Catalan leader must drop independence by Thursday — Spain Deputy PM

Spain’s deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria speaks during a news conference at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, on October 16, 2017. (REUTERS)
Updated 16 October 2017
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Catalan leader must drop independence by Thursday — Spain Deputy PM

MADRID: Spain’s government will take control of Catalonia and rule it directly if Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont does not drop a bid to split the region from Spain by Thursday at 10:00 a.m. (0800 GMT), deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said.
“Mr Puigdemont still has the opportunity to start resolving this situation, he must answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the declaration (of independence),” Saenz de Santamaria said.
Madrid had given Puigdemont until Monday 10:00 a.m. (0800 GMT) to clarify his position on independence with a “Yes” or “No,” but the Catalan leader did not directly answer the question.


Spike in wounded as fighting intensifies in parts of Somalia

Updated 4 min 4 sec ago
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Spike in wounded as fighting intensifies in parts of Somalia

  • Military operations continue in Bari in Puntland, while confrontations often occur in Sool and Sanaag regions in the north, the organization said

MOGADISHU: Hospitals in parts of Somalia are struggling with rising numbers of wounded after a sharp increase in fighting since the beginning of the year, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Friday.
Recent attacks, including a roadside blast narrowly missing the president’s convoy last month, are heightening fears of a resurgence by terrorists, despite gains by the Somali government and international partners.
After 15 years of fighting federal troops, Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab had been forced onto the defensive in 2022 and 2023 by Somali forces backed by Africa Union-led peacekeepers.
“Several regions of Somalia have seen a sharp escalation of hostilities, and hospitals near active front lines are struggling to meet a surge in needs,” the ICRC said in a statement.
“We have seen a significant increase of weapon-wounded patients treated in the medical facilities we support since the beginning of the year.” In Mogadishu, Madina Hospital supported by the ICRC, has admitted 203 wounded — a 26-percent increase from the previous three months.

The ICRC said the Middle and Lower Shabelle regions in the south had seen a significant increase in fighting since March, with displacements and civilian casualties.
Military operations continue in Bari in Puntland, while confrontations often occur in Sool and Sanaag regions in the north, the organization said.
The surge in fighting across Somalia has also forced more than 100,000 to flee their homes, the ICRC said.
Earlier this month, Al-Shabab militants fired multiple rockets near Mogadishu’s airport, disrupting international flights.
The group has seized key locations in Middle and Lower Shabelle, coastal regions on either side of the capital.
A bomb blast narrowly missed the convoy of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on March 18, showing the group once again poses a significant threat to the capital.

 


Thousands of children subject to sexual violence in eastern Congo, UNICEF says

Updated 20 min 41 sec ago
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Thousands of children subject to sexual violence in eastern Congo, UNICEF says

GENEVA: Children including toddlers represent more than a third of victims in nearly 10,000 cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence committed in eastern Congo in the first two months of the year, the UN children’s agency said on Friday.
M23 rebels seized parts of eastern Congo earlier this year as part of a rapid offensive that left thousands dead, including children, and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told a Geneva press briefing that the rapes and other forms of sexual violence were being used as “a weapon of war” and were taking place once every 30 minutes on average, with toddlers also among the victims.

FASTFACT

UNICEF spokesperson James Elder says that the rapes and other forms of sexual violence are being used as ‘a weapon of war’ and are taking place once every 30 minutes on average, with toddlers also among the victims.

“We are not talking about isolated incidents; we are talking about a systemic crisis,” he said, citing a database collected by organizations on the ground working on sexual violence, which showed that between 35-45 percent of the total were under-18s.
“It is a weapon of war and a deliberate tactic of terror.”
Elder, who spoke via video link from Goma, said that funding shortages were affecting the ability to treat survivors of sexual attacks. In a hospital he visited this week 127 rape survivors had no access to medical kits which can prevent an HIV infection in the immediate aftermath.
“The gaps in funding are life-threatening,” he said.
Elder did not elaborate on the reasons for the funding shortages in Congo, although deep cuts by top donors in the US to foreign aid have hit humanitarian programs elsewhere.

 


Pakistan PM ends ‘monumental’ Belarus visit as both sides sign defense, trade and environmental pacts

Updated 22 min 42 sec ago
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Pakistan PM ends ‘monumental’ Belarus visit as both sides sign defense, trade and environmental pacts

  • Shehbaz Sharif says Belarus will welcome over 150,000 skilled Pakistani workers for ‘nation-building’
  • He also calls for a direct air link between both countries along with deeper mining and agricultural ties

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday concluded what he called a “monumental” two-day visit to Belarus, during which both countries signed a series of agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) aimed at boosting cooperation in defense, commerce, environmental protection and other key sectors.

Sharif held talks with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko in Minsk to review bilateral ties, as delegation-level talks were also held between the two sides encompassing discussions on bilateral cooperation as well as regional and international issues.

According to state media, Pakistan and Belarus signed a cooperation accord between their interior ministries along with a roadmap for military-technical collaboration between 2025 and 2027.

Agreements were also inked on defense cooperation, environmental protection, postal services, trade development, business support and coordination between trade bodies, the Associated Press of Pakistan said.

“A monumental day in Pakistan-Belarus ties,” Sharif said in a post on social media while sharing details of his visit.

“Highlights of our talks included the agreement to send over 150,000 highly skilled Pakistani workers to contribute to nation-building efforts in Belarus; enhanced cooperation in agriculture and food security; and potential joint ventures in the manufacturing of electric buses and agricultural machinery — steps that will help transform our enduring bond of friendship into a lasting partnership.”

Pakistan has in recent months intensified efforts to expand economic cooperation with a number of countries in and around the region, aiming to leverage its location as a transit hub for trade and earn foreign exchange.

Addressing a ceremony in Minsk, Sharif said Belarus was a leader in equipment manufacturing for the mining sector and Pakistan stood to gain from closer industrial cooperation.

“There is no reason why we shouldn’t benefit from your experience,” he continued, pointing to Pakistan’s vast mineral resources.

He also emphasized the value of establishing a direct air link between the two countries and thanked Lukashenko for his willingness to welcome skilled Pakistani labor.

Sharif also spoke of strengthening Pakistan’s agriculture sector with mutual cooperation, saying 65 percent of the country’s population lived in rural areas.

“We need your expertise,” he said. “We need to have joint ventures between Belarus and Pakistani companies to manufacture agricultural equipment in Pakistan so we can offer to the farmers at very economical rates, both companies from Belarus and Pakistan, they will have win-win situation.”

In recent years, trade between Belarus and Pakistan has ranged from $50 to 65 million annually, though recent official visits have raised hopes for increased commercial exchange.

Later, Sharif met with Belarusian parliamentary leaders and agreed to deepen inter-legislative cooperation.

“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has concluded his two-day official visit to Belarus and left for home,” the Government of Pakistan said in a social media post toward the end of the day. “He was seen off at Minsk International Airport by Prime Minister Alexander Turchin, Foreign Minister Maksim Ryzhenkov and officials of the Pakistani embassy.”


Gaza ‘hell on earth’ as hospital supplies running out, warns head of Red Cross

Updated 11 min 17 sec ago
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Gaza ‘hell on earth’ as hospital supplies running out, warns head of Red Cross

  • Concerns grow about safety of humanitarian operations

GENEVA: The president of the Red Cross described the humanitarian situation in Gaza on Friday as “hell on earth” and warned that its field hospital will run out of supplies within two weeks.

“We are now finding ourselves in a situation that I have to describe as hell on earth ... People don’t have access to water, electricity, food, in many parts,” Mirjana Spoljaric said at the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in Geneva.
No new humanitarian supplies have entered the Palestinian enclave since Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks on March 2, as talks stalled on the next stage of a now broken truce. Israel resumed its military assault on March 18.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger. (REUTERS)

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said 25,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza in the 42 days of the ceasefire and that Hamas had used the aid to rebuild its war machine, an allegation that the group has denied. Spoljaric said supplies were running critically low.
“For six weeks, nothing has come in, so we will, in a couple of weeks, run out of supplies that we need to keep the hospital going,” she said.
The World Health Organization said supplies of antibiotics and blood bags were dwindling fast. Twenty-two out of 36 hospitals in the enclave are only minimally functional, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn told reporters in Geneva via video link in Jerusalem.

It is extremely dangerous for the population to move, but it’s especially also dangerous for us to operate.

Mirjana Spoljaric, ICRC president

The Red Cross president also raised concerns about the safety of humanitarian operations.
“It is extremely dangerous for the population to move, but it’s especially also dangerous for us to operate,” Spoljaric said.
In March, the bodies of 15 emergency and aid workers, including eight members of the Palestinian Red Crescent, were found buried in a mass grave in southern Gaza.
The UN and Red Crescent accused Israeli forces of killing them.
The Israeli military said on Monday that an initial investigation showed that the incident occurred “due to a sense of threat” after it said it had identified six Hamas militants in the vicinity.
Spoljaric called for an immediate ceasefire to release the remaining hostages held by Hamas and to address the grave humanitarian issues in Gaza.
Israel began its military campaign in Gaza in October 2023.
Since then, more than 50,800 Palestinians have been killed and much of the territory has been reduced to rubble.

 


Kurdish fighters leave northern city in Syria as part of deal with central government

Updated 52 min 35 sec ago
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Kurdish fighters leave northern city in Syria as part of deal with central government

The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh
The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month

ALEPPO, Syria: Scores of US-backed Kurdish fighters left two neighborhoods in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo Friday as part of a deal with the central government in Damascus, which is expanding its authority in the country.
The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh, which had been under the control of Kurdish fighters in Aleppo over the past decade.
The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month between Syria’s interim government and the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast. The deal could eventually lead to the merger of the main US-backed force in Syria into the Syrian army.
The withdrawal of fighters from the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces came a day after dozens of prisoners from both sides were freed in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.
Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that government forces were deployed along the road that SDF fighters will use to move between Aleppo and areas east of the Euphrates River, where the Kurdish-led force controls nearly a quarter of Syria.
Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh had been under SDF control since 2015 and remained so even when forces of ousted President Bashar Assad captured Aleppo in late 2016. The two neighborhoods remained under SDF control when forces loyal to current interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa captured the city in November, and days later captured the capital, Damascus, removing Assad from power.
After being marginalized for decades under the rule of the Assad family rule, the deal signed last month promises Syria’s Kurds “constitutional rights,” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades.
Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement.
Kurds made up 10 percent of the country’s prewar population of 23 million. Kurdish leaders say they don’t want full autonomy with their own government and parliament. They want decentralization and room to run their day-to day-affairs.