KUNDUZ: An Afghan group opposed to Taliban rule rejected on Sunday the police’s accusation that its members had killed polio vaccinators on a campaign to eradicate the crippling virus.
Police had said two members of the National Resistance Front (NRF) had been arrested in connection with killing seven vaccinators on February 24 in the northern province of Kunduz.
The NRF were the last group to hold out against the Taliban takeover last year, retreating to the Panjshir Valley, which eventually fell in September, weeks after the former government forces capitulated.
The health workers were killed in separate attacks while on a house-to-house vaccine campaign.
“The arrested men have confessed to their crime and said they shot the polio vaccinators after receiving orders from their leaders from the Resistance Front in the province,” Kunduz police spokesman Qari Obaidullah Abedi had told AFP.
According to the spokesman, the arrested men also confessed that “they were paid” for the murders.
NRF rejected the accusations as “Taliban propaganda.”
“The National Resistance Front condemns the perpetrators of this attack and we strongly believe it was conducted by the Taliban or one of their terrorist partners,” Ali Nazary, spokesman for the NRF, told AFP.
The NRF is led by the son of legendary late anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was assassinated by Al-Qaeda in 2001.
In total, eight polio vaccinators were killed on February 24 — seven in Kunduz and one in the neighboring province of Takhar.
Polio teams in Afghanistan were frequently targeted by insurgent groups until the Taliban’s takeover in August.
Since then, the hard-line Islamists have said they want to work with the United Nations to stamp out the disease.
In the past, polio vaccination drives in Afghanistan — and neighboring Pakistan — were accused of being fronts for spying, while some clerics said the vaccine was a conspiracy to sterilize Muslims.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic.
Afghan group rejects murdering polio vaccinators
Afghan group rejects murdering polio vaccinators
Nepal resumes rescue helicopter flights to Mount Everest
KATHMANDU: Nepali airlines have resumed rescue helicopter flights to the Everest region, an aviation industry official announced Tuesday, following weeks of suspension prompted by protests from locals citing environmental impact and loss of income from trekkers.
Helicopters are a key means of transport and crucial for emergency rescue in many remote regions around mountainous Nepal, vast stretches of which are often inaccessible by road.
But they have also been used to give mountaineering teams and tourists a shortcut over challenging terrain in the Sagarmatha National Park, home to Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak.
For those who can afford the $1,000 price tag, helicopters reduce the two-week long trek to Everest base camp to just a day — depriving Nepalis along the overland route of a key source of revenue.
In early January, the Airlines Operators Association of Nepal grounded all flights, blaming the halt on local youths who had blocked landing sites with flags.
The association also said the protesters had warned pilots who landed that they would be forced to walk back on foot.
On Tuesday, association official Pratap Jung Pandey told AFP that rescue flights were reopened Saturday “on humanitarian grounds.”
But commercial flights to the region were still suspended, as negotiations with locals for their resumption were ongoing.
“It is going in a positive direction and it should reopen soon. But I cannot say exactly when,” Pandey told AFP.
Over 50,000 tourists visit the Everest region every year.
According to the association, the Everest region sees about 15 helicopter flights per day in the winter and up to 60 per day during peak tourist season.
“Rescue flights are crucial in mountaineering to save lives of climbers if anything happens,” said Mingma Gyalje Sherpa who runs Imagine Nepal, a mountaineering expedition company.
Italy sends 49 more migrants to Albania for processing after court rejections
SHENGJIN, Albania: An Italian navy ship arrived on Tuesday in Albania with 49 migrants intercepted in international waters for processing of their asylum applications at special Albanian centers, in the third such attempt following hurdles earlier raised by Italian courts.
Italy’s Interior Ministry did not specify the nationality of the migrants brought to the port of Shengjin, 66 km northwest of the capital, Tirana, but Italian media said they were from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Gambia.
The attempt at processing in Albania follows two previous failures in October and November, when Italian judges refused to approve the detention of two small groups at the Albanian centers, built under a contentious agreement between Italy and Albania. The courts ruled that the migrants’ countries of origin weren’t safe enough for them to face the possibility of being sent back by the centers.
The cases have been referred to the European Court of Justice, which earlier established that asylum applicants could not undergo a fast-track procedure that could lead to repatriation if their home countries are not deemed completely safe.
The European court hearing on the case is scheduled for Feb. 25.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s government has vowed to reactivate the two centers in Albania after they remained dormant following the Italian courts’ decisions.
Meloni’s position was partially backed by a ruling in late December by Italy’s highest court, which said Italian judges could not substitute for government policy in deciding which countries are safe for repatriation of migrants whose asylum requests are rejected.
The decision does allow lower courts to make such determinations on a case-by-case basis, short of setting overall policy.
The migrants are to be checked in at a reception center at the port of Shengjin before being taken to the Gjader accommodation center, about 22 km to the east.
The November 2023 agreement allows up to 3,000 migrants intercepted by the Italian coast guard in international waters each month to be sheltered in Albania and vetted for possible asylum in Italy or repatriation.
Italy has agreed to welcome those migrants who are granted asylum, while those whose applications are rejected face deportation directly from Albania.
UN confirms US demand to withdrawal from Paris climate deal
- “I can confirm to you that the US has notified the secretary-general… of its withdrawal on January 27 of this year from the Paris agreement,” said Dujarric
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations confirmed Tuesday it had received notification from Washington of its withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement, a key campaign pledge of US President Donald Trump.
On his first day back in the White House, Trump announced the United States would leave the accord, which is managed by the UN climate change body. It brings together almost all the world’s nations and aims to keep global average temperature rise below a critical threshold.
“I can confirm to you that the United States has notified the secretary-general, in his capacity as a depository, of its withdrawal on January 27 of this year from the Paris agreement,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres.
“According to Article 28, paragraph two, of the Paris agreement, the withdrawal of the United States will take effect on January 27, 2026.”
Washington typically provides 22 percent of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat’s budget, with the body’s operating costs for 2024-2025 projected at $96.5 million.
Billionaire entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg has announced that his foundation will step in to meet the shortfall.
The secretariat is tasked with supporting the global response to climate threats, and organizes international climate conferences, the next of which will be COP30 held in Brazil in November.
Top Ukrainian defense official sacked amid infighting over procurement
- Ukraine has sought to clean up defense spending as the war grinds toward its fourth year
- As well as requesting Dmytro Klimenkov’s removal, Umerov leveled particular criticism at the Defense Procurement Agency
KYIV: Ukraine’s government on Tuesday sacked a deputy defense minister in charge of weapons purchases amid infighting over procurement that is complicating Kyiv’s attempt to reassure key Western partners at a critical moment in the war with Russia.
The dispute burst into the open last week after Defense Minister Rustem Umerov criticized Ukraine’s arms procurement effort as having failed to deliver results for frontline troops.
Ukraine has sought to clean up defense spending as the war grinds toward its fourth year, an effort that has taken on greater importance as US President Donald Trump considers whether to continue supporting Kyiv’s military.
As well as requesting Dmytro Klimenkov’s removal, Umerov leveled particular criticism at the Defense Procurement Agency, which coordinates weapons purchases for Ukraine’s outgunned military.
The agency was established after a series of allegations earlier in the war of ministry misspending, and has aimed to cut out intermediaries and minimize the risk of corruption.
In a statement on Friday, Umerov said it had “inexplicably transformed into an ‘Amazon’” and its purchases were too publicly visible. Ukraine has long sought to keep details of arms procurement a closely guarded secret.
Umerov also said that he would not renew a contract with agency chief Maryna Bezrukova, a reformer whose appointment last year had been applauded by Kyiv’s Western partners. He pledged to install a new director.
The agency said in response that it had made “significant progress” in boosting supply and lowering prices, and that it would continue working under Bezrukova.
The standoff comes as Ukrainian troops face Russian advances across swathes of the east. Both sides are attempting to gain a battlefield edge ahead of any potential peace talks, but Kyiv’s defenses are buckling amid a shortage of men and weapons.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Western partners to keep arms flowing to Ukraine. The defense ministry’s own anti-corruption council, comprised of elected civic activists, said the infighting could compromise that effort.
“We believe the current situation is harmful to Ukraine, the Ukrainian military and our international relations,” it said on Saturday. “We must be clear and predictable for partners.”
In a statement on Monday, G7 diplomats in Ukraine urged officials to quickly resolve the dispute.
“Consistency with good governance principles and NATO recommendations is important to maintain the trust of public and international partners,” they wrote.
Lawsuit says Russian officials stole millions meant to fortify border region attacked by Ukraine
- The trio was arrested and sent to pre-trial detention on corruption charges in December and January, Russian media reported
- They face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty
LONDON: Russian prosecutors are seeking to recover nearly $33 million of funds that they say were allocated for the defense of the western Kursk region, invaded by Ukraine last year, but stolen instead by corrupt officials.
Ukrainian troops stormed across the border in a surprise attack on Aug. 6 and seized a chunk of Russian territory, some of which they still hold — a valuable bargaining chip for Kyiv in any peace talks with Moscow.
A lawsuit filed by the office of Russia’s Prosecutor General orders the head of the Kursk Regional Development Corporation, his deputies and a number of businessmen to repay more than 3.2 billion roubles ($32.7 million) allegedly embezzled from the regional defense budget, state news agency RIA reported.
In the two years prior to Ukraine’s attack, the governor in charge of Kursk at the time had repeatedly told the public that Russia had boosted its fortifications along the region’s 150-mile (240 km) border with Ukraine.
“Right now the risk of an armed invasion of the territory of Kursk region from Ukraine is not high,” Roman Starovoit assured residents in November 2022. “However, we are constantly working to strengthen the region’s defense capabilities.”
The next month, he posed in a snowy field beside a row of pyramid-shaped anti-tank defenses known as “dragon’s teeth.”
But in the autumn of 2023, Ukraine’s National Resistance Center, created by the special operations forces, said in an online post that reconnaissance showed “almost all the strongholds are deserted of personnel and equipment” along the border with Kursk. Corruption was a factor, it said.
Vidео published by Ukrainian paratroopers during the early days of the August incursion showed columns of armored vehicles pouring into Kursk through the rows of dragon’s teeth.
’ILLEGAL ENRICHMENT’
Between 2022 and 2023, some 19.4 billion roubles were pumped from Russia’s federal budget to Kursk, according to RIA, to build defenses such as ditches and dragon’s teeth.
The lawsuit alleges that officials instead funnelled that money into contracts with over a half-dozen companies controlled by several business people. The companies created “the appearance of performing work on the construction of protective structures and put in place a false scheme of expenses,” it says.
The head of the regional development fund and two of his deputies “used their official position for personal purposes...(and) for their illegal enrichment through the wrongful seizure of budget funds allocated for the protection and strengthening of the country’s defense capabilities against enemy invasion.”
The trio was arrested and sent to pre-trial detention on corruption charges in December and January, Russian media reported. They face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. One of the businessmen named in the suit, whose firm carried out construction work in Kursk, was placed in pre-trial detention last week.
Reuters was unable to locate lawyers for the detained individuals for comment.
“Everyone who has broken the law should know that there will be no leniency or indulgence for him,” Kursk’s acting regional governor Alexander Khinshtein posted on Telegram on Tuesday.
“Especially when it concerns such a vital topic for all Kurskites as the construction of fortifications!“
