PARIS: European special forces involved in anti-extremist operations in Africa’s Sahel region were given prime position in France’s Bastille Day celebrations on Wednesday, in a sign of President Emmanuel Macron’s military priorities.
The traditional parade on France’s national day returned to the Champs-Elysees after a one-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Roughly 80 French and European special forces drawn from the multinational Takuba force in the Sahel led the procession on foot, a choice intended to send a diplomatic message from Paris.
Macron, who presided over the ceremony, announced a major drawdown of French troops in the Sahel region last month and is banking on his often reluctant European partners to send more troops to replace them.
Paris wants Takuba — which numbers only 600 troops currently, half of them French — to take over more responsibilities from the 5,100 soldiers in France’s Barkhane operation, who have been battling Islamist groups in the Sahel for eight years.
The parade under grey skies and light rain was a scaled-down version of the usual event, with only 10,000 people in the stands instead of 25,000.
The holiday commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris in 1789, which kicked off years of revolution in France.
This year’s event could be the last for 43-year-old Macron, who will finish a five-year term in April next year.
He is expected to seek re-election, however.
It will be the last for outgoing defense chief-of-staff Francois Lecointre, who looked emotional as he greeted Macron before reviewing the troops.
“There’s a continual decline of order in the world,” he told Le Monde newspaper on Saturday, referring to actions by Russia, Turkey and Iran, as well as terror groups such as Islamic State in the Middle East and in Africa.
Alongside the traditional pageantry, fireworks displays and celebrations of Bastille Day, the southern Riviera town of Nice will mark the fifth anniversary of a terror attack that cost the lives of 86 people.
Prime Minister Jean Castex will visit the city for a ceremony at the site of a memorial for the dead, who were killed by a Tunisian man who drove a truck into crowds watching fireworks.
City authorities have organized a concert and 86 beams of light will illuminate the Mediterranean waterfront to honor the dead at 10:34 pm, the time of the start of the truck rampage.
France honors Europe’s anti-extremist troops on Bastille Day
https://arab.news/yxxv3
France honors Europe’s anti-extremist troops on Bastille Day
- Traditional parade on France's national day returned to Champs-Elysees after a one-year hiatus caused by Covid-19
- Macron announced a major drawdown of French troops in the Sahel region last month
Biden, US officials warn of hunger for millions in a government shutdown
- More than 40 million Americans relied on SNAP to make ends meet in 2022; inflation has put new pressure on household budgets, with prices higher since the COVID-19 pandemic for goods from bread to fresh vegetables and baby formula
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and one of his top aides warned on Monday that a federal government shutdown could cause widespread suffering, including a rapid loss of food benefits for nearly 7 million low-income women and children.
Biden told a meeting on Historically Black Colleges and Universities that failure by Congress to fund the federal government would have dire consequences for the Black community, including by reducing nutritional benefits, inspections of hazardous waste sites and enforcement of fair housing laws.
He said he and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had agreed a few months ago on spending levels for the government.
“We made a deal, we shook hands,” he said. “Now a small group of extreme House Republicans .. don’t want to live up to that deal, and everyone in America could be faced with paying the price for it.”
Asked if he had spoken with McCarthy, Biden said, “I haven’t.” He shook his head when asked when they would speak.
US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters earlier that the “vast majority” of the 7 million participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program would see an immediate reduction in benefits in the days and weeks after a shutdown starts.
Nearly half of US newborns rely on WIC, the USDA says.
A separate benefits program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), will continue as normal for the month of October but could be affected afterward, he said.
More than 40 million Americans relied on SNAP to make ends meet in 2022; inflation has put new pressure on household budgets, with prices higher since the COVID-19 pandemic for goods from bread to fresh vegetables and baby formula.
During a shutdown, farm service agencies will also stop making loans to farmers during harvest time, and new homebuyers will not be able to get loans in rural areas, Vilsack said. More than 50,000 Department of Agriculture workers will be furloughed, meaning they will not receive a paycheck.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives may move to advance steep spending cuts this week that would almost certainly be rejected by the Democratic-controlled Senate. While the cuts would not become law, a failure by both chambers to agree could force a partial shutdown of the US government by next Sunday.
House lawmakers on Tuesday were set to take up four spending bills for the coming fiscal year that would also impose new restrictions on abortion access, undo an $11 billion Biden administration climate initiative, and resume construction of the Mexico-US border wall, a signature initiative of former President Donald Trump. Biden has vowed to veto at least two of the bills.
Vilsack called Republican fiscal plans “punitive” and “petty.”
US condemns reported attack on Cuba’s embassy in Washington
- An assailant attacked the embassy with two Molotov cocktails on Sunday night, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said earlier on X, adding that nobody was hurt
WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday condemned a reported attack on Cuba’s embassy in Washington and said it was in contact with law enforcement to ensure a timely investigation took place, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
An assailant attacked the embassy with two Molotov cocktails on Sunday night, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said earlier on X, adding that nobody was hurt.
Anti-Muslim hate speech in India concentrated around elections, report finds
- About 80 percent of those events took place in areas governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is widely expected to win the general elections in 2024
WASHINGTON: Anti-Muslim hate speech incidents in India averaged more than one a day in the first half of 2023 and were seen most in states with upcoming elections, according to a report by Hindutva Watch, a Washington-based group monitoring attacks on minorities.
There were 255 documented incidents of hate speech gatherings targeting Muslims in the first half of 2023, the report found. There was no comparative data for prior years.
It used the United Nations’ definition of hate speech as “any form of communication... that employs prejudiced or discriminatory language toward an individual or group based on attributes such as religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender, or other identity factors.”
About 70 percent of the incidents took place in states scheduled to hold elections in 2023 and 2024, according to the report.
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat witnessed the highest number of hate speech gatherings, with Maharashtra accounting for 29 percent of such incidents, the report found. The majority of the hate speech events mentioned conspiracy theories and calls for violence and socio-economic boycotts against Muslims.
About 80 percent of those events took place in areas governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is widely expected to win the general elections in 2024.
Hindutva Watch said it tracked online activity of Hindu nationalist groups, verified videos of hate speeches posted on social media and compiled data of isolated incidents reported by media.
Modi’s government denies the presence of minority abuse. The Indian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
Rights groups allege mistreatment of Muslims under Modi, who became prime minister in 2014.
They point to a 2019 citizenship law described as “fundamentally discriminatory” by the United Nations human rights office for excluding Muslim migrants; an anti-conversion legislation challenging the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief, and the 2019 revoking of Muslim-majority Kashmir’s special status.
There has also been demolition of Muslim properties in the name of removing illegal construction and a ban on wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka when the BJP was in power in that state.
Missing for 4 months, prominent Pakistani TV anchor returns home
- Imran Riaz Khan, widely perceived to be sympathetic to ex-PM Imran Khan, was arrested two days after the May 9 protests
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani anchorperson and YouTuber Imran Riaz Khan has been “safely recovered,” Sialkot Police confirmed on Monday, four months after the journalist was arrested and his whereabouts remained unknown following a nationwide crackdown against supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan.
The TV anchor, widely perceived to be sympathetic to ex-PM Imran Khan, was arrested from Sialkot airport on May 11, according to his lawyer Mian Ali Ashfaq, after the violent protests of May 9 which saw angry Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supporters torch government buildings and attack military installations across the country. His lawyer told media Khan was arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance, under which authorities can arrest a person to maintain public order and extend the period of such detention for a time period not exceeding six months at a time.
According to Ashfaq, Khan was taken to Cantt police station after his arrest and later to the Sialkot prison. On May 15, a law officer told a court that Khan was released from jail after an undertaking in writing was taken from him.
Following that, his whereabouts remained unknown for four months.
Khan’s father Muhammad Riaz lodged a case of alleged abduction of his son at the Sialkot Civil Lines police against “unidentified persons” and police officials and subsequently filed a petition at the Lahore High Court for his son’s recovery. During a hearing of the petition, the LHC gave the Punjab police chief one “last opportunity” to recover the missing anchor.
“Journalist/Anchor Mr.Imran Riaz Khan has been safely recovered,” Sialkot Police wrote on Twitter. “He is now with his family.”
Taiwan golf ball maker fined for storing 30 times limit for hazardous material
TAIPEI: Taiwan authorities fined a golf ball manufacturer $75,000 on Monday and warned of criminal charges for storing 30 times the legal limit of hazardous material and other violations after a major factory fire killed nine people and left one other missing.
The mayor of Pingtung county said at a news conference that Launch Technologies Co. had 3,000 tons of organic peroxides on site, far more than the 100 tons of hazardous material that is permitted, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported.
Those responsible would be held accountable for public endangerment and negligent manslaughter, Mayor Chou Chun-mi said.
Company officials could not be reached for comment.
It’s unclear what caused the fire on Friday, but two explosions in the already burning building trapped firefighters and workers under rubble. Four firefighters were among the nine who died. More than 100 other people were injured.
Organic peroxides, which are highly flammable, are used in a variety of rubber products including golf ball cores. Launch Technologies is one of the world’s major golf ball makers, producing 20 percent of the global supply last year.
Taiwanese law requires organic peroxides to be stored in a separate warehouse building, but Launch Technologies kept the material on the first floor of the factory building, Chou said.
Larger fines were assessed for failing to designate a point person to help fight the fire and failing to give a complete inventory of the organic peroxides on site when firefighters arrived, she said.
Launch Technologies, which was founded in 2006, has been fined before.
Since 2018, the company has been fined $6,200 for safety and health violations and another $9,300 over labor conditions, according to Taiwan’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The company was also fined $9,300 for air pollution violations in 2020, according to its 2021 annual report.
In 2011, a court ordered Launch Technologies to pay compensation to five workers who had sued the company for working overtime beyond the legal limit and in polluted conditions harmful to their health. Company general manager Lu Ying-cheng said at a news conference on Sunday that Launch Technologies has made improvements to the work environment in recent years.
