US warns that Daesh extremists still a world threat

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US and Italy urge representatives of the 77 other countries and five organizations that make up the Global Coalition not to drop their guard against Daesh. (SPA)
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Updated 29 June 2021
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US warns that Daesh extremists still a world threat

  • Blinken and Di Maio urged representatives of the 77 other countries and five organizations that make up the coalition not to drop their guard
  • ‘We must not lose sight of the fact that the threat of this organization still exists,’ Saudi FM says

WASHINGTON DC/LONDON: As the US works on its military withdrawal from Afghanistan, members of the global coalition fighting Daesh met Monday to chart future steps against the extremist group.
The meeting came just a day after the US launched airstrikes against Iran-backed militias near the Iraq-Syria border.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio co-chaired the gathering of senior officials from the seven-year-old, 83-member bloc. Participants were taking stock of current efforts to ensure the complete defeat of Daesh, whose remnants still pose a threat in Iraq and Syria and have shown signs of surging in parts of Africa.
Amid significant other international priorities, including taming the coronavirus pandemic and stepping up the fight against climate change, the coalition is hoping to stabilize areas liberated from Daesh, repatriate and hold foreign fighters accountable for their actions and combat extremist messaging.
Blinken and Di Maio urged representatives of the 77 other countries and five organizations that make up the coalition not to drop their guard.
“We must step up the action taken by the coalition, increasing the areas in which we can operate,” said Di Maio.
Outside of Iraq and Syria, he said there was an “alarming” surge in Daesh activity, particularly in the Sahel, Mozambique and the Horn of Africa. He called for the coalition to create a special mechanism to deal with the threat in Africa.
Blinken noted that despite their defeat, Daesh elements in Iraq and Syria "still aspire to conduct large-scale attacks."
“Together, we must stay as committed to our stabilization goals as we did to our military campaign that resulted in victory on the battlefield,” he said.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that his country appreciated the great role played by the coalition, which had a decisive role in eliminating Daesh’s expansion and spread in Iraq and Syria, and liberating nearly 8 million people from its control in those areas.
“Despite these achievements, we must not lose sight of the fact that the threat of this organization still exists, which requires everyone to continue efforts and coordination to contain its spread and eliminate it completely,” he said.


Prince Faisal, who headed the Kingdom’s delegation at the ministerial meeting on a joint invitation from the US and Italy, thanked Blinken and Di Maio for the invite and welcomed the new members of the global coalition and said he was looking forward to working together to continue joint efforts to combat Daesh.
“Saudi Arabia continues to maintain its firm position toward supporting the efforts of the global coalition against Daesh, and this position stems from the Kingdom’s keenness on Iraq’s stability and the extension of its influence and sovereignty over its entire territory,” he added.
He also praised Iraq’s efforts and its continuous coordination with the global coalition to eliminate the terrorist organization.
He said the Kingdom was keen to support the coalition through its five military tracks, including supporting stability, eliminating the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters, preventing the financing and flow of funds to the terrorist organization, and combating Daesh’s ideology.

The Saudi foreign minister also said the Kingdom recognized the need to unify efforts, exchange information and effectively coordinate to eliminate the spread of Daesh in the African continent, and specifically the Sahel regions, “given the threats this organization and other terrorist organizations pose to international peace and security.”
Prince Faisal said: “We stress the importance of cooperation and the development of an action mechanism with partners in the African continent and international partners, with full respect for the rules of international law, to combat Daesh and prevent its spread in those areas.”
He also welcomed the presence of a number of delegations of African countries as observers at the meeting.


Blinken announced a new US contribution of $436 million to assist displaced people in Syria and surrounding countries and called for a new effort to repatriate — and rehabilitate or prosecute — some 10,000 IS fighters who remain imprisoned by the Syrian Defense Forces.
“This situation is simply untenable,” Blinken said. “It just can’t persist indefinitely.”
He also announced sanctions against Ousmane Illiassou Djibo, a native of Niger, who is a key leader of a Daesh affiliate in the greater Sahara. Djibo was designated a global terrorist, meaning that any of his US are frozen and Americans are barred from any transactions with him.
In addition to the meeting on Daesh, foreign ministers of countries concerned about the broader conflict in Syria met in Rome ahead of a critical UN vote on whether to maintain a humanitarian aid corridor from Turkey. Russia has resisted reauthorizing the channel amid stalled peace talks between the Syrian government and rebel groups.
The Saudi foreign minister said the Syria meeting comes as a step that shows the continued interest in one of the worst international crises, and added the Kingdom was looking forward to putting an end to the suffering of the Syrian people that has continued for more than ten years.
He reiterated the Kingdom’s affirmation that a political solution is the only solution to the Syrian crisis, in accordance with Resolution No. 2254 and other related international resolutions.


He called for international consensus to stop the human suffering of the Syrian people, to find a solution to the border crossings crisis, and to ensure the flow of international aid to those who need it.
He said it was important not to politicize the humanitarian issue in Syria, not to neglect the humanitarian needs of the Syrian people, and that neglecting this provided a suitable environment for the growth and spread of terrorist organizations and extremist ideology.
“The absence of an effective international will to solve the Syrian crisis contributed to the opportunity for some parties to implement expansionist, sectarian and demographic projects aimed at changing Syria’s identity, and portends the prolonged Syrian crisis and its regional and international effects,” Prince Faisal said.
He called for uniting efforts to resume the negotiating process, support the efforts of the UN and its special envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen, and provide all aspects of support required for his mission to succeed.
Last week, the UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pederson, said there were worrying signs that Daesh may be getting stronger in the country and called for a boost in cooperation to counter it. Pederson has also joined calls for new international talks on ending Syria's civil war.
Since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011, numerous high-level gatherings aimed at ending the fighting and guiding the country to a political transition have failed. The UN, US, Russia and many other countries support a 2015 Security Council resolution endorsing a road map to peace in Syria that calls for a new constitution followed by UN-supervised elections.
Blinken also hailed the state of US-European relations, noting that Italy, France and Germany — the three countries he visited on his current European tour — are the only members of NATO, the Group of Seven and the European Union.
“We share a deep commitment to promoting democracy and human rights,” he said. “We see the same big challenges on the horizon. And we recognize that we can’t tackle them alone.”
Blinken and Di Maio downplayed differences between the US and Italy over China, saying there was an increasing awareness of the complexities and dangers of dealing with Beijing.

(With AP)


Indian politicians demand action against Israeli envoy after attack on Priyanka Gandhi

Updated 52 min 31 sec ago
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Indian politicians demand action against Israeli envoy after attack on Priyanka Gandhi

  • Israeli ambassador posted disparaging remarks against Gandhi after her comments on Gaza
  • Congress party demands official apology for his ‘public attempt to intimidate’ the MP

NEW DELHI: Indian politicians are demanding action against the Israeli ambassador in Delhi following his verbal attack on Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi.

Gandhi, a lawmaker from the opposition Congress party, who is the daughter of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and sister of Rahul Gandhi — leader of the opposition — wrote on social media on Tuesday that “the Israeli state is committing genocide” in Gaza.

“It has murdered over 60,000 people, 18,430 of whom were children. It has starved hundreds to death including many children and is threatening to starve millions,” she said, calling out the Indian government over its inaction.

“Enabling these crimes by silence and inaction is a crime in itself. It is shameful that the Indian Government stands silent as Israel unleashes this devastation on the people of Palestine.”

The post was almost immediately responded to by Reuven Azar, Israel’s ambassador to India, who told Gandhi: “What is shameful is your deceit.”

The post triggered outrage among Congress members, with the party’s spokesperson Supriya Shrinate demanding that the Indian government act over the envoy’s “casting aspersions” on Gandhi.

“He should be officially made to apologize. She is a member of parliament, she is an elected representative, and how dare the Israeli ambassador talk to her in that tone. The government should take this up in no uncertain terms,” Shrinate told Arab News.

“We seek an unconditional apology for the use of tone and words that the Israeli ambassador has used, and the reality is that the world is watching what Israel is doing in Gaza.”

Priyanka Chaturvedi, an MP and spokesperson of the Shiv Sena (UBT) party, said inaction from the Ministry of External Affairs would only embolden foreign diplomats “to speak to Indian parliamentarians in this tone and tenor in their own country.

“This is unacceptable,” she wrote on X. “Hope Ministry of External Affairs reprimands this Hon. Ambassador.”

For Gaurav Gogoi, a Congress lawmaker from Assam, “the disparaging comments made by a foreign Ambassador against a Member of Parliament of India is a serious breach of privilege,” he said in an X post, urging Parliament to take action if the government does not respond.

The government in New Delhi has largely remained quiet since Israel launched its deadly assault on Gaza in October 2023.

But India’s civil society and the opposition are increasingly speaking up against Israeli war crimes.

Pawan Khera, chairman of the Congress party’s publicity department, called on External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to address the Israeli ambassador’s “public attempt to intimidate” Gandhi.

“That the ambassador of a state accused of genocide worldwide would target a sitting Member of the Indian Parliament is both unprecedented and intolerable. It is a direct affront to the dignity of Indian democracy,” he wrote on X.

Khera also addressed the envoy directly: “No amount of deflection or whitewashing can obscure the facts. The international community is witnessing, in real time, the killing of civilians in Gaza — including those queuing for aid. The world sees the heartbreaking images emerging from Gaza every day. It will neither forget nor forgive.”


Senior figures in UK’s ruling party sound alarm over Palestine Action ban

Updated 13 August 2025
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Senior figures in UK’s ruling party sound alarm over Palestine Action ban

  • Ex-minister: ‘You devalue the charge of terrorism by equating it with the protests we have seen’
  • Civil liberties campaigner: ‘Spraying paint on airplanes is not the same as being the IRA or Al-Qaeda’

LONDON: Senior figures in the UK’s ruling Labour Party are sounding the alarm over the government’s banning of the group Palestine Action.

It comes after hundreds of people were arrested in London last weekend under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act.

The protesters had held signs demonstrating support for Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terrorist organization in July.

Former Minister Peter Hain said the issue “will end in tears for the government,” The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

The former anti-apartheid activist added: “We are seeing retired magistrates, retired and serving doctors and all sorts of people being arrested and now effectively being equated with terrorists such as Al-Qaeda, which is absolutely wrong.”

If the ban is contested through a legal challenge and overturned, it “would be a mercy to all concerned, including the government,” he said.

Hain was one of three Labour peers in the House of Lords who voted against the ban last month.

“It’s going to get worse (for the government) because I don’t see people from that ‘middle Britain’ background who have joined these protests in such large numbers to suddenly decide that all is OK,” he said.

“In fact, I think more are going to come out and face arrest because the approach to Palestine Action is contrary to every form of peaceful protest in British history, whether that’s the chartists and suffragettes, or anti-apartheid and anti-fascist protesters.”

The government has faced mounting pressure over the ban after it emerged that of the 532 arrested under the Terrorism Act on the weekend, half were aged 60 or older.

Hain served as secretary of state for Northern Ireland, a role that gave him great insight into the realities of terrorism.

“There is a battery of other crimes that could be applied to Palestine Action but terrorism is not one of them, while you also devalue the charge of terrorism by equating it with the protests we have seen,” he said.

“I … worked with the intelligence services and others to stop dissident IRA (Irish Republican Army) groups from killing. I have signed warrants to stop other real terrorists, Islamist terrorists, bombing London. So, I am not soft on terrorism. But I am a strong believer that you have to know what it looks like.”

Many Labour MPs and peers are now doubting the decision to ban Palestine Action, Hain added.

The government has justified the proscription by describing the group as a “violent organization” that was planning to carry out extensive attacks.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said court restrictions have prevented the British public from discovering the “full nature of this organization.”

However, Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti warned that the ban could result in an “I am Spartacus” moment, The Independent reported on Wednesday.

She was referring to the 1960 film “Spartacus,” and a situation in which a group of people claim to be one person in an act of solidarity against an authority.

The civil liberties campaigner urged the government to “think again” over the ban, saying her worries are “greater now even than they were before” after last weekend’s mass arrests.

Chakrabarti told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program: “There are blurred lines now … some people are, as always, protesting about the horrific events they’re watching unfold in Gaza, but others think they’re standing up for civil liberties because this ban was disproportionate.”

She added that a distinction must be made between criminal damage and terrorism, and that “spraying paint on airplanes,” as Palestine Action members did, “is not the same as being the IRA or Al-Qaeda.”

Saturday’s mass arrest of protesters is believed to be the largest of its kind by London’s Metropolitan Police since the poll tax riot of 1990.

Rights groups including Amnesty International and Liberty warned that the arrests were “disproportionate to the point of absurdity,” and that the Terrorism Act is threatening freedom of expression.

Chakrabarti said: “And so we've got more people taking to the streets, a bigger headache for the police. Frankly, I’m very sympathetic to the police on this issue. I think it may be time to think again.”


Bangladeshi officials testify against former British minister Siddiq in corruption trial

Updated 13 August 2025
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Bangladeshi officials testify against former British minister Siddiq in corruption trial

DHAKA: Bangladeshi anti-corruption officials testified in court on Wednesday against former British anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq, accusing of using a family connection to deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to obtain state-owned land in the South Asian country.
Siddiq, who is Hasina’s niece, resigned from her post in Prime Minister Keir Starmer ‘s government in January following reports that she lived in London properties linked to her aunt and was named in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh.
She is being tried together with her mother, Sheikh Rehana, brother Radwan Mujib and sister Azmina. Siddiq has been charged with facilitating their receipt of state land in a township project near the capital, Dhaka. They are out of the country and being tried in absentia.
Siddiq’s lawyers have called the charges baseless and politically motivated.
Muhammad Tariqul Islam, a public prosecutor, disputed a claim by Siddiq that she is not Bangladeshi, saying the anti-corruption watchdog through investigations found that she is a citizen.
The prosecutor said if Siddiq is convicted she could be sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.
Siddiq in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian recently referred to Bangladesh as “a foreign country” and called the charges against her “completely absurd.”
She asserted to The Guardian she was “collateral damage” in the longstanding feud between her aunt and Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus. Hasina had a frosty relation with Yunus, and during her rule Yunus faced a number of cases including for graft allegations. Courts overturned those charges before he took over as interim leader days after Hasina’s ouster last year in a student-led uprising.
Separately, the anti-corruption investigation has alleged that Siddiq’s family was involved in brokering a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh in which large sums of money were said to have been embezzled.


Musk’s bid to dismiss OpenAI’s harassment claims denied in court

Updated 13 August 2025
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Musk’s bid to dismiss OpenAI’s harassment claims denied in court

A federal judge on Tuesday denied Elon Musk’s bid to dismiss OpenAI’s claims of a “years-long harassment campaign” by the Tesla CEO against the company he co-founded in 2015 and later abandoned before ChatGPT became a global phenomenon.
In the latest turn in a court battle that kicked off last year, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Musk must face OpenAI’s claims that the billionaire, through press statements, social media posts, legal claims and “a sham bid for OpenAI’s assets” had attempted to harm the AI startup.
Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman last year over the company’s transition to a for-profit model, accusing the company of straying from its founding mission of developing AI for the good of humanity, not profit.
OpenAI countersued Musk in April, accusing the billionaire of engaging in fraudulent business practices under California law. Musk then asked for OpenAI’s counterclaims to be dismissed or delayed until a later stage in the case.
OpenAI argued in May its countersuit should not be put on hold, and the judge on Tuesday concluded that the company’s allegations were legally sufficient to proceed.
A jury trial has been scheduled for spring 2026.


Young women in UK face more strangulation and violent threats, says charity

Updated 13 August 2025
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Young women in UK face more strangulation and violent threats, says charity

  • Refuge, one of the largest specialist domestic abuse organizations in Britain, said 525 young women and girls receiving long-term support from the charity reported experiencing physical violence between April 2024 and March 2025

LONDON: Britain is seeing more violent threats to kill or harm young women and girls aged 16-25, with incidents of strangulation and suffocation also increasing, leading domestic abuse charity Refuge said on Wednesday.
Refuge, one of the largest specialist domestic abuse organizations in Britain, said 525 young women and girls receiving long-term support from the charity reported experiencing physical violence between April 2024 and March 2025. Around half of them were subjected to strangulation or suffocation — a 9 percent rise from a year earlier.
Nearly half of those reporting psychological abuse — about 615 individuals — said their perpetrator had threatened to harm them, marking a 4 percent increase. Additionally, 35 percent said they had been threatened with death.
“Domestic abuse often goes unnoticed, yet these new figures reveal the harrowing reality: many young lives are being devastated by this horrific crime,” said Refuge CEO Gemma Sherrington.
“To actively tackle domestic abuse, there must be a major societal shift toward improved education that shines a light on the many red flags of abuse.”
Refuge said many young victims were experiencing coercive control, a pattern of behavior designed to isolate, manipulate, and intimidate.
Survivors quoted in Refuge’s report described how abuse often began with subtle controlling behaviors and escalated over time. Such behaviors can often be overlooked by authorities as markers of domestic abuse.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Britain would reassess a tool widely used by the police and domestic abuse specialist services to gauge the level of risk faced by victims following criticism that, among other issues, it downplays patterns of coercive and controlling behavior.
Refuge has called for domestic abuse education to be more deeply embedded in schools and for the government’s upcoming strategy on violence against women and girls to strengthen support for young people.