Poland and senior German leader call for more sanctions as bloc’s foreign ministers meet to discuss detention of Kremlin critic

European Union foreign ministers will consider potential “next steps” against Russia after western nations condemned the Kremlin’s harsh treatment of demonstrators calling for the release of opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

The United States, EU and Britain joined in criticising Vladimir Putin’s government on Sunday with the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, describing the mass arrest of thousands of protesters in several Russia cities as “an intolerable affront” and a “slide towards authoritarianism”.

Clashes broke out in Moscow, St Petersburg, Vladivostok and other cities on Sunday and some protesters clashed with riot police in body armour and helmets. Dozens of people were injured.

Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has called for the EU to step up sanctions against Russia over the treatment of Navalny, who was arrested last weekend as he returned to Russia from Germany for the first time since being poisoned with a nerve agent.

“The only way to [avoid conflict] is to force international law to be observed. The only way to do this without rifles, cannons and bombs is via sanctions,” Duda told the Financial Times.

The Polish leader also said EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell should reconsider plans to visit Russia next month unless Navalny is released.

EU foreign ministers were expected to discuss their response to Navalny’s detention on Monday, with Borrell saying the “next steps” will be discussed.

Manfred Weber, a senior German conservative and head of the centre-right EPP grouping in the EU parliament, told Germany’s RND newspaper group that the arrest of protesters should not be tolerated and that Russia should face financial sanctions.

“It’s unacceptable that the Russian leadership is trying to make short work of the burgeoning protests by arresting thousands of demonstrators.

“The EU foreign ministers are not allowed to dodge this once again and stop at general appeals,” Weber said. “The EU has to hit where it really hurts the Putin system – and that’s the money,” Weber said, adding that the bloc should cut financial transactions from Putin’s inner circle.

In addition, a threat to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is meant to double natural gas deliveries from Russia to Germany, must remain on the table, Weber added.

A German government spokeswoman declined to comment when asked whether Berlin was willing to support new sanctions against Russia following Navalny’s arrest.

EU lawmakers passed a resolution on Thursday calling for the bloc to stop the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as a response to Navalny’s arrest.

Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, who has continued to back the project despite criticism elsewhere in the EU, said on Thursday her view of the project had not changed despite the Navalny case.

During the protests, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Moscow, Rebecca Ros, said on Twitter that “the US supports the right of all people to peaceful protest, freedom of expression. Steps being taken by Russian authorities are suppressing those rights”. The embassy also tweeted a state department statement calling for Navalny’s release.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said comments by the US were “inappropriate,”, and accused washington of “interference in our internal affairs”.

Efforts to rescue personnel who were kidnapped after a pirate attack on a Turkish cargo ship off Nigeria continue intensely, said Turkey's president, according to an official statement on Sunday.

In a new phone call with Furkan Yaren, the 4th captain of the Turkish cargo ship, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said initiatives launched immediately following the pirate attack to rescue the personnel continue intensely, Turkey's Communications Directorate said in the statement.

Closely following the developments, Erdogan was also kept informed of the health status of three crew members who survived the incident.

In the Saturday pirate attack, out of 19 or 20 crew members, 15 were kidnapped and three remained with the pirates -- both groups all apparently Turkish nationals -- while one Azerbaijani crew member was killed.

The Liberian-flagged cargo ship Mozart anchored at Gabon's Port Gentil at 0800GMT on Sunday./aa

GAZIANTEP, Turkey  

A YPG/PKK terrorist was held in the town of Al-Bab in northern Syria on Sunday, an official statement said.

Local security forces continue their efforts to uncover the terrorist group's activities, the governor's office in southeastern Turkey's Gaziantep province said.

The terrorist, identified as A.E.M., was rounded up in an operation by local security units in Al-Bab and the governorship, which provides the Syrian town with consultancy services.

Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor, and enable a peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot./aa

Government resigned on Jan. 18 following dispute with parliament over 'constitutional violations'

Kuwait’s Emir Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on Sunday reassigned the nation’s caretaker prime minister to form a new government, according to the official KUNA news agency.

The reappointment came six days after Sabah Al-Khaled al-Sabah tendered his government’s resignation on Jan. 18 after a dispute with parliament.

Several ministers in the previous government tendered their resignations en masse two weeks ago, after lawmakers sought to grill the premier over what they described as “constitutional violations."

A collective of rights groups and civil society organizations has called for greater focus on education of Rohingya refugees and rehabilitation of academic institutes in areas where they are being hosted in Bangladesh.

“Although Rohingya children aged 6-14 years have been included in the non-formal education program initiated by the government of Bangladesh and various organizations, 83% of adolescents and youth aged 15-24 years do not participate in any education program,” Cox's Bazar CSO-NGO Forum said in a statement on Saturday.

The southeastern Bangladeshi city of Cox's Bazar is home to over 1.2 million Rohingya refugees fled from the military brutality in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

The forum, a network of 50 local non-governmental organizations and civil society groups, also stressed the need for a Myanmar-centric curriculum “to make Rohingya repatriation sustainable.”

“There is a sense of frustration among students and their parents about the lack of educational opportunities for those over 15 years of age and the lack of education in the Myanmar curriculum,” read the statement issued to mark the International Day of Education on Jan. 24.

It also called for “special rehabilitation programs for local educational institutions and students in Cox’s Bazar affected by the Rohingya influx.”

According to the forum, local educational institutes were “used as temporary barracks for military personnel at the beginning of the Rohingya influx in 2017.”

Some were also designated as shelters for Rohingya refugees, leading to suspension of academic activities for months.

“Many students stopped going to school because of the increasing number of people and the huge congestion of vehicles used in relief programs,” read the statement.

“From one school, seven out of 10 teachers left school and joined another job. The entire education system is under threat,” it warned, adding that allocation for education from relief programs was “only 2.6%.” 

Persecuted people

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women, and children fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 34,000 Rohingya were thrown into fires, over 114,000 more were beaten and as many as 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police said the OIDA report, titled Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience.

Over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned and 113,000 others vandalized, the report added./aa

More than half of children in war-torn Syria are missing out on education, the UN children's agency UNICEF said Sunday, with a third of schools in ruins or commandeered by fighters.

The figures are a sharp rise from previous estimates when UNICEF said a third of Syrian children were out of school.

"After almost ten years of war in Syria, more than half of children continue to be deprived of education," UNICEF said in a statement, estimating there are over 2.4 million children out of school inside the country.

"This number has likely increased in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which exacerbated the disruption to education in Syria," said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF's chief for the Middle East and North Africa, alongside Syria crisis boss Muhannad Hadi, in a joint statement.

"The education system in Syria is overstretched, underfunded, fragmented and unable to provide safe, equitable and sustained services to millions of children," they added.

Syria's civil war erupted in 2011 after the violent repression of protests, quickly spiralling into a complex conflict that pulled in numerous actors, including jihadist groups and foreign powers.

Over 387,000 people have been killed, and more than half of Syria's pre-war population of 20 million have been forced to flee their homes.

"One in three schools inside Syria can no longer be used because they were destroyed, damaged or are being used for military purposes," the statement added.

The schools that remain operative, UNICEF said, are often overcrowded and located in "buildings with insufficient water and sanitation facilities, electricity, heating or ventilation".

UNICEF said it confirmed 52 attacks against education facilities last year, bringing to nearly 700 the number of UN-confirmed violations against schools and teaching staff.