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France urges Kosovo to stop 'actions' irking Serbs

France urges Kosovo to stop 'actions' irking Serbs
Kosovo Serbs take part in a protest against the opening of Mitrovica bridge, that has long separated Serbs and ethnic Albanians in the restive northern area of Kosovo, in the divided city of Mitrovica on Aug. 7, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 09 August 2024
AFP
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France urges Kosovo to stop 'actions' irking Serbs

France urges Kosovo to stop 'actions' irking Serbs
  • France firmly condemns the multiplication of unilateral actions from the Kosovo authorities in the north of the country that are affecting the daily life of the Serb community
  • France calls on the Kosovo authorities to refrain from any new unilateral action
Updated 09 August 2024
AFP
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PARIS: France on Friday urged the Kosovo authorities to end "unilateral actions" that could contribute to increasing tensions with Serbs.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has called for the opening of a flashpoint bridge, prompting protests, and authorities this week raided post offices long used by residents who maintain funds in Serbia.
"France firmly condemns the multiplication of unilateral actions from the Kosovo authorities in the north of the country that are affecting the daily life of the Serb community," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"These actions endanger efforts to normalise relations with Serbia that are a prerequisite for the realisation of the European prospects of both countries," it said.
"France calls on the Kosovo authorities to refrain from any new unilateral action, which would again contribute to the escalation of tensions," the ministry added.
A NATO bombing campaign in 1999 brought self-rule to Albanian-majority Kosovo from Serbia after a war that left 13,000 dead.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move never acknowledged by Serbia.
Serbia-Kosovo tensions have simmered for months following the introduction of a rule this year that made the euro the only legal currency in Kosovo and effectively outlawed use of the Serbian dinar.
The United States on Wednesday said it was "concerned by continuing uncoordinated decisions by the leadership of Kosovo".
The NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR warned a day earlier it would intervene if Kosovo sought to reopen the bridge separating communities in the divided city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, the scene of frequent clashes.

Topics: France Kosovo Serbs

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France’s Macron to visit Mayotte shantytowns wrecked by Cyclone Chido

France’s Macron to visit Mayotte shantytowns wrecked by Cyclone Chido
Updated 8 sec ago
Reuters
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France’s Macron to visit Mayotte shantytowns wrecked by Cyclone Chido

France’s Macron to visit Mayotte shantytowns wrecked by Cyclone Chido
  • Officials in France’s poorest overseas territory have only been able to confirm 31 fatalities more than six days after the cyclone
  • Some of the islands’ worst-affected neighborhoods, hillside shantytowns are largely inhabited by undocumented migrants
Updated 8 sec ago
Reuters
MAMOUDZOU: French President Emmanuel Macron was due on Friday to visit shantytowns in Mayotte ravaged by Cyclone Chido on the second day of a visit where he has faced calls to speed up relief to the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Officials in France’s poorest overseas territory have only been able to confirm 31 fatalities more than six days after the cyclone, the strongest to hit Mayotte in 90 years, but some have said they fear thousands could have been killed.
Some of the islands’ worst-affected neighborhoods, hillside shantytowns comprised of flimsy huts largely inhabited by undocumented migrants, have not yet been accessed by rescue workers.
Macron decided to extend his stay and spend the night in Mayotte after residents pleaded with him to do so.
“I think it’s a sign of respect and consideration that is important to me and which allows me to see a little more of what the population is going through,” he told reporters late on Thursday.
During the first day of his visit, Macron faced criticism and boos from some Mayotte residents for what they called his government’s sluggish response to the cyclone.
Macron said authorities were quickly scaling up support and called for unity. In a heated exchange with a jeering crowd in the evening, he defended the government against charges it neglects Mayotte.
“You are happy to be in France. If it wasn’t for France, you would be 10,000 times worse off,” he said, using an expletive.
Aboubacar Ahamada Mlachahi was one of many people struggling to secure basic needs.
“What matters first is water, for the children. Before fixing the houses, before fixing anything, the daily life... We need water,” he told Reuters.
The 34-year-old construction worker, who is originally from Comoros, said his house was destroyed by the cyclone and he is now squatting on a hillside at Longoni, Mayotte’s freight port.
“Everything is gone,” he said.
Undocumented migrants
Authorities have warned it will be difficult to establish a precise death toll in a territory that is home to large numbers of undocumented migrants from Comoros, Madagascar and other countries. Official statistics put Mayotte’s population at 321,000, but many say it is much higher.
Some victims were buried immediately, in accordance with Muslim tradition, before their deaths could be counted.
Three out of four people live below the national poverty line in Mayotte, which remains heavily dependent on support from metropolitan France.
Chido also killed at least 73 people in Mozambique and 13 in Malawi after reaching continental Africa, according to officials in those countries.

Malaysia to resume search for missing Flight MH370

Malaysia to resume search for missing Flight MH370
Updated 25 min 39 sec ago
Reuters
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Malaysia to resume search for missing Flight MH370

Malaysia to resume search for missing Flight MH370
  • Flight MH370 vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014
  • Malaysia engaged Ocean Infinity in 2018 to search in the southern Indian Ocean
Updated 25 min 39 sec ago
Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has agreed in principle to resume the search for the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, its transport minister said on Friday, more than 10 years after it disappeared in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the proposal to search a new area in the southern Indian Ocean came from exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which had also conducted the last search for the plane that ended in 2018.

The firm will receive $70 million if wreckage found is substantive, Loke told a press conference.

“Our responsibility and obligation and commitment is to the next of kin,” he said.

“We hope this time will be positive, that the wreckage will be found and give closure to the families.”

Malaysian investigators initially did not rule out the possibility that the aircraft had been deliberately taken off course.

Debris, some confirmed and some believed to be from the aircraft, has washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean.

More than 150 Chinese passengers were on the flight, with relatives demanding compensation from Malaysia Airlines, Boeing, aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce and the Allianz insurance group among others.

Malaysia engaged Ocean Infinity in 2018 to search in the southern Indian Ocean, offering to pay up to $70 million if it found the plane, but it failed on two attempts.

That followed an underwater search by Malaysia, Australia and China in a 120,000-square-kilometer area of the southern Indian Ocean, based on data of automatic connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the plane.

Topics: aviation Malaysia Flight MH370

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One killed as Russian missile strikes hit Ukraine capital

One killed as Russian missile strikes hit Ukraine capital
Updated 23 min 21 sec ago
AFP
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One killed as Russian missile strikes hit Ukraine capital

One killed as Russian missile strikes hit Ukraine capital
  • Authorities also reported missile attacks in the southern port city of Kherson
  • Moscow’s forces are advancing in the Kharkiv region that borders Russia
Updated 23 min 21 sec ago
AFP

KYIV: One person was reported killed on Friday in a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where AFP staff saw smoke rise over parts of the city after a series of explosions.

“According to preliminary reports, one person was killed,” the head of the city’s military administration, Sergiy Popko, said on Telegram.

Popko said Russian forces had used Kinzhal and Iskander missiles in the strike at around 7:00 a.m. .

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that, “as a result of the enemy attack,” two people were hospitalized and debris fell in four areas, setting cars and buildings alight.

“Emergency services are working everywhere,” he said on Telegram.

The blasts came after the Ukrainian air force warned of an impending ballistic missile attack.

“Ballistic missile from the north!” the air force said on Telegram.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference on Thursday suggested a “hi-tech duel” over Kyiv to test his claims that Russia’s new hypersonic ballistic missile, dubbed Oreshnik, is impervious to air defenses.

Ukrainian authorities also reported missile attacks in the southern port city of Kherson, where one person was killed and six injured, as well as several other Ukrainian cities and towns.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Russia Ukraine

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‘You always feel vulnerable’: Britons impacted by no-fault evictions

‘You always feel vulnerable’: Britons impacted by no-fault evictions
Updated 20 December 2024
AFP
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‘You always feel vulnerable’: Britons impacted by no-fault evictions

‘You always feel vulnerable’: Britons impacted by no-fault evictions
  • This so-called no-fault eviction is a feature of English law that could soon be abolished under a new rental bill
  • Campaigners have warned that landlords are ramping up these types evictions ahead of the ban being passed into law
Updated 20 December 2024
AFP

LEWES, United Kingdom: Sitting by the fireplace in her house in the south of England, Jackie Bennett recalls the shock she felt when she received out-of-the-blue an eviction notice giving her just two months to move out.
This so-called no-fault eviction, which sees Bennett kicked out of her home without cause, is a feature of English law that could soon be abolished under a new rental bill.
But campaigners have warned that landlords are ramping up these types evictions ahead of the ban being passed into law.
“I’ve canceled some of my work. I’ve canceled my Christmas plans and my holiday plans,” the 55-year-old artist explained, as she pushed back tears.
Hanging across her apartment are colorful crocheted tapestries that mask the damp that covers the walls of her house in Lewes, southern England.
Her landlord explained to her by email that she wanted to sell the property after Bennet had already received the eviction notice.
As a tenant, “you always feel vulnerable,” she said.
No-fault evictions were introduced in 1988 by Margaret Thatcher’s government as part of a push to deregulate the rental market to attract more private landlords.
Under the new Renters’ Rights Bill, currently under consideration by the Labour majority parliament, landlords will have to provide a reason in advance for evicting tenants, such as to reclaim the property to move into or unpaid rent.
The bill would give tenants a longer notice period in the event of an eviction, giving them more time to plan their next housing arrangement.
It marks an important step in protecting tenants against being evicted after they make reasonable complaints to landlords, said Ben Twomey, chief executive of tenants rights organization Generation Rent.
These instances, termed “revenge evictions” by campaigners, are a “massive problem” in England, he added.
While he supports the reforms, Twomey warned that in the absence of a rental price caps, tenants could still be evicted “through the back door” by landlords hiking rents to unreasonable levels.
Rents have already jumped over nine percent in the past year in the UK, according to official data.
Between July and September this year, 8,425 households in England where taken to court over no-fault eviction notices, the highest number in eight years, said Twomey, citing Ministry of Justice figures.
As the bill comes closer to being passed into law, more landlords have been ramping up the use of no-fault evictions, according to Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, a company that helps landlords repossess properties.
“That will increase until the ban date comes in, because landlords are worried about how will they get their property back,” he added.
Alexandra Casson, who works in television production in London, was also served one of these eviction notices after she refused her landlord’s attempt to raise the rent by over 50 percent.
She denounced it as “an absolute brazen attempt to extort tenants.”
“They forget that there are humans that live in the property assets that they shuffle around,” said the 43-year-old, based in East London’s popular Dalston neighborhood.
Casson, a member of the London Renters Union, welcomed a measure in the new bill that would extend the notice period to vacate a property from two months to four months.
Although, she predicts that it’ll take her around six months to finalize purchasing a new property, and even then, she considers herself one of the lucky ones.

Topics: UK property

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Sri Lanka navy rescues boat of 100 Rohingya refugees

Sri Lanka navy rescues boat of 100 Rohingya refugees
Updated 20 December 2024
AFP
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Sri Lanka navy rescues boat of 100 Rohingya refugees

Sri Lanka navy rescues boat of 100 Rohingya refugees
  • The group, including 25 children, were taken to Sri Lanka’s eastern port of Trincomalee
Updated 20 December 2024
AFP

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s navy said Friday it had rescued 102 Rohingya refugees from war-torn Myanmar adrift in a fishing trawler off the Indian Ocean island nation, bringing them safely to port.
The group, including 25 children, were taken to Sri Lanka’s eastern port of Trincomalee, a navy spokesman said, adding that food and water had been provided.
“Medical checks have to be done before they are allowed to disembark,” the spokesman said.
The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar and thousands risk their lives each year on long sea journeys, the majority heading southeast to Malaysia or Indonesia.
But fisherman spotted the drifting trawler off Sri Lanka’s northern coast at Mullivaikkal at dawn on Thursday.
While unusual, it is not the first boat to head to Sri Lanka — about 1,750 kilometers (1,100 miles) across open seas southwest of Myanmar.
The Sri Lankan navy rescued more than 100 Rohingya refugees in distress on a boat off their shores in December 2022.
The navy spokesman said Friday that language difficulties had made it hard to understand where the refugees had been intending to reach, suggesting that “recent cyclonic weather” may have pushed them off course.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 during a crackdown by the military that is now the subject of a United Nations genocide court case.
Myanmar’s military seized power in a 2021 coup and a grinding war since then has forced millions to flee.
Last month, the UN warned Myanmar’s Rakhine state — the historic homeland of many Rohingya — was heading toward famine, as brutal clashes squeeze commerce and agricultural production.

Topics: Sri Lanka Rohingya

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