Sri Lankan govt allows Muslims to perform Hajj if they pay in foreign currency

Special Sri Lankan govt allows Muslims to perform Hajj if they pay in foreign currency
Muslim pilgrims arrive at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah on June 5, 2022, prior to the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah. (AFP)
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Updated 08 June 2022

Sri Lankan govt allows Muslims to perform Hajj if they pay in foreign currency

Sri Lankan govt allows Muslims to perform Hajj if they pay in foreign currency
  • New requirement would reduce pressure on country’s economy, says religious affairs minister
  • Island nation unlikely to use 1,585 pilgrim quota this year as financial crisis worsens

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government has announced that Muslims would be allowed to perform Hajj this year provided they pay their travel costs in foreign currency, as the country faces its worst economic crisis in recent memory.

Last month, Sri Lanka’s umbrella association of pilgrimage organizers said its members would suspend operations because the cost of sending worshippers to Makkah — estimated at $10 million — would be too high for the country to bear when it is struggling with the worst financial downturn since independence in 1948, and has already defaulted on its foreign debt repayments.

The suspension was conditionally lifted by Religious Affairs Minister Vidura Wickremanayake on Tuesday, following consultations with Muslim parliamentarians and Environment Minister Naseer Ahamed, who also oversees Middle Eastern affairs.

“At the request of the Muslim groups led by Minister Ahamed, we have decided to fulfil the quota of pilgrims by requesting them to pay for their Hajj package in foreign currencies, which will not affect our national economy,” Wickremanayake told Arab News.

“I have requested the central bank to work out the modalities of working out this pilgrimage and they would help them find an easy passage to and from Makkah this year.”

Muslims make up almost 10 percent of the country’s population of 22 million, which is predominantly Buddhist.

This year, the country has been allocated a quota of 1,585 pilgrims to perform the Hajj, after Saudi Arabia announced it would allow 1 million foreign and domestic Muslims to travel to the holy sites in Makkah.

While it is unlikely that Sri Lanka would fill the entire quota, Ahamed, who discussed the issue with Wickremanayake, said that even sending a reduced number of pilgrims this year would help the country keep its allocation. This year’s number is already lower than in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic upended Hajj travel.

“Since the pilgrims have been asked to pay for their package in foreign currencies, we cannot expect to make use of the full quota this year. But it’s good to take some pilgrims to keep Sri Lanka’s quota intact for next year too when things would get eased,” Ahamed told Arab News.

“Three years ago, we got a Hajj quota of nearly 4,000 and this year we do not want to miss this 1,585 quota for Lankan pilgrims.”

One of Islam’s five main pillars of faith, the Hajj was restricted over coronavirus fears to just 1,000 people residing in Saudi Arabia in 2020. Last year, the Kingdom allowed 60,000 domestic participants, compared with the pre-pandemic number of 2.5 million.

Prospective Sri Lankan pilgrims have to file their applications with the Ministry of Religious Affairs by Friday.

“I have asked those interested to make the necessary applications to the department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs on or before June 10,” said Ibrahim Sahib Ansar, director of the ministry’s department overseeing the logistics.

“There are 86 Hajj travel operators and some 15 reputed agents will be selected from them and the operations will be streamlined through them,” he added.


Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died

Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died
Updated 29 March 2023

Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died

Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital heard laughing as 5-year-old died
  • Child’s father has filed a formal complaint against the hospital
  • Allegations also include standard of care his son received as patient

LONDON: The parents of 5-year-old Muhammad Ayaan, who passed away on March 15 in Sheffield Children’s Hospital, claim they heard medical staff laughing as their son’s life support machine was turned off.

Ayaan had a history of respiratory difficulties as well as a rare genetic condition that causes developmental delays, The Independent reported on Wednesday. He was admitted to the hospital on March 5 with breathing difficulties and died just over a week later. 

“When the machine was switched off at 2:30 a.m., we had a lot of family members there. There was laughter coming from staff members. We were so upset,” Ayaan’s father Haroon Rashid told The Independent.

“There was no one else on the ward apart from the staff and one other small child behind the curtain from us,” he added.

“Surely the staff knew Ayaan’s machine was about to be turned off. They continued laughing after my relative asked them to stop.

“A child’s life was coming to an end. It was highly insensitive. We are living with our son’s loss, but we are very, very angry about how the staff behaved.”

Ayaan’s mother Fakhra Dibi also described a similar incident when she was told that her son’s condition was deteriorating a few days before his death, The Independent reported.

Dibi claims she was given the news in a ward full of laughing staff, with children and other parents in the background.

“My wife rang me crying after the doctor broke the news,” Rashid said.

“They should have taken her to a private room, not told her like that in front of everyone. It’s hugely insensitive,” he added.

Rashid, a taxi driver and father of four, has filed a formal complaint, which also includes allegations about the standards of care during Ayaan’s time in the hospital as well as a claim that he was contacted for a follow-up appointment for his son 10 days after he died.

The 41-year-old further claims that hospital staff had been “dismissive” to some of the concerns he raised about his son during his care, The Independent reported.

“Every day in the treatment of my son, something went wrong. They didn’t listen to my years of experience in caring for my children,” he said.

“I’m not a doctor, but I know my son’s history. From past experience, I knew what treatment my son needed from the outset, but no one listened to me.”

However, Rashid emphasized the previous treatment that his son received as an outpatient from Sheffield Children’s Hospital had been faultless and that his consultants had supported the family throughout.

Rashid said: “We don’t know how we will live without him now our son is gone.

“We worry about what happened to him. We don’t want this to happen to any other child or any other family.

The hospital has promised a “thorough” investigation into the family’s claims.

Dr. Jeff Perring, medical director at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, told The Independent: “I wish to express my deepest condolences to Ayaan’s family for their loss.

“The death of any child is tragic, and I know that my colleagues who treated, and came to know, Ayaan during his short life will share in expressing these condolences.

“The loss of a child while they are a patient at Sheffield Children’s is something we take very seriously.

“Our colleagues pride themselves on providing the best clinical and pastoral care for all children and young people who need it.

“We have received Rashid’s complaint, which is very detailed and complex.

“There will be a thorough internal investigation of the care and treatment Ayaan received at the hospital between 5 and 13 March, which will cover the concerns raised in Mr. Rashid’s complaint.”


Sweden finds woman guilty of war crimes for gruesome photos

Sweden finds woman guilty of war crimes for gruesome photos
Updated 29 March 2023

Sweden finds woman guilty of war crimes for gruesome photos

Sweden finds woman guilty of war crimes for gruesome photos
  • Fatosh Ibrahim who pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to three months in prison
  • The Goteborg District Court said Fatosh Ibrahim “on two occasions published photographs of severed heads impaled on the fence" of a Raqqa roundabout

COPENHAGEN: A Swedish court on Wednesday found a 35-year-old woman guilty of war crimes for posting photos of herself with severed heads that were on display in a Syrian city in 2014.
Fatosh Ibrahim who pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to three months in prison.
The Goteborg District Court said Fatosh Ibrahim “on two occasions published photographs of severed heads impaled on the fence” of a Raqqa roundabout, placed there by Daesh group militants.
Ibrahim used her cell phone to take photos of herself in Raqqa’s Naim Square — meaning “Paradise” — where Daesh group militants had displayed hanged bodies or heads.
The court said in its ruling that Ibrahim posted on Facebook “disparaging comments about the people in the photos and expressed that they deserved what they were subjected to.”
“The woman had clearly expressed her sympathy with the actions of the Daesh group, and her actions have been considered to be in connection with the armed conflict that was going on in the area at the time.”
Ibrahim told the court that she traveled to Syria in December 2012 and was forced to stay, claiming she didn’t travel to Syria to join the by Daesh group. She returned to Sweden in 2017, according to the verdict.
Ibrahim was also convicted of threatening and defaming social workers in Sweden.


Britain moves ahead with plan to house migrants in military bases

Migrants walk in Napier Barracks, a former military barracks being used to house asylum seekers in Folkestone, southeast England
Migrants walk in Napier Barracks, a former military barracks being used to house asylum seekers in Folkestone, southeast England
Updated 29 March 2023

Britain moves ahead with plan to house migrants in military bases

Migrants walk in Napier Barracks, a former military barracks being used to house asylum seekers in Folkestone, southeast England
  • Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made tackling the arrival of small boats one of his main priorities
  • Move to put migrants in military barracks has been criticized by rights groups for not providing adequate housing

LONDON: Britain’s government will set up basic accommodation at military bases for migrants who cross the English Channel in small boats, and is also looking at possibly housing them in vessels, immigration minister Robert Jenrick said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made tackling the arrival of small boats one of his main priorities, hoping his move to get tough on illegal migration will win over voters before an election expected next year.
Addressing a backlash by some over the rising number of migrants being housed in hotels, Jenrick said the government was moving ahead with plans to “provide basic accommodation at scale” at military sites in southeast and east England.
“These will be scaled up over the coming months and will collectively provide accommodation to several thousands asylum seekers through repurposed barrack blocks and portacabins (portable cabins),” he told parliament.
The move to put migrants in military barracks has been criticized by rights groups for not providing adequate housing and even Britain’s foreign minister, James Cleverly, has raised concerns about using a base in his constituency.
Jenrick also said ministers were exploring the possibility of using “vessels” as accommodation, citing Scotland’s use of a chartered cruise ship docked to host Ukrainian families in Glasgow.
That drew criticism from the Scottish National Party which said boats were used there only a temporary measure.
Sunak’s Illegal Migration Bill to try to stop people traffickers from bringing migrants to Britain’s shores has been criticized by rights campaigners, with the Council of Europe saying it was at odds with London’s international obligations.
The Council of Europe’s experts on human trafficking also expressed “deep concern” over the plan at a meeting this week.


King Charles III makes world debut as tour starts in Germany

King Charles III makes world debut as tour starts in Germany
Updated 29 March 2023

King Charles III makes world debut as tour starts in Germany

King Charles III makes world debut as tour starts in Germany
  • Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, landed at Berlin's government airport in the early afternoon
  • His visit to Germany will give him an opportunity to highlight the causes he holds dear, like sustainability and the environment

BERLIN: King Charles III arrived in Berlin on Wednesday for his first foreign trip as Britain’s monarch, hoping to improve the UK’s relations with the European Union and to show that he can win hearts and minds abroad, just as his mother did for seven decades.
Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, landed at Berlin’s government airport in the early afternoon. The king, dressed in a black coat, and his wife, in a light blue coat and a feather-trimmed teal hat worn at a jaunty angle, paused at the top of their plane’s stairs to receive a 21-gun salute as two military jets performed a flyover.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was scheduled to welcome the royal couple with military honors at the German capital’s historic Brandenburg Gate.
Charles, 74, who ascended the throne after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September, is set to be crowned on May 6. As Britain’s head of state, the king meets weekly with the prime minister and retains his mother’s role as leader of the Commonwealth.
He had initially planned to first visit France, but the first leg of his trip was canceled due to massive protests over planned pension changes there.
Billed as a multi-day tour of the European Union’s two biggest countries, the trip was designed to underscore British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s efforts to rebuild relations with the bloc after six years of arguments over Brexit and highlight the countries’ shared history as they work together to combat Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Now everything rests on Germany, where the king faces the first big test of whether he can be an effective conduit for the “soft power” the House of Windsor has traditionally wielded, helping Britain pursue its geopolitical goals through the glitz and glamor of a 1,000-year-old monarchy.
Charles, a former naval officer who is the first British monarch to earn a university degree, is expected to insert heft where his glamorous mother once wielded star power. His visit to Germany will give him an opportunity to highlight the causes he holds dear, like sustainability and the environment.
But there will also be a full dose of the pomp and circumstance that screams royal visit, starting with the ceremonial welcome at the Brandenburg Gate and a white tie dinner at Schloss Bellevue, the German president’s official residence, on Wednesday evening.
Royal fans started lining up early in the morning for security checks at the Brandenburg Gate, hoping to get a close view of Charles and Camilla. By noon, hundreds of fans awaited their arrival as police and sniffer dogs worked in the area. About 1,500 spectators were admitted to the cordoned-off area, German news agency dpa reported.
Christoph Muehlbach, 59, had traveled by train from Hamburg to see the British royals. He described himself as a supporter of the royal family for the last 20 years and said he had traveled to London in the past for weddings, anniversaries and the queen’s state funeral.
“I take great pleasure in the British royal family,” Muehlbach told dpa.
Gabriele Fluechter, 57, of Berlin, said she came “out of love for England,” where she had attended university. She said she had seen Elizabeth on one of the queen’s visits to Berlin, and also had spotted Charles and Camilla before.
“They walked along there very casually,” she said, adding that the long wait was no problem,
On Thursday, the king is scheduled to give a speech to the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament. He will also meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz, talk to Ukrainian refugees, and meet with British and Germany military personnel who are working together on joint projects. In the afternoon he will visit an organic farm outside of Berlin.
The royal couple plan to go to Hamburg on Friday, where they will visit the Kindertransport memorial for Jewish children who fled from Germany to Britain during the Third Reich, and attend a green energy event before returning to the UK
The king was urged to make the trip by Sunak, who during his first six months in office negotiated a settlement to the long-running dispute over post-Brexit trading rules for Northern Ireland and reached a deal with France to combat the people smugglers ferrying migrants across the English Channel in small boats. Sunak hopes goodwill created by a royal visit can help pave the way for progress on other issues, including Britain’s return to an EU program that funds scientific research across Europe.
Britain’s senior royals are among the most recognizable people on the planet. While their formal powers are strictly limited by law and tradition, they draw attention from the media and the public partly because of the historic ceremonies and regalia that accompany them — and also because the public is fascinated by their personal lives.
Elizabeth’s influence stemmed in part from the fact that she made more than 100 state visits during her 70 years on the throne, meeting presidents and prime ministers around the world in a reign that lasted from the Cold War to the information age.
Politicians were eager to meet the monarch for tea, if for no other reason than she’d been around so long.


Ukraine sets eyes on Filipino workers to help rebuild war-torn cities

Ukraine sets eyes on Filipino workers to help rebuild war-torn cities
Updated 29 March 2023

Ukraine sets eyes on Filipino workers to help rebuild war-torn cities

Ukraine sets eyes on Filipino workers to help rebuild war-torn cities
  • Philippines is a ‘priority nation’ in the region, Kyiv’s envoy says
  • Ukraine is also offering potential cooperation in IT, e-governance

MANILA: Ukraine is planning to attract Filipino workers to help rebuild its cities ravaged by Russia’s invasion, Kyiv’s envoy said on Wednesday.
Russia began a multipronged attack on Ukrainian territory and major cities in February last year, destroying critical infrastructure, hundreds of thousands of homes, and forcing more than 8 million people to flee to neighboring European countries.
The country’s reconstruction is expected to stretch over at least 10 years, costing $411 billion, according to a World Bank report released last week.
As leaders lay postwar plans, Denys Mykhailiuk, chargé d’affaires of the Ukraine Embassy in Malaysia, which holds jurisdiction over the Philippines, was on a four-day trip to the archipelagic nation to explore potential cooperation.
He told reporters in Makati City that talks would soon be initiated regarding Filipino workers helping in the reconstruction effort as “whole cities (were) wiped out.”
He added that “hardworking Filipinos” and investors from the country “will be very much welcomed.”
Ukraine is also planning to increase bilateral trade and open an embassy in the Philippines later this year, Mykhailuk said, describing the Southeast Asian country as a “priority nation” in the region.
“Unfortunately, since the war started, they have a drop of 94 percent in bilateral trade. We want to remedy (this), and we proposed to our partners of the Republic of Philippines several ways to do so,” Mykhailuk said.
Kyiv, a major exporter of wheat, has offered to help Manila build a “grain bank” and work together in information technology and e-governance, the envoy said.
Mykhailiuk’s visit comes about a month after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had their first phone call, during which the two leaders discussed how to further bilateral cooperation.