World news in brief
Calais Jungle camp to be cleared on Monday
The Calais Jungle migrant camp will be cleared of its residents on Monday before being demolished, authorities said yesterday. The local administration “made a legal order Friday that is to take effect on Monday”, it said in a statement announcing the long-awaited operation. Migrants at the camp in the ferry port will board buses to take them to nearly 300 temporary accommodation centres dotted around France.
The demolition of the sprawling makeshift camp closes a difficult chapter in Europe’s migrant crisis. It has strained relations between France and Britain, the country most of its residents are trying to reach. The process of clearing the Jungle officially begins tomorrow when officials and charity workers will pass through the settlement of shacks and tents to inform residents that they will have to leave.
The order from the local authorities informing residents that the camp is about to close was displayed from yesterday in several languages. “The aim is to give everyone a roof over their heads and we will do
everything we can to make that happen,” one official said. The current camp dates from April 2015 and housed more than 10,000 migrants at its peak, although that number has dwindled to around 5,000 in its final days.
Saudi blogger faces further round of lashes
Saudi blogger Raif Badawi is facing a new round of lashes, according to his supporters. A Canadian foundation campaigning for his release said a “reliable source” in Saudi Arabia told them he faces a renewed threat of flogging. The 32-year-old was handed 1,000 lashes and a ten-year jail term in 2014 for insulting Islam online.
Mr Badawi received his first 50 lashes in public in January 2015, prompting international condemnation. Arrangements for his continued punishment have been postponed amid concerns for his health. Evelyne Abitol, who founded the Raif Badawi Foundation with the blogger’s wife told Reuters: “Unfortunately, it could happen at any time, if it happens.”
A statement released by the foundation said: “As of today, we received from a private source the sad news concerning the fact that the Saudi government will resume the lashing punishment against Raif Badawi. Our source is the same that informed us about the first 50 lashes Raif Badawi received in a public place on January 9 2015. Our understanding of the information is that another series of lashes punishment will take place this time inside the prison.” The claims could not be independently confirmed.
55 dead and hundreds injured after train derails in Cameroon
Fourteen people remained trapped last night under the wreckage of a packed passenger train that derailed as it travelled between Cameroon’s two largest cities, killing at least 55 and injuring 575, the government said. The Camrail inter-city train was travelling from the capital, Yaounde, to the port city of Douala when the accident occurred around 11 am local time near the train station in the town of Eseka, around 75 miles west of the capital.
“There was a loud noise. I looked back and the wagons behind us left the rails and started rolling over and over. There was a lot of smoke,” said a Reuters journalist travelling in a wagon near the front of the train. Before its departure from Yaounde, he said that a railway employee said additional wagons had been added to the train to accommodate extra passengers, though it was unclear if that played a role in the accident. The collapse of a section of the main highway between the capital and Douala had prompted increased numbers of passengers to undertake the journey by rail. The two incidents, which occurred on the same day, have now effectively cut the main transportation axis in the Central African country of over 22 million people.
“There are the bodies of women, children. There are many,” said one employee of Camrail, speaking from the scene of the accident. He said three of his colleagues were among the victims. Joel Bineli, a passenger on the derailed train, told Reuters he saw dismembered bodies on the tracks at the accident site.
Venezuela opposition vows mass protests over ’coup’
A furious Venezuelan opposition coalition yesterday vowed mass protests, accusing the Socialist government of staging a coup by blocking its drive for a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro. The center right-dominated MUD called for nationwide demonstrations from next Wednesday against the decision to annul a key stage in the referendum process. “A coup d’etat was carried out
yesterday in Venezuela,” Henrique Capriles, a leading MUD figure, told a press conference. “A coup was carried out against all Venezuelans.”
On Thursday, authorities quashed the opposition’s main strategy to remove the man they accuse of driving the oil-rich country to the brink of economic collapse. The National Electoral Council said it had indefinitely suspended the recall referendum process after criminal courts in five states ruled the opposition had committed fraud in an initial petition drive. The opposition had been gearing up for the last hurdle in the complex process: a massive three-day drive starting next Wednesday to collect signatures from four million voters demanding a recall referendum.
Now that the courts and electoral authorities, which the opposition says are controlled by Mr Maduro, have stymied that bid, Mr Capriles said Wednesday would instead mark the start of a wave of street protests. “That day is going to be the beginning of a mobilization across the whole country,” he said. “We will take Venezuela from end to end. The whole people will be mobilised to restore constitutional order.”
Now Duterte claims he won’t sever ties with US
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte claimed yesterday he did not mean it when he said in China last week that he was separating from the United States, adding it is in his country’s best interest to maintain the relationship. Despite the clarification, the tough-talking president kept up on his tirades against the US, saying during speech in his hometown of Davao city that he would never travel to America “in this lifetime”.
At an economic forum during a state visit to Beijing on Thursday, Mr Duterte declared his country’s “separation from the United States... both in military and economics also.” His pronouncement was met with applause, but Mr Duterte did not explain exactly what he intended to do and when. On arriving in Davao, however, he said he was not severing ties with an ally that is home to a large number of Filipino expatriates.
“When you say severance of ties, you cut the diplomatic relations. I cannot do that. Why? It’s to the best interest of my country that we maintain that relationship,” Mr Duterte said, adding that Filipinos were not ready to embrace such an option. He claimed his remarks in China actually meant ending a Philippine foreign policy that closely leaned toward the US.