
Security forces kidnap, kill civilians in central Mali
BAMAKO, May 15 (Reuters) - Malian armed forces arrested and killed around two dozen Fulani civilians who were rounded up at a livestock market in a central region of the West African country, a local activist told Reuters.
Women in the town of Diafarabe, where the incident took place, led a rare public protest on Wednesday over their disappearance.
"A survivor who managed to flee from Diafarabe alerted and said that they killed them, executed some of them, slit their throats and buried them in a mass grave," the activist said.
The activist, who could not be named for safety reasons, is close to Tabital Pulaaku, an international association that represents the Fulani people.
The incident took place on Monday in a rural area on the banks of the Niger river, the activist said. The men were loaded onto a canoe and taken to an island cemetery, where they were killed.
Mali's armed forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
The armed forces are backed by Russian mercenaries, previously known as Wagner and now Africa Corps, who could not be reached for comment.
Human Rights Watch has accused both groups of committing atrocities and serious abuses against civilians.
The U.N. last month called for an investigation after decomposing bodies were found on the outskirts of a military camp in the southwestern Koulikoro region of Mali.
The country's military government, which seized power following coups in 2020 and 2021, has expelled French and other Western forces and turned to Russia for military support.
Public frustration with the ruling junta is growing over the postponement of elections and a crackdown on political freedom.
Hundreds of people gathered this month to call for multi-party elections, chanting slogans like "down with dictatorship, long live democracy". The protests followed a national council recommendation to grant leader Assimi Goita a new five-year mandate and dissolve all political parties.

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Times
23 minutes ago
- Times
What will be in the spending review? The winners and losers
The spending review is make-or-break time for Rachel Reeves. The chancellor's first year in office has been challenging — imposing unpopular tax rises and cutting winter fuel payments for millions of pensions, which she has subsequently been forced to reverse. Reeves sees the spending review as a chance to stamp her authority and present voters with a clearer narrative about the purpose of this government. She will say that the government will invest to renew Britain, focusing on three central pillars: security, health and the economy. Growth will be the order of the day. There will be clear winners — the NHS and the Ministry of Defence will be at the front of the pack — and Reeves will have £113 billion to invest in infrastructure and other capital projects. But there will also be clear losers. The Home Office was the last to settle and Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, is unhappy with her settlement. There are also suggestions of significant cuts to Angela Rayner's Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government. The NHS will be the biggest overall winner in the spending review, receiving a £30 billion rise in its day-to-day spending budget, making up about 60 per cent of the cash increase in the chancellor's overall day-to-day spending envelope, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. But health service managers are still warning it will not be enough to meet the government's ambition for reducing waiting time targets. In fact, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, initially asked for a real-terms 4 per cent rise in his budget but had to settle for a 2.8 per cent rise. There are also concerns in the department that although day-to-day spending will rise, infrastructure budgets will remain flat in real terms. NHS managers have long warned that it is hard to improve productivity in the health service when staff have to work in buildings that are not fit for purpose and with outdated IT infrastructure. Reeves has concluded she wants to target infrastructure spending in other areas, such as transport and net zero, where the government is more likely to get an economic return on its investment. The agreement is also complicated by the need for the NHS to pay more for medicines amid pressure from President Trump and to boost Britain's life sciences industry. The Treasury has refused to allocate extra funds, insisting that the department find the additional cash within existing budgets. The other big winner from Wednesday's announcement will be the armed forces, which will see their budgets increase to hit the government target of spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2027. The increase will be funded by cuts to international aid and will leave defence spending about £6.4 billion higher than if it had remained at the existing level. • Increase defence spending or learn Russian, Nato chief warns UK A key decision Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer will have to make on Wednesday is whether to go beyond this and increase spending still further towards the end of the decade to meet the prime minister's aspiration of hitting 3 per cent of GDP in the next parliament, 'as economic and fiscal conditions allow'. The announcement comes before a meeting of Nato leaders this month, which is expected to agree to Trump's demand of increasing core defence spending to 3.5 per cent, accompanied by a further 1.5 per cent on defence-related infrastructure. No date has yet been set for when Nato members will have to meet this pledge. Ministers have already announced that schools will receive an extra £4.5 billion a year in core funding by 2029, in part to pay for reforms under which more children with special educational needs will be taught in mainstream schools. The rise includes spending pledges that have already been made, including the cost of expanding free school meals for all pupils whose families claim universal credit and the £615 million allocated to schools to fund the new pay settlement for teachers. But while this extra money may sound generous on paper, in practice schools will receive £1.5 billion each year up until 2028-29, when the cumulative increase reaches £4.5 billion compared with this year. Boiled down, this means the spending rise for education in this review totals a real-term lift of 0.4 per cent. Luke Sibieta, a research fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said it was also unclear if the money included the teacher pay settlement reached last year. If so this would probably mean a real-terms budget freeze — although a shrinking school-age population means this would still result in a 3 per cent rise in spending per pupil by the end of the parliament. Despite being among the last few ministers to agree their spending settlement with the Treasury, Ed Miliband's department is likely to emerge as one of the biggest winners of the spending review as Reeves doubles down on Labour's clean-power pledge. Miliband will get more than £14 billion to fund the new Sizewell C nuclear power station, as well as a further £2.5 billion to develop a new generation of smaller modular reactors, and additional funding for carbon capture and storage. The energy secretary has also won out in a Whitehall row over the future of the government's warm-homes plan. The Treasury had looked to reduce some of the £13.2 billion earmarked for the scheme, which will subsidise households to install energy efficiency measures such as solar panels and insulation. Miliband is expected to get the vast majority of this funding in an effort to meet Labour's pledge to cut household energy bills by 2030. The Home Office was the last government department to settle its spending plan with the Treasury after it was in effect imposed upon Cooper. Reeves has refused to meet her colleague's demands for extra police funding, despite warnings that it means the government could miss its flagship pledges on law and order and a public intervention by police chiefs who said they faced 'stark choices'. It is understood that police spending will increase in real terms each year of this spending review period, which ends in 2028-29. 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Reeves is once again looking to farmers as she seeks to pare back government spending. This time the debate is over Britain's flagship post-Brexit farming subsidies, which appear likely to be slashed for all but a few small farms. Sources at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, led by Steve Reed, said that the subsidies, which financially reward farmers for sustainable practices, will be severely cut in the spending review. Labour will honour its budget promise of £5 billion in farming funding for 2024-26, so cuts would hit many farms from 2026 onwards. The package of subsidies was introduced to replace the European Union's common agricultural policy after Brexit. It is designed to encourage farmers financially to look after nature and the soil instead of rewarding them for growing crops or tending livestock. In future the scheme will be targeted at small farms, meaning larger, wealthier farms will lose access to funding for nature-friendly practices. 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The government has said it will spend £86 billion on the science and technology sector by the end of this parliament as it looks to support the tech industries to boost economic growth. The package will help fund research into drug treatments and longer-lasting batteries, and include up to £500 million for regions across the UK. Local leaders will have a say on how it is spent. • What should the UK bet on with its industrial strategy? While this may sound like a lot of money, the £86 billion figure is the sum of all government spending on 'research and innovation' over four years and the annual spend will be £22.5 billion by 2029-30. This represents a 3 per cent real-terms rise in budget in 2029-30 compared with the present financial year. Three prisons will be built, starting this year, after a £4.7 billion funding commitment in the spending review in an attempt to grapple with the prisons crisis. The justice secretary Shabana Mahmood's speedy settlement was crucial as she was forced to announce plans to curb prison overcrowding when government projections showed that jails would fill up in November. The plans for 'record expansion' of the prison estate came alongside measures that meant offenders would spend only 28 days on recall to prison if they breached their licence conditions.


Daily Mirror
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Sick 'pimping websites' given four-word warning as MPs demand new laws
Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips says tough new laws will give courts the power to suspend adult service sites behind sexual exploitation as MPs demand paying for sex is made illegal Vile "pimping websites" have been warned "we're coming for you" by a government minister. Jess Phillips said it was "sickening" that traffickers are making huge profits from selling exploited women for sex online. The Safeguarding Minister said new laws will give authorities the power to ban adult services sites that facilitate sex trafficking. But she stopped short of pledging to make it illegal to pay for sex despite growing calls from MPs. The Government is under pressure to change the law to target buyers and those who profit from exploiting others - while ripping up existing prostitution offences. Ms Phillips told MPs it is "utterly dispicable" that men post online reviews of women who are coerced into having sex. She said: "These men disgust me with their attitude towards women generally and also the suggestion that they should be able to pay for somebody's horror and then give a bad review." Brits should learn to speak Russian if defence spending isn't ramped up, NATO chief warns And Ms Phillips continued: "These sites - we know what they are - we're coming for you." She said legslation going through Parliament will allow courts to suspend websites behind sexual exploitation. And she said the Government will be publishing its strategy for tackling violence against women and girls later this year. The remarks came after Labour backbencher Tracy Gilbert read out a number of sickening reviews posted about women online. Under current law it is legal to pay for sex and adult services websites - branded " supermarkets of the vulnerable" by ctitics - are not breaking the law. Ms Gilbert told MPs that those who pay for sex must face prosecution. She said: "Sex buyers rely on being unseen while they ruin lives leaving us as a society and the individual women left to pick up the pieces of the carnage they cause. "The demand from men who pay for sex fuel a brutal prostitution and sex trafficking trade. It's funding predatory websites which make millions of pounds using women for sexual exploitation every day." And the Labour MP added: "The law must accept that prostitution is is violence against women." It comes after Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi tabled amendments to the landmark Crime and Policing Bill calling for those who pay for sex - predominently men - to face prosecution. Her proposals, backed by more than 50 MPs, would also tear up prostitution offences, which campaigners say trap exploited women from escaping their abusers.


Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Greta Thunberg's 'freedom flotilla' crew in full - including dad of 6-month baby
Greta Thunberg has been deported from Israel after the boat she was travelling on was intercepted by Israeli forces - the Mirror looks at who else joined the young activist on the 'freedom flotilla' Activist Greta Thunberg has been deported from Israel after the vessel she was travelling on to deliver aid like baby formula and rice to the Gaza Strip was intercepted by Israeli forces, and taken to Ashdod port. Dubbed the 'selfie yacht' by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Greta and 11 other activists were attempting to break the naval blockade and deliver aid to the Gaza Strip, when the vessel - the Madleen, which was reportedly sailing under a British flag - was intercepted. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) - who organised the voyage - said that the Madleen was "unlawfully boarded" and that doing so was a breach of international law, something the Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly denied. "The maritime zone off the coast of Gaza is closed to unauthorised vessels under a legal naval blockade, consistent with international law. The yacht is claiming that it is delivering humanitarian aid. In fact, it is a media gimmick for publicity (which includes less than a single truckload of aid) - a 'selfie yacht'," a spokesperson said. "The Gaza maritime zone remains an active conflict area, and Hamas has previously exploited sea routes for terrorist attacks, including the October 7 massacre. Unauthorised attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts," they added. Donald Trump took aim at the young activist, calling Greta a "strange person" and saying that she needs "anger management classes". However, the US President also said: "I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg. Is that what she said? She was kidnapped by Israel?" The FFC has organised many attempted voyages to Gaza, with one in May ending after the vessel was allegedly attacked by two drones. Greta said before setting sail about the journey: "We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity. "No matter how dangerous this mission is, it is nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the lives being genocided". The Mirror takes a look at who else set sail on the FFC voyage and was detained alongside Greta Thunberg. Rima Hassan Rima Hassan is a French member of the European Parliament (MEP), she was born in Syria to a family of Palestinian refugees, and is reported to be banned from entering Israel. She was refused entry to the country at the Ben-Gurion airport earlier this year, due to her opposition to Israel's treatment of Palestinians and for promoting boycotts against the country. The 33-year-old left-wing politician said in a video recorded ahead of the vessel's interception: "We count on your mobilisation to put pressure on the French government to demand our release." Yasemin Acar Yasemin Acar, 37, is a German citizen with Kurdish parents who came from Turkey, and she has worked extensively helping Ukrainian refugees in Germany since the war with Russia began, creating Berlin Arrival Support. She has even advised the Berlin Senate on how to deal with refugees. Yasemin has been a "vocal advocate" for Palestine for a long time, according to the FFC website, and has organised a number of demonstrations on the issue. Omar Faiad Journalist Omar Faiad works for Al Jazeera Mubasher - a Middle Eastern 24-hour news channel - and is reported to have been onboard the vessel to report on the activists' journey. The release of the French journalist has been called for by Reporters Without Borders, (RSF) who strongly objected to the detainment, calling it an "attack on journalism". Yanis Mhamdi Another French journalist reporting from the vessel, Yanis Mhamdi was also detained by Israel. Yanis works for the website Blast and said on his social media shortly before Madleen was intercepted: "I am a journalist and my arrest by the Israeli army is imminent. I call on all journalists to mobilise." The RSF also "firmly condemn" Yanis being held, saying in a statement about the two journalists: "Boarding a civilian vessel in international waters to intercept a crew that included two French journalists documenting a peaceful humanitarian initiative is not only illegal, but constitutes a serious violation of international law and press freedom." Thiago Avila Brazilian Thiago Avila, 37, was also on board the vessel and is a steering member of the FFC. He coordinates the organisation's Brazilian arm and he has been campaigning for Palestine for 19 years, with a focus on creating humanitarian corridors for aid since 2023 - and has a six-month-old daughter. Other passengers There were six other passengers onboard the Madleen - who the FFC refers to as volunteers. This included three other people from France - Baptiste Andrew, Pascal Maurieras, and Reva Viard - Mark van Riennes from the Netherlands, Suayb Ordu from Turkey, and a Spanish citizen, Sergio Toribio. Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham was initially reported to be taking part in the Flotilla too, but has not been named as one of the passengers on Greta's boat.