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OIC praises Cambodia’s religious tolerance at annual reception

OIC praises Cambodia’s religious tolerance at annual reception
El Habib Bourane, director of Muslim communities and minorities at the Department of Political Affairs at the OIC. (Supplied)
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Updated 28 March 2023
Arab News

OIC praises Cambodia’s religious tolerance at annual reception

OIC praises Cambodia’s religious tolerance at annual reception
  • OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha thanked Cambodia’s leadership, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, for hosting the event
  • Speaking before more than 6,000 people, from different regions of Cambodia and neighboring countries, Hun Sen said that his government had always promoted freedom of religion
Updated 28 March 2023
Arab News

JEDDAH: A delegation from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has attended the annual Ramadan iftar reception hosted by Hun Sen, prime minister of Cambodia, in Phnom Penh.

The event was attended by dignitaries from the region’s countries, including the prime minister of Malaysia, the former vice president of Indonesia, and members of the diplomatic community.

OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha thanked Cambodia’s leadership, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, for hosting the event.

In a statement delivered on his behalf by El Habib Bourane, director of Muslim communities and minorities at the Department of Political Affairs at the OIC, Taha said that the occasion testified to Cambodia’s long-standing respect for diversity, peaceful coexistence and tolerance among all communities, and to the high regard the government of the country accords to Muslims.

He acknowledged that the Cambodian government’s promotion of peaceful integration, coexistence and harmony among various communities provided an example for other countries to follow.

The OIC chief expressed appreciation for constructive engagement between the organization and Cambodia, and stressed his commitment to strengthening the close and friendly relations and cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.

Speaking before an audience of more than 6,000 people from different regions of Cambodia and neighboring countries, Hun Sen said that his government had always promoted freedom of religion by facilitating all practices and resolutely opposing racism.

He emphasized that religious harmony was indispensable in building and ensuring peace and development.

Hun Sen called on the Cambodian Islamic Supreme Council to strengthen and expand national and international cooperation to help mobilize both technical and financial assistance to contribute to the well-being of the Muslim community.

The delegation from the OIC also held meetings with a number of Cambodian officials, the mufti of the country, and representatives of the Muslim community. It also visited mosques in Phnom Penh.

Topics: Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Cambodia Hun Sen Hissein Brahim Taha El Habib Bourane

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WHO rushes supplies to Ukraine, readies to tackle disease in flood areas

WHO rushes supplies to Ukraine, readies to tackle disease in flood areas
Updated 08 June 2023
Reuters

WHO rushes supplies to Ukraine, readies to tackle disease in flood areas

WHO rushes supplies to Ukraine, readies to tackle disease in flood areas
  • Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for the bursting of the Soviet-era Kakhovka hydroelectric dam
  • "The impact of the region's water supply sanitation systems and public health services cannot be underestimated," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing
Updated 08 June 2023
Reuters

GENEVA: The World Health Organization has rushed emergency supplies to flood-hit parts of Ukraine and are preparing to respond to an array of health risks including trauma, drowning and waterborne diseases like cholera, officials said on Thursday.
Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for the bursting of the Soviet-era Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which sent waters cascading across the war zone of southern Ukraine in the early hours of Tuesday, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes.
“The impact of the region’s water supply sanitation systems and public health services cannot be underestimated,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing.
“The WHO has rushed in to support the authorities and health care workers in preventive measures against waterborne diseases and to improve disease surveillance.”
Asked specifically about cholera, WHO technical officer Teresa Zakaria said that the risk of an outbreak was present since the pathogen exists in the environment. She said that the WHO was working with Ukraine’s health ministry to put mechanisms in place to ensure that vaccines can be imported if needed.
“We are trying to address quite a wide range of health risks actually associated with the floods, starting from trauma to drowning, to waterborne diseases but also all the way to the potential implications of disruption to chronic treatment,” she added.
The huge Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River separates Russian and Ukrainian forces and people have been affected on both sides of its banks. WHO’s Emergencies Director Mike Ryan said the WHO has offered assistance to Russian-controlled areas but that its operational presence was “primarily” on the Ukrainian side.
He said Russian authorities had given them assurances that people living in areas it occupies were being “well monitored, well cared for, well fed (and) well supported.”
“We will be delighted to be able to access those areas and be able to monitor health as we would in most situations wish to do,” he said, adding it would be for the Ukrainian and Russian authorities to agree how that could be achieved.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict WHO Kakhovka dam

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UK unveils new sanctions targeting Russia’s ally Belarus

UK unveils new sanctions targeting Russia’s ally Belarus
Updated 08 June 2023
AFP

UK unveils new sanctions targeting Russia’s ally Belarus

UK unveils new sanctions targeting Russia’s ally Belarus
  • London said the new curbs would hit Belarus exports that have been funding the administration of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko
  • The UK is now banning imports of gold, cement, wood and rubber from Belarus, and blocking exports of banknotes and machinery
Updated 08 June 2023
AFP

LONDON: Britain announced Thursday new sanctions against Belarus, its latest punishment for the eastern European country’s support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and suppression of anti-government activists.
London said the new curbs would hit Belarus exports that have been funding the administration of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and “crack down on Russia’s efforts to circumvent sanctions.”
Western countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow, and its neighbor to the west Minsk, following the launch of the Russian war in Ukraine in February last year.
The UK is now banning imports of gold, cement, wood and rubber from Belarus, and blocking exports of banknotes and machinery, alongside goods, technologies and materials that could be used to produce chemical and biological weapons.
The measures also give Britain grounds to prevent designated Belarusian media organizations from spreading propaganda and disinformation in the UK, including over the Internet.
Social media companies and Internet service providers will be required to restrict access to the websites of sanctioned Belarusian media organizations, as occurs with sanctioned Russian outlets.
The new legislation also expands sanctions criteria, giving the UK government the basis to target a broader range of Belarusians, such as Lukashenko’s aides, advisers and ministers.
“This new package ratchets up the economic pressure on Lukashenko and his regime which actively facilitates the Russian war effort and ignores Ukraine’s territorial integrity,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement.
“Our support for Ukraine will remain resolute for as long as it takes and the UK will not hesitate to introduce further measures against those who prop up Putin’s war.”
Belarus has been ruled by Lukashenko since 1994.
The UK was among a number of Western countries that imposed sanctions on Lukashenko’s government for its suppression of mass anti-government protests in 2020.
Western countries then imposed various new sanctions last year over its role in Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine.
Lukashenko has allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory and airspace to conduct missile and drone strikes against Ukraine, as well as providing training and logistical support to Moscow’s forces.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict belarus Alexander Lukashenko Vladimir Putin

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US suspends food aid to Ethiopia, says it is not reaching needy

US suspends food aid to Ethiopia, says it is not reaching needy
Updated 08 June 2023
Reuters

US suspends food aid to Ethiopia, says it is not reaching needy

US suspends food aid to Ethiopia, says it is not reaching needy
  • The United States is by far the largest humanitarian donor to Ethiopia
  • More than 20 million people need food aid, most of them due to drought and a recently-concluded war
Updated 08 June 2023
Reuters

NAIROBI: The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said on Thursday it was suspending food aid to Ethiopia because its donations were being diverted from people in need.
A spokesperson said in a statement that USAID had determined, in coordination with the Ethiopian government, that a “widespread and coordinated campaign is diverting food assistance from the people of Ethiopia.”
The statement did not say who was behind the campaign.
The United States is by far the largest humanitarian donor to Ethiopia, where more than 20 million people need food aid, most of them due to drought and a recently-concluded war in the northern Tigray region.
According to an internal briefing by a group of foreign donors to Ethiopia seen by Reuters, USAID believes the food has been diverted to Ethiopian military units.
“The scheme appears to be orchestrated by federal and regional government entities, with military units across the country benefiting from humanitarian assistance,” said the document from the Humanitarian and Resilience Donor Group (HRDG), which includes USAID.
Spokespeople for the Ethiopian government and military did not immediately respond to requests for comment. USAID declined to comment on the report.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the issue on Thursday with Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen on the margins of a conference in Saudi Arabia.
The State Department said afterwards that Blinken welcomed a commitment by Ethiopia’s government to work with the United States to conduct a full investigation.
The USAID spokesperson said the agency intended to resume food assistance as soon as it was confident in the integrity of the system.
USAID and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had already suspended food aid to the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray last month in response to information that large amounts of aid there were being diverted.
A two-year war in Tigray between the federal government and forces led by the region’s dominant political party ended in a truce in November after killing tens of thousands of people and creating famine-like conditions for hundreds of thousands.
In the 2022 fiscal year, USAID disbursed nearly $1.5 billion in humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia, most of it food aid.
The HRDG briefing document, which was circulated among donors on Wednesday, recommended that Ethiopia’s government allow donors to deliver aid through “alternative modalities” like cash transfers.
It also urged donors to call on Ethiopia’s government to make a public statement condemning the diversion and demanding that aid workers not be harassed.
Ethiopia’s food crisis has deepened in recent years as a result of the war in Tigray and the Horn of Africa’s worst drought in decades.
WFP is also investigating “systemic” food diversion across Ethiopia, according to an email sent last week by the agency’s deputy director to staff in Ethiopia.
A WFP spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Topics: US Ethiopia

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Scottish boy who died following ‘playground incident’ named

Scottish boy who died following ‘playground incident’ named
Updated 08 June 2023
Arab News

Scottish boy who died following ‘playground incident’ named

Scottish boy who died following ‘playground incident’ named
  • Hamdan Aslam, 14, taken to hospital on Tuesday
  • Police say investigation ongoing
Updated 08 June 2023
Arab News

LONDON: A 14-year-old boy who died after a “playground incident” with another pupil at a school in Scotland has been named.

Hamdan Aslam was taken to hospital on Tuesday after emergency services were called to St Kentigern’s Academy in Blackburn, Bathgate, West Lothian. He was later pronounced dead. 

Police Scotland said they were told of the incident at 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, adding: “Officers were called to a report of concern for a 14-year-old boy at a school in the Bathgate area.

“He was taken by ambulance to hospital for treatment, but died a short time later. His family have been informed and inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances of the death.”

The police did not comment further, but sources told Sky News “no criminality” occurred in the incident, which involved two pupils.

The local Bathgate Mosque said in a statement: “During these difficult moments, the (Aslam) family needs our support and prayers.

“We ask Allah to grant Hamdan the highest rank in Jannah and provide the family with sabr (patience) to bear this loss. It is crucial that we refrain from making assumptions and speculations regarding this tragedy.”

St Kentigern’s Academy headteacher, Andrew Sharkey, said pupils and staff were receiving support, with the school having previously confirmed an “isolated incident” had occurred. 

Local Member of the Scottish Parliament Fiona Hyslop tweeted: “My deepest condolences are with the family and friends of the pupil who has died at St Kentigern’s Academy in my constituency.

“I hope those closest to him are given the privacy they deserve at this tragic time. Pupils and staff I am sure will be supported through this period.”

The nearby St John the Baptist Parish Church, Fauldhouse, posted to its congregation on Facebook: “Can you please keep the family and friends of the young S3 pupil who sadly passed away after an incident at St Kentigern’s Academy in your thoughts and prayers.”

Topics: Scotland

Sweden extradites Kurd to Turkiye in boost for NATO bid

Sweden extradites Kurd to Turkiye in boost for NATO bid
Updated 08 June 2023
Arab News

Sweden extradites Kurd to Turkiye in boost for NATO bid

Sweden extradites Kurd to Turkiye in boost for NATO bid
  • Ankara has accused Stockholm of supporting terrorism by hosting Kurdish dissidents
  • PKK supporter Mehmet Kokulu to serve remainder of jail term over drug trafficking charges
Updated 08 June 2023
Arab News

LONDON: Swedish judges have approved the extradition of a PKK supporter to Turkiye, which could see Ankara end its veto of the Scandinavian country’s bid to join NATO, The Times reported.

Mehmet Kokulu, a Kurd, found refuge in Sweden after serving part of a prison sentence in Turkiye for trafficking marijuana.

He was a member of the youth wing of HDP, a political party that has been accused by the Turkish government of acting as a front for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the EU and NATO.

Kokulu has also been an active critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on social media.

Sweden hosts about 100,000 members of the Kurdish minority, many of them supporters of the PKK. Turkiye has long accused Sweden of providing support for terrorism and has blocked its NATO application as a result.

But the move to extradite Kokulu could see Turkiye change its position, with Erdogan last year sending a list of names of alleged terror supporters to Sweden, demanding their extradition.

Sweden and its neighbor, Finland, have maintained decades-long neutrality regarding NATO, but following the Ukraine invasion, both sought to join the alliance.

Finland was granted membership in April but Sweden’s bid has been frustrated by both internal divisions over neutrality and its support for Kurdish dissidents, as well as Turkiye’s veto.

Kokulu, who was released early from prison on parole in Turkiye, said his extradition was “political” and should be blocked by the European Convention on Human Rights.

But Turkiye has maintained that Kokulu should complete his prison sentence for drug offenses and that authorities do not intend to press charges over his alleged terror links.

Sweden’s supreme court gave its approval for the extradition after finding there was insufficient evidence to show it was politically motivated.

Last year at a NATO summit, Sweden pledged to resolve the larger dispute over Kurdish extraditions without altering its policies.

Topics: Sweden NATO Turkiye

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