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Germany approves sending heavy Leopard tanks to Ukraine

Update Germany approves sending heavy Leopard tanks to Ukraine
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday (January 24) decided to send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries such as Poland to do so while the United States may supply Abrams tanks. (Reuters)
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Updated 25 January 2023
Reuters

Germany approves sending heavy Leopard tanks to Ukraine

Germany approves sending heavy Leopard tanks to Ukraine
  • Pressure has been building on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to send the tanks
  • Germany would in a first step provide 14 Leopard 2 tanks from military stocks
Updated 25 January 2023
Reuters

BERLIN: Germany will supply its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, it announced on Wednesday, overcoming misgivings about sending heavy weaponry that Kyiv sees as crucial to defeat the Russian invasion but Moscow cast as a needless provocation.
Pressure has been building for weeks on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to send the tanks and allow other NATO allies to do the same ahead of expected spring offensives by both sides that could help turn the tide of the war.
Scholz’s government had stalled on the decision, wary of moves that could prompt Russia to escalate or suck the NATO alliance into becoming party to the conflict.
Germany’s decision paves the way for other countries such as Poland, Spain and Norway to supply their stocks of Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
“This decision follows our well-known line of supporting Ukraine to the best of our ability. We are acting in a closely coordinated manner internationally,” Scholz said in a statement.
The goal was to quickly establish two battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine, the statement said, adding Germany would in a first step provide 14 Leopard 2 tanks from military stocks.
Training of Ukrainian troops in Germany will begin soon, and Germany will also provide logistics and ammunition, it said. Germany will issue the appropriate transfer permits to partner countries that want to quickly deliver Leopard 2 tanks from their stocks to Ukraine, it said.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Germany

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Myanmar arrests about 150 Rohingya fleeing to Malaysia

Myanmar arrests about 150 Rohingya fleeing to Malaysia
Updated 7 sec ago
AFP

Myanmar arrests about 150 Rohingya fleeing to Malaysia

Myanmar arrests about 150 Rohingya fleeing to Malaysia
  • Group of men, women and children was arrested in Thanbyuzayat township in southern Myanmar
  • Myanmar is facing genocide accusations at the United Nation’s top court following the mass exodus
Updated 7 sec ago
AFP
YANGON: Myanmar authorities have arrested around 150 Rohingya suspected of trying to flee to Malaysia, an official said on Friday.
The group of men, women and children was arrested in Thanbyuzayat township in southern Myanmar, the official said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The official did not specify why the group had been arrested, but the Muslim minority faces restrictions on traveling within Myanmar, where rights groups say they live in apartheid-like conditions.
“They were hiding nearby in hilly forest between two villages... We started arresting them since late last night after we got a tip-off,” the security source said.
According to initial reports, the group had traveled by boat from western Rakhine state and planned to travel on to Thailand and then Malaysia by road, the official said.
A number of non-Rohingya suspected of trafficking the group were also arrested, and police were looking for around 30 more people, according to the source.
A military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017 sent hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh with harrowing stories of murder, rape and arson.
Myanmar is facing genocide accusations at the United Nation’s top court following the mass exodus.
Widely viewed in Myanmar as interlopers from Bangladesh, Rohingya are denied citizenship — along with access to health care and education — and require permission to travel.
The arrests come days after the junta said it would begin welcoming back members of the minority living in Bangladesh as soon as next month in a pilot repatriation program.
The plan would see Myanmar “repatriate about 1,500 displaced persons,” state media on Friday quoted a senior border affairs official as saying.
The border official did not give a specific timetable and added Myanmar had “not received any response yet” to the plan.
The returning Rohingya would be placed in a “transit camp for a short period” before being resettled in 15 villages, the official said.
“For their safety and security, we have police stations near the 15 villages,” it added.
Thousands of Rohingya risk their lives each year making perilous journeys from camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar to reach Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia.
Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who has dismissed the Rohingya identity as “imaginary,” was head of the armed forces during the 2017 crackdown.

457 arrested, 441 police injured in France unrest: minister

457 arrested, 441 police injured in France unrest: minister
Updated 59 min 51 sec ago
AFP

457 arrested, 441 police injured in France unrest: minister

457 arrested, 441 police injured in France unrest: minister
  • There had been 903 fires lit in the streets of Paris during by far the most violent day of protests since they began in January
Updated 59 min 51 sec ago
AFP

PARIS: A total of 457 people were arrested and 441 security forces injured on Thursday during nationwide protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s pensions reform, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

Speaking to the CNews channel on Friday morning, Darmanin also said that there had been 903 fires lit in the streets of Paris during by far the most violent day of protests since they began in January.

“There were a lot of demonstrations and some of them turned violent, notably in Paris,” Darmanin added, saying the toll was “difficult” while praising the police for protecting the more than million people who marched around France.

Police had warned that anarchist groups were expected to infiltrate the Paris march and young men wearing hoods and facemasks were seen smashing windows and setting fire to uncollected rubbish in the latter stages of the demonstration.

Darmanin, a rightwing hard-liner in Macron’s centrist government, dismissed calls from protesters to withdraw the pensions reform which cleared parliament last week in controversial circumstances.

“I don’t think we should withdraw this law because of violence,” he said. “If so, that means there’s no state. We should accept a democratic, social debate, but not a violent debate.”

Elsewhere on Thursday, the entrance to Bordeaux city hall was set on fire during clashes in the southwestern wine-exporting hub.

“I have difficulty in understanding and accepting this sort of vandalism,” the mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, told RTL radio on Friday.

“Why would you make a target of our communal building, of all people of Bordeaux? I can only condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”

British King Charles III is set to visit the southwestern city next Tuesday, and had been expected to visit the city hall and meet with Hurmic.

Topics: France

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China threatens consequences over US warship’s actions

China threatens consequences over US warship’s actions
Updated 24 March 2023
AP

China threatens consequences over US warship’s actions

China threatens consequences over US warship’s actions
  • USS Milius guided-missile destroyer sails near the Paracel Islands on Thursday, and again on Friday
  • The Paracel Islands are occupied by China but also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam
Updated 24 March 2023
AP

BANGKOK: China threatened “serious consequences” Friday after the US Navy sailed a destroyer around the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea for the second day in a row, in a move Beijing claimed was a violation of its sovereignty and security.
The warning comes amid growing tensions between China and the United States in the region, as Washington pushes back at Beijing’s growingly assertive posture in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway it claims virtually in its entirety.
On Thursday, after the US sailed the USS Milius guided-missile destroyer near the Paracel Islands, China said its navy and air force had forced the American vessel away, a claim the US military denied.
The US on Friday sailed the ship again in the vicinity of the islands, which are occupied by China but also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, as part of what it called a “freedom of navigation operation” challenging requirements from all three nations requiring either advance notification or permission before a military vessel sails by.
“Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations,” said US 7th Fleet spokesman Lieutenant junior grade Luka Bakic in an emailed statement.
“The United States challenges excessive maritime claims around the world regardless of the identity of the claimant,” Bakic added.
China’s Ministry of National Defense responded by accusing the US of “undermining the peace and stability of the South China Sea” with its actions.
“The act of the US military seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security, severely breached international laws, and is more ironclad evidence of the US pursuing navigation hegemony and militarizing the South China Sea,” ministry spokesman Tan Kefei said. “We solemnly request that the US. immediately stop such actions of provocation, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unexpected incidents caused by this.”
He said China would take “all necessary measures” to ensure its security but did not elaborate.
Like its statement on the Thursday incident, China again said it drove the American ship away from the islands, which are in the South China Sea a few hundred kilometers (miles) off the coast of Vietnam and the Chinese province of Hainan.
Both sides said their actions were justified under international law.
Bakic told The Associated Press that the ship “was not driven away” and “continued on to conduct routine maritime security operations in international waters” after concluding its mission near the Paracel Islands.
“The operation reflects our commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea for all nations,” he said. “The United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as Milius did today.”
The US has no South China Sea claims itself, but has deployed Naval and Air Force assets for decades to patrol the strategic waterway, through which around $5 trillion in global trade transits each year and which holds highly valuable fish stocks and undersea mineral resources.
A United Nations-backed arbitration tribunal ruled in 2016 that the historical claim from China on the waters had no legal basis under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Seas, and Washington maintains that freedom of navigation and overflight of the waterway are in the American national interest.
US forces currently operate in the South China Sea daily, and have been present for more than a century. China regularly responds angrily, accusing the US of meddling in Asian affairs and impinging upon its sovereignty.
China’s claims have frequently brought it into conflict with other nations in the region as well, and Filipino diplomats were expected to unleash a slew of protests on Friday over China’s recent targeting of a Philippine coast guard ship with a powerful military laser and other aggressive behavior.

Topics: China US South China Sea

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India’s Congress party to launch street protests against Rahul Gandhi’s conviction

India’s Congress party to launch street protests against Rahul Gandhi’s conviction
Updated 24 March 2023
Reuters

India’s Congress party to launch street protests against Rahul Gandhi’s conviction

India’s Congress party to launch street protests against Rahul Gandhi’s conviction
  • Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi found guilty for a 2019 speech in which he referred to thieves as having the surname Modi
  • Two senior Congress leaders said that Gandhi will respect the local court’s verdict and will not attend parliament
Updated 24 March 2023
Reuters

NEW DELHI: Members of India’s main opposition Congress party will take to the streets on Friday to protest against leader Rahul Gandhi’s conviction for defamation, party officials said a day after a magistrate’s court sentenced Gandhi to a two-year jail term.
Gandhi, 52, was found guilty for a 2019 speech in which he referred to thieves as having the surname Modi. He made the comment while campaigning ahead of the last general election to debunk economic policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He was convicted by a court in the western state of Gujarat, which also gave him bail and suspended the sentence for one month.
That gives Gandhi time to appeal but he faces immediate disqualification from parliament following the conviction.
Two senior Congress leaders said that Gandhi will respect the local court’s verdict and will not attend parliament. “It is a fact that his membership stands disqualified for now but we will challenge the conviction in the court to ensure he can attend parliament proceedings,” said a federal lawmaker who is also a Congress leader.
The current parliament session began on January 31 and is scheduled to conclude on April 6.
Officials in the Congress party said they are also depending on regional opposition parties to galvanize political support against the verdict.
“It is a critical political test for Gandhi and we are depending on regional parties to support the Congress and stand against Modi’s party,” said a second senior Congress leader on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the press. The president’s office confirmed that Congress leaders have sought a meeting with President Draupadi Murmu to lodge a protest against the conviction with the top constitutional executive.

Topics: India Rahul Gandhi

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Philippines, China say to address maritime issues peacefully

Philippines, China say to address maritime issues peacefully
Updated 24 March 2023
Reuters

Philippines, China say to address maritime issues peacefully

Philippines, China say to address maritime issues peacefully
  • Philippines hosts first in-person meeting between diplomats from the countries since before the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Last month, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. granted the United States expanded access to military bases
Updated 24 March 2023
Reuters

MANILA: Maritime issues between the Philippines and China remain a “serious concern,” a Philippine official said on Friday, as the countries pledged to use diplomacy to resolve differences peacefully during high-level talks.
The Philippines hosted this week the first in-person meeting between diplomats from the countries since before the COVID-19 pandemic, amid a flare-up in tensions over what Manila described as China’s “aggressive activities” in the South China Sea.
“Both our countries’ leaders agreed that maritime issues should be addressed through diplomacy and dialogue and never through coercion and intimidation,” Philippine foreign ministry undersecretary Theresa Lazaro said at the opening of bilateral talks on the South China Sea.
The discussions come two months after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s state visit to China, where President Xi Jinping said he was ready to manage maritime issues “cordially” with Manila.
“Maritime issues are an important part of China-Philippines relations that should not be ignored,” China’s vice foreign minister Sun Weidong said.
“In the past years, through friendly dialogue and consultations, the two countries have generally managed and effectively dealt with our differences on maritime issues. And we have also advanced our practical cooperation and our mutual trust,” added Sun, who is on a three-day visit to Manila.
Beijing, which claims large parts of the South China Sea, including some areas in Philippine waters, has expressed concern over an increasing US military presence in its neighbor, accusing Washington of increasing regional tensions.
Last month, Marcos granted the United States expanded access to military bases, amid China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and toward self-ruled Taiwan.
The agreement has been seen as a sign of a rekindling of ties between Manila and its former colonial master, which soured under his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte.
Last month, the Philippines accused China’s coast guard of using a laser against one of its vessels supporting a resupply mission for troops in the disputed Spratly islands. Marcos later summoned the Chinese ambassador to relay his concern over the intensity and frequency of China’s activities in the area.
Maritime differences with Beijing were a “serious concern” but could be resolved through the “exhaustion of all diplomatic means,” Lazaro said.

Topics: Philippines China

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