BERLIN: US President Joe Biden said it’s important for Ukraine’s Western allies to “sustain our resolve” in supporting the country as he held meetings Friday with European partners, with the upcoming US presidential election casting a long shadow over his visit to Germany.
Biden met Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Ukraine’s second-biggest military supplier after the US, and was to be joined by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for discussions that also were to address the conflict in the Middle East.
With the election just weeks away and the race extremely tight, there are worries that a victory by Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, could upset the relationships that Biden is hoping to pass on to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
Trump has an appetite for imposing trade tariffs on key US security partners. He has expressed indifference to the security of Ukraine, refusing to say during a presidential debate if he wants the US ally to win its war against Russia. He’s voiced doubts about coming to the defense of NATO members if they come under attack.
“As Ukraine faces a tough winter, we must — we must — sustain our resolve, our effort and our support,” Biden said. “And I know the cost is heavy. Make no mistake, it pales in comparison to the cost of living in the world where aggression prevails, where large states attack and bully smaller ones simply because they can.”
Scholz said that “we will stand beside Ukraine as long as it is necessary,” pointing to a planned $50 billion international loan package funded by interest on profits from frozen Russian assets.
“Our position is clear: We are supporting Ukraine as strongly as possible,” he added. “At the same time, we are taking care that NATO does not become a party to the war so that this war doesn’t culminate in an even bigger catastrophe.”
Scholz has indicated that he’s skeptical about aspects of a “victory plan” drawn up by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and says he will stand by his refusal to supply Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Kyiv.
Biden didn’t want his term to end without visiting Berlin, after having been to other key allies such as Japan, South Korea, France, India, the UK, Poland and Ukraine.
The chancellor thanked Biden for the two leaders’ “extraordinarily close” cooperation.
Concerns about what might come next were reflected as Biden received the highest class of Germany’s Order of Merit, which was also bestowed on former US President George H.W. Bush for his support of German reunification.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the friendship with the US is “and will always be existentially important” for Germany, but there have always been “times of proximity and greater distance.”
“Even recently, just a handful of years ago, the distance had grown so wide that we almost lost each other,” Steinmeier said, in an reference to tense relations during Trump’s earlier presidency. He said Biden “restored Europe’s hope in the trans-Atlantic alliance literally overnight.”
“In the months to come, I hope that Europeans remember: America is indispensable for us,” he added. “And I hope that Americans remember: Your allies are indispensable for you. We are more than just ‘other countries’ in the world — we are partners, we are friends.”
Recalling the “wide sweep of history” he has seen in his 81 years, Biden said, “we should never underestimate the power of democracy, never underestimate the value of alliances.”
As he met Scholz, Biden said he was “grateful for Germany’s cooperation in holding Iran accountable for destabilizing policies, including providing missiles and drones to Russia to use against Ukraine.” He pointed to new European sanctions against Iran’s leading airlines and said that “this coordination is going to have to continue.”
Biden reiterated his call for Israel to pursue peace after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — which he described as “a moment of justice.”
“I told the prime minister of Israel yesterday, let’s also make this moment an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas,” he said.
Trump has said his approach will help the US economy and prevent foreign countries from taking advantage of the United States. He maintains that if he were still president, Russia would never have invaded Ukraine in 2022 and Hamas would never have attacked Israel in 2023.
“I will end the war in Ukraine, stop the chaos in the Middle East, and prevent World War III,” he said at a recent rally in Georgia.
Harris, for her part, has voiced strong backing for Ukraine and tracks with Biden on support for Israel, while placing particular emphasis on the need to relieve the suffering of Palestinian civilians whose lives have been upended by the Hamas-Israel war.
Biden says Western allies must keep aiding Ukraine as he meets European partners before election
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Biden says Western allies must keep aiding Ukraine as he meets European partners before election
- Biden met Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany and was to be joined by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for discussions
- “As Ukraine faces a tough winter, we must — we must — sustain our resolve, our effort and our support,” Biden said
Macron chairs meeting to address ‘threat’ of Muslim Brotherhood
The meeting, which was to include the head of government and key ministers, addressed a report that calls for action to address the rising influence of the Islamist movement which it said poses “a threat to national cohesion” in France.
After the meeting, measures will be taken, “some of which will be announced” and others will remain classified, according to the Elysee Palace.
The report, which was commissioned by the government and prepared by two senior civil servants, “clearly establishes the anti-republican and subversive nature of the Muslim Brotherhood” and “proposes ways to address this threat,” said the Elysee Palace.
France and Germany have the biggest Muslim populations among European Union countries.
France’s authorities are eager to prevent any spread of extremist Islamist ideas in a country that has been rocked by a string of deadly jihadist attacks.
Religious radicalization has become a hot-button issue as the political landscape in France is shifting and the far-right is becoming increasingly popular. Critics have condemned what they call the rise of Islamophobia in France.
The report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP on Tuesday, pointed to the spread of Islamism “from the bottom up,” adding the phenomenon constituted “a threat in the short to medium term.”
“The movement is present in Europe and its target is clearly Europe,” the Elysee Palace said, adding that it was necessary to “raise awareness within the European Union.”
At the same time, the French presidency stressed, “we are all perfectly aligned in saying that we must not lump all Muslims together.”
“We are fighting against Islamism and its radical excesses,” added the presidency.
The report zeroed in on the role of Muslims in France (Musulmans de France), which it identified as “the national branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in France.”
The Federation of Muslims of France denounced “unfounded accusations” and warned against “dangerous” conflation between Islam and radicalism.
“We firmly reject any allegation that attempts to associate us with a foreign political project or an ‘entryism’ strategy,” it said.
“This ideological interpretation does not reflect our institutional reality or our work on the ground,” the federation said, adding it was committed to France’s values.
“Even unintentional conflations between Islam, political Islamism and radicalism are not only dangerous but counterproductive for the Republic itself,” said Muslims in France.
“Behind these unfounded accusations lies a stigmatization of Islam and Muslims.”
The “constant accusation shapes minds, fuels fears and, sadly, contributes to violent acts,” it added, pointing to the death of Aboubakar Cisse, a 22-year-old Malian who was stabbed dozens of times while praying in a mosque in southern France.
Conservative daily Le Figaro, which first published excerpts of the “shocking” report on Tuesday, said the Muslim Brotherhood “wants to introduce Sharia law in France.”
France’s tough-talking Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau expressed a similar concern, pointing to “a low-level Islamism.”
The report said however that “no recent document demonstrates the desire of Muslims in France to establish an Islamic state in France or to enforce Sharia law there.”
But the threat was real, the authors said.
“We are not dealing with aggressive separatism” but a “subtle...yet no less subversive aim for the institutions.”
Macron’s party wants to ban minors under 15 from wearing the Muslim headscarf in public spaces, saying the hijab “seriously undermines gender equality and the protection of children.”
The party also wants to introduce a “criminal offense for coercion against parents who force their underage daughters to wear the veil.”
Critics see the headscarf worn by Muslim women as a symbol of creeping Islamization after deadly jihadist attacks in France, while others say they are just practicing their religion and should wear what they want.
A suicide car bomber strikes a school bus in southwestern Pakistan, killing 5 people
- The province has been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks
- There was no immediate comment from New Delhi
QUETTA, Pakistan: A suicide car bomber struck a school bus in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five people — including at least three children — and wounding 38 others, officials said, the latest attack in tense Balochistan province.
The province has been the scene of a long-running insurgency, with an array of separatist groups staging attacks, including the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, or BLA, designated a terror group by the United States in 2019.
A local deputy commissioner, Yasir Iqbal, said the attack took place on the outskirts of the city of Khuzdar as the bus was taking children to their military-run school there.
Troops quickly arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area while ambulances transported the victims to hospitals in the city. Local television stations aired footage of the badly damaged bus and scattered debris.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatists, who frequently target security forces and civilians in the region.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi strongly condemned the attack and expressed deep sorrow over the children’s deaths. He called the perpetrators “beasts” who deserve no leniency, saying the enemy had committed an act of “sheer barbarism by targeting innocent children.”
Officials, who initially reported that four children were killed but later revised the death toll to say two adults were also among the dead, said they fear the toll may rise further as several children were listed in critical condition.
Blaming India
The military also issued a statement, saying the bombing was “yet another cowardly and ghastly attack” — allegedly planned by neighboring India and carried out by “its proxies in Balochistan.”
There was no immediate comment from New Delhi.
Most of the attacks in the province are claimed by the BLA, which Pakistan claims has India’s backing. India has denied such claims.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his condolences and also blamed India, without providing any evidence to support the claim.
“The attack on a school bus by terrorists backed by India is clear proof of their hostility toward education in Balochistan,” Sharif said, vowing that the government would bring the perpetrators to justice.
Later, Sharif’s office said he is traveling to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, along with Field Marshal Asim Munir, to meet with the victims of the attack, and to receive a briefing.
Pakistan regularly accuses India, its archrival, for violence at home. These accusations have intensified in the wake of heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations amid a cross-border escalation since last month over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, divided between the two but sought in its entirety by each.
That escalation raised fears of a broader war, and during this period the BLA appealed to India for support. India has not commented on the appeal.
A vicious insurgency
Though Pakistan’s largest province, Balochistan is its least populated. It’s also a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority, whose members say they face discrimination by the government.
In one of its deadliest recent attacks, BLA insurgents killed 33 people, mostly soldiers, during an assault on a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Balochistan in March.
And earlier this week, the BLA vowed more attacks on the “Pakistani army and its collaborators” and says its goal is to “lay the foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and independent Balochistan.”
Militant groups are also active in the Balochistan and though it is unusual for separatists to target school children in the province, such attacks have been carried out in the restive northwest and elsewhere in the country in recent years.
Most schools and colleges in Pakistan are operated by the government or the private sector, though the military also runs a significant number of institutions for children of both civilians and of serving or retired army personnel.
In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban carried out the country’s deadliest school attack on an army-run institution in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing 154 people, most of them children.
Germany says it broke up a far-right group that planned attacks. 5 teens have been arrested
- The early-morning arrests in various parts of Germany were accompanied by searches at 13 properties
- Prosecutors said they are also investigating three other people, ages 18 to 21, who are already in custody
BERLIN: German police on Wednesday arrested five teenagers accused of involvement with a right-wing extremist group calling itself “Last Defense Wave” that allegedly aimed to destabilize the country’s democratic system by carrying out attacks on migrants and political opponents.
The early-morning arrests in various parts of Germany were accompanied by searches at 13 properties, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
Four of those arrested — identified only as Benjamin H., Ben-Maxim H., Lenny M. and Jason R., in line with German privacy rules — are suspected of membership in a domestic terror organization. The fifth, Jerome M., is accused of supporting the group. Two of the arrested also are accused of attempted murder and aggravated arson. All are between the ages of 14 and 18.
Prosecutors said they are also investigating three other people, ages 18 to 21, who are already in custody. All the suspects are German citizens.
According to the prosecutors, the group was formed in mid-April 2024 or earlier. They said that its members saw themselves as the last resort to defend the “German nation” and aimed to bring about the collapse of Germany’s democratic order, with attacks on homes for asylum-seekers and on facilities associated with the left-wing political spectrum.
Two of the suspects set a fire at a cultural center in Altdöbern in eastern Germany in October, prosecutors said, adding that several people living in the building at the time escaped injury only by chance.
In January, another two suspects allegedly broke a window at a home for asylum-seekers in Schmölln and tried unsuccessfully to start a blaze by setting off fireworks. They daubed the group’s initials and slogans such as “Foreigners out,” “Germany for the Germans” and “Nazi area,” as well as swastikas, prosecutors said.
Also in January, three suspects allegedly planned an arson attack on a home for asylum-seekers in Senftenberg, but it never came about because of the earlier arrests of two of the men.
Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig said it was “particularly shocking” that all of those arrested Wednesday were minors at the time the group was allegedly founded.
“This is an alarm signal and it shows that right-wing extremist terrorism knows no age,” Hubig said in a statement.
In a separate case a week ago, German authorities banned a far-right group called “Kingdom of Germany” as a threat to the country’s democratic order and arrested four of its alleged leaders.
In an annual report released Tuesday, the Federal Criminal Police Office said that the number of violent crimes with a right-wing motivation was up 17.2 percent last year to 1,488. That was part of an overall increase in violent politically motivated offenses to 4,107, an increase of 15.3 percent.
Ukrainian ex-politician shot dead outside Madrid’s American school
MADRID: An unidentified gunman or gunmen shot and killed former Ukrainian politician Andriy Portnov on Wednesday morning outside the gates of the American School in Madrid’s affluent neighborhood of Pozuelo, a source close to the investigation said.
Police received the call about the shooting at 9.15 a.m. (0715 GMT) local time, the Madrid police told Reuters, without identifying the victim.
Radio station Cadena SER said the man was taking his children to the school when he was shot.
Portnov was a senior aide to Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovich who was ousted in 2014.
Russian missile attack kills Ukrainian servicemen in training
- Moscow’s forces have inflicted casualties in attacks on Ukrainian military educational institutions and various formal outdoor gatherings
KYIV: A Russian missile attack on a Ukrainian military shooting range killed six servicemen and wounded at least 10 more during training on Tuesday, Ukraine’s national guard said on Wednesday, adding that the commander of the unit had been suspended.
Russia’s defense ministry had said on Tuesday that the missile attack on the training camp in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine near the Russian border killed up to 70 Ukrainian service members, including 20 instructors.
The Ukrainian national guard statement said an internal investigation was underway and the necessary information was shared with law enforcement agencies.
“The investigation will provide a legal assessment of the actions of all persons who made the relevant decisions,” it said about the attack on the military unit’s shooting range.
After previous deadly strikes on military training camps, Ukraine launched investigations into possible negligence.
During more than three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Moscow’s forces have inflicted casualties in attacks on Ukrainian military educational institutions and various formal outdoor gatherings.
