Two dead after shooting in Hamburg; investigation ongoing

Two dead after shooting in Hamburg; investigation ongoing
Police were called shortly before midnight and 28 vehicles rushed to the scene. (File/AFP)
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Updated 26 March 2023

Two dead after shooting in Hamburg; investigation ongoing

Two dead after shooting in Hamburg; investigation ongoing
  • Spokesperson declined to comment on the perpetrator

FRANKFURT: Two people have died after a shooting in Hamburg, police said on Sunday, in a second deadly shooting in the city this month.
Police said they had concluded an operation and were now investigating. A spokesperson declined to comment on the perpetrator.
Bild reported that the police were called shortly before midnight and that 28 vehicles rushed to the scene.


‘Last resort’: Australian women, children in court bid to force repatriation from Syrian camp

‘Last resort’: Australian women, children in court bid to force repatriation from Syrian camp
Updated 11 sec ago

‘Last resort’: Australian women, children in court bid to force repatriation from Syrian camp

‘Last resort’: Australian women, children in court bid to force repatriation from Syrian camp
  • Group say their detention is arbitrary, and they have the right to return to Australia

LONDON: A group of women and their children plan to take the Australian government to court in a bid to be freed from Syrian detention camps, it was reported on Sunday.

Of the 40 Australian mothers and children being held in the Roj camp in northeastern Syria, 17 women and their nine children will file a “writ of habeas corpus” in Australia’s federal court in Melbourne on Monday, the Observer reported.

They argue that, as Australian citizens, they have the right to return to Australia.

They also contest that their detention is arbitrary, and that Canberra has “effective control” of their detention in the camp and, therefore, has the power to set them free, because the Syrian Democratic Forces that run the camp would release them on request.

Save the Children Australia, which is acting as the women and children’s litigation guardian, said the legal action was “a last resort,” with Mat Tinkler, its CEO, previously calling Roj camp “one of the worst places in the world to be a child.”

The women are the wives and widows who bore the children of dead or jailed Daesh fighters. Most have been in the camp for more than four years.

Earlier this week, an Australian child living in a Syrian detention camp wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, pleading to be brought home.

In 2019, eight orphaned children, including a pregnant teenager, were successfully returned to New South Wales and, in October last year, four women and 13 children were also rescued from Roj.

The Australian government made a commitment to repatriate more women and children, but has not carried out any further relocations.

“The repatriations last October raised the remaining children’s hopes that they, too, would soon be out of harm’s way. Instead, they feel they have been abandoned by their country and are losing hope for the future,” Tinkler said.


NATO chief to Erdogan: Sweden ‘has fulfilled obligations’ for membership

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan shakes hands with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Istanbul, Turkey, June 4, 2023.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan shakes hands with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Istanbul, Turkey, June 4, 2023.
Updated 04 June 2023

NATO chief to Erdogan: Sweden ‘has fulfilled obligations’ for membership

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan shakes hands with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Istanbul, Turkey, June 4, 2023.
  • “Sweden has taken significant concrete steps to meet Turkiye’s concerns,” Stoltenberg told reporters after meeting Erdogan
  • Turkiye has dragged its feet over admitting Sweden to the military alliance

ISTANBUL: NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday called on Ankara to drop its opposition to Sweden’s bid to join the defense alliance, saying Stockholm has addressed Turkiye’s security concerns.
“Sweden has taken significant concrete steps to meet Turkiye’s concerns,” Stoltenberg told reporters after meeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Sweden has fulfilled its obligations.”
Stoltenberg attended on Saturday the inauguration of Erdogan, who was re-elected to serve another five years, in a lavish ceremony joined by dozens of world leaders in the capital Ankara.
NATO member Turkiye has dragged its feet over admitting Sweden to the military alliance. It and Hungary are the only two member countries yet to ratify the membership bid.
Finland formally joined the alliance in April.
Erdogan has accused Sweden of being a haven for “terrorists,” especially members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group blacklisted by Turkiye and its Western allies.


Philippine immigration runs special arrangements for thousands of Hajj pilgrims

Philippine Charge d’affaires Rommel Romato hands out dates to arriving Filipino pilgrims in Madinah on June 3, 2023.
Philippine Charge d’affaires Rommel Romato hands out dates to arriving Filipino pilgrims in Madinah on June 3, 2023.
Updated 04 June 2023

Philippine immigration runs special arrangements for thousands of Hajj pilgrims

Philippine Charge d’affaires Rommel Romato hands out dates to arriving Filipino pilgrims in Madinah on June 3, 2023.
  • About 7,500 Filipino Muslims will perform Hajj this year
  • Hajj flights began on June 3 and will continue until June 16

MANILA: Philippine authorities made special arrangements to accommodate thousands of Filipino Muslims performing Hajj this year, the Bureau of Immigration said, as the country’s first batch of pilgrims arrived in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.
About 7,500 Filipinos will perform the Hajj in 2023, according to the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos.
The first batch of almost 300 arrived in Madinah on Saturday on board a Philippines Airlines flight.
The Philippines Bureau of Immigration has made special arrangements to accommodate Filipino Hajj pilgrims, it said in a statement, to “improve their overall experience during the 2023 Hajj pilgrimage and thereafter.”
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said: “Our primary goal is to make the journey as seamless as possible and allow (them) to focus on their spiritual endeavors without the unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.
“This is our way of extending support and courtesy to our Muslim brothers who are embarking on this pilgrimage which is considered as one of Islam’s most sacred and important religious events.”
In the predominantly Catholic Philippines, Muslims constitute roughly 5 percent of the country’s population of 110 million. Most live on the island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago in the country’s south, as well as in the central-western province of Palawan.
Tansingco said the special measures include dedicated lanes in various airports across the Philippines, designated specifically for the Hajj pilgrims to ensure speedy immigration process.
After the first Hajj flight on Saturday, remaining flights for Filipino pilgrims are scheduled until June 16, NCMF spokesperson Yusoph J. Mando said, adding that the commission “has been working tirelessly” to make this year’s Hajj operations successful.
“It is our hope in the commission that this shall be the beginning of a highly systematic Hajj operations for the Philippines,” Mando said in a statement shared with Arab News on Sunday.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in a special message delivered by his special assistant Anton Lagdameo during a send-off ceremony in Manila, said Filipino pilgrims “shall also act as our nation’s emissaries of peace and unity with other countries.
“May the tales of your journey inspire, and bridge gaps foster understanding and unity amidst our diversity, and promote a more peaceful and harmonious society,” he said.


First Sri Lankan pilgrims depart for Hajj with hopes, prayers for crisis-hit nation

First Sri Lankan pilgrims depart for Hajj with hopes, prayers for crisis-hit nation
Updated 04 June 2023

First Sri Lankan pilgrims depart for Hajj with hopes, prayers for crisis-hit nation

First Sri Lankan pilgrims depart for Hajj with hopes, prayers for crisis-hit nation
  • Sri Lanka is sending more than 3,500 people to this year’s pilgrimage
  • Island nation showing ‘tentative signs of improvement,’ IMF said on Friday

COLOMBO: More than 60 Sri Lankans departed for Hajj on Sunday, the first group of over 3,500 pilgrims expected to perform the spiritual journey in Saudi Arabia this year as the crisis-hit country shows signs of improvement.
As the Hajj returned in 2023 to pre-pandemic arrangements, Saudi Arabia initially approved the pilgrim quota of 3,500 for Sri Lanka and later added over a 100 more.
Sri Lanka fulfilled its entire quota this year after only about 960 pilgrims, or slightly more than the 2022 quota, were able to perform the Hajj last year.
“This year, 3,500 pilgrims from Sri Lanka are performing Hajj. They all hope and pray for Sri Lanka to recover from the current economic crisis, and for peace, harmony and unity among all communities in Sri Lanka,” Ibrahim Sahib Ansar, who oversees Hajj logistics at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News.
“The religious belief has become strong among Sri Lankan Muslims. The gap of three years in performing Hajj has also made the desire of Sri Lankan Muslims to be firm and strong.”
Most of the pilgrims are younger than 50 and about 35 percent of them are women, Ansar said.
As there are no direct flights from Colombo to Jeddah, Sri Lankans will fly via Middle Eastern capitals with Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, Gulf Air and Oman Air.
The first batch of Sri Lankan pilgrims, comprising more than 60 people, left Colombo on Sunday morning.
Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, who helped to negotiate Sri Lanka’s additional Hajj quota this year, said the past few years have been a “struggle” for Sri Lankans.
“It was a very tough affair for the Sri Lankans, but we are happy that things have returned to normal,” Sabry told Arab News.
“We are happy Sri Lankan Muslims are exercising their religious rights with a lot of pride and dignity in undertaking pilgrimage to holy cities. I wish them a meritorious journey.”
In 2022, Sri Lanka faced a political crisis as the country was gripped by the worst financial downturn since independence in 1948 and defaulted on foreign debt repayments. 
Though “economic recovery remains challenging,” the island nation is “showing tentative signs of improvement,” the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.
Sri Lanka’s inflation rate, which reached a record high of around 70 percent in September last year, eased to about 25 percent in May.  
“This year, we have regained our economy in a great way and our rupees have strengthened against the US dollar,” Rizmi Reyal, who heads the Sri Lanka Hajj Travel Operators Association, told Arab News.
“People have regained confidence in the country’s economy, and they are spending their savings on Hajj since they can feel they can earn their bucks easily because of the developing economy.”
In a send-off ceremony also attended by Sri Lankan officials early on Sunday, Saudi Ambassador to Colombo, Khalid bin Hamoud Al-Kahtani, “praised the level of coordination and cooperation” among Hajj authorities of the two countries, the Kingdom’s embassy in Sri Lanka said in a statement.
“The government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques attaches great importance to the pilgrims of the House of the Almighty Allah and all measures have been taken to ensure the comfort of the pilgrims in order to perform Hajj rituals with great ease,” the statement added.


Hundreds of Albanians have returned home from UK: minister

Hundreds of Albanians have returned home from UK: minister
Updated 04 June 2023

Hundreds of Albanians have returned home from UK: minister

Hundreds of Albanians have returned home from UK: minister
  • Deal has facilitated increase in returns to Balkan nation, Robert Jenrick tells Sky News
  • British PM has made tackling illegal migration a core aim of his administration

LONDON: UK Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has revealed that hundreds of Albanian migrants have been repatriated as part of a “gold-standard” deal with the government in Tirana. 

Jenrick, who initially suggested “thousands” had been removed, told Sky News that it was “early days” and that “spurious last-minute claims” were delaying deportations.

He said while “thousands of Albanian illegal migrants returned home and the numbers crossing from that country (are) significantly reducing,” only hundreds of people had left on flights as part of the deal with Albania.

He also admitted that a number of Albanian asylum-seekers remained in temporary accommodation or had “absconded.”

The UK government announced in April that “over 1,000” Albanians had been deported since December, including “failed asylum-seekers, foreign national offenders and voluntary returns.”

Around 16,000 Albanians claimed asylum in the UK in 2022, with Jenrick coming under fire for suggesting that they should be “excluded” from doing so as their country is safe.

The deal to “enhance cooperation” between the two countries was agreed between UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama during the latter’s visit to London in December last year.

The agreement focused on “security issues and home affairs (with the main focus on the fight against organized crime and illegal immigration),” as well as “economic growth and investment” and “innovation, youth and education,” with a plan to set up a “joint migration task force” to “manage illegal migration of Albanian citizens to the UK.”

Sunak has made tackling illegal immigration a core issue of his premiership. 

Jenrick said a second “landmark” deal with France had led to a “big increase in the number of interceptions” of boats carrying migrants across the English Channel, resulting in around 33,000 people being turned back.

Rama previously told Sky News that his meeting with Sunak had demonstrated “important signs of regret and embarrassment” from the UK government over rhetoric used by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who referred to Albanian migration across the Channel as an “invasion,” and to migrants themselves as “criminals.”