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Two more crew members from Lynch’s yacht under investigation, source says

Two more crew members from Lynch’s yacht under investigation, source says
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and six other people were killed when the British-flagged Bayesian capsized and went down on Aug. 19. Above, rescue personnel off the coast of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo on Aug. 21, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 28 August 2024
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Two more crew members from Lynch’s yacht under investigation, source says

Two more crew members from Lynch’s yacht under investigation, source says
  • Ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton and sailor Matthew Griffith are being investigated over the same crimes
  • The Bayesian is lying on its right side, at a depth of around 50 meters
Updated 28 August 2024
Reuters
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PALERMO: Italian prosecutors are investigating two more crew members from British tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s yacht, along with its captain, in connection with the vessel’s sinking over a week ago, a judicial source said on Wednesday.
Lynch and six other people were killed when the British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-meter-long (184-foot) yacht, capsized and went down on Aug. 19 within minutes of being hit by a pre-dawn storm while anchored off northern Sicily.
On Monday, the boat’s 51-year-old captain James Cutfield, a New Zealander, was put under investigation for manslaughter and shipwreck. Cutfield declined to respond to prosecutors during questioning on Tuesday.
Ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton and sailor Matthew Griffith are being investigated over the same crimes, the source said, adding that Parker Eaton is suspected of having failed to protect the yacht’s engine room and operating systems.
Griffith was on watch duty on the night of the incident, the source said.
Being investigated does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will follow.
The sinking has puzzled naval marine experts, who said a vessel like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm and, in any case, should not have sunk as quickly as it did.
Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, near Palermo, have said their investigation would take time, and would require the wreck to be salvaged from the sea. The Bayesian is lying on its right side, at a depth of around 50 meters (164 feet).

Topics: Italy

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Slavery reparations backed by all candidates vying for Commonwealth boss

Slavery reparations backed by all candidates vying for Commonwealth boss
Updated 8 sec ago
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Slavery reparations backed by all candidates vying for Commonwealth boss

Slavery reparations backed by all candidates vying for Commonwealth boss
  • Declared candidates — Mamadou Tangara of Gambia, Shirley Botchwey from Ghana and Joshua Setipa of Lesotho — said they backed the idea of making amends for slavery and colonialism
  • Caribbean Community has a 10-point reparation plan, which among other demands calls for debt cancelation
Updated 8 sec ago
LONDON: All three candidates running to become the next secretary-general of the Commonwealth, a 56-nation club headed by Britain’s King Charles, said on Wednesday they supported reparations for transatlantic slavery and colonialism.
The Commonwealth evolved out of the British empire and is one of world’s biggest international organizations, covering some 2.7 billion people. Members include Canada and India as well as 21 African countries, and Caribbean islands such as Barbados and Jamaica.
Charles expressed deep sorrow over slavery in a speech to Commonwealth leaders in 2022 and last year gave his support to research that will examine the British monarchy’s links to slavery. However, Britain, like most colonial powers, has rejected calls for reparations.
The Commonwealth’s next leader, succeeding Britain’s Patricia Scotland, will be elected in October at the heads of government meeting in Samoa.
At a debate at London’s Chatham House, the three declared candidates — Mamadou Tangara of Gambia, Shirley Botchwey from Ghana and Joshua Setipa of Lesotho — said they backed the idea of making amends for slavery and colonialism.
“I stand for reparations,” Botchwey, Ghana’s foreign affairs minister, said, adding the Commonwealth could have a role to play if the member states request a “common voice” on the issue.
Setipa, a former trade and industry minister, said if he was elected he would not wait for member states to ask the Commonwealth to act.
“The Commonwealth has a long history of facilitating discussions about difficult issues,” he said.
Tangara, a Gambian diplomat and politician, said he “fully” supported reparations but it was up to member states to lead the conversations, which the Commonwealth could facilitate.
Both Botchwey and Setipa said reparations weren’t just about financial payments but also support to tackle climate change and build countries’ economic resilience, with Setipa noting these issues were crucial to addressing the legacy of centuries of slavery and colonialism.
From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped, forcibly transported by European merchants and sold into slavery. Britain transported an estimated 3.2 million people, the most active European country after Portugal, which enslaved nearly 6 million.
The highly divisive issue of reparations to address historical wrongs is long-standing but has been gaining momentum, with several institutions and some nations acknowledging their past.
Ghana’s Botchwey has previously said Africa should use declarations and admissions of guilt as a “compelling reason and a foundation for a demand for reparations.”
The Caribbean Community has a 10-point reparation plan, which among other demands calls for debt cancelation, and the African Union is developing a common position on the issue, with Ghana leading the efforts.
Earlier this year, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called for reparations to “help overcome generations of exclusion and discrimination.”

Islamic center head leaves Germany after deportation order

Islamic center head leaves Germany after deportation order
Updated 57 min 32 sec ago
AFP
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Islamic center head leaves Germany after deportation order

Islamic center head leaves Germany after deportation order
  • Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, who was the head of the Hamburg Islamic Center before it was banned in July, left Germany on Tuesday evening
  • Investigators swooped on the Hamburg Islamic Center in July after concluding it was an “Islamist extremist organization” with links to Iran and Hezbollah
Updated 57 min 32 sec ago
AFP

HAMBURG: The former head of an Islamic center in Germany banned for its alleged links to extremist groups has left the country after being served with a deportation order, local authorities said Wednesday.
Mohammad Hadi Mofatteh, who was the head of the Hamburg Islamic Center before it was banned in July, left Germany on Tuesday evening, the Hamburg interior ministry said in a statement.
Mofatteh, 57, had been ordered two weeks ago to leave Germany by Wednesday or face being deported at his own expense.
He will not be allowed to re-enter Germany for 20 years and could face up to three years in prison if he does, the ministry said.
Andy Grote, interior minister for the state of Hamburg, described Mofatteh as “one of Germany’s most prominent Islamists.”
“We will continue to take a tough line against Islamists with all legal means at our disposal,” he said in a statement.
Investigators swooped on the Hamburg Islamic Center in July after concluding it was an “Islamist extremist organization” with links to Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
Iran reacted angrily to the accusations and shut down a German language institute in Tehran in what appeared to be a tit-for-tat move.
Mofatteh’s exit comes with the threat from Islamist extremists high on the political agenda in Germany after a deadly knife attack in the western city of Solingen in late August.
Three people were killed and eight injured in the rampage, allegedly carried out by a Syrian asylum seeker and claimed by the Daesh group.
The attack has reignited a bitter debate about immigration in Germany, with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser this week announcing new border controls to curb irregular migrant inflows.
The government has also promised to speed up deportations and a week after the Solingen attack deported Afghans convicted of crimes back to their home country for the first time since Taliban authorities took power in 2021.

Topics: Germany Hezbollah Hamburg Islamic Centre

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Tajikistan’s chief mufti injured in attack, interior ministry says

Tajikistan’s chief mufti injured in attack, interior ministry says
Updated 11 September 2024
Reuters
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Tajikistan’s chief mufti injured in attack, interior ministry says

Tajikistan’s chief mufti injured in attack, interior ministry says
  • The ministry said a person with “hooligan motives” had stabbed Abduqodirzoda following a prayer service at a mosque
Updated 11 September 2024
Reuters

DUSHANBE: Tajikistan’s top Muslim cleric Sayeedmukarram Abduqodirzoda was injured in an attack outside a central mosque in the capital Dushanbe on Wednesday, the interior ministry said.
The ministry said a person with “hooligan motives” had stabbed Abduqodirzoda following a prayer service at a mosque.
He suffered minor injuries and was released after a medical examination, the ministry said. Authorities detained the attacker and have opened a criminal case into the incident, it added.


Abduqodirzoda, 61, has served as chairman of the country’s highest Islamic institution, the Islamic Council of Ulema, since 2010, according to his official biography.
Tajikistan is a land-locked country of some 10 million people sandwiched between Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. The majority of Tajiks are adherents of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam.

Topics: Tajikstan Sayeedmukarram Abduqodirzoda attack

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US, UK pledge economic aid for Ukraine, quick action on arms requests

US, UK pledge economic aid for Ukraine, quick action on arms requests
Updated 11 min 51 sec ago
AFP
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US, UK pledge economic aid for Ukraine, quick action on arms requests

US, UK pledge economic aid for Ukraine, quick action on arms requests
  • “Our support will not wane, our unity will not break,” Blinken told a joint news conference in Kyiv
  • President Volodymyr Zelensky has ramped up his requests over recent months to the West to provide weapons with more firepower and fewer restrictions
Updated 11 min 51 sec ago
AFP

KYIV: The United States and Britain on Wednesday committed to nearly $1.5 billion in support for Ukraine and promised to consider quickly requests to ease restrictions on weapons to strike deeper into Russia.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy paid the rare joint visit to Kyiv in a show of solidarity as concerns mount.
Russia’s alleged acquisition of new short-range Iranian missiles threatens to ramp up Moscow’s firepower and the US election in less than two months could dramatically shift the stance of Ukraine’s top backer.
Blinken, who took a nine-hour train ride to Kyiv alongside Lammy, said the United States would offer $717 million in new economic help to Ukraine.
About half of it will consist of US support to strengthen Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure, which has been pounded by Russia just as winter sets in.
Blinken accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dusting off “his winter playbook” to “weaponize the cold against the Ukrainian people.”
“Our support will not wane, our unity will not break,” Blinken told a joint news conference in Kyiv.
“Putin will not outlast the coalition of countries committed to Ukraine’s success, and he is certainly not going to outlast the Ukrainian people.”
Lammy recommitted his two-month-old Labour government to providing 600 billion pounds ($782 million) in economic assistance to Ukraine.
He said that Britain, which has consistently pushed to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of weapons, would provide hundreds of new air defense missiles to Ukraine this year.
Russia has been advancing on the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region, a month after Kyiv launched a shock counter-offensive into Russia’s Kursk region.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has ramped up his requests over recent months to the West to provide weapons with more firepower and fewer restrictions.
“It is important to lift any restrictions on the use of US and British weapons against legitimate military targets in Russia,” Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiga told the joint conference with his counterparts, who earlier met Zelensky.
Blinken said that the United States would look at the requests “with urgency” and that they would be discussed Friday in Washington when President Joe Biden meets UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Biden, asked in Washington on Tuesday whether he would let Ukraine use longer-range weapons for strikes on Russian targets, said: “We’re working that out right now.”
Biden, while strongly supportive of Ukraine, has previously made clear he wants to avoid devolving into direct conflict between the United States and Russia, the world’s two leading nuclear powers.
Asked how Moscow would respond to expanded missile ranges, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday the response “will be appropriate,” without providing specific details.
He said the authorization of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory would serve as “further proof” of why Moscow launched its offensive, which he said was itself an “answer” to the West’s support for Ukraine.
The United States said it believes that Russia could start firing short-range Iranian-made missiles into Ukraine within weeks.
Cash-strapped Iran went ahead with the sale of the missiles despite repeated warnings from Western powers, which on Tuesday announced new sanctions on the cleric-run state.
The Iranian shipments have raised fears that Moscow would be freed up to use its long-range missiles against comparatively unscathed areas in western Ukraine.
The United States earlier this year gave its blessing for Ukraine to use Western weapons to hit Russian forces when in direct conflict across the border.
British media reports said Biden was set to end objections to letting Ukraine fire long-range Storm Shadow missiles into Russia.
One key ask by Ukraine is to loosen restrictions on US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, which can hit targets up to 300 kilometers (190 miles) away.
Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress have pushed Biden to move quickly on the ATACMS immediately.
Republicans, however, are deeply divided over Ukraine, and a victory in November by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump over Biden’s political heir Kamala Harris could dramatically shift US policy.
Trump aides have suggested that if he wins, he would leverage aid to force Kyiv into territorial concessions to Russia to end the war.
At a debate on Tuesday with Harris, Trump — who in the past has voiced admiration for Putin — notably did not say he wanted Ukraine to win, only that he wanted to end the war quickly.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky US US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken David Lammy

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Philippines deadliest place for environmental defenders in Asia, rights group says

Philippines deadliest place for environmental defenders in Asia, rights group says
Updated 11 September 2024
Ellie Aben
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Philippines deadliest place for environmental defenders in Asia, rights group says

Philippines deadliest place for environmental defenders in Asia, rights group says
  • Global Witness recorded 17 killings of environmentalists in Philippines in 2023
  • Colombia was the deadliest country for environmental activists, with 79 killed
Updated 11 September 2024
Ellie Aben

MANILA: The Philippines is the deadliest country in Asia for environment defenders, the latest Global Witness report shows, with the country recording the most environmental killings in the region for over a decade.

At least 196 environmentalists and land activists were killed globally in 2023, according to UK advocacy group’s estimates released earlier this week.

The figure brings the total number of people killed for trying to protect their homes, community or the planet to 2,106 since 2012, when Global Witness started its monitoring.

Colombia was the deadliest country for environmentalists and land rights defenders in 2023, the Philippines was fourth.

“Colombia had record-high defender killings in 2023 with 79 deaths: the highest annual total ever recorded by Global Witness Followed by Brazil (25), Mexico (18) and Honduras (18) and the Philippines (17),” the report read.

At the same time, the Philippines was the third — preceded only by Colombia and Brazil — in the total number of such killings since the first Global Witness report, with 298 environmental and land activists killed between 2012 and 2023.

The report also highlighted “cases of enforced disappearances and abductions, pointed tactics used in both the Philippines and Mexico in particular, as well as the wider use of criminalisation as a tactic to silence activists across the world.”

Besides the Philippines, only two other Asian countries are featured in this year’s report: India, where five activists were killed, and Indonesia, where three such killings were recorded.

Jashaf Shamir Lorenzo, environmentalists and head of research at BAN Toxics Philippines, told Arab News that environmentalists were oppressed in a number of ways.

“The most extreme cases include red-tagging, abduction, and even killings ... It seems that environmentalists who are most at risk are those who get in the way of big industries, big politicians. It doesn’t really differ much from what we see happening to journalists, human rights defenders, and activists,” he said.

“We need the government to really take action — environmental concerns have always been a big part of political platforms for decades, but major incidences of abuse point towards a lack of commitment to not only protect the environment, but to protect its stewards.”

He said impunity of the abusers has been aided by government inaction since the times of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who was in office from 2016 to 2022.

“Ever since Duterte, the government has been really lenient with these things,” he said.

“Unless the government really commits to protecting the environment, these abuses will only worsen.”

Topics: Philippines Global Witness Rodrigo Duterte environmental defenders

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