Ireland Urges Israel to End 'De Facto Annexation' of Palestinian Land

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney speaks at the launch of his party's manifesto for the Irish General Election in Dublin, Ireland January 24, 2020. (Reuters)

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09:09-26 May 2021 AD ـ 14 Shawwal 1442 AH

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09:09-26 May 2021 AD ـ 14 Shawwal 1442 AH

Ireland Urges Israel to End 'De Facto Annexation' of Palestinian Land

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney speaks at the launch of his party's manifesto for the Irish General Election in Dublin, Ireland January 24, 2020. (Reuters)

Ireland's government on Tuesday supported a parliamentary motion condemning the "de facto annexation" of Palestinian land by Israeli authorities in what it said was the first use of the phrase by a European Union government in relation to Israel.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, who has represented Ireland on the United Nations Security Council in debates on Israel in recent weeks, supported the motion, and condemned what he described as Israel's "manifestly unequal" treatment of the Palestinian people.

But he also insisted on adding a condemnation of recent rocket attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas before he agreed to government support for the motion, which had been tabled by the opposition Sinn Fein party.

"The scale, pace and strategic nature of Israel's actions on settlement expansion and the intent behind it have brought us to a point where we need to be honest about what is actually happening on the ground. ... It is de facto annexation," Coveney told parliament.

"This is not something that I, or in my view this house, says lightly. We are the first EU state to do so. But it reflects the huge concern we have about the intent of the actions and of course, their impact," he said.

Most countries view settlements Israel has built in territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war as illegal and as an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. The United States and Israel dispute this.

Israel cites historical and biblical links to the West Bank and around 450,000 of its settlers live there, among 3 million Palestinians. It also denies any systematic violation of the human rights of Palestinians.

The motion came days after a ceasefire ended 11 days of the worst fighting between Palestinian militants and Israel in years. The violence sparked large pro-Palestinian protests in Dublin.

Sinn Fein refused to support the government amendment condemning Hamas attacks.

"The acts of terror by Hamas and other militant groups in firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel... cannot and should not ever be justified," Coveney said.

World

Russia Denies US Accusation it Violated Chemical Weapons Ban in Ukraine

A handout picture made available by the Odesa Regional State Administration Oleh Kiper Telegram channel shows the storage site of the "Nova Poshta" postal service following a missile strike in Odesa, Ukraine, 29 April 2024. (EPA/Odesa Regional State Administration handout)

11:14-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

Russia Denies US Accusation it Violated Chemical Weapons Ban in Ukraine

Russia on Thursday denied a US accusation that its forces in Ukraine had violated an international ban on chemical weapons by using substances including a prohibited choking agent.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow remained bound by its obligations under the treaty that bans chemical weapons.

The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of violating it by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control agents "as a method of warfare" in Ukraine.

"As always, such announcements are absolutely unfounded and are not supported by anything. Russia has been and remains committed to its obligations under international law in this area," Peskov said.

World

South Korea Raises Diplomatic Alert Levels Citing North Korea Threats

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches a football game while visiting Kim Il Sung Military University on the occasion of the 92nd founding anniversary of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 25, 2024, in this photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. (KCNA via Reuters)

10:45-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

South Korea Raises Diplomatic Alert Levels Citing North Korea Threats

South Korea's foreign ministry on Thursday raised the terrorism alert level for five diplomatic offices in the region citing intelligence that North Korea may attempt to harm its officials.

The five locations include Seoul's embassies in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, as well as consulates in Vladivostok, Russia, and Shenyang, China, the ministry said in a statement.

The terrorism alert level was raised from Attention to Alert, the second highest among South Korea's four classifications, which indicates the chances of an attack are strong, the foreign ministry said.

Separately, South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it had a "number of indications that North Korea is preparing to carry out terrorist attacks against our diplomatic officers and citizens," but did not elaborate on the nature of the threats.

Pyongyang has dispatched agents to those countries to tighten surveillance of the South Korean missions, the NIS said.

The North Korean embassy in London did not respond to repeated phone calls for requests for comment.

The North's government-controlled media has criticized allegations of terrorism against it as US-led efforts to discredit opponents of Washington.

The foreign ministry statement also said South Korea's National Counter Terrorism Center held a meeting on Thursday to discuss measures to protect the diplomatic offices and officials who work there.

During the Cold War, North Korea was accused of carrying out several attacks on civilian targets, including bombings at a Seoul airport and a South Korean airliner in the 1980s.

The United States placed North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 2017, citing the killing of Kim Jong Nam, the older half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which was carried out with VX nerve agent at an airport in Malaysia.

World

Israeli Govt Gets New May 16 Deadline in Ultra-Orthodox Conscription Feud

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 28, 2023. (AP)

10:28-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

Israeli Govt Gets New May 16 Deadline in Ultra-Orthodox Conscription Feud

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct. 28, 2023. (AP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured another reprieve in a long-running Israeli dispute over exemptions of ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service, with the Supreme Court on Thursday deferring the deadline for a new conscription plan to May 16.

The court, hearing appeals that described the decades-old waiver as discriminatory, had given March 31 as the original deadline. That was extended to April 30 at the request of the government, which argued it was busy waging the Gaza war, and which last week asked for a further deferral.

Netanyahu's coalition includes two ultra-Orthodox parties that regard the exemptions as key to keeping their constituents in religious seminaries and away from a melting-pot military that might test their conservative values.

The latest extension is shorter than that requested by the government, but may still spare Netanyahu a public reckoning over the combustible issue ahead of Israel's day of commemoration for fallen soldiers on May 13.

The holiday is expected to be especially fraught this year, amid an open-ended war in Gaza and knock-on fighting on other fronts that have exacted the worst Israeli casualties - mostly among teenaged draftees and reservists - in decades.

The ultra-Orthodox make up 13% of Israel's 10 million population, a figure expected to reach 19% by 2035 due to their high birth rates. Economists argue that the conscription waiver keeps some of the community unnecessarily out of the workforce, spelling a growing welfare burden for middle-class taxpayers.

Israel's 21% Arab minority are also mostly exempted from the draft, under which men and women are generally called up at age 18, with men serving 32 months and women 24 months.

World

Switzerland Says Russia Not Invited ‘at This Stage’ to Ukraine Peace Talks

A view shows a postal depot destroyed during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine May 2, 2024. (Reuters)

10:16-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

Switzerland Says Russia Not Invited ‘at This Stage’ to Ukraine Peace Talks

A view shows a postal depot destroyed during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine May 2, 2024. (Reuters)

The Swiss government said on Thursday that "at this stage" Russia is not among the 160 delegations invited to talks to be held in Switzerland in mid-June aimed at helping bring about peace in the conflict between Moscow and Ukraine.

"Switzerland is convinced that Russia must be involved in this process," the Swiss government said in a statement. "A peace process without Russia is not possible."

The Swiss government said it had always shown openness to inviting Russia but noted that Moscow had repeatedly underlined it has no interest in participating in the first summit.

Russian officials have pointed to Switzerland's adoption of EU sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, and argued it therefore lacks credibility as a neutral broker.

Switzerland in January said it would host a peace summit at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The invited delegations include members of the G7, G20, BRICS groups, the EU, international organizations and two religious representatives, the Swiss government said.

The government reiterated it aims to create a framework to bring about a lasting peace in Ukraine, as well as a roadmap for Russia's participation in the peace process.

The talks will be held June 15-16 at the Bürgenstock resort in the canton of Nidwalden outside the city of Lucerne.

World

Trump Blasts Biden in Rare Day on Campaign Trail

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on May 1, 2024. (AFP)

09:26-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

Trump Blasts Biden in Rare Day on Campaign Trail

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on May 1, 2024. (AFP)

Donald Trump used a break in his hush money trial to stage back-to-back appearances in two Midwestern battleground states Wednesday -- but kept his legal woes front-and-center as he accused President Joe Biden of weaponizing the courts against him.

The former Republican president, who is running for a return to the White House, rallied supporters in Wisconsin and Michigan, among the most hotly contested states in his expected rematch with Democrat Biden in November.

The speeches featured all of Trump's go-to set-pieces, from complaints about environmentally friendly household appliances to apocalyptic warnings of a looming world war -- but his evening speech in Michigan was notable for its vitriol.

"Every single thing he touches turns to [expletive]," Trump said of Biden in a speech in Freeland, Michigan peppered with profane language about his criminal charges, his 2020 election defeat and his determination to win reelection in November.

Trump had already spoken in an afternoon rally in the Wisconsin town of Waukesha, where he railed against Biden's handling of the economy and immigration.

In both appearances he accused Democrats of "executing" newborn babies as he turned to the deeply divisive issue of abortion rights, and in both he revived baseless claims that Biden is behind the 88 felony charges he is facing.

"I've got to do two of these things a day," he told a sea of red hats at his Michigan rally.

"You know why? Because I'm in New York all the time with the Biden trial -- a fake trial that all of the legal scholars say is a disgrace," he said in Michigan.

Trump regularly claims that his indictments -- three for alleged cheating in elections and one for hoarding classified documents -- are being orchestrated as part of a political witch hunt, but never offers any evidence.

The 77-year-old tycoon used his rare day on the stump to project his preferred image as a confident, seasoned campaigner, far from the Manhattan courtroom where he is accused of covering up payments to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges, and the trial appears to have annoyed him to no end.

For two weeks he has been sitting through long hours of witness testimony, visibly bored and angry at no-nonsense Judge Juan Merchan, who required him to be present -- and then imposed a gag order prohibiting Trump from publicly attacking witnesses, jurors or court staff.

Before and after each day's proceedings, Trump has been addressing journalists outside, venting about his legal problems, the US economy, his wife's birthday and the "freezing" temperature inside the courtroom.

'No control'

"He hates being there in court, where he is just another criminal defendant," political expert Larry Sabato from the University of Virginia told AFP. "He has no control and is not in charge."

Biden's campaign has not missed a chance to bait his opponent over his legal troubles -- referring to Trump as "Sleepy Don" after reports from the courtroom that the Republican was nodding off during the proceedings.

The nickname evoked the "Sleepy Joe" taunt Trump has long used for Biden.

Biden has advanced in the polls since March, with the two candidates now running neck and neck.

But Trump and his supporters hope to harness the media attention surrounding the trial to fire up his base, and push his message that Democrats are destroying the country through negligence on border security and poor economic stewardship.

In Waukesha, the former president accused Biden of being too passive on the pro-Palestinian student demonstrations that have convulsed college campuses nationwide, and of allowing the country to be "invaded" by migrant hordes.

Although Trump is energized by his campaign rallies, he had not held a single one since the start of his trial on April 15, with the only planned event cancelled due to weather.

"I have come here today from New York City where I'm being forced to sit for days on end in a kangaroo courtroom with a corrupt and conflicted judge enduring a Biden Sideshow trial at the hands of a Marxist district attorney," he complained in Michigan.

World

Hundreds of Pro-Palestinian Protesters Remain on UCLA Campus despite Police Ordering them to Leave

Students continue to protest at an encampment supporting Palestinians on the Columbia University campus, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in New York City, US, April 25, 2024. (Reuters)

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08:52-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

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08:52-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

Hundreds of Pro-Palestinian Protesters Remain on UCLA Campus despite Police Ordering them to Leave

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters Thursday remained behind barricades on the UCLA campus despite police orders to leave as officers were poised to move in on their fortified encampment that was ringed by an even larger crowd, including supporters who locked arms and curious onlookers.
Huge numbers of police began arriving late in the afternoon Wednesday, and empty buses were parked near the University of California, Los Angeles to take away protesters who don't comply with the order. The tense standoff came one night after violence instigated by counter-protesters erupted in the same place.
A small city sprang up inside the barricaded encampment, full of hundreds of people and tents on the campus quad. Some protesters said Muslim prayers as the sun set over the campus, while others chanted “we’re not leaving” or passed out goggles and surgical masks. They wore helmets and headscarves, and discussed the best ways to handle pepper spray or tear gas as someone sang over a megaphone.
A few constructed homemade shields out of plywood in case they clashed with police forming skirmish lines elsewhere on the campus. “For rubber bullets, who wants a shield?" a protester called out.
Meanwhile, a large crowd of students, alumni and neighbors gathered on campus steps outside the tents, sitting as they listened and applauded various speakers and joined in pro-Palestinian chants. A group of students holding signs and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and Jewish people demonstrated nearby.
The crowd continued to grow as the night wore on as more and more officers poured onto campus.
The law enforcement presence and continued warnings stood in contrast to the scene that unfolded the night before, when counter-demonstrators attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment, throwing traffic cones, releasing pepper spray and tearing down barriers. Fighting continued for several hours before police stepped in, though no arrests were made. At least 15 protesters suffered injuries, and the tepid response by authorities drew criticism from political leaders as well as Muslim students and advocacy groups.
Ray Wiliani, who lives nearby, said he came to UCLA on Wednesday evening to support the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
“We need to take a stand for it,” he said. “Enough is enough.”
Elsewhere, police in New Hampshire made arrests and took down tents at Dartmouth College and officers in Oregon came onto the campus at Portland State University as school officials sought to end the occupation of the library that started Monday.
The chaotic scenes at UCLA came just hours after New York police burst into a building occupied by anti-war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday night, breaking up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school.
An Associated Press tally counted at least 38 times since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests across the U.S. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that “a group of instigators” perpetrated the previous night's attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.
“However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty and community members was utterly unacceptable,” he said. “It has shaken our campus to its core.”
Block promised a review of the night's events after California Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced the delays.
The head of the University of California system, Michael Drake, ordered an “independent review of the university’s planning, its actions and the response by law enforcement.”
“The community needs to feel the police are protecting them, not enabling others to harm them,” Rebecca Husaini, chief of staff for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said in a news conference on the Los Angeles campus later Wednesday, where some Muslim students detailed the overnight events.
Speakers disputed the university’s account that 15 people were injured and one hospitalized, saying the number of people taken to the hospital was higher. One student described needing to go to the hospital after being hit in the head by an object wielded by counter-protesters.
Several students who spoke during the news conference said they had to rely on each other, not the police, for support as they were attacked, and that many in the pro-Palestinian encampment remained peaceful and did not engage with counter-protesters. UCLA canceled classes Wednesday.
Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century. The ensuing police crackdowns echoed actions decades ago against a much larger protest movement protesting the Vietnam War.
In Madison, a scrum broke out early Wednesday after police with shields removed all but one tent and shoved protesters. Four officers were injured, including a state trooper who was hit in the head with a skateboard, authorities said. Four were charged with battering law enforcement.
This is all playing out in an election year in the US, raising questions about whether young voters — who are critical for Democrats — will back President Joe Biden's reelection effort, given his staunch support of Israel.
In rare instances, university officials and protest leaders struck agreements to restrict the disruption to campus life and upcoming commencement ceremonies.
At Brown University in Rhode Island, administrators agreed to consider a vote to divest from Israel in October — apparently the first US college to agree to such a demand.
The nationwide campus demonstrations began at Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which followed Hamas launching a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Hamas killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.
Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests antisemitic, while Israel’s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition. Organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.
Meanwhile, protest encampments elsewhere were cleared by the police, resulting in arrests, or closed up voluntarily at schools across the US, including The City College of New York, Fordham University in New York, Portland State in Oregon, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona and Tulane University in New Orleans.

World

Colombia to Break Diplomatic Relations with Israel, President Petro Says

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro delivers a speech during a May Day (Labor Day) rally in Bogota on May 1, 2024. (AFP)

08:39-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

Colombia to Break Diplomatic Relations with Israel, President Petro Says

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro delivers a speech during a May Day (Labor Day) rally in Bogota on May 1, 2024. (AFP)

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Wednesday he will break diplomatic relations with Israel over its actions in Gaza.

Petro has already heavily criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and requested to join South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

"Here in front of you, the government of change, of the president of the republic announces that tomorrow we will break diplomatic relations with the state of Israel ... for having a government, for having a president who is genocidal," Petro told cheering crowds in Bogota who marched to mark International Worker's Day and back Petro's social and economic reforms.

Countries cannot be passive in the face of events in Gaza, he added.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Petro of being "antisemitic and full of hate".

He said Petro's move was a reward to the armed group Hamas, which on Oct. 7 led a deadly attack on Israeli military bases and communities.

Bolivia broke with relations with Israel at the end of October last year while several other countries in Latin America, including Colombia, Chile and Honduras, have recalled their ambassadors.

World

Philippines Summons China Envoy over Water Cannon Incident

Chinese coastguard vessels fire water cannons towards a Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 on its way to a resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, March 5, 2024 (Adrian Portugal/ Reuters)

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08:19-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

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08:19-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

Philippines Summons China Envoy over Water Cannon Incident

Manila summoned a senior Chinese envoy on Thursday to protest a water cannon incident that damaged two Philippine vessels during a patrol in the South China Sea.
A coast guard vessel and another government boat were damaged in the April 30 incident near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, according to the Philippines' foreign ministry, AFP said.
Manila and Beijing have a long history of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and the neighbors have been involved in several maritime incidents in recent months as they assert their rival claims in the strategic waterway.
The latest, near the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal, occurred during a mission to resupply Filipino fishermen.
Zhou Zhiyong, the number two official at the Chinese embassy, was summoned by Manila over "the harassment, ramming, swarming, shadowing and blocking, dangerous maneuvers, use of water cannons, and other aggressive actions of China Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia vessels", according to a statement from the foreign ministry.
"China's aggressive actions, particularly its water cannon use, caused damage" to the Philippines' vessels, the ministry added, demanding that the Chinese boats immediately leave the shoal and its vicinity.
The Philippines said the pressure in Tuesday's water cannon incident was far more powerful than anything previously used, and that it tore or bent metal sections and equipment on the Philippine vessels.
Thursday's diplomatic protest was the 20th lodged by Manila this year, and 153rd since President Ferdinand Marcos came to power in mid-2022, the foreign ministry said.
The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China's coast guard had previously said it "expelled" the two Philippine ships from its waters near Huangyan Island, the Chinese name for Scarborough Shoal.
The shoal has been a flashpoint between the two countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012.
- Major military exercise -
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims from other countries, including the Philippines, and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
The triangular chain of reefs and rocks that make up Scarborough Shoal lies 240 kilometers (150 miles) west of the Philippines' main island of Luzon and nearly 900 kilometers from Hainan, the nearest major Chinese land mass.
Since seizing the shoal, Beijing has deployed its coast guard and other vessels that Manila says harass Philippine ships and prevent its fishermen from accessing the rich lagoon.
The latest incident came as the Philippines and the United States held a major annual military exercise that has infuriated Beijing.
Manila and Washington have a mutual defense treaty and recent confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels have fuelled speculation of what would trigger it.
President Marcos said last month that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had given assurances that the treaty would be invoked if another "foreign power" killed a Filipino soldier.

World

UK Begins Detaining Migrants Set to Be Deported to Rwanda

Campaigners protest against the British government's Rwanda deportation scheme outside a Home Office immigration reporting center in Croydon, south London, Britain, 29 April 2024. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN

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06:46-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

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06:46-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

UK Begins Detaining Migrants Set to Be Deported to Rwanda

Campaigners protest against the British government's Rwanda deportation scheme outside a Home Office immigration reporting center in Croydon, south London, Britain, 29 April 2024. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN

British authorities have started to detain migrants in preparation for them to be sent to Rwanda in the next nine to 11 weeks, the government said on Wednesday, laying the groundwork for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's flagship immigration policy, Reuters said.
Parliament last month approved a law that paves the way for sending asylum seekers to Rwanda if they arrive in Britain without permission. Sunak, who is expected to call an election later this year in which illegal migration is likely to feature prominently, wants the first flights to take off in July.
More than 7,500 migrants have arrived in England on small boats from France so far this year. The government says the new law will deter people from making the perilous trip across the Channel. Five people died trying to make the crossing last week.
Images released by Britain's interior ministry on Wednesday showed a man being put in a van by immigration enforcement officials, and another being led out of his house in handcuffs.
"Our dedicated enforcement teams are working at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here so we can get flights off the ground," interior minister James Cleverly said in a statement on Wednesday.
One trade union representing civil servants who may be instructed to help enact the policy said it had launched a legal challenge because its members were potentially being asked to breach international law.
"Civil servants should never be left in a position where they are conflicted between the instructions of ministers and adhering to the Civil Service Code, yet that is exactly what the government has chosen to do," said Dave Penman, General Secretary of the FDA union.
OPPOSITION
Other unions and human rights charities opposed to the policy are expected to launch challenges to stop the flights from taking off after the UK Supreme Court declared the policy unlawful last year.
Care4Calais, a refugee charity, said the detentions had started on Monday.
A spokesperson said the group's helpline had received calls from "tens of people", adding that they still did not know who would be earmarked for the first deportation flight, or when it would be attempted. "People are very frightened," said Natasha Tsangarides, Associate Director of Advocacy at charity Freedom from Torture, saying the fear of being detained and sent to Rwanda would push some people to go underground and disengage with their support system.
Britain sent its first asylum seeker to Rwanda under a voluntary scheme, The Sun Newspaper reported on Tuesday, a separate programme to the deportation policy.

World

Death Toll from South China Road Collapse Rises to 36

Guangdong has been hit by a string of disasters attributed to extreme weather events in recent weeks. (AFP)

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06:38-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

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06:38-2 May 2024 AD ـ 23 Shawwal 1445 AH

Death Toll from South China Road Collapse Rises to 36

Guangdong has been hit by a string of disasters attributed to extreme weather events in recent weeks. (AFP)

The death toll from a highway collapse in southern China's Guangdong province has risen to 36, state media said Thursday, as rescue work continued.
Heavy rains caused a stretch of road running from Meizhou city towards Dabu county to cave in at around 2:10 am on Wednesday (1810 GMT Tuesday), according to state news agency Xinhua.
Vehicles careened into the nearly 18-meter-long (59-foot) gash in the tarmac and plummeted down the steep slope below.
Guangdong, a densely populated industrial powerhouse, has been hit by a string of disasters attributed to extreme weather events in recent weeks.
The storms have been much heavier than expected this time of year and have been linked to climate change.
China is the biggest emitter of the greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change but has pledged to reduce emissions to net zero by 2060.
- 'All-out' efforts -
"As of 5:30 am on (Thursday)... 36 people have died, and 30 people have been injured," Xinhua said, adding that the injuries were not life-threatening.
The death toll was up from 24 people on Wednesday afternoon.
Footage by state broadcaster CCTV showed excavators digging through the muddy hillside below the collapsed road.
Nearby, a crane lifted charred, wrecked vehicles onto a lorry as people watched from behind a cordon.
State media called the road collapse a "natural geological disaster" caused by the "impact of persistent heavy rain".
President Xi Jinping ordered officials to "go all-out in on-site rescue work and treatment of the injured, and arrange for the management of risks and hidden dangers in a timely manner", CCTV said on Thursday.
Around 500 people have been dispatched to help with the rescue operation, it added.
The provincial government has "mobilized elite specialized forces and gone all out to carry out... search and rescue", according to Xinhua.
An official notice on Wednesday advised that part of the S12 highway was closed in both directions, requiring detours.
- More disasters likely -
Parts of central and eastern Guangdong have received up to 600 millimeters of rain in the last 10 days, three times the amount normally expected at this time of year, the national weather office said Thursday.
Up to 120 millimeters more rain was forecast for the province's southwestern areas on Thursday, alongside further downpours across southern China until Sunday.
The conditions "raise the risk of disasters, especially geological disasters, which have a certain lag time", the weather office said.
The emergency management ministry also warned that persistent rain would make such disasters more likely.
Officials have warned people to plan journeys carefully during the May public holiday, which runs until Sunday.
Massive downpours in Guangdong last month sparked floods that claimed four lives and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 people.
And last week, a tornado killed five people when it ripped through the megacity of Guangzhou.

Ireland Urges Israel to End 'De Facto Annexation' of Palestinian Land

Ireland Urges Israel to End 'De Facto Annexation' of Palestinian Land

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Hundreds of Pro-Palestinian Protesters Remain on UCLA Campus despite Police Ordering them to Leave

Colombia to Break Diplomatic Relations with Israel, President Petro Says

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