PARIS: French police arrested nine people and another was arrested in Switzerland in coordinated counter-terrorism swoops that follow a spate of deadly attacks in Europe in recent years.
Swiss officials said a 23-year-old Colombian woman was taken into custody after police raids there. A Swiss man aged 27 was among those arrested in parallel French police swoops linked to extremist activity, they added.
French police conducted simultaneous raids on premises on the eastern edge of Paris and in the southeastern region that borders Italy and Switzerland, taking nine people into custody, a source in the French judiciary said.
Those arrested were aged from 18 to 65 years, said the French source, who spoke on condition of anonymity — standard practice for most French officials on such matters.
Le Parisien newspaper said it was possible the raids had thwarted an attack.
The French judicial source spoke of suspected participation in a criminal terrorist network and of communications via the Telegram network that many militants use because messages can be encrypted.
A Swiss statement cited suspected involvement in terrorist activity and banned Islamist militant groups such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
The arrests took place a week after France introduced tougher national security laws to permanently replace emergency powers given to police and intelligence services following deadly attacks by Islamist militants on Paris two years ago.
More than 240 people have been killed in France since early 2015 in attacks by Islamist militants or assailants inspired by the Daesh group, which has sought to establish a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and called for attacks on France.
France is among countries contributing to military operations against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, who says 32 attack plots have been thwarted in the past two years in France, played down the latest operation when asked about it during a visit to Berlin.
“It’s part of operations which, sadly, are conducted relatively regularly, where we arrest a number of people we consider dangerous,” he said.
French police arrest nine in anti-terror swoop
French police arrest nine in anti-terror swoop
Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains
The Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances is probing abuses during the rule of Hasina, whose government was accused of widespread human rights abuses.
That includes the extrajudicial killing of hundreds of political opponents and the unlawful abduction and disappearance of hundreds more.
The commission was established by interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, who is facing intense political pressure as parties jostle for power ahead of elections expected early next year.
Bangladesh has a long history of military coups and the army retains a powerful role.
“Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh were not isolated acts of wrongdoing, but the result of a politicized institutional machinery that condoned, normalized, and often rewarded such crimes,” the commission said, in a section of a report released by the interim government on Monday.
“Alarmingly, this culture of impunity continues even after the regime change on August 5, 2024.”
The commission has verified more than 250 cases of enforced disappearances spanning the 15 years that Hasina’s Awami League was in power.
Commission chief Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury said earlier this month that responsibility lay with individual officers, who were “involved in conducting enforced disappearances,” but not the armed forces as an institution.
Earlier this month, a joint statement by rights groups — including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch — called on the security forces to “fully cooperate with the commission by guaranteeing unfettered and ongoing access to all detention centers... and providing free access to records regarding those seized or detained.”
Hasina,77, remains in self-imposed exile in India, where she fled after she was ousted last year.
She has defied orders to return to Dhaka to face charges amounting to crimes against humanity. Her trial in absentia continues.
Greenpeace joins protests against gala Bezos wedding in Venice
- Some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating
VENICE: Global environmental lobby Greenpeace added its voice on Monday to protests against this week’s celebrity wedding in Venice between American tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Laura Sanchez.
The event, expected to attract some 200 guests including US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as scores of stars from film, fashion and business, has been dubbed “the wedding of the century.”
But some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating.
Activists from Greenpeace Italy and UK group “Everyone hates Elon” (Musk) unfolded a giant banner in central St. Mark’s Square with a picture of Bezos laughing and a sign reading: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.”
Local police arrived to talk to activists and check their identification documents, before they rolled up their banner.
“The problem is not the wedding, the problem is the system. We think that one big billionaire can’t rent a city for his pleasure,” Simona Abbate, one of the protesters, told Reuters.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro and regional governor Luca Zaia have defended the wedding, arguing that it will bring an economic windfall to local businesses, including the motor boats and gondolas that operate its myriad canals.
Zaia said the celebrations were expected to cost 20-30 million euros ($23-$34 million).
Bezos will also make sizable charity donations, including a million euros for Corila, an academic consortium that studies Venice’s lagoon ecosystem, Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper and the ANSA news agency reported on Sunday.
Earlier this month, anti-Bezos banners were hung from St. Mark’s bell tower and from the famed Rialto bridge, while locals threatened peaceful blockades against the event, saying Venice needed public services and housing, not VIPs and over-tourism.
The exact dates and locations of the glitzy nuptials are being kept confidential, but celebrations are expected to play out over three days, most likely around June 26-28.
Beijing issues weather warning for hottest days of year
- An orange heat warning — the second-highest in a three-tier system — was issued on Monday as officials encouraged people to limit outdoor activity and drink more fluids to avoid heatstroke
BEIJING: Beijing residents sought shade and cooled off in canals on Monday as authorities issued the second-highest heat warning for the Chinese capital on one of its hottest days of the year so far.
China has endured a string of extreme summers in recent years, with heatwaves baking northern regions even as parts of the south have seen catastrophic rain and flooding.
Authorities in the city of 22 million people urged the public to take precautions, with temperatures expected to peak at around 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday.
“It’s been really hot lately, especially in the past few days,” intern Li Weijun told AFP on Monday afternoon.
The 22-year-old said he had stopped wearing formal clothes to work and delayed his daily exercise until after 10:00 p.m. to stay safe.
“I think it’s related to climate change, and maybe also to the damage done to nature,” he said.
An orange heat warning — the second-highest in a three-tier system — was issued on Monday as officials encouraged people to limit outdoor activity and drink more fluids to avoid heatstroke.
Construction workers should “shorten the amount of time consecutively spent at labor,” while elderly, sick or weakened individuals ought to “avoid excessive exertion,” according to the guidelines.
Zhang Chen, 28, said she carried an umbrella outdoors to prevent sunburn.
“I used to ride a bike, but once it gets this hot, I basically stop doing that,” the IT worker told AFP.
Despite the beating sun, legions of delivery drivers zipped through downtown areas at noon to bring sustenance to Beijing’s office workers.
A few lazed on the backs of their scooters in a shady spot, while elsewhere, people cooled off with ice creams or by taking a dip in the city’s canals.
Beijing is still a few degrees short of breaking its record for the hottest-ever June day, set at 41.1C in 2023.
Human greenhouse gas emissions are driving climate change that causes longer, more frequent and more intense heatwaves.
China is the world’s largest producer of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, though it has pledged to bring its emissions to a peak by the end of this decade and to net zero by 2060.
The country has also emerged as a global leader in renewable energy in recent years as it seeks to pivot its massive economy away from highly polluting coal consumption.
In a shady spot near an office building, 42-year-old Lucy Lu spent her lunch break with friends, kicking a shuttlecock through the air — a traditional Chinese game known as “jianzi.”
“I was born and raised in Beijing, and summer here has always been like this,” she said.
“But I do think when the temperature goes over 40C, there should be some time off or work-from-home options to reduce the risk of heatstroke.”
UK police ban Palestine Action protest outside parliament
- 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
LONDON: British police have banned campaign group Palestine Action from protesting outside parliament on Monday, a rare move that comes after two of its members broke into a military base last week and as the government considers banning the organization.
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.
