Israel rings in New Year under barrage of rockets from Gaza

According to AFP reporters on the ground, as the nation rang in the New Year on Monday, several rockets fired from the Gaza Strip targeted Tel Aviv and southern Israel.

As journalists in Tel Aviv witnessed Israeli missile defence systems intercept the missiles, air raid sirens went out.

While some people carried on celebrating New Year’s Eve, others who had congregated on the streets did so indoors.

AFP correspondents said that one strike targeted Tel Aviv a minute after the first one, which happened at midnight (22:00 GMT) and targeted southern Israel.

“I was terrified, like it was the first time I saw missiles, its terrifying,” Gabriel Zemelman told AFP outside a Tel Aviv bar where he had come to celebrate with friends.

Hamas’s military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for both attacks in a video posted on social media.

They said they used M90 rockets in “response to the massacres of civilians” perpetrated by Israel.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack.

Hamas “decided to start 2024 by launching a barrage of rockets at Israel”, the military said in a post on social media.

The latest rocket attacks came as Israel continues its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which has killed at least 21,822 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The war was triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, which left around 1,140 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.

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Hezbollah warns Israel against attack on Lebanon

Hezbollah’s deputy leader in Lebanon stated on Sunday that Israel was “not in a position” to dictate the group’s policies on its presence in the border region while the group’s conflict in Gaza rages.

Since the Israel-Hamas battle began on October 7, there have been increasing gunfire exchanges along the Israel-Lebanon border, primarily between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. This has raised concerns about the possibility of a wider conflict.

Thousands of civilians have been evacuated from the border area by the army, and Israel has been pressuring Hezbollah to leave the area north of the Litani River, which is roughly thirty kilometres (20 miles) north of the border.

Israel is “trying to show that it has options” to assist in the return of displaced Israeli people and drive out Hezbollah from the border region, according to Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem.

In a speech, Qassem warned that Israel “first must stop the Gaza war in order for the war in Lebanon to stop” and that it “is not in a position to impose its options.”

“The persistent bombing of civilians in Lebanon means the response will be stronger and proportionate to the Israeli aggression,” Qassem added.

More than 160 people have died on the Lebanese side since the start of the cross-border fighting, the most of them were Hezbollah fighters but there have also been over 20 civilian deaths, including three journalists.

The Israeli military reports that at least five civilians and nine troops have died.

While Israel has been hitting south Lebanon, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for many strikes on Israeli troops and fortifications, including one on Sunday. It claims that its activities are in support of its ally, Hamas.

“Fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and military structures” in the south Lebanon region of Ramyeh, the Israeli army claimed on Sunday.

It said that the organisation was using Ramyeh as “a centre for its terrorist activity” and that it was “operating from behind the civilian population.”

Since the conclusion of a conflict with Israel in 2006, Hezbollah has not maintained a noticeable military presence on Lebanon’s southern border, but it still has significant influence in the south of the nation, where it has constructed tunnels and hideouts.

All military soldiers were ordered to retreat north of the Litani River by UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which put an end to the 2006 conflict, with the exception of UN peacekeepers and Lebanese state security forces.

Hezbollah attacks, according to an Israeli army statement, “violate UN Security Council Resolution 1701”.

This month, Prime Minister Najib Mikati declared that if Israel agreed and withdrew from area, Lebanon would be prepared to carry out UN resolutions.

(With agency inputs)

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Pakistan: Imran Khan's party PTI claims exclusion from polls

Following the closing of nominations on Sunday, party leaders said that the majority of Imran Khan’s followers, the imprisoned former prime minister of Pakistan, had been disqualified from running for office in the election scheduled for February 8.
Since August, Mr. Khan has been detained and is awaiting trial in connection with numerous cases that he claims were set up to keep him from running for office as the leader of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

The former cricket great was convicted guilty of graft earlier this year; however, the judgement is being reviewed and a court suspended his three-year term. Despite the fact that the conviction banned him from office, PTI submitted Khan’s candidature papers to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last week.

PTI’s allegation that it is already being excluded from the voting process is probably going to spark numerous applications to the ECP and other courts.

“We will stay in the elections and will file appeals against all these decisions in each of the constituencies and will use all our constitutional, legal and political options,” PTI spokesman Hasan said.

After a falling out with Pakistan’s influential military commanders who had supported Imran Khan’s ascent to power in 2018, the 71-year-old was removed from office last year. He spearheaded an unparalleled campaign of resistance in opposition to the military establishment, which has dominated the country directly for the majority of its existence.

Imran Khan claimed they had orchestrated a scheme to have him wounded in an assassination attempt and that they had engineered his ouster from power through a no-confidence vote supported by the US. Leading PTI figures have been incarcerated or forced to leave the party as a result of a broad crackdown that began after his brief arrest in May caused unrest.

(With agency inputs)

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Bulgaria, Romania to join Schengen area by air and sea

The European Council agreed on Saturday that Romania and Bulgaria will be partially incorporated into the Schengen region of free travel in March 2024.

Romania and Bulgaria, both EU members since 2007, were rejected from the wide Schengen zone, which allows more than 400 million people to travel freely without internal border restrictions, by the end of 2022.

Their applications were first rejected by Austria, which had claimed for years that it was forced to house a disproportionate number of unauthorised immigrants due to inadequately secured external Schengen borders.

According to a statement issued by the European Council on Saturday, the 27 EU member states unanimously decided to abolish controls at the two nations’ air and maritime borders as of March 31.

Discussions over opening the land borders will continue next year.

The European Commission welcomed the two countries’ partial Schengen inclusion, which comes after 12 years of negotiations.

“An enlarged Schengen area will make the EU stronger as a Union, internally and on the global stage,” it said in a statement.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called it a “historic moment”.

“Today is a day of great pride for Bulgaria and Romania,” she said in a post on social media. “They both deserve it. They will make Schengen even stronger.”

The Schengen area was created in 1985 and includes 23 of the 27 EU member states, as well as their associated neighbours Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

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Houthis show no sign of ending 'reckless' Red Sea attacks as trade traffic picks up, commander says

The top commander of US naval forces in the Middle East stated on Saturday that the Houthi rebels in Yemen do not appear to be stopping their “reckless” attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, even as more countries join the global maritime effort to safeguard vessels in the crucial waterway and trade activity starts to increase.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper stated in an Associated Press interview that 1,200 commercial ships had passed through the Red Sea region since Operation Prosperity Guardian was launched little over ten days ago, and none of them have been struck by drone or missile strikes. He said additional countries are expected to sign on. Denmark was the latest, announcing Friday it plans to send a frigate to the mission that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced during a visit to Bahrain, where the Navy’s 5th Fleet is based, saying that “this is an international challenge that demands collective action.”

The Houthis, who get support from Iran, claim that their strikes are meant to halt the Israeli offensive in Gaza by targeting ships with ties to Israel.

The Gulf of Aden is connected to the Red Sea and thereafter to the Suez Canal via the slender Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Markets in Asia and Europe are connected by this important trading corridor. Numerous shipping firms have ordered their vessels to remain in place and not enter the strait until the security situation has improved due to the intensity of the attacks, several of which have resulted in damage to vessels. Significant shippers extended the duration and expense of the voyages by circling Africa and the Cape of Good Hope with their vessels.

Currently there are five warships from the United States, France, and the United Kingdom patrolling the waters of the southern Red Sea and the western Gulf of Aden, said Cooper, who heads the 5th Fleet. Since the operation started, the ships have shot down a total of 17 drones and four anti-ship ballistic missiles, he said.

Just two days ago, the USS Mason, a Navy destroyer, downed a drone and anti-ship ballistic missile that were fired by the Houthis, according to U.S. Central Command. The U.S. said the 22nd attack on international shipping by the Houthis since Oct. 19 caused no damage to any of the 18 ships in the area or any reported injuries.

“I expect in the coming weeks we’re going to get additional countries,” Cooper said, noting Denmark’s recent announcement.

The U.S. has said that more than 20 nations are participating, but a number of those nations have not acknowledged it publicly.

On Saturday, Austin discussed the ongoing illegal Houthi attacks in a call with Netherlands’ defense minister, Kajsa Ollongren, according to the Pentagon. Both condemned the attacks as unacceptable and “profoundly destabilizing” to international order and global commerce, with Austin stressing that they constitute “a significant international problem that demands collective action.”

Cooper said the coalition is in direct communication with commercial ships to provide guidance on “maneuvering and the best practices to avoid being attacked,” and working closely with the shipping industry to coordinate security.

An international task force had been set up in April 2022 to improve maritime security in the region. But Cooper said Operation Prosperity Guardian has more ships and a persistent presence to assist vessels.

Since the operation started, the Houthis have stepped up their use of anti-ship ballistic missiles, Cooper said. “We are cleareyed that the Houthi reckless attacks will likely continue,” he said.

The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, launching a grinding war against a Saudi-led coalition that sought to restore the government. The militants have sporadically targeted ships in the region, but the attacks increased since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

The Houthi threatened to attack any vessel they believe is either going to or coming from Israel. That has escalated to apparently any vessel, with container ships and oil tankers flagged to countries such as Norway and Liberia being attacked or drawing missile fire.

The shipping company Maersk had announced earlier that it had decided to re-route its ships that have been paused for days outside the strait and Red Sea, and send them around Africa instead. Maersk announced Dec. 25 that it was going to resume sending ships through the strait, citing the operation. Cooper said another shipping company had also resumed using the route.

“Commerce is definitely flowing,” Cooper said.

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UN agency praises India after $5 million contribution towards Palestine refugees

A day after New Delhi gave the UN agency its second tranche of USD 2.5 million, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said on Friday that India’s “generous gesture” will enable the UN agency to continue providing life-saving assistance to Palestinian refugees.

Operating since 1950, UNRWA provides direct assistance and employment opportunities for officially recognised Palestinian refugees.

“As we reach the end of a very difficult year in the region, UNRWA is grateful for the support of partners who continue to stand by Palestine Refugees,” Tamara Alrifai, a spokesperson for UNRWA told PTI.

“The latest generous gesture by India will help the Agency continue its lifesaving services towards Palestine Refugees,” she added.

India’s Charge d’Affaires in Ramallah, Elizabeth Rodrigues, delivered the second tranche of USD 2.5 million to UNRWA amid the fierce conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. This fulfilled India’s yearly promise of $5 million US dollars for the year 2023–2024.

Nearly all of UNRWA’s funding comes from voluntarily donated funds from UN member nations.

About a month before, in November, the Indian government had released the first installment of its yearly commitment.

The organisation is having difficulty continuing to operate in the midst of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, and because of the challenging circumstances in the area, especially in Gaza, it also welcomed and appreciated India’s “generous contribution” last month.

The horrible confrontation between Israel and Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, is mostly affecting Palestinians living in Gaza.

The Jewish State declared an all-out war on the Islamist group after Hamas’ heinous attack on Israel on October 7. Since then, it has continued to bomb the region to the southwest with air and infantry operations.

India’s contribution is intended to support the UN agency’s primary services and initiatives, which include the social services, healthcare, education, and relief offered to Palestinian refugees.

Delhi has emphasised that it will keep funding the organization’s operations in the area and the assistance it offers to Palestinian refugees.

Additionally, 32 tonnes of “humanitarian assistance to the people of Palestine” had been sent by India earlier on November 19 via the El-Arish Airport in Egypt.

India has donated USD 30 million to UNRWA since 2018.

Around 2.3 million people live in Gaza, but since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and Israel retaliated, more than two thirds of the population has left their homes and moved south.

For hundreds of thousands of people living in shelters, the UNRWA has been struggling to deliver basic services.

Prior to the Gaza War, UNRWA was dealing with a rise in service requests as a result of an increase in the number of officially registered Palestinian refugees, the severity of their vulnerability, and their increasing poverty. Approximately 5.6 million Palestine refugees are registered with the organisation, and it is its duty to safeguard and support them throughout its five operational domains.

(With agency inputs)

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World population up 75 million this year, standing at 8 billion on 1 January

According to estimates issued by the US Census Bureau on Thursday, the world population increased by 75 million people in the previous year and will stand at more than 8 billion people on New Year’s Day.

In the previous year, the global growth rate was just under 1%. According to Census Bureau data, 4.3 births and two deaths are predicted worldwide per second beginning in 2024.

In the previous year, the United States’ growth rate was 0.53 percent, which was almost half of the global total. The United States gained 1.7 million individuals and will have a population of 335.8 million on New Year’s Day.

If the current pace continues through the end of the decade, the 2020s could be the slowest-growing decade in US history, yielding a growth rate of less than 4 per cent over the 10-year-period from 2020 to 2030, said William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution.

The slowest-growing decade currently was in the aftermath of the Great Depression in the 1930s, when the growth rate was 7.3 per cent.

“Of course growth may tick up a bit as we leave the pandemic years. But it would still be difficult to get to 7.3 per cent,” Frey said.

At the start of 2024, the United States is expected to experience one birth every nine seconds and one death every 9.5 seconds. However, immigration will keep the population from dropping. Net international migration is expected to add one person to the US population every 28.3 seconds. This combination of births, deaths and net international migration will increase the US population by one person every 24.2 seconds.

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Maine bars Trump from ballot as US Supreme Court weighs states' authority to block former president

Maine’s Democratic secretary of state unilaterally removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot on Thursday, becoming the first election official to do so as the United States Supreme Court prepares to rule on whether Trump is still eligible to run for president.

The decision by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows follows the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision earlier this month to remove Trump from the ballot there under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. That ruling has been delayed until the United States Supreme Court considers whether Trump is prohibited from holding office under a Civil War-era rule that forbids individuals who “engaged in insurrection” from doing so.

The Trump campaign said that it will appeal Bellows’ judgement to Maine’s state courts, and Bellows postponed her decision until that court system made a decision on the issue. In the end, the Supreme Court is likely to have the last word on whether Trump is on the ballot in Maine and the other states.

Bellows determined that Trump could no longer compete for his previous position since his involvement in the 6 January 2021, attack on the US Capitol violated Section 3, which prohibits individuals who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office. Bellows issued the decision after several state citizens, including a bipartisan group of former politicians, contested Trump’s ballot position.

“I do not reach this conclusion lightly,” Bellows wrote in her 34-page decision. “I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.”

The Trump campaign immediately slammed the ruling. “We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.

Legal experts said that Thursday’s ruling demonstrates the need for the nation’s highest court, which has never ruled on Section 3, to clarify what states can do.

“It is clear that these decisions are going to keep popping up, and inconsistent decisions reached (like the many states keeping Trump on the ballot over challenges) until there is final and decisive guidance from the US Supreme Court,” Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California-Los Angeles, wrote in response to the Maine decision. “It seems a certainty that SCOTUS will have to address the merits sooner or later.”

While Maine has just four electoral votes, it’s one of two states to split them. Trump won one of Maine’s electors in 2020, so having him off the ballot there, should he emerge as the Republican general election candidate, could have outsized implications in a race that is expected to be narrowly decided.

That’s in contrast to Colorado, which Trump lost by 13 percentage points in 2020 and where he wasn’t expected to compete in November if he wins the Republican presidential nomination.

In her decision, Bellows acknowledged that the US Supreme Court will probably have the final word but said it was important she did her official duty.

That won her praise from the former state lawmakers who filed one of the petitions forcing her to consider the case.

“Secretary Bellows showed great courage in her ruling, and we look forward to helping her defend her judicious and correct decision in court. No elected official is above the law or our constitution, and today’s ruling reaffirms this most important of American principles,” Republican Kimberly Rosen, independent Thomas Saviello and Democrat Ethan Strimling said in a statement.

But other Republicans in the state were outraged.

“This is a sham decision that mimics Third World dictatorships,” Maine’s House Republican leader, Billy Bob Faulkingham, said in a statement. “It will not stand legal scrutiny. People have a right to choose their leaders devoid of mindless decisions by partisan hacks.”

The Trump campaign on Tuesday requested that Bellows disqualify herself from the case because she’d previously tweeted that Jan. 6 was an “insurrection” and bemoaned that Trump was acquitted in his impeachment trial in the US Senate after the capitol attack. She refused to step aside.

“My decision was based exclusively on the record presented to me at the hearing and was in no way influenced by my political affiliation or personal views about the events of Jan. 6, 2021,” Bellows told the Associated Press Thursday night.

Bellows is a former head of the Maine chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. All seven of the justices of the Colorado Supreme Court, which split 4-3 on whether to become the first court in history to declare a presidential candidate ineligible under Section 3, were appointed by Democrats. Two Washington, D.C.-based liberal groups have launched the most serious prior challenges to Trump, in Colorado and a handful of other states.

That’s led Trump to contend the dozens of lawsuits nationwide seeking to remove him from the ballot under Section 3 are a Democratic plot to end his campaign. But some of the most prominent advocates have been conservative legal theorists who argue that the text of the Constitution makes the former president ineligible to run again, just as if he failed to clear the document’s age threshold — 35 years old — for the office.

Likewise, until Bellows’ decision, every top state election official, whether Democrat or Republican, had rejected requests to bar Trump from the ballot, saying they didn’t have the power to remove him unless ordered to do so by a court.

The timing on the US Supreme Court’s decision is unclear, but both sides want it fast. Colorado’s Republican Party appealed the Colorado high court decision on Wednesday, urging an expedited schedule, and Trump is also expected to file an appeal within the week. The petitioners in the Colorado case on Thursday urged the nation’s highest court to adopt an even faster schedule so it could rule before March 5, known as Super Tuesday, when 16 states, including Colorado and Maine, are scheduled to vote in the Republican presidential nominating process.

The high court needs to formally accept the case first, but legal experts consider that a certainty. The Section 3 cases seem tailor-made for the Supreme Court, addressing an area of US governance where there’s scant judicial guidance.

The clause was added in 1868 to keep defeated Confederates from returning to their former positions of power in local and federal government. It prohibits anyone who broke an oath to “support” the Constitution from holding office. The provision was used to bar a wide range of ex-Confederates from positions ranging from local sheriff to Congress, but fell into disuse after an 1872 congressional amnesty for most former Confederates.

Legal historians believe the only time the provision was used in the 20th Century was in 1919, when it was cited to deny a House seat to a socialist who had opposed US involvement in World War I. But since the Jan. 6 attack, it has been revived.

Last year, it was cited by a court to remove a rural New Mexico County Commissioner who had entered the Capitol on Jan. 6. One liberal group tried to remove Republican Reps. Madison Cawthorn and Marjorie Taylor Greene from the 2022 ballot under the provision, but Cawthorn lost his primary so his case was thrown out, and a judge ruled for Greene.

Some critics of the movement to bar Trump warn that the provision could be weaponized in unexpected ways.

They note that conservatives could argue, for example, that Vice President Kamala Harris is likewise barred from office because she raised bail funds for people arrested during the unrest following George Floyd’s 2020 murder at the hands of Minneapolis police.

The plaintiffs in Colorado presented historical evidence that even the donation of small sums to money to those seeking to join the Confederacy was grounds for being barred by Section 3. Why, critics have asked, wouldn’t that apply to Democrats like Harris today?

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US sanctions money lending network to Houthi rebels in Yemen

The U.S. imposed sanctions on a group of money exchange services from Yemen and Turkey, accusing them of assisting in funding Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The rebels have been launching attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the southern Red Sea.

The sanctions target the head of a financial intermediary in Sana’a, Yemen, and three exchange houses in Yemen and Turkey. The U.S. Treasury alleges that these individuals and entities played a role in transferring millions of dollars to the Houthis, following the directions of the sanctioned Iranian financial facilitator Sa’id al-Jamal.

As a result of the sanctions, the affected individuals and companies are barred from accessing U.S. property and bank accounts. Additionally, they are prohibited from engaging in business activities with Americans.

Thursday’s action is the latest round of financial penalties meant to punish the Houthis.

Earlier this month, the U.S. announced sanctions against 13 people and firms alleged to be providing tens of millions of dollars from the sale and shipment of Iranian commodities to the Houthis in Yemen.

Brian E. Nelson, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Thursday’s action “underscores our resolve to restrict the illicit flow of funds to the Houthis, who continue to conduct dangerous attacks on international shipping and risk further destabilizing the region.”

Nelsons said the U.S. and its allies “will continue to target the key facilitation networks that enable the destabilizing activities of the Houthis and their backers in Iran.”

The Houthis have sporadically targeted ships in the region in the past, but the attacks have increased since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, spiking after an Oct. 17 explosion at a hospital in Gaza killed and injured many. Houthi leaders have insisted Israel is their target.

In December, the White House also announced that it was encouraging its allies to join the Combined Maritime Forces, a 39-member partnership that exists to counter malign action by non-state actors in international waters, as it looks to push back against the Houthis.

The attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have scared off some of the world’s top shipping companies and oil giants, effectively rerouting global trade away from a crucial artery for consumer goods and energy supplies that is expected to trigger delays and rising prices.

With inputs from AP.

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North Korea: Officials attend year-end meeting in luxury sedans despite UN sanctions

Best This week, North Korean officials gathered the nation’s elites for an ostentatious year-end meeting. The North Korean Worker’s Party’s Central Committee convened in Pyongyang to discuss strategies for the upcoming year.

According to South Korean news agency Yonhap News Agency, they drove up in opulent Mercedes S-class cars, even though the nation forbids the sale of luxury goods. Interestingly, the UN continues to impose sanctions on the supply of high-end automobiles to North Korea.

North Korea’s governing party met at the end of the year to assess state policies for the current year and talk about those for 2024, with Kim Jong Un serving as the meeting’s chairman. Despite the international sanctions, party officials were spotted at the meeting, emerging from the eighth-generation S-class limousine and other luxury vehicles.

The news agency pointed out that Kim Jong Un has driven a limousine among other Mercedes-Maybach S-class automobiles when making public appearances. He was also seen driving an SUV in 2020 that was probably a Lexus LX 570. UN sanctions apply to these high-end cars, prohibiting the sale of luxury autos to North Korea.

Notably, this occurs a few weeks after Japanese authorities stopped a plot to transport a $70,000 Lexus automobile into North Korea, as reported in the South China Morning Post (SCMP). According to the site, the automobile was stopped on the same day that North Korea called back its envoy to Switzerland in response to an inquiry into the trafficking of ivory. The vehicle was taken during a raid on a used automobile dealership in the prefecture of Chiba on December 7. Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese news source, revealed that the showroom had filed documents declaring that the high-end vehicle was being shipped to Singapore through Bangladesh.

A UN resolution prohibits the export of high-end goods, including luxury cars, to North Korea, therefore the confiscation made headlines. Following nuclear tests conducted underground by Pyongyang in 2006, the embargo went into effect.

(With agency inputs)

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Iran is increasing production of highly enriched uranium: Atomic watchdog report

Iran has increased its production of near weapons-grade uranium in recent weeks, reversing a prior slowdown that commenced in the middle of this year, according to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency to its member states.

Iran “in recent weeks had increased its production of highly enriched uranium, reversing a previous output reduction from mid-2023,” according to an IAEA spokesperson Sunday, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in the report.

Iran had previously slowed down the rate at which it was enriching uranium to 60% purity. Uranium enriched at 60% purity is just a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said its inspectors had verified the increased rate of production since the end of November at facilities in Natanz and Fordow to about 9 kilograms per month, up from 3 kilograms per month since June and representing a return to earlier levels of production.

Enriching uranium means increasing the percentage of uranium-235, the isotope of uranium that can be used in nuclear fission.

With inputs from AP.

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Turkey's parliament set to debate Sweden NATO bid

The Turkish parliament was due to begin discussion on Tuesday on sanctioning Sweden’s NATO membership application, a contentious topic that was exacerbated after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan connected it to Ankara’s desire for F-16 fighter fighters from its ally, the United States.

After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Sweden and Finland abandoned decades of military non-alignment and sought to join the US-led defence group.

Except for Turkey and Hungary, their applications received fast-track approval from all NATO countries. The two eventually agreed, and Finland became NATO’s 31st member in April.

Turkey and Hungary are the only North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members yet to approve Sweden’s application, which was submitted 19 months ago.

The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs committee failed to agree on a draft for a full floor vote in November and will meet again on Tuesday afternoon.

Erdogan dropped his objections to Sweden joining NATO in July after Stockholm cracked down on Kurdish organisations that Ankara considers terrorists.

“We see that there is a change in policy in Sweden. We see some decisions taken in courts, albeit few,” Fuat Oktay, a lawmaker from Erdogan’s ruling AKP party and head of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee said in a televised interview on Monday.

“We had some requests for further steps to be taken,” he added.

Once it is approved by the committee, there will be a vote on the full parliament floor, where Erdogan’s ruling alliance holds the majority of seats.

NATO allies have piled pressure on Turkey, with France saying the credibility of the alliance was “at stake”.

Process fraught with problems

But the process is fraught with problems.

In December, Erdogan suggested that parliament will only act on Sweden if the US Congress approves Turkey’s requested purchase of dozens of F-16 fighter jets and spare parts, and if other NATO allies including Canada lift arms embargoes imposed on Ankara.

“Positive developments from the United States regarding the F-16 issue and Canada keeping its promises will accelerate our parliament’s positive view (on Sweden’s membership bid),” Erdogan said.

“All of these are linked,” he added.

“Sweden’s NATO membership and F-16 sales to Turkey will be handled in coordination to some extent…  because unfortunately, neither country trusts the other,” Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, the Ankara office director of the US German Marshall Fund think tank, told AFP.

Turkey’s ageing air force has suffered from Ankara’s expulsion from the US-led F-35 joint strike fighter programme in 2019.

This was in retaliation for Erdogan’s decision to acquire an advanced Russian missile defence system that NATO views as an operational security threat.

US President Joe Biden’s administration has repeatedly promised to move forward with the $20-billion F-16 sale but lawmakers have blocked it over concerns about Turkey’s alleged violations of human rights and its past tensions with Greece.

“There is no strong consensus in the parliament on Sweden’s NATO membership, nor in the US Congress on the sale of F-16s to Turkey,” Unluhisarcikli said.

Erdogan’s anti-Israel rhetoric after the start of its war with Hamas had raised concerns in Washington.

“Although the issues are not related, Turkey’s statements supporting Hamas further complicated the F-16 process,” Unluhisarcikli said, adding that the killing of Turkish soldiers by Kurdish militants last weekend could also factor into Sweden’s NATO membership.

“But if Biden and Erdogan show the necessary will, we can expect the process to be concluded soon,” he added.

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Plane held for days in France on trafficking concerns lands in India

An official reported that a charter jet carrying 276 passengers, largely Indians, who had been grounded in France for four days due to suspected human trafficking, landed in Mumbai in the early hours of Tuesday.

Visuals from inside Mumbai airport of 276 passengers, who have returned from France. News18

According to the official, the plane, an Airbus A340, arrived in Mumbai just after 4 a.m. It took off about 2.30 p.m. local time from Vatry airport in Paris.

The plane had 276 passengers on board when it took off for Mumbai, according to French authorities, since 25 people, including two kids, had declared a desire to seek refuge and were still on French land. According to a French television outlet, two others were detained, brought before a court, and placed on aided witness status.

Visuals from inside Mumbai airport of 276 passengers, who have returned from France. News18

When the flight landed in Vatry airport, there were 11 unaccompanied minors among the 303 Indian passengers on board, a local official had said.

Makeshift beds were arranged for the stranded passengers, who were given access to toilets and showers and provided meals and hot drinks in the hall of Vatry airport, the official had said.

The flight, which was operated by Romanian charter company Legend Airlines and bound for Nicaragua, had landed at Vatry on Thursday for a technical stopover en route from Dubai when French police intervened.

French authorities launched a judicial investigation into the conditions and purpose of the trip, with a unit specialising in organised crime investigating suspected human trafficking.

Nicaragua has become a popular destination for those seeking asylum in the US. As many as 96,917 Indians attempted to enter the US illegally in the financial year 2023, signalling a 51.61 percent jump from the previous year, according to data made available by the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).

At least 41,770 of those Indians attempted to enter the US via the Mexican land border, CBP data shows. Flights to Nicaragua or third countries where obtaining travel documents is easy have come to be known as ‘dunki’ flights.

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Gaza Conflict: Sombre Bethlehem marks Christmas amid Israel's offensive against Hamas

The traditional joyous celebrations at the location where they believe Jesus Christ was born were replaced on Saturday by a solemn Christmas vigil in Bethlehem, attended by Palestinian Christians. The event featured prayers for peace in Gaza and hymns lighted by candles.

Most of the time, Bethlehem rejoices in its pivotal role in the Christian account of Jesus’ life. There, in a stable, because the inn could not accommodate his parents, he was laid to rest in the most lowly of all beds—an animal’s manger.

Two millennia later, pilgrims swarm to Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, built in the Byzantine era, where the stable is said to have stood. On most Christmases, the church is decorated with festive lights and trees in Manger Square.

However, the majority-Palestinian residents of Bethlehem in the Occupied West Bank are also in mourning, as health officials in the Hamas-run enclave report that Israel’s operation in Gaza has killed over 20,000 Palestinians.

Because of the tragedy occurring just 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, Bethlehem opted not to have their traditional huge tree as the focal point of their Christmas celebrations this year.

Additionally, Bethlehem churches this year set the models amid the normal nativity scene—as Christians refer to the customary display of miniatures symbolising the holy family—instead of rubble and barbed wire in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

According to Protecting Holy Land Christians, a campaign run by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, Christians make up about 2% of the population in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories, with a lower percentage in Gaza.

In the meantime, the majority of anticipated foreign visitors intending to spend Christmas in Bethlehem have been turned away by the conflict, which was sparked by a Hamas offensive on Israeli communities on October 7 that Israel claims killed 1,200 people, largely civilians.

Few people flocked to the usually bustling streets and squares to witness the scaled-back show as church officials gathered at Bethlehem in early December to celebrate the beginning of Advent, as Christians refer to the weeks leading up to Christmas.

(With agency inputs)

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Spain will not join US-led Red Sea coalition

Spain said on Sunday that it will not join a US-led coalition to safeguard Red Sea ships from Huthi rebels in Yemen.

Several strikes against Red Sea vessels have been carried out by the Iran-backed Huthis in support of Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that 20 countries had joined the alliance led by Washington to secure the vital shipping corridor.

Spain’s government has been ambiguous, and a spokeswoman for the military ministry told AFP on Sunday that Spain “will not participate.”

While no rationale was offered, the Spanish press reported on Sunday that the decision was motivated by local politics.

Pedro Sanchez is in the process of putting together a coalition and needs the support of the radical left party Sumar, which opposes US foreign policy.

The Huthis welcomed Spain’s stance, with deputy foreign minister Hussein al-Ezzi saying “we highly appreciate Spain’s refusal to be drawn into American and British lies on the issue of maritime navigation”.

Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said on Thursday that coalition forces would “serve as a highway patrol of sorts, patrolling the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to respond to — and assist as necessary — commercial vessels that are transiting this vital international waterway”.

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Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says Israel strike kills 70 in refugee camp

According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 70 people were killed in an Israeli air attack late Sunday on a number of residences in a refugee camp.

According to the ministry, the strike demolished the dwellings in the Al-Maghazi camp in the middle of Palestinian territory. The toll could not be independently verified by AFP.

“The number of martyrs from the Al-Maghazi massacre has risen to 70 so far,” claimed Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra.

The Israeli army told AFP that it was “checking” the allegation.

Qudra had previously stated that the hit had demolished a “residential block” and that the “toll is likely to rise” due to the big number of people staying there.

In a separate incident, the ministry said 10 members of one family were killed in an Israeli strike on their house in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza. AFP was unable to verify the toll independently.

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Philippine actions in South China Sea 'extremely dangerous' - Chinese state media

On Monday, China’s official media accused the Philippines of regularly intruding on Chinese territory in the South China Sea, disseminating false information, and conspiring with extraterritorial forces to stir trouble.

The Philippines has depended on US assistance to repeatedly antagonise China, with such “extremely dangerous” action significantly jeopardising regional peace and stability, the People’s Daily, China’s Communist Party newspaper, stated in a column on Monday.

The Philippines’ foreign ministry and a national task force in charge of the South China Sea did not immediately reply to demands for comment on the story on Christmas Day.

Tensions between Beijing and Manila have risen in recent months as both sides trade accusations over a series of incidents in the South China Sea, including allegations that China rammed a ship carrying the Philippine armed forces chief of staff earlier this month.

China claims the majority of the South China Sea, which is shared by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Indonesia. In a 2016 verdict in a dispute brought by the Philippines, an international tribunal rejected China’s claim, which Beijing opposes.

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi issued an unusually forthright warning, saying that any mistake in the conflict with the Philippines will result in a stern response from China, and he urged for discussion to overcome “serious difficulties.”

The souring of bilateral ties coincides with Manila’s moves to bolster military relations with Japan and the United States, its former colonial power and defence ally of seven decades.

China expressed anger at the US this month for sending a navy ship into waters near the disputed area where China and the Philippines have had several maritime confrontations.

Washington has frequently used its defence treaty with Manila to “threaten” China, blatantly supporting Philippine violation of Chinese sovereignty and “peddling security anxieties”, the People’s Daily said.

That is “extremely irresponsible and dangerous”, said the commentary, written under the pen name Zhong Sheng, or “Voice of China”, often used to offer the newspaper’s views on foreign policy matters.

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France: Court to rule on extending stay of 303 passengers of grounded flight

The 303 passengers, primarily Indians, of an aircraft headed for Nicaragua were being questioned by four French judges on Sunday. The passengers had been detained by French officials at Vatry airport, 150 km east of Paris, since Thursday on suspicion of “human trafficking”.

“The judges have the authority to extend the detention order being used by border police by eight days initially and for another eight if required. They have two days to complete speaking to the passengers. The judges are being helped by translators,” said a report in ‘Le Monde’ newspaper.

Some of the passengers spoke Hindi, while others spoke Tamil, and it is thought that they made phone calls to their relatives, according to the French media. According to a person familiar with the situation who was reported in the publication, ten of the passengers have asked for asylum.

According to French authorities, the plane has 11 unaccompanied youngsters and 2 passengers whose detention was prolonged on Saturday evening for a maximum of 48 hours after they were taken into custody on Friday.

Legend Airlines, a Romanian charter firm, is the owner of the aircraft. Liliana Bakayoko, an attorney for the firm, denied having anything to do with the trafficking.

The “partner” company that chartered the aircraft was in charge of confirming each passenger’s identity documents and providing the airline with the passengers’ passport details 48 hours prior to takeoff.

In France, there is a maximum 20-year penalty for human trafficking.

Following the passengers’ detention by French officials on suspicion of “human trafficking,” the Indian embassy in France said on Saturday that its employees are stationed at the airport close to Paris to monitor the welfare of Indian nationals.

The embassy expressed gratitude to the French authorities for their efforts during the extended Christmas holiday weekend to find a “early resolution” of the problem through an updated social media message on Saturday night.

After the jet that took off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was grounded at the Chalons-Vatry airport in Marne during a “technical halt” on Thursday, the embassy earlier announced that it had been granted consular access to its citizens.

“Continue to work with the French Gov for the welfare of the Indians currently at the Varty airport, 150 km East of Paris, & for early resolution of the situation,” reads the Indian Embassy post on its official X handle.

“Embassy consular staff stationed there. Thank French authorities for working on this through the long holiday weekend,” it added

It followed an earlier post, which read: “French authorities informed us of a plane w/ 303 people, mostly Indian origin, from Dubai to Nicaragua detained on a technical halt at a French airport. The embassy team has reached & obtained consular access. We are investigating the situation, also ensuring the wellbeing of passengers.”

According to French law, that term may be extended by a judge to eight days, and in extraordinary cases, by an additional eight days, for a total of a maximum of 26 days.

By prefectural decree, the airport receiving hall has been converted into a foreigner’s waiting room.

Eleven unaccompanied youngsters are among the passengers; six of them, the network said, have already started the process of applying for asylum in France.

The TV network paraphrased Francois as saying that anyone who apply for asylum in France will have to be interviewed and informed whether or not they qualify for political refugee status.

The Indian passengers may have planned their trip to get to Central America so they could try to enter the US or Canada illegally from there, according to the reports.

However, the authorities were notified by an anonymous tip that the passengers were “likely to be victims of human trafficking” in a formal gang.

According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organised Crime (JUNALCO) is conducting an inquiry with the goal of “verifying whether any elements would corroborate” accusations of human trafficking.

In order to “verify and corroborate the suspicion of trafficking in human beings by an organised gang,” a crime that carries a twenty-year prison sentence and fines of three million euros, two passengers were placed into police custody on Thursday.

(With agency inputs)

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One person killed, another injured in shooting at Florida shopping mall

A man was killed in a gunshot at a shopping mall in central Florida two days before Christmas, according to police, who said the victim was “targeted” for the crime.

According to Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken, the man was died after being shot numerous times in a common area at Paddock Mall in Ocala, which is about 80 miles northwest of Orlando. According to authorities, a woman was shot in the leg.

According to Balken, the suspect fled the area and left the firearm behind.

Police were called to the mall at 3:40 p.m. after receiving a report of many rounds being fired.

“Officers immediately made entry into the mall (and) ultimately discovered that this was not what we would consider an active shooter,” Balken told reporters.

Several other mall patrons also suffered injuries during the shooting, with one person having chest pain and another reporting a broken arm, police said.

An email inquiry was sent to the mall’s owner, WPG. The mall has dozens of stores, including JC Penney and Foot Locker.

Calvin and Diana Amos, who were shopping in the J.C. Penney store, told the Ocala Star-Banner that they evacuated the store quickly once they figured out what was going on. They described themselves as scared and apprehensive.

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Gunmen kill at least 20 people, wound nine others in western Burundi

Gunmen killed at least 20 people and wounded nine others near Burundi’s western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, the government told reporters on Saturday, in an attack claimed by the Reb Tabara rebel group.

Those killed in the Friday evening raid on a village called Vugizo included 12 children, two pregnant women and a police officer, government spokesperson Jerome Niyonzima said.

Red Tabara, which has been battling Burundi’s government from bases in eastern Congo since 2015, claimed on the social media platform X to have killed nine soldiers and one police officer. Residents said they heard sounds of gunfire and explosions during the attack.

Red Tabara previously said it had attacked and destroyed equipment at the country’s international airport in Bujumbura in September, although no casualties were reported.

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India working with France to probe suspected human trafficking case

India is working with the French government for a resolution of the situation after a Nicaragua-bound flight carrying 303 people, mostly Indians, was detained by French authorities during a technical halt at an airport near Paris over suspected “human trafficking”.

French authorities informed us of a plane w/ 303 people, mostly Indian origin, from Dubai to Nicaragua detained on a technical halt at a French airport. Embassy team has reached & obtained consular access. We are investigating the situation, also ensuring wellbeing of passengers.

— India in France (@IndiaembFrance) December 22, 2023

“French authorities informed us of a plane w/ 303 people, mostly Indian origin, from Dubai to Nicaragua detained on a technical halt at a French airport,” the Indian mission said in a post on ‘X’.

“The embassy team has reached & obtained consular access. We are investigating the situation, also ensuring the well-being of passengers,” the mission said on Friday.

The plane that took off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates carrying 303 Indian passengers, including many minors, was grounded at the Chalons-Vatry airport in Marne on Thursday.

On Saturday, the Indian embassy said it was continuing to work with the French government for the welfare of the Indians currently at the Varty airport and for early resolution of the situation.

Embassy consular staff were stationed at the airport, the mission posted on X.

The Chalons-Vatry airport, located 150 kilometres east of Paris, serves mostly budget airlines.

“Thank French authorities for working on this through the long holiday weekend,” it said.

According to a ‘Le Monde’ newspaper report, the civilian protection unit of the Marne department said on Saturday that the plane was carrying 13 unaccompanied minors as well as accompanied minors, with their ages ranging from 21 months to 17 years.

An earlier report noted that France’s national anti-organised crime unit JUNALCO has taken over the investigation.

Special investigators are questioning all those aboard and two people are in custody pending further examination, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The prefecture in the northeastern department of Marne said the A340 aircraft, operated by Romanian company Legend Airlines, “remained grounded on the tarmac at Vatry airport following its landing” on Thursday.

The newspaper report says the prefecture said the plane had been due to refuel and was carrying 303 Indian nationals who had probably been working in the UAE.

According to the reports, the travel may have been planned by the Indian passengers to reach Central America from where they can attempt to enter the United States or Canada illegally.

After landing in France, the passengers were first kept on the aircraft, but then let out and given individual beds in the terminal building. The entire airport was cordoned off by police.

The prosecutor’s office said an anonymous tip signalled that the flight was carrying people who could be victims of human trafficking. Passengers were eventually transferred into the main hall of the small Vatry airport, where cots were set up for them to stay overnight on Thursday, the administration for the Marne region told the newspaper.

Investigators from a specialised French organised crime unit, border police and aviation gendarmes are working on the case.

The aircraft is owned by Romanian charter company Legend Airlines. A lawyer for the firm, Liliana Bakayoko, denied any involvement in the trafficking.

She told French news channel BFMTV that the firm was ready to cooperate with the French authorities and hoped the plane could be on its way in the next couple of days.

Legend Airlines “intervenes as a carrier”, she said, adding that “the flight was carried out for “a client of the company”.

According to the lawyer, the airline verified “the conformity of the documents presented by the client, who must demonstrate that these people have the right to go to Nicaragua, and have valid passports”.

A “partner” company that chartered the plane was responsible for verifying the identity documents of each passenger, and communicated the passengers’ passport information to the airline 48 hours before the flight, Bakayoko told The Associated Press.

“The company cannot check the criminal records of the people transported,” said Bakayoko.

“303 people is not a number that raises alarm. They are not locked in a truck without ventilation and food,” she said.

The airline is “unhappy,” she said, adding: “It is a significant economic loss, but their image also suffers.” She said Legend Airlines “is ready to cooperate as far as possible with the French authorities”.

“We hope that within one or two days maximum the plane will be able to leave,” said the lawyer.

Legend Air has a small fleet of four aircraft, according to the Flightradar website.

French border police can initially hold a foreign national for up to four days if they land in France and are prevented from travelling on to their intended destination.

French law allows for that period to be extended to eight days if a judge approves it, then another eight days in exceptional circumstances, up to a maximum of 26 days.

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Russian Communists pit political veteran against Vladimir Putin

The Communist Party of Russia, the second largest party in parliament, on Saturday, selected a 75-year-old to stand next March in presidential polls against Vladimir Putin.

At a party congress in the Moscow region, the members held a single-candidate vote backing Nikolai Kharitonov. He won just under 14 per cent of the national vote when he stood against Putin in 2004.

“Kharitonov’s candidacy was supported by an overwhelming majority of congress participants in a secret ballot,” said fellow Communist Alexander Yushchenko, quoted by Interfax news agency.

The ballot paper had a single name on it: Kharitonov’s.The Communist Party of Russia, led since 1993 by Gennady Zyuganov, fielded an alternative candidate in 2018 presidential polls.

On paper, the Communist Party is in opposition, but in practice, it backs up Putin’s party, United Russia.If victorious in next March’s polls, Putin could stay in power until 2030.A fan of martial arts, Kharitonov worked as a collective farm manager in Siberia in the Soviet era.

He later became a member of the Agrarian party, an offshoot of the Communists. This week at a party conference, Kharitonov praised the Soviet forced collectivisation of agriculture as a “correct reform that allowed us to resolve the food problem on the eve of a great war”.He said Saturday that “our task is to consolidate the people during the election campaign so that there is victory, victory on all fronts”.

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Mexico promises US more action on tackling migration

Before a high-level US visit next week, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador indicated Friday that his government would speed up efforts to curb irregular migratory flows.

The vow comes a day after Lopez Obrador spoke by phone with US President Joe Biden on the contentious issue.

Lopez Obrador stated that the “extraordinary” migrant crisis would be the focus of Wednesday’s talks in Mexico City with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior US officials.

Mexico, he said, would strengthen containment measures in the south, near the Guatemalan border.

“The agreement is that we continue working together and we already have a proposal to reinforce our plans,” Lopez Obrador said.

Blinken will be accompanied on his visit by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood Randall, the Biden administration said Thursday.

The talks come as the rival Republican Party pushes Biden’s Democrats for major changes on immigration policy in exchange for approving a package of emergency assistance for Ukraine and Israel.

US border police have in recent weeks reported approximately 10,000 crossings every day.

The previous fiscal year, from October 2022 through September 2023, saw a record 2.4 million encounters by US border patrol with migrants, including at both official ports of entry and elsewhere along the southern border.

In a stark illustration of the dangers facing them, two migrants drowned on Thursday while trying to cross the Rio Grande near the Mexican city of Matamoros, south of Brownsville, Texas.

Images obtained by AFP showed three men struggling to keep their heads above water clogged with vegetation and garbage, before two of them disappeared beneath the surface.

The migrants were trying to cross despite the mud and detritus because there were no Mexican immigration agents at the location, witnesses told AFP.

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US, China restart military level dialogue after year-long hiatus

For the first time in more than a year, the top US military officer met virtually with his Chinese counterpart on Thursday, raising the possibility of a wider mending of ties between the two nations, according to the Pentagon.

General Liu Zhenli of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and US Air Force General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed “a number of global and regional security issues,” according to Brown’s office. The meeting comes after US President Joe Biden and Chinese Leader Xi Jinping met in person last month and agreed to restart military communications that had been suspended.

According to Pentagon sources, dialogue between the two armed forces is essential to averting a miscalculation from turning into a war.

Brown also emphasised how crucial it is for the Chinese military to have meaningful conversations in order to lessen the possibility of miscommunications. Liu, his equivalent, is the head of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the military organisation in charge of organising and carrying out China’s military actions in combat.

According to a statement released by the Chinese defence ministry on Thursday, Liu stated at the meeting that the U.S. needs to have a “correct understanding of China” in order for Washington and Beijing to have a strong, stable, and long-lasting military-to-military partnership.

Although the restart of military communications can result in the restoration of ties, US officials have cautioned that it may take some time for the two nations to establish a really effective dialogue. Furthermore, China wants uncertainty in defence relations in order to constrain what Beijing sees as US military provocations in the Indo-Pacific region.

Since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established and the Republic of China’s government withdrew to Taiwan in 1949, the two countries’ relationship has been largely complex and occasionally tense. Since then, there have been times of conflict and collaboration between the two nations over matters like to trade, climate change, and Taiwan.

When former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi travelled to Taiwan, which China considers to be part of its own territory, military contacts between the two nations were cut off. Beijing and Washington are at odds over a variety of issues, including South China Sea territorial claims and the survival of Taiwan’s democratic government.

(With agency inputs)

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US engaging in high-level diplomacy to avoid vetoing UN resolution on Gaza aid

The United States, key allies and Arab nations engaged in high-level diplomacy in hopes of avoiding another US veto of a new U.N. resolution addressing urgently needed aid to Gaza. The expected vote, originally scheduled for Thursday morning is expected to face further postponement.

Talking to the media, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood as he headed into a Security Council meeting on Syria that “We’re still working it. We’re working it very hard.” He said there needed to be some changes in the text “that would make it worthy of our support.”

The U.S. has been struggling to change the text’s references to a cessation of hostilities in the Israel-Hamas war, but the key sticking point is the inspection of aid trucks entering Gaza to ensure they are only carrying humanitarian goods. The current draft calls for the U.N. to take over the job from Israel.

Nathan Evans, the spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, stressed that the resolution’s goal is to expand aid getting into Gaza.

“There are still serious and widespread concerns that this resolution as drafted could actually slow down the delivery of humanitarian aid by directing the U.N. to create an unworkable monitoring mechanism,” Evans said. “We must ensure any resolution helps and doesn’t hurt the situation on the ground.”

Both the U.N. and aid groups worry that if the U.N. is placed in charge of inspections, it would delay deliveries into Gaza and may not even be possible. Israel insists it must maintain the lead on inspecting deliveries.

A council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions were private, said the U.S. and Egypt are engaging directly to ensure any aid monitoring mechanism can work for everyone.

In a sign of intense U.S. efforts, President Joe Biden told reporters on his way back from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, late Wednesday that “we’re negotiating right now at the U.N. the contours of a resolution that we may be able to agree to.”

Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates, which sponsored the Arab-backed resolution, said earlier that high-level discussions are underway to try to reach agreement on a text that can be adopted.

“Everyone wants to see a resolution that has impact and that is implementable on the ground,” she told reporters after the 15 council members held closed consultations early Wednesday afternoon and agreed to the delay. “We believe today, giving a little bit of space for additional diplomacy, could yield positive results.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to the foreign ministers of Egypt and UAE late Wednesday, according to a US official, but the results of the call were unclear.

As part of the U.S. push at the U.N., Blinken spoke Wednesday with the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom and stressed the need for urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza, “the imperative of minimizing civilian casualties,” and preventing further escalation of the conflict and ”underscored the U.S. commitment to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Nusseibeh said the UAE is optimistic, but if the negotiations yield no results by Thursday “then we will assess in the council to proceed … to a vote on the resolution.” The vote was first scheduled for Monday.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has said Gaza faces “a humanitarian catastrophe” and that a total collapse of the humanitarian support system would lead to “a complete breakdown of public order and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt.”

The U.N. food agency reported last week that 56% of Gaza’s households are experiencing “severe levels of hunger,” up from 38% two weeks earlier.

The draft on the table Monday morning called for an “urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities,” but this language was watered down in a new version that was to be put to a vote on Wednesday. It would call “for the urgent suspension of hostilities to allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and for urgent steps towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”

That draft also calls for Guterres to quickly establish a mechanism for exclusive U.N. monitoring of aid deliveries to Gaza — bypassing the current Israeli inspection of aid entering the strip.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also raised two other issues Wednesday morning that are not in the Arab-sponsored resolution — condemnation of Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel that sparked the latest war and Israel’s right to self-defence.

The U.S. on Dec. 8 vetoed a Security Council resolution, backed by almost all other council members and dozens of other nations, demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. The 193-member General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a similar resolution on Dec. 12 by a vote of 153-10, with 23 abstentions.

In its first unified action on Nov. 15, with the U.S. abstaining, the Security Council adopted a resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses” in the fighting, unhindered aid deliveries to civilians and the unconditional release of all hostages.

Security Council resolutions are important because they are legally binding, but in practice, many parties choose to ignore the council’s requests for action. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, though they are a significant barometer of world opinion.

Nearly 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, since the war started. During the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took about 240 hostages back to Gaza.

Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, and its Health Ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Thousands more Palestinians lie buried under the rubble of Gaza, the U.N. estimates.

With inputs from AP.

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Gunman kills at least 15 people and wounds 30 others at Prague university

In a tragic incident at a Prague university on Thursday, a gunman killed at least 15 people and wounded 30 others before being “eliminated,” according to information from police and Prague emergency services. This incident stands as the worst-ever mass shooting in the country.

The horrifying event unfolded in the philosophy department building of Charles University, where the assailant, identified as a student, carried out the attack. Prague Police Chief Martin Vondrasek provided details, although the gunman’s name has not been disclosed publicly.

Police gave no details about the victims or a possible motive for the shooting at the building located near the Vltava River in Jan Palach Square. Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said investigators do not suspect a link to any extremist ideology or groups.

Pavel Nedoma, the director of the nearby Rudolfinum Gallery, said he saw from a window a person standing on a balcony of the building and shooting a gun.

Police said they were still searching the area, including the balcony, for possible explosives. The building was evacuated, Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda said.

The building forms part of the square and faces a bridge across the river with a view of Prague Castle, the seat of the Czech presidency. President Petr Pavel said he was “shocked” by what happened and offered his condolences to the relatives of the victims.

Police sealed off the square and the area adjacent to the building, located in a busy part of town with a popular street leading tourists to Old Town Square.

Czech TV live broadcast showed several ambulances and police cars with flashing lights lined up alongside the building accompanied by the sound of sirens.

One witness told news website iDnes.cz that they got off at the tram stop by the school and “suddenly I heard shooting”.

With inputs from agencies.

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Thailand lawmakers pass four draft bills to legalise same-sex marriage

In a significant step toward the legalisation of same-sex marriage, Thailand lawmakers on Thursday overwhelmingly approved four draft bills in their first reading.

This development brings Thailand closer to recognising same-sex marriage, particularly notable in a country with one of Asia’s most open and visible LGBT communities.

Despite having one of the region’s most vibrant LGBT communities, rights activists argue that Thailand’s current laws and institutions do not fully align with evolving social attitudes. They assert that discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans individuals, as well as same-sex couples, persists within the country’s legal framework.

The legislation must pass through several more stages before becoming law, but if it is enacted, Thailand would be the first country in Southeast Asia to recognise same-sex marriage.

The lower house of parliament voted through a first reading of plans to amend references to “men”, “women”, “husbands” and “wives” in the marriage law to gender-neutral terms.

The change would allow all Thais to marry without restrictions on sex or gender, as well as conferring adoption and inheritance rights.

“This law would reflect the government’s agenda to improve human rights… so that everyone will have the right to build a family without any limitation,” Deputy Prime Minister Somsak Thepsutin told lawmakers. During the debate, some MPs adorned their seats and desks with rainbow flags.

Lawmakers backed the plans by 360 votes to 10, and the proposals will now go before a committee to be scrutinised in detail before a second vote.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin welcomed the vote on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.”We are finally on the road to bridging the gap to equal rights for all today!” he posted.”Congratulations to the LGBTQIA+ community for the Same-Sex Marriage Bill passing its first reading. May love finally triumph.

“Similar proposals were given initial approval by parliament in 2022, but the law progressed no further because the house was dissolved for a general election.

Chawinroj Terapachalaphon, an LGBTQ+ lawyer told AFP that marriage equality would benefit all.”For those who are against it, I would like to say that it won’t undermine your rights. It would only make our country even more livable,” Chawinroj said.

Last year, parliament debated similar draft laws and the then government’s same-sex civil union bill, but did not come to a final vote before the session ended.

The four bills debated on Thursday included one tabled by the new government that came to power after the May general election, another by civil society groups, and two by the opposition Move Forward and Democrat parties.

With inputs from agencies.

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Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh visits Cairo as talks over another Gaza cease-fire gather pace

Aiming to secure another cease-fire and swap of hostages for Palestinian prisoners at a moment when Israel’s offensive shows no signs of slowing, Ismail Haniyeh, the top leader of Hamas travelled to Cairo on Wednesday for talks on the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

This diplomatic move is part of broader efforts to negotiate a new cease-fire and facilitate the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The visit follows recent rocket attacks by Hamas, triggering air raid sirens in central Israel.

Nearly 20,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.

Thousands more lie buried under the rubble of Gaza, the U.N. estimates. Israel says more than 130 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking about 240 hostages.

Israel has called on the rest of the world to blacklist Hamas as a terrorist organization, saying it must be removed from power in Gaza in the wake of its Oct. 7 rampage across southern Israel that triggered the war.

But the sides have recently relaunched indirect talks, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States. The goal is to achieve another cease-fire, and to free more hostages Hamas took in its attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

“These are very serious discussions and negotiations, and we hope that they lead somewhere,” the White House’s national security spokesman, John Kirby, said Wednesday aboard Air Force One while travelling with President Joe Biden to Wisconsin.

Mobile phone and internet service were down across Gaza again on Wednesday, an outage that could complicate efforts to communicate with Hamas leaders inside the territory who went into hiding after Oct. 7.

The war has led to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Tens of thousands of people are crammed into overcrowded shelters and tent camps amid shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies. Israel’s foreign minister travelled to Cyprus to discuss the possibility of establishing a maritime corridor that would allow the delivery of large amounts of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

WIDE GAP REMAINS IN TALKS ON HOSTAGES

Despite a burst of diplomacy by high-level officials in recent days, the two sides appeared to be far from an agreement.

Hamas has said no more hostages will be released until the war ends, and is expected to insist on the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, including high-level militants, for the captives that remain.

Israel has rejected the demands so far. But it has a history of lopsided exchanges for captive Israelis, and the government is under heavy public pressure to bring the hostages home safely.

Egypt, along with Qatar, helped mediate a weeklong cease-fire in November in which Hamas freed over 100 hostages in exchange for Israel’s release of 240 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas and other militants are still holding an estimated 129 captives.

Hamas said that Haniyeh — who is believed to be based in Qatar but whose movements are rarely publicized — would discuss the war with Egyptian officials, without providing more details.

Ziad Nakhaleh, the leader of the smaller Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which took part in the Oct. 7 attack and is also holding hostages, said he would also be going to Egypt in the coming days to participate in the talks.

Egypt, which borders Gaza, is deeply concerned about a potential influx of Palestinian refugees, fearing Israel will not allow them to return.

ISRAEL SAYS ‘FINAL CLEARING’ UNDERWAY IN THE NORTH

At least 46 people were killed and more than 100 wounded early Wednesday after Israel bombarded the urban Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City, according to Munir al-Bursh, a senior Health Ministry official.

In southern Gaza, several women and children were among those brought into Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis after strikes overnight and into Wednesday. A boy could be seen sobbing next to his wounded mother, who was laid out on a stretcher, before being lifted up and placed on her chest.

At least five people were killed and dozens injured in another strike that hit three residential homes and a mosque in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah Wednesday, health officials said.

With the death toll steadily rising, Israel has come under growing pressure to halt or scale back its offensive. But Israeli leaders vow to press ahead until Hamas’ military and governing capabilities are destroyed and until all hostages are freed.

“We will continue the war until the end. It will continue until Hamas is destroyed, until victory,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday. “Whoever thinks we will stop is detached from reality,” saying every member of Hamas is “marked for death.”

His defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said Tuesday that in southern Gaza, where the military launched a ground incursion focused on Khan Younis in early December, operations will take “months.”

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Tuesday the death toll since the start of the war had risen to more than 19,600. It does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.

Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack.

Israel’s military says 134 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground offensive. Israel says it has killed some 7,000 militants, without providing evidence. It blames civilian deaths in Gaza on Hamas, saying it uses them as human shields when it fights in residential areas.

UN MEMBERS STILL PUSHING US ON AID RESOLUTION

U.N. Security Council members are negotiating an Arab-sponsored resolution to halt the fighting in some way to allow for an increase in desperately needed humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza. A vote on the resolution, first scheduled for Monday, was pushed back again until Wednesday as talks continued in the hopes of getting the U.S. to abstain or vote “yes” on the resolution after it vetoed an earlier cease-fire call.

France, the United Kingdom and Germany — some of Israel’s closest allies — joined global calls for a cease-fire over the weekend.

The Biden administration has called on Israel to take greater steps to spare civilians but has continued to provide diplomatic and military support for the offensive.

Kirby said Wednesday that it’s important that a resolution include a condemnation of Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7, recognition that Israel needs to be able to defend itself and a significant commitment by member states to get humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

With inputs from agencies.

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US sanctions firms across UAE, Hong Kong for violating Russian oil price cap, issues new compliance rules for shippers

The United States implemented new sanctions on Wednesday targeting alleged violators accused of breaching the $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil, alongside reinforcing compliance regulations for insurance firms and shippers.

Several firms based in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong were identified for economic sanctions, including UAE-based Sun Ship Management D Ltd., owned by Russian state-operated fleet operator Joint Stock Company Sovcomflot.

Additionally, Hong Kong-based Covart Energy, which has expanded its involvement in the trade of Russian oil following the implementation of the price cap policy and Hong Kong-based Bellatrix Energy, were also subject to sanctions.

Firm administrators were not available for comment to The Associated Press. The sanctions, which follow others imposed this year on shippers of Russian oil priced above the cap, block their access to their U.S.-owned property and prevent U.S. individuals and firms from doing business with the groups.

The price cap coalition also announced Wednesday that it will soon require service providers, including shippers and movers of Russian oil, to receive attestations from their purchasers and sellers each time they lift or load Russian oil.

The coalition will also require insurance and freight firms to share these documents upon request with entities further down the supply chain, a Treasury news release states.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the sanctions “demonstrate our commitment to upholding the principles of the price cap policy, which advance the goals of supporting stable energy markets while reducing Russian revenues to fund its war against Ukraine.”

“Participants in the maritime transport of Russian oil,” he said, “must adhere to the compliance guidelines agreed upon by the Price Cap Coalition or face the consequences.”

The United States, European Union, countries in the Group of Seven and Australia, imposed a $60 a barrel limit last year on Russian oil.

Any purchases above the cap would violate the agreed-upon policy. The cap was designed to deprive the Kremlin of revenue to fund its war in Ukraine, forcing the Russian government either to sell its oil at a discount or divert money for a costly alternative shipping network.

The price cap was rolled out to equal parts skepticism and hopefulness that the policy would stave off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

In addition to the price cap, the allied nations have hit Russia with thousands of sanctions over the course of the nearly three-year war. The sanctions are aimed at bank and financial transactions, technology imports, manufacturing and Russians with government connections.

With inputs from AP.

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US' Colorado court disqualifies Donald Trump from 2024 Presidential primary ballot

The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday disqualified former President Donald Trump from the ballot in the state’s presidential election next year over his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

The ruling makes Trump the first presidential candidate in US history to be deemed ineligible for the White House under a rarely used provision of the U. Constitution that bars officials who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.

The court concluded that the US Constitution bars the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024 from appearing on the ballot because of his role in instigating violence against the US government.

The ruling applies only to the state’s March 5 Republican primary, but its conclusion would likely also affect Trump’s status for the November 5 general election. Nonpartisan US election forecasters view Colorado as safely Democratic, meaning that President Joe Biden will likely carry the state regardless of Trump’s fate.

The case was brought by a group of Colorado voters, aided by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, who argued that Trump should be disqualified for inciting his supporters to attack the Capitol in a failed attempt to obstruct the transfer of presidential power to Biden after the 2020 election.

Trump’s campaign called the court decision “flawed” and “undemocratic,” and said it would be appealed.

“The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision,” a spokesperson from the Trump campaign said.

Trump’s campaign has condemned 14th Amendment challenges as an attempt to deny millions of voters their preferred choice for president.

The decision is a victory for advocacy groups and anti-Trump voters who have mounted several similar legal challenges to Trump’s candidacy under section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was enacted after the Civil War.

The decision reverses a ruling by a lower court judge who found Trump engaged in insurrection by inciting his supporters to violence, but, as president, Trump was not an “officer of the United States” who could be disqualified under the amendment.

A lawyer for Trump argued that the riot at the Capitol was not serious enough to qualify as an insurrection and that Trump’s remarks to his supporters in Washington that day were protected by his right to free speech. The lawyer contended that courts do not have the authority to order Trump removed from the ballot.

Advocates have hoped to use the case to boost a wider disqualification effort and potentially put the issue before the US Supreme Court.

The US Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump appointees.

The Colorado court said the ruling is stayed until Jan. 4, 2024, to allow for appeals.

“The court’s decision today affirms what our clients alleged in this lawsuit: that Donald Trump is an insurrectionist who disqualified himself from office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment based on his role in the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and that Secretary Griswold must keep him off of Colorado’s primary ballot. It is not only historic and justified, but is necessary to protect the future of democracy in our country,” said CREW President Noah Bookbinder.

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Pakistan: Election Commission defers indictment of Imran Khan, former minister in contempt case

The indictment of former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry and former prime minister Imran Khan in a case involving their disrespect for the chief electoral commissioner (CEC) and electoral body was again postponed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday.

To file charges against the lawmakers, a four-member bench of the ECP showed up at the Adiala Jail on Tuesday, where Imran and Fawad are detained.

Imran, 71, has been detained since his arrest on August 5th following his conviction in the Toshakhana case.

Due to the interior ministry’s refusal to bring the former premier before the commission, the ECP on December 6 decided to hold Imran and Fawad’s jail trial, claiming security concerns.

Because Fawad and Asad Umar, the former leader of the PTI, were accused of using “intemperate” language against the chief election commissioner and the electoral watchdog, the electoral body filed a contempt case against them last year.

Nevertheless, the three had contested the ECP notices and contempt proceedings in multiple high courts rather than going before the ECP, claiming that Section 10 of the Elections Act 2017, the statutory provision pertaining to the commission’s authority to punish for contempt, was unconstitutional.

The PTI leaders had additionally requested a declaration of immunity from the allegations from the high courts.

However, the Supreme Court granted the ECP permission to pursue legal action against Imran, Fawad, and Umar in January. On June 21, the ECP chose to file charges against the trio, which has yet to be done.

Fawad was taken into custody on November 4th after being apprehended from Islamabad in connection with a corruption investigation.

The electoral watchdog had stated during the previous session that it would file an indictment against the former prime minister and the former minister of information while they were in jail, and it had requested that the Ministry of Interior complete the required preparations.

The ECP bench postponed the indictment and postponed the hearing to December 27 in the most recent development on Tuesday.

Imran’s attorney, Shoaib Shaheen, told the media outside Adiala Jail that Imran’s appeal contesting the jail trial was still ongoing before the Lahore High Court. He argued that no legal authority was used to pass the trial’s directives.

Shaheen also insisted that everyone be let to witness the indictment proceedings, including the public, media, and attorneys. Additionally, he expressed dissatisfaction with Imran’s legal team’s denial of access to the jail on Tuesday with the whole case file.

Separately, on Tuesday, Fawad filed a plea with the ECP requesting an open trial for the contempt proceedings through his attorney, Faisal Chaudhry.

The former PTI leader argued, “The proceedings in central jail Adiala are not open, transparent, and are in square violation of law and the Constitution.”

According to Fawad, the ECP was required by the Constitution to grant the petitioner full access to the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

“It is also strange and shocking that the learned members of the ECP have decided to start proceedings in jail, that in the applicant’s firm opinion is not in accordance with the stature and respect of a constitutional body such like,” he said in the plea.

According to Fawad, “it is now standard practice to victimise political opponents through trials held behind closed doors.”

“The closed-door trial is highly objectionable, lacking any legal foundation and completely violating the applicant’s fundamental constitutional rights, as well as completely disregarding international law, fundamental human rights, and international treaties,” he continued.

(With agency inputs)

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Dozens of Indian Hindu pilgrims reach Pakistan to visit Katas Raj temples

According to an official here, up to 55 Hindu pilgrims travelled from India over the Wagah Border to Lahore on Tuesday in order to visit the Shree Katas Raj temples, which are situated in the Punjab province’s Chakwal region.

An annual bilateral agreement on visits to religious places allows Sikh and Hindu pilgrims from India to travel to Pakistan. Under protocol, Pakistani pilgrims travel to India annually as well.

“A group of 55 Hindu pilgrims led by Vijay Kumar Sharma arrived in Lahore via Wagah Border on Tuesday to take part in their religious festivities at the Katas Raj Temples,” Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) spokesperson Amir Hashmi was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The Hindu and Sikh communities who immigrated to India after the division have their religious sites and shrines overseen by the ETPB, a statutory board.

At Wagah, additional Secretary shrines Rana Saleem welcomed and garlanded them. Sharma and other attendees expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to visit their sacred sites in Pakistan.

Hashmi stated that during their seven days in Lahore, the Hindu pilgrims will also visit other temples.

He said that the Hindu pilgrims would spend their night at Gurdwara Dera Sahib Lahore and depart on Wednesday morning to participate in the festivities at the Katas Raj Temples.

“The main two-day event will kick off on Dec 21 in 17 temples of Katas Raj,” Hashmi said, adding that local Hindus will also join them in the ‘Deep Mala’ festivities.

The pilgrims will visit the Krishna Temple upon their return to Lahore on Saturday before departing for their homes on Monday.

For the Hindu population, the Katas Raj Temples, often referred to as Qila Katas, are very important sacred sites.

In order for 104 Hindu pilgrims to attend the 315th anniversary of Shiv Avtari Satguru Sant Shadaram Sahib’s birth at Shadani Darbar, another esteemed Hindu holy place in Sindh, the Pakistan High Commission had earlier this month granted visas to them.

The largest minority group in Pakistan is Hindu.

75 lakh Hindus are estimated to reside in Pakistan based on official data. Nonetheless, the community claims that there are more than 90 lakh Hindus in the nation.

The majority of Hindus in Pakistan live in Sindh province, where they coexist with Muslims in terms of language, culture, and customs. They frequently report being harassed by radicals.

(With agency inputs)

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Texas governor signs bill that lets police arrest migrants who enter the US illegally

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott authorised sweeping new powers on Monday that empower police to arrest illegal border crossers and give local judges the right to order them to leave the country, pushing the limits of how far a state may go to enforce immigration laws.

Opponents have labelled the bill the most drastic attempt by a state to police immigration since a 2010 Arizona legislation, dubbed the “Show Me Your Papers” bill by detractors, was substantially overturned by the US Supreme Court. Immigration enforcement is a federal function, and Texas’ bill will almost certainly be challenged in court.

The law, which takes effect in March, allows any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest people who are suspected of entering the country illegally. Once in custody, they could either agree to a Texas judge’s order to leave the US or be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges of illegal entry. Migrants who don’t leave could face arrest again under more serious felony charges.

Abbott, who signed the law in front of a section of border fence in Brownsville, predicted the number of people crossing illegally into Texas would drop by “well over 50%, maybe 75%.” He did not offer evidence for that estimate.

“The consequences of it are so extreme that the people being smuggled by the cartels, they will not want to be coming into the state of Texas,” he said.

The law adds another tension point over immigration amid a struggle between the White House and Senate negotiators to reach a deal on border security. Republicans in Congress are demanding changes to the immigration system in exchange for any help for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs.

Texas Republicans have increasingly challenged the US government’s authority over immigration, saying President Joe Biden’s administration isn’t doing enough to control the 1,950-mile (3,149-kilometer) southern border. Texas has bused more than 65,000 migrants to cities across America since August 2022 and recently installed razor wire along the banks of the Rio Grande, which has snagged and injured some asylum-seekers.

The US government on Monday temporarily shut down two railroad border crossings in Texas, a move that rail operators said would hamper trade ahead of Christmas. Troy Miller, US Customs and Border Protection’s acting commissioner, said the closures at Eagle Pass and El Paso were a response to more migrants traveling on freight trains, particularly over the last week.

Miller said authorities are seeing “unprecedented” arrivals at the border, topping 10,000 crossings on some days this month.

Shortly after Abbott signed the new law, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said it would challenge the measure in court. More than 20 congressional Democrats also signed a letter urging the US Justice Department to sue to stop the law, known as Senate Bill 4.

“SB 4 is dangerous for the people of Texas and interferes with the federal government’s exclusive authority over immigration and foreign affairs,” the letter read.

Mexico’s government also has rebuked the measure. Under bilateral and international agreements, Mexico is required to accept deportations of its own citizens, but not those of other countries. Under the Texas law, migrants ordered to leave would be sent to ports of entry along the border with Mexico, even if they are not Mexican citizens. In September and October, Venezuelans were the largest nationality arrested for illegally crossing the US border.

During debate in the Texas House in November, GOP state Rep. David Spiller pushed back against concerns that the law would be used as a dragnet to arrest immigrants statewide. He said enforcement would mostly take place in border counties. But he also rebuffed several efforts by Democrats to narrow the law, including a proposed carve-out for police on college campuses.

Because the illegal entry charge is a misdemeanor, which has a statue of limitation of two years, Spiller has said the law will not be used to target immigrants who have long been settled in the US

“This is not, ‘Round up everyone who is here illegally and ship them back to Mexico,'” he said during debate over the bill.

Opponents have accused Texas Republicans of using the law as a vehicle to force the Supreme Court’s new conservative majority to revisit its landmark 2012 Arizona decision. At the time, Justice Anthony Kennedy said Arizona may have “understandable frustrations” with immigrants who are in the country illegally but that it can’t pursue policies that “undermine federal law.”

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