Biden says he has decided how to respond to attack on US troops in Jordan

President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on Jan. 30, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 30 January 2024
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Biden says he has decided how to respond to attack on US troops in Jordan

  • He said the United States does not need a wider war in the Middle East
  • Biden has been weighing his options and the expectation has been that there will be retaliatory strikes

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he has made up his mind on how to respond to a drone attack that killed US service members in Jordan, as he weighs punishing Iran-backed militias without triggering a wider war.
Biden, speaking to reporters as he left the White House on a campaign trip to Florida, did not elaborate on his decision, which came after consultations with top advisers at the White House.
He said the United States does not need a wider war in the Middle East, echoing comments from other officials on Tuesday that the United States does not want a war with Iran.
Biden has been weighing his options and the expectation has been that there will be retaliatory strikes, but the timing of the response has been unclear.
“I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That’s not what I’m looking for,” said Biden.
Biden replied “yes” when asked if he had decided how to respond to the attacks.
Asked if Iran was responsible, Biden added: “I do hold....them responsible in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons” to those who carried out the attacks.
Three US service members were killed and at least 34 wounded in a drone attack by Iran-backed militants on US troops in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border, officials said on Sunday.


Pro-Russian hackers attack Italian websites after president compares invasion of Ukraine to Nazis

Updated 2 sec ago
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Pro-Russian hackers attack Italian websites after president compares invasion of Ukraine to Nazis

The NoName57 hacker group hit the websites of the defense, interior and transport ministries
The group on Monday said it attacked Italian banks, ports, airports and local transport agencies

MILAN: A pro-Russian hacker group attacked Italian government websites on Tuesday in what it said was a reaction to a speech by Italian President Sergio Mattarella that compared Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the Nazis ‘ “wars of conquest.”
The NoName57 hacker group, which announced the attacks on social media, hit the websites of the defense, interior and transport ministries, as well as law enforcement agencies. Access to the sites was spotty.
The group on Monday said it attacked Italian banks, ports, airports and local transport agencies, but those attacks did not cause major disruptions.
Mattarella, asked about the attacks during a visit to Montenegro, said that he hoped Russia “will return to play a significant and important role in the international community, respecting the principals of international law and the dignity and sovereignty of every country.”
In a speech in Marseille, France, on Feb. 5 Mattarella said that patterns that led to World War II were repeating, including “wars of conquest.”
“This was the project of the Third Reich in Europe. Today’s Russian aggression against Europe is of this nature,’’ he said.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova expressed dismay about Mattarella’s remarks.

New Delhi, Doha upgrade ties to strategic partnership during Qatari emir’s visit

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani lead a meeting in New Delhi.
Updated 36 min 41 sec ago
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New Delhi, Doha upgrade ties to strategic partnership during Qatari emir’s visit

  • Among GCC countries, India already has strategic partnerships with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Kuwait
  • India and Qatar set target to double bilateral trade within 5 years, from the current $14bn

NEW DELHI: India and Qatar elevated on Tuesday their ties to a strategic partnership, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on his state visit to New Delhi — the first in nearly a decade.

On the two-day trip, the Qatari ruler was accompanied by a high-level delegation, including ministers and business leaders. This is his second official visit to India. The first was in March 2015.

Breaking with established norms, Modi personally welcomed the emir at the New Delhi airport as he arrived in the Indian capital on Monday evening. Their meeting was held at Hyderabad House on Tuesday afternoon.

“Both sides have today agreed to elevate their relationship to a strategic partnership, and India and Qatar have signed an agreement in this regard today,” Arun Kumar Chatterjee, international affairs secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs, told reporters after the meeting.

“What we are looking at is deepening cooperation in the fields of trade, energy investment, (and) security, as well as in the regional and international forum.”

Among Gulf Cooperation Council countries, India already has strategic partnerships with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Kuwait.

“Trade, investment and energy were among the major topics of discussion between the two leaders today. The trade today between India and Qatar is about $14 billion annually. Both sides have agreed to set a target to double this in the next five years,” Chatterjee said.

“Both leaders today identified a number of areas in which the Qatar Investment Authority can increase investments in India. This includes infrastructure, ports, shipbuilding, energy — including renewable energy, smart cities, food, parks, startups and new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning.”

The QIA, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, currently has about $1.5 billion in direct foreign investment in India’s retail, power, IT, education, health, and housing sectors.

Indians make up the largest expatriate community in Qatar with over 700,000 Indian nationals living and working in the Gulf state.

An agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion was also signed during the visit, as well as memoranda of understanding on cooperation in archives and documentation, youth affairs and sports.

Anil Trigunayat, former diplomat and a distinguished fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation think tank in New Delhi, told Arab News that while the key feature of the visit was the “strategic partnership, which means greater collaboration in defense security, space and cyber cooperation,” it was significant not only for bilateral relations, “but also for exchanging views on the US approach to the region and ending the Gaza war, where Qatar is playing a critical role.”


UN condemns ‘summary executions’ of children by M23 in DR Congo

Updated 18 February 2025
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UN condemns ‘summary executions’ of children by M23 in DR Congo

  • “Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week,” rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said
  • “We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons“

GENEVA: The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has summarily executed children in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The UN rights office warned the situation in eastern DRC was “deteriorating sharply, resulting in serious human rights violations and abuses.”
“Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week,” rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
“We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons,” she said.
She urged “Rwanda and M23 to ensure that human rights and international humanitarian law are respected.”
M23 fighters and Rwandan soldiers have seized Goma and Bukavu, the capitals of North and South Kivu provinces respectively.
In South Kivu, more than 150,000 people have been forced to flee, UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
UN experts say Rwanda effectively controls M23 and has at least 4,000 troops fighting alongside it.
The DRC government accuses Rwanda of “expansionist ambitions” and says it is stealing vast amounts of minerals.
Shamdasani said the situation was “very chaotic,” and the UN rights office was “receiving a lot of information... which we are not able to confirm or verify.”
It had, however, confirmed a case of three boys, thought to be aged between 11 and 15, who had been killed in Bukavu on Sunday “during an altercation with members of M23.”
The boys were allegedly wearing uniforms and carrying weapons found in an abandoned DRC army camp, firing shots and looting stores, she said.
“What appears to have happened is that they were asked to surrender their weapons and they refused to do so and they were killed,” she said.
The rights office had also documented cases of “ill treatment, conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, child and forced recruitment, intimidation and death threats,” she said.
Prison breaks from South Kivu’s Kabare and Bukavu jails on Friday had made matters worse.
“We have received protection requests from victims and witnesses (who) fear retaliation from escapees, given their active participation in the trials against some of these prisoners convicted of grave human rights violations and abuses, some of which amount to international crimes,” she said.
She said the UN had received “reports that journalists, human rights defenders and members of civil society organizations have been threatened, and forced to leave.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk “expresses his horror at the events unfolding in South and North Kivu, and the impact this is having on civilians,” she said.
“The risks of this spilling over into an even deeper and wider conflict are frighteningly real.”
The fighting has already spurred an exodus toward neighboring Burundi, UNHCR warned.
“Between 10,000 and 15,000 people have crossed into Burundi over the last few days,” spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh told reporters.
“Most of those arriving are Congolese, mainly from the Bukavu area,” he said.
He highlighted reports of thousands more people arriving through “unofficial border points,” including across rivers, “with reports of several individuals drowning.”
“Conditions in the communities near the border are extremely dire, with a lack of shelter, water and sanitation facilities,” he said.


Campaigners call on F-35 partner countries to end supplies to Israel

Updated 18 February 2025
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Campaigners call on F-35 partner countries to end supplies to Israel

  • Over 200 organizations send letter to government ministers in US, UK, Australia, Canada, elsewhere
  • ‘The past 15 months have illustrated that Israel is not committed to complying with international law’

LONDON: More than 200 organizations worldwide have urged countries involved in the F-35 jet program to halt arms transfers to Israel over fears of humanitarian law violations, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.

It comes as the war in Gaza reached 500 days, with the F-35 jet being used extensively by the Israeli Air Force to conduct bombing operations throughout the conflict.

The organizations signed a letter that was sent on Monday to government ministers in the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway.

The 232 signatories come from the countries involved in production of the jet, as well as Jordan, Lebanon, India, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland and elsewhere.

Leading charities such as Oxfam, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch signed the letter, which was coordinated by the Campaign Against Arms Trade.

It says: “The past 15 months have illustrated with devastating clarity that Israel is not committed to complying with international law.

“Partners to the F-35 program have individually and collectively failed to prevent these jets from being used to commit serious violations of international law by Israel.

“States have either been unwilling to observe their international legal obligations and/or claimed that the structure of the F-35 program means that it is not possible to apply arms controls to any end-user, making the entire program incompatible with international law.”

Israel is part of the international agreement behind the F-35 program. British firms supply 15 percent of the parts used in the jet, which is produced by a global consortium led by US defense firm Lockheed Martin.

Governments including those of the US, the UK, Australia and Canada have faced legal action over their involvement in granting arms licenses to Israel that include F-35 components.

The UK in September suspended 30 out of 350 arms export licenses to Israel over fears that the weapons may be used to violate international humanitarian law.

But components of the F-35 were exempt from the suspension for reasons of “international peace and security.”

All countries in the F-35 program are parties to the arms trade treaty, except the US, which is a signatory.

The treaty requires the prevention of military transfers where a risk of humanitarian law violations exists.

More than 48,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, with some researchers saying the death toll could be up to 40 percent higher than the number recorded by the enclave’s Health Ministry.

Katie Fallon, advocacy manager at CAAT, said: “The F-35 jet program is emblematic of the West’s complicity in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.

“These jets were instrumental in Israel’s 466-day bombardment of Gaza, in crimes that include war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

“Since the limited ceasefire the US government, and lead partner to the F-35 program, has threatened Gaza with mass ethnic cleansing and forced displacement.

“This program gives material and political consent from all western partners, including the UK, for these crimes to continue.”


Vatican cancels hospitalized Pope Francis’s weekend events

Updated 18 February 2025
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Vatican cancels hospitalized Pope Francis’s weekend events

  • The Holy See had already indicated that the pontiff would stay longer in the hospital than initially believed due to a ‘complex’ clinical picture
  • It is latest of a series of health issues for the pope, who has undergone hernia and colon surgery since 2021, and uses a wheelchair for a sore knee

VATICAN CITY: The Vatican on Tuesday canceled two of Pope Francis’s events at the weekend as the 88-year-old continues to receive hospital treatment for bronchitis.
The Holy See had already on Monday indicated that the pontiff, who was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Friday, would stay longer than initially believed due to a “complex” clinical picture.
“Due to the health conditions of the Holy Father, the Jubilee audience of Saturday February 22 is canceled,” it said in a statement Tuesday.
It added that the pontiff has delegated a senior Vatican clergyman to celebrate a planned mass on Sunday morning.
The Vatican did not mention the Angelus prayer, which the pope normally delivers at midday on Sunday, but which he missed last weekend.
Francis, the head of the worldwide Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to hospital after struggling for several days to read his texts in public.
It is latest of a series of health issues for the Argentine Jesuit, who has undergone hernia and colon surgery since 2021, and uses a wheelchair for a sore knee.
In a statement on Monday, the Vatican said tests had confirmed “a polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract that has led to a further change in treatment.”
“All the tests carried out until now are indicative of a complex clinical picture that will require adequate hospitalization,” it said.
In an update later on Monday evening, it said his condition was unchanged.
“The Holy Father remains without a fever and is proceeding with the prescribed treatment,” it added.
He had on Monday morning “received the Eucharist and subsequently dedicated himself to some work and reading texts,” it said.
“Pope Francis is touched by the numerous messages of affection and closeness he continues to receive,” it added.