Philippines gains halal cred for efforts at Muslim-friendly travel

Philippines gains halal cred for efforts at Muslim-friendly travel
Philippine Tourism Undersecretary Myra Paz Valderrosa-Abubakar receives the Emerging Muslim-friendly Destination of the Year award at the Halal in Travel Global Summit 2023 in Singapore on June 1, 2023. (Department of Tourism)
Short Url
Updated 03 June 2023
Follow

Philippines gains halal cred for efforts at Muslim-friendly travel

Philippines gains halal cred for efforts at Muslim-friendly travel
  • Boosting arrivals from the Middle East is among the Philippine government’s priority goals for 2023
  • Philippines becomes Emerging Muslim-friendly Destination of the Year at Halal in Travel Global Summit

MANILA: The Philippines is focused on positioning itself as a Muslim-friendly destination, its tourism authorities said on Saturday, after winning an award at this year’s Halal in Travel Global Summit.
Muslim travelers are one of the fastest-growing tourist groups and attracting them is crucial for the Philippines as following the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a slowdown from Europe and China, which traditionally have been the main sources of visitors.
As the Muslim travel market is forecast to reach a value of $225 billion by 2028, the Philippine government announced last year that boosting foreign arrivals from the Middle East and Muslim-majority countries was among its priority goals.
The efforts were recognized with the Emerging Muslim-friendly Destination of the Year award during the Halal in Travel Global Summit — a key industry event — held in Singapore from May 30 through June 1 to honor places, groups, businesses, and people who have had a significant influence on the travel market for Muslims this year.
“This award is an affirmation of our collaborative efforts toward positioning the Philippines as a preferred destination for Muslim travelers, and strategically developing our halal tourism portfolio across our regions,” the Philippine Department of Tourism said in a statement quoting Secretary Cristina Frasco.
“This global recognition also opens up enormous opportunities for our country to introduce our rich and diverse culture and heritage evident in our Muslim communities, and our immensely beautiful destinations, including Mindanao,” Frasco said, referring to regions inhabited by the country’s Muslim minority.
In the predominantly Catholic Philippines, Muslims constitute roughly 5 percent of the country’s population of 110 million. Most of them live on the island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago in the country’s south, which are known as scenic locations with white sandy beaches and turquoise waters.
While many Muslim travelers look for restaurants serving food that is halal, or permissible under Islamic law, the Philippine Department of Tourism has employed “a wide range of services and amenities” designed to cater to them.
Tourism Undersecretary Myra Paz Valderrosa-Abubakar, who accepted the Emerging Muslim-friendly Destination of the Year award, said: “We hope to continue the great stride on tourism promotion and economic boost in our country for our Muslim brothers and sisters who are arriving in the Philippines,” she said, adding that Muslim visitors were welcome to explore the archipelago nation’s hospitality and more than 7,000 islands.


Surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada led to allegations around Sikh killing — official 

Surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada led to allegations around Sikh killing — official 
Updated 9 sec ago
Follow

Surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada led to allegations around Sikh killing — official 

Surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada led to allegations around Sikh killing — official 
  • Communications involved Indian officials and diplomats in Canada
  • Some intelligence given by member of “Five Eyes” intel-sharing alliance

TORONTO: The allegation of India’s involvement in the killing of a Sikh Canadian is based on surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, including intelligence provided by a major ally, a Canadian official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The official said the communications involved Indian officials and Indian diplomats in Canada and that some of the intelligence was provided by a member of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance, which includes the US, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to Canada.
The official did not say which ally provided intelligence or give specific details of what was contained in the communications or how they were obtained. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first reported details of the intelligence.
Earlier Thursday, India stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens and told Canada to reduce its diplomatic staff as the rift widened between the once-close allies over Ottawa’s allegation that New Delhi may have been involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh separatist, in a Vancouver suburb in June.
Ties between the two countries have plunged to their lowest point in years since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the assassination.
Nijjar, a plumber who was born in India and became a Canadian citizen in 2007, had been wanted by India for years before he was gunned down outside the temple he led in the city of Surrey.
Speaking Thursday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Trudeau acknowledged the complicated diplomatic situation he faces.
“The decision to share these allegations on the floor of the House of Commons was not done lightly,” he said. “There is no question that India is a country of growing importance and a country that we need to continue to work with.”
“We are not looking to provoke or cause problems but we are unequivocal around the importance of the rule of law and unequivocal about the importance of protecting Canadians.”
The bombshell allegation set off an international tit-for-tat, with each country expelling a diplomat. India called the allegations “absurd.”
Canada has yet to provide public evidence to back Trudeau’s allegations, and Canada’s UN ambassador, Bob Rae, indicated that might not come soon.
“This is very early days,” Rae told reporters Thursday, insisting that while facts will emerge, they must “come out in the course of the pursuit of justice.”
“That’s what we call the rule of law in Canada,” he said.
On Thursday, the company that processes Indian visas in Canada announced that visa services had been suspended until further notice.
The suspension means Canadians who don’t already have visas cannot travel to India. Canadians are among the top travelers to India: In 2021, 80,000 Canadian tourists visited the country, according to India’s Bureau of Immigration.
Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi blamed the visa suspension, which includes visas issued in third countries, on safety issues.
“Security threats being faced by our High Commission and consulates in Canada have disrupted their normal functioning. Accordingly, they are temporarily unable to process visa applications,” Bagchi told reporters. He gave no details on the alleged threats.
The announcement quickly rippled across Canada, especially among people with ties to India.
Sukhwinder Dhillon, a 56-year-old grocery store owner in Montreal, said he had a trip planned to India to see family and sort out his deceased father’s estate. Dhillon, who came to Canada in 1998, said he makes the trip every two or three years and has lost two immediate family members since he was last home.
“My father passed, and my brother passed,” Dhillon said. “I want to go now. ... Now I don’t know when we’ll go.”
Bagchi, the Indian foreign ministry spokesman, also called for a reduction in Canadian diplomats in India, saying they outnumbered Indian diplomats in Canada. “We have informed the Canadian government that there should be parity” in staffing, he said.
The Canadian High Commission in New Delhi said Thursday that its consulates in India are open and continue to serve clients. It said some of its diplomats had received threats on social media, prompting it to assess its “staff complement in India.” It added that Canada expects India to provide security for its diplomats and consular officers working there.
On Wednesday, India warned its citizens to be careful when traveling to Canada because of “growing anti-India activities and politically condoned hate-crimes.”
India’s security and intelligence branches have long been active in South Asia and are suspected in a number of killings in Pakistan. But arranging the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada, home to nearly 2 million people of Indian descent, would be unprecedented.
India has criticized Canada for years over giving free rein to Sikh separatists, including Nijjar. New Delhi had accused him of links to terrorism, which he denied.
Nijjar was a local leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan. A bloody Sikh insurgency shook north India in the 1970s and 1980s until it was crushed in a government crackdown in which thousands of people were killed, including prominent Sikh leaders.
While the active insurgency ended decades ago, the Indian government has warned that Sikh separatists are trying to stage a comeback and pressed countries like Canada, where Sikhs comprise over 2 percent of the population, to do more to stop them.
At the time of his killing, Nijjar was working to organize an unofficial Sikh diaspora referendum on independence from India.
New Delhi’s anxieties about Sikh separatist groups in Canada have long been a strain on the relationship, but the two have maintained strong defense and trade ties and share strategic interests over China’s global ambitions.
In March, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government summoned the Canadian high commissioner in New Delhi, its top diplomat in the country, to complain about Sikh independence protests in Canada.
Signs of a broader diplomatic rift emerged at the summit of the Group of 20 leading world economies hosted by India earlier this month. Trudeau had frosty encounters with Modi, and a few days later Canada canceled a trade mission to India planned for the fall. A trade deal between the two is now on pause.
On Wednesday, India’s National Investigation Agency said it has intensified its crackdown on Sikh insurgents operating in India.
It announced rewards of up to 1 million rupees ($12,000) for information leading to the arrest of five insurgents, one of whom is believed to be based in neighboring Pakistan. It accused them of extorting money from businesses for a banned Sikh organization, the Babbar Khalsa International, and of targeted killings in India.


9/11 detainee tortured by CIA ruled unfit for trial: report

9/11 detainee tortured by CIA ruled unfit for trial: report
Updated 18 min 38 sec ago
Follow

9/11 detainee tortured by CIA ruled unfit for trial: report

9/11 detainee tortured by CIA ruled unfit for trial: report
  • Ramzi bin Al-Shibh, 51, had been scheduled to be one of five defendants in a trial related to the September 11, 2001
  • Military judge said the prisoner was too psychologically damaged to help defend himself

WASHINGTON: A judge at the US military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay on Thursday ruled that a Yemeni detainee who was tortured by the CIA is unfit to stand trial in a death-penalty case, US media reported.
Ramzi bin Al-Shibh, 51, had been scheduled to be one of five defendants in a trial related to the September 11, 2001, attacks on US cities by Al Qaeda that left almost 3,000 people dead.
But Col. Matthew McCall, a military judge, said the prisoner was too psychologically damaged to help defend himself, The New York Times reported.
Doctors at the US base on the eastern tip of Cuba diagnosed Bin Al-Shibh with post-traumatic stress disorder and secondary psychotic features, as well as a delusional disorder.
The military psychiatrists said his condition left him “unable to understand the nature of the proceedings against him or cooperate intelligently” with his legal defense team, the Times reported.
Bin Al-Shibh has for years complained of being “tormented by invisible forces that caused his bed and cell to vibrate and that stung his genitals, depriving him of sleep,” the paper added.
Bin Al-Shibh’s defense lawyer has claimed that his client was tortured by the CIA and went insane as a result of what the agency called enhanced interrogation techniques, that included sleep deprivation, waterboarding and beatings.
He had been due to face pretrial proceedings on Friday with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, believed to be the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and three other defendants. Their hearing will proceed as scheduled, the paper said.
Bin Al-Shibh was accused of helping organize the Al Qaeda cell in Hamburg, Germany, that hijacked one of two passenger jets that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.
Another suicide airliner attack targeted the Pentagon in Washington, and a fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania when passengers overpowered the hijackers.


Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in Canada on unannounced visit

Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in Canada on unannounced visit
Updated 28 min 3 sec ago
Follow

Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in Canada on unannounced visit

Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in Canada on unannounced visit
  • Canada is home to a large Ukrainian community and Trudeau’s government has pledged firm and lasting support for Ukraine

OTTAWA: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Canada Thursday night from the United States on an unannounced visit to rally support for his country as it fights the Russian invasion.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greeted Zelensky as he stepped off his plane in Ottawa, as seen on Canadian TV, traveling from Washington for his first visit here since the war started in February 2022.
In Washington, Zelensky met with President Joe Biden and leaders of Congress.
Canada is home to a large Ukrainian community and Trudeau’s government has pledged firm and lasting support for Ukraine as it battles Russian forces.
On Friday, Zelensky will hold formal talks with Trudeau and give a speech to the Canadian parliament.
He and Trudeau will also travel to Toronto to meet with business leaders and members of the community of Canadians of Ukrainian origin.


Canada calls on India to cooperate in murder probe of Sikh leader, declines to share evidence

Canada calls on India to cooperate in murder probe of Sikh leader, declines to share evidence
Updated 22 September 2023
Follow

Canada calls on India to cooperate in murder probe of Sikh leader, declines to share evidence

Canada calls on India to cooperate in murder probe of Sikh leader, declines to share evidence
  • Canada has said it has credible allegations linking Indian agents to murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June
  • Nijjar supported an independent Khalistani state for Sikhs, was designated by India as a “terrorist” in July 2020

NEW YORK: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday called on India to cooperate with an investigation into the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia and said Canada would not release its evidence.

Trudeau said on Monday that Ottawa had credible allegations linking Indian government agents to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June, prompting an angry reaction from New Delhi. Nijjar, 45, was a Canadian citizen.

The Canadian government has amassed both human and signals intelligence in a months-long investigation into the Sikh separatist leader’s murder, CBC News separately reported on Thursday citing sources.

Traditional Canadian allies have so far taken a relatively cautious approach to the matter. Political analysts said this was partly because the United States and other major players see India as a counterweight to the growing influence of China.

“There is no question that India is a country of growing importance and a country that we need to continue to work with ... and we’re not looking to provoke or cause problems,” Trudeau said in a press conference in New York on the sidelines of the annual high-level United Nations General Assembly. “But we are unequivocal around the importance of the rule of law and unequivocal about the importance of protecting Canadians.”

“That’s why we call upon the government of India to work with us to establish processes to discover and to uncover the truth of the matter.”

The CBC report said, citing Canadian sources, that no Indian official, when pressed behind closed doors has denied the allegation that there is evidence suggesting Indian government involvement in Nijjar’s death. 

India’s Ministry of External Affairs did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the CBC report.

The report said the intelligence included communications involving Indian officials, among them Indian diplomats present in Canada, adding that some of the intelligence was provided by an unidentified ally in the Five Eyes alliance.

Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing network that includes the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The United States is in touch with both Canada and India over Ottawa’s allegations, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday, confirming for the first time that Washington was talking to New Delhi about the matter.

“There’s not some special exemption you get for actions like this,” Sullivan told reporters when asked about Trudeau’s statement about possible Indian involvement. “It is a matter of concern for us, it is something we take seriously.”

US President Joe Biden and several members of the Five Eyes raised the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they met at the G20 this month, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The Indian foreign ministry said Canada had not shared any specific information about the murder. Nijjar supported a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent Khalistani state and was designated by India as a “terrorist” in July 2020.

“As a country with a strong and independent justice system, we allow those justice processes to unfold themselves with the utmost integrity,” Trudeau replied when asked when Canada would release the evidence it had.

India on Thursday suspended new visas for Canadians and asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence in the country. Trudeau did not respond when asked about these measures.

Speaking separately, an Indian trade official said there was no reason for Canadian pension funds to back out of investing in the country.


US, UK signal support for EU windfall tax plan on using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine reconstruction

US, UK signal support for EU windfall tax plan on using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine reconstruction
Updated 22 September 2023
Follow

US, UK signal support for EU windfall tax plan on using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine reconstruction

US, UK signal support for EU windfall tax plan on using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine reconstruction
  • Per EU estimates, windfall profit from Russia’s frozen assets in Europe could provide $3.27 billion a year to rebuild Ukraine
  • British FM says Russia must be made to bear the costs of reconstruction of Ukraine as a consequence of its invasion

WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt signaled support on Thursday for a European Union plan to impose a windfall tax on profits generated by frozen Russian sovereign assets to help finance the reconstruction of Ukraine.

A Treasury spokesperson said Yellen called the EU plan a “sensible” proposal.

Yellen, who discussed frozen Russian assets with Ukrainian officials during her visit to Kyiv in February, told Bloomberg News reporters and editors that Washington was discussing the idea with the EU, the spokesperson said.
Hunt told Reuters in a telephone interview from Los Angeles that he supported the EU’s idea of diverting interest earnings from the assets to Ukraine’s reconstruction.
“We have to find a way that doesn’t have unintended consequences,” Hunt said. “And I think the most interesting discussions are really about how to use the interest income generated by (frozen) assets to go toward that reconstruction without actually seizing the assets themselves.”
But Hunt said it was important to ultimately force Russia to bear the costs of reconstruction of Ukraine as a consequence of its invasion and “to make it clear to Russia that those assets are frozen until there’s a fair settlement made with the reconstruction costs.”
Yellen has repeatedly voiced support for Ukrainian demands that Russia should pay for the damage it has done to Ukraine, but has also pointed to significant legal obstacles halting moves to fully seize the $300 billion in Russian central bank assets frozen by sanctions.
EU officials have estimated that the windfall profit from Russia’s frozen assets in Europe could provide 3 billion euro ($3.27 billion) a year to rebuild Ukraine.

British FM says it was important to ultimately force Russia to bear the costs of reconstruction of Ukraine as a consequence of its invasion