More than 1,200 UK cyclists ride to raise awareness, funds for Gaza
Rides will run across London, Belfast, Liverpool, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and South Wales
Updated 20 July 2024
Arab News
LONDON: For three weeks, more than 1,200 people will be cycling in cities across the UK, calling on the newly-elected Labour government to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to end arms sales to Israel.
The Big Ride was founded in 2015 by activists seeking to combine a passion for cycling with solidarity for Palestine.
This year’s events start on Saturday and run until Aug. 10 in London, Belfast, Liverpool, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and South Wales.
The grassroots organization will also be raising funds for Palestinian charities, including the Middle East Children’s Alliance, The Amos Trust, and the Gaza Sunbirds para cycling team, which continue their work in Gaza amidst the ongoing conflict.
Ellen Logan, one of the organizers of The Big Ride, said: “For years we’ve witnessed the daily oppression of the Palestinian people — discrimination, subjugation, and inhumanity. And now we’ve spent the last 10 months watching a live-streamed genocide. Everyone should be outraged and campaigning for an end to this violence.”
Logan added: “We use our bikes and freedoms to raise awareness and provide crucial aid for children and disabled cyclists on the ground in Gaza.”
A recent letter published in British medical journal, The Lancet, estimated the actual death toll in Gaza could be as high as 186,000.
British actress Maxine Peake, who is participating in the cycling event, said: “The Big Ride for Palestine has been raising awareness of this for nearly 10 years now. This year, more riders than ever have signed up, so please join a Big Ride near you.”
Putin says Ukraine must remain neutral for there to be peace
Updated 4 sec ago
“If there is no neutrality, it is difficult to imagine the existence of any good-neighborly relations between Russia and Ukraine,” Putin said Putin said Russia had recognized Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders based on the understanding that it would be neutral
SOCHI, Russia: President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Ukraine should remain neutral for there to be a chance for peace, adding that the borders of Ukraine should be in accordance with the wishes of the people living in Russian-claimed territory. “If there is no neutrality, it is difficult to imagine the existence of any good-neighborly relations between Russia and Ukraine,” Putin said. Putin said Russia had recognized Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders based on the understanding that it would be neutral. The US-led NATO military alliance has repeatedly said that Ukraine would one day join. If Ukraine was not neutral, it would be “constantly used as a tool in the wrong hands and to the detriment of the interests of the Russian Federation,” Putin said. Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine after more than two and a half years of war. Putin on June 14 set out his terms for an end to the conflict: Ukraine would have to drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw all of its troops from all of the territory of the regions claimed by Russia. Ukraine rejects those conditions as tantamount to surrender and President Volodymyr Zelensky has presented a “victory plan” for which he has requested additional Western support. “We are determined to create conditions for a long-term settlement so that Ukraine is an independent, sovereign state, and not an instrument in the hands of third countries, and not used in their interests,” Putin said. Asked about the future borders of Ukraine, Putin said: “The borders of Ukraine should be in accordance with the sovereign decisions of people who live in certain territories and which we call our historical territories.” Ukraine says that it will not rest until every last Russian soldier is ejected from its territory though even US generals say that such an aim would take massive resources that Ukraine currently does not have.
Clashes in Mozambique after opposition leader calls for protest
Updated 37 min 57 sec ago
AFP
MAPUTO: Police in Mozambique fired tear gas and deployed dogs to disperse protesters in the capital Maputo on Thursday, after the opposition called a demonstration against the contested election results. The southern African nation has been rocked by violence since the Oct. 9 vote won by the Frelimo party, which has been in power for almost 50 years. Leading opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who says the results were false and that he won, called for a mass protest on Thursday, saying in an interview that it was a “crucial moment” for the country. “I feel that there is a revolutionary atmosphere ... that shows that we are on the verge of a unique historical and political transition in the country,” said Mondlane, speaking from an undisclosed location. The 50-year-old former radio presenter said he could not reveal his whereabouts other than to say he was not in Africa. Several thousand people took to the streets on Thursday to protest the election result, some throwing rocks and setting up barricades using burning tires and bins. “This is not so much about Venancio (as Mondlane is popularly known). It’s more about change,” said Richard, a protester who asked to be identified only by his first name. The uprising was to reflect “the voice of the people,” he added. “Either they change and think about the people, or the country doesn’t move forward.” Heavily armed riot police and soldiers flanked by tanks dispersed the crowds with tear gas, according to reporters at the scene. “It’s scary ... we’re all here shaking from time to time, we run away, but it’s going to be worth it,” said Vadi, a woman who also only gave her first name. “We want change, that’s all.” Shops, banks, schools, and universities were closed in the coastal city, which had around 1 million people. “Our first objective ... is certainly the restoration of electoral truth,” Mondlane said. “We want the popular will expressed at the polls on Oct. 9 to be restored.” He was “waging a struggle” with “national” and “historical purpose,” he added. “People have realized that it wasn’t possible to bring profound change in Mozambique without taking risks,” he said. “Now they have to free themselves.” Mondlane has used social media to rally supporters onto the streets on several occasions for demonstrations that have led to clashes with police. At least 18 people have been killed in the post-electoral violence, according to Human Rights Watch. One local NGO, the Center for Democracy and Human Rights, has put the toll at 24. A police officer was also killed in a protest at the weekend, Defense Minister Cristovao Chume said on Tuesday, warning the army could intervene “to protect the interests of the state.” “There is an intention to change the democratically established power,” he added. President Filipe Nyusi is expected to step down early next year at the end of his two-term limit, handing over to Frelimo’s Daniel Chapo, who won the presidential election with 71 percent of the vote, according to the electoral commission. Mondlane, who has lodged a case at the Constitutional Council to request a ballot recount, said that he was “open to a government of national unity.” The authorities have restricted access to the internet across the country, which HRW said was an apparent effort to “suppress peaceful protests and public criticism of the government.” The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has warned against “unnecessary or disproportionate force.” Police should “ensure that they manage protests in line with Mozambique’s international human rights obligations,” he said. The Southern African Development Community has called for an extraordinary summit between Nov. 16 and 20 in part to discuss developments in Mozambique. Mondlane left the country last month following the unrest. He initially said he would be at Thursday’s march but on Wednesday told AFP he wouldn’t return after all due to safety concerns. “I wanted so much to be in Maputo with my people. But unfortunately, I received more than 5,000 messages ... Ninety-nine percent discouraged me from going to Maputo,” he said. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to be there.”
Russian attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia kills four, wounds 40
Russian forces have stepped up their attacks in Zaporizhzhia in recent days
“The death toll as a result of Russia’s strikes on Zaporizhzhia has risen to four,” the emergency services said
Updated 41 min 14 sec ago
KYIV: Russian aerial attacks on the frontline city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday killed at least four people and wounded another 40, including children, officials said.
Another two were killed in a separate attack on the eastern Donetsk region, strikes that followed a wave of overnight drone attacks, including on the capital Kyiv.
Russian forces have stepped up their attacks in Zaporizhzhia in recent days and are making rapid advances in the industrial territory of Donetsk, both of which the Kremlin says are Russian territory.
“The death toll as a result of Russia’s strikes on Zaporizhzhia has risen to four,” the emergency services said in a statement on social media.
“Forty were wounded, including four children,” governor Ivan Fedorov said in a separate statement.
Officials said earlier that a hospital had been damaged in Zaporizhzhia, which had a pre-war population of more than 700,000 people and lies around 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the nearest Russian positions.
A four-month old girl and boys aged one, five and 15 were wounded in the attacks, Fedorov said.
Officials posted images showing rescue workers pulling victims from the rubble and holding back distressed locals from getting to the destroyed buildings.
The strikes later in the Donetsk region killed two people and wounded five more in the village of Mykolaivka, the region’s governor Vadym Filashkin announced on social media.
“One of the shells hit a five-story building and four buildings nearby were damaged,” he wrote on social media.
He posted a photo of a Soviet-era residential building on fire, dozens of its windows blown out with debris littering the ground beneath it.
Grenade attack targeted Israeli embassy in Denmark: report
The grenades landed on the terrace of a house adjacent to the embassy
Two Swedes aged 17 and 19 have been detained
Updated 38 min 23 sec ago
AFP
COPENHAGEN: Israel’s embassy in Denmark was likely the target of grenades thrown nearby last month, Danish media reported Thursday, citing the pre-indictment of two teenage suspects detained in the case.
Two Swedes aged 17 and 19 went before a judge in Copenhagen who remanded them for another 20 days.
Their pre-indictment, citing investigations, said they were suspected of violating terrorism laws by “throwing hand grenades at the Israeli embassy in Denmark on October 2,” the Ritzau news agency reported.
The grenades landed on the terrace of a house adjacent to the embassy, where they exploded, causing no injuries.
The two suspects were arrested at a Copenhagen railway station hours later initially on suspicion of violating gun laws.
They have since been accused of a terror offense and police, who have arrested a man in his fifties in connection with the incident, are also looking for other accomplices.
“It makes no sense to imagine this is an act they committed alone. There must be accomplices,” Ritzau quoted prosecutor Soren Harbo as saying at the start of the hearing.
The teens deny the accusations.
The case comes against a backdrop of severe tensions in the Middle East, with conflict in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as increasing gang violence with Danish criminal gangs suspected of recruiting underage Swedes to settle scores.
Renowned Indian scholar, philanthropist Dr. Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini dies aged 80
Updated 07 November 2024
Arab News
KALABURAGI, India: Dr. Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini, a prominent scholar, educationalist, philanthropist and chancellor of Khaja Banda Nawaz University in India’s Karnataka state, died on Wednesday evening aged 80.
Funeral prayers were held on Thursday evening at the Sharif Mosque. He is survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters.
He completed a Master of Arts in Islamic Studies at McGill University in Canada and was awarded a Ph.D. from Belford University, US, for his research work.
Since 2007 he brought significant changes to the Khaja Education Society on the organizational, administrative and functional levels. He also expanded existing institutions and was instrumental in establishing Khaja Bandanawaz Institute of Medical Sciences at Kalaburagi in 2000.
Through perseverance, he established Khaja Bandanawaz University in August 2018. As vice-president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board and chancellor of Khaja Banda Nawaz University, he played a vital role in promoting modern and Islamic education in India.
In addition to his administrative skills, Hussaini was known for his deep and scholarly understanding of Sufism. He was awarded the prestigious Karnataka Rajyotsava Award for excellence in education by the government of Karnataka in 2017.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and other political leaders expressed their condolences over his death.
