Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on allies on Tuesday “not to hide” and to respond to evidence of North Korean involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
He said in his nightly address that Ukraine had information about the preparation of two units — possibly up to 12,000 North Korean troops — to take part in the war alongside Russian forces.
“This is a challenge, but we know how to respond to this challenge. It is important that partners do not hide from this challenge as well,” Zelensky said.
The head of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence told the US publication “The War Zone” that Kyiv expected North Korean forces to turn up on Wednesday in Russia’s southern Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched an incursion in August.
“We are waiting for the first units tomorrow in the Kursk direction, Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov told the media outlet. “It is unclear at the moment how many or how they will be equipped. We will see after a couple of days.”
In his remarks, Zelensky said neither North Korea nor Russia took any account of the number of dead in a conflict.
“But all of us in the world have an equal interest in ending the war, not in prolonging it. We must therefore stop Russia and its accomplices,” he said.
“If North Korea can intervene in a war in Europe, then the pressure on this regime is definitely insufficient.”
British Defense Secretary John Healey said on Tuesday it was “highly likely” that North Korea had begun sending hundreds of troops to help Russia in the more than 2-1/2-year-old conflict.
A senior official at South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office said Seoul may consider directly supplying weapons to Ukraine as part of measures to counter military ties between North Korea and Russia.
A top US diplomat said on Monday that Washington was consulting with its allies on the implications of North Korean involvement and added that such a development would be a “dangerous and highly concerning development” if true.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday the dispatch of North Korean troops would significantly escalate the conflict.
Zelensky calls on allies ‘not to hide’, respond to North Korean involvement in war
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Zelensky calls on allies ‘not to hide’, respond to North Korean involvement in war
- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday the dispatch of North Korean troops would significantly escalate the conflict
Italian funeral for Palestinian woman evacuated from Gaza becomes call to ‘make noise’
The funeral of Marah Abu Zuhri, attended by several hundred people, was interrupted repeatedly by chants of “Free Palestine” and featured speeches by local authorities denouncing Israel’s policy in Gaza and expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people.
As Palestinian flags fluttered, mourners stood in prayer before Zuhri’s coffin, which was was draped in a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh scarf in the town of Pontasserchio, near Pisa.
Zuhri, 19, had been evacuated to Italy with what Israel had called leukemia, but Italian doctors said they found no initial evidence of that and instead found “profound wasting” and an undiagnosed or misdiagnosed condition.
The United Nations and partners have said 22 months of war have devastated Gaza’s health system, and food security experts have said the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out.” Israel is moving ahead with a new military offensive on some of the territory’s most populated areas,
Mayor Matteo Cecchelli said he wanted to honor Zuhri’s life with a public service in the town’s Park of Peace, to “make noise” about what he called a political and humanitarian “catastrophe” in Gaza.
“The reality is that every day in the Gaza Strip, people are dying in the deafening silence of world governments,” he said to applause. “We cannot remain silent today in this field of peace. There are those who have decided to make noise and have decided to be here to express their dissent toward this genocide.”
Israel asserts that it abides by international law and is fighting an existential war in Gaza after Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed some 1,200 people and took more than 250 others hostage. Israel has rejected genocide allegations related to its war in Gaza and called them antisemitic.
Zuhri arrived in Italy overnight on Aug. 13-14 as one of 31 sick or injured Palestinians evacuated on an Italian humanitarian airlift that has brought nearly 1,000 ill Palestinians and their families to the country since the war began.
Israel said she had leukemia and had been offered an evacuation earlier but claimed that Hamas had exploited her case, without offering evidence. The UN World Health Organization, which coordinates patients’ evacuations, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Gaza’s Health Ministry has asserted that evacuations are often delayed or canceled by Israeli authorities. It says over 18,000 patients and wounded require treatment outside Gaza.
Zuhri was admitted to the hematology ward of Pisa University’s Santa Chiara Hospital, a known oncological hospital in Tuscany, but died there on Aug. 15.
The hospital said she arrived with a “very complex/compromised clinical picture and in a state of profound wasting.” She suffered a sudden respiratory crisis and subsequent cardiac arrest, which killed her, it said.
The head of the hematology department at the Pisa hospital, Dr. Sara Galimberti, said Zuhri arrived with a diagnosis of suspected acute leukemia, but tests the hospital conducted came back negative, with no signs of the “bad cells” that would indicate leukemia.
Galimberti told reporters that Zuhri likely had been misdiagnosed, and that her condition was nevertheless seriously compromised and had been for a while.
“The patient was in a complete condition of wasting, and completely bedridden despite being 19 years old,” she said.
The hospital conducted a nutritional consultation and began a hypercaloric therapy and transfusional support, but Zuhri died before a full diagnosis was possible, Galimberti said.
The doctor said the woman’s mother, Nabeela Abu Zuhri, declined an autopsy on religious and personal grounds.
The mother, who accompanied her daughter on the flight, spoke briefly at the funeral, thanking Italy for trying to save her daughter and asking for prayers for Palestinians. She said she was “leaving a part of my heart, a part of me, with you” before returning to Gaza.
The imam of Pisa, Mohammad Khalil, who translated for her, tried to calm the crowd and focus on Zuhri, but he also spoke of food shortages and hunger in Gaza.
The United Nations has said starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest levels since the war began. The UN says nearly 12,000 children under 5 were found with acute malnutrition in July — including more than 2,500 with severe malnutrition, the most dangerous level. The World Health Organization says the numbers are likely an undercount.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly asserted that no one in Gaza is starving, with “no policy of starvation in Gaza.”
AP reporting has found that malnourished children were arriving daily at a Gaza hospital, with some dying from hunger, including ones with no preexisting conditions.
UK set for more legal challenges over migrant hotels
- The local authority sought the ruling following several weeks of protests outside the hotel, some of which have turned violent
- The demonstrations erupted after a resident was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl
EPPING: Britain’s government was considering Wednesday whether to appeal a court ruling blocking the housing of asylum seekers in a flashpoint hotel, as it scrambled to come up with contingency plans for the migrants.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour administration braced itself for further legal challenges from local authorities following Tuesday’s judge-issued junction that has dealt it a major political and logistical headache.
Anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage indicated that councils run by his hard-right Reform UK party, leading in national polls, would pursue similar claims as he called for protests outside migrant hotels.
Security minister Dan Jarvis said the government was weighing challenging high court judge Stephen Eyre’s granting of a temporary injunction to stop migrants from staying at the Bell Hotel in Epping, northeast of London.
The local authority sought the ruling following several weeks of protests outside the hotel, some of which have turned violent. The demonstrations erupted after a resident was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
“We’re looking very closely at it,” Jarvis told Sky News of a possible appeal.
The interior ministry had tried to have the case dismissed, warning it would “substantially impact” its ability to provide accommodation for tens of thousands of asylum seekers across Britain.
“We’re looking at a range of different contingency options,” Jarvis told Times Radio, adding: “We’ll look closely at what we’re able to do.”
Several Reform-led councils, including in Staffordshire and Northamptonshire in the Midlands area of England, announced on Wednesday that they were exploring their options following the court ruling.
Protests, some of them violent, broke out in Epping in mid-July after Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 41, was charged. He denies the allegation and is due to stand trial later this year.
Hundreds of people have since taken part in demonstrations and counter-demonstrations outside the Bell Hotel. Further anti-immigration demonstrations also spread to London and around England.
Several men appeared in court on Monday charged with violent disorder over the Bell Hotel protests.
Epping Forest District Council argued the hotel had become a risk to public safety and that it had breached planning laws as it was no longer operating as a hotel in the traditional sense.
The judge gave authorities until September 12 to remove the migrants.
Writing in the right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper, Farage said the “good people of Epping must inspire similar protests around Britain.”
He said peaceful demonstrations can “put pressure on local councils to go to court to try and get the illegal immigrants out.”
In Epping, an attractive market town connected to London by the underground, residents appeared to broadly welcome the imminent removal of the asylum seekers.
“It has made people feel unsettled, especially with schools being down there,” 52-year-old Mark Humphries, who works in retail, told AFP on the high street.
Carol Jones, 64, said she was relieved at the decision but wondered whether it would ever be implemented.
“They shouldn’t have been there in the first place, but where are they going to go?” the retiree told AFP.
Labour has pledged to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers before the next election, likely in 2029, in a bid to save billions of pounds.
The latest government data showed there were 32,345 asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of March, down 15 percent from the end of December.
Numbers hit a peak at the end of September 2023 when there were 56,042 asylum seekers in hotels, and the center-right Conservatives were in power.
Starmer is facing huge political pressure domestically for failing to stop irregular migrants crossing the Channel to England on small boats.
More than 50,000 people have made the dangerous crossing from northern France since Starmer became UK leader last July.
Under a 1999 law, the interior ministry “is required to provide accommodation and subsistence support to all destitute asylum seekers whilst their asylum claims are being decided.”
Enver Solomon, chief executive of Refugee Council, urged the government to “partner with local councils to provide safe, cost-effective accommodation within communities” rather than use hotels.
“Ultimately, the only way to end hotel use for good is to resolve asylum applications quickly and accurately so people can either rebuild their lives here or return home with dignity,” he said Tuesday.
Pakistan, China and Afghanistan hold summit in Kabul to boost cooperation
- Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the talks will cover a wide range of issues, including political and economic cooperation
- Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes that Dar’s discussions will focus on trade, regional connectivity, and counter-terrorism efforts
ISLAMABAD: Top diplomats from Pakistan, China and Afghanistan are meeting on Wednesday in Kabul for a trilateral summit aimed at boosting political, regional and economic cooperation, officials said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were received by Taliban officials on arrival in the Afghan capital, according to separate statements issued by Islamabad and Beijing.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said the talks, hosted by Kabul, will include “comprehensive discussions” on a wide range of issues, including political, economic and regional cooperation.
According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dar’s discussions at the meeting would focus on expanding trade, improving regional connectivity and strengthening joint efforts against terrorism.
The last round of the dialogue took place in May in Beijing.
The latest development comes more than a month after Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan. While no country, except from Russian, has offered formal recognition, the Taliban have engaged in high-level talks with many nations and established some diplomatic ties with countries including China and the United Arab Emirates.
Indonesia to make plastic recycling mandatory for producers
- Indonesia started to ban imports of plastic waste from developed countries on Jan. 1
- Indonesians are the top global consumers of microplastics, according to a 2024 study
JAKARTA: Indonesia, one of the world’s nations most affected by plastic pollution, will make recycling mandatory for producers, the government has announced in a new move to tackle the crisis, following a ban on shipments of plastic waste from developed countries.
Indonesia produces around 60 million tonnes of waste annually, government data shows, around 12 percent of which is plastic. Less than 10 percent of waste is recycled in the country, while more than half ends up in landfills.
Indonesians are also the top global consumers of microplastics, according to a 2024 study by Cornell University, which estimated that they ingest about 15 grams of plastic particles per month.
“Plastic is problematic for the environment, especially the single-use ones. It creates various problems, and contains hazardous toxic materials,” Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq told reporters earlier this week. Nurofiq was speaking after a UN summit in Geneva failed to produce the world’s first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution.
“We are making an intervention through the Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR, which is still voluntary at the moment, but we are working to make it mandatory.”
The rules of EPR are in place under a 2019 Ministerial Regulation, which requires producers in Indonesia to take full responsibility for the plastic waste generated by their products.
But the mechanism also encourages producers to design environmentally friendly products and packaging, said Muharram Atha Rasyadi, urban campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
“EPR is not only about recycling, it’s also about prioritizing reduction schemes from the very start of the production process, including redesigning the products or transitioning to reuse alternatives,” he told Arab News on Wednesday.
“The producer responsibility scheme should be made into an obligation that needs to be regulated in the management of plastic pollution and waste. If it’s voluntary in nature as we currently have with the 2019 Ministerial Regulation, implementation will be slow and less than ideal.”
As both a major producer and consumer of plastics, Indonesia has poor waste-management practices that has contributed to its plastic pollution problem over the years.
The country of more than 270 million people is the second-largest ocean plastic polluter, just behind China, according to a 2015 study published in the journal Science.
As the government seeks to tackle the crisis by 2029, it started to ban imports of plastic waste on Jan. 1. This comes after years of being among other Southeast Asian nations receiving this plastic scrap from developed countries including the US, UK and Australia.
Indonesia has also introduced measures to reduce single-use plastics, including Bali province’s 2019 ban on single-use plastic bags, straws, and Styrofoam, and a similar one enforced in the capital, Jakarta, in 2020.
Former US embassy guard in Norway on trial for spying for Russia, Iran
- The man, who is in his late 20s, is accused of having supplied information on embassy activities between March 2024 and November 20
OSLO: A Norwegian who worked as a security guard for the US embassy in Oslo went on trial Wednesday, accused of sharing information with Russian and Iranian intelligence, media reported.
The man, who is in his late 20s, is accused of having supplied information on embassy activities between March 2024 and November 20, the date of his arrest, according to the charge sheet.
In return, he was paid in euros and bitcoin.
He is accused of having supplied either the Russians or the Iranians — or both — with the contact details of diplomats, embassy staff and their families.
He is also accused of having supplied the diplomatic license-plate numbers of vehicles used by the embassy.
The charge sheet also alleges he handed over floor plans of the embassy, security routines and a list of couriers Norway’s intelligence service used.
On the first day of his trial, prosecutors presented evidence in the form of an email to the Russian embassy where the man wrote that he had “information that could be useful to you,” public broadcaster NRK reported.
The trial is scheduled to take eight days.
“He acknowledges the facts of the case but denies criminal liability. He is sorry for what he has done, but he is not a spy,” Inger Zadig, the defendant’s lawyer, told news agency NTB.
If convicted of the charges, he could spend up to 21 years in jail, the prosecution service told AFP in July.
Norway’s intelligence service has regularly accused Russia, Iran and China as being the greatest threats to the country so far as spying is concerned.
A member of NATO, Norway shares a land border with Russia in the Arctic.
