World

Top justice officials from the five English-speaking members of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance held talks with Ukraine’s prosecutor general on investigating war crimes, the US Justice Department said Thursday.

The attorneys general of the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada met virtually Wednesday with Iryna Venediktova, their Ukrainian counterpart, on Wednesday as Kyiv seeks action on thousands of suspected war crimes resulting from Russia’s invasion.

The six “discussed their coordinated efforts to hold accountable individuals whose criminal actions are enabling war crimes in Ukraine,” the US Justice Department said in a statement.

“Our commitment to working with our international partners, including Ukraine’s prosecutor general, to investigate and prosecute those responsible for atrocities in Ukraine remains steadfast,” said US Attorney General Merrick Garland in the statement.

“We will be relentless in our efforts to bring to justice those who facilitate the death and destruction we are witnessing in Ukraine.”

Last week Venediktova told Deutsche Welle, the German broadcaster, that Ukraine investigators had identified 8,600 suspected war crimes cases, and another 4,000 connected to war crimes, linked to the war which began on February 24.

The alleged crimes documented include “killing civilians, bombing of civilian infrastructure, torture” and “sexual crimes” that are being reported in the “occupied territory of Ukraine”, Venediktova said.

The Justice Department said Garland also updated his counterparts on US efforts to penalize billionaire oligarchs who support Russian President Vladimir Putin, and on the $33 billion in new aid for Ukraine that the White House has requested from Congress. 

Also on the call were British Attorney General Suella Braverman, Australia’s Attorney General Michaelia Cash, Canadian Minister of Justice David Lametti, and New Zealand’s Attorney General, David Parker.

Calm returned to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Thursday afternoon following early-morning clashes between Israelis and Palestinians that shattered a pause over the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Israeli police said they had repelled “dozens of rioters” who had been “throwing stones and other objects” at the security forces. Yet, by afternoon prayers, Palestinian mingled in the mosque’s courtyard under the mid-day sun, while large numbers of police stood by.

An AFP correspondent said there was a heavy police presence in front of the mosque as groups of Jewish faithful returned to the site for the first time this month.

The clashes came on the anniversary of Israel’s 1948 independence and followed a tense period in which the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the Jewish festival of Passover and the Christian holiday of Easter overlapped.

Ramadan ended Sunday and was followed by the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said two people had been injured in Thursday’s clashes, which came on the eve of Nakba day on which Palestinians mark the “catastrophe” when more than 700,000 fled or were expelled during the war surrounding Israel’s creation. 

About 600 Jewish “extremists” converged on the Al-Aqsa compound, the sheikh of Al-Aqsa mosque, Omar al-Kiswani, told AFP.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry labelled the Israeli actions a “declaration of religious war” while Jordan condemned Israel for allowing Jewish “extremists” to “break into” the compound.

The site is Islam’s third-holiest. It is also Judaism’s holiest place, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Palestinians have been angered by an uptick in Jewish visits to the compound, where by longstanding convention Jews may visit but are not allowed to pray.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has said the Jewish state “will not change” this status quo.

The latest morning violence came following a tense April, in which nearly 300 people were injured in clashes between police and Palestinians at Al-Aqsa. Violence also flared in the occupied West Bank, following attacks in Israel and raids by the Israeli military.

Last week, the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers Hamas threatened Israel with rockets and synagogue attacks if Israeli forces carried out further raids at Al-Aqsa.

Far-right opposition lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir, a leading figure behind Jewish efforts to march on the compound, said that the Jewish visits on Thursday proved that “Hamas is a weak organisation that can be easily subdued”.

A raid by Israeli police into the compound last month sparked widespread condemnation from regional leaders.

Jordan, which manages Jerusalem’s holy sites, accused Israel of upsetting the long-standing status quo which allows all faiths to worship at their sacred sites in the city.

The mounting violence since March 22 has killed 15 people, including an Arab-Israeli police officer and two Ukrainians, in separate attacks inside Israel. Two of the deadly attacks were carried out in the Tel Aviv area by Palestinians.

A total of 27 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs have died during the same period, among them perpetrators of attacks and those killed by Israeli security forces in West Bank operations.

Local and regional elections were being held across the UK on Thursday that could prove historic in Northern Ireland and heap further pressure on embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The contest for the devolved assembly in Belfast could see a pro-Irish nationalist party win for the first time in the troubled history of the British province.

The results, expected from Friday, could have huge constitutional implications for the four-nation UK’s future, with predicted victors Sinn Fein committed to a vote on reunification with Ireland.

Voters are electing councils in Scotland, Wales and much of England, with Johnson facing a potentially pivotal mid-term popularity test.

Poor results could reignite simmering discontent within his ruling Conservatives about his leadership, after a string of recent scandals.

– Jeopardy –

The prime minister voted in central London with his dog Dilyn, while the main UK opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer cast his ballot in the north of the capital with his wife, Victoria.

Johnson, 57, won a landslide 2019 general election victory by vowing to take the UK out of the European Union, and reverse rampant regional inequality.

Despite making good on his Brexit pledge, the pandemic largely stalled his domestic plans. 

But his position has been put in jeopardy because of anger at lockdown-breaking parties at his Downing Street office and the steeply rising cost of living.

The polls, which close at 2100 GMT, should also point to whether Labour poses a serious threat, as it tries to make inroads across England despite defending the many gains it made at the last local elections in 2018.

Labour is bidding to leapfrog the Conservatives into second place in Scotland, behind the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), and remain the largest party in Wales, where 16 and 17-year-olds are eligible to vote for the first time. 

– ‘Sea change’ –

The contest for Northern Ireland’s power-sharing assembly is set to capture attention, after numerous polls put Sinn Fein ahead.

A University of Liverpool poll reported Tuesday it remained on target to win comfortably with over a quarter of the vote. 

The pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and cross-community Alliance Party were tied for second.

Deirdre Heenan, professor of social policy at Ulster University, said there was a feeling the election “really is momentous”. 

“It will be a sea change if a nationalist becomes first minister,” she told AFP.

Sinn Fein — the IRA’s former political wing — has dialled down its calls for Irish unity during campaigning, saying it is “not fixated” on a date for a sovereignty poll, instead focusing on the rising cost of living and other local issues.

Party vice president Michelle O’Neill, who voted in County Tyrone, west of Belfast, has insisted voters are “looking towards the future” with pragmatism rather than the dogmatism that has long been the hallmark of Northern Irish politics.

– Power-sharing? –

In Belfast, municipal worker John Potts, 56, said a border poll was low down people’s priorities.

“Let’s get Stormont (the Northern Ireland Assembly) up and running, let’s sort out pay and health and education and the pandemic, and then we can have a wee chat about the constitution,” he told AFP.

O’Neill’s DUP rivals have sought to keep the spotlight on possible Irish reunification in the hope of bolstering their flagging fortunes.

In February, its first minister withdrew from the power-sharing government in protest at post-Brexit trade arrangements, prompting its collapse. 

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said after casting his vote that his party would not form a new executive unless London rips up the trading terms, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.

“Words alone will not be sufficient,” he told reporters. “I will not enter an executive until that action is taken.”

– Deliver –

In England, the Conservatives are predicted to lose hundreds of councillors and even control of long-time strongholds in London to Labour.

Johnson has tried to sideline the so-called “partygate” scandal that last month saw him become the first British prime minister to be fined for breaking the law while in office.

In Askrigg, in finance minister Rishi Sunak’s consitutency in northern England, HR manager Gemma said rising prices were “definitely” a more urgent issue.

“I think cost of living is a big one that people are going to be thinking about as they’re voting today, in terms of housing, transport, local issues,” she told AFP.

In Scotland, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is hoping that a strong performance in contests for all 32 local authorities can lay the groundwork for another independence referendum.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to visit, the German president’s office said on Thursday, three weeks after Steinmeier was snubbed by Kyiv.

Zelensky made the invitation during a telephone call with Steinmeier on Thursday, a source from the president’s office told AFP, during which “past irritations were cleared up” and Steinmeier expressed his “solidarity, respect and support” for Ukraine.

A diplomatic spat had been rumbling between the two countries since Steinmeier admitted last month he had offered to visit but was “not wanted in Kyiv”.

The German president, also a former foreign minister, has come under heavy criticism since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February for his years-long detente policy towards Moscow.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany in March boycotted a solidarity concert hosted by Steinmeier, protesting that the soloists featured on the programme were all Russians.

“In the middle of a war against civilians! An affront. Sorry I’m staying away,” Andrij Melnyk wrote on Twitter.

Steinmeier and Scholz are both Social Democrats (SPD), who have over the years pushed for closer ties with Russia — including energy ties that have left Germany heavily dependent on Russian gas.

Steinmeier admitted in April that he had made a “mistake” in pushing for Nord Stream 2, the controversial pipeline built to double Russian gas imports to Germany.

– ‘Distorted and slanderous’ –

Criticism has also mounted against former chancellor and fellow SPD member Gerhard Schroeder, who is a lobbyist for Russian gas and has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Scholz, meanwhile, has been criticised for his own failure to visit Kyiv, as well as his hesitancy over providing heavy weapons to help Ukraine resist Russia’s invasion.

Even as German opposition leader Friedrich Merz visited Ukraine this week, Scholz said he did not want to visit himself until Kyiv’s differences with Steinmeier had been ironed out.

However, Germany did say last week it would send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine, in a clear switch in Berlin’s cautious policy on military backing for Kyiv.

Scholz also expressed backing for a motion passed by the German parliament calling for the acceleration of the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.

The chancellor has also hit back at criticism of the SPD, accusing his opponents of a “distorted and slanderous depiction” of its Russia policy.

In the telephone call on Thursday, Steinmeier said Germany “stands with united forces in solidarity at Ukraine’s side”, the source from the president’s office said.

Both presidents described the talks as “very important and very good”, the source said.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and other key oil producers agreed Thursday on another marginal increase in output, bolstered by risks to demand amid coronavirus restrictions in China. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added to supply concerns, which have increased with Europe’s announced moves on a potential Russian oil embargo.

OPEC+ members confirmed they’ll stick to their strategy of modestly boosting output, adding another 432,000 barrels per day for June.

In short back-to-back meetings via video conference, the group “noted the continuing effects of geopolitical factors and issues related to the ongoing pandemic”, it said in a press release.

Prices had soared on Wednesday, with the Brent North Sea contract closing above $110 a barrel, its highest level in two-and-a-half weeks. 

At around 1400 GMT on Thursday, Brent stood at $113.25 a barrel and American WTI at $110.64 a barrel.

– Inability to meet quotas –

Analysts had widely expected the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), led by Riyadh, and their 10 partners led by Moscow to stay the course. 

“In any case, the decision by OPEC+ to raise its output quota in June is only as relevant as its ability to meet that quota. In recent months, it has failed to do so,” Edward Gardner, a commodities economist for Capital Economics, said.

Between a lack of investment in oil infrastructure in some member countries and operational problems, the cartel regularly fails to meet its production quotas.

The cartel’s strategy dates back to the spring of 2021 when the economy began recovering and oil market stabilised after the drastic cuts imposed amid the shock of the pandemic. 

Largely spared for two years, China in recent weeks has been battling its worst coronavirus outbreak since the spring of 2020 which has strained its zero-Covid strategy. 

Beijing on Wednesday closed dozens of metro stations and residents fear their city will be locked down, as is already the case in Shanghai, the country’s largest city with 25 million people. 

“The slowing activity in China is certainly a factor that will justify their decision to stay put, faced with the mounting international pressure to increase production to address the worsening global energy crisis,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, an analyst at Swissquote bank, told AFP ahead of the meeting.

As for the new economic sanctions planned against Russia, they were also not expected to move the needle for the moment. 

In its sixth package of sanctions, the European Commission is seeking a ban on all Russian crude oil and refined products transported by sea and pipeline by the end of 2022, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament.

– ‘Huge impact’ –

That prospect threatens supply in an already tense European market.

While unanimity among the 27 EU member states is required for the sanctions to go forward, Hungary, which is highly dependent on Russian deliveries, rejected the project in its current form.

“If it (the EU) manages to convince its members to ratify the plan… then this will have a huge impact on Russian oil exports,” Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at City Index and Forex.com, said ahead of the meeting.

Stephen Innes, an analyst at SPI Asset Management, said OPEC+’s wait-and-see approach was “increasingly untenable” and “contrary to its mission statement”.

“(It’s) why they have fallen under constant criticism for being slow and technically unprepared to react to recent developments in global markets,” he said.

Police fired tear gas on students attempting to storm Sri Lanka’s parliament Thursday as the protesters demanded the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the country’s worst-ever economic crisis.

Protesters led by the Inter University Students’ Federation were about to pull down the yellow-painted iron barricades on the main drive leading to the legislature when riot police unleashed a barrage of tear gas.

The students had marched from a nearby university and closed in on the parliament building located on a man-made lake island when police moved in.

Even as the crowds dispersed, police kept firing tear gas canisters that hit shops in the nearby Diyatha Uyana park, witnesses said.

Police had earlier set up barricades around the sprawling parliament complex where a vacancy for the deputy speaker was being filled unopposed. 

Sri Lanka’s 22-million population has been facing acute shortages of food, fuel and medicines for months, bringing tens of thousands onto the streets to demand the resignation of Rajapaksa and other members of his powerful ruling family. 

The president and his family have made it clear that they will not step down despite escalating demonstrations across the island.

– Trade unions –

Sri Lanka’s trade unions have announced a one-day work stoppage on Friday.

The organisers of the strike have asked temples and churches to ring their bells for an hour on Friday morning in a show of solidarity.

Finance minister Ali Sabry warned on Wednesday that the country will have to endure its unprecedented economic hardships for at least two more years.

Sabry said the country now has less than $50 million in usable foreign exchange reserves, needed to finance essential goods to keep Sri Lanka’s import-dependent economy ticking over.

Official data shows reserves at $1.7 billion, but most of that figure includes a Chinese currency swap which cannot be used to pay for imports from other countries.

Sabry said the government faltered by delaying an approach to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis took hold after the coronavirus pandemic hammered income from tourism and remittances.

Last month, Colombo announced it was defaulting on its $51 billion foreign debt.