NATO Countries Urged to Supply More Weapons to Ukraine

Germany is under mounting pressure from European allies to drop its long-standing refusal to supply weapons to Ukraine to help defend itself from a Russian attack.

Britain flew short-range anti-tank missiles to Ukraine on Monday, avoiding German airspace. British Defense Minister Ben Wallace indicated to lawmakers that more military aid and extra security assistance would likely be forthcoming in light of Russia’s “increasingly threatening behaviour” on Ukraine’s borders, where the Kremlin has amassed more than 100,000 troops.

Wallace said there is a “legitimate and real cause for concern” that Russia is planning an invasion. Russian officials have denied they have any such plans, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Wednesday, ahead of talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that the “sense of the threat to Ukraine is unprecedented.”

Ukraine has become increasingly frustrated with Germany on the issue of military supplies. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov complained last month that Berlin had vetoed the purchase of anti-drone rifles and antisniper systems from the NATO Support and Procurement Agency, calling the action “very unfair.”

Afghan PM Urges World to Recognise Taliban

The Taliban’s acting prime minister asked the global community Wednesday to grant legitimacy to Afghanistan’s new government, insisting it has met all conditions required for official recognition.

Mohammad Hassan Akhund spoke at a conference in Kabul where his interim administration convened to discuss massive economic upheavals facing the country since the Taliban seized power last August. United Nations officials also attended the event.

“I call especially on Islamic countries to not wait for others and take the lead in officially recognising our Islamic Emirate,” Akhund said.

This would help expedite efforts to address dire economic and humanitarian problems facing Afghanistan, he argued.

No country has yet recognised the new government, which the Taliban officially refers to as Afghanistan’s Islamic Emirate. Foreign governments are watching to see how the ultra-conservative group will govern the country this time around.

Akhund blamed the current economic crisis on international sanctions and the freezing of roughly $9.5 billion in Afghanistan’s foreign cash reserves by Western nations led by the United States.

Six Dead, 17 Injured in Spain Nursing Home Fire

Fire officials in Spain say six nursing home residents died, and at least 17 were injured in a fire at a retirement home in a suburb of Valencia early Wednesday.

The Valencia regional fire department said the fire started late Tuesday at a publicly-owned senior residence in the town of Moncada, about 12 kilometres north of Valencia. The fire department said on Twitter it took two hours to bring the fire under control. Several area fire departments responded.

Valencia fire chief Jose Bassett told Spanish media flames, and smoke affected an entire wing of the residence. He said officials believe the fire has started in a room on the first floor, where two residents were found dead.

Firefighters say about 25 of the at least 70 residents of the facility had to be rescued. Regional health officials say five of the victims died at the scene and a sixth died at the hospital. They say at last 17 residents were hospitalised with injuries, two of them in serious condition.

Police Investigating Bodies Dumped in Kenya River

Kenyan police say they are sending investigators to the Yala River in western Kenya, where locals have been finding bodies tied up in sacks.

The Yala River in western Kenya has become the center of attention for human rights workers and families of missing persons.

Local residents say five bodies have been found in the river this month alone, including one discovered Wednesday.

Nicholas Okero is among the divers who have retrieved bodies from the river.

“The bodies are tied up tightly, like a parcel, in a sack. And since July, we’ve got nobody from our area who has reported a missing person,” he said. “Just the other day, I retrieved the bodies of two Somali men again and those people do not reside here. I don’t know where they were killed.”

Okero said he identified the two bodies as Somali based on their physical features. Authorities have yet to determine the identities of any of the people found.

In a statement, local police said the five bodies are among 19 discovered in the river over the last two years. Police say no one has come forward to claim the bodies.

Salome Nduta is the director of Haki Africa, an organisation working to promote human rights and justice in Kenya. Her organisation visited River Yala and the Yala hospital mortuary Monday.

Indonesian Militant Gets 15 Years in Jail over Bali Attacks

An Islamic militant who eluded capture for 18 years was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday after an Indonesian court found him guilty of hiding information about the 2002 Bali bombings from authorities and harbouring other suspects.

Prosecutors previously demanded a life sentence for Aris Sumarsono, 58, whose real name is Arif Sunarso but is better known as Zulkarnaen, for his role in the October 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, including 88 Australians and seven Americans.

However, the panel of three judges in East Jakarta District Court said they ignored the prosecutors’ first charge because the prosecution period had expired, and they sentenced Zulkarnaen to 15 years in jail for harbouring other suspects, including bomb-maker Upik Lawanga, and for hiding information from authorities about the deadly attacks.

Indonesia’s Criminal Code stipulates that prosecuting criminals is abolished after 18 years.

UN Appeals for $1.6bn to Help Palestinian Refugees

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency is appealing for $1.6 billion to provide life-saving assistance for more than five million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and countries across the Middle East.

The request covers the increased needs of Palestinian refugees in the face of skyrocketing unemployment and poverty. UN officials say an estimated 2.3 million refugees across the Middle East are living in poverty, with many struggling to survive on less than $2 a day.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic is posing serious health risks and worsening the economic hardships.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said the agency’s humanitarian operations are a lifeline for the most destitute.

“UNRWA prevents them from falling deeper into poverty and from resorting to negative coping mechanisms, such as child labour, early marriage, migration through dangerous routes or, at times, radicalisation,” he said. “It is also an investment in regional stability.”

Yemeni Civilians Bear Brunt of Suffering in Escalating Conflict

As the fighting in Yemen heats up, the UN human rights office warns Yemen’s warring parties that wanton attacks against civilians and civilian targets could amount to war crimes.

Reciprocal attacks by Yemen’s warring parties have been escalating this month. They have intensified since Iranian-backed Houthi rebels carried out missile and bombladen drone attacks on the United Arab Emirates Monday, killing three people.

In retaliation for those attacks, the government-backed Saudi-led coalition bombed targets in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, reportedly killing at least five civilians from the same family. The UN human rights office says it fears more civilian casualties as wanton attacks continue to spiral in the nearly seven-year-long conflict.

Britain to Drop COVID-19 Restrictions

Britain is ending COVID-19 restrictions, including mask mandates, working from home and vaccine passports, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Wednesday.

The measures had been introduced to slow the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant of the virus.

“Many nations across Europe have endured further winter lockdowns ... but this government took a different path,” Johnson told lawmakers, citing a decreasing number of people being admitted to intensive care because of the virus.

“Our scientists believe it is likely that the omicron wave has now peaked nationally ... because of the extraordinary booster campaign,” Johnson said, adding that restrictions also had slowed the spread.

Some scientists disagree with the move.

Former US Hostage in Iran to Begin Hunger Strike to Press for Prisoner Deal

A former US hostage in Iran is set to begin a hunger strike in Vienna on Wednesday to press the US and Iranian officials to agree to the release of Americans and other Westerners of Iranian origin jailed by Tehran. He hopes the move will help to break a months-long stalemate in indirect prisoner talks between the two sides.

In a Tuesday interview with VOA Persian, Barry Rosen said he would try to raise the prisoner issue in any meetings with US and Iranian diplomats in the Austrian capital. The two sides have engaged in separate indirect talks there about reviving a 2015 deal for Iran to constrain its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief from the United States and other world powers. Rosen said he would stage his hunger strike in front of Vienna’s Palais Coburg hotel, the main venue for the talks about the 2015 deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. He said he intends to head to the hotel after arriving in Vienna on Wednesday at 8 a.m. local time on a flight from New York.

Rosen, 77, was among 52 Americans taken hostage in Tehran by Islamists who seized the US embassy in 1979 when an Islamic Revolution overthrew a US-backed monarchy.

French Actor Gaspard Ulliel Dies after Ski Accident

French actor Gaspard Ulliel, known for appearing in Chanel perfume ads as well as film and television roles, died Wednesday after a skiing accident in the Alps, according to his agent’s office. He was 37.

Ulliel portrayed the young Hannibal Lecter in 2007’s “Hannibal Rising” and fashion mogul Yves Saint Laurent in the 2014 biopic “Saint Laurent.” He is also in the upcoming Marvel series “Moon Knight,” and was the advertising face of the Chanel men’s fragrance Bleu de Chanel.

Ulliel was hospitalised Tuesday after the accident in the Savoie region’s Rosiere ski area, the Savoie prosecutor’s office said. The office of the actor’s agent said Ulliel died on Wednesday. It provided no details.

Local broadcaster France Bleu said Ulliel was hospitalised with a skull injury and that he apparently collided with another skier at a crossing point on the slopes. The other skier was not hospitalised, according to France Bleu. Police and prosecutors would not discuss details of the accident.

Ulliel started in television while still in middle school and went on to win two of France’s top cinema awards, the Cesar.

The accident conjured up memories of when Formula One great Michael Schumacher hit his head in a ski accident in 2013 in the French ski resort of Meribel, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from where Ulliel was skiing. Both were treated at Grenoble University Hospital.