US announces $500m military funding for Philippines amid South China Sea tensions

Special US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, from left, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro hold a joint news conference in Manila, Philippines on July 30, 2024. (AP Photo)
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, from left, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro hold a joint news conference in Manila, Philippines on July 30, 2024. (AP Photo)
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Updated 30 July 2024
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US announces $500m military funding for Philippines amid South China Sea tensions

US announces $500m military funding for Philippines amid South China Sea tensions
  • Funding boost comes after several maritime confrontations between China and Philippines

MANILA: The US announced on Tuesday $500 million in military funding to modernize the Philippine armed forces as the allies agreed to deepen defense cooperation amid continued tensions with Beijing in the disputed South China Sea.

The funding was announced after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met in Manila with their Philippine counterparts, Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.

“We’re now allocating an additional $500 million in foreign military financing to the Philippines to boost security collaboration with our oldest treaty ally in this region — new steps to strengthen the alliance, a once-in-a-generation investment to help modernize the Filipino Armed Forces and Coast Guard,” Blinken told reporters.

The US’ commitment to boosting its defense aid for the Philippines comes after a string of maritime confrontations between Chinese coast guard ships and Philippine vessels in the strategic waters that Beijing claims as its own.

“Both of us share concerns, and many other countries in the region share concerns as well, about some of the actions that People’s Republic of China has taken, escalatory actions in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and elsewhere.”

Last month, the Chinese coast guard rammed and boarded Philippine naval vessels during their resupply mission on the Second Thomas Shoal, part of the contested waters that has become a central flash point between the two countries.

The US and the Philippines have a defense treaty and Washington has repeatedly warned that a Chinese attack on Filipino ships could trigger an American military response.

“This level of funding is unprecedented and it sends a clear message of support for the Philippines from the (Joe) Biden-(Kamala) Harris administration, the US Congress and the American people,” Austin said.

“During our meeting, we also reaffirmed that the mutual defense treaty remains the bedrock of our alliance. And let me be clear, the mutual defense treaty applies to armed attacks on either of our armed forces, aircraft or public vessels anywhere in the South China Sea.”

Manila and Beijing have overlapping claims in the resource-rich waterway, where the bulk of the world’s commerce and oil transits.

China has increased military activity in the area over the past few years, with the country’s Coast Guard regularly encroaching on the Philippine part of the waters. This is despite a 2016 ruling by an international tribunal in The Hague dismissing Beijing’s expansive claims.

On Tuesday, the Philippines and the US also agreed to strengthen cooperation in cybersecurity and other areas, seeking to make the Southeast Asian nation more resilient against external threats.

“Every peso or dollar spent on hardening the Philippines’ capabilities to defend itself and to deter unlawful aggression will be a plus against any threat actor, whether it be China or anyone,” Teodoro said. He added that the new funding will also boost the Philippines’ humanitarian assistance and disaster response capabilities.

“So these are not mono-dimensional but multidimensional investments that will help in the development of the country and help to deter unwanted and unlawful aggression by building a credible deterrent posture.”

Don McLain Gill, an international studies lecturer at De La Salle University in Manila, said the US defense aid was “of great importance” for both countries.

“The $500 million military funding is in fact important for the Philippines at a time when it seeks to operationalize its comprehensive archipelagic defense concept, which has been implemented by the military and to steer, you know, the Philippine … military modernization program towards a more robust capacity to defend Philippine waters,” he told Arab News.

“This is a welcome initiative and an important development within the US-Philippines alliance, and the role of the US as a capacity builder and security provider.”


Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, minister says

Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, minister says
Updated 8 sec ago
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Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, minister says

Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, minister says

LONDON: Israel’s food minister, Avi Dichter, said that the Israeli military would remain in Gaza for many years to fight against Hamas recruits, the British national daily The Guardian reported on Friday.

“I think that we are going to stay in Gaza for a long time. I think most people understand that (Israel) will be years in some kind of West Bank situation where you go in and out and maybe you remain along Netzarim (corridor),” Dichter said.

Israeli reservists who recently served in Gaza described to The Guardian the scale of the new military infrastructure built in the territory by Israel. This includes extensive new camps and roads across a swath of northern and central Gaza.

A demobilized officer said that he had spent days demolishing houses in Gaza to clear more ground for military bases in Gaza’s Netzarim corridor.

“That was the only mission. There was not a single construction left that was taller than my waist anywhere (in the corridor), except our bases and observation towers,” he said.

Israeli military strikes killed at least 21 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, as tanks pushed deeper into the north and south of the territory.

The escalation came a day after Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah began a ceasefire in Lebanon, halting more than a year of hostilities and raising hopes among many Palestinians in Gaza for a similar deal with Hamas, which ruled the territory from 2007 until the current conflict.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has repeatedly said that Hamas must be completely destroyed and Israel must retain lasting control over parts of Gaza.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,200 people and displaced nearly all the territory’s population at least once, Gaza officials say. Most victims are civilians.


France arrests 26 as South Asian migrant trafficking ring smashed

France arrests 26 as South Asian migrant trafficking ring smashed
Updated 29 November 2024
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France arrests 26 as South Asian migrant trafficking ring smashed

France arrests 26 as South Asian migrant trafficking ring smashed
  • The traffickers are suspected of having smuggled several thousand people from India, Sri Lanka and Nepal into France since September 2021
  • The network generated millions of euros in illegal profits, which were laundered through construction firms, gold trafficking and informal transfers

PARIS: French authorities arrested 26 people and seized 11 million euros ($12 million) as they smashed a migrant trafficking ring suspected of bringing several thousand people from South Asia into France, border police told AFP on Thursday.
Charging between 15,000 and 26,000 euros per person, the traffickers are suspected of having smuggled several thousand people from India, Sri Lanka and Nepal into France since September 2021, the force said.
Authorities estimate the network generated several million euros in illegal profits, which were laundered through construction companies, gold trafficking and informal transfers of money back to South Asia.
The arrests took place between March and November 2024, said Julien Gentile, director of the French border force at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport.
“The smugglers facilitated migrants’ travel to the European Union via Dubai or African states, while providing them with illegally obtained tourist, work or medical visas,” said Gentile.
The head of the network is still at large, with France’s request for his extradition from Dubai yet to be agreed, according to the border force.
Of the 26 men arrested, 15 were placed in pre-trial detention with seven under judicial supervision.
The remaining four, who were recently arrested, were to be presented on Thursday to the investigating judge.
The 11 million euros’ worth of assets included properties, luxury cars, jewelry and gold.
Those arrested are accused of belonging to different levels of the gang, ranging from smugglers to money launderers and shady finance brokers.
“This is the exceptional nature of the case,” Gentile added.
Details of the investigation by France’s Office for the Fight against the Illicit Traffic of Migrants, were released with migration becoming a key issue for French political parties.
The conservative government that took office in September has said it will clampdown, while France has also faced pressure over undocumented migrants crossing the Channel to Britain from its northern coast.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was to visit the Calais region on Friday for talks with local mayors on the migrant crisis. At least 72 undocumented migrants have died this year trying to cross the Channel.
The mayors have asked for more police and a tougher clampdown on the smuggling gangs.
Retailleau is also to go to London on December 8-9 for talks on the migrants.
Human trafficking carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in France.
In December 2023, a plane carrying hundreds of Indian passengers was grounded for days at Vatry airport east of Paris over concerns it was part of a human trafficking scheme.
The plane had taken off from the United Arab Emirates and was detained after an anonymous tipoff.


Bangladeshi politicians urge calm after sectarian clash

Bangladeshi politicians urge calm after sectarian clash
Updated 29 November 2024
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Bangladeshi politicians urge calm after sectarian clash

Bangladeshi politicians urge calm after sectarian clash
  • Religious relations have been turbulent in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s leading political parties have called for calm following widespread unrest in the country triggered by the killing of a lawyer during clashes between Hindu protesters and security forces.
Public prosecutor Saiful Islam Alif died Tuesday as angry supporters of outspoken Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari — arrested for allegedly disrespecting the Bangladeshi flag during a rally — battled with police when he was denied bail.
Religious relations have been turbulent in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people since a student-led revolution in August toppled autocratic ex-premier minister Sheikh Hasina, who then fled to neighboring India.
The Bangladeshi National Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami — Hasina’s two main opponents during her 15-year tenure — have urged restraint.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was quoted Friday by the daily Prathom Alo as having said that a “defeated fascist group” was behind the latest flare-up, a reference to Hasina’s Awami League.
“This incident is completely unwarranted,” he told the newspaper.
“We strongly condemn it and urge everyone to approach the situation calmly.”
Shafiqur Rahman of Jemaat blamed the ongoing unrest on a “vested group plotting to destabilize the country.”
Street protests have nonetheless been called to demand a ban on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a transnational Hindu religious group also known as the Hare Krishna movement that Das reportedly belonged to.
Hefazat-e-Islam, a collective of Islamic seminaries, held a rally Friday to demand the group’s prohibition, alleging it was a front to return Hasina to power on behalf of India, her ousted government’s biggest benefactor.
“There is a meticulously designed plan to instigate communal riots in Bangladesh and ISKCON is here to implement it on behalf of India and Sheikh Hasina,” Mamunul Haque of Hefazat-e-Islam told supporters during the rally.
Hasina demanded Das’s “immediate release” from custody earlier this week and called his arrest “illegal,” BBC reported.
The ex-premier also condemned the killing of the lawyer, calling it a “blatant violation of human rights.”
India has described Das’s arrest and denial of bail as “unfortunate.”
But ISKCON denies any connections to Das.
“We expelled Chinmoy long before the case was filed against him for breaching ISKCON’s discipline,” the group’s Bangladesh president Satya Ranjan Barai said on Friday.
“He was relieved of his duties, but he defied the order and continued his activities.”
Bangladesh’s top court on Thursday dismissed a petition calling for a ban on ISKCON.
“Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians... believe in coexistence, and this harmony will not be broken,” the court ruled.


Amazon workers in India join Black Friday strike action for better wages and working conditions

Amazon workers in India join Black Friday strike action for better wages and working conditions
Updated 29 November 2024
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Amazon workers in India join Black Friday strike action for better wages and working conditions

Amazon workers in India join Black Friday strike action for better wages and working conditions
  • Walkout on Black Friday was repeated at Amazon warehouses in other countries as workers call for higher wages, better working conditions and union rights
  • Nitesh Das, a union leader, said the workers took to the streets because they want the government to take up their cause

NEW DELHI: Amazon staff in India have joined strike action calling for better wages and working conditions as the company prepares for one of the busiest shopping periods of the year .
About 200 warehouse workers and delivery drivers rallied in the capital, New Delhi, under a “Make Amazon Pay” banner. Some donned masks of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and joined hands against the Seattle-based company’s practices.
The walkout on Black Friday, which starts one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year, was repeated at Amazon warehouses in other countries as workers called for higher wages, better working conditions, and union rights.
There was no immediate statement by Amazon India.
“Our basic salary is 10,000 rupees ($120), which should be at least 25,000 rupees ($295),” said Manish Kumar, 25, a warehouse worker who joined the New Delhi protest. “And the environment there is to work under pressure,” he added.
Nitesh Das, a union leader, said the workers took to the streets because they want the government to take up their cause.
A statement from the Amazon India Workers Union said similar protests are planned in other parts of India as well as in other countries, including the United States, Germany, Japan, and Brazil. The demonstrations will call on Amazon to pay its workers fairly, respect their right to join unions, and commit to environmental sustainability, it said.
The union said it would submit a memorandum highlighting its demands to India’s Labor Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
The gig economy has become huge in India due to its fast economic growth, but workers face low wages and difficult working conditions.
India’s National Human Rights Commission sent a notice to Amazon in June 2023 after local media reports that workers were being made to work without breaks during the peak hot summer season. Amazon India denied the charge.


Six children among 12 killed in Sri Lanka, storm heads to India

Six children among 12 killed in Sri Lanka, storm heads to India
Updated 29 November 2024
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Six children among 12 killed in Sri Lanka, storm heads to India

Six children among 12 killed in Sri Lanka, storm heads to India
  • More than 335,000 people in Sri Lanka have been forced to flee after their homes were flooded
  • The government said it deployed over 2,700 military personnel to help in relief operations

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan rescuers on Thursday recovered the drowned corpses of six children, taking the number killed in torrential rains to 12, as a powerful but slow-moving storm headed toward India.
More than 335,000 people in Sri Lanka have been forced to flee after their homes were flooded, Colombo’s Disaster Management Center (DMC) said.
It said two men driving a tractor and trailer which had been transporting the six children in the eastern Amara district when it was swept away in floods, were still missing. Searches continue for them.
Indian weather officials said there was a “possibility” that the deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal could develop into a cyclonic storm.
Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific — are a regular and deadly menace in the region.
Having skirted the coast of Sri Lanka, it was now moving north toward India’s southern Tamil Nadu state.
The India Meteorological Department said it was expected to hit Tamil Nadu and Puducherry city’s coastline on Saturday morning as a “deep depression” with winds “gusting up to 70 kph (43 mph).”
Sri Lanka’s DMC said some 335,155 people were seeking temporary shelter in public buildings after their homes were swamped.
Nearly 100 homes had been completely destroyed while another 1,700 had been badly damaged due to rains as well as mudslides.
The government said it deployed over 2,700 military personnel to help in relief operations.
Deadly rain-related floods and landslides are common across South Asia, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.