More than 1,200 UK cyclists ride to raise awareness, funds for Gaza
Rides will run across London, Belfast, Liverpool, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and South Wales
Updated 20 July 2024
Arab News
LONDON: For three weeks, more than 1,200 people will be cycling in cities across the UK, calling on the newly-elected Labour government to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to end arms sales to Israel.
The Big Ride was founded in 2015 by activists seeking to combine a passion for cycling with solidarity for Palestine.
This year’s events start on Saturday and run until Aug. 10 in London, Belfast, Liverpool, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and South Wales.
The grassroots organization will also be raising funds for Palestinian charities, including the Middle East Children’s Alliance, The Amos Trust, and the Gaza Sunbirds para cycling team, which continue their work in Gaza amidst the ongoing conflict.
Ellen Logan, one of the organizers of The Big Ride, said: “For years we’ve witnessed the daily oppression of the Palestinian people — discrimination, subjugation, and inhumanity. And now we’ve spent the last 10 months watching a live-streamed genocide. Everyone should be outraged and campaigning for an end to this violence.”
Logan added: “We use our bikes and freedoms to raise awareness and provide crucial aid for children and disabled cyclists on the ground in Gaza.”
A recent letter published in British medical journal, The Lancet, estimated the actual death toll in Gaza could be as high as 186,000.
British actress Maxine Peake, who is participating in the cycling event, said: “The Big Ride for Palestine has been raising awareness of this for nearly 10 years now. This year, more riders than ever have signed up, so please join a Big Ride near you.”
One dead, nine wounded in Russian strikes on Ukraine’s Kherson
Updated 6 sec ago
The attack damaged a sports facility, a supermarket, residential buildings and civilian vehicles, Prokudin added The strike on Kherson followed other deadly attacks in recent days
KYIV: Russian glide bombs and artillery struck a city in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, killing one person and wounding nine others as Moscow forces continued daily attacks across the country. The city of Kherson was struck with glide bombs on Wednesday morning, and when rescue teams arrived at the scene, Russian forces launched an artillery barrage, said the region’s head, Oleksandr Prokudin. “This is a deliberate tactic by Russia to hinder the rescue of the injured and harm doctors, rescuers, and police,” he said. The attack damaged a sports facility, a supermarket, residential buildings and civilian vehicles, Prokudin added. The strike on Kherson followed other deadly attacks in recent days. On Palm Sunday, two Russian ballistic missile hit the northeastern city of Sumy near the Russian border, killing 35 people and injuring more than 100 others in the deadliest attack on Ukrainian civilians this year. The Russian military said that the strike targeted a gathering of senior military officers, but did not offer evidence. In Sumy on Wednesday, mourners buried 11-year old Maksym Martynenko — one of two children killed in the attack — and his parents Nataliia and Mykola. Their three caskets were open for final farewells at a church in the city center before the bodies were taken to the family’s village for burial in the same plot. “I can’t believe that one family, just like that, one day … just went away, just like that,” said Daria Doroshenko, Maksym’s school teacher. Pastor Artem Tovmasian, a friend of the family, said at the service that their deaths were a tragedy that “should be condemned in a real way.” He said the international community’s reaction should not be just “words of condolence,” but action. The attack on Sumy and other areas came even as Moscow and Kyiv both agreed last month to implement a 30-day halt on strikes on energy facilities. Both parties have differed on the start time for stopping strikes and alleged daily breaches by the other side. The Russian military said it downed 26 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions early Wednesday. Asked Wednesday if Russia is going to stop abiding by the limited ceasefire after 30 days, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov demurred, saying the decision will be made later. Moscow has effectively refused to accept a comprehensive ceasefire that President Donald Trump has sought and Ukraine has endorsed. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it conditional on a halt in Ukraine’s mobilization efforts and Western arms supplies, the demands rejected by Ukraine. Kyiv believes Moscow’s forces are gearing up for a fresh offensive. Russian forces hold the battlefield advantage in Ukraine, pressing attacks in several sectors of the 1,000-kilometer (over 600-mile) frontline, and Kyiv has warned Moscow is planning a new offensive to improve its negotiating position. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Paris on Thursday for “talks with European counterparts to advance President Trump’s goal to end the Russia-Ukraine war and stop the bloodshed.” Rubio will also “discuss ways to advance shared interests in the region,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. Wikoff, who visited Russia on Friday for his third meeting with Putin that lasted nearly five hours, told Fox News earlier this week that the Russian leader wants a “permanent peace,” noting that a prospective peace deal would focus on Russian claims for five Ukrainian regions. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Witkoff’s comment, emphasizing that Ukraine will never recognize any temporarily occupied territories as Russian. Commenting on ongoing negotiations with the US over a prospective agreement that would give the US access to Ukraine’s valuable mineral resources, Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said the US and Ukrainian teams have achieved “significant progress.” She said that both sides are working on a “memorandum of intent” that would reflect positive developments in the talks, adding that “we are preparing to complete the formalization of the agreement in the near future.” The deal, which needs to be ratified by the Ukrainian parliament, “will provide opportunities for investment and development in Ukraine, and will also provide conditions for tangible economic growth for both Ukraine and the United States,” Svyrydenko said. In Russia, the authorities on Wednesday arrested Alexei Smirnov, former governor of the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces still hold onto a patch of land after a surprise incursion in August 2024. Smirnov, who served as the Kursk governor in May-December 2024, his former deputy, three other officials and contractors in the region have been accused of fraud and embezzling the money allocated for building fortifications on the border with Ukraine. If convicted, Smirnov is facing up to 10 years in prison. Kyiv’s forces pushed into Kursk on Aug. 6, 2024, in a surprise attack, overwhelming lightly armed Russian border guards and a few infantry units. Russian forces have since driven Ukrainian troops out of Sudzha, the biggest town they have held since the incursion, and some of the other areas, but Kyiv’s forces still hold onto a patch of land there.
Rubio, Jordanian prime minister discuss boosting investment, State Department says
Pair discussed the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of the Gaza Strip and West Bank
Updated 9 min 2 sec ago
Reuters
WASHINGTON, DC: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Jordanian Prime Minister Jafar Hassan discussed ways to expand economic cooperation and increase investments between the two nations, the State Department said in a statement on Tuesday.
The pair also discussed the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, the statement added.
US senator in El Salvador seeking release of wrongly deported migrant
Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains imprisoned in a notorious jail in his native country despite a US federal judge’s order, backed by the Supreme Court, for his return to the US
US Senator Chris Van Hollen said after landing in San Salvador that he hoped to meet with high-level government officials and possibly Abrego Garcia, who he said had been ‘illegally abducted’
Updated 53 min 50 sec ago
AFP
SAN SALVADOR: A Democratic senator arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday to press for the release of a US resident thrust to the center of a storm over President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies when he was mistakenly deported to the Central American country.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains imprisoned in a notorious jail in his native country despite a US federal judge’s order, backed by the Supreme Court, for his return to the United States.
US Senator Chris Van Hollen said after landing in San Salvador that he hoped to meet with high-level government officials and possibly Abrego Garcia, who he said had been “illegally abducted” and wrongly deported.
“I told his wife and his family I would do everything possible to bring him home, and we’re going to keep working at this until we’re successful,” Van Hollen, who represents Maryland, Abrego Garcia’s home state, said in a video.
Van Hollen said before taking off that he wanted to show the Trump administration and El Salvador that Abrego Garcia’s supporters would not let up in the campaign for his return.
A legal US resident, Abrego Garcia was protected by a 2019 court order determining that he could not be deported to El Salvador, but he was sent there around a month ago.
The Trump administration has admitted its mistake, and has been ordered by the Supreme Court to “facilitate” the 29-year-old’s return.
But the administration — pressed on what action it was taking to remedy its error in lower court hearings — has not announced any efforts toward Abrego Garcia’s return.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said during a White House visit on Monday he did not have the power to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
Trump told reporters he did not have the authority to intervene, leaving the man in limbo.
Trump’s critics have warned that his defiance of the courts has placed the country on the cusp of a constitutional crisis.
“This is about due process. This is about rule of law,” Van Hollen said.
“What bullies do is they begin by picking on the most vulnerable. But if we get rid of the rule of law and due process in the United States, it’s a short road from there to tyranny.”
The White House claims that it is complying with the courts and says, without providing evidence, that Abrego Garcia is a gang member. He denies the accusation and has never been charged of crimes in either country.
District Judge Paula Xinis said the case against him amounted to “nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant” of his gang membership.
West Virginia Republican congresswoman Riley Moore posted on X Tuesday that he had also traveled to El Salvador to see the prison where immigrants deported by the Trump administration are being held.
He declared himself supportive of Trump’s actions, however.
Another Democratic senator, Cory Booker, was also mulling a trip to the country but has not yet made an announcement on timing.
Two Democrats in the House of Representatives — Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California — were also reportedly planning to visit.
Weinstein’s lawyers want him hospitalized instead of in jail during #MeToo retrial
Weinstein’s lawyers made the request as jury selection resumed for a second day
The 73-year-old disgraced movie mogul arrived in court in a wheelchair
Updated 16 April 2025
AP
NEW YORK: Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers asked a judge on Wednesday to allow the ailing ex-studio boss to spend his nights at a New York City hospital instead of jail for the duration of his #MeToo rape retrial.
Weinstein’s lawyers made the request as jury selection resumed for a second day. The 73-year-old disgraced movie mogul arrived in court in a wheelchair, as he has at all of his recent court appearances.
In court papers, his lawyers argued that Weinstein’s stay at New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex is exacerbating his health issues and that he’d be better off in the prison ward at Bellevue Hospital.
He been back and forth to Bellevue several times in recent months for treatment of various maladies.
Weinstein has numerous health conditions, including chronic myeloid leukemia, heart issues, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, sciatica and severe limitations on his ability to walk. A recent tongue infection was misdiagnosed at Rikers, requiring hospitalization, and he has gained nearly 20 pounds (9 kilograms) in the past month, his lawyer Imran Ansari said.
In a statement, Ansari said Weinstein is also subjected to freezing temperatures at Rikers and isn’t provided with clean clothing.
“Because of this mistreatment, he has been worn down considerably health wise, and now faces the stress of trial in this condition, which may very well lead to serious health complications, even death,” Ansari said.
Weinstein’s lawyers filed a legal claim against New York City last November, alleging he was receiving substandard medical treatment in unhygienic conditions at Rikers. The claim, which seeks $5 million in damages, argues that Weinstein has been returned to Rikers each time before fully recovering at the hospital.
The troubled jail complex has faced growing scrutiny for its mistreatment of detainees and dangerous conditions. Last year, a federal judge cleared the way for a possible federal takeover, finding the city had placed inmates in “unconstitutional danger.”
Judge Curtis Farber has yet to rule on the transfer request, and the issue wasn’t discussed in court before jury selection resumed on Wednesday morning.
The first day ended on Tuesday with no one chosen for the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates. Wednesday kicked off with two dozen prospective jurors being brought to the courtroom for more questioning after making it through an initial round a day earlier.
Weinstein is being tried again after New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, last year overturned his 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence and ordered a new trial, finding that improper rulings and prejudicial testimony tainted the original one.
Weinstein is being retried on two charges from his original trial. He’s accused of raping an aspiring actor in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and a criminal sex act on a movie and TV production assistant in 2006.
He is also charged with one count of criminal sex act based on an allegation from a woman who was not a part of the original trial. That woman, who has asked not to be named publicly, alleges that Weinstein forced himself on her at a Manhattan hotel.
Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and denies raping or sexually assaulting anyone.
UK anti-Islam activist ‘Tommy Robinson’ loses appeal against prison sentence
Yaxley-Lennon was jailed in October after he admitted contempt of court by breaching an injunction banning him from repeating allegations against Jamal Hijazi
Updated 16 April 2025
Reuters
LONDON: British anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon on Wednesday lost his appeal against his 18-month sentence after he previously admitted contempt of court for repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee.
Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, was jailed in October after he admitted contempt of court by breaching an injunction banning him from repeating the allegations against Jamal Hijazi, who successfully sued him for libel.
In a ruling on Wednesday, three judges at London’s Court of Appeal dismissed Yaxley-Lennon’s appeal.
They said that a previous judge’s “application of the law and his reasoning on the appropriate sanction in this case both exhibit a meticulous approach.”
Britain’s Solicitor General took legal action against Yaxley-Lennon over comments in online interviews and a documentary titled ‘Silenced’, which has been viewed millions of times and was played in London’s Trafalgar Square in July.
Last month, the 42-year-old self-styled journalist was refused permission to bring a legal challenge over the decision to keep him in segregation at Woodhill Prison in central England.
Yaxley-Lennon, who counts US billionaire Elon Musk among his supporters, was accused by some media and politicians of inflaming tensions which led to days of rioting across Britain in late July after the murder of three young girls at a dance workshop in Southport.
Yaxley-Lennon’s social media account said in January that the US billionaire was paying some of his legal fees, though Musk has not confirmed this.
