UK far-right activist charged after attending anti-Semitism march

UK far-right activist charged after attending anti-Semitism march
Far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon known as Tommy Robinson is arrested by police during an anti-Semitism demonstration in London, Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023. (AP)
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Updated 28 November 2023
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UK far-right activist charged after attending anti-Semitism march

UK far-right activist charged after attending anti-Semitism march
  • Robinson charged with failing to comply with a dispersal order excluding him from attending a march against anti-Semitism in London

LONDON: British far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson was charged on Monday with failing to comply with a dispersal order excluding him from attending a march against anti-Semitism in London at the weekend, police said.
Robinson, 40, also known as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was arrested near the Royal Courts of Justice in London, where the protest began on Sunday, after organizers said he was not welcome at the event.
“A man has now been charged in connection with this incident,” the Metropolitan Police said.
“Stephen Lennon, of Bedfordshire, has been charged with failing to comply with a section 35 direction excluding a person from an area.”
The section 35 direction is a dispersal order aimed to prevent anti-social behavior.
The former leader of right-wing English Defense League is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London on January 22.
Robinson, who was arrested after being pepper-sprayed by the police, claimed he had been attending the march as a journalist.
He denied causing alarm or distress to others.
“The arrested man resisted as officers attempted to put him in handcuffs,” a Met Police spokesman said.
“He was warned repeatedly before PAVA spray (an incapacitant spray used by the British police) was used.”
The force said organizers had “been clear about their concerns that the man’s attendance, and that of those who were likely to accompany him, would cause fear for other participants.”
“As a result he was spoken to and warned on more than one occasion that his continued presence in the area was likely to cause harassment, alarm and distress to others,” the police said.
“He was directed to leave the area but refused to do so.”
Robinson was also seen among crowds of counter-protesters who clashed with police in London on November 11, as pro-Palestinian demonstrators called for a cease-fire in Israel’s war with Hamas.


US says Russia denying access to citizen jailed for fighting in Ukraine

US says Russia denying access to citizen jailed for fighting in Ukraine
Updated 20 sec ago
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US says Russia denying access to citizen jailed for fighting in Ukraine

US says Russia denying access to citizen jailed for fighting in Ukraine
  • Stephen Hubbard, 72, was arrested more than two years ago and sentenced on Monday by a Moscow court for fighting for Kyiv

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday criticized Russia for withholding consular access for a detained American, accused of being a “mercenary” for Ukraine and sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.
Stephen Hubbard, 72, was arrested more than two years ago and sentenced on Monday by a Moscow court for fighting for Kyiv.
“We have limited information available about this case because Russia has refused to grant consular access,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Calling on Moscow to grant American diplomats access to Hubbard, as “they have an obligation” to do, Miller added the US government was “considering our next steps.”
Hubbard has been in custody since April 2022, though his case only became public on September 27, when his trial — largely held behind closed doors — began in Moscow.
He was sentenced to six years and ten months in prison, convicted of “participating as a mercenary in the armed conflict.”
Russia has not said where he had been detained.
The United States says he was detained in Ukraine.
Russia has recently detained and tried a number of US citizens, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has since been released in a prisoner swap.
Washington accuses Moscow of arbitrarily detaining Americans in order to use them for prisoner exchanges.


Trump says migrants who have committed murder have introduced ‘a lot of bad genes in our country’

Trump says migrants who have committed murder have introduced ‘a lot of bad genes in our country’
Updated 11 min 41 sec ago
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Trump says migrants who have committed murder have introduced ‘a lot of bad genes in our country’

Trump says migrants who have committed murder have introduced ‘a lot of bad genes in our country’
  • The Biden administration has stiffened asylum restrictions for migrants, and Harris, seeking to address a vulnerability as she campaigns, has worked to project a tougher stance on immigration

NEW YORK: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday suggested that migrants who are in the US and have committed murder did so because “it’s in their genes.” There are, he added, “a lot of bad genes in our country right now.”
It’s the latest example of Trump alleging that immigrants are changing the hereditary makeup of the US Last year, he evoked language once used by Adolf Hitler to argue that immigrants entering the US illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Trump made the comments Monday in a radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt. He was criticizing his Democratic opponent for the 2024 presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, when he pivoted to immigration, citing statistics that the Department of Homeland Security says include cases from his administration.
“How about allowing people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers? Many of them murdered far more than one person,” Trump said. “And they’re now happily living in the United States. You know, now a murderer — I believe this: it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now. Then you had 425,000 people come into our country that shouldn’t be here that are criminals.”
Trump’s campaign said his comments regarding genes were about murderers.
“He was clearly referring to murderers, not migrants. It’s pretty disgusting the media is always so quick to defend murderers, rapists, and illegal criminals if it means writing a bad headline about President Trump,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement released immigration enforcement data to Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales last month about the people under its supervision, including those not in ICE custody. That included 13,099 people who were found guilty of homicide and 425,431 people who are convicted criminals.
But those numbers span decades, including during Trump’s administration. And those who are not in ICE custody may be detained by state or local law enforcement agencies, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.
The Harris campaign declined to comment.
Asked during her briefing with reporters on Monday about Trump’s “bad genes” comment, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “That type of language, it’s hateful, it’s disgusting, it’s inappropriate, it has no place in our country.”
The Biden administration has stiffened asylum restrictions for migrants, and Harris, seeking to address a vulnerability as she campaigns, has worked to project a tougher stance on immigration.
The former president and Republican nominee has made illegal immigration a central part of his 2024 campaign, vowing to stage the largest deportation operation in US history if elected. He has a long history of comments maligning immigrants, including referring to them as “animals” and “killers,” and saying that they spread diseases.
Last month, during his debate with Harris, Trump falsely claimed Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets.
As president, he questioned why the US was accepting immigrants from Haiti and Africa rather than Norway and told four congresswomen, all people of color and three of whom were born in the US, to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”


Escapee from Portuguese prison caught in Morocco, four still at large

On Sept. 7, the five convicts escaped from a high-security prison near Lisbon. (AFP file photo)
On Sept. 7, the five convicts escaped from a high-security prison near Lisbon. (AFP file photo)
Updated 07 October 2024
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Escapee from Portuguese prison caught in Morocco, four still at large

On Sept. 7, the five convicts escaped from a high-security prison near Lisbon. (AFP file photo)
  • On Sept. 7, the five convicts escaped from Vale de Judeus prison during visiting hours, when the guards were busy, with the help of a long ladder provided by an accomplice on the outside

LISBON: One of five inmates who staged a spectacular escape from a high-security prison near Lisbon a month ago has been recaptured in Morocco, Portuguese police said on Monday, while the other four, including foreign nationals, remain at large.
Moroccan authorities arrested Fabio Loureiro, 33, late on Sunday in Tangier.
He will appear before a judge in Morocco before his extradition to Portugal to serve the rest of a 25-year prison sentence for armed robbery, drug trafficking, extortion and other crimes, police said.
On Sept. 7, the five convicts escaped from Vale de Judeus prison during visiting hours, when the guards were busy, with the help of a long ladder provided by an accomplice on the outside.
The prison guards’ union has long been flagging what it sees as inadequate staffing and security at the prison with a capacity for 560 inmates, especially since the watchtowers were torn down and replaced with video surveillance.

 


India offers financial support to Maldives after talks to repair ties

India offers financial support to Maldives after talks to repair ties
Updated 07 October 2024
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India offers financial support to Maldives after talks to repair ties

India offers financial support to Maldives after talks to repair ties

NEW DELHI: India stepped up its development assistance to the Maldives after the two leaders held talks in New Delhi on Monday in a bid to repair strained ties that saw the president of the Indian Ocean archipelago forging closer relations with China.

After the talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India will offer financial support to the cash-strapped Maldives in form of a $100-million treasury bills rollover. The countries also signed a $400-million currency swap agreement.

The two leaders virtually inaugurated a new international airport in the Maldives, and Modi announced that work will be accelerated on the India-assisted Greater Male Connectivity Project, which aims to link key islands of the Maldives through modern transport networks.

“India is Maldives’ nearest neighbor and a close friend,” Modi said during a joint news conference. He said the Maldives held an important position in India’s “neighborhood first policy.”

Tensions between India and the Maldives have grown since President Mohamed Muizzu, who favors closer ties with China, was elected last year after defeating India-friendly incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Leading up to the election, Muizzu had promised to expel Indian soldiers deployed in the Maldives to help with humanitarian assistance.


Indian man charged with rape and murder of doctor that sparked widespread protests

Indian man charged with rape and murder of doctor that sparked widespread protests
Updated 07 October 2024
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Indian man charged with rape and murder of doctor that sparked widespread protests

Indian man charged with rape and murder of doctor that sparked widespread protests
  • The suspect, named as Sanjoy Roy, was arrested the day after the murder on August 9 and held in custody since
  • Roy, who had been working as a volunteer supporting patients, would potentially face death penalty if convicted

Kolkata: Indian police on Monday charged a man with the rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor, a crime which appalled the country and triggered wide-scale protests.
The discovery of the doctor’s bloodied body at a government hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata on August 9 sparked nationwide anger at the chronic issue of violence against women.
The suspect, named as Sanjoy Roy, arrested the day after the murder and held in custody since, was formally charged on Monday with a confidential document of evidence submitted to the court.
“Sanjoy Roy has been charged with the rape and murder of the on-duty trainee post-graduate doctor inside the hospital,” a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official told AFP.
Roy, widely reported by Indian media to be aged 33, and who had been working as a volunteer in the hospital supporting patients, would potentially face the death penalty if convicted.
Doctors in Kolkata went on strike for weeks in response to the brutal attack.
Tens of thousands of ordinary Indians joined in the protests, which focused anger on the lack of measures for women doctors to work without fear.
While most medics have returned to work, a small group began a hunger strike this month.
The doctors say the West Bengal state government had failed to deliver on its promises to upgrade lighting, security cameras and other measures to protect them.
India’s Supreme Court last month ordered a national task force to examine how to bolster security for health care workers, saying the brutality of the killing had “shocked the conscience of the nation.”
The gruesome nature of the attack drew comparisons with the 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus, which also sparked weeks of nationwide protests.