One dead, dozens missing in Greece migrant boat sinking

File photo A rubber boat, believed to be used by migrants, lies destroyed on the rocky shoreline, in Thermi on the Greek island of Lesbos on February 7, 2023.(AFP)
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Updated 14 December 2024
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One dead, dozens missing in Greece migrant boat sinking

  • An Italian frigate and helicopters were operating at the site, with more ships heading to the area

Athens: One man died late Saturday when a migrant boat sank off Crete, Greece’s coast guard said, leaving 40 people reportedly missing while 39 survivors were rescued.
The boat sank 12 nautical miles southwest of the island, according to ERTNEWS, which reported the 40 missing.
A huge rescue operation is under way in the sea south of the island of Gavdos after the boat capsized shortly after midnight, the coast guard said.
An Italian frigate and helicopters were operating at the site, with more ships heading to the area.
Local media said another man was taken by helicopter to hospital in the city of Chania on Crete and was admitted to intensive care.
Greece has seen a 25-percent increase overall this year in the number of migrants entering, fleeing war and poverty, with a 30-percent increase to Rhodes and the southeast Aegean, according to the migration ministry.
Several similar accidents have struck in recent weeks. In the last one in late November, eight migrants, six of them minors, died north of the island of Samos, on a route frequently used by people smugglers.


Scandal-hit Prince Andrew back in the UK headlines over alleged Chinese spy

Updated 14 December 2024
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Scandal-hit Prince Andrew back in the UK headlines over alleged Chinese spy

  • A close Chinese business associate of the scandal-hit younger brother of King Charles was thought by the British government to be a Chinese spy
  • The Chinese embassy in London described the H6 case as another attempt to smear China and sabotage normal working relationships

LONDON: Britain’s Prince Andrew was facing intense media scrutiny on Saturday after revelations that a close Chinese business associate of the scandal-hit younger brother of King Charles was thought by the British government to be a Chinese spy.
In a court ruling on Thursday, it was disclosed that the businessman, known only as H6, had been banned from Britain on national security grounds because the authorities suspected he was working clandestinely for Beijing to forge close contacts with prominent British figures.
Late on Friday, Andrew, the Duke of York, issued a statement to the BBC and other media in which he said he had “ceased all contact” with the individual, described in the court documents as a “close confidant,” once concerns were raised.
“The duke met the individual through official channels, with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed,” the statement said.
However, questions about the case have continued to dominate British front pages and news broadcasts.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that the British intelligence agency MI5 was investigating Chinese money given to Andrew, while the Times said the prince had invited the businessman to the royal properties Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Palace and Windsor Castle.
The Mirror reported that King Charles had been briefed by MI5 and was “truly exasperated” by the situation. A royal source told Reuters that Buckingham Palace had been kept informed of the situation in the appropriate ways and at the appropriate junctures.
ESPIONAGE ACCUSATIONS
While British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to thaw ties with China since taking office in July, London and Beijing have repeatedly traded spying accusations, with British security services warning of Chinese attempts to infiltrate political, business and academic spheres.
The Chinese embassy in London described the H6 case as another attempt to smear China and sabotage normal working relationships.
The case also shines a light on the finances of the 64-year-old prince.
Andrew, once a dashing naval officer who served in the military during the Falklands War with Argentina in the early 1980s, has now become a royal pariah over his friendship with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
He was forced to step down from a roving UK trade ambassador role in 2011, before quitting all royal duties in 2019 and then being stripped of his military links and royal patronages in 2022 amid allegations of sexual misconduct which he has always denied.
British media have reported that Charles had cut off his allowance and wanted to oust the duke from his Royal Lodge home on the Windsor estate.
The court documents about H6, who had been authorized to act for Andrew to seek investors in China, referred to a 2021 document listing talking points for a call between him and the prince in which he wrote the duke was “in a desperate situation and will grab onto anything.”


Georgia ruling party set to install loyalist president amid constitutional crisis

Updated 14 December 2024
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Georgia ruling party set to install loyalist president amid constitutional crisis

  • The Black Sea nation has been in turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in contested October parliamentary elections
  • Its decision last month to delay European Union membership talks ignited a fresh wave of mass rallies

TBILISI: Georgia’s ruling party is set to appoint a far-right loyalist as president on Saturday in a controversial election process, amid a deepening constitutional crisis and weeks of mass pro-EU protests.
The Black Sea nation has been in turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in contested October parliamentary elections.
Its decision last month to delay European Union membership talks ignited a fresh wave of mass rallies.
The opposition has denounced Saturday’s election as “illegitimate” and said sitting President Salome Zurabishvili remains the country’s sole legitimate leader.
Pro-Western Zurabishvili – who is at loggerheads with Georgian Dream – has refused to step down and is demanding new parliamentary elections, paving the way for a constitutional showdown.
On Saturday morning, protesters began gathering outside the parliament building, which was cordoned off by police forces.
An electoral college controlled by Georgian Dream and boycotted by the opposition convened in parliament to install former footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili as president.
Demonstrators shared tea to keep warm on the frosty morning, with water cannons parked nearby, an AFP reporter witnessed.
“Georgia never loses its sense of humor, celebrating the election of a footballer as president,” Zurabishvili wrote on social media.
She shared video footage of protesters playing football in the snow – a clear jab at Kavelashvili.
One of the protesters, 40-year-old Natia Apkhazava, said she arrived early “to protect our European future.”
“Our (parliamentary) election was rigged. We need new elections,” she said.
“We have been protesting here for 16 days... and we’ll keep fighting for our European future.”
Protests are scheduled to take place at a dozen of different locations in Tbilisi.
Thousands of pro-EU demonstrators filled the streets of the capital Tbilisi on Friday, before gathering outside parliament for the 16th consecutive day.
A former diplomat, Zurabishvili is a hugely popular figure among protesters, who view her as a beacon of Georgia’s European aspirations.
“What will happen in parliament tomorrow is a parody. It will be an event entirely devoid of legitimacy, unconstitutional and illegitimate,” Zurabishvili told a press conference on Friday.
Opposition groups accuse Georgian Dream of rigging the October 26 parliamentary vote, backsliding on democracy and moving Tbilisi closer to Russia – all at the expense of the Caucasus nation’s constitutionally mandated bid to join the European Union.
Kavelashvili, 53 – the sole candidate for the largely ceremonial post – is known for his vehement anti-West diatribes and opposition to LGBTQ rights.
Georgian Dream scrapped direct presidential elections in 2017.
With Zurabishvili refusing to leave office, opposition lawmakers boycotting parliament and protests showing no signs of abating, Kavelashvili is likely to see his presidency undermined from the onset.
One author of Georgia’s constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze, has argued that all decisions by the new parliament are void.
This is because it ratified the mandates of newly elected lawmakers before the outcome of a court case filed by the incumbent president contesting the elections, he explained.
“Georgia is facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis,” Khmaladze said.
It remains unclear how the government will react to Zurabishvili’s refusal to step down after her successor is inaugurated on December 29.
Police have fired tear gas and water cannons during more than two weeks of demonstrations and arrested more than 400 protesters, according to the Social Justice Center NGO.
On Friday, Amnesty International said protesters had faced “brutal dispersal tactics, arbitrary detention and torture.”
There have also been raids on the offices of opposition parties and arrests of their leaders.
As international condemnation of the police crackdown mounted, French President Emmanuel Macron told Georgians their “European dream must not be extinguished.”
“We are by your side in supporting your European and democratic aspirations,” he said in a video address.
Earlier this week, Macron called Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili – the tycoon widely considered to be Georgia’s real power broker.
His decision to call Ivanishvili – rather than Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze – is indicative of the West’s hesitancy to recognize the legitimacy of Georgian Dream’s new government.
Washington has also imposed fresh sanctions on Georgian officials, barring visas for around 20 people accused of “undermining democracy in Georgia,” including ministers and parliamentarians.


Popular actor in southern India freed on bail after spending night in jail in stampede case

Updated 14 December 2024
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Popular actor in southern India freed on bail after spending night in jail in stampede case

  • Woman was killed in stampede during screening of Allu Arjun’s “Pushpa 2: The Rule” Bollywood flick 
  • Victim’s husband filed case against Arjun for not informing police of actor’s plan to attend screening

NEW DELHI: A popular actor in southern India was released from jail on bail on Saturday, a day after he was arrested by police in connection with a stampede that led to the death of a woman at the premiere of his movie earlier this month.

A 35-year-old woman died and her 8-year-old son was critically injured in the stampede, which occurred during the screening of Allu Arjun’s release for “Pushpa 2: The Rule” in southern Telangana state’s Hyderabad city on Dec. 4.

Arjun was arrested after the woman’s husband filed a case against him, his security team, and the theater’s management for not informing police of the actor’s plan to attend the screening, which resulted in a larger-than-expected crowd. Police charged the actor, his security team, and the theater’s management staff with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Police have already arrested the theater’s owner and two of his employees in connection with the case.

A local court on Friday ordered the actor to spend 14 days in jail, but within hours the Telangana High Court granted him bail. However, the actor had to spend the night in jail because prison authorities did not receive a copy of the bail until late Friday, the Press Trust of India reported.

The accident happened after the 41-year-old actor made a surprise appearance at a local theater where the movie was being screened. As his fans surged toward the venue, the theater’s main gate collapsed, resulting in the stampede.

The actor did not comment on the police charges or his arrest. But shortly after the accident, Arjun wrote on the social platform X that he was “heartbroken by the tragic incident.” He later announced financial assistance of $29,000 for the woman’s family and promised to take care of the medical expenses for her injured son.

Deadly stampedes are relatively common in India, where large crowds gather in small areas with shoddy infrastructure and few crowd safety measures.


South Korea lawmakers vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over martial law bid

Updated 14 December 2024
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South Korea lawmakers vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over martial law bid

  • Under the constitution Prime Minister Han Duck-soo becomes acting president
  • If Suk Yeol is removed from office, a snap election will be called

SEOUL: South Korea’s opposition-led parliament impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday, voting to suspend him from his official duties over his short-lived attempt last week to impose martial law.

Under the constitution Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was appointed by Yoon, becomes acting president.

Yoon is the second conservative president in a row to be impeached in South Korea. Park Geun-hye was removed from office in 2017.

The motion was carried after some members of Yoon’s People Power Party joined the opposition parties, which control 192 seats in the 300-member national assembly, clearing the two-thirds threshold needed for impeachment. The number of lawmakers supporting impeachment was 204, with 85 against, three abstentions and eight invalid ballots.

Although suspended, Yoon remains in office. The Constitutional Court will decide whether to remove him sometime in the next six months.

If Yoon is removed from office, a snap election will be called.

Yoon shocked the nation late on Dec. 3 when he gave the military sweeping emergency powers in order to root out what he called “anti-state forces” and overcome obstructionist political opponents.

He later apologized to the nation but also defended his decision and resisted calls to resign ahead of the vote.


Thai police detain 2 suspects after a bomb in a border province killed 3 and injured scores

Updated 14 December 2024
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Thai police detain 2 suspects after a bomb in a border province killed 3 and injured scores

  • Local police said at least 48 people were injured and that police have not yet pressed charges against the suspects as the investigation is ongoing
  • Local police said there was a fight between rival groups of men before the explosion and that there was no wider security threat

BANGKOK: Thai police on Saturday said two suspects were in custody as authorities investigated a bombing in the north that killed at least three people and injured dozens of others.
An explosive device was thrown into a crowd during an outdoor performance at an annual festival in Umphang town in Tak province, which borders Myanmar, on Friday just before midnight, according to the Association of the Umphang Rescue Groups.
Local police said at least 48 people were injured and that police have not yet pressed charges against the suspects as the investigation is ongoing.
Thanathip Sawangsang, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry, said that local police said there was a fight between rival groups of men before the explosion and that there was no wider security threat. He said the forensic evidence showed that the explosive device was a homemade bomb.
Tak province has a heavy military presence in its border areas, including in Umphang.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed her condolences to the victims and their families, and ordered security personnel and relevant agencies in the area to investigate and help those who have been affected, said government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsap.