UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists

UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during an interview outside 10 Downing Street, in London, Britain, October 15, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 04 November 2024
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UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists

UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists
  • Starmer plans to increase the UK Border Security Command’s two-year budget from 75 million pounds ($97 million) to 150 million pounds ($194 million)

LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he will double funding for Britain’s border security agency and treat people-smuggling gangs like terror networks in an attempt to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.
In a speech Monday to a meeting of the international police organization Interpol, Starmer will say the gangs behind irregular migration are a serious threat to global security.
Arguing that “the world needs to wake up to the severity of this challenge,” Starmer will say that “we’re taking our approach to counterterrorism, which we know works, and applying it to the gangs,” according to extracts released by his office.
He’ll call for more cooperation between law-enforcement agencies, closer coordination with other countries and unspecified “enhanced” powers for law-enforcement.
Starmer plans to increase the UK Border Security Command’s two-year budget from 75 million pounds ($97 million) to 150 million pounds ($194 million). The money will be used to fund high-tech surveillance equipment and 100 specialist investigators.
Like previous Conservative British governments, Starmer’s Labour Party administration is struggling to stop thousands of people fleeing war and poverty from trying reach the UK from France in flimsy, overcrowded boats.
More than 31,000 migrants have made the perilous crossing of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes so far this year, more than in all of 2023, though fewer than in 2022. At least 56 people have perished in the attempts this year, according to French officials, making 2024 the deadliest since the number of channel crossings began surging in 2018.
Starmer leads a center-left government, and has raised some eyebrows in September when he visited Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and praised her nationalist conservative government’s “remarkable” progress in reducing the number of migrants reaching Italy’s shores by boat.
Starmer will argue on Monday that “there’s nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the channel.”
The opposition Conservative Party argues that Starmer should not have scrapped the previous government’s plan to send some asylum-seekers who reach Britain by boat on one-way trips to Rwanda. Supporters of the proposal say it would act as a deterrent. Human rights groups and many lawyers say it is unethical and unlawful to send migrants thousands of miles to a country they don’t want to live in.
Starmer called the plan a “gimmick” and canceled it soon after he was elected in July. Britain paid Rwanda hundreds of millions of pounds for the plan under a deal signed by the two countries in 2022, without any deportations taking place.
Senior police and government officials from the 196 Interpol member states are attending the global police body’s four-day congress in Glasgow, Scotland.
On Tuesday, Brazilian police official Valdecy Urquiza is expected to be named the new general secretary of the Lyon, France-based organization, replacing Jürgen Stock of Germany.


Drought hits food access for 26 million in southern Africa: UN

Drought hits food access for 26 million in southern Africa: UN
Updated 22 sec ago
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Drought hits food access for 26 million in southern Africa: UN

Drought hits food access for 26 million in southern Africa: UN
  • Those need an additional $300 million to prevent access to sufficient, nutritious and affordable food worsening further, risking widespread hunger, according to the WFP

JOHANNESBURG: A historic drought across southern Africa has jeopardized access to food for 26 million people, the United Nations World Food Programme warned Wednesday, calling for urgent funding.

The crisis, worsened by the 2023-2024 El Nino climate phenomenon, is expected to deepen until at least the next harvests due in March or April next year.

“Today we have up to 26 million people facing acute food insecurity in the region and this is because of El Nino induced drought,” said Eric Perdison, regional director for southern Africa at the WFP.

The seven worst affected nations were Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Perdison added.

Those need an additional $300 million to prevent access to sufficient, nutritious and affordable food worsening further, risking widespread hunger, according to the WFP.

Five countries — Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe — have declared a state of national emergency in the past months as the drought has destroyed scores of crops and livestock.

In many places, farmers who would normally be planting seeds at this time of the year, were not able to do so.

“If you travel across the country, you will see almost all empty fields ... The situation is really really dire,” said the WFP’s country director in Mozambique, Antonella D’Aprile.

“Communities have very little or almost nothing to eat,” she said, adding that “thousands of families are literally surviving on just one meal” a day.

Assistance “cannot wait,” warned D’Aprile. “The time to support is really now.”

In neighboring Malawi, the WFP said it has had to import food to provide assistance due to the shortages.

“Nearly half the maize crops were damaged by El Nino drought earlier this year,” said the group’s representative in the country, Paul Turnbull.

Families were facing grim choices, he said: “Skipping meals; adults not eating so their children can eat; withdrawing children from school; and selling anything they have of value.”

Despite Zambia being “known as the food basket of southern Africa,” the country “stands at the brink of a hunger crisis,” said the WFP’s director for the country Cissy Kabasuuga.

In Namibia, an upper middle-income country, the situation was also dire.

“All 14 regions were impacted by the drought, of which there are some that have very worrying levels (of food insecurity) and that’s a very worrying situation for Namibia,” said WFP’s Tiwonge Machiwenyika.

The aid group’s representative in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) also joined the appeal for assistance.

The country has more than 25 million people facing emergency levels of food insecurity, said Peter Musoko, WFP’s representative in the DRC, with “no relief in sight.”

That was all “due to a cocktail” of conflict, climate extremes and health crises including outbreaks of mpox, cholera and measles, Musoko added.

As a result of those multiple issues, the WFP said it had also noted an increase in sexual and gender-based violence in the country and the opening of brothels around camps hosting displaced people.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday during a trip to the region announced a $1 billion humanitarian aid package to 31 African countries, including for people affected by the drought.


Bangladesh’s Yunus urges unity to counter ‘Indian aggression’

Bangladesh’s Yunus urges unity to counter ‘Indian aggression’
Updated 04 December 2024
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Bangladesh’s Yunus urges unity to counter ‘Indian aggression’

Bangladesh’s Yunus urges unity to counter ‘Indian aggression’
  • India, where ex-PM Hasina has sought refuge, accuses Bangladesh of failing to protect Hindus
  • After Hasina’s ouster, Hindus and other minorities suffered attacks for allegedly supporting her

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday urged the country’s politicians to keep differences at bay and put up a united front to counter “Indian aggression.”

The Muslim-majority nation saw a student-led uprising in August, toppling autocratic premier Sheikh Hasina and ending her 15-year rule.

India — Hasina’s biggest international patron and the destination of her exile — has accused Yunus’ administration of failing to protect minority Hindus, straining ties between the neighbors.

“They are undermining our efforts to build a new Bangladesh and are spreading fictitious stories,” Yunus told a gathering of Bangladeshi political parties.

“They have spread these rumors in particular countries and among influential players.”

Yunus urged politicians at the meeting to unite against what he characterised as a disinformation campaign, describing the matter as “a question of our existence.”

A caretaker administration headed by Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been tasked with enacting democratic reforms ahead of fresh elections.

The chaotic aftermath of Hasina’s ouster saw a smattering of reprisal attacks against Hindus and other minorities, based in part on their perceived support for her government.

Yunus’s administration has acknowledged and condemned attacks on Hindus but said in many cases they were motivated by politics rather than religion.

It has accused India of exaggerating the scale of the violence and running a “propaganda campaign.”

Wednesday’s meeting, Yunus’s media team said, was part of an initiative to promote national unity in the face of “Indian aggression.”

Yunus also met with student leaders on Tuesday evening.

Numerous street demonstrations have been staged against India in Bangladesh since Hasina’s ouster as diplomatic relations have cratered.

Several rallies were held on Wednesday to protest against an attempt by Hindu activists this week to storm a Bangladeshi consulate in an Indian city not far from the neighbors’ shared border.

India has condemned the breach and arrested seven people over the incident.


Ex-Afghan soldiers issue plea to UK PM for relocation

Ex-Afghan soldiers issue plea to UK PM for relocation
Updated 04 December 2024
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Ex-Afghan soldiers issue plea to UK PM for relocation

Ex-Afghan soldiers issue plea to UK PM for relocation
  • Members of elite units ‘living in desperation’ as British scheme beset by delays
  • After serving alongside British forces against Taliban, many fled to neighboring Iran

LONDON: Former Afghan soldiers who fought alongside British forces against the Taliban have urged UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to bring them to safety, The Independent reported on Wednesday.

Thousands of soldiers from two Afghan special forces units — CF333 and ATF444, known as the Triples — fled to neighboring Iran from Afghanistan as the Taliban seized control of the country in 2021.

Years later they are “living in desperation,” awaiting delayed responses to relocation applications in the UK, The Independent reported.

In February, the UK government said it would review about 2,000 application from Afghans with ties to the units.

Some of the former soldiers have remained in Afghanistan and are forced to hide their identities from the country’s Taliban rulers.

Many of the former Triples are awaiting an email from the UK Ministry of Defence permitting their relocation to Britain.

The UK pledged to review the 2,000 applications within 12 weeks from February, but the process has been struck by delays.

Sarah Fenby-Dixon, a campaigner at Refugee Aid Network said: “The desperation is palpable. With winter approaching they cannot feed their children or buy fuel to keep them warm.

“It is now imperative that the Ministry of Defence teams are adequately staffed to ensure that these people are brought to safety as quickly as possible.”

The ministry said in a statement: “As the minister for the armed forces made clear recently to parliament, we understand the frustration that the review is taking so long.

“Key issues within the review have been resolved and we are working hard to ensure that eligible former Triples and their families can move to start a new life in the UK.”


Norway wealth fund divests from Israel’s Bezeq over services to West Bank settlements

New housing being built in the Israeli settlement of Givat Ze'ev in the occupied West Bank. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has s
New housing being built in the Israeli settlement of Givat Ze'ev in the occupied West Bank. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has s
Updated 04 December 2024
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Norway wealth fund divests from Israel’s Bezeq over services to West Bank settlements

New housing being built in the Israeli settlement of Givat Ze'ev in the occupied West Bank. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has s
  • Fund’s ethics watchdog adopts tougher interpretation of standards for businesses that aid Israel’s operations in the occupied Palestinian territories

OSLO/JERUSALEM: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, has sold all its shares in Israel’s Bezeq as it provides telecoms services to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The decision, announced late on Tuesday, comes after the fund’s ethics watchdog, the Council on Ethics, adopted a new, tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel’s operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The $1.8-trillion fund has been an international leader in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment field. It owns 1.5 percent of the world’s listed shares across 8,700 companies, and its size gives it influence.
It is the latest decision by a European financial entity to cut back links to Israeli companies or those with ties to the country, as pressure mounts from foreign governments to end the war in Gaza.
Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecoms group, declined to comment.
“The company, through its physical presence and provision of telecom services to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, is helping to facilitate the maintenance and expansion of these settlements, which are illegal under international law,” the sovereign wealth fund’s watchdog said in its recommendation to divest.
“By doing so the company is itself contributing to the violation of international law.”
The watchdog said it noted that the company had said it was providing telecoms services to Palestinian areas in the West Bank, but that did not outweigh the fact that it was also providing services to Israeli settlements.
The watchdog makes recommendations to the board of the Norwegian central bank, which has the final say on divestments.
The advice on Bezeq was the first recommendation to divest since the watchdog toughened its policy in August. More decisions are expected.
The fund has now sold all its stock in the company.
Before that, it had cut its stake during the first half of 2024, owning 0.76 percent of the company’s shares valued at $23.7 million at the end of June, down from a holding of 2.2 percent at the start of the year, fund data showed.
Sources close to the company said the divestment’s impact was “negligible” as it amounted to 0.7 percent of the shares and that the decision was clearly a “political decision.”
They said Bezeq was allowed to provide telecoms services to Jewish settlements in Area C under the 1994 Oslo Accords — which also called for the Palestinian Authority to set up their own telecoms network to Palestinian areas.
“Bezeq is operating according to the Oslo agreements so it’s a political decision,” said one source. “Of all the companies to choose from (to divest), Bezeq should have been the last.”
Norway in May recognized Palestine as a state, alongside Spain and Ireland.
Norway served as a facilitator in the 1992-1993 talks between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization that led to the Oslo Accords in 1993. Area C, which comprises about 60 percent of the West Bank, is under full Israeli control and contains most Israeli settlements.
The Council on Ethics said it was aware of this but that “the situation in the area has developed in the opposite direction to that presumed by the Oslo Accords.”
“The settlements are constantly being expanded, Palestinians are constantly being driven from their homes and land areas are de facto being annexed,” it told Reuters, citing its recommendation. “Qualified discrimination and violent abuse of the Palestinian population in Area C is also taking place.”
The fund watchdog’s new definition of ethical breaches is partly based on an International Court of Justice finding in July that “the occupation itself, Israel’s settlement policy and the way Israel uses the natural resources in the areas are in conflict with international law,” according to a Aug. 30 letter it addressed to the finance ministry.
Since the Gaza war began in October 2023, the council had been investigating whether more companies fall outside its permitted investment guidelines.
Before the announcement to divest, the fund had divested from nine companies operating in the West Bank.
Their operations include building roads and homes in Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and providing surveillance systems for an Israeli wall around the West Bank.


Afghan medical training centers suspend courses for women nurses, midwives

Afghan medical training centers suspend courses for women nurses, midwives
Updated 04 December 2024
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Afghan medical training centers suspend courses for women nurses, midwives

Afghan medical training centers suspend courses for women nurses, midwives
  • WHO warns of inadequate numbers of female medics in Afghanistan, where 30% of the population lacks access to healthcare
  • Private medical institutes say classes suspended ‘until further notice’ from the Ministry of Public Health

Women training as medics at private institutes in Afghanistan could not attend their courses on Wednesday, saying they had been barred from classes in an apparent expansion of the bans on female education.

The rights of Afghan women have been curtailed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan three years ago. Women and girls have been gradually barred from attending secondary school and university, undertaking most forms of paid employment, traveling without a male family member, and accessing public spaces.

Health services remained one of the few sectors where women were still employed. After the bans on university studies, those who sought to become health professionals turned to midwifery and nursing training.

Azra, 21, who along with her sister attended a course at a private medical institute in Kabul, went to class on Tuesday morning but was soon asked to leave.

“We went to our classes but about an hour later, teachers came and said we must leave before the Taliban come and force us to leave. My dream of becoming a health professional was being taken from me and I couldn’t do anything about it,” she told Arab News.

She graduated from high school three years ago and started studying law at a private university. But before she could complete her first semester, the Taliban imposed a ban on women’s higher education. Determined to become a professional despite the odds, she joined the medical institute.

“This was my last hope to get higher education,” Azra said. “I joined this institute around two and half months ago. I wish I didn’t start this at all.”

None of the Taliban authorities has issued any statement or public notification regarding the ban on nursing courses for women, but in messages to their students and teachers, some of the medical institutes have cited the Ministry of Public Health, which ordered them to suspend classes for women “until further notice.”

The Afghan Ministry of Public Health did not respond to requests for comment.

Laila, 28, who had completed eight semesters of medical studies before the Taliban banned women from universities, was taking a two-year midwifery course at a private institute in Kabul.

The new ban came just as she was about to finish her first year.

“Two days ago, we received a voice message from the institute director that the Ministry of Public Health suspended all private and public medical institutes,” she told Arab News.

“We were all very disappointed. The last door for getting professional education was being shut in our faces and we couldn’t do anything.”

The move affects not only the education sector but also the country’s fragile health system, where the number of women workers is already insufficient.

Edwin Ceniza Salvador, the WHO’s representative in Afghanistan, estimated last month that more than 33 percent of the Afghan population had no access to any health services.

“About 67 percent of the population currently has access,” he told the Afghan news channel Tolo News, where he warned about the decreasing number of women medics. “Now, with the change that has been in place, (there) will come a time where we will run out of female midwives because the educational system has been impacted.”

Dr. Wahid Faizi, a public health practitioner in Herat, told Arab News that the lack of female health workers was already affecting Afghan society at large.

“Our health system is already facing a shortage of qualified female doctors, nurses and midwives. If girls are prevented from receiving medical education, in a few years we will have a very big problem, as the availability of female health workers will become extremely scarce. This will negatively affect access to health services for women and girls and the wider society,” he said.

“The health system will face severe challenges as women and girls are the most affected by health issues. Male doctors alone will not be able to respond to the health crisis that the country is currently experiencing. An increasing lack of female medical staff will have far-reaching implications for health service delivery in the country. We hope that doesn’t happen.”