Jailed Indian opposition politician to run capital from cell

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal (C) gestures towards his supporters at the party headquarters in New Delhi on February 11, 2020. (AFP)
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal (C) gestures towards his supporters at the party headquarters in New Delhi on February 11, 2020. (AFP)
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Updated 27 March 2024
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Jailed Indian opposition politician to run capital from cell

Jailed Indian opposition politician to run capital from cell
  • All the investigations involve political opponents of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
  • “All the center has to do is file some fake cases, and then the ED goes and arrests them,” according to Singh

NEW DELHI: A senior Indian opposition politician will run the capital from his prison cell, a senior aide said Tuesday, facing down growing calls by rivals demanding he resign.
Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of New Delhi and a key leader in an opposition alliance formed to compete against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in upcoming elections, was arrested on Thursday in connection with a long-running corruption probe.
Atishi Marlena Singh, New Delhi’s education minister and fellow member of Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man Party, AAP), said “statutory and constitutional provisions” allowed him to remain in his post while behind bars.
“We are very clear that Arvind Kejriwal will remain the chief minister of Delhi,” Singh, 42, told AFP.
“If he were to resign when there’s been no trial and no conviction, it opens up the route for other opposition chief ministers to be removed,” she added.
India’s main financial investigation agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which arrested Kejriwal, has launched probes into at least four other state chief ministers or their family members.
All the investigations involve political opponents of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
While Modi enjoys high levels of support among his backers, critics accuse him of using law enforcement agencies to intimidate opposition leaders.
Kejriwal, 55, denies the charges against him.
His supporters, who held a rally in the city on Tuesday demanding his release, say charges against him are politically motivated and aimed at sidelining challengers of Modi ahead of the polls.
Modi’s political opponents and international rights groups have long sounded the alarm on India’s shrinking democratic space.
“All the center has to do is file some fake cases, and then the ED goes and arrests them,” according to Singh.
Nearly a billion Indians will vote to elect a new government in six-week-long parliamentary elections starting on April 19, the largest democratic exercise in the world.
Many analysts see Modi’s re-election as a foregone conclusion, partly due to the resonance of his assertive Hindu-nationalist politics with members of the country’s majority faith.
Hundreds of BJP loyalists held a rival march through New Delhi on Tuesday, chanting support for Modi and demanding Kejriwal resign.
“You can run a gang from jail but not a government,” BJP lawmaker Manoj Tiwari told the crowd. “A government cannot be run from prison.”
In February, Jharkhand state’s chief minister Hemant Soren was arrested and jailed on corruption charges.
Soren, who denies all charges, resigned and handed power to a colleague.
 

 


King Charles, Queen Camilla join Ramadan charity effort at London restaurant

King Charles, Queen Camilla join Ramadan charity effort at London restaurant
Updated 11 sec ago
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King Charles, Queen Camilla join Ramadan charity effort at London restaurant

King Charles, Queen Camilla join Ramadan charity effort at London restaurant
  • Visit highlights royal couple’s support for interfaith initiatives

LONDON: Britain’s King Charles III joked on Wednesday he was past his “sell-by date” as he and Queen Camilla helped pack food donation boxes for charity at Darjeeling Express, an Indian restaurant in Soho, ahead of Ramadan.

The British monarch and his wife visited the female-run restaurant, founded by British restaurateur Asma Khan, to support its initiative of cooking for charitable causes during the Muslim holy month.

Camilla assisted staff in packing biryani meals for Doorstep, a charity aiding families in temporary housing.

As she ladled food into a takeaway box, she joked: “Is that enough, or some more? They might still be a bit hungry after my portion.”

Charles, who was initially occupied with meeting guests, joined in with meal preparation, asking: “Is it chicken and proper basmati rice?” He was delighted to learn that some curry would be sent to Buckingham Palace for him.

The king and queen later packed dates into bags for iftar meals to be served in hospitals.

When Charles noticed the speed of the process, he laughed: “We don’t waste time. Paid by results!” Khan was impressed by their teamwork, saying: “You are packing them faster than I can seal them. I never realized this was such a speedy couple.”

The visit highlighted the royal couple’s long-standing support for interfaith initiatives in Britain and abroad, continuing Charles’ tradition of engaging with different religious communities across the UK and the Commonwealth.


EU urges ‘respect’ for court sentence against Bosnian Serb leader

EU urges ‘respect’ for court sentence against Bosnian Serb leader
Updated 35 sec ago
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EU urges ‘respect’ for court sentence against Bosnian Serb leader

EU urges ‘respect’ for court sentence against Bosnian Serb leader
  • “The EU expects all political actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina to respect the decisions of the courts,” a European Commission spokesman said
  • Russia has slammed the verdict as “political“

BRUSSELS: The European Union Thursday urged all sides in Bosnia to respect court rulings and avoid “divisive” actions after the head of the country’s Serb region was sentenced to jail for defying an international envoy.
“The EU expects all political actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina to respect the decisions of the courts and acknowledge their independence and impartiality without applying any pressure or interference,” a European Commission spokesman said.
Brussels urges all actors to “refrain from and renounce provocative, divisive rhetoric and actions, including questioning the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the country,” spokesman Anouar El Anouni told reporters.
Under a 1995 peace agreement, Bosnia is split into two autonomous bodies — a Bosniak-Croat federation and a Serb entity, connected by a weak central government under supervision by an international high representative.
Milorad Dodik, the pro-Russian leader of the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS), was sentenced to a year in jail Wednesday for failing to comply with decisions made by the high representative, Christian Schmidt.
Russia has slammed the verdict as “political,” and Bosnian Serb lawmakers were weighing potential measures in response.
The EU has previously warned that challenging the terms of the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended Bosnia’s intercommunal war would threaten the country’s ambitions to join the bloc.
“The European Union is unequivocally committed to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU perspective as a single, united and sovereign country,” El Anouni said.
“We encourage all political actors to focus on the EU path, and this for the benefit of citizens, a large majority of whom do support EU integration,” he added.


Over 500,000 Afghans displaced due to climate disasters in 2024: IOM

Over 500,000 Afghans displaced due to climate disasters in 2024: IOM
Updated 48 min 34 sec ago
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Over 500,000 Afghans displaced due to climate disasters in 2024: IOM

Over 500,000 Afghans displaced due to climate disasters in 2024: IOM
  • “Nearly 9 million individuals were impacted by climate hazards in the last 12 months,” according to the IOM report
  • “Roughly three in five of those displaced relocated elsewhere within their province of origin“

KABUL: More than half a million people in Afghanistan were displaced due to climate disasters in 2024, the International Organization for Migration said in a country report published on Tuesday.
“Nearly 9 million individuals were impacted by climate hazards in the last 12 months, with over 500,000 displaced by floods, drought, and other disasters,” according to the IOM report.
“Roughly three in five of those displaced relocated elsewhere within their province of origin,” with the western Herat and Farah provinces among the hardest hit, it said.
This week, 39 people were killed due to floods, hail and storms in southwestern Afghanistan, mainly in Farah, according to local authorities.
Afghanistan is among the poorest countries in the world after decades of war and is ranked the sixth most vulnerable to climate change, which is spurring extreme weather.
Drought, floods, land degradation and declining agricultural productivity are key threats, according to the United Nations.
Flash floods last May killed hundreds and swamped swaths of agricultural land in Afghanistan, where 80 percent of people depend on farming to survive.
“Over 11 million people in Afghanistan are at high risk of severe impacts from climate-induced disasters in the future,” the IOM said.
The UN agency estimates that “climate-sensitive livelihoods, like subsistence farming, make up 73 percent of jobs in Afghanistan.”
It added that “92 percent of villages have limited access to emergency services” and “96 percent lack resources for crucial measures like early warning systems and search and rescue.”


WHO decides mpox epidemic still global health emergency

WHO decides mpox epidemic still global health emergency
Updated 59 min 23 sec ago
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WHO decides mpox epidemic still global health emergency

WHO decides mpox epidemic still global health emergency
  • “The mpox upsurge continues to meet the criteria of a public health emergency of international concern,” said WHO
  • The decision was “based on the continuing rise in numbers and geographic spread”

GENEVA: Mpox remains an international public health emergency, the World Health Organization said Thursday after deciding the epidemic still merits the highest level of alert, with cases rising and its geographic spread widening.
“The mpox upsurge continues to meet the criteria of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC),” said a WHO statement.
The emergency committee on mpox met for the third time on Tuesday and advised WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the situation still constituted a PHEIC.
The decision was “based on the continuing rise in numbers and geographic spread, the violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo — which hampers the response — as well as a lack of funding to implement the response plan,” said the brief statement.
Tedros concurred with the committee’s advice, extending the PHEIC first declared on August 14 last year.
A PHEIC is the highest level of alarm under the International Health Regulations, which are legally binding on 196 countries.
The UN health agency’s chief had declared the emergency amid a rapid spread of the disease, formerly known as monkeypox, in Africa and especially in the DR Congo.
Mpox is caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox. It can be transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed between people through close physical contact.
The disease, which was first detected in humans in 1970 in the DR Congo, then known as Zaire, causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions, and can be deadly.
It has two subtypes: clade 1 and clade 2.
The virus, long endemic in central Africa, gained international prominence in May 2022 when clade 2 spread around the world, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.
Nearly 128,000 mpox cases have been laboratory confirmed across 130 countries since then, including 281 deaths, WHO data shows.
The WHO declared a global health emergency in July 2022, but thanks to vaccination and awareness drives that helped stem the spread, that declaration was lifted in May 2023.
Just a year later, however, a new two-pronged epidemic broke out mainly in the DR Congo, with both the original clade 1a strain and a new strain, clade 1b.
This prompted the WHO’s new emergency declaration last August.
To date, community spread of the clade 1b strain has been confirmed in the DRC and five other African nations, and it has been detected in another 15 countries around the world in connection with travel, WHO data shows.
The DRC confirmed more than 13,000 mpox cases and 43 deaths in 2024, and the country confirmed more than 2,000 cases in the first five weeks of this year — more than half of the cases confirmed globally.


Germany jails two Afghans in suspected Sweden attack plot

Germany jails two Afghans in suspected Sweden attack plot
Updated 27 February 2025
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Germany jails two Afghans in suspected Sweden attack plot

Germany jails two Afghans in suspected Sweden attack plot
  • They were found guilty of plotting to “kill members of parliament... in response to the burning of Qur'an in Sweden,” the higher regional court said
  • Ibrahim M. G., 30, was sentenced to five years and six months in jail, and Ramin N., 24, received a sentence of four years and two months

BERLIN: Two Afghan men linked to the Daesh group were jailed in Germany on Thursday for planning an attack on the Swedish parliament in retaliation for Qur'an burnings by protesters.
The two suspects, identified as Ibrahim M. G. and Ramin N., had allegedly tried but failed to buy guns for the plot.
They were found guilty of plotting to “kill members of parliament... in response to the burning of Qur'an in Sweden,” the higher regional court in Thuringia said in a statement.
Ibrahim M. G., 30, was sentenced to five years and six months in jail, and Ramin N., 24, received a sentence of four years and two months.
The defendants, who arrived in Germany in 2015 and 2016 respectively, were Daesh sympathizers who “shared the Daesh worldview and endorsed (its) violent approach,” the court said.
In August 2023, Ibrahim M. G. became a member of the Daesh-Khorasan (Daesh-K), an offshoot of Daesh, the court said.
The two men hatched a plot to “kill members of parliament and anyone who tried to stop the attack with firearms in the area of the Swedish parliament,” the court said.
They had searched the Internet for locations in Stockholm, how to travel to Sweden and how to acquire firearms.
They had also traveled to the Czech Republic to purchase firearms on the black market but the plan had fallen through.
They were arrested in the Gera area of eastern Germany in March 2024.
Both men were found guilty of plotting to commit a crime. Ibrahim M.G. was also convicted of being a member of a terrorist organization, and Ramin N. of supporting a terrorist organization.
Daesh-K was “an especially dangerous terrorist organization whose attacks and atrocities were known to and endorsed by the defendants,” the court said.
Prior to the plot, Ibrahim M. G. was also found to have arranged for 200 euros ($210) to be transferred to an Iranian bank account for the support of women and children of Daesh fighters at the Al-Hol camp in Syria.
Ibrahim M. G. made a full confession during the trial.
Islamist extremists have committed several attacks in Germany in recent years, the deadliest being a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that killed 12 people.
Islamist motives are also suspected in several recent stabbings and car ramming attacks blamed on migrants in Germany, which have led to a bitter debate on migration.
In October 2023, German prosecutors charged two Syrian brothers for planning an attack inspired by Daesh at a church in Sweden over Qur'an burnings.
A series of Qur'an burnings were held across Sweden in 2023, mainly by immigration opponents, sparking outrage in the Muslim world.