Russia’s war in Ukraine could last years, NATO’s Stoltenberg says

Russia’s war in Ukraine could last years, NATO’s Stoltenberg says
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gestures as he speaks during a press conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on June 16, 2022. (AFP)
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Updated 19 June 2022

Russia’s war in Ukraine could last years, NATO’s Stoltenberg says

Russia’s war in Ukraine could last years, NATO’s Stoltenberg says
  • Ukraine vowed on Saturday to prevail against Moscow as it fought Russian assaults near a key eastern city

FRANKFURT: Russia’s war in Ukraine could take years, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a German weekly newspaper, adding that the supply of state-of-the-art weaponry to Ukrainian troops would increase the chance of liberating the Donbas region from Russian control.
“We must prepare for the fact that it could take years. We must not let up in supporting Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told Bild am Sonntag. “Even if the costs are high, not only for military support, also because of rising energy and food prices.”
A NATO summit in Madrid later this month is expected to agree an assistance package for Ukraine that will help the country with the move from old Soviet-era weaponry to NATO standard gear, Stoltenberg said earlier this week.
Ukraine vowed on Saturday to prevail against Moscow as it fought Russian assaults near a key eastern city and multiple locations came under shell and missile attack.
Russian forces were defeated in an attempt to storm Ukraine’s capital Kyiv in March. Russia has since refocused on the Donbas region in the eastern part of Ukraine.


In Pakistan, no iftar meal is complete without pakoras

In Pakistan, no iftar meal is complete without pakoras
Updated 11 sec ago

In Pakistan, no iftar meal is complete without pakoras

In Pakistan, no iftar meal is complete without pakoras
  • Fritters are made from vegetables deep-fried in spicy chickpea batter
  • Traditional sellers expand businesses to meet demand in Ramadan

ISLAMABAD: Can an iftar meal in Pakistan be complete without pakoras?

Crispy and well-seasoned, pakoras are fritters that can be made from almost any vegetable deep-fried in spicy chickpea batter and enjoyed with sweet or sour chutney, mint yogurt or dipping sauces.

The snack has deep historical roots in the Indian subcontinent but becomes especially popular during the holy month of Ramadan when traditional sellers expand their businesses and new seasonal vendors open makeshift stalls to meet rising demand.

There are many reasons for the deep-fried treats’ popularity in Ramadan, not least that they provide the quick energy boost that believers abstaining from food and drink during daylight hours need to break their fast at dusk. The fried snacks are also a common iftar choice due to their low price.

Taimur Adil, a customer standing in line to buy pakoras at the Blue Area commercial area in Islamabad, explained the popularity of pakoras during Ramadan.

“The first is because it’s a very calorie-rich snack and you get very hungry during the fast, so, inevitably by the time iftar comes you want to eat something like a pakora ... you can’t resist it, it’s exactly what your body is craving for,” Adil told Arab News.

“The second reason is cultural ... we have been eating this for so many generations that we have come to believe that iftar is not complete without it.”

The ease of making pakoras and the few ingredients required are also attractive features of the snack for those who prefer to make them at home.

“This is an easy recipe that can be prepared at home with just two or three ingredients,” Mrs. Tariq Hassan, who was shopping for iftar groceries at Islamabad’s upscale Rana Market, said.

“This is why whether someone belongs to any social class, it is something so easy that it is made in every household.”

Indeed, all it takes to make pakoras is to first chop up thinly some vegetables, usually potatoes, onions, aubergine, spinach and cauliflower. The batter is prepared with chickpea flour, salt and spices and moistened with water. The vegetables are then dipped in the batter and deep-fried until golden brown.

During Ramadan, the demand for the easy-to-make snack skyrockets.

Asghar Ali, a vendor at Siddique Sweets and Bakers, said food items like pakoras, samosas, and other savory fried snacks sell very well in the holy month.

“We are doing this business since 1942 and the demand for our samosas and pakoras increases during Ramadan,” he said, adding that sales increased threefold, and he had to hire extra employees to keep up with the demand.

“Our regular staff size of 25 people increases to 80 during Ramadan as approximately 120 kilograms of pakoras and 3,000 to 4,000 samosas are sold daily,” Ali said.

Another seller at Fresco Sweets, Osman Farooqi, said he only introduces pakoras to his menu in Ramadan.

“On regular days, we don’t make fritters, only during Ramadan we prepare it, as demand for these items increases by almost 75 percent,” Farooqi told Arab News, saying his employees had to start preparing the batter and vegetables in the morning so that huge quantities of pakoras could be ready by sunset.

“I make pakoras only in Ramadan as it is in high demand,” Amjad Ali, another vendor said. “We sell around 300 kilograms daily at our four branches in Islamabad.”

And many people also only eat pakoras in Ramadan.

Zulfiqar Hussain, shopping for pakoras at an Islamabad neighborhood market, said his children only wanted to break their fast with the vegetable fritters.

“On regular days, we use very little pakoras,” he said, “but in Ramadan their demand increases (because) we need saltish things in iftar.”


Fears rise that UK plans to move Afghans from hotels could leave many homeless

Fears rise that UK plans to move Afghans from hotels could leave many homeless
Updated 28 March 2023

Fears rise that UK plans to move Afghans from hotels could leave many homeless

Fears rise that UK plans to move Afghans from hotels could leave many homeless
  • Govt to offer over 9,000 people new accommodation, move all Afghan refugees from hotels by end of year
  • Move comes as PM Rishi Sunak steps up efforts to pass into law new illegal immigration bill

LONDON: Fears are rising that Afghan refugees in the UK could become homeless over new plans to move them from hotel accommodation.

The government is set to offer the refugees new housing, giving those temporarily in hotels a minimum of three months to move out, in a bid to move all Afghan refugees from hotels by the end of the year.

There are currently around 9,000 Afghans living in hotels in the UK at a cost to the taxpayer of £1.2 million ($1.47 million) per day.

Government sources sought to assuage fears that thousands could be made homeless and forced to turn to local authorities for support, adding that “all individuals and families” would be helped into permanent homes “regardless of whether they choose their offer of accommodation.”

There has been frustration in some quarters of Whitehall that Afghan families have turned down permanent accommodation in some parts of the UK because they preferred to live somewhere else, holding out for “better” options to become available.

One source told The Times: “Eighteen months after we invited these people to Britain, many still find their lives on hold living in hotel rooms.

“We will be announcing a new support package to help them move into homes so they can build a proper future.”

Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council support organization, told The Guardian: “We are deeply concerned about many elements of these plans, in particular the risk that they could lead to people who fled the Taliban in Afghanistan being left homeless and destitute on the streets of Britain.

“This is not how those who were promised a warm welcome in the UK should be treated. Hotels are not the right place for refugees to live, but the fact that thousands of Afghans have been left in them for months on end is a consequence of government mismanagement and a failure to work successfully in partnership with local councils and other agencies to find suitable housing.”

Peymana Assad, a Labour councilor of Afghan origin from London, told The Guardian that the government had “failed on promises” made to Afghan refugees.

“With no proper plan in place to house Afghans, they have wasted taxpayers’ money on hotels, held Afghan refugee lives in limbo, caused untold damage to the mental well-being of individuals who stood side by side with British troops in Afghanistan, to then, in the end, throw these Afghan families out into the wilderness of homelessness, in the country they were brought to, not out of choice but necessity,” she said.

A further 50,000 asylum-seekers from other countries are also currently in hotels across the country, with different plans being drawn up for their future accommodation.

Two Royal Air Force bases, at Scampton in Lincolnshire and Wethersfield in Essex, have been identified as potential future housing sites for them.

The plans are set to be announced as the UK government steps up efforts to pass into law a new bill on illegal immigration.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has courted controversy after pledging to stop the flow of small boats carrying migrants illegally across the English Channel, with plans such as swift deportations, including to Rwanda, and permanent bans from entering the UK for people found to have done so against the law, to be introduced.

One amendment proposed for the bill suggests putting blocks on courts’ ability to prevent deportations, while Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, has suggested the proposals risk breaking international law.

Earlier this week Sunak told MPs: “It’s also important that we abide by our international obligations. This is a country and a government that does follow the law. Of course, that’s important.”

He added, though, that the bill would be “a tough piece of legislation, the likes of which we’ve never seen.”


Zelensky visits two Ukrainian towns recaptured from Russians

Zelensky visits two Ukrainian towns recaptured from Russians
Updated 28 March 2023

Zelensky visits two Ukrainian towns recaptured from Russians

Zelensky visits two Ukrainian towns recaptured from Russians
  • Video footage posted online by Zelenskiy's office showed him visiting Okhtyrka and Trostyanets in Sumy
  • "Our people proved that this occupier will be defeated by us, by our morale, by our Ukrainian character," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited two northern towns on Tuesday to celebrate their recapture a year ago in battles which he said showed Ukraine would defeat its Russian invaders.
Video footage posted online by Zelensky’s office showed him visiting Okhtyrka and Trostyanets in Sumy, the sixth region he has visited in the past week — some of them near the front line — as expectations of a Ukrainian counter-offensive rise.
“These days, these weeks, we are celebrating the anniversary of the liberation of our cities and communities in our northern regions,” Zelensky told a small crowd of soldiers and civilians at the railway station in Trostyanets before handing out medals.
Russian forces poured into the Sumy region, which borders Russia, at the start of the invasion in February 2022. They were driven out of the region after about a month of occupation that was met by fierce resistance.
The video footage posted online showed heavily damaged buildings in the towns Zelensky visited. Ukrainian officials say territories close to the border are still regularly bombarded by Russian artillery and air strikes.
“Our people proved that this occupier will be defeated by us, by our morale, by our Ukrainian character. Our people proved it, our warriors proved it,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram under the footage of his visit to Sumy.
The Russian invasion has been bogged down for months in fierce fighting along the eastern front, and Ukraine’s ground forces commander said last week that a Ukrainian counterattack could come “very soon.”


Taliban arrest prominent Afghan advocate of girls’ education 

Taliban arrest prominent Afghan advocate of girls’ education 
Updated 28 March 2023

Taliban arrest prominent Afghan advocate of girls’ education 

Taliban arrest prominent Afghan advocate of girls’ education 
  • Afghanistan remains the only country where girls are barred from attending school 
  • Matiullah Wesa, founder of Pen Path, has been advocating women’s access to education  

KABUL: A prominent Afghan campaigner for female education has been arrested in Kabul, his brother confirmed on Tuesday, as Afghanistan remains the only country where teenage girls are barred from school. 

Matiullah Wesa is the founder of Pen Path, which since 2009 has been distributing books in conservative rural areas of Afghanistan and advocating among tribal leaders for women’s access to education.   

His campaigning gained momentum last year when the Taliban banned girls from attending secondary school. The authorities said girls would be allowed to return to the classroom after a “comprehensive plan” in accordance with Islamic law, but in December another ban was implemented, barring female students also from universities. 

Wesa was arrested by Taliban security forces on Monday morning. 

“Matiullah Wesa was arrested and taken on Monday after the fajr prayer in Wais Qarni Masque in the fifth police district of Kabul city. So far, they didn’t share any information on which government agency has arrested him,” Wesa’s brother, Attaullah Wesa, told Arab News. 

“We’ve been working for Afghan children’s education since 2009, and we are working for the entire nation of Afghanistan. We are working to teach the next generation to have all their fundamental rights in the future.” 

Neither the Taliban police nor the spokesperson of the government has responded to repeated requests for comments regarding what charges Wesa has been detained on. 

The UN Mission to Afghanistan issued a statement on Tuesday, calling on the Taliban authorities to “clarify his whereabouts, the reasons for his arrest and to ensure his access to legal representation and contact with family." 

The arrest has dealt yet another blow to the already reeling hopes for education in the country. 

Wazir Khan, director of Today Child, a Kabul-based association providing free education to girls and boys in the rural areas of Afghanistan, said that Wesa’s activism aims to give a better chance to the youngest Afghans. 

“The arrest of Wesa will definitely have a negative impact because the youth will lose their morale,” Khan told Arab News. 

Wesa’s friend, journalist Bilal Sarwari, said the activist has been undeterred in his mission, which began during the tenure of the previous Western-backed government, when education services also did not reach the countryside. 

“Matiullah Wesa is someone who has dedicated his life to education. I’ve known him for many, many years. He traveled to every corner of Afghanistan and took many risks,” he said. 

“He is a beacon of hope, he is a hero for the Afghan girls and boys, he has been always advocating for education.” 


Belarus to face more sanctions over nuclear arms plan, Poland says

Belarus to face more sanctions over nuclear arms plan, Poland says
Updated 28 March 2023

Belarus to face more sanctions over nuclear arms plan, Poland says

Belarus to face more sanctions over nuclear arms plan, Poland says
  • "This step taken by Russia... will certainly lead to the announcement of additional sanctions," said Polish Prime Minister
  • Lithuania has said that it will call for new sanctions against Moscow and Minsk in response to Russia's plan

WARSAW: Belarus will certainly face further European sanctions due to a Russian plan to station tactical nuclear weapons in the country, Poland’s prime minister said on Tuesday, as tensions between Warsaw and Minsk hit new highs.
President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday Russia would station the nuclear arms in Belarus, his latest gambit in a worsening stand-off with the West over the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.
“This step taken by Russia... the announcement of the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus, will certainly lead to the announcement of additional sanctions, the level of sanctions will be much more severe for the Lukashenko regime,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference in Bucharest, referring to the Belarusian president.
The United States, the world’s other leading nuclear superpower, has reacted cautiously to Putin’s statement, with a senior Biden administration official saying there were no signs Moscow planned to use its nuclear weapons.
However, Lithuania has said that it will call for new sanctions against Moscow and Minsk in response to Russia’s plan.
Morawiecki said he was in daily talks with other European Union leaders about an 11th package of sanctions against Russia and that it would include more measures targeting Belarus, a close ally of Moscow.
Relations between Warsaw and Minsk were strained even before the war in Ukraine made them allies of opposing sides in the conflict.
Poland accuses Belarus of orchestrating a migrant crisis along its borders which reached a peak in 2021, though migrants continue to arrive at the frontier today. Minsk denies pushing migrants toward the border.
The two neighbors are also in dispute over the jailing of a journalist of Polish origin in Belarus and the vandalism of Polish graves in the country.
Amid the deteriorating ties, Poland closed one of its key border crossings with Belarus in February, a move Minsk has condemned.
On Tuesday, Morawiecki said Poland was considering further limitations on cross-border traffic.
“We border Belarus and, as part of our bilateral relations, we are considering tightening the parameters of passenger and freight traffic in order to send a signal that we do not accept actions that serve Russia in its aggressive actions in Ukraine.”