SOKOLKA, Poland: Poland said Wednesday it had seen a surge in attempts to breach its border and pushed back hundreds of migrants to Belarus, accusing Minsk of “state terrorism” by provoking a new migrant crisis in Europe.
Concern was growing for more than 2,000 migrants — mainly Kurds from the Middle East — who are trapped at the border, with the UN calling their plight “intolerable” and demanding action.
Western governments accuse Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko of luring them to his country and sending them to cross into Poland in retaliation for sanctions.
“What we are facing here, we must be clear, is a manifestation of state terrorism,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters in Warsaw at a news conference with visiting EU chief Charles Michel.
Michel said new sanctions against Belarus “are on the table.”
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she expected “a widening of the sanctions” at the beginning of next week.
“This is the attempt of an authoritarian regime to try to destabilize its democratic neighbors. This will not succeed,” she said, speaking after a meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington.
Migrants have been trying to cross the border for months but the crisis reached a new level when hundreds made a concerted effort on Monday and were pushed back by Polish borders guards.
They set up a camp on the border, sheltering in tents and burning wood from local forests to keep warm, blocked by Polish guards behind razor-wire.
In the Polish town of Sokolka near the border, AFP reporters saw patrols stopping vehicles to check the boots for migrants, as well as lines of military trucks and police vans going to and from the border.
“The residents here are under constant stress,” Sokolka’s deputy mayor Piotr Romanowicz told AFP.
Izabela Korecki, 38, who was walking in the town center with her daughters, said she felt “tense.”
“We hear the sirens and helicopters all the time,” she said.
Journalists and charity workers have been banned from the immediate border area by Polish authorities under state of emergency rules.
Poland has sent 15,000 troops to the border along with police and border guards, accusing Belarus of using intimidation to force migrants to breach the border.
Belarus has in turn accused Poland of violating international norms by blocking the migrants and beating them back with violence.
In a back street of Sokolka, Anna Chmielewska, a volunteer with the Ocalenie (Salvation) Foundation, was sorting through a garage filled with donated food and clothes intended for migrants.
“I can’t believe we are living in times like these. We are here, we are ready to help but we cannot,” she said, explaining that volunteers could only help migrants who make it beyond the border area.
Kyle McNally, a humanitarian affairs adviser at Doctors Without Borders who has met with migrants on the Belarusian side of the border, called for “unfettered access” to assist them.
“The people that we have spoken with and we have seen are really in a desperate state and it’s getting worse by the day,” he said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday called Lukashenko’s main backer, Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking him “to use his influence” with Minsk to stop what she called an “inhumane” instrumentalization of migrants.
But Belarus and Moscow have said the West should deal with migrant flows caused by its military interventions in the Middle East.
The Kremlin said it was “irresponsible” for Poland to blame Putin for the crisis, while Belarus’s foreign minister said the EU was causing the crisis because it wanted a reason to impose new sanctions.
“The migrant crisis was provoked by the EU itself and its states that border Belarus,” Vladimir Makei said on a visit to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday.
Lavrov accused Western institutions of mounting an “anti-Belarusian campaign,” and said Russia and Belarus had “closely coordinated our approaches” to countering it.
Thousands of migrants have crossed or attempted to cross from Belarus into the eastern EU member states of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in recent months.
At least 10 migrants have died on the Poland-Belarus border, seven of them on the Polish side of the border, according to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza.
Poland sees migrant surge at border, accuses Belarus of ‘state terrorism’
https://arab.news/5avs7
Poland sees migrant surge at border, accuses Belarus of ‘state terrorism’
- Concern was growing for more than 2,000 migrants who are trapped at the border, with the UN calling their plight "intolerable"
- "What we are facing here, we must be clear, is a manifestation of state terrorism," Polish Prime Minister told reporters in Warsaw
Russian general killed by car bomb near Moscow
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a murder probe after a Volkswagen Golf blew up
BALASHIKHA, Russia: An explosive device ripped through a parked car near Moscow on Friday killing a senior Russian general, investigators said, in an attack that resembled previous killings claimed by Ukraine.
Authorities named the victim as General-lieutenant Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the main operational directorate of the military’s General Staff, which is in charge of army operations.
Kyiv had not commented on the attack, which bore the hallmarks of previous assassinations of military figures and high-profile backers of the Kremlin’s offensive over the last three years.
Ukraine has called some of them “legitimate targets” and sees the attacks as retribution for Moscow’s military campaign, which has resulted in tens of thousands of people killed.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a murder probe after a Volkswagen Golf blew up outside a block of flats in the town of Balashikha, east of Moscow.
“Our military figure was killed as a result of a terrorist attack,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
The general’s body lay on the ground close to the front door of a block of flats and a few meters from the charred remains of a white car whose rear section was torn away, footage from the scene posted by the Investigative Committee showed.
Several investigators were working at the scene.
Police had cordoned off the site on Friday, with ambulances surrounding the area, an AFP reporter saw.
A body lying on the ground could be seen from the upper floors of surrounding buildings.
Locals said they heard a loud blast at around 10:45 a.m. (0745 GMT).
“The explosion was very strong, it even gave me heart pain,” Lyudmila, a 50-year-old who lives nearby told AFP.
The killing appeared similar to previous attacks claimed by Kyiv on figures linked to Russia’s three-year offensive on the country.
Ukraine’s secret services said last December it was behind the assassination of the head of the Russian military’s chemical weapons department.
A remotely operated bomb attached to a scooter had exploded as he left an apartment block in Moscow.
Security camera footage posted by the Izvestia newspaper of Friday’s blast showed a massive explosion, sending fragments flying into the air. The blast happens just as someone can be seen walking toward the car.
The “blast was caused by the triggering of an improvised explosive device” packed with metal fragments designed to cause maximum harm, investigators said.
The Agentstvo investigative news site, citing leaked information, said Moskalik lived in Balashikha, but the Volkswagen was not registered to him.
Russian Telegram channels with links to law enforcement posted unconfirmed reports that the car had been purchased a few months ago by a man from the Ukrainian city of Sumy.
They wrote that it had been parked outside the block of flats for a few days and was equipped with a camera.
TASS reported that Moskalik was 59.
According to the Kremlin website, he had represented the Russian military at ceasefire talks with Ukraine in 2015 amid the conflict between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made Moskalik general-lieutenant in 2021.
The department where he is deputy chief was described as “a key link in planning operations in Ukraine,” by the independent Vazhniye Istorii outlet.
Russians linked to Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine had been targeted in attacks over the last three years.
They include the August 2022 car bombing of nationalist Darya Dugina and an explosion in a Saint Petersburg cafe in April 2023 that killed high-profile military correspondent Maxim Fomin, known as Vladlen Tatarsky.
Kyiv has in some cases claimed responsibility or revelled in the attacks.
It has not commented on Friday’s attack.
After the December killing of Igor Kirillov, the military’s chemical weapons chief, Putin made a rare admission of failings by his powerful security agencies.
“We must not allow such very serious blunders to happen,” he said.
Trump says ‘Crimea will stay with Russia’ as he seeks end to war in Ukraine
- “They’ve had their submarines there for long before any period that we’re talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea,” Trump said
- “But this was given by Obama. This wasn’t given by Trump”
KYIV: President Donald Trump said in an interview published on Friday that “Crimea will stay with Russia,” the latest example of the US leader pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under siege.
“Zelensky understands that,” Trump said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, “and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time.”
The US president made the comments in a Time magazine interview conducted on Tuesday. Trump has been accusing Zelensky of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Crimea is a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. It was seized by Russia in 2014, while President Barack Obama was in office, years before the full-scale invasion that began in 2022.
“They’ve had their submarines there for long before any period that we’re talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea,” Trump said. “But this was given by Obama. This wasn’t given by Trump.”
Meanwhile, Russia has continued its bombardment. A drone struck an apartment building in a southeastern Ukraine city, killing three people and injuring 10 others, officials said Friday, a day after Trump rebuked Russia’s leader for a deadly missile and drone attack on Kyiv.
A child and a 76-year-old woman were among the civilians killed in the nighttime drone strike in Pavlohrad, in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, the head of the regional administration, Serhii Lysak, wrote on Telegram.
Russian forces fired 103 Shahed and decoy drones at five Ukrainian regions overnight, Ukraine’s air force reported. Authorities in the northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions reported damage to civilian infrastructure but no casualties.
The war could be approaching a pivotal moment as the Trump administration weighs its options. Senior US officials have warned that the administration could soon give up attempts to stop the war if the two sides do not come to an agreement. That could potentially mean a halt of US military aid for Ukraine.
Amid the peace efforts, Russia pounded Kyiv in an hourslong barrage Thursday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 87 in its deadliest assault on the Ukrainian capital since July.
The attack drew a rare rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin from Trump, who has said that a push to end the war is coming to a head.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying.” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!”
Trump’s frustration is growing as his effort to forge a deal between Ukraine and Russia has failed to achieve a breakthrough.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff was expected to meet with Putin in Moscow on Friday, their second meeting this month and the fourth since February.
Trump accused Zelensky on Wednesday of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimea Peninsula as part of a possible deal. Russia illegally annexed that area in 2014. Zelensky has repeated many times during the war that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country.
Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plan to arrive in Rome on Friday for the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square on Saturday. It wasn’t immediately clear if they would meet separately.
An explosion in Moscow targets a senior officer
Meanwhile, a senior Russian military officer was killed by a car bomb near Moscow on Friday, Russia’s top criminal investigation agency said.
The attack follows the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov on Dec. 17, 2024, when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office. Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for the killing of Kirillov.
Since Russia invaded, several prominent figures have been killed in targeted attacks believed to have been carried out by Ukraine.
Russian forces used Thursday’s attack on Kyiv as cover to launch almost 150 assaults on Ukrainian positions along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, Zelensky said late Thursday.
“When the maximum of our forces was focused on defense against missiles and drones, the Russians went on to significantly intensify their ground attacks,” he wrote on Telegram.
Western European leaders have accused Putin of dragging his feet in the negotiations and seeking to grab more Ukrainian land while his army has battlefield momentum.
Zelensky noted Thursday that Ukraine agreed to a US ceasefire proposal 44 days ago, as a first step to a negotiated peace, but that Russian attacks continued.
During recent talks, Russia hit the city of Sumy, killing more than 30 civilians gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, battered Odesa with drones and blasted Zaporizhzhia with powerful glide bombs.
Immigration is Trump’s strongest issue, but many say he’s gone too far, new poll finds
- Survey: 46 percent of US adults approve of Trump’s handling of immigration
- About half of Americans say he’s ‘gone too far’ when it comes to deporting immigrants in the US illegally
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration remains a point of strength as he takes wide-ranging actions to ramp up deportations and target people in the US illegally, according to a new poll.
The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 46 percent of US adults approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, which is nearly 10 percentage points higher than his approval rating on the economy and trade with other countries.
While Trump’s actions remain divisive, there’s less of a consensus that the Republican president has overstepped on immigration than on other issues. Still, there’s little appetite for an even tougher approach. About half of Americans say he’s “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants in the US illegally. They’re divided on the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants who are accused of being gang members to El Salvador, and more oppose than support revoking foreign students’ visas over their participation in pro-Palestinian activism.
Here’s what the poll shows about how Americans are viewing the Trump administration’s actions on immigration.
Immigration is a point of strength for Trump, particularly with Republicans
Immigration was a major factor for voters in last November’s election, particularly for Trump’s supporters, and they were more open to tough stances on the issue than they’d been four years earlier. And even though many of Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts are currently mired in battles with federal judges, it’s remained an issue of relative strength in the court of public opinion.
Similar to an AP-NORC poll conducted in March, nearly half of Americans approve of Trump’s immigration approach, while about 4 in 10 approve of how he’s handling the presidency.
This higher approval on immigration comes primarily from Republicans. About 8 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, higher than the roughly 7 in 10 Republicans who approve of how he’s handling the economy or trade negotiations with other countries.
Other groups are less enthusiastic about Trump’s approach. About 4 in 10 independents and only about 2 in 10 Democrats approve of Trump on immigration.
Relatively few Americans are concerned they’ll know someone who is directly affected by increased immigration enforcement, according to the poll. About 2 in 10 Americans say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned that they or someone they know will be directly affected.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to worry they’ll be affected, and Hispanic adults are more likely than white or Black adults to be concerned.
About half say Trump has ‘gone too far’ on deportations
About half of Americans say Trump has “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the US illegally. About one-third say his approach has been “about right,” and about 2 in 10 say he’s not gone far enough.
They’re unhappier, generally, with how he’s approaching trade negotiations. About 6 in 10 say he’s “gone too far” in imposing new tariffs on other countries.
There is not a strong desire for more aggressive action on immigration, though, even among the people who approve of what’s Trump doing. Among the Americans who approve of how Trump is handling immigration, about 6 in 10 say his approach has been “about right,” and roughly 3 in 10 say he hasn’t gone far enough.
Americans are split on sending Venezuelans to El Salvador but oppose revoking student visas
There is a deep divide on whether and how the Trump administration should undertake large-scale deportations, according to the survey, which was conducted in mid-April, while Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., was on a trip to El Salvador to demand the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported there in what officials later described as an “administrative error.”
The poll found that 38 percent of Americans favor deporting all immigrants living in the US illegally, down slightly from an AP-NORC poll conducted just before Trump took office in January. About the same share of Americans are opposed, and about 2 in 10 are neutral.
The findings are very similar for Trump’s policy of sending Venezuelan immigrants in the US who authorities say are gang members to a prison in El Salvador.
But the public is more opposed, broadly, to revoking foreign students’ visas over their participation in pro-Palestinian activism, which has emerged as another flashpoint.
About half of US adults oppose this, and about 3 in 10 are in support. This action is particularly unpopular among Americans with a college degree. About 6 in 10 strongly or somewhat oppose it, compared with about 4 in 10 Americans who aren’t college graduates.
Philippines enacts law requiring immediate, proper burial for Muslims
- Law outlines steps to be followed when a Muslim person dies
- Penalty for anyone refusing to release the body due to unpaid hospital or funeral fees
MANILA: The Philippine president has signed into law the Philippine Islamic Burial Act, recognizing the right of Filipino Muslims to bury their dead in accordance with their faith.
The new law, signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. this week, ensures that deceased Muslims are buried with respect and dignity, regardless of the availability of their death certificate. It requires that deaths be reported within 14 days after burial by the person who performed the rites or the deceased’s next of kin.
“For burial purposes, in accordance with Islamic rites, Muslim cadavers shall be released within 24 hours by the hospital, medical clinic, funeral parlor, morgue, custodial and prison facilities, or other similar facilities, or persons who are in actual care or custody of the cadaver,” the law says.
It also penalizes any person or organization that refuses to release the body of a deceased Muslim because of unpaid hospital or funeral fees or other reasons, with one to six months in prison, a fine of $880 to $1,800, or both.
In the predominantly Catholic Philippines, Muslims make up about 10 percent of the population of more than 120 million. Most of them live on the island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago in the country’s south.
Ebra Moxsir, president of the Imam Council of the Philippines and one of the experts consulted in drafting the law, told Arab News that its signing was a “very welcome development” because it addresses issues that Muslims have faced in the Philippines, where the majority is unaware of Islamic burial requirements.
“One challenge is the delay in the release of the body from the hospital due to financial reasons or lack of payment,” he said.
“Another challenge is the need for a death certificate, which often delays the burial because we have to wait for it to be processed. Under the new law, this is no longer required, and the process can proceed without delay. The death certificate can follow.”
The law specifies the steps to be followed when a Muslim person dies — that they should be washed, shrouded, have funeral prayers performed, and be buried within 24 hours.
If a forensic test is required, the family must be informed before any examination is conducted.
It also makes it clear that the body should not be embalmed and obliges local authorities to help with transportation if the family is not able to take the deceased home.
“The law outlines these requirements,” Moxsir said. “It helps raise awareness about what should and shouldn’t be done when handling the deceased, in accordance with Islamic law.”
House of Representatives Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, who announced the signing of the law on Tuesday, welcomed the move as addressing a “longstanding issue” faced by Filipino Muslims, where institutional support for Islamic burial rites was lacking.
“This measure uplifts our Muslim brothers and sisters who, for years, have struggled to uphold a basic tenet of their faith in the face of red tape and costly logistics,” he said.
“Now, we correct that with compassion and resolve.”
Huge crowds pack Vatican ahead of Pope’s funeral
- After three days of public viewing, a funeral Mass including heads of state will be held Saturday in St. Peter’s Square
- The pope will then be buried in a niche within the St. Mary Major Basilica, near his favorite Madonna icon
VATICAN CITY: The Vatican was making final preparations Friday for Pope Francis’s funeral as the last of the huge crowds of mourners filed through St. Peter’s Basilica to view his open coffin.
Over 128,000 people have already paid their last respects to Francis, whose coffin will be closed at 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) in a ceremony attended by senior cardinals.
Many of the 50 heads of state and 10 monarchs attending Saturday’s ceremony in St. Peter’s Square, including US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, are expected to arrive later Friday in Rome.
Italian and Vatican authorities have placed the area around St. Peter’s under tight security with drones blocked, snipers on roofs and fighter jets on standby.
Further checkpoints will be activated on Friday night, police said.
Vast crowds of people on Friday morning packed Via della Conciliazione, the wide avenue leading to the Vatican, for the third and final day of the pope’s lying-in-state.
“Whatever happens, we have to get inside,” said Ian Delmonte, 35, from the Philippines.
“We love the pope, we feel blessed to see him a last (time),” added Michelle Alcaide, 35, also from the Philippines, as she queued.
For a second night in a row, the Vatican kept St. Peter’s open past the scheduled hours to accommodate the queues, only closing the doors between 2:30am (0030 GMT) and 5:40am Friday.
“Night is the most intimate moment, the Lord always manifests himself at night,” said Nicoletta Tomassetti, 60, who visited the Basilica in the very early hours of Friday morning.
“It was very emotional. In prayer, I asked the pope for some things and I know he will give them to me,” she said.
The Catholic Church’s first Latin American pope died on Monday aged 88, less than a month after spending weeks in hospital with severe pneumonia.
“It was like saying goodbye to a father” who “loved me and will continue to love me as and more than before,” Filipa Castronovo, 76, an Italian nun said after seeing the coffin on Friday.
The Argentine pontiff, who had long suffered failing health, defied doctors’ orders by appearing at Easter, the most important moment in the Catholic calendar.
It was his last public appearance.
Condolences have flooded in from around the world for the Jesuit, an energetic reformer who championed those on the fringes of society in his 12 years as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
He used his last speech to rail against those who stir up “contempt... toward the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants.”
“It’s impressive to see all these people,” French cardinal Francois-Xavier Bustillo said of the queuing crowds, describing Francis as “a man of the people.”
“It’s a beautiful response, a beautiful embrace of his ministry, of his pontificate.”
At least 130 foreign delegations are expected at his funeral, including Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Britain’s Prince William.
A no-fly zone will be in force.
The pope’s body was dressed in his papal vestments – a red chasuble, white mitre and black shoes – and laid inside a simple wooden coffin.
On Thursday the Vatican banned people from taking photos inside the basilica, a move that eased the queue. It came after some mourners took selfies – deemed by many disrespectful – with the coffin.
Italy’s civil protection agency estimates that “several hundred thousand” people will descend on Rome on what was already set to be a busy weekend due to a public holiday on Friday.
After the funeral, Francis’s coffin will be driven at a walking pace to be buried at his favorite church, Rome’s papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
The hearse will pass down Rome’s Fori Imperiali – where the city’s ancient temples lie – and past the Colosseum, according to officials.
Big screens will be set up along the route on which to watch the ceremony, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said.
Francis was a champion of underdogs, and a group of “poor and needy” will be at Santa Maria Maggiore to welcome the coffin, the Vatican said.
Francis will be interred in the ground, his simple tomb marked with just one word: Franciscus.
People will be able to visit the tomb from Sunday morning, as all eyes turn to the process of choosing Francis’s successor.
Cardinals from around the world have been returning to Rome for the funeral and the conclave, when a new pontiff will be elected.
In the absence of a pope, the cardinals have been meeting every day to agree the next steps, with another meeting held on Friday at 9:00 am (0700 GMT).
They have yet to announce a date for the conclave, but it must begin no fewer than 15 days and no more than 20 days after a pope’s death.
Only those under the age of 80 – currently some 135 cardinals – are eligible to vote.
Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was number two to Francis, is the favorite, according to British bookmakers William Hill.
They put him ahead of Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle, the Metropolitan Archbishop emeritus of Manila, followed by Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Turkson, and Matteo Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna.
