UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists

UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks during an interview outside 10 Downing Street, in London, Britain, October 15, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 04 November 2024
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UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists

UK leader Starmer tells Interpol he will treat people-smuggling gangs like terrorists
  • Starmer plans to increase the UK Border Security Command’s two-year budget from 75 million pounds ($97 million) to 150 million pounds ($194 million)

LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he will double funding for Britain’s border security agency and treat people-smuggling gangs like terror networks in an attempt to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.

In a speech Monday to a meeting of the international police organization Interpol, Starmer will say the gangs behind irregular migration are a serious threat to global security.

Arguing that “the world needs to wake up to the severity of this challenge,” Starmer will say that “we’re taking our approach to counterterrorism, which we know works, and applying it to the gangs,” according to extracts released by his office.

He’ll call for more cooperation between law-enforcement agencies, closer coordination with other countries and unspecified “enhanced” powers for law-enforcement.

Starmer plans to increase the UK Border Security Command’s two-year budget from 75 million pounds ($97 million) to 150 million pounds ($194 million). The money will be used to fund high-tech surveillance equipment and 100 specialist investigators.

Like previous Conservative British governments, Starmer’s Labour Party administration is struggling to stop thousands of people fleeing war and poverty from trying reach the UK from France in flimsy, overcrowded boats.

More than 31,000 migrants have made the perilous crossing of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes so far this year, more than in all of 2023, though fewer than in 2022. At least 56 people have perished in the attempts this year, according to French officials, making 2024 the deadliest since the number of channel crossings began surging in 2018.

Starmer leads a center-left government, and has raised some eyebrows in September when he visited Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and praised her nationalist conservative government’s “remarkable” progress in reducing the number of migrants reaching Italy’s shores by boat.

Starmer will argue on Monday that “there’s nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the channel.”

The opposition Conservative Party argues that Starmer should not have scrapped the previous government’s plan to send some asylum-seekers who reach Britain by boat on one-way trips to Rwanda. Supporters of the proposal say it would act as a deterrent. Human rights groups and many lawyers say it is unethical and unlawful to send migrants thousands of miles to a country they don’t want to live in.

Starmer called the plan a “gimmick” and canceled it soon after he was elected in July. Britain paid Rwanda hundreds of millions of pounds for the plan under a deal signed by the two countries in 2022, without any deportations taking place.

Senior police and government officials from the 196 Interpol member states are attending the global police body’s four-day congress in Glasgow, Scotland.

On Tuesday, Brazilian police official Valdecy Urquiza is expected to be named the new general secretary of the Lyon, France-based organization, replacing Jürgen Stock of Germany.


Indian state refiners pause Russian oil purchases after Trump threat

Indian state refiners pause Russian oil purchases after Trump threat
Updated 18 sec ago
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Indian state refiners pause Russian oil purchases after Trump threat

Indian state refiners pause Russian oil purchases after Trump threat
  • India is the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian crude, a vital revenue earner for Russia as it wages war in Ukraine for a fourth year
  • Pause comes after Trump threatened 100 percent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil unless Moscow reaches a major peace deal with Ukraine

NEW DELHI: Indian state refiners have stopped buying Russian oil in the past week as discounts narrowed this month and US President Donald Trump warned countries not to purchase oil from Moscow, industry sources said.

India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, is the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian crude, a vital revenue earner for Russia as it wages war in Ukraine for a fourth year.

The country’s state refiners — Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd. — have not sought Russian crude in the past week or so, four sources familiar with the refiners’ purchase plans told Reuters.

IOC, BPCL, HPCL, MRPL and the federal oil ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

The four refiners regularly buy Russian oil on a delivered basis and have turned to spot markets for replacement supply — mostly Middle Eastern grades such as Abu Dhabi’s Murban crude and West African oil, sources said.

Private refiners Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy, majority owned by Russian entities including oil major Rosneft, have annual deals with Moscow and are the biggest Russian oil buyers in India.

On July 14, Trump threatened 100 percent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil unless Moscow reaches a major peace deal with Ukraine.

Indian refiners are pulling back from Russian crude as discounts shrink to their lowest since 2022, when Western sanctions were first imposed on Moscow, due to lower Russian exports and steady demand, sources said.

Refiners fear the latest EU curbs could complicate overseas trade including fund raising — even for buyers adhering to the price cap. India has reiterated its opposition to “unilateral sanctions.”

Trump on Wednesday announced a 25 percent tariff on goods imported from India from August 1, but added that negotiations were ongoing. He also warned of potential penalties for purchase of Russian arms and oil.

On Monday Trump cut the deadline to impose secondary sanction on buyers of Russian exports to 10-12 days from the previous 50-day period, if Moscow does not agree a peace deal with Ukraine.

Russia is the top supplier to India, responsible for about 35 percent of India’s overall supplies.

Private refiners bought nearly 60 percent of India’s average 1.8 million barrels per day of Russian oil imports in the first half of 2025, while state refiners that control over 60 percent of India’s overall 5.2 million bpd refining capacity, bought the remainder.

Reliance purchased Abu Dhabi Murban crude for loading in October this month, an unusual move by the refiner, traders said.


Trump signs order imposing higher tariffs on dozens of economies

Trump signs order imposing higher tariffs on dozens of economies
Updated 15 min 21 sec ago
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Trump signs order imposing higher tariffs on dozens of economies

Trump signs order imposing higher tariffs on dozens of economies
  • Order set out tariffs on imports that ranged as high as 41 percent on Syria
  • Canadian imports will face 35 percent tariffs, up from an existing 25 percent level

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump signed an order Thursday imposing higher tariffs on dozens of countries in his latest bid to reshape global trade in favor of US businesses, with duties to take effect in seven days.

The order set out tariffs on imports that ranged as high as 41 percent on Syria, alongside various levels reflecting trade deals struck between Washington and major partners like the European Union and Japan.

Separately, the White House announced that Canadian imports will face 35 percent tariffs come Friday, up from an existing 25 percent level.

An exemption for Canadian and Mexican goods entering the country under a North American trade pact remained in place, according to the White House.

Mexico continues to face 25 percent tariffs.

The announcement capped a flurry of efforts to reach trade pacts with the Trump administration ahead of the president’s initial Friday deadline.

So far, Washington had announced pacts pacts with Britain, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and the European Union.

But details of those agreements have remained vague.

Looming over the global economy is also an unresolved trade tussle between the United States and China.

 


Mourners honor the NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was killed in Manhattan skyscraper attack

Mourners honor the NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was killed in Manhattan skyscraper attack
Updated 28 min 9 sec ago
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Mourners honor the NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was killed in Manhattan skyscraper attack

Mourners honor the NYPD officer Didarul Islam, who was killed in Manhattan skyscraper attack
  • Officer Didarul Islam was killed during a shooting rampage by a former high school football player in Manhattan
  • A migrant from Bangladesh, Islam was honored by President Trump and other officials for saving other lives

NEW YORK: Mourners packed a New York mosque on Thursday to honor a Bangladesh-born police officer who embraced the job of protecting his adopted city and gave his life for it when a gunman opened fire in an office building this week.

Officer Didarul Islam “did believe in the American dream, not as something handed down but as something built with your own hands,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told Islam’s family and friends as his fellow officers lined up rows deep outside the Bronx house of worship.

Dignitaries and members of the New York’s thriving Bangladeshi community also paid tribute to the fallen officer during a memorial that emphasized the importance he placed on his family, background and service to the city.

A married father of two with a third child on the way, the 36-year-old was working a New York Police Department-approved private security detail, in uniform, when he and three other people were killed Monday at the Manhattan skyscraper that houses the NFL’s headquarters and other corporate offices.

“To our family, he was our world. To the city, he was a proud NYPD officer who served with compassion and integrity. He lived to help others,” Islam’s widow said in a statement that a relative read on her behalf at the service at the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque.

With officers stationed on surrounding rooftops for security, fire trucks used their ladders to hold a huge American flag over a nearby street. A flatbed truck carried a digital billboard showing photos of Islam and a commemorative message from his union.

 

New York Police officers salute as the hearse carrying the casket of NYPD officer Didarul Islam passes after his funeral on , July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura )

White House sends condolences

After coming to the United States, Islam began building a career in the nation’s largest police force. He described policing as “a blanket of the community, there to provide comfort and care,” the police commissioner said.

Islam served as a school safety agent before becoming a patrol officer less than four years ago, and was promoted posthumously Thursday to detective.

“He could have gone into any other occupation he wanted, but he wanted to put on that uniform, and he wanted to protect fellow New Yorkers. And he wanted to let us know that he believed in what this city and what this country stood for,” Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, told the gathering. “That’s the greatest symbol of what we know we are as a country.”

In Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt began her daily briefing by expressing President Donald Trump’s condolences to Islam’s family, saying he “made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of his fellow New Yorkers.”

A ‘humble, steady, and reliable’ officer

Like others who spoke, Imam Zakir Ahmed highlighted the officer’s immigrant background and Muslim faith. But said Islam “lived at a time when people like him are too often feared, vilified and made to feel like outsiders.”

“It’s time for New York and America to give back — to see us, to hear us, to protect our dignity, the way Officer Islam protected yours,” Ahmed said.

The eldest of several siblings, Islam supported his parents in Bangladesh, as well as his wife and two young sons in the Bronx, the imam said. The police commissioner said Islam worked a long day at a parade Sunday, then picked up private security hours Monday at the office building.

Deputy Inspector Muhammad Ashraf, the commander of the busy Bronx precinct where Islam worked, said he was a “humble, steady and reliable” officer.

“He knew what it meant to protect the place that gave him a new beginning, and in return, he gave everything back,” Ashraf said at Thursday’s service.

After the service, the streets filled with people, mostly men, kneeling in prayer. Some Muslim officers took part, as colleagues stood in formation behind them and looked on.

New York Police Academy cadets line the street outside the Parkchester Jame Masjid mosque for the funeral of officer Didarul Islam on July 31, 2025, in New York. (AP)

Later, officers saluted as Islam’s casket, draped in US and NYPD flags, was brought to a hearse for burial at a cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey.

Another victim, real estate firm worker Julia Hyman, 27, was mourned at an emotional service Wednesday at a Manhattan synagogue.

Funeral arrangements for the two others killed, security guard Aland Etienne and investment firm executive Wesley LePatner, have not been made public.

Governor praises officer for saving lives

Police identified the gunman as Shane Tamura, a 27-year old former high school football player who most recently worked in a Las Vegas casino’s surveillance department. Authorities say he believed he had a brain disease linked to contact sports and accused the NFL of hiding the dangers of playing football.

On Thursday, police said they found more than 800 rounds of ammunition in Tamura’s car and had recovered 47 shell casings in the building’s lobby and the office floor where Hyman was killed.

Police said Tamura had a history of mental illness, but they haven’t elaborated other than to say they found psychiatric medication prescribed to him at his residence in Las Vegas.

Officials said he was heading for the NFL’s office but took the wrong elevator and went by mistake to another floor. The gunfire seriously injured an NFL employee in the lobby.

Islam “saved lives. He was out front,” Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said at Thursday’s service. “Others may be alive today because he was the barrier.”

 


Israel is in danger of becoming isolated, German foreign minister warns

Israel is in danger of becoming isolated, German foreign minister warns
Updated 01 August 2025
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Israel is in danger of becoming isolated, German foreign minister warns

Israel is in danger of becoming isolated, German foreign minister warns
  • Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul made the remarks while on a trip to Israel

FRANKFURT: Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Thursday that Israel was in danger of becoming isolated and Germany was trying to prevent that.

“Israel must always find friends, partners and supporters in the international community. And that is currently in danger in this situation. And if there is one country that has a responsibility to prevent this, then in my view it is Germany,” Wadephul told reporters on a trip to Israel.

He added that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “beyond imagination,” after meeting senior Israeli officials in Jerusalem.

“The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is beyond imagination.”

Wadephul said: “(Israel is) obliged to quickly and safely send sufficient humanitarian and medical aid to avoid mass death as part of a famine.”


Turbulence forces Delta flight to land and sends 25 people to hospitals, airline says

Turbulence forces Delta flight to land and sends 25 people to hospitals, airline says
Updated 31 July 2025
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Turbulence forces Delta flight to land and sends 25 people to hospitals, airline says

Turbulence forces Delta flight to land and sends 25 people to hospitals, airline says
  • The 25 were taken to hospitals for evaluation and treatment, the airline said
  • One passenger said people who weren’t wearing seat belts were thrown about the cabin

MINNEAPOLIS: A Delta Air Lines flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam was hit by serious turbulence, sending 25 people on board to hospitals and forcing the flight to divert to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the airline said.

The Airbus A330-900, carrying 275 customers and 13-member crew, landed around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday. The airport fire department and paramedics met the flight. The 25 were taken to hospitals for evaluation and treatment, the airline said.

One passenger said people who weren’t wearing seat belts were thrown about the cabin.

“They hit the ceiling, and then they fell to the ground,” Leann Clement-Nash told ABC News. “And the carts also hit the ceiling and fell to the ground and people were injured. It happened several times, so it was really scary.”

Delta said in a statement: “We are grateful for the support of all emergency responders involved.”

Serious injuries from in-flight turbulence are rare, but scientists say they may be becoming more common as climate change alters the jet stream.

The disturbance Wednesday is one of several turbulence-impacted flights reported this year. It also raises awareness about aviation safety ranging from of January’s midair collision over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people, to last weekend’s smoking jet at Denver International Airport, where passengers slid down an emergency slide.

Regarding turbulence, five people were taken to a North Carolina hospital for evaluation in June after an American Airlines flight from Miami hit turbulence on its way to Raleigh-Durham International Airport. The plane landed safely.

Earlier that month, severe storms in southern Germany forced a Ryanair flight to make an emergency landing after violent turbulence injured nine people on board, German police said. The flight was traveling from Berlin to Milan with 179 passengers and six crew members. Eight passengers and one crew member were hurt.

A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Singapore experienced severe turbulence in March. At the time, the plane carrying 174 passengers and 14 crew members were flying over the Philippines. Five people were injured and the plane was able to land safely in Singapore.

Several flights were diverted to Waco, Texas, on March 3, because of turbulence. Five people were injured aboard one of them, a United Express plane flying from Springfield, Missouri, to Houston.

A man was killed when a Singapore Airlines flight hit severe turbulence in May 2024, the first person to die from turbulence on a major airline in several decades.