LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday personally apologized to Caribbean leaders after her government threatened to deport some of the hundreds of thousands of people who emigrated to Britain from the region in the 1950s and 1960s.
At a meeting in Downing Street, May told representatives of the 12 Caribbean members of the Commonwealth that she took the treatment of the so-called Windrush generation “very seriously.”
“I want to apologize to you today. Because we are genuinely sorry for any anxiety that has been caused,” she told the hastily-convened gathering.
She added: “I want to dispel any impression that my government is in some sense clamping down on Commonwealth citizens, particularly those from the Caribbean.”
The government has faced outrage for its treatment of people who came to Britain between 1948 — when the ship Empire Windrush brought over the first group of West Indian immigrants — and the early 1970s.
They and their parents were invited to help rebuild Britain after World War II and with many of them legally British — they were born while their home countries were still colonies — they were given indefinite leave to remain.
But those who failed to get their papers in order are now being treated as illegal, which limits their access to work and health care and puts them at risk of deportation if they cannot provide evidence of their life in Britain.
The row, which one MP called a “national shame,” has been hugely embarrassing as it coincides with this week’s meeting of the 53 Commonwealth heads of government in London.
More than 50,000 people could be affected by the government’s immigration crackdown.
British PM apologizes to Caribbean leaders over deportation row
British PM apologizes to Caribbean leaders over deportation row
Strict permit checks, heat safety rules in focus ahead of Hajj
- The Day of Arafah, the most significant day of Hajj, falls on Thursday, June 5 this year
MAKKAH: Pilgrims without a Nusuk card will not be granted access to the Grand Mosque, the holy sites or transportation services during this year’s Hajj, Saudi authorities have said.
Speaking at a meeting with heads of official Hajj missions during the 49th Grand Hajj Symposium in Jeddah, Minister of Hajj and Umrah Tawfiq Al-Rabiah highlighted the importance of adhering to movement regulations to protect pilgrims and enhance their spiritual experience.
He described the Nusuk card as a “fundamental regulatory tool to ensure orderly performance of the pilgrimage and prevent violations,” according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Addressing concerns about extreme weather, the minister advised pilgrims to remain in their tents on the Day of Arafah from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to avoid heat-related illnesses.
He warned that uncoordinated group movements compromise safety and disrupt the flow of pilgrims.
The Day of Arafah, the most significant day of Hajj, falls on Thursday, June 5 this year.
Al-Rabiah added that pilgrims must not walk from Arafat to Muzdalifah and should use designated transport systems instead.
He said that effective crowd management and transportation plans are essential for safety and require collective compliance.
Al-Rabiah added that this Hajj season will see stricter enforcement of permit regulations, in line with the Kingdom’s commitment to a safe, organized and spiritually fulfilling pilgrimage.
The Nusuk card, issued by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, is a mandatory ID and entry pass for pilgrims and workers at the holy sites.
In addition to identification, it aids logistics, facilitates communication with Hajj missions, grants access to schedules and services, and allows pilgrims to submit feedback.
It also helps authorities monitor crowd movement and send alerts to ensure a safe and organized pilgrimage. Pilgrims receive the card through their service provider, which is responsible for its distribution.
A digital version is available via the official Nusuk app, but it does not replace the printed card, which must be carried at all times.
According to the ministry, the card expires at the end of the Hajj season, with all data erased. However, pilgrims may keep the physical card as a souvenir and proof of completing Hajj.
Digital solutions to support Hajj sacrifices this year
- So far, 770,000 livestock have been received, surpassing the initial target of 750,000, with continuous deliveries from supplier farms underway
RIYADH: The National Platform for Charitable Work, Ehsan, continues to provide sacrificial animal services for the Hajj season in partnership with the Kingdom’s Project for the Utilization of Hady and Adahi.
The initiative offers pilgrims a seamless and reliable way to fulfill the ritual through trusted digital solutions, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Adahi has finalized preparations at seven specialized field complexes spanning more than 1 million sq. meters. These are supported by more than 25,000 trained personnel, including 600 Islamic scholars, more than 500 veterinarians, 16,500 butchers and assistants, and 400 technicians.
Advanced technologies have been integrated into the operation, such as automated weighing, real-time tracking, and modern refrigeration and sterilization systems, to ensure the safety, quality, and efficiency of meat processing and distribution.
Sacrifices will be carried out at a rate of one every seven seconds using a fully digitized system, enabling donors — both inside and outside the Kingdom — to perform the ritual through the Ehsan platform with ease and peace of mind.
The project offers a secure, three-language website for the convenient purchase of sacrificial bonds, catering to people of diverse nationalities. So far, 770,000 livestock have been received, surpassing the initial target of 750,000, with continuous deliveries from supplier farms underway.
The upcoming humanitarian distribution will cover all 13 administrative regions of the Kingdom and extend to more than 27 countries worldwide. The operation is coordinated with more than 500 charitable and civil society organizations to ensure that sacrificial meat reaches those most in need, both locally and internationally.
Coach Inzaghi to leave Inter Milan: club
- “The club and Simone Inzaghi are parting ways. This is the decision taken by mutual agreement,” Inter said
- According to renowned Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Inzaghi’s next job could be with Saudi club Al-Hilal
ROME: Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi is leaving after four years by “mutual agreement,” the club announced on Tuesday, as Italian media reported he was moving to Saudi Arabia.
“The club and Simone Inzaghi are parting ways. This is the decision taken by mutual agreement,” Inter said in a statement.
Both Inter and Inzaghi said the decision had been made at a meeting involving the coach and club President Giuseppe Marotta on Tuesday afternoon.
The parting came just days after Saturday’s 5-0 thumping by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final.
According to renowned Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Inzaghi’s next job could be with Saudi club Al-Hilal, as he suggested a deal was in place for the next three years.
Meanwhile AFP report added that talks had already been swirling about his exit, and last month Inzaghi played down rumors about a two-year deal with Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal worth 50 million euros.
Italian media said Tuesday this reported had been confirmed.
According to Romano, Inzaghi could earn up to €26 million ($29.5 million) per season in the Saudi Pro League as new Al-Hilal head coach, adding in a post on X that any contract would be “initially valid until June 2027.”
Inzaghi took over Inter in 2021 and had a contract until 2026.
The 49-year-old guided the club to one Serie A title — Inter’s 20th — and two Italian Cups. He led
the team to two Champions League finals in the past three seasons but lost both.
On track to repeat the treble heroics of 2010 just a few weeks ago, Inter ended the season trophyless after falling away in each competition.
In its statement, the club said Inzaghi’s management was “characterised by great passion, accompanied by professionalism and dedication.”
His trophies had “brought the club back to the top of Italian and European football,” it said.
Marotta thanked him “for the work done, for the passion shown and also for the sincerity in today’s discussion, which led to the common decision to separate our paths.”
“Only when we have fought together to achieve success day by day, can we have a frank dialogue like the one that happened today,” he said.
In a separate statement, Inzaghi thanked the players, managers and staff, but most of all the fans, adding: “I will never forget you.”
* With AFP
Libya’s eastern-based parliament passed budget for its development fund
- The budget of $12.71 billion will be spread equally over three years
BENGHAZI: Libya’s eastern-based parliament voted on Tuesday to approve a budget for its development and reconstruction fund, a parliament spokesperson and member said, although it is unclear if the money will be forthcoming given the country’s divisions.
The budget of 69 billion Libyan dinar ($12.71 billion) will be spread equally over three years, lawmaker Tarek Jroushi told Reuters, adding that the funds will be overseen by the parliament.
Parliament spokesperson Abdullah Blheg earlier announced the approval of the budget in a post on X, without disclosing the budget amount.
The fund, established in February last year by the eastern-based House of Representatives, has independent financial status, according to the parliament gazette.
However it is unclear if the governor of the Tripoli-based Central Bank of Libya, Naji Issa, will hand over the money for the fund. The central bank, based in Tripoli, is the only internationally recognized depository for Libyan oil revenues, the country’s vital economic income.
The eastern development fund is headed by Belgasem Haftar, a son of military commander Khalifa Haftar.
The Benghazi-based government of Osama Hamad is allied to Haftar, who controls the east and large parts of the southern region of Libya.
The north African country’s separate Tripoli-based Government of National Unity is headed by interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah, who was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021.
From Nigeria to Pakistan, TB testing ‘in a coma’ after US aid cuts
- President Trump’s gutting of the USAID has also stalled vital research in South Africa and left TB survivors lacking support in India
- WHO says ‘the drastic and abrupt cuts in global health funding’ threaten to reverse the gains made by global efforts to fight the disease
LAGOS/JOHANNESBURG/MANILA: At a tense meeting in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, health workers poured over drug registers and testing records to gauge whether US aid cuts would unravel years of painstaking work against tuberculosis in one of Africa’s hardest hit countries.
For several days in May, they brainstormed ways to limit the fallout from a halt to US funding for the TB Local Network (TB LON), which delivers screening, diagnosis and treatment.
“To tackle the spread of TB, you must identify cases and that is in a coma because of the aid cuts,” said Ibrahim Umoru, coordinator of the African TB Coalition civil society network, who was at the Abuja meeting.
“This means more cases will be missed and disaster is looming.”
This desperate struggle to save endangered programs is being replicated from the Philippines to South Africa as experts warn that US aid cuts risk reviving a deadly infectious disease that kills around one million people every year.
President Donald Trump’s gutting of the US Agency for International Development has put TB testing and tracing on hold in Pakistan and Nigeria, stalled vital research in South Africa and left TB survivors lacking support in India.
The World Health Organization says “the drastic and abrupt cuts in global health funding” threaten to reverse the gains made by global efforts to fight the disease — namely 79 million lives saved since 2000 — with rising drug resistance and conflicts exacerbating the risks.
In Nigeria, TB LON is in the firing line.
The project was set up in 2020, during Trump’s first term, and received $45 million worth of funding from USAID. The US development agency said at the time it was committed to a “TB free Nigeria.”
Five years later and with the same president back in charge but now with a more radical “America first” agenda, USAID support for TB LON’s community testing work was terminated in February, according to a TB LON official. The official did not want to be named because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the project.
‘HARD WORK IN JEOPARDY’
TB kills 268 Nigerians every day and cases have historically been under-reported increasing the risk of transmission. If one case is missed, that person can transmit TB to 15 people over a year, according to the World Health Organization.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation spoke to half a dozen health workers who collect TB test samples for TB LON but had stopped doing so in January due to the US aid freeze.
Between 2020-2024, TB LON screened around 20 million people in southwestern states in Nigeria, and more than 100,000 patients were treated as a result.
“All that hard work is in jeopardy if we don’t act quickly,” Umoru said, adding that non-profits working with TB LON had laid off more than 1,000 contract workers who used to do TB screening.
Nigeria’s health ministry did not respond to request for comment on the effect of the USAID cuts on TB programs.
In March, First Lady Oluremi Tinubu declared TB a national emergency and donated 1 billion naira ($630,680) to efforts to eradicate the disease by 2030.
In South Africa, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said TB and HIV programs had been disrupted across the country, making patient tracking and testing more difficult, according to a statement sent to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
South Africa had a TB incidence rate of 427 per 100,000 people in 2023, government data showed, down 57 percent from 2015. TB-related deaths in South Africa dropped 16 percent over that period, the data showed.
Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi said in May that the government would launch an End TB campaign to screen and test 5 million people, and was also seeking new donor funding.
“Under no circumstances will we allow this massive work performed over a period of more than a decade and half to collapse and go up in smoke,” he said at the time, referring to efforts to tackle TB and HIV.
BLOW TO CRITICAL RESEARCH
South Africa is also a hub for research into both TB and HIV and the health experts say funding cuts risk derailing this vital work.
The Treatment Action Group (TAG), a community-based research and policy think tank, says around 39 clinical research sites and at least 20 TB trials and 24 HIV trials are at risk.
“Every major TB treatment and vaccine advance in the past two decades has relied on research carried out in South Africa,” said TAG TB project co-director Lindsay McKenna in a March statement.
People struggling with poor nutrition and those living with HIV — the latter affects 8 million people in South Africa — were also more at risk of contracting TB as aid cuts made them more vulnerable by derailing nutrition programs, community outreach and testing, said Cathy Hewison, head of MSF’s TB working group.
“It’s the number one killer of people with HIV,” she said.
In the Philippines, US cuts have disrupted TB testing in four USAID-funded projects, and affected the supply of drugs, Stop TB Partnership, a UN-funded agency said.
“The country has a nationwide problem with recurrent drug shortages, which is leading to a direct impact on efforts to eliminate TB,” said Ghazali Babiker, head of mission for MSF Philippines.
In Pakistan, which sees 510,000 TB infections each year, MSF said US cuts had disrupted TB screening in communities and other services in the hard-hit southeastern province of Sindh.
“We are worried that the US funding cuts that have impacted the community-based services will have a disproportionate effect on children, leading to more children with TB and more avoidable deaths,” said Ei Hnin Hnin Phyu, medical coordinator with MSF in Pakistan.
“We cannot afford to let funding decisions cost children’s lives.”
