World

LONDON — The grass outside SOAS University of London has been dotted with a handful of tents since the start of this week, with Palestinian flags and slogans calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

There are similar sites at universities across Britain, and so far the protests have been peaceful and left alone by the police, unlike in the United States, France and other countries.

Students, many of whom were masked, sat in a circle on a blue tarpaulin to take part in what they called a "teach-in" while others took stock of groceries and supplies piled up inside the shelters.

At SOAS, former student Yara, 23, estimated that more than 20 students were taking part -- with about a dozen other encampments at universities elsewhere in the UK, following protests on US campuses in April.

The aim, she told AFP, was to "apply pressure on the SOAS administration to adhere to the demands of the students".

That includes disclosing links to and divesting from all companies complicit in what she said was "Israel's illegal settlement economy and arms trade".

Solidarity 

Warwick University in Coventry, central England, kicked off first with a "Gaza solidarity encampment" on April 26.

Tents then sprang up outside universities in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds, Cambridge and Oxford.

At Edinburgh, a group of students began a hunger strike to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. In Cambridge, orange tents were lined up neatly outside King's College, which dates back to 1441.

Cambridge said in a statement that it respected the freedom of speech and right to protest, adding that it would “not tolerate anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and any other form of racial or religious hatred”.

Jewish students have voiced concerns for their safety and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is mindful of similar problems in the UK as protests in other countries turn violent.

He has called university vice-chancellors for a meeting to discuss the safety of Jewish students in universities, and denounced an “unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism” on campus.

British charity the Community Security Trust, which tracks anti-Jewish hate crime, says there have been “unprecedented levels of anti-Semitism” since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s military response.

Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 34,844 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The SOAS students were given support on Wednesday by Jeremy Corbyn, the veteran left-winger who led the main opposition Labour Party from 2015 to 2020.

Corbyn said the university should “recognise that students have strong, legitimate, valid opinions”.

“They shouldn’t be closing down protests. They should be recognising the very strong humanitarian views of young people all across this country,” he said while attending a rally at the camp.

Corbyn, now suspended from the Labour Party, was accused of allowing anti-Semitism to flourish during his tenure, and once called Hamas and their Iran-backed allies Hezbollah “friends” -- comments he later said he regretted.

‘As long as it takes’ 

Yara, who has been at the camp since it sprung up three days ago, said the student protesters were planning to “stay for as long as it takes” for SOAS, which specialises in Africa, Asia and Middle East studies, to accept their demands.

“The first night was really rainy and wet and muddy,” she said.

“But honestly, no matter how much discomfort students may feel camping out, it’s actually just a fraction of the conditions in which the Palestinians in Gaza have been experiencing.”

Having previously only attended the protests, where dozens more students gathered, one 19-year-old SOAS student who studies global development and law said they planned to join the camp this weekend.

“I don’t think I can wait until my degree’s over because people are dying. So being in encampments is as useful as I can be,” said the student, who did not wish to be named.

“I just said I’d be here because they need people. And I am people.”

FAIZABAD — Three policemen were killed and five were wounded on Wednesday when a sticky bomb was detonated next to a security convoy tasked with clearing illegal poppy crops in north-eastern Afghanistan, the interior ministry said.

The improvised explosive device (IED) was attached to a motorcycle which targeted a convoy of police vehicles in Faizabad, the capital of mountainous Badakhshan province, around 11 am (6:30 GMT).

“The bomb exploded while the convoy of police forces was on its way to destroy poppy cultivation,” Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The explosion comes days after Taliban security officials and residents clashed over the violent clearance of poppy crops in two Badakhshan districts, leaving two dead and sparking rare protests.

Afghanistan was the largest producer of opium before poppy cultivation was banned in a decree by the Taliban supreme leader in April 2022.

Farmers have been encouraged to plant different crops, but none compete with the financial draw of the poppy, leading some to continue to discreetly cultivate small plots.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

An AFP journalist saw Taliban authorities searching homes and detaining dozens of people near the scene.

Images posted on social media but not immediately verified by AFP showed a charred motorcycle and a police truck riddled with holes.

Eyewitness Aminullah, who did not want to give his full name, said he heard a huge explosion and saw that a convoy of Taliban authorities had been hit.

“Immediately the security forces cleared the area of people,” he told AFP.

The number of bombings and suicide attacks in Afghanistan has fallen since the Taliban ended their insurgency after ousting the US-backed government and returning to power in August 2021.

However, a number of armed groups, including the Daesh group, remain a threat, with regular reports of explosions that go unconfirmed by authorities.

MOSCOW (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin vowed at a lavish inauguration on Tuesday to deliver victory to Russians, embarking on a record-breaking fifth term with more power than ever.

Putin, however, conceded that Russia was going through a "difficult" period, an apparent reference to the unprecedented sanctions packages the West has imposed on Moscow for having launched full-scale military hostilities in Ukraine more than two years ago.

The 71-year-old Kremlin chief has ruled Russia since the turn of the century, securing a fresh six-year mandate in March after winning presidential elections devoid of all opposition.

The highly-orchestrated inauguration ceremony, which included a military procession and Orthodox prayer service, was broadcast live on major Russian television channels.

Putin, who has said that his forces will be victorious in Ukraine, whatever the cost, said the country would emerge “with dignity and become even stronger”.

After standing alone in the rain and overseeing columns of armed guards and calvary parade in ceremonial uniform, Putin was blessed by the leader of the Orthodox Chuch, Patriarch Kirill.

“May God help you continue carrying out your servitude that he himself has entrusted on you,” the Orthodox leader said. He compared Putin to medieval ruler Alexander Nevsky and wished him eternal rule.

“Serving Russia is a huge honour, responsibility and sacred duty,” Putin had said in the Kremlin’s gilded Saint Andrew’s Hall.

He was greeted by applause by Russian officials and military top brass, who sang the national anthem and applauded him.

Government officials and foreign diplomats in Moscow were invited to the ceremony, including French Ambassador Pierre Levy.

The inauguration comes two days before Russia marks Victory Day on May 9, an event that has taken on renewed symbolism as Putin compares his offensive in Ukraine to Russia’s fight against Nazi Germany in World War II.

Authorities erected barriers throughout Moscow’s city centre ahead of both events.

Putin kicks off his six-year term emboldened by advances on the battlefield in Ukraine and sustained economic growth, despite a barrage of Western sanctions.

Russia’s army held off a much-hyped Ukrainian counter-offensive last year, and it has since made gains on the front lines as Kyiv struggles with ammunition and manpower shortages.

SEOUL — South Korea experienced its hottest April since comprehensive records began in 1973, the state weather agency said on Tuesday, with average daily temperatures more than 2.5 degrees higher than in previous years.

“The highest average national temperature for April [is] 14.9ºC in 2024,” the Korea Meteorological Administration said, adding it was the highest recorded in April since the national weather observation network was established in 1973.

The previous record was 14.7ºC, set in April 1998, KMA said.

Average nationwide temperatures in April surpassed the 1991-2020 April average of 12.1ºC, it added.

The average daily high also reached a record-breaking 21.1 degrees — which is an increase of 2.5 degrees from the average from 1991 to 2020.

April 14 saw especially high temperatures, as the daytime mercury in the greater Seoul region and areas of Gangwon province soared to approximately 30 degrees.

High pressure flows “developed over the Philippine Sea and east of Taiwan, resulting in warm southerly winds flowing into our country along the edge of the high pressure”, KMA said in a statement.

Asia is warming faster than the global average, according to the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation.

In the region, large swathes of South and Southeast Asia have recently been sweltering through a heatwave that has topped temperature records from Myanmar to the Philippines, with the El Nino phenomenon driving this year’s exceptionally warm weather.

In February, the head of last year’s COP28 climate talks said the world needs “trillions” of dollars to spur on the green transition and tackle global warming, warning that political momentum could evaporate without clear action.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are under pressure to initiate sweeping reforms to align their lending with the Paris deal goal of capping global warming at 1.5ºC above preindustrial levels.

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered new nuclear weapons drills in the face of Western “threats,” as a Ukrainian drone attack killed six people and wounded over 30 in Russia’s Belgorod border region.

Russia’s defence ministry said the exercises would be held in the “near future” and involve the air force, navy and troops stationed near Ukraine.

Putin has upped his nuclear rhetoric, warning in an address to the nation in February there was a “real” risk of nuclear war.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, said the drills were a response to Western comments on sending troops to Ukraine.

The defence ministry said the drills were aimed at ensuring Russian territorial integrity in the face of “threats by certain Western officials”.

“During the exercise, a set of measures will be taken to practise the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons,” it announced in a statement.

Non-strategic nuclear weapons, also known as tactical nuclear weapons, are designed for use on the battlefield and can be delivered via missiles.

Western officials have become increasingly alarmed by the Kremlin’s nuclear rhetoric.

The announcement came as authorities in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine reported the deadliest attack in weeks, as Kyiv said Russian strikes left hundreds of thousands without power.

Deadly Belgorod attack

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said two moving vans and a passenger car in the region “came under attack by Ukrainian kamikaze-drones”.

“Unfortunately, six people died at the scene from their wounds as a result of the explosion,” he said.

He said 35 others were wounded in the attack that took place near the village of Berezyovka — some 30 kilometres from the Ukraine border.

Local authorities said the vehicles belonged to a meat production facility. Gladkov said two children were among the wounded and that one man was in “serious condition” and undergoing surgery.

He published an image of a bus with blown windows and a damaged roof.

Belgorod has come under an increasing number of fatal Ukrainian drone and missile attacks.

Moscow has been making steady gains in eastern Ukraine and stepped up its aerial attacks and shelling on Ukrainian border regions.

Kyiv said overnight Russian strikes had targeted energy facilities in the northern Sumy region and northeastern Kharkiv region — both of which have seen increased attacks for weeks.

Thousands of homes were left without power in the aftermath of the strikes, the Ukrainian energy ministry said.

It said 91 villages in Sumy remain without power and that Kharkiv also suffered power cuts.

The interior ministry said Russian shelling had hit school facilities at night in the village of Zolochiv in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, wounding at least one person.

Kyiv also said that the number of people wounded by Russian shelling one day earlier on Ukraine’s city-largest city of Kharkiv has risen by two to 16.

LONDON — Britain's ruling Conservatives braced Saturday for further losses in local elections, their worst results in recent memory and a key test before a general election to be held by January.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's party lost nearly 500 councillors and control of 12 councils as well as a parliamentary seat, after voting Thursday across a swathe of England saw the Labour opposition make huge gains.

The beleaguered Tory leader faces more likely defeats when results of crunch mayoral races — in London, Liverpool and Manchester — are announced Saturday, but is hoping to retain the West Midlands.

In a rare success Friday, a Tory mayor won a third term in Tees Valley, northeast England — albeit with a vastly reduced majority — providing Sunak with some respite. 

Labour, out of power since 2010 and trounced by Boris Johnson's Conservatives at the last general election in 2019, seized on its claim to the Blackpool South seat in parliament and other successes to demand a national vote.

"Lets turn the page on decline," Labour leader Keith Starmer told supporters Saturday in the East Midlands, where the party won the mayoral race.

Sunak must order a general election be held by January 28 next year at the latest, and has said he is planning on a poll in the second half of 2024.

Writing in Saturday's Daily Telegraph, Sunak conceded the returns showed "voters are frustrated" but insisted "Labour is not winning in places they admit they need for a majority".

"We Conservatives have everything to fight for," Sunak concluded.

'Impetus' 

Labour has enjoyed double-digit poll leads for all of Sunak's 18 months in charge, as previous scandals, a cost-of-living crisis and various other issues dent the Tories' standing.

On Thursday, they were defending nearly 1,000 council seats, many secured in 2021 when they led nationwide polls before the implosion of Johnson's premiership and his successor Liz Truss's disastrous 49-day tenure.

With almost all those results in by Saturday morning, they had lost close to half.

If replicated in a nationwide contest, the initial tallies suggested Labour would win 34 per cent of the vote, with the Tories trailing by nine points, according to the BBC. 

Sky News' projection for a general election using the results predicted Labour will be the largest party but short of an overall majority.

Its by-election scalp in Blackpool — on a mammoth 26-per cent swing — was the Conservatives' 11th such loss in this parliament, the most by any government since the late 1960s. 

Speculation has been rife in Westminster that restive Tory lawmakers could use the dire local election results to try to replace him. But that prospect seems to have failed to materialise.

However, it was not all good news for Labour.

The party lost control of one local authority, and suffered some councillor losses to independents elsewhere, due to what analysts said was its stance on the Hamas-Israel war.

Polling expert John Curtice assessed there were ominous signs for the opposition.

“These were more elections in which the impetus to defeat the Conservatives was greater than the level of enthusiasm for Labour,” he noted in the i newspaper.

“Electorally, it is still far from clear that Sir Keir Starmer is the heir to (Tony) Blair.”

SÃO SEBASTIÃO DO CAÍ, Brazil — The death toll from floods and mudslides triggered by torrential storms in southern Brazil climbed to 39 on Friday, officials said, as they warned of worse to come.

As the rain kept beating down, rescuers in boats and planes searched for dozens of people reported missing among the ruins of collapsed homes, bridges and roads.

Rising water levels in the state of Rio Grande do Sul was putting strain on dams and threatening the metropolis of Porto Alegre with “unprecedented” flooding, authorities warned.

“Forget everything you’ve seen, it’s going to be much worse in the metropolitan region,” Governor Eduardo Leite said on Friday as streets of the state capital, with a population of some 1.5 million, started flooding after days of heavy downpours in the region.

The state’s civil defence department said at least 265 municipalities have suffered storm damage in Rio Grande do Sul since Monday, injuring 74 people and displacing more than 24,000 — a third of whom have been brought to shelters.

At least 68 people were missing, and more than 350,000 have experienced some form of damage, according to the latest data.

And there was no end in sight, with officials reporting an “emergency situation, presenting a risk of collapse” at four dams in the state.

‘Disastrous cocktail’ 

The level of the state’s main Guiaba River, meanwhile, was estimated to have risen 4.2-4.6 metres, but could not be measured as the gages have washed away, the mayor of Porto Alegre said.

As it kept rising, officials raced to reinforced flood protection.

Porto Alegre’s worst recorded flood was in 1941, when the river reached a level of 4.71 metres.

Elsewhere in the state, several cities and towns have been completely cut off from the world in what governor Leite described as “the worst disaster in the history” of Rio Grande do Sul.

Many communities have been left without access to drinking water, telephone or Internet services.

Tens of thousands had no electricity.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited the region Thursday, vowing “there will be no lack of human or material resources” in responding to the disaster, which he blamed on climate change.

The central government has sent aircraft, boats and more than 600 soldiers to help clear roads, distribute food, water and mattresses, and set up shelters.

School classes have been suspended state-wide.

Climatologist Francisco Eliseu Aquino told AFP on Friday the devastating storms were the result of a “disastrous cocktail” of the El Nino weather phenomenon and global warming combined.

South America’s largest country has recently experienced a string of extreme weather events, including a cyclone in September that claimed at least 31 lives.

Aquino said the region’s particular geography meant it was often confronted by the effects of tropical and polar air masses colliding — but these events have “intensified due to climate change”.

And when they coincide with El Nino, a periodic weather system that warms the tropical Pacific, the atmosphere becomes more unstable “and conducive to storms in the Rio Grande do Sul”, he said.

Extreme flood hit the state in the last two years at “a level of recurrence not seen in 10,000 years,” said Aquino, who heads the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul’s geography department.

Brazil’s north recently experienced an historic drought, and the number of forest fires reached a record in the first four months of this year.

“Rain in the south, fire in the north... These two tragedies bear the fingerprints of the climate crisis,” the Climate Observatory NGO warned in a statement.

MADRID — Spain and Argentina were at diplomatic daggers drawn on Saturday as the two countries traded barbs over drug taking and economic decline.

Poor relations between the Hispanic nations hit a low on Friday night when Spain’s Transport Minister Oscar Puente suggested Argentina’s President Javier Milei was on drugs.

Milei’s office responded on Saturday by accusing Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of bringing “poverty and death” to his people and threatening Spain’s unity.

The spat comes two weeks ahead of a visit to Spain by Argentina’s “anarcho-capitalist” president. He will attend an event of the far-right Vox Party and will be avoiding the Socialist head of government. The two have never had good ties.

Sanchez supported Milei’s rival Sergio Massa in the election that brought Milei to power in December and not contacted Milei since the victory. Vox leader Santiago Abascal went to Buenos Aires for Milei’s investiture.

Milei’s anger this time appears to have been sparked by comments by Spain’s transport minister linking the president to drug taking.

“I saw Milei on television” during the campaign, Puente told a Socialist Party conference on Friday.

“I don’t know if it was before or after the consumption... of substances.”

He listed Milei among some “very bad people” who have reached high office.

Within hours, Milei’s office issued an official statement lambasting Spain’s prime minister.

“Sanchez put the middle class in danger with his socialist policies that bring only poverty and death,” said the statement.

The government had also “endangered the unity of the kingdom” by making a deal with a separatist party to be able to stay in power.

Spain reacted with fury.

“The Spanish government categorically rejects the unfounded words... which do not reflect the relations between the two countries and their fraternal people,” the Spanish foreign ministry said.

“The government and the Spanish people will continue to maintain and strengthen their fraternal links and their relations of friendship and collaboration with the Argentine people, a desire shared by all of Spanish society,” the statement added.

Milei will travel to Spain in two weeks for an event on May 18 and 19 organised by the far-right opposition party Vox, which is in a race with the Socialists in next month’s European elections.

He is not scheduled to meet Sanchez or Spain’s monarch.