US House Speaker Johnson to ‘emphatically’ demand more from NATO allies

US House Speaker Johnson to ‘emphatically’ demand more from NATO allies
Speaker of the US House Mike Johnson speaks at the Hudson Institute on July 8, 2024 in Washington, DC. (AFP)
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Updated 09 July 2024
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US House Speaker Johnson to ‘emphatically’ demand more from NATO allies

US House Speaker Johnson to ‘emphatically’ demand more from NATO allies
  • Johnson is a close ally of Trump and, as speaker, sets the legislative agenda for the House

WASHINGTON: US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson combined praise for NATO with a call for members to meet their targeted annual spending of at least 2 percent of GDP on defense in his first major foreign policy speech as the chamber’s Republican leader.
“I just want to say this, and I’ll deliver the message to them emphatically: Republicans, of course, celebrate the peace and prosperity that NATO has secured and will continue to stand by our partners as we prevent needless wars,” the Republican House leader said at the Hudson Institute think tank.
“But we also believe that NATO needs to be doing more,” he said, as members of the military alliance gathered for this week’s summit in Washington, which will include meetings with members of the US Congress.
Johnson also took a hard line on China, calling it “our single greatest threat... engaging in malign influence operations around the world.”
He said the House will vote on a series of bills to counter China this year, including beefed up sanctions and efforts to clamp down on trade policies seen as harmful to US interests.
Defense spending by NATO members has become a highly contentious issue in recent times as former President Donald Trump accuses Europeans of spending too little on their own security and relying on Washington for protection.
Earlier this year, Trump — the Republican candidate in the Nov. 5 US presidential election — sparked outrage by suggesting he would not protect NATO members that failed to spend enough on defense and would even encourage Russia to attack them.
Johnson is a close ally of Trump and, as speaker, sets the legislative agenda for the House.
Months after Democratic President Joe Biden asked the House to approve funding for Ukraine, Johnson changed course this year to allow the House to vote on — and pass — billions of dollars in additional aid to the country.
Johnson said people have come up to him at events all over the country and thanked him for passing the funding. “People understand that (Russian President Vladimir Putin) would not stop if he took Kyiv. He’s a ruthless dictator in my view,” Johnson said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last month that more than 20 NATO members will meet the alliance’s target of allocating at least 2 percent of GDP to defense this year, compared with fewer than 10 members five years ago.


Philippines struggles to repatriate workers as Israel invades Lebanon

Philippines struggles to repatriate workers as Israel invades Lebanon
Updated 10 sec ago
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Philippines struggles to repatriate workers as Israel invades Lebanon

Philippines struggles to repatriate workers as Israel invades Lebanon
  • Dozens of Filipinos sought shelter at the Philippine government’s Migrant Workers Office in Beirut
  • Authorities in Manila seek charter flights, sea and land routes to evacuate nationals from Lebanon

MANILA: The Philippines is trying to arrange flights for hundreds of overseas Filipino workers in Beirut, the government said Wednesday, as it struggles to bring them to safety in the wake of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

More than 11,000 Filipinos are living and working in Lebanon, which has faced a series of Israeli attacks that began in mid-September, with pagers exploding at shops and hospitals around the country, followed by relentless bombing targeting densely populated areas.

Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people across Lebanon and wounded nearly 3,000, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The UN estimates that more than a million people across the country have been displaced by the strikes, with the numbers expected to rise as Israel also launched its ground invasion of Lebanon on Tuesday.

Dozens of Filipinos in Beirut have sought shelter at the Philippine government’s Migrant Workers Office. As its vicinity was bombed by Israeli forces over the weekend, they have since been sheltered in a hotel in Beit Mery, a town overlooking Beirut, as they await repatriation.

“There are presently 101 Filipino workers in our shelters ready to be repatriated,” DMW Undersecretary Bernard Olalia told reporters in Manila.

“The challenge is that we do not have flights … We’re talking to some airline companies so that the chartered flights will be able to accommodate for example no less than 300 overseas Filipino workers from Beirut.”

Olalia said that while the government was facing several challenges, including securing landing rights for chartered flights, other options were also being considered in case the situation escalated.

“The DMW is also studying the possibility of other routes. Apart from the air route, we will be assessing the sea and the land route, should … the situation there worsen,” he said.

“We have men on the ground. They work around the clock. And we augmented our staff both in Lebanon (and) nearby posts to be able to provide (the) safest route to evacuate and ultimately to facilitate the repatriation of our OFWs.”

Migrante International, a global alliance of overseas Filipino workers, told Arab News on Tuesday that the Philippine nationals it has been in touch with have expressed “urgent concern” for their safety.

“They are worried about the bombings and the explosions coming closer to their homes, in their communities. So, they are worried for their safety, they are worried for their life and not being able to go back home safely to their families,” Migrante International President Joanna Concepcion said.

“They feel there is nowhere safe anymore. They feel that Israel can target anywhere, anytime.”


UN: More than 700,000 displaced in Haiti, half of them children

UN: More than 700,000 displaced in Haiti, half of them children
Updated 37 min 22 sec ago
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UN: More than 700,000 displaced in Haiti, half of them children

UN: More than 700,000 displaced in Haiti, half of them children
  • One of the world’s poorest countries plunged into anarchy, with gangs taking over the capital
  • UN report says around 75 percent of those displaced were now sheltering in the country’s provinces

GENEVA: More than 700,000 people are now displaced from their homes in Haiti, more than half of whom are children, the United Nations said Wednesday, as gang violence ravages the country.
One of the world’s poorest countries has been plunged into anarchy, with gangs taking over the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the security and health systems collapsing.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration agency said that by early September, some 702,973 people were displaced in the Caribbean country.
“These latest figures show a 22 percent increase in the number of internally displaced people since June, highlighting the worsening humanitarian situation,” the IOM said.
The agency called for greater international attention on the crisis.
“The sharp rise in displacement underscores the urgent need for a sustained humanitarian response,” said Gregoire Goodstein, the IOM’s chief in Haiti.
“We call on the international community to step up its support for Haiti’s displaced populations and the host communities that continue to show remarkable resilience in the face of these challenges.”
The report said around 75 percent of those displaced were now sheltering in the country’s provinces.
The remainder are in Port-au-Prince “where the situation remains precarious and unpredictable,” said the IOM, with people often living in overcrowded sites, with little to no access to basic services.
The agency said 83 percent of displaced people were being hosted by families.
“The strain on resources is immense, with the majority of host households reporting significant difficulties, including food shortages, overwhelmed health care facilities, and a lack of essential supplies on local markets,” it said.
“It is crucial that efforts to restore stability and security across the country continue, alongside humanitarian aid to alleviate the immediate suffering of those affected.”
On Friday, the UN human rights office said more than 3,600 people had been killed this year in “senseless” gang violence in Haiti.
In October 2023, the UN Security Council approved sending a multinational stabilization force, led by Kenya, to assist the Haitian police.
The Security Council on Monday extended its authorization of the multinational policing mission in crime-ravaged Haiti, but without any call to transform it into a UN peacekeeping mission, as floated by Port-au-Prince.


Israel declares UN chief ‘persona non grata’ over Iran attack response: foreign ministry

Israel declares UN chief ‘persona non grata’ over Iran attack response: foreign ministry
Updated 47 min 48 sec ago
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Israel declares UN chief ‘persona non grata’ over Iran attack response: foreign ministry

Israel declares UN chief ‘persona non grata’ over Iran attack response: foreign ministry

JERUSALEM: Israel declared UN chief Antonio Guterres “persona non grata” on Wednesday, accusing him of failing to specifically condemn Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” said Foreign Minister Israel Katz in a statement.
“This is an anti-Israel Secretary-General who lends support to terrorists, rapists, and murderers,” he said.
Katz added that Guterres, who he said supported the “murderers of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and now Iran, the mothership of global terror, will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN for generations to come.”
Following Iran’s missile attack on Israel late Tuesday, Guterres condemned the “broadening conflict in the Middle East,” slamming “escalation after escalation” in the region.
“This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire,” said Guterres.
Israel has been a harsh critic of the UN, with ties between the state and the international body souring even more after the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Guterres has repeatedly called for a ceasefire to halt the fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon.


Rescuers race to find over 100 migrants missing off Djibouti coast

Rescuers race to find over 100 migrants missing off Djibouti coast
Updated 02 October 2024
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Rescuers race to find over 100 migrants missing off Djibouti coast

Rescuers race to find over 100 migrants missing off Djibouti coast
  • Every year, hundreds of thousands of people leave the Horn of Africa in pursuit of better economic prospects in Gulf nations

NAIROBI: Rescuers are searching for more than 100 migrants off the coast of Djibouti after smugglers forced them to jump into the sea, the UN migration agency said on Wednesday.
At least 45 bodies have been recovered from Tuesday’s incident, a death toll that makes 2024 the deadliest year on record for sea crossings on the migration route between East Africa and Yemen, the International Organization for Migration said.
Another 154 people have been rescued from the two boats, which left Yemen for Djibouti with a total of 310 passengers, IOM said in a statement.
“Ongoing search and rescue operations are underway by the Djiboutian Coast Guard to locate the missing migrants,” it said.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people leave the Horn of Africa in pursuit of better economic prospects in Gulf nations via the so-called Eastern Route, described by the IOM as one of the world’s busiest and riskiest migration corridors.
Survivors told IOM that they were forced off the two vessels by the boat operators in the open sea off the coast of Obock, a port town in Djibouti.
The survivors included a four-month-old infant whose mother drowned, the agency said.
Many migrants on the Eastern Route end up trapped in violence-wracked Yemen and attempt to return to Djibouti.


Italy to host G7 leaders’ call on Middle East crisis -Meloni’s office

Italy to host G7 leaders’ call on Middle East crisis -Meloni’s office
Updated 43 min 32 sec ago
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Italy to host G7 leaders’ call on Middle East crisis -Meloni’s office

Italy to host G7 leaders’ call on Middle East crisis -Meloni’s office
  • Meloni told her cabinet on Wednesday that there was “deep concern” about latest developments

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will host a call of Group of Seven (G7) leaders later on Wednesday to discuss the crisis in the Middle East, her office said.
“Italy will continue to strive for a diplomatic solution, including in its capacity as chair of the G7. I have convened a leaders’ level meeting for this afternoon,” Meloni was quoted as telling her cabinet.
Italy holds the rotating presidency of the G7 — the club of major Western democracies, which comprises the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
Meloni told her ministers that there was “deep concern” about latest developments, including Iran’s missile attack against Israel and the instability in Lebanon, her office said.
“The goal is the stabilization of the Israeli-Lebanese border through the full implementation of Resolution 1701,” she was quoted as saying, referring to the UN resolution which halted the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war in south Lebanon.
“In this framework, Italy has called on the UN Security Council to consider strengthening the mandate of the UNIFIL mission in order to ensure the security of the Israel-Lebanon border,” she said.
Italy is a major contributor to the United Nations’ peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Italian media reported on Wednesday that the government was considering pulling its forces out of the area given the recent border violence.