Indian doctors go on hunger strike, demand justice in rape-murder of Kolkata medic

Doctors and hospital staff in Kolkata march in solidarity with colleagues on hunger strike, Oct. 8, 2024. (West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front)
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Updated 09 October 2024
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Indian doctors go on hunger strike, demand justice in rape-murder of Kolkata medic

  • Junior doctors in West Bengal resumed months-long protest on Monday
  • Senior doctors at hospital where murder took place resign in solidarity

NEW DELHI: Doctors across India went on hunger strike on Wednesday in solidarity with their colleagues in West Bengal who have been demanding justice and safer working conditions after the gruesome murder of a female medic in Kolkata.

Thousands of young medics have been taking to the streets after a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and murdered on Aug. 9 at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal’s capital, where she worked.

While the protests were concentrated in Kolkata, where junior doctors have been on strike demanding justice for the victim and better safety measures in hospitals, other medics across India have been regularly holding solidarity demonstrations with them.

In late September, doctors agreed to return to work to help with emergency services amid floods, and after the West Bengal government agreed to some of their demands, including sacking the Kolkata police chief and two top Health Ministry officials.

But the demands for accountability for the murder, removal of the state’s health secretary, and increased police protection in hospitals have not been addressed, and the junior doctors resumed their protest on Monday. As seven of the protesters have been on indefinite hunger strike, the Federation of All India Medical Association symbolically joined them.

“The hunger strike is in solidarity and support of the junior doctors of West Bengal and their demands,” said Dr. Rohan Krishnan, chairman of the organization that represents over 100,000 resident doctors across the country.

“This hunger strike is for a day. At least one representative from each resident doctors’ association is on strike across India. I feel at the minimum it would be 1,000 doctors on strike.”

Krishnan told Arab News that the incidence of violence against doctors has been increasing in India and “what has happened in Bengal requires immediate measures and actions,” which until now have not been undertaken.

The federation sent a 10-member delegation to Kolkata to join the protesting junior doctors.

“We are here for the symbolic protest with the junior doctors, and we are having multiple meetings,” Dr. Suvrankar Datta, FAIMA president who is leading the delegation, told Arab News.

“The state government is ignoring the rational and genuine demands of the doctors who are on indefinite hunger strike. We have to ensure that the state government shows some kind of intent to come to the table at least. What the doctors are demanding can be done in a single day. The demands are all very just and very genuine.”

The probe into the murder has been moved from Kolkata Police to India’s federal Central Bureau of Investigation, which announced on Monday it had charged with rape and murder a suspect who was arrested soon after the incident.

The CBI charges came on the basis of interviews, CCTV footage, and autopsy, which revealed the doctor had 25 internal and external injuries as a result of the attack and had died by strangulation.

The brutality of the rape and murder sent shockwaves across India, which were further compounded by reports that senior hospital staff and local police had tried to cover up the incident.

“Our demand has been, first, justice to the victim and, second, to ensure that such an incident does not take place (again),” said Dr. Aqeeb Ashraf, member of the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front.

“Our movement is basically based on these two demands. We have met the chief minister many times and still no solution is coming out … Many people are joining our movement. Doctors are putting their lives at stake to save the medical system in Bengal.”

On Tuesday, 50 senior doctors from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the murder took place, resigned in support of their striking colleagues.

“Our seniors are giving mass resignations to stand by us to address the government, so that they come and listen to us,” Dr. Paramita Thander, junior doctor at the RG Kar Medical College, told Arab News.

“If they don’t listen and (if) anything happens to the people on hunger strike, then we will go for escalation.”


Greek PM insists no danger from Santorini quake swarm

Updated 54 min 34 sec ago
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Greek PM insists no danger from Santorini quake swarm

  • The activity has baffled scientists, who say that the region has not experienced seismic activity on this scale since records began in 1964
  • The seismology laboratory of Athens University on Friday said over 7,700 tremors had been recorded since Jan. 26

ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis insisted Friday there was no “immediate danger” from an unprecedented wave of quakes on the tourist island of Santorini that has forced thousands of residents to leave.
The state was “fully deployed not because we believe... that something disastrous is going to happen, but because we must be ready for any eventuality,” Mitsotakis said during a meeting on the island with local officials.
Santorini — which is part of a spectacular volcanic caldera — and the neighboring Aegean Sea islands of Amorgos, Ios and Anafi have been hit by hundreds of tremors since the weekend.
The activity has baffled scientists, who say that the region has not experienced seismic activity on this scale since records began in 1964.
The seismology laboratory of Athens University on Friday said over 7,700 tremors had been recorded since Jan. 26.
One of the experts advising the government on the phenomenon, seismologist Costas Papazachos, told the Kathimerini daily Friday that the activity “will continue for two to three weeks” based on the latest data.
The barrage was weaker Friday, but was still punctuated by a 4.8-magnitude tremor. The strongest was a 5.2-magnitude quake on Thursday.
No injuries or damage have been reported.
Over 11,000 residents and seasonal workers have left Santorini since the weekend by sea and air, with operators adding extra flights and ferries.
Schools on more than a dozen islands in the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea were shut this week as a precaution, prompting many people with children to leave Santorini until the quake scare eases.
Santorini lies atop a volcano which last erupted in 1950.
Mitsotakis on Friday said that volcanic activity in the area was “not unusual” and did not entail any “immediate, particular danger.”
“We hope this sequence will dissipate without producing a major earthquake,” Mitsotakis said.
One of Greece’s top travel destinations, Santorini attracted about 3.4 million visitors in 2023. Upwards of a million of those were cruise ship passengers.


Bangladesh asks India to stop former PM Hasina from making ‘false statements’

Updated 07 February 2025
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Bangladesh asks India to stop former PM Hasina from making ‘false statements’

  • Hasina, who fled to India last year after losing power, accused rivals of taking over unconstitutionally
  • People targeted her late father’s residence as she spoke, making India call it an ‘act of vandalism’

DHAKA: Bangladesh has asked India to stop ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from making “false and fabricated” comments while she is in the country, its foreign ministry said.
Hasina fled to India in August following violent protests that killed more than 1,000 people.
In an online address on Wednesday, she called on her supporters to stand against the interim government in Bangladesh, accusing it of seizing power unconstitutionally.
Thousands of protesters trying to disrupt Hasina’s address had demolished and set fire to the home of Mujibur Rahman, her father and Bangladesh’s founding leader. The violence continued after Hasina spoke.
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry handed over a protest note to India’s acting high commissioner in Dhaka, conveying “deep concern, disappointment and serious reservation” over her comments, it said on its Facebook page.
“The ministry ... requested ... India to immediately take appropriate measures, in the spirit of mutual respect and understanding, to stop her from making such false, fabricated and incendiary statements,” it said.
Hasina could not be contacted for comment.
Although India did not comment on the communication from Bangladesh, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal condemned the destruction of Rahman’s home as an “act of vandalism.”
“All those who value the freedom struggle that nurtured Bangla identity and pride are aware of the importance of this residence for the national consciousness of Bangladesh,” he said.
It was in the same house that Rahman declared Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971, and he and most of his family were assassinated within its walls in 1975.
Hasina transformed the building into a museum dedicated to her father’s legacy.
The interim government’s chief adviser, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, appealed to people on Friday to restore law and order and ensure there were no more attacks on properties linked to Hasina’s family or politicians from her Awami League party.
“Any attacks to their properties gives them an excuse to draw international attention to themselves and dish out their fabricated stories ... Any deterioration of law and order will give a wrong message to the world,” he said.
Bangladesh has been grappling with political strife since Hasina was ousted, with the interim government struggling to maintain law and order amid continuing unrest.
India and Bangladesh, which share a 4,000 kilometer (2,500 miles) border, have longstanding cultural and business ties.
India also played a key role in the 1971 war with Pakistan that led to the creation of Bangladesh.


UN food agency WFP received dozens of US stop work orders despite emergency waiver

Updated 07 February 2025
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UN food agency WFP received dozens of US stop work orders despite emergency waiver

  • Several of the suspended grants are under the Food for Peace Title II program
  • The program, which makes up the bulk of US international food assistance, is co-administered by the US Department of Agriculture and USAID

WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES: The UN World Food Programme (WFP) was ordered by Washington to stop work on dozens of US-funded grants, according to an email seen by Reuters, that was sent five days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver for emergency food assistance.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) grants, at various stages of progression, are worth tens of millions of dollars and provide food assistance in impoverished countries including Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Haiti and Mali.
The US State Department and the World Food Programme did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Several of the suspended grants are under the Food for Peace Title II program, which spends about $2 billion annually on the donation of US commodities. The program, which makes up the bulk of US international food assistance, is co-administered by the US Department of Agriculture and USAID.
Just hours after taking office on January 20, Trump ordered a 90-day foreign aid pause so contributions could be reviewed to see if they align with his “America First” foreign policy. The US is the world’s largest aid donor.
The State Department then wrote a January 24 “stop work” cable — seen by Reuters — for all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid, but said Rubio had given an exemption for emergency food assistance. He also approved a waiver on January 28 for life-saving humanitarian help, defined as core life-saving medicine, medical services, food and shelter.

’FAR REACHING CONSEQUENCES’
But on January 29, WFP — whose executive director is American Cindy McCain — received an email, seen by Reuters, from USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance listing dozens of project numbers subjected to a stop work order.
A senior WFP official in Washington responded with a list of clarifying questions, according to the email. In another note, seen by Reuters, the same official raised concerns about the pause in Title II and Commodity Credit Corporation awards.
“The pause in Title II and CCC awards has disrupted WFP’s massive food supply chain, affecting over 507,000 metric tons (MT) of food valued at more than $340 million,” the WFP official wrote.
The official noted that some of that food was currently en route by sea, more was stored in 23 countries and some was in overland transport. They added that “a substantial quantity of food is currently being loaded at ports like Houston and other locations across the US domestic supply chain.”
“The scale of this disruption underscores the far-reaching consequences of the funding pause on global food assistance efforts. WFP is in the process of analyzing the impact this has on the extremely vulnerable beneficiaries in severe humanitarian contexts that receive this lifesaving assistance,” the WFP official wrote.
The Trump administration’s effort to slash and reshape American foreign aid is crippling the intricate global system that aims to prevent and respond to famine, according to humanitarian organizations.
USAID has been a target of a government reorganization program spearheaded by businessman Elon Musk, a close Trump ally. The Trump administration plans to keep fewer than 300 USAID staff out of the agency’s thousands of staff.
Trump’s incoming UN Ambassador Elize Stefanik praised WFP as “a very successful program” when she appeared before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month. She noted that WFP has “significant bipartisan support” in Congress.


Ukraine’s Western backers will meet for arms talks as doubts over US intentions grow

Updated 07 February 2025
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Ukraine’s Western backers will meet for arms talks as doubts over US intentions grow

  • President Donald Trump has expressed skepticism for backing Ukraine
  • The UK is convening the 26th meeting of the contact group on Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels

BRUSSELS: The main international forum for drumming up weapons and ammunition for Ukraine will for the first time meet under the auspices of a country other than the US as uncertainty surrounds the future of Washington’s support for arming the war-torn country.
The Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a consortium of about 50 partner nations, was brought together by former US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to coordinate weapons support in the months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
President Donald Trump has expressed skepticism for backing Ukraine, criticizing its President Volodymyr Zelensky and saying last month that his administration had already held ” very serious” discussions with Russia about ending the conflict.
The UK is convening the 26th meeting of the contact group on Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The meeting is aimed at discussing “priorities for Ukraine as the international community continues to work together to support Ukraine in its fight against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s illegal invasion,” the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement released on Thursday.
It’s the first time that a country other than the US has convened the forum, although Austin’s successor, Pete Hegseth, is scheduled to take part. It was not immediately clear whether the UK convened the meeting on its own initiative or whether Washington requested it.
A senior US official said, “We appreciate the UK’s leadership in convening the 50-plus countries who participate in this forum. Ally and partner burden-sharing remains critical to helping achieve peace in Ukraine.”
The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The US is by far the largest single foreign contributor of military aid to Ukraine, providing about 30 percent of Ukraine’s weaponry, as much as the 27 members of the European Union put together.
Kathleen Burk, emeritus professor of history at University College London, told The Associated Press that if the US has asked Britain to chair the meeting of Ukraine’s Western backers, it “seems to tell me that disengagement has already begun.”
Zelensky attended the last meeting in January, as the Biden administration rushed to provide his country with as much military support as it could, including a new $500 million package of weapons and relaxing restrictions on missile strikes into Russia.
The aim was to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations to end the war.
In June last year, NATO defense ministers approved a permanent system to provide reliable long-term security aid and military training for Ukraine after delays in Western deliveries of funds, arms and ammunition helped invading Russian forces to seize the initiative on the battlefield.
The NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), which began work in December, had been described as a way to “Trump-proof” NATO backing for Ukraine, a reference to concern that Trump might withdraw US support for Kyiv.
NSATU, which is headquartered at a US military base in Wiesbaden, Germany, was publicly portrayed by NATO officials as a system that would complement rather than replace the contact group.


London’s Grenfell Tower to be taken down after deadly 2017 fire

Updated 07 February 2025
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London’s Grenfell Tower to be taken down after deadly 2017 fire

  • The move has angered some survivors and families of those killed in the massive inferno
  • “Grenfell Tower will be carefully taken down to the ground,” the government said

LONDON: London’s Grenfell Tower — where 72 people died in 2017 in Britain’s worst residential fire since World War II — is to be demolished, the UK government confirmed on Friday.
The move, which is expected to take two years, has angered some survivors and families of those killed in the massive inferno, which destroyed the 24-story block in the west of Britain’s capital.
“Grenfell Tower will be carefully taken down to the ground,” the government said in a statement, confirming what victims’ groups said Thursday they had been told.
The work will start after the eighth anniversary of the blaze on June 14 and will be done carefully to ensure that materials can be included in any future memorial, the statement said.
The government said safety was the primary reason for the demolition.
“It remains stable because of the measures put in place to protect it, but even with installation of additional props, the condition of the building will continue to worsen over time,” the statement said.
“Engineers also advise it is not practicable to retain many of the floors of the building in place as part of a memorial that must last in perpetuity.”
The fire started in a faulty freezer, spreading rapidly due to highly combustible cladding fixed to the building’s exterior.
An public inquiry last year found the 72 deaths were “all avoidable” and blamed the “systematic dishonesty” of building firms.
It also revealed decades-long government and regulatory failures.
Since the inquiry and report, victims’ groups have criticized the government for failing to implement fire safety recommendations swiftly enough, including removing similar cladding from other buildings.
Families have also condemned the delay in bringing criminal charges against those blamed for the disaster in the inquiry.
The decision to demolish the building divided victim groups.
Grenfell United, which represents some of the survivors and families, said on Thursday the decision as “disgraceful” and that victims were ignored by a short consultation.
However, Grenfell Next of Kin said it was a “sensitive decision” which “came after a thorough engagement process” and was informed by “safety concerns” surrounding the structural integrity of the scaffolded remains of the building.
The government insisted that deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, who also holds the housing brief, has offered the community several discussions online and in-person.
“It is clear from conversations it remains a sacred site. It is also clear that there is not a consensus about what should happen to it,” the government said in its statement.
“Being able to see the tower every day helps some people continue to feel close to those they lost. For others it is a painful reminder of what happened and is having a daily impact on some members of the community.”