DUBLIN: Irish Muslims performed prayers to mark the festival of Eid Al-Adha on Friday in Dublin’s Croke Park Gaelic sports stadium, a site of historic importance for Irish nationalists who always had a deep connection with the once dominant Catholic Church.
Around 200 Muslims laid out prayer mats on the pitch usually used for the national sports of Gaelic football and hurling and where in 1920 British troops opened fire on a crowd, killing 14 people during Ireland’s War of Independence.
Irish President Michael D. Higgins described it as an important moment in Ireland’s narrative. Leaders of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths attended and spoke at the event, which was broadcast live on television for the first time.
With Muslims unable to hold large gatherings in mosques due to Covid-19 social distancing rules, Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri, chair of Irish Muslim Peace & Integration Council, approached the management of Croke Park, who he said did not hesitate to offer the venue.
He got the idea after an Ikea store in Germany allowed Muslims to use one of its car parks for Ramadan prayers.
“Today this Eid prayer is sending a very strong message out to the whole world, that Ireland is indeed a country of céad míle fáilte,” he told the gathering, using the Irish language greeting translated as ‘100,000 welcomes’.
“No matter how different you are, once you come and you live here and become part of the society, this island of Ireland has this great, unique ability to adopt you.”
A series of sexual abuse scandals shattered the credibility of the Catholic Church which dominated Irish society for decades after its independence from Britain. Ireland has since experienced sweeping social change, including the introduction of abortion and gay marriage in recent years.
The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, told celebrants that there was something special about recognizing publicly the Muslim community’s place “as an integral part of the family of the Irish” in Croke Park.
Irish Muslims perform Eid prayers on symbolic Croke Park pitch
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Irish Muslims perform Eid prayers on symbolic Croke Park pitch
- Around 200 Muslims laid out prayer mats on the pitch usually used for the national sports of Gaelic football and hurling
- Leaders of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths attended and spoke at the event, which was broadcast live on television for the first time
French authorities blame sabotage for second power blackout
- Prosecutors said they had opened an investigation and were looking into a claim Sunday by two anarchist groups of “responsibility for the attack on electrical installations on the Cote d’Azur”
NICE, France: French authorities on Sunday blamed sabotage and ordered heightened security after a fire at an electricity sub-station in Nice caused the second major power blackout in two days along the Riviera.
The latest fire cut power to about 45,000 homes in western Nice for several hours, authorities said. Nice airport was briefly without electricity, the city’s deputy mayor Gael Nofri told AFP.
A similar arson attack on a power substation on Saturday partially disrupted the final day of the Cannes film festival, forcing organizers to use backup generators to keep the event going.
Prosecutors said they had opened an investigation and were looking into a claim Sunday by two anarchist groups of “responsibility for the attack on electrical installations on the Cote d’Azur.” The claim was posted on an alternative website.
“I vigorously condemn these criminal acts hitting our country,” Nice mayor Christian Estrosi said on X.
“We are making images from our monitoring center available to investigators and will strengthen the city’s network at strategic electrical sites in coming days,” he added.
“Until the perpetrators of these acts have been arrested, we will not ease up our attention anywhere,” Estrosi told reporters.
Nice’s chief prosecutor Damien Martinelli said studies had been carried out “to clarify the damage and the methods used to carry out the act” and that police were investigating “arson by an organized group.”
Police said that tire marks had been found near the Nice transformer and someone had broken into a room in the building.
An arson attack at a power substation and a bid to cut the legs of an electricity pylon near Cannes cut power to 160,000 homes in the region for five hours on Saturday.
The cut knocked out traffic lights and bank machines in Cannes, as well as threatening the finale to the film festival.
The festival “switched to an alternative electricity power supply” to keep the closing ceremony and award events going.
Firefighters battled for five hours to put out the flames at the sub-station, officials said.
In the attack on the high-voltage pylon, three of its four legs had been damaged, said prosecutors.
More sanctions against Russia needed, deep concern about Gaza: German minister
- “Germany has a clear position: no expulsions (of the Palestinian population) from the Gaza Strip, an end to hunger
- Russian forces launched a barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight, including at the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more, officials said
BERLIN: Russia’s latest wave of attacks on Ukraine should be answered with additional Western sanctions, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday.
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is not interested in peace, he wants to continue this war, and we must not allow this, which is why the European Union will agree additional sanctions,” he said in a live interview on ARD’s Bericht aus Berlin.
Russian forces launched a barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight, including at the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more, officials said.
Wadephul added that the United States was also able to launch new sanctions packages, and he hoped that the weight of the measures would get Putin to the negotiating table, to avoid what he called potentially severe consequences for Russia’s economy and energy sectors.
Moving on to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, Wadephul said Germany was deeply concerned about the “unbearable” human suffering, where he said he was in touch with Israeli, Middle Eastern and European peers, to seek to broker solutions.
“Germany has a clear position: no expulsions (of the Palestinian population) from the Gaza Strip, an end to hunger. And the Strip as well as the West Bank belong to the Palestinians, on the way to a two-state solution,” he said.
Israeli military strikes killed at least 23 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including a local journalist and a senior rescue service official, local health authorities said.
US military spent $6 billion in the past 3 years to recruit and retain troops
WASHINGTON: The US military spent more than $6 billion over the past three years to recruit and retain service members, in what has been a growing campaign to counter enlistment shortfalls.
The financial incentives to reenlist in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines increased dramatically from 2022 through last year, with the Navy vastly outspending the others, according to funding totals provided by the services. The overall amount of recruiting bonuses also rose steadily, fueled by significant jumps in spending by the Army and Marine Corps.
The military services have routinely poured money into recruiting and retention bonuses over the years. But the totals spiked as Pentagon leaders tried to reverse falling enlistment numbers, particularly as COVID-19 restrictions locked down public events, fairs and school visits that recruiters relied on to meet with young people. Coupled with an array of new programs, an increased number of recruiters and adjustments to enlistment requirements, the additional incentives have helped the services bounce back from the shortfalls. All but the Navy met their recruiting targets last year and all are expected to do so this year.
Officials have tied them more directly to the widespread overhauls that the services have done, including the increased financial incentives.
The Army, the military’s largest service, spent more on recruiting bonuses in 2022 and 2024 than the other services. But it was significantly outspent by the Navy in 2023, when the sea service was struggling to overcome a large enlistment shortfall.
As a result, even though the Navy is a smaller service, it spent more overall in the three years than the Army did.
The Navy also has spent considerably more than the others to entice sailors to reenlist, doling out retention bonuses to roughly 70,000 service members for each of the past three years. That total is more than double the number of troops the Army gave retention bonuses to each year, even though the Army is a much larger service.
“Navy is dedicated to retaining our most capable sailors; retention is a critical component of achieving our end-strength goals,” Adm. James Kilby, the vice chief of naval operations, told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee in March.
He said reenlistment for enlisted sailors “remains healthy,” but officers are a challenge in specific jobs, including aviation, explosive ordnance disposal, surface and submarine warfare, health professionals and naval special operations. He added that the Navy has struggled to fill all of its at-sea jobs and is using financial incentives as one way to combat the problem.
The Army has seen the greatest recruiting struggles over the past decade, and by using a range of new programs and policies, has had one of the largest comebacks. The Navy has had the most trouble more recently, and took a number of steps to expand those eligible for service and spend more in bonuses.
While the Army spends hundreds of millions each year to recruit troops, it also has relied on an array of new programs and policies to woo young people. A key driver of the Army’s rebound has been its decision to create the Future Soldier Prep Course, at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in August 2022.
That program gives lower-performing recruits up to 90 days of academic or fitness instruction to help them meet military standards and move on to basic training. It has resulted in thousands of enlistments.
Council of Europe defends court against criticism over expulsions
ROME: The Council of Europe has defended the independence of the European Court of Human Rights, after nine member states said its interpretation of rights obligations prevented them from expelling migrants who commit crimes.
In a joint letter made public, leaders of Denmark, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland called for a “new and open-minded conversation” about how the court interprets the European Convention on Human Rights.
“Their concern centers on rulings in the field of migration,” Council of Europe Secretary-General Alain Berset said in a statement. “These are complex challenges, and democracies must always remain open to reflection through the appropriate institutional avenues.”
However, Berset stressed that the European Court of Human Rights “is not an external body” but the legal arm of the Council of Europe, and is “bound by a Convention that all 46 members have freely signed and ratified.”
“It exists to protect the rights and values they committed to defend,” he said. “Upholding the independence and impartiality of the Court is our bedrock.”
He warned against politicizing the court.
The nine European leaders said the court’s interpretation of the convention in cases concerning the expulsion of “criminal foreign nationals” has protected the “wrong people” and placed too many limits on deciding who can be expelled.
The Council of Europe is not an EU institution and was set up in the wake of the Second World War to promote peace and democracy.
Malaysia slams ‘double standards’ on Gaza atrocities
- Comments of the country’s minister come as Israel steps up campaign in the enclave
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s foreign minister on Sunday condemned “atrocities” in Gaza, saying they reflected “indifference and double standards” on the plight of the Palestinian people.
“They are a direct result of the erosion of the sanctity of international law,” Mohamad Hasan told his counterparts from the regional ASEAN bloc.
Mohamad’s comments ahead of an ASEAN summit Monday in Kuala Lumpur come as Israel has stepped up its campaign this month in war-torn Gaza.
The bombardment has drawn international criticism, alongside calls to allow in more aid after Israel only partially eased a total blockade imposed on March 2.
“The atrocities committed against the Palestinian people continue to reflect indifference and double standards,” Mohamad said.
“ASEAN cannot remain silent,” said Mohamad, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the bloc.
Foreign ministers from the 10-member association in February asserted their “longstanding support” for Palestinian rights.
Muslim-majority Malaysia has no diplomatic relations with Israel and many in the Southeast Asian country support the Palestinians.
Kuala Lumpur has channeled donations and humanitarian aid amounting to more than $10 million to Palestinians in Gaza since the war erupted in October 2023.
On Saturday, Gaza’s civil defense agency said an Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Younis killed nine children of a pair of married doctors, with the Israeli army saying it was reviewing the reports.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the agency had retrieved “the bodies of nine child martyrs, some of them charred, from the home of Dr. Hamdi Al-Najjar and his wife, Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar, all of whom were their children.”
He added that Hamdi Al-Najjar and another son, Adam, were also seriously wounded in the strike on Friday, and that the family was taken to Nasser Hospital. A medical source at the hospital gave Adam’s age as 10 years old.
Muneer Alboursh, director general of the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, said on X that the strike happened shortly after Hamdi Al-Najjar returned home from driving his wife, a pediatric specialist, to work at the same facility.
