Thousands of refugees in Indonesia have spent years awaiting resettlement
Morwan Mohammad walks down an old hotel corridor on Batam Island in northwestern Indonesia before entering a six-square-metre (64sq-foot) room that has been home to him and his growing family for the past eight years. Mohammad, who fled war in Sudan, is one of hundreds of refugees living in community housing on the island while waiting for resettlement in a third country. Hotel Kolekta, a former tourist hotel, was converted in 2015 into a temporary shelter that today houses 228 refugees from conflict-torn nations including Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and elsewhere. The island, just south of Singapore, has a population of 1.2 million people. Indonesia, despite having a long history of accepting refugees, is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol, and the government does not allow refugees and asylum seekers to work. Many had fled to Indonesia as a jumping-off point hoping to eventually reach Australia by boat, but are now stuck in what feels like an endless limbo. Mohammad and his wife arrived in Jakarta nine years ago after travelling from his hometown Nyala to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and onward to the sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago, where their first stop was the UN refugee agency office in the capital. “We did not know where to go — just looking for a safe place to live. The most important thing was to get out of Sudan to avoid war,” he said. They made their way to Batam in 2016, believing it would be easier to travel from there to a third country for resettlement. All three of Mohammad’s children were born in Indonesia and he does not know where his family will ultimately settle. He says he wants to have a normal life, working and earning money so he can support himself without relying on others for assistance. “We left our country, our family. We miss our family members. But life here is also too hard for us because, for eight years, we are not working, not doing good activities. Just sleep, wake up, eat, repeat,” he said. Hotel Kolekta is administered by the Tanjungpinang Central Immigration Detention Center on nearby Bintan Island. That three-storey detention facility, with its barred windows and fading paint, is home to dozens of detainees facing similarly uncertain futures, including whether they will ever return to their homelands, but in conditions that more closely resemble a prison. Two Palestinian men have languished there for more than a year, unable to return home due to the war in Gaza. Four fishermen from Myanmar are stranded because they cannot afford to pay for their onward travel. Those held in the detention centre typically violated Indonesia’s immigration regulations, while those living in Hotel Kolekta and other community housing entered the country legally seeking safe haven. The UNHCR office in Indonesia says that nearly one-third of the 12,295 people registered with the organisation are children who have limited access to education and health services. Adblock test (Why?)
US prosecutors recommend criminal charges for Boeing, report says
US Justice Department has until July 7 to prosecute aircraft giant over breaches of settlement related to fatal crashes. Prosecutors in the United States are recommending that criminal charges be brought against Boeing after finding the plane maker violated a settlement related to two fatal crashes, two people familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) must decide by July 7 whether to prosecute Boeing. The recommendation by prosecutors handling the case has not been previously reported. In May, officials determined the company breached a 2021 agreement that had shielded Boeing from a criminal charge of conspiracy to commit fraud arising from two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, involving the 737 MAX jet. Under the 2021 deal, the Justice Department agreed not to prosecute Boeing over allegations it defrauded the Federal Aviation Administration so long as the company overhauled its compliance practices and submitted regular reports. Boeing also agreed to pay $2.5bn to settle the investigation. Boeing declined to comment. It has previously said it has “honoured the terms” of the 2021 settlement, which had a three-year term and is known as a deferred prosecution agreement. Boeing has told the Justice Department it disagrees with its determination that the company violated the settlement, Reuters reported this month. A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment. The two sides are in discussions over a potential resolution to the Justice Department’s investigation and there is no guarantee officials will move forward with charges, the two sources said. The internal Justice Department deliberations remain ongoing and no final decisions have been reached, they added. Criminal charges would deepen an unfolding crisis at Boeing, which has faced intense scrutiny from US prosecutors, regulators and lawmakers after a panel blew off one of its jets operated by Alaska Airlines mid-flight on January 5, just two days before the 2021 settlement expired. The sources did not specify what criminal charges Justice Department officials are considering, but one of the people said they could extend beyond the original 2021 fraud conspiracy charge. Alternatively, instead of prosecuting Boeing, the DOJ could extend the 2021 settlement by a year or propose new, stricter terms, the sources said. In addition to financial penalties, the strictest settlements typically involve installing a third party to monitor a company’s compliance. The DOJ can also require the company to admit its wrongdoing by pleading guilty. Boeing may be willing to pay a penalty and agree to a monitor, but believes a guilty plea, which typically incurs additional business restrictions, could be too damaging, said one of the sources. Boeing derives significant revenue from contracts with the US government, including the Department of Defense, which could be jeopardised by a felony conviction, one of the sources said. Relatives of the victims of the two fatal 737 MAX crashes have long criticised the 2021 agreement, arguing that Justice Department officials should have prosecuted the company and its executives. At a Senate hearing in June, Chief Executive Dave Calhoun acknowledged the company’s shortcomings in safety and apologised to the families who lost loved ones. Last week, the families pressed prosecutors to seek a fine against the plane maker of nearly $25bn and move forward with a criminal prosecution. Adblock test (Why?)
Australia’s grocer chains face billion-dollar fines over supplier treatment
Violators of industry code of conduct to be subject to fines of up to 10 percent of annual turnover. Australia will impose hefty fines on supermarket chains found to be abusing their bargaining power over suppliers. Under the rules announced by the government on Monday, supermarket chains earning more than 5 billion Australian dollars ($3.3bn) in annual revenue will be required to comply with a previously voluntary industry code of conduct. The changes will cover Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and Metcash, which together make up more than 80 percent of the market, and could expand to retailers such as Costco as their revenues grow. Breaches of the code will be subject to fines of up to 10 percent of annual turnover, leaving retailers liable to pay billions of dollars in penalties. The government said it would also establish an anonymous supplier and whistle‑blower complaints mechanism within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. “This is about getting a fair go for families and a fair go for farmers. Our efforts will help to ensure our supermarkets are as competitive as they can be so Australians get the best prices possible,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Monday in a joint statement with the assistant competition minister, Andrew Leigh, and the agriculture minister, Murray Watt. “We’re cracking down on anti‑competitive behaviour in the supermarkets sector so people get fairer prices at the checkout,” the statement said. The changes come after a report by Craig Emerson, a former competition minister, found that the previous code failed to address the “imbalance of bargaining power” between supermarkets and their suppliers. In his report, Emerson said suppliers reported fearing retaliation by supermarkets if they complained and that an effective code needed a “credible threat of effective enforcement and not be undermined by the threat of signatories walking away from their commitments”. Australia has one of the most concentrated grocery markets in the world. Woolworths and Coles, the largest and second-largest players, together account for about two-thirds of all sales. Research released by the consumer group Choice last week found that there was less than a one dollar price difference between the two chains when comparing a typical basket of groceries. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 850
As the war enters its 850th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Monday, June 24, 2024. Fighting Four people were killed and more than 100 injured in a Ukrainian attack on the Russian-annexed city of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. The Russian Ministry of Defence said that air defences shot down four of the five Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) long-range missiles used in the attack, while the fifth exploded in midair. Russian-appointed officials said fragments fell on a beach to the north of the city where people were enjoying a day out. It claimed, without evidence, that the United States bore responsibility for the attack. Neither the US nor Ukraine have commented. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The peninsula is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine. At least one person was killed and 11 injured after Russia launched an apparent glide bomb attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said that about half of Kharkiv was without electricity because of the attack. At least two people were injured and dozens of residential and other buildings were damaged in a Russian missile attack on the Kyiv region, according to Ruslan Kravchenko, the head of the region’s state administration. Kyiv, its surrounding region and several other areas across Ukraine were under air raid alerts for about an hour on Sunday morning, starting at 4.50am local time (01:50 GMT). Ukraine’s energy operator, Ukrenergo, said that rolling electricity blackouts would be imposed nationwide throughout Monday because of increased Russian attacks on power stations. The Ukrainian Navy released photos that it said confirmed the destruction of a warehouse that Russia was using to launch and store Iranian-designed Shahed drones. Navy officials said training instructors and cadets were killed in the attack on Friday night in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. Moscow has not commented on the reports, although officials said air defences shot down several drones in the region overnight on Friday. Weapons Serbia has sold hundreds of millions of dollars of ammunition to Western countries, which has probably helped Ukraine’s fight against Russia, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic told the United Kingdom’s Financial Times in an interview. Pak Jong Chon, one of North Korea’s top military officials, criticised the US over its expanding military support for Ukraine and said Russia had the “right to opt for any kind of retaliatory strike”, the state-run KCNA reported. Adblock test (Why?)
Week in pictures: From Putin visiting North Korea to International Yoga Day
[unable to retrieve full-text content] A roundup of some of last week’s events.
Albania says player banned for two Euro 2024 games for ‘nationalist’ chants
The ban comes after the Albania forward apologised for leading fans in derogatory chants against Croatia at Euro 2024. The Albanian football federation said UEFA has banned its player Mirlind Daku for two games at the European Championships after he led fans in nationalist chants. Daku took a megaphone after Albania’s 2-2 draw with Croatia on Wednesday in Hamburg and joined in chanting slogans against Serbia and North Macedonia. The Albanian federation also said on Sunday that UEFA imposed fines totaling 47,250 euros ($50,500) for incidents at the game, where its fans joined Croatian fans in chanting an anti-Serb slogan. The Serbian football federation said it would leave the tournament if UEFA did not punish the incidents. Albania plays a decisive group-stage game on Monday against Spain. Daku later apologised for his actions in a social media posting, as UEFA appointed an in-house investigator to study his “alleged inappropriate behavior”. The 26-year-old forward began playing for Albania last year having used his right under FIFA rules to change his eligibility from Kosovo, the ethnic-Albanian former province of Serbia that declared independence 16 years ago, after a war that killed 10,000 civilians, the vast majority Kosovar Albanians. Serbia has refused to recognise Kosovo’s statehood, considering it part of Serbia, and tensions persist. UEFA also announced charges against its Albanian and Croatian member federations for “potential racist and/or discriminatory conduct” by fans on Wednesday, who were reportedly chanting “Kill the Serbs” in Serbian. Croatia was formerly part of the Serb-dominated Yugoslavia, declaring independence in 1991 that led to a four-year-war, part of the wider conflict brought on by the breakup of Yugoslavia. The Albanian football federation, or FSHF, called on the fans to be “accountable and avoid incidents and riots”. “The FSHF invites fans and football lovers to support to the end the Albanian national team in this magical and historic path in Euro 2024 by showing citizenry and accountability through correct behavior and by respecting the rules and the opponents,” said a statement. Albania has impressed at Euro 2024 in an opening 2-1 loss against Italy and then the 2-2 draw with Croatia. The team likely needs to beat Spain to advance. Adblock test (Why?)
Kenya’s Ruto agrees ‘for conversation’ with protesters over tax hikes
The weeklong protests have caught Ruto’s government off-guard, as discontent mounts over his economic policies. Kenya’s President William Ruto has said he was ready for “a conversation” with thousands of “peaceful” young protesters who held nationwide demonstrations this week to oppose proposed tax increases. The protesters, who began their demonstrations on Tuesday, say the administration of President William Ruto has gone back on its pledge to reduce taxes and lower the cost of living. Organised on social media and led largely by young Kenyans who livestreamed the demonstrations, the protests caught Ruto’s government off-guard, as discontent mounts over his economic policies. “I am very proud of our young people… they have stepped forward peaceful[ly] and I want to tell them we are going to engage them,” Ruto said in his first public comments on the protests on Sunday. “We are going to have a conversation so that together we can build a greater nation,” he added during a church service in the Rift Valley town of Nyahururu. In response, however, one protest leader said Ruto had to “respond publically”. “If he truly wants dialogue, he must respond publically to our demand letter,” said Hanifa Adan. Protesters have called for a national strike on June 25. The weeklong demonstrations have mostly been peaceful, but five groups, including Amnesty International, noted late on Thursday in a joint statement that at least 105 protesters had been arrested in a violent crackdown by riot police that included the use of tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets. A Kenya Human Rights Commission official told the AFP news agency on Saturday that 21-year-old Evans Kiratu was “hit by a tear gas canister” during the protests and died in hospital. On Friday, a police watchdog said it was investigating allegations that a 29-year-old man was shot by officers in Nairobi after the demonstrations. Impact of tax hikes Following smaller-scale demonstrations in Nairobi on Tuesday, the cash-strapped government agreed to roll back several tax hikes laid out in a new bill. But, after the government agreed to scrap levies on bread purchases, car ownership as well as financial and mobile services, the treasury warned of a 200-billion-shilling ($1.5bn) shortfall. The government has now targeted an increase in fuel prices and export taxes to fill the void left by the changes, a move critics say will make life more expensive in a country already saddled with high inflation. Kenya has a vast debt mountain, and servicing costs have ballooned due to a fall in the value of the local currency over the last two years, leaving Ruto with few options. The tax hikes will pile further pressure on Kenyans, with many already struggling as the cost of living surges and well-paid jobs remain out of reach for young people. Ruto added on Sunday that the annual budget included measures to tackle youth unemployment and improve access to higher education. “What I want to assure [the protesters]… is that we are concerned about their issues,” he said. “We are going to make sure that every child has access to higher education.” Adblock test (Why?)
Houthis claim attack on ship that docked in Israel
Houthis say the commercial vessel was targeted for using an Israeli port as they step up their campaign in support of Palestinians in Gaza. The Houthis in Yemen say they launched attacks on a commercial vessel after it used an Israeli port, and on a US aircraft carrier ordered home after months of responding to sea attacks launched because of the war on Gaza. Yahya Saree, the military spokesman of the Iran-aligned group, said in a televised announcement on Saturday the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Transworld Navigator was directly hit by ballistic missiles in the Arabian Sea. “The ship was targeted because the company that owns it violated the ban of entry into the ports of occupied Palestine,” he said, alluding to an earlier threat that all ships docking at Israeli ports would be considered targets. The attack came after the sinking this week of the ship MV Tutor, which appears to mark a new escalation in the campaign against commercial vessels in vital maritime corridors. Saree also claimed an attack using ballistic and cruise missiles on the USS Eisenhower, which has led US Navy operations in the region since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza. Saree said “the operation has achieved its objectives successfully” without elaborating. One unnamed US official told Reuters news agency the claim “is incorrect”. The Houthis and social media accounts supporting them have repeatedly falsely claimed to hit or even sink the aircraft carrier in the Red Sea. The announcement came shortly after US officials reportedly ordered the USS Eisenhower to return home after more than eight months of deployment, with another aircraft carrier operating in the Pacific set to replace it. UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 088 – ATTACK – UPDATE 001https://t.co/fX3hWupPWO#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/yDrCzyfawN — United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) June 21, 2024 The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported on Friday that a vessel was attacked 126 nautical miles (233km) east of Aden in Yemen. It said the master reported “explosions in the vicinity of the vessel” and the crew is safe. The Houthis pledged to continue their military operations, which they have said are in support of Palestinians and will only stop when the siege of Gaza is lifted. The group has launched more than 60 attacks, sunk two commercial ships, seized another, and attacked dozens more since the start of the war. In March, the Houthis killed three people after one of its antiship ballistic missiles set the Barbados-flagged True Confidence on fire. The US and United Kingdom militaries have launched air raids across Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen to weaken the group’s military capabilities. Adblock test (Why?)
What’s behind the widespread protests in Kenya?
Young people in Kenya reacted to the government proposal with angry demonstrations and police cracked down hard. Widespread protests in Kenya erupted this week against proposed new taxes, and police were criticised for using excessive force to break them up. Many on the streets were young, mobilised by social media. Why is the government pushing the new taxes? And why has there been such a violent reaction? Presenter: Elizabeth Puranam Guests: Stella Agara – Tax justice activist and Africa governance and security analyst Reginald Kadzutu – Finance economist at Oxford Brooks University Nicodemus Minde – Researcher with the East Africa Peace and Security Governance Program at the Institute for Security Studies Adblock test (Why?)
‘All of the rats in the Knesset’: Mass antiwar protest in Israel
An estimated 150,000 people attended the rally in one of the biggest demonstrations since Israel’s war on Gaza began. Tens of thousands of protesters waving Israeli flags and chanting slogans against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government rallied in Tel Aviv Saturday, demanding new elections and the return of captives held in Gaza. Large protests have occurred in the Israeli city on a weekly basis over Netanyahu’s handling of the nearly nine-month-old war in Gaza started by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel. Many protesters held signs reading “Crime Minister” and “Stop the War” as people poured into the biggest Israeli city’s main thoroughfare. “I am here because I am afraid of the future of my grandchild. There will be no future for them if we don’t go out and get rid of the horrible government,” said contractor Shai Erel, 66. “All of the rats in the Knesset … I wouldn’t let any one of them be a guard of a kindergarten.” Antigovernment protest organisation Hofshi Israel estimated more than 150,000 people attended the rally, calling it the biggest since Israel’s war on Gaza. Some demonstrators lay on the ground covered in red paint in the city’s Democracy Square to protest what they say is the death of the country’s democracy under Netanyahu. In an address to the crowd, a former head of Israel’s domestic Shin Bet security agency, Yuval Diskin, condemned Netanyahu as Israel’s “worst prime minister”. Many are frustrated with the country’s right-wing coalition, which includes Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and other far-right ultranationalists, accusing it of prolonging the war in Gaza and putting the country’s security and captives at risk. Yoram, a 50-year-old tour guide who declined to give his last name, said he was attending every weekly protest as Israel needed elections “yesterday” because of Netanyahu. “I really hope the government collapses. If we go to the original date of elections in 2026, it is not going to be a democratic election.” A separate Tel Aviv rally on Saturday night drew thousands of relatives and supporters of the captives. Adblock test (Why?)