MUNICH: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday warned top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi of consequences should China provide material support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying in an interview after the two met that Washington was concerned Beijing was considering supplying weapons to Moscow.
The top diplomats of the two superpowers met at an undisclosed location on the sidelines of a global security conference in Munich, just hours after Wang scolded Washington as “hysterical” in a running dispute over the US downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon.
Relations between the two countries have been fraught since Washington said China flew a spy balloon over the continental US before American fighter jets shot it down on President Joe Biden’s orders. The dispute also came at a time when the West is closely watching Beijing’s response to the Ukraine war.
In an interview to be aired on Sunday morning on NBC News’ “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd,” Blinken said the United States was very concerned that China is considering providing lethal support to Russia and that he made clear to Wang that “would have serious consequences in our relationship.”
“There are various kinds of lethal assistance that they are at least contemplating providing, to include weapons,” Blinken said, adding that Washington would soon release more details.
Wang told Blinken the United States must “face up to and resolve the damage” to bilateral relations “caused by the indiscriminate use of force,” according to a brief statement on Sunday by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Wang was referring to the recent shootdown of what the United States called a spy balloon but Beijing said was a weather-monitoring craft.
Speaking to reporters in a briefing call, a senior State Department official said China was trying to “have it both ways” by claiming it wants to contribute to peace and stability but at the same time taking “concerning” steps to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Blinken “was quite blunt in warning about the implications and consequences of China providing material support to Russia or assisting Russia with systematic sanctions evasion,” the senior official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Russia and China signed a “no limits” partnership last February shortly before Russian forces invaded Ukraine, and their economic links have boomed as Moscow’s connections with the West have shrivelled.
The West has been wary of China’s response to the Ukraine war, with some warning that a Russian victory would color China’s actions toward Taiwan. China has refrained from condemning the war or calling it an “invasion.”
Earlier, speaking at a panel at the conference, Wang reiterated a call for dialogue and suggested European countries “think calmly” about how to end the war.
He also said there were “some forces that seemingly don’t want negotiations to succeed, or for the war to end soon,” without specifying to whom he was referring.
NO APOLOGY
Blinken and Wang’s meeting came hours after the top Chinese diplomat took a swipe at the United States, accusing it of violating international norms with “hysterical” behavior by shooting down the balloon.
The balloon’s flight this month over US territory triggered an uproar in Washington and prompted Blinken to postpone a planned visit to Beijing. That Feb. 5-6 trip would have been the first by a US secretary of state to China in five years and was seen by both sides as an opportunity to stabilize increasingly fraught ties.
“To have dispatched an advanced fighter jet to shoot down a balloon with a missile, such behavior is unbelievable, almost hysterical,” Wang said.
“There are so many balloons all over the world, and various countries have them. So, is the United States going to shoot all of them down?” he said.
China reacted angrily when the US military downed the 200-foot (60-meter) balloon on Feb. 4, saying it was for monitoring weather conditions and had blown off course. Washington said it was clearly a surveillance balloon with a massive undercarriage holding electronics.
Questions had swirled as to whether Blinken and Wang would use the conference in Munich as a chance to reengage in-person, and the State Department only confirmed the hour-long meeting after it had ended.
In the interview with NBC, Blinken said Wang did not apologize for the balloon’s flight.
“I told him quite simply that that was unacceptable and can never happen again,” Blinken said, referring to the balloon’s violation of US air space.
“There was no apology,” he said, adding that he had not discussed with Wang rescheduling his trip to China.
Washington had been hoping to put a “floor” under relations that hit a dangerous low in August with China’s reaction to a Taiwan visit by then-US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
But Craig Singleton, a China expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, said while Wang’s comments at the conference were likely aimed at deflecting embarrassment over the balloon incident, the lack of a strong response from Washington “increases China’s appetite for risk in future disputes.”
“Blinken and Wang’s meeting will not change the downward trajectory in the US-China relationship. It’s clear there is almost no trust between the two sides,” Singleton said.
Blinken warns China’s Wang Yi against aiding Russia in Ukraine
https://arab.news/n6uwd
Blinken warns China’s Wang Yi against aiding Russia in Ukraine
- Top diplomats meet at an undisclosed location on the sidelines of a global security conference in Munich
- United States very concerned that China is considering providing lethal support to Russia
New Indian bill seeks to amend law on Muslim land management
- India has one of the largest numbers of waqf assets in the world, valued at around $14.2bn
- Waqf tradition in India can be traced back to the Delhi Sultanate period in the 13th century
NEW DELHI: The Indian government tabled on Wednesday a bill in parliament aimed at making sweeping changes to the decades-old Waqf Act, which governs vast tracts of properties run and managed by Muslims in the country.
With over 200 million Indians professing Islam, Hindu-majority India has the world’s largest Muslim-minority population.
The country has one of the largest numbers of waqf assets in the world, including over 870,000 properties spanning more than 900,000 hectares, with an estimated value of about $14.2 billion. Domestically, only the military and railways control more land.
In Islamic tradition, a waqf is a charitable or religious donation made by Muslims for the benefit of the community. Properties categorized as waqf, which typically involve mosques, schools, orphanages or hospitals, cannot be sold or used for other purposes.
In India, where the tradition of waqf can be traced back to the Delhi Sultanate period in the early 13th century, such properties are currently managed by about 30 government-established waqf boards, whose members are all Muslims.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, proposes more than 40 changes to the 1995 Waqf Act aimed at shifting the management of waqf properties from the boards to state governments, including the inclusion of non-Muslim members.
“The government is not interfering in any religious practice or institution. There is no provision in this to interfere in the management of any mosque. This is simply an issue of management of a property,” Minister of Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who tabled the bill, said during a parliament session on Wednesday.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which works to safeguard Islamic law in the country, said the bill could weaken waqf properties and their management.
“I think this bill has been brought with an intention to destroy the waqf board, not to improve it. The new law is very weak and aimed at attacking waqf properties,” board member Malik Mohtasim Khan told Arab News.
“They want to make a waqf law which is free from the influence of Muslims. I feel that their main aim is to make Muslims a second-class citizen.”
Indian Muslims have faced increasing discrimination and challenges in the past decade, accompanied by tensions and riots ignited by majoritarian policies of the Hindu right-wing BJP since it rose to power in 2014.
“They want to weaken Muslims’ rights in India,” Khan said. “The existing government has created such an atmosphere that there is no respect for parliamentary values and judicial values are also getting diluted. Today the Muslim community is being pushed to the margins. This is a lived reality.”
The bill’s fate will be decided with a vote by the ruling alliance and opposition lawmakers in the lower house, before it moves to the upper house for another debate and voting. If approved by both houses of parliament, it will be sent to President Droupadi Murmu for her assent before becoming law.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a New Delhi-based author and political analyst who has focused on Hindu nationalist politics, described the bill as an “unfortunate development,” referring to the way it was prepared without proper consultations with Indian Muslims.
“I’m deeply disturbed by the manner in which this government is going about enacting the waqf bill in complete disregard of the sentiment of the Muslim community and their representatives,” he told Arab News.
“The only message which this government is repeatedly making — because that is the only thing which is going to continue to keep its electoral support — is that ‘we are tightening the screws on the Muslims; we are forcing them to act as the majority community wants.’”
India’s parliament set to debate controversial law on Muslim endowments
- The bill would add non-Muslims to boards that manage waqf land endowments and give the government a larger role in validating their land holdings
- The government says the changes will help to fight corruption and mismanagement while promoting diversity
SRINAGAR, India: India‘s parliament on Wednesday began discussing a controversial proposal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government to amend laws governing Muslim land endowments in the country.
The bill would add non-Muslims to boards that manage waqf land endowments and give the government a larger role in validating their land holdings.
The government says the changes will help to fight corruption and mismanagement while promoting diversity, but critics fear that it will further undermine the rights of the country’s Muslim minority and could be used to confiscate historic mosques and other property from them.
Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju introduced the Waqf Amendment Bill on Wednesday, which would reform a 1995 law that set rules for the foundations and set up state-level boards to administer them.
Debate in the parliament’s Lower House is expected to be heated as the Congress-led opposition is firmly against the proposal. Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party does not have a majority but may be able to depends on allies to pass the bill. Both BJP and the Congress have asked their lawmakers to be present in the House.
If passed, the bill will need to clear the Upper House before it is sent to President Droupadi Murmu for her assent to become a law.
Many Muslim groups as well as the opposition parties say the proposal is discriminatory, politically motivated and an attempt by Modi’s ruling party to weaken the minority rights.
The controversial bill was first introduced in parliament last year, but was later sent to a committee of lawmakers for discussion after opposition parties raised concerns. The committee’s report was tabled in both houses of parliament on Feb. 13 amid protests by opposition leaders who said that their inputs were ignored. The government claims that opposition parties are using rumors to discredit them and block transparency in managing the endowments.
What’s a waqf?
Waqfs are a traditional type of Islamic charitable foundation in which a donor permanently sets aside property — often but not always real estate — for religious or charitable purposes.
Waqfs in India control 872,000 properties that cover 405,000 hectares (1 million acres) of land, worth an estimated $14.22 billion. Some of these endowments date back centuries, and many are used for mosques, seminaries, graveyards and orphanages.
Law would change who runs waqfs
In India, waqf property is managed by semi-official boards, one for each of the country’s states and federally-run union territories. The law would require non-Muslims to be appointed to the boards.
Currently, waqf boards are staffed by Muslims, like similar bodies that help administer other religious charities.
One of the most controversial amendments is the change to ownership rules, which potentially could impact historical mosques, shrines and graveyards under the waqf. It could change the ownership rules of many of these properties which lack formal documentation as they were donated without legal records decades, and sometimes, even centuries ago.
Questions about title
Other changes could impact historic mosques, whose land is often held in centuries-old waqfs.
Hindu radical groups have targeted mosques across the country and laid claim to several of them, arguing they are built on the ruins of important Hindu temples. Many such cases are pending in courts.
The law would require waqf boards to seek approval from a district level officer to confirm waqfs’ claims to property.
Critics say that would undermine the board and could lead to Muslims being stripped of their land. It’s not clear how often the boards would be asked to confirm such claims to land.
Fears among Muslims
While many Muslims agree that waqfs suffer from corruption, encroachments and poor management, they also fear that the new law could give India’s Hindu nationalist government far greater control over Muslim properties, particularly at a time when attacks against the minority communities have become more aggressive under Modi, with Muslims often targeted for everything from their food and clothing styles to inter-religious marriages.
Last month, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its annual report that religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate while Modi and his party “propagated hateful rhetoric and disinformation against Muslims and other religious minorities” during last year’s election campaign.
Modi’s government says India is run on democratic principles of equality and no discrimination exists in the country.
Muslims, which make 14 percent of India’s 1.4 billion population, are the largest minority group in the Hindu-majority nation but they are also the poorest, a 2013 government survey found.
UK baby killer Letby’s lawyer to present new evidence in bid to clear her name
- “The fresh evidence I will hand in to the CCRC tomorrow totally undermines the prosecution case at trial,” McDonald said
- The CCRC has said it is assessing Letby’s application but has not given a timeframe for any decision
LONDON: A lawyer for nurse Lucy Letby said he would present new evidence on Thursday to the commission which considers miscarriages of justice, saying it undermined the case against the British nurse convicted of murdering seven babies in her care.
Letby was jailed in 2023 for the remainder of her life after being found guilty of murdering the newborns and attempting to murder eight more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northern England.
Letby, 35, Britain’s worst serial child killer of modern times, has maintained her innocence throughout but has been refused permission to appeal against her convictions.
However her case has become a cause celebre after medical experts, media and other supporters challenged the prosecution case used to convict her, and said that evidence suggested no babies were murdered.
Her lawyer Mark McDonald said on Wednesday he would hand over an 86-page report by leading medical specialists to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), saying it cast serious doubt on the trial’s key findings about two of the children, known as Babies F and L.
The court’s conclusion that the babies were poisoned using insulin was key to the prosecution proving she had committed murder.
“The fresh evidence I will hand in to the CCRC tomorrow totally undermines the prosecution case at trial,” McDonald said. “This is the largest international review of neonatal medicine ever undertaken, the results of which show Lucy Letby’s convictions are no longer safe.”
The CCRC has said it is assessing Letby’s application but has not given a timeframe for any decision.
Meanwhile police are still investigating Letby and hospital managers, saying her previous appeals about flawed evidence have been rejected. The head of a public inquiry into the deaths has also rejected calls for her investigation to be paused.
Philippines steps up disaster preparedness in wake of deadly Myanmar quake
- Philippine officials are warning of a 7.2-magnitude quake that could kill up to 50,000 people
- Officials are working to improve building resilience across the country to withstand earthquakes
Manila: Philippine officials are calling for enhanced disaster preparedness following the massive earthquake in Myanmar, warning that the archipelago nation is at risk of a devastating seismic event.
The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, lies along the so-called Ring of Fire, an arc of faults around the Pacific Ocean where the majority of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.
For the past decade, the Philippine government has been preparing for the “Big One,” a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that experts say could impact Manila and its surrounding areas.
“We must double our efforts, especially as the Philippines is at risk for the ‘Big One’— a potentially catastrophic earthquake that could result in 30,000 to 50,000 casualties,” Ariel F. Nepomuceno, administrator of the Office of Civil Defense, has said.
“The most critical step in enhancing our earthquake preparedness is to implement engineering solutions, such as retrofitting essential structures like schools and health centers.”
The 7.2-magnitude earthquake forecast by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology was based on historical records of fault movements, as seismic events are impossible to predict.
Philippine officials have been calling for increased disaster preparedness after the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that hit central Myanmar on Friday killed more than 2,700 people, injured more than 4,500 others, and destroyed scores of buildings.
“We’re part of the Pacific Ring of Fire and every now and then we have earthquakes, we’ll be jolted by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and sometimes tsunamis. And for all these disasters, the best course of action is always preparedness,” PHIVOLCS Director Dr. Teresito Bacolcol said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
“We have to make sure that our buildings, our houses are earthquake resilient — meaning, we have to follow the minimum engineering standards when we construct our houses or buildings.”
In the Manila capital region, at least 124 public buildings have been retrofitted, or strengthened to make it more earthquake-resistant, with plans to do so for 500 more, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways.
The Department of Science and Technology, which presides over PHIVOLCS, is also planning to hold earthquake seminars in different parts of the country this year, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency.
Meanwhile, the Office of Civil Defense is working on improving the National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill by adding more scenarios, including nighttime drills and tsunami preparedness.
One of the deadliest recorded earthquakes in the Philippines took place in 1990, when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed nearly 2,000 people in the country’s north.
Mixture of energy, solemnity during this year’s Arab American Heritage Month
- Israeli violence has ‘dampened’ celebrations, Arab America Foundation president tells Arab News
- Senator: ‘From culture and science to activism and business, Arab Americans continue to thrive and inspire’
Chicago: This year’s Arab American Heritage Month is being celebrated in a mixed atmosphere of energetic pride and solemn concern for events overseas, under the theme “Honoring the past, inspiring the future.”
Arab Americans used to celebrate at different times in different states, but the community came together in 2017 to consolidate the heritage month in April.
Leaders from around the country said this year’s celebrations have a solemn tone because of turmoil in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Warren David, president of the Arab America Foundation, told Arab News: “We’ll honor legendary songstress Umm Kulthum on the 50th anniversary of her passing. We’re also partnering with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library for a special workshop on understanding Arabic music.”
He said an “exceptional” performance is being planned at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage in Washington D.C., entitled “Sounds of the Arab world” and featuring musician Nibal Malshi.
However, David acknowledged that Israeli violence “has dampened the celebration as many Arab Americans are distraught with the current situation — tragic loss of life, no ceasefire, no plan for a Palestinian state. We hope to see a peaceful solution.”
He added that while Arab American Heritage Month is officially recognized by 20 US states, AAF is working to secure recognition from the remaining 30.
According to the Arab American Institute, there are about 3.5 million Arabs in the US, in all 50 states.
Major populations are located in 11 states: California, Michigan, New York, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
To mark Arab American Heritage Month, AAI is hosting a celebration on April 3 at the Theater Alliance in Washington D.C., featuring playwright Kareem Fahmy and comedian Rola Z.
Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer released a video and statement on X saying: “Happy Arab American Heritage Month, Michigan. This month, we celebrate Michigan’s strong, proud Arab-American community.
“They have, and continue to make, immeasurable contributions to our state’s economy, culture and our future.
“Michigan is a stronger, better state because of the diverse groups of people who call it home. This month and all year long, let’s celebrate our friends and neighbors in this community.”
Several New York legislators, all Democrats, took to X to applaud Arab American Heritage Month.
New York City Assembly member Harvey Epstein said: “Let’s celebrate all that Arab-American culture brings to New York.”
New York State Sen. Pete Harckham said: “We acknowledge the amazing contributions of Arab Americans both nationally and here in New York.”
The month, he added, is “a time to celebrate the rich culture, contributions and history of Arab Americans who’ve enriched our communities and nation.
“From culture and science to activism and business, Arab Americans continue to thrive and inspire.”
New York State Sen. Andrew Gounardes said: “This Arab American Heritage Month, I celebrate Arab-American achievements and culture across the arts and sciences, in business and industry, in education and medicine, and in every branch of the military. These contributions enrich our nation and move us toward a brighter future.”
In Illinois, Hassan Nijem, president of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, told Arab News that celebrations are being planned with several elected officials including Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, who had her website and services brochures translated into Arabic.
The annual Arab American Festival and Miss Arab USA pageant, both in Arizona, are recognized as the largest Arab heritage celebrations nationwide, and attract communities from across the country.
