LONDON: As unusually cold weather gripped Europe, Britain’s military was sent out Friday to central and western England to get hospital employees to work and help police rescue people from snowbound vehicles.
Nicknamed “The Beast from the East,” the cold front caused travel chaos, with hundreds of flights canceled in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Switzerland. Trains broke down. Motorists found themselves stuck on highways and trapped in frosty conditions for hours.
“This is particularly unusual weather,” British Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said. “It’s something that happens very rarely in this country.”
Up to a meter (three feet) of snow was reported in eastern Ireland, and travelers were stranded south and west of the capital, Dublin.
The big chill also froze canals in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam. Ice on the historic Prinsengracht canal was thick enough for residents to lace up their skates and glide across its frozen surface. Tourists without skates slid across the ice, taking selfies.
“It’s just cool. You can go fast and you see the world from a slightly different perspective,” said skater Noldus Reijnders.
Heathrow Airport tweeted Friday that it was working with airlines to consolidate the flight schedule “to provide more certainty around departing flights,” amid the extreme winter conditions across the UK and Europe. More than 350 flights were canceled. Gatwick, London City, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports also reported cancelations.
Other European airports closed down entirely. Authorities at Geneva’s airport suspended air traffic for a second straight day amid heavy snowfall. By early afternoon, flights had resumed.
Around 340 flights were canceled at Ireland’s Dublin Airport, which posted images of swirling snow together with the hashtag “BeastFromTheEast.” It doesn’t plan to open until Saturday.
The army sent 20 troops and 10 four-wheel drive vehicles to Shropshire, the county south of Liverpool, and the Royal Marines sent resources to Devon and Cornwall on the southwest coast after police asked for help.
One train traveling from London’s Waterloo Station to Weymouth ground to a halt outside New Milton, stranding motorists for hours. By mid-afternoon, South Western Railway and Southeastern had urged customers not to travel.
Some commuters reported that rail doors refused to open as the push-button mechanisms froze in the cold. Thousands of homes are without electricity as temperatures remain below freezing with bitter winds.
One police force in Scotland tweeted a picture of a patrol car beside a snowdrift almost as high as the vehicle itself to show drivers why they should stay home. “PLEASE AVOID THIS AREA,” the post said.
In central England, volunteers brought hot drinks and blankets to stranded drivers as they waited for help. Eleanor Kelly, 19, said those stranded in the Milnrow suburb of Rochdale included a father with a baby and toddler in his car.
“We’ve been trying to get to as many people as we can,” she said.
Commuter Philip Brown endured more than 15 hours on a train traveling from London Waterloo to Bournemouth, Dorset. The average time for the journey is about two hours.
“I didn’t have any food or water. There were no buffet facilities on board. The train lost power and we lost heating and lights,” said Brown, 49. “I couldn’t tell you how cold it was, but it was cold enough to prevent you from sleeping ... People were wrapping jumpers round their legs trying to keep warm.”
But in Amsterdam, nobody was complaining about the cold. Residents on skates glided past tourists who slithered across the ice for pictures. One woman took her dog for a walk along the frozen canal.
Still, despite measures taken by authorities to help the ice develop, there were still some holes and parts of the canal weren’t frozen at all. Reijnders was wearing a special red ice pick around his neck just in case.
“If you sink through the ice — and there are still a few dangerous places — you can pull yourself out,” he said.
Europe weather: UK army sent out; Dutch ice skate on canals
Europe weather: UK army sent out; Dutch ice skate on canals
ICC’s decisions must be respected, EU’s Borrell says
- Josep Borrell: “They’re not political. It’s a legal body formed by respected people who are the best among the profession of judges.”
BRUSSEL: Outgoing EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has called on all EU member states to respect decisions by the International Criminal Court, including the arrest warrant against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We cannot undermine the International Criminal Court. It is the only way of having global justice,” Borrell, whose term as the EU’s top diplomat ends this month, said in Brussels.
“They’re not political. It’s a legal body formed by respected people who are the best among the profession of judges.”
The ICC issued arrest warrants last week for Netanyahu, his former defense chief Yoav Gallant, and a Hamas leader for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.
Though all EU member states are signatories to the ICC’s founding treaty, France said on Wednesday it believed Netanyahu had immunity to actions by the ICC, given Israel has not signed up to the court statutes.
Italy has said it is not feasible to arrest Netanyahu as long as he remains head of Israel’s government.
ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution, and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.”
Israel, which launched its offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, has said it will appeal against the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Asked if France would arrest Netanyahu if he stepped on French territory, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot did not give a specific answer in an interview with Franceinfo radio.
He said France “is very committed to international justice and will apply international law based on its obligations to cooperate with the ICC.”
But he added that the court’s statute “deals with questions of immunity for certain leaders.”
“It is ultimately up to the judicial authorities to decide,” he added.
Unconfirmed media reports have said that Netanyahu angrily raised the issue in telephone talks with President Emmanuel Macron and urged Paris not to enforce the decision. France has been instrumental in efforts to end fighting in the Middle East and, with the US helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
Article 27 of the Rome Statute — the foundation of the ICC — states that immunity “shall not bar the Court from exercising its jurisdiction over such a person.”
However, Article 98 says a state cannot “act inconsistently with its obligations under international law concerning the ... diplomatic immunity of a person.”
France’s stance on potential immunity for Netanyahu prompted some strong reactions at home and abroad. Amnesty International called the French stance “deeply problematic,” saying it ran counter to the government’s obligations as an ICC member.
“Rather than inferring that ICC indictees may enjoy immunity, France should expressly confirm its acceptance of the unequivocal legal duty under the Rome Statute to carry out arrest warrants,” said Anne Savinel Barras, president of Amnesty International France.
French Green party boss Marine Tondelier, calling the government’s stance “shameful,” said it was probably the result of an agreement between the French and Israeli leaders.
Somali leaders face reciprocal arrest warrants over disputed regional election
MOGADISHU: Somalia’s federal government and the country’s Jubbaland region have issued reciprocal arrest warrants for their respective leaders in an escalating dispute over the conduct of elections in Jubbaland.
Jubbaland, which borders Kenya and Ethiopia and is one of Somalia’s five semi-autonomous states, reelected regional president Ahmed Mohamed Islam Madobe for a third term in elections on Monday.
However, the national government based in Mogadishu, led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, opposed the election, saying it was held without federal involvement. Jubbaland’s Attorney General issued an arrest warrant for Mohamud late on Wednesday via the First Instance Court in Kismayo, accusing him of treason, inciting a civil war, and organizing an armed uprising to disrupt the constitutional order in the country.
It did not provide evidence supporting the accusations.
This warrant was in response to a similar one issued by a regional court in Mogadishu for Madobe’s arrest, which accused him of treason and revealing classified information to foreign entities.
The execution of these warrants remains uncertain, as Madobe and Mohamud command troops.
Somalia’s information minister, Daud Aweis, said that the matter was in the hands of the judiciary, which was tasked with enforcing laws through its rulings and judgments.
Jubbaland’s security minister, Yusuf Dhumal, did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this week, the national government dispatched additional troops to Jubbaland in response to the election.
In 2021, Jubbaland was among other regional governments that nearly clashed with the national government over plans to extend the time in office of the then-president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.
Children among four dead in Greece migrant shipwreck
- Greek Coast Guard launch search-and-rescue operation involving patrol vessels, lifeboats, and land teams
ATHENS: Four people, including two children, have died after a boat carrying migrants ran aground on a rocky shoreline on the eastern Greek island of Samos, officials said on Thursday.
Sixteen people were rescued, but how many were aboard the boat remained unclear.
The Greek Coast Guard launched a search-and-rescue operation involving patrol vessels, lifeboats, and land teams to locate any potential missing passengers.
A Greek government official said he expected the risk facing migrants to rise over the winter months and blamed conflicts in the Middle East for a swell in illegal crossings this year.
The incident comes after eight migrants — six children and two women — died in a shipwreck off the island on Monday.
Samos and other Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea are key transit points for migrants crossing from Turkiye to the EU, with arrivals in recent months that Greek authorities say are linked to ongoing wars in the Middle East and parts of Africa.
“The conditions are certainly not favorable,” Migration Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos told private Skai television on Thursday.
“They do not tend toward reducing the flow of migrants, but rather increasing them — with all the geopolitical turmoil, especially in the Middle East, with ongoing wars and other issues,” he said.
Panagiotopoulos said he expected the risk of tragedies in the eastern Aegean to increase in the coming weeks as weather conditions worsen.
They added that Greece will renew efforts to seek EU funding for border wall construction under the Polish presidency of the EU, which starts on Jan. 1.
Separately on Thursday, police announced the arrest of nine people accused of operating a smuggling ring that allegedly provided migrants with false and illegally used documents to travel to western European cities.
The group, active since July, provided migrants with safe housing, clothing, and travel documents before escorting them to Athens International Airport, police said.
Fees for those services ranged from €3,000 to €5,000 ($3,150-5,250).
Italy’s interior minister last month said the Group of Seven rich democracies will to set up specialized police units aimed at investigating migrant trafficking in order to tackle irregular flows. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, which holds the G7
rotating presidency this year, has sought cooperation with the EU and African governments to crack down on human traffickers.
Meloni last year signed a deal with Albania to build reception camps there, but the rulings taken so far by the Italian courts have frustrated the government’s efforts to pursue its flagship plan to crackdown on irregular arrivals
Italian police said on Thursday they had blocked and revoked 3,339 applications for the arrival of non-EU workers in Italy as part of an investigation into the smuggling of illegal immigrants by organized crime.
The alleged false requests to hire non-EU laborers were submitted by 142 different Italian companies in the agriculture, construction, and home care sectors, Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza police said in a joint statement.
According to an investigation by anti-Mafia prosecutors in the southern city of Salerno, the companies were being used by several local criminal
groups — from which €1 million ($1.05 million) in cash was already seized in July — to smuggle non-EU migrants
into Italy.
Police measures allow the 29 Italian provinces involved in the investigation to block issuing current permits and revoking those that had already been granted, the statement said.
Macron welcomes Nigerian president in first state visit since 2000
- Trip will focus on economic partnerships between France and Africa’s most populous country
PARIS: Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Thursday began a two-day visit to France, with both sides seeking increased economic cooperation and Paris looking to boost ties in English-speaking Africa following a series of setbacks with former allies on the continent.
French President Emmanuel Macron greeted his counterpart at the historic Invalides memorial complex, with the first official state visit by a Nigerian leader in more than two
decades.
The two national anthems rang out in the courtyard of one of Paris’ landmarks, kicking off a visit focused on encouraging economic partnerships between France and Africa’s most populous country.
Macron has sought a “renewal” between Paris and Africa since his 2017 election and after military coups and changing attitudes lessened France’s influence on the continent.
The trip is “an opportunity to deepen the already dynamic relationship between France and Nigeria,” Macron’s office said.
The west African country is the continent’s leading oil producer and has a robust film industry, dubbed “Nollywood.”
But challenges posed by insecurity and corruption have left 129 million Nigerians — more than half the country’s population — living
below the poverty line.
For Nigeria, which has been battling soaring inflation and food prices, the visit represents an opportunity to tap economic investment.
Nigeria was looking to build ties in “agriculture, security, education, health, youth engagement, innovation and energy transition,” Tinubu’s office said in a statement. He and Macron will also address “shared values concerning finance, solid minerals, trade and investment, and communication,” it added.
South Korea officials say three dead in heavy snowfall
SEOUL: Heavy snowfall blanketed South Korea for a second consecutive day Thursday, resulting in three deaths overall and disrupting flights and ferry services, authorities said.
The snow caused three fatalities in Gyeonggi province around the capital Seoul, officials said, including one person killed when a tent-style garage collapsed during snow removal.
Another died when a golf practice net gave way amid the extreme weather.
The prolonged snowfall led to the cancellation of 156 flights and disrupted 104 ferry services across 79 routes, the interior ministry said.
The second day of snow came after Seoul on Wednesday recorded its heaviest November snowfall since records began over a century ago, according to the country’s weather agency. The record snowfall also marked the capital’s first snow of the season.
Up to 40 centimeters of snow accumulated in parts of the capital by 11 am (GMT 02:00), the interior ministry said, while other areas outside Seoul saw snow piles reaching nearly 45 centimeters.
The second day of snow prompted the city government to deploy 11,000 personnel and 20,000 pieces of equipment for snow removal operations in the capital.
