UK remains on ‘high’ riot alert as jail terms ordered for social media posts

BRUSSELS: The EU plans to crackdown on food imports that do not meet its standards as part of an agricultural policy review to be published Wednesday that looks to appease disgruntled farmers amid global trade tensions.
The European Commission is due to unveil a new blueprint for a sector that despite gobbling up a third of the bloc’s budget has long resented Brussels’s liberal approach to trade.
Months of protests last year saw farmers irked at regulatory burdens, squeezed revenues and what they see as unfair competition from less-regulated overseas rivals, hurling eggs, spraying manure and blocking the Belgian capital’s streets.
Following consultations with farming lobby groups and environmental NGOs, the “Vision for Agriculture and Food” promises to address some of those concerns.
To ensure that the agricultural sector is not “put at a competitive disadvantage,” the commission will pursue “a stronger alignment of production standards applied to imported products,” according to a draft of the text seen by AFP.
In particular, Brussels will see to it that “the most hazardous pesticides banned in the EU for health and environmental reasons” are not allowed back in “through imported products.”
The draft does not specify a timeline for that or what products or countries could be affected.
“The first mission of this vision is to reduce tensions and calm all parties,” said Luc Vernet of Farm Europe, a think tank, noting the text was “extremely cautious.”
The prospect of a potential ban on some imports could ruffle feathers abroad against the backdrop of a looming trade conflict.
The Financial Times reported this week US crops such as soybean could be targeted, after President Donald Trump unveiled duties that could hit European exports.
European farmers have also been uneasy at a trade deal with Latin America’s Mercosur the commission announced in December.


The draft document also vows to reform the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP), cutting red tape and better targeting mammoth subsidies toward farmers “who need it most.”
This suggests Brussels will move away from the current system, which calculates financial aid based on the size of the farms, favoring large landowners.
“This is a big deal,” said Celia Nyssens-James of the European Environment Bureau, an umbrella group of activists, noting that the lion’s share of money is now going to a minority of farmers who don’t “necessarily need it.”
“It’s a paradigm shift,” she said.
The EU subsidises farming to make sure enough food is produced at affordable prices, and farmers are rewarded for taking care of nature.
Those subsidies are massive and prized by farming states, most notably France, Ireland and eastern European nations, where farmers have a strong political influence.
Some 387 billion euros ($460 million) was earmarked for agriculture in the EU’s budget for 2021 to 2027.
Negotiations on the next instalment of the CAP for 2028-2034 are set to be one of the most sensitive subjects during EU chief Ursula von der Leyen’s second term in office, which began in December.
According to the draft plans, more money should flow toward young farmers as well as those who contribute to the environmental preservation or work in areas with “natural constraints.”
The document did not provide any details about how a new system could work.
Simplifying access to funding for small- and medium-sized farmers by streamlining “controls and conditions” is also envisaged.
Furthermore the text calls for the 27-nation bloc to reduce “dependencies” and diversify supply chains, with fertilizer imports from Russia highlighted as of particular concern.
Agriculture contributed 1.3 percent to the EU’s GDP in 2023, according to the bloc.
Europe’s agri-food sector employed 30 million people, accounting for 15 percent of EU employment.

WASHINGTON: The State Department office overseeing the resettlement of Afghans in the United States has been told to develop plans to close by April, according to a US official, a leading advocate and two sources familiar with the directive, a move that could deny up to an estimated 200,000 people new lives in America.
Family members of Afghan-American US military personnel, children cleared to reunite with their parents, relatives of Afghans already admitted and tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for the US government during the 20-year war are among those who could be turned away if the office is shut, the advocate and the US official said.
“Shutting this down would be a national disgrace, a betrayal of our Afghan allies, of the veterans who fought for them, and of America’s word,” said Shawn VanDiver, founder of #AfghanEvac, the main coalition of veterans and advocacy groups and others that coordinates resettlements with the US government.
The White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The development comes as the administration asks embassies worldwide to prepare staff cuts under a directive by US President Donald Trump to overhaul the diplomatic corps and billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE office pursues a government-wide drive to slash $2 trillion in spending.
The Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, CARE, was set up during the chaotic US pullout from Afghanistan in August 2021 as a temporary effort to relocate to the US Afghans at risk of Taliban retaliation because they worked for the US government during the war.
It became permanent in October 2022, expanded to Afghans granted refugee status, and has helped resettle some 118,000 people. VanDiver, the US official and the two sources said they did not know who ordered CARE to begin developing options to close.
Those options would include shuttering processing centers CARE runs in Qatar and Albania where nearly 3,000 Afghans vetted for US resettlement as refugees or Special Immigration Visa (SIV) holders have been stranded for weeks or months.
Those in the centers, including more than 20 unaccompanied minors bound for reunions with parents, live in modular housing. They receive food and other basic “life support,” but a Trump-ordered foreign aid freeze has ended programs for mental health and children, one source said.
According to both sources, the options for shuttering CARE are being prepared for Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, as well as Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, a former US special forces soldier who fought in Afghanistan, are among those slated to make a final decision, they said.
“There are definitely all options (for closing CARE) being considered,” said the second source. Both requested anonymity for fear of retaliation by the Trump administration.
The evacuation and resettlement operations have been stalled since Trump, who launched a promised immigration crackdown after taking office in January, halted pending 90-day reviews the US refugee program and foreign aid that funded flights to the US for Afghans cleared for resettlement.
Trump ordered the reviews to determine the efficiency of the refugee and foreign aid programs and to ensure they align with his foreign policy.
After rigorous background checks, SIVs are awarded to Afghans who worked for the US government during America’s longest war.
UN reports say the Taliban have jailed, tortured and killed Afghans who fought or worked for the former Western-backed government. The Taliban deny the allegations, pointing to a general amnesty approved for former government soldiers and officials.
A permanent shutdown of CARE and the Enduring Welcome operations it oversees could leave up to an estimated 200,000 Afghans without paths to the US, said VanDiver and the US official.
These comprise some 110,000 Afghans in Afghanistan whose SIV and refugee status applications are being reviewed and some 40,000 others who have been vetted and cleared for flights to Doha and Tirana before travel to the US.
An estimated 50,000 other Afghans are marooned in nearly 90 other countries – about half in Pakistan – approved for US resettlement or awaiting SIV or refugee processing, they said.