World

BRUSSELS — The European Union on Tuesday imposed sanctions ahead of International Women's Day against officials from six countries, including Russia and Afghanistan, for violence and rights abuses against women.

According to a document seen by AFP, nine individuals and three official entities have been added to sanctions lists, subject to visa bans and the freezing of any assets held in the EU.

The sanctions target two Moscow police officers, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Fedorinov and his subordinate Ivan Ryabov, who are accused of ordering the arrest and torture of female anti-war protesters.

Also named are Russian special forces commander Major General Nikolai Kuznetsov and tank commander Colonel Ramil Ibatullin, whose units are accused of systematic acts of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine.

From Afghanistan, the Taliban minister for higher education Neda Mohammad Nadeem and the minister for the propagation of virtue and the repression of vice, Muhammad Khalid Hanafi, are also listed.

The former is accused of depriving women of education and the second of "curbing their freedom of speech and expression, and inflicting harsh punishments and violence on those who do not respect the Taliban's edicts."

In South Sudan, the commissioner for Mayiandit county, Gatluak Nyang Hoth, and of Koch county, Gordon Koang Biel, are said to have made "widespread and systematic use of sexual violence as a war tactic and instrumentalised it as a reward and entitlement for men participating in the conflict".

Myanmar's deputy minister of home affairs Toe Ui is said to have allowed military security agents to "use forced nudity, rape, electro-shocks, burning of genitalia and excessive violence during the arbitrary detention and interrogation of men, women and members of the LGBTIQ community".

Ui is a former head of the Office of the Chief of Military Security affairs (OCMSA), which is listed separately as an agency responsible "for systematic and widespread sexual and gender-based violence."

Iran's Qarchak prison in Tehran province is listed as a place where women are subjected the sexual abuse by guards and threatened with rape to extract false confessions.

The names are expected to be formally added to the EU sanctions list later in the day, but diplomatic sources confirmed to AFP that they had been approved by member states.

"By imposing these sanctions, we're sending a clear message to perpetrators that they won't get away with their crimes," The Netherlands' foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra said in a news release.

"This is also a message to the victims: the EU will support you, wherever you are in the world. Sanctions are a powerful way for us to stand up for universal values and force international change," he said.

"We will not hesitate to expand the list to include other perpetrators of sexual violence."

KYIV — The Russian army on Tuesday vowed to capture the east Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, a symbolic prize in months of fierce combat, as a precursor for offensives deeper into Ukraine.

The intense fighting in the east raged on as Ukraine said it had identified a soldier filmed being shot dead in a video that sparked outrage on social media and as UN chief Antonio Guterres headed to Kyiv for talks.

The battle for Bakhmut — a salt-mining town with a pre-war population of 80,000 — has been the longest and bloodiest in Russia's more than year-long invasion that has devastated swathes of Ukraine and displaced millions.

Russia has appeared intent to capture it at all costs, despite analysts saying it has little strategic value.

"Capturing [Bakhmut] will allow for further offensive operations deep into the defence lines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told military officials during a televised meeting on Tuesday.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the army was intent on defending Bakhmut despite a rumoured retreat under pressure from Russian forces, who have sought to capture the city for months.

Russia's mercenary group Wagner has spearheaded the attack on Bakhmut and its head Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is locked in a rift with Russia's military leadership, appeared to mock Shoigu saying he had "not seen him" near the battlefield.

Tanks from Poland 

Prigozhin estimated that between "12,000 and 20,000" Ukrainian troops were still defending the city.

He said that while "very tough battles are ongoing both day and night", Ukraine's fighters "are not running away".

Ukraine got a boost on Tuesday though, when its western neighbour and fervent ally Poland announced the the sending of 10 Leopard tanks this week.

Both sides have said the Bakhmut battle has cost a significant number of troops, but neither gave figures.

Outside the town, a Ukrainian soldier told AFP that Kyiv was losing control.

“Bakhmut will fall,” one exhausted soldier said on Monday in the town of Chasiv Yar, 10 kilometres west of the front line.

Some units had started to retreat in “small groups”, he said.

Ukrainian officials say around 4,000 civilians remain in the town, which has been virtually flattened.

“Approximately 38 children, as far as we know, remain in Bakhmut,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told regional media on Tuesday.

Belarus detains sabotage group 

Amid fears of Moscow-allied Belarus, Ukraine’s northern neighbour, entering the conflict, Minsk accused Ukrainian secret services on Tuesday of being behind a partisan plot damaging a Russian plane in the country last month.

Longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko said 20 people had been detained in connection with attacking the plane. Regime opponents said partisans damaged the jet at an airstrip near the capital Minsk last month.

Lukashenko identified the main culprit as a joint Russian and Ukrainian citizen and lashed out against Ukraine’s Zelensky.

Lukashenko, who allowed his Russian ally Vladimir Putin to use Belarusian territory as a launchpad for his Ukraine invasion a year ago, said the alleged culprit was a “terrorist”.

Ukraine also said on Tuesday that it had identified a soldier filmed being shot dead in a video widely shared on social media that sparked outrage.

The footage shows what appears to be a detained Ukrainian combatant standing in a shallow trench, smoking, and being shot after saying “Glory to Ukraine”.

The phrase spoken by the alleged Ukrainian soldier has trended on social media. Senior officials in Kyiv blamed Russian forces and called for justice.

The Ukrainian army identified him as Tymofiy Shadura, a servicemen of the 30th separate mechanised brigade.

He had been missing since February 3 amid fighting near Bakhmut and his identity would be confirmed when his remains were returned, the military added.

AFP could not independently verify where or when the footage was filmed or whether it showed — as Ukrainian officials and social media users suggested — a Ukrainian prisoner of war.

On Monday, Zelensky said the video showed Russian forces “brutally killing” a Ukrainian serviceman. “We will find the murderers,” he vowed.

Guterres, the UN secretary-general, was travelling to Ukraine to meet Zelensky in his third trip since Russia’s invasion, a UN spokesman said.

LONDON — The UK government on Tuesday unveiled controversial plans to stop migrants crossing the Channel illegally on small boats, acknowledging it is stretching international law amid an outcry from rights campaigners.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the plan would “take back control of our borders once and for all” — reprising a popular pledge from campaigners like him who backed Britain’s Brexit divorce from the European Union (EU).

“This new law will send a clear signal that if you come to this country illegally, you will be swiftly removed,” he wrote in The Sun newspaper.

Under the draft law, interior minister Suella Braverman will be given a new legal duty to deport all migrants entering illegally, such as across the Channel, trumping their other rights in UK and European human rights law.

Those deported would be banned from reentering Britain and ever claiming citizenship there, and must seek asylum in a so-called “safe third country”, such as Rwanda under a hotly contested partnership agreed by London last year

“This Conservative government... will act now to stop the boats,” Braverman said as she introduced the legislation in parliament.

The right-winger added she was “confident that this bill is compatible with international obligations” — despite conceding in an overnight Daily Telegraph article that it “pushed the boundaries of international law”.

Running for their lives 

Sunak’s Conservative government is trailing in the polls and the topic of illegal migrants is playing badly with voters and the right-wing press, particularly when they have crossed “safe” countries in Europe to reach Britain.

But rights groups and opposition parties say the plan is unworkable and unfairly scapegoats vulnerable refugees.

Christina Marriott, executive director of strategy for the British Red Cross, said the UK would be in breach of international asylum conventions.

“We wonder if you are fleeing persecution or war, if you are running from Afghanistan or Syria and are in fear of your life, how are you going to be able to claim asylum in the UK?” she told Sky News.

“If they don’t have a valid asylum claim, then we are in support of people being returned to countries,” she said.

“But what we need for that is a really fair and fast asylum system. And that’s what we don’t have at the minute.”

More than 45,000 migrants arrived on the shores of southeast England on small boats last year — a 60 per cent annual increase on a route that has grown in popularity every year since 2018.

The perilous nature of the crossings has been underlined by several tragedies in recent years, including in November 2021 when at least 27 people died when their dinghy deflated.

Nearly 3,000 have arrived so far this year, often ending up in expensive hotels at taxpayer expense and the backlog of asylum claims now exceeds 160,000.

The new plan would transfer illegal migrants to disused military barracks temporarily and cap the annual number of refugees settled via safe and legal routes.

Gangster profits 

The government has been striving for years to get a grip on the issue.

It had hoped the threat of a one-way ticket to Rwanda, where migrants would remain if accepted for asylum, would deter the cross-Channel journeys.

But the plan was blocked at the last minute by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which is separate to the EU.

It was then upheld by Britain’s high court, but remains mired in appeals. No flights to Rwanda have yet taken place.

Reports on Tuesday said the government could withdraw from the ECHR if the Strasbourg-based court again intervenes in its latest legislation, following what Braverman called its “opaque” ruling on Rwanda.

The government cannot yet state whether its “robust and novel” plan meets Britain’s own Human Rights Act, she admitted, while adding that UK officials were in discussion with the ECHR.

In Dover, the scene of an anti-migrant protest and counterdemonstration at the weekend, locals appeared uniformly sceptical about the draft law.

Matthew Stevens, 43, predicted that its stipulations “won’t happen”.

“Too many people are profiting for it to stop,” he said of the criminal gangs who run the illegal cross-Channel operations.

ELBASAN, Albania — Emanuela Rusta battled combative crowds and misogynistic headlines for years as she navigated Albania’s football scene before becoming the country’s first female international referee.

Rusta has been one of the leading figures pushing for more equality on Albania’s football pitches, where entrenched sexism has kept women on the sidelines.

“You have to fight hard to be accepted,” the 29-year-old told AFP. “We have to shatter the glass ceiling.”

Football has long been a national obsession but women have started to make inroads only recently.

The women’s national team first competed in 2011, while the Albanian Football Federation (FSHF) remains overwhelmingly male-dominated with just 2,000 female members compared to 22,000 men.

Wracked by decades of poverty, authoritarian rule and mass migration, Albania has grappled with an uneasy path to global integration since its communist government collapsed in the early 1990s.

Many people have clung to their traditions, including deeply rooted ideas of gender, especially in rural areas where women have had fewer opportunities.

But things are beginning to change with women increasingly working in leadership positions as judges, university presidents and playing a major role in government.

The sporting world has slowly come around, including its football scene, where rowdy crowds and occasional scuffles at men’s games are not uncommon.

Undeterred 

Despite the hurdles, Rusta remained unfazed in the face of local media headlines such as “the sexy referee who turns up the heat”.

Refereeing “is not a question of gender but of competence”, said Rusta, who has refereed at a dozen international matches in European stadiums and hopes to be selected to work at the men’s World Cup.

“In order to make good decisions, you have to know the rules of the game perfectly, but you also have to be in excellent physical condition and have a great capacity for concentration,” she added.

To support her career, Rusta works as a physical education teacher at the high school in her hometown of Elbasan and trains in the afternoons.

She hopes to be the head referee for the Albanian League 1 derby between the capital’s two rival teams, Tirana and Partizani.

“A woman referee eases tensions and normalises the situation,” said sports analyst Andi Vrecani.

The history of women’s football is deeply rooted in Albania’s northern city of Shkodra, where the club Vllaznia first made a name in 2009.

In just a few years, the team has dominated domestically and gone on to play against Europe’s best teams, including Chelsea, Real Madrid and PSG in the group stage of the 2022-2023 Champions League.

“The key to the success of the team lies with the girls, who have managed to break the myth and prejudice that football is only a male sport,” said team President Lazer Matija.

Crucial to their recent success has been 26-year-old striker Megi Doci.

Originally from a poor village in northern Albania, Doci took up football against her mother’s wishes and moved to Tirana at the age of 12 to pursue her passion.

Things were not easy, she admits, even as she racked up impressive accolades, including prizes for best striker and most valuable player.

“I have fallen, I have suffered, I have cried, I have had to swallow my tears, but each time I have chosen to stand up and fight,” she told AFP, saying she hopes to join the women’s team of Bayern Munich or Real Madrid in the future.

Doci regularly trains four hours a day with men, who are often surprised by her presence on the field.

“It’s a challenge, you can feel the weight of this mentality still present because they are not used to seeing a girl play,” she added.

‘We have won’ 

Others have broken boundaries while juggling the demands of an athletic career with the desire to start a family.

“I never wanted to choose between my career and my personal life, I always wanted to be happy in both,” says Ardiola Raxhimi, 24, the mother of a two-year-old boy she had with Muhamet, a former footballer who now runs a barber shop.

FSHF head Armand Duka said that “women’s football is the priority” of the governing body, which is hoping to see the number of female footballers soar.

But he acknowledged that parity is a long way off.

Female players are paid almost half as much as male players, with their average salary fetching just 400 euros ($425) a month.

And while many hurdles remain, Duka believes the path ahead has taken shape.

“A few years ago, women’s football was almost a taboo because it was considered a male sport,” he said. “We have won that battle.”

SEOUL — North Korea's foreign ministry called on the United Nations to urge a halt to joint military drills by Seoul and Washington, state media reported on Sunday.

The drills and rhetoric from the allies have pushed tensions to an "extremely dangerous level," vice foreign minister Kim Son Gyong said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"The UN and the international community will have to strongly urge the US and south Korea to immediately halt their provocative remarks and joint military exercises," he said.

The statement comes after officials from Seoul and Washington announced on Friday more than 10 days of large-scale military exercises from 

March 13 to 23.

The United States and South Korea have said the exercises are defensive, but Pyongyang sees them as a rehearsal for invasion.

Seoul and Washington also conducted a combined air drill with a US long-range bomber and South Korean fighter aircraft on Friday, the latest in their series of joint training in recent weeks.

The "irresponsible acts" of the allies will only take the regional situation "to a very critical and uncontrollable phase," Kim warned.

North Korea on Saturday blamed Washington for what it called the collapse of international arms control systems and said Pyongyang's nuclear weapons were "the surest way" to ensure the balance of power in the region.

LONDON — Prince Harry reportedly revealed he has long felt "slightly different" to the rest of Britain's royal family in an interview on Saturday with a trauma expert.

In a wide-ranging discussion with Dr Gabor Mate, Harry, 38, described himself as coming from a "broken home" and said he was trying not to pass "trauma" onto his children, according to reports of the live-streamed conversation.

The interview follows the January publication of the prince's controversial memoir, "Spare", in which he admitted his adolescence was marked by drugs and alcohol and detailed the breakdown in his relationships with father King Charles III, and brother William.

"I certainly have felt throughout my life, my younger years, I felt slightly different to the rest of my family," Harry told Mate, according to numerous media reports on the interview.

"I felt strange being in this container, and I know that my mum felt the same so it makes sense to me," he added, referring to his late mother Princess Diana.

Harry went on to credit his wife Meghan Markle for having "saved" him.

"I was stuck in this world, and she was from a different world and helped draw me out of that," he said, describing her as "an exceptional human being".

During the conversation, Mate — the author of several books on trauma, addiction and illness — publicly diagnosed Harry with attention deficit disorder.

Summarising the prince's life, which has included losing his mother at the age of 12 and later serving with Britain's armed forces in Afghanistan, Mate said there was "a lot of trauma and suffering".

California-based Harry, who quit the UK and royal life with Meghan in 2020 amid a rift with the monarchy, opened up about his parenting style towards their two children, three-year-old Archie and one-year-old Lilibet.

"I feel a huge responsibility not to pass on any trauma or negative experiences that I've had as a kid or as a man growing up," he said.

"There are times when I catch myself when I should be smothering them with that love but I might not be."

He added that together with Meghan they were trying to learn "from our own past and overlapping those mistakes, perhaps, and growing to break that cycle".