WordPress

Author: Cecilia Odey

  • German concerns delaying EU’s latest Russia sanctions

    German concerns delaying EU’s latest Russia sanctions

    Sanction

    Brussels, June 13, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Berlin is bogging down negotiations on the latest EU sanctions package intended to prevent Russia from circumventing existing punitive measures imposed over the war in Ukraine, dpa has learnt.

    Diplomats in Brussels said German concerned and requesting for changes were a decisive factor in the delay of the latest Russian sanctions package.

    They said it recently felt like Germany had become the new Hungary, referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has repeatedly delayed decisions on Russia sanctions at EU level.

    A spokesman for Germany’s permanent representation to the EU did not comment on the negotiations when asked by dpa on Thursday, saying that the discussions among the advisers of member states were confidential.

    The latest planned EU punitive measures were aimed at preventing the circumvention of existing sanctions, with Russia’s defence industry currently still able to benefit from Western technology.

    The technology that would help produces weapons for war in the neighbouring Ukraine.

    For the first time, the EU also plans to impose strict sanctions against Russia’s multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.

    According to diplomats, the European Commission is looking to bar the shipment of Russian LNG to third countries from EU ports such as the one in Belgium’s Zeebrugge.

    The hope being this would reduce Russian LNG profits and thus available investments for the war in Ukraine.

    German reticence mainly concerns the planned measures aimed at preventing sanctions circumvention, according to EU diplomats.

    Among other things, Berlin is calling for a planned rule for subsidiaries to be held liable in the event of violations to be limited to certain goods or cancelled altogether.

    This is amid apparent fears that German companies could be held responsible for sanctions violations. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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    Edited b y Cecilia Odey/Ekemini Ladejobi

  • EU court orders Hungary to pay €200M fine over asylum policies

    EU court orders Hungary to pay €200M fine over asylum policies

    Order
    Luxembourg, June 13, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Hungary has been ordered by the European Court of Justice to pay a fine of 200 million euros (216 million dollars) and a further one million euros per day for failing to comply with the bloc’s asylum rules.

    The ruling followed a previous court judgement in December 2020 concerning procedures for granting international protection and returning third-country nationals.

    According to a court statement released on Thursday, the failure to implement that judgement “constitutes an unprecedented and extremely serious infringement of EU law’’.

    The judges ruled that Hungary has not taken the measures necessary to comply with the 2020 judgment as regards access to the international protection procedure.

    “The right of applicants for international protection to remain in Hungary pending a final decision on their appeal against the rejection of their application and the removal of illegally staying third-country nationals.’’ (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Tayo Ikujuni

  • Canada announces rockets, other military aid for Ukraine

    Canada announces rockets, other military aid for Ukraine

    Aid

    Brussels, June 13, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Canada says it will supply Ukraine with rockets, small arms ammunition and remote-controlled weapon mounts for vehicles, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair announced in Brussels on Thursday.

    “Canada will provide Ukraine with 2,300 Canadian Rocket Vehicle 7s or CRV rocket motors,’’ Blair said.

    He added, “Canada will send an additional number of rounds of small arms ammunition, as well as 29 Nanuk remote systems,’’ which are remote-controlled weapon mounts for military vehicles.”

    He said the CRV7s were “formerly used by the Royal Canadian Air Force on our CF-18 aircraft.’’

    Meanwhile, “the Nanuk is a remotely-controlled weapon station used by the Canadian Army on our own light armoured vehicles.’’

    He added, this week, Canada would begin the shipments of a new fleet of 50 armoured vehicles to Ukraine.

    ”The first four vehicles would be departing Canada this week, and they would be delivered to the Ukrainian armed forces in the coming weeks,’’ Blair said. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited b y Cecilia Odey/Bashir Rabe Mani

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  • EU plans to extend protection for Ukrainian war refugees until 2026

    EU plans to extend protection for Ukrainian war refugees until 2026

    Refugees

    Brussels, June 11, 2024 (dpa/NAN) The European Commission has planned to extend emergency rules to shelter people who fled the war in Ukraine until March 2026, in a move announced on Tuesday.

    The EU stands united in protecting people who fled from Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine.

    EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said in a statement.

    The Ukrainians who fled to the EU after the full-scale invasion of Russia in 2022 were granted immediate protection.

    The protection was after EU member states set up a temporary regime designed for cases of mass influxes of people.

    In addition, people under temporary protection were entitled to social benefits, housing, access to education and work permits, among things.

    The proposal is designed to avoid the lengthy national asylum seeking procedures required to process large numbers of displaced people.

    Furthermore ,extension of the temporary rules are possible for up to one year.

    The existing regime was set to end in March 2025.

    EU justice and home affair ministers were to examine the extension on Thursday and Friday in Brussels.

    The commission reported almost 4.2 million Ukrainians are currently residing in the EU under these rules with Germany hosting the most people at 1.2 million. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Buhari Bolaji

  • Avian influenza outbreak no threat to Australia’s egg supply

    Avian influenza outbreak not threat to Australia’s egg supply

    Outbreak

    Canberra, June 11, 2024 (Xinhua/NAN) Australia is not at risk of an egg shortage in spite of an outbreak of avian influenza, the agriculture minister has said.

    Murray Watt on Tuesday said there was no reason for Australians to be worried about a national shortage of eggs after the highly pathogenic H7N3 strain of bird flu.

    Watt said the flu was detected at five farms in the state of Victoria.

    He told state media Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television that 1 million hens have been euthanized or otherwise affected by the outbreak, representing approximately four per cent of Australia’s national flock of egg-laying chickens.

    In response, Coles one of Australia’s two largest supermarket chains had limited the number of eggs customers can buy to two cartons in all stores across the nation except in Western Australia (WA).

    However, Watt said there was no cause for alarm about the supply of eggs.

    “Every day Australia produces 18 million eggs and there’s no risk to that supply stopping any time soon,’’ he said.

    Watt said that the outbreak would have affected more farms if not for a quick quarantine response from the Victorian government but said he could not guarantee that it has been entirely contained.

    “I can’t rule out that it’d be spreading further, but obviously every effort is being put in by the Victorian government, backed by ourselves,’’ he said.

    He said the strain of avian influenza that has been detected in Victoria is not the deadly strain that has been detected elsewhere in the world and said Australians can continue to eat eggs safely. (Xinhua/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey

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  • Commercial market for women opens in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan

    Commercial market for women opens in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan

    Market

    Kabul, June 11, 2024 (Xinhua/NAN) A commercial market was opened for women to run their businesses in Afghanistan’s central Bamiyan province, state-run media outlet Bakhtar news agency reported on Tuesday.

    The market opened in the Family Park region of Bamiyan City, the provincial capital of the province, and has facilitated women to sell their products in 18 shops, the media reported.

    According to news agency report, women can exhibit their products to include  handicrafts, minatory arts, carpets and other crafts in this market.

    Commercial markets for women have been opened in several provinces of Afghanistan, including Herat, Balkh, Badakhshan, and the national capital of Kabul. (Xinhua/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey and Halima Sheji

     

  • Myanmar to export 1.89m tonnes of pulses

    Myanmar to export 1.89m  tonnes of pulses

    Export

    Yangon, June 11, 2024 (Xinhua/NAN) Myanmar has said on Tuesday that it has a target to export 1.89 million tonnes of pulses in the current 2024 to 2025 fiscal year starting in April.

    Pulses, also known as grain legumes, are a group of 12 crops that includes dry beans, dry peas, chickpeas, and lentils. They are high in protein, fibre, and various vitamins, provide amino acids, and are hearty crops.

    The official daily The Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Tuesday.

    The country’s Ministry of Commerce was working with the Myanmar Pulses, Beans, Maize and Sesame Seeds Merchants Association to meet export targets, the report said.

    In addition Myanmar, domestic consumption accounted for 20 per cent of the country’s pulses production, while 80 per cent is exported, he said.

    From the start of the current fiscal year until May 31, Myanmar earned 412 million U.S. dollars from exporting over 470,000 tonnes of pulses, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

    Moreover In the previous fiscal year 2023 to 2024, Myanmar earned 1.48 billion dollars from exporting 1.7 million tonnes of pulses, according to the Ministry of Commerce. (Xinhua/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Ekemini Ladejobi

     

  • German police launch raids against far-right Reich Citizens scene

    German police launch raids against far-right Reich Citizens scene

    Launch

    Hanover (Germany), June 11, 2024 (dpa/NAN) German police carried out further raids on Tuesday morning targeting the far-right Reich Citizens movement, with suspects allegedly linked to a previously uncovered plot to overthrow the German government.

    Several large criminal trials against 26 alleged extremists who plotted to violently overthrow the German government are currently underway in Germany.

    The plotters allegedly hoped to install a self-styled aristocrat, Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, as leader.

    On Tuesday, police launched raids on numerous locations in two different German states.

    A spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in the city of Celle, located near Hanover, told dpa that the searches were ongoing. (dpa/ NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey and Abiemwense Moru

     

  • German president welcomes Zelensky to Berlin

    German president welcomes Zelensky to Berlin

    Zelensky

    Berlin, June 11, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was welcomed in Berlin by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday, ahead of an international conference on recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine.

    Steinmeier received Zelensky at his official residence, the Bellevue Palace in the capital.

    He planned to accompany Zelensky to the official opening of the conference and attend Zelensky’s speech to the German parliament on Tuesday afternoon.

    Relations between the two presidents were initially strained, after Zelensky told Steinmeier in April 2022.

    He was not welcome to join colleagues from Poland and the Baltic states for a planned trip to Kiev.

    At the time, Zelensky accused Steinmeier of taking a soft stance toward Russian President Vladimir Putin in his previous political positions.

    The two have seemingly patched up relations since, however, and Steinmeier later visited Ukraine. (dpa/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu

     

  • Army retrieves four bodies from Mount Everest

    Retrieval

    Kathmandu, June 11, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Nepalese soldiers have retrieved four bodies and a skeleton from Mount Everest and the neighbouring peaks of Lhotse and Nuptse during a cleaning operation.

    The recruits collected 11 tons of rubbish since April, according to the army.

    Mount Everest At 8,849 metres, is the highest mountain in the world.

    It has also gained the sad notoriety of being the world’s highest rubbish dump.

    Tonnes of broken tents and clothing, food packaging, cookers, empty water bottles, beer cans and oxygen bottles lie there, left behind by thousands of adventurers.

    There is also a lot of human waste and dozens of corpses, some of which mountaineers even use as trail markers.

    When people die on the mountain, they are often left behind.

    This is because recovering a frozen corpse is difficult and expensive it costs between 30,000 euros to 60,000 euros (32,000 dollars to 64,500 dollars).

    This is according to U.S. mountaineer and blogger Alan Arnette.

    In most cases, a team of six to 10 experienced Sherpas with oxygen cylinders were deployed and a helicopter flies the body off the mountain.

    However, some families also left their deceased loved ones there because they loved the mountain so much. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    Edited by Cecilia Odey/Dianabasi Effiong