22/06/2025

WORLD 8 ON SUNDAY JUNE 22, 2025

‘Give peace a chance’

Pro-Palestinian activist walks free JENA: Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil walked out of a Louisiana immigrant detention centre on Friday, hours after a judge ordered his release, a major victory for rights groups that challenged what they called the US administration’s unlawful targeting of a pro-Palestinian activist. “Although justice prevailed,” he said upon his release in the rural town of Jena, “it’s long, very long overdue. And this shouldn’t have taken three months.” On March 8, Khalil was arrested by immigration agents in the lobby of his university residence in Manhattan. After hearing oral arguments from lawyers for Khalil and the Department of Homeland Security, District Judge Michael Farbiarz of Newark, New Jersey, ordered DHS to release him from custody at a jail for immigrants in rural Louisiana on Friday. In Gaza, Israeli fire killed at least 44 Palestinianson Friday, many who were seeking food aid, local officials said, while the United Nations’ children’s agency said the scarcity of drinking water was at a crisis point. At least 25 people awaiting aid trucks were killed by Israeli action south of Netzarim in central Gaza, the local health authority said. The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots at suspected gunmen who advanced in a crowd towards them. Israeli aircraft then fired a missile and “eliminated the suspects”, it said in a statement. The military said it was aware that people other than the suspected gunmen were hurt and it was conducting a review. – Reuters EU goes soft over greenwashing BRUSSELS: The European Commission said on Friday it intends to scrap new rules against greenwashing after they hit a roadblock in the final stretch from conservative lawmakers calling them too onerous for businesses. The “Green Claims Directive” would require companies to provide hard facts to back up claims that their products are carbon-neutral, biodegradable or “less polluting”. Businesses would need to submit evidence for environmental claims for approval by independent verifiers – with fines and other penalties for failure to comply. “The commission intends to withdraw the Green Claims proposal,” said Maciej Berestecki, the EU executive’s spokesperson on environmental matters. European lawmakers and the bloc’s 27 member states agreed last year to move ahead with the directive, which was being finalised in three-way negotiations with the commission with a final meeting set for tomorrow. But the European People’s Party – parliament’s biggest force – was not satisfied with the text, and asked the commission to withdraw it. Berestecki said the EU’s executive arm decided to do just that, because the “discussions around the proposal” went against its “simplification agenda”. Currently 30 million micro enterprises – or 96% of all firms – would be covered by the text, something the commission did not like, Berestecki explained. – AFP

NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that expansion of the Israel-Iran conflict could “ignite a fire no one can control” and called on both sides and potential parties to the conflict to “give peace a chance”. Representatives from Israel and Iran later traded angry accusations at the same UN Security Council meeting, with Israel vowing not to stop its attacks. The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency warned that attacks on nuclear facilities could result in “radioactive releases with great consequences within and beyond boundaries” of the state attacked and called for maximum restraint. Guterres said there were “moments when the directions taken will shape not just the fate of nations, but potentially our collective future”. “This is such a moment,” he said. He said the conflict must not be allowed to expand. “To the parties to the conflict, the potential parties to the conflict, and to the Security Council as the representative of the international community, I have a simple and clear message: give peace a chance,” Guterres said. The Security Council session took place as European foreign ministers met their Iranian counterpart on Friday hoping to test Tehran’s readiness to negotiate a new nuclear deal despite there being scant prospect of Israel stopping its attacks. Israel has repeatedly bombed nuclear targets, which it sees as components of a weapons programme, and Iran has fired missiles and drones at Israel as a week-old air war escalated with no sign yet of an exit strategy. The White House said on Thursday President Donald Trump would make a decision within the next two weeks whether to get involved. Iran says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes. It said on Friday it would not discuss the future of the programme while under attack. Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said Iran would continue to defend itself from Israeli attacks, while his Israeli counterpart Danny Danon vowed: “We will not stop. Not until Iran’s nuclear threat is dismantled, not until its war machine is disarmed, not until our people and yours are safe.” UN secretary-general warns of consequences

a wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran. Shortly after 2.30am in Israel (7.30am in Malaysia), the Israeli military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing across the metropolitan area as Israel’s air defence systems responded. Israel’s air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based human rights organisation that tracks Iran. The dead include the military’s top echelon and nuclear scientists. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities. Reuters could not independently verify casualty figures for either side. Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets on Friday, including missile production sites, a research body it said was involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran and military facilities in western and central Iran. – Reuters

Iravani said Iran was “alarmed by credible reports that the United States ... may be joining this war”, and accused Israel of hitting five hospitals in its attacks, a charge for which Danon demanded he provide evidence. Danon said Israel sought genuine efforts to dismantle Iran’s nuclear capabilities from Friday’s meeting between European and Iranian ministers, not just another round of talks. Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, outlined Israeli attacks on nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Arak. He said the level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site had remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact on the population or the environment. However, he said that within the facility there was radiological and chemical contamination. He said the IAEA was not aware of any damage at the Fordow plant. An attack on Iran’s Bushehr plant would be most serious, he said: “It is an operating nuclear power plant and hosts thousands of kilogrammes of nuclear material.” The Israeli military said it had launched

Prof Roee Ozeri of the Weizmann Institute speaking to the media surrounded by rubble at the campus in Rehovot, Israel. – REUTERSPIC

UK parliament passes Bill on assisted dying LONDON: Britain’s parliament voted on Friday in favour of a Bill to legalise assisted dying, paving the way for the country’s biggest social change in a generation. The vote puts Britain on course to follow Australia, Canada and other countries, as well as some US states, in permitting assisted dying.

favour of the legislation hugged, clapped and cheered. They shouted “victory”, “we won” and waved placards. Those opposed to it stood in silence. Emma Bray, who has motor neuron disease, said she hoped the result would help people in her condition. Bray, who is 42 and has two children, said she plans to starve herself to death next month to help relieve the pain after being told she only has six months to live. “This result will mean that people will not have to go through the same suffering I have faced,” she said. Opinion polls show that a majority of Britons back assisted dying. – Reuters

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government was neutral on the legislation, meaning politicians voted according to their conscience rather than along party lines. Starmer voted in favour. Supporters of the Bill say it will provide dignity and compassion to people suffering, but opponents worry that vulnerable people could be coerced into ending their lives. Hundreds of people gathered outside parliament to hear news of the vote. When the result was read out, those in

The Bill passed by a vote of 314-291, clearing its biggest parliamentary hurdle. The “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life)” law would give mentally competent, terminally ill adults in England and Wales with six months or less left to live the right to choose to end their lives with medical help. The Bill now proceeds to the House of Lords, where it will undergo scrutiny. While there could be further amendments, the unelected Lords will be reluctant to block legislation that has been passed by elected members of the House of Commons.