BRATISLAVA: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose pro-Russian views have put him at odds with allies, sought to deepen cooperation in energy, railway links and grain transport with war-hit neighbor Ukraine on Thursday.
After a joint meeting of the Slovak and Ukrainian governments, Fico said Slovakia wanted to be a “good, friendly” neighbor to Ukraine.
Fico has led a shift in Slovakia’s foreign policy since coming to power last October, halting state military aid to Kyiv and opening communication channels with Moscow, even as the EU has sought to isolate Russia’s government.
Yet Fico has been keen to keep business ties with Kyiv, including continuing to allow commercial arms deals to go ahead.
“Ukraine needs help, and Ukraine needs to be shown solidarity,” Fico said in broadcast remarks alongside Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal after meeting in eastern Slovakia.
“There can of course be different opinions or views on that help or solidarity.”
Previous Slovak administrations had been staunch backers of Kyiv after Russia’s invasion in 2022, providing fighter jets and air defense systems, among other equipment. Fico reiterated on Thursday that Slovakia would continue allowing commercial deals for military supplies despite stopping state military aid.
He said the countries agreed that an old wide-gauge freight rail link from Slovakia’s second biggest city of Kosice should begin passenger service to Kyiv.
They will also modernize the main road border crossing and boost cross-border electricity transmission networks in the coming years.
Fico said Slovakia will continue to provide a corridor for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products, while Shmyhal said they agreed to work on lifting restrictions on Ukrainian products which Slovakia and other countries put in place to protect domestic markets.
“We are aware that each of our states has its own national interests, its own priorities, which sometimes may not coincide,” Shmyhal said. “But at the same time we have absolutely good will and a pragmatic attitude.”
Slovakia’s pro-Russia PM deepens energy and transport ties to Ukraine
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Slovakia’s pro-Russia PM deepens energy and transport ties to Ukraine
- After a joint meeting of the Slovak and Ukrainian governments, Fico said Slovakia wanted to be a “good, friendly” neighbor to Ukraine
- Fico has been keen to keep business ties with Kyiv, including continuing to allow commercial arms deals to go ahead
Top Russia court to rule on lifting Taliban terror designation
A decision to remove the label would not amount to formal recognition for the Taliban authorities
MOSCOW: Russia’s Supreme Court is expected Thursday to remove the Taliban’s designation as a “terrorist organization,” a symbolic gesture aimed at building friendly ties with Afghanistan’s de facto rulers.
The Islamist group seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, when American forces supporting the country’s internationally recognized government pulled out.
Moscow, which called the US withdrawal a “failure,” has taken steps to normalize relations with the group since then, seeing them as a potential economic partner and ally in fighting terrorism.
The Supreme Court hearing was scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. in Moscow (1100 GMT) and will take place behind closed doors, according to the court’s website.
Russia’s Prosecutor General asked the court to remove the group’s “terrorist” designation last month, following several trips to Russia by top Taliban officials.
A Taliban delegation attended Russia’s flagship economic forum in Saint Petersburg in 2022 and in 2024, while the group’s top diplomat met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow last October.
A decision to remove the label would not amount to formal recognition for the Taliban authorities, which are seeking international legitimacy.
But it would help avoid embarrassment for Russian officials meeting representatives from the militant group at high-profile events.
Moscow’s attitude toward the Taliban has shifted drastically over the last two decades.
The group was formed in 1994 during the Afghan Civil War, largely out of former Mujahideen fighters who battled the Soviet Union during the 1980s.
The Soviet-Afghan war, which left thousands of young Soviet men dead and wounded, resulted in a stinging defeat for Moscow that hastened the demise of the USSR.
Moscow put the Taliban on its terrorist blacklist in 2003 over its support for separatists in the North Caucasus.
But the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 has forced Russia and other countries in the region to change tack as they compete for influence.
Russia was the first country to open a business representative office in Kabul after the Taliban takeover, and has announced plans to use Afghanistan as a transit hub for gas heading to Southeast Asia.
In July 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Taliban “allies in the fight against terrorism.”
Both Russia and the Taliban authorities have been trying to eradicate Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), an Islamist group responsible for deadly attacks in both Afghanistan and Russia, including an attack on a Moscow concert hall in March 2024 that killed 145.
Other countries have also sought to foster ties with the Taliban authorities, though no state has yet moved to officially recognize them.
Kazakhstan announced last year that it had removed the Taliban from its list of “terrorist organizations.”
In 2023, China became the first country to appoint a new ambassador to Kabul and has forged growing economic links with its new rulers.
Pakistan foreign minister to visit Kabul ‘within days’
- Islamabad has previously said it will deport more than 800,000 Afghans because they are linked to ‘terrorist’ and narcotics activities
- On Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration said Pakistan has expelled nearly 60,000 Afghans since the start of April
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign minister said Thursday that he will visit Kabul in the coming days, as Islamabad’s campaign to expel Afghans has forced nearly 60,000 into Afghanistan.
Islamabad has previously said it will deport more than 800,000 Afghans because they are linked to “terrorist” and narcotics activities, but analysts say the move is politically motivated.
“Preparatory meetings have been ongoing and hopefully, within days, I will be visiting Kabul for a day to break this logjam which is there for the last few years,” said Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister, who also serves as deputy prime minister.
Pakistan was one of just three countries that recognized the Taliban’s first government in the 1990s and was accused of covertly supporting their insurgency against NATO forces.
But their relationship has soured as violence in Pakistan’s border regions has soared since the Taliban regained power in Kabul in 2021.
Last year was the deadliest year in Pakistan for a decade, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of allowing militants to take shelter in Afghanistan from where they plan attacks.
The Taliban government denies the charge.
On Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration said Pakistan has expelled nearly 60,000 Afghans since the start of April.
The UN says nearly three million Afghans live in Pakistan, many who have been there for decades or were born there, after fleeing successive conflicts.
The Pakistan government has canceled the residence permits of more than 800,000 Afghans and warned those who are in Pakistan awaiting relocation to other countries that they must leave by the end of April.
More than 1.3 million who hold Proof of Registration cards issued by the UN refugee agency have been told to leave the capital and the neighboring city of Rawalpindi.
Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, this month said the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) militant group was the top issue straining ties.
“TTP is a big challenge that can’t be tolerated. Afghanistan has to work with us on this. If they are not working on this, then all deals are off,” said Sadiq, who is currently visiting Afghanistan.
The TTP is a separate but closely linked group to the Afghan Taliban that carries out frequent attacks on Pakistani security officials.
Members of UK Jewish group say can’t ‘turn blind eye’ to Gaza war
- Members criticize the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Gaza in an open letter published in the Financial Times
- Statement: ‘We cannot turn a blind eye or remain silent’ about the loss of life since a two-month truce collapsed on March 18
LONDON: Members of the largest organization representing British Jews have said they can no longer “turn a blind eye” to the war in Gaza, adding “Israel’s soul is being ripped out.”
In a major break with the Board of Deputies of British Jews’ policy of supporting the Israeli leadership, 36 of its members criticized the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Gaza in an open letter published in the Financial Times.
“The inclination to avert our eyes is strong, as what is happening is unbearable, but our Jewish values compel us to stand up and to speak out,” said the letter, signed by around one in eight members of the Board of Deputies.
It is the first time since the start of the war that members of the body have publicly criticized the Israeli government.
“We cannot turn a blind eye or remain silent” about the loss of life since a two-month truce collapsed on March 18, as negotiations over the return of Israeli hostages broke down, the letter added.
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
“Israel’s soul is being ripped out and we, members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, fear for the future of the Israel we love and have such close ties to,” added the letter.
The signatories accused the “most extremist of Israeli governments” of “openly encouraging violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.”
“We stand against the war. We acknowledge and mourn the loss of Palestinian life,” they added.
A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies told the Guardian that other members would “no doubt put more emphasis on the fundamental responsibility of Hamas for this ghastly situation.”
At least 1,691 Palestinians have been killed since the resumption of the Israeli offensive, bringing the death toll in Gaza since the start of the war to 51,065, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Hamas’s attack on October 7 left 1,218 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Qatari Emir arrives in Moscow for talks with Putin on Ukraine and Middle East
- Qatar has made a series of attempts to mediate between Russia and Ukraine
- Russia and Qatar said this week that the leaders would discuss efforts to find a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine
MOSCOW: Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine and Middle East issues, on a trip that the Kremlin described as very important.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the two leaders would have a “serious conversation” on a range of issues and sign various agreements.
“It is difficult to overestimate the role of Qatar as a whole now in many regional and even world affairs. Qatar is our good partner, Russian-Qatari relations are developing very dynamically, contacts between the heads of state are quite frequent,” Peskov told reporters.
Qatar has made a series of attempts to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, and has helped arrange the return of children from both countries who were separated from their parents during the war.
Russia and Qatar said this week that the leaders would discuss efforts to find a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the “bloodbath,” but has yet to achieve a breakthrough. Moscow has said it is not easy to agree a settlement.
Qatar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Al-Khulaifi told the TASS state news agency that the emir’s talks with Putin would touch on Ukraine, Syria, the Gaza Strip and energy such as liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Ahead of Easter, Filipinos keep Lenten traditions alive through faith and food
- Lent is a solemn time in the Philippines, the largest Catholic-majority nation in Asia
- 40-day period marking Jesus’s fast, crucifixion and resurrection ends on Easter Sunday
MANILA: For many Filipinos, Lent is more than a religious observance — it is a cultural and culinary experience, where they swap their meat-heavy diets for simpler, plant-based fare.
The seven-week period, which started last month on Ash Wednesday, echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert. It will end with Holy Week, which marks his crucifixion, death and resurrection on Easter Sunday.
The period is a solemn time in the Philippines, the largest Catholic-majority nation in Asia, where believers are urged to pray, fast, give alms and reflect on their relationship with God.
A prominent tradition is abstaining from meat. Church laws prescribe it on all Fridays during Lent, but many devout Catholics choose to abstain for the entire Holy Week. This includes flesh and organs, as well as soups or gravies made from them.
For many Filipinos, Lent represents a time for reflection while growing up — “a quiet, respected practice,” said Tina Bautista, an entrepreneur in Manila, who in childhood used to spend the period at her mother’s ancestral home in Bulacan province.
“Older cousins who were in high school or college were encouraged to fast more seriously.”
Like many Filipino households, Bautista’s family had its own culinary traditions during Lent, and especially Holy Week, which is an occasion for Filipinos to return to their hometowns and reunite with loved ones.
Some of her favorite dishes included rellenong bangus (deboned, stuffed milkfish with carrots, peas, potatoes and spices); vegetable lumpia or Filipino spring rolls, served fried; fresh freshwater oyster kinilaw (a ceviche-like dish cured with vinegar); and a fish soup known as pesa, a ginger-based broth with potatoes, bok choy and cabbage, made with the fresh market catch and served with a side of sauteed tomatoes resembling chutney.
Easter usually culminated in a celebration that began with a 3 a.m. parade, with her family’s cart carrying the image of Santa Jacobe — known as the mother of James the Apostle — all the way to the church, where they attended Sunday mass. The family would break their fast with chicken soup and pan de sal — a Filipino breakfast roll.
More festive dishes would follow later in the day, including embutido — a pork meatloaf stuffed with hard-boiled eggs and ham — along with steamed shrimp and crab, and leche flan, a rich Filipino custard served with caramel sauce.
Today, Bautista still avoids meat during Lent and Holy Week, even though the spirit of the tradition has changed for her.
“These days, I don’t observe everything strictly, but it still feels like a much-needed pause. It’s become a break from work, a time to rest and spend more time with family,” she said.
“I may not follow the old routines to the letter anymore, but new ones are slowly forming. It still feels meaningful — just in a more personal, present-day kind of way.”
For Carmelle Ramos, who comes from Bataan, some 170 km from Manila, Lent and Holy Week have traditionally been a time to whip up the best fish and vegetable dishes.
Her father’s special was fried salted fish marinated in white vinegar, pepper and garlic, paired with a sweetcorn stew.
“(My parents) were not too strict since they knew we were picky kids growing up, so from time to time they would cook fried chicken and spam,” Ramos told Arab News.
“But they still managed to make us ‘like’ fish and vegetables because they included us in the preparation of the food.”
In some households, however, the tradition of Catholic fasting is duly observed.
“My grandmother was very strict in preparing food during Fridays of Lent, especially on Good Friday,” said Alyssa Basero.
Staples on their table included shrimp sinigang, broth soured with tamarind, and ginataang kalabasa, or squash and string beans stewed in coconut milk.
Basero’s family continued to follow annual traditions as part of her late grandmother’s influence, including hearing mass, participating in the procession and Visita Iglesia — a pilgrimage to at least seven different churches to pray on Holy Thursday.
One of the customs she looks forward to falls on the eve of Easter Sunday, when she and her relatives attend mass at 11 p.m. and wait until midnight to witness the salubong — a pre-dawn Easter ritual in which a solemn procession of the images of the mourning Virgin Mary and a risen Christ meet from opposite ends in front of the church.
A chorus of children, sometimes singing from hanging platforms to create the illusion of flying in mid-air, sings to herald the occasion. One child is assigned to lift the black veil from the Virgin Mary, signifying the end of her mourning.
Lunch on Easter Sunday becomes then “a mini reunion” for Basero’s relatives after the period that she was brought up to see as a time of forgiveness and repentance.
“Forgiveness to those people who hurt me and did wrong to me — (I’m) forgiving them to bring me peace of mind and help me to move on,” she said.
“(And) repentance for my wrongdoing and bad behavior ... to bring me closer to God.”
