MELBOURNE, Australia: A woman appeared in an Australian court on Monday charged with a May assault on the Indigenous senator who shouted at King Charles III during a royal reception last week.
The assault allegedly occurred on May 25, when independent Sen. Lidia Thorpe attended an Australian Rules Football match in her hometown of Melbourne.
Ebony Bell, 28, appeared by a video link in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. She has been charged with two counts of recklessly causing injury and three counts of unlawful assault at a stadium.
A police statement described the 51-year-old senator’s injuries from the alleged assault as “minor.”
But she said in a statement to the AP on Monday she had “sustained serious nerve and spinal injuries in my neck, which required spinal surgery and a plate to be inserted.”
The assault was reported to police the next day and Bell was arrested on July 25. The women knew each other, but the motive for the alleged attack was not explained in court.
Bell’s lawyer Manny Nicolosi told Magistrate Belinda Franjic the prosecution case had “real deficiencies.” He said the prosecution had on Friday made an “offer,” an apparent reference to a plea deal.
“I haven’t had enough time to really consider it,” Nicolosi told the court.
Nicolosi explained that his Indigenous client hadn’t appeared in court in person because of “recent threats.” The lawyer did not elaborate on those threats.
Bell remains free on bail until she appears in court next on Nov. 22. The magistrate agreed to allow her to appear again by video.
Thorpe made her first public statement about the alleged assault after she launched an expletive-laden rant at Charles during a reception in Australian Parliament House in Canberra last week.
“You are not our king. You are not sovereign,” Thorpe yelled at Charles as she was led by security guards from the reception.
“You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us: our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people,” she added.
The main opposition party has called for Thorpe to resign from the Senate due to her attitude toward Charles, who is Australia’s head of state, and have requested legal advice.
Thorpe is renowned for high-profile protest action. When she was affirmed as a senator in 2022, she wasn’t allowed to describe the then-monarch as “the colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.” She briefly blocked a police float in Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Madri Gras last year by lying on the street in front of it. Last year, she was also banned for life from a Melbourne strip club after video emerged of her shouting abuse at male patrons.
She revealed her injuries after The Australian newspaper reported she had missed 16 of the Senate’s 44 sitting days this year.
“I was ordered by the doctor not to travel and could not attend parliament after I sustained the injury and during recovery from surgery. My doctor told me to take time off work,” her statement said.
“I would have preferred to keep this matter private and I will not be commenting on it further at this stage,” she added.
Thorpe was widely criticized for being disrespectful to the monarch during her outburst last week.
She faces a further backlash next week when senators sit for the first time since the royal visit.
Her office said Monday she has not decided whether she plans to attend senate committee meetings in person or remotely.
She also raised questions about the validity of her appointment to the Senate when she recently said she had deliberately affirmed her allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II and her “hairs,” rather than “heirs,” during her affirmation ceremony in 2022 to exclude Charles. Thorpe later walked back that statement, saying the mispronunciation was accidental.
Lawyers agree that a mispronunciation did not invalidate an affirmation and that Thorpe also signed a written version of the affirmation of allegiance with the correct wording.
Sydney University constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey said the Senate’s ability to discipline Thorpe was limited because her outburst occurred outside the chamber in Parliament’s Great Hall.
Woman charged with assaulting Australian senator who shouted at King Charles III
https://arab.news/wrhgj
Woman charged with assaulting Australian senator who shouted at King Charles III
- The assault allegedly occurred on May 25, when independent Sen. Lidia Thorpe attended an Australian Rules Football match in Melbourne
Bangladesh reintroduces ‘except Israel’ phrase on passports
Israel is a flashpoint issue in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, which does not recognize it.
The phrase “valid for all countries except Israel,” which was printed on Bangladeshi passports for decades, was removed during the later years of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s tenure.
Nilima Afroze, a deputy secretary at the home ministry, told Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) news agency on Sunday that authorities had “issued a directive last week” to restore the inscription.
“The director general of the department of immigration and passport was asked to take necessary measures to implement this change,” local newspaper The Daily Star quoted Afroze as saying Sunday.
In 2021, the words “except Israel” were removed from passports, although the then government under Hasina clarified that the country’s stance on Israel had not changed.
The country’s support for an independent Palestinian state was visible on Saturday when around 100,000 people gathered in Dhaka in solidarity with Gaza.
The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
A fragile ceasefire between the warring parties fell apart last month and Gaza’s health ministry said Sunday that at least 1,574 Palestinians had been killed since then, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,944.
British lawmakers urge Foreign Office to recognize Palestine at French-Saudi conference
- ‘We need to do it with friends,’ Emily Thornberry MP says
- Meeting will be held at UN in June as calls for recognition grow
LONDON: Labour Party lawmakers in Britain are urging the Foreign Office to recognize a Palestinian state at a French-Saudi international conference scheduled for June.
France and Saudi Arabia will co-chair a meeting at the UN to gather support for recognizing Palestinian statehood, which French President Emmanuel Macron described as a critical moment.
Member of Parliament Emily Thornberry said the conference provided an opportunity for the UK, The Guardian reported.
“We need to do it with friends. We need to do it with the French. There are a lot of other countries sitting back and waiting,” the Labour lawmaker said.
There would be no Palestine left to recognize if Western countries did not act soon, she said.
Chris Doyle, the chair of the Council on Arab-British Understanding, said that recognizing a Palestinian state should have occurred long ago and acknowledgment now by France and the UK, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, would send a powerful message globally.
He also warned about Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, including the annexation drive and settlement expansion, which he said further hindered the establishment of a Palestinian state.
There was no immediate response from the Foreign Office but its position is that the UK will recognize Palestine at an “appropriate moment of maximum impact.”
Some Labour MPs have criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, while Tel Aviv refused entry to the West Bank to two of them earlier this month.
During a France 5 interview last week, Macron said: We must move toward recognition (of the Palestinian state) and so, in the coming months, we will.
“I also want to participate in a collective dynamic, which must allow all those who defend Palestine to recognize Israel in turn, which many of them do not do.”
France is organizing and chairing the conference along with Saudi Arabia, which is adamant in its support for establishing a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 war borders, including the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
During a speech at the Extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit in Riyadh in November, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
A total of 147 of the 193 UN member countries have officially recognized Palestinian statehood, including Spain, Ireland and Norway. France, Canada, Italy and Germany are among those yet to do so.
Two prison officers stabbed by Manchester bombing plotter in stable condition
- Two male officers sustained life-threatening injuries including burns, scalds and stab wounds in the attack
- A female officer was released from the hospital on Saturday
LONDON: Two prison officers allegedly stabbed by one of the plotters of a deadly bomb attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, eight years ago are in a stable condition in the hospital, the union representing them said Sunday.
Hashem Abedi, who in August 2020 was convicted of 22 counts of murder and sentenced to at least 55 years in prison for helping plan the 2017 attack, threw hot cooking oil over three officers on Saturday before stabbing them with “home-made weapons,” according to the Prison Officers Association.
Two male officers sustained life-threatening injuries including burns, scalds and stab wounds in the “unprovoked” and “vicious” attack at Frankland prison in the northeast of England, it added.
A female officer was released from the hospital on Saturday.
The union’s national chairman, Mark Fairhurst, said the attack was carried out in a separation center where inmates are allowed to use cooking facilities.
“To allow that type of prisoner to access the kitchen and use of the utensils that can be used as weapons against staff, and can inflict serious harm on staff, that needs to be removed immediately,” he told the BBC. “We’re now worried about the knock-on effect of this and copycat incidents.”
Abedi was convicted of assisting with the Manchester terror plot, in which his suicide bomber brother Salman Abedi killed 22 people by detonating a a bomb hidden in a knapsack as fans were leaving the Grande concert. In addition to those killed, more than 260 people were wounded and hundreds of others were left with psychological injuries.
Counterterrorism officials are leading the investigation into the attack, with assistance from local police.
Indonesia, Egypt upgrade ties to strategic partnership on Prabowo’s Cairo visit
- Jakarta, Cairo established diplomatic ties in 1947
- Prabowo was on a multi-day tour to Middle East
Jakarta: Indonesia and Egypt elevated their ties to a strategic partnership during President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to Cairo, his office said on Sunday.
Prabowo and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi signed the joint declaration following their meeting in the Egyptian capital on Saturday, the Cabinet Secretariat said in a statement.
“The signing of the joint declaration is an important milestone in diplomatic ties between the two countries, signifying Indonesia and Egypt’s strong commitment to elevate bilateral ties to a strategic level,” the statement reads.
“Through this strategic partnership, Indonesia and Egypt are committed to (strengthening) cooperation in various priority fields. From politics, economy, security, defense, culture and education ties, as well as people-to-people relations.”
Subianto was in Cairo as part of his multi-day tour to the Middle East and has visited the UAE and Turkiye. This was his second time in Egypt since taking office in October.
Egypt was one of the first countries to recognize Indonesia’s independence, with the two nations establishing diplomatic ties in 1947.
Both Jakarta and Cairo believe that their “strong and historic partnership” will provide “real benefits” for the country and their peoples, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Egypt ranks third among Indonesia’s top export destinations in the Middle East and North Africa, just after the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
With bilateral trade volume worth around $1.7 billion in 2024, Egypt is Indonesia’s top trade partner in North Africa alone. Palm oil, coffee beans, and coconut oil are some of Indonesia’s main exports to Egypt.
“President Prabowo’s visit to Egypt is very important. The strategic partnership that resulted from it is quite broad and will be beneficial for the future of both countries,” Teuku Rezasyah, an international relations expert from Padjadjaran University in West Java, told Arab News.
While trade has been a big aspect of bilateral ties, defense cooperation will likely be a focus of the strategic partnership, he said.
“The most likely area of focus will be defense cooperation … since Egypt has experience in facing different kinds of challenges at the border,” Rezasyah said, referring to Egypt’s shared land borders with a number of states, including Libya, Sudan, and the occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Through the partnership, Jakarta may be seeking to learn more closely from Cairo’s experience in dealing with various issues in the Middle East, alluding to Prabowo’s ongoing trip to the region that was aimed at boosting Indonesia’s role in ending Israel’s war on Gaza.
A staunch supporter of Palestine, the Indonesian government and people see Palestinian statehood as being mandated by their own constitution, which calls for the abolition of colonialism.
“(Learning from) Egypt’s experience might allow Indonesia to have an active role when crises occur in the Middle East, and there’s a big chance that Indonesia might get a mandate from the UN to do so,” Rezasyah said.
Russian strike on city center of Ukraine’s Sumy kills 32
SUMY: A Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy killed at least 32 people, including two children, and wounded dozens on Sunday, Kyiv said, in the deadliest attack in months.
European leaders expressed indignation at Moscow’s attack on Sumy’s city center, while Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, pointed out it happened on Palm Sunday.
French President Emmanuel Macron said it showed Russia’s “blatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts of President (Donald) Trump.”
The strike came two days after US envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin and push Trump’s efforts to end the war.
Sumy lies close to the Russian border and has come under increasing attack for weeks.
The local emergency service said on social media that the latest toll was that “32 people died, including two children” and that “84 people were injured, including 10 children.”
An AFP reporter saw bodies covered in silver sheets strewn in the center of the city, with a destroyed trolleybus. Rescuers were seen working on the rubble of a building.
One woman told AFP she heard two explosions.
“This second blow... A lot of people were very badly injured. A lot of corpses,” she said, struggling to speak.
It was the second Russian attack with a large civilian death toll this month. Trump has voiced anger at Moscow for “bombing like crazy” in Ukraine.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow launched a ballistic missile on Sumy and called on the world to put pressure on Russia to end the three-year war.
He called for a “strong response” from Europe and the United States, saying: “Talking has never stopped ballistic missiles and bombs.”
He added that the deadly attack occurred “on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday, the feast of the Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem.”
Macron said the Russian attack showed what “everyone knows: this war was initiated by Russia alone. And today, it is clear that Russia alone chooses to continue it.”
In a statement on social media, he added: “Strong measures are needed to impose a ceasefire on Russia. France is working tirelessly toward this goal, alongside its partners.”
European Council chief Antonio Costa condemned the “criminal attack,” saying that “this war exists and endures only because Russia chooses so.”
Local authorities in Sumy published footage of bodies strewn on the street and people running for safety, with cars on fire and wounded civilians on the ground.
Russia has relentlessly attacked Ukraine in recent weeks, extending the violence wrought by its all-out invasion that has gone on for more than three years.
In early April, a Russian attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 people, including nine children.
Russia has refused a US-proposed unconditional ceasefire and been accused by Ukraine and its European allies of dragging out the war and seeking to stall efforts for peace negotiations.
Sumy has been under increasing pressure since Moscow pushed back many of Ukraine’s troops from its Kursk region inside Russia, across the border.
The eastern Ukrainian city so far has been spared the kind of fighting seen farther south, in the Donetsk region. But Kyiv for weeks has warned that Moscow could mount an offensive on Sumy.
Russia in recent weeks has claimed the capture of a village in the Sumy region, for the first time since the early days of its 2022 invasion.
Russia launched its invasion partially through the Sumy region and briefly occupied parts of it before being pushed back by Ukrainian forces.
Moscow has not yet commented on the strike.
On Sunday, it said it captured another village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
