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Indian rape and murder case shows doctors’ vulnerability, medics say

Doctors hold posters as they strike to protest the rape and murder of a young medic from Kolkata, at the Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
Doctors hold posters as they strike to protest the rape and murder of a young medic from Kolkata, at the Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 15 August 2024
Reuters
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Indian rape and murder case shows doctors’ vulnerability, medics say

Doctors hold posters as they strike to protest the rape and murder of a young medic from Kolkata, at the Gandhi Hospital.
  • The 31-year-old had ordered some food with others nearly 20 hours into a 36-hour working day on Friday and then headed off for a short sleep
  • Case has drawn parallels to the notorious gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi in 2012
Updated 15 August 2024
Reuters
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KOLKATA: The murder and rape of a trainee doctor as she took a rest during a long shift in a Kolkata hospital has highlighted the vulnerability of medics left without proper protections and facilities, her colleagues and friends said on Thursday.
The 31-year-old, whose killing has triggered protests across India, had ordered some food with others nearly 20 hours into a 36-hour working day on Friday and then headed off for a short sleep, staff at the R G Kar Medical College told Reuters.
“She retired to the empty seminar room which was used by on-duty doctors to rest,” one co-worker said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
As news of her murder spread, doctors took to the streets alongside women’s groups and Bollywood stars, demanding enhanced safety measures for doctors on duty.
“Pedestrian working conditions, inhuman workloads and violence in the workplace are the reality,” the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the biggest grouping of doctors in the country, told Health Minister J P Nadda in a letter released on Tuesday.
The health ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the letter, not did West Bengal health authorities about working conditions for doctors. “The attention of the authorities was drawn time and again to the lack of facilities, but there was no improvement,” a junior doctor at the hospital said, asking not to be named.
The case has drawn parallels to the notorious gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi in 2012 — a case that was the catalyst for sweeping changes in laws, including fast-track courts for sexual assault cases.

Topics: India rape Kolkata

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UK unlawfully detained Sri Lankan migrants on Chagos island: court

UK unlawfully detained Sri Lankan migrants on Chagos island: court
Updated 48 sec ago
AFP
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UK unlawfully detained Sri Lankan migrants on Chagos island: court

UK unlawfully detained Sri Lankan migrants on Chagos island: court
  • Sixty-four Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers were held in ‘prison-like’ camps on Diego Garcia
  • Most of the migrants were finally brought to the UK, this month, and given a chance to apply for asylum
Updated 48 sec ago
AFP

LONDON: The UK government unlawfully detained Sri Lankan migrants on a remote military base for more than two years, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Supreme Court ruled on Monday.
Sixty-four Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers were held in “prison-like” camps on Diego Garcia, a British-American military base which is part of the Chagos islands — renamed in 1965 by the UK as BIOT — after being rescued at sea, according to the ruling.
Many of them claimed they were fleeing persecution in Sri Lanka, where Tamils are a historically oppressed minority, and sought international protection once they arrived on Diego Garcia.
Earlier this month, most of the migrants were finally brought to the UK and given a chance to apply for asylum from London.
Successive British foreign secretaries had been reluctant to allow them into the UK, fearing it would open a new irregular immigration route via the islands.
In a ruling published on Monday, Margaret Obi, the acting judge of the BIOT supreme court, said that the migrants were “unlawfully detained” for an “extraordinarily long time” on the military base, with the UK government now potentially facing heavy damages.
The Sri Lankans were held in a camp the size of a football pitch and alleged that they faced “prison-like” conditions, including a lack of privacy and an infestation of rats.
The camp was also rife with cases of migrants attempting to self-harm due to poor mental health.
While the BIOT commissioner claimed they were “free to leave” and therefore not detained, Obi ruled that this was “not a genuine choice,” since the migrants had sought international protection and could not return to Sri Lanka.
“It is unsurprising that the claimants feel as if they are in a prison; that is exactly what it is, in all but name,” the judge said.
The camp was manned by security guards at all times and there were “punishments” imposed for leaving the camp without permission, according to the ruling.
The asylum seekers were only granted bail earlier this year by Obi to access a trail and the beaches on the island, after months of being barred from leaving the camp.
In the ruling, the judge also found that in July the UK Home Office “impeded” the progress of international protection claims fearing potential implications for the previous Conservative government’s Rwanda scheme, which since then has been scrapped.

Topics: United Kingdom (UK) Sri Lanka Chagos Islands

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UK sends senior officials to meet ‘interim Syrian authorities’

People walk through a street in Idlib, a northwestern Syrian city.
People walk through a street in Idlib, a northwestern Syrian city.
Updated 18 min 38 sec ago
AFP
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UK sends senior officials to meet ‘interim Syrian authorities’

People walk through a street in Idlib, a northwestern Syrian city.
  • “We have sent a delegation of senior UK officials to Damascus this week for meetings with the new Syrian interim authorities,” Lammy said
Updated 18 min 38 sec ago
AFP

LONDON: British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Monday that the UK has sent senior officials to meet with Syria’s new leadership.
It follows the fall earlier this month of the Assad regime to militants, including Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which has its roots in Al-Qaeda.
HTS has renounced extremism but remains proscribed as a terrorist group by several Western countries, including the UK and the United States.
“I can confirm today that we have sent a delegation of senior UK officials to Damascus this week for meetings with the new Syrian interim authorities and members of civil society groups in Syria,” he said.
Lammy added at a press conference in London that the team would reiterate Britain’s “support for the principles that have been set out — an inclusive transitional political process that is Syria-led and Syria-owned.”
The UK’s top diplomat said sending the delegation “underlines our commitment to Syria.”
Lammy also noted a weekend announcement of £50 million (60.4 million euro) in humanitarian aid for Syria, alongside funding to “help secure chemical weapons stockpiles” in the war-ravaged country.

Topics: Fall of Assad hts UK

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Clashes in DR Congo day after aborted peace summit

Clashes in DR Congo day after aborted peace summit
Updated 27 min 24 sec ago
AFP
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Clashes in DR Congo day after aborted peace summit

Clashes in DR Congo day after aborted peace summit
Updated 27 min 24 sec ago
AFP

GOMA: The Congolese army lost territory Monday in fighting with Rwanda-backed rebels in eastern DR Congo, military and local sources said, a day after a peace summit between the presidents of the two countries was canceled.

Since 2021, the Kigali-backed M23 rebel militia has seized swaths of land in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, displacing thousands and triggering a humanitarian crisis.

DRC armed forces lost control of Matembe, a town in North Kivu province located on the road to the key commercial hub of Butembo, after clashes broke out Sunday with the M23, according to the local and military sources.

Fighting resumed early Monday “in the hills between Matembe and the neighboring town of Vutsorovya,” John Mahangaiko, spokesman for a pro-Kinshasa militia operating alongside the army in the area, said.

A Congolese military source confirmed that the army was forced to “retreat.”

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame were due to meet on Sunday, hosted by Angolan President Joao Lourenco, the African Union mediator to end the conflict. But the summit was abruptly canceled after talks between delegations from both sides stalled overnight.

Topics: Congo Rwanda

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Comoros declares week of national mourning after Cyclone Chido

Comoros declares week of national mourning after Cyclone Chido
Updated 30 min 59 sec ago
AFP
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Comoros declares week of national mourning after Cyclone Chido

Comoros declares week of national mourning after Cyclone Chido
  • All shantytowns are flattened, ‘which suggests a considerable number of victims’
Updated 30 min 59 sec ago
AFP

MORONI, Comoros: Comoros on Monday declared a week of national mourning after Cyclone Chido devastated neighboring Mayotte, where the authorities fear “several hundred” deaths, especially in shantytowns populated by many Comorans.

President Azali Assoumani said the mourning period would last until Sunday on the Indian Ocean islands, where a number of people lost their lives and infrastructure suffered “enormous” damage.

Mayotte, a sister island in the archipelago which chose to remain French in two referendums in 1974 and 1976 when Comoros declared independence, was hit by winds of more than 220 kilometers per hour on Saturday. Just 70 kilometers separate the two territories.

Half of Mayotte’s official population of 320,000 is from overseas, according to French government statistics in 2017. Of these, 95 percent were Comoran.

Many people are known to travel to Mayotte clandestinely using canoes.

A source close to the authorities in Mayotte said an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people lived on the island because of irreg- ular immigration.

But few undocumented migrants went to accommodation centers before the cyclone hit “probably for fear of being checked,” the source added.

“All the shantytowns are flattened, which suggests a considerable number of victims,” the source said.

Cyclone Chido is the worst to hit Mayotte in 90 years. Classified as a category four storm — the second highest on a five-point scale — it crossed the small archipelago where about one-third of the population live in makeshift housing.

Meanwhile, France used ships and military aircraft to rush rescue workers and supplies to Mayotte on Monday.

Authorities used military-style vehicles to clear trees from roads so rescuers and supplies can reach those in need.

Electricity supplies and communication lines have been knocked out to large parts of Mayotte, and authorities are concerned about a shortage of drinking water. Meanwhile, the main hospital suffered extensive damage.

People were also starting to go hungry, according to Mayotte Sen. Salama Ramia. She told BFM-TV that many people heading to shelters found dire conditions.

“There’s no water, no electricity. Hunger is starting to rise. It’s urgent that aid arrives, especially when you see children, babies, to whom we have nothing concrete to offer,” she said.

Mayotte, the poorest place in the EU, is a densely populated archipelago of around 300,000 people, most of whom are Muslim, that sits between Madagascar and the African continent.

It was a category 4 cyclone, the second strongest on the scale, and the worst to hit Mayotte since the 1930s, Prefect François-Xavier Bieuville said.

Bieuville, the top French government official in the island group, told TV station Mayotte la 1ere on Sunday that the death toll from the cyclone was several hundred people and could even be in the thousands.

But he added it would be extremely hard to count the deaths and many might never be recorded, partly due to the Muslim tradition of burying people within 24 hours. Mayotte is also a destination for people from even poorer countries, like nearby Comoros and Somalia, who may have entered illegally and thus will be hard to track down.

Rescue teams and supplies have been sent from France and from the nearby French territory of Reunion, which is being used as a bridge to get help to Mayotte.

Topics: comoros

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Western powers resume contacts in Syria to prevent chaos

A drone view shows Damascus city at night, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024.
A drone view shows Damascus city at night, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024.
Updated 16 December 2024
AFP
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Western powers resume contacts in Syria to prevent chaos

A drone view shows Damascus city at night, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024.
  • As well as Brussels and Washington, Paris plans to send a diplomatic mission to Damascus from Tuesday, to make “initial contact” with the new authorities
Updated 16 December 2024
AFP

PARIS: Western powers are looking to establish contact with Syria’s new rulers, aiming to avoid Iraq- or Libya-style chaos after the fall of the Assad regime to the opposition.
Europe’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas was heading to Damascus on Monday, after a number of countries, including the United States, announced they had made initial approaches.
The situation in Syria, long allied with Iran and Russia, remains volatile and Western nations are wary of the Al-Qaeda roots of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) that seized power in a lightning offensive.
But none wants to pass up the opportunity to forge links, given the risk of fragmentation and resurgence of Daesh, which has never been completely eradicated.
“The first reaction of the West has without a doubt been to say that they don’t meet terrorists,” said Denis Bauchard, from the French Institute of International Relations.
HTS, which has its roots in Al-Qaeda, maintains it has renounced extremism yet remains proscribed as a terrorist group by several Western countries, including the United States.
“But there’s a political reality... and clearly a race to establish contact the fastest,” added Bauchard, a former ambassador.
“The main objective,” he added, is that Syria does not fall into “total chaos.”
As well as Brussels and Washington, Paris plans to send a diplomatic mission to Damascus from Tuesday, to “retake possession” of French real estate and make “initial contact” with the new authorities.
Spain is to appoint a special envoy while the UK has announced that diplomatic contacts have been established with HTS.
“Europeans waited for the American reaction, which encouraged them to take the step,” said Hasni Abidi, director of the Study and Research Center for the Arab and Mediterranean World in Geneva (CERMAM).
The approach was “pragmatic” while the Syrian people welcomed the militants, he added.
“It was necessary to be among the first to show the Europeans’ willingness to help the Syrian people” and to have “a position of choice by offering not legitimacy but a certain respectability to HTS which has de facto authority status.”
Diplomats are not hiding the difficulties, with Syria at risk of fragmentation and from extremists, the outgoing French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in Brussels Monday.
In his first comments since his flight from Damascus, Bashir Assad said on Monday that Syria was now “in the hands of terrorists.”
He also insisted he had not planned to leave when the militants took the capital and that his evacuation from the city was requested by Moscow.
Europe has several levers at its disposal, including financial reconstruction aid and the eventual lifting of sanctions to push Syria’s new authorities toward a political transition acceptable to the West.
Britain’s foreign minister David Lammy on Sunday said London had “diplomatic contact” to ensure that a “representative government” is established and stocks of chemical weapons secured.
Volker Perthes, from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), said this weekend that it was in everyone’s interest to back a “UN-supported but Syrian-owned political process” for inclusive government.

Topics: Fall of Assad Western powers

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