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Aid Cuts Hamper Afghanistan’s Earthquake Response, Officials Warn
Humanitarian officials said on Monday that shrinking funding for Afghanistan, driven by U.S. aid cuts, was hindering the response to a powerful eastern earthquake, leaving dozens of clinics closed and a helicopter grounded.
The magnitude 6 tremor hit overnight, levelling villages, killing at least 800 people and injuring more than 2,800 in remote mountainside.
The ruling Taliban administration and aid officials have a daunting task to rescue and help thousands of Afghans with a tinier budget than ever and an economy in crisis.
“The actual delivery of response has been badly hit by the funding cuts this year, but also the number of people we have on the ground is much less than we would have had six months ago,” said Kate Carey, deputy head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan.
Third Major Quake Since 2021
It was the third major deadly earthquake since the Taliban took over in 2021 in a nation also reeling from conflict, droughts, floods and the push-back of 2.1 million Afghans by neighbouring countries.
Afghanistan has been badly affected since U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in January began funding cuts to its humanitarian arm, USAID and aid programmes worldwide in what he casts as part of a broader plan to remove wasteful spending.
But even before that, funding was shrinking to Afghanistan due to competing emergencies in areas like Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan, as well as frustration from donor governments over the Taliban’s policies towards women, especially its restrictions on the work of Afghan female NGO staff.
Humanitarian aid, aimed at bypassing political institutions to serve urgent needs, has shrunk to $767 million this year, down from $3.8 billion in 2022.
The impact of the cuts was starkly illustrated by the latest crisis, Carey said, with a creaking health system now dealing with thousands of patients hit by falling rubble.
Forty-four health clinics catering to over 363,000 people in Nangarhar and Kunar, the provinces worst-affected by the quake, suspended operations or closed this year due to U.S. aid cuts, according to World Health Organisation figures.
No Helicopter
Where in the past a helicopter would have taken health teams and supplies to remote villages only accessible by foot, funding cuts to the World Food Programme, which runs a humanitarian air service, put the aircraft out of commission earlier this year, Carey said.
The Taliban has appealed for more aid in a country where half the population was already in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, according to U.N. estimates.
“Support from the international community is seen as essential,” said Abdul Rahman Habib, spokesperson for the Taliban-run Ministry of Economy, noting the fall in funds for food, healthcare, displaced people and communities hit by climate change.
Aid has been a lifeline during Afghanistan’s global isolation under the Taliban, whose government has only formally been recognised by Russia. Sanctions on some of its leaders have hampered the banking sector, and the U.S. has frozen billions in central bank assets.
Taliban authorities do not publicly release their annual budget. The World Bank noted in April that although authorities’ tax and revenue mobilisation had been relatively strong, it had not been enough to offset the sharp drop in aid.
Global Funding Plunge
As well as the global funding plunge, the U.N. and charities have to navigate a plethora of complex policies on operations under the Taliban, which says Afghan female aid staff should not work, though there are exemptions in health and education.
The Taliban, which has closed high schools and universities to female students and placed restrictions on their movement without a male guardian, says it respects women’s rights in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic law.
Sherine Ibrahim, the International Rescue Committee’s Afghanistan Director, said on Monday that the funding cuts were a drag on the response to Afghanistan’s latest disaster.
“Although we have been able to act fast, we are profoundly fearful for the additional strain that this disaster will have on the overall humanitarian response in Afghanistan,” she said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Trump Claims India Offered Zero Tariffs On US Goods
U.S. President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that India had offered to cut tariffs on American goods to zero, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly displayed solidarity with Chinese and Russian leaders amid trade tensions with Washington.
While calling the U.S. relationship with India “one-sided,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago.”
The Indian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Trump’s comments, which follow the implementation of total duties as high as 50% on Indian goods, which have raised questions about the future of the U.S.-India relationship.
Trump’s remark came as Modi was in China for a summit of more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a China-backed initiative given renewed impetus by Trump’s global tariff offensive.
Xi’s ‘Global South’ Push
At the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping pressed his vision for a new global security and economic order that prioritises the “Global South,” in a direct challenge to the U.S.
The U.S.-India relationship has strengthened in recent years, including during Trump’s first term, given shared concerns about China’s growing power, but Trump threatened the tariffs on India after it refused to stop buying Russian oil in defiance of his efforts to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
In China, in an image designed to convey solidarity, Putin and Modi were shown holding hands as they walked jovially toward Xi before the summit opened. The three men stood shoulder-to-shoulder, laughing and surrounded by interpreters.
Beijing has used the summit to mend ties with New Delhi. Modi, visiting China for the first time in seven years, and Xi agreed on Sunday that their countries are development partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to improve trade.
The U.S. State Department and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the meetings in China.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Holcim Sued By Indonesian Islanders Over Carbon Emissions
A Swiss court is set to decide on Wednesday whether it will admit a legal complaint against Holcim, one of the world’s largest cement manufacturers, accusing the company of not doing enough to reduce carbon emissions and thereby contributing to global warming.
Four residents of the Indonesian island of Pari, which has been repeatedly flooded as warmer temperatures drive up sea levels, submitted a legal complaint in January 2023 to the cantonal court in Zug, Switzerland.
For the suit to proceed, the court must first declare itself competent and the complaint admissible. The next stage would address the case’s merits.
First Of Its Kind
If successful, the case would be the first of its kind to pursue a Swiss company for its role in contributing to global warming, according to the non-profit Swiss Church Aid (HEKS/EPER), which is supporting the case.
NGOs backing the complainants said they had singled out Holcim because it was one of the major carbon dioxide emitters worldwide and the largest so-called “carbon major” in Switzerland.
A Holcim spokesperson told Reuters the company is deeply committed to taking action on climate and has reduced CO2 emissions from its operations by more than 50% since 2015.
Worsening Situation
Ibu Asmania, a mother of three from Pari, said she has lost income from fish aquaculture because warming sea temperatures had killed marine life in the area.
“I’m definitely worried, because the situation now has worsened for our island after it was predicted that by 2050 Pari Island would be under water,” she told Reuters during a visit to Aletsch Glacier in Valais, Switzerland, ahead of the hearing.
Arif Pujianto, a worker at a tourist beach on Pari, described coastal erosion and flooding affecting his home and workshop, with sea water contaminating his potable water.
Compensation
The plaintiffs want 3,600 Swiss francs ($4,500) in compensation to repair their homes and build stone walls and mangroves to shield their island from the sea.
Cement production is responsible for about 7% of global CO2 emissions, according to the Global Cement and Concrete Association.
“Holcim has the broadest range of decarbonization technologies in the industry,” the Holcim spokesperson said, highlighting its use of low-emission cement formulations and replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy.
($1 = 0.8019 Swiss francs)
(With inputs from Reuters)
Ugandan Opposition Figure Skips Treason Trial Over Bias
Jailed Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye on Monday refused to attend the start of his treason trial, with his lawyer alleging the presiding judge was biased.
Besigye’s months-long detention has shone a spotlight on President Yoweri Museveni’s human rights record ahead of polls early next year in which Museveni, 80, is seeking re-election.
The government denies targeting opposition figures and says all those who have been detained have committed crimes.
The trial of Besigye and his aide, Obed Lutale, was supposed to start on Monday after months of delays, but both defendants decided to boycott the proceedings after the judge, Emmanuel Baguma, refused to recuse himself, their attorney Eron Kiiza told Reuters.
‘Incapable Of Delivering Justice’
Besigye’s attorneys cited Baguma’s decision to deny Besigye bail as the basis for the accusations of bias.
Judiciary spokesperson James Ereemye Mawanda said there was no justification for the bias accusations and confirmed that Baguma had refused to recuse himself. Judge Baguma could not be reached immediately.
“Besigye and Lutale took a decision never to appear before Judge Baguma,” attorney Kiiza said.
“He is incapable of delivering justice with fairness and impartiality as required by the constitution and logic,” Kiiza added.
A former ally and personal physician of Museveni, Besigye has stood and lost against Museveni in four elections. He has not indicated whether he wants to run again.
Charges Denied
Besigye, who denies any wrongdoing, was forcefully returned to Uganda from neighbouring Kenya in November last year and returned to Uganda where both him and his aide were subsequently charged with treason and other offences, initially in a military tribunal before the case was transferred to a civilian court.
He denies the charges.
In August, his lawyers had argued that he should have been automatically released on bail because he has spent more than 180 days in jail without his trial starting.
However, Judge Baguma had said the 180-day maximum period before mandatory bail was granted only began when he was remanded in the civilian court on February 21, which means he fell short by 12 days in order to secure bail.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Public Sector Cuts, Tax Reforms Shake Romania’s Ruling Coalition
Romania’s ruling coalition is set to push through a controversial package of public sector spending cuts and tax hikes in Parliament on Monday, even as it braces for multiple no-confidence motions, adding to the country’s political uncertainty.
The government is facing public sector strikes and strong opposition to spending cuts as it tries to lower the European Union’s highest budget deficit and keep Romania on the last rung of investment grade.
Legal Battles
Fast-tracking their approval in parliament means the measures can be approved without lengthy debate, though the opposition can file no-confidence motions within three days.
The government looks likely to survive the no-confidence votes, which are expected to take place later this week, but the laws can still be challenged in the Constitutional Court.
Legislative Packages
The cabinet approved a first package of measures, consisting mainly of tax hikes, shortly after it took power in late June, but the four parties in the ruling coalition have struggled to agree on cuts to bloated state spending.
Last Friday it agreed five legislative packages with a budget impact of roughly 10.6 billion lei ($2.46 billion), gradually raising the retirement age for judges and prosecutors, cutting jobs and limiting remuneration for state firms and financial, telecoms and energy regulators, as well as introducing some tax hikes from 2026.
The government, which controls just under 70% of parliament, has chosen to split the measures into five packages to avoid having all of them struck down by the top court in one go.
‘Legislative Terrorism’
The second largest party in parliament, the far-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), said it would file four no-confidence motions, calling the government’s decision to fast-track the cuts “legislative terrorism”.
Even if the ruling coalition survives the motions, as expected, it has been strained by failure to agree on a sixth package of cuts to local administration jobs.
Both the leftist Social Democrats and centre-right Liberals, the two largest parties in the cabinet, have repeatedly said the coalition’s future is uncertain.
Centrist President Nicusor Dan has also criticised the way in which the government plans to raise the retirement age for the judiciary to the standard 65 from 49 currently, raising doubts over his continued support for Liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan. The judiciary is staging an indefinite strike.
($1 = 4.3137 lei)
(With inputs from Reuters)
Putin Says Ukraine Peace Hinges On Addressing NATO Expansion After Talks With Xi And Modi
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that genuine peace in Ukraine cannot be achieved without tackling the question of NATO’s eastward expansion. His remarks followed discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. Russia currently controls a little under one fifth of Ukraine.
Ukraine and Western European powers describe the invasion as a brutal imperial-style land grab. Putin casts the war as a battle with a declining West, which he says humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by enlarging NATO eastwards.
On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Tianjin, Modi held Putin’s hand as they walked towards Chinese President Xi. All three smiled as they spoke, surrounded by translators.
Speaking at the summit, Putin said the West had tried to bring Ukraine into the West’s orbit and then sought to entice the former Soviet republic into the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.
“In order for a Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-term, the root causes of the crisis, which I have just mentioned and which I have repeatedly mentioned before, must be eliminated,” Putin said.
“A fair balance in the security sphere” must be also restored, Putin said, shorthand for a series of Russian demands about NATO and European security.
NATO’s Eastward Enlargement
At the 2008 Bucharest summit, NATO leaders agreed that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members. Ukraine in 2019 amended its constitution committing to the path of full membership of NATO and the European Union.
According to reports in May, Putin’s conditions for ending the war include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards and lift a chunk of sanctions on Russia.
Putin said that “understandings” he reached with U.S. President Donald Trump at a summit in Alaska in August opened a way to peace in Ukraine, which he would discuss with leaders attending the regional summit in China.
“We highly appreciate the efforts and proposals from China and India aimed at facilitating the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis,” Putin told the forum.
“The understandings reached at the recent Russia–U.S. meeting in Alaska, I hope, also contribute toward this goal.”
He said he had detailed to Xi on Sunday the achievements of his talks with Trump and the work “already underway” to resolve the conflict and would provide more detail in two-way meetings with the Chinese leader and others.
China and India are by far the biggest purchasers of crude from Russia, the world’s second largest exporter. Trump has imposed additional tariffs on India over the purchases but there is no sign yet that either India or China are going to stop purchasing Russian oil, a key export of Russia’s war economy.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Xi Jinping Champions New Global Order, Flanked By Putin, Modi
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday advanced his vision for a new global security and economic order prioritising the “Global South,” directly challenging the United States at a summit attended by the Russian and Indian leaders.
“We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics, and practise true multilateralism,” Xi said, in a thinly veiled swipe at the United States and President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
“Global governance has reached a new crossroads,” he added.
SCO Summit
Xi was hosting more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries at a summit in the Chinese port city of Tianjin for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a China-backed initiative given renewed impetus by the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In an image designed to convey a mood of solidarity, Putin and Modi were shown holding hands as they walked jovially towards Xi before the summit opened. The three men stood shoulder-to-shoulder, laughing and surrounded by interpreters.
“It’s hard to tell if the scene was choreographed or improvised, but it doesn’t really matter,” wrote Eric Olander, editor-in-chief of The China-Global South Project, a research agency.
“If the U.S. president and his acolytes thought they could use tariffs to pressure China, India, or Russia into submission, that (encounter) says otherwise.”
‘Insightful’ Conversation
After the summit, Modi shared a ride with Putin in the Russian leader’s armoured Aurus limousine en route to their bilateral meeting.
“Conversations with him are always insightful,” Modi wrote on X. At the bilateral meeting, Putin addressed Modi in Russian as “Dear Mr Prime Minister, dear friend.”
China and India are the biggest buyers of crude oil from Russia, the world’s second-largest exporter. Trump has imposed additional tariffs on India over the purchases, but not on China.
Little known outside the region, the Beijing-headquartered SCO was formed more than two decades ago as a regional security bloc. China, Russia, and four Central Asian states are founding members. India joined in 2017.
Xi did not set out any concrete measures in what he called his “Global Governance Initiative” – the latest in a series of policy frameworks from Beijing geared to promoting China’s leadership and challenging the U.S.-dominated international organisations that took shape after World War Two.
Earlier, Xi also pushed for what he described as more inclusive economic globalisation amid the upheaval caused by Trump’s tariff policies, touting the SCO’s “mega-scale market” and economic opportunity.
‘New System Of Stability’
Putin, whose country has forged even closer economic and security ties with China amid the fallout from the Ukraine war, said the SCO had revived “genuine multilateralism”, with national currencies increasingly used in mutual settlements.
“This, in turn, lays the political and socio-economic groundwork for the formation of a new system of stability and security in Eurasia,” Putin said.
“This security system, unlike Euro-centric and Euro-Atlantic models, would genuinely consider the interests of a broad range of countries, be truly balanced, and would not allow one country to ensure its own security at the expense of others.”
Xi called for the creation of a new SCO development bank, in what would be a major step towards the bloc’s long-held aspiration of developing an alternative payment system that circumvents the U.S. dollar and the power of U.S. sanctions.
Beijing will provide 2 billion yuan ($280 million) of free aid to member states this year and a further 10 billion yuan of loans to an SCO banking consortium.
AI Cooperation Centre
China will also build an artificial intelligence cooperation centre for SCO nations, which are also invited to participate in China’s lunar research station, Xi added.
Beijing has used the summit as an opportunity to mend ties with New Delhi. Modi, visiting China for the first time in seven years, and Xi agreed on Sunday that their countries are development partners, not rivals, and discussed ways to improve trade.
Separately, Xi will preside over a massive military parade on Wednesday in Beijing, where he is expected to be joined by Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
That parade – to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War Two – will feature China’s latest military technology in a show of force that analysts say will aim to intimidate and deter potential rivals.
($1 = 7.1529 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(With inputs from Reuters)
Afghanistan Earthquake Death Toll Surpasses 800, Over 2,800 Injured
One of Afghanistan’s deadliest earthquakes has killed over 800 people and left at least 2,800 injured, as rescuers battled harsh weather and rugged mountains to reach remote communities, Afghan authorities said on Monday.
The disaster will further stretch the resources of the war-torn nation’s Taliban administration, already grappling with crises ranging from a sharp drop in foreign aid to deportations of hundreds of thousands of Afghans by neighbouring countries.
Sharafat Zaman, spokesperson for the health ministry in Kabul, called for international aid to tackle the devastation wrought by the quake of magnitude 6 that struck around midnight local time, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles).
“We need it because here lots of people lost their lives and houses,” he told Reuters.
At Least 812 Killed
The quake killed 812 people in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, administration spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
Ziaul Haq Mohammadi, a student at Al-Falah University in the eastern city of Jalalabad, was studying in his room at home when the quake struck. He said he tried to stand up but was knocked over by the power of the tremor.
“We spent the whole night in fear and anxiety because at any moment another earthquake could happen,” Mohammadi said.
Rescuers were battling to reach remote mountainous areas cut off from mobile networks along the Pakistani border, where mudbrick homes dotting the slopes collapsed in the quake.
“The area of the earthquake was affected by heavy rain in the last 24-48 hours as well, so the risk of landslides and rock slides is also quite significant – that is why many of the roads are impassable,” Kate Carey, an officer at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), told Reuters.
Rescue Ops Underway
Rescue teams and authorities are trying to dispose of animal carcasses quickly so as to minimise the risk of contamination to water resources, Carey said.
Casualties could rise as rescue teams access more isolated locations, authorities said.
“All our … teams have been mobilised to accelerate assistance, so that comprehensive and full support can be provided,” said health ministry spokesperson Abdul Maten Qanee, citing efforts in areas from security to food and health.
Reuters Television images showed helicopters ferrying out the affected, while residents helped security forces and medics carry the wounded to ambulances in an area with a long history of earthquakes and floods.
Military rescue teams fanned out across the region, the defence ministry said in a statement, with 40 flights carrying away 420 wounded and dead.
The quake razed three villages in Kunar, with substantial damage in many others, authorities said. At least 610 people were killed in Kunar, with 12 dead in Nangarhar, they added.
Third Major Quake Since 2021
It was Afghanistan‘s third major deadly quake since the Taliban took over in 2021 as foreign forces withdrew, triggering a cut to the international funding that formed the bulk of the government’s finances.
Diplomats and aid officials say crises elsewhere in the world, along with donor frustration over the Taliban’s policies towards women, including curbs on those who are aid workers, have spurred the cuts in funding.
Even humanitarian aid, aimed at bypassing political institutions to serve urgent needs, has shrunk to $767 million this year, down from $3.8 billion in 2022.
Appeals For Funding
Humanitarian agencies say they are fighting a forgotten crisis in Afghanistan, where the United Nations estimates more than half the population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
“So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work,” a spokesperson of Afghanistan’s foreign office said on Monday.
Later, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said it was ready to provide disaster relief assistance “according to Afghanistan’s needs and within its capacity”.
India Rushes Aid
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of India said it had delivered 1,000 family tents to Kabul and was moving 15 tonnes of food material to Kunar, with more relief material to be sent from India starting Tuesday.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said its mission in Afghanistan was preparing to help those in areas devastated by the quake. Pope Leo also sent condolences for the dead.
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake that killed 1,000 people in the eastern region in 2022 was the first major natural disaster faced by the Taliban government.
Humanitarian officials and locals say almost two years after a powerful tremor hit the western city of Herat, many villages are still recovering and living in temporary structures.
Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
Quakes in Afghanistan tend to be so deadly because of building construction that is often vulnerable to shaking, and the number of people living in the Hindu Kush, said Richard Walker, professor of tectonics at the University of Oxford.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Scholars’ Association Accuses Israel Of Committing Genocide In Gaza
The president of the world’s leading genocide scholars’ association on Monday announced a resolution declaring that Israel meets the legal criteria for committing genocide in Gaza.
Eighty-six percent of those who voted among the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars backed the resolution declaring: “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)”.
There was no immediate response from the Israeli foreign ministry. Israel has in the past strongly denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide and says they are justified as self-defence. It is fighting a case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague that accuses it of genocide.
Gaza Offensive
Israel launched its assault on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, after fighters from Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in control of the territory, attacked Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages.
Since then, Israel’s military action has killed 63,000 people, damaged or destroyed most buildings in the territory and forced nearly all its residents to flee their homes at least once. A global hunger monitor relied on by the United Nations says parts of the territory are now suffering a man-made famine, which Israel also denies.
In Gaza, Hamas welcomed the resolution: “This prestigious scholarly stance reinforces the documented evidence and facts presented before international courts,” said Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.
The resolution “places a legal and moral obligation on the international community to take urgent action to stop the crime, protect civilians, and hold the leaders of the occupation accountable,” he said.
Since its founding in 1994, the genocide scholars’ association has passed nine resolutions recognising historic or ongoing episodes as genocides.
The 1948 U.N. Genocide Convention, adopted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews by Nazi Germany, defines genocide as crimes committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”.
It requires all countries to act to prevent and stop genocide.
Criminal acts comprising genocide include killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, creating conditions calculated to destroy them, preventing births, or forcibly transferring children to other groups.
Scholars’ Resolution
The three-page resolution adopted by the scholars calls on Israel to “immediately cease all acts that constitute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza, including deliberate attacks against and killing of civilians including children; starvation; deprivation of humanitarian aid, water, fuel, and other items essential to the survival of the population; sexual and reproductive violence; and forced displacement of the population.”
The resolution also states that the Hamas attack on Israel, which precipitated the war, constituted international crimes.
“This is a definitive statement from experts in the field of genocide studies that what is going on on the ground in Gaza is genocide,” the association’s president, Melanie O’Brien, a professor of international law at the University of Western Australia who specialises in genocide, told Reuters.
Sergey Vasiliev, a professor of international law at the Open University in the Netherlands who is not a member of the association, told Reuters the resolution showed that “this legal assessment has become mainstream within academia, particularly in the field of genocide studies.”
Several international rights groups and some Israeli NGOs have already accused Israel of committing genocide. Last week, hundreds of U.N. staff at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, wrote to ask him to explicitly describe the Gaza war as an unfolding genocide, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Ukraine Suspects Russian Role In Ex-Speaker’s Killing, Says Police Chief
The chief of Ukraine’s police said on Monday that authorities suspect Russian involvement in the killing of former parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy.
Parubiy was shot dead in the western city of Lviv on Saturday, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier on Monday that a suspect had been arrested for what he called “a horrific murder” that impacted “security in a country at war”.
“We know that this crime was not accidental. There is Russian involvement. Everyone will be held accountable before the law,” police chief Ivan Vyhivskyi said on Facebook.
Russia has not commented on the killing or on the suggestion that it was involved in the incident.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on the Telegram messaging app that the suspected shooter had been detained overnight in the Khmelnytskyi region in western Ukraine.
“Many details cannot be shared at this time,” Klymenko said. “I will only say that the crime was carefully planned: the victim’s movements were studied, a route was mapped out, and an escape plan was thought through.”
Suspect Disguised As Courier
Police chief Vyhivskyi said the suspect had disguised himself as a courier and had opened fire on Parubiy in broad daylight, firing his weapon eight times.
The shooter even made sure that the victim was dead, Vyhivskyi added.
“He spent a long time preparing, watching, planning, and finally pulling the trigger. It took us only 36 hours to track him down and arrest him,” Vyhivskyi added.
Police published two photographs from the scene of the arrest that show two special forces officers holding a handcuffed man by the arms. Naked to the waist, he has his back to the camera, and his face is not visible.
Parubiy, 54, was a member of Ukraine’s parliament and had served as parliamentary speaker from April 2016 to August 2019. He was one of the leaders of protests in 2013-14 demanding closer ties with the European Union that led to the ousting of Ukraine’s then pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovich.
Parubiy was also secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council from February to August 2014, a period when Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula and Moscow-backed separatists began fighting government forces in eastern Ukraine.
(With inputs from Reuters)