RIO DE JANEIRO: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai described as "cruel" a policy launched by U.S. President Donald Trump to separate children of illegal immigrants from their families, during her first visit to South America to promote girls' education.
More than 2,300 children were separated from their parents after the Trump administration began a "zero tolerance" policy on illegal immigrants in early May, seeking to prosecute all adults who cross the border illegally from Mexico into the United States. Trump stopped separating families last month following public outrage and court challenges.
"This is cruel, this is unfair and this is inhumane. I don't know how anyone could do that," Yousafzai told Reuters on Wednesday. "I hope that the children can be together with their parents."
Her stern words contrasted with her effusive praise last year for Canada's embrace of refugees under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. At the World Economic Forum in Davos this year, Malala also questioned Trump's record on women's rights.
Yousafzai, known widely by her first name, was visiting Rio de Janeiro to kick off the expansion of her education charity, the Malala Fund, into Latin America, starting with Brazil.
Her aim in Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, is to advocate for more public spending on education, a tall task after the country passed a constitutional amendment freezing federal spending in real terms for two decades in order to reduce public debt.
She also hopes to get an estimated 1.5 million girls currently not in school into the classroom, with a special focus on minority groups who lag white children on key indicators like literacy and secondary school completion.
"It is important for us to reach the indigenous and the Afro-Brazilian population in Brazil. Those girls are facing many challenges," Malala said in an interview.
In 2014, Malala was made the world's youngest Nobel laureate, honored for her work with her foundation, a charity she set up to support education advocacy groups with a focus on Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Kenya.
The group's Brazil presence kicked off with a $700,000 three-year grant for three Brazilian female activists focused on education issues. Malala says she hopes to expand elsewhere in Latin America.
Earlier this year, the 20-year-old returned home to Pakistan for the first time since a Taliban gunman shot her in the head in 2012 over her blog advocating girls' education.
Weeks ahead of presidential elections in Pakistan, Malala is ruling out politics for herself for now.
"I'm still talking to leaders and ensuring that they prioritize education in their policy," she said. "It's easier that way than when you're on the inside."Reuters
Nobel winner Malala slams Trump's child separation policy
Nobel winner Malala slams Trump's child separation policy
- The group's Brazil presence kicked off with a $700,000 three-year grant for three Brazilian female activists focused on education issues
- "I'm still talking to leaders and ensuring that they prioritize education in their policy," Malala said
Greece says BBC report does not prove coast guard threw migrants overboard
- Greece has long been accused of carrying out illegal operations to force back migrants
ATHENS: Greece rejected Monday a BBC investigation that alleged its coast guard caused the deaths of dozens of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe, denying accusations it had broken international law.
In an investigation published on its website on Monday, the BBC counted 43 migrants it said had died in the Aegean Sea after being turned back by Greek coast guards between May 2020 and May 2023.
Nine of the dead were deliberately thrown overboard, the publicly funded British broadcaster added.
Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis denied the claims.
“We monitor every publication, every investigation, but I repeat: what has been reported is in no way proven,” he said, adding the coast guard “saves dozens of human lives each day.”
Greece has long been accused of carrying out illegal operations to force back migrants braving the perilous crossing from Turkiye’s western coast in the hope of reaching the European Union.
Though Athens has always denied the practice, numerous investigations by international media and rights groups have documented its existence, often with video evidence.
The BBC said its investigation examined 15 such pushback operations over a three-year period.
As well as basing its reporting on local media, NGOs and the Turkish coast guard, the BBC was able to interview eyewitnesses.
They include a Cameroonian national who said he and two other migrants were arrested after landing on the island of Samos in September 2021.
He said the police forced them onto a Greek coast guard boat, beating them as they went, before throwing them out into the water.
He was the only one to survive, with the bodies of his two companions — an Ivorian and another Cameroonian — washing up on the Turkish coast.
The eyewitness’s lawyers are calling for the Greek authorities to open a double murder case into the incident.
The EU said it was aware of the “terrible allegations.”
“Greek authorities, as in all EU member states, must fully respect obligations under the asylum and international law,” European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer told journalists in Brussels.
Tens of thousands of migrants, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, have entered Greece in recent years from the sea and land borders with Turkiye.
The International Organization for Migration has declared the Mediterranean passage the world’s most perilous migration route.
In 2023, a migrant trawler with hundreds of people on board sank off the Greek coast, killing more than 600 people in one of Europe’s deadliest shipwrecks.
The survivors have filed a criminal complaint against the Greek coast guard.
They allege that the coast guard took hours to mount a response to the sinking ship, despite warnings from EU border agency Frontex and the NGO Alarm Phone.
Reclusive Taliban leader warns Afghans against earning money or gaining ‘worldly honor’
- UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the invitation to the Doha meeting at the end of June does not imply recognition of the Taliban
ISLAMABAD: The Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader on Monday warned Afghans against earning money or gaining worldly honor at a time when the country is in the grip of humanitarian crises and isolated on the global stage.
Hibatullah Akhundzada gave his warning in a sermon to mark the festival of Eid Al-Adha at a mosque in southern Kandahar province, weeks before a Taliban delegation goes to Doha, Qatar for UN-hosted talks on Afghanistan.
This is the first round of talks the Taliban will attend since they seized power in August 2021. They weren’t invited to the conference of foreign special envoys to Afghanistan in the first round, and they snubbed the second round because they wanted to be treated as the country’s official representatives.
No government recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, whose aid-dependent economy was plunged into turmoil following their takeover.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the invitation to the Doha meeting at the end of June does not imply recognition of the Taliban.
Akhundzada reminded Afghans of their duties as Muslims and made repeated calls for unity in his 23-minute sermon.
Messages by him and another influential Taliban figure, Sirajuddin Haqqani, to mark a religious festival in April showed tensions between hard-liners and more moderate elements who want to scrap harsher policies and attract more outside support.
In Monday’s message, Akhundzada said he wanted brotherhood among Muslims and that he was unhappy about differences between citizens and Taliban officials. Public dissent over Taliban edicts is rare, and protests are swiftly and sometimes violently quashed.
He said he would willingly accept any decision to remove him as supreme leader, as long as there was unity and agreement on his ouster. But he was unhappy about differences and disagreement between people.
“We were created to worship Allah and not to earn money or gain worldly honor,” Akhundzada said. “Our Islamic system is God’s system and we should stand by it. We have promised God that we will bring justice and Islamic law (to Afghanistan) but we cannot do this if we are not united. The benefit of your disunity reaches the enemy; the enemy takes advantage of it.”
The Taliban have used their interpretation of Islamic law to bar girls from education beyond the age of 11, ban women from public spaces, exclude them from many jobs, and enforce dress codes and male guardianship requirements.
Akhundzada told Taliban officials to listen to the advice of religious scholars and entrust them with authority. He said officials shouldn’t be arrogant, boast, or deny the truth about Islamic law.
Pakistani journalist and author Ahmed Rashid, who has written several books about Afghanistan and the Taliban, said Akhundzada’s appeals for unity were a sign of desperation because he refused to spell out the real issues facing Afghans such as unemployment, economic development, and building a consensus for social reform.
“I would not be convinced that this was a meaningful speech if I were the Taliban,” said Rashid.
Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute, said Akhundzada’s focus on unity may also be preemptive and meant to nip in the bud any possibility that rifts could flare up again.
He also questioned if the audience being targeted went beyond Afghans to focus on the global Muslim community.
“Operationally speaking, the Taliban don’t have transnational goals. But the supreme leader looks to command respect beyond Afghanistan’s borders,” said Kugelman.
Russian official says Ukraine pouring troops into contested Kharkiv region
- “There is fighting still going on in the Kharkiv sector. The fiercest clashes are in Vovchansk and near Lyptsy,” Ganchev told Russian news agencies
A Russian official said on Monday that fighting was gripping parts of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region which Moscow has been trying to seize and added that Ukraine’s military was pouring men and equipment into the contested area.
Ukrainian President Voldodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv’s forces were gradually pushing Russian troops out of the contested area. His top commander predicted that Moscow would try to press forward pending the arrival in Ukraine of sophisticated Western equipment, including U.S-made F-16 fighter jets.
Russian forces crossed into parts of Kharkiv region last month and officials say they have seized about a dozen villages.
Vitaly Ganchev, Russia-appointed governor of the areas of Kharkiv region controlled by Moscow, said Russian forces were beating back Ukraine’s latest counter-attacks in areas near Vovchansk, five kilometers (three miles) inside the border.
“There is fighting still going on in the Kharkiv sector. The fiercest clashes are in Vovchansk and near Lyptsy,” Ganchev told Russian news agencies.
“The enemy is sending reserves and trying to counter-attack but is meeting a fierce response from our armed forces.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the incursion sought to create a “buffer zone” to prevent Ukraine from shelling border areas, including Belgorod region, opposite Kharkiv.
Over the past week, Ukrainian officials have said the Russian advance is firmly under control.
Zelensky, in his nightly video address, said Ukrainian troops were “gradually pushing the occupiers out of the Kharkiv region.” The military’s General Staff reported 10 Russian attacks were repelled near Vovchansk and Lyptsi.
Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksander Syrskyi, said on Telegram that Moscow’s commanders “were building intensity and expanding the geography of military activity.
“The enemy clearly understands that the gradual arrival of weapons and equipment from our partners, the arrival of the first F-16s, strengthens our air defenses,” he wrote. “Time is one our side and their chances of success will diminish.”
Ukrainian military bloggers said Kyiv’s forces were holding positions around Vovchansk and trying to break through Russian lines to consolidate units around the town.
Russian forces seized much of Kharkiv region in the early weeks of the February 2022 invasion, but Ukraine recaptured large swathes of territory later that year.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, 30 km (18 miles) from the border, stayed out of Russian hands, and months of Russian attacks have eased, Ukrainian officials say, thanks to the arrival of new weaponry.
France to cut military presence in West, Central Africa to 600 troops
- Army not ruling out ‘pooling’ its bases with Americans or European partners, says chief of staff Gen. Thierry Burkhard
PARIS: France is planning to reduce its military presence in West and Central Africa to around 600 troops, which is in line with President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to limit the French military footprint in the region, three sources said.
In February 2023, Macron announced a “noticeable reduction” of French troop presence in Africa, as anti-French sentiment is running high in some former colonies, and countries like Russia are vying for greater influence.
According to a plan currently under discussion with African partners, France plans to reduce its so-called “pre-positioned” forces in Africa drastically.
According to two sources close to the government and a military source, France will keep only around 100 troops in Gabon in Central Africa, down from 350 today and around 100 in Senegal, in West Africa, down from 350.
FASTFACT
In February, President Emmanuel Macron tasked former Minister Jean-Marie Bockel with working out the new modalities of the French military presence with African partners.
Paris plans to keep around 100 troops in Ivory Coast on the southern coast of West Africa — down from 600 troops today — and around 300 personnel in Chad in north-central Africa, down from 1,000 now.
The three sources said the reduced presence could be periodically expanded based on the needs of local partners. The French General Staff declined to comment.
Until two years ago, in addition to around 1,600 forces pre-deployed in West Africa and Gabon, France had over 5,000 troops in the Sahel region of Africa as part of the Barkhane anti-jihadist operation.
But it has been gradually pushed out by the juntas that came to power in Mali in 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and Niger in 2023.
All three countries have now concluded security agreements with Russia, which has been seeking to expand its footprint on the continent.
Chad, ruled by Mahamat Idriss Deby, the son of Idriss Deby Itno, who was president for over 30 years, is the last Sahel country to host French soldiers.
Landlocked Chad is surrounded by the Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya, and Niger, host Russian paramilitary forces resulting from the reorganization of the Wagner group, whose founder Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a mysterious plane crash last August.
In February, Macron tasked former Minister Jean-Marie Bockel with working out the new modalities of the French military presence with African partners.
His conclusions are expected in July.
In May, Bockel told the Senate that France wanted to “reduce its visible presence, but maintain logistical, human and material access to these countries while reinforcing our action in response to their aspirations.”
The French army plans to set up a Paris-based command dedicated to Africa this summer, two sources close to the matter said.
The French army is not ruling out “pooling” its bases with Americans or European partners, the chief of staff of France’s armed forces, General Thierry Burkhard, has said.
According to Burkhard, the tighter new structure will make it possible to maintain relations with local military authorities, “gather intelligence,” and “pursue operational partnerships,” among other tasks.
Instead of combat missions, French soldiers will provide training and capabilities to partner countries at their request.
South Africa’s unity government now has 5 parties, ANC says
- This collective represents 273 seats in the National Assembly or 68 percent, the ANC said in a statement. South Africa’s parliament has 400 seats
The African National Congress said that South Africa’s new government has five parties in it so far, representing more than two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly, and talks with other parties were ongoing.
Following last month’s election, the ANC was forced to forge alliances with other political parties after failing to win a parliamentary majority for the first since the 1994 election that marked the end of apartheid.
ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa was reelected as South Africa’s president by parliament on Friday, as his party drew support from its largest rival, the white-led, pro-business Democratic Alliance, as well as two smaller parties — the socially conservative Inkatha Freedom Party and the right-wing Patriotic Alliance.
The ANC said on Monday that another smaller party, GOOD, had also signed up to be part of the unity government pact.
This collective represents 273 seats in the National Assembly or 68 percent, the ANC said in a statement.
South Africa’s parliament has 400 seats.
The ANC won 159 seats, the DA was the second-largest party with 87 seats, the IFP had 17 seats, the PA had 9 seats, and GOOD had a single seat.
The ANC said the unity government would ensure representation in government for all participating parties and would make decisions by consensus.
Among its priorities, the unity government is set to focus on rapid, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, the promotion of fixed capital investment, job creation, land reform, and infrastructure development, the ANC said.
“The president will exercise the prerogative to appoint the Cabinet, in consultation with leaders of GNU (government of national unity) parties, adhering to existing protocols on government decision-making and budgeting,” the ANC said, adding it was still in discussions with more parties to join the government.
The Marxist Economic Freedom Fighters party, which has 39 seats, has said it will not be part of a government that includes the DA or the Freedom Front Plus — two parties that draw support from the white minority.
The uMkhonto we Sizwe party, led by former President Jacob Zuma, is also not part of the unity government.
With 58 seats in the National Assembly, it has said it will join an alliance of smaller opposition parties in parliament called the “Progressive Caucus,” which includes the EFF and the center-left United Democratic Movement.
This alliance will be the official opposition to the unity government.
“With populist parties choosing to reject the GNU, and the ANC’s bigger partners in the governing coalition center-leaning and favoring more liberal economic policies, we think the GNU opens the possibility for more growth-friendly structural reforms and prudent macroeconomic policy choices,” HSBC economist David Faulkner said in a note.
“But the GNU could also face ideological divisions and exacerbate fractures within the ANC, factors that could make establishing a stable policy framework difficult.”
