This handout photograph taken and released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on March 5, 2025, shows a destroyed hotel building on fire at the site of a strike in Kryvyi Rig, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
Kryvyi Rih, home town of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been a frequent target since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago
Updated 51 sec ago
Reuters
A Russian missile smashed into a hotel in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih late on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring 28, the regional governor said.
Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said on the Telegram messaging app that a child was among the injured. Several people were seriously hurt, he said.
Ukraine’s Emergency Services, also posting on Telegram, said 14 people had been rescued from rubble at the hotel which suffered heavy damage.
They posted pictures of crews making their way through piles of rubble outside the floodlit five-story building and clambering up and down ladders.
Smoke billowed from the top of the hotel and virtually all its windows had been blown out. A crane was deployed to reach upper levels.
Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s military administration, said rescue operations proceeded through the night.
Kryvyi Rih, home town of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been a frequent target since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Hundreds of US diplomats join letter to Rubio to protest dismantling of USAID
“The freeze on life-saving aid has already caused irreparable harm and suffering to millions of people around the world,” the letter says
Updated 14 sec ago
Reuters
WASHINGTON: Hundreds of diplomats at the State Department and US Agency for International Development have written to Secretary of State Marco Rubio protesting the dismantling of USAID, saying its dismantling undermines US leadership and security and leaves power vacuums for China and Russia to fill.
In a cable expected to be filed with the department’s internal “dissent channel,” which allows diplomats to raise concerns about policy anonymously, the diplomats said the Trump administration’s January 20 freeze on almost all foreign aid also endangers American diplomats and forces overseas while putting at risk the lives of millions abroad that depend on US assistance.
More than 700 people have signed onto the letter, a US official speaking on the condition of anonymity said.
“The decision to freeze and terminate foreign aid contracts and assistance awards without any meaningful review jeopardizes our partnerships with key allies, erodes trust, and creates openings for adversaries to expand their influence,” said the cable, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.
The Republican president, pursuing what he has called an “America First” agenda, ordered a 90-day pause on all foreign aid on his January 20 return to office. The order halted USAID operations around the world, jeopardizing delivery of life-saving food and medical aid, and throwing global humanitarian relief efforts into chaos.
“The freeze on life-saving aid has already caused irreparable harm and suffering to millions of people around the world,” the letter said, adding that despite statements on waivers being issued for life-saving programs, the funding remained shut.
The president tasked billionaire and adviser Elon Musk with dismantling USAID as part of an unprecedented push to shrink the federal government over what both say is wasteful spending and abuse of funds.
“Foreign assistance is not charity. Instead, it is a strategic tool that stabilizes regions, prevents conflict, and advances US interests,” the letter said.
A State Department spokesperson, when asked about the cable, said: “We do not comment on leaked internal communication.”
In fiscal year 2023, the United States disbursed $72 billion of aid worldwide, on everything from women’s health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS trea“The freeze on life-saving aid has already caused irreparable harm and suffering to millions of people around the world,” the letter satments, energy security and anti-corruption work.
Upon evaluating 6,200 multi-year awards, the administration decided to eliminate nearly 5,800 of them worth $54 billion in value, a 92 percent reduction, according to a State Department spokesperson. USAID fired or put on administrative leave thousands of staff and contractors.
The cable said the government’s failure to pay outstanding invoices to contractors and implementing partners has severe economic repercussions.
“The resulting financial strain not only undermines confidence in the US government as a reliable partner, it also weakens domestic economic growth at a time of mounting global competition,” the cable said.
Organizations and companies that contract with USAID last month sued the administration, calling the dismantling of the agency unlawful and saying funding had been cut off for existing contracts, including hundreds of millions of dollars for work that is already done.
The US Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to let the administration withhold payments to foreign aid organizations for work they already performed for the government, upholding a district judge’s order that had called on the administration to promptly release payments to contractors.
The barrier is aimed at preventing migrants crossing into EU member states
Updated 53 min 18 sec ago
AFP
ISTANBUL: Turkiye plans to build an 8.5-km wall on its western border where neighbors Greece and Bulgaria have already erected their own fences, a local governor said.
The barrier is aimed at preventing migrants crossing into EU member states.
Turkiye has in the past built walls on its border with Iran and Syria.
“For the first time we will take physical security measures this year on our western border,” Yunus Sezer, governor of Edirne in northwestern Turkiye, said.
The governor said that initially an 8.5-km wall was planned, adding it could be extended.
“We will start from the border with Greece and from there, God willing, it will continue in the upcoming period depending on the situation,” he added.
Turkiye shares a 200-km frontier with Greece and the border is separated along the Evros River, called Meric in Turkish.
In 2012, Greece built two 3-meter tall, barbed wire barriers along 11 km of its frontier with Turkiye, which has previously been mined.
It later tripled the length of the fence, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis vowing to extend it to more than 100 km by 2026.
In 2014 Bulgaria put up a 30-kilometer razor wire fence along its border with Turkiye as migrants flocked there to avoid the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing.
Four years later the fence was extended to cover almost all of the 259-km border.
US House starts reprimand of Democrat Al Green for disrupting Trump speech
Green is facing a House censure resolution for yelling at the president, waiving his black cane and refusing to sit down during Trump’s Tuesday night speech
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley from Oregon unfurled a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag as Trump spoke about the country’s war with Russia
Updated 05 March 2025
Reuters
WASHINGTON: The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives kicked off a process on Wednesday that could lead lawmakers to censure Democrat Al Green, who was kicked out of the chamber after yelling at President Donald Trump during an address.
Representative Green, a Texas Democrat who has been in Congress for 20 years and has repeatedly called to impeach Trump, is facing a House censure resolution for yelling at the president, waiving his black cane and refusing to sit down during Trump’s Tuesday night speech.
Green’s message was drowned out by boos from Republicans, but he told reporters on Tuesday that he was saying Trump had no electoral mandate to slash funding for Medicaid, the government health care program that helps cover costs for people with limited income.
Green was eventually escorted out by chamber staff who maintain the decorum and security of the floor.
Representative Dan Newhouse, a moderate Republican from Washington, introduced the resolution to censure Green for a “breach of proper conduct.”
A vote by the full House chamber on the censure resolution is expected in coming days, and Green will be required to be on the floor at that time. Censure is a symbolic reprimand that carries no fines or other penalties.
The censure process was once a rarity, but four House lawmakers have been publicly reprimanded by their colleagues in the last four years for inappropriate social media posts, actions that a majority of the House found problematic, and disrupting a vote.
In 2009, Republican Representative Joe Wilson from South Carolina faced a resolution of disapproval — a lesser form of punishment — after he shouted “You lie!” at Democratic President Barack Obama during an address to a joint session of Congress.
Wilson’s outburst at the time drew gasps from other lawmakers, but on Tuesday that type of behavior was happening almost every minute inside the chamber. Republicans cheered Trump’s speech and taunted Democrats, while other House Democratic lawmakers held signs to fact-check the president and repeatedly yelled from their seats in opposition.
Green’s outburst — and moves by some of his colleagues who walked out during the speech — marked a sharp contrast with Democratic leaders who had urged decorum and tapped a moderate senator from Michigan to deliver their rebuttal speech.
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley from Oregon unfurled a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag as Trump spoke about the country’s war with Russia.
Greek government faces no-confidence vote over deadly 2023 train crash
“Being aware of our duty toward society and history and toward the Greek people ... we submit a motion of no-confidence,” said the document signed by 85 lawmakers
The government has denied any wrongdoing and, with 156 seats in the 300-seat parliament, is expected to survive the motion
Updated 05 March 2025
Reuters
ATHENS: Greece’s center-right government faces a no-confidence vote this week over a deadly 2023 train disaster, days after protesters brought the country to a standstill to press their demands for political accountability.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to mark the second anniversary of the country’s worst rail crash, demanding justice for the victims. Fifty-seven people, most of them students, were killed in the disaster.
Lawmakers from the main opposition, the center-left PASOK party, and from leftist parties submitted a censure motion against Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government during a parliamentary debate on the disaster on Wednesday.
They said the government has lost its popular mandate since some of the biggest protests in Greece for years, accusing it of shirking responsibility over the crash and failing to fix critical safety gaps and covering up evidence.
“Being aware of our duty toward society and history and toward the Greek people ... we submit a motion of no-confidence against the government,” said the document signed by 85 lawmakers.
The government has denied any wrongdoing and, with 156 seats in the 300-seat parliament, is expected to survive the motion.
The vote will be held on Friday afternoon.
Addressing parliament earlier on Wednesday, Mitsotakis said the allegations by opposition parties threatened domestic political stability during turbulent international times.
“It would be fatal if stability in Greece was threatened at this point,” he said, adding that his government would modernize by 2027 the railway network, which is operated by a state-run company, and would hire a foreign company to take over its maintenance.
For many Greeks the accident has become a painful emblem of the perceived neglect of infrastructure for decades before the crash and two years since.
On Wednesday evening, thousands of people rallied peacefully outside parliament and held a moment of silence to honor the victims. Some of the demonstrators released lanterns into the air and lit candles shaped like the number “57” on the ground.
Later, clashes broke out between police and a group of protesters. Police responded with several rounds of teargas to disperse them and violence spread in other areas of Athens.
More protests are scheduled this week, meant to coincide with the no-confidence vote.
On Tuesday, a majority of 277 lawmakers voted to set up a committee to investigate how a former minister handled the aftermath of the crash and a potential breach of duty.
Christos Triantopoulos, who was minister for state aid at the time of the crash, has denied any wrongdoing. On Tuesday, he resigned from his post as deputy civil protection minister to support the inquiry by parliament, the only Greek body that can lift politicians’ immunity and probe them.
A judicial investigation into the crash is expected to be completed later this year.
Relatives of the victims have criticized the government, which won re-election after the crash, for not initiating or backing a parliamentary inquiry into political responsibility.
They say the authorities tried to cover up evidence by laying down gravel at the scene soon after the crash. Triantopoulos, who went to the crash site shortly after the incident, has dismissed the allegations as groundless.
The Air and Rail Accident Investigation Authority (HARSIA), an independent agency set up hastily after the crash, reported last week that the disaster had been caused by chronic safety shortfalls that still need to be addressed to prevent a repeat.
Christos Papadimitriou, head of HARSIA’s rail division, told the Kathimerini newspaper on Sunday that authorities’ ignorance and lack of experience were possible reasons for the loss of significant evidence from the scene.
LONDON: Tucked in the corner of Goodge Street and Charlotte Street in London, the Muslim World League has been providing sanctuary for communities and bridging gaps between faiths for over four decades.
The league operates out of a five-story building with a mosque, offices, and community space. It hosts iftars during Ramadan and provides hot meals for nearly 230 people daily.
Historically the shopping quarter of London, both before and after its destruction by the Nazi blitz in World War II, Goodge Street remains bustling with cafes, boutiques, and restaurants.
This week, workers from the area gathered at the MWL’s mosque to pray the Maghreb, marking the fasting day’s end. You could tell who was working where from the company brand on their clothes or those who worked in the kitchens, as the smell of dishwashing soap is hard to miss.
The league hosted an “Iftar with Your Neighbour” event on Tuesday evening focusing on asylum-seekers in the Borough of Camden, which has been designated as the “Borough of Sanctuary” due to its work with Ukrainian and Afghan refugees since 2021. Other themed iftars hosted by the MWL in Ramadan include events for interfaith dialogue and welcoming new worshippers.
We want to show the best of Muslims in the UK and how we contribute to the global peace
Muath Alamri, director of MWL's London office
Mohammad Zarzour, an imam who leads Friday’s sermons at the league’s mosque, told Arab News that asylum-seekers feel a deep estrangement the moment they leave their countries. Zarzour is from Syria, a country whose population has endured a brutal civil war that displaced millions across Europe and Arab countries and has just emerged from decades of Assad dictatorship.
For him, such iftars are not just about providing food and drink to asylum-seekers. Their importance lies in showing empathy, affection, and a sense of community and family. Refugees face numerous difficulties, he said, some of which may sound trivial, such as describing their pain to the doctor or dealing with officials’ letters and applications.
“Learning a new language is not easy for someone with a family and children who find themselves in a foreign country they are not accustomed to. Balancing work, learning, and caring for their children can be quite challenging,” Zarzour said.
Mohammad Zarzour, an imam, said that asylum-seekers feel a deep estrangement the moment they leave their countries. (Arab News/Mustafa Abu Sneineh)
Camden has seen a significant increase in the number of asylum-seekers from Ukraine and Afghanistan following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021.
The borough has a history of welcoming refugees, seeing waves of migration throughout the 20th century, as it is home to St Pancras International, a port of entry to London, and one of the UK’s busiest railway stations, which connects it to various European cities.
Camden allocates nearly £50 ($64.31) per asylum seeker weekly for housing and financial assistance from the Home Office budget of £2 billion for asylum support in 2024-25, reduced from £4.3 billion in 2023-24.
The spending required to accommodate the increasing number of refugees arriving by boat through the English Channel has become a contentious topic of debate in the UK. Last summer, the country experienced its worst riots in 13 years when far-right protesters attacked hotels housing asylum-seekers in various towns.
Some refugees, including Ukrainians and Afghans, fled from war-torn countries. In the case of the Afghans, many were airlifted from Kabul by the UK Ministry of Defence following the Taliban’s takeover of the city.
Food sharing is a great connector across different communities, backgrounds, faiths, and skin color
Guy Arnold, Camden Council
Guy Arnold, the strategic lead for refugee communities at Camden Council, said that in just one week in May 2022, over 400 Ukrainian refugees arrived at St Pancras International.
“Many refugees arriving were traumatized; they had young children, they hadn’t eaten properly, and they needed water. Above all else, they needed a place of safety and security to sit down and gather their thoughts about the next great steps they need to take,” he said.
Arnold added that Camden has successfully resettled 100 Afghan families in the borough, part of 1,800 refugees across London. Unlike their Ukrainian counterparts, who are granted temporary residency status, the Afghan families receive indefinite leave to remain, which equates to permanent residency in the country.
He commended such an iftar event for aiding the council with community work. “Food sharing is a great connector across different communities, backgrounds, faiths, and skin color,” he said.
Muslim World League hosts iftars during Ramadan and provides hot meals for nearly 230 people daily. (Arab News)
Samiullah, an Afghan who attended the iftar with his family, said he enjoyed meeting and connecting with other Muslim families. His English, however, was rusty, and his young son Hilal translated the questions. Hilal attended the Qur’anic lessons with Zubeda Welcome, a charity supporting refugee children in the UK to retain their Muslim identity.
It is the second year Yunis, from Kabul, has come to an iftar organized at MWL. He said he wanted his children to meet other kids and learn about Ramadan, as they do not have family members in Camden.
Muath Alamri, the director of the MWL's office in London, told Arab News that since its inception as a charity in 1982, the organization has supported vulnerable people in the UK while combating hate speech and engaging in social work.
In recent years, the league has collected donations to assist people in Gaza, Burma, and Pakistan, and it has partnered with Islamic Relief, Al-Khair Foundation, and various interfaith organizations.
“We want to show the best of Muslims in the UK and how we contribute to the global peace,” Alamri said of the league’s mission.
