ROME: G20 leaders will hold a virtual summit on Tuesday to discuss Afghanistan, with the Italy-hosted talks focused on the humanitarian and security situation following the takeover by the Taliban.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, whose country holds the rotating G20 presidency, has been pushing to widen the global discussion on Afghanistan to countries including Russia and China.
It was not clear if all the leaders of the G20 economic powers, which include the United States, EU, China, Turkey, Russia and Saudi Arabia among others, would join Tuesday’s meeting.
But an Italian government official said it would be “mostly heads of state and government.”
The summit will be held behind closed doors but Draghi will hold a press conference afterwards.
The hard-line Islamist Taliban returned to power in August following the withdrawal of US troops after 20 years of war.
Afghanistan’s economy remains in a parlous state with international aid cut off, food prices rising and unemployment spiking.
Announcing the meeting last month, the Italian premier said it would address what he said was the risk of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Afghanistan.
Draghi, whose country was part of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, said leaders would also look at measures the international community can take “to stop Afghanistan from again becoming a hotbed of international terrorism.”
The Taliban regime, still yet to be recognized as a legitimate government by any other country, is itself facing a threat from the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), who have launched a series of deadly attacks.
G20 leaders to discuss Afghanistan in virtual summit
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G20 leaders to discuss Afghanistan in virtual summit
- Summit will be held behind closed doors but a press conference will be held afterwards
- Afghanistan’s economy remains in a parlous state with international aid cut off
Ukraine’s Zelensky urges action against ‘evil’ on Auschwitz anniversary
- The Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022
- Zelensky warned that the memory of the Holocaust is growing weaker
The Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 claiming that the government in Kyiv contained neo-Nazi elements and saying the country must be demilitarized.
Zelensky warned that the memory of the Holocaust is growing weaker and said some countries are still trying to destroy entire nations.
“We must overcome the hatred that gives rise to abuse and murder. We must prevent forgetfulness,” he said, according to a statement from the presidency.
“And it is everyone’s mission to do everything possible to prevent evil from winning,” he added.
The foreign ministry said in a statement that Russia’s invasion “brought back to Ukrainian soil horrors that Europe has not seen since World War II.”
“Jewish communities of Ukraine are also suffering from constant Russian terror, in particular in the cities of Dnipro and Odesa, which have a population of over a million, and other localities,” it added.
The Holocaust decimated the Jewish community in Ukraine, which during World War II was part of the Soviet Union.
It was not the first massacre of Jewish people in Ukraine’s history, which had seen previous anti-Semitic pogroms.
Russia drone barrage sparks fire in western Ukraine
KYIV: A barrage of more than 100 Russian drones sparked a fire at an industrial facility in western Ukraine and damaged residential buildings in other regions, Ukrainian officials said Monday.
The Ukrainian airforce said Moscow had dispatched 104 drones, including attack drones, and that 57 of the unmanned aerial vehicles had been shot down.
Emergency services in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region said the strikes had resulted in two fires at an industrial facility, and that firefighters were working to extinguish one.
They did not specify the type of facility hit but said there were no casualties.
The airforce said there was damage in four Ukrainian regions including Kyiv, where AFP journalists heard drones flying overhead and air defense systems countering the attack.
’Deaths’ during mass prison break in DR Congo’s Goma: security source
The prison, which holds around 3,000 inmates, was “totally torched” following a huge jailbreak that resulted in “deaths,” the security source said, without giving further details.
Fleeing prisoners could be seen in the surrounding streets, according to an AFP journalist.
Bird feathers and bloodstains found in Jeju jet engines: South Korea report
- The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Thailand to Muan in South Korea on Dec. 29 when it crash landed
- It was the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil, killing 179 of the 181 passengers and crew
SEOUL: Bird feathers and bloodstains were found in both engines of the Jeju Air plane that crashed in December, according to a preliminary investigation released Monday.
The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Thailand to Muan in South Korea on December 29 when it crash landed and exploded into a fireball after slamming into a concrete barrier.
It was the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil, killing 179 of the 181 passengers and crew.
South Korean and American investigators are still probing the cause of the disaster, with a bird strike, faulty landing gear and the runway barrier among the possible issues.
Both engines recovered from the crash site were inspected, and bird bloodstains and feathers were “found on each,” the report said.
“The pilots identified a group of birds while approaching runway 01, and a security camera filmed HL8088 coming close to a group of birds during a go-around,” the report added, referring to the Jeju jet’s registration number.
It did not specify whether the engines had stopped working in the moments leading up to the crash.
DNA analysis identified the feathers and blood as coming from Baikal teals, migratory ducks which fly to Korea in winter from their breeding grounds in Siberia.
After the air traffic control tower cleared the jet to land, it advised the pilots to exercise caution against potential bird strikes at 8:58 am, the report said. Just a minute later, both the voice and data recording systems stopped functioning.
Seconds after the recording systems failed, the pilots declared mayday due to a bird strike and attempted a belly landing.
The Jeju plane exploded in flames when it collided with a concrete embankment during its landing, prompting questions about why that type barricade was in place at the end of the runway.
Last week, authorities said they would replace such concrete barriers at airports nationwide with “breakable structures.”
The captain had over 6,800 flight hours, while the first officer had 1,650 hours, according to the report. Both were killed in the crash, which was survived only by two flight attendants.
Lukashenko pockets massive win in Belarus election scorned by the West
- Alexander Lukashenko took 86.8 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election
- European politicians have said the vote was neither free nor fair
MELBOURNE: Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule with a massive win in a presidential election that Western governments have rejected as a sham, according to preliminary results on Monday.
“You can congratulate the Republic of Belarus, we have elected a president,” the head of the country’s Central Election Commission of the Republic Igor Karpenko told a press conference in the early hours of Monday, according to Russian state media.
According to results published on the Central Election Commission’s Telegram account, Lukashenko took 86.8 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election.
European politicians said the vote was neither free nor fair because independent media are banned in the former Soviet state and all leading opposition figures have been sent to penal colonies or forced to flee abroad.
“The people of Belarus had no choice. It is a bitter day for all those who long for freedom & democracy,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock posted on X.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski expressed mock surprise that “only” 87.6 percent of the electorate appeared to have backed Lukashenko.
“Will the rest fit inside the prisons?” he wrote on X.
Asked about the jailing of his opponents, Lukashenko said they had “chosen” their fate.
“Some chose prison, some chose ‘exile’, as you say. We didn’t kick anyone out of the country,” he told a rambling press conference on Sunday that lasted more than four hours and 20 minutes.
The close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier defended his jailing of dissidents and declared: “I don’t give a damn about the West.”
