Sweden ‘not at war, but not at peace either’: PM

Sweden Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks to the Associated Press during an interview at the Estonian Knighthood House in Tallinn, Estonia, on Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 13 January 2025
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Sweden ‘not at war, but not at peace either’: PM

  • In September 2022, a series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe, the cause of which has yet to be determined

STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Sunday his country was not at war but not living in peacetime either, citing hybrid attacks, suspected sabotage in the Baltic Sea and a proxy war fought on its soil.
Several underwater telecom and power cables have been severed in the Baltic Sea in recent months in incidents that experts and politicians say are part of hybrid war actions orchestrated by Russia.
“Sweden is not at war, but there is not peace either. Real peace means freedom and no serious conflicts between countries,” he told the annual Folk och Forsvar defense forum in Salen in central Sweden.
“We and our neighboring countries are subjected to hybrid attacks that are not carried out with missiles and soldiers but with computers, money, disinformation and threats of sabotage,” he said.
“The security situation and the fact that strange things keep happening in the Baltic Sea lead us to believe that hostile intentions cannot be ruled out,” he said.
On December 25, the Estlink 2 electricity cable and four telecom cables linking Finland and Estonia were damaged, just weeks after two telecom cables in Swedish waters of the Baltic Sea were severed on November 17-18.
Tensions have mounted around the Baltic Sea since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In September 2022, a series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe, the cause of which has yet to be determined.
In October 2023, an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after it was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.
Kristersson did not single out any one country as responsible for the damaged cables.
But speaking more generally about hybrid threats in the region, he said: “The Russian threat is very likely long-term. As our defense must be.”
He said the Swedish government was “taking this seriously.”
Kristersson also noted that Sweden was living “in the age of proxy wars.”
“Iran is using violent organized criminal gangs in Sweden to carry out serious attacks in our country by proxy.”
Sweden’s intelligence service Sapo in May accused Iran of recruiting Swedish criminal gang members, some of them children, as proxies to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in the Scandinavian country.

 


UK and Ukraine agree to deepen ties as Zelensky meets Starmer

Updated 12 sec ago
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UK and Ukraine agree to deepen ties as Zelensky meets Starmer

  • Zelensky met with Starmer at his Downing Street home, after earlier visiting King Charles III at Windsor Castle
  • The trip comes on the eve of a NATO summit in The Hague, which Zelensky is due to attend

LONDON: Seeking to shore up support more than three years into Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a surprise visit to London on Monday, cementing a military co-production deal.
Zelensky met with Starmer at his Downing Street home, after earlier visiting King Charles III at Windsor Castle.
The trip comes on the eve of a NATO summit in The Hague, which Zelensky is due to attend.
Addressing Ukrainian military personnel undergoing training in the UK, Starmer said the pair had had “an excellent bilateral meeting” and agreed on an “industrial military co-production agreement,” which he called “a massive step forward in the contribution that we can continue to make.”
Zelensky, speaking beside Starmer, insisted the deal “will be very strong and will transform both nations,” although no details were released.
After the meeting, Starmer said it was “really a privilege, a pleasure” to welcome Zelensky, calling him “a regular now at Downing Street.”
Starmer told the Ukrainian troops it was “really humbling” to see their “level of professionalism, commitment and bravery.”
More than 50,000 troops have now been trained as part of the international partnership.
Zelensky said the scheme had helped “strengthen our army” and enabled Ukraine to “survive and fight.”
The UK has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since Russia invaded in early 2022, levelling rounds of sanctions against Moscow and supplying multiple packages of military aid.
Starmer promised the support would continue “for the rest of the conflict” and help put Ukraine in “the strongest possible position” to negotiate a ceasefire.
Zelensky said his country was “very thankful to the UK... for such big support of Ukraine from the very beginning of this war.”
The Ukrainian leader earlier traveled to Windsor Castle, where he “visited The King... and remained to luncheon,” Buckingham Palace said.
Zelensky is expected at the NATO summit in The Hague on Tuesday and Wednesday, where Ukraine’s allies will work “to ensure that Ukraine is in the best possible position as we go into the next stage of this conflict,” according to Starmer.
NATO allies are poised to take a “quantum leap” by hiking defense spending to counter the threat of Russia, Secretary General Mark Rutte said on the eve of the two-day summit.
The alliance’s 32 members will pledge to boost defense expenditure to five percent of gross domestic product, a key demand of President Donald Trump, who has long grumbled that the US pays too much for NATO.
NATO’s members have thrashed out a compromise deal to dedicate at least 3.5 percent of GDP to core military needs by 2035, and 1.5 percent to broader security-related items like cyber-security and infrastructure.
“The defense investment plan that allies will agree in The Hague introduces a new baseline, five percent of GDP to be invested in defense,” Rutte told reporters at a pre-summit news conference.
“This is a quantum leap that is ambitious, historic and fundamental to securing our future.”


Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains

Updated 53 min 15 sec ago
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Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains

  • Ex-PM Sheikh Hasina’s government was accused of widespread human rights abuses
  • That includes extrajudicial killing of political opponents, abduction and disappearances

DHAKA: A Bangladesh government-appointed commission investigating hundreds of disappearances by the security forces under ousted premier Sheikh Hasina on Monday warned that the same “culture of impunity” continues.

The Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances is probing abuses during the rule of Hasina, whose government was accused of widespread human rights abuses.

That includes the extrajudicial killing of hundreds of political opponents and the unlawful abduction and disappearance of hundreds more.

The commission was established by interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, who is facing intense political pressure as parties jostle for power ahead of elections expected early next year.

Bangladesh has a long history of military coups and the army retains a powerful role.

“Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh were not isolated acts of wrongdoing, but the result of a politicized institutional machinery that condoned, normalized, and often rewarded such crimes,” the commission said, in a section of a report released by the interim government on Monday.

“Alarmingly, this culture of impunity continues even after the regime change on August 5, 2024.”

The commission has verified more than 250 cases of enforced disappearances spanning the 15 years that Hasina’s Awami League was in power.

Commission chief Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury said earlier this month that responsibility lay with individual officers, who were “involved in conducting enforced disappearances,” but not the armed forces as an institution.

Earlier this month, a joint statement by rights groups — including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch — called on the security forces to “fully cooperate with the commission by guaranteeing unfettered and ongoing access to all detention centers... and providing free access to records regarding those seized or detained.”

Hasina,77, remains in self-imposed exile in India, where she fled after she was ousted last year.

She has defied orders to return to Dhaka to face charges amounting to crimes against humanity. Her trial in absentia continues.


US citizens in Qatar told to ‘shelter in place’ as Iran mulls reprisals

Updated 23 June 2025
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US citizens in Qatar told to ‘shelter in place’ as Iran mulls reprisals

  • Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said warnings by foreign embassies ‘do not necessarily reflect the existence of specific or credible threats’

DOHA: The United States embassy in Qatar advised Americans there to “shelter in place” Monday, with other Western embassies echoing the warning after Tehran threatened to retaliate for US strikes on its nuclear sites.
Qatar, which lies 190 kilometers (120 miles) south of Iran across the Gulf, is home to the US’s largest military base in the region, Al-Udeid.
“Out of an abundance of caution we recommend American citizens shelter in place until further notice,” the US embassy said on its website.
Britain and Canada later cited the US security alert in their own recommendations to nationals.

“Following a US security alert for US nationals in Qatar, out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that British nationals in Qatar shelter in place until further notice,” the UK Foreign Office said on Monday.
Iran’s armed forces threatened on Monday to inflict “serious, unpredictable consequences” on the US after its heavy strikes on three nuclear sites.
In Bahrain, a close neighbor of Qatar that hosts the US Fifth Fleet, the American embassy “temporarily shifted a portion of its employees to local telework,” it said on X.
Bahraini authorities had already told most government employees to work from home until further notice, citing “regional circumstances.”
Following the US warning in Doha, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said warnings by foreign embassies “do not necessarily reflect the existence of specific or credible threats.”
“We would like to reassure the public that the security situation in the state remains stable,” he wrote on X. “Qatar continues to exert intensive diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region.”
On Sunday, the US State Department advised Americans worldwide to “exercise increased caution” because of the war between Israel and Iran.
After Israel’s first strikes on Iran on June 13, the US embassy in Qatar had told its staff and other Americans to “exercise increased caution” and “limit non-essential travel to Al Udeid Air Base.”


Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains

Updated 23 June 2025
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Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains

  • The Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances is probing abuses during the rule of Hasina, whose government was accused of widespread human rights abuses

DHAKA: A Bangladesh government-appointed commission investigating hundreds of disappearances by the security forces under ousted premier Sheikh Hasina on Monday warned that the same “culture of impunity” continues.
The Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances is probing abuses during the rule of Hasina, whose government was accused of widespread human rights abuses.
That includes the extrajudicial killing of hundreds of political opponents and the unlawful abduction and disappearance of hundreds more.
The commission was established by interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, who is facing intense political pressure as parties jostle for power ahead of elections expected early next year.
Bangladesh has a long history of military coups and the army retains a powerful role.
“Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh were not isolated acts of wrongdoing, but the result of a politicized institutional machinery that condoned, normalized, and often rewarded such crimes,” the commission said, in a section of a report released by the interim government on Monday.
“Alarmingly, this culture of impunity continues even after the regime change on August 5, 2024.”
The commission has verified more than 250 cases of enforced disappearances spanning the 15 years that Hasina’s Awami League was in power.
Commission chief Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury said earlier this month that responsibility lay with individual officers, who were “involved in conducting enforced disappearances,” but not the armed forces as an institution.
Earlier this month, a joint statement by rights groups — including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch — called on the security forces to “fully cooperate with the commission by guaranteeing unfettered and ongoing access to all detention centers... and providing free access to records regarding those seized or detained.”
Hasina,77, remains in self-imposed exile in India, where she fled after she was ousted last year.
She has defied orders to return to Dhaka to face charges amounting to crimes against humanity. Her trial in absentia continues.


Greenpeace joins protests against gala Bezos wedding in Venice

Updated 23 June 2025
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Greenpeace joins protests against gala Bezos wedding in Venice

  • Some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating

VENICE: Global environmental lobby Greenpeace added its voice on Monday to protests against this week’s celebrity wedding in Venice between American tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Laura Sanchez.
The event, expected to attract some 200 guests including US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as scores of stars from film, fashion and business, has been dubbed “the wedding of the century.”
But some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating.
Activists from Greenpeace Italy and UK group “Everyone hates Elon” (Musk) unfolded a giant banner in central St. Mark’s Square with a picture of Bezos laughing and a sign reading: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.”
Local police arrived to talk to activists and check their identification documents, before they rolled up their banner.
“The problem is not the wedding, the problem is the system. We think that one big billionaire can’t rent a city for his pleasure,” Simona Abbate, one of the protesters, told Reuters.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro and regional governor Luca Zaia have defended the wedding, arguing that it will bring an economic windfall to local businesses, including the motor boats and gondolas that operate its myriad canals.
Zaia said the celebrations were expected to cost 20-30 million euros ($23-$34 million).
Bezos will also make sizable charity donations, including a million euros for Corila, an academic consortium that studies Venice’s lagoon ecosystem, Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper and the ANSA news agency reported on Sunday.
Earlier this month, anti-Bezos banners were hung from St. Mark’s bell tower and from the famed Rialto bridge, while locals threatened peaceful blockades against the event, saying Venice needed public services and housing, not VIPs and over-tourism.
The exact dates and locations of the glitzy nuptials are being kept confidential, but celebrations are expected to play out over three days, most likely around June 26-28.