UK police warn far-right fueled street violence affects resources needed to investigate other crimes

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Police officers face off with protesters during the 'Enough is Enough' demonstration called by far-right activists in Bristol on August 3, 2024. Far-right protesters clashed with British police during tense rallies as unrest linked to disinformation about a mass stabbing that killed three young girls spread across the UK. (AFP)
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TOPSHOT - Police officers protect themselves from bricks thrown by protesters during the 'Enough is Enough' demonstration held in reaction to the fatal stabbings in Southport on July 29, outside the Liver Building in Liverpool on August 3, 2024. UK police prepared for planned far-right protests and other demonstrations this weekend, after two nights of unrest in several English towns and cities following a mass stabbing that killed three young girls. (Photo by PETER POWELL / AFP)
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Updated 04 August 2024
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UK police warn far-right fueled street violence affects resources needed to investigate other crimes

LONDON: Police warned Sunday that efforts to deal with the violence that has erupted across towns and cities in recent days in the wake of a stabbing rampage at a dance class that left three girls dead and several wounded means that other crimes may not be investigated fully.
The warning comes a day after dozens of people were arrested as far-right activists faced off with anti-racism protesters across the UK, with violent scenes played out in many locations across the UK, from the Northern Ireland capital, Belfast, to Liverpool in the northwest of England and Bristol in the west. Further arrests are likely as police scour CCTV, social media and body-worn camera footage.
In just one incident on Saturday, Merseyside Police said about 300 people were involved in violent disorder in Liverpool, which saw a community facility being set on fire. The Spellow Lane Library Hub, which was opened last year to provide support for one of the most deprived communities in the country, suffered severe damage to the ground floor. Police said rioters tried to prevent firefighters from accessing the fire, throwing a missile at the fire engine and breaking the rear window of the cab.
Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said the attack was not just on the building but “on our very community” and “an insult to those families still grieving and survivors still struggling to make sense of Monday’s attack.”
Further gatherings are scheduled Sunday and police will continue to mount a significant security operation, deploying thousands more officers onto the streets, many in riot gear. Police have also made more prison cells available and are using surveillance and facial recognition technology.
“We’re seeing officers that are being pulled from day-to-day policing,” Tiffany Lynch from the Police Federation of England and Wales told the BBC. “But while that’s happening, the communities that are out there that are having incidents against them — victims of crime — unfortunately, their crimes are not being investigated.”
The violence erupted earlier this week, ostensibly in protest of Monday’s stabbing attack in Southport. A 17-year-old male has been arrested.
False rumors spread online that the young man was a Muslim and an immigrant, fueling anger among far-right supporters. Suspects under 18 are usually not named in the UK, but Judge Andrew Menary ordered Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales to Rwandan parents, to be identified, in part to stop the spread of misinformation.
Police said many of the actions are being organized online by shadowy far-right groups, who are mobilizing support online with phrases like “enough is enough,” “save our kids” and “stop the boats.” Counter-protests are also anticipated with the organization Stand Up To Racism.
Calls for protests have come from a diffuse group of social media accounts, but a key player in amplifying them is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a longtime far-right agitator who uses the name Tommy Robinson. He led the English Defense League, which Merseyside Police has linked to the violent protest in Southport on Tuesday, a day after the stabbing attack. The group first appeared around 2009, leading a series of protests against what it described as militant Islam that often devolved into violence.
The group’s membership and impact declined after a few years, and Yaxley-Lennon, 41, has faced myriad legal issues. He has been jailed for assault, contempt of court and mortgage fraud and currently faces an arrest warrant after leaving the UK last week before a scheduled hearing in contempt-of-court proceedings against him.
Nigel Farage, who was elected to parliament in July for the first time as leader of Reform UK, has also been blamed by many for encouraging — indirectly — the anti-immigration sentiment that has been evident over the past few days. While condemning the violence, he has criticized the government for blaming it on “a few far right thugs” and saying “the far right is a reaction to fear … shared by tens of millions of people.”
Far-right demonstrators have held several violent gatherings since the stabbing attack, clashing with police Tuesday outside a mosque in Southport — near the scene of the horrific stabbing — and hurling beer cans, bottles and flares near the prime minister’s office in London the next day. Many in Southport have expressed their anger at the organized acts of violence in the wake of the tragedy.
The attack Monday on children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer dance class shocked a country where knife crime is a long-standing and vexing problem, though mass stabbings are rare.
Rudakubana has been charged with murder over the attack that killed Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6. He has also been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder for the eight children and two adults who were wounded.
Britain’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, has blamed the violence on “far-right hatred” and vowed to end the mayhem. He said police across the UK would be given more resources to stop “a breakdown in law and order on our streets.”
Policing minister Diana Johnson told the BBC that there is “no need” to bring in the army to help police in their efforts to confront the violence.
“The police have made it very clear that they have all the resources they need at the moment,” she said.


UPDATE 1-Germany says Moldova could be next in line if Ukraine falls

Updated 2 min 18 sec ago
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UPDATE 1-Germany says Moldova could be next in line if Ukraine falls

“Everything that we do to support Ukraine also means fostering stabilization with regards to Moldova,” Baerbock said
“It is clear what the greatest concern of the people here is: that if Ukraine falls, Moldova is the next country in line“

CHISINAU: Support for Ukraine guarantees the survival of neighboring Moldova, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Tuesday at a conference to address concerns about broadening Russian interference in the region.
“Everything that we do to support Ukraine also means fostering stabilization with regards to Moldova,” Baerbock said. “It is clear what the greatest concern of the people here is: that if Ukraine falls, Moldova is the next country in line.”
Baerbock was visiting Chisinau for the Moldova Partnership Platform, together with her counterparts from France, Romania, Poland, the Netherlands and Lithuania.
Germany, one of Kyiv’s main military supporters in Europe, initiated the platform after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, painting it as part of broader efforts to stabilize Moldova’s economy and shield it from Russian disinformation.
Moldova, which has a Romanian-speaking majority and large Russian-speaking minority, has alternated between pro-Russian and pro-Western governments since the fall of the Soviet Union, and now has a strong Western-oriented administration. Moscow has troops stationed in a region where pro-Russian separatists broke from Chisinau’s control in a short war in the early 1990s.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu, who has accused Russia of trying to overthrow her government, said Moldova still faces serious challenges and urged partners to increase their support.
“Russia’s war against Ukraine, which we condemned from the very first day, has caused enormous damage to our economy,” Sandu said.
“The uncertainty caused by the war continues to seriously hinder our economic development and will continue to hinder it as long as the war lasts,” she added.
Within the framework of the platform, agreements were signed to provide Moldova with more than 300 million euros ($334 million) in loans and 80 million euros in grants, the government’s press service said.
Allies also welcomed Moldova’s efforts to join the European Union. Under Sandu, Moldova, which lies between Ukraine and NATO and EU member Romania, hopes to join the bloc by 2030.
France, Germany and Poland voiced their “unwavering and continuous support for Moldova” in its bid to join, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters following a meeting of the three countries’ top diplomats.
The countries, known as the Weimar Triangle, also promised support to the Moldovan armed forces to defend the country, both bilaterally and as EU partners.
In May, Moldova signed a security and defense partnership with the EU, the first country to agree such a deal with the bloc.

Turkiye, Sweden to hold first security talks since NATO entry

Updated 2 sec ago
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Turkiye, Sweden to hold first security talks since NATO entry

  • The meeting will take place during a visit to Ankara by Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard

ANKARA: Turkiye and Sweden will hold their first meeting on Wednesday addressing a security pact the sides agreed to ensure Ankara’s approval of Stockholm’s NATO membership bid, a Turkish diplomatic source said on Tuesday.
The meeting will take place during a visit to Ankara by Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard, and it carried “special importance” in terms of improving cooperation on terrorism, the source said.
Turkiye approved Sweden’s bid to join the military alliance in January after a more than year-long delay over concerns about Sweden’s stance on groups and individuals it deems terrorists, and over an arms embargo that Stockholm later lifted.
As part of the approval, Ankara demanded that Stockholm amend anti-terrorism laws and crack down on members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) — also labelled a terrorist group by the United States and European Union — as well as a group it accuses of orchestrating a 2016 failed putsch.
The formation of the “Security Compact” was agreed by NATO’s then-chief Jens Stoltenberg and Turkish and Swedish leaders at an alliance summit in 2023. The parties had also agreed that Stockholm would present a “roadmap” on counter-terrorism.
Sweden joined NATO in March.
“Cooperation in the field of security, especially the fight against terrorism, will be discussed within the framework of the road map,” the source said, adding that the talks aimed to pave the way for additional steps on the PKK and its Syrian offshoots, as well others.
Turkiye’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, and Stenergard will also discuss bilateral ties during the meetings, the source added.


Portugal battles wildfires as death toll climbs to four

Updated 8 min 5 sec ago
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Portugal battles wildfires as death toll climbs to four

  • More than 1,000 firefighters worked through the night to control a cluster of four blazes in the northwestern Aveiro district
  • Authorities have closed several motorways, including a stretch of the main highway linking Lisbon and Porto

NELAS, Portugal: Four people have died so far in wildfires raging in central and northern Portugal and over 40 have been injured, state news agency Lusa reported on Tuesday, as authorities evacuated more villages overnight.
The civil protection authority accounted for three deaths as of Monday night and would not comment on Lusa’s report.
More than 1,000 firefighters worked through the night to control a cluster of four blazes in the northwestern Aveiro district.
Reuters footage showed local residents pouring buckets of water on advancing flames near the town of Nelas about 50 km (31 miles) east of Aveiro.
There were 48 active wildfires in mainland Portugal mobilizing around 5,000 firefighters.
In Aveiro alone, the blazes have burned through more than 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) of forest and scrubland in the past two days, officials said, roughly the same acreage that was consumed by fires through the end of August in the entire country.
National emergency and civil protection commander Andre Fernandes said late on Monday the Aveiro fires could engulf a further 20,000 hectares.
Authorities have closed several motorways, including a stretch of the main highway linking Lisbon and Porto, and suspended train connections on two railroad lines in northern Portugal.
Portugal and neighboring Spain have recorded fewer fires than usual after a rainy start to the year, but both remain vulnerable to the increasingly hot and dry conditions that scientists have blamed on global warming.
Temperatures topped 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) across the country over the weekend, when the fires first broke out and were fanned by strong winds. The meteorology agency IPMA forecasts they would stay above 30 C (86 F) for the next two days, amid extremely low humidity.
The danger of fires will remain ‘high, very high or maximum’ in the northern and central regions, it said.
“We need to be realistic. We will have difficult hours in the coming days and we have to get ready for it,” Prime Minister Luis Montenegro told reporters on Monday night.
The government on Monday requested help from the European Commission under the EU civil protection mechanism, leading Spain, Italy and Greece to send two water-bombing aircraft each.


India condemns Iran supreme leader’s comments on treatment of minorities

Updated 17 September 2024
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India condemns Iran supreme leader’s comments on treatment of minorities

  • India and Iran have typically shared a strong and close relationship
  • India signed contract in May to develop, operate Iran’s Chabahar port

NEW DELHI: India has condemned comments made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the treatment of Muslims in the South Asian nation, calling his remarks “misinformed and unacceptable.”

“We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in Myanmar, Gaza, India, or any other place,” Khamenei said in a social media post on Monday.

In response, India’s foreign ministry said it “strongly deplored” the comments.

“Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making any observations about others,” the foreign ministry spokesperson said.

The two countries have typically shared a strong relationship, and signed a 10-year contract in May to develop and operate the Iranian port of Chabahar.

India has been developing the port in Chabahar on Iran’s south-eastern coast along the Gulf of Oman as a way to transport goods to Iran, Afghanistan and central Asian countries, bypassing the ports of Karachi and Gwadar in its rival Pakistan.

Khamenei, however, has been critical of India in the past over issues involving Indian Muslims and the troubled Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.


Zimbabwe to cull 200 elephants to feed people left hungry by drought

Updated 17 September 2024
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Zimbabwe to cull 200 elephants to feed people left hungry by drought

  • The El Nino-induced drought wiped out crops in southern Africa, impacting 68 million people and causing food shortages across the region

HARARE: Zimbabwe plans to cull 200 elephants to feed communities facing acute hunger after the worst drought in four decades, wildlife authorities said on Tuesday.
The El Nino-induced drought wiped out crops in southern Africa, impacting 68 million people and causing food shortages across the region.
“We can confirm that we are planning to cull about 200 elephants across the country. We are working on modalities on how we are going to do it,” Tinashe Farawo, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (Zimparks) spokesperson, told Reuters.
He said the elephant meat would be distributed to communities in Zimbabwe affected by the drought.
The cull, the first in the country since 1988, will take place in Hwange, Mbire, Tsholotsho and Chiredzi districts. It follows neighboring Namibia’s decision last month to cull 83 elephants and distribute meat to people impacted by the drought.
More than 200,000 elephants are estimated to live in a conservation area spread over five southern African countries — Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Angola and Namibia — making the region home to one of the largest elephant populations worldwide.
Farawo said the culling is also part of the country’s efforts to decongest its parks, which can only sustain 55,000 elephants. Zimbabwe is home to over 84,000 elephants.
“It’s an effort to decongest the parks in the face of drought. The numbers are just a drop in the ocean because we are talking of 200 (elephants) and we are sitting on plus 84,000, which is big,” he said.
With such a severe drought, human-wildlife conflicts can escalate as resources become scarcer. Last year Zimbabwe lost 50 people to elephant attacks.
The country, which is lauded for its conservation efforts and growing its elephant population, has been lobbying the UN’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to reopen trade of ivory and live elephants.
With one of the largest elephant populations, Zimbabwe has about $600,000 worth of ivory stockpiles which it cannot sell.