05/02/2026

THURSDAY | FEB 5, 2026

9

Peace walk draws large crowds

GLEN ALLEN: Buddhist monks walking from Texas to Washington to promote peace have become a surprise popular hit as they near the US capital, attracting crowds of thousands who line the route or join in for a few miles. At a time of strife and political tension in the United States, the monks offer a change of tone on their 3,700km odyssey across eight states through freezing temperatures and along ice covered roads. On Tuesday, north of Virginia’s capital Richmond, Louella Glessner stood on a mound of plowed snow, flowers in hand, hoping the robed monks and their mission might somehow begin to heal America’s toxic divisions. “I am a Christian, but this whole concept, I think it’s great,” Glessner, a 62 year trust administrator, said ahead of the monks’ arrival at a Buddhist temple where people gathered on the roadside and in the pagoda grounds. “It’s what the country needs. We need to have peace and we need to find commonality between all people,” she said. Since launching their ambitious trek 101 days ago from a Buddhist centre in Fort Worth, Texas, the group of about 20 monks have spread a message of unity, compassion, mindfulness, healing and peace. It has resonated in unexpectedly dramatic fashion, with thousands of people turning up to share in the

ISRAELI STRIKES KILL 18 IN GAZA CAIRO: Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 18 people, including four children, in Gaza yesterday and Israel halted the passage of patients through the Rafah border crossing. The Israeli military said tanks had fired on Gaza and airstrikes had been launched after a gunman shot at Israeli soldiers and injured a reservist. The strikes targeted Gaza City and the southern city of Khan Younis. A Gazan health official said Israel had also halted the passage of patients through the Rafah border crossing, two days after it had reopened, allowing a trickle of Palestinians to cross. A Red Crescent spokesperson said patients had arrived at a hospital in Khan Younis in preparation for crossing Rafah, only to be told that Israel had postponed evacuations. – Reuters TEHRAN PERMITS FEMALE BIKERS TEHRAN: Women in Iran can now formally obtain a licence to ride a motorcycle ending years of legal ambiguity. The law previously did not explicitly prohibit women from riding motorcycles and scooters, but authorities refused to issue licences. Due to the legal grey area, women have been held legally responsible for accidents even when victims. Iran’s First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref signed a resolution on Tuesday clarifying the traffic code, Ilna news agency reported. The resolution obliges traffic police to train female applicants, organise an exam and issue licences to women. – AFP PROBE INTO KILLING OF GADDAFI’S SON TRIPOLI: Libyan prosecutors said yesterday they were investigating the killing of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of slain ruler Muammar Gaddafi, in the city of Zintan. The public prosecutor’s office said forensic experts had been dispatched to Zintan in northwest Libya, adding that efforts were underway to identify suspects. “The victim died from gunshot wounds,” the office said, adding that investigators were looking to “speak to witnesses and anyone who may be able to shed light on the incident”. A lawyer of Seif al-Islam, Marcel Ceccaldi, said he was killed by a “four-man commando” on Tuesday. – AFP JILL BIDEN’S EX FACES MURDER CHARGE WASHINGTON: The ex-husband of former first lady Jill Biden has been arrested and charged with murder in the death of his current wife at their Delaware home in December. William Stevenson, 77, is facing a first-degree murder charge in connection to the Dec 28 death of his wife, 64-year-old Linda Stevenson, according to New Castle County Police in Delaware. He was arrested on Monday and remained in jail after failing to post bail. Authorities on Tuesday did not say how Linda Stevenson died or provide details about the investigation. Linda Stevenson was “family-oriented and treasured time spent making memories, especially on family vacations with her daughter and granddaughter,“ according to her obituary. – AFP

BR I E F S

“It doesn’t matter where you’re from, you can come stand here and just witness a peaceful experience. “There’s nobody dragging anybody out of cars, nobody’s yelling, nobody’s angry. Everybody is just here in the moment.” The walk has not been without anguish. One monk was struck by a vehicle in a November traffic accident, and his leg had to be amputated. He reportedly reunited with the group in Georgia. “Our walking itself cannot create peace,” the monks wrote in an early blog post. “But when someone encounters us ... when our message touches something deep within them, when it awakens the peace that has always lived quietly in their own heart – something sacred begins to unfold.” The monks are expected to arrive in the capital on Feb 10 and visit the Washington National Cathedral before holding a meditation retreat the following day. – AFP

o ‘We just need something positive’

with sheriff badges from the many counties that have hosted them and secured the roads. Despite the bitter cold, and the fractious state of US politics, the monks are accomplishing something few others have: bringing people together. Two weeks ago in North Carolina, 10,000 people packed a baseball stadium to hear Bhikku Pannakara speak. “It’s been crowded like this for the last couple of states,” he told those in attendance, urging listeners to avoid “chasing materialism” and to abandon thoughts of greed, anger and hatred. North of Richmond, Sarah Peyton and her two young sons stood quietly contemplating the monks who walked briskly past. “Right now I think we just need something positive,” the 38-year-old Virginia native said.

experience. Last month, 20,000 well wishers greeted them in Columbia, South Carolina. The mission’s Facebook page tops 2.5 million followers and its videos have garnered over 100 million views. The group’s peace dog Aloka, a former stray, has also become a celebrity in its own right. The monks, who often stay overnight at churches or university campuses, hail from Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. On Tuesday in Glen Allen, onlookers kneeled and offered fruit, police officers shook the monks’ hands and the monks presented people with blessing threads and other gifts. Children shyly offered flowers or waved as the group walked past. Leading the procession has been Bhikkhu Pannakara, a Vietnamese monk whose saffron sash is adorned

Pannakara (left) leading the ‘monks in Glen Allen, Virginia, on Tuesday. – AFPPIC

US heading to authoritarianism, says rights group

WASHINGTON: Human Rights Watch warned yesterday that President Donald Trump was turning the United States into an authoritarian state as democracy declines globally to its lowest ebb in four decades. Trump’s return to the White House has intensified a “downward spiral” on human rights that was already under pressure from Russia and China, the New York-based advocacy and research group said in its annual report. “The rules-based international order is being crushed,” HRW said. In the United States, the group said, Trump has shown “blatant

who eventually were allowed into Venezuela, of being tortured including beatings and sexual violence. Human Rights Watch pointed to metrics by which democracy has declined to the level of 1985 when the Soviet Union still existed. “Russia and China are less free today than 20 years ago. And so is the United States,” it said. Philippe Bolopion, the group’s executive director, called on countries to form alliances based on respect for human rights and to stand together, including against the tariff-wielding Trump. – AFP

political enemies and former officials now critical of him, as well as attempts to expand the coercive powers of the executive and neuter democratic checks and balances, underpin a decided shift toward authoritarianism in the US,”the report said. Human Rights Watch repeated its finding that the United States engaged in enforced disappearances, a crime under international law, by sending 252 Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. In a recent report, HRW documented allegations by the men,

disregard for human rights and egregious violations”. In descriptions that would have been unthinkable in the US section of its previous annual reports, the group pointed to the deployment of masked, armed agents – the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency – which has carried out “hundreds of unnecessarily violent and abusive raids”. “The administration’s racial and ethnic scapegoating, domestic deployment of National Guard forces in pretextual power grabs, repeated acts of retaliation against perceived