London mayor ‘not safe’ as Muslim politician in UK

London Mayor Sadiq Khan attends an anti-racism event hosted by Chelsea Football Club in London. (@MayorofLondon)
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Updated 09 August 2024
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London mayor ‘not safe’ as Muslim politician in UK

  • Sadiq Khan: Politicians’ rhetoric has led to ‘heartbreaking’ return of bigotry in Britain
  • ‘It’s difficult to explain the ripples when you’ve been targeted because of your religion or colour of your skin’

LONDON: London Mayor Sadiq Khan has revealed that he is “not safe” as a Muslim politician in the UK after far-right riots engulfed the country this week.

He said rhetoric from politicians has led to a “heartbreaking” return of bigotry in Britain, and called on the government to introducer harsher legislation to tackle misinformation and hate speech on social media.

“Clearly I’m not safe, which is why I’ve got police protection,” Khan said at an anti-racism event hosted by Chelsea Football Club in London.

Unrest broke out across the UK following a knife attack last week that killed three children. Far-right agitators are thought to have spread false information online wrongly accusing the attacker of being a Muslim asylum-seeker.

This led to mosques, Muslim neighborhoods and businesses, and centers housing asylum-seekers being targeted by mobs.

When asked whether the use of language by MPs from the Reform and Conservative parties had played a part in stoking the violence, Khan said: “I think for the last few years we’ve seen politicians, including from the last government, use language that’s not guarded.”

Earlier this year, Reform Chief Whip Lee Anderson accused Khan of being beholden to “Islamists.”

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman wrote in the Daily Telegraph: “The truth is that the Islamists, the extremists and the anti-Semites are in charge now.”

This week, Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick said protesters shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) on the streets of the UK should be arrested.

Khan called on Jenrick to withdraw his remarks, and previously said Braverman’s article was “a poisonous attempt to drive a wedge between our communities.”

At the Chelsea event, Khan said: “Talking about an invasion, talking about Islam running the country, talking about Islam running London — this sort of language leads to people believing some of this stuff. 

“I think good politicians, positive politicians address people’s fears, poor ones play on people’s fears, and these ones play on people’s fears with tropes and conspiracy theories, and they should reflect on the consequences of that.”

In an interview with The Guardian, he said what the UK had witnessed over the past few days is reminiscent of his childhood in London, when he and others had to contend with racist groups such as the National Front and the British National Party.

“What’s heartbreaking to me is my children’s generation had never experienced what I had, and they, for the first time, were scared,” he said. “I thought I’d be the last generation to be scared, simply for who I am. And it breaks my heart.

“I’m somebody who grew up in the 1970s and 80s and experienced the National Front and the BNP, and I thought that’s behind us.

“Like a lot of people of my generation, I felt triggered by the events of the last couple of weeks in particular.

“It’s difficult to explain the ripples when you’ve been targeted because of your religion or colour of your skin and you can’t change either of those things.”

Khan said the way misinformation has been spread online, including how far-right groups have used social media to organize violence, shows that current legislation requiring companies to take “robust action” against illegal activity is out of date.

“The way the algorithms work, the way that misinformation can spread very quickly and disinformation … that’s a cause to be concerned, we’ve seen a direct consequence of this,” he added.

“I think what the government should do very quickly is check whether the Online Safety Act is fit for purpose; I think it’s not fit for purpose.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has called on social media companies to do more to tackle extremism, while Justice Secretary Heidi Alexander branded X owner Elon Musk as “deeply irresponsible” after the billionaire posted that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK in the wake of the riots.

Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said the government will keep the legislative framework for the Online Safety Act “under review.”

He added: “If we need to act in relation to online safety laws — we will. Sadiq Khan’s challenge is that we quickly review it, consider it, and that’s exactly what we will do.”


India launches attack on 9 sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir

Updated 3 sec ago
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India launches attack on 9 sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir

The Indian armed forces launched "Operation Sindoor," hitting nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.
No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted, the statement added.


Germany’s Merz voices ‘concern’ on Gaza, to send foreign minister to Israel

Updated 18 min 30 sec ago
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Germany’s Merz voices ‘concern’ on Gaza, to send foreign minister to Israel

  • Friedrich Merz said FM Johann Wadephul would travel to Israel at the weekend and that ‘we are currently preparing this trip together’
  • Friedrich Merz: ‘Israel must remain a country that lives up to its humanitarian obligations’

BERLIN: Germany’s new Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday voiced “considerable concern” about the Gaza conflict and said he would send his foreign minister to Israel this weekend.

The conservative Merz, 69, long a strong supporter of Israel, said that Israel has a right to fight the Palestinian militant group Hamas but must follow international law.

Merz, who took office on Tuesday, said Germany’s new Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul would travel to Israel at the weekend and that “we are currently preparing this trip together.”

Israel’s security cabinet has approved plans for the “conquest” of Gaza, an official said Monday, and Israel’s military has said expanded operations would entail displacing “most” of its residents to the southern part of the territory.

Merz, speaking to public broadcaster ARD, said: “We view the developments of the last few days with considerable concern.”

“Israel has the right to defend itself against the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and everything that followed,” said Merz.

“But Israel must also remain a country that lives up to its humanitarian obligations, especially as this terrible war is raging in the Gaza Strip, where this confrontation with Hamas terrorists is necessarily taking place.”

He added that “it must be clear that the Israeli government must fulfil its obligations under the international law of war and that humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip must be provided.”


Belarus opens case against a 78-year-old activist who became a symbol of the pro-democracy movement

Updated 34 min 36 sec ago
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Belarus opens case against a 78-year-old activist who became a symbol of the pro-democracy movement

  • Retired geologist Nina Bahinskaya was charged with repeatedly violating Belarus’ laws
  • Bahinskaya is one of the most recognizable faces of Belarus’ pro-democracy movement

TALLINN: Authorities in Belarus opened a criminal case against a 78-year-old activist who became the face of the country’s pro-democracy protests in 2020, a rights organization said Tuesday.
Retired geologist Nina Bahinskaya was charged with repeatedly violating Belarus’ laws on holding and organizing protests, Belarus’ Viasna human rights center said.
Authorities accused Bahinskaya of repeatedly walking the streets of the Belarusian capital displaying symbols striped with white, red and white: the same colors used by Belarus’ pro-democracy opposition. If found guilty, the activist faces up to three years in prison.
Bahinskaya is one of the most recognizable faces of Belarus’ pro-democracy movement, which reached its peak during mass protests in the summer of 2020, shortly after the country’s authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, was declared president for a sixth consecutive term.
Observers widely condemned the vote as rigged. In March, Lukashenko was sworn in to a seventh term.
Bahinskaya’s defiance and caustic tongue quickly has made her a popular opposition figure. When told by police in 2020 that she was violating a government ban on unauthorized demonstrations, she simply responded, “I’m taking a walk” — a snappy reply that was adopted by thousands and chanted at demonstrations.
“I noticed that the riot police more rarely beat protesters when they see elderly people among them,” she told The Associated Press at the time. “So I come out to protest as a defender, an observer and a witness. I’m psychologically and intellectually stronger than the police. Even among those who detained me, there were people who respected me.”
The 2020 protests triggered a wave of police violence from Belarusian security services, and political repression that has engulfed the country of 9.5 million people.
More than 65,000 people have been arrested, thousands have been beaten by police, and independent media and nongovernmental organizations have been shut down and outlawed, prompting condemnation and sanctions from the West.
Belarus holds about 1,200 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski. At least six political prisoners have died in prison, according to human rights activists.
Bahinskaya has been previously detained on multiple occasions, collecting fines totaling 7,200 Belarusian rubles (about $2,400).
As part of the case against her, Bahinskaya was detained in early May and taken for a forced psychiatric examination, Viasna said. In April, UN experts reported that Belarusian authorities had resumed the Soviet practice of forced psychiatric treatment as a punishment for political dissent, and that at least 33 cases of punitive psychiatry had already been recorded against political prisoners.
“Bahinskaya is a symbol of resistance to totalitarianism within the country, and it is important for the authorities to break her,” Viasna representative Pavel Sapelka told the AP. “This is a show case against an elderly person who has dedicated her entire life to the fight for freedom.”
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who lives and works in exile in Lithuania, also condemned the case.
“Today, the regime is still afraid of Nina Bahinskaya’s courage,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “For decades, Nina has stood up to tyranny.”


Putin tells Pezeshkian Russia wants ‘fair’ US-Iran nuclear deal

Updated 06 May 2025
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Putin tells Pezeshkian Russia wants ‘fair’ US-Iran nuclear deal

  • The latest round of the talks between Tehran and Washington, initially set for May 3, was postponed, with mediator Oman citing ‘logistical reasons’ for the delay
  • Russia has deepened its military and diplomatic ties with Iran since it launched its offensive on Ukraine in February 2022

MOSCOW/TEHRAN: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian that Moscow wants a “fair” nuclear deal between the US and Iran and was ready to help advance talks, the Kremlin said.

“The Russian side confirmed its readiness to contribute to the promotion of this dialogue with the goal of reaching a fair agreement based on the principles of international law,” the Kremlin said in a readout of a call between the leaders.

The latest round of the talks between Tehran and Washington, initially set for May 3, was postponed, with mediator Oman citing “logistical reasons” for the delay.

The two countries have held three rounds since April 12, their highest-level contact since the US withdrew from a landmark deal with Iran in 2018, during Donald Trump’s first term as president.

Russia has deepened its military and diplomatic ties with Iran since it launched its offensive on Ukraine in February 2022. 

The two countries, both under massive Western sanctions, signed a strategic partnership earlier this year. 

Most recently, Moscow has sent two planes to help put down a fire after a deadly explosion in Iran’s biggest commercial port.

Russia earlier confirmed its readiness to help find a diplomatic solution to the stand-off between Washington and Tehran, and to play any role in the talks.

A fourth round of talks is likely to take place over the weekend in Muscat, with Iranian state media pointing to May 11 as a probable date.

Cautioning that the timing was not yet finalized, an Iranian source close to the negotiating team said: “The talks will take place over two days in Muscat, either on Saturday and Sunday or Sunday and Monday.”

Top US negotiator Steve Witkoff also said Washington was trying to hold the next round of talks this weekend, according to the news site Axios, a day after Iran’s Foreign Ministry reiterated

US President Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, has threatened to bomb Iran if no agreement is reached with his administration to resolve the long-standing dispute.

Western countries say Iran’s nuclear program is geared toward producing weapons, whereas Iran insists it is purely for civilian purposes.


Indonesia bus crash leaves at least 12 dead

Updated 06 May 2025
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Indonesia bus crash leaves at least 12 dead

PADANG: A bus carrying 34 passengers sped out of control on a downhill road and overturned in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and leaving others injured, police said.

The inter-province bus was on its way to Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, from Medan in North Sumatra province when its brakes apparently malfunctioned near a bus terminal in West Sumatra’s Padang city, said Reza Chairul Akbar Sidiq, the director of West Sumatra traffic police.

He said police were still investigating the cause of the accident, but survivors told authorities that the driver lost control of the vehicle in an area with a number of steep hills in Padang after the brakes malfunctioned.

The 12 bodies, including those of two children, were mostly pinned under the overturned bus, Sidiq said. All the victims, including 23 injured people, were taken to two nearby hospitals, he said.

Thirteen of the injured were treated for serious injuries, Sidiq said. The driver was among those in critical condition.

Local television footage showed the mangled bus on its side, surrounded by rescuers from the National Search and Rescue Agency, police and passersby as ambulances evacuated the injured victims and the dead.

Road accidents are common in Indonesia because of poor safety standards and infrastructure.