Joe Biden lands in France for D-Day anniversary, democracy speech

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US president Joe Biden walks next to a French honor guard after arriving at Orly airport, south of Paris on June 5, 2024. Biden is in France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. (AP)

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President Joe Biden arrives to board Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base on June 4, 2024 for a trip to France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. (AP)

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Updated 05 June 2024

Reuters

June 05, 2024 07:37

Joe Biden lands in France for D-Day anniversary, democracy speech

US leader will spend five days in France and attend D-Day celebrations in Normandy
Joe Biden will also meet the aged veterans who participated in the D-Day invasion

Updated 05 June 2024

Reuters

June 05, 2024 07:37

PARIS: President Joe Biden landed in France on Wednesday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day on a trip designed to underscore his commitment to US allies in Europe and contrast his vision of democracy with his 2024 political opponent Donald Trump.
Biden will spend five days in France and attend D-Day celebrations in Normandy, where US and allied forces stormed French beaches in an attack that helped defeat Nazi Germany in World War II, as well as deliver a high-profile speech and hold a formal state visit with President Emmanuel Macron.
While in Normandy Biden will sit down for talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky about the war effort to repel Russian invaders, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard the presidential flight to Paris.
Biden’s remarks in Normandy, both on Thursday at the formal 80th anniversary ceremony and on Friday at the famed Pointe du Hoc cliffs, will center around the dangers of isolationism and the need to stand up to dictators, Sullivan said.
Biden will draw a connection from World War Two through the Cold War and creation of the NATO alliance to today, “where we face once again war in Europe, where NATO has rallied to defend freedom and sovereignty.”
In what promises to be an emotional moment, Biden will meet the aged veterans who participated in the D-Day invasion.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the potential use of some $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine would be discussed by Biden and Macron during the visit.
Biden, a Democrat, is running for re-election in November against Trump, a Republican, and has made preserving and strengthening US democracy a key part of his campaign in the aftermath of Trump’s chaotic four years in office.
Trump refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, which sparked a deadly attack on the US Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021; he has vowed to go after political opponents, deport immigrants and punish whistleblowers in a second term.
Trump has threatened to abandon NATO allies if they do not bolster their defense spending and some fear he would pull the United States out of the alliance altogether if he were elected president again.
Biden’s message on democracy could be complicated by his staunch backing of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, after Hamas attacked Israel in October last year, killing over one thousand.
The International Criminal Court has charged Netanyahu with war crimes and some international allies and left-leaning voters in the United States want Biden to stop the flow of US military aid to Israel. The issue could hurt Biden in key states, including Michigan, in the November election.
The D-Day commemorations are set against a backdrop of a modern conflict in Europe, Russia’s more than 2-year war with Ukraine.
At a political fundraiser before his trip, Biden called the D-Day invasion “one of the most important moments in the history of defense of freedom and democracy in the history of the world” and said the sacrifices from that day must not be given up.
“Democracy is literally on the ballot this year. The future of democracy and freedom is at stake. We have brave soldiers who gave their lives on the beaches of Normandy who did their part,” he told donors in Connecticut on Monday.

Taliban frees Afghans deported from Germany

Updated 58 min 58 sec ago

Arab News

September 10, 2024 13:46

Taliban frees Afghans deported from Germany

Berlin carried out first deportation since Taliban takeover after months of negotiations
Up to 28 Afghans released after providing ‘written assurances’ of lawful behavior

Updated 58 min 58 sec ago

Arab News

September 10, 2024 13:46

LONDON: Dozens of Afghans deported from Germany have been freed by the Taliban government, The Independent reported.

Germany’s first deportation of Afghans since the 2021 Taliban takeover came as Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor, vowed to crack down on foreign criminals.

Up to 28 Afghans were sent back to Afghanistan about a week ago and were subsequently released after providing “written assurances,” the Taliban said.

Suhail Shahin, the chief of the Taliban political bureau in Qatar, said that the deportees pledged to avoid committing crimes in Afghanistan.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups criticized the German government for placing the Afghans at risk in their homeland.

The deportation, which was carried out after months of negotiations, followed a series of high-profile attacks in Germany by Afghan and Syrian suspects.

In May, a 25-year-old Afghan stabbed a German police officer.

A week ago, a Syrian national allegedly carried out a deadly knife attack in Solingen, killing three people and injuring eight others.

Scholz said: “It outrages me when someone who has found protection here commits the most serious crimes.”

However, Germany will avoid normalizing relations with the Taliban despite the deportation deal.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said: “As long as the general conditions are as they are, and the Taliban behave the way they do, there will be no effort to normalize relations with the Taliban.

“There are contacts on a technical level, especially through our representative office in Doha.”

Scholz is overseeing negotiations between the government, opposition and German state governments to expedite deportations from the country and curb migration.

He also announced measures to remove state financial support for refugees entering Germany via other EU countries.

Topics: Taliban Afghanistan Germany

SpaceX launches billionaire to conduct the first private spacewalk

Updated 10 September 2024

September 10, 2024 09:29

SpaceX launches billionaire to conduct the first private spacewalk

Unlike his previous chartered flight, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman shared the cost with SpaceX this time around
If all goes as planned, it will be the first time private citizens conduct a spacewalk

Updated 10 September 2024

September 10, 2024 09:29

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: A daredevil billionaire rocketed back to space Tuesday, aiming to perform the first private spacewalk and venture farther than anyone since NASA’s Apollo moonshots.
Unlike his previous chartered flight, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman shared the cost with SpaceX this time around, which included developing and testing brand new spacesuits to see how they’ll hold up in the harsh vacuum.
If all goes as planned, it will be the first time private citizens conduct a spacewalk, but they won’t venture away from the capsule. Considered one of the most riskiest parts of spaceflight, spacewalks have been the sole realm of professional astronauts since the former Soviet Union popped open the hatch in 1965, closely followed by the US Today, they are routinely done at the International Space Station.
Isaacman, along with a pair of SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbirds pilot, launched before dawn aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. The spacewalk is scheduled for late Wednesday or Thursday, midway through the five-day flight.
But first the passengers are shooting for way beyond the International Space Station — an altitude of 1,400 kilometers, which would surpass the Earth-lapping record set during NASA’s Project Gemini in 1966. Only the 24 Apollo astronauts who flew to the moon have ventured farther.
The plan is to spend 10 hours at that height — filled with extreme radiation and riddled with debris — before reducing the oval-shaped orbit by half. Even at this lower 435 miles (700 kilometers), the orbit would eclipse the space station and even the Hubble Space Telescope, the highest shuttle astronauts flew.
All four wore SpaceX’s spacewalking suits because the entire Dragon capsule will be depressurized for the two-hour spacewalk, exposing everyone to the dangerous environment.
Isaacman and SpaceX’s Sarah Gillis will take turns briefly popping out of the hatch. They’ll test their white and black-trimmed custom suits by twisting their bodies. Both will always have a hand or foot touching the capsule or attached support structure that resembles the top of a pool ladder. There will be no dangling at the end of their 3.6-meter tethers and no jetpack showboating. Only NASA’s suits at the space station come equipped with jetpacks, for emergency use only.
Pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX’s Anna Menon will monitor the spacewalk from inside. Like SpaceX’s previous astronaut flights, this one will end with a splashdown off the Florida coast.
At a preflight news conference, Isaacman — CEO and founder of the credit card processing company Shift4 — refused to say how much he invested in the flight. “Not a chance,” he said.
SpaceX teamed up with Isaacman to pay for spacesuit development and associated costs, said William Gerstenmaier, a SpaceX vice president who once headed space mission operations for NASA.
“We’re really starting to push the frontiers with the private sector,” Gerstenmaier said.
It’s the first of three trips that Isaacman bought from Elon Musk 2-1/2 years ago, soon after returning from his first private SpaceX spaceflight in 2021. Isaacman bankrolled that tourist ride for an undisclosed sum, taking along contest winners and a childhood cancer survivor. The trip raised hundreds of millions for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Spacesuit development took longer than anticipated, delaying this first so-called Polaris Dawn flight until now. Training was extensive; Poteet said it rivaled anything he experienced during his Air Force flying career.
As SpaceX astronaut trainers, Gillis and Menon helped Isaacman and his previous team — as well as NASA’s professional crews — prepare for their rides.
“I wasn’t alive when humans walked on the moon. I’d certainly like my kids to see humans walking on the moon and Mars, and venturing out and exploring our solar system,” the 41-year-old Isaacman said before liftoff.
Poor weather caused a two-week delay. The crew needed favorable forecasts not only for launch, but for splashdown days later. With limited supplies and no ability to reach the space station, they had no choice but to wait for conditions to improve.

Topics: SpaceX

Striking Indian doctors want demands met before returning to work

Updated 10 September 2024

Reuters

September 10, 2024 12:08

Striking Indian doctors want demands met before returning to work

Hundreds of doctors are demanding better security at hospitals, justice for young doctor raped and killed last month
Supreme Court on Monday said doctors had until Tuesday to return to work or they could face “adverse action”

Updated 10 September 2024

Reuters

September 10, 2024 12:08

KOLKATA: Junior doctors in India’s state of West Bengal vowed on Tuesday to keep up a protest strike over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor unless their demands were met, flouting a Supreme Court deadline.

Hundreds of doctors are demanding better security at hospitals and justice for the woman, found dead on Aug. 9 in a classroom at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, the state’s capital.

The West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front said it would “consider” the court’s order only if its demands were tackled by the deadline.

“Otherwise, we will understand that the government does not wish to end the deadlock,” the group, which represents about 7,000 physicians in the state, said in a statement on Monday.

“In that case, we will hold the government responsible for the situation arising across the state.”

The demands include better safety measures, from adequate security staff and closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras to proper patient services in government hospitals, and the removal of the city’s police chief.

“We don’t see a single CCTV camera being installed after the incident,” said Dr. Shubhendu Malik, a spokesperson for the junior doctors at the R.G. Kar hospital. “There is no rest room, no separate toilets for men and women.”

On Monday, the Supreme Court, which took up the matter in the wake of nationwide outrage over the incident, said the doctors had until the following day to return to work, or they could face “adverse action.”

Protests over the incident spread overseas on the weekend, as thousands of Indians staged demonstrations in 25 countries, including the United States and Japan, to demand justice for the woman.

Rights activists say the attack provides further evidence of the sexual violence Indian women face despite tougher laws introduced after a horrific incident of gang rape and murder in the capital, New Delhi, in 2012.

A police volunteer has been arrested for the crime and the former principal of the college has been arrested over accusations of graft.

Topics: India doctors rape Kolkata

Pope Francis hosts East Timor mass for more than half a million faithful

Updated 10 September 2024

AFP

September 10, 2024 08:39

Pope Francis hosts East Timor mass for more than half a million faithful

Pilgrims have clamored to the capital to catch a glimpse of the 87-year-old pontiff
Many arrived for the mass hours early to get a prime spot, waiting in the heat

Updated 10 September 2024

AFP

September 10, 2024 08:39

DILI, East Timor: Pope Francis hosted a mass for hundreds of thousands of devotees in East Timor on Tuesday, rallying the faithful of the most Catholic country outside the Vatican in tropical heat.
Pilgrims have clamored to the capital to catch a glimpse of the 87-year-old pontiff, greeting him with a rapturous reception in a coastal area of Dili ahead of his sermon.
Around 600,000 people were in attendance at the mass as it got underway, the Vatican said in a statement, citing local authorities.
“I am so happy for everyone in East Timor. Now I want to see Papa Francisco here and give my present to Papa Francisco. I am so emotional,” said Mary Michaela, 17, who said she would attend the service.
It was the main event of the third leg of Francis’s 12-day Asia-Pacific tour, which has already taken in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and will conclude in Singapore.
Many arrived for the mass hours early to get a prime spot, waiting in the heat.
Firefighters sprayed devotees with water, and many held white-and-yellow Vatican umbrellas to protect themselves from the glaring sun.
Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao joined crowds to lift spirits with a sing-along, before pouring water into the mouths of those waiting to perform for Pope Francis.
Earlier on Tuesday he met the Catholic faithful at a cathedral in Dili, calling for the “perfume of the Gospel” to be spread against alcoholism, violence and a lack of respect for women.
On his first day in East Timor, Francis addressed the country’s leaders, hailing a new era of “peace” since independence in 2002, and also called on them to prevent abuse against young people in a nod to recent Catholic Church child abuse scandals.
But it was the mass that rallied the faithful of Asia’s youngest country.
“I am grateful I can join this Holy Mass regardless of my age. I don’t know if I would still be able to come if the pope visited even a few years later,” said 49-year-old housewife Felicidade do Rosario.
Around 300,000 people had officially registered for the mass, the government said.
Hundreds of thousands were estimated to have shown up, bringing an estimated total to nearly half the country’s entire population, according to the Vatican.
“It is a blessing of God to us, the people in this land,” said Atanasio Sarmento de Sousa, a 46-year-old member of the committee organizing the pope’s visit.
The sheer number of people descending on Dili caused at least one local telecom company to inform customers their signal would be affected by the pope’s visit.
In 2023, around a million people congregated in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa for Pope Francis’s visit.
The record is still held by Philippine capital Manila in 2015 where more than six million people are believed to have gathered to see Francis.
This visit is only the second papal trip to East Timor, where around 98 percent of the population is Catholic, after John Paul II in 1989.
East Timor’s capital had a $12 million makeover before the visit, including $1 million spent on an altar where the pope will sit on stage next to a crucifix.
The cost has attracted criticism because East Timor is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Rights groups also say some makeshift homes were demolished in preparation for the mass. The government says they were erected illegally.
Authorities have also relocated street vendors in areas where Francis will travel, prompting further criticism on social media.
However, others who had traveled to see the pope were more optimistic about the occasion.
“There are still many problems that need to be taken care of, but the pope has come here to bring joyful news,” said Felix Kosat, an Indonesian Catholic priest.
“So let’s make changes.”

Topics: Pope Francis East Timor

Indian state imposes curfew after ethnic clashes

Updated 10 September 2024

AFP

September 10, 2024 08:16

Indian state imposes curfew after ethnic clashes

Manipur has been rocked by periodic clashes between the Hindu Meitei majority and the Christian Kuki community
Manipur is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party

Updated 10 September 2024

AFP

September 10, 2024 08:16

NEW DELHI: Authorities in India’s strife-torn northeastern state of Manipur imposed a curfew on Tuesday after violent rallies staged to condemn the latest round of killings in ethnic clashes.
Manipur has been rocked by periodic clashes for more than a year between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community, dividing the state into ethnic enclaves.
At least 11 people were killed last week as hostilities between the two communities erupted again after months of relative calm.
The curfew was imposed in the state capital Imphal and the surrounding valley after student-led protests on Monday sparked clashes with police.
Students “provoked” security officials protecting the state governor’s residence in Imphal “by pelting stones and throwing plastic bottles,” police said in a statement on Monday.
Protesters in another valley district snatched arms from police and fired at them, the statement said.
“One police personnel was hit on the left thigh by a live round and another police personnel was hit in the face by an unknown projectile,” it said.
A local government notice announced a “total curfew... with immediate effect until further orders.”
Protesters were demanding action against insurgents accused of using “improvised” projectile weapons and drone attacks last week, in what police called a “significant escalation” of violence in Manipur.
Long-standing tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolve around competition for land and public jobs.
Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain.
Manipur is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Topics: India

Joe Biden lands in France for D-Day anniversary, democracy speech

Joe Biden lands in France for D-Day anniversary, democracy speech

Russia not invited to D-Day 80th anniversary, French presidency says

Macron to meet Zelensky in Paris on Friday

Taliban frees Afghans deported from Germany

Taliban frees Afghans deported from Germany

Taliban chief tells officials to enforce new morality law

Afghanistan’s Taliban government bans ‘violent’ mixed martial arts

SpaceX launches billionaire to conduct the first private spacewalk

SpaceX launches billionaire to conduct the first private spacewalk

SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission set to launch early Friday

Boeing’s Starliner astronauts could return on SpaceX capsule in February 2025, NASA says

Striking Indian doctors want demands met before returning to work

Striking Indian doctors want demands met before returning to work

Pope Francis hosts East Timor mass for more than half a million faithful

Pope Francis hosts East Timor mass for more than half a million faithful

Pope Francis arrives in East Timor on first papal visit since independence

Pope Francis is visiting East Timor after a clergy abuse scandal, but will he address it?

Indian state imposes curfew after ethnic clashes

Indian state imposes curfew after ethnic clashes

4 shot dead in ethnic violence in India’s northeast

Five killed as violence flares in restive Indian state

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Joe Biden lands in France for D-Day anniversary, democracy speech

Joe Biden lands in France for D-Day anniversary, democracy speech

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