Turkiye’s Erdogan voices worries of NATO, Russia clash
Turkish leader’s comments come as NATO leaders huddled in Washington
Updated 11 July 2024
AFP
ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that any possibility of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO was “worrying,” the official Anadolu news agency reported.
Erdogan’s comments came as NATO leaders huddled in Washington and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was planning “response measures” to contain the “very serious threat” from the alliance.
“The possibility of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia is undoubtedly worrying,” said Erdogan, who is in Washington for a NATO summit. “Any steps that could lead to this outcome should be consciously avoided.”
Erdogan spoke a day after NATO allies announced they had started transferring F-16 jets to Ukraine while stepping up promises to Kyiv on eventual membership in the alliance, at a 75th anniversary summit clouded by political uncertainties in the United States.
On the eve of the summit, Russia fired a barrage of missiles on Ukraine, killing dozens, including in Kyiv where a children’s hospital was heavily damaged.
Peskov, in comments published by Russian news agencies also said the Western military alliance, which is holding a summit in Washington this week, was now “fully involved in the conflict over Ukraine.”
A member of NATO, Turkiye has sought to balance ties between its two Black Sea neighbors Russia and Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Ankara has sent drones to Ukraine while shying away from Western-led sanctions on Moscow.
UK police arrest Egyptian man following migrant boat death
The NCA said it had detained a 29-year-old Egyptian national in Manston, southern England, on Monday and questioned him on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration
Updated 30 July 2024
AFP
LONDON: The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) on Tuesday said its officers had arrested a man in connection with a small boat Channel crossing that led to the death Sunday of a woman in France.
The NCA said it had detained a 29-year-old Egyptian national in Manston, southern England, on Monday and questioned him on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration.
He was then bailed pending further enquiries.
The woman died trying to cross the Channel from France to Britain on an overcrowded boat.
French authorities were alerted that the vessel was in trouble in the early hours of Sunday and the woman was recovered and airlifted to hospital but later died.
The boat continued on its journey to the UK, and arrived into Dover carrying around 40 people.
"This tragedy demonstrates how dangerous these crossings are," said NCA Branch Commander Mark Howes.
"Working with partners we remain determined to do all we can to target, disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved in organised immigration crime," he added.
It was the seventh migrant death in the Channel since July 12 and the French maritime prefecture said there was a "new phenomenon" of would-be migrants dying from the crushed conditions in boats rather than from drowning.
Afghan refugees evacuated to UK to be reunited with relatives left behind, government says
‘It is our moral duty to ensure that families who were tragically separated are reunited and not left at the mercy of the Taliban,’ says immigration minister
Close relatives of refugees who were relocated to the UK under the Home Office’s Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme are eligible to apply
Updated 30 July 2024
Arab News
LONDON: The UK government is expanding the Home Office’s Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme so that refugees from Afghanistan who were evacuated to Britain can finally be reunited with close family members who were left behind.
It means Afghans separated from their relatives in the chaos during the withdrawal of Western forces from Kabul in 2021 can now apply to join them in Britain, The Independent newspaper reported on Tuesday.
“It is our moral duty to ensure that families who were tragically separated are reunited and are not left at the mercy of the Taliban, which is why I have expanded ACRS so that those who were left behind can be resettled in the UK,” said the immigration minister, Seema Malhotra.
“Afghans did right by us and we will do right by them, ensuring our system is fair and supports those most at risk and vulnerable.”
Close relatives of refugees who were relocated to the UK under the scheme, which was introduced to help vulnerable and at-risk people, will be eligible to apply. Nearly 6,500 people have come to the UK under the scheme so far, including women’s rights activists, journalists and prosecutors.
Relatives who qualify include spouses and partners, and children who were under the age of 18 at the time of the evacuation. The parents and siblings of children who traveled to the UK without them are also eligible.
The previous, Conservative government had faced calls from MPs to expand ACRS before the general election in July in which the Labour Party swept to power in a landslide victory. The Conservatives initially pledged to accept 20,000 refugees over five years as part of the Home Office scheme to help vulnerable Afghans after the Taliban takeover. But several MPs complained that the relocation process had been slow following the initial evacuation.
“It’s been almost three years since the evacuation of Kabul and yet there remains an urgent need to ensure that those who assisted our efforts in Afghanistan by upholding democracy, freedom and human rights, often at huge personal risk to themselves and their families, can be reunited,” Malhotra said.
Charities and rights groups welcomed Tuesday’s announcement. Refugee Council CEO Enver Solomon said it was “hugely welcome” and added: “Over the last three years we’ve worked with many families who were torn apart in the chaos of evacuating Kabul. They will now have a way to be safely together again thanks to the swift action that has been taken by the government.
“For the children who have been apart from their parents for far too long, we know this will be life-changing.”
Gunes Kalkan, head of campaigns for Safe Passage International, said: “Families have been waiting nearly three years for a long-promised way to reunite. This will be life-changing for the parents and children who have been separated all this time.”
How might the US election impact Russian and Western resolve in Ukraine?
Ukraine and its Western allies say only a Russian withdrawal from occupied territories can form the basis for a settlement
While Biden has been generous with his support, Trump and running mate Vance want to prioritize domestic issues
Updated 30 July 2024
Alex Whiteman
LONDON: More than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the possibility of another Donald Trump presidency has opened a window for Russian President Vladimir Putin to propose a settlement with Kyiv.
The official position of Ukraine, together with Western European countries and the US, is that only a Russian withdrawal from occupied Ukrainian territories can be the basis for any settlement.
Ukrainian soldiers prepare to travel to the frontline in the Donetsk region. (AFP)
Putin’s talk of negotiations comes amid growing doubts about the sustainability of Western support for Ukraine in a war many believe has reached a “stalemate.” The Russian leader perceives a weakening in Washington’s previously firm stance.
A source in Ukraine, speaking anonymously to Arab News, contested the idea of a “stalemate,” attributing the lack of progress to Ukrainian forces being inadequately equipped by their Western allies.
“A stalemate is something imposed by the rules of the game of chess, but that’s not what we have here,” the source said. “We have Ukraine being given pieces to fight this war by an alliance, and if we were given the pieces we needed, there would be no stalemate. The problem is that the alliance has not been supporting us with the objective of winning, but rather the objective of survival.”
While President Joe Biden has been generous with his support, Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, have cast doubt on that reliability. (AFP)
Despite this perspective, military strategists argue that without Western support, Ukraine would likely have been forced to surrender to Russia months or years ago. Instead, Ukraine has managed to hinder Russian advances and achieve battlefield gains.
However, the steady flow of Western — particularly US — aid could soon diminish. While President Joe Biden has been generous with his support, Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, have cast doubt on that reliability.
At a campaign rally in Detroit in June, Trump described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “the greatest salesman of all time.”
Families walk to board a train at Kramatorsk central station as they flee the eastern city of Kramatorsk, in the Donbass region. (AFP)
“He just left four days ago with $60 billion, and he gets home, and he announces that he needs another $60 billion,” Trump said. “It never ends. I will have that settled prior to taking the White House as president-elect.”
Putin seems to have taken note, with US intelligence officials suggesting anonymously that Russia favors Trump as a candidate in the upcoming election.
“We have not observed a shift in Russia’s preferences for the presidential race from past elections, given the role the US is playing with regard to Ukraine and broader policy toward Russia,” a US intelligence official said.
In line with Trump’s inclination to make deals, Putin has recently emphasized his willingness to negotiate, proposing that Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia be ceded to Russia.
Although Russia only partially controls these regions, delays in US funding have given Russia a 3:1 advantage in equipment. This advantage has led to “tactically significant advances” by Russian forces, particularly in Kharkiv, challenging Zelensky’s firm stance against losing any territory in a deal.
INNUMBERS
• $211bn+ Cost of Russian military operations in Ukraine.
• 4.6M+ Ukrainians in need of humanitarian assistance.
• 60,000+ Combined death toll.
• 3.7 M+ Ukrainians internally displaced by the war.
Sources: Pentagon, IRC
Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, wrote on X that she saw no near-term path to victory for Ukraine regardless of the US election’s outcome.
“It seems unlikely that the West will support Ukraine to a degree that could force Russia to retreat. From Moscow’s perspective, there are no actions that could decisively shift the situation in Ukraine’s favor,” Stanovaya said.
Firefighters work in a multi-storey residential building destroyed by a missile attack in central Kyiv. (AFP)
Mindful of the battlefield situation and the prospect of Trump returning to the White House, Zelensky has hinted at a willingness to negotiate. In late July, he invited Russian negotiators to a planned November peace summit, a move John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, described as a nod to Trump’s desire to negotiate.
“It has to be a reasonable peace, which does not permit Russian occupiers to continue to torture, repress and murder the people of Ukraine who are being occupied,” Herbst told CNN.
Amid the renewed global efforts to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict, reports on Sunday said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi might visit Ukraine, coinciding with Ukraine’s National Day on Aug. 24. The visit is yet to be formally announced by the Indian and Ukrainian sides.
Medics of Ukrainian Army evacuate a wounded soldier on a road not far of Soledar, Donetsk region. (AFP)
Last week, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Guangzhou, in the first visit to the country by Ukraine’s most senior diplomat since Russia’s invasion of February 2022.
China has close ties with Russia and has pushed for an end to the war that would take into account the interests of both sides.
China did not participate in a peace conference in Switzerland last month that did not include Russia. It is not believed to be selling arms directly to Russia, but multiple reports say that so-called dual-use goods — which can have military or civilian uses — from China and other countries have ended up in Russian armaments.
Kuleba’s visit followed a public rebuke in June of China by Zelensky, who accused it of helping Russia block countries from participating in the Swiss peace conference.
Some suggest Zelensky’s talk of negotiation is mere politicking, aiming to align with a potential US president. Others argue it does not reflect the stance of Ukraine’s new military commander-in-chief.
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi admitted to the UK’s Guardian newspaper that recent Russian gains had placed his army in a “very difficult” situation. However, he emphasized that these “tactical” victories were not the operational breakthroughs necessary to justify Russia’s significant losses.
Oubai Shahbandar, a former Middle East defense adviser at the Pentagon, described the daily loss of life experienced by the Russians as “unprecedented.” Nevertheless, he noted that Ukraine also struggles to replenish its manpower after nearly 30 months of fighting, with calls for half a million more soldiers and the barring of men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country sparking a public backlash.
“By all definitions, the conflict is a stalemate, but Moscow is hoping that by using sheer mass it can overwhelm and exhaust the Ukrainians,” Shahbandar told Arab News.
Putin may regret the rigidity with which he has waged this war. (AFP)
He expressed skepticism about negotiations occurring before next year, citing the necessity of US participation, which is unlikely during Biden’s “lame duck” period.
Opinion
This section contains relevant reference points, placed in (Opinion field)
Furthermore, he said Moscow lacked “any real incentives or pressure to negotiate a deal that would have a realistic chance, and Kyiv also requires incentives to agree to a deal.”
Contrary to some analysts, Shahbandar does not view a prospective Trump win as a victory for Russia. Instead, he sees it as a potential catalyst for both sides to negotiate a realistic conclusion to the war.
“Prevailing analysis among many think tankers and mainstream media outlets is assuming that a Trump electoral victory is good news for Russia and bad for Ukraine,” he said. “But the reality of a Trump presidential policy will be much more nuanced than he is being given credit for.”
This has led others to interpret Putin’s calls to negotiate as an attempt to capitalize on the uncertainty and make a deal now, rather than a sign of confidence in a Trump victory.
Biden has been generous with his support for Ukraine against Russia’s actions in the country. (AFP)
A source with ties to Russia told Arab News that while they did not see Putin acting with increased flexibility, they agreed he would likely try to leverage Trump’s electoral run. If that strategy fails, Putin may regret the rigidity with which he has waged this war.
Midway through its third year, amid growing anger over the government’s efforts to increase troop numbers, Ukrainians remain resolute in their desire to expel Russian forces. A recent poll indicated that only 32 percent of Ukrainians would accept ceding territory to end the conflict.
Police clash with a violent crowd gathered near the site of UK stabbing attack that killed 3 girls
The nine-year-old girl died in hospital early Tuesday, Merseyside Police said
A 17-year-old male suspect from a nearby village arrested shortly after the incident remained in custody, police added
Updated 30 sec ago
AP
LONDON: Far-right protesters fueled by anger and false online rumors hurled bottles and stones at officers and set a police van ablaze Tuesday outside a northwest England mosque near where three girls were fatally stabbed a day earlier.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the “thuggery” and said the crowd had hijacked what had earlier been a peaceful vigil attended by hundreds in the center of Southport to mourn the dead and 10 surviving stabbing victims, seven of whom were in critical condition.
Police said the violent crowd was believed to be supporters of the English Defense League, a far-right group, and the unrest was inspired by rumors about the identity of the teenage suspect arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.
“There has been much speculation and hypothesis around the status of a 17-year-old male who is currently in police custody and some individuals are using this to bring violence and disorder to our streets,” Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss said.
Police previously said a suspect’s name circulating on social media accounts was incorrect and the boy was born in Britain, contrary to online claims that he was an asylum seeker.
The Liverpool Region Mosque Network posted a statement decrying the “heinous” stabbing as an attack against society that was unconnected to Islam.
“A minority of people are attempting to portray that this inhumane act is somehow related to the Muslim community,” the group said on the X social media platform. “Frankly it is not, and we must not let those who seek to divide us and spread hatred use this as an opportunity.”
Officers outside the Southport Mosque in riot gear were pelted with objects by members of the crowd, some of whom wore masks, amid chants of “No surrender!” and “English till I die!” Firecrackers exploded, sirens wailed and a helicopter hovering overhead added to the chaos.
Some officers were bleeding after being struck by objects and police said one had a broken nose.
A day earlier, a short distance from the turmoil, the girls had taken part in a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga workshop on the first week of summer vacation when a teen armed with a knife entered the studio and began a vicious attack, police said.
“It’s difficult to comprehend or put into words the horror of what happened,” Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said while briefing members of Parliament. “What should have been a joyful start to the summer turned into an unspeakable tragedy.”
Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, died from their injuries, police said.
“Keep smiling and dancing like you love to do our princess,” Aguiar’s parents said in a statement released by police. “Like we said before to you, you’re always our princess and no one would change that.”
King’s family said no words could describe their devastation at the loss “of our little girl Bebe.”
Eight children and two adults remained hospitalized after the attack in Southport. Both adults and five of the children were in critical condition.
An emotional crowd that gathered in Southport outside The Atkinson theater and museum in the early evening held a minute of silence for the victims.
June Burns, the mayor of the Sefton region that contains Southport, called for calm and respect and urged people to be good to one another. She said she was overcome with emotion when she visited the scene of the tragedy earlier.
“It’s unbelievable that we find ourselves laying flowers for little girls who just wanted to dance,” she said.
Swift said earlier on Instagram that she was “completely in shock” and still taking in “the horror” of the event.
“These were just little kids at a dance class,” she wrote. “I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.”
People left flowers and stuffed animals in tribute at a police cordon on the street lined with brick houses in the seaside resort near Liverpool where the beach and pier attract vacationers. They also posted online messages of support for teacher Leanne Lucas, the organizer of the event, who was one of those attacked.
The 17-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder shortly after the attacks just before noon. Police said he was born in Cardiff, Wales, and had lived for years in a village about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from Southport. He has not yet been charged.
The rampage is the latest shocking attack in a country where a recent rise in knife crime has stoked anxieties and led to calls for the government to do more to clamp down on bladed weapons, which are by far the most commonly used instruments in UK homicides.
The prime minister was jeered by some as he visited the crime scene and lay a wreath of pink and white flowers with a handwritten note that said: “Our hearts are broken, there are no words for such profound loss. The nation’s thoughts are with you.”
“How many more children?” one person yelled as Starmer was getting in his car. “Our kids are dead and you’re leaving already?”
Starmer told reporters earlier that he is determined to get a grip on high levels of knife crime but said it was not a day for politics.
Witnesses described hearing screams and seeing children covered in blood in the mayhem outside the Hart Space, a community center that hosts everything from pregnancy workshops to women’s boot camps.
Joel Verite, a window cleaner riding in a van on his lunch break, said his colleague slammed on the brakes and reversed to where a woman was hanging on the side of a car covered in blood.
“She just screamed at me: ‘He’s killing kids over there. He’s killing kids over there,’” Verite told Sky News.
The woman, who was on the phone with police, directed him to where the violence was unfolding and then collapsed. Verite said he ran in the direction she had pointed.
A woman honking the horn of her car caught his attention and he found her with five or six bloody children inside. The woman said she was trying to get the kids to safety.
“It was like a scene you’d see on a disaster film,” he said. “I can’t explain to you how horrific it is what I saw.”
He ran to the dance studio, where he was startled to lock eyes with a man in a hooded tracksuit holding a knife at the top of the stairs.
“All I saw was a knife and I thought: ‘There are more people in there,’ and I just wanted to hurt him so bad,” Verite said. “But I was scared for myself and I wanted to help people. So I came outside and I was screaming because I knew where he was.”
Britain’s worst attack on children occurred in 1996, when 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton shot 16 kindergartners and their teacher dead in a school gymnasium in Dunblane, Scotland. The UK subsequently banned the private ownership of almost all handguns.
Mass shootings and killings with firearms are exceptionally rare in Britain, where knives were used in about 40 percent of homicides in the year to March 2023.
Mass stabbings are also very rare, according to Iain Overton, executive director of Action on Armed Violence.
“Most knife attacks are one-on-one and personal — either domestic violence or gang related — so this tragedy is very unusual and, accordingly, garners lots of media interest,” Overton said. “This offers no comfort to the grieving families, of course.”
NEW DELHI: A massive rescue operation was underway in the southern Indian state of Kerala on Tuesday following landslides that have killed dozens of people in the hilly district of Wayanad.
The landslides struck in the early hours of the morning when people were asleep as waves of mud crushed their homes.
Teams from civil defense, police, 200 personnel of the army, and rescue swimmers from the navy have been deployed to the affected areas, but search efforts were hampered by heavy rains.
The Kerala Revenue Ministry estimated that at least 84 people were dead and 116 injured, but the Wayanad District Disaster Response Force told Arab News it was difficult to ascertain the exact numbers, as more than 120 were missing, trapped under mud and debris.
“We fear that the death figure will go up as many missing might be dead. As of now, we can’t speculate,” the disaster response force office told Arab News. “Rescue operation is going on in full swing.”
Most of Kerala was on the India Meteorological Department’s highest alert due to extreme rainfall on Tuesday morning.
Jebi Mather, member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament representing Kerala, told lawmakers that reports from the state indicate that entire families had disappeared under the mud.
“The devastation cannot be measured at this moment … It is so vast,” she said.
Some 350 families lived in the hilly forest region, where most residents worked on tea and cardamom plantations.
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, the former MP for Wayanad, said in a post on X that he was “deeply anguished” by the disaster.
“The devastation unfolding in Wayanad is heartbreaking,” he said. “I have urged the Union government … to extend all possible support.”
The Kerala government declared official mourning on Tuesday and Wednesday.
