Rising rivers threaten southern Poland as flooding recedes elsewhere in Central Europe

Rising rivers threaten southern Poland as flooding recedes elsewhere in Central Europe
High winds and unusually heavy rainfall have hit swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia since Sept. 13, 2024. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 18 September 2024
Follow

Rising rivers threaten southern Poland as flooding recedes elsewhere in Central Europe

Rising rivers threaten southern Poland as flooding recedes elsewhere in Central Europe
  • Authorities have reported 23 deaths so far, with seven each in Poland and Romania, five in Austria and four in the Czech Republic
  • The combination of floods in Central Europe and deadly wildfires in Portugal are joint proof of a “climate breakdown”, the European Union’s head office said

WARSAW: Soldiers and volunteers in southwestern Poland were laying sandbags Wednesday near swollen rivers in the region of Wroclaw as they worked to safeguard homes and businesses after days of flooding across Central Europe.
Several Central European nations have been hit by severe flooding, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania as a result of a low pressure system that began dumping record rainfall in the region last Thursday.
Authorities have reported 23 deaths so far, with seven each in Poland and Romania, five in Austria and four in the Czech Republic.
The combination of floods in Central Europe and deadly wildfires in Portugal are joint proof of a “climate breakdown” that will become the norm unless drastic action is taken, the European Union’s head office said Wednesday.
The fourth death in the Czech Republic was reported Wednesday, when police said they found the body of a 70-year-old woman who was swept away by waters on Sunday in the town of Kobyla nad Vidnavkou near the town of Jesenik, located in the badly hit northeast.
The weather has improved, with warm and sunny conditions in the Czech Republic, Poland and elsewhere. Water levels were falling in some places, allowing authorities and residents to clean up debris.
Firefighters in Poland were pumping water out of flooded streets and basements. And in Romania, about 1,000 firefighters were working across the country to clean up severely affected areas, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations said Wednesday in a Facebook post.
But some areas are still facing a threat, particularly in southwestern Poland.
Soldiers and residents in Marcinkowice, near Wroclaw, were laying sandbags near a bridge over the Olawa River, whose waters flow into the Oder, the major river that rises in the Oder Mountains in the Czech Republic and runs north through Poland to Germany.
The community leader of the town of Olawa, Artur Piotrowski, described the situation as difficult. He told the Polish state news agency PAP that two villages in a low-lying area have been flooded since Monday and residents refused to evacuate.
Thousands of Polish soldiers were in action. Some evacuated people and animals — including dogs and horses — from flood-affected areas and distributed food and drinking water. The army also posted on X on Wednesday that it set up a field hospital in the town of Nysa after patients in a hospital there had to be evacuated earlier this week.
Experts have been preparing for flood threats due to the cresting Oder River in Opole, a city of some 130,000 residents, and Wroclaw, home to about 640,000 residents, which suffered disastrous flooding in 1997.


Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims

Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims
Updated 3 sec ago
Follow

Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims

Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims

LONDON: More than 200 women are now in settlement talks with Harrods over alleged abuse by its former owner Mohamed Al Fayed, the upmarket London department store said Thursday.
The Egyptian billionaire died last year aged 94. But new allegations have emerged after the BBC last month aired an expose claiming he had raped and sexually abused women during his ownership of Harrods.
“Since the airing of the documentary, so far there are 200+ individuals who are now in the Harrods process to settle claims directly with the business,” the store said in a statement.
Separately, the BBC said Thursday that another 65 women had told them they were abused by Fayed, while lawyers for the Justice for Harrods Survivors group representing alleged victims said they now have more than 70 clients.
Harrods is advising new complainants to obtain advice through the Harrods Survivors Group legal team or another legal team.
The new allegations sent to the BBC stretch back to 1977, include sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape: 37 of the 65 new claimants had worked at the UK’s most famous shop, the broadcaster added.
Justice for Harrods Survivors said women were now “feeling safe to come forward” and that the number of accusers was “increasing on a daily basis.”
The group “now retains 71 clients and is processing a further 220 inquiries” having been contacted by people from all around the world, it added.
London’s Metropolitan Police said it was also investigating a number of new allegations.
In 2008, Fayed was accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl and prosecutors reviewed evidence in 2009. In 2015 he was investigated over claims of rape two years earlier.
In both instances, the Crown Prosecution Service said there was no “realistic prospect of conviction” and did not bring charges against the Harrods chairman.
Harrods’ managing director, Michael Ward, has admitted his former boss presided over a “toxic culture of secrecy, intimidation, fear of repercussion and sexual misconduct.”
But he said he had not been “aware of his criminality and abuse” and expressed his “personal horror at the revelations.”
Fayed’s accusers say the assaults took place in his apartments in London and his properties in Paris, including the Ritz hotel. The businessman also owned Fulham Football Club.
Allegations include a repeated pattern of women who underwent a selection process for positions close to Fayed, and an “invasive” gynaecological examination, the results of which were shared with Fayed.
The women said when they tried to complain about their abuse they were threatened by senior security staff, demoted and subject to false allegations until they had “no choice” but to leave Harrods.
Fayed sold Harrods to the investment arm of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund for a reported £1.5 billion ($2.2 billion).


Princess Kate joins husband William on visit to English town hit by killings, riot

Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, speak to members of the emergency services.
Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, speak to members of the emergency services.
Updated 10 October 2024
Follow

Princess Kate joins husband William on visit to English town hit by killings, riot

Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, speak to members of the emergency services.
  • Disinformation spread on social media in the aftermath of the July attack wrongly identified the assailant as an Islamist migrant, and led to violent clashes

LONDON: Prince William was accompanied by wife Kate on Thursday for their first joint public engagement since she ended chemotherapy treatment, meeting bereaved families of three young girls murdered at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in Southport.
Southport, a quiet seaside town in northwest England, drew a global spotlight on July 29 when three girls were stabbed to death and other children were seriously hurt in an attack on the summer vacation event. Rioting then broke out days later.
On their visit on Thursday, William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, spoke privately with families of the victims and a dance teacher who was present at the time of the attack, and later met representatives from local emergency services who had responded to the incident.
“We continue to stand with everyone in Southport,” the pair said in a statement through their office, Kensington Palace, signed with their initials.

Britain's Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, arrive to meet rescue workers and the families of those caught up in the Southport knife attack earlier this year in Southport, England, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP)


“Meeting the community today has been a powerful reminder of the importance of supporting one another in the wake of unimaginable tragedy. You will remain in our thoughts and prayers.”
It was one of the first engagements Kate has carried out since she began to slowly return to work after ending her course of preventative chemotherapy for cancer, and it was her first in public since then.
Kate’s unexpected appearance came because the couple wanted to visit to show their support to the families and community, and let them know they had not been forgotten.
The visit echoes one made by William’s father King Charles who went to Southport in August where he met some of the surviving children and their families.
Disinformation spread on social media in the aftermath of the July attack wrongly identified the assailant as an Islamist migrant, and led to violent clashes between protesters and police in Southport, and an attempt to attack the town’s mosque.
A teenager, who was 17 at the time of the incident, has been charged with carrying out the murders.
Days of similar rioting followed across the country which police and the government blamed on far-right thuggery, leading to about 1,500 arrests and almost 400 people being jailed as the authorities sought to stamp out the trouble.


Zelensky denies ceasefire with Russia under discussion on trip

Zelensky denies ceasefire with Russia under discussion on trip
Updated 10 October 2024
Follow

Zelensky denies ceasefire with Russia under discussion on trip

Zelensky denies ceasefire with Russia under discussion on trip
  • Zelensky was seeking a military and financial boost during a 48-hour trip to London, Paris, Rome and Berlin
  • “This is not the topic of our discussions,” he said. “It’s not right. Russia works a lot with media disinformation, so it (such reports) is understandable”

PARIS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday a ceasefire with Russia was not under discussion with European allies and urged more Western support ahead of a tough winter during his lightning tour of four capitals.
Zelensky was seeking a military and financial boost during a 48-hour trip to London, Paris, Rome and Berlin, amid fears of dwindling support if Donald Trump becomes US president next month.
Speaking to reporters after talks with President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Zelensky denied media reports that he was discussing the terms of a ceasefire with Russia.
“This is not the topic of our discussions,” he said. “It’s not right. Russia works a lot with media disinformation so it (such reports) is understandable,” he added.
Zelensky has rejected any peace plan that involves ceding land to Russia, arguing Moscow must first withdraw all troops from Ukrainian territory.
Zelensky also said he and Macron had discussed Kyiv’s “victory plan” to defeat Russia, expressing gratitude to the French president for all his support.
“Before winter we need your support,” he added, acknowledging “a difficult situation in the east” and a “big deficit” in terms of some equipment.
Without elaborating, Macron said Zelensky had outlined Ukraine’s “plan for the next weeks” and the pair had discussed strategy for the “next weeks and months.”
Macron emphasized he had reaffirmed France’s support “for the Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invasion.”
Ukraine is facing its toughest winter since the full-scale invasion started in February 2022, as Russia launches strikes on the country’s power grid and advances across the eastern frontline.
The talks came after Macron on Wednesday made a highly unusual visit to a military camp in eastern France, the precise location of which was not disclosed, to meet part of a brigade of Ukrainian troops France is training.
Zelensky arrived in Paris from London where he had had talks with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO chief Mark Rutte.
Speaking after his Downing Street meeting, Zelensky said he had “outlined the details of our victory plan,” adding that it “aims to create the right conditions for a just end to the war.”
The meeting, Starmer said, had been a chance to “go through the plan, to talk in more detail.”
Zelensky maintains that Ukraine desperately needs more aid to fight back after Russia captured dozens of small towns and villages in the east.
He is also pushing for clearance to use long-range weapons supplied by allies, including British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles, to strike military targets deep inside Russia.
Washington and London have stalled on giving approval over fears it could draw NATO allies into direct conflict with Russia.
Zelensky said he had raised the subject at the Downing Street meeting.
Rutte told reporters “legally, that is possible because legally, Ukraine is allowed to use its weapons, if they can hit targets in Russia, if these targets present a threat to Ukraine.”
But he added: “Whether individual allies do, that’s in the end, always up to individual allies.”
Rutte and Britain cautioned against placing too much focus on long-range missiles.
“No war has ever been won by a single weapon,” Starmer’s spokesman said. The talks were instead about “the range of support” for Ukraine.
A planned meeting of Ukraine’s allies in Germany on Saturday was postponed after US President Joe Biden called off his visit to focus on the threat from Hurricane Milton.
On the ground, questions are growing about the long-term strategy of an offensive into Russia’s Kursk region, given Moscow’s push in the east of Ukraine.
On Thursday, the Kremlin said its missiles had struck two launchers of a US-made Patriot air-defense system, which Ukraine uses against Russian missiles.
“If this is a short-term operation, it will strengthen us,” Bogdan, one serviceman sitting at a cafe in Druzhkivka, near Kramatorsk, told AFP.
“If it’s a long-term operation and we plan to stay in Kursk, it will deplete our main resources.”
Ukraine relies on billions of dollars worth of US aid to fight Russia’s invasion, and the US presidential election in November could prove pivotal.
The German-based Kiel Institute warned Thursday Western military and financial aid to Kyiv could halve to about 29 billion euros ($31 billion) in 2025 if Trump wins the November 5 election.
Trump has promised to end the war “in 24 hours” if he is elected — a prospect Kyiv fears means being forced to make massive compromises to achieve peace.


Pressure grows in Philippines to stop sending migrant workers to Israel

Pressure grows in Philippines to stop sending migrant workers to Israel
Updated 10 October 2024
Follow

Pressure grows in Philippines to stop sending migrant workers to Israel

Pressure grows in Philippines to stop sending migrant workers to Israel
  • About 27,000 Filipinos, mostly caregivers, are living and working in Israel
  • Worker deployment to neighboring Lebanon banned over security situation

MANILA: The Philippine government is facing pressure to stop sending workers to Israel, with labor rights advocates and politicians raising security concerns amid the escalating conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.

The Philippines does not allow the sending of workers to Lebanon, which is on its alert level 3 that carries a deployment ban. For the past few weeks, it has been also calling on nationals to return home in the wake of Israel’s increasing bombardment of civilian sites.

But no such measures are in place for Israel, which remains on the Philippine government’s alert level 2 despite facing retaliatory attacks amid growing hostilities with most neighboring countries.

“It’s time to review the policy,” said Raymond Palatino, former congressman and current secretary general of BAYAN, the Philippines’ largest alliance of grassroots groups.

“Given the worsening situation today, the government should at least consider suspending the deployment of workers to Israel.”

He told Arab News that while the Philippines was already repatriating its nationals from Israel, it was still allowing new batches of workers to go there and “face the same risks in their destination.”

Marissa Magsino, lawmaker representing overseas Filipino workers in Congress, also pressed for the deployment to be suspended.

“The Philippines should not continue to send its workforce to Israel due to the ongoing conflict and security risks,” she said. “The safety of the workers must come first.”

There are about 27,000 Filipinos in Israel, mostly caregivers, according to data from the Middle East chapter of Migrante, a global alliance of overseas Filipino workers. Some 900 of them have returned to the Philippines since October last year, when Israel began its deadly war on Gaza, which this month expanded to Lebanon as well.

“OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) in Israel are not really safe because Israel is at war and is continually fanning the flames of conflict against Iran, Lebanon, Palestine and other countries in the region. In fact, its so-called Iron Dome defense system was already breached,” Migrante told Arab News, referring to the recent Iranian strikes on Tel Aviv, where missiles penetrated the system designed to intercept rockets.

Migrante said its call to stop worker deployment was not only driven by security considerations, but also Israel’s ongoing destruction and indiscriminate killing of civilians in Gaza, over which it is a defendant in a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.

It said the Philippine government should ban sending workers to Israel “as a matter of expressing its discontent with the government of Israel for illegally occupying Palestinian lands and for its war crimes against the people of Palestine.”

Since the deadly onslaught on Gaza began on Oct. 7, Israeli forces have killed more than 42,000 Palestinians and wounded in excess of 97,000 others, according to estimates from the enclave’s Health Ministry.

However, the real toll is feared to be much higher. A study published by the medical journal The Lancet estimated earlier this year that the true number of those killed could be more than 186,000, taking into consideration indirect deaths as a result of starvation, injury and lack of access to medical aid as Israeli forces have destroyed most of Gaza’s infrastructure and continued to block the entry of aid.


Indonesian volunteers report Israeli strikes on Palestinians fleeing assault on north Gaza

Indonesian volunteers report Israeli strikes on Palestinians fleeing assault on north Gaza
Updated 10 October 2024
Follow

Indonesian volunteers report Israeli strikes on Palestinians fleeing assault on north Gaza

Indonesian volunteers report Israeli strikes on Palestinians fleeing assault on north Gaza
  • About 400,000 Palestinians trapped in north Gaza as Israeli military launches new strikes
  • Workers at Indonesian hospital choose to stay with patients despite Israel’s evacuation orders

JAKARTA: Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza after being ordered to do so by the Israeli military are being shot at as they evacuate, Indonesian hospital volunteers report, as hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped in the area.

The Israeli forces issued evacuation orders on Sunday morning for large parts of northern Gaza and instructed residents to seek refuge in the overcrowded “safe zone” in the southern area of Al-Mawasi, ahead of new ground and air attacks.  

The Indonesia Hospital in north Gaza, which is funded by the Indonesian NGO Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, or MER-C, was among the medical centers ordered to evacuate.

MER-C volunteers said the people who tried to flee were targeted by Israeli forces on the routes designated as humanitarian zones. 

“We have Indonesian volunteers there, and when they reported to us we could hear the sound of guns being fired sporadically as people started to evacuate to the south,” Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees in Jakarta, told Arab News.  

“What Israel is doing is just like the beginning of their war on Gaza, asking residents to evacuate according to the military’s orders, but shooting them while they are evacuating,” he said. “Now it’s the same, they issue the designated routes for evacuation but shoot people on their journey.” 

The Indonesia Hospital was functioning partially before Sunday’s evacuation orders. More than two dozen patients remained under the care of about 40 medical workers who chose to stay. 

“Health workers are still there even though they are also ordered to leave the hospital. They are doing so for the sake of humanity, because many residents are also staying, refusing to evacuate,” Murad said. 

“Many people are also in critical condition, so the health workers are staying because they are very needed by the people. All the patients being treated are victims of Israeli attacks.” 

Dozens of people were reported to have been killed and wounded in north Gaza this week, as Israel launched new strikes, which it said were aimed at preventing Palestinian fighters from regrouping in the area. 

“Israel didn’t keep its promise. When they issued the orders for evacuation, it was also written that there will be humanitarian routes … but in reality, Israel shot and bombed the refugees who are evacuating,” Fikri Rofiul Haq, a MER-C volunteer at the Indonesian hospital, said in an audio message shared on social media.

“Israel also threatened that anyone who stays in the hospital will be killed or captured … Israel is destroying all health facilities in northern Gaza, because there are only three functioning hospitals left.” 

About 400,000 people are trapped in north Gaza, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN relief agency for Palestine, UNRWA, wrote on X on Wednesday. 

He said many refused to leave “because they know too well that no place anywhere in Gaza is safe.” 

More than a year since Israel launched its war on Gaza, its military has killed at least 42,000 people and injured more than 97,000. The real death toll is feared to be much higher, with estimates published by the medical journal The Lancet indicating that as of July it could be more than 186,000.