UK to expel Russian defense attache as ‘undeclared military intelligence officer’

UK to expel Russian defense attache as ‘undeclared military intelligence officer’
The Russian embassy in London on March 23, 2024 (AFP)
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Updated 09 May 2024
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UK to expel Russian defense attache as ‘undeclared military intelligence officer’

UK to expel Russian defense attache as ‘undeclared military intelligence officer’
  • Interior minister James Cleverly told parliament the UK would also remove the diplomatic status of several Russian-owned properties
  • UK is currently a staunch NATO backer of Ukraine

London: The UK government on Wednesday raised tensions with the Kremlin by announcing it would expel a Russian defense attache for being “an undeclared military intelligence officer.”
Interior minister James Cleverly told parliament the UK would also remove the diplomatic status of several Russian-owned properties, including one in Sussex, southern England, and another in London “which we believe have been used for intelligence purposes.”
There would also be new restrictions on Russian diplomatic visas such as a cap on the length of time Russian diplomats can spend in the UK, he added.
The move comes with the UK concerned at an apparent increase in “malign” Russian activity on UK soil, including an arson attack on a Ukrainian-linked business allegedly orchestrated by the Kremlin.
A British man who it is claimed has links to the Wagner Group was charged in connection with that case last month.
London has previously accused Moscow of being behind the poisoning of two Russian former agents on UK soil, and of a spate of cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns.
The UK is currently a staunch NATO backer of Ukraine, providing training for troops and military equipment in the fightback against Russia.
Cleverly said the new package of measures was intended “to make clear to Russia that we will not tolerate such apparent escalations.”
He warned that Moscow would make accusations of Russophobia and spread conspiracy theories in response to his announcement.
“This is not new and the British people and the British Government will not fall for it, and will not be taken for fools by (President Vladimir) Putin’s bots, trolls and lackeys.
“Russia’s explanation was totally inadequate. Our response will be resolute and firm.
“Our message to Russia is clear: stop this illegal war, withdraw your troops from Ukraine, cease this malign activity.”


British minister resigns over overseas aid cut

British minister resigns over overseas aid cut
Updated 01 March 2025
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British minister resigns over overseas aid cut

British minister resigns over overseas aid cut
  • In her letter, Dodds said she backed the need for higher defense spending and knew that the aid budget might have to pay for some of that increase

LONDON: The British minister responsible for international development quit on Friday after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision earlier this week to ramp up defense spending by slashing the foreign aid budget.
In a letter to Starmer, which she posted on social media, Anneliese Dodds resigned as international development minister and minister for women, saying there were “no easy paths” to increasing defense spending but that she disagreed with the decision to cut overseas aid.
On Tuesday, Starmer said the government would raise UK defense spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2027 from the current 2.3 percent, saying Europe is in a new era of insecurity that requires a “generational response.”
The increase would be funded by reducing the aid budget from 0.5 percent of GDP to 0.3 percent, a decision that Starmer described as “very difficult and painful.”
In her letter, Dodds said she backed the need for higher defense spending and knew that the aid budget might have to pay for some of that increase.
But she said the scale of the cut was so big it will “remove food and health care from desperate people” and “deeply” harm the UK’s reputation.
“You have maintained that you want to continue support for Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine; for vaccination; for climate; and for rules-based systems,” said Dodds, who attended Cabinet meetings.
“Yet it will be impossible to maintain these priorities given the depth of the cut; the effect will be far greater than presented.”
The increase in defense spending has been sharply criticized by aid agencies, who said it harmed some of the world’s poorest people and reduced Britain’s soft power.
In her letter, Dodds said she held back from resigning earlier this week when the cut to the aid budget was announced as it was “imperative” Starmer had “a united Cabinet” behind him ahead of his trip to Washington. 

 


UN authorizes evacuation of staff families from Burundi

UN authorizes evacuation of staff families from Burundi
Updated 01 March 2025
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UN authorizes evacuation of staff families from Burundi

UN authorizes evacuation of staff families from Burundi
  • DR Congo’s government and rebels traded blame for several explosions at a rally in the eastern city of Bukavu that killed 13 people and wounded scores of others the previous day

NAIROBI: The UN has authorized the evacuation of families of its international staff from Burundi following violence in DR Congo, according to a letter seen by AFP on Friday.
The Rwanda-backed M23 group has, in recent weeks, seized two major cities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC, giving the armed group a significant foothold in the mineral-rich region since taking up arms again in late 2021.
The group has continued its advance, and the fighting has moved closer to the Burundian border, with the small Great Lakes nation — which has supported Kinshasa with some 10,000 troops under a previous agreement — increasingly sounding the alarm.
The UN authorized the evacuation of Bujumbura-based families of its staff last week, according to a letter dated Feb. 21 from the UN’s Department of Safety and Security and seen by AFP.
Several flights have been chartered since then, a UN employee with knowledge of the departures said on Thursday.
“Others are expected ... to bring these families and certain non-essential personnel to safety,” the employee added.
“We are acting with the greatest discretion so as not to upset the government,” the source said, stressing these are “instructions that apply everywhere ... when there are security risks.”
On Thursday, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye — who previously warned against the threat posed by Rwanda — adopted a more conciliatory tone.
“We are still committed to resolving the differences between our two countries by peaceful means,” he told the diplomatic corps in Burundi’s capital of Gitega.
However, his statement came as military and local sources said Burundi had placed troops on its border, some 10 km from Kamanyola town and the M23 advance.
Burundian military sources said troops were being withdrawn earlier this month, although officials denied this.
Burundi is also seeing the most significant influx of refugees in 25 years, with more than 43,000 people crossing the border in the last two weeks, the UN said.
DR Congo’s government and rebels traded blame for several explosions at a rally in the eastern city of Bukavu that killed 13 people and wounded scores of others the previous day.
The finger-pointing over the deadly incident has further inflamed tensions in eastern Congo.
Congo’s army said Rwandan troops, who it accuses of supporting the rebels, fired rockets and grenades into a crowd gathered in Bukavu’s central square for a speech by one of the uprising’s leaders on Thursday.
“The Rwandan army and its (proxies) bombed and fired live ammunition at the civilian population who, although forced to attend this meeting, expressed their disapproval of the Rwandan aggression,” Congo’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Corneille Nangaa, leader of a rebel alliance that includes M23, blamed Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi for the violence in Bukavu.
He told a press conference on Thursday that the grenades used were the same type as those used by the Burundian army, which has backed Congo’s military. Reuters could not independently verify this.

 


Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says

Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says
Updated 01 March 2025
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Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says

Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says
  • The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture”
  • Doctors decided to keep Francis’ prognosis as guarded and indicated they needed 24 to 48 hours to evaluate how and if the episode impacted his overall clinical condition

ROME: Pope Francis suffered an isolated coughing fit on Friday that resulted in him inhaling vomit and requiring non-invasive mechanical ventilation, the Vatican said in relaying an alarming setback in his two-week long battle against double pneumonia.
The 88-year-old pope remained conscious and alert at all times and cooperated with the maneuvers to help him recover. He responded well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and was continuing to wear a mask to receive supplemental oxygen, the Vatican said.
The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture.” Doctors decided to keep Francis’ prognosis as guarded and indicated they needed 24 to 48 hours to evaluate how and if the episode impacted his overall clinical condition.
The development marked a setback in what had been two successive days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors treating Francis at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14. The pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has lung disease and was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into pneumonia in both lungs.
Dr. John Coleman, a pulmonary critical care doctor at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, said the episode as relayed by the Vatican was alarming and underscored Francis’ fragility and that his condition “can turn very quickly.”
“I think this is extremely concerning, given the fact that the pope has been in the hospital now for over two weeks, and now he’s continuing to have these respiratory events and now had this aspiration event that is requiring even higher levels of support,” he told The Associated Press.
“So given his age and his fragile state and his previous lung resection, this is very concerning,” added Coleman, who is not involved in Francis’ care.
Dr. William Feldman, a pulmonary specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said it was a good sign that the pope remained alert and oriented, but concurred that the episode marked “a worrying turn.”
“Often we will use noninvasive ventilation as a way of trying to stave off an intubation, or the use of invasive mechanical ventilation,” Feldman said.
Types of noninvasive ventilation include a BiPAP machine, which helps people breathe by pushing air into their lungs. Doctors will often try such a machine for a while to see if the patient’s blood gas levels improve so they can eventually go back to using oxygen alone.
The episode, which doctors described as an “isolated crisis of bronchial spasm” began as a coughing fit in which Francis inhaled vomit. The longer respiratory crisis Francis suffered on Feb. 22 was a longer crisis in actually breathing, the Vatican said.
Doctors did not resume referring to Francis being in “critical condition,” which has been absent from their statements for three days now. But they say he isn’t out of danger, given the complexity of his case.
Earlier on Friday, Francis had spent the morning alternating high flows of supplemental oxygen with a mask and praying in the chapel. He had breakfast, read the day’s newspapers and was receiving respiratory physiotherapy, the Vatican said.
The Vatican also published a document signed by Francis on Feb. 26 “From the Gemelli Polyclinic,” a new official tagline that showed Francis was still working from the hospital.
Prayers continued to pour in
Late on Friday, Francis’ closest friend in the Vatican bureaucracy, Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, led the nightly prayer in St. Peter’s Square to pray for Francis’ health.
With other cardinals bundled against the night chill, Fernández urged the crowd to pray not just for Francis but for others as the pope himself would.
“Certainly it is close to the Holy Father’s heart that our prayer is not only for him, but also for all those who in this particular dramatic and suffering moment of the world, bear the hard burden of war, of sickness, of poverty,” said Fernández, the Vatican’s doctrine chief.
In Mexico City, a few dozen people gathered Thursday night at the cathedral to pray for Francis’ recovery.
“He is like part of the family,” said Araceli Gutiérrez, who treasures the time she saw the pope during his trip to the country of nearly 100 million Catholics in 2016. “That’s why we feel so concerned for him.”
María Teresa Sánchez, who was visiting from Colombia with her sister, said that she has always felt close to Francis — the first Latin American pope.
“That’s like having a relative within the higher-ups, with God,” she said. “He has done so much for religion; he’s such a humble person.”


Macron urges Algeria to help mend diplomatic ties

Macron urges Algeria to help mend diplomatic ties
Updated 01 March 2025
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Macron urges Algeria to help mend diplomatic ties

Macron urges Algeria to help mend diplomatic ties
  • Hard-line French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has led the verbal attacks on Algeria in the media, fueling tensions between the countries

LISBON: French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday warned Algeria against playing “political games” with frayed diplomatic ties between the two countries, notably over immigration.
Relations between Paris and Algiers have been strained since Macron recognized Moroccan sovereignty of the disputed territory of Western Sahara in July last year.
But they have worsened after Algiers refused to accept the return of undocumented Algerian migrants from France.
Last weekend, one of them, a 37-year-old man, went on a stabbing rampage in the eastern city of Mulhouse, killing one person and wounding several others.
“We won’t make progress if there’s no work, we can’t talk to each other through the press, that’s ridiculous, it never works like that,” Macron told journalists during a visit to the Portuguese city of Porto.
“(Relations) shouldn’t be subject to political games,” he said.
He hoped “millions of French people born to Algerian parents” would not be “caught up in these debates.”
Hard-line French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has led the verbal attacks on Algeria in the media, fueling tensions between the countries.
“Nothing can take precedence over the security of our compatriots,” Macron said, with emotions still high after last weekend’s attack in Mulhouse.
Agreements mandating the automatic return of nationals, signed between the two countries in 1994, “must be fully respected,” he added.
In recent months, France has arrested and deported several undocumented Algerians on suspicion of inciting violence, only for Algeria to send back one of those expelled.
France warned that it could restrict visas and, as a result, limit development aid.
Macron also voiced fears about the health of detained Franco Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, arrested in November last year and held in Algeria on national security charges.
In mid-December, his publishers, Gallimard, said he had been hospitalized.
Macron said that Sansal was being held in “arbitrary detention” and that resolving the matter would help restore confidence in diplomatic ties.
Sansal, 75, is known for his strong support of free speech and for opposing authoritarianism and Islamism.
Algeria’s government has previously criticized Macron for “blatant and unacceptable interference in an internal Algerian affair.”

 


EU top diplomat says ‘free world needs new leader’ after Trump-Zelensky clash

EU top diplomat says ‘free world needs new leader’ after Trump-Zelensky clash
Updated 01 March 2025
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EU top diplomat says ‘free world needs new leader’ after Trump-Zelensky clash

EU top diplomat says ‘free world needs new leader’ after Trump-Zelensky clash
  • “It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge,” Kallas wrote on social media

BRUSSELS: The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas vowed to stand by Kyiv and questioned America’s leadership of the West Friday after an extraordinary clash between President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.


“Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge,” Kallas wrote on social media following the Oval Office confrontation. “Ukraine is Europe! We stand by Ukraine.”