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Britain’s recently elected prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the special relationship between Britain and the United States is stronger than ever as he met President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday.
“The special relationship is so important, it was forged in difficult circumstances and endured for so long and is stronger now than ever,” he said.
MANILA: Former Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte left Manila on a jet on Tuesday bound for The Hague, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said, hours after he was arrested at the request of the International Criminal Court over a “war on drugs” that defined his presidency.
Duterte, a firebrand ex-mayor and former prosecutor who led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was arrested at a Manila airport early on Tuesday, in a major step in the ICC’s investigation into thousands of killings in an anti-drugs crackdown that caused shock and condemnation around the world.
“I am confident the arrest was proper, correct and followed all necessary legal procedures,” Marcos told a press conference confirming Duterte had left the country bound for the Netherlands.
“We did not help the International Criminal Court in any way. The arrest was made in compliance with Interpol.”
The “war on drugs” was Duterte’s signature campaign platform that swept the mercurial crime-buster to power and he soon delivered on promises he made during vitriolic speeches to kill thousands of drug pushers and users.
Duterte has long insisted he instructed police to kill only in self-defense and has always defended the crackdown, repeatedly telling his supporters he was ready to “rot in jail” if it meant ridding the Philippines of drugs.
Veronica Duterte, the 79-year-old’s youngest daughter, said on Instagram her father had boarded the jet but the family had not been informed of its destination.
“The airplane used to kidnap my dad just left minutes ago,” she posted.
Duterte could become Asia’s first former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.
Rights groups
His arrest follows years of him rebuking and taunting the ICC since he unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the court’s founding treaty in 2019 as it started looking into allegations of systematic murders of drug dealers on his watch.
The ICC, a court of last resort, is probing alleged crimes against humanity and says it has jurisdiction to investigate alleged crimes that took place while a country was a member.
Duterte and his family and allies expressed fury at the arrest, calling it unlawful.
A lawyer petitioned the Supreme Court on Duterte’s behalf on Tuesday seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent authorities from complying with the ICC’s request.
A copy of the warrant, seen by Reuters, said Duterte is accused of criminal responsibility for the murder of at least 43 people between 2011 and 2019, which would include time when he served as mayor of southern Davao City.
Human rights groups and families of victims said his detention was a key step toward accountability for the killings of thousands of people in the Philippines, where police investigations have moved at a snail’s pace. Duterte has not been charged with any crimes locally.
According to police, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations under Duterte’s presidency that they say ended in shootouts. But activists say the real toll of the crackdown was far greater, with many thousands more slumland drug users, some named on community “watch lists,” killed in mysterious circumstances.
The prosecutor of the ICC has said as many as 30,000 people may have been killed by police or unidentified individuals.
Police have rejected allegations from rights groups of systematic murders, staged crime scenes and fabricated incident reports.
RAMENSKOYE, Russia: As a drone smashed into the side of her apartment block early on Tuesday, Russia’s full-scale offensive on Ukraine literally came home to Svetlana in a suburb southeast of Moscow.
Like for most Russians, Moscow’s three-year military campaign had until then felt distant — mostly constrained to television screens.
Despite militaristic propaganda and a mass recruitment of soldiers, authorities have tried to keep society at arm’s length from the conflict’s death and destruction — especially in and around the capital.
“You understand that it is war, but you don’t realize it properly,” Svetlana, wearing a winter coat with a fur collar, said. “But now, yes, it has come.”
In her town of Ramenskoye, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of central Moscow, police had cordoned off an area where a drone hit.
The attack shattered the sense of comfort that Svetlana — a supporter of the Kremlin’s offensive — had.
“Yes, we were weaving camouflage nets, collecting humanitarian aid, accompanying fighters there, but we still didn’t realize it. Now it has come,” Svetlana said.
“I’m scared for the children,” said Andrei, an electrician who lives on the 12th floor of a building that was hit.
He was sweeping up broken glass from his car, which was hit by falling shrapnel after the drone crashed into the 18th-22nd floors.
“My six-year-old daughter was sleeping with me, she woke up crying from the noise,” he told AFP.
Kyiv said it wants the attack — which involved more than 300 drones — to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to an aerial ceasefire.
The Kremlin has previously ruled that out.
Ukraine says the strikes are just a taste of what Russia has subjected its citizens to over the last three years, with Moscow having fired near daily bomb, missile and drone attacks across the country.
“There is not even any thought that tonight will be peaceful. It’s scary,” said Olga, a 21-year old who works in IT and lives in the adjacent building to one hit.
She ran out to the street after being woken at 5 am (0200 GMT) by the rumbling.
“People just have fear in their eyes,” she told AFP, the ground around her covered with shrapnel.
Unlike in Ukraine — where air alerts ring out practically every night in almost every city — there was no such warning of an incoming attack in the Russian capital or its suburbs.
“We don’t understand what to do in such situations,” said Olga.
“The news says that more and more drones are being shot down. It’s scary to even go to sleep after such a thing,” she added. “It could have been us.”
The idea of peace — previously seen as within reach amid US President Donald Trump’s rapprochement with Moscow — now felt far away in Ramenskoye.
“In my opinion, this attack won’t be the last,” said retiree Sergei, criticizing Ukraine’s “bloodthirsty” European backers who were supplying it with arms.
For 75-year-old Yulia, who lives next to the building that was hit, there was just frustration.
“My heart is bad. I don’t believe there will be peace,” she told AFP.
“Why can’t they agree? Why not? What are they thinking about?,” she said, through tears. “It’s terrible.”
WARSAW: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday the government wants to launch a new program to offer voluntary military training from next year, with a target to train 100,000 volunteers in 2027.
“The most important thing for us is that every person interested can participate in such training no later than 2026. And that is a difficult task, but I know it is doable,” Tusk said ahead of a government sitting.
“In 2027 we will achieve the ability to train 100,000 volunteers per year... Apart from the professional army and beyond the Territorial Defense Force, we must de facto build an army of reservists and our actions will serve this purpose.”
The government backed giving military training to all adult males last week as Warsaw prepares for threats from Moscow.
Galvanized by Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine three years ago, Poland now spends a higher proportion of GDP on defense than any other NATO member.
Tusk said that as an incentive, the government would analyze the possibility of, for example, getting a professional driving license, including for heavy goods vehicles, during the military training.
“This will be useful in the event of war, but it will also be useful in life for those who are interested in such qualifications,” he said. The government is also considering providing specialist training to specific professional groups.
Tusk later said in a post on social media platform X that he told ministers that government members and officials would also undergo training on a voluntary basis, which, he said, was met with full understanding.
ABUJA: At least 26 people have died from a meningitis outbreak in Nigeria’s northwest Kebbi state, a local health official said on Tuesday.
Nigeria is one of the hotspots of the deadly disease in Africa where at least 1,700 cases were reported last year, with more than 150 deaths recorded in seven states.
Kebbi state Health Commissioner Musa Ismaila confirmed the outbreak, citing a surge in cases in three local government areas.
“We are saddled with the unfortunate situation of an outbreak with a rising number of cases,” Ismaila said in a statement, detailing symptoms that include fever, severe headaches, and neck stiffness.
A total of 248 suspected cases have been line-listed, with 11 samples sent to the National Reference Laboratory in the capital Abuja. Two samples returned negative, while nine are pending, he said.
Meningitis is the inflammation of tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord which can be caused by viral or bacterial infections. It spreads mainly through kisses, sneezes, coughs and in close living quarters.
In response to the outbreak, the state government has distributed drugs to affected areas with isolation centers established with the support of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Gwandu, Jega, and Aliero, the three affected local government areas, Ismaila said.
Similarly, neighboring Sokoto state has issued a health warning following confirmation of an outbreak.
Last year, Nigeria became the first country in the world to roll out the “revolutionary” new Men5C vaccine against meningitis, according to the World Health Organization.
LONDON: A crew member missing after a cargo ship struck a tanker in the North Sea off the British coast is presumed dead, a UK government minister said Tuesday.
“Our working assumption is that, very sadly, the sailor is deceased,” junior transport minister Mike Kane told the British parliament, adding that the man’s family had been informed.
