McCann family seeks closure as Germany presumes Madeleine is dead

Hans Christian Wolters, a prosecutor in Braunschweig, Germany, said investigators are operating on the assumption that Madeleine McCann is dead during a press conference on June 4, 2020, above. (AP)
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Updated 04 June 2020
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McCann family seeks closure as Germany presumes Madeleine is dead

  • Madeleine McCann was three at the time of her disappearance in May 2007

LONDON: The family of missing British girl Madeleine McCann is seeking answers in the case after a key suspect was identified in Germany and as authorities there said Thursday they believe she is dead.
McCann was 3 at the time of her disappearance in May 2007 while she was on vacation with her family in Portugal.
UK and German authorities haven’t named the suspect but said he is 43 and currently in prison in Germany for another crime, and that he was in and around the Praia da Luz resort area on the Algarve coast at the time McCann disappeared. Though numerous suspects have come to light in the case previously, McCann family spokesman Clarence Mitchell said that it seems as if there is something different this time.
“In more than 13 years of working with the family I can’t recall the police being so specific about an individual,” Mitchell told Sky News. “He is not being named and the police are quite adamant they are not going to do that, certainly not yet, but they want very specific details around his movement in 2007, even down to phone calls he received the night before Madeleine went missing and the fact he changed the registration of his car the day after.”
Hans Christian Wolters, a prosecutor in Braunschweig, Germany, told reporters investigators are operating on the assumption that McCann is dead.
“In connection with the disappearance of the then 3-year-old British girl Madeleine Beth McCann on May 3, 2007 from an apartment complex in Praia da Luz in Portugal, Braunschweig prosecutors are investigating a 43-year-old German citizen on suspicion of murder,” he told reporters.
“You can infer from that we assume the girl is dead.”
The long-running case of McCann, who vanished shortly before her fourth birthday, has mesmerized Britain for years. Her parents say Madeleine disappeared after they had left her and her twin siblings asleep in their holiday complex while they had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.
More than 600 people had been identified as being potentially significant, but officers were tipped off about the German suspect following a 2017 appeal, 10 years after the girl went missing.
Police said the suspect, described as white with short, blond hair and a slim build, was linked to a camper van seen in the Algarve in 2007 and was believed to be in the resort area in the days before and after May 3 that year.
Christian Hoppe of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office told German public broadcaster ZDF that the suspect, a German citizen, is currently imprisoned in Germany for a sexual crime. He spent numerous years in Portugal and has two previous convictions for “sexual contact with girls.”
Hoppe said German police aren’t ruling out a sexual motive. They said whoever abducted the girl may have broken into the holiday apartment and then spontaneously committed the kidnapping.
The suspect is being investigated on suspicion of murder by prosecutors in the German city of Braunschweig, where he was last registered before moving abroad.
Wolters wouldn’t give any other details of the suspect’s identity so as not to jeopardize the ongoing investigation.
The description, however, fits that of a 43-year-old man who was convicted in December of the 2005 rape of an American woman, who was 72 at the time, in her apartment in Portugal, the local Braunschweiger Zeitung newspaper reported.
Hoppe said the suspect in the McCann case lived between Lagos and Praia da Luz, was regularly in the Algarve region from between 1995 to 2007. The newspaper, which covered the recent rape trial, said that description and other details match the suspect in that case, who was linked to the 2005 attack recently by DNA.
The suspect denied the charges during the trial and the verdict is currently being appealed. The court didn’t answer an email seeking comment or answer its phones.
Police from Britain, Germany and Portugal launched a new joint appeal for information in the case Wednesday. They asked for anyone to come forward if they had seen two vehicles linked to the suspect — a Volkswagen camper van and a Jaguar. They also sought information on two Portuguese phone numbers, including one believed to have been used by the suspect on the day of Madeleine’s disappearance.
The family, as ever, as searching for answers.
“They do remain hopeful that she could still be found alive,” Mitchell said. “They’ve never given up on that hope, nor will they, until they are presented with any incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. But they say that despite all that, whatever the outcome of this particular line of enquiry might be, they need to know as they need to find peace.”


Saudi ambassador to Kabul meets Afghan foreign minister, discusses bilateral relations

Updated 7 min 29 sec ago
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Saudi ambassador to Kabul meets Afghan foreign minister, discusses bilateral relations

  • The development comes week after the Kingdom’s embassy in Kabul resumed its diplomatic activities in Afghanistan
  • Afghan official says the two sides discussed ways to capitalize on existing opportunities to enhance cooperation

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Faisal bin Talaq Al-Baqmi has met Afghan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi and discussed with him bilateral relations between the two countries, the Saudi embassy said on Sunday.
The development comes week after the Kingdom’s embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul resumed diplomatic activities to provide services to the Afghan people.
The Afghan foreign ministry had welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to resume diplomatic operations in Kabul, more than three years after Riyadh withdrew its staff during the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The meeting between the Saudi ambassador and the Afghan foreign minister was held in Kabul, according to the Saudi embassy. It was also attended by Deputy Head of Mission Mishaal Mutlaq Al-Shammari.
“The meeting discussed bilateral relations, ways to enhance them, and topics of common interest,” the Saudi embassy said on X.

Hafiz Zia Ahmad, a deputy spokesman at the Afghan foreign ministry, said the meeting underlined matters related to expanding bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, delivering consular services to Afghan nationals residing in the Kingdom, and capitalizing on existing opportunities to enhance cooperation.
“FM Muttaqi underscored the need to increase the exchange of delegations between the two countries,” Ahmad said on X. “Additionally, FM Muttaqi also expressed hope that the Saudi government would consider increasing the quota for Hajj & Umrah for Afghan pilgrims & extending support for the provision of consular services to Afghan nationals residing in Saudi Arabia.”
The Saudi ambassador affirmed the Kingdom’s commitment to extending support to Afghans and said the resumption of diplomatic activities in Kabul was aimed at “maximizing all the existing opportunities available,” Ahmad added.
Ties between Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan date back to 1932, when the Kingdom became the first Islamic country to provide aid to the Afghan people during their ordeals.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has launched numerous projects in Afghanistan through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Center (KSrelief), focusing on health, education services, water and food security. Riyadh has also participated in all international donor conferences and called for establishing security and stability in Afghanistan following years of armed conflicts.
Saudi Arabia has continued to provide consular services in Afghanistan since November 2021 and provided humanitarian aid through KSrelief.


Sri Lankans rally to stop deportation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar

Sri Lankan rights activists demonstrate in front of the president’s office in Colombo on Jan. 10, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 12 January 2025
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Sri Lankans rally to stop deportation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar

  • Activists stage protests in northeastern Mullaitivu district and capital Colombo
  • Rohingya risk deadly sea crossings as fighting intensifies in Myanmar

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan civil society groups and activists are mobilizing to save more than 100 Rohingya refugees rescued off the Indian Ocean island nation last month following a government announcement that they will be deported. 

A group of about 100 Rohingya refugees, which reportedly included over two dozen children, was rescued off the coast of the northeastern Mullaitivu district on Dec. 19. 

Several protests were recently organized in Mullaitivu and the capital Colombo after Sri Lanka’s Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Ananda Wijepala announced on Jan. 3 that the government was in talks with Myanmar authorities over the deportation of the Rohingya refugees. 

“These are stateless people, they don’t have a home to go to,” social activist Thasneema Dahlan, who took part in a protest in Colombo on Friday, told Arab News.

“The Rohingya are massacred and chased and terrorized in their own home, and that is why they fled their own country looking for greener pastures elsewhere.”  

The mostly Muslim Rohingya — the “world’s most persecuted minority,” according to the UN — have faced decades of oppression in Myanmar. 

In 2017, more than 730,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State were forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh to escape a brutal military crackdown that UN experts have referred to as a “genocidal campaign,” amid evidence of ethnic cleansing, mass rape, and killings. 

As Rakhine became a focal point in Myanmar’s intensifying nationwide civil war, hundreds of Rohingya have been fleeing the country in recent weeks through dangerous sea crossings, often on rickety boats. Last year, more than 7,800 people made such attempts, according to the UN refugee agency — an 80 percent increase compared with 2023. 

“Their objective wasn’t to get to Sri Lanka. Their objective was to get somewhere, anywhere where they could survive,” Dahlan said. “We are urging the government to … please not send them back, not repatriate them, not deport them, because that is just sending them back to death.”

Sri Lanka, which is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol, is a transit point for refugees until the UNHCR helps them resettle in another country. 

In 2022, its navy also rescued about 100 Rohingya refugees, who have been under the care of local NGOs as they await resettlement. 

Sri Lankan activists have also filed petitions with the government, urging authorities to relocate the new group of refugees from the Keppapulavu Air Force base in Mullaitivu, where they have stayed since Dec. 23. According to protesters, aid agencies, including the UN, have been stopped from meeting the Rohingya. 

“Sheltering the refugees under a militarized environment is incompatible with international humanitarian norms and basic human values,” the North-East Coordinating Committee, which organized the Mullaitivu protest on Thursday, said in a letter. 

Ruki Fernando, a human rights activist based in Colombo, said the Rohingya refugees should be “kept in a place under civil administration,” not military. 

“Many Sri Lankans have been refugees. We need to help others. It’s our legal obligation … under customary international law, non-refoulement is prohibited. It means no one fleeing a well-founded fear of persecution should be sent back,” Fernando told Arab News, referring to the hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils who fled the country’s civil war between 1983 and 2009. 

“We also have moral, ethical obligations to welcome, care and support those in distress. Our religious and spiritual values teach us this.”  


Islam ‘places no restrictions’ on girls’ education, forum told

Pakistan and the MWL co-hosted the two-day conference “Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities.”
Updated 12 January 2025
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Islam ‘places no restrictions’ on girls’ education, forum told

  • Muslim World League, global leaders focus on gender equality at Islamabad meeting

ISLAMABAD: Islam places no restrictions on girls’ education, Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, told an international conference in Pakistan on Saturday focusing on the issue.

The MWL leader added that anyone opposing education for women deviates from the global Muslim community.

Pakistan and the MWL co-hosted the two-day conference, “Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities,” under the patronage of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad.

Sharif commended the MWL for its dedication to education, saying that ensuring equal access to education for girls remains one of the most pressing challenges of the present time.

“Entrenched societal norms intensify the problem of a lack of education for girls, leading to a cycle of deprivation that affects more than one generation,” he said.

The initiative aims to raise awareness in Muslim communities about the importance of girls’ education through various themes, joint programs, and collaborative agreements.

“Our Islamic faith has always celebrated the education of every Muslim, both male and female, because the message of Islam was to enlighten all, regardless of gender,” Al-Issa told participants.

“Therefore, Muslim women in Islam have had a significant and active presence in all spheres of life — in religious matters, the sciences, politics, economics, and societal affairs throughout history.”

The MWL chief said any reservations about girls’ education must be understood as stemming from non-Islamic customs that have no basis in the Muslim faith.

He lauded the initiative as a transformative step for advancing girls’ education, emphasizing its practical and results-oriented approach.

The forum addressed the issue by signing a consensus document, “the Islamabad Declaration for Girls’ Education,” reaffirming that Islam does not prohibit women’s education in any way.

It will be presented to international governmental and nongovernment organizations. The declaration calls for the establishment of an international day dedicated to advancing its primary goal.

Al-Issa said that the declaration will serve to solidify and strengthen the initiative.

The initiative also includes the launch of a platform for international partnerships, along with the signing of several agreements with regional and international organizations focused on women’s empowerment and girls’ education.

The summit brought together over 150 dignitaries from 44 Muslim and other friendly states, according to Pakistan’s Foreign Office. It was also attended by Hissein Brahim Taha, secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Taha affirmed the organization’s readiness to support the initiative and contribute to its success for the benefit of girls across the Islamic world.

“Education forms the cornerstone of a strong society and represents a shared responsibility that facilitates progress and prosperity. At the OIC, we categorically oppose any policies or practices that violate Islam’s respectful and honorable teachings regarding women,” he said.


Trump calls California leaders ‘incompetent’ over fire response

Updated 12 January 2025
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Trump calls California leaders ‘incompetent’ over fire response

  • ‘The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols (politicians) have no idea how to put them out’
  • The fires have so far killed at least 16 people, displaced 150,000 more, and destroyed more than 12,000 structures

LOS ANGELES, United States: US President-elect Donald Trump accused California officials on Sunday of incompetence over their handling of deadly wildfires raging around Los Angeles.
“The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols (politicians) have no idea how to put them out,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” he wrote.
The speed and intensity of the blazes ravaging Los Angeles have tested its firefighting infrastructure and given rise to questions and criticism about the state’s preparedness.
Hydrants ran dry in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood as it was ravaged by one of the region’s five separate fires, while water shortages additionally hampered efforts elsewhere.
With just over a week before he returns to the White House, Trump has launched a series of evidence-free broadsides accusing California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of failings in response to the blazes.
Newsom has meanwhile invited Trump to visit Los Angeles and survey the devastation with him.
The fires have so far killed at least 16 people, displaced 150,000 more, and destroyed more than 12,000 structures according to state officials.
“Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place,” Trump said in his post.
Despite firefighters’ heroic efforts, including precision sorties from aerial crews, the Palisades Fire has continued to push east toward the priceless collections of the Getty Center art museum and north to the densely populated San Fernando Valley.


Manila deploys coast guard ship to counter China patrols

Updated 12 January 2025
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Manila deploys coast guard ship to counter China patrols

  • Beijing claims most of the strategic waterway despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling that went against it
  • There have been frequent clashes or tense standoffs between Philippine and Chinese vessels

MANILA: The Philippines said Sunday it had deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea.
Beijing claims most of the strategic waterway despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling that went against it, and there have been frequent clashes or tense standoffs between Philippine and Chinese vessels.
Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to the waters.
Commodore Jay Tarriela, a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman, said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111 kilometers) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon.
“Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement.
He later told reporters Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area to challenge the “unlawful” Chinese patrols.
He said the deployment aimed to ensure Chinese patrols “are not normalized, and that this bullying behavior does not succeed.”
Tarriela said the Chinese coast guard deployed three vessels from its Guangdong and Hainan bases to Philippine waters between December 30 and January 11.
The South China Sea confrontations have sparked concern they could draw the United States, Manila’s long-time security ally, into armed conflict with China.