PARIS: European leaders met on Monday for emergency talks in Paris called by French President Emmanuel Macron to agree a coordinated response to a shock policy shift on the war in Ukraine by the new US administration of Donald Trump.
With European policymakers leaving the annual Munich Security Forum dazed by Vice President JD Vance’s withering attack on the European Union, key EU leaders, as well as UK Premier Sir Keir Starmer, were in Paris for the summit.
In the most concrete sign yet of the US policy shift, the top diplomats of the United States and Russia were Tuesday due to have the first such face-to-face meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, a clear sign Trump wants to bring President Vladimir Putin in from the cold.
Facing one of their biggest challenges in years, European leaders fear that Trump wants to make peace with Russia in talks that will not even involve Kyiv, let alone the European Union.
Trump sidelined Kyiv and its European backers last week when he called Putin to talk about starting negotiations to end the conflict and said he could meet the Kremlin chief “very soon.”
Other key participants in the summit include NATO chief Mark Rutte, Danish Premier Mette Frederiksen — who has in the last weeks battled to rebuff Trump’s territorial claim to Greenland — and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Macron held telephone talks with Trump just before the summit, the French presidency said.
Macron has described Trump’s return for a second term in the White House as an “electroshock” and there are initial signs some of his counterparts are being stung into action.
Britain’s Starmer, aware of the importance of London showing commitment to European security after Brexit, said Sunday that he was willing to put “our own troops on the ground if necessary” in response to what he called “a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, another key participant, said on Monday he would urge European leaders at the emergency summit to “immediately” boost Europe’s defenses, warning they do not match Russia’s.
“We will not be able to effectively help Ukraine if we do not immediately take practical steps regarding our own defense capabilities,” Tusk told reporters.
Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has said Europe would not be directly involved in talks on Ukraine, though it would still have “input.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Sunday it would fall to Europe to guarantee any peace deal in Ukraine, adding he expected the United States to “revise their level of commitment to NATO, including in terms of geography.”
The American policy shift “requires that we truly wake up, and even take a leap forward, to take our place for the security of the European continent,” Barrot said.
But the notion of sending European troops to Ukraine — even after a ceasefire — was already causing friction within the European Union.
Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, however said that, while it was necessary for Europeans to meet and prepare decisions, “nobody is currently planning to send troops to Ukraine, especially because peace is still far off.”
Germany on Monday agreed, with deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann telling reporters it was “premature” to talk about sending troops to Ukraine.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz had said late Sunday that negotiations on Ukraine’s future could not be successful without European guarantees “that we will have created and accepted.”
Meanwhile Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban is close to both Trump and Putin, said that Monday’s conference was an effort to “prevent” peace.
“Today, in Paris, pro-war, anti-Trump, frustrated European leaders are gathering to prevent a peace agreement in Ukraine,” said Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
The Paris talks come as Washington said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff would on Tuesday meet with a Russian delegation including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh ahead of a future meeting between Trump and Putin in the Saudi capital.
Rubio had earlier sought to play down expectations of any breakthrough at upcoming talks with Russian officials.
“A process toward peace is not a one-meeting thing,” he told the CBS network.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was to visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, one day after the meeting between top US and Russian officials.
Zelensky had announced the trip along with stops the United Arab Emirates and Turkiye last week without giving dates, adding he had no plans to meet Russian or US officials.
France hosts emergency meeting on Europe response to Trump
https://arab.news/69gnz
France hosts emergency meeting on Europe response to Trump
- European leaders fear that Trump wants to make peace with Russia in talks that will not even involve Kyiv, let alone the EU
- Emmanuel Macron has described Trump’s return for a second term in the White House as an ‘electroshock’
M23 group seizes key town in eastern DR Congo
- Capture of Walikale leaves rebels in control of road linking 4 provinces
GOMA: Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have entered the center of the eastern Congo town of Walikale, a local activist and an M23 source said on Thursday, expanding the insurgents’ presence deep into the Congolese interior despite renewed calls for a ceasefire.
Their entry into Walikale, an area rich in minerals including tin, followed fighting on Wednesday with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s army and allied militias on the outskirts of the town.
The town’s capture would leave the rebels, who took eastern Congo’s two largest cities earlier this year, in control of a road linking four eastern Congo provinces and within 400 km of Kisangani, the country’s fourth-biggest city.
“The rebels are now visible in the city’s center,” said Fiston Misona, a civil society activist in Walikale.
“There are at least seven people wounded who are at the general hospital.”
An M23 source said the rebels were in complete control of the town.
A spokesperson for Congo’s army did not respond to requests for comment about the situation in Walikale.
The rebels’ move on Walikale, a town of about 15,000 people, came despite calls on Tuesday by Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame for an immediate ceasefire after their first direct talks since M23 stepped up its offensive in January.
The conflict, rooted in the fallout from Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and competition for mineral riches, has quickly become eastern Congo’s worst conflict since a 1998-2003 war that drew in multiple neighboring countries.
Rwanda has been supporting the ethnic Tutsi-led rebels by providing arms and sending troops, according to the UN, Western governments, and independent experts.
Rwanda has denied backing M23 and says its military has been acting in self-defense against Congo’s army and a militia founded by some of the perpetrators of the genocide.
Trump administration to open more Alaska acres for oil, gas drilling
- US to lift restrictions on building an LNG pipeline and mining road in Alaska
WASHINGTON: US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Thursday announced steps to open up more acreage for oil and gas leasing and lift restrictions on building an LNG pipeline and mining road in Alaska, carrying out President Donald Trump’s executive order to remove barriers to energy development in the state.
Burgum said the agency plans to reopen the 82 percent of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve that is available for leasing for development and reopen the 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing.
He also said the administration would revoke restrictions on land along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor and Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River and convey the land to the State of Alaska, which would pave the way forward for the proposed Ambler Road and the Alaska Liquified Natural Gas Pipeline project.
“It’s time for the US to embrace Alaska’s abundant and largely untapped resources as a pathway to prosperity for the Nation, including Alaskans,” said Burgum.
Drilling in Alaska’s pristine Arctic refuge has long been a source of friction between Alaska lawmakers and tribal corporations seeking to open more acres to drilling to spur economic growth, and Democratic presidential administrations that sought to preserve the local ecosystem and wildlife.
A January 8 lease auction that had been mandated by Congress held under the Biden administration’s Interior Department received no bids from energy companies.
The Biden administration last year rejected the Ambler Road Project, a proposed 211-mile road that would connect to a rare earths mining district.
Alaska’s Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy and the state’s congressional delegation have pushed for a reversal of Biden’s Alaska resource development policies.
The oil industry has signalled it would be hesitant to rush into Alaska given its high risk and the possibility of a political pendulum swing in four years that could put Alaska off limits again.
Ceasefire talks put Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia in the spotlight, so what’s next for the nuclear power plant?
- Zelensky said the discussion with Trump had focused specifically on the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
- It has been under Russian control since the early days of the war, making it unclear what future US involvement could look like
KYIV: During a call between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, the US leader apparently suggested Volodymyr Zelensky consider transferring ownership of Ukraine’s power plants to the US for long-term security, according to a US statement.
Briefing the media later, Zelensky said the discussion with Trump had focused specifically on the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, ZNPP, in southern Ukraine.
While the facility remains connected to Ukraine’s energy grid without producing electricity, it has been under Russian control since the early days of the war, making it unclear what future US involvement could look like.
Who controls the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant?
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is one of the world’s 10 largest and Europe’s biggest. Located in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, Russian forces occupied it shortly after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.
While Russia declared the region annexed in fall 2022, its largest city, Zaporizhzhia, remains under Ukrainian control.
Ukraine has accused Russia of stationing troops and weapons at the plant and using it as a launchpad for attacks across the Dnipro River. Russia denies this, accusing Ukraine of shelling the facility.
How many nuclear power plants does Ukraine have?
Besides Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine operates three active nuclear power plants, which generate the majority of the country’s electricity following sustained Russian attacks on thermal and hydroelectric plants.
These facilities are located in southern, western and northwestern Ukraine, away from frontline areas.
What did Trump and Zelensky discuss and are there negotiations over Zaporizhzhia’s fate?
During their call on Wednesday, Trump suggested that Zelensky should consider giving the US ownership of Ukraine’s power plants to ensure their long-term security, according to a White House statement from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
“American ownership of those plants could be the best protection for that infrastructure,” Trump suggested, according to the statement.
Zelensky later told journalists their conversation focused on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and the following day, made it clear that “the issue of ownership” of the other three plants was never discussed.
“All nuclear power plants belong to the people of Ukraine,” he said.
Zelensky said that when they discussed Zaporizhzhia, the US leader had inquired about the facility’s future. “Trump asked my thoughts on the plant,” Zelensky said. “I told him that if it is not Ukrainian, it will not operate. It is illegal.”
Even though ZNPP is a state-owned plant, Zelensky acknowledged that if the US were to claim it from Russian control, invest in it and modernize it, Ukraine might consider it. “That is a separate question, an open one,” he said.
What is the current state of Zaporizhzhia’s nuclear plant?
Since falling under Russian control, the plant’s conditions have deteriorated. While its six reactors have been shut down for years, they still require power and qualified staff to maintain cooling systems and safety features.
Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear operator, said that after Russian forces took over, Ukrainian personnel were forced to sign contracts with Russian authorities and take Russian citizenship. Those who refused faced abduction or threats, forcing thousands to flee, leaving the facility understaffed and harder to manage.
The collapse of a dam in June 2023 further jeopardized the plant’s cooling systems, which relied on water from the reservoir. In response, plant administrators dug wells, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Zelensky said extensive repairs would be needed before the plant could operate again, estimating the process could take at least two years.
The IAEA has repeatedly warned the war could cause a radiation leak. While the plant no longer produces electricity, it still holds large amounts of nuclear fuel, requiring constant cooling.
Regular blackouts caused by the fighting have disrupted the facility, though power has been quickly restored each time.
IAEA experts permanently stationed there still face restricted access, with Russian authorities blocking some inspection requests, according to IAEA head Rafael Grossi.
Is any kind of deal imminent?
Zelensky said the discussions with Trump on restoring Zaporizhzhia were a positive step, but cautioned that no one would work at the plant if Russian forces remained stationed nearby.
Control over the plant is likely to remain a legal and logistical challenge, intertwined with a highly divisive issue for both warring sides: control over the land itself. Russian troops hold the area, while Ukrainian forces are separated from it by the Dnipro River and more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) of terrain.
“Simply handing over the plant while everything within a meter of it remains occupied or armed by Russia — no one will work under such conditions,” Zelensky said after the call with Trump. “It’s impossible.”
He said there would be no way to operate securely in such a scenario. “That would mean that the plant could start operating tomorrow, only to be blown up by the Russians the following day.”
UK police chiefs warn of increased Islamophobia as British government defunds Tell Mama service
- Tell Mama, the UK’s leading anti-Muslim hate-monitoring service, faces imminent closure unless the decision is reversed
LONDON: Senior police officials have issued a warning that the British government’s plans to cut funding for Tell Mama, the UK’s leading anti-Muslim hate-monitoring service, could severely impact efforts to tackle Islamophobia.
The charity, which has been entirely funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government since its establishment in 2015, faces imminent closure unless the decision is reversed, The Times reported on Thursday.
Earlier this year, Tell Mama recorded the highest number of anti-Muslim hate incidents in its history.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council has urged the government to reconsider, stressing the charity’s “invaluable” role in providing police forces with critical data.
The NPCC, which has a data-sharing agreement with Tell Mama, says the organization’s work has been instrumental in preventing hate-fueled social disorder.
“This research lays bare the hostility and abuse faced by many in our Muslim communities,” said Mark Hobrough, NPCC lead for hate crime and chief constable of Gwent police.
“Our longstanding and trusted relationships with key partners like Tell Mama have been invaluable amidst these events, and I am confident that the strength of our partnerships will continue to help us reassure communities and bring hate crime offenders to justice.
“We all have a right to live our lives free from targeted abuse, and I would urge anyone who suffers anti-Muslim hate crime to report it to the police or to Tell Mama.”
Experts in policing and hate crime have echoed concerns about the consequences of defunding Tell Mama. Mike Ainsworth, chair of the National Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime for Policing and Criminal Justice, warned against downplaying the seriousness of Islamophobia in Britain.
“Tell Mama have provided the clearest picture we have of the extent of anti-Muslim hate crime and prejudice in the country,” he said. “It’s an uncomfortable picture to look at, but it is essential that we do not look away.
“The figures are stark, but they help us understand the scale of the problem and what we must do to move forward. Tell Mama have provided the foundations that government departments and the legal justice system must build on to restore trust and confidence.”
Tell Mama’s founder, Fiyaz Mughal, expressed frustration over what he saw as a failure by British ministers to appreciate the organization’s vital role in tackling hate crime.
“Tell Mama has worked tirelessly with many police forces in the United Kingdom,” he said. “We have met with officers from every corner of the country and met committed, dedicated, and true professionals who have tried to get victims of anti-Muslim hate access to justice.
“They are the unsung heroes with the victims themselves, and some people, including a handful of politicians, reduce our work to numbers and figures and disrespect the whole picture of the range of activities, statutory agencies, and the good men and women in law enforcement in our country that we work with on a daily basis.”
Tell Mama has yet to receive £500,000 from last year’s government grant. While discussions about a potential six-month extension to its funding are ongoing, there is no guarantee the charity will be able to continue its operations.
Despite the widespread criticism, the government has maintained that it remains committed to tackling religious hatred.
An Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “Religious and racial hatred has absolutely no place in our society, and we will not tolerate Islamophobia in any form.
“That’s why we will tackle religiously motivated hate crime and provide a comprehensive service to monitor Anti-Muslim Hatred, so we can deliver on the government’s Plan for Change mission for safer streets.
“We will soon be opening a call for grant applications to ensure we can meet the challenges communities face today and continue to provide support for victims, with further detail to be set out in due course.”
Bangladesh passes new women, child protection law after rape and death of 8-year-old
- 8-year-old victim died after battling for her life for almost a week in hospital
- New law halves investigation and trial time, removes DNA test requirement
DHAKA: Bangladesh passed a new law on Thursday, expediting the investigation and trial process in rape cases. The move follows nationwide outrage after an eight-year-old girl was raped and subsequently died from her injuries.
The girl, from Magura in southwestern Bangladesh, was staying at the house of her elder sister-in-law when the incident took place in early March. She was admitted to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka in a critical condition and died six days later.
The news of her death sparked protests across the country. As her body was taken for burial in Magura, thousands of people gathered in the city to participate in her funeral prayers.
An absentee funeral was also held for her at Dhaka University, followed by a protest march.
The incident resulted in mounting pressure on the government to reform laws related to rape and the safety of women and children.
The first law to be amended was the Women and Children Repression Prevention Ordinance, which was passed by Bangladesh’s Advisory Council — the highest institution of its interim government led by Chief Adviser Prof. Muhammad Yunus.
“To ensure speedy trial and punishment of rape suspects, this reform was necessary. It will also help in ensuring proper investigation,” Azad Majumder, the chief adviser’s deputy press secretary, told Arab News.
The new law reduces the investigation period of rape cases from 30 days to 15 days and the time for completing the trial from 180 days to 90 days.
Under the law, a special tribunal will be dedicated to handling child rape cases.
Judges will also be allowed to proceed with trials based on medical certificates and circumstantial evidence without requiring DNA tests. The tests were previously mandatory for the trial to begin, even though samples were not always available as it often takes time for victims or their families to register a case.
“Earlier, the trial process had to wait for the DNA profiling report of the accused. But now the trial can begin based on circumstantial evidence,” Majumder said.
The rape of minors is punishable by death in Bangladesh.
More than 5,600 reports of the rape of girls aged below 18 were filed across the country in the past 10 years, according to data from Ain o Salish Kendra — a key women and children’s group in Bangladesh. However, the numbers are unlikely to reflect reality as many victims do not report the crime.
Part of the problem, according to advocate Elina Khan from the Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation, is the slow response by police.
“The investigation process demands extra care and attention. Sometimes, our police stations don’t respond immediately to rape cases. If their responses were quick, evidence collection would be easier and investigation would also take less time,” she told Arab News.
“Authorities should also improve logistical preparations in court, especially to protect the child from emotional distress and psychological harm during the hearing. The child should be brought to court with care, considering the psychological impact on the victim.”
She said she also expected more accountability from law enforcement officials if the new law was to have any effect.
“The ordinance doesn’t say anything about what will happen if an investigation officer fails to complete the investigation process within the guided timeframe. Investigators should be held accountable for failing to investigate within the time,” Khan said.
“We have the appropriate human resources in this regard. We just need to engage them all. If we can ensure the proper application of the law, monitoring from the authority and accountability of the responsible persons, justice can be swiftly delivered.”
