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Japan Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Today
UK, Canada and 26 other countries say war in Gaza ‘must end now'
By SYLVIA HUI and JILL LAWLESS Twenty-eight countries including Britain, Japan and a host of European nations issued a joint statement Monday saying the war in Gaza 'must end now' — the latest sign of allies' sharpening language as Israel's isolation deepens. The foreign ministers of countries also including Australia and Canada said 'the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths." They condemned 'the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food." The statement described as 'horrifying' the recent deaths of over 800 Palestinians who were seeking aid, according to the figures released by Gaza's Health Ministry and the U.N. human rights office. 'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' the countries said. 'The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law." Israel's Foreign Ministry rejected the statement, saying it was 'disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas.' It accused Hamas of prolonging the war by refusing to accept an Israeli-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire and hostage release. 'Hamas is the sole party responsible for the continuation of the war and the suffering on both sides,' Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein posted on X. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also rejected the statement from many of America's closest allies, calling it 'disgusting' in a post on X and saying they should instead pressure the 'savages of Hamas.' Germany was also notably absent from the statement. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul wrote on X that he spoke with Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar on Monday and expressed the 'greatest concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation' in Gaza as Israel's offensive widens. He called on Israel to implement agreements with the EU to enable more humanitarian aid. Gaza's population of more than 2 million Palestinians is in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, now relying largely on the limited aid allowed into the territory. Israel's offensive has displaced some 90% of the population, with many forced to flee multiple times. Most of the food supplies Israel has allowed into Gaza go to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an American group backed by Israel. Since its operations began in May, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in shootings by Israeli soldiers while heading to the sites, according to witnesses and health officials. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots at those who approach its forces. Israel's 21 months of war with Hamas have pushed Gaza to the brink of famine, sparked worldwide protests and led to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Allies' criticism about Israel's actions has had little clear effect. In May, Britain, France and Canada issued a joint statement urging Netanyahu's government to stop its military operations in Gaza and threatening 'concrete actions' if it didn't. Israel rejects criticism of its wartime conduct, saying its forces have acted lawfully and blaming civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in populated areas. It says it has allowed enough food in to sustain Gaza and accuses Hamas of siphoning off much of it. The United Nations says there is no evidence for widespread diversion of humanitarian aid. The new joint statement called for an immediate ceasefire, saying countries are prepared to take action to support a political pathway to peace in the region. Israel and Hamas have been engaged in ceasefire talks but there appears to be no breakthrough, and it's not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed. Speaking to Parliament, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy thanked the U.S., Qatar and Egypt for their diplomatic efforts to try to end the war. 'There is no military solution,' Lammy said. 'The next ceasefire must be the last ceasefire.' Hamas triggered the war when militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, but fewer than half are thought to be alive. Israel's military offensive has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin and Joseph Krauss in Ottawa, Ontario, contributed to this story. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
At least 13 may have killed themselves over UK's Post Office wrongful convictions scandal
By SYLVIA HUI At least 13 people were thought to have taken their own lives as a result of Britain's Post Office scandal, in which almost 1,000 postal employees were wrongly prosecuted or convicted of criminal wrongdoing because of a faulty computer system, a report said Tuesday. Another 59 people contemplated suicide over the scandal, one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK history. From around 1999 to 2015, hundreds of people who worked at Post Office branches were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting based on evidence from a defective information technology system. Some went to prison or were forced into bankruptcy. Others lost their homes, suffered health problems or breakdowns in their relationships or became ostracized by their communities. Retired judge Wyn Williams, who chairs a public inquiry into the scandal, said in a report published Tuesday that 13 people killed themselves as a consequence of a faulty Post Office accounting system 'showing an illusory shortfall in branch accounts," according to their families. The problems at the Post Office, which is state-owned but operates as a private business, were known for years. But the full scale of the injustice didn't become widely known until last year, when a TV docudrama propelled the scandal to national headlines and galvanized support for victims. The culprit was a piece of software called Horizon, made by the Japanese firm Fujitsu, which the Post Office introduced 25 years ago across branches to automate sales accounting. When the software showed false account shortfalls, the Post Office accused branch managers of dishonesty and obliged them to repay the money. In all, the report said that about 1,000 people were prosecuted and convicted based on evidence from the incorrect data. The government has since introduced legislation to reverse the convictions and compensate the victims. Williams said that some senior Post Office employees knew — or should have known — that the Horizon system was faulty. But 'the Post Office maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate,' he said. Jo Hamilton, a former Post Office manager and a lead campaigner, said that the report 'shows the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us." In a statement, the Post Office's chairman pledged to ensure that all victims are compensated. The 'Post Office did not listen to postmasters and, as an organization, we let them down. Postmasters and their families have suffered years of pain,' Nigel Railton said. 'It has taken them too long to clear their names and, in many cases, to receive redress.' Tuesday's report was the first to be published from the inquiry, which was launched by the government and has the power to require evidence from all parties. It's expected to issue a further report at a later date that will address who was at fault for overseeing the scandal and potentially attribute blame. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
UK 'shied away' from ethnicity of grooming gangs in child sex abuse inquiries, report finds
By SYLVIA HUI The UK government said Monday it will make it mandatory for the police to record the ethnicity and nationality of suspects accused of child sexual abuse and exploitation. The move is part of an attempt to address long-running accusations that authorities have 'shied away' from properly tackling the issue of race when investigating such cases. It comes came after the government announced Saturday that it will hold a national inquiry into organized child sexual abuse, something it has long been pressured to do by opposition politicians. In a statement to Parliament, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said a recent review of data from three police forces found "clear evidence of over-representation among suspects of Asian and Pakistani heritage men' who prey on often young and vulnerable girls and women. But the review found that ethnicity data was not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators in what the British press have dubbed 'grooming gang" crimes. 'The appalling lack of data on ethnicity in crime recording alone is a major failing over the last decade or more," said the review, overseen by Louise Casey, an expert on victim's rights and social welfare. 'Questions about ethnicity have been asked but dodged for years.' 'Child sexual exploitation is horrendous whoever commits it, but there have been enough convictions across the country of groups of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds to have warranted closer examination," it added. The review referred to examples of organizations that avoided the topic of race altogether 'for fear of appearing racist or raising community tensions." It said: 'The question of the ethnicity of perpetrators has been a key question for this audit, having been raised in inquiries and reports going back many years. We found that the ethnicity of perpetrators is shied away from and is still not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, so we are unable to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data.' Cooper noted that while Casey's review also identified cases in which perpetrators were white, British, European, or other ethnicities, there wasn't enough information to help prevent patterns of crime from being understood and tackled. Britain's justice system has seen multiple cases of underage girls — some as young as 10, and others who were vulnerable because they were in social care or had disabilities — sexually exploited by groups of men in different towns and cities in the 2000s and 2010s. In some of the most high-profile cases to come to trial, the perpetrators were men of Pakistani heritage and the victims were predominantly white girls. The issue has been taken up by right-of-center politicians including Reform UK leader Nigel Farage to link child sexual abuse to immigration. It was more recently stoked by Elon Musk, who took to his X platform earlier this year to condemn Prime Minister Keir Starmer over the issue. Cooper said Monday that as a further step to tackle the issue, laws will be changed so that any adult man who engages in penetrative sex with a child under 16 will face a mandatory rape charge. Officials also said detectives will follow up on more than 800 cold cases involving child sex abuse by grooming gangs. A seven-year inquiry was held under the previous Conservative government, but many of the 20 recommendations it made in 2022 — including compensation for abuse victims — have yet to be implemented. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
16-06-2025
- Health
- Japan Today
Works begin in Ireland to exhume remains of hundreds of babies found at unwed mothers' home
FILE - Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin talks to the media outside the government building in Dublin, Jan. 22, 2025.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison, File) By SYLVIA HUI Officials in Ireland began work Monday to excavate the site of a former church-run home for unmarried women and their babies to identify the remains of around 800 infants and young children who died there. The long-awaited excavation at the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway in western Ireland, is part of a reckoning in an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country with a history of abuses in church-run institutions. The home, which was run by an order of Catholic nuns and closed in 1961, was one of many such institutions that housed tens of thousands of orphans and unmarried pregnant women who were forced to give up their children throughout much of the 20th century. In 2014, historian Catherine Corless tracked down death certificates for nearly 800 children who died at the home in Tuam between the 1920s and 1961 — but could only find a burial record for one child. Investigators later found a mass grave containing the remains of babies and young children in an underground sewage structure on the grounds of the home. DNA analysis found that the ages of the dead ranged from 35 weeks gestation to 3 years. A major inquiry into the mother-and-baby homes found that in total, about 9,000 children died in 18 different mother-and-baby homes, with major causes including respiratory infections and gastroenteritis, otherwise known as the stomach flu. The sisters who ran the Tuam home had offered a 'profound apology' and acknowledged that they had failed to 'protect the inherent dignity' of women and children housed there. 'It's a very, very difficult, harrowing story and situation. We have to wait to see what unfolds now as a result of the excavation," Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said Monday. Daniel MacSweeney, who leads the exhumation of the babies' remains at Tuam, said that survivors and family members will have an opportunity to view the works in coming weeks. 'This is a unique and incredibly complex excavation," he said in a statement, adding that the memorial garden at the site will be under forensic control and closed to the public from Monday. Forensic experts will analyze and preserve remains recovered from the site. Any identified remains will be returned to family members in accordance with their wishes, and unidentified remains will be buried with dignity and respect, officials said. The works are expected to take two years to complete. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
