Pope Francis meets Ukraine’s Zelensky at Vatican

Pope Francis meets Ukraine’s Zelensky at Vatican
Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the San Damaso courtyard ahead of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Oct. 11, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 11 October 2024
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Pope Francis meets Ukraine’s Zelensky at Vatican

Pope Francis meets Ukraine’s Zelensky at Vatican
  • Zelensky is traveling across Europe this week to discuss his proposed ‘victory plan’ with region’s leaders
  • Western officials and Zelensky have said the war with Russia is at a critical point

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican on Friday morning for their second face-to-face encounter in four months.
The pope and the Ukrainian leader, who met on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in southern Italy this summer, held private talks at the Vatican’s apostolic palace.
Zelensky is traveling across Europe this week to discuss his proposed “victory plan” with the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Germany, and the head of NATO.
Western officials and Zelensky have said the war with Russia is at a critical point and Ukraine is keen for further support to try to change the balance on the battlefield to put itself in a strong position for eventual peace talks.
The pope drew the ire of Ukrainian officials in March when he suggested they should have the courage of the “white flag” to negotiate an end to the war with Russia. At the time, Zelensky dismissed the pope’s remarks as “virtual mediation” from a distance.
Francis has also criticized Ukrainian lawmakers’ plans to ban activities of a Russia-linked branch of the Christian Orthodox church, which the Ukrainians have accused of spreading pro-Russian propaganda and housing spies.
The pope met privately on Thursday with the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk. The prelate, who is based in Kyiv, has been in Rome for an ongoing Vatican summit of global bishops.
“I wanted to tell the pope about the disaster of the war and the challenges coming this winter,” Shevchuk told the Vatican’s media outlet.


Indian police arrest seven from Hindu group for breaking into Bangladesh consulate

Indian police arrest seven from Hindu group for breaking into Bangladesh consulate
Updated 8 sec ago
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Indian police arrest seven from Hindu group for breaking into Bangladesh consulate

Indian police arrest seven from Hindu group for breaking into Bangladesh consulate
  • Attack comes after Bangladesh arrested a Hindu religious leader, Chinmoy Krishna Das, last week
  • Das, charged with sedition, is associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

GUWAHATI, India: Police in India’s northeastern state of Tripura arrested seven members of a Hindu group and charged them with breaking into the Bangladesh consulate and vandalising property, a police officer said on Tuesday.
The move came hours after after Muslim-majority Bangladesh called for immediate action against protesters who broke into the consulate, saying they tore down its main gate, damaged property and desecrated the national flag.
Those arrested were part of demonstrations organized by the Hindu Sangharsha Samiti, a group that says it protects Hindu interests, after Bangladesh arrested a Hindu religious leader, Chinmoy Krishna Das, last week.
“Around 50 of them broke into the property’s main gate, and brought down the Bangladeshi flag post,” said district police officer Kiran Kumar K. in west Tripura.
Among the 4,000 protesters were more people involved in the break-in and police were investigating, he said, adding that disciplinary action had been taken against four police officers in charge of consulate security.
In a statement on Monday, India’s foreign ministry called the incident deeply regrettable, adding that diplomatic and consular properties should not be targeted under any circumstances.
In a post on X, Tarique Rahman, the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and the acting president of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party, criticized the attack, saying such incidents caused division and discord among neighbors.
Das, arrested last week at the airport in Dhaka, the capital, on charges of sedition, among others, is associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
His arrest sparked protests in Dhaka and the southern port city of Chittagong, where his supporters clashed with security forces.
Hindu-majority India had also condemned the arrest and expressed concern over attacks on Hindus and other minorities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.


Death toll in Thailand flooding jumps to 25

Death toll in Thailand flooding jumps to 25
Updated 28 min 13 sec ago
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Death toll in Thailand flooding jumps to 25

Death toll in Thailand flooding jumps to 25
  • Flooding since November 22 has affected more than 660,000 homes in the kingdom’s south
  • Heavy monsoon rains lash Southeast Asia every year, but human-made climate change is causing more intense weather patterns

BANGKOK: Thousands of people have been displaced by torrential floodwaters that slammed into southern Thailand, where the death toll has risen to 25, officials said on Tuesday.
Flooding since November 22 has affected more than 660,000 homes in the kingdom’s south, the country’s disaster agency said on its Facebook page.
Suwas Bin-Uma, a chicken farm owner in Songkhla province, told state broadcaster Thai PBS that the floods had wiped out his entire flock of more than 10,000 chickens.
“I’ve lost at least three million baht ($87,000),” he said.
More than 22,000 people have been displaced from their homes due to flooding in Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Yala provinces, the Thai government’s public relations department said on Monday.
Footage on social media showed residents in Songkhla province stacking up sandbags in front of their homes on Monday in an attempt to block the swelling floodwater.
The head of a village in Yala province, Abdullah Abu, told local media that flooding in his area had reached up to seven meters (23 feet).
People were receiving one meal a day from a rescue team, he told Channel 7.
In neighboring Malaysia’s Kelantan state, AFP images showed houses surrounded by inundated land and residents scooping water out of their homes.
Malaysian disaster officials said on Tuesday that more than 94,000 people were yet to return to their homes after being evacuated due to the floods, with five people reported dead.
Heavy monsoon rains lash Southeast Asia every year, but human-made climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely.
Climate change is causing typhoons to form closer to the coast, intensify faster and stay longer over land, according to a study published in July.
Thailand’s weather agency forecast more heavy rain for the south until December 5.
On Tuesday, the Thai cabinet approved a 9,000 baht payment per family to support those affected.
Thailand’s northern provinces were hit by heavy floods in early September as Typhoon Yagi swept in from the South China Sea over Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
The storm triggered flooding and landslides across the region and killed hundreds.
One Thai district reported its heaviest inundation in 80 years while the UN’s World Food Programme said the floods wrought by Yagi in Myanmar were the worst in the country’s recent history.


Trump warns ‘hell to pay’ if Gaza hostages not freed before his inauguration

Trump warns ‘hell to pay’ if Gaza hostages not freed before his inauguration
Updated 42 min 15 sec ago
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Trump warns ‘hell to pay’ if Gaza hostages not freed before his inauguration

Trump warns ‘hell to pay’ if Gaza hostages not freed before his inauguration
  • Trump has vowed staunch support for Israel and to dispense with Biden’s occasional criticism
  • Israel’s retaliatory campaign post Oct. 7 has killed more than 44,000 people in Gaza

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday warned Gaza militants of massive repercussions if hostages are not released by the time he takes office.
The threat comes after exhaustive diplomacy by outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration that has so far failed to secure a deal that would both end Israel’s war in Gaza and free hostages seized 14 months ago.
“If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!“
Trump has vowed staunch support for Israel and to dispense with Biden’s occasional criticism, but has also spoken of his desire to secure deals on the world stage.
Hamas staged the deadliest ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The assault resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Militants seized 251 hostages during the attack, some of whom were already dead. Of those, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 35 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 44,429 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.


Indonesia minister says hopeful of deal soon on transfer of Bali nine members to Australia

Indonesia minister says hopeful of deal soon on transfer of Bali nine members to Australia
Updated 56 min 36 sec ago
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Indonesia minister says hopeful of deal soon on transfer of Bali nine members to Australia

Indonesia minister says hopeful of deal soon on transfer of Bali nine members to Australia
JAKARTA: There were still many things to discuss on repatriating the five remaining members of the ‘Bali Nine’ drug ring to Australia and hopefully an understanding can be reached soon, Indonesia’s senior minister on legal affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra said.
The announcement was made after the minister met with Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke in Jakarta on Tuesday.
“Hopefully we could find an understanding,” Yusril said, adding that he hoped to resolve the matter this month.
Indonesia has no regulations regarding transfer of prisoners, but the deal was initiated by President Prabowo Subianto’s good intentions, Yusril said.
Yusril said Indonesia would respect any decision taken by the country of origin of the prisoners, including an amnesty, adding that this was a transfer of prisoners and not an exchange.
Last month, Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas said Indonesia had agreed in principle to transfer the five prisoners, who are currently serving life sentences, after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised the issue with Prabowo.
Supratman had said Jakarta was seeking the repatriation of Indonesian prisoners held in Australia as part of the deal.
The Bali Nine were arrested in 2005 as they attempted to smuggle heroin out of the Indonesian resort island.
Two of the group’s ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in 2015, and Australia recalled its ambassador in protest.
One of the members was released from prison in 2018, and another died of cancer the same year.
Indonesia last month agreed to repatriate Mary Jane Veloso, a Philippine woman on death row for drug trafficking, to serve the rest of her sentence in her home country.
France has also asked for the repatriation of a prisoner from Indonesia, Supratman said last month.

Ukraine says full NATO membership ‘only real guarantee of security’

Ukraine says full NATO membership ‘only real guarantee of security’
Updated 15 min 42 sec ago
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Ukraine says full NATO membership ‘only real guarantee of security’

Ukraine says full NATO membership ‘only real guarantee of security’
  • ‘We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine… is Ukraine’s full membership in NATO’

KYIV: Ukraine on Tuesday called for “full” NATO membership as the only guarantee of security in the face of the Russian invasion, ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
“We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent to further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is Ukraine’s full membership in NATO,” the foreign ministry in Kyiv said in a statement.

NATO allies need to step up their military aid for Ukraine to strengthen Kyiv's position should it enter negotiations with Moscow over an end to the war, NATO chief Mark Rutte said on Tuesday ahead of a meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers.
"We will all need to do more. The stronger our military support to Ukraine is now, the stronger their hand will be at the negotiating table," he told reporters at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
"Putin is not interested in peace. He is pressing on, trying to take more territory. Because he thinks he can break Ukraine's resolve and ours, but he is wrong."