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Australian PM condemns alleged attack on Muslim women

Australian PM condemns alleged attack on Muslim women
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. (File/AFP)
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Updated 11 sec ago
AFP
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Australian PM condemns alleged attack on Muslim women

Australian PM condemns alleged attack on Muslim women
  • The country's Islamic community, joined by Test cricketer Usman Khawaja, have pointed to the February 13 incident in Melbourne as an example of the insufficient government response to threats against Muslims
Updated 11 sec ago
AFP
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SYDENY: Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday condemned a "reprehensible" assault on two Muslim women at a shopping centre, rejecting criticism that Islamophia was treated less seriously than anti-Semitism.
The country's Islamic community, joined by Test cricketer Usman Khawaja, have pointed to the February 13 incident in Melbourne as an example of the insufficient government response to threats against Muslims.
Asked if the government would have reacted more swiftly if the incident had been anti-Semitic, Albanese told journalists that an attack on anyone because of their faith was "reprehensible".
"I take all attacks on people on the basis of their faith seriously, and they should all face the full force of the law."
Albanese faced criticism earlier this week for not condemning the attack sooner.
Australian leaders have been vocal in condemning a series of anti-Semitic incidents over recent months in which vandals have torched a Sydney childcare centre, firebombed a Melbourne synagogue and scrawled anti-Semitic graffiti in Jewish neighbourhoods.
But on Monday, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils said it was alarmed by a trend of attacks against Muslim people.
The response "remains grossly insufficient", federation president Rateb Jneid said in a statement.
"When compared to the swift and significant attention given to less severe incidents affecting other communities, the disparity in response is not only apparent but also unacceptable."
The country's anti-Islamophobia envoy, Aftab Malik, called Tuesday for Australian leaders to condemn the attack and invest in making Muslims feel safe.
"All forms of hate need to stop," he later told Australian broadcaster ABC.
Khawaja posted on social media Tuesday that such attacks on the Islamic community were being "swept under the rug".
On Wednesday, however, he welcomed Albanese and the country's opposition leader "speaking up" on the matter.
Victoria Police said Wednesday a female suspect would appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court over the alleged assault.
Two Muslim women -- a 30-year-old and a 26-year-old -- allegedly sustained non life-threatening injuries.

Topics: Australia

EU eyes stricter food import rules in agriculture policy review

EU eyes stricter food import rules in agriculture policy review
Updated 39 sec ago
AFP
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EU eyes stricter food import rules in agriculture policy review

EU eyes stricter food import rules in agriculture policy review
  • 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
Updated 39 sec ago
AFP
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.

Gunmen identify, kill 7 Punjabi travelers in Pakistan: govt official

Gunmen identify, kill 7 Punjabi travelers in Pakistan: govt official
Updated 12 min 1 sec ago
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Gunmen identify, kill 7 Punjabi travelers in Pakistan: govt official

Gunmen identify, kill 7 Punjabi travelers in Pakistan: govt official
Updated 12 min 1 sec ago
AFP

QUETTA: Gunmen in volatile southwest Pakistan shot seven bus passengers dead after identifying them as being from another region, a government official said Wednesday.
Attackers late on Tuesday burst the tires of a bus that was traveling on a highway through Balochistan, close to the provincial border with Punjab, said Saadat Hussain, a senior government official in the area.
Gunmen boarded the bus and demanded to see the identity cards of passengers, after which Punjabis were taken off the bus.
“The passengers belonging to Punjab province... were taken off by the terrorists and killed,” Hussain told AFP.
“Later they were lined up and shot dead.”
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Security forces have been battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence for decades in the impoverished but mineral-rich Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

Topics: Pakistan

Office overseeing Afghan resettlement in US told to start planning closure

Office overseeing Afghan resettlement in US told to start planning closure
Updated 19 February 2025
Reuters
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Office overseeing Afghan resettlement in US told to start planning closure

Office overseeing Afghan resettlement in US told to start planning closure
  • Official of an Afghan resettlement advocacy group calls the US administration move ‘a national disgrace’
  • The US government is currently pursuing a drive under Elon Musk to slash $2 trillion in spending
Updated 19 February 2025
Reuters

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.

Topics: Afghanistan US

Nearly 300 deportees from US held in Panama hotel as officials try to return them to their countries

Nearly 300 deportees from US held in Panama hotel as officials try to return them to their countries
Updated 19 February 2025
AFP
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Nearly 300 deportees from US held in Panama hotel as officials try to return them to their countries

Nearly 300 deportees from US held in Panama hotel as officials try to return them to their countries
  • The migrants hailed from 10 mostly Asian countries, including Iran, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and others
  • More than 40 percent of the migrants, authorities say, won’t voluntarily return to their homeland
Updated 19 February 2025
AFP

PANAMA CITY: Panama is detaining in a hotel nearly 300 people from various countries deported under US President Donald Trump, not allowing them to leave while waiting for international authorities to organize a return to their countries.
More than 40 percent of the migrants, authorities say, won’t voluntarily return to their homeland. Migrants in the hotel rooms held messages to the windows reading “Help” and “We are not save (sic) in our country.”
The migrants hailed from 10 mostly Asian countries, including Iran, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and others. The US has difficulty deporting directly to some of those countries so Panama is being used as a stopover. Costa Rica was expected to receive a similar flight of third-country deportees on Wednesday.
Panama’s Security Minister Frank Abrego said Tuesday the migrants are receiving medical attention and food as part of a migration agreement between Panama and the US
The Panamanian government has now agreed to serve as a “bridge” or transit country for deportees, while the US bears all the costs of the operation. The agreement was announced earlier this month after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, who faces political pressure over Trump’s threats of retaking control of the Panama Canal, announced the arrival of the first of the deportation flights last Thursday.
The confinement and legal limbo the deportees face has raised alarm in the Central American country, especially as images spread of migrants peaking through the windows of their rooms on high floors of the hotel and displaying the notes pleading for help.
Abrego denied the foreigners are being detained even though they cannot leave the rooms of their hotel, which is being guarded by police.
Abrego said that 171 of the 299 deportees have agreed to return voluntarily to their respective countries with help from the International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency. UN agencies are talking with the other 128 migrants in an effort to find a destination for them in third countries. Abrego said that one deported Irish citizen has already returned to her country.
Those who do not agree to return to their countries will be temporarily held in a facility in the remote Darien province through which hundreds of thousands of migrants have crossed on their journey north in recent years, Abrego said.
The Panamanian Ombudsman’s Office was scheduled to provide more details on the deportees’ situation later Tuesday.

Topics: US Election 2024 Spotlight

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Senate GOP pushes ahead with budget bill that funds Trump’s mass deportations and border wall

Senate GOP pushes ahead with budget bill that funds Trump’s mass deportations and border wall
Updated 19 February 2025
AP
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Senate GOP pushes ahead with budget bill that funds Trump’s mass deportations and border wall

Senate GOP pushes ahead with budget bill that funds Trump’s mass deportations and border wall
  • This is the first step in unlocking Trump’s campaign promises — tax cuts, energy production and border controls — and dominating the agenda in Congress
Updated 19 February 2025
AP

WASHINGTON: Senate Republicans pushed ahead late Tuesday on a scaled-back budget bill, a $340 billion package to give the Trump administration money for mass deportations and other priorities, as Democrats prepare a counter-campaign against the onslaught of actions coming from the White House.
On a party-line vote, 50-47, Republicans launched the process, skipping ahead of the House Republicans who prefer President Donald Trump’s approach for a “big, beautiful bill” that includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that are tops on the party agenda. Senate Republicans plan to deal with tax cuts later, in a second package.
“It’s time to act,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on social media, announcing the plan ahead as the House is on recess week. “Let’s get it done.”
This is the first step in unlocking Trump’s campaign promises — tax cuts, energy production and border controls — and dominating the agenda in Congress. While Republicans have majority control of both the House and Senate, giving a rare sweep of Washington power, they face big hurdles trying to put the president’s agenda into law over steep Democratic objections.
It’s coming as the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency effort is slashing costs across government departments, leaving a trail of fired federal workers and dismantling programs on which many Americans depend. Democrats, having floundered amid the initial chaos coming from the White House, emerged galvanized as they try to warn Americans what’s at stake.
“These bills that they have have one purpose — and that is they’re trying to give a tax break to their billionaire buddies and have you, the average American person, pay for it,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told AP. “It is outrageous.”
Schumer convened a private weekend call with Democratic senators and emerged with a strategy to challenge Republicans for prioritizing tax cuts that primarily flow to the wealthy at the expense of program and service cuts to US health care, scientific research, veterans services and other programs.
As the Senate begins the cumbersome budget process this week — which entails an initial 50 hours of debate followed by an expected all-night session with dozens if not 100 or more efforts to amend the package in what’s called a vote-a-rama — Democrats are preparing to drill down on those issues.
The Senate GOP package would allow $175 billion to be spent on border security, including funding for mass deportation operations and to build the wall along the US-Mexico border; a $150 billion boost to the Pentagon for defense spending; and $20 billion for the Coast Guard.
Republicans are determined to push ahead after Trump’s border czar Tom Homan and top aide Stephen Miller told senators privately last week they are running short of cash to accomplish the president’s mass deportations and other border priorities.
The Senate Budget Committee said the package would cost about $85.5 billion a year, for four years of Trump’s presidency, paid for with new reductions and revenues elsewhere that other committees will draw up.
Eyeing ways to pay for the package, Senate Republicans are considering a rollback of the Biden administration’s methane emissions fee, which was approved by Democrats as part of climate change strategies in the Inflation Reduction Act, and hoping to draw new revenue from energy leases as they aim to spur domestic energy production.
While the House and Senate budget resolutions are often considered simply statements of policy priorities, these could actually become law.
The budget resolutions are being considered under what’s called the reconciliation process, which allows passage on a simple majority vote without many of the procedural hurdles that stall bills. Once rare, reconciliation is increasingly being used in the House and Senate to pass big packages on party-line votes when one party controls the White House and Congress.
During Trump’s first term, Republicans used the reconciliation process to pass the GOP tax cuts in 2017. Democrats used reconciliation during the Biden presidency era to approve COVID relief and also the Inflation Reduction Act.
 

 

Topics: Trump Returns Senate GOP US President Donald Trump

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