As Kamala Harris readies for US vote, her Indian village wants an end to Gaza war 

Special A woman walks past a poster of US Vice President Kamala Harris in her ancestral village of Thulasendrapuram in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu on July 23, 2024. (AFP)
A woman walks past a poster of US Vice President Kamala Harris in her ancestral village of Thulasendrapuram in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu on July 23, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 13 August 2024
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As Kamala Harris readies for US vote, her Indian village wants an end to Gaza war 

As Kamala Harris readies for US vote, her Indian village wants an end to Gaza war 
  • VP Harris’s maternal grandfather was born in Thulasendrapuram in Tamil Nadu state
  • Many residents are hopeful that Harris would shift US policy on Israel’s invasion of Gaza

NEW DELHI: In a small south Indian village more than 12,900 kilometers from Washington, residents have put up giant blue and white posters adorned with the face of US Vice President Kamala Harris. In the local Tamil language, each one wishes her luck for the presidential election in November.

Thulasendrapuram, a village surrounded by rice paddy fields in India’s Tamil Nadu state, is where Harris’s maternal grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, was born more than a century ago. 

Throughout the years, its residents have been closely observing her political ascent, seeing the 59-year-old as one of their own. When she was inaugurated as vice president in 2021, they celebrated with firecrackers, free chocolate, posters and calendars bearing her picture. 

As she became the US Democratic presidential candidate, many are beaming with pride as they pin new hopes on a Harris presidency shifting US policy on Israel’s war on Gaza.

“She belongs to our village and her ancestor was born here. We are very proud of her,” village chief Arulmozhi Sudhakar told Arab News. 

“She is from India and from Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu, there is a saying that ‘every part of the entire world is ours and every human is our relative’ … Once she wins she will stop and end the war. This is what I believe.”

Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinian citizens in over 300 days, has influenced election discussions in the US, with many now considering supporting Harris more than the previous Democratic nominee, President Joe Biden, over her perceived stronger stance on the suffering of Palestinians. 

While she has not strayed from Biden’s policy on Israel, she has given a glimmer of hope for the supporters of Palestine, both within the US and abroad. 

It is also a salient issue for many Arab Americans, numbering more than 3.5 million in the US, whose support for Harris appears to depend on whether her proposed policies will save Palestinian lives. 

When it comes to the tiny Indian village of Thulasendrapuram, whose temple is offering special prayers to the local deity for Harris’s success, there is also faith that she would “try to bring peace to Gaza.”

“She comes from Indian ancestry, which believes in non-violence … I hope that her decision would reflect her background and where she comes from,” village resident M. Krishnamurthy told Arab News. 

“No doubt she will try for peace in Gaza and stop the world from going into crisis.” 

Kanan, a retired government servant from Thulasendrapuram, is also hopeful that a Harris presidency would bring about meaningful change for the besieged enclave.

“I want Kamala Harris to stop the war. This is my wish,” Kanan told Arab News.

“Lots of women and children are being killed in Gaza. War needs to be stopped and there should be no more war and Kamala Harris should intervene to stop the war.”


UN chief condemns ‘collective punishment’ of Palestinians

UN chief condemns ‘collective punishment’ of Palestinians
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UN chief condemns ‘collective punishment’ of Palestinians

UN chief condemns ‘collective punishment’ of Palestinians
  • Israel has killed at least 41,226 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry
  • More than 200 humanitarian workers, mostly UN staff, have also been killed

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Nothing justifies Israel’s collective punishment of the people of Gaza as they endure “unimaginable” suffering, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP on Monday.
Guterres lashed out at Israel’s handling of its war in the devastated Palestinian territory, now almost in its second year, as the UN prepares to host world leaders starting next week.
“It is unimaginable, the level of suffering in Gaza, the level of deaths and destruction have no parallel in everything I’ve witnessed since (becoming) secretary-general,” said Guterres, who has led the embattled international organization since 2017.
“We all condemn the terror attacks made by Hamas, as well as the taking of the hostages, that is an absolute violation of international humanitarian law,” he said.
“But the truth is that nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, and that is what we are witnessing in a dramatic way in Gaza,” he added, decrying the widespread carnage and hunger blighting Gaza.
On October 7, Hamas fighters infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel, unleashing unprecedented violence which killed 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP toll including hostages killed in captivity.
In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, and its land and air offensive has claimed 41,226 lives according to the health ministry of the Hamas government.
More than 200 humanitarian workers, mostly UN staff, have also been killed.
“Accountability should be a must” for all civilian deaths, Guterres said acknowledging “serious violations” had been perpetrated by both Israel and Hamas.
Against that backdrop the UN leader has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire, but talks overseen by the United States, Egypt and Qatar remain deadlocked, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of resisting a deal.
“They are endless,” Guterres said of the talks, saying it would be “very difficult” to reach a compromise but that he remained hopeful.
With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refusing to return his calls since October, Guterres is not counting on a breakthrough during the General Assembly’s high-level week from Sunday when he would typically receive all visiting heads of state and government.
“As far as I understand, it was already said publicly that it is not his intention to ask for any meeting with me. So of course, the meeting will very probably not take place,” Guterres said, brushing off the apparent snub.

“What matters is not the question of a phone call or no phone call, a meeting or no meeting — what matters is what happens on the ground. What matters is the suffering of people.
“What matters is the constant denial of the two-state solution and the undermining of that two-state solution by the different actions that are taking place on the grounds.
“With grabbing of land, with evictions, with the new settlements being built — all illegally and in the context of an occupation that now, according to the International Court of Justice’s opinion, is in itself also illegal.”
He also said a proposed surveillance mission he backed to oversee any future ceasefire looked “improbable,” with all sides unlikely to sign up.
UN missions require the agreement of the host countries.
It was partly for this reason that almost a year ago, the Security Council mandated a multinational mission, led by Kenya, not the UN, to help police in gang-plagued Haiti where blue helmets are reviled.
But with only a few hundred police officers deployed and the mission lacking funds, Washington has raised the specter of transforming it into a UN mission — something that the Security Council could only do at Haiti’s request.
“I find it very strange that it’s so difficult to fund a relatively small police operation in Haiti,” he said.
“I find it absolutely unacceptable.”
Responding to accusations the UN is powerless to curb conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere, he blamed member states — particularly the Security Council and its 15 members — for the decisions taken or not taken.
The Security Council as well as international financial institutions are “outdated, are dysfunctional and are unfair,” he said.
“We have been trying to solve the wars, the problem is that we have not the power, sometimes we don’t even have the resources, to be able to do so.”
 

 


US military completes withdrawal from junta-ruled Niger

US military completes withdrawal from junta-ruled Niger
Updated 16 September 2024
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US military completes withdrawal from junta-ruled Niger

US military completes withdrawal from junta-ruled Niger
  • US and France had more than 2,500 military personnel in the Sahel until recently
  • Niger has pulled away from its Western partners, turning instead to Russia for security

DAKAR, Senegal: The withdrawal of US troops from Niger is complete, an American official said Monday.
A small number of military personnel assigned to guard the US Embassy remain, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters.
Earlier this year, Niger’s ruling junta ended an agreement that allowed US troops to operate in the West African country. A few months later, officials from both countries said in a joint statement that US troops would complete their withdrawal by the middle of September.
The US handed over its last military bases in Niger to local authorities last month, but about two dozen American soldiers had remained in Niger, largely for administrative duties related to the withdrawal, Singh said.
Niger’s ouster of American troops following a coup last year has broad ramifications for Washington because it’s forcing troops to abandon critical bases that were used for counterterrorism missions in the Sahel. Groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group operate in the vast region south of the Sahara desert.
One of those groups, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa Al-Muslimin, known as JNIM, is active in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and is looking to expand into Benin and Togo.
Niger had been seen as one of the last nations in the restive region that Western nations could partner with to beat back growing extremist insurgencies. The US and France had more than 2,500 military personnel in the region until recently, and together with other European countries had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance and training.
In recent months Niger has pulled away from its Western partners, turning instead to Russia for security. In April, Russian military trainers arrived in Niger to reinforce the country’s air defenses.


‘Starving’ in isolation: fears for imprisoned Belarus protest leader

‘Starving’ in isolation: fears for imprisoned Belarus protest leader
Updated 16 September 2024
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‘Starving’ in isolation: fears for imprisoned Belarus protest leader

‘Starving’ in isolation: fears for imprisoned Belarus protest leader
  • The 42-year-old is now serving an 11-year sentence in Gomel, one of over 1,000 political prisoners in the country
  • Minsk announced a new wave of pardons on Monday, with 37 political prisoners freed, but it was not yet known if Kolesnikova was included

WARSAW: Nobody outside of Prison Colony Number Four in the Belarusian city of Gomel has seen or heard from Maria Kolesnikova, imprisoned for leading huge 2020 protests against President Alexander Lukashenko since February last year.
An orchestra flute player, Kolesnikova was the star of a street movement that shook the Minsk regime four years ago — she then famously ripped up her passport while the KGB tried to forcibly deport her.
The 42-year-old is now serving an 11-year sentence in Gomel, one of over 1,000 political prisoners in the country. She has been barred from contact with the outside world for 19 months.
Minsk announced a new wave of pardons on Monday, with 37 political prisoners freed, but it was not yet known if Kolesnikova was included.
Two ex-prisoners released from the same colony told AFP Kolesnikova spends months in the harshest “PKT” type of punishment cell, held in isolation from other inmates, who are banned from talking to her.
“I am worried for her life,” her sister Tatiana Khomich, who lives abroad, told AFP.
She has been told Kolesnikova’s weight has severely dropped.
Kolesnikova had lost weight after abdominal surgery in November 2022, but has now lost “even more,” unable to recover in harsh conditions and denied an appropriate diet, her sister said.
According to Khomich, she has a limited allowance of around 20 euros in the prison shop per month.
“She’s basically starving,” Khomich said.
The world last saw a glimpse of Kolesnikova after the surgery, when she was allowed to see her father, with authorities releasing a fuzzy picture.
Then, the letters stopped: the last one was dated February 15, 2023. Contact was also lost with other key imprisoned opposition figures.
Khomich knows that Kolesnikova spends most of her time in the PKT, which ex-convicts describe as a “prison inside a prison.” PKT is an acronym for “cell-type space.”
Darya Afanasyeva, a feminist activist who served a 2.5-year sentence in Gomel, said information on Kolesnikova trickled down to women in the prison if someone was sent to a punishment cell and heard her through a wall.
Released this spring and now living in Poland, she described the level to which Kolesnikova was kept out of sight.
When a medical van came into the prison, likely headed for Kolesnikova, Afanasyeva said authorities put the colony “on some kind of martial law.”
“Everyone was put in one room and you are not allowed to go to the windows,” the 29-year-old said.
“We saw it was headed to the PKT and we understood it was for Masha.”
Before Kolesnikova was sent to the PKT, Afanasyeva said she appeared “very thin.”
Afanasyeva said Kolesnikova’s isolation in the Gomel prison — which started filling up with political prisoners after the protests — started as soon as the protest leader arrived there in June 2022.
Women with political cases were singled out with a yellow triangle on their uniforms, ex-prisoners said.
Prison officials were quick to cut Kolesnikova off.
She was the only political prisoner placed in a “brigade” with no other women with political cases.
Afanasyeva described the level of surveillance around Kolesnikova when she was still working at the prison sewing factory.
“They put special cameras to watch her, she worked on a machine and these two cameras were right above her table,” the activist, who had a yellow triangle tattooed on her forearm, said.
“Everything to do with Masha was made into a secret,” said Kristina Cherenkova, another former political prisoner, arrested for social media posts against the war in Ukraine in her town near the Ukraine border.
“Practically the whole year and one month that I was in the Gomel prison, she was in the PKT,” Cherenkova, now also in Poland, said.
She relayed what women sent to solitary confinement had told her.
“At first, the girls said her voice was strong and that she sang in there,” Cherenkova said.
“But in the last months of me being there, they would say you could not hear her as much.”
When news broke of a major swap between Russia — on whom Belarus relies — and the West, Khomich had hoped her sister would be among prisoners released.
But while let down by an absence of Belarusian dissidents in the swap, it gave her a boost that “talks are possible, even in times of war.”
A fresh wave of pardons this summer has offered new hope to relatives of political prisoners.
Analyst Artyom Shraibman said Kolesnikova was getting “special treatment” in prison, with the regime driven by “revenge for the trauma of 2020.”
He struggled to imagine a free Kolesnikova, saying “Lukashenko mainly lets people go who would leave prison soon anyway.”
“Or who would die in prison soon,” he added.


Starmer praises Italy’s Meloni for reducing illegal migration

Starmer praises Italy’s Meloni for reducing illegal migration
Updated 16 September 2024
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Starmer praises Italy’s Meloni for reducing illegal migration

Starmer praises Italy’s Meloni for reducing illegal migration
  • The center-left Labour Party prime minister is not a natural ally of Meloni, who heads the far-right Brothers of Italy party

ROME: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Monday for her efforts in reducing illegal migration, saying his “government of pragmatism” sought new approaches to the hot-button topic.
On his first visit to Italy since his center-left Labour Party’s landslide victory in July, Starmer expressed interest in the immigration policies of far-right leader Meloni — including plans to operate Italian-run migrant centers in Albania — and stressed the importance of cross-border cooperation.
“You’ve made remarkable progress working with countries along migration routes as equals to address the drivers of migration at the source and to tackle the gangs,” Starmer told Meloni during a joint press conference in Rome.
“As a result, irregular arrivals to Italy by sea are down 60 percent since 2022,” said Starmer, who has vowed to fight illegal migration at home.
His visit, in which he toured a national immigration coordination center with Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, came a day after the latest migrant shipwreck in the Channel claimed eight lives.
The boat had 59 people on board from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran.
The latest incident brings to 46 the number of people who have died this year trying to reach British shores.
Starmer has rejected the previous Conservative government’s plan to expel all undocumented migrants to Rwanda while their asylum claims are examined.
As a former chief prosecutor, he said, he saw the value of cross-border collaboration on fighting terrorism.
“And I’ve never accepted ... that we can’t do the same with smuggling gangs,” he said.
“And now of course Italy has shown that we can.”
In Britain, the perilous cross-Channel journeys that migrants attempt from northern France have posed a difficult problem for successive governments.
On Saturday, about 800 people crossed the Channel — the second-highest figure since the start of the year, according to the UK Interior Ministry.
Starmer said he had discussed with his Italian counterpart a deal Rome signed with Albania in November to open two Italian-operated centers to house undocumented migrants while their asylum claims are processed.
Asked directly whether he would consider such a plan for Britain, Starmer noted that the centers were not yet operational and “we don’t yet know the outcome.”
Lower migrant arrivals to Italy were currently due to Meloni’s efforts, said Starmer, referring to Italy’s deals with Tunisia and Libya where funding is provided in exchange for help stemming the departure of Italy-bound migrants.
“I’ve always made the argument that preventing people leaving their country in the first place is far better than trying to deal with those that have arrived in any of our countries,” he said.
“Today was a return, if you like, to British pragmatism. We are pragmatists first and foremost, when we see a challenge, we discuss with our friends and allies, the different approaches that are being taken,” he said.
Under Italy’s migrant plan with Albania, migrants with rejected asylum claims will be sent back to their country of origin, whereas those with accepted applications will be granted entry to Italy.
But under the former UK government’s Rwanda scheme, migrants sent to the East African nation could never have settled in Britain irrespective of the outcome of their claim.
The two migration centers in Albania were supposed to have opened in early August, but have been delayed, with Meloni saying Monday it was a matter of “a few weeks.”
Starmer’s trip to Italy has already spurred criticism, even within his own party.
Labour MP Kim Johnson told The Guardian it was “disturbing that Starmer is seeking to learn lessons from a neo-fascist government, particularly after the anti-refugee riots and far-right racist terrorism that swept Britain this summer.”
Besides the Tunisia deal, Meloni’s hard-right government has renewed a controversial deal with the UN-backed Libyan government in Tripoli dating from 2017, in which Rome provides training and funding to the Libyan coast guard for help deterring departures of migrants, or returning those already at sea back to Libya.
Human rights groups say the policy pushes thousands of migrants back to Libya to face torture and abuse under arbitrary detention.
Migrant arrivals to Italy by sea have dropped markedly, according to the Interior Ministry.
Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 13, 44,675 people arrived in Italy compared to a figure of 125,806 for the same period in 2023.
Across all the EU borders, meanwhile, the number of migrants crossing has dropped by 39 percent, according to border agency Frontex.
But multiple factors are behind these trends, experts say, with many migrants seeking entry into the EU having changed their route.
Crossings are up 13 percent over the Channel this year, Frontex said.

 


Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes

Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes
Updated 16 September 2024
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Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes

Suspect in Trump assassination attempt charged with gun crimes
  • The Republican presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election was unharmed
  • Phone records suggest the suspect may have been lying in wait for nearly 12 hours on Sunday, according to a criminal complaint

WASHINGTON: A man suspected of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump was charged with two gun-related crimes in federal court on Monday, a day after being spotted with a rifle hiding in the bushes at the former US president’s golf course in Florida.
More charges appear likely, but the initial counts — possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number — will allow authorities to keep him in custody as the investigation continues.
The Republican presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election was unharmed. But the incident raised fresh questions about how an armed suspect was able to get so close to him, just two months after another gunman fired at Trump during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear with a bullet.
Phone records suggest the suspect may have been lying in wait for nearly 12 hours on Sunday, according to a criminal complaint.
The US Secret Service opened fire after an agent saw a rifle barrel poking out of the bushes on Sunday at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, a few hundred yards away from where the former president was playing.
The gunman fled in a sports utility vehicle, according to the complaint. Officers found a loaded assault-style rifle with a scope, a digital camera and a plastic bag of food left behind.
A suspect, identified on Monday as Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested about 40 minutes later driving north on Interstate 95. When asked if he knew why he had been stopped, Routh “responded in the affirmative,” according to the complaint. The license plate on his vehicle had been reported stolen from another car.
Records show a phone associated with Routh was located at the golf course starting at 1:59 a.m. (0559 GMT) on Sunday morning.
Routh has two prior convictions, both in North Carolina, according to the criminal complaint: a 2002 conviction for possession of a weapon of mass death and destruction and a 2010 conviction for possession of stolen goods. Further details about those cases were not immediately available.
Trump blamed President Joe Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris for the assassination attempt. He cited their “rhetoric” and claimed the suspected gunman was acting on Democrats’ “highly inflammatory language,” though authorities have not yet offered evidence of any motive.
“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country — both from the inside and out,” he said, according to Fox.
SECRET SERVICE UNDER PRESSURE
The Secret Service, which protects US presidents, presidential candidates and other high-level dignitaries, has been under intense scrutiny since the earlier attempt on Trump’s life.
That led to the resignation of Director Kimberly Cheatle. The service bolstered Trump’s security detail following the July 13 attack, in which the gunman was shot dead by responding agents.
The agency “needs more help,” including possibly more personnel, Biden told reporters on Monday, adding: “Thank God the president’s OK.”
Harris said on X: “Violence has no place in America.”
House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, who convened a bipartisan task force to investigate after the first assassination attempt, said in a Fox News interview that Congress would also examine the latest incident.
“We need accountability,” said Johnson who also called for more resources to protect Trump. “We must demand that this job is being done.”
Cheatle’s replacement, Acting Director Ronald Rowe, traveled to Florida after Sunday’s assassination attempt, according to several news outlets. Rowe, who took over after Cheatle’s resignation in July, told Congress on July 30 he was “ashamed” of security lapses in the earlier attack.
Rowe has been with the 7,800-member Secret Service for 25 years, according to an official biography, rising to the agency’s No. 2 spot before he was promoted in July.

SUSPECT IS UKRAINE SYMPATHIZER
Routh was a staunch supporter of Ukraine and had traveled there after Russia’s 2022 invasion, seeking to recruit foreign fighters.
Profiles on X, Facebook and LinkedIn with Routh’s name contained messages of support for Ukraine as well as statements describing Trump as a threat to US democracy.
“@POTUS Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA ...make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” read a post on X, tagging Biden.
Reuters was not able to confirm that the accounts belonged to the suspect, and law enforcement agencies declined to comment. Public access to the Facebook and X profiles was removed hours after Sunday’s incident.
Harris and other Democrats have cast Trump as a danger to US democracy, citing his effort to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, which led to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol. Harris has promised unwavering support for Ukraine if elected.
Trump has expressed skepticism about the amount of aid the US has provided Ukraine and has vowed to end the war immediately if elected. He told Reuters last year that Ukraine might have to cede some territory to gain peace.
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, posted and then deleted a message on the social media site on Sunday wondering why no one had tried to assassinate Biden or Harris. In a follow-up post on Monday, Musk, who has endorsed Trump, said he had been joking.