Anti-immigrant rallies staged across Poland
"Without closing Poland to illegal immigration, without starting deportation campaigns, without abandoning political correctness... security will gradually deteriorate," Konfederacja co-chairman Krzysztof Bosak told the crowd in the eastern city of Bialystok.A minute's silence was held at some gatherings in memory of a 24-year-old Polish woman murdered in the central city of Torun. In the capital Warsaw, rival rallies took place just metres away. There were no reports of violence. Police have since arrested a Venezuelan man in the case. Right-wing politicians claim Poland is in danger of being flooded by illegal migrants. Immigration has increased over the last decade - but official figures show that migration is lower so far this year than in previous years.Earlier this month, Poland introduced checks on its borders with Germany and Lithuania after Berlin began turning away asylum seekers. Germany introduced its own controls on the Polish and Czech borders in 2023.In March, Poland temporarily suspended the right of migrants arriving in the country via its border with Belarus to apply for asylum.
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The Independent
20 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump and Philippine leader plan to talk tariffs and China at the White House
President Donald Trump plans to host Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday at the White House, as the two countries are seeking closer security and economic ties in the face of shifting geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific region. Marcos, who met Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday, is set to become the first Southeast Asian leader to hold talks with Trump in his second term. Marcos' three-day visit shows the importance of the alliance between the treaty partners at a time when China is increasingly assertive in the South China Sea, where Manila and Beijing have clashed over the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal. Washington sees Beijing, the world's No. 2 economy, as its biggest competitor, and consecutive presidential administrations have sought to shift U.S. military and economic focus to the Asia-Pacific in a bid to counter China. Trump, like others before him, has been distracted by efforts to broker peace in a range of conflicts, from Ukraine to Gaza. Tariffs also are expected to be on the agenda. Trump has threatened to impose 20% tariffs on Filipino goods on Aug. 1 unless the two sides can strike a deal. "I intend to convey to President Trump and his Cabinet officials that the Philippines is ready to negotiate a bilateral trade deal that will ensure strong, mutually beneficial and future-oriented collaborations that only the United States and the Philippines will be able to take advantage of,' Marcos said Sunday when he was departing for Washington, according to his office. Manila is open to offering zero tariffs on some U.S. goods to strike a deal with Trump, finance chief Ralph Recto told local journalists. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt hinted that a trade agreement with the Philippines was in the works. 'Perhaps this will be a topic of discussion,' she told reporters Monday when asked about tariff negotiations. The White House said Trump will discuss with Marcos the shared commitment to upholding a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific. Before a meeting with Marcos at the Pentagon, Hegseth reiterated America's commitment to 'achieving peace through strength' in the region. 'Our storied alliance has never been stronger or more essential than it is today, and together we remain committed to the mutual defense treaty,' Hegseth said Monday. 'And this pact extends to armed attacks on our armed forces, aircraft or public vessels, including our Coast Guard anywhere in the Pacific, including the South China Sea.' Marcos, whose country is one of the oldest U.S. treaty allies in the Pacific region, told Hegseth that the assurance to come to each other's mutual defense 'continues to be the cornerstone of that relationship, especially when it comes to defense and security cooperation.' He said the cooperation has deepened since Hegseth's March visit to Manila, including joint exercises and U.S. support in modernizing the Philippines' armed forces. Marcos thanked the U.S. for support 'that we need in the face of the threats that we, our country, is facing.' China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have been involved in long-unresolved territorial conflicts in the South China Sea, a busy shipping passage for global trade. The Chinese coast guard has repeatedly used water cannon to hit Filipino boats in the South China Sea. China accused those vessels of entering the waters illegally or encroaching on its territory. Hegseth told a security forum in Singapore in May that China poses a threat and the U.S. is 'reorienting toward deterring aggression by Communist China.' During Marcos' meeting Monday with Rubio, the two reaffirmed the alliance 'to maintain peace and stability' in the region and discussed closer economic ties, including boosting supply chains, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said. The U.S. has endeavored to keep communication open with Beijing. Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met this month on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They agreed to explore 'areas of potential cooperation' and stressed the importance of managing differences. ___
The Independent
20 minutes ago
- The Independent
Swarms of Russian drones attack Ukraine nightly as Moscow puts new emphasis on the deadly weapon
The long-range Russian drones come in swarms each night, buzzing for hours over Ukraine by the hundreds, terrorizing the population and attacking targets from the industrial east to areas near its western border with Poland. Russia now often batters Ukraine with more drones in a single night than it did during some entire months in 2024, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate. On July 8, Russia unleashed more than 700 drones — a record. Some experts say that number could soon top 1,000 a day. The spike comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has given Russia until early September to reach a ceasefire or face new sanctions -– a timeframe Moscow is likely to use to inflict as much damage as possible on Ukraine. Russia has sharply increased its drone output and appears to keep ramping it up. Initially importing Shahed drones from Iran early in the 3 1/2-year-old war, Russia has boosted its domestic production and upgraded the original design. The Russian Defense Ministry says it's turning its drone force into a separate military branch. It also has established a dedicated center for improving drone tactics and better training for those flying them. Fighting 'a war of drones' Russian engineers have changed the original Iranian Shahed to increase its altitude and make it harder to intercept, according to Russian military bloggers and Western analysts. Other modifications include making it more jamming-resistant and able to carry powerful thermobaric warheads. Some use artificial intelligence to operate autonomously. The original Shahed and its Russian replica — called 'Geran,' or 'geranium' — have an engine to propel it at 180 kph (just over 110 mph). A faster jet version is reportedly in the works. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War noted that cooperation with China has allowed Russia to bypass Western sanctions on imports of electronics for drone production. Ukraine's military intelligence estimates that Russia receives up to 65% of components for its Geran drones from China. Beijing rejects the claims. Russia initially launched its production of the Iranian drones at factory in Alabuga, located in Tatarstan. An Associated Press investigation found employees at the Alabuga plant included young African women who said they were duped into taking jobs there. Geran production later began at a plant in Udmurtia, west of the Ural Mountains. Ukraine has launched drone attacks on both factories but failed to derail production. A report Sunday by state-run Zvezda TV described the Alabuga factory as the world's biggest attack drone plant. 'It's a war of drones. We are ready for it,' said plant director Timur Shagivaleyev, adding it produces all components, including engines and electronics, and has its own training school. The report showed hundreds of black Geran drones stacked in an assembly shop decorated with Soviet-style posters. One featured images of the father of the Soviet nuclear bomb, Igor Kurchatov, legendary Soviet space program chief, Sergei Korolyov, and dictator Josef Stalin, with the words: 'Kurchatov, Korolyov and Stalin live in your DNA.' Shifting tactics and defenses The Russian military has improved its tactics, increasingly using decoy drones named 'Gerbera' for a type of daisy. They closely resemble the attack drones and are intended to confuse Ukrainian defenses and distract attention from their more deadly twins. By using large numbers of drones in one attack, Russia seeks to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and keep them from targeting more expensive cruise and ballistic missiles that Moscow often uses alongside the drones to hit targets like key infrastructure facilities, air defense batteries and air bases. Former Russian Defense Ministry press officer Mikhail Zvinchuk, who runs a popular war blog, noted the Russian military has learned to focus on a few targets to maximize the impact. The drones can roam Ukraine's skies for hours, zigzagging past defenses, he wrote. 'Our defense industries' output allows massive strikes on practically a daily basis without the need for breaks to accumulate the necessary resources,' said another military blogger, Alexander Kots. 'We no longer spread our fingers but hit with a punching fist in one spot to make sure we hit the targets.' Ukraine relies on mobile teams armed with machine guns as a low-cost response to the drones to spare the use of expensive Western-supplied air defense missiles. It also has developed interceptor drones and is working to scale up production, but the steady rise in Russian attacks is straining its defenses. How Russia affords all those drones Despite international sanctions and a growing load on its economy, Russia's military spending this year has risen 3.4% over 2024, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which estimated it at the equivalent of about $200 billion. While budgetary pressures could increase, it said, the current spending level is manageable for the Kremlin. Over 1.5 million drones of various types were delivered to the military last year, said President Vladimir Putin. Frontelligence Insight, a Ukraine-based open-source intelligence organization, reported this month that Russia launched more than 28,000 Shahed and Geran drones since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, with 10% of the total fired last month alone. While ballistic and cruise missiles are faster and pack a bigger punch, they cost millions and are available only in limited quantities. A Geran drone costs only tens of thousands of dollars — a fraction of a ballistic missile. The drones' range of about 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles) allows them to bypass some defenses, and a relatively big load of 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of explosives makes them a highly effective instrument of what the Center for Strategic and International Studies calls 'a cruel attritional logic.' CSIS called them 'the most cost-effective munition in Russia's firepower strike arsenal." 'Russia's plan is to intimidate our society,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that Moscow seeks to launch 700 to 1,000 drones a day. Over the weekend, German Maj. Gen. Christian Freuding said in an interview that Russia aims for a capability of launching 2,000 drones in one attack. Russia could make drone force its own military branch Along the more than 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, short-range attack drones have become prolific and transformed the fighting, quickly spotting and targeting troops and weapons within a 10-kilometer (6-mile) kill zone. Russian drone units initially were set on the initiative of midlevel commanders and often relied on equipment purchased with private donations. Once drones became available in big numbers, the military moved last fall to put those units under a single command. Putin has endorsed the Defense Ministry's proposal to make drones a separate branch of the armed forces, dubbed the Unmanned Systems Troops. Russia has increasingly focused on battlefield drones that use thin fiber optic cables, making them immune to jamming and have an extended range of 25 kilometers (over 15 miles). It also has set up Rubicon, a center to train drone operators and develop the best tactics. Such fiber optic drones used by both sides can venture deeper into rear areas, targeting supply, support and command structures that until recently were deemed safe. Michael Kofman, a military expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the Russian advancements have raised new defensive challenges for Ukraine. 'The Ukrainian military has to evolve ways of protecting the rear, entrenching at a much greater depth,' Kofman said in a recent podcast.
BBC News
21 minutes ago
- BBC News
Targets of new people smuggling sanctions to be announced
Gang leaders, corrupt officials and companies selling small boat equipment will be named this week as the first targets of new government sanctions against financial action - which the government says is a world-first - is aimed at tackling illegal immigration to the UK and is central to Sir Keir Starmer's plan to disrupt the English Channel crossings by "smashing the gangs" that are organising sanctions strategy was first unveiled in January but the government has now indicated that it is ready to announce on Wednesday the dozens of people who will have their assets frozen, and will be banned from entering the UK and engaging with its financial Secretary David Lammy said: "For too long, criminal gangs have been lining their corrupt pockets and preying on the hopes of vulnerable people with impunity as they drive irregular migration to the UK." People targeted by the sanctions include those who supply fake documents and finance small boats, as well as "middlemen" who push money through Hawala networks, an informal system for organising money transfers often used by Minister Sir Keir Starmer is under growing pressure to stem the flow of migrants reaching the UK, after pledging to "smash" people-smuggling gangs ever since the general election campaign a year this month, he signed a "one in, one out" deal with France to return migrants to France for the equivalent number of legal asylum seekers, subject to security checks. In the first six months of this year, more than 20,000 people crossed in small boats, an increase of nearly 50% on the previous year, according to Home Office Monday, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the number of people entering the UK illegally was causing a "public safety crisis" for women and girls."The truth is you don't stop the Channel crossings by freezing a few bank accounts in Baghdad or slapping a travel ban on a dinghy dealer in Damascus," Philp said in a on Monday, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said that people protesting outside a hotel used to house asylum seekers in Essex were "genuinely concerned families". Bottles and flares were thrown towards police during the demonstration, which Downing Street condemned."I don't think anybody in London even understands just how close we are to civil disobedience on a vast scale in this country," Farage said in a speech on Monday. The government says that the new sanctions will target immigration crime gangs "where traditional law enforcement and criminal justice approaches cannot reach". Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the new sanctions regime is a "decisive step in our fight against the criminal gangs who profit from human misery"."It will allow us to target the assets and operations of people-smugglers wherever they operate, cutting off their funding and dismantling their networks piece by piece," she said.
