Ukraine: Russia to deploy musicians to front to boost morale

 Russia says it will deploy musicians and singers to the front lines of its war in Ukraine to boost troops’ morale.

The defence ministry announced the formation of the “front-line creative brigade” this week, saying it would also include circus performers.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence highlighted the brigade’s creation in an intelligence update on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited frontline troops in Ukraine, Moscow said.

In a statement posted to Telegram, the defence ministry said Mr Shoigu “flew around the areas of deployment of troops and checked the advanced positions of Russian units in the zone of the special military operation”, referring to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched on 24 February.

The ministry added that he “spoke with troops on the front line” and at a “command post” – but the BBC cannot confirm when the visit took place or whether Mr Shoigu visited Ukraine itself.

Commenting on Mr Shoigu’s reported visit, Ukraine’s military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi told Ukrainian TV channels: “I don’t really believe that he is so brave” to travel to the battlefield.

This comes as UK defence officials said low morale continues to be a “significant vulnerability across much of the Russian force”.

The UK said the new creative brigade – which follows a recent campaign, urging the public to donate musical instruments to troops – is in keeping with the historic use of “military music and organised entertainment” to boost morale.

But they questioned whether the new brigade would actually distract troops, who have been primarily concerned about “very high casualty rates, poor leadership, pay problems, lack of equipment and ammunition, and lack of clarity about the war’s objectives”.

According to the Russian outlet RBC news, the brigade will consist of troops mobilised under President Vladimir Putin’s recruitment drive, as well as “professional artists who voluntarily entered military service”.

The new unit will be tasked with maintaining “a high moral, political and psychological state [among] the participants of the special military operation,” the outlet cited the defence ministry as saying.

Intense fighting has continued around the Ukrainian-controlled town of Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region on Saturday, Ukraine’s military said.

The area has seen heavy clashes between Ukrainian and Russian troops for months, as Russia seeks to fully seize the region following a string of heavy defeats in north-eastern and southern Ukraine earlier this year.

Western intelligence officials have previously said Russian attacks on the town are being spearheaded by Russia’s private military contractor, Wagner Group.

Moscow hopes to use Bakhmut as a staging ground to launch attacks on the Ukrainian-held cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk further west.

Elsewhere, heating has been restored to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, after Russian launched widespread strikes on Friday that targeted power and water infrastructure, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Moscow launched 76 missiles on Friday, hitting nine power supply stations and plunging much of the country into darkness. Ukraine said it intercepted 60.

In a separate development, President Putin is due to visit Belarus on Monday, amid media reports that he will be putting further pressure on Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally, to officially join in Russia’s war effort and send troops to Ukraine.

Since the start of the war, Russian troops have been using Belarusian territory as a launchpad – but Mr Lukashenko has so far resisted all Moscow’s attempts to deploy his armed forces in Ukraine.

In Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting with top military and security officials to discuss the possible risks from Belarus, the country’s northern neighbour.

“We are preparing for all possible defence scenarios. Whoever inclines Minsk to whatever, it will not help them just as any other sick idea in this war against Ukraine and Ukrainians,” Mr Zelensky said in his video address late on Sunday.

Source: BBC

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ANC conference: Cyril Ramaphosa wins as uncertainty beckons for South Africa

 South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has just won another term as head of the governing African National Congress (ANC) after a turbulent few weeks in which it looked like he might resign, or be pushed out by his own party, over an alleged corruption scandal.

But has Mr Ramaphosa emerged stronger or is he – and with him the ANC and even the national economy – on an unstoppable downward trajectory?

There was a time, some five years back, when many South Africans flirted, earnestly, with the belief that their country had found its saviour – and that Mr Ramaphosa, a sober man of obvious integrity and experience, would put a stop to a grim decade of corruption and economic decline.

In fact, that was Mr Ramaphosa’s own sales pitch – his earnest promise of urgent reform, of renewal, for a young democracy that knew it had lost its way.

Today, some here still believe that he is a winner. After all, he has just emerged victorious, once again, from his party’s bruising national elective conference.

And he has, against strong headwinds, begun the slow process of rebuilding South Africa’s state institutions – the prosecution service, the giant utility monopolies, the tax revenue service – which had been hollowed out by corruption under former President Jacob Zuma.

Surely now – having increased the size of his majority since he first took over the ANC in 2017 – Mr Ramaphosa will finally feel secure enough to accelerate those reforms, to sack the crooks and deadwood and unrepentant political enemies in his cabinet, unleash investment, transform an unequal society, and find a way to tackle soaring unemployment and a failing education system.

Welcome, the wishful thinking goes, to “Ramaphosa, Part Two – a President Unleashed…”

Those who believe Mr Ramaphosa is still the best – maybe the only – politician in the ANC with a chance of keeping this country on a vaguely even keel, acknowledge that his corruption scandal, involving a burglary and botched investigation at the president’s game farm, was badly handled by his lawyers, and has certainly smudged his reputation.

But they see it largely as a political problem – an attack stage-managed by his ANC rivals – rather than a fundamental crisis of integrity.

But this glass-half-full approach to the president, and to South Africa itself, is under growing strain.

That is partly down to Mr Ramaphosa himself. Leaving aside the huge holes in his account of what happened in that corruption scandal – the cash in the sofa, the signs of a cover-up – even his most generous critics see him as a maddeningly cautious figure, someone who seems to lack the appetite, or courage, to confront his enemies head-on at a time when the political stakes are so high.

The ANC has been in power since white-minority rule ended in 1994

He is, in many people’s eyes, the sort of man who would bring a notepad and Zoom link to a knife fight.

The clearest evidence for his can be found inside his own cabinet, where ministers who are openly, and provocatively, hostile to Mr Ramaphosa and his agenda still keep their jobs.

The president’s loyalists say he is hamstrung by ANC rules, and that his slow, institution-focused approach is, nonetheless, delivering results, and exposing the shallow antics of his rivals.

Well, maybe.

But tell that to millions of South Africans who are sitting in the dark today, with businesses failing because of long daily power cuts, as the country’s electricity system crumbles under the weight of decades of mismanagement, corruption, and now, of alleged overt sabotage.

And it is here that we get into the second main criticism of a glass-half-full approach to South Africa.

This country’s problems – the argument goes – simply cannot be solved by one man, however well-intentioned.

For almost three decades now, the country has been governed by the former liberation movement, the ANC, which is now consumed by fratricidal power struggles driven not by policy or personality issues, but by rival attitudes to corruption and looting, and the desire of powerful figures to avoid accountability and prison.

Mr Ramaphosa – still more popular than other national politicians – may be able to keep the ANC in power for one more election cycle (although even that is no longer guaranteed) but the party is tired and broken, and, in the eyes of many, badly needs a spell in opposition.

Which brings us back to South Africa’s long, daily power cuts – the clearest proof of the ANC’s crisis, as manifested in its failure to provide enough electricity for the continent’s most developed economy.

Mr Ramaphosa has tried to push through reforms, to harness the nation’s almost limitless supplies of renewable solar and wind power, but – it is widely believed – he has been blocked and sabotaged by forces within his own cabinet and party.

So what next? Can the ANC renew itself under a re-energised Mr Ramaphosa, as it so often promises, and if not, will the party shuffle quietly towards electoral defeat?

Both options seem unlikely. A period of deepening political uncertainty beckons, ripe with opportunities for new coalitions and political movements, and fraught with serious risks for a struggling, and increasingly disappointed, nation.

By Andrew Harding

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Nigerian Sheikh Sentenced To Death For Blasphemy

 A Sharia court in the northern Nigerian state of Kano has sentenced a prominent Islamic cleric to death by hanging, after finding him guilty of blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad as well as incitement in some of his preaching, although he denies the charges.

Sheikh Abduljabar Nasir Kabara has been detained by the authorities since July last year after being accused of spreading lies against the Prophet – charges which he denied.
The trial is being closely followed by Nigerians. Kano is among a dozen states in northern Nigeria where Sharia is practised alongside the country’s secular law.

The 52-year-old scholar is from the Qadiriyya sect. He has a sizeable number of followers mainly in Kano state.
His father was the leader of the sect in West Africa until his death in 1996.
Sheikh Abduljabar has the right to appeal against the judgement.

Death sentences in Nigeria are rarely carried out. Instead, convicted people are usually kept in prisons indefinitely.

Source: BBC

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Mozambique approves local militias in jihadist fight

 Mozambique’s parliament has approved a bill legalising the involvement of local forces in the fight against jihadists in the northern Cabo Delgado province.

Local militias have been assisting the army and its allies from Rwanda and the southern African regional bloc in the fight against jihadists in the province.

Defence Minister Cristovao Chume, who presented the bill in parliament, admitted that the Mozambican army was not strong enough to tackle jihadist activities alone.

He said there was an urgent need to establish local forces to strengthen the army “in combating and containing the spread of jihadist incursions”.

He said they would protect community settlements and public and private infrastructure, similar to strategies used in other jurisdictions where national security was compromised.

The local forces are made up of volunteer former combatants.

Source: BBC

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‘No I’m Not Going To Retire!’ – Messi Wants to Continue with Argentina as World Champions

 Lionel Messi says he will not be hanging up his international boots after captaining Argentina to victory at the World Cup in Qatar.

Messi finally achieved his World Cup dream on Sunday in Qatar as Argentina beat France to lift the trophy for a third time. The Argentina captain scored twice for La Albiceleste as an exciting game finished 3-3 after extra time and went all the way to penalties. Messi then coolly converted his spot-kick as Argentina won the shoot-out 4-2 to be crowned world champions. The forward, who picked up the Golden Ball award as the best player of the tournament, went on to speak about his future after the game.

“No, I’m not going to retiring from the Argentina national team,” he told TyC Sports.
“I want to continue playing as a champion.”
Messi also said he had a feeling he was going to win the tournament this time around.

Read Full Story …. Goal >>> :   

Source: Goal

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Trouble in Paris: Police Crack Down on French Fans Angry Over their World Cup Final Penalty Loss

 Armed police used tear gas on the streets of Paris tonight after disorder broke out following the World Cup defeat to Argentina.

Football fans descended en masse to the streets of the country’s biggest cities Paris, Lyon and Nice after the game.
Officers quelled a disturbance in the Champs-Elysees as flares were ignited and fireworks went off, The Sun reports.

Meanwhile, similar scenes played out in Madrid, the capital of Spain, as jubilant Argentinian fans flooded the streets in celebration.
Pictures showed a huge crowd of fans in white and blue in the city’s main square, drinking in the atmosphere after their team bested France.

However, some clashes broke out with police, with photographs showing armed officers beating supporters with batons. One man was seen being ushered away.
Around 14,000 police officers went out duty across France tonight to guarantee security as Les Bleus took on Argentina in the World Cup final, officials said Friday.

The Parisian security operation, presented to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin publicly on Friday, saw a concentration of forces in Paris, where huge crowds were expected in the event of victory.
The Champs-Elysees avenue was the scene of vast celebrations during France’s previous World Cup triumphs in 1998 and 2018, with 600,000 people cheering and dancing there four years ago. The avenue was closed to traffic on Sunday and 2,750 officers were stationed in the vicinity.

Read Full Story …. Dailymail.co.uk >>> :   

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

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UK: Government’s Plan To Deport Asylum Seekers to Rwanda Ruled Lawful By The High Court

 8Government plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda are lawful, the High Court ruled today – paving the way for ministers to prepare a new deportation flight.

Priti Patel announced the policy in April as part of a ‘world-first agreement’ to stop migrants from crossing the Channel, but the first flight – due to take off on June 14 – was grounded after legal challenges to individual removals and the policy as a whole.

Today, two senior judges rejected arguments that the proposal to provide one-way tickets to the east African nation were unlawful, but ruled in favour of eight asylum seekers whose cases were ‘not properly considered’.

Following the decision, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she was ‘committed’ to the policy and ‘stood ready’ for any further legal challenges. Downing Street said it wanted the plan to be implemented as soon as possible but said it was impossible to put a timetable on that while the possibility of further legal action remained.

In a summary of the ruling read out in court, Lord Justice Lewis said: ‘The court has concluded that it is lawful for the Government to make arrangements for relocating asylum seekers to Rwanda and for their asylum claims to be determined in Rwanda rather than in the United Kingdom.’

He added: ‘The relocation of asylum seekers to Rwanda is consistent with the Refugee Convention and with the statutory and other legal obligations on the Government, including the obligations imposed by the Human Rights Act 1998.’

In their 139-page judgment, Lord Justice Lewis and Mr Justice Swift said: ‘It is a fair point that, to date, the number of claims handled by the Rwandan asylum system has been small…it will take time and resources to develop the capacity of the Rwandan asylum system.

‘However, significant resources are to be provided…the number of persons that will be transferred will depend on the consent of the Rwandan government, taking account of its capacity to deal with persons in the way required.’

The judges continued: ‘The Memoranda of Understanding makes provision for significant financial assistance to Rwanda. That is a clear and significant incentive towards compliance with the terms of the arrangement.’

However, the judges said that the Home Secretary ‘has not properly considered’ the eight individuals’ cases, which meant the decisions to send them to Rwanda would be quashed and sent back to be reconsidered.

Lord Justice Lewis said a further hearing would take place in mid-January to handle the consequences of the judgment, including costs and applications to go to the Court of Appeal.

At a five-day hearing in September, lawyers for several asylum seekers – along with the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) and charities Care4Calais and Detention Action – argued the plans are unlawful and that Rwanda ‘tortures and murders those it considers to be its opponents’.

UNHCR – the UN Refugee Agency – intervened in the case, telling the court that Rwanda ‘lacks irreducible minimum components of an accessible, reliable, fair and efficient asylum system’ and that the policy would lead to a serious risk of breaches of the Refugee Convention.

At a further hearing in October, lawyers for the charity Asylum Aid also challenged the policy, arguing that the procedure is ‘seriously unfair’ and also unlawful, with asylum seekers put at risk of being removed without access to legal advice.

The Home Office defended the claims, with lawyers arguing the memorandum of understanding agreed between the UK and Rwanda provides assurances that ensure everyone sent there will have a ‘safe and effective’ refugee status determination procedure.

People deported to Rwanda will be provided with ‘adequate accommodation’, food, free medical assistance, education, language and professional development training and ‘integration programmes’, judges were told, as part of plans that have cost at least £120 million.

Today’s news is a major boost to the Home Secretary who has said it would be her ‘dream’ to send a flight of Channel migrants to Rwanda.

She said this morning: ‘Our ground-breaking Migration Partnership with Rwanda will provide individuals relocated with support to build new lives there, while disrupting the business model of people smuggling gangs putting lives at risk through dangerous and illegal small boat crossings.

‘We have always maintained that this policy is lawful and today the Court has upheld this.

‘I am committed to making this Partnership work – my focus remains on moving ahead with the policy as soon as possible and we stand ready to defend against any further legal challenge.’

Read Full Story …. dailymail >>> :   

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Twitter Users Vote In Favour Of Elon Musk Stepping Down

 Twitter’s owner Elon Musk is asking users of the social media platform to vote on his future as its chief executive.

In a poll to his 122 million followers, he tweeted: “Should I step down as head… I will abide by the results.”
The technology tycoon, who also runs Tesla and Space X, has faced much criticism since taking over Twitter.

After a legal battle, Mr Musk took control of the company in October in a $44bn ($36bn) deal.
At 07:00 GMT on Monday, more than 13 million people had voted in his poll and 57% had said yes to Mr Musk stepping down.

Dan Ives, senior equity analyst at Wedbush Securities, told the BBC he believed the vote would “ultimately” lead to the “ending of Musk’s reign as chief executive of Twitter”.
There has been a flurry of controversial changes at Twitter since Mr Musk bought the social media site in October.

He has fired about half of its staff and attempted a rollout of Twitter’s paid-for verification feature before putting it on pause. The feature was relaunched last week.
He has also been criticized for his approach to content moderation, with some civil liberties groups accusing him of taking steps that will increase hate speech and misinformation.

On Friday, Mr Musk was condemned by the United Nations and European Union over Twitter’s decision to suspend some journalists who cover the social media firm.
The UN tweeted that media freedom is “not a toy”, while the EU threatened Twitter with sanctions.

After starting the poll, Mr Musk tweeted: “As the saying goes, be careful what you wish, as you might get it.”
He added later: “Those who want power are the ones who least deserve it.”

Mr Ives said he believed Mr Musk had realised he “cannot balance” being the boss of Twitter as well as his electric car company Tesla and space rocket firm SpaceX.

“The biggest problem is the more controversy he creates, advertisers leave and they run for the hills and that’s 90% of revenue for Twitter,” he added.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said investors at Tesla would be “closely watching” Mr Musk’s poll.

“Given how much of a distraction Musk’s tenure at Twitter has become, shareholders in the electric vehicle manufacturer will be breathing a big sigh of relief if he steps back from Twitter and gets back to the day job at Tesla,” he said.

“For someone who sets so much store by work ethic, Musk sure seems to spend a lot of time on social media. With Tesla shares having more than halved year-to-date, Musk needs to roll up his sleeves and get his main business back on the road.”

Source: BBC

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