Chemical castration mooted to free up prison space
Britain is considering mandating the use of chemical castration for sex offenders under an overhaul of the justice system aimed at freeing up more space in its overcrowded prisons. One of the first acts of the Labour government in July was to announce plans to release more prisoners early to tackle a crisis of overcrowding in jails which ministers said threatened a “total breakdown of law and order.”
The prison population in England and Wales then reached a record high in September, and earlier this year the government said police cells would be used temporarily to hold prisoners as an emergency stopgap measure to cope with overcrowding in prison. Announcing the findings of a review into how to tackle the crisis, justice minister Shabana Mahmood said it had recommended continuing a pilot of “medication to manage problematic sexual arousal”. Options include pharmaceuticals that suppress libido and those that reduce sexual thoughts, the review said.
Greek firefighters preparing to battle blazes
On a hillside outside Athens, firefighters, rescuers and the army stand ready to tackle an encroaching wildfire near a summer camp — a scenario all too familiar in Greece, where climate change has made blazes more frequent and devastating. With Greece well into its wildfire season, Thursday’s exercise near the seaside town of Lavrio about 70km south of the capital was held simultaneously across the country.
Fire trucks raced to the scene and aircraft dumped water on a simulated flame. Authorities described the drill’s weather conditions as “realistic” — hot and windy after weeks of drought. “This year too, conditions are going to be particularly difficult,” climate crisis and civil protection minister Giannis Kefalogiannis told reporters. “We will all go to battle.”
Senate throttles back on environmental red tape
Brazil’s senate has approved legislation to loosen environmental licensing, despite criticism from climate policy groups and figures inside President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government. The bill, approved in the senate by 54 votes to 13 late on Wednesday, would allow projects considered to have a small or mid-sized impact, such as dams and basic sanitation, to be built without the approval of environmental agencies.
The legislation, which still requires approval from Brazil’s lower house of Congress, enjoys widespread support from the powerful agribusiness caucus, as well as high-ranking figures in Lula’s government such as his chief of staff Rui Costa. The bill highlights government divisions on environmental policy as Lula tries to burnish his green credentials before the country hosts the UN climate summit known as COP30 in the Amazonian city of Belem in November. The approval is a blow to environment minister Marina Silva, who had said the bill would be a major setback that “dismantles” licensing in the country.
Modi curtails river water access rights for Pakistan
Pakistan will not get water from rivers over which India has rights, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, a month after a deadly attack in Indian Kashmir led New Delhi to suspend a key river water-sharing treaty between the neighbours. The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, negotiated by the World Bank in 1960, was among a slew of measures announced by India against Pakistan last month after the April 22 attack that killed 26 men, mostly Hindu tourists. New Delhi had said the attack was backed by Pakistan — an accusation Islamabad denied — and the nuclear-armed neighbours were involved in their worst military fighting in nearly three decades before agreeing to a ceasefire on May 10.
“Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price for every terrorist attack ... Pakistan’s army will pay it, Pakistan’s economy will pay it,” Modi said at a public event in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, which borders Pakistan. The Indus treaty provides water for 80% of Pakistan’s farms from three rivers that flow from India but Pakistan’s finance minister said this month that its suspension was not going to have “any immediate impact”.
China and the Philippines in new maritime standoff
China and the Philippines traded accusations on Thursday after a confrontation between two of their vessels in contested waters of the South China Sea, the latest incident in a long-running maritime standoff in the strategic waterway. The Philippines’ fisheries bureau said the lives of a civilian crew were put at risk when the Chinese Coast Guard fired water cannons and sideswiped a vessel as it conducted marine research around a disputed South China Sea reef. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources condemned what it said was the “aggressive interference” of the Chinese Coast Guard against the Datu Sanday and a second ship in Wednesday’s incident, saying its vessels had not previously been subjected to water cannons in the area. The Chinese Coast Guard said two Philippine vessels had illegally entered waters near Subi Reef and Sandy Cay and organised personnel to land on Sandy Cay.
Court approves Chagos Islands deal with Mauritius
Britain can conclude a deal with Mauritius on the future of the Chagos Islands on Thursday after a judge at London’s High Court overturned an 11th-hour injunction which had blocked the agreement being signed earlier. Lawyers representing a British national born in the Chagos Islands were granted an interim injunction in the early hours of Thursday morning, postponing the formal signing of a treaty that aims to secure the future of the strategically important US-UK Diego Garcia airbase. But judge Martin Chamberlain lifted the injunction after a hearing later on Thursday, clearing the way for Britain to sign the multi-billion-dollar deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The deal, the details of which were first announced in October, would allow Britain to retain control of the airbase on Diego Garcia, the largest island of the archipelago in the Indian Ocean, under a 99-year lease.
Germany deploys brigade to Lithuania
Germany and its partners are determined to defend all Nato territory, chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday during a visit to Vilnius marking the deployment of a German brigade to Lithuania to strengthen the alliance’s eastern flank. The visit comes as Nato leaders prepare to meet next month to set new goals on filling capability gaps and to address the question of how much members should spend on defence in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Together with our partners, we are determined to defend the alliance territory against any aggression. The security of our Baltic allies is also our security,” Merz said. On the goals of the summit, he said: “European defence capabilities must be strengthened in the long term and our defence industry must expand its capacities”.
EU targets countries with anti-deforestation law
Commodities from just four countries will face the strictest checks under the EU’s anti-deforestation law, with major forest nations including Brazil and Indonesia spared the toughest rules. In a legal act published on Thursday, the European Commission said the law would categorise goods imported from Belarus, Myanmar, North Korea and Russia as having a “high risk” of fuelling deforestation. Countries including Brazil and Indonesia will be labelled as “standard risk” — which means they will face lighter compliance checks on goods exported to Europe.
The world-first law will impose due diligence requirements on companies placing products including soya beans, beef, palm oil, timber, cocoa, coffee and chocolate onto the EU market. The US was among the countries labelled as “low-risk”.
Cholera spike in Khartoum after drone attacks
More than 2,300 people have been diagnosed with cholera in Sudan over the past three weeks, authorities said, 90% of them in the capital and surrounding areas where drone attacks have cut off electricity and water supplies. At least 51 people have died as a result, the health ministry’s emergency operations centre said in a statement, with cases concentrated in greater Khartoum’s Karari and Jabal Awlia localities. The more than two-year-old war between the Sudanese army — which took full control of Khartoum state this week — and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has spread hunger and disease and destroyed most health facilities.
Reuters
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