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EU’s Borrell says Lebanon-Israel escalation nearing ‘full-fledged war’

High Representaitve of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference following the EU Foreign Ministers meeting at the European Union Delegation headquarters ahead of the 79th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York on September 23, 2024. (AFP)
High Representaitve of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference following the EU Foreign Ministers meeting at the European Union Delegation headquarters ahead of the 79th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York on September 23, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 24 September 2024

EU’s Borrell says Lebanon-Israel escalation nearing ‘full-fledged war’

EU’s Borrell says Lebanon-Israel escalation nearing ‘full-fledged war’
  • Borrell said civilians were paying a high price and all diplomatic efforts were needed to prevent a full-blown war

NEW YORK: EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that the escalating clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah threaten to plunge the Middle East into all-out war.
“I can say we are almost in a full-fledged war,” Borrell said ahead of a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.
“We’re seeing more military strikes, more damage, more collateral damage, more victims,” he added as Lebanese authorities said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 492 people on Monday, including 35 children.
The strikes marked the deadliest day of cross-border violence since the Gaza war began.
Israel said it killed a “large number” of Hezbollah militants when it hit about 1,300 sites in southern and eastern Lebanon, including a “targeted strike” in Beirut.
“Everybody has to put all their capacity to stop this,” Borrell said, pressing for a solution in New York.
On Gaza, he said “despite all the diplomatic capacity that we have deployed, nothing has been able to stop the war,” accusing both sides of “procrastinating.”


France’s Le Pen condemns death threats against those trying her

France’s Le Pen condemns death threats against those trying her
Updated 12 sec ago

France’s Le Pen condemns death threats against those trying her

France’s Le Pen condemns death threats against those trying her
Three judges, led by Benedicte de Perthuis, are due to give a verdict on March 31
Le Pen said the threats, which came in now-deleted comments on two articles in far-right website Riposte Laique (Secular Response), should not be trivialized.

PARIS: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Thursday said those behind death threats against a judge and prosecutors trying her in a graft trial should be punished, in her first comments on a police investigation into the abuse.
Reuters reported this week that police are investigating threats against a judge and two prosecutors in the trial, which could derail Le Pen’s hopes of running in the 2027 presidential vote where polls have her as frontrunner.
Lead prosecutors Louise Neyton and Nicolas Barret have asked for a five-year ban from public office for Le Pen. Three judges, led by Benedicte de Perthuis, are due to give a verdict on March 31.
Le Pen said the threats, which came in now-deleted comments on two articles in far-right website Riposte Laique (Secular Response), should not be trivialized.
“This serious trend, which consists of threatening to kill anyone — police officers, judges, elected officials, artists, etc. — with whom some feel in disagreement, is a worrying development which, given its scale, must be the subject of reflection by the justice system,” she wrote on X.
“Prosecutions must therefore be systematically initiated and the perpetrators convicted,” added Le Pen, whose late-father’s often-inflammatory rhetoric led to convictions for inciting racial hatred and condoning war crimes.
Le Pen, her National Rally (RN) party and some two dozen party figures are accused of diverting funds intended for European Parliament staff. In a TV interview on Wednesday night, Le Pen reiterated she was innocent of the charges against her.
She said she could not imagine judges would deprive the French of choosing their presidential candidate and that barring her from office would be an attack on democracy.
The threats around the trial have raised concerns in France about growing risks of violence against figures of authority, including thousands of verbal and physical attacks against mayors, as well as a suspected attempt to ambush a prosecutor looking into organized crime that was foiled by police.
“This is not a specific feature of this trial but a more general and very worrying trend,” Marie-Suzanne Le Queau, the attorney general of the Paris Court of Appeal, told France Inter radio on Wednesday. “All those who exercise authority ... are increasingly the target of death threats and completely uninhibited remarks.”

UK to keep ban on asylum seekers claiming modern slavery protections

UK to keep ban on asylum seekers claiming modern slavery protections
Updated 35 min 47 sec ago

UK to keep ban on asylum seekers claiming modern slavery protections

UK to keep ban on asylum seekers claiming modern slavery protections
  • Labour had voted against those measures in parliament when legislation on them was passed in 2023
  • Immigration and asylum are the second most important issue to voters after the economy

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government will retain a ban on asylum seekers being able to claim protections under modern slavery and other human rights laws, even as its ministers have previously criticized those measures.
Starmer is under pressure to deal with tens of thousands of people who arrive to the UK each year on small boats, a key issue of concern for British voters, after he pledged in last year’s election campaign to “smash the gangs” controlling the people smuggling trade.
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill introduced to parliament on Thursday will allow the police to seize the mobile phones of asylum seekers to help track down people smugglers, and target those suspected of supplying parts used in the small boats to transport people to England.
The Labour Party, which won power in July, also plans to retain parts of legislation passed by the previous Conservative government that will disqualify asylum seekers using modern slavery laws to challenge decisions to remove them, and the power to detain child asylum seekers for up to 28 days.
Labour had voted against those measures in parliament when legislation on them was passed in 2023.
Starmer said at the time that the decision to deny asylum seekers using modern slavery laws would “drive a coach and horses” through protections for women trafficked to Britain.
Jess Phillips, now a junior interior minister, said in 2023 the legislation was a “traffickers’ dream” because it would hide victims of modern slavery.
Starmer’s office and the interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Immigration and asylum are the second most important issue to voters after the economy, ahead of health, according to a tracker poll published by YouGov.
Government figures show that 36,816 people came to Britain via small boats last year, a 25 percent jump from the 29,437 who arrived in 2023.
The latest government statistics on Channel crossings make 2024 the second-highest year for arrivals since data was first collated in 2018.
Concern over immigration was a leading factor in Britain’s decision to vote to leave the European Union in 2016, but successive governments have failed to reduce both legal and illegal migration.


Man shot dead in Sweden ahead of court verdict over Qur’an burning, five people arrested

Man shot dead in Sweden ahead of court verdict over Qur’an burning, five people arrested
Updated 30 January 2025

Man shot dead in Sweden ahead of court verdict over Qur’an burning, five people arrested

Man shot dead in Sweden ahead of court verdict over Qur’an burning, five people arrested
  • Salwan Momika protested outside mosque in Stockholm on June 28, 2023
  • Momika was shot in a house in the town of Sodertalje near Stockholm

STOCKHOLM: An Iraqi refugee and anti-Islam campaigner was shot dead in Sweden hours before he was due to receive a court verdict following a trial over burning the Qur’an, and five people were arrested over the shooting on Thursday.
The five were arrested in connection with the incident late on Wednesday and ordered detained by a prosecutor, Swedish police said on their website. They did not say if the shooter was among those detained.
Salwan Momika, 38, was shot in a house in the town of Sodertalje near Stockholm, public broadcaster SVT reported, citing unnamed police sources.
Momika had burned copies of the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, in public demonstrations in 2023 against Islam.
A Stockholm court had been due to sentence Momika and another man on Thursday in a criminal trial over “offenses of agitation against an ethnic or national group,” but said the announcement of the verdict had been postponed.
A police spokesperson confirmed a man was shot dead in Sodertalje, but gave no other details.
The other defendant in the same court case was giving interviews on Thursday and posted a message on X, saying: “I’m next.”
The Security Service said that police were leading the investigation but “we are following the development of events closely to see what impact this may have on Swedish security,” a spokesperson told Reuters.
Swedish media reported that Momika was streaming live on TikTok at the time he was shot. A video seen by Reuters showed police picking up a phone and ending a livestream that appeared to be from Momika’s TikTok account.
Sweden in 2023 raised its terrorism alert to the second-highest level and warned of threats against Swedes at home and abroad after the Qur’an burnings, many of them by Momika, outraged Muslims and triggered threats from jihadists.
While the Swedish government condemned the wave of Qur’an burnings in 2023, it was initially regarded as a protected form of free speech.
Sweden’s migration agency in 2023 wanted to deport Momika for giving false information on his residency application, but couldn’t as he risked torture and inhumane treatment in Iraq.
Burning the Qur’an is seen by Muslims as a blasphemous act because they consider it the literal word of God.


Japan protests UN calls to allow women on imperial throne

Japan protests UN calls to allow women on imperial throne
Updated 30 January 2025

Japan protests UN calls to allow women on imperial throne

Japan protests UN calls to allow women on imperial throne
Tokyo: Japan said it would not fund a UN women’s rights committee and suspended a member’s visit over calls for the nation to change its male-only imperial succession rules.
Chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Thursday that a visit by a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women would be called off, and financial contributions not made.
In October, the UN committee said Japan should “guarantee the equality of women and men in the succession to the throne” in line with “good practices” in other monarchies.
Japan demanded that the committee withdraw its recommendation, saying that the right to succeed the throne was unrelated to human rights and gender discrimination.
Only the sons of royal fathers can become emperor in Japan.
The rule has prompted questions of succession within the ancient imperial family, with Emperor Naruhito’s heir apparent just a few years younger than he is, and the only youthful member in line being 18-year-old Prince Hisahito.
Japan voluntarily gives between 20 to 30 million yen ($130,000 to $194,000) every year to the UN High Commissioner, which administers the women’s rights committee.
None of Japan’s contribution has gone to the committee since at least 2005, according to the foreign ministry, making this week’s funding decision essentially symbolic.
Opinion surveys show that many Japanese voters are sympathetic to the idea of letting women ascend the throne.
But traditionalists say that would fundamentally alter Japan as a nation, and parliamentary discussions on how to address succession have so far reached no conclusions.

Man shot dead in Sweden ahead of court verdict over Qur’an burning; five people arrested

Man shot dead in Sweden ahead of court verdict over Qur’an burning; five people arrested
Updated 30 January 2025

Man shot dead in Sweden ahead of court verdict over Qur’an burning; five people arrested

Man shot dead in Sweden ahead of court verdict over Qur’an burning; five people arrested
  • Salwan Momika protested outside a mosque in Stockholm on June 28, 2023, during the Eid al-Adha holiday
  • Momika was shot in a house in the town of Sodertalje near Stockholm

STOCKHOLM: An Iraqi refugee and anti-Islam campaigner was shot dead in Sweden hours before he was due to receive a court verdict following a trial over burning the Qur’an, and five people were arrested over the shooting on Thursday.
The five were arrested in connection with the incident late on Wednesday and ordered detained by a prosecutor, Swedish police said on their website. They did not say if the shooter was among those detained.
Salwan Momika, 38, was shot in a house in the town of Sodertalje near Stockholm, public broadcaster SVT reported, citing unnamed police sources.
Momika had burned copies of the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, in public demonstrations in 2023 against Islam.
A Stockholm court had been due to sentence Momika and another man on Thursday in a criminal trial over “offenses of agitation against an ethnic or national group,” but said the announcement of the verdict had been postponed.
A police spokesperson confirmed a man was shot dead in Sodertalje, but gave no other details.
The other defendant in the same court case was giving interviews on Thursday and posted a message on X, saying: “I’m next.”
The Security Service said that police were leading the investigation but “we are following the development of events closely to see what impact this may have on Swedish security,” a spokesperson told Reuters.
Swedish media reported that Momika was streaming live on TikTok at the time he was shot. A video seen by Reuters showed police picking up a phone and ending a livestream that appeared to be from Momika’s TikTok account.
Sweden in 2023 raised its terrorism alert to the second-highest level and warned of threats against Swedes at home and abroad after the Qur’an burnings, many of them by Momika, outraged Muslims and triggered threats from jihadists.
While the Swedish government condemned the wave of Qur’an burnings in 2023, it was initially regarded as a protected form of free speech.
Sweden’s migration agency in 2023 wanted to deport Momika for giving false information on his residency application, but couldn’t as he risked torture and inhumane treatment in Iraq.
Burning the Qur’an is seen by Muslims as a blasphemous act because they consider it the literal word of God.