World

ABOARD THE OCEAN VIKING — Saving lives is more difficult than ever, but rescuers are adamant that the Italian government’s crackdown on charity ships will not stop them from helping migrants who run into trouble crossing the Mediterranean.

Rome has brought in a slew of rules to curb the activities of non-governmental (NGO) ships accused of being a pull factor for migrants — from limiting the number of rescues to assigning them distant ports.

“All these regulations, laws, are just another attempt to complicate more and criminalise the work done by the NGOs,” said Salvador, 37, an Argentinian rescuer onboard the Ocean Viking.

The red and white ship, formerly a supply vessel for oil rigs that is now run as a rescue vessel by SOS Mediterranee, left the Italian port of Syracuse in southern Sicily on Sunday for its latest mission.

Since coming to power in 2022, far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to dramatically slash the number of people crossing by boat from the coast of North Africa.

Under a law adopted at the start of 2023, charity ships are obliged to travel “without delay” to port as soon as their first rescue is complete — even if they become aware of other migrants in difficulty.

“You can go to a rescue, you take 10 people, and then you have to travel four or five days to disembark them,” despite the Ocean Viking being able to carry “at least 400 people” at a time, Salvador told AFP.

‘Frustrating’

In recent months, the Italian coast guard has assigned increasingly distant ports to ships, sometimes in difficult weather conditions, to the detriment of vulnerable migrants’ physical and mental health.

Going to far-off ports “increases the amount of fuel, and also the supplies” needed for those rescued, which “increases operational costs and also takes ships away” from where they are needed, Salvador said.

In 2023, the Ocean Viking travelled more than 21,000 additional kilometres to reach 13 distant ports, rather than disembarking in Sicily. That is estimated to have cost an extra 500,000 euros ($543,000) in fuel.

It is “frustrating” to be made “less effective”, Salvador said, his long black hair tied back out of the wind.

Those who break the law are fined up to 10,000 euros and their ships can be seized for 20 days — a punishment meted out to the Ocean Viking in February.

Repeat offenders risk their ships being confiscated permanently.

Charity crews face a tough choice: Comply with the Italian authorities by leaving migrant boats adrift despite the risk that people could die, or disobey and face having their ships impounded.

“In 20 days, we could save 100, 200 or even 400 people,” says Daniel Auerbacher, head of operations at SOS Mediterranee.

When the Ocean Viking goes from one rescue to the next, it is “not because we want to disobey orders, but because international law takes precedence. And it requires us to alter our course, to go towards the ship in distress”, he said.

‘Ethical call’

Rescue charities insist they are playing an essential role in preventing drownings as disasters unfold.

“Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe that people can find it an illegal or illicit activity to actually take people from the water,” said Spanish rescuer David.

He fiercely rebuts the critique that charity ships play into the hands of people smugglers.

“I am definitely not smuggling. I am far away from home, I am spending my time at sea, getting burned by the sun, getting seasickness... I could be comfortably sitting on my couch,” he said wearily.

Rescuing is becoming increasingly difficult.

In the latest tightening of screws, Italy’s civil aviation authority this month banned surveillance aeroplanes used by charities to spot migrant boats from Sicilian airports.

And the European Union recently adopted a vast reform toughening immigration control at its borders.

But none of that will stop David from answering what he sees as “an ethical call” to save lives.

KABUL — Fresh floods killed 66 people in Faryab province in northern Afghanistan, a provincial official said Sunday, in the latest deadly flooding to hit the country.

Hundreds of people have died in separate flash floods this month that have also swamped farmland in a country where 80 percent of the population depends on agriculture to survive.

The latest heavy floods hit multiple districts of Faryab province on Saturday night and “resulted in human and financial losses”, said Asmatullah Muradi, spokesman for the Faryab governor, in a statement.

“Due to the floods 66 people were killed,” he said, adding that at least five people were injured and others were still missing.

The flooding damaged more than 1,500 houses, swamped more than 1,000 acres of agricultural land and killed livestock in their hundreds, he said.

The floods came a day after provincial police said more than 50 people were killed in flash flooding in the western province of Ghor.

Just over a week ago, more than 300 people were killed in flash flooding in northern Baghlan province, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Taliban officials.

Taliban officials have warned the tolls would go up in regions impacted by flooding, as destroyed infrastructure hampered aid delivery and efforts to find the missing.

The death toll from the Ghor flooding rose from 50 to 55 on Sunday, according to Abdul Wahid Hamas, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

“More than 3,000 homes were totally destroyed due to the floods” in Ghor, he added.

Videos shared on social media platform X by the WFP showed torrents of brown water crashing through walls of homes and churning through streets in Ghor.

Residents in Baghlan, Ghor, Faryab and other affected regions found themselves without shelter, stripped of their homes and livelihoods.

“We were inside our home when rain started and all of a sudden, a flash flood came, we were trying to get things out but it washed away our home, our life, everything,” Ghor resident Jawan Gul told AFP on Saturday.

The WFP warned that the recent floods have compounded an already dire humanitarian situation in the impoverished country.

Spring floods are not uncommon in Afghanistan, a country of more than 40 million people, but above-average rainfall this year has sparked devastating flash flooding.

Even before the most recent spate of floods, about 100 people had been killed from mid-April to early May as a result of flooding in 10 of Afghanistan’s provinces, authorities said.

The rains come after a prolonged drought in Afghanistan, which is one of the least prepared nations to tackle climate change impacts, according to experts.

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP in an exclusive interview he expects Russia to step up its offensive in the northeast and warned Kyiv only has a quarter of the air defences it needs to hold the front line.

Russian forces, which had made only moderate advances in recent months, launched a surprise assault in the Kharkiv region on May 10 that has resulted in their biggest territorial gains in a year-and-a-half.

Zelensky said Russian troops managed to advance between five to 10 kilometres along the north-eastern border before being stopped by Ukrainian forces, but added that the region could be the "first wave" in a wider offensive.

"I won't say it's a great success [for Russia] but we have to be sober and understand that they are going deeper into our territory," he said, speaking from Kyiv on Friday in his first interview with foreign media since the offensive began.

Zelensky said the situation in the Kharkiv region has been "controlled" but "not stabilised".

He doubled down on pleas to allies to send more air defence and fighter jets to combat Russia's air superiority as the war grinds through its third year.

"Today, we have about 25 per cent of what we need to defend Ukraine. I'm talking about air defence," he said.

Ukraine needs "120 to 130" F-16 fighter jets or other advanced aircraft to achieve air "parity" with Russia, Zelensky said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a trip to China this week the north-eastern offensive was in retaliation for Ukraine's shelling of border regions and that Moscow was trying to create a "security zone".

Russian forces have taken 278 square kilometres (between May 9 and 15, their biggest gains since the end of 2022, AFP calculated using data from the Institute for the Study of War.

Russia said on Saturday it had seized another village in the Kharkiv region.

Ukraine’s defence forces said they “were focusing their main efforts on preventing the Russian occupants from advancing”.

Ukraine has evacuated almost 10,000 people from the northeast border area since Russia launched the assault.

Ukrainian officials have accused Russian soldiers in the eastern town of Vovchansk of capturing dozens of civilians to use as “human shields” to defend their command headquarters — a claim AFP was not able to immediately verify.

Two civilians — aged 70 and 83 — were killed when trying to leave Vovchansk by car, the Kharkiv regional prosecutor said.

“The battle in the area of Vovchansk is ongoing,” Ukraine’s armed defences said.

Mobilisation age lowered 

Putin said there was no intention at this stage to take Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, about 30 kilometres from the border. More than 1 million people still live there.

With no end to the war in sight, Ukraine’s army is struggling to recruit, while fighters are growing exhausted and angry at the lack of rotation.

Zelensky acknowledged issues with staffing and “morale” within Ukraine’s often outgunned and outnumbered ranks, and signed a mobilisation law that came into force on Saturday.

“We need to staff the reserves... A large number of [brigades] are empty,” Zelensky told AFP.

Many Ukrainian soldiers have been fighting for more than two years without the possibility of being discharged.

Kyiv has lowered the age at which men can be drafted from 27 to 25 and tightened punishments for those who avoid being called up.

It also required that all persons liable for military service, conscripts and reservists aged 18 to 60 update their military registration.

To facilitate the process — usually involving long lines at the military centres — it created an online registration system where more than 150,000 people had logged in on Saturday morning.

Lawmakers have scrapped a proposal to grant soldiers who have served for more than 36 months the option to be discharged.

‘Nonsense situation’ 

Ukraine’s strongest allies, the Baltic states and Poland, have grown nervous that Russia may try to attack them.

Poland announced it would spend $2.5 billion to fortify its eastern border, which includes Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

As other Western allies press for a quick end to the war, Zelensky insisted Ukraine is still playing the long game.

“The West wants the war to end. Period. As soon as possible. And, for them, this is a fair peace,” he said.

He pushed his allies to taker a firmer approach to Russia, including by allowing his armed forces to strike into Russian territory with Western weapons.

“We are in a nonsense situation where the West is afraid that Russia will lose the war. And it does not want Ukraine to lose it,” Zelensky said.

But Russia said its air defences on Saturday destroyed French-made guided bombs and US-made anti-radar missiles over the western Belgorod region that borders Ukraine.

LOS ANGELES — A lawyer who was the architect of a plan to subvert the 2020 election and return Donald Trump to the White House denied all charges against him when he appeared in an Arizona court on Friday.

John Eastman is the first of 18 people charged in the battleground state to appear in court over the scheme to empanel fake electors to support their favoured candidate.

Others include Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, one-time Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorney Jenna Ellis and campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn.

Eastman on Friday entered not guilty pleas to nine counts including conspiracy, forgery and fraud.

If he is convicted at a trial currently set for October, the crimes could entail prison time.

Eastman told reporters outside court that the charges should never have been brought.

“I had zero communications with any of the electors in Arizona,” he said. “Zero involvement with any of the litigation or the legislative hearings in Arizona. We will proceed to trial and I’m confident, if the law is faithfully applied, I will be fully exonerated.”

A US Congressional committee examining the events leading up to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol recorded that Eastman was the author of memos claiming that then-vice president Mike Pence could refuse to count electoral votes from certain states, thereby preventing Congress from certifying the results.

Democrat Joe Biden won Arizona, a critical election battleground, by just over 10,000 votes, but many Republican Party officials insisted — without evidence — that there had been fraud and that Trump had been the real winner.

Under the US electoral college system, each state appoints electors to represent the candidate who won the most votes in the presidential poll.

Those electors sign official documents that are sent to Congress; these documents are tallied, and the winner is the person with the most electoral college votes.

Despite Trump’s loss in Arizona, his representatives nonetheless signed documents saying he had won.

When Congress reconvened after the violent attacks on January 6, it ultimately ignored Arizona’s fake electors and certified the genuine results, officially sending Biden to the White House.

Arizona is the fourth state to seek charges against people who tried to form an alternative slate of electors, after Michigan, Georgia and Nevada.

Meadows, Giuliani, Ellis and Eastman have all been charged in Georgia, alongside Trump in what is probably the most explosive of the four criminal trials he faces.

As a swing state and something of a ground zero for election conspiracy theories peddled by rightwing Republicans, Arizona is once again expected to be closely contested this November when Americans head to the polls.

BANSKA BYSTRICA, Slovakia — Authorities charged an alleged gunman on Thursday with the attempted murder of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, saying the shooting was sparked by the election win last month of a Fico ally.

The premier’s condition has stabilised but was still “very serious” a day after the violence that prompted deep worries of an escalation in the politically polarised nation. 

“This is a lone wolf whose actions were accelerated after the presidential elections since he was dissatisfied with its outcome,” Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said.

Slovak president-elect Peter Pellegrini, the Fico ally who won April’s vote, earlier Thursday called for calm, urging political parties to halt campaigning for June’s EU parliament election. 

The leader of the biggest opposition party, centrist Progressive Slovakia, announced his grouping had already done so.

Slovakia’s politics have been divided for years between pro-Europeans and nationalist-leaning camps, with the latest elections heavily influenced by disinformation and verbal attacks on social media.

Pellegrini, Fico’s ally who will assume office in June, said Slovakia should avoid “further confrontation” in a joint statement with outgoing President Zuzana Caputova.

The two politicians represent rival political camps but Caputova said they wanted “to send a signal of understanding” as she urged an end to “the vicious circle of hatred”.

Surgeons spent hours in the operating theatre, battling to save the 59-year-old leader after the shooting, which happened on Wednesday afternoon as Fico spoke to members of the public after a meeting.

Deputy prime minister Robert Kalinak said doctors stabilised Fico’s condition, “but unfortunately, his condition is still very serious as the injuries are complicated”.

Footage of events just after the shooting showed security agents grabbing a wounded Fico from the ground and hustling him into a black car. Other police handcuffed a man on the pavement nearby.

Fico, whose party won the general election last September, is a four-time prime minister and political veteran accused of swaying his country’s foreign policy in favour of the Kremlin.

Outside the hospital, shock mixed with outrage as residents of Banska Bystrica condemned the assault.

“I’m certainly afraid that such attacks will be repeated,” Nina Stevulova, a 18-year-old student, said.

“There’s no need to do such things. Feel free to throw a tomato or an egg at him or scold him that ‘You are a thief or a murderer’,” Karol Reichl, a former professional driver, told AFP.

“But don’t come with a gun and shoot,” the 69-year-old said.

Unprecedented attack 

Media reported that the suspected gunman was a 71-year-old writer.

The alleged suspect’s son told Slovak news site aktuality.sk he had “absolutely no idea what father was thinking, what he was planning, why it happened”.

Political analyst Miroslav Radek said the attack risked causing “further radicalisation of individuals and politicians in Slovakia”.

“I am afraid that this attack may not have been the last,” Radek told AFP.

The shooting came just weeks ahead of June’s European parliament elections in which far-right parties are expected to make gains. 

In the central Slovak city of Levice, where the alleged gunman came from, engineer Jaroslav Pirozak told AFP he was sad for Fico.

“But at the same time, he’s the one spreading hate and dividing the society, he’s the one sowing hatred,” the 34-year-old said.

As well as his current stint as premier, Fico headed the government in 2006-10 and 2012-18.

He was forced to resign in 2018 after an investigative journalist’s murder exposed high-level corruption and sparked anti-government sentiment.

But he came back again.

Since returning to office last October, Fico has made a string of remarks that have soured ties between Slovakia and neighbouring Ukraine after he questioned Ukraine’s sovereignty.

After he was elected, Slovakia stopped sending weapons to Ukraine, invaded by Russia in 2022.

He also sparked mass protests with controversial changes, including a media law that critics say will undermine the impartiality of public broadcasters.

At a press conference following the shooting, MP Lubos Blaha from Fico’s party lashed out against the prime minister’s critics.

“You, the liberal media, and progressive politicians are to blame. Robert Fico is fighting for his life because of your hatred,” Blaha said.

WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden will try to shore up his support among vital Black voters with a days-long series of events starting on Thursday, including a visit to Martin Luther King’s former university.

Democrat Biden relied on African-American voters to help him beat Donald Trump in 2020, but some polls show they are increasingly deserting him ahead of November’s rematch with the Republican.

On Thursday Biden, 81, will mark the 70th anniversary of a famous US Supreme Court ruling that overturned racial school segregation by meeting with key figures in the case in the Oval Office.

They include Adrienne Jennings Bennett, one of the plaintiffs in the 1954 Brown vs Board of Education case that proved a milestone for the US civil rights movement, the White House said.

A day later, Biden will visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington to give remarks to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the judgement.

Later on Friday Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — the first Black, South Asian and female “veep” in US history — will meet leaders from nine historically Black sororities and fraternities. 

Biden would “honour the legacy of those who paved the way for progress and hard-fought rights for black Americans”, said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

“He will also highlight his vision for how we must continue to build on these freedoms,” added Jean-Pierre, who is the first Black person to serve in the role.

Poll blow for Biden

Then on Sunday Biden will address new students at the historically Black Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, whose most famous former student is civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

Biden has a bust of King in the Oval Office in a sign of his support for racial equality, which he frequently contrasts with what he says is racially insensitive and anti-immigrant language by his rival Trump. 

His visit to Morehouse is politically sensitive, however, as US campuses and graduation ceremonies have recently been disrupted by widespread protests against Biden’s support for Israel’s War in Gaza.

A senior White House official met students and faculty members at the college on Friday to discuss objections on campus to him delivering the so-called commencement address, NBC News reported.

Biden’s events reaching out to Black voters also come days after a New York Times/Siena poll showed that in addition to trailing Trump in several key battleground states, he is also losing ground with Black voters.

Trump is winning more than 20 per cent of Black voters in the poll — which would be the highest level of Black support for a Republican presidential candidate since the Civil Rights Act was enacted in 1964, the New York Times said.

A number of other polls have also shown Biden’s support lagging with Black voters.

By contrast in 2020, Black voters were overwhelmingly loyal to the Democratic Party, with 92 per cent voting for Biden and only 8 per cent for Trump, according to the Pew Research Centre.

BRATISLAVA — Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico was battling life-threatening wounds on Wednesday after officials said he was shot multiple times in an assassination attempt condemned by European leaders.

The Dennik N daily said its reporter in the central town of Handlova heard several shots fired and then saw security guards rushing to lift the premier off the ground and into a car.

The newspaper also reported that police had detained the suspected gunman.

"Today, after the government meeting in Handlova, there was an assassination attempt on the prime minister of the Slovak Republic, Robert Fico", the government said in a post on social media.

Fico, whose Smer-SD Party won the general election last September, is a four-time prime minister and a political veteran.

"He is currently being transported by helicopter to Banska Bystrica in a life-threatening condition, because it would take too long to get to Bratislava due to the necessity of an acute intervention," the government's statement added.

Fico was shot multiple times, said a post on his official Facebook page.

Handlova local hospital Director Marta Eckhardtova said "Fico was brought into our hospital and he was treated at our vascular surgery clinic." 

She was unable to describe his injuries.

It added that the chief of police and health ministry official would hold a press conference at 15:00 GMT.

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova said she was "utterly shocked by today's brutal and reckless attack on Slovakia's prime minister... which I condemn in [the] strongest possible terms". 

"I wish him a lot of strength in this critical moment and early recovery," she said on X, formerly Twitter. 

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala also called the news of the attack "shocking". 

“I hope the prime minister will get well as soon as possible. We must not tolerate violence, it must have no place in society,” he said on X.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said: “Robert, my thoughts are with you in this very difficult moment”.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on X he was “shocked to hear this awful news”.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda called for a “thorough investigation” and wished Fico “a fully recovery”. 

As well as his current stint as premier, Fico also headed the government in 2006-10 and 2012-18.

Since he was elected last October, Fico has made a string of remarks that have soured ties between Slovakia and neighbouring Ukraine.

He has notably questioned Ukraine’s sovereignty and called for a compromise with Russia.

After he was elected, Slovakia stopped sending weapons to Ukraine. He pledged during the electoral campaign not to provide Kyiv with “a single bullet”. 

He also sparked mass protests with controversial changes, including a media law that critics say will undermine the impartiality of public television and radio.

At a press conference following the shooting, MP Lubos Blaha from Fico’s Smer party lashed out against his critics.

“You, the liberal media, and progressive politicians are to blame. Robert Fico is fighting for his life because of your hatred,” Blaha said.