WASHINGTON: Vice President Mike Pence condemned the violent supporters of President Donald Trump who stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday in an attempt to block certification of the presidential election results, as the US Senate resumed its vote count after an hours-long delay.
“You did not win. Violence never wins,” Pence said of the gang of people who responded to Trump’s call to protest his loss in November’s presidential election. Pence said the Capitol was secured, and urged the Senate to “get back to work.”
Pence says ‘violence never wins,’ McConnell decries ‘attempted insurrection’ as Congress resumes electoral count
https://arab.news/c89pm
Pence says ‘violence never wins,’ McConnell decries ‘attempted insurrection’ as Congress resumes electoral count
Pressure grows in Philippines to stop sending migrant workers to Israel
- About 27,000 Filipinos, mostly caregivers, are living and working in Israel
- Worker deployment to neighboring Lebanon banned over security situation
MANILA: The Philippine government is facing pressure to stop sending workers to Israel, with labor rights advocates and politicians raising security concerns amid the escalating conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.
The Philippines does not allow the sending of workers to Lebanon, which is on its alert level 3 that carries a deployment ban. For the past few weeks, it has been also calling on nationals to return home in the wake of Israel’s increasing bombardment of civilian sites.
But no such measures are in place for Israel, which remains on the Philippine government’s alert level 2 despite facing retaliatory attacks amid growing hostilities with most neighboring countries.
“It’s time to review the policy,” said Raymond Palatino, former congressman and current secretary general of BAYAN, the Philippines’ largest alliance of grassroots groups.
“Given the worsening situation today, the government should at least consider suspending the deployment of workers to Israel.”
He told Arab News that while the Philippines was already repatriating its nationals from Israel, it was still allowing new batches of workers to go there and “face the same risks in their destination.”
Marissa Magsino, lawmaker representing overseas Filipino workers in Congress, also pressed for the deployment to be suspended.
“The Philippines should not continue to send its workforce to Israel due to the ongoing conflict and security risks,” she said. “The safety of the workers must come first.”
There are about 27,000 Filipinos in Israel, mostly caregivers, according to data from the Middle East chapter of Migrante, a global alliance of overseas Filipino workers. Some 900 of them have returned to the Philippines since October last year, when Israel began its deadly war on Gaza, which this month expanded to Lebanon as well.
“OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) in Israel are not really safe because Israel is at war and is continually fanning the flames of conflict against Iran, Lebanon, Palestine and other countries in the region. In fact, its so-called Iron Dome defense system was already breached,” Migrante told Arab News, referring to the recent Iranian strikes on Tel Aviv, where missiles penetrated the system designed to intercept rockets.
Migrante said its call to stop worker deployment was not only driven by security considerations, but also Israel’s ongoing destruction and indiscriminate killing of civilians in Gaza, over which it is a defendant in a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
It said the Philippine government should ban sending workers to Israel “as a matter of expressing its discontent with the government of Israel for illegally occupying Palestinian lands and for its war crimes against the people of Palestine.”
Since the deadly onslaught on Gaza began on Oct. 7, Israeli forces have killed more than 42,000 Palestinians and wounded in excess of 97,000 others, according to estimates from the enclave’s Health Ministry.
However, the real toll is feared to be much higher. A study published by the medical journal The Lancet estimated earlier this year that the true number of those killed could be more than 186,000, taking into consideration indirect deaths as a result of starvation, injury and lack of access to medical aid as Israeli forces have destroyed most of Gaza’s infrastructure and continued to block the entry of aid.
Indonesian volunteers report Israeli strikes on Palestinians fleeing assault on north Gaza
- About 400,000 Palestinians trapped in north Gaza as Israeli military launches new strikes
- Workers at Indonesian hospital choose to stay with patients despite Israel’s evacuation orders
JAKARTA: Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza after being ordered to do so by the Israeli military are being shot at as they evacuate, Indonesian hospital volunteers report, as hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped in the area.
The Israeli forces issued evacuation orders on Sunday morning for large parts of northern Gaza and instructed residents to seek refuge in the overcrowded “safe zone” in the southern area of Al-Mawasi, ahead of new ground and air attacks.
The Indonesia Hospital in north Gaza, which is funded by the Indonesian NGO Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, or MER-C, was among the medical centers ordered to evacuate.
MER-C volunteers said the people who tried to flee were targeted by Israeli forces on the routes designated as humanitarian zones.
“We have Indonesian volunteers there, and when they reported to us we could hear the sound of guns being fired sporadically as people started to evacuate to the south,” Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees in Jakarta, told Arab News.
“What Israel is doing is just like the beginning of their war on Gaza, asking residents to evacuate according to the military’s orders, but shooting them while they are evacuating,” he said. “Now it’s the same, they issue the designated routes for evacuation but shoot people on their journey.”
The Indonesia Hospital was functioning partially before Sunday’s evacuation orders. More than two dozen patients remained under the care of about 40 medical workers who chose to stay.
“Health workers are still there even though they are also ordered to leave the hospital. They are doing so for the sake of humanity, because many residents are also staying, refusing to evacuate,” Murad said.
“Many people are also in critical condition, so the health workers are staying because they are very needed by the people. All the patients being treated are victims of Israeli attacks.”
Dozens of people were reported to have been killed and wounded in north Gaza this week, as Israel launched new strikes, which it said were aimed at preventing Palestinian fighters from regrouping in the area.
“Israel didn’t keep its promise. When they issued the orders for evacuation, it was also written that there will be humanitarian routes … but in reality, Israel shot and bombed the refugees who are evacuating,” Fikri Rofiul Haq, a MER-C volunteer at the Indonesian hospital, said in an audio message shared on social media.
“Israel also threatened that anyone who stays in the hospital will be killed or captured … Israel is destroying all health facilities in northern Gaza, because there are only three functioning hospitals left.”
About 400,000 people are trapped in north Gaza, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN relief agency for Palestine, UNRWA, wrote on X on Wednesday.
He said many refused to leave “because they know too well that no place anywhere in Gaza is safe.”
More than a year since Israel launched its war on Gaza, its military has killed at least 42,000 people and injured more than 97,000. The real death toll is feared to be much higher, with estimates published by the medical journal The Lancet indicating that as of July it could be more than 186,000.
Human Rights Watch tells NATO members to take in former Afghan policewomen
- Thousands are in hiding and face persecution from the Taliban for supporting former government
- HRW report documents cases of sexual abuse, harassment including from before the Taliban took power
LONDON: Human Rights Watch has urged NATO member states to evacuate and house Afghan policewomen threatened by the Taliban.
About 3,800 former policewomen face persecution in Afghanistan, including sexual abuse and harassment, for their past roles working alongside NATO forces. Many feel betrayed by NATO for failing to transport them out of the country following the collapse of the government and the coalition withdrawal in August 2021.
HRW has published a report, titled “Double Betrayal: Abuses against Afghan Policewomen Past and Present,” which documents how thousands live in hiding in Afghanistan, with others having fled to Pakistan and Iran.
The report calls on the US, UK, EU member states, Canada and Japan to resettle the former Afghan policewomen as a priority, to put a stop to their suffering and recognize their contributions assisting the coalition in Afghanistan in maintaining law and order.
Fereshta Abbasi, HRW’s Afghanistan researcher, told The Independent about the experience of one female former police officer she spoke to for the report.
“The district police chief came to her house at night and raped her. Her husband was away that day. She cried in front of me. She said she couldn’t file a complaint because she feared her husband would divorce her and she would lose custody of her children,” Abbasi said.
Another former officer told her: “The head of intelligence for my station really harassed me. He told me that he could do whatever he wanted to me.”
Abbasi added: “Almost all of them (the former officers) have received threatening calls from the Taliban; their houses have been raided. They are being threatened by the Taliban but also by their families because being a policewoman was never accepted in the Afghan society.”
Many women who worked in the police fear reprisals from the government — but also from broader Afghan society — if they are identified.
One told HRW that the Taliban contacted her to demand she return to work, but she was concerned it was an attempt to trap her.
“I got scared and cut the phone call,” she said. “Again I received a phone call and this time I was asked, ‘will you come by yourself or shall we come and drag you by the hair?’”
She now disguises herself in public to avoid being persecuted, telling HRW: “If people find out, they might rat me out to the Taliban that I used to work for police.”
The report said that cases of poor mental health among former Afghan policewomen, including anxiety, depression and panic attacks, are common as a result of abuse.
This is compounded by the ill-treatment they faced before the Taliban took control of the country, with male police superiors frequently abusing their power over female subordinates.
“I spoke to one of the former policewomen who said she served the government in the same job role for 20 years because she rejected demands of sexual favors,” Abbasi told The Independent.
“Now, they are asked to come back by the Taliban to do menial jobs as sweepers, prison guards or clerks, but nobody can ensure their safety.”
She added: “The conditions under the Taliban are abysmal and horrifying but that doesn’t mean these policewomen who served alongside the UK and the US, among other nations, don’t get to hold those who harassed them accountable.”
Russia hits civilian, critical infrastructure, injures 10 in Ukraine
- Russia launched two ballistic missiles on the southern city of Mykolaiv in the early afternoon, targeting critical infrastructure
- Russian troops also shelled Kherson and damaged energy equipment
KYIV: Attacks by Russian forces on Ukraine overnight and on Thursday across the country hit civilian and critical infrastructure facilities, injuring at least 10 people, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russia launched two ballistic missiles on the southern city of Mykolaiv in the early afternoon, targeting critical infrastructure, regional Governor Vitaliy Kim said.
Two people were wounded and a piece of equipment destroyed, he said in televised comments, without giving more details.
Russian troops also shelled Kherson and damaged energy equipment, according to Roman Mrochko, head of the southern city's military administration. Several settlements and part of the city were facing power outages, he said.
Separately, a flurry of Russian guided bombs early in the morning injured six people, including a 17-year-old girl, and damaged 29 buildings in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, its regional governor Ivan Fedorov, said.
Ukraine's air force said on the Telegram messaging app that it had downed 41 out of 62 drones launched by Russia. Russian forces also launched eight missiles, it added, while 14 drones were "locationally lost".
"As a result of the Russian missile and drone attacks civilian objects and critical infrastructure facilities in the Odesa, Poltava and Donetsk regions were hit," it said.
A drone attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rih injured two people and damaged a five-storey residential building, causing a fire, Dnipropetrovsk region governor, Serhiy Lysak, said.
The emergency services rescued seven people from the damaged part of the building and put out the fire at the site, he added.
Separately, a cruise missile attack late on Wednesday damaged a storage area at an infrastructure facility in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv, causing a blaze that was later extinguished, the governor said.
Regional authorities also reported late on Wednesday that a ballistic missile attack had hit port infrastructure in the Odesa region, killing eight people and damaging a Panama-flagged container ship.
UK religious hate crime hits record high over Gaza war
- There were 3,866 hate crimes against Muslims and hate crimes against Jewish people more than doubled to 3,282
- “The appalling levels of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate crimes outlined in today’s figures are a stain on our society,” said interior minister Yvette Cooper
LONDON: Religious hate crime in England and Wales rose by a record 25 percent in the last year, fueled by a spike since the start of the war in Gaza, government data showed Thursday.
The highest annual figure of religious hate crimes in over a decade was due to a rise in offenses “against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims” since the Hamas attack of October 7 last year, the interior ministry said.
Overall, there were 140,561 hate crimes — defined as an offense based on a person’s race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity — recorded by the police in the 12 months to March.
Most — 98,799 or 70 percent — were racially motivated.
Both the overall and race hate crime figures are down five percent on the previous 12 months.
But religious hate crimes surged from 8,370 in 2022-23 to nearly 10,500 — the highest annual figure since data collection began in 2012.
Hate crimes against Jewish people more than doubled to 3,282 while there were also 3,866 hate crimes against Muslims.
“The appalling levels of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate crimes outlined in today’s figures are a stain on our society,” said interior minister Yvette Cooper.
She promised to tackle “this toxic hatred wherever it is found,” adding: “We must not allow events unfolding in the Middle East to play out in increased hatred and tension here on our streets.
“Those who push this poison — offline or online — must face the full force of the law.”
The latest data comes just days after marches and memorials took place across the country to mark the first anniversary of Hamas’s attack against Israel and Israel’s retaliation in Gaza, which the group controls.
British faith leaders, including from Jewish and Muslim communities, have called for the public to reject “prejudice and hatred in all its forms.”
Police in England and Wales recorded a fall in hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation, disability, and against transgender people.