The UN Refugee Agency on Thursday called for an urgent investigation after the freezing to death of irregular migrants who had their clothes taken and were pushed back at the Greek border.

With the discovery of seven more bodies in Turkish city Edirne's İpsala district, the number of irregular migrants who froze to death since Wednesday rose to 19.

UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo described the freezing to death of irregular migrants as "heart-breaking" in a statement to Anadolu Agency.

"We are shocked and deeply saddened by the news," said Mantoo, explaining that the refugee agency is following up on the deaths with all the parties concerned.

"We call for an urgent investigation. We reiterate our call to ensure that the lives, rights, safety, and well-being of refugees and migrants are protected and put first," said the official.

Turkiye and international human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece's illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable people, including women and children.

In a tweet, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: "Every person searching for a better life deserves safety and dignity. We need safe, legal routes for migrants and refugees."/aa

One of the survivors of a US operation in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib claimed that American soldiers threatened her and her family to leave their house for the sake of their lives.

A Syrian woman, one of the eyewitnesses of a US operation in Idlib on early Thursday targeting a member of the terrorist organization Daesh/ISIS that killed 13 people, including six children and four women, told Anadolu Agency: “We were sleeping when the planes arrived. Doors and window panes of our house broke down due to explosions and bullets.”

Requesting anonymity, she said the US soldiers asked the people in “the first, second, and third houses” to leave their houses immediately.

“If you don’t leave in 10 minutes, we’ll destroy your house and you’ll die,” the soldiers threatened them, according to the Syrian woman.

Scared, she, along with her husband and children, immediately left the house, she recalled, adding: “American soldiers made my husband lie down on his face handcuffed. I was so scared when I saw him like that.”

“Leave or you’ll die. Come out here, put your children on the ground and remove your scarf,” she recalled the horror, quoting the US soldiers as threatening her.

They took my children, tied my hands

She said the soldiers launched a rocket towards her house as she didn’t go out.

“They told me that I would be safe outside. Ultimately, I did go out when my husband told me to do so,” she stressed.

“About four or five of them ran towards me. They took my children away from me and tied up my hands,” she said, adding that the soldiers, then, started asking questions.

“They interrogated me. I answered their questions randomly for them not to take my children from me,” she lamented.

Mentioning that there was a soldier with an Iraqi accent among the US soldiers, she said she and her family had been questioned for hours, and were not allowed to enter their house back.

Operation

The operation targeted an individual suspected to be affiliated with the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group with the support of an F-16 fighter jet and a helicopter.

An airdrop was launched at 1.20 a.m. local time (2220GMT) from the helicopter to a house near Atma village.

“At around 00.30 (2130GMT), there was a noise coming from outside, I thought it was a flood. When I got out and looked, the helicopters were hovering above and one of the helicopters was calling with a megaphone,” a villager told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

Gunshots were then heard from near the house after US soldiers asked people to surrender, according to the resident who said the neighboring homes were damaged in the operation.

The raid claimed the lives of 13 people, including six children and four women, said civil defense teams working on the wreckage.

Security sources told Anadolu Agency that the US troops had departed the site with a survivor in tow.

Footage captured by an Anadolu Agency team at the scene showed some walls and ceilings of the house collapsed due to bombs thrown during the raid, a kitchen part burned, all the furniture destroyed, and traces of blood on the floors.

According to local sources, the operation may have targeted one of the most wanted ringleaders of the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group.

Commenting on the operation, US Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a brief statement that the operation was successful.

Kirby stated that there were no casualties from the US side and that more information will be shared when available.

In a written statement Thursday, Joe Biden announced the counterterrorism operation in northwestern Syria "to protect the American people and our Allies, and make the world a safer place."

Saying that the US Armed Forces have "taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi -- the leader of ISIS," Biden further noted that all US forces safely returned from the operation.

"I will deliver remarks to the American people later this morning," he added.

Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was named the new leader of Daesh/ISIS in 2019 after the US killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi earlier that year.

In October 2019, the US announced that Daesh/ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a similar operation in Idlib./aa

COVID-19 has had a “catastrophic impact” on people with cancer over the past two years, as up to 50% of cancer services in Europe have been disrupted, a WHO official said on Thursday.

WHO Europe Director Hans Kluge said the 53 countries in the Europe Central Asian region stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific recorded 12 million weekly coronavirus cases, the highest weekly tally since the pandemic started.

"I want to take the opportunity to underscore the catastrophic impact the pandemic has had over the past two years on people with cancer," said Kluge, flagging that Friday is World Cancer Day.

"The way in which the pandemic delays cancer care and creates service backlogs is a deadly interplay," said Kluge, noting that cancer services were disrupted by up to 50% in all countries reporting in the Europe Central Asia region.

He said that one in four people in Europe and Central Asia would receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.

Cancer a leading cause of mortality

"It is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the WHO European Region, accounting for more than 20% of all deaths," said Kluge.

On the coronavirus, he said that the new COVID-19 case incidence is driven mainly by the highly transmissible omicron variant "as it sweeps from West to East."

Kluge said that 30% of all COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began have been reported this year and that to date, there were nearly 150 million reported cases of COVID-19 in the region.

"Hospitalizations continue to rise, mainly in countries with lower vaccination uptake in vulnerable populations," said the WHO official.

"This rise, however, is not as rapid as the case incidence rate – and overall, admissions to intensive care have not increased significantly. For now, the number of deaths across the region is starting to plateau."

Kluge said he wanted to reiterate a call he made last week referring to a "plausible endgame for the pandemic."

He said it is "not to say that it is now all over – but to highlight that in the European Region, there is a singular opportunity to take control of the transmission."

"As we go forward, maintenance of essential health services, including services along the continuum of cancer care – from prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care – must be a component of emergency planning and response," said Kluge./aa

Britain’s biggest Muslim umbrella group on Thursday called upon everyone involved in the Beijing Winter Olympics “to use every opportunity to raise awareness around the plight of the Uyghur people.”

“Approximately 3 million Uyghurs have been forcibly detained at internment camps where they are subject to torture, rape, mass sterilisation, forced labour and made to renounce their Muslim beliefs and practices,” the Muslim Council of Britain said in a statement.

It said some “brave athletes have taken a stand and have refused to take part, in solidarity with the victims.”

“Others are making important gestures to ensure their plight does not go ignored,” the statement added.

Describing the multi-sports event as “Genocide Games,” Zara Mohammed, president of the MCB, said: “China’s crimes against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, as documented by NGOs, survivors and observers, are crimes against humanity.”

She said: “They have been described as a genocide by human rights organisations as well.

“In the spirit of the vision of the International Olympic Committee, to ‘Build a Better World through Sport’, we must not allow China to use these Genocide Games to hide their actions. We all have a moral duty to highlight the plight of the Uyghur people, and to stand firmly against injustice and oppression.”

The MCB also called upon the international community “to support calls for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation against senior Chinese leadership for genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Uyghur people.”

According to UN data, at least 1 million Uyghurs are kept against their will in places Beijing calls "vocational training centers" but which critics call places for indoctrination, abuse, and torture.

As many as 1.6 million Uyghurs have left China to live abroad, according to the World Uyghur Congress.

Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, accuse Beijing of oppressing 12 million Uyghurs, most of whom are Muslims./agencies

At least 13 people were killed in an operation carried out by US forces early Thursday in Syria's Idlib province, according to civil defense teams.

The operation targeted an individual suspected to be affiliated with the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group with the support of an F-16 fighter jet and a helicopter.

An airdrop was launched at 1.20 a.m. local time (2220GMT) from the helicopter to a house near Atma village.

"At around 00.30 (2130GMT), there was a noise coming from outside, I thought it was a flood. When I got out and looked, the helicopters were hovering above and one of the helicopters was calling with a megaphone," said a village resident, who spoke to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

Gunshots were then heard from near the house after US soldiers were calling for surrender, according to the resident who said that the neighboring homes were damaged.

The raid claimed the lives of 13 people, including six children and four women, said civil defense teams working on the wreckage.

Security sources told Anadolu Agency that the US troops had departed the site with a survivor in tow.

A footage capture by an Anadolu Agency team at the scene showed some walls and ceilings of the house collapsed due to bombs thrown during the raid, a kitchen part burned, all the furniture was destroyed and traces of blood on the floors.

According to local sources, the operation may have targeted one of the most wanted ringleaders of the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group.

Commenting on the operation, US Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a brief statement that the operation was successful.

Kirby stated that there were no casualties from the US side and that more information will be shared when it becomes available.

The spokesperson declined to give any details about the target's name or group.

In October 2019, the US announced that Daesh/ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a similar operation in Idlib./aa

Germany on Thursday expressed regret over the death of 19 migrants at the Greek-Turkish border and stressed that any border protection measure must comply with international humanitarian standards.

“The Federal Government has noted with concern the reports of deaths on the Greek-Turkish border. It’s important to find out the actual circumstances of this incident,” the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement.

The ministry underlined that states are bound by human rights conventions and authorities should observe their obligations while taking border protection measures.

“Any type of border protection measure must meet the humanitarian standards under all circumstances, and should comply with the provisions of European and international law,” the statement said.

Turkiye's Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu heavily criticized Greece on Wednesday for inhuman and degrading treatment of irregular migrants and said those who were found dead were stripped of their clothes and shoes by the Greek border guards.

At least 19 irregular migrants found frozen to death, Turkish authorities said on Thursday, raising the death toll from 12 a day earlier.

Greece has long been criticized by human rights organizations for violently detaining irregular migrants and forcibly returning them to Turkiye, in violation of its human rights obligations under the EU and international law.

Ankara has repeatedly urged Greece to stop illegal pushbacks, but Athens denied engaging in the practice.

Turkiye has been a key transit point for refugees on their way to Europe, especially those fleeing war and persecution. The country has taken more than 4 million refugees, most of them from Syria, and currently it hosts the largest number of refugees worldwide./aa

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) – Spanish authorities rescued 97 migrants from two inflatable boats overnight Wednesday off the coast of Spain's Canary Islands.

The coast guard said another person found floating in the water was rescued and taken to the hospital, while one man was found dead.

One of the small inflatable boats was found off the coast of the island of Fuerteventura and was carrying 41 people.

The other was carrying a group of 57 Sub-Saharan Africans, including three women and one child.

On Thursday morning, leading activist Helena Maleno Garzon also reported an unfolding disaster off Cape Bojador on the west coast of Western Sahara.

She claimed that 54 migrants remain in life-threatening danger as their inflatable boat has filled up with water as they are being battered by strong winds and waves.

As other migrant routes become increasingly inaccessible and political turmoil grows in Western Africa and other regions, the dangerous Canary Islands migration route has become a key way of entering Europe irregularly.

More than 4,000 people died on the route last year, according to the Walking Borders, an NGO.

That makes 2021 the most deadly on record for migrants trying to reach Spain and also makes the Canary Islands migration route one of the most treacherous on earth.

The route itself has become even more dangerous thanks to a remarkable increase in the number of inflatable boats.

2021 was the year these boats came to stay, according to Walking Borders. In the first six months of the last year, one-third of all these voyages ended in tragedy.

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former district panchayat president Deepu Singh and his son Karmaveer have been arrested in Aurraiya district in a case of rioting and abusing a police official.

According to Aurraiya Superintendent of Police (SP), Abhishek Verma, a video went viral on Monday in which Deepu Singh and many others were seen abusing a police official, Santosh Kumar Awasthi in the police station.

Deepu Singh had allegedly insulted Kotwal Santosh Kumar Awasthi by using casteist words, which led to a series of protests by members of the Brahmin community.

Taking note of the video, the Additional Superintendent of Police was asked to investigate the matter and after preliminary probe, a case was registered against Deepu Singh and his son Karmavir under several serious sections.

Both were arrested and later sent to jail.

Meanwhile, BJP district president, Shriram Mishra, said that the matter had been communicated to state party president Swatantra Dev Singh and a decision will be taken on the matter./ National Herald India

The creation of a permanent memorial, an anti-Islamophobia advisory council, and an amended public nuisance bylaw are among the ways the city could honour a Muslim family killed in a suspected terror attack last year and help to stamp out future hateful incidents.

In a 160-page report headed to the strategic priorities and policy committee next week, dubbed “A London for Everyone: An Action Plan to Disrupt Islamophobia”, staff put forward a wide-range of recommendations from the Anti-Islamophobia Working Group.

The recommendations were crafted following meetings held in the fall with 80 Muslim Londoners and 30 community-based and public sector organizations including London police, local school boards, and the Middlesex London Health Unit.

“They are angry, they are scared, they are frustrated. They are desperate for all levels of government to stand by their commitment made following the terror attack. This is not something people have moved on from,” Rumina Morris, the city’s director of anti-racism and anti-oppression, said of the outcome of those public consultation sessions.

In the wake of the fatal June 6 hit-and-run that killed four members of the Afzaal family at Hyde Park and South Carriage roads, city council committed to ending Islamophobia and hate.  Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna Afzaal and 9-year-old son Fayez Salman, and Salman Afzaal’s 74-year-old mother Talat Afzaal were out for an evening walk when the driver of a pickup truck mounted the curb and hit them before speeding off. Fayez Salman was the lone survivor of the attack.

In order to honour their memory, city council will be asked to approve $150,000 in one time funding to erect a memorial plaza at the site. It would include a mural on a retainer wall by local-youths and a community garden.

“There will be a proclamation. We will be asking the council to proclaim that day (June 6) as a day to remember our London family. We will likely see a request for lighting to be lit up in green and purple on June 6,” said Morris.

Beyond the permanent memorial, other recommendations to combat Islamophobia in London are as follows:

-Create an Anti-Islamophobia Advisory Council to the mayor comprised of a diverse group of Muslims in London
-Hire a Muslim Community Liaison Advisor to work in the Anti-Racism Anti-Oppression Division who would be responsible for working with community partners to develop an implementation plan
-Tighten the city’s existing public nuisance bylaw to include language against verbal harassment of newcomers and immigrants in public spaces
-Develop models and programs for training Muslim youth leaders
-Provide dedicated funding for local community-based anti-Islamophobia initiatives
-Explore ways to make community centres, programs, services, and public spaces more inclusive for members of the Muslim
communities, including using spaces to raise awareness and to educate
-Endorse the National Council of Canadian Muslims’ 61 recommendations and actively advocate with the provincial and federal governments to deliver on these recommendations.
-Work with community based and public sector organizations to identify training opportunities specific to anti-Islamophobia
-Annual reports to council on the progress being made to end Islamophobia in the community.

If politicians endorse the recommendations the next steps would be to develop an implementation plan which would include costing, division responsibilities and firm timelines./ blackburnnews

A permanent memorial is proposed for northwest London to honour three generations of the Afzaal family killed there last year in what police allege was a targeted attack because of their Islamic faith.

A mural and a flower bed are part of a memorial plaza planned to honour three generations of the Afzaal family, killed in northwest London last year in what police allege was a targeted attack because of their Muslim faith.  

The memorial is just one element of a wide-ranging plan to address Islamophobia in London in the wake of the fatal hit-and-run June 6, 2021, at Hyde Park and South Carriage roads.

“Longstanding, in our community at that intersection, there will be an image that’s created by (Muslim) youth in honour of their friend lost and the family members that were taken,” said Rumina Morris, director of city hall’s anti-racism and anti-oppression division.

City council will be asked to spend $150,000 from a reserve fund to create the memorial plaza to honour the family: Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, their daughter Yumna, 15, and Salman Afzaal’s mother Talat Afzaal, 74. The family’s nine-year-old son was the lone survivor.

A 20-year-old London man is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one account of attempted murder.

The plan to tackle Islamophobia goes beyond the mural and garden, stretching from policy demands to widespread education and awareness campaigns for children and non-Muslims across the city.

City hall released a 160-page report Wednesday detailing dozens of recommendations, and the road to reach them, including sessions with community organizations and Muslim Londoners across a variety of backgrounds and sects.

“Islamophobia is very much permeated within our structures and within our systems. If we don’t tackle it there, it’s very hard to come at it on the ground,” Morris said.

“People were not feeling safe as we started this process.”

London is home to a vibrant, longstanding community of more than 30,000 Muslims. But a recent study reported more anti-Muslim racism and harassment in the last three years, particularly for women who wear the hijab.

“ We’re trying to bring in all of the voices from within London, the Muslim voices, and amplify them throughout the community,” Ward 6 Coun. Mariam Hamou, the first Muslim woman to sit on London city council, said of the anti-Islamophobia working group that created the plan.

– Create an advisory council to the mayor to oversee and implement the plan to disrupt Islamophobia, with specific focus on a diverse range of Muslim voices, including women and youth

– Hire a Muslim community liaison adviser at city hall

– Tighten city hall’s public nuisance bylaw, modeled after one in Edmonton, to include offensive verbal harassment and xenophobic comments hurled in public

– Endorse recommendations from the National Council of Canadian Muslims and advocate for those priorities with the provincial and federal governments

– Develop a youth fellowship program to empower Muslim youth leaders

– Proclaim October as Islamic heritage month, June 6 as a day of remembrance for the Afzaals and Jan. 29 as the national day of remembrance for the 2017 Quebec City mosque attack and action against Islamophobia

– Dedicate funding for local campaigns to educate Londoners about Islam, Muslim leaders and Islamophobia.

The goal is to develop an implementation plan by the fall, including timelines, costs and the division of responsibilities.

“ A lot of communities are just endorsing the recommendations (from the National Council of Canadian Muslims) but not actually doing the work behind the recommendations. If other Canadian cities can see this — and they will — they can model some of the work we’re doing,” Hamou said.

“ It’s a really, really good document.”

Last weekend, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath was in London to push for support for a bill — the Our London Family Act — the party plans to table when the legislature resumes this month.

The Our London Family Act is meant to address Islamophobia through changes to the education system, enhancements to the province’s anti-racism directorate and increasing the timeframe people have to file human rights complaints. The bill also calls for increased hiring of minorities in the provincial public service and more accountability on hate crime reporting and prosecution in Ontario.

City politicians will be asked to endorse the recommendations of the plan to “disrupt” Islamophobia at a meeting next Tuesday./ London free press