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MOGADISHU: A roadside bombing blamed on the jihadist group Al-Shabab killed eight members of an extended family in central Somalia, a local mayor said on Monday.
The blast occurred late Sunday near a village outside Buloburde, which lies about 220 kilometers (136 miles) north of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.
“Eight innocent civilians were killed from the same family, among them a woman,” Sadam Abdi Idow, the mayor of Buloburde, told reporters.
“Al-Shabab terrorists planted the mine after they were defeated in ongoing military operations in the region. These terrorists have no regard for civilians.”
According to witnesses, seven victims died at the scene, while another died later.
“This was a disaster… three were from one family, and the rest from another related family. They were all related,” said Abdikarin Hassan, from Buloburde.
Al-Shabab, which is affiliated with Al-Qaeda, has been trying to overthrow the foreign-backed government in Mogadishu since 2007 through a bloody insurgency.
Its fighters were driven from Mogadishu in 2011 but it remains a deadly force, despite a major offensive launched last August by pro-government forces, backed by African Union troops and US air strikes.
The attack near Buloburde followed a sustained firefight in the region, military sources said.
“The terrorists were defeated during this armed confrontation… and they took their revenge on civilians. They planted a land mine along the main road used by civilians,” Ahmed Ali, a Somali military commander, said by phone.
JEDDAH: Ukrainian troops captured strategic high ground around the flashpoint eastern city of Bakhmut on Monday as they pushed ahead with a counteroffensive against the Russian invasion.
Kyiv’s forces had established fire control over “entrances, exits and movement of the enemy around the city,” Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar said.
“During the process of advancing, our troops took control of key commanding heights around Bakhmut.”
The Ukrainian military said its troops had now retaken 169 sq km on the southern front and 24 sq km around Bakhmut since the counteroffensive began early last month, tightening the noose around Russian troops occupying the city
“All of us, we want to do it faster because every day means new losses of Ukrainians. We are advancing. We are not stuck,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“We would all love to see the counteroffensive accomplished in a shorter period of time. But there is reality. Today, the initiative is on our side.”
As Zelensky spoke, NATO leaders were gathering in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius for a summit of the Western military alliance, with Ukraine’s membership high on the agenda.
President Joe Biden stopped off in London on his way to Vilnius on Monday for talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Ukraine and other issues.
The summit had a troubled prelude, with simmering discontent over US President Joe Biden’s decision to supply Ukraine with controversial cluster-bomb munitions, which are banned in more than 120 countries.
The UK is one of several NATO members with reservations about the move.
Biden stopped off in London on his way to Vilnius on Monday for talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Ukraine and other issues.
Meanwhile, NATO members remain divided on how to put Ukraine on a path to membership, but on Monday they appeared to have removed one key hurdle.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he had put forward a package that included the removal of the requirement for a Membership Action Plan — a list of political, economic and military goals that other eastern European nations had to meet before joining.
Nevertheless Zelensky, who is expected to attend the summit, wants a clear invitation to join the alliance after the war ends, and security guarantees until that time.
NATO members in eastern Europe have backed Ukraine’s stance, but the US and Germany are wary of any move that could draw NATO into a direct conflict with Russia.
Stoltenberg said: “No final decision has been made but at the summit I am absolutely certain that we will have unity and a strong message on Ukraine.”
BERLIN: Australia is joining the “climate club” backed by the Group of Seven major economies to take more ambitious action in tackling global warming, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday.
The club was first proposed by Nobel Prize winner William Nordhaus as a way of getting countries to voluntarily set high targets for curbing climate change and then require trading partners to meet those same standards. Such moves are opposed by major emerging economies like China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gas.
“We’re very pleased to join the climate club because we are ambitious and we also see that this isn’t just the right thing to do by the environment, but this is also the right thing to do by jobs and by our economy,” Albanese said at a news conference in Berlin after meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who made the idea a key pillar of his G7 presidency last year.
“One thing we can do is to cooperate and learn off each other, because you can’t address climate change as just a national issue. It has to be by definition, a global response,” Albanese said.
Albanese’s government committed last year to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent by the end of the decade — almost double the previous target. In March, Parliament passed a law requiring Australia’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters reduce their emissions or pay for carbon credits.
Other countries that have joined the climate club include Argentina, Chile, Denmark, Indonesia, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore and Uruguay.
LONDON: Murals of cartoon characters intended to welcome children at Dover asylum seeker reception center were on Tuesday removed by order of British Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, the BBC reported.
Jenrick directed that the murals, including Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, and Baloo from “The Jungle Book,” be painted over because he thought they were too welcoming, which sent the wrong message.
Confirming the removal, a spokesperson told the BBC: “We do all we can to ensure children are safe, secure, and supported as we urgently seek placements with a local authority.
“All children receive a welfare interview on their arrival at accommodation, which includes questions designed to identify potential indicators of trafficking or safeguarding issues. Our priority is to stop the boats and disrupt the people smugglers.”
The move was slammed by Labour’s shadow immigration minister, Stephen Kinnock, who said the idea that removing the murals would “somehow stop the boats, is utterly absurd.”
Kinnock told the BBC that the decision reflected a “chaotic government in crisis, whose failing approach means all they have left is tough talk and cruel and callous policies.”
He pointed out that Labour had a plan to “end the dangerous crossings, defeat the criminal smuggler gangs, and end hotel use by clearing the asylum backlog.”
The i newspaper, which broke the story first, quoted sources saying staff at the center were “horrified” by Jenrick’s directive and refused to carry out the work.
According to the Home Office, the Kent Intake Unit was established in November 2022 to care for unaccompanied child migrants. Facilities included softer interview rooms and an outdoor area. There were also prayer rooms, a larger reception area, and enhanced security measures to safeguard children, the Home Office added.
A report issued in June by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons following visits to the KIU and the surrounding processing centers found that facilities had improved since earlier inspections.
However, there are ongoing issues, including medical isolation procedures at the unit. According to the report, “inspectors found no examples of notable positive practice during this inspection” at the KIU.
The Home Office noted that it had acted in response to several of the recommendations, the BBC reported.
LONDON: A Sudanese asylum-seeker attempting to flee his war-torn country to the UK was rejected by the Home Office based on outdated information, Metro newspaper reported.
Authorities had used information from 2021, before the outbreak of the civil war, to judge the safety level of the country and make an asylum decision.
There was “not a real risk” to the Sudanese national from “indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict,” a rejection letter said. He would also not “face a real risk of suffering serious harm.”
However, more than 600,000 people have fled Sudan in the wake of violence that broke out in April, which has left hundreds of people dead.
Metro reported that it is unclear how many other Sudanese asylum-seekers have been rejected by the UK based on the outdated information.
A Home Office spokesperson said it would communicate with the Sudanese national to “review his asylum application,” adding: “All asylum applications are considered on their individual merits in line with the asylum rules and the evidence presented.”
Hannah Marwood, Care4Calais legal access manager, said: “With over 5,000 Sudanese asylum-seekers stuck in the government’s legacy backlog, they should be getting on with processing claims and offering them protection given the ongoing conflict in Sudan.”
COLOMBO: At least 300,000 Sri Lankans will leave their crisis-hit country for overseas jobs this year, with most of them choosing to work in Gulf countries, the Bureau of Foreign Employment said on Monday.
More than 152,000 Sri Lankan workers have left the country since the beginning of the year, with over 112,000 of them going to the Gulf Cooperation Council region, opting first for Saudi Arabia, followed by Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE.
“We expect the total departures for 2023 will reach 300,000,” Gamini Senarath Yapa, deputy general manager of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, told Arab News.
The Middle East is their preferred destination due to traditional labor links and high salary packages, which make the region a major source of remittances.
Currently more than 1 million Sri Lankan expats — or over half of the country’s overseas workforce — are employed in Gulf countries.
“Most of our agents are targeting the Middle Eastern market,” Yapa said. “There is easy access and also availability of jobs because they need people to develop their economy.”
The top destination is Saudi Arabia, which signed with Sri Lanka in February an agreement on skill verification, easing the recruitment process of skilled workers from the island nation. The deal covers 23 professions and Saudi employers recognize accreditations issued by Sri Lanka’s Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission.
“There are many sectors,” Yapa said. “If you are qualified, if you are a skilled worker, there are opportunities for you.”
Expat workers are a main source of remittances for the country, which since last year has been in the grip of its worst financial crisis.
This year’s inflows are expected to be higher than last year, when they reached $3.8 billion, as until May Sri Lankans have already sent home $2.3 billion.
But it is not only dollars that make their stay abroad important. It is also the know-how they acquire.
“They are not only bringing the currency but experience as well,” Yapa said. “That definitely gives support to our economy as they are coming back with a lot of knowledge.”