UK support for Israel 'is not unconditional', foreign minister Cameron says

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (not pictured) and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron hold a press conference, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Cairo, Egypt, December 21, 2023. (REUTERS)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (not pictured) and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron hold a press conference, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Cairo, Egypt, December 21, 2023. (REUTERS)
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Updated 08 April 2024
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UK support for Israel 'is not unconditional', foreign minister Cameron says

UK support for Israel 'is not unconditional', foreign minister Cameron says
  • Israel has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory

LONDON: Britain’s support for Israel depends on it abiding by international humanitarian law, foreign minister David Cameron said in a newspaper column on Sunday, days after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers, including three Britons.
“Our backing is not unconditional,” Cameron wrote in The Sunday Times. “We expect such a proud and successful democracy to abide by international humanitarian law, even when challenged.”
The British government has been a staunch ally of Israel since the Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that triggered Israel’s war to eliminate the militant Islamist group. But Cameron has hardened his language in recent months over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave.
Cameron warned on Sunday of the risk of mass starvation unless Israel allowed more aid. On Saturday, Britain said it would supply a naval vessel to ship aid as part of an international effort.
In a statement on Sunday to mark six months since the initial Hamas attack, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak repeated his call for the Palestinian group to release Israeli hostages and for an immediate pause in fighting.
“We continue to stand by Israel’s right to defeat the threat from Hamas terrorists ... but the whole of the UK is shocked by the bloodshed, and appalled by the killing of brave British heroes who were bringing food to those in need,” he said.

LEGAL CHALLENGE
Britain’s government is also under pressure to publish its latest legal advice about Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, which would potentially affect British arms exports.
Last week three former Supreme Court justices joined more than 600 members of the British legal profession in calling for the government to halt arms sales to Israel, saying it could make Britain complicit in genocide in Gaza.
Britain supplied 42 million pounds ($53 million) of arms to Israel in 2022. In December, the government decided these exports should continue but would be kept under review.
Cameron said on March 8 that a fresh judgment on that was underway and due in the “coming days.”
David Lammy, the opposition Labour Party’s would-be foreign minister, called for the government to publish a summary of its latest legal advice.
“I do have very real concerns that our obligations in relation to international humanitarian law and ... our export and licensing regime ... might have been breached,” he told the BBC.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told Sky News that the government did not plan to publish legal advice but denied it was giving Israel “carte blanche.”
“Of course, Israel has made mistakes and made big mistakes, and we should hold them to account for that,” he said.
“It’s right that we hold Israel to high standards. But I just think there’s a bit of relish from some people about the way in which they are pushing this case against Israel.”

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UN estimates 1,400 killed in Bangladesh protests that toppled ex-PM Hasina

UN estimates 1,400 killed in Bangladesh protests that toppled ex-PM Hasina
Updated 13 sec ago
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UN estimates 1,400 killed in Bangladesh protests that toppled ex-PM Hasina

UN estimates 1,400 killed in Bangladesh protests that toppled ex-PM Hasina
  • Actual number of casualties at least double initial assessment by UN investigators
  • Special tribunal in Dhaka to rely on findings in proceedings against former government

DHAKA: At least 1,400 people were killed in Bangladesh during student-led protests last year with the majority shot dead by military rifles, the UN’s human rights office has said in its latest report investigating the events leading up to the ousting of the country’s long-serving prime minister.

The initially peaceful demonstrations, triggered by the reinstatement of a quota system for the allocation of civil service positions, began in early July. Two weeks later they were met with a violent crackdown by security forces and a communications blackout.

In early August, as protesters defied nationwide curfew orders and stormed government buildings, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country, ending 15 years in power for her Awami League party-led government.

The new interim administration, led by Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus, has pledged to cooperate with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to ensure justice and accountability for all violence committed during the month-long uprising.

UN investigators arrived in Bangladesh in late August and, on Wednesday, released their first fact-finding report.

“OHCHR assesses that as many as 1,400 people could have been killed during the protests, the vast majority of whom were killed by military rifles and shotguns loaded with lethal metal pellets commonly used by Bangladesh’s security forces,” read the document.

“Thousands more suffered severe, often life-altering, injuries. More than 11,700 people were arrested and detained, according to information from the police and RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) provided to OHCHR.”

More than three-quarters of all deaths were caused by firearms “typically wielded by state security forces and not readily available to civilians in Bangladesh.”

The number of casualties is at least double the initial assessment by investigators, who also indicated that around 3 percent of those killed were children subjected to “targeted killings, deliberate maiming, arbitrary arrest, detention in inhumane conditions, torture and other forms of ill-treatment.”

The UN’s human rights office has concluded that between July 15 and Aug. 5, 2024, the former government and its security and intelligence apparatus, together with “violent elements” linked to the Awami League, “engaged systematically in serious human rights violations and abuses in a coordinated effort to suppress the protest movement.”

A special tribunal in Dhaka, which in October issued arrest warrants for Hasina and her cabinet and began trial procedures in cases related to the killings, said it would rely on the OHCHR’s findings and recommendations in its proceedings.

“It will facilitate the ongoing trial in the International Crimes Tribunal. The information we have received through the investigation aligns with the UN report, which will also validate our findings. This will add credibility to the results of our investigation,” the tribunal’s chief prosecutor, Tajul Islam, told Arab News on Thursday.

Established in 2010 during Hasina’s rule, the International Crimes Tribunal is a domestic court tasked with dealing with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The most important takeaway of the report is that identifies the ousted prime minister and her government as the “responsible authority” behind the rights abuses, Islam said.

“The report clearly identified the attacks as widespread and systematic, targeting students and civilians. Sheikh Hasina and her administration were the primary orchestrators of these attacks, utilizing all of the state’s security and law enforcement ... Since it (the probe) was conducted by the UN, it has a neutral character.”


Several injured after car drives into crowd of people in Munich

Several injured after car drives into crowd of people in Munich
Updated 45 min 3 sec ago
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Several injured after car drives into crowd of people in Munich

Several injured after car drives into crowd of people in Munich
  • Incident appeared to have affected people participating in a demonstration linked to a strike organized by the Verdi union
  • Security has been in sharp focus in Germany ahead of a federal election next week and following a string of violent attacks

BERLIN: A car drove into a crowd in Munich on Thursday injuring several people, police said, as the southern German city prepares for a top-level security conference due to be attended by US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Bild newspaper reported that 15 people were injured.
The Munich Security Conference is to start on Friday and senior officials, including Vance and Zelensky, were arriving later on Thursday.
A large-scale police operation was underway near the central train station.
Police said on X they were able to detain the driver and did not consider him to pose any further threat.
“One person is lying on the street and a young man has been taken away by the police. People are sitting on the ground, crying and trembling,” a reporter for the local BR broadcaster wrote in a post on X.
The incident appeared to have affected people participating in a demonstration linked to a strike organized by the Verdi union, according to the broadcaster.
The union said it did not have any information on the incident.
The incident occurred around 1.5 kilometers from the security conference venue.
Security has been in sharp focus in Germany ahead of a federal election next week and following a string of violent attacks.


Western tour operators enter North Korea for first time since pandemic

Western tour operators enter North Korea for first time since pandemic
Updated 13 February 2025
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Western tour operators enter North Korea for first time since pandemic

Western tour operators enter North Korea for first time since pandemic
  • Beijing-based Koryo Tours wrote on its website on Thursday that ‘staff crossed the border in the early hours of this morning’
  • Another travel agency, Young Pioneer Tours, also uploaded a picture of a passport with a North Korean border stamp

SEOUL: Western tour agencies entered North Korea for the first time on Thursday since the end of the pandemic, the companies said, voicing hopes the isolated country may soon reopen a border city to foreign visitors.
In January, travel agencies said the North would reopen the border city of Rason to foreign tourists, five years after Pyongyang sealed its frontiers in response to COVID-19.
Neither North Korea nor China have commented on the plans.
The Beijing-based Koryo Tours, which offers mainly Western tourists a glimpse into the secretive nation, wrote on its website on Thursday that “staff crossed the border in the early hours of this morning.”
“We’re happy to finally enter North Korea,” the travel agency wrote in a blog.
“The country is not yet fully open to tourism and this is a special trip for staff only.”
But they hope to confirm the opening of Rason to tourism in “the coming days.”
Another travel agency, Young Pioneer Tours, also uploaded a picture of a passport with a North Korean border stamp, declaring they were “first to be back in five years.”
Koryo Tours last week said that they had opened bookings for “the first trip back to North Korea since the borders closed in January 2020.”
The company said then that it hoped the tour would take place in February.
Itineraries included visiting “must-see” sites in Rason and a chance to “travel to North Korea to celebrate one of the biggest holidays, Kim Jong Il’s Birthday,” the agency wrote on its website.
The birthday of former ruler Kim Jong Il — father of current leader Kim Jong Un — is marked as Day of the Shining Star on February 16, and typically features large-scale public celebrations, including military parades.
The tours were slated to start in China, with guests to be driven to the border with the nuclear-armed North.
Young Pioneer Tours also began taking advanced bookings for Rason tour packages in January.
Rason became North Korea’s first special economic zone in 1991 and has been a testing ground for new economic policies.
It is home to North Korea’s first legal marketplace and has a separate visa regime from the rest of the country.
Tourism to the North was limited before the pandemic, with tour companies saying around 5,000 Western tourists visited each year.
Americans were banned from traveling to the North after the imprisonment and subsequent death of student Otto Warmbier in 2017.


Modi, Trump to meet today as India seeks to ease tensions over tariffs, immigration

Modi, Trump to meet today as India seeks to ease tensions over tariffs, immigration
Updated 13 February 2025
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Modi, Trump to meet today as India seeks to ease tensions over tariffs, immigration

Modi, Trump to meet today as India seeks to ease tensions over tariffs, immigration
  • Modi is the fourth leader to visit Trump since his return, following Israeli and Japanese PMs, king of Jordan
  • Trump may visit India this year for a scheduled summit of the Quad that includes Australia, India and Japan

WASHINGTON: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will try to rekindle his bromance with Donald Trump — and avoid the US president’s wrath on tariffs and immigration — when they meet on Thursday at the White House.
Modi will also hold a joint press conference with Trump, the White House said — a rare move from the Indian leader, who is a prolific social media user but seldom takes questions from reporters.
The latest in a series of foreign leaders beating an early path to the Oval Office door since the Republican’s return to power, Modi shared good relations with Trump during his first term.
The premier has offered quick tariff concessions ahead of his visit, with New Delhi slashing duties on high-end motorcycles — a boost to Harley-Davidson, the iconic American manufacturer whose struggles in India have irked Trump.
India also accepted a US military flight carrying 100 shackled migrants last week as part of Trump’s immigration overhaul, and New Delhi has vowed its own “strong crackdown” on illegal migration.
India’s top career diplomat Vikram Misri said last week that there had been a “very close rapport” between the leaders, although their ties have so far failed to bring a breakthrough on a long-sought bilateral trade deal.
Modi was among the first to congratulate “good friend” Trump after his November election win.
For nearly three decades, US presidents from both parties have prioritized building ties with India, seeing a natural partner against a rising China.
But Trump has also raged against India over trade, the biggest foreign policy preoccupation of his new term, in the past calling the world’s fifth-largest economy the “biggest tariff abuser.”
Former property tycoon Trump has unapologetically weaponized tariffs against friends and foes since his return.
Modi “has prepared for this, and he is seeking to preempt Trump's anger,” said Lisa Curtis, the National Security Council director on South Asia during Trump’s first term.
The Indian premier’s Hindu-nationalist government has meanwhile obliged Trump on another top priority: deporting undocumented immigrants.
While public attention has focused on Latin American arrivals, India is the third source of undocumented immigrants in the United States after Mexico and El Salvador.
Indian activists burned an effigy of Trump last week after the migrants on the US plane were flown back in shackles the whole journey, while the opposition accused Modi of weakness.
One thing Modi is likely to avoid, however, is any focus on his record on the rights of Muslims and other minorities.
Trump is unlikely to highlight an issue on which former president Joe Biden's administration offered gentle critiques.
Modi is the fourth world leader to visit Trump since his return, following the prime ministers of Israel and Japan and the king of Jordan.
Modi assiduously courted Trump during his first term. The two share much in common, with both campaigning on promises to promote the interests of their countries' majority communities over minorities and both doggedly pursuing critics.
In February 2020, Modi invited Trump before a cheering crowd of more than 100,000 people to inaugurate the world’s largest cricket stadium in his home state of Gujarat.
Trump could visit India later this year for a scheduled summit of the Quad — a four-way grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States.


Suicide bomber sets off explosion near Kabul government offices, Interior Ministry says

Suicide bomber sets off explosion near Kabul government offices, Interior Ministry says
Updated 13 February 2025
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Suicide bomber sets off explosion near Kabul government offices, Interior Ministry says

Suicide bomber sets off explosion near Kabul government offices, Interior Ministry says
  • Casualties have been reported, but details were not yet available
KARACHI: An explosion occurred near government offices in Kabul on Tuesday, Abdul Matin Qani, spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, said.
Qani confirmed the explosion to Reuters, adding that a suicide bomber had detonated his explosives before reaching the target, adding that casualties have been reported, but details were not yet available.