Foreign News
British Govt. Plans to Take Afghan Refugees Under Criticism
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to tell members of parliament that there must be an immediate increase in aid to Afghanistan to avert a humanitarian crisis erupting in the country.
Johnson said the aid was to assist the sufferings of Afghanistans due to the crisis in the country following the Taliban’s seizure of power.
Members of Parliament would return to parliament from their summer break for an emergency sitting on Wednesday, after Afghanistan’s capital Kabul fell to the militants on Sunday.
Johnson and the government had come under increasing pressure over the handling of the downfall of the Western-backed government and the subsequent evacuation of British nationals and local allies.
On Tuesday night, Johnson announced a new settlement scheme, which would allow up to 20,000 Afghan vulnerable refugees to seek sanctuary in Britain over the coming years.
He was also expected to tell parliamentarians of the steps the international community needs to take to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan.
This included the immediate increase in humanitarian aid to the country and the surrounding region as well as a longer-term project to support refugees.
But the settlement scheme was criticised as falling short of what was needed, and Johnson can expect to come under fire from former Armed Services personnel on his own backbenches as he updates parliamentarians on the work done to mitigate the crisis so far.
Protests were also planned outside of parliament calling for support for Afghans and their families who have worked with the allies.
Speaking to U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday night, Johnson stressed the importance of work in the region and not to lose the gains of the last 20 years.
A Spokesperson for Johnson said: “the Prime Minister and President Joe Biden agreed on the need for the global community to come together to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.’’
While Home Secretary Priti Patel, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said Britain had committed to taking in 5,000 refugees.
He said these refugees were at risk of persecution by the Taliban in the first year of the new settlement scheme and up to 20,000 overall the country could not take all the strain alone.
The newspaper reported that Johnson had spoken to the French and German governments, and Patel led talks with the Five Eyes intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
The U.S. would identify safe and legal routes for those who needed to leave Afghanistan.
But opposition parties said this was not enough and criticised the scope of the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme, which would give priority to women and girls, as well as religious and other minorities.
Human rights groups also hit out at government plans over immigration more widely.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour’s shadow home secretary, welcomed that a scheme was now in place but said there needed to be a more urgent plan of action.
“This proposal does not meet the scale of the challenge. Not only does that risk leaving people in Afghanistan in deadly danger.
“It will also undermine the leadership role Britain must play in persuading international partners to live up to their responsibilities,’’ he said.
Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood was also vocal in his criticism of the scheme, calling it woefully inadequate.
He told the Daily Mirror: “the government really needs to see the bigger picture here and grasp the scale of the crisis we created. We are capping the numbers to 5,000 for the first year when the threat is at its greatest.’’
The government said the new scheme was in addition to the 5,000 Afghans already expected to move to Britain under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which is designed to offer local allies such as interpreters’ priority relocation.
Government figures showed 2,000 have already arrived under the ARAP programme.
Since Saturday, officials said 520 British nationals, diplomats and former Afghan staff have left Afghanistan on British military flights.
A flight carrying evacuated British nationals and Afghans landed at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire at about 11 p.m. on Tuesday night.
It comes after the Ministry of Defence said the first flight of British nationals and embassy staff arrived at the base on Sunday night.
Meanwhile, claims from the Taliban that it would respect human rights and uphold the rights of women and girls within the framework of Sharia law have so far been treated with skepticism. (dpa/NAN)
Foreign News
Horrors Must Never be Repeated, Says UN Chief
UN Secretary General António Guterres on Monday called for a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians ahead of the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks by the militant organisation Hamas on Israel.
“Let this anniversary mark not only another year of mourning, but also a renewed determination to build a different future,” Guterres said in New York.
He said Israelis and Palestinians should be able to “live side by side in peace and security, with their rights, dignity, and aspirations fulfilled. “These horrors must never be repeated, “He added.On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other armed groups killed more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and abducted 251 people to Gaza.The attacks triggered the Gaza war, in which more than 74,000 Palestinians have since been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza.
A ceasefire has been in place since October 2025, although deadly attacks have continued.
Relations between the Israeli government and the United Nations remain deeply strained, with Israel accusing Guterres of bias and the UN chief repeatedly criticising Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
Guterres also paid tribute to the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks.
“Nothing can justify these atrocities,” he said.
“Their suffering, and the enduring grief of their families, must never be forgotten.”
The UN chief also highlighted the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza following the war.
“Their suffering, too, demands an end, now,” he said.
Guterres said the ceasefire had brought some relief but had yet to deliver security, adequate humanitarian assistance or a credible path to recovery and peace.
He urged all sides to fully implement their commitments and move to the next phase of the ceasefire.
“It is time for the ceasefire to become permanent. It is time to allow humanitarian assistance at scale.
“And it is time to respect international law,” he said.
“We must build the political path to lasting peace across the whole region.”
Foreign News
Kenya Confirms its First Ebola Death as Outbreak Spreads
Kenya has confirmed its first case of Ebola, a Kenyan citizen who has been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the past seven years.
Health Minister Aden Duale said the patient, who fell ill a month ago, and was treated in several hospitals in DR Congo, died days after arriving in Nairobi.
Duale said the patient boarded a flight on Saturday and underwent normal public screening at the main airport in Nairobi before he was transferred by a relative to a hospital in the city.
More than 4,000 people have died from Ebola in DR Congo this year, in what is the second most deadly known outbreak of the disease.
Shortly after DR Congo declared an outbreak of Ebola in May, it was also reported in Uganda, where two people have died. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the county free of the disease in August.
Since then, all cases of the disease have been declared in DR Congo.
The current outbreak has been caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which is relatively rare, with no known vaccine.
Duale confirmed that the Kenyan national had tested positive for the Bundibugyo species.
According to the minister, the patient first travelled by road from DR Congo to the Ugandan capital Kampala, where he boarded a flight to Nairobi
Duale said that after being taken to the Nairobi Hospital, the patient was transferred to an isolation facility which was built during the Covid-19.
It was there that the patient “developed fever, chills, intense fatigue and weakness, painful swallowing, muscle pain and bleeding under the skin”.
The patient died at 23:30 (20:30 GMT) on Monday and his burial is planned for later on Tuesday in line with public health safety protocols.
At least 28 contacts, including family members and healthcare workers, have been identified, while health authorities are tracing a further 23 passengers and four crew members who travelled on the same flight.
So far, WHO has recorded 4,082 deaths out of 8,463 cases since the emergence of the Bundibugyo species of the virus.
There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for the species, which is highly infectious.
Foreign News
Trump Escalates Media Fight after Week of Setbacks
President Donald Trump has infused his ongoing feud with the White House press with a new level of acrimony.
Journalists from three major media outlets – CNN, Politico and MS Now – were denied access and had their press credentials confiscated on Saturday morning as they attempted to enter the White House grounds for work.
As media watchdog organisations and the White House Correspondents Association cry foul, Trump appears set to press ahead with a sweeping effort to punish these outlets.
In his Truth Social post announcing his decision on Friday, he said he was “banning” the organisations because “of their constant ‘reporting’ of fake news”.
In remarks later that day, he complained that “something is wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories”.“If they want to write them, that’s fine,” he continued. “I don’t have to let them into the people’s house”, he said, referring to the White House.
The president’s frustration at the media, however, came after a week of setbacks in which major institutions handed him a series of losses across his agenda.
First, the Supreme Court blocked his plan to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the midterms. This prompted Trump to lash out at the court’s justices including those he had appointed. “These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court,” he said.
The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, then raised interest rates after Trump had spent months arguing they should be cut. This was followed by a judge ordering his administration to give 30 days’ notice before making any changes to the Kennedy Center arts venue in Washington DC after the president warned it could be “ripped down”.
These headlines, combined with approval ratings that recently sunk to record lows for his second term, suggest Trump is facing challenging political headwinds.
His latest attack on the press, however, raises clear legal questions.
The First Amendment to the US Constitution forbids Congress from “abridging” the freedom of the press. It is language that courts have long interpreted as preventing the government from discriminating against the media based on the content of their coverage.
All three targeted news outlets have promised to file lawsuits challenging Trump’s decision.
Although the breadth of this move is unprecedented, it is far from the first time the Trump administration has attempted to limit or deny access to the White House to members of mainstream media outlets.
In his first term, the administration revoked CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s press credentials, setting off a legal battle that was ultimately resolved in the journalist’s favour. It also temporarily suspended the pass of a reporter who had a heated argument with White House adviser Sebastian Gorka – a move that also was subsequently blocked by the courts.
Last year, the White House banned reporters for the Associated Press from participating in the president’s press pool – which allows media outlets access to smaller in-town and travelling presidential appearances – because the newswire service would not follow Trump’s move to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
That dispute also led to a protracted – and yet to be fully resolved – legal battle, prompting the White House to change press pool rules to drop the guaranteed spot for all wire services.
The White House bans, however, represent a dramatic escalation.
The restrictions include access to the entirety of the White House grounds, not just the press pool. And they target entire news organisations, not just a single disfavoured correspondent.
While Trump has been clear about the motives behind his decision, he has shed little light on why he has acted now. He has regularly criticised his press coverage since he first entered national politics more than a decade ago, but he said on Friday there was no specific incident that prompted his announcement.
At the moment, however, the president is embattled.
Even beyond the week of clear setbacks, he is in the midst of an unpopular and difficult-to-resolve war of choice in Iran, which has led to a surge in energy and other consumer prices, deflating his standing with the American public.
Polls also suggest his party faces an uphill battle to retain control of the House of Representatives and perhaps the Senate in November’s crucial midterm congressional elections.
His attempts to improve the public’s mood by touting his accomplishments in campaign events and at his Republican Party’s convention earlier this month in Texas have, at least so far, proven ineffective.
There may be more behind Trump’s decision to lash out at the media this weekend. But it could also simply be an indication of presidential frustration in the face of events and circumstances, some of his own making, that are turning against him.


