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Israel has urged Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah, warning that it will take “extreme” military action against Hamas militants in the southern Gaza city.
The Jewish state has been preparing for an incursion in Rafah, which is currently home to over a million people, despite warnings against doing so from the US, EU, and UN. The Israeli military issued “an urgent appeal to all residents and displaced people” living in several neighborhoods of Rafah to “evacuate immediately,” according to Avichay Adraee, the head of the Israel Defense Force’s Arab media division. “The IDF will act with extreme force against terrorist organizations” in the area, Adraee said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday. There was no clarification on when the military action might start. “The IDF will act with extreme force against terrorist organizations” in the area, Adraee said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday. There was no clarification on when the military action might start. A senior Hamas official has told Reuters that the evacuation order was a “dangerous escalation” that would have consequences. The evacuation call comes a day after Israel closed the main border crossing used to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza. The closure came in response to a Hamas rocket attack that left three soldiers dead and 11 wounded on Sunday. West Jerusalem claims Rafah is the last significant stronghold of Hamas, and that potentially dozens of Israeli hostages may be held there. Victory over the militant group is impossible without taking the city, the Israeli government insists. According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Rafah is currently home to 1.4 million Palestinians who have fled the northern parts of the enclave since October. The international community has sounded the alarm over the number of civilian casualties that a military operation in the city could cause. Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell has described the Rafah evacuation order as “unacceptable” and demanded that Israel denounce its ground offensive plan. The Rafah plan has opened a rift between Israel and its staunchest ally, the US. The administration of President Joe Biden previously declared that an Israeli invasion of the city would be a “red line,” a statement that was dismissed by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. Washington has been under increasing pressure from the UN, pro-Palestinian protesters, and human rights organizations to stop arming Israel. According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Rafah is currently home to 1.4 million Palestinians who have fled the northern parts of the enclave since October. The international community has sounded the alarm over the number of civilian casualties that a military operation in the city could cause. Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell has described the Rafah evacuation order as “unacceptable” and demanded that Israel denounce its ground offensive plan. The Rafah plan has opened a rift between Israel and its staunchest ally, the US. The administration of President Joe Biden previously declared that an Israeli invasion of the city would be a “red line,” a statement that was dismissed by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. Washington has been under increasing pressure from the UN, pro-Palestinian protesters, and human rights organizations to stop arming Israel. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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There is no need for an international investigation into the explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines, Sweden’s Foreign Ministry has told RIA Novosti news agency.
Last week, China's deputy envoy to the UN, Geng Shuang, called for a probe into the September 2022 blasts that ruptured the pipelines, which were built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Europe. Countries should work together on an investigation “to bring the perpetrators to justice in order to prevent the reoccurrence of similar incidents,” Geng said. When asked about Beijing’s proposal by RIA Novosti on Friday, the Swedish Foreign Ministry insisted that “there is no need for an international investigation. It’s going to achieve nothing.” “An investigation into the incidents was carried out by the Swedish authorities in accordance with the fundamental principles of independence, impartiality and the rule of law. Other national investigations are still ongoing,” the ministry stated. Sweden conducted its own probe as the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines occurred in the country’s exclusive economic zone. Germany and Denmark carried out separate inquiries. However, in February, the Swedish and Danish investigations were aborted. Stockholm said it had come to the conclusion that the case did not fall under Swedish jurisdiction, while Copenhagen concluded that “there was deliberate sabotage” of the pipelines, but found insufficient grounds to pursue criminal proceedings. Russia is carrying out its own investigation into the Nord Stream blasts despite the refusal of Western nations to cooperate. Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov said earlier that Moscow had sent more than a dozen requests for legal assistance to Germany, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden, but only received a single formal reply from Copenhagen. Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials suggested previously that the pipelines were targeted by the US or on Washington’s behalf. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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In the past 3 years, 51,433 children have disappeared from asylum centers in Europe. This is evident from research by the journalist collective Lost in Europe.
It is unknown where these minors have gone. This concerns children who have travelled to Europe unaccompanied and have reported to an asylum seeker center in a Member State. They were registered as missing there after their disappearance. This usually concerns children between the ages of 12 and 18, but very young children are also 'lost'. The number of more than 50,000 is more than double compared to the three years before. In the period from 2018 to 2020, 18,292 missing persons were registered. The researchers have seen a significant increase in children coming from Afghanistan in recent years, where the Taliban have returned to power since 2021. In addition, Austria now has more insight into the figures, and the numbers there are also significant. It also happens that migrants consciously go under the radar, because they would rather live illegally than have to return to their country of origin. They also regularly fall into the hands of human traffickers, It is possible that these missing children are also the victim of human trafficking. Human trafficking has many forms. These include exploitation in the sex, entertainment and hospitality industries, and as domestic workers or in forced marriages. Victims are forced to work in factories, on construction sites or in the agricultural sector without pay or with an inadequate salary, living in fear of violence and often in inhumane conditions. Some victims are tricked or coerced into having their organs removed. Children are forced to serve as soldiers or to commit crimes for the benefit of the criminals. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Portugal will not pay reparations for atrocities committed during the transatlantic slave trade and the colonial era, the government said last Saturday. The statement was in response to remarks made earlier in the week by Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who said his nation should “assume full responsibility” for the colonial-era and find a way to pay compensation. Local media reported the statement as indicating there were no plans for a “process or program of specific actions” to provide restitution. Portugal’s colonial era lasted more than five centuries. The decolonization of some African countries only occurred in 1974 after the ‘Carnation Revolution’ led to the fall of the authoritarian Estado Novo regime. The territory of the Portuguese Empire in Africa included present-day Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and the island nations of Cape Verde, and Sao Tome and Principe. The country is widely thought to have been the first European state to play a major role in the African slave trade. Between the 15th and the 19th centuries, almost six million Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic by Portuguese vessels and sold into servitude. Most went to Brazil, which was a Portuguese colony until 1822. In September, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is also a former Portuguese prime minister, urged former colonial states to consider financial reparations among measures to compensate for the enslavement of Africans. In a report, he said that up to 30 million people were violently uprooted from Africa over a span of more than 400 years. “Under international human rights law, compensation for any economically assessable damage, as appropriate and proportional to the gravity of the violation and the circumstances of each case, may also constitute a form of reparations,” Guterres said.
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China’s deputy envoy to the UN has called for an international probe into the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, adding that Russia would be involved in such an investigation.
“With the situation standing where it is, one cannot help but suspect a hidden agenda behind the opposition to an international investigation, while lamenting the potential cover-up and loss of quantities of compelling evidence,” China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, said on Friday, according to the Xinhua news agency. “We reiterate our call for the early launch of a UN-led international investigation to bring the truth to light for the international community,” Geng continued, adding that Western nations should “actively communicate and cooperate with Russia and jointly investigate the incident.” Nord Stream 1 and 2 each comprised two separate pipelines, linking Russia and Germany. Three out of the four lines were destroyed in a series of explosions near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022, severing Germany’s energy ties to Russia and leaving its gas-dependent economy reliant on more expensive American liquefied natural gas. Germany, Sweden, and Denmark all opened investigations into the attack, but Sweden and Denmark closed their inquiries in February. Swedish investigators published no conclusions, while the Danish team concluded that “there was deliberate sabotage,” but declined to blame the attack on anyone. China and Russia have demanded an international investigation into the bombings since last year. However, the UN Security Council rejected a Russian request for such a probe last March, with Washington’s deputy envoy to the UN, Robert Wood, accusing Russia of trying to “discredit the work of ongoing national investigations.” On Saturday, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry appeared to reject Geng’s proposal, telling Russia’s TASS news agency that an “investigation is already being conducted by the German Public Prosecutor General’s Office.” Absent any official conclusions, two competing theories about the bombings have emerged. According to reports in the Western mainstream media, a team of Ukrainian commandos used a rented yacht to transport explosives to the blast sites, with the CIA and European intelligence agencies being made aware of the plot several months beforehand but ultimately failing to stop it. American journalist Seymour Hersh has said that US President Joe Biden ordered the CIA to blow up the pipelines. Citing sources in the intelligence community, Hersh has claimed that CIA divers working with the Norwegian Navy planted remotely-triggered bombs on the lines in the summer of 2022, using a NATO exercise in the region as cover. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he “fully agrees” with Hersh’s conclusions. Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, who is leading Moscow’s investigation into the blasts, said last month that “everyone knows perfectly well who did it,” and that “the tracks undoubtedly lead beyond the Atlantic,” – an apparent reference to the US. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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At the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s regular news conference on April 3, spokesperson Wang Wenbin commented on rising tensions between the Philippines and China, saying: “The Philippines keeps accusing China of ‘intimidating smaller countries’ without mentioning at all the Philippine occupation and encroachment on China’s territory in Nansha Qundao. That is a real propaganda ‘trap.’ The Ren’ai Jiao issue is not a case of the big bullying small but unfulfilled promises and deliberate provocations …” The comment came amid growing tension between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. He added, “The Philippines has been pursuing selfish gains at the expense of the consensus reached by countries in the region. This is the main reason why the situation in the South China Sea has escalated and become more complicated.” That is false. First, it is worth noting the instances documented by the Philippine coast guard and independent media of China’s gray zone activities and aggressive actions toward Philippine vessels. For instance, on April 4, Jay Tarriela, spokesperson of the Philippine coast guard, reported that China’s coast guard used water cannons to threaten two Filipino fishing ships. China has also used collision and ramming tactics, undersea barriers and a military-grade laser to stop Philippine resupply and patrol missions. In addition, there is no official “promise” between the Philippines and China. China has alluded to a supposed gentleman’s agreement established between China and former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Current Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. noted that he was not made aware of such an agreement — it was never written down — and he was “horrified by the idea …” He also issued a statement: “Let us not fall into the trap set by Chinese propaganda of refocusing the debate on a so-called promise, while deflecting attention away from China’s government, thereby freeing and allowing them to continue with their illegal activities.” The deal was semi corroborated by former Philippine presidential spokesperson Harry Roque and further clarified by Duterte himself on April 12. Duterte has stated the agreement was to maintain the “status quo” in the South China Sea but not to limit the Philippines’ sovereignty. Roque similarly noted that the “status quo” did not mean ceding the Philippines’ claims to territory such as the Second Thomas Shoal, which China calls Ren’ai Jiao. The Second Thomas Shoal has been long disputed. In 1999, the Philippines purposefully grounded its naval ship BRP Sierra Madre to affirm that the shoal was Filipino territory. Filipino soldiers still live on Sierra Madre, and tensions have risen over China blocking their resupply missions. Finally, China’s claims to the South China Sea are neither internationally recognized nor recognized by many ASEAN countries. China’s territorial claims, marked on the nine-dash line, extend to about 90% of the South China Sea, violating many of its neighbours' claims to sovereignty, including the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
Yet, China continues to ignore the ruling. Furthermore, China’s claims — that the Philippines stoked tensions by bringing in other actors — are also false. The Philippines became closer with the U.S. after a rise in grey zone activities by China. The United States has also tried to engage in a dialogue with China. On April 2, U.S. President Joseph Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping to express concerns over rising tensions and even reportedly discussed visits by the U.S. secretary of state and treasury secretary to China. Despite Biden’s call, China launched a People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, patrol the same day the Philippines, U.S., Japan and Australia held a joint maritime exercise. Notably, the Russian Foreign Ministry attempted to capitalize on this situation with false claims that the current dispute is the fault of Western “expansion.”
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