Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod region injures five children, governor says
Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod region injures five children, governor says/node/2548136/world
Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod region injures five children, governor says
A view shows a damaged apartment block following what local authorities called a Ukrainian military strike in the town of Shebekino in the Belgorod Region, Russia, in this handout picture released Jul. 10, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod region injures five children, governor says
An explosive device was dropped deliberately from a drone
Five children who were in the playground received various injuries
Updated 11 July 2024
Reuters
MOSCOW: A Ukrainian drone strike on a courtyard outside a multi-story apartment block on a border town in southern Russia’s Belgorod region injured five children, two of them seriously, the regional governor said.
“In the town of Shebekino, an explosive device was dropped deliberately from a drone in the courtyard of a multi-story apartment building,” Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
“Five children who were in the playground received various injuries. Two of them in serious condition were taken to the regional children’s hospital.”
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, also writing on Telegram, described the incident as a “deliberate terrorist attack on children” and called for international condemnation.
The incident occurred three days after a Russian bomb caused considerable destruction at a children’s hospital in Kyiv, prompting the evacuation of many of its patients. At least two people were killed.
Gladkov also said three civilians were injured in another Ukrainian attack on Shebekino.
A massive prisoner swap involving the US and Russia is underway
Updated 29 sec ago
The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details had not been publicly disclosed, did not specify who is included in the deal Americans considered by the US to be wrongfully detained in Russia include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan
WASHINGTON: A massive prisoner swap involving the United States and Russia was underway Thursday, a person familiar with the matter said. The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details had not been publicly disclosed, did not specify who is included in the deal. But Americans considered by the US to be wrongfully detained in Russia include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan. Both had been convicted of espionage charges that the US government considered baseless. Russia has long been interested in getting back Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park two years earlier, apparently on the orders of Moscow’s security services. Speculation had mounted for weeks that a swap was near because of a confluence of unusual developments, including a startingly quick trial and conviction for Gershkovich that Washington regarded as a sham. He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison. Also in recent days, several other figures imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against the war in Ukraine or over their work with the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were moved from prison to unknown locations.
Thousands of Afghans brought to UK in secret operation
Move to resettle 5,000 people who worked for British forces implemented in October
Scale of Operation Lazurite kept secret by previous govt over immigration concerns
Updated 46 min 14 sec ago
Arab News
LONDON: The UK has secretly brought more than 5,000 Afghans to Britain since last October, The Times reported.
Dubbed Operation Lazurite, the mission involved moving former military personnel, intelligence assets and their families out of Afghanistan and offering them accommodation at military sites across the UK. Those evacuated include 150 Afghans who worked directly for the intelligence services.
A Whitehall source told The Times that the number of those resettled had been hushed up by the previous Conservative government as it wished to appear strong on lowering immigration figures.
Around 4,000 of those moved to the UK were stuck in hotels in Pakistan paid for by London, with another 1,000 having to travel to Pakistan on passports issued by the Taliban shortly after the operation began.
Many of those who reached the UK left their homeland because of Taliban threats against them.
They joined the roughly 27,000 Afghans who had already been brought to the UK after the Taliban takeover in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US-led coalition troops earlier that year.
The Whitehall source said security checks are being conducted quickly before accommodation is offered to evacuees, with 700 homes having been allocated so far.
30 dead, dozens missing after torrential rain in central China
Confirmation of the deaths came the same day that weather authorities said July was China’s hottest month since records began six decades ago
Heatwaves this summer have scorched parts of northern China, while heavy rain has triggered floods and landslides in central and southern areas
Updated 01 August 2024
AFP
BEIJING: Torrential rains in China have killed at least 30 people and left dozens more missing, state media said on Thursday, as the country grinds through another summer of extreme weather.
Confirmation of the deaths came the same day that weather authorities said July was China’s hottest month since records began six decades ago.
China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say are driving climate change and making extreme weather more frequent and intense.
Heatwaves this summer have scorched parts of northern China, while heavy rain has triggered floods and landslides in central and southern areas.
This week’s downpours were triggered by Typhoon Gaemi, which moved on from the Philippines and Taiwan to make landfall in eastern China a week ago, with hilly, landlocked Hunan province hit particularly hard.
More than 11,000 people were evacuated from the city of Zixing after some areas endured record rainfall of 645 millimeters (25 inches) in just 24 hours, state news agency Xinhua said on Tuesday.
Many roads connecting townships in the Zixing area were temporarily cut off, which also affected the power supply and communications infrastructure.
State broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday the disruption was mostly over.
“Initial findings show that there have been 30 deaths and 35 are missing,” the report said, adding that search and rescue efforts were still ongoing.
Xinhua said on Tuesday four people had been killed and three people were missing in Zixing.
Three people were killed in Hunan’s Yongxing county, Xinhua also said Tuesday, while a landslide on Sunday killed 15 people elsewhere in the province.
Last month was “the hottest July since complete observations began in 1961, and the hottest single month in the history of observation,” the national weather office said Thursday.
It said the average July air temperature in China was 23.21 degrees Celsius (73.78 degrees Fahrenheit), exceeding the previous record of 23.17C (73.71F) in 2017.
The mean temperature in every province was also “higher than the average for previous years,” with the southwestern provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan logging their highest averages, the weather office said.
It forecast that the mercury would continue to climb in eastern regions this week, including Shanghai, where a red alert for extreme heat was in place on Thursday.
“Next week will be more of the same. It’s like being on an iron plate,” wrote one user of the Weibo social media platform in response to the megacity’s heat warning.
Another quipped: “It’s so hot. Did Shanghai do something to anger the gods?“
The nearby city of Hangzhou may hit 43C (109F) on Saturday, which would break its all-time record, the weather office said.
Middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River would likely see daily temperatures fall no lower than 30C (86F), it said.
The news came little more than a week after Earth experienced its warmest day in recorded history.
Preliminary data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service showed the daily global average temperature was 17.15C (62.9F) on July 22.
That was 0.06C hotter than the day before, which itself broke the all-time high temperature set a year earlier by a small margin.
China has pledged to bring emissions of carbon dioxide to a peak by 2030, and to net zero by 2060, but has resisted calls to be bolder.
It long depended on highly polluting coal power to fuel its massive economy but has emerged as a renewable energy leader in recent years.
Research showed last month that China is building almost twice as much wind and solar energy capacity than every other country combined.
Dhaka: Hundreds of Bangladeshi university teachers and TV stars held demonstrations in Dhaka on Thursday, demanding the withdrawal of police from campuses and the release of students arrested in a crackdown over last month’s mass protests.
Students have been demonstrating since the beginning of July against a rule that reserved the bulk of government jobs for the descendants of those who fought in the country’s 1971 liberation war.
The protests turned violent in mid-July, when nationwide campus rallies were attacked by pro-government groups, leading to clashes with security forces, a week-long communications blackout, a curfew, and more than 200 deaths.
The Supreme Court eventually scrapped most of the quotas last week to open civil service positions to candidates on merit, but this was followed by a crackdown on student leaders and protesters, with thousands arrested.
Demonstrations resumed this week, with more groups joining the students and holding separate rallies across Dhaka and in other cities to demand accountability for the violence and the release of those arrested.
“Around 200 teachers from Dhaka University and some other universities joined with us ... This teachers’ protest is to express solidarity with the students facing oppression, arrest,” Samina Lutfa, a lecturer in the sociology department of Dhaka University, told Arab News.
Dhaka University lecturers demonstrate at the university’s campus on Aug. 1, 2024 against a crackdown on student protesters. (A.S.M. Amanullah)
The teachers’ protest in Dhaka took place in front of the Aparajeyo Bangla, a sculpture on the university campus and a memorial to those who fought in the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan that resulted in Bangladesh’s independence.
They also demonstrated against the presence of security forces, which entered the campus two weeks ago to expel protesting students.
“We demanded immediate withdrawal of police force from the Dhaka University campus,” Lutfa said.
“Teachers from many other universities also organized protests at their campuses today. I have already received information from Rajshahi University, Jahangirnagar University, North South University, Independent University. Teachers from both public and private universities joined the protest.”
At least 11,000 people, mostly students, have been arrested following the job quota protests.
“We demand justice for the atrocities against the innocent and unarmed students committed in an unconstitutional way by different government forces,” said Prof. A.S.M. Amanullah, a social lecturer at Dhaka University.
“We will not be able to stand in front of our students in the classrooms if we don’t stand beside them today ... Students also joined our protest today. It has been decided that from now on, we, the teachers, will be in the front rows during the protests. Teachers across the country will do the same.”
Meanwhile, about 300 actors, film directors and TV stars blocked the main intersection in Farmgate, one of Dhaka’s busiest and most populous areas.
“It’s a critical time for the country when many lives are lost, and students are the main stakeholders of this situation. We gathered on the streets to express solidarity with the students,” said filmmaker Piplu Khan.
“We want the state to sensitively listen to the demands of the students.”
Azmeri Haque Badhon, a popular Bangladeshi actress and co-organizer of the rally, said it was her responsibility to protest.
“The demands placed by the students are justified, and we expressed solidarity with them,” she told Arab News.
“We can’t tolerate that in an independent country piercing bullets would take the lives of children ... protesting students would face bullets in the streets for asking for their rights.”
Bangladesh bans Jamaat-e-Islami party following protests that left over 200 dead
Bangladesh PM, political partners blame party for inciting violence during recent protests
Since July 15, at least 211 people have died and more than 10,000 people arrested across country
Updated 01 August 2024
AP
DHAKA: Bangladesh on Thursday banned the Jamaat-e-Islami party, its student wing and other associate bodies, terming the party as a “militant and terrorist” organization as part of a nationwide crackdown following weeks of violent protests that left more than 200 people dead and thousands injured.
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her political partners blamed Jamaat-e-Islami, its Islami Chhatra Shibir student wing and other associate bodies for inciting violence during recent student protests over a quota system for government jobs.
In an official circular seen by The Associated Press, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Home Affairs said Thursday the ban was imposed under an anti-terrorism law.
Since July 15, at least 211 people have died and more than 10,000 people were arrested across the country.
Bangladesh Jamaat-e Islami was banned from taking part in the three national elections since 2014 after the Election Commission canceled its registration.
In 2013, the High Court disqualified the party from elections, saying that its constitution violated the national constitution by opposing secularism. However, it was not barred from conducting political activities such as holding meetings, rallies and making statements.
Ten years later, the Supreme Court in 2023 upheld the High Court decision, sealing off the long legal battle and barring the party from participating in elections or using party symbols. But again, the Supreme Court did not ban it outright.
Jamaat-e Islami was founded during British colonial rule in 1941 by a controversial Islamist scholar and campaigned against the creation of Bangladesh as an independent state during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Most of the senior leaders of the party have been hanged or jailed since 2013 after courts convicted them of crimes against humanity including killings, abductions and rapes in 1971. The party had formed militia groups to help the Pakistani military during the nine-month war against Pakistan in 1971. Bangladesh won independence on Dec. 16 in 1971 with the help of neighboring India.
Bangladesh says 3 million people died, 200,000 women were raped and nearly 1 million people fled to neighboring India during the war.
The party was banned after Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 for its role in the mass killings and atrocities under the administration of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding leader and Hasina’s father. The ban was lifted in 1976, a year after Rahman was assassinated along with most of his family members in a military coup. Only Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana survived as they were touring Germany in 1975.
Jamaat had also been banned earlier twice, in 1959 and 1964 in Pakistan, for its communal role.
There was no immediate response on Thursday from the party, but the party’s chief Shafiqur Rahman said in a statement on Tuesday night that such any decision must be condemned after Law Minister Anisul Huq, from Hasina’s Awami League party, said that a decision was imminent.
“We strongly condemn and protest the illegal, unauthorized, and unconstitutional decision … to ban Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. The 14-party alliance led by the Awami League is a political platform. One political party or alliance cannot make decisions about another political party,” Rahman said.
“The laws and constitution of Bangladesh do not grant such authority. If a trend of banning one party by another party or alliance begins, it will lead to chaos and the collapse of state order,” he said.
