LONDON: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak blames the “criminal gangs” facilitating small boat Channel crossings for the “horrific” weekend deaths of at least six migrants, his spokesman said Monday.
Six Afghan men died and dozens more required rescuing after a small vessel bound for the southeast English coast from France sank in the Channel in the early hours of Saturday.
“The blame for the tragedy we’ve seen in the Channel in recent days lies squarely in the hands of criminal gangs who are exploiting people’s lives for profit,” Sunak’s spokesman told reporters.
“This is a horrific tragedy and his thoughts first and foremost are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives,” he added.
“It’s a stark reminder of how dangerous these crossings are and how vitally important it is to disrupt these criminal gangs, and it is right the government acts urgently and takes all possible steps to close down this route.”
Sunak’s government has faced strong criticism from migrants’ rights groups for its policies toward the small boats, after recently barring arrivals from claiming asylum and pursuing plans to deport them immediately to Rwanda.
Both plans are on-hold pending a court challenge to sending the migrants to east Africa.
They have also been criticized for planning to house up to 500 migrants in a barge off the coast of southwest England, and others at similar sites in future.
The first few dozen migrants were placed on the “Bibby Stockholm” last week, but in an embarrassing setback had to be removed within days after Legionella bacteria was found in the water on board.
However, Sunak’s spokesman insisted the government’s policies aimed at deterring small boats was working, pointing to fewer arrivals so far this year compared to at the same stage in 2022.
He said a deal struck between Britain and France in March, which sees London send Paris hundreds of millions of euros annually to step up patrols and other deterrent measures, was effective.
“Obviously we think there’s more to do on both sides but it’s true that since we improved and enhanced our relationship with France we have seen more people who would wish to make those crossings being intercepted and that’s a positive step,” the spokesman added.
More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the Channel on small boats from France to southeast England since Britain began publicly recording the arrivals in 2018, official figures revealed last Friday.
The route across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes has repeatedly proved perilous, with numerous previous capsizes and scores of migrants drowning in the waters over the last decade.
UK’s Sunak blames ‘criminal gangs’ for Channel migrant deaths
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UK’s Sunak blames ‘criminal gangs’ for Channel migrant deaths
- Six Afghan men died and dozens more required rescuing after a small vessel bound for the southeast English coast from France sank in the Channel on Saturday
Tajikistan’s chief mufti injured in attack, interior ministry says
DUSHANBE: Tajikistan’s top Muslim cleric Sayeedmukarram Abduqodirzoda was injured in an attack outside a central mosque in the capital Dushanbe on Wednesday, the interior ministry said.
The ministry said a person with “hooligan motives” had stabbed Abduqodirzoda following a prayer service at a mosque.
He suffered minor injuries and was released after a medical examination, the ministry said. Authorities detained the attacker and have opened a criminal case into the incident, it added.
Abduqodirzoda, 61, has served as chairman of the country’s highest Islamic institution, the Islamic Council of Ulema, since 2010, according to his official biography.
Tajikistan is a land-locked country of some 10 million people sandwiched between Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. The majority of Tajiks are adherents of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam.
Zelensky says Ukraine’s victory ‘depends’ on United States
- “As for the plan for victory... it depends mostly on the support of the United States. And other partners,” Zelensky said
- Zelensky has said he will outline a plan to end the war by November
KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Ukraine’s plan to defeat Russia depended on Washington’s support, speaking as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv.
“As for the plan for victory... it depends mostly on the support of the United States. And other partners,” Zelensky said in a press conference.
His remarks come just under two months before US elections that could be challenging for Ukraine if Donald Trump is back in the White House.
Trump aides have suggested that if he wins, he would leverage aid to force Kyiv into territorial concessions to Russia to end the war.
Zelensky has said he will outline a plan to end the war by November.
He has argued that a surprise incursion by Ukrainian troops into Russia’s Kursk region allows Kyiv to enter potential negotiations from a position of strength.
Ukraine held a peace summit in June in Switzerland with leaders and top officials from more than 90 countries but did not invite Russia.
Zelensky has since said Moscow should be included in the next gathering.
The Kremlin has ruled out talks since the assault in Kursk, and has demanded Ukraine cede swathes of territory for a ceasefire.
Philippines deadliest place for environmental defenders in Asia, rights group says
- Global Witness recorded 17 killings of environmentalists in Philippines in 2023
- Colombia was the deadliest country for environmental activists, with 79 killed
MANILA: The Philippines is the deadliest country in Asia for environment defenders, the latest Global Witness report shows, with the country recording the most environmental killings in the region for over a decade.
At least 196 environmentalists and land activists were killed globally in 2023, according to UK advocacy group’s estimates released earlier this week.
The figure brings the total number of people killed for trying to protect their homes, community or the planet to 2,106 since 2012, when Global Witness started its monitoring.
Colombia was the deadliest country for environmentalists and land rights defenders in 2023, the Philippines was fourth.
“Colombia had record-high defender killings in 2023 with 79 deaths: the highest annual total ever recorded by Global Witness Followed by Brazil (25), Mexico (18) and Honduras (18) and the Philippines (17),” the report read.
At the same time, the Philippines was the third — preceded only by Colombia and Brazil — in the total number of such killings since the first Global Witness report, with 298 environmental and land activists killed between 2012 and 2023.
The report also highlighted “cases of enforced disappearances and abductions, pointed tactics used in both the Philippines and Mexico in particular, as well as the wider use of criminalisation as a tactic to silence activists across the world.”
Besides the Philippines, only two other Asian countries are featured in this year’s report: India, where five activists were killed, and Indonesia, where three such killings were recorded.
Jashaf Shamir Lorenzo, environmentalists and head of research at BAN Toxics Philippines, told Arab News that environmentalists were oppressed in a number of ways.
“The most extreme cases include red-tagging, abduction, and even killings ... It seems that environmentalists who are most at risk are those who get in the way of big industries, big politicians. It doesn’t really differ much from what we see happening to journalists, human rights defenders, and activists,” he said.
“We need the government to really take action — environmental concerns have always been a big part of political platforms for decades, but major incidences of abuse point towards a lack of commitment to not only protect the environment, but to protect its stewards.”
He said impunity of the abusers has been aided by government inaction since the times of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who was in office from 2016 to 2022.
“Ever since Duterte, the government has been really lenient with these things,” he said.
“Unless the government really commits to protecting the environment, these abuses will only worsen.”
UK summons Iranian charge d’affaires over transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia
- “UK Government was clear in that any transfer of Ballistic Missiles to Russia would be seen as a dangerous escalation and would face a significant response”: Ministry
LONDON: Britain’s foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires, the country’s most senior diplomat in London, over the transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia.
“Today, in coordination with European partners and upon instruction from the Foreign Secretary, the Chargé d’Affaires of the Iranian Embassy in London was summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The UK Government was clear in that any transfer of Ballistic Missiles to Russia would be seen as a dangerous escalation and would face a significant response.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday during a visit to London that Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran and would likely use them in its war in Ukraine within weeks.
On Tuesday, Britain, the US and European allies all condemned the move.
Britain sanctioned Iranian individuals and entities involved in drone and missile production, as well as Russian cargo ships it said were involved in transporting the missiles from Iran to Russia.
Russia pushes back Ukrainian troops in some areas of Kursk, commander says
- Major General Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechnya’s Akhmat special forces fighting in Kursk, said that Russian troops had gone on the offensive and taken back control
- “A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region have been liberated”
MOSCOW: Russian forces have begun a significant counter-offensive against Ukrainian troops who smashed their way into western Russia last month, and have taken some territory back, pro-Moscow war bloggers and a senior Russian commander said.
Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two, bursting through the border into the region of Kursk with thousands of troops supported by swarms of drones and heavy weaponry, including Western-made arms.
Major General Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechnya’s Akhmat special forces fighting in Kursk, said that Russian troops had gone on the offensive and taken back control of about 10 settlements in Kursk, TASS reported.
“The situation is good for us,” said Alaudinov, who is also deputy head of the Russian defense ministry’s military-political department.
“A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region have been liberated,” he said.
Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports due to reporting restrictions on both sides of the war. Russia’s defense ministry said it had defeated Ukrainian units at a number of villages in Kursk.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that his forces controlled 100 settlements in Kursk region over an area of more than 1,300 sq km (500 sq miles), a figure disputed by Russian sources.
Yuri Podolyaka, an Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, and two other influential bloggers — Rybar and the Two Majors — said that Russian forces had begun a significant counter-offensive in Kursk.
“In the Kursk region, the Russian Army launched counter-offensive actions on the western flank of the enemy’s wedge, reducing the Ukrainian zone of control near the state border,” the Two Majors blog said.
Podolyaka said that Russian forces had taken several villages on the west of the sliver of Russia that Ukraine carved out, pushing Ukrainian forces to the east of the Malaya Loknya River south of Snagost.
Russian forces also advanced in eastern Ukraine, and were fighting in the center of the town of Ukrainsk in the Donetsk region, according to Russian war bloggers and open source maps of the war.
