MOSCOW: Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused Western politicians of considering nuclear war, one week after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.
“I would like to point out that it’s in the heads of Western politicians that the idea of a nuclear war is spinning constantly, and not in the heads of Russians,” Lavrov said in an interview with Russian and foreign media.
Lavrov accused NATO of seeking to maintain its supremacy and said that while Russia had a lot of good will, it could not let anyone undermine its interests.
Offering no evidence to back up his remarks in an interview with state television, a week after Russian invaded Ukraine, he also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, an ethnic Jew, of presiding over “a society where Nazism is flourishing”.
He said he had no doubt that a solution to the crisis in Ukraine would be found, and a new round of talks were about to start between Ukrainian and Russian officials.
But he said Russia’s dialogue with the West must be based on mutual respect, accused NATO of seeking to maintain supremacy and said that while Russia had a lot of goodwill, it could not let anyone undermine its interests.
Moscow would not let Ukraine keep infrastructure that threatened Russia, he said.
Moscow could also not tolerate what he said was a military threat from Ukraine, he said, adding that he was convinced that Russia was right over Ukraine.
“The thought of nuclear is constantly spinning in the heads of Western politicians but not in the heads of Russians,” he said. “I assure you that we will not allow any kind of provocation to unbalance us.”
Russia did not feel politically isolated, and the question of how Ukraine lives should be defined by its people, he said.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of hitting civilian areas but Lavrov said Russian troops had strict orders to use high-precision weapons to destroy military infrastructure.
Offering no evidence, Lavrov said Russia had information that the United States was worried about the prospect of losing control over what he described as chemical and biological laboratories in Ukraine and accused Britain of building military bases there.
Russia’s Lavrov accuses West of considering ‘nuclear war’
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Russia’s Lavrov accuses West of considering ‘nuclear war’
- Sergei Lavrov: The idea of a nuclear war is spinning constantly in the heads of Western politicians
Indian students protest for Gaza, urge government to end arms deals with Israel
- Protest comes in wake of Israel’s new massacres after unilaterally breaking Gaza ceasefire
- Demonstrators call for return of India’s historical support for Palestine
NEW DELHI: Hundreds of people gathered for a protest organized by Indian university students in New Delhi on Friday to demand that the government act against Israel’s breaking of the ceasefire in Gaza and renewed deadly strikes on its population.
Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire with the Palestinian group Hamas on Tuesday by bombarding displaced people sleeping in tents. At least 400 — half of them children — were killed, while hundreds more were severely injured.
The ceasefire was mediated by the US administration in January. Israel earlier violated the agreement by stopping all aid, electricity and water from entering Gaza — days before it launched the wave of deadly airstrikes. About 700 people have been killed since.
“The Indian government should take a stand. They should reassert our traditional stand on Palestine,” Dhananjay, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union, told Arab News.
The union is part of the All India Students’ Association, which organized the protest at the Jantar Mantar site in the center of New Delhi.
“The way Israel keeps on pounding Gaza and kills more than 400 people in one day despite the ceasefire, this I feel is an attack on humanity and all civilizational values.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates that at least 49,617 Palestinians have been confirmed dead and 112,950 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023. The real toll is likely to be much higher as thousands of people are missing under the rubble.
About 500 people, including students and members of other groups such as the All India Progressive Women’s Association, joined the protest to demand a return of India’s historical support for Palestine.
Many years before the establishment of Israel, Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India’s freedom movement against British rule, had opposed a Jewish nation-state in Palestine, deeming it “inhumane.” For decades, other Indian leaders also viewed Palestinian statehood as part of the country’s foreign policy.
The support has only waned recently, with the current government in New Delhi being mostly quiet in the wake of Israel’s deadly siege and onslaught on Gaza and forging partnerships with Tel Aviv.
“We are registering our resistance, our voices in support of Palestine and against the kind of partnership that we are seeing between India and Israel … India and Israel have partnerships on each front — we are the second largest exporter of Israeli arms, several Indian companies are manufacturing arms in partnership with Israeli companies … and we are sending workers to Israel,” said Ambika Tandon, doctoral student at a university in Delhi.
“These partnerships of arms manufacturing are making India directly complicit in the ongoing war crimes in Gaza.”
Anjali, another student and member of the India for Palestine collective, said links with Israel were affecting Indians too, especially young people.
“Young people should be very concerned … The Indian state is playing a role in this genocide, and its friendship with Israel is harming citizens of India,” she told Arab News.
“Israel has broken the ceasefire. They don’t understand the meaning of ceasefire … We have gathered here today to create some pressure on the Indian government to take a stand against what Israel is doing.”
The protesters believe that India has the leverage to play a meaningful role in stopping Israeli massacres.
“India should immediately pressurize Israel, the US, and Western powers to stop the bombardment. It should bring the third-world countries united,” said N. Sai Balaji, former president of the JNU Students Union.
“The open, brazen violation of the ceasefire unilaterally by Israel — supported by the US — clearly shows that they were never intended to bring any peace … The silence of leaders across the world, even our own Indian prime minister and Indian government, (is) not just shameful but a disgrace on the history of India’s solidarity with Palestine.”
Indian students protest for Gaza, urge government to end arms deals with Israel
- Protest comes in wake of Israel’s new massacres after unilaterally breaking Gaza ceasefire
- Demonstrators call for return of India’s historical support for Palestine
NEW DELHI: Hundreds of people gathered for a protest organized by Indian university students in New Delhi on Friday to demand that the government act against Israel’s breaking of the ceasefire in Gaza and renewed deadly strikes on its population.
Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire with the Palestinian group Hamas on Tuesday by bombarding displaced people sleeping in tents. At least 400 — half of them children — were killed, while hundreds more were severely injured.
The ceasefire was mediated by the US administration in January. Israel earlier violated the agreement by stopping all aid, electricity and water from entering Gaza — days before it launched the wave of deadly airstrikes. About 700 people have been killed since.
“The Indian government should take a stand. They should reassert our traditional stand on Palestine,” Dhananjay, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union told Arab News.
The union is part of the All India Students’ Association, which organized the protest at Jantar Mantar site in the center of New Delhi.
“The way Israel keeps on pounding Gaza and kills more than 400 people in one day despite the ceasefire, this I feel is an attack on humanity and all civilizational values.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates that at least 49,617 Palestinians have been confirmed dead and 112,950 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023. The real toll is likely to be much higher as thousands of people are missing under the rubble.
About 500 people, including students and members of other groups such as the All India Progressive Women’s Association, joined the protest to demand a return of India’s historical support for Palestine.
Many years before the establishment of Israel, Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India’s freedom movement, had opposed a Jewish nation-state in Palestine, deeming it “inhumane.” For decades, other Indian leaders also viewed Palestinian statehood as part of the country’s foreign policy.
The support has only waned recently, with the current government in New Delhi being mostly quiet in the wake of Israel’s deadly siege and onslaught on Gaza and forging partnerships with Tel Aviv.
“We are registering our resistance, our voices in support of Palestine and against the kind of partnership that we are seeing between India and Israel ... India and Israel have partnerships on each front — we are the second largest exporter of Israeli arms, several Indian companies are manufacturing arms in partnership with Israeli companies ... and we are sending workers to Israel,” said Ambika Tandon, doctoral student at a university in Delhi.
“These partnerships of arms manufacturing are making India directly complicit in the ongoing war crimes in Gaza.”
Anjali, another student and member of the India for Palestine collective, said links with Israel were affecting Indians too, especially young people.
“Young people should be very concerned ... The Indian state is playing a role in this genocide and its friendship with Israel is harming citizens of India,” she told Arab News.
“Israel has broken the ceasefire. They don’t understand the meaning of ceasefire ... We have gathered here today to create some pressure on the Indian government to take a stand against what Israel is doing.”
The protesters believed that India had the leverage to play a meaningful role in stopping Israeli massacres.
“India should immediately pressurize Israel, the US, and Western powers to stop the bombardment. It should bring the third-world countries united,” said N. Sai Balaji, former president of the JNU Students Union.
“The open, brazen violation of the ceasefire unilaterally by Israel — supported by the US — clearly shows that they were never intended to bring any peace ... The silence of leaders across the world, even our own Indian prime minister and Indian government, it not just shameful but a disgrace on the history of India’s solidarity with Palestine.”
North Macedonia orders detention for 13 people over nightclub fire that killed 59
- Authorities have said the club’s license was obtained illegally
- State prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski said a total of 24 suspects were being held and three were still in hospital after the fire
SKOPJE: Thirteen people including a former government minister were remanded in custody for 30 days in North Macedonia on Friday over a nightclub blaze, believed to have been caused by pyrotechnics, that killed 59 people including six minors.
The incident, in which another 197 people were injured, has shattered Kocani, a town of 25,000 people east of the capital Skopje.
Authorities have said the club’s license was obtained illegally, and that the venue lacked fire extinguishers and emergency exits and was made of flammable materials.
State prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski said a total of 24 suspects were being held and three were still in hospital after the fire, which he said had been caused by a “chain of omissions and illegal actions by officials.”
The suspects include officials responsible for the operating licenses, the club owner, a member of a band that played in the club, police officers, and security guards who let in minors and pyrotechnics, he said.
Authorities have been inspecting nightclubs and cafes around the country this week for safety violations.
EU agrees five-year deadline to boost defenses against Russia, says Polish PM
- Europe is dramatically stepping up spending on defense because of concern that the US was no longer keen to do so
- Tusk said countries now spending less than others on defense had been reluctant to accept the five-year scheme proposed by the European Commission
BRUSSELS: European Union leaders are now in agreement that the EU must be fully capable of defending itself against a Russian attack by 2030, despite earlier resistance to the deadline from some countries, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday.
Europe is dramatically stepping up spending on defense because of concern that the United States, which had guaranteed Europe’s security since the end of World War Two, was no longer keen to do so, shifting its attention to the Indo-Pacific.
But not all EU countries are equally committed to higher defense spending, especially those geographically further from Russia.
Speaking after a summit of EU leaders that discussed the EU plan to step up defense readiness, Tusk said countries now spending less than others on defense had been reluctant to accept the five-year scheme proposed by the European Commission.
“Behind the scenes... it stirred some emotions. Especially in countries that spend little on defense now. There are several large countries that still spend very little. And they don’t want to spend more. For now,” Tusk told a press conference.
NATO member Spain spent 1.28 percent of GDP on defense in 2024 and Italy spent 1.49 percent, falling well short of the agreed NATO target of 2 percent of GDP, despite three years of war in Ukraine and US pressure to further raise the NATO defense spending target.
Slovenia, Belgium and Portugal also spend between 1.29 percent and 1.55 percent of GDP on defense. Italy plans to increase military spending to 1.6 percent of GDP in 2027, while Spain wants to reach NATO’s spending target of 2 percent of GDP only before 2029.
“Our position, shared with Denmark and Sweden, was that the more Russia has the advantage today, the more we have to hurry. We finally accepted, as the European Council, this commitment that by 2030 Europe must obtain full defense capabilities,” Tusk said. “By 2030 Europe must be, in terms of army, weapons, technology, clearly stronger than Russia. And it will be.”
Tusk said the five-year deadline corresponded to analysis by NATO head Mark Rutte that this was the amount of time Europe had before Russia rebuilt its offensive capabilities, after losses suffered in Ukraine, sufficiently to be ready to attack Europe.
He made clear this did not mean Europe expected an attack by Russia in 2030.
“It is key that Europe be really capable to defend itself and deter Putin,” Tusk said. “Or, it is less about defending and more about showing through facts, decisions, that Putin’s Russia does not stand a chance against Europe that is united and well-armed. It is the only effective method to avoid a war.”
French court delays Cambodian 1997 massacre trial verdict
- The two main suspects, Hing Bun Heang, now 68, and Huy Piseth, 69, have been on trial in absentia
- Several grenades detonated on March 30, 1997 during an opposition rally of around 200 people in Phnom Penh denouncing state corruption
PARIS: A French court trying two ex-bodyguards for former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen over a 1997 massacre postponed its verdict due Friday after prosecutors asked for time to investigate new evidence.
The two main suspects, Hing Bun Heang, now 68, and Huy Piseth, 69, have been on trial in absentia, charged over a 1997 grenade attack on a leading opposition figure who is a French citizen.
Several grenades detonated on March 30, 1997 during an opposition rally of around 200 people in Phnom Penh denouncing state corruption.
At least 16 people were killed and 150 injured.
Sam Rainsy, a former finance minister and leading opposition figure, was the target of the attack that the NGO Human Rights Watch has called “an open wound in Cambodia.” He was lightly injured.
The two suspects reside in Cambodia. Neither has asked for legal representation.
“I have learnt much from witnesses who had never been questioned before,” said lead prosecutor Isabelle Poinso. “We need to shine a light on some remaining grey areas.”
The court approved her request to suspend proceedings, to resume at a later date.
As the trial got under way in Paris on Wednesday, the defendants’ box was empty as was the bench for the defense lawyers. But Rainsy and his wife were both present.
In 2020 France issued an arrest warrant for both men on suspicion of attempted murder, for which they could be sentenced to life in prison.
Rainsy, 76, who lives in exile in France and has had French citizenship since 1974, in November 2000 filed a legal complaint over the incident, triggering the investigation.
Two decades later, the French judiciary came to the conclusion — backed by findings from the United States’ FBI and the United Nations, among others — that Hing Bun Heang had recruited the attackers, and that Huy Piseth had facilitated their escape.
Hun Sen, a former army general who was Cambodia’s longest-serving head of government, first became prime minister in 1985 aged 32.
He currently serves as president of Cambodia’s Senate.
