Author: Mirits

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MADRID — About 50 migrants were missing after their boat overturned some 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Spain’s Canary Island of El Hierro in the Atlantic Ocean, Spanish media reported Monday. The national marine rescue service said one of its helicopters rescued nine people who were found clinging to the boat Monday morning following a warning call from a merchant vessel in the area. State news agency Efe said that once transferred to El Hierro airport, the rescued migrants reported that 60 of them had set sail nine days ago and that the open-topped wooden boat ran into problems Saturday. The rescue service was unable to say how many people may have been on the boat and no one was available to comment at Civil Guard police offices in the Canary Island capital of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Efe said the migrants were of sub-Saharan origin. There were no details on which country they had sailed from. Tens of thousands of migrants from sub-Saharan countries fleeing poverty, conflict and instability in West Africa try to reach Spain each year by boat. Most go in large open vessels to the Canary Islands in the Atlantic, while others from Morocco, Algeria and Middle Eastern countries try to cross the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean to mainland Spain. Several thousand die during the hazardous journey. The Interior Ministry says 16,621 migrants arrived in Spain by boat between Jan. 1 and April 15, up by 11,681 in the same period last year. The vast majority arrived on the Canary Island route. …

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Taipei, Taiwan — China’s leader Xi Jinping kicks off a six-day trip to Europe this Sunday, his first visit to the continent since 2019. The trip will include stops in France, Serbia and Hungary and comes amid rising tensions over trade with the European Union and concerns over Beijing’s support of Russia.  Some analysts say that while Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict are likely to come up during the trip, Xi will be looking first to address trade tensions during the trip and to double down on Beijing’s close relationship with Budapest and Belgrade.  “In light of Europe’s growing appetite to investigate what they view as China’s unfair trade practices, [Xi’s European tour] is a trip to disrupt the EU’s efforts to adopt tougher trade measures against China,” said Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an expert on EU-China relations at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan. And by making stops in Serbia and Hungary, Ferenczy said Xi hopes to show that China remains influential in Central and Eastern Europe despite the growing number of countries withdrawing from the Beijing-led initiative known as “Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern Europe.”  “For Beijing, the symbolism of the trip to Serbia and Hungary is important as the stop in Budapest serves as an opportunity to amplify divisions within the EU,” she told VOA by phone.  Investigations piling up Since last month, the EU has launched investigations against several Chinese products, including green energy products and security devices, and initiated a probe into China’s public procurement of medical devices.  The EU also increased scrutiny over several Chinese companies over the last week, toughening safety rules against Chinese fashion retailer Shein and opening formal proceedings against Tiktok under its Digital Services Act.   Beijing has repeatedly characterized Western countries concerns about Chinese excess capacity in some sectors as “baseless hype” and urged the EU to “stop wantonly going after and restraining Chinese companies under various pretexts.”  Rebalancing trade Despite Beijing’s objection to concerns expressed by Brussels, France has reiterated the need for European countries to rebalance trade relations with China during recent bilateral meetings between Chinese and French officials.  “The European Union is a very open market, the most open in the world. But the current deficits with a certain number of countries, including China, are not sustainable for us,” said French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne during his trip to China last month. During … “China’s Xi to Visit Europe as Trade Tensions Rise” →

Athens — Nearly six years after wildfires killed more than 100 people at a Greek resort, an Athens court on Monday convicted six people of involuntary manslaughter and criminal negligence.  None of the politicians among the 21 people prosecuted were convicted, however, sparking fury among relatives of the victims present in court, media reports said.  Six people — including the then head of the fire service — received suspended jail sentences of up to 111 years each for their role in the response to the inferno that tore through Mati on July 23, 2018.  They were permitted by the court to reduce their sentences with a payment of up to $43,000 each.  The governor of the region of Attica and the mayors of districts in and around the seaside community of Mati, northeast of the capital, were all let off.  Reacting in court, relatives of the dead shouted: “Your court is an insult to the dead, the living and the truth,” “There is no justice” and “You have no shame,” state TV broadcaster ERT reported. Others wept.  “The reaction is reasonable,” minister of state Makis Voridis told Skai TV.  “This kind of a sentence is not commensurate with this kind of tragedy,” he said.    Wildfires that broke out around Mati spread so fiercely that people burned to death in their cars because traffic jams prevented them from fleeing.  Others drowned when they waded into the sea to escape the flames.  Many people who went into the sea had to wait for several hours for help to arrive.  Local fishermen were first to help ahead of the coast guard and navy.  “We are lucky to be alive,” one of the survivors told reporters at court.  In total, 104 people died and dozens were injured.  The blaze destroyed an estimated 1,260 hectares (3,100 acres), the Athens Observatory said at the time.  The then government of left-wing prime minister Alexis Tsipras said that with winds blowing at up to 120 kilometers (75 miles) an hour, there had been little time for officials to mount an effective evacuation.  Police and the fire brigade gave different accounts. Witnesses said at the time that residents had not been warned of the imminent danger.  Instead of being diverted away from the fires, many motorists were accidentally directed towards the flames and became trapped in Mati’s narrow streets.  Prosecutors lodged criminal negligence suits against 21 officials from the … “Six convicted amid fury over 2018 wildfires that killed 104 at Greek resort” →

Madrid — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday ended days of speculation about his future by saying he will continue in office “with even more strength.”   Sánchez shocked his country last Wednesday by taking five days off to think about his future, following the decision by a court to open preliminary proceedings against his wife on corruption allegations.  “I have decided to continue on with even more strength at the helm of the government of Spain,” he said in a televised speech after informing King Felipe VI of the decision earlier Monday.  His resignation would have deprived Europe of its longest-serving Socialist prime minister currently in charge of a major European Union country right before European elections in June.  “It is a decision that does not mean a return to the status quo, this will mark a before and after, I promise you that,” Sánchez said, without detailing what steps he could take to curtail “the smear campaign” he says he and his family is facing.  The eurozone’s fourth-largest economy had been in suspense since Sánchez, prime minister since 2018, posted an emotional letter on X on Wednesday before he holed up in his Moncloa Palace, the prime minister’s residence in Madrid. In it he said the moves against wife were too personal an attack on his family and he needed time to decide on his priorities.  In that letter, where he declared himself “deeply in love” with wife Begoña Gómez, he said that he could no longer just stand aside and watch her being targeted by a legal probe brought by allegations by a right-wing platform that accused her of using her position to influence business deals.  The group, Manos Limpias, or “Clean Hands,” acknowledged that the complaint was based on newspaper articles. Spanish prosecutors say it should be thrown out.  The expectation Monday was such that Spain’s state broadcaster had put up a 10-minute countdown clock before his announcement on the screen during their morning news talk show.  Speaking from the steps of Moncloa Palace, Sánchez said that he and his wife “know that this campaign to discredit them won’t stop” but that he has decided that he couldn’t give his adversaries the satisfaction of giving up.  Rallies by his supporters over the past few days played a part in his decision, he said.   Essentially Sánchez had four options: resign, seek a parliamentary vote of confidence, call a … “Spain’s Prime Minister Sánchez says he’ll continue in office after days of reflection “ →

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BERLIN — Two Ukrainian men were stabbed to death in southern Germany, police said Sunday, and a Russian man was arrested by authorities as a possible suspect in the killings. The two Ukrainians, who were 23 and 36 years old and lived in the southern German county of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, were killed on the premises of a shopping center in the village of Murnau in Upper Bavaria. Shortly after the slayings on Saturday evening, the police arrested a 57-year-old Russian on suspicion of murder, German news agency dpa reported. The Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement that the two men were members of the Ukrainian military; “According to preliminary information, the deceased citizens were military personnel undergoing medical rehabilitation in Germany.”  The names of the victims and the suspect weren’t released in line with German privacy rules. The possible motive for the killings wasn’t yet known, authorities said. It also wasn’t clear if the three men knew each other. More than 1 million Ukrainian refugees came to Germany since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Germany is also home to a significant Russian immigrant community and 2.5 million Russians of German ancestry who mostly moved to the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. …

SYDNEY — Australia, one of Ukraine’s largest non-NATO donors, has announced a military aid package worth around $65 million to support Kyiv’s war effort following Russia’s invasion. The package includes funding for drones, short-range air defense systems, inflatable boats and generators, as well as equipment like helmets, masks and boots. The additional funding was announced by Australia’s deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, during a brief visit over the weekend to Ukraine. Marles told local media that the Canberra government is committed to “supporting Ukraine to resolve the conflict on its terms,” adding that “their spirit remains strong.” Australia is also part of a multinational program to train Ukrainian troops in the United Kingdom through Operation Kudu. Canberra has also joined the U.K.-led so-called “drone coalition” to boost Ukraine’s aerial defenses. Vasyl Myroshnychenko,Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Australia’s help will make a difference in his country’s fight against Russia.  “We are extremely grateful for the package that was announced and that Australia has joined the drone coalition, especially now that we see how the nature of war is changing,” Myroshnychenko said. “The role of drones is becoming more important, and we have to have a steady supply of those drones and that was a very important contribution from Australia to help us get that advantage on the battlefield.” The new package brings Australia’s overall financial support to Ukraine to more than $650 million. Previous aid included supplying armored vehicles, infantry carriers, lightweight towed howitzers, and munitions. Australia’s announcement follows a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine signed last week by U.S. President Joe Biden. The Canberra government also has imposed restrictions on hundreds of Russian politicians, including President Vladimir Putin, military commanders and businesspeople. They are the most sweeping sanctions Australia has ever put on another country. Additionally, Canberra has banned imports of Russian oil, petroleum, coal and gas. More than 11,000 Ukrainians on various types of Australian visas, including visitors’ permits, have come to Australia since Russia invaded in February 2022. …

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Tbilisi, Georgia — Thousands of Georgians marched through the capital, Tbilisi, on Sunday, as protests built against a bill on “foreign agents” that the country’s opposition and Western countries have said is authoritarian and Russian-inspired. Georgia’s parliament said it would hold the bill’s second reading on Tuesday, with opposition parties and civil society groups calling for mass protests against its expected passage. If passed, the draft law would require organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents” or face fines. Protester Nika Shurgaia said he feared many non-government organizations would be shuttered because of what he called “the Russian law.” This label has been adopted by the opposition to compare the bill to a law used to crush dissent in Russia. “There are hundreds of such NGOs who have done so much good for Georgia and now they face being stigmatized and possibly shut down,” Shurgaia said. The EU and Western countries have warned that the bill could halt Georgia’s integration with the EU, which granted Georgia candidate status in December The bill must pass three readings in parliament to become law, as well as overcome a veto by Georgia’s figurehead president, who opposes it. Groups opposed to the bill have protested nightly outside parliament for over a week, since the legislature, which is controlled by the Georgian Dream ruling party, approved its first reading. Thousands of student demonstrators have blocked Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue, facing off against riot police. Opponents of the bill who called the mass protests on Sunday have also called for protests against its second reading on Tuesday. The government has called a demonstration in support of the bill for Monday. …

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Rome — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced Sunday she will be a candidate at June’s European elections in a bid to boost support for her Brothers of Italy party, though she will not take up a seat if elected.  The June 6-9 European Parliament vote is a key test of strength for her 18-month-old rightist coalition.  “We want to do in Europe what we did in Italy… create a majority that brings together the center-right forces and send the left into opposition,” Meloni told cheering party faithful at a party conference in the coastal city of Pescara to set out EU policies and launch the campaign.  Meloni, whose party traces its roots to Benito Mussolini’s Fascist group, called for Italy to leave the euro zone when in opposition and her 2022 election raised concerns in some European capitals.  However, she has followed a broadly pro-European, orthodox line in office, particularly on foreign policy matters such as Ukraine and the Middle East.  Her party is Italy’s most popular with 27% of support, according to recent polls, ahead of the opposition Democratic Party (PD) on around 20% and the left-leaning 5-Star Movement on 16%.  Meloni will be the first name on the ballot for Brothers of Italy in all five of Italy’s constituencies for the EU election, but pledged she would not use “a single minute” of her time as prime minister to campaign.  PD leader Elly Schlein announced last week she would also run, as did Antonio Tajani, head of the centrist Forza Italia party which is in the ruling coalition.  All three leaders hope to win votes of people who take little interest in politics but are attracted by names of party chiefs on the ballot.  Assuming they are elected, Meloni, Schlein and Tajani are expected to give up their seats, making way for runner-up candidates.  …

BEIRUT — French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné arrived in Lebanon Sunday as part of diplomatic attempts to broker a de-escalation in the conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border.  Séjourné was set to meet with United Nations peacekeeping forces in south Lebanon and with Lebanon’s parliament speaker, army chief, foreign minister and caretaker prime minister.  The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has exchanged strikes near-daily with Israeli forces in the border region — and sometimes beyond — for almost seven months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.  Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups but also including more than 50 civilians. Strikes by Hezbollah have killed 10 civilians and 12 soldiers in Israel.  A French diplomatic official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak to journalists, said the purpose of Séjourné’s visit was to convey France’s “fears of a war on Lebanon” and to submit an amendment to a proposal Paris had previously presented to Lebanon for a diplomatic resolution to the border conflict.  Western diplomats have brought forward a series of proposals for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Most of those would hinge on Hezbollah moving its forces several kilometers from the border, a beefed-up Lebanese army presence and negotiations for Israeli forces to withdraw from disputed points along the border where Lebanon says Israel has been occupying small patches of Lebanese territory since it withdrew from the rest of south Lebanon in 2000.  The previous French proposal would have involved Hezbollah withdrawing its forces 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border.  Hezbollah has signaled a willingness to entertain the proposals but has said there will be no deal in Lebanon before there is a cease-fire in Gaza.  …

KYIV — Russian drones early Sunday struck the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv, setting a hotel ablaze and damaging energy infrastructure, the local Ukrainian governor reported, while ammunition shortages continued to hobble Kyiv’s troops in the more than 2-year-old war.  Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv province, said that Russian drones “seriously damaged” a hotel in its namesake capital, sparking a fire that was later extinguished. Kim also reported that the strike damaged heat-generating infrastructure in the city, but gave no details. He added that there were no casualties.  Russian state agency RIA carried claims that the strike on Mykolaiv targeted a shipyard where naval drones are assembled, as well as a hotel housing “English-speaking mercenaries” who have fought for Kyiv. The RIA report cited Sergei Lebedev, described as a coordinator of local pro-Moscow guerrillas. His claim could not be independently verified.  Also on Sunday morning, the Russian Defense Ministry said that 17 Ukrainian drones were downed overnight over four regions in the country’s southwest. Three drones were intercepted near an oil depot in Lyudinovo, an industrial town some 230 kilometers (143 miles) north of the Ukrainian border, Gov. Vladislav Shapsha said.  One of the Ukrainian drones damaged communications infrastructure in Russia’s southern Belgorod province, which borders Ukraine, Gov. Vyachaslav Gladkov said later on Sunday. There were no immediate reports of casualties.  Russian shelling on Saturday and overnight wounded at least seven civilians across Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. A 36-year-old woman was pulled alive from the rubble after Russian shells on Sunday morning destroyed her home in the northeastern Kharkiv region, the local administration reported. Her 52-year-old neighbor was also rushed to hospital with a stomach wound, the administration said.  The Donetsk and Kharkiv regions have seen fierce clashes in recent weeks as Russian forces seek to grind out gains along the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, while ammunition shortages have increasingly hamstrung Ukraine’s defenses.  Russian troops “will likely make significant gains in the coming weeks” while Kyiv awaits much-needed arms from a huge U.S. aid package to reach the front, a Washington-based think tank said.  In its latest operational assessment, the Institute for the Study of War said that Moscow’s forces have opportunities to push forward around Avdiivka, the eastern city they took in late February after a grueling, montshlong fight, and threaten nearby Chasiv Yar. Its capture would give Russia control of a hilltop from … “Russian drones set a hotel ablaze in a Ukrainian Black Sea city “ →

VENICE, Italy — Venice has always been a place of contrasts, of breathtaking beauty and devastating fragility, where history, religion, art and nature have collided over the centuries to produce an otherworldly gem of a city. But even for a place that prides itself on its culture of unusual encounters, Pope Francis’ visit Sunday stood out. Francis traveled to the lagoon city to visit the Holy See’s pavilion at the Biennale contemporary art show and meet with the people who created it. But because the Vatican decided to mount its exhibit in Venice’s women’s prison, and invited inmates to collaborate with the artists, the whole project assumed a far more complex meaning, touching on Francis’ belief in the power of art to uplift and unite, and of the need to give hope and solidarity to society’s most marginalized. Francis hit on both messages during his visit, which began in the courtyard of the Giudecca prison where he met with the women inmates one by one. As some of them wept, Francis urged them to use their time in prison as a chance for “moral and material rebirth.” “Paradoxically, a stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute,” Francis said. Francis then met with Biennale artists in the prison chapel, decorated with an installation by Brazilian visual artist Sonia Gomes of objects dangling from the ceiling, meant to draw the viewer’s gaze upward. He urged the artists to embrace the Biennale’s theme this year “Strangers Everywhere,” to show solidarity with all those on the margins. The Vatican exhibit has turned the Giudecca prison, a former convent for reformed prostitutes, into one of the must-see attractions of this year’s Biennale, even though to see it visitors must reserve in advance and go through a security check. It has become an unusual art world darling that greets visitors at the entrance with Maurizio Cattelan’s wall mural of two giant filthy feet, a work that recalls Caravaggio’s dirty feet or the feet that Francis washes each year in a Holy Thursday ritual that he routinely performs on prisoners. The exhibit also includes a short film starring the inmates and Zoe Saldana, and prints in the prison coffee shop by onetime Catholic nun and American … “Pope visits Venice to speak to artists, inmates behind Biennale’s must-see prison show” →

KYIV, Ukraine — Even amid war, Ukraine finds time for the glittery, pop-filled Eurovision Song Contest. Perhaps now even more than ever. Ukraine’s entrants in the pan-continental music competition — the female duo of rapper alyona alyona and singer Jerry Heil — set off from Kyiv for the competition Thursday. In wartime, that means a long train journey to Poland, from where they will travel on to next month’s competition in Malmö, Sweden. “We need to be visible for the world,” Heil told The Associated Press at Kyiv train station before her departure. “We need to show that even now, during the war, our culture is developing, and that Ukrainian music is something waiting for the world” to discover. “We have to spread it and share it and show people how strong (Ukrainian) women and men are in our country,” added alyona, who spells her name with all lowercase letters. Ukraine has long used Eurovision as a form of cultural diplomacy, a way of showing the world the country’s unique sound and style. That mission became more urgent after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that Ukraine existed as a distinct country and people before Soviet times. Ukrainian singer Jamala won the contest in 2016 — two years after Russia illegally seized the Crimean Peninsula — with a song about the expulsion of Crimea’s Tatars by Stalin in 1944. Folk-rap band Kalush Orchestra took the Eurovision title in 2022 with Stefania, a song about the frontman’s mother that became an anthem to the war-ravaged motherland, with a haunting refrain on a traditional Ukrainian wind instrument. Alyona and Heil will perform Maria & Teresa, an anthemic ode to inspiring women. The title refers to Mother Theresa and the Virgin Mary, and the lyrics include the refrain, in English: “All the divas were born as the human beings” — people we regard as saints were once flawed and human like the rest of us. Heil said the message is that “we all make mistakes, but your actions are what define you.” And, alyona added: “with enough energy you can win the war, you can change the world.” The song blends alyona’s punchy rap style with Heil’s soaring melody and distinctly Ukrainian vocal style. “Alyona is a great rapper, she has this powerful energy,” Heil said. “And I’m more soft.” “But great melodies,” alyona added. “So she creates … “Ukrainian duo heads to the Eurovision Song Contest” →

LONDON — Two Russian journalists were arrested by their government on extremism charges and ordered by courts there on Saturday to remain in custody pending investigation and trial on accusations of working for a group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny. Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin both denied the charges. They will be detained for at least two months before any trials begin. Each faces a minimum of two years in prison and a maximum of six years for alleged “participation in an extremist organization,” according to Russian courts. They are the latest journalists arrested amid a Russian government crackdown on dissent and independent media that intensified after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. The Russian government passed laws criminalizing what it deems false information about the military, or statements seen as discrediting the military, effectively outlawing any criticism of the war in Ukraine or speech that deviates from the official narrative. A journalist for the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, Sergei Mingazov, was detained on charges of spreading false information about the Russian military, his lawyer said Friday. Gabov and Karelin are accused of preparing materials for a YouTube channel run by Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which has been outlawed by Russian authorities. Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony in February. Gabov, who was detained in Moscow, is a freelance producer who has worked for multiple organizations, including Reuters, the court press service said. Reuters did not immediately comment on the ruling by the court. Karelin, who has dual citizenship with Israel, was detained Friday night in Russia’s northern Murmansk region. Karelin, 41, has worked for several outlets, including The Associated Press. He was a cameraman for German media outlet Deutsche Welle until the Kremlin banned the outlet from operating in Russia in February 2022. “The Associated Press is very concerned by the detention of Russian video journalist Sergey Karelin,” the AP said in a statement. “We are seeking additional information.” Russia’s crackdown on dissent is aimed at opposition figures, journalists, activists, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and ordinary Russians critical of the Kremlin. A number of journalists have been jailed in relation to their coverage of Navalny, including Antonina Favorskaya, who remains in pretrial detention at least until May 28 following a hearing last month. Favorskaya was detained and accused by Russian authorities of taking part in an “extremist organization” … “2 Russian journalists jailed for alleged work for Navalny group” →

Former U.S. President Donald Trump says he is ready to renew a right-wing alliance with Hungary’s Viktor Orban if he wins the election in November. The presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee made the comments in an address to the CPAC conservative conference in Budapest. As Henry Ridgwell reports, analysts say Orban seeks a global conservative movement that is hoping for success at the ballot box in a crucial election year. …

madrid — Thousands of supporters and members of Spain’s Socialist party rallied outside the party’s national headquarters in Madrid on Saturday to show support for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and urge him not to step down.  Sanchez stunned Spain when he announced Wednesday that he was canceling his itinerary while he considers whether to resign after what he described as a “smear campaign” against his wife. He said he would reveal his plans Monday.  Sanchez’s shocking announcement came hours after a Spanish judge opened a preliminary investigation into allegation of corruption made against Sanchez’s wife by a group aligned with right-wing interests. The Spanish leader said the allegations were “spurious” and that they formed the worst attack in what he described as an orchestrated campaign to discredit him by targeting his family. The Madrid regional prosecutor’s office recommended the allegations be thrown out.  The crowd packing the downtown street of Madrid on Saturday shouted, “You are not alone!” and waved party flags. Socialist leaders and the leaders of other left-wing parties have urged Sanchez not to resign. Prime minister since 2018, Sanchez has more than three years left of his term.  The right-of-center opposition Popular Party, however, said Sanchez’s behavior was a desperate attempt to draw attention away from his wife and win support in upcoming regional and European elections.  …

ISLAMABAD — Germany’s ambassador to Pakistan faced backlash on social media Saturday for asking pro-Palestinian demonstrators to leave a human rights conference instead of “shouting” and interrupting his speech. Alfred Grannas was speaking on civil rights at the live-streamed event in the eastern city of Lahore when a young man rose from his seat and spoke to the German diplomat. “Excuse me, Mr. ambassador. I am shocked by the audacity that you are here to talk about civil rights while your country is brutally abusing the people speaking for the rights of the Palestinians,” the protester said. The participants cheered and chanted “Free, Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea” in response to the comments, with many of them rising from their seats in support of the man. “If you want to shout, go out; there, you can shout because shouting is not a discussion,” the German ambassador shouted back furiously in response to the questioning voice. “If you want to discuss it, come here. We’ll discuss it, but don’t shout. Shouting is not a behavior. Shame on you,” Grannas said. Organizers forced the protesters out of the conference to let the German diplomat complete his speech. Grannas’ video remarks quickly went viral, drawing criticism from Pakistanis, including activists, politicians and journalists. “The German ambassador shouting into the mic about shouting,” said Uzair Younus, a former nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. “Not a great look for German diplomacy. These types of interruptions will be the norm, not the exception for Western countries’ representatives in the global south moving forward as they lecture folks about human rights,” Younus wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Mr. ambassador, can you tell someone to ‘get out’ for expressing their opinion freely in your own country?” Ghulam Abbas Shah, a Pakistani broadcast journalist, asked on X. “German ambassador to Pakistan lecturing Pakistanis about free speech while German government bans any discussion on Gaza. Students who spoke up during this speech were dragged and beaten up. Shame!” Ammar Ali Jan, a Pakistani historian, activist, and politician, said on X. Some social media influencers urged the German diplomat to apologize to Pakistanis for his reaction. “This isn’t the way a diplomatic relation is built with the masses of host country @GermanyinPAK,” said journalist Sumaira Khan on X. “We are shocked to see your level of respect toward Pakistan and Pakistanis. … You … “Demonstrators in Pakistan disrupt German ambassador’s speech” →

LONDON — British troops may be tasked with delivering aid to Gaza from an offshore pier now under construction by the U.S. military, the BBC reported Saturday. U.K. government officials declined to comment on the report. According to the BBC, the British government is considering deploying troops to drive the trucks that will carry aid from the pier along a floating causeway to the shore. No decision has been made, and the proposal hasn’t yet reached Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the BBC reported, citing unidentified government sources. The report comes after a senior U.S. military official said on Thursday that there would be no American “boots on the ground” and that another nation would provide the personnel to drive the delivery trucks to the shore. The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public, declined to identify the third party. Britain is already providing logistical support for construction of the pier, including a Royal Navy ship that will house hundreds of U.S. soldiers and sailors working on the project. In addition, British military planners have been embedded at U.S. Central Command in Florida and in Cyprus, where aid will be screened before shipment to Gaza, for several weeks, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Friday. The U.K. Hydrographic Office has also shared analysis of the Gaza shoreline with the U.S. to aid in construction of the pier. “It is critical we establish more routes for vital humanitarian aid to reach the people of Gaza, and the U.K. continues to take a leading role in the delivery of support in coordination with the U.S. and our international allies and partners,” Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement. Development of the port and pier in Gaza comes as Israel faces widespread international criticism over the slow trickle of aid into the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations says at least a quarter of the population sits on the brink of starvation. The Israel-Hamas began with a Hamas-led terror attack into southern Israel on October 7, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 people as hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others. Since then, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and ground offensive, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. …

MOSCOW — A Moscow court has detained another suspect as an accomplice in the attack by gunmen on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people in March, the Moscow City Courts Telegram channel said Saturday.  Dzhumokhon Kurbonov, a citizen of Tajikistan, is accused of providing the attackers with means of communication and financing. The judge at Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ruled that Kurbonov would be kept in custody until May 22 pending investigation and trial.  Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Kurbonov was reportedly detained on April 11 for 15 days on the administrative charge of petty hooliganism. Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona noted that this is a common practice used by Russian security forces to hold a person in custody while a criminal case is prepared against them.  Twelve defendants have been arrested in the case, including four who allegedly carried out the attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue, according to RIA Novosti.  Those four appeared in the same Moscow court at the end of March on terrorism charges and showed signs of severe beatings. One appeared to be barely conscious during the hearing. The court ordered that the men, all of whom were identified in the media as citizens of Tajikistan, also be held in custody until May 22.  A faction of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the massacre in which gunmen shot people who were waiting for a show by a popular rock band and then set the building on fire. But Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have persistently claimed, without presenting any evidence, that Ukraine and the West had a role in the attack.  Ukraine denies involvement and its officials claim that Moscow is pushing the allegation as a pretext to intensify its fighting in Ukraine.  …