MANILA: A wave of drugs-related killings in the Philippines appears to be “systematic, planned and organized” by authorities and could constitute crimes against humanity, according to an Amnesty International report released on Wednesday.
Amnesty said its investigation into President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs was based on 59 drug-related killings in 20 cities and towns. The agency said it concluded most appeared to be extra-judicial killings, and police accounts of shootouts and deaths during operations were “startlingly similar,” and often far different to witness testimony.
The release of the report comes amid uncertainty over the anti-drugs crackdown and a government suspension on Monday of all police operations due to rampant corruption. The Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has now been given the lead role in the campaign.
Duterte made the decision after a security meeting on Sunday triggered by the kidnap and killing of a South Korean businessmen by drugs squad police. He said the incident, which took place at the headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP), had embarrassed the country and dented the image of the police.
Amnesty said the vast majority of the killings it investigated “appear to have been extra-judicial killings — unlawful and deliberate killings carried out by government order or with its complicity or acquiescence.”
“The Duterte administration’s relentless pressure on the police to deliver results in anti-drug operations has helped encourage these abusive practices,” the report said.
The Presidential Communications Office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Amnesty’s findings.
The government has denied sponsoring extra-judicial killings, or police collaboration with assassins.
The investigation by the London-based advocacy group was carried out mainly in November and December and was completed in January. It said it interviewed 110 people and included witness accounts of victims being shot dead despite having shouted they would surrender.
It said it also found “strong evidence” of links between the authorities and unknown gunmen, as well as connections between cursory and speculative drugs “watch lists” created by local officials, and the people killed by police.
Amnesty’s report included numerous references to a series of Reuters stories and investigations into the war on drugs in the Philippines The latest police data shows 7,669 people have been killed since Duterte unleashed his war on drugs seven months ago, 2,555 in police operations, which the PNP says were all in self-defense. The other deaths are classified as investigated, or under investigation.
Human rights groups believe most of those are drugs-related, carried out by vigilantes or hit men.
Amnesty’s top recommendation to Duterte was to “immediately order an end to all police operations involving unnecessary or excessive use of force,” especially lethal force.
It said police should suspend officers suspected of unlawful killings, planting evidence or involvement with hit men, and thoroughly investigate paid killings.
It recommended Duterte appoint a new independent head of police internal affairs and the justice ministry prevent intimidation of witnesses and victims and set up a task force to prosecute extrajudicial killings.
“The Philippine government needs to urgently adopt a different approach to drugs and criminality,” it said.
“The impunity that currently reigns has facilitated killing on a massive scale, hitting the poorest and most marginalized segments of the population in particular.”
(Reporting by Martin Petty)
Philippines drugs war killings systematic, planned — Amnesty
Philippines drugs war killings systematic, planned — Amnesty
Russia repels Ukrainian missile attack in Rostov, governor says
MOSCOW: Russian air defense systems repelled a Ukrainian attack in which 10 missiles were fired at the Rostov region of southern Russia, local governor Yuri Slyusar said on Wednesday.
A Ukrainian official said the attack targeted a chemical plant that supplied rocket fuel to Russia’s armed forces.
Slyusar, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said air defense units downed 10 missiles in the attack. Fragments from one missile triggered a fire in a house in the village of Malenkaya Kamenka and smashed windows in others.
He said there were no casualties and emergency services were at the scene. He made no mention of any industrial target.
Slyusar later said Russian air defenses had repelled an attack by seven Ukrainian drones at around midnight (2100 GMT). According to preliminary information, there were no casualties or damage, he added.
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s official Center Against Disinformation, wrote on Telegram that the initial attack focused on the Kamensky chemical plant “which produces rocket fuel specializing in solid fuel components for rocket engines.”
The plant, he said, also produced explosive materials and components for ammunition.
Kovalenko posted a brief video showing a fire and smoke outside a fenced compound.
Reuters could not independently verify accounts of the incident from either side.
Unofficial Russian and Ukrainian blogs suggested the attack might have involved Western-supplied missiles, but there was no official confirmation from either side.
In Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, partly occupied by Russian forces, the Russia-installed governor, Yevgeny Balitsky, said air defense units had downed four Ukrainian missiles fired at occupied areas of the region.
Initial analysis, he said, showed British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles had been used.
Reuters could not independently verify his account.
Trump brings chaos back to Washington by attempting to kill bipartisan budget deal
WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump delivered a probable death blow to bipartisan congressional budget negotiations on Wednesday, rejecting the measure as full of giveaways to Democrats and increasing the risk of a government shutdown right before Christmas.
“Republicans must GET SMART and TOUGH. If Democrats threaten to shut down the government unless we give them everything they want, then CALL THEIR BLUFF,” Trump said in a joint statement with JD Vance, the vice president-elect.
It was a display of dominance from a president-elect still a month away from inauguration who remains hundreds of miles away at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. It reinjected a sense of chaos and political brinkmanship that was reminiscent of his first term in office.
The episode also showcased the influence of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who spent the day attacking the budget legislation as full of excessive spending. They kicked up a storm on social media — Musk even threatened to support primary challenges against anyone who voted for the measure — before Trump decided to weigh in himself.
“Kill the Bill!” Musk wrote on his social media platform X as he gleefully reposted messages from Republican House members who vowed not to back the bill.
Trump’s allies were overjoyed by his intervention, viewing it as the fulfillment of his promise to shake up Washington. But lawmakers were also left bewildered by how a crucial bipartisan deal could fall apart so quickly just days before the deadline. There are also questions about the future of Trump-backed House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was pushing the budget legislation and is up for reelection for his post in just a couple of weeks.
UK terror threat ‘smoldering’ amid potential fallout from Syria
- National counterterrorism coordinator says situation has never been more complex and ‘history tells us that, unfortunately, any instability creates space for extremism’
- Border officials on high alert for possibility that British Daesh members and supporters might attempt to return to the UK
LONDON: The threat of terrorism in the UK has been described as “smoldering” amid the potential fallout from the collapse this month of the Assad regime in Syria.
Counterterrorism police fear uncertainty about Syria’s future could fuel extremist attacks in the UK, and border officials are on high alert for the possibility that British Daesh members and supporters might attempt to return to the country.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, the UK’s national counterterrorism coordinator, said the current terror threat in the country is “smoldering” and has never been more complex, given the dangers posed by extremists, state-sponsored plots and planned attacks from individuals with no obvious ideology.
“Events in Syria are certainly something that are a focus and something that all of us need to think about,” she said.
“It’s that stark reminder that we need to focus on old enemies of peace and security as well as the new. History tells us that, unfortunately, any instability creates space for extremism, for violence and acts of terror.”
Although the British government has engaged diplomatically with Syria’s new de facto leader, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, Evans noted that his organization, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, remains a banned terrorist group under UK law and anyone who demonstrates support for it could face terror-related charges. She said no one has been arrested so far for such activity but would neither confirm nor deny whether anybody is under investigation.
Evans also revealed that counterterrorism police are increasingly finding images of extreme violence, pornography, misogyny and gore, which sometimes fuel terror plans, in the online viewing histories of suspects as young as 10 years old.
“It’s a pick-and-mix of horror. These sorts of grotesque fascinations with violence and harmful views that we’re seeing are increasingly common,” she said.
“We most definitely need to think differently about how we stop that conveyor belt of young people who are seeing and being exposed to this type of material and, unfortunately, sometimes then going on to commit horrific acts.”
North Korea slams ‘reckless’ US-led criticism of involvement in Ukraine
SEOUL: North Korea on Thursday lashed out at the United States and its allies for criticizing its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, including the deployment of troops, rejecting what it called a “reckless provocation.”
In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, a foreign ministry spokesman said the declaration by 10 nations and the European Union was “distorting and slandering” Pyongyang’s “normal cooperative” ties with Moscow.
Zelensky huddles with European leaders as Trump looms
- “Europe needs a strong, united position to ensure lasting peace,” Zelensky stressed as he arrived in the Belgian capital
BRUSSELS, Belgium: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with NATO chief Mark Rutte and key European leaders in Brussels Wednesday to strategize over Russia’s war ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Addressing reporters alongside Rutte, Zelensky called it a “very good opportunity to speak about security guarantees for Ukraine, for today and for tomorrow.”
The pair were to be joined later in the evening at the NATO’s chief’s official residence by leaders from Germany, Poland, Italy, Denmark, The Netherlands and the European Union’s main institutions.
French President Emmanuel Macron and British premier Keir Starmer were to miss the gathering due to schedule clashes — sending their foreign ministers instead — but Macron met Zelensky for bilateral talks just beforehand.
The huddle came just over a month before Trump reclaims the US presidency, having pledged to bring a swift end to a conflict that NATO says has left more than one million dead and wounded since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
There are fears that Trump could pull US support for Kyiv and force it to make painful concessions to Moscow. European leaders, keen not to be left on the sidelines, are scrambling to come up with their own plans.
“Europe needs a strong, united position to ensure lasting peace,” Zelensky stressed as he arrived in the Belgian capital.
European leaders insist that only Ukraine should decide when it is ready to negotiate with Russia.
The meeting’s top focus, Rutte said, was to make sure that Ukraine was “in the best possible position one day, when they decide to start the peace talks.”
Likewise German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters earlier in Brussels the priority was to secure the “sovereignty of Ukraine — and that it will not be forced to submit to a dictated peace.”
But discussions have begun between some capitals over the potential deployment of European troops to Ukraine to secure any eventual ceasefire.
While this was raised at a recent meeting between Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, diplomats say it remains too early to draw up concrete proposals.
Scholz told reporters that discussing boots on the ground was premature, saying it “does not make sense” at this stage.
Rutte instead said Kyiv’s allies should focus on ramping up arms supplies — and urged them not to debate possible peace conditions in public as it risks playing into Moscow’s hands.
“If we now start to discuss among ourselves what a deal could look like, we make it so easy for the Russians,” he said.
Western backers are seeking to shore up Ukraine’s forces as Kyiv’s fatigued troops are losing ground across the frontline and Moscow has deployed North Koreans to the battlefield.
Zelensky — who will also attend an EU summit on Thursday — said he wanted to discuss “how to urgently strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield, politically and geopolitically.”
Most immediately Zelensky is pleading for over a dozen more air defense systems to try to help stave off Russian barrages against Ukraine’s power grid.
But Ukraine’s leader has said Trump’s arrival could mean the war ends next year, and has called for allies to help secure a peace deal that Moscow cannot violate.
As the change of guard approached in the US, Zelensky has appeared to soften his stance on any potential peace push.
He has said that if Ukraine is given firm security guarantees by NATO and enough weaponry it could agree to a ceasefire along current lines and look to regain the rest of its territory through diplomatic means.
But NATO members have rebuffed Kyiv’s calls for an invitation to join their alliance right away, sparking speculation that sending peacekeepers could be an alternative.
“Officially that is not on the agenda, but since there will be a lot of important people in the same room, it cannot entirely be ruled out,” a NATO diplomat said.
The meeting is “basically about Zelensky asking for more military aid,” the diplomat added.
