UK unveils new sanctions targeting Russia’s ally Belarus

UK unveils new sanctions targeting Russia’s ally Belarus
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. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 08 June 2023
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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

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.


Truck bomb kills at least 10 in Somalia

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Truck bomb kills at least 10 in Somalia

Truck bomb kills at least 10 in Somalia
MOGADISHU: A truck bomb exploded at a checkpoint in the central Somali town of Beledweyne on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and obliterating nearby buildings, a police officer said.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible, but Al Shabab frequently carries out bombings in the Horn of Africa country.
“So far I have seen 10 dead people including soldiers and civilians and over a dozen others injured, but the death toll is sure to rise,” police officer Ahmed Aden told Reuters.
Beledweyne is in central Somalia’s Hiran region which has recently witnessed battles between the military and Al-Shabab.
Aden said the dead included five police officers who fired on the truck in a failed attempt to stop it ramming the checkpoint. Nearby buildings and shops were reduced to rubble, along with the checkpoint, he added.
A woman, Halima Nur, who was near the site, told Reuters her niece and others had been in a nearby shop and could not be reached. “I do not know what to say, all the kiosks are now just rubble. I can’t trace my niece,” she said.
Al Shabab has been battling Somalia’s central government for more than a decade, aiming to establish its rule based on strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.

Russia says Karabakh Armenian fighters start giving up arms

Russia says Karabakh Armenian fighters start giving up arms
Updated 41 min 57 sec ago
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Russia says Karabakh Armenian fighters start giving up arms

Russia says Karabakh Armenian fighters start giving up arms
  • “The armed formations of Karabakh have begun handing over weapons and military equipment under the control of Russian peacekeepers,” said Russia
  • Six armored vehicles, more than 800 guns, about 5,000 units of ammunition were handed over by the fighters

NEAR KORNIDZOR, Armenia: Russia said that Armenian fighters in the breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh had started to give up arms as some humanitarian aid reached the 120,000 Armenians there who say the world has abandoned them after Azerbaijan defeated their forces.
The Armenians of Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, were forced to declare a cease-fire on Sept. 20 after a lightning 24-hour military operation by the much larger Azerbaijani military.
“The armed formations of Karabakh have begun handing over weapons and military equipment under the control of Russian peacekeepers,” said Russia, which has around 2,000 peacekeepers in Karabakh.
Russia’s defense ministry said so far six armored vehicles, more than 800 guns, about 5,000 units of ammunition were handed over by the fighters.
Russia said it had delivered more than 50 tons of food and other aid.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had supplied 28,000 diapers as well as blankets and fuel. An ICRC aid convoy reached the border headed toward Karabakh late on Saturday afternoon, Reuters witness said, the first since Azerbaijan retook the region.
The future of Karabakh and its 120,000 ethnic Armenians now hangs in the balance: Azerbaijan wants to integrate the long-contested region, but ethnic Armenians say they fear they will be persecuted and have accused the world of abandoning them.
Armenians in Karabakh told Reuters that they were essentially besieged in the region, with little food, electricity or fuel — and called on big powers to help them.
Azerbaijan envisages an amnesty for Karabakh Armenian fighters who give up their arms and has said the Armenians can leave the region for Armenia if they want.
Armenia, which lost a 2020 war to Azerbaijan over the region, has set up space for tens of thousands of Armenians from Karabakh, though Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says he does not want them to leave their homes unless it is absolutely necessary.
US Senator Gary Peters, leading a congressional delegation to the Armenia-Azerbaijan border on Saturday, said the situation required international observers and transparency from Azerbaijan.
“I think the world needs to know exactly what’s happening in there,” Peters, a Democrat from Michigan, told reporters. “We’ve heard from the Azerbaijani government that there’s nothing to see, nothing to worry about, but if that’s the case then we should allow international observers in to see.”
“I think there needs to be some visibility,” he said.

’ABANDONED’
Azerbaijan began its “anti-terrorist” operation on Tuesday against Nagorno-Karabakh after some of its troops were killed in what Baku said were attacks from the mountainous region.
The United States said it was deeply concerned by “Azerbaijan’s military actions.”
Accounts of the fighting were chilling.
Armenui Karapetyan, an Armenian in Karabakh, said he was now homeless, holding just a few possessions and a photograph of his 24-year-old son who died in 2020, after leaving his home in the village of Kusapat.
“Today we were thrown out into the street — they made us vagabonds,” Karapetyan told Armenia A1+, a partner of Reuters.
“What can I say? We live in an unfair, abandoned world. I have nothing to say. I feel sorry for the blood of our boys. I feel sorry for our lands for which our boys sacrificed their lives, and today... I miss the grave of my son.”
Thousands of Karabakh Armenians have massed at the airport seeking the protection of Russian peacekeepers there.
Svetlana Alaverdyan, from the village of Arajadzor, said she had fled with just the clothes on her back after gun fights gripped the village.
“They were shooting on the right, they were shooting on the left — we went out one after another, without taking clothes,” she told Armenia A1+.
“I had two sons — I gave them away, what else can I give? The superpowers resolve their issues at our expense.”


Gunmen kidnap dozens in Nigerian university: sources

Gunmen kidnap dozens in Nigerian university: sources
Updated 23 September 2023
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Gunmen kidnap dozens in Nigerian university: sources

Gunmen kidnap dozens in Nigerian university: sources
  • Dozens of gunmen from criminal gangs called bandits stormed Sabon Gida village on the edge of a Federal University
  • They took away at least 24 female students from the hostels along with two male neighbors, one of whom is a staff (member) of the university

KANO, Nigeria: Gunmen have kidnapped more than 30 people, including at least 24 female students, in a raid in and around a university in northwest Nigeria’s Zamfara state, residents said Saturday.
Dozens of gunmen from criminal gangs called bandits stormed Sabon Gida village on the edge of a Federal University outside the state capital Gusau in a predawn attack on Friday breaking into three female hostels and taking away the occupants, residents told AFP.
The attack was the first mass kidnapping at a college since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to power, promising to tackle the country’s security challenges.
“The bandits rode into the village on motorcycles and broke into the hostels and gained access into rooms by bringing down the windows,” Sabon Gida resident Sahabi Musa said.
“They took away at least 24 female students from the hostels along with two male neighbors, one of whom is a staff (member) of the university,” said Musa, who lives close to the hostels.
The attackers went into the university and seized nine welders working on a new building while they were sleeping, said Shehu Hashimu, another resident who corroborated Musa’s account.
One of the welders managed to escape and returned to the school, Hashimu said.
Troops deployed from Gusau, 20 kilometers away and engaged the attackers in a gunfight but a group of the kidnappers herded the hostages away while another group faced the soldiers, the two sources said.
“The attackers had a field day. They operated in the village from 3:00 am to 6:00 am unchallenged before troops arrived,” Hashimu said.
A video shared online after the assault showed ransacked rooms in one of the hostels with their windows pulled down.
Yazid Abubakar, Zamfara state police spokesman, confirmed the attack but declined to provide details, saying security personnel were working to free the captives.
A military officer said a military operation was under way as soldiers were confronting the attackers in a forest close to the nearby town of Tsafe.
“Six of the female students have been rescued by troops who pursued the terrorists into the forest,” said the officer, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the operation.
Zamfara is one of several states in northwestern and central Nigeria terrorized by bandits who raid villages, kill and abduct residents as well as burn homes after looting them.
The gangs maintain camps in a huge forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states.
The criminals have been notorious for mass kidnappings of students from schools in recent years.
In February 2021, bandits raided a girl’s boarding school in the town of Jangebe in Zamfara state, kidnapping more than 300 students.
The girls were freed days later following a ransom payment by the authorities.
Nigeria is facing a myriad of security challenges, including a 14-year militant insurgency in the northeast that has killed at least 40,000 people and forced more than two million others to flee their homes.


India confiscates properties of top Sikh separatist

India confiscates properties of top Sikh separatist
Updated 23 September 2023
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India confiscates properties of top Sikh separatist

India confiscates properties of top Sikh separatist
  • Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer believed to be based in Canada, was designated as a terrorist by Indian authorities in 2020

NEW DELHI: India’s top investigation agency confiscated Saturday the properties of a prominent Sikh separatist and close ally of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose killing has sparked a diplomatic row between India and Canada.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer believed to be based in Canada, was designated as a terrorist by Indian authorities in 2020 and is wanted on charges of terrorism and sedition.
He is also the founder of the US-based group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), whose Canada chapter was headed by Nijjar before he was gunned down by masked assailants in June near Vancouver.
The group, which has been banned by India, has been a vocal advocate for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan.
A diplomatic firestorm erupted this week with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying there were “credible reasons to believe that agents of the government of India were involved” in Nijjar’s death.
New Delhi dismissed Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd,” tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions followed, and India has stopped processing visa applications by Canadians.
Pannun jumped into the raging row and issued a video telling Canadian Hindus to “go back to India,” claiming they had adopted a “jingoistic approach” by siding with New Delhi.
In an interview with an Indian news channel, Pannun said Nijjar had been his “close associate” for over 20 years and was like a “younger brother” to him. He also blamed India for Nijjar’s killing.
Soon after his interview was aired, the Indian government issued an advisory to news networks asking them to refrain from giving a platform to people accused of “heinous crimes.”
Armed with court orders, officials of India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday confiscated Pannun’s house in Chandigarh, the capital of the Sikh-majority state of Punjab, it said in a statement.
The NIA also confiscated agricultural land belonging to him in Amritsar, it added.
It accused Pannun of “actively exhorting Punjab-based gangsters and youth” on social media “to fight for the cause of independent state of Khalistan, challenging the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.”
Sikhism is a minority religion originating in northern India that traces its roots back to the 15th century and drew influences from both Hinduism and Islam.
The Khalistan campaign was largely considered a benign fringe movement until the early 1980s, when a charismatic Sikh fundamentalist launched a violent separatist insurgency.
It culminated with Indian forces storming the Golden Temple, the faith’s holiest shrine in Amritsar, where separatists had barricaded themselves.
India’s prime minister Indira Gandhi was subsequently assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.
The insurgency was eventually brought under control and the Khalistan movement’s most vocal advocates are now among the large Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada, Britain and Australia.
But memories of the violence — in which thousands died — still haunt India, which has outlawed the Khalistan movement and listed several associated groups as “terrorist organizations.”


Xi to open biggest ever Asian Games, after a year’s delay

Xi to open biggest ever Asian Games, after a year’s delay
Updated 23 September 2023
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Xi to open biggest ever Asian Games, after a year’s delay

Xi to open biggest ever Asian Games, after a year’s delay
  • Over 12,000 competitors from 45 nations will compete in 40 sports during Asian Games
  • Nine sports, among them boxing and tennis, will serve as Asia qualifiers for Paris Olympics

HANGZHOU: Chinese President Xi Jinping will declare the Asian Games open at a glittering ceremony in Hangzhou on Saturday, kickstarting a sporting behemoth that boasts more athletes than the Olympics.
After being delayed by a year due to China’s strict zero-Covid regime, more than 12,000 competitors from 45 nations and territories across Asia and the Middle East are in the eastern city to compete in 40 sports.
Xi is scheduled to open proceedings officially in one of the country’s most prosperous regions, in front of invited guests including Syrian President Bashar Assad.
But rain could put a dampener on the occasion, with persistent drizzle lingering.
Assad — on his first visit to China since war erupted in Syria in 2011 — will join leaders from ally Cambodia, Kuwait, and Nepal, among others at Hangzhou’s Olympic stadium, state media said.
The Games are “likely to be China’s post-pandemic soft power exercise in the fully packed stadium with the presence of political and business leaders in Asia,” Jung-Woo Lee, sport policy expert at the University of Edinburgh, told AFP.
But they have already been rocked by a row between New Delhi and China, with a trip to Hangzhou by India’s sports minister canceled on Friday.
It followed three women martial arts fighters from the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh claiming they were denied accreditation, a move China disputed.
The northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh is claimed almost in full by Beijing, which calls it “South Tibet.”
China’s status as a sporting destination took a severe hit during the first three years of the pandemic, when snap lockdowns and travel rules saw almost all international events canceled in the country.
The hosts are overwhelming favorites to top the medals table, boosting a nearly 900-strong delegation, with Japan and South Korea battling for second.
Notably, North Korea has sent a team to end nearly three years of isolation from the global sporting arena.
They will fight for medals in sports ranging from athletics, swimming and football to bridge, along with a host of regional specialities including dragon boat racing, Chinese martial art wushu and kabaddi, a popular contact sport on the Indian subcontinent.
Nine sports, among them boxing, break dancing and tennis, will serve as Asia qualifiers for next year’s Paris Olympics.
A sprinkling of world and Olympic champions adds some stardust, including India’s javelin king Neeraj Chopra, Qatari high jumper Mutaz Barshim and Chinese swimming royalty Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei.
Olympic Council of Asia honorary life vice president Wei Jizhong said having so many sporting disciplines was about giving opportunity to as many athletes as possible.
“We are open to all. This means our Games are not concentrated only for elite sportspeople,” he said.
“When developing countries’ athletes get medals their people are happy, their government is happy, and they support sport. Sport has a high social position. So I think this policy of OCA is successful.”
The Games will be staged at 54 venues — 14 newly constructed — mostly in Hangzhou but also extending to cities as far afield as Wenzhou, 300 kilometers (180 miles) south.
The centerpiece is the “Big Lotus” Olympic stadium with a capacity of up to 80,000 where athletics and the opening and closing ceremonies will be staged.
Hangzhou, a city of 12 million people an hour’s bullet train from Shanghai, is the unofficial home of China’s tech industry and the Games will feature driverless buses, robot dogs and facial recognition.
It is the first cashless Games, with Hangzhou a cashless city.
Organizers are also touting their environmental credentials, with a low-carbon policy in place that will see venues powered by ‘green’ electricity.