Zelensky meets Meloni in Italy, presses for more arms

Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky gestures as he delivers a speech on the opening day of the 50th edition of The European House-Ambrossetti forum, called "Intelligence on the World, Europe, and Italy" at Villa d'Este on lake Como in Cernobbio, northern Italy. (File/AFP)
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Updated 07 September 2024
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Zelensky meets Meloni in Italy, presses for more arms

  • The pair met in Cernobbio, northern Italy, on the margins of the European House-Ambrosetti forum
  • Italy has strongly supported Ukraine and has sent weapons to help it defend itself against Russian forces

CERNOBBIO, Italy: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Saturday, her office said, as he presses allies for more weapons in his country’s fight against Russia.
The pair met in Cernobbio, northern Italy, on the margins of the European House-Ambrosetti forum, where Zelensky spoke on Friday and Meloni was due to speak on Saturday.
Italy has strongly supported Ukraine and has sent weapons to help it defend itself against Russian forces, while insisting that these must only be used on Ukrainian soil.
Before heading to Italy, Zelensky had on Friday pressed his case to allies meeting at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where Washington unveiled $250 million in new military aid for Ukraine.
He also met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The gatherings came as Moscow’s forces advance in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Thursday that capturing the region was his “primary objective” in the conflict, which has dragged on for two and a half years.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — who upset his European Union counterparts and Zelensky by meeting Putin in Moscow in July — is also attending the three-day Italian forum.
Zelensky rejected Orban’s calls at Cernobbio for a ceasefire, saying that Putin had never respected earlier accords.


Ahead of US election, Americans sue to ensure their votes count

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Ahead of US election, Americans sue to ensure their votes count

Democrats and their allies sue to make it easier to cast a ballot, which the Republicans claim can open the door to fraudulent votes
Republicans sue to assert what they call election integrity, which critics call voter suppression

DELAWARE, USA: For Erika Worobec of Cecil, Pennsylvania, mail-in voting is a family ritual. For a primary election in April, she researched the candidates and issues with her young son before making her selections.
“My son gets really excited when that envelope comes,” said Worobec, 45, who is in technical product marketing.
Two months after that election, she learned she had inadvertently marked her ballot with an incomplete date and that hers was among the 259 mail-in ballots in her county that were not recorded because of a ballot error.
“I felt it was un-American,” said Worobec, who votes by mail because she suffers from an autoimmune disease and doesn’t want to risk a trip to a crowded polling place. “How could primary results be accurate if so many ballots were not cast?“
In July, Worobec, who declined to say which presidential candidate she supported, joined a growing number of voters going to court to ensure that they have access to the polls and their ballots are counted in the Nov. 5 US presidential election.
There are roughly 95 election-related lawsuits filed in the seven battleground states that will decide the 2024 election, according to Democracy Docket, a website founded by Democratic lawyer Marc Elias that tracks election cases.
Those states are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In general, Democrats and their allies sue to make it easier to cast a ballot, which the Republicans claim can open the door to fraudulent votes. Republicans sue to assert what they call election integrity, which critics call voter suppression.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, her Republican challenger, locked in a tight race with both parties fighting for every vote.
As a result, voters, advocacy groups and the two main political parties have filed lawsuits over everything from the location of polling places to voter registration procedures.
Worobec, after being approached by the state’s branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, agreed to join six other voters from Washington County, near Pittsburgh, who sued their election board. The Republican Party intervened to defend the case and in August a judge ruled that voters must be notified if a mail-in or absentee ballot has an error so voters can mount a challenge or cast a provisional ballot at their polling place.
The county election board did not respond to a request for comment.

CHALLENGES FACE MIXED SUCCESS
Other voters have had less success.
Tyler Engel, 35, a research project manager in Madison, Wisconsin, has a form of muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair that makes it difficult to access his polling place. To cast an absentee ballot, he would need assistance because he can’t mark a ballot with his hands.
“I have to have someone do it for me, which is kind of unnerving that people know how I vote,” he said.
Engel, who declined to say which presidential candidate he supports, said the advocacy group Disability Rights Wisconsin learned he was researching polling place accessibility and asked him to join a lawsuit that sought to allow voters like him to mark ballots electronically without assistance. The group is funding a pilot project for his research.
A lower court judge ruled that voters who are unable to see or mark a paper ballot should be emailed an electronic version, but the ruling is on hold and will not be resolved before the election.
In Michigan, the Republican National Committee and its allies sued after the governor designated Veterans Administration and Small Business Administration offices as official voter registration agencies.
Vet Voice Foundation, a nonpartisan group which advocates for US military veterans, sought to intervene.
“Oftentimes the first place a veteran is touching down is at the VA health care center, because they need to get their medications,” said Brian Stone, a 37-year-old US Navy veteran who volunteers with the group and said he supports Harris. “But more importantly, there’s a lot of veterans who unfortunately are homeless and do struggle with voter registration.”
A judge denied Vet Voice’s request and the case remains unresolved.
“These agencies should be 100 percent focused on supporting our veterans and small businesses, not spending our tax dollars to influence the election in Michigan,” said spokesperson Claire Zunk of the RNC, who called the case an overt attempt by the governor and Harris to keep the Democrats in power.
Michigan’s secretary of state did not respond to a request for comment.

A DISTANT POLLING PLACE
In Montana, a state which traditionally votes Republican and which could determine control of the US Senate, some members of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes live more than 20 miles (32 km) from the nearest election office.
Some tribal members sued election officials on Sept. 30. They asked for registration and early voting satellite offices near where they live to be open daily in the six-week run-up to the election. Settlement talks are under way.
Dylan Jensen, a Valley County attorney said the county lacked resources but as in past years would provide a satellite office for up to two days which had been used by as few as four voters. A Roosevelt County lawyer said discussions were under way.
“We have tiny towns out in the middle of nowhere, you know? Does it mean that we can’t be heard?” said Joseph Dolezilek, 38, one of the plaintiffs in the suit.

Italian PM hails ‘courageous’ Albania migrant deal

Updated 11 min 47 sec ago
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Italian PM hails ‘courageous’ Albania migrant deal

  • “It is a new, courageous, unprecedented path, but one that perfectly reflects the European spirit,” Meloni said
  • The scheme comes ahead of a European Union summit in Brussels this week, where migration is on the table

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday brushed aside criticism of a controversial deal to send migrants for processing in Albania, a European first which other European leaders are watching closely.
Italy on Monday began transferring the first migrants to the centers — 16 men from Egypt and Bangladesh — who are due to arrive Wednesday.
“It is a new, courageous, unprecedented path, but one that perfectly reflects the European spirit and has everything it takes to be followed also with other non-EU nations,” Meloni said.
The scheme comes ahead of a European Union summit in Brussels this week, where migration is on the table.
In a letter to member states ahead of the talks, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would “be able to draw lessons from this (Albania) experience in practice.”
Italy’s two processing centers in Albania will be operated under Italian law, with Italian security and staff, and judges hearing cases by video from Rome.
But human rights groups question whether there will be enough protection for asylum seekers.
“The first people to arrive in Italy’s new detention centers deserve better than to be subject to this dangerous political experiment,” said Susanna Zanfrini, Italy director for the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization.
“Even as the doors open on these new facilities, some huge questions remain unanswered about how Italy will ensure that people’s rights are safeguarded outside of the EU’s jurisdiction.”
Italy’s Mediterranean coast has long been a target for migrants hoping to reach Europe.
Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party promised to halt the arrivals during 2022 national elections.
She agreed with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in November 2023 to open the asylum centers.
Addressing the Senate in Rome, Meloni said her government was setting a “good example” to other countries on how to tackle irregular migration.
She added that Italy would organize an informal meeting at the EU summit ” between the member states most interested in the migration issue.”
At talks in Luxembourg on Tuesday on Albania’s negotiations to eventually join the EU, Rama said, however, that his deal with Italy may not be easily replicated by other countries.
“We have been asked by others and we have said no,” he told reporters, pointing to the long history of close Italy-Albania ties.
The five-year deal, estimated to cost Italy 160 million euros ($175 million) annually, covers certain adult male migrants intercepted on Italian boats in international waters, but within Italy’s search and rescue area.
Those sent to Albania will be from countries deemed “safe” — a debated criterion but one that allows for a more simplified repatriation process.
Critics say the numbers that can be processed in Albania at any one time — initially put at around 3,000 by Rome, but now reported to be much lower — will have little impact on overall numbers.
“In the last three days, more than 1,600 migrants have landed in Italy. An Italian ship is transporting 16 of them to Albania,” noted Matteo Villa, a researcher at the ISPI think tank.
Almost 160,000 migrants landed on Italian shores last year, up from 105,000 the year before, according to interior ministry data.
Numbers have sharply fallen in 2024, with 54,000 arrivals recorded so far, compared to almost 140,000 in the same period in 2023.
However, the government hopes that intercepting people at sea and sending them to Albania before they reach Italy will act as a deterrent.
Rome has also moved to limit the activities of charity ships that rescue migrants in the Central Mediterranean.
Under the new scheme, migrants will first arrive at a center in the northern Albanian port of Shengjin for registration and health checks. They will then go to a center in nearby Gjader to await processing of their asylum claims.
The Gjader facility — a maze of prefabricated buildings surrounded by high walls and police guards — includes a section for migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected, as well as a small jail.


India foreign minister lands in arch-rival Pakistan for rare visit

Updated 15 October 2024
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India foreign minister lands in arch-rival Pakistan for rare visit

  • Jaishankar’s plane lands just before 3:30 p.m. at an air base near the capital Islamabad
  • Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan are bitter adversaries with longstanding political tensions

ISLAMABAD: Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday for a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, the first top Delhi diplomat to visit their arch-rival neighbor in nearly a decade.

Jaishankar’s plane landed just before 3:30 p.m. (1030 GMT) at an air base near the capital Islamabad, a foreign office official said, as state TV showed him receiving a bouquet of flowers from a host delegation that did not include any senior ministers.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan are bitter adversaries with longstanding political tensions, having fought three wars and numerous smaller skirmishes since they were carved out of the subcontinent’s partition in 1947.

Relations have been particularly sour since 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked the limited autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir.

The Himalayan region is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both in full, with each accusing the other of stoking militancy there.

Modi’s 2019 move was celebrated across India but led Pakistan to suspend bilateral trade and downgrade diplomatic ties with New Delhi.

Indian government spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said this month the agenda of Jaishankar’s visit would strictly follow the SCO schedule, which is due to discuss trade, humanitarian and social issues.

“The Indian foreign minister has not requested a bilateral meeting, nor have we extended an invitation to them,” Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Sunday.

Islamabad is keen to project an image of stability and security during the conference after a rash of civic unrest in the capital and militant attacks elsewhere across Pakistan in recent weeks.

Former Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj was the last to visit Pakistan in 2015, arriving for a summit on Afghanistan.

Modi also made a surprise visit to Pakistan that year, shortly after taking office for his first term, sparking short-lived hopes of a thaw in relations.

The SCO is a block of 10 nations established by China and Russia, which have used the alliance to deepen their ties with Central Asian states and vie for influence in the region.

However, they have recently pitched the organization as a competitor to the West.

The bloc claims to represent 40 percent of the world’s population and about 30 percent of its GDP, but its members have diverse political systems and even open disagreements with one another.

Pakistan’s former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was in Goa last year — also a rare visit — for an SCO meeting where he and Jaishankar were involved in a verbal spat.

It was the first official visit by a senior Pakistani official to their eastern neighbor since 2016, but the two foreign ministers did not hold a one-on-one meeting.


Russian man survives two months adrift on dinghy

Updated 15 October 2024
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Russian man survives two months adrift on dinghy

  • The dinghy was found in the Sea of Okhotsk, around 1,000 kilometers from its starting point
  • Russian rescuers had mounted a search using helicopters and a plane for the men a few days after they disappeared

MOSCOW: A Russian man was found alive after drifting for two months on an inflatable boat while another man and a teenage boy died, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The two men and a 15-year-old set off to the Island of Sakhalin from the far eastern Khabarovsk region on August 9, transport prosecutors said.
“After a time, communication with them was lost, their boat’s location remained unknown,” they said.
“On October 14 around 10:00 pm, the boat was discovered as it passed a fishing boat... Two people died, one remained alive, he is receiving medical help,” prosecutors said.
The dinghy was found in the Sea of Okhotsk, around 1,000 kilometers from its starting point.
Prosecutors published a video showing the bearded survivor in a life jacket shouting at the fishermen: “I don’t have much strength” but managing to catch a rope.
The survivor was named by RIA Novosti news agency as Mikhail Pichugin, while his brother Sergei, 49, and nephew Ilya, 15, died. Their bodies were on the boat.
Russian rescuers had mounted a search using helicopters and a plane for the men a few days after they disappeared, suspecting the boat had been carried by currents toward Kamchatka.
Alexei Arykov, the owner of the fishing boat that found the survivor said he was “in a serious condition, thin, but conscious,” RIA Novosti reported.
The boat docked around 0830 GMT in the far eastern city of Magadan and the survivor was carried off on a stretcher, the news agency reported.
The survivor’s wife Yekaterina told RIA Novosti: “It’s a kind of miracle,” adding that the men had taken enough food and water to last only two weeks.
She said her husband’s weight could have helped save him, as “he weighed around 100 kilograms” (220 pounds). Russian television reported he lost 50 kilograms.
The brothers were from Ulan-Ude in Siberia but Mikhail Pichugin was working on Sakhalin as a driver.
He had invited his brother and nephew to visit and they planned a sea trip to see whales, Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid reported, citing relatives.
An expert questioned by RIA Novosti recalled that in 1960, four Soviet soldiers survived 49 days adrift on a small boat in the Pacific Ocean that was found by the US aircraft carrier Keersarge.


Italy demands security guarantees for its troops in Lebanon

Updated 15 October 2024
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Italy demands security guarantees for its troops in Lebanon

  • There are over 1,000 Italian troops in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni demanded security guarantees on Tuesday for all her country’s troops deployed in Lebanon, where UN peacekeepers have come under fire during the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Italy has troops deployed in the UN peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL and in a separate mission known as MIBIL which trains local armed forces. There are over 1,000 Italian troops in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
The UN Security Council expressed concern on Monday after several UN peacekeeping positions came under fire in southern Lebanon and urged all parties — without naming them — to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and premises.
“We believe that the attitude of the Israeli forces is completely unjustified,” Meloni said, describing it as a “blatant violation” a UN resolution on ending hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.
In an address to Italy’s Senate, she said Israel’s actions were not acceptable and that she had expressed this position to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Asked whether she was considering a trip to Lebanon, Meloni told reporters: “Yes.”
Netanyahu has denied Israeli troops deliberately targeted UNIFIL peacekeepers in Lebanon and wants the peacekeepers withdrawn from combat zones.
Italy has protested to Israel and joined allies in condemning the attacks on the peacekeepers.
Meloni said Hezbollah had also violated the UN resolution and sought “to militarise the area under UNIFIL’s jurisdiction,” adding that Italy wanted to strengthen the capabilities of UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces.
She also said Rome had not forgotten the attack by Hamas militants on Israeli communities on Oct. 7 last year that sparked the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and that Italy’s thoughts were with the more than 100 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.