Trump says Iran attack on Israel shows US ‘weakness’ under Biden
Updated 14 April 2024
AFP
SCHNECKSVILLE, United States: Donald Trump on Saturday blasted President Joe Biden over Iran’s major attack on Israel, alleging that his rival in November elections showed American “weakness” in the Middle East.
“God bless the people of Israel. They are under attack right now. That’s because we show great weakness,” he said at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Iran launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israel Saturday evening, after pledging retaliation for a strike on its consular building in Syria that killed seven Revolutionary Guards members, two of them generals.
Trump, who while in office ordered the killing of a top Revolutionary Guard leader in Baghdad and withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear accord, has repeatedly accused his Democratic opponent of a soft approach toward Tehran.
“The weakness that we’ve shown, it’s unbelievable, and it would not have happened if we were in office,” Trump said Saturday.
“But America prays for Israel, we send our absolute support to everyone in harm’s way.”
Biden meanwhile was huddling at the White House with his key military and national security advisers, saying on X that the US “commitment to Israel’s security against threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad.”
When three Indian peace activists traveled to Pakistan in 2022, they received a mango sapling from their hosts. Two years on, the token of friendship is growing into a new variety of fruit, and a new kind of cross-border bond.
Mango is known as the king of fruits in both India and Pakistan, where it is celebrated in poetry, has served as a tool of diplomacy and a symbol of status, and prominently features in culinary traditions.
There are more than 1,000 varieties of mango grown in India, differing in shape, color, flavor, texture and size. Soon, one more is going to join them. It will be called Dosti, or “friendship,” and is created from a mix of Pakistani and Indian fruit.
The mango tree is growing in Pune in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, planted by Nitin Sonawane, Yogesh Vishwamitra and Jalandharnath Channole — activists who preach Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of positive peacemaking and in 2022 spent almost a month in the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Karachi.
“When we were leaving Pakistan on Aug. 14, 2022, a friend Irshad Ahmad gave me a mango sapling. He said: ‘Carry this message of love from us’,” Vishwamitra told Arab News.
“We brought the sapling to Pune. On Aug. 22, 2022, we planted the sapling ... we were skeptical whether the plant will take roots or not. But it got new leaves and it spread wide. Then we decided to graft the mango tree with the Indian mango in January.”
Vishwamitra is a disciple of Satish Kumar, an Indian British nuclear disarmament advocate and former monk who walked more than 8,000 miles in the 1960s from New Delhi to Moscow, Paris, London and Washington, D.C. — the capitals of the world’s earliest nuclear-armed countries.
“My guru told me that if you want to do peace work you should walk in India as well as in each of the neighboring countries,” Vishwamitra said.
“I am lucky to have walked in Sri Lanka in 2016 and 2018, and in Pakistan in 2022, and 2023 in Bangladesh.”
He hopes that the Indian-Pakistani mango variety that he grows will, in the future, be grafted with Bangladeshi fruit and become a “living symbol of friendship.”
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh share decades of rivalry and violence stemming from the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent, in which new borders drawn by British colonial officials created a Muslim majority in West and East Pakistan, and a Hindu majority in India.
The partition was one of the largest migrations in history, forcing about 15 million people to swap countries in a political upheaval that cost more than 1 million lives. Bitterness and hostility over the events remains to this day, especially in official relations, as in the years that followed the partition the countries also fought several wars.
India and Pakistan, especially, have become arch-rivals on the international stage — a condition that the three Indian activists believe does not reflect the real sentiment of people in the two countries.
For Sonawane, who has visited 50 countries since he left his engineering career in 2013 to focus on peace activism, the visit to Pakistan was particularly eye-opening.
“When we went to Pakistan people gave us so much love and care. We felt that the issue between India and Pakistan is not a people-to-people issue. It is more at the political level. It was a big learning experience for us,” he told Arab News.
“People supported us, they allowed shelter in their home, they offered food and took us around. They took care of us for 24 days.”
Through initiatives creating grassroots bonds, he hoped to make a change in relations between the countries. The Indian-Pakistani mango tree was a symbolic representation that it was possible.
“Mango marriage is a new hope,” Sonawane said. “The mango sapling is not just a biological plant or a botanical plant; it is a deep connection of love and compassion.”
Man jailed for 9 years for setting fire to asylum seekers’ hotel in UK anti-Muslim riots
The hotel was targeted by around 400 people during days of rioting involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks
Thomas Birley, 27, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life
Updated 4 min 20 sec ago
Rueters
LONDON: A British man was on Friday jailed for nine years for arson at a hotel housing asylum seekers during anti-Muslim riots, by far the longest sentence imposed over recent widespread violent disorder.
Thomas Birley, 27, pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life after he stoked a fire in a bin by an entranceway to a hotel near Rotherham in northern England on Aug. 4.
Prosecutor Alisha Kaye said Birley added wood to an already-flaming industrial bin, which had been placed in front of a fire door of the hotel while staff and guests sheltered inside.
Birley, who had also pleaded guilty to violent disorder and possessing an offensive weapon, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court by Judge Jeremy Richardson, who said Birley’s actions were “suffused with racism from beginning to end.”
The hotel was targeted by around 400 people during days of rioting involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks, which followed the killings of three young girls in the northern English town of Southport on July 29.
The attack was initially blamed on an Islamist migrant, false claims based on online misinformation. An 18-year-old, Axel Rudakubana who was born in Cardiff, has been charged.
A protest in Southport the day after the killings turned violent and riots spread across the country in unrest not seen in Britain since 2011, when the fatal shooting of a Black man by police triggered several days of street violence.
Police and prosecutors have responded rapidly, with roughly 1,300 people having been arrested and around 200 people jailed – one for as long as six years’ imprisonment for violent disorder.
Others have been charged for inciting racial or religious hatred online.
Japan’s Kishida, South Korea’s Yoon call to sustain momentum in improved ties
Relations between the two staunch US regional allies had sunk to their lowest level in decades
Fumio Kishida emphasized the need to continue efforts to advance bilateral ties
Updated 27 min 34 sec ago
Reuters
SEOUL: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called on Friday at a summit in Seoul to keep up the momentum behind an improvement in relations, which will be tested by imminent changes of leaders in Tokyo and Washington.
Kishida’s final, whirlwind trip to his neighbor as prime minister came as the two leaders seek to seal their newfound partnership after orchestrating an about-face in ties, prodded by US President Joe Biden.
Relations between the two staunch US regional allies had sunk to their lowest level in decades amid acrimonious diplomatic and trade disputes over Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula.
Kishida emphasized the need to continue efforts to advance bilateral ties, once again expressing sympathy for Koreans who suffered during Japanese colonial rule.
“There is a lot of history ... but it is very important to inherit the efforts of our predecessors who overcame difficult times, and cooperate toward the future,” Kishida told Yoon at the meeting.
“I’ve also said here in Seoul that I feel heartbroken that so many people have had such difficult, sad experiences in such difficult circumstances,” he added, referring to his earlier comments during a visit last year.
Yoon also called for sustaining the positive momentum of cooperation built by the leaders, saying next year could provide “a turning point” for the relationship to take a leap forward marking its 60th anniversary.
“There are still difficult issues remaining in Korea-Japan relations. I hope that both sides will continue to work together with a forward-looking attitude so that we can continue to take steps toward a brighter future.”
The two welcomed the signing of an agreement to facilitate the evacuation of each other’s citizens from an emergency in a third country, which Kishida called a symbol of growing trust.
They also agreed to work together to simplify immigration procedures for travelers, and ensure that North Korea cannot utilize Russia’s backing to stage more provocations, according to Yoon’s deputy national security adviser, Kim Tae-hyo.
Kishida has announced he will step down this month and Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party will hold elections on Sept. 27 to choose his successor.
He is due to return to Tokyo on Saturday after dining with Yoon on Friday night, their offices said.
LOOMING ELECTION UNCERTAINTY
Yoon has made it a diplomatic priority to mend ties with Tokyo and improve security cooperation including with Washington to tackle North Korea’s military threats, which led to a historic trilateral summit at Camp David last year.
Ahead of looming elections in Japan and the US, however, there is a lingering question whether the Asian neighbors can maintain the kind of genuine rapprochement that will put their historic woes behind with new leaders in place.
Kishida told Yoon that the importance of bilateral ties would not change regardless of who succeeded him and pledged to help maintain the momentum even after leaving office, Kim said.
Washington is confident Kishida’s successor will be as committed to continuing the renewed alliance and that “all of these projects we’ve been working on together are going to continue at pace under new leadership” said Mira Rapp-Hooper, a senior official at the White House National Security Council.
“Both Prime Minister Kishida and President Yoon took on a great deal of personal risk and political risk to move forward the warming of their bilateral ties in ways that prior governments just hadn’t been able to accomplish.”
Kim Hyoung-zhin, a former South Korean deputy foreign minister, said Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took a more hands-off approach toward the partnership with Seoul and Tokyo when in office, while his Democratic rival Kamala Harris would likely keep Biden’s course if elected.
Pope arrives in Papua New Guinea for the second leg of his Southeast Asia and Oceania trip
A cannon salute and marching band greeted the pope on the tarmac of the Port Moresby airport
The country has more than 800 Indigenous languages and has been riven by tribal conflicts over land for centuries
Updated 06 September 2024
AP
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea: Pope Francis arrived in Papua New Guinea on Friday for the second leg of his four-nation trip through Southeast Asia and Oceania, becoming the second pope to visit the poor, strategically important South Pacific nation.
A cannon salute and marching band greeted the 87-year-old pope on the tarmac of the Port Moresby airport as he arrived after a six-hour flight from Jakarta, Indonesia. During the brief welcome ceremony the pope momentarily lost his balance while maneuvering from his wheelchair to a chair, but his security guards steadied him.
The packed three-day Indonesia visit culminated with a jubilant Mass on Thursday afternoon before a crowd that filled two sports stadiums and overflowed into a parking lot.
“Don’t tire of dreaming and of building a civilization of peace,” Francis urged them in an ad-libbed homily. “Be builders of hope. Be builders of peace.”
The Vatican had originally expected the Mass would draw some 60,000 people, and Indonesian authorities had predicted 80,000. But the Vatican spokesman quoted local organizers as saying more than 100,000 attended.
A woman wears a shirt with a photo of Pope Francis at a market ahead of his visit to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on Sept. 6, 2024. (AP)
“I feel very lucky compared to other people who can’t come here or even had the intention to come here,” said Vienna Frances Florensius Basol, who came with her husband and a group of 40 people from Sabah, Malaysia, but couldn’t get into the stadium.
“Even though we are outside with other Indonesians, seeing the screen, I think I am lucky enough,” she said from a parking lot where a giant TV screen was erected for anyone who didn’t have tickets for the service.
While in Indonesia, Francis sought to encourage the country’s 8.9 million Catholics, who make up just 3 percent of the population of 275 million, while also seeking to boost interfaith ties with the country boasting the world’s largest Muslim population.
In the highlight of the visit, Francis and the grand imam of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, Southeast Asia’s largest, signed a joint declaration pledging to work to end religiously inspired violence and protect the environment.
In Papua New Guinea, Francis’ agenda is aligned with more of his social justice priorities. The poor, strategically important South Pacific nation is home to more than 10 million people, most of whom are subsistence farmers.
John Lavu, the choir conductor at St. Charles Luwanga parish in the capital, Port Moresby, said the visit would help him grow stronger in his Catholic faith.
“I have lived this faith all my life, but the coming of the Holy Father, the head of the church, to Papua New Guinea and to be a witness of his coming to us is going to be very important for me in my life as a Catholic,” he said on the eve of Francis’ arrival.
Francis will be traveling to remote Vanimo to check in on some Catholic missionaries from his native Argentina who are trying to spread the Catholic faith to a largely tribal people who also practice pagan and Indigenous traditions.
The country, the South Pacific’s most populous after Australia, has more than 800 Indigenous languages and has been riven by tribal conflicts over land for centuries, with conflicts becoming more and more lethal in recent decades.
History’s first Latin American pope will likely refer to the need to find harmony among tribal groups while visiting, the Vatican said. Another possible theme is the country’s fragile ecosystem, its rich natural resources at risk of exploitation and the threat posed by climate change.
The Papua New Guinean government has blamed extraordinary rainfall for a massive landslide in May that buried a village in Enga province. The government said more than 2,000 people were killed, while the United Nations estimated the death toll at 670.
Francis becomes only the second pope to visit Papua New Guinea, after St. John Paul II touched down in 1984 during one of his lengthy, globetrotting voyages. Then, John Paul paid tribute to the Catholic missionaries who had already been trying for a century to bring the faith to the country.
Papua New Guinea, a Commonwealth nation that was a colony of nearby Australia until independence in 1975, is the second leg of Francis’ four-nation trip. In the longest and farthest voyage of his papacy, Francis will also visit East Timor and Singapore before returning to the Vatican on Sept. 13.
Philippines’ deported ex-mayor Alice Guo arrives home from Indonesia
Alice Guo, also known as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, was arrested by Indonesian authorities on Wednesday
Guo, who says she is a natural-born Philippine citizen, has denied the accusations, calling them malicious
Updated 06 September 2024
Reuters
MANILA: Former Philippines mayor Alice Guo, accused of ties to Chinese criminal syndicates and laundering more than 100 million pesos ($1.79 million), arrived in Manila early on Friday after being deported from Indonesia.
Guo, also known as Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, was arrested by Indonesian authorities on Wednesday after leaving the Philippines in July. She is wanted by the Philippine Senate for refusing to appear before a congressional investigation into her alleged criminal ties.
Philippine law enforcement agencies, including the anti-money laundering council (AMLC), have filed several counts of money laundering against Guo and 35 others with the justice department.
Guo, who says she is a natural-born Philippine citizen, has denied the accusations, calling them malicious. She was deported from Indonesia for violating immigration laws, Jakarta’s immigration office said on Thursday.
The former mayor arrived in Manila on a private plane flanked by Philippine law enforcement authorities, including the country’s interior minister, Benjamin Abalos Jr., who led her handover from Indonesian authorities in Jakarta on Thursday.
“I have received death threats and I am asking for the help (of Philippine authorities),” Guo told a press briefing shortly after her arrival in Manila.
Abalos committed to provide security for Guo, but urged her to disclose the truth. “Disclose all the names in order to serve justice and so all this ends. That is the only way we can help her,” he said.
The Senate launched an investigation into Guo in May after a raid in March by law enforcers on a casino in Bamban town, where she was mayor, uncovered what they said were scams run from a facility built on land Guo partly owned.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged Guo on Friday to disclose how these offshore gaming operators, locally known as POGOs, had branched out into crime. Marcos banned the online gambling industry in July.
“It will not help her at all to be evasive,” Marcos told reporters. Guo is set to appear before the Senate on Monday when it resumes its investigation.
Guo became mayor of Bamban town in Tarlac province in the northern Philippines in 2022. She ran as a Filipino citizen but her fingerprints were later found to match those of a Chinese national, Guo Hua Ping, the National Bureau of Investigation said in August.
In August an anti-graft office removed her as mayor on the grounds of grave misconduct over her alleged ties to illegal gaming operations in Bamban.
