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Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak meet amid private battle for UK leadership

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Ex-finance minister Rishi Sunak (L) and former prime minister Boris Johnson. (AFP photos)
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British Conservative MP Rishi Sunak leaves his home address in London, Britain October 22, 2022. (Reuters)
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Former British PM Boris Johnson arriving at Gatwick Airport, near London, from a Caribbean holiday on October 22, 2022. (REUTERS)
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Updated 23 October 2022
AFP
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Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak meet amid private battle for UK leadership

  • Johnson, who was forced to quit as UK prime minister in August, returned from a Caribbean holiday earlier in the day aiming to launch an audacious political comeback 
  • He and place ex-finance minister Sunak are poised for a battle to replace outgoing leader Liz Truss, who quit just 44 days into her tenure
Updated 23 October 2022
AFP

LONDON:  Conservative rivals Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak held face-to-face talks late Saturday, reports said, as the feuding pair who once headed Britain’s government were poised to battle for the leadership of their fractured ruling party.
Former prime minister Johnson, who returned from a Caribbean holiday earlier in the day aiming to launch an audacious political comeback just weeks after leaving office, met ex-finance minister Sunak to discuss the race, the BBC and others reported.
Both are yet to declare they will run to replace outgoing leader Liz Truss, who announced Thursday she would stand down — just 44 tempestuous days into her tenure.
It is thought to be their first in-person discussions in months, following a spectacular falling out after Sunak’s July resignation helped trigger the government mutiny that ultimately prompted Johnson’s ousting.
Few details have emerged about what The Sun dubbed a “secret summit” and the Sunday Times said was ongoing at close to 10:00 p.m. (2100 GMT). The Sunday Telegraph reported they were set to discuss “agreeing to a joint ticket” to avoid a Tory “civil war.”
That implausible scenario comes as Sunak races ahead in the count of Conservative MP nominations to be the next leader, with the 42-year-old easily securing the 100 minimum threshold set by the party to contest the UK’s top job.
He has the public backing of 128 Tory lawmakers, compared to Johnson’s 53 and 23 for cabinet member Penny Mordaunt, who was the first to formally declare, on Friday.
Johnson cut short a luxury stay in the Dominican Republic to join the seemingly three-way tussle, with allies saying he was “up for it.”
The divisive 58-year-old Brexit architect only relinquished power in early September, two months after announcing his resignation following a government revolt over a slew of scandals.

The Tories have now been forced into a second, this time expedited, leadership contest since the summer after Truss resigned following her disastrous tax-slashing mini-budget sparked economic and political turmoil.
In a sign of the toll from the tumult, ratings agency Moody’s said Friday it had downgraded Britain’s outlook, blaming in part “heightened unpredictability in policy making.”
Meanwhile, the pound — which hit a record low against the dollar in the mini-budget’s immediate aftermath, but had since rallied — slumped.
Johnson’s apparent bid to reclaim power has already been decried by opposition politicians, and even some in his own fractured ruling party who are demanding stability and unity.
“It is simply not right to risk repeating the chaos (and) confusion of the last year,” said David Frost, a right-wing formerly loyal minister appointed to the House of Lords by Johnson.
“We must move on,” he urged the Tories, adding they “must get behind a capable leader who can deliver a Conservative program” who he identified as ex-finance minister Sunak.
Dominic Raab — Johnson’s deputy prime minister — echoed the comments, telling Sky News an imminent parliamentary inquiry into the “Partygate” scandal that dogged his former boss could prove too distracting.
Veteran backbencher Roger Gale has also warned that Johnson could face a wave of resignations from MPs refusing to serve under him again.
Meanwhile in a major coup for Sunak, trade minister Kemi Badenoch, an influential right-winger, said in a Sunday Times article that “he would be a great leader during a time of crisis.”

The accelerated contest will see the Conservatives’ 357 MPs hold a vote Monday on any candidates with the 100 nominations, before a possible online ballot of party members later in the week if two remain.
Tory MP James Duddridge, a key Johnson ally who confirmed Friday the ex-leader was intent on standing, said Saturday that he had now secured the support of 100 colleagues.
But the claim was met with skepticism by other Conservatives, with one MP telling the BBC it was “hogwash.”
Johnson has nonetheless been endorsed by several Tory heavyweights, including on Saturday ex-interior minister Priti Patel.
Meanwhile, posting a photo of Johnson on the phone to his Facebook, backbench Conservative MP Lee Anderson revealed he was backing him after “a long chat about everything past and present.”
“My inbox is full of BBB (bring back Boris),” he said, referring to an acronym and hashtag used by his supporters.
Although he remains popular with party members who could decide the contest, polling shows he is broadly disliked by the electorate, with a YouGov survey finding 52 percent opposed his comeback.
Another poll also found three in five voters now want an early general election, in line with demands from opposition parties, as Britons struggle with a worsening cost-of-living crisis.

Topics: rishi sunak Britain Boris Johnson Conservative Party

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South Korea’s military says North Korea fired missile into eastern sea

Updated 4 sec ago
AP
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South Korea’s military says North Korea fired missile into eastern sea

  • The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was fired from an area near Pyongyang
  • Seoul denounces the launch as a provocation that poses a serious threat on the Korean Peninsula
Updated 4 sec ago
AP
SEOUL: North Korea on Monday fired a ballistic missile that flew 1,100 kilometers before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, South Korea’s military said, extending its heightened weapons testing activities into 2025 weeks before Donald Trump returns as US president.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was fired from an area near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and that the launch preparations were detected in advance by the US and South Korean militaries. It denounced the launch as a provocation that poses a serious threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
The joint chiefs said the military was strengthening its surveillance and defense posture in preparation for possible additional launches and sharing information on the missile with the United States and Japan.
The launch came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Seoul for talks with South Korean allies over the North Korean nuclear threat and other issues.
Blinken’s visit comes amid political turmoil in South Korea following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law decree and subsequent impeachment by parliament last month, which experts say puts the country at a disadvantage in getting a steady footing with Trump ahead of his return to the White House.
In a year-end political conference, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to implement the “toughest” anti-US policy and criticized the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen security cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo, which he described as a “nuclear military bloc for aggression.”
North Korean state media did not specify Kim’s policy plans or mention any specific comments about Trump. During his first term, Trump met Kim three times for talks on the North’s nuclear program.
Many experts, however, say a quick resumption of Kim-Trump summitry is unlikely as Trump would first focus on conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. North Korea’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine also poses a challenge to efforts to revive diplomacy, experts say.
Before his presidency faltered over the ill-conceived power grab, Yoon worked closely with US President Joe Biden to expand joint military exercises, update nuclear deterrence strategies and strengthen trilateral security cooperation with Tokyo.

More than 260 Rohingya refugees arrive in Indonesia

Updated 32 min 45 sec ago
AFP
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More than 260 Rohingya refugees arrive in Indonesia

  • The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar
  • Latest group of refugees arrived on a beach in the region’s town of West Peureulak
Updated 32 min 45 sec ago
AFP

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia: More than 260 Rohingya refugees, including women and children, arrived in Indonesia’s easternmost province of Aceh after floating at sea for days, an official said Monday.
The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar and thousands risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
An East Aceh official, Iskandar – who like many Indonesians goes by one name – said this latest group of refugees arrived on a beach in the region’s town of West Peureulak on Sunday night around 10:25 p.m. local time (1525 GMT Sunday).
“There are 264 of them – 117 men and 147 women,” Iskandar said Monday, adding that in the group, around 30 were children.
He said they had initially been on two boats, one of which had sunk off the coast while the second managed to move closer to shore.
They could then walk to the shore when the tide was low, he said.
“They told me they were rejected in Malaysia,” Iskandar said, adding that the local government has not decided where to move the Rohingya refugees.
Rohingya arrivals in Indonesia tend to follow a cyclical pattern, slowing during the stormy months and picking back up when sea conditions calm down.
In November, more than 100 refugees were rescued after their boat sank off the coast of East Aceh.
In October, 152 Rohingya refugees were finally brought ashore after being anchored for days off the coast of South Aceh district while officials decided whether to let them land.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and says it cannot be compelled to take in refugees from Myanmar, calling instead on neighboring countries to share the burden and resettle the Rohingya who arrive on its shores.
Many Acehnese, who have memories of decades of bloody conflict themselves, are sympathetic to the plight of their fellow Muslims.
But others say their patience has been tested, claiming the Rohingya consume scarce resources and occasionally come into conflict with locals.

Topics: Rohingya Indonesia

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Up to 300 Afghans arrive in Philippines for US visa processing

Updated 47 min 42 sec ago
AFP
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Up to 300 Afghans arrive in Philippines for US visa processing

  • Action made despite domestic opposition in the Catholic-majority country over security and other concerns
  • The Afghans could stay for no more than 59 days and would be ‘confined to their billet facility’ except for embassy interviews
Updated 47 min 42 sec ago
AFP

MANILA: Up to 300 Afghans arrived in the Philippines on Monday on temporary stays while being processed for US resettlement, Philippine and US officials said.
The Philippines and the United States signed an agreement last July allowing possibly hundreds of Afghans to stay in Manila while their US Special Immigrant visas were being processed.
This was despite domestic opposition in the Catholic-majority country over security and other concerns.
“The DFA issued the appropriate Philippine entry visa to these applicants in line with current rules and regulations,” Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Teresita Daza said in a statement.
“All applicants completed extensive security vetting by Philippines national security agencies.”
A US State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, would not be specific about the number involved other than to say “up to 300.”
Under the deal, the US government will shoulder the cost of the Afghans’ stays in Manila, including food, housing, medical care, security and transportation, the Philippine DFA statement said.
The Afghans will stay at a facility operated by the US State Department’s Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, an earlier US Embassy statement said.
Daza had previously said the Afghans could stay for no more than 59 days and would be “confined to their billet facility” except for embassy interviews.
The applicants all underwent medical screening in Afghanistan.
Tens of thousands of Afghans fled their country in the chaotic evacuation of August 2021 as US and allied forces pulled out to end Washington’s longest war, launched after the attacks on September 11, 2001.
Many of those who had worked with the ousted Western-backed government arrived in the United States seeking resettlement under a special immigrant visa program, but thousands were also left behind or in third countries, waiting for their visas to be processed.

Topics: US Afghanistan Philippines

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Blinken to meet Europeans on Syria pathway

Updated 06 January 2025
AFP
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Blinken to meet Europeans on Syria pathway

  • Senior US diplomat Barbara Leaf met Sharaa last month and said that the United States was lifting a bounty that has been on its head
Updated 06 January 2025
AFP

Seoul: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet his European counterparts Thursday in Rome on Syria, as the West looks to engage the new Islamist-led leadership.
Blinken will “meet with European counterparts to advocate for a peaceful, inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition,” a State Department statement said as he visited Seoul on Monday.
The State Department did not immediately specify the participants.
Blinken, on a trip that will also take him to Japan and France, will later join President Joe Biden as he pays a farewell visit to Rome that includes an audience with Pope Francis.
Islamist-led forces toppled longtime ruler Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive last month after 13 years of brutal war.
Western powers have since been cautiously hoping for greater stability in Syria, a decade after the war triggered a major refugee crisis that shook up European politics.
The French and German foreign ministers on Friday visited Syria, although the trip was overshadowed when new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa shook the hand only of France’s Jean-Noel Barrot, a man, and not Germany’s Annalena Baerbock, a woman.
Senior US diplomat Barbara Leaf met Sharaa last month and said that the United States was lifting a bounty that has been on its head.
She also welcomed “positive messages” he has made, including on protection of minorities, and said he had promised that Syria would not pose a threat to neighboring countries, as Israel pounds Syrian military sites.

Topics: Fall of Assad

The quiet financier: Daesh’s elusive strongman

Updated 06 January 2025
AFP
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The quiet financier: Daesh’s elusive strongman

  • Abdul Qadir Mumin is believed to be already Daesh’s general directorate of provinces from Somalia
  • Born in Puntland in Somalia’s northeast, Sheikh Mumin lived in Sweden before settling in England, where he acquired British nationality
  • In London and Leicester, he built a reputation in the early 2000s as a fiery preacher in radical mosques, but also in online videos
Updated 06 January 2025
AFP

PARIS: His orange henna-dyed beard and striking eyewear would make him easy to pick out in a crowd, but Abdul Qadir Mumin has remained elusive.
The Somalian leader of the Daesh group has in all likelihood risen to the status of strongman of the entire organization, even if he lacks the official title, analysts say.
While observers wonder who is behind Daesh-designated caliph Abou Hafs Al-Hachimi Al-Qourachi — the would-be leader of all Muslims — or whether such a person actually exists, Abdul Qadir Mumin may already be running Daesh’s general directorate of provinces from Somalia.
“He is the most important person, the most powerful one, he is the one controlling the global Islamic State network,” said Tore Hamming, at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR).
In this opaque structure where the leaders get killed one by one by the United States, Mumin is among the few “senior guys who managed to stay alive the entire time until now, which does give him some status within the group,” Hamming told AFP.
A few months ago it was thought that an American strike had killed him. But since there was never any proof of his demise, he is considered to be alive and active.
“Somalia is important for financial reasons,” said Hamming. “We know that they send money to Congo, to Mozambique, to South Africa, to Yemen, to Afghanistan. So they have a good business model going.”
The transactions are so shadowy that even estimating the amounts is impossible — as is determining the exact routes the money takes from place to place.

Born in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in Somalia’s northeast, Sheikh Mumin lived in Sweden before settling in England, where he acquired British nationality.
In London and Leicester, he built a reputation in the early 2000s as a fiery preacher in radical mosques, but also in online videos.
He is said to have burned his British passport upon his arrival in Somalia, where he quickly became a propagandist for the Al-Shabab group, linked to Al-Qaeda, before announcing his defection to Daesh (or Islamic State) in 2015.
“He controls a small territory but has a big appeal. He distributes volunteers and money,” said a European intelligence official, who declined to be named, claiming that a Daesh attack in May in Mozambique “was carried out by Maghreb and African militants.”
Mumin also finances the Ugandan rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) — affiliated with Daesh in the Democratic Republic of Congo — “who now number between 1,000 and 1,500,” the official said. With Mumin’s help, “they have recently turned to the jihad” seeking “radicalism, weapons, and funding.”
Some observers have described him as the caliph of the jihadist command structure. However, such an official designation would signal an ideological reversal for the group with deep roots in the Levant, the territory of the Daesh caliphate that lasted from 2014 to 2019 and spanned Iraq and Syria.
“That would create some kind of uproar within the community of supporters and sympathizers of Daesh,” said Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the Counter-Extremism Project (CEP) think tank.

In theory, the caliph has to be an Arab from a tribe linked to the prophet. The supreme leader of a group so concerned with its ideological foundations “cannot be just any Somali with an orange beard,” Schindler told AFP.
Especially because leaders of operationally active Daesh affiliates, such as IS-K in Afghanistan or ISWAP in western Africa, could lay claim to the position.
While the Somalian does not meet traditional leadership criteria, his geographical location brings some advantages.
“The Horn of Africa may have offered welcome insulation from instability in the Levant and greater freedom of movement,” said CTC Sentinel, a publication on terrorism threats, at the West Point military academy.
“This profile of leadership parallels that of another jihadi leader — Osama bin Laden — who saw that funding his war was most central to winning it,” it said.
Mumin’s rise to the top, despite the small number of fighters under his command, also reflects two internal dynamics within Daesh.
The first, said Hamming, is that “the caliph is no longer the most important person in the Islamic State.”
And the second is that Daesh eeeeeis indeed pursuing a gradual strategic shift toward Africa.
“Ninety percent of violent images on jihad consumed in Europe come from Africa,” said the European intelligence official.
Nonetheless, the organization’s leadership remains centralized in the Middle East, wrote CTC Sentinel.
“In this sense, much is business as usual,” it said.
 

Topics: Daesh Islamic State Abdul Qadir Mumin Somalia

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