Russia’s FSB says British special forces operating in Ukraine

Russia’s FSB says British special forces operating in Ukraine
This handout photograph taken and released by Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on Apr. 9, 2024, shows President Volodymyr Zelensky visiting the construction site of a defense line in Kharkiv region. (AFP)
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Updated 11 April 2024
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Russia’s FSB says British special forces operating in Ukraine

Russia’s FSB says British special forces operating in Ukraine
  • The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said it had foiled a plan by British special forces to land Ukrainian sabotage soldiers on the Tendrov Split
  • The Ukrainian special forces unit was “supervised by a unit of the SBS which indicates the direct involvement of Britain in the conflict“

MOSCOW: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday that Britain’s Special Boat Service had been operating in Ukraine and helping Ukrainian forces carry out attempted operations against Russian forces.
The Ukraine war has triggered the deepest crisis in Moscow’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. President Vladimir Putin has said that NATO military personnel are present already in Ukraine. The US and key European allies have said they have no plans to send ground troops to Ukraine.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said it had foiled a plan by British special forces to land Ukrainian sabotage soldiers on the Tendrov Split, a sandbar in the Black Sea. It said it had captured a senior Ukrainian naval special forces soldier, and gave his name and date of birth.
The FSB said the Ukrainian special forces unit was “supervised by a unit of the Special Boat Service (SBS) which indicates the direct involvement of Britain in the conflict.”
A spokesperson for Britain’s Defense Ministry had no immediate response to a Reuters request for comment.
The SBS is a special forces regiment of the British navy that traces its history to the early days of World War Two.
The SBS has served in some of the biggest conflicts of the past 70 years including the Korean War, Northern Ireland, the Falklands War, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq.


Seven-year-old Indian boy killed in ritual sacrifice for school’s ‘good fortune’

Seven-year-old Indian boy killed in ritual sacrifice for school’s ‘good fortune’
Updated 6 sec ago
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Seven-year-old Indian boy killed in ritual sacrifice for school’s ‘good fortune’

Seven-year-old Indian boy killed in ritual sacrifice for school’s ‘good fortune’
  • The boy was found dead in hostel bed, school director hid the body in the trunk of his car
  • Indian officials lodged 103 cases of human sacrifice in the country between 2014 and 2021

LUCKNOW, India: Five people were arrested in India for the killing of a seven-year-old boy in an alleged ritual sacrifice aimed at bringing good fortune to a public school, police said Friday.

The victim was found dead in his bed on Sunday night at the hostel where he lived in the city of Hathras, not far from the country’s famed Taj Mahal.

Instead of alerting authorities, police said that school director Dinesh Baghel hid the body in the trunk of his car.

Police officer Himanshu Mathur told AFP that the boy was killed before a black magic ceremony conducted by Baghel’s father.

“The boy was meant to be taken to an altar as part of a ritual, but got killed before the ceremony could be completed,” he said.

Baghel and his father were arrested along with three other teachers at the school, Mathur added.

Mathur did not give further details on how the child had died and local media reports said the body was undergoing a post-mortem examination.

India’s National Crime Records Bureau lodged 103 cases of human sacrifice in the country between 2014 and 2021.

Ritual killings are usually conducted to appease deities and are more common in tribal and remote areas, where belief in witchcraft and the occult is widespread.

Last year police arrested five men for the 2019 murder of a 64-year-old woman who was killed and decapitated with a machete after visiting a temple in India’s remote northeast.

Police said the alleged ringleader had been conducting a religious rite to mark the anniversary of his brother’s death.


Harris heads to the US-Mexico border to face down criticism of her record

Harris heads to the US-Mexico border to face down criticism of her record
Updated 27 September 2024
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Harris heads to the US-Mexico border to face down criticism of her record

Harris heads to the US-Mexico border to face down criticism of her record
  • Ahead of Harris’ visit, Trump predicted that the vice president would try to make her record look better but he said “it’s not possible”

PHOENIX: Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday will make her first visit to the US-Mexico border since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee to confront head-on one of her biggest vulnerabilities ahead of the November election.
She is scheduled to appear in Douglas, Arizona, as former President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans pound Harris relentlessly over the Biden administration’s record on migration and fault the vice president for spending little time visiting the border during her time in the White House.
Immigration and border security are top issues in Arizona, the only battleground state that borders Mexico and one that contended with a record influx of asylum seekers last year. Trump has an edge with voters on migration, and Harris has gone on offense to improve her standing on the issue and defuse a key line of political attack for Trump.
In nearly every campaign speech she gives, Harris recounts how a sweeping bipartisan package aiming to overhaul the federal immigration system collapsed in Congress earlier this year after Trump urged top Republicans to oppose it.
“The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games,” Harris plans to say, according to an excerpt of her remarks previewed by her campaign.
After the immigration legislation stalled, the Biden administration announced rules that bar migrants from being granted asylum when US officials deem that the southern border is overwhelmed. Since then, arrests for illegal border crossings have fallen.
Harris will also use her trip to remind voters about her work as attorney general of California in confronting crime along the border. During an August rally in Glendale, outside Phoenix, she talked about helping to prosecute drug- and people-smuggling gangs that operated transnationally and at the border.
“I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won,” Harris said then.
Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, at 27 the youngest member of Congress and a leading advocate for Harris with young and Hispanic voters, said that in backing stricter enforcement, Harris is trying to “strike a chord” and “she understands that, right now, there is a crisis at the border. It’s a humanitarian crisis.”
“That’s why she’s pushing for more resources at the border so that we have an orderly process, which is really important,” Frost said. “But, the thing is, that’s where Donald Trump stops, is just at enforcement.”
The vice president’s trip to Douglas thrusts the issue of immigration into the brightest spotlight yet less than six weeks before Election Day.
Trump didn’t wait for her to arrive there before pushing back.
On Thursday, he delivered a lengthy diatribe from New York, declaring that “anything she says tomorrow, you know is a fraud because she was the worst in history at protecting our country. So she’ll try and make herself look a little bit better. But it’s not possible.”
A day earlier, at a rally in North Carolina, Trump told voters that “when Kamala speaks about the border, her credibility is less than zero.”
The Trump campaign has also countered with its own TV ads deriding the vice president as a failed “border czar.”
“Under Harris, over 10 million illegally here,” said one spot. However, estimates on how many people have entered the country illegally since the start of the Biden administration in 2021 vary widely.
Harris also never held the position of border czar. Instead, her assignment was to tackle the “root causes” of migration from three Central American nations — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — that were responsible for a significant share of border crossers.
The vice president took a long-term approach to an immediate problem, helping persuade multinational corporations and Latin American businesses to invest in the region. That, she argued, would create jobs and give locals more reasons to stay home rather than take the arduous trek north.
Still, Trump has continued to decry an “invasion” of border crossers.
Polls show that most American trust him to handle immigration more than they do Harris.
Douglas, where Harris will appear, is an overwhelmingly Democratic border town in GOP-dominated Cochise County, where the Republicans on the board of supervisors are facing criminal charges for refusing to certify the 2022 election results. Trump was in the area last month, using a remote stretch of border wall and a pile of steel beams to draw a contrast between himself and Harris on border security.
The town of 16,000 people has strong ties to its much larger neighbor, Agua Prieta, Mexico, and a busy port of entry that’s slated for a long-sought upgrade. Many locals are as concerned with making legal border crossings more efficient as they are with combatting illegal ones.


Veteran Ishiba to become Prime Minister after being elected as President of Japan’s ruling party

Veteran Ishiba to become Prime Minister after being elected as President of Japan’s ruling party
Updated 27 September 2024
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Veteran Ishiba to become Prime Minister after being elected as President of Japan’s ruling party

Veteran Ishiba to become Prime Minister after being elected as President of Japan’s ruling party
  • Earlier, the two frontrunners had defeated seven other candidates to set up the final showdown

TOKYO: ISHIBA Shigeru, a veteran politician who has tried to become Prime Minister of Japan on several occasions, succeeded at the fifth attempt on Friday as he was elected President of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Ishiba, 67, won a runoff with TAKAICHI Sanae, a conservative who was vying to become Japan’s first female leader, picking up 215 votes to 194.

Earlier, the two frontrunners had defeated seven other candidates to set up the final showdown.

“I will do my utmost to believe in the people, to speak the truth with courage and sincerity, and to make this country a safe and secure place where everyone can live with a smile on their face once again,” he said in a short speech.

Ishiba, a former defense minister with an unusually blunt attitude for a Japanese politician, is seen as more progressive than Takichi, a close ally of former Prime Minister ABE Shinzo.

The election took place after Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio decided to step down following a finance scandal within the party that undermined his leadership.

Ishiba previously held the powerful post of Secretary-General of the LDP as well as the agriculture portfolio. He was supported in his bid to become a politician by controversial former Prime Minister TANAKA Kakuei, who stepped down after the Lockheed Scandal. Ishiba became an MP at the young age of 29, representing the district of Tottori, where his father had been governor.

As Defense Minister, Ishiba was regarded as a “hawk,” but has taken progressive stances on other issues, such as allowing a female to become Emperor. He has also suggested that Japan might need to carry out a preemptive strike against North Korea and hasn’t ruled out Japan pursuing the development of nuclear weapons.


UN urges tighter control on arms to Haiti as death toll mounts

UN urges tighter control on arms to Haiti as death toll mounts
Updated 27 September 2024
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UN urges tighter control on arms to Haiti as death toll mounts

UN urges tighter control on arms to Haiti as death toll mounts
  • At least 3,451 people have been killed since January, according to a report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

NEW YORK: Haiti has seen nearly 13 people killed on average each day this year, according to data from a United Nations report on Friday, which urged tighter controls on arms trafficking among other measures as a gang war drives a worsening humanitarian crisis.
At least 3,451 people have been killed since January, according to a report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published days before a UN mandate for a security force to support Haitian police is set to expire.
“No more lives should be lost to this senseless criminality,” commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement.
Haiti initially requested the mission in 2022 and it was approved a year ago, but just a fraction of the troops promised by a handful of nations has deployed and funding remains scant. Haiti has asked the UN to consider turning it into a formal peacekeeping mission to secure stable funds and capacity.
Turk said it was clear the mission needs “adequate and sufficient equipment and personnel to counter the criminal gangs effectively and sustainably, and stop them spreading further and wreaking havoc on people’s lives.”
The mission’s first deployment in June prompted gangs to recruit large numbers of children into their ranks, the report said. In addition, close to 100 children have been killed so far this year — some in gang attacks and other in police operations, the report said.
Violence has spread beyond the capital, fueled by arms trafficking, primarily from the United States but also from the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, which has persisted despite an international arms embargo.
The report said poorly monitored airspaces, coastlines and porous borders were allowing gangs to obtain high-caliber weapons, drones, boats and “a seemingly endless supply of bullets.”
The number of people internally displaced by the violence has almost doubled in the last six months to over 700,000, while some 1.6 million people are estimated to be facing emergency food insecurity, the worst level before famine.


One-third of British Muslims avoid discussing faith post-riots: Survey

One-third of British Muslims avoid discussing faith post-riots: Survey
Updated 47 min 54 sec ago
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One-third of British Muslims avoid discussing faith post-riots: Survey

One-third of British Muslims avoid discussing faith post-riots: Survey
  • Number has increased since far-right riots broke out nationwide in July
  • ‘People in leadership positions should be more understanding of British-Muslim concerns,’ expert tells Arab News

London: Around a third of British Muslims avoid discussing their faith, a new study has shown, with fewer prepared to talk about Islam since far-right riots broke out across the UK in July, leading to what one expert calls a “sense of nervousness” in parts of the country’s Muslim community.

In a study published by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life, 34 percent of 2,835 Muslims surveyed on Aug. 30 and Sept. 1 agreed with the statement “I have avoided telling people about my faith in the last four weeks,” marking a 10 percent increase from the previous month.

Sixty percent also felt that the British media portray some religions “more negatively than others,” while 41 percent felt that all religions were painted in a bad light by the press in the past month.

In addition, 47 percent of respondents said they believed there should be more religion covered by the media in the UK.

Dr. Jake Scott, director of IIFL, said in a statement: “These statistics point to a desire amongst British Muslims to see a more balanced discussion on religion in the UK media, as well as more representation for Islam in that discussion.

“Following the riots and disturbances of the summer, it is clear that Muslims in Britain feel less safe and secure sharing their faith with others, whilst a majority see the media as playing a role in spreading a negative perception of faith, both in general and in particular.”

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, told Arab News that British Muslims had experienced similar trends in the aftermath of major terrorist incidents including 9/11 and the 2005 London bombings.

Many felt “in some ways intimidated … because of a belief that many in the British population didn’t really understand Islam, didn’t understand or empathize in any way with British Muslims, and were collectively blaming them for the crimes of others,” he said.

“I think that what we see now with the dreadful, horrible, far-right riots this summer is a return to a sense of nervousness in the British-Muslim community.

“We’ve seen a lot of Islamophobia, a lot of anti-Muslim sentiment. We’ve had senior British politicians indulging in that, including, and in particular I’m afraid, within the Conservative Party where Islamophobia is a real problem, including among leadership candidates in the current election.

“I think this is really the backdrop as to why British Muslims are perhaps feeling somewhat nervous.”

Doyle said there is a perception that media coverage of religion in the UK is increasingly influenced by secularism, which has led to the ignoring or “belittling” of people of faith.

“British Muslims do feel that there’s an Islamophobic climate. We know also, of course, the British-Jewish community is very nervous at the increase in antisemitism, anti-Jewish sentiment and hate crimes as well.

“So all of this does go into a bigger picture, and I think it’s something that those in public life, those in the media, those in politics need to … take careful note of.”

Doyle was skeptical, however, that an increase in religious coverage in the British media, or greater public knowledge of Islam, would dampen xenophobic sentiments generally.

“I think a lot of it is caught up in an anti-immigrant, nativist approach,” he said. “Many go for British Muslims, but actually this is merely code for British Asians or British Arabs — anybody who isn’t white Anglo-Saxon.

“So I think a lot of it is actually not so much to do with the religion itself, though some of it no doubt is, but actually antagonism to the other, to people who aren’t part of what the far right would like to see as native British people, native British culture.

“I think this is far more what’s at stake here. So I think you could get more religion in the media. I don’t think it would address that.”

In order to reverse the trend of British Muslims feeling that they cannot discuss their religion, or feel that they are targets of the media, Doyle said: “It requires people in leadership positions in public life — in politics, media — to be more understanding of British-Muslim concerns, not to buy into that narrative of the far right that somehow British Muslims aren’t properly British.”

He added: “It’s also important that we ensure that British Muslims are able to access all areas of British public life.

“I think there’s been a lot of positive moves in that direction — we have a Muslim mayor of London and so forth. We’ve had British Muslims in the Cabinet.

“Such moves, where qualified people are able to get the highest offices regardless of their background, identity and faith, I think that’s absolutely vital.”