.

Topics: Ethiopia Somalia

Turkiye ‘is a sought-after partner in Africa’

Turkiye ‘is a sought-after partner in Africa’
Updated 2 min 44 sec ago
AFP
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Turkiye ‘is a sought-after partner in Africa’

Turkiye ‘is a sought-after partner in Africa’
Updated 2 min 44 sec ago
AFP

ANKARA: Turkiye is expanding its reach into Africa, banking on its defense projects and widespread trade network, its prospects enhanced by the lack of colonial history weighing on Europe, diplomatic sources say.
Speaking ahead of a ministerial meeting at the weekend in Djibouti, a diplomatic source in Ankara said Turkiye was a “sought-after partner” in Africa thanks to its “non-colonial” past.
Top diplomat Hakan Fidan will be in the tiny Horn of Africa nation on Nov. 2 and 3 for the meeting between Turkiye and 14 African nations in a body that was set up in 2008.
“Turkiye’s biggest advantage is its non-colonial past. When anti-imperialist leaders are looking for new partners, they think first and foremost of us,” the source said.
Although the Ottoman Empire ruled over many territories in Africa, it lost control of them in the 19th and early 20th centuries before the Turkish Republic emerged from the ashes of its collapse in 1923.
As a sign of its growing influence, Ankara has since taken on the role of mediator in talks between Ethiopia and Somalia, who have been locked in a feud over access to the ocean since June.
And with a significant level of regional mistrust toward “both major powers,” Turkiye was “best-suited” to lead such negotiations as “no other actor had the confidence of both parties,” the source said.
Despite difficulties, talks between Ethiopia and Somalia were moving forward “at their own pace.”
Such confidence was born of a well-established Turkish foothold in Somalia for the past two decades, where it has invested in agriculture and built the airport in Mogadishu, a military training center, schools, and a hospital.
Last week, the Turkish exploration vessel the Oruc Reis arrived in the Somali capital to start searching for oil and natural gas under an agreement that allows it to drill in three areas, each measuring roughly 5,000 sq. km.
Similar exploration agreements for oil and gas, as well as mining, were also signed between Turkiye and Niger in July and October.

FASTFACT

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will be in the tiny Horn of Africa nation on Nov. 2 and 3 for the meeting between Turkiye and 14 African nations in a body set up in 2008.

Turkish mining company MTA has three gold mines in the Sahel, also rich in uranium.
“There is also the potential for oil and natural gas,” said Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar this summer.
The Niger military protects the mines, and Turkiye is widely regarded as a “security partner” by many countries in the region.
Over the years, Ankara has signed military cooperation agreements with more than 25 African countries, supplying them with weapons, including drones.
And its hostile stance toward sanctions on the regimes of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali has also helped its ties with these nations.
Turkiye is also the fourth largest arms supplier to sub-Saharan Africa, according to a March study published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
According to Turkish diplomatic sources, Ankara is involved in training the armed forces in many African countries.
The sources stressed the need to “simultaneously invest in economic development,” particularly in the Sahel.
“West Africa is a region dominated by security problems,” said Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on meeting his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, saying it was “necessary to strengthen defense cooperation.”
Turkish construction companies, which are heavily involved in infrastructure projects like developing a $6.5 billion railway network in Tanzania, are also helping strengthen their nation’s reputation.
Trade between Turkiye and African countries in 2022 is set to exceed $40 billion.
And Turkish Airlines operates flights to some 50 destinations across the continent.

Topics: Turkiye Africa

Blinken expects North Korea troops to enter fight against Ukraine in coming days

Blinken expects North Korea troops to enter fight against Ukraine in coming days
Updated 49 min 5 sec ago
Reuters
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Blinken expects North Korea troops to enter fight against Ukraine in coming days

Blinken expects North Korea troops to enter fight against Ukraine in coming days
Updated 49 min 5 sec ago
Reuters

WASHINGTON:The United States expects North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region to enter the fight against Ukraine in the coming days, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday as he pressed China to use its influence to rein in Pyongyang.
Blinken spoke after North Korea conducted its longest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile test earlier on Thursday and South Korea warned that Pyongyang could get missile technology from Russia in exchange for helping with the war in Ukraine.
The top US diplomat said there were 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia, including as many as 8,000 in the Kursk region where Ukrainian forces continue to hold territory after fighting their way into the Russian border area in August.
At a press conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts, Blinken said Russia has been training the North Korean soldiers in artillery, unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, and basic infantry operations, indicating they “fully intend” to use the forces in frontline operations.
They would become legitimate military targets if they enter the battlefield, Blinken said.
“We’ve not yet seen these troops deploy into combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that to happen in the coming days,” he said. During their meeting, the US and South Korea discussed a range of options for responding, Blinken added, saying Moscow’s use of North Korean soldiers in its “meat grinder” war against Ukraine was a “clear sign of weakness.”
Austin said the US would announce new security assistance for Ukraine in coming days.
Blinken and his South Korea and Japanese counterparts condemned the ICBM launch as a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The flight-time of the missile was 87 minutes, according to South Korea, putting nearly all of the United States within range.
The Kremlin on Thursday declined to comment when asked if Russia was helping North Korea to develop its missile and other military technology.
Blinken said Beijing, like Washington, should be very concerned about what Russia might be doing in order to enhance North Korea’s military capacities because it was destabilizing to Asia.

Greta Thunberg says Trump ‘more dangerous’ but blasts Harris on Gaza

Greta Thunberg says Trump ‘more dangerous’ but blasts Harris on Gaza
Updated 01 November 2024
AFP
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Greta Thunberg says Trump ‘more dangerous’ but blasts Harris on Gaza

Greta Thunberg says Trump ‘more dangerous’ but blasts Harris on Gaza
  • Thunberg urged Americans to go beyond exercising their right to vote and take direct action
Updated 01 November 2024
AFP

STOCKHOLM: Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Friday labelled Donald Trump the “more dangerous” option in next week’s US presidential election but slammed the incumbent administration for its support of Israel.
With the United States heading to the polls on November 5, the 21-year-old activist said in a post on X that it was “probably impossible to overestimate the consequences this specific election will have for the world and for the future of humanity.”
“There is no doubt that one of the candidates — Trump — is way more dangerous than the other,” Thunberg said.
But she also slammed sitting President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — who is running against former president Donald Trump — for their backing of Israel and its offensive in Gaza.
“Let’s not forget that the genocide in Palestine is happening under the Biden and Harris administration, with American money and complicity,” Thunberg said.
“It is not in any way ‘feminist’, ‘progressive’ or ‘humanitarian’ to bomb innocent children and civilians — it is the opposite, even if it is a woman in charge.”
Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel last year triggered the war in Gaza and resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground war have killed at least 43,259 Palestinians in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable.
Thunberg urged Americans to go beyond exercising their right to vote and take direct action such as protests and boycotts against the “catastrophic consequences of American imperialism.”
“My main message to Americans is to remember that you cannot only settle for the least worst option,” Thunberg said.

Topics: War on Gaza Israel Palestine Gaza Hamas Donald Trump Kamala Harris

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UK schools see rise in white poppy interest to show Gaza solidarity

UK schools see rise in white poppy interest to show Gaza solidarity
Updated 01 November 2024
Arab News
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UK schools see rise in white poppy interest to show Gaza solidarity

UK schools see rise in white poppy interest to show Gaza solidarity
  • Britons wear red poppies in November to remember fallen servicemen, women
  • White poppy makes distinction of also remembering civilian casualties of war
Updated 01 November 2024
Arab News

London: Schools in the UK are ordering large numbers of white poppies for children to show solidarity with the people of Gaza, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The UK celebrates Remembrance Sunday every November to reflect on the sacrifices made by men and women who have served the country, with red poppies traditionally worn to commemorate the dead and raise money for veterans and their families.

The white poppy has gained popularity in recent years as an alternative, having first been worn in 1933 by those wishing to promote peace rather than celebrate war, and to remember civilians as well as combatants.

The Peace Pledge Union, the organization that distributes white poppies, said it received increased orders from schools this year, with teachers citing the war in Gaza as a key reason for children wanting to wear them. Demand went up 27 percent since the start of the war in October last year, it added.

“It is heartening that a growing number of young people are turning to the white poppy, for the light it sheds on today’s conflicts,” said Geoff Tibbs, a project manager at the PPU.

“Many are alienated by the mainstream tradition of Remembrance Day, as it fails to acknowledge civilians and people of other nationalities affected by wars today.”

Schools that offer white poppies to pupils also tend to offer red ones, which are provided by a military charity, the Royal British Legion.

An RBL spokesman told the Telegraph: “The RBL defends the right to wear different poppies. The RBL’s red poppy honours all those who have sacrificed their lives to protect the freedoms we enjoy today; including the freedom to wear the poppy of your choice.”

Topics: War on Gaza UK

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