BEDMINSTER, US: President Donald Trump is drawing criticism from Republicans and Democrats for not explicitly denouncing white supremacists in the aftermath of violent clashes in Virginia, with lawmakers saying he needs to take a public stand against groups that espouse racism and hate.
Trump, while on a working vacation at his New Jersey golf club, addressed the nation Saturday soon after a car plowed into a group of anti-racist counter-protesters in Charlottesville, a college town where neo-Nazis and white nationalists had assembled for march. The president did not single out any group, instead blaming “many sides” for the violence.
“Hate and the division must stop, and must stop right now,” he said. “We have to come together as Americans with love for our nation and ... true affection for each other.”
Trump condemned “in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.” He added: “It’s been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump. Not Barack Obama. It’s been going on for a long, long time.”
On Sunday, the White House issued a statement seeking to expand on Trump’s remarks:
“The president said very strongly in his statement yesterday that he condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred and of course that includes white Supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazi and all extremist groups,” according to a White House spokesperson. “He called for national unity and bringing all Americans together.”
The White House would not attach a staffer’s name to the statement.
The president on Saturday did not answer questions from reporters about whether he rejected the support of white nationalists or whether he believed the car crash was an example of domestic terrorism. Aides who appeared on the Sunday news shows said the White House did believe those things, but many fellow Republicans demanded that Trump personally denounce the white supremacists.
Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, tweeted: “Mr. President — we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism.”
Added Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.: “Nothing patriotic about #Nazis,the #KKK or #WhiteSupremacists It’s the direct opposite of what #America seeks to be.”
GOP Chris Christie of New Jersey, a staunch Trump supporter, wrote: “We reject the racism and violence of white nationalists like the ones acting out in Charlottesville. Everyone in leadership must speak out.”
On the Democrat side, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York said “of course we condemn ALL that hate stands for. Until @POTUS specifically condemns alt-right action in Charlottesville, he hasn’t done his job.”
And Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, who spoke to Trump in the hours after the clashes, said he twice “said to him we have to stop this hateful speech, this rhetoric.” He urged Trump “to come out stronger” against the actions of white supremacists.
Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said Sunday that he considered the attack in Charlottesville to be terrorism:
“I certainly think anytime that you commit an attack against people to incite fear, it is terrorism,” McMaster told ABC’s “This Week.”
“It meets the definition of terrorism. But what this is, what you see here, is you see someone who is a criminal, who is committing a criminal act against fellow Americans.”
The president’s homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, defended the president’s statement by suggesting that some of the counter-protesters were violent too.
When pressed, he specifically condemned the racist groups. The president’s daughter and White House aide, Ivanka Trump, tweeted Sunday morning: “There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis.”
White nationalists had assembled in Charlottesville to vent their frustration against the city’s plans to take down a statue of Confederal Gen. Robert E. Lee. Counter-protesters massed in opposition. A few hours after violent encounters between the two groups, a car drove into a crowd of people peacefully protesting the rally. The driver was later taken into custody.
Alt-right leader Richard Spencer and former Ku Klux Klan member David Duke attended the demonstrations. Duke told reporters that the white nationalists were working to “fulfill the promises of Donald Trump.”
Trump’s speech also drew praise from the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, which wrote: “Trump comments were good. He didn’t attack us. He just said the nation should come together. Nothing specific against us. ... No condemnation at all.”
The website had been promoting the Charlottesville demonstration as part of its “Summer of Hate” edition.
Mayor Michael Signer, a Democrat, said he was disgusted that the white nationalists had come to his town and blamed Trump for inflaming racial prejudices with his campaign last year.
“I’m not going to make any bones about it. I place the blame for a lot of what you’re seeing in American today right at the doorstep of the White House and the people around the president,” he said.
Trump, as a candidate, frequently came under scrutiny for being slow to offer his condemnation of white supremacists. His strongest denunciation of the movement has not come voluntarily, only when asked, and he occasionally trafficked in retweets of racist social media posts during his campaign. His chief strategist, Steve Bannon, once declared that his former news site, Breitbart, was “the platform for the alt-right.”
Trump faulted for not explicitly rebuking white supremacists
Trump faulted for not explicitly rebuking white supremacists
UK police ban Palestine Action protest outside parliament
The group said in response that it had changed the location of its protest on Monday to Trafalgar Square, which lies just outside the police exclusion zone.
The pro-Palestinian organization is among groups that have regularly targeted defense firms and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.
British media have reported that the government is considering proscribing, or effectively banning, Palestine Action, as a terrorist organization, putting it on a par with Al-Qaeda or Daesh.
London’s Metropolitan Police said late on Sunday that it would impose an exclusion zone for a protest planned by Palestine Action outside the Houses of Parliament — a popular location for protests in support of a range of causes.
“The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest,” Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said.
“We have laid out to Government the operational basis on which to consider proscribing this group.”
Palestine Action’s members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and, in the incident last week, damaged two military aircraft, Rowley added.
Italy against suspending EU-Israel accord, foreign minister says
ROME: Italy is against a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement over alleged human rights violations in Gaza, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday.
“Our position is different from that of Spain,” Tajani said on the sidelines of a meeting with EU colleagues in Brussels, referring to Spain’s support for a suspension of the deal.
Tajani said it was important to keep relations open with Israel, saying that this had facilitated the evacuation of some civilians out of Gaza.
In Norway’s Arctic, meteorologists have a first-row seat to climate change
TROMSO: In the cold of the Norwegian Arctic, meteorologist Trond Robertsen manually recorded precipitation levels for over two decades, witnessing firsthand the effects of climate change.
At 66, Robertsen retired after enduring spartan conditions during missions that totalled eight years on two islands of the Svalbard archipelago: Bjornoya (Bear Island) and Hogen.
To reach the remote Bjornoya, where the only humans are the nine employees of the small weather station, the meteorologists have to fly in by helicopter as they are rotated on a six-month basis.
“The idea is to not stay too long, because it’s a different rhythm, and you are isolated,” Robertsen told AFP.
It is demanding work.
“It’s a 24/7 occupation,” he said. “We are doing it all day, all night.” The team worked shifts to cover all hours of the day, he explained.
Weather observation starts in the early morning at 6:00 am.
“It’s manually done, then you have to go outside and check the bucket that is collecting precipitation,” said Robertsen.
“During wintertime you have to melt the snow and ice into water” to determine how much has fallen.
The data is then transmitted the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Tromso and Oslo.
“This tiny little observation is actually quite crucial for the weather forecasting systems up north, because observations are so sparse from that area.”
Bjornoya sits in the middle of fishing grounds, and the weather reports published twice a day are closely followed by the fishing boats in the area.
Since his first missions to the Arctic in the 1990s, Robertsen has witnessed the changing climate.
“When I started going up north, there was a lot of ice. In the later years, it’s less ice and fewer polar bears. You can see the climate change,” he said.
Polar bears have been classified as a vulnerable population since 1982 on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species, with the loss of Arctic sea ice the most pressing threat against the species.
However, their precise numbers, are almost impossible to assess.
In winter, employees of station always venture out in pairs and have to be armed due to the presence of polar bears, but according to Robertsen it’s rarer to encounter them today.
In April, during his last mission to the island, Robertsen had an accident while doing carpentry: he slipped and ended up cutting one finger clean off and half of another.
Due to tough weather conditions, he had to wait some 26 hours before being evacuated by helicopter and transported to a hospital.
“It was a heavy snowstorm coming in, only the day after the helicopter came,” he recounted.
Looking back, Robertsen does not regret the years spent under the austere living conditions.
“The Arctic has given me so many experiences and memories so it is a small fee to pay back with my left little finger and part of my ring finger,” he said.
More evacuation orders issued as firefighters battle major wildfire on the Greek island of Chios
ATHENS: Greek authorities sent new evacuation notifications for two areas near the main town of the eastern Aegean island of Chios Monday morning, as firefighters struggled to control a major wildfire raging on the town’s outskirts for a second day.
The fire department said 190 firefighters were battling the blaze Monday. They were backed up by 35 vehicles, five helicopters and two water-dropping planes. Strong winds in the area since Sunday have hampered firefighting efforts.
Push alerts have been sent to mobile phones in the area urging people to evacuate a total of 16 villages, settlements and neighborhoods on the outskirts of Chios town since the blaze broke out on Sunday.
The fire started in three separate locations. Authorities have sent a specialist fire department arson investigation team to the island to look into the causes.
Wildfires are frequent in Greece during its hot, dry summers, but authorities have said climate change has been fueling bigger and more frequent blazes.
In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee. More than 100 people died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.
Sri Lanka seizes $76m smuggled drugs this year
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s anti-narcotics drive has resulted in the seizure of more than three tonnnes (6,600 pounds) of illegal drugs with a street value of $76 million this year, officials said Monday.
Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala said most of the illegal drugs originated in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and were being smuggled into the island by sea.
He said there were an estimated 400,000 addicts in the nation of 22 million people.
“We need to reduce demand while keeping up detections,” Wijepala told reporters in Colombo.
Police chief Priyantha Weerasooriya said the drugs seized had a street value of 23 billion rupees ($76 million). That was close to the 28 billion rupees’ worth of drugs seized in the whole of 2024.
More than 1,000 people were arrested for drug dealing and smuggling, he added. They included a 38-year-old Thai woman, arrested at Colombo airport on May 30 carrying nearly 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of cocaine, the largest detection of the drug at an entry point to the South Asian nation.
Also last month, three others — from Britain, India and Thailand — were arrested trying to smuggle in nearly 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of synthetic cannabis.
All four suspects, including the Thai woman arrested with cocaine, could face life imprisonment if convicted.
Sri Lankan authorities have previously seized large quantities of heroin off the country’s shores, suggesting the island is being used as a transit hub for narcotics destined for other locations.
In October, a Sri Lankan court sentenced 10 Iranian men to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to heroin smuggling.
Sri Lanka’s largest single seizure of narcotics occurred in December 2016, when Customs found 800 kilos of cocaine in a transshipment container of timber destined for India.
