Russia evacuates border villages in Kursk region

Russia evacuates border villages in Kursk region
Russia is evacuating a number of villages in the Kursk region close to the Ukrainian border, the local governor said on Monday, almost six weeks after Ukraine launched its surprise incursion. (AP)
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Updated 16 September 2024
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Russia evacuates border villages in Kursk region

Russia evacuates border villages in Kursk region
  • Moscow appears to be mounting a counter-offensive in the region
  • More than 150,000 people in the region have had to flee their homes since Kyiv’s offensive began on August 6

MOSCOW: Russia is evacuating a number of villages in the Kursk region close to the Ukrainian border, the local governor said on Monday, almost six weeks after Ukraine launched its surprise incursion.
Moscow appears to be mounting a counter-offensive in the region, claiming to have retaken at least a dozen villages from Ukraine’s control since last week.
Authorities have decided to order the “obligatory evacuation of settlements in the Rylsky and Khomutovsky districts that are within a 15-kilometer (nine-mile) zone adjacent to the border with Ukraine,” Governor Alexei Smirnov said on Telegram.
He did not say which villages would be evacuated or the number of evacuees. There are dozens of villages and towns within this 15-kilometer radius.
More than 150,000 people in the region have had to flee their homes since Kyiv’s offensive began on August 6, state media reported Smirnov as saying last week.
Ukraine says its forces have advanced across tens of kilometers of Russian territory and seized dozens of settlements, including the border town of Sudzha.
Ukraine’s incursion — which began more than two years after Russia launched a full-scale military assault on its neighbor — caught Moscow off-guard.
It is the biggest incursion by a foreign army on Russian territory since World War II.


Scholz, Erdogan to discuss Middle East conflict in Istanbul

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. (REUTERS)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. (REUTERS)
Updated 5 sec ago
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Scholz, Erdogan to discuss Middle East conflict in Istanbul

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. (REUTERS)
  • Migration and economic policy issues will be on the agenda, German official says

BERLIN: Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Turkiye next week to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the escalating conflict in the Middle East and migration on the agenda, German officials said Friday.

Scholz will hold talks with Erdogan on Oct.19 in Istanbul, followed by a press conference, government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner told a media briefing in Berlin.
The German chancellor last visited Turkiye in March 2022, a few months after taking office.
“The war in Ukraine will be the subject of the talks, as will the situation in the Middle East. Migration and bilateral and economic policy issues will also be on the agenda,” Buechner said.

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Germany is home to Europe’s largest Turkish diaspora of some 3 million people.

Germany’s relations are sensitive with Turkiye, a fellow NATO member.
Germany is home to Europe’s largest Turkish diaspora of some 3 million people. In recent years, German officials have raised hackles in Turkiye by criticizing what they see as growing authoritarianism under Erdogan.
The outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in Gaza has further strained ties.
Erdogan has frequently attacked Israel over its actions in Gaza, labeling them “genocide.” Berlin, meanwhile, is a strong supporter of Israel and has defended the country’s right to self-defense, although it has also increasingly called for restraint.
When the Turkish leader visited Germany last year, he traded barbs with Scholz over the conflict.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
According to the territory’s Health Ministry, 42,065 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, mostly civilians. There have also been tensions between Berlin and Ankara over immigration.
Berlin announced at the end of September that it had agreed a plan with Turkiye under which Berlin would step up deportations of failed Turkish asylum seekers — only for Turkiye to deny any such deal had been struck swiftly.
The Scholz government has been under heightened pressure after a series of violent crimes and extremist attacks committed by asylum seekers. When it comes to Ukraine, Germany has strongly supported Kyiv in its fight against Moscow since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and is Ukraine’s second-biggest military backer.
Turkiye has sought to balance ties between its two Black Sea neighbors, Russia and Ukraine, since the outbreak of the war. Ankara has sent drones to Ukraine but shied away from Western-led sanctions on Moscow.

 


Blinken says Asia concerned about spread of Middle East conflict

Blinken says Asia concerned about spread of Middle East conflict
Updated 25 min 3 sec ago
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Blinken says Asia concerned about spread of Middle East conflict

Blinken says Asia concerned about spread of Middle East conflict
  • “We are seeing escalation after escalation, a regionalization of the conflict that is becoming a threat to global peace and security”

VIENTIANE LAOS: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday there was deep concern in Asia about the prospect of conflict spreading in the Middle East, as the UN chief called for everything possible to be done to avoid “all-out war” in Lebanon.
The conflict in the Middle East was a central issue during Friday’s East Asia Summit in Laos, where Blinken said Washington was dedicated to using diplomacy to try to control the situation in the face of what he called an Iranian-led axis of resistance.
“The intense focus of the United States, which has been the case going back a year... (is) preventing these conflicts from spreading. And we’re working on that every day,” Blinken told a press conference.

FASTFACT

US is dedicated to diplomacy to stop escalation, Blinken says.

“We’re working very hard through deterrence and through diplomacy to prevent that from happening. There’s also obviously deep concern that we share about the plight of children, women, and men in Gaza.”
The US has stressed to Israel the importance of meeting the humanitarian needs of people in Gaza, Blinken said, adding it was in Israel’s interest that people forced from their homes by hostilities in Lebanon are able to return.
The annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also included meetings with leaders and top diplomats from India, China, Japan, the US, Russia, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, as well as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Friday’s discussions included the war in Ukraine, Myanmar’s civil war, climate change, tensions in the Taiwan Strait and concern about confrontations in the South China Sea, a key conduit for at least $3 trillion in annual ship-borne trade.

‘Escalation after escalation’
Guterres condemned an attack by Israeli forces on a watchtower that wounded two UN peacemakers from Indonesia, an incident he said violated international law and must not be repeated.
He said any spread of fighting in the Middle East would have dramatically negative impacts on the whole world and called for maximum restraint from all sides.
“I have never seen in my time as secretary-general any example of death and destruction as dramatic as what we are witnessing here,” he told a press conference.
“We are seeing escalation after escalation, a regionalization of the conflict that is becoming a threat to global peace and security.”
“We see an enormous tragedy in Lebanon. And we must do everything to avoid an all-out war,” he added.
Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. made a plea before the regional leaders for all parties to be genuinely committed to managing disputes over the South China Sea, where his country has been embroiled in more than a year of confrontations with China.
The row has sparked fears those could spiral out of control, as US defense ally the Philippines accuses China of aggression, and Beijing expresses outrage over what it calls provocations and territorial infringements by Manila.
His remarks come a day after he called for ASEAN and China to urgently speed up negotiations on a code of conduct.
“These kinds of behavior cannot be ignored, and demand of us concerted and serious efforts to truly manage our disputes,” Marcos said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose country takes over the ASEAN chair next year, said violence must be avoided and that Chinese Premier Li Qiang had given assurances that matters would be handled peacefully.
“This is an issue that affects all countries but the solution we propose, that is agreed upon by all, including China, is to avoid violence, use diplomatic channels, have negotiations,” he told a press conference.

Intensely focused
ASEAN and China on Friday issued a statement recognizing the proliferation of online gambling crimes and telecommunications network fraud, more commonly known as scam centers, for which hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked in Southeast Asia by criminal gangs, according to the UN.
Blinken and the ASEAN leaders on Friday agreed to cooperate on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and strengthen its safety, security and trustworthiness, including developing compatible approaches to AI governance.
Blinken gave reassurances about Washington’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific region, regardless of the outcome of next month’s US presidential election.
“Even with everything else going on, our focus has remained intensely on this region,” he said.

 


Emir of Qatar to visit UK in December, Buckingham Palace announces

Emir of Qatar to visit UK in December, Buckingham Palace announces
Updated 11 October 2024
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Emir of Qatar to visit UK in December, Buckingham Palace announces

Emir of Qatar to visit UK in December, Buckingham Palace announces
  • State visit highlights growing partnership between nations in sectors such as education, business, energy

LONDON: King Charles will host the Emir of Qatar and his wife during a state visit to the UK on Dec. 3-4, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and his wife, Sheikha Jawaher, will stay at the palace in central London during their visit, The Times newspaper reported.

Sheikh Tamim, who became Qatar’s emir in 2013, is known for his strong ties to the UK, having attended Sherborne School and Sandhurst.

The state visit highlights a growing partnership between the two nations, particularly in sectors such as education, business, and energy.

Sheikh Tamim and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met during the Paris Olympic Games this summer, and also met previously in Qatar.

King Charles visited Qatar several times when he was Prince of Wales, and Sheikh Tamim attended his coronation last year.

Their most recent meeting took place during the COP28 summit in Dubai in November and December last year.


Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit

Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
Updated 11 October 2024
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Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit

Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
  • Delegates were urged to put aside differences and move negotiations forward during the two-day “pre-COP” in Azerbaijan
  • At COP29, countries are supposed to agree on a new goal for “climate finance” that meets the needs of the world’s poorest countries in dealing with global warming

PARIS: A key meeting ahead of the UN COP29 climate summit ended Friday in frustration with countries making little progress over how to fund a new finance deal for poorer nations.
Delegates were urged to put aside differences and move negotiations forward during the two-day “pre-COP” in Azerbaijan, which is hosting the major climate talks in November.
Not all countries were represented so smaller gains, rather than concrete breakthroughs, were hoped for during the Baku meet.
But the gathering wrapped with nations no closer to resolving the same sticking points that have hindered the talks for months, attendees told AFP.
“Despite some hopeful talk of coming together, countries remain quite far apart,” said Iskander Erzini Vernoit, co-founder and director at the IMAL Initiative for Climate and Development, who was present in Baku.
At COP29, countries are supposed to agree on a new goal for “climate finance” that meets the needs of the world’s poorest countries in dealing with global warming.
The existing amount of $100 billion a year is considered insufficient and rich countries are under pressure to raise their contributions by at least a factor of 10.
Donors have still not said how much they are willing to pay, frustrating those advocating for a larger financial commitment from the countries most responsible for climate change to date.
“It is outrageous that just weeks before COP29, developed countries did not say how much money they are willing provide for this new finance goal,” said Mariana Paoli from Christian Aid.
Some developed countries want the pact to offer mixed layers of finance: one from governments, another from multilateral lenders, and private capital.
But Paoli said without developed countries agreeing to pay from their coffers without strings attached “any number at COP will be a meaningless figure.”
Most climate finance comes as loans, and developing countries say it worsens their debt problems.
They are pushing for unconditional grants to finance clean energy and climate adaptation measures, and want funding for disaster relief known as “loss and damage” included in any new deal.
Rebecca Thiessen from the NGO coalition CAN said it was “positive” to hear rich nations at Baku talk of a pact in trillions instead of billions.
“The scale of need has been recognized, but no figure has been put on the table,” she said.


ECHR ruling for Cyprus asylum-seekers a ‘perfect win’ for human rights, say lawyers

ECHR ruling for Cyprus asylum-seekers a ‘perfect win’ for human rights, say lawyers
Updated 11 October 2024
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ECHR ruling for Cyprus asylum-seekers a ‘perfect win’ for human rights, say lawyers

ECHR ruling for Cyprus asylum-seekers a ‘perfect win’ for human rights, say lawyers
  • The ECHR on Tuesday condemned Nicosia for returning two Syrian refugees to Lebanon who had arrived on a small boat

LONDON: Human rights lawyers on Friday were celebrating a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights for Cyprus to pay damages to two Syrian refugees who were blocked from applying for asylum as a major victory.

The ECHR on Tuesday condemned Nicosia for returning two Syrian refugees to Lebanon who had arrived on a small boat, without examining their asylum claim, and said the country had committed four violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Cyprus failed to conduct “any assessment of the risk of lack of access to an effective asylum process in Lebanon or the living conditions of asylum-seekers there,” it also said, adding that the Cypriot government had not assessed the risk of “refoulement,” which is the forcible return of refugees to a country such as Syria where they might be subjected to persecution.

Lawyer Nicoletta Charalambidou, who represented the refugees, said the judgment set a precedent against Cyprus’ migration policies, The Guardian newspaper reported on Friday.

“For four years the migration policies of Cyprus have relied on human rights violations, and illegal pushbacks at land and sea,” she said.

“This ruling has exposed these illegal practices and it has set a precedent. It is a perfect win for human rights,” she added.

Charalambidou stated that more legal actions are likely to follow, as asylum-seekers seek justice for violations of their rights under EU and international law.

“There are many more that I will be filing here in Nicosia before the administrative court of international protection and of course this week’s judgment (in Strasbourg) will encourage others,” she said.

“At first we saw pushbacks in the sea, now we’re seeing pushbacks in the buffer zone but Cyprus has obligations. It has to provide access to asylum requests wherever they come from and it has to provide dignified reception conditions. It is duty bound to do that under EU and international law.”

The ruling came amid reports by the UN’s refugee agency and the Border Violence Monitoring Network highlighting Cyprus’ use of new surveillance technologies and forcible expulsions, particularly in the buffer zone.

Around 65 asylum-seekers, including minors and cancer patients, remain stranded in the UN-patrolled zone between Cyprus’ divided regions.

“The state is now providing food but what is required is a sustainable long-term solution,” said Emilia Strovolidou, the UN agency’s spokesperson. “We’re in talks with the government. There are people who’ve been in limbo for months now and psychologically they’re in a very difficult situation.”

However, Nicholas Ioannides, Cyprus’ deputy minister in charge of migration, said in August his country was not bound under EU law to examine asylum requests even if lodged by claimants in a transit zone.

“Cyprus has taken a decision that it will not accept flows through the green line, particularly as we’ve managed to have zero arrivals via sea,” he said.