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Human rights group begins legal action over UK’s Rwanda migrant policy

Human rights group begins legal action over UK’s Rwanda migrant policy
Human rights group Asylum Aid said on Friday it had launched a legal challenge to the British government's policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda in the wake of a new law which seeks to pave the way for the scheme to be put into operation. (AFP/File)
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Updated 03 May 2024
Reuters
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Human rights group begins legal action over UK’s Rwanda migrant policy

Human rights group begins legal action over UK’s Rwanda migrant policy
  • The group said the government’s Safety of Rwanda policy document was inconsistent with the new law
Updated 03 May 2024
Reuters
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LONDON: Human rights group Asylum Aid said on Friday it had launched a legal challenge to the British government’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda in the wake of a new law which seeks to pave the way for the scheme to be put into operation.
The group said the government’s Safety of Rwanda policy document, published on April 29, was inconsistent with the new law which was passed by parliament last month to override a ruling by the UK Supreme Court that the scheme was unlawful.

Topics: UK Rwanda human rights asylum seekers

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In hospital, a resting Pope Francis sits out Sunday mass

In hospital, a resting Pope Francis sits out Sunday mass
Updated 16 February 2025
AFP
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In hospital, a resting Pope Francis sits out Sunday mass

In hospital, a resting Pope Francis sits out Sunday mass
  • Francis was admitted Friday to Rome’s Gemelli hospital with bronchitis, one of several bouts of flu or bronchitis he has caught in recent winters
Updated 16 February 2025
AFP

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis sat out mass and his traditional Angelus prayer from hospital on Sunday, with a Vatican health official saying the 88-year-old pontiff needed to preserve his strength for the Church’s busy Jubilee year.
Francis was admitted Friday to Rome’s Gemelli hospital with bronchitis, one of several bouts of flu or bronchitis he has caught in recent winters.
The Vatican said Saturday that doctors prescribed “absolute rest,” although they said tests had indicated some improvements in his condition.
Unable to attend Sunday mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope sent a written address to a group of artists and other cultural figures in attendance.
“I would have liked to be among you but, as you know, I am here at the Gemelli Hospital because I still need some treatment for my bronchitis,” Francis wrote.
During the mass – which is usually presided over by the pope – Cardinal Jose Tolentino de Mendonca read Francis’s homily.
“We live in a time when new walls are being erected, when differences become a pretext for division rather than an opportunity for mutual enrichment,” the cardinal read. “But you, men and women of the world of culture, are called to build bridges.”
The head of the health office for the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Massimo Angelelli, told AFPTV it was “absolutely necessary for him to recover his strength” as “the Jubilee is still long.”
The Catholic Church has designated 2025 a “Jubilee Year” that is expected to draw more than 30 million visitors to Rome.
Occurring every 25 years, the Jubilee is intended as a period of reflection and penance, and marked by a long list of cultural and religious events – many of them presided over by the pope.
Despite his health issues – which include knee pain and his reliance on a wheelchair – the pope keeps a very busy schedule and has said he has no current plans to slow down.
But in the days ahead of his hospitalization, Francis – who had part of one of his lungs removed as a young man – several times asked aides to read his public speeches aloud on his behalf.
On Saturday, the Vatican said in a statement that tests had confirmed the pope was suffering from a “respiratory tract infection” but was not exhibiting signs of fever, and showed “improvement in some values.”

Topics: Pope Francis

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Indonesia in talks with UAE to develop aluminium industry

Indonesia in talks with UAE to develop aluminium industry
Updated 16 February 2025
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Indonesia in talks with UAE to develop aluminium industry

Indonesia in talks with UAE to develop aluminium industry
  • Indonesia has vast reserves of critical minerals, including bauxite, the main source of aluminium
  • UAE’s EGA to help expand production capacity by up to 400,000 tons a year at North Sumatra smelter
Updated 16 February 2025
Sheany Yasuko Lai

JAKARTA: The Indonesian government is in talks with UAE’s Emirate Global Aluminium to develop its aluminium industry, as the Southeast Asian nation seeks to utilize its vast reserves of minerals.

Indonesia has rich deposits of minerals like copper and bauxite — the main source of aluminium — and is the world’s largest source of nickel. Its government has been working to attract foreign investment to help develop its mineral processing industry.

In a meeting with EGA CEO Abdulnasser Ibrahim Saif bin Kalban, Coordinating Minister for Economy Affairs Airlangga Hartarto discussed ways to move forward plans for the Dubai-based company to help aluminium production in Indonesia.

“We need to make sure that cooperation in the aluminium sector will have a significant impact on the Indonesian economy, especially for jobs creation,” he said in a statement issued on Saturday.

Hartarto was at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, where he also held talks with other UAE officials and business leaders.

EGA and state-owned Indonesia Asahan Aluminium, or Inalum, have signed several strategic partnership agreements in the last few years, aimed at boosting Indonesia’s aluminium production capacity. This includes increasing that of Inalum’s North Sumatra smelter by up to 400,000 tons a year.

The Emirati company, one of the world’s largest aluminium producers, also said it was planning to explore alternative sources of renewable energy in Indonesia to support its aluminium production plans.

“With our capabilities and the advanced technology that we use, along with the natural resources potential in Indonesia — we will be able to produce the best alumina in high quantities,” Abdulnasser was quoted as saying.

But Indonesia still needs to work out low-carbon options to generate enough electricity for green aluminium production, according to the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs.

Green aluminium, or low-carbon aluminium, is a sustainable metal produced using methods powered by renewable energy sources, essentially reducing the carbon footprint.

Topics: Indonesia UAE

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Taiwan detects 24 Chinese aircraft as Canadian ship transits waters

Taiwan detects 24 Chinese aircraft as Canadian ship transits waters
Updated 16 February 2025
AFP
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Taiwan detects 24 Chinese aircraft as Canadian ship transits waters

Taiwan detects 24 Chinese aircraft as Canadian ship transits waters
  • It was the first Canadian naval vessel to transit the waterway this year
  • During the Canadian warship’s passage, China’s military radioed the ship and warned it to change course
Updated 16 February 2025
AFP

TAIPEI: Taiwan said it detected 24 Chinese military aircraft near the island on Sunday as a Canadian warship passed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait.
It was the first Canadian naval vessel to transit the waterway this year, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said, and came days after two US ships made the passage.
The United States and its allies regularly pass through the 180-kilometer (112-mile) Taiwan Strait to reinforce its status as an international waterway, angering China.
Beijing has never ruled Taiwan, but it claims the democratic island as part of its territory and has threatened to bring it under its control by force.
“The Royal Canadian Navy’s Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ottawa sailed through the Taiwan Strait on February 16,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Canada has once again taken concrete action to uphold the Taiwan Strait’s freedom, peace and openness, demonstrating its firm stance that the strait is international waters,” it added.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Sunday that 24 Chinese aircraft, including fighter jets and drones, were detected carrying “joint combat readiness patrols” with military vessels around the island.
During the Canadian warship’s passage, China’s military radioed the ship and warned it to change course, Taiwanese media reported.
A US destroyer and an ocean survey ship traveled through the strait starting on February 10, drawing criticism from China’s military, which said it sent the “wrong signal and increased security risks.”
Data published by the Taiwan defense ministry showed 62 Chinese military aircraft were detected near the island in the 48 hours to 6:00 am local time on Wednesday, coinciding with the US ships’ transit.
Washington’s latest passage through the Taiwan Strait was the first time since US President Donald Trump took office in January.
It came after Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said they “opposed any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo (in the Taiwan Strait) by force or coercion.”

Topics: Taiwan China Taiwan Strait Canada

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M23 rebels enter center of strategic city Bukavu

M23 rebels enter center of strategic city Bukavu
Updated 16 February 2025
Reuters
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M23 rebels enter center of strategic city Bukavu

M23 rebels enter center of strategic city Bukavu
  • The armed group had been advancing on the capital of South Kivu province since seizing the city of Goma in late January
Updated 16 February 2025
Reuters

Rwandan-backed M23 rebels were seen in the center of eastern Congo’s second-largest city, Bukavu, on Sunday, said a local official, a security source and five eyewitnesses, as a spokesperson for the militia told Reuters: “we are there.”
The armed group had been advancing on the capital of South Kivu province since seizing the city of Goma in late January. The fall of Bukavu, if confirmed, would represent the most significant expansion of territory under the M23’s control since the latest insurgency started in 2022.
M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma said in a telephone message that the group was in the city.
The Congolese army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I’m at home, and I can see with my own eyes the M23 entering our town,” a local official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Topics: Congo

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US presented Ukraine with a document to access its minerals but offered almost nothing in return

US presented Ukraine with a document to access its minerals but offered almost nothing in return
Updated 16 February 2025
AP
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US presented Ukraine with a document to access its minerals but offered almost nothing in return

US presented Ukraine with a document to access its minerals but offered almost nothing in return
  • Proposal focused on how the US could use Kyiv’s rare earth minerals ‘as compensation’ for support already given to Ukraine
  • A senior White House official said that Zelensky’s rejection was ‘short-sighted’
Updated 16 February 2025
AP

MUNICH, Germany: Ukrainian officials were told not to sign an agreement with the US on rare earth minerals because the document focused on US interests, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, and did not offer any specific security guarantees in return, said one current and one former senior official familiar with the talks.
The proposal focused on how the US could use Kyiv’s rare earth minerals “as compensation” for support already given to Ukraine by the Biden administration and as payment for future aid, current and former senior Ukrainian officials said speaking anonymously so they could speak freely. A senior White House official said that Zelensky’s rejection was “short-sighted.”
Ukraine has vast reserves of critical minerals which are used in aerospace, defense and nuclear industries. The Trump administration has indicated it is interested in accessing them to reduce dependence on China but Zelensky said any exploitation would need to be tied to security guarantees for Ukraine that would deter future Russian aggression.
“I didn’t let the ministers sign a relevant agreement because in my view it is not ready to protect us, our interest,” Zelensky told The Associated Press on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
The US presented Ukraine with a document but “there are no very concrete things about security guarantees in this document,” Zelensky said.
“For me is very important the connection between some kind of security guarantees and some kind of investment,” the Ukrainian president said.
Zelensky did not go into details about why he instructed his officials not to sign the document which was given to Ukrainian officials on Wednesday by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bassent on a visit to Kyiv.
“It’s a colonial agreement and Zelensky cannot sign it,” the former senior official said.
White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes did not explicitly confirm the offer, but said in a statement that “President Zelensky is being short-sighted about the excellent opportunity the Trump Administration has presented to Ukraine.” The Trump administration has grown weary of sending additional US aid to Ukraine and Hughes said a minerals deal would allow American taxpayers to “recoup” money sent to Kyiv while growing Ukraine’s economy.
Hughes added that the White House believes “binding economic ties with the United States will be the best guarantee against future aggression and an integral part of lasting peace.” He added, “The US recognizes this, the Russians recognize this, and the Ukrainians must recognize this.”
US officials in discussions with their Ukrainian counterparts in Munich were commercially minded and largely concentrated on the specifics of exploring the minerals and how to form a possible partnership to do that with Ukraine, the senior official said.
The potential value of the deposits in Ukraine has not yet been discussed, with much unexplored or close to the front line.
The US proposal apparently did not take into account how the deposits would be secured in the event of continuing Russian aggression. The official suggested the US did not have “ready answers,” to that question and that one of their takeaways from discussions in Munich will be how to secure any mineral extraction operation in Ukraine involving people and infrastructure.
Any deal must be in accordance with Ukrainian law and acceptable to the Ukrainian people, the senior Ukrainian official said.
“Subsoil belongs to Ukrainians under the Constitution,” Kseniiia Orynchak, founder of the National Association of Mining Industry of Ukraine previously said suggesting a deal would need popular support.
Zelensky and Vance did not discuss the details of the US document during their meeting Friday at the Munich Security Conference, the senior official said. That meeting was “very good” and “substantive,” with Vance making it clear his and Trump’s main goal was to achieve a durable, lasting peace, the senior official said.
Zelensky told Vance that real peace requires Ukraine to be in a “strong position” when starting negotiations, stressed that the USnegotiators should come to Ukraine, and that the US, Ukraine and Europe must be at the negotiating table for talks with Russia.
But Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, all but cut Europeans out of any Ukraine-Russia talks, despite Zelensky’s request.
“You can have the Ukrainians, the Russians, and clearly the Americans at the table talking,” Kellogg said at an event hosted by a Ukrainian tycoon at the Munich Security Conference. Pressed on whether that meant Europeans won’t be included, he said: “I’m a school of realism. I think that’s not going to happen.”
Ukraine is now preparing a “counter proposal” which will be delivered to the US in “the near future,” the official said.
“I think it’s important that the vice president understood me that if we want to sign something, we have to understand that it will work,” Zelensky said.
That means, he said, “It will bring money and security.”

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Russia Ukraine US Volodymyr Zelensky

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