World

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Afghanistan's Shiite minority buried their dead for the second Saturday in a row after another suicide bomb attack on a mosque claimed by the Daesh terror group group.

Religious authorities in the southern city of Kandahar told AFP the toll from Friday's assault had reached 60, as hundreds of diggers opened row after row of graves in the dusty soil.

The latest massacre came just a week after another Daesh-claimed attack on Shiite worshippers at a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz that killed more than 60 people.

In a statement released on its Telegram channels, the extremist group said two Daesh suicide bombers carried out separate attacks on different parts of the mosque in Kandahar, the spiritual heartland of the Taliban, while worshippers prayed inside.

The group, bitter rivals of fellow Islamist movement the Taliban, who swept back to power in Afghanistan in August as the United States and its allies withdrew, regards Shiite Muslims as heretics.

UK-based conflict analysis firm ExTrac said Friday's assault was the first by Daesh in Kandahar, and the fourth mass casualty massacre since the Taliban took Kabul.

Researcher Abdul Sayed told AFP the attack "challenged the Taliban claims of holding control on the country. If the Taliban can't protect Kandahar from a Daesh attack, how could it protect the rest of the country?"

The killings triggered international condemnation. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the “despicable attack” and demanded those using violence to restrict Afghans’ religious freedom be brought to justice.

At the gravesides, mourner Gul Ahmad told AFP of his grief over his brother’s slaying: “He had two little children. He had a home to live in. He had everything. The pain of the loss cannot be described with words.”

The all-male crowd brought body after body, shrouded in white sheets, as a dust storm was whipped up by the constant digging.

“The world will remember this. The Islamic world will remember this barbarism, specifically the dignified people of Afghanistan,” warned another mourner, Muhammad Agha.

Inside the mosque, after the blast, the walls were pockmarked by shrapnel and volunteers swept up debris in the ornately painted prayer hall. Rubble lay in an entrance corridor.

In the wake of the explosions, Kandahar police chief Maulvi Mehmood said security for the mosque had been provided by guards from the Shiite community but that following the “brutal attack” the Taliban would take charge of its protection.

Many worshippers 

Witnesses spoke of gunfire alongside the explosions, and a security guard assigned to protect the mosque said three of his comrades had been shot as the bombers fought their way in.

Sayed Rohullah told AFP: “It was the Friday prayer time and when we were preparing I heard shots. Two people had entered the mosque.”

“They had opened fire on the guards and in response the guards had also opened fire on them. One of them committed a suicide blast inside the mosque.”

Other bombs were detonated in crowded areas outside the main building, he and other witnesses said.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington condemned the attack and reiterated a call for the “Taliban to live up to the commitment it has made to counterterrorism”.

“We are determined to see to it that no group... can ever again use Afghan soil as a launching pad for attacks on the United States or other countries.”

The Taliban, who seized control of Afghanistan after overthrowing the US-backed government, have their own history of persecuting Shiites.

But the new Taliban-led administration has vowed to stabilise the country and in the wake of the Kunduz attack promised to protect the Shiite minority now living under its rule.

Shiites are estimated to make up roughly 10 per cent of the Afghan population. Many of them are Hazara, an ethnic group that has been persecuted in Afghanistan for decades.

In October 2017, a Daesh suicide attacker struck a Shiite mosque in the west of Kabul, killing 56 people and wounding 55.

LEIGH-ON-SEA, United Kingdom — The fatal stabbing of British lawmaker David Amess was a terrorist incident with possible links to "Islamist extremism", police said Saturday, as the government ordered a review of safety measures to protect MPs.

Veteran Conservative MP David Amess, 69, was talking with voters at a church in the small town of Leigh-on-Sea east of London when he was stabbed to death on Friday.

Police said they arrested a 25-year-old suspect and were investigating "a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism".

The fatal stabbing has "been declared as a terrorist incident, with the investigation being led by Counter Terrorism Policing," the police said in a statement, adding that the investigation is in the "very early stages".

Multiple UK media outlets, citing sources, reported that the suspect was believed to be a British national with Somali heritage.

The Sun tabloid reported that the attacker stabbed Amess multiple times in the presence of two women staff, before sitting down and waiting for police to arrive.

Police said they believed the attacker acted alone and they carried out searches at two addresses in the London area.

'Fine parliamentarian' 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the crime scene to pay his respects on Saturday, laying floral wreaths outside the church with the leader of the opposition, Labour leader Keir Starmer in a rare show of unity.

Johnson tweeted a photo of the note he left calling Amess, MP for Southend West since 1997, a "fine parliamentarian and a much loved colleague and friend".

Local residents including members of the Muslim community also came, heaping bouquets next to the police tape.

Britain's politicians were stunned by the highly public attack, which recalled the murder of a pro-EU lawmaker ahead of the Brexit referendum.

In June 2016, Labour MP Jo Cox was killed by a far-right extremist, prompting demands for action against what lawmakers said was “a rising tide” of public abuse and threats against elected representatives.

Home Secretary Priti Patel on Friday ordered police across the country to review security arrangements for all 650 MPs.

‘Cannot be cowed’ 

“We will carry on... We live in an open society, a democracy. We cannot be cowed by any individual,” she told journalists after laying a wreath for her fellow Essex MP.

House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle promised no “knee-jerk reactions” but told Sky News: “We will take further measures if we need to.”

Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP who tried to save a stabbed police officer during a 2017 terror attack near the Houses of Parliament, on Twitter urged “a temporary pause in face-to-face meetings” until the security review is complete.

Labour MP Harriet Harman also urged greater protection for MPs, telling the BBC: “We cannot have the death of an MP being a price worth paying for our democracy.”

Conservative MP David Davis, however, told Sky News that pausing meetings with constituents “would be the wrong thing to do”, calling them “critical to the operation of British democracy”.

Increasing threats 

MPs and their staff have been attacked before, although it is rare.

But their safety was thrown into sharp focus by Brexit, which stoked deep political divisions and has led to often angry, partisan rhetoric.

Cox’s killer repeatedly shouted “Britain first” before shooting and stabbing the 41-year-old MP outside her constituency meeting near Leeds, northern England.

Amess was at the other end of the political spectrum and backed Brexit.

A specialist police unit set up to investigate threats against MPs in the aftermath said 678 crimes against lawmakers were reported between 2016 and 2020.

Most (582) were for malicious communications, although other crimes included harassment (46), terrorism (nine), threats (seven), and common assault (three).

Separate figures indicated a sharp rise in reports since 2018, including three threats to kill.

Amess himself wrote about public harassment and online abuse in his book “Ayes & Ears: A Survivor’s Guide to Westminster”, published last year.

“These increasing attacks have rather spoilt the great British tradition of the people openly meeting their elected politicians,” he said.

MPs have had to install security cameras and only meet constituents by appointment, he added.

Unlike some MPs, Amess publicised meeting times for constituents on Twitter and held them in public places, while asking people to book ahead.

ROME — Tens of thousands of Italians called for a ban on the extreme right as they rallied in Rome on Saturday after protests over a tough coronavirus pass regime last weekend degenerated into riots blamed on neo-fascists.

Carrying placards reading “Fascism: Never Again”, the protesters in Piazza San Giovanni — a square historically associated with the left — called for a ban on openly neo-fascist group Forza Nuova (FN).

FN leaders were among those arrested after the Rome headquarters of the CGIL trade union — Italy’s oldest — was stormed on October 9 during clashes outside parliament and in the historic centre.

“This is not just a retort to fascist ‘squadrismo’,” CGIL Secretary General Maurizio Landini said, using a word used to refer to the fascist militias that began operating after World War I.

“This piazza also represents all those in Italy who want to change the country, who want to close the door on political violence,” he told the gathered crowds.

Last weekend’s riots followed a peaceful protest against the extension to all workplaces of Italy’s “Green Pass”, which shows proof of vaccination, a negative COVID-19 test or recent recovery from the virus.

The violence has focused attention on the country’s fascist legacy.

Saturday’s demonstration was attended by some 200,000 people, said organisers, with 800 coaches and 10 trains laid on to bring people to the capital for the event.

It coincided with the 78th anniversary of the Nazi raid on the Jewish Ghetto in Rome.

Over 1,000 Jews, including 200 children, were rounded up at dawn on October 16, 1943, and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

“Neo-fascist groups have to be shut down, right now. But that has to be just the start: We need an antifascist education in schools,” university student Margherita Sardi told AFP.

The centre-left Democratic Party, which has lead the calls to for FN to be banned, said its petition calling on parliament to do so had gathered 100,000 signatures.

LONDON — Britain's Prince William ignited controversy on Thursday by blasting space tourism and saying that more attention should be paid to problems closer to home ahead of the COP26 climate summit.

The comments by Queen Elizabeth II's grandson were scheduled to be aired in a BBC interview later Thursday, a day after 90-year-old "Star Trek" star William Shatner became a real space traveller on Blue Origin's second crewed mission.

The company's maiden human flight in July had included its founder Jeff Bezos of Amazon and was seen as a breakthrough for the emerging space tourism sector.

But Prince William said: "We need some of the world's greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live."

Virgin Galactic, which offers a similar experience of a few minutes of weightlessness and a view of the Earth's curvature from the cosmos, launched its founder Richard Branson in July, a few days before Bezos.

The comments by William, second in line to the UK throne, were rebuffed by critics who pointed to the scientific value of mankind's decades-old forays into the final frontier.

British space scientist and broadcaster Maggie Aderin-Pocock said she agreed with William that humanity had made a "mess" of Earth, and had to learn the lessons.

"But it can't be our only focus. Space is inspirational. Because of 'Star Trek', I became a space scientist, now I work on climate change," she said on ITV.

"I'm going to COP26 next month to talk about how space is helping us with climate change. So yes, we need to focus on climate change, but it can't be the only thing."

The group Republic, which campaigns to abolish Britain's monarchy, said William should "keep his ill-informed opinions to himself".

"This is politics, and while space tourism is questionable, science benefits from space exploration," it tweeted.

"We may agree or disagree, but lectures from a hypocrite who can't be properly challenged are a real problem."

'Ahead of the curve' 

William was speaking ahead of the inaugural Earthshot Prize awards ceremony on Sunday, his initiative to honour those working on environmental solutions.

Looking ahead to the COP26 summit in Glasgow, which begins on October 31, he warned world leaders against "clever speak, clever words, but not enough action".

"It would be an absolute disaster if [son] George is sat here talking to you... in like 30 years' time, still saying the same thing, because by then we will be too late."

William's father Prince Charles, a lifelong environmentalist, has also spoken out on the need for action from the leaders rather than words in the build-up to the UN climate summit.

"He's had a really rough ride on that, and I think you know he's been proven to being well ahead of the curve, well beyond his time in warning about some of these dangers," William said.

"But it shouldn't be that there's a third generation now coming along having to ramp it up even more."

Queen Elizabeth, Charles and William are all due to attend events at the two-week summit.

The gathering will try to persuade major developing economies to do more to cut their carbon emissions, and get the rich world to cough up billions more to help poorer countries adapt to climate change.

"I want the things that I've enjoyed -- the outdoor life, nature, the environment -- I want that to be there for my children, and not just my children but everyone else's children," William said.

"If we're not careful we're robbing from our children's future through what we do now. And I think that's not fair."

KABUL — Afghanistan's new Taliban government has warned US and European envoys that continued attempts to pressure them through sanctions will undermine security and could trigger a wave of economic refugees.

Acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told Western diplomats at talks in Doha that "weakening the Afghan government is not in the interest of anyone because its negative effects will directly affect the world in [the] security sector and economic migration from the country", according to a statement published late Tuesday.

The Taliban overthrew Afghanistan's former US-backed government in August after a two-decade-long conflict, and have declared an Islamic emirate governed under the movement's hardline interpretation of religious law.

But efforts to stabilise the country, still facing attacks from the Taliban's rival, the extremist group the Islamic State-Khorasan, have been undermined by international sanctions: Banks are running out of cash and civil servants are going unpaid.

According to the statement from his spokesman, Muttaqi told the Doha meeting: "We urge world countries to end existing sanctions and let banks operate normally so that charity groups, organisations and the government can pay salaries to their staff with their own reserves and international financial assistance."

European nations in particular are concerned that if the Afghan economy collapses, large numbers of migrants will set off for the continent, piling pressure on neighbouring states such as Pakistan and Iran and eventually on EU borders.

Washington and the EU have said they are ready to back humanitarian initiatives in Afghanistan, but are wary of providing direct support to the Taliban without guarantees it will respect human rights, in particular those of women.

The European Union has pledge one billion euros in aid, but European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed that it would be used to help Afghanistan’s neighbours or given in “direct support” to the Afghan people, bypassing the Taliban government.

“We have been clear about our conditions for any engagement with the Afghan authorities, including on the respect of human rights,” she said on Tuesday.

The Taliban insist they pose no threat to civilian rights, and have urged government workers including some women to return to their professions, while swearing to defeat IS-K and return Afghanistan to stability.

But girls were not allowed back into high schools when the new term started just under a month ago, and many women have complained of being forced out of professional and public roles like journalism.

Some high school girls’ classes have resumed in the northern cities of Kunduz and Mazar-i-Sharif, but in the capital and the Taliban’s southern heartland they are still excluded.

‘Fear and despair’ 

And in the west, around Herat, harsh punishments for alleged criminals have resumed, recalling the brutal previous era of Taliban rule before they were overthrown in the 2001 US-led intervention.

On at least two occasions dead suspects were hung publicly from cranes in Herat, and on Tuesday an alleged thief was flogged in the street in the Obe district near the city.

Witnesses described how Taliban officials invited male residents to attend the whipping.

“I was in fear and despair. Everyone was in fear and despair. I was feeling the pain when they were being flogged,” a medical doctor aged around 40 told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“Even now, I do not want to remember that scene,” he said, adding he was so unsettled that he wants to quit his job and leave the neighbourhood.

Residents said that when the flogging was announced, they felt they had to attend for fear of reprisals if they were seen to shun it.

PARIS — The global transition to clean energy is still far too slow to meet climate pledges and risks fuelling even greater price volatility, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on Wednesday.

"We are not investing enough to meet for future energy needs, and the uncertainties are setting the stage for a volatile period ahead," said IEA chief Fatih Birol.

"The social and economic benefits of accelerating clean energy transitions are huge, and the costs of inaction are immense."

In its annual World Energy Outlook report, published just weeks before the COP26 summit in Glasgow, the IEA calculated that investment in clean energy projects and infrastructure would need to be more than trebled over the next decade if those pledges are to be met.

At the summit, countries will come under pressure to commit to decisive action to limit global warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels, as pledged in the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Is 1.5C still achievable? 

The IEA — which advises developed countries on energy policy — said that renewables such as wind and solar energy continued to grow rapidly, and electric vehicles set new sales records in 2020, even as economies were bent under the weight of COVID-19 lockdowns.

However, "this clean energy progress is still far too slow to put global emissions into sustained decline towards net zero" by 2050, which the agency believes will help limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5ºC.

The agency analysed two possible scenarios.

The first looked at the measures governments had already put in place or specific policies they were actively developing.

And while almost all of the increased energy demand until 2050 could be met by low emissions sources, annual emissions would still be roughly the same as today as developing economies build up their nationwide infrastructure, the IEA said.

Under this scenario, temperatures in 2100 would be 2.6ºC higher than pre-industrial levels.

The second scenario looked at promises made by some governments to achieve net-zero emissions in the future, which would see a doubling of clean energy investment and financing over the next decade.

If these pledges were fully implemented in time, demand for fossil fuels would peak by 2025, and global CO2 emissions fall by 40 percent by 2050, the IEA said.

Here, the global average temperature increase in 2100 would be around 2.1ºC, which would represent an improvement, but would still be way above the 1.5ºC agreed under the Paris accord, it concluded.

‘Bumpy ride’ 

“Reaching that path requires investment in clean energy projects and infrastructure to more than triple over the next decade,” Birol said.

“Some 70 per cent of that additional spending needs to happen in emerging and developing economies.”

The IEA argued that the extra investment might be less of a burden than some might think.

“More than 40 per cent of the required emissions reductions would come from measures that pay for themselves, such as improving efficiency, limiting gas leakage, or installing wind or solar in places where they are now the most competitive electricity generation technologies,” it said.

The report also highlighted that insufficient investment was contributing to uncertainty over the future.

“Spending on oil and natural gas has been depressed by price collapses in 2014-15 and again in 2020. As a result, it is geared towards a world of stagnant or even falling demand,” the IEA said.

“At the same time, spending on clean energy transitions is far below what would be required to meet future needs in a sustainable way.”

That means energy markets could face a “bumpy ride” if investment in renewables is not increased, the IEA said.

DOHA — The Taliban held their first face-to-face talks with a joint EU-US delegation on Tuesday in Qatar as the hardline Islamists pursue their diplomatic push for international support.

Afghanistan's new rulers are seeking recognition, as well as assistance to avoid a humanitarian disaster, after they returned to power in August following the withdrawal of US troops after 20 years of war.

UN chief Antonio Guterres urged the world to donate to Afghanistan to head off its economic collapse, but also slammed the Taliban's "broken" promises to Afghan women and girls.

The direct talks in Doha were facilitated by Qatar which has long hosted a Taliban political office.

EU spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said the meeting would "allow the US and European side to address issues", including free passage for people wanting to leave, access for humanitarian aid, respect for the rights of women and preventing Afghanistan becoming a haven for "terrorist" groups.

"This is an informal exchange at technical level. It does not constitute recognition of the 'interim government'," she said.

The Taliban badly need assistance as Afghanistan's economy is in a parlous state with international aid cut off, food prices rising and unemployment spiking.

The regime, still yet to be recognised as a legitimate government by any other country, is also facing a security threat from Daesh terror group's Khorasan branch, who have launched a series of deadly attacks.

"We want positive relationships with the whole world," the Taliban's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said at an earlier event in Qatar.

"We believe in balanced international relations. We believe such a balanced relationship can save Afghanistan from instability," said Muttaqi, who led the Taliban delegation Saturday for the first in-person talks with US officials since the American pullout.

Staving off 'collapse' 

Ahead of Tuesday's talks, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc was looking to bolster its direct aid to the Afghan people in an effort to stave off "collapse".

"We cannot 'wait and see'. We need to act, and act quickly," Borrell said after discussions with EU development ministers.

The international community is facing a tough balancing act trying to get urgently needed aid to Afghans without endorsing Taliban rule.

G-20 leaders were to hold a virtual summit on Tuesday to discuss the humanitarian and security situation following the Taliban takeover.

It was not clear if all the leaders of the G-20 economic powers, which include the United States, EU, China, Turkey, Russia and Saudi Arabia among others, would join the meeting organised by Italy.

But an Italian government official said it would be "mostly heads of state and government".

Guterres underscored discontent with the Taliban over its treatment of women despite vows it would not repeat its earlier hardline rule.

"I am particularly alarmed to see promises made to Afghan women and girls by the Taliban being broken," he told reporters on Monday.

Afghanistan's boys were allowed to return to secondary schools three weeks ago, but girls have been told to stay at home along with women teachers in much of the country, though they can attend primary school.

Asked about the exclusion of girls, Muttaqi said schools had been closed because of COVID-19, a threat he said had lessened.

"COVID... has been controlled and incidences are very few, and with the reduction of that risk, opening of schools has already started and every day it is increasing," he said.

Muttaqi also insisted there was no discrimination against the Shiite community and claimed that IS-K was being tamed.

"Whatever preparations they had made have been neutralised 98 per cent," he said.

Daesh claimed a bombing of a Shiite mosque that killed more than 60 people on Friday, the deadliest attack since the US pullout.

Underlining the shaky security situation, the US and Britain warned their citizens on Monday to avoid hotels in Afghanistan.

Spain was to organise a second evacuation flight for Afghans Tuesday after flying 84 from Pakistan to a base near Madrid on Monday.

Madrid evacuated more than 2,000 people, most of them Afghans who had worked for Spain and their families, during the Western withdrawal from Kabul in August but the flights had to stop once the last American troops left.

PARIS — The last remaining French resistance fighter awarded the highest bravery order by Charles de Gaulle for his World War II exploits has died aged 101, France’s defence minister announced Tuesday.

“I want to inform you that Hubert Germain, the last surviving member of the Order of the Liberation, has died,” Florence Parly told French lawmakers.

“It’s an important moment in our history,” she added.

President Emmanuel Macron “bows down in front of the life of this figurehead of Free France”, the Elysee said in a statement paying tribute to Germain.

Germain was among 1,038 decorated with the Order of the Liberation for their heroism by Resistance leader and later president de Gaulle.

Shocked by French collaborationist leader Philippe Petain’s call to lay down arms against the Germans, he was inspired by de Gaulle’s call for resistance on June 18, 1940 made from BBC studios in London.

As a member of the French Free Forces and the Foreign Legion, Germain took part in key battles at Bir-Hakeim in Libya, El Alamein in Egypt, and in Tunisia.

He took part in the decisive French-led assault on Mediterranean beaches in August 1944, setting foot on home soil for the first time in years.

He fought for the liberation of the southern city of Toulon, the Rhone Valley and Lyon in central France, moving to the Vosges Mountains and Alsace in the east, and ended the war in the southern Alps.

Out of the more than 1,000 Resistance heroes honoured by de Gaulle, a third died in combat and 80 per cent of the survivors were wounded in action.

‘Flame of resistance’ 

Of the last three survivors, Edgard Tupet-Thome died aged 100 in September 2020 and Daniel Cordier died, also aged 100, in November that year.

In his last public appearance, Germain met President Emmanuel Macron in June this year as they marked at Mount Valerien, the hilltop fortress west of Paris where German forces executed more than 1,000 captured fighters and hostages.

Germain was helped from his wheelchair to accept a red sash from Macron, who kissed him on both cheeks. Germain then saluted the president before putting on his military cap.

“Eighty-one years on, General de Gaulle’s call still resonates. The flame of the resistance will not be extinguished,” Macron wrote on Twitter after that ceremony.

Macron will preside over a ceremony for Germain on November 11 — Remembrance Day marking the end of World War I and the victims of conflict — at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and then his burial at Mount Valerien, said his office.

A separate ceremony will take place at the Invalides memorial complex in Paris in the next days, it added.