Author: Sheji Halima

Survey: 40% of Germans support recognition of Palestinian state

Support

Berlin, June 7, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Two out of five Germans are in favour of recognising Palestinian statehood, according to the results of a representative survey conducted by the opinion research institute YouGov on Friday.

According to the survey, 40 per cent of respondents said that Germany should recognise Palestine as a state, while 27 per cent were against and 33 per cent did not say.

In recent weeks, Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia decided to recognise Palestine as a state, which triggered fierce protests from Israel.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared a fortnight ago that the German government was not currently planning to recognise Palestine as a separate state.

Divisions are deepening over the war in Gaza. On May 24, the International Criminal Court the highest court of the United Nations (UN), ordered an immediate halt to Israel’s military offensive in the Palestinian city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Israel has however continued its offensive on the city where 1.4 million Palestinians from elsewhere in Gaza had previously sought shelter, leading almost 1 million of them to flee again.

The European Union is now considering imposing economic sanctions against Israel.

According to the survey, around half (51 per cent) of respondents would be in favour of the EU imposing economic sanctions on Israel, according to the survey.

However, 26 per cent said they completely or somewhat disagreed with such sanctions.

For the representative survey, YouGov interviewed 2,295 people eligible to vote in Germany. The survey took place between May 31 and June 5. (dpa/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

HS

===

Edited by Halima Sheji

Condemn

Berlin, June 7, 2024 (dpa/NAN) The German refugee advocacy group Pro Asyl has condemned German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s initiative to allow deportations of serious criminals to Afghanistan and Syria.

“International law clearly prohibits any deportations to Afghanistan and Syria,” Pro Asyl’s managing director Karl Kopp told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper in remarks published on Friday.

Kopp described Scholz’s proposed plans as unlawful, because both countries were known for their use of torture and inhuman punishments.

Earlier on Thursday, Scholz proposed to allow the deportation of serious criminals to Afghanistan and Syria again, following the recent death of a police officer who was stabbed at an anti-Islamic rally in Mannheim.”

“Such criminals should be deported even if they come from Syria and Afghanistan,” Scholz told the Bundestag or lower house of parliament. “Serious criminals and [people posing] terrorist threats have no place here.”

The chancellor did not explain exactly how he intend to make this possible, but said the Interior Ministry was working on the practical implementation and was already in talks with Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries.

An Afghan national stabbed several people last week in the south-western city of Mannheim during a rally by the anti-Islam movement Pax Europa, a policeman who tried to intervene later died of his injuries.

“The attack in Mannheim has shocked us all, but the German government must not undermine international law. Instead, it must rely on the resources of the German constitutional state,” Kopp said.

“The prohibition on torture applies to everyone including criminals. This important principle must not be undermined,” he added.

Germany has not sent anyone back to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in August 2021.

Even before that, the agreement was that only men especially criminals and those deemed terrorist threats would be forcibly returned, due to the difficult security situation. (dpa/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

HS

===

Edited by Halima Sheji

Biden to deliver speech on democracy, freedom in Normandy

Speech

Colleville-sur-Mer, France, June 7, 2024(dpa/NAN) U.S. President Joe Biden is to give a keynote speech in the northern French region Normandy on Friday.

The keynote speech in defence of freedom and democracy as part of a visit to France that includes D-Day commemorative events.

According to the White House, Biden is planning a speech on the power of democracy and the fight against aggressors and autocrats against the historic backdrop of Pointe du Hoc on the northern French coast.

Pointe du Hoc is a stretch of coast in Normandy where Allied troops landed 80 years ago, on June 6, 1944, now known as D-Day, which marked the beginning of the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi rule.

The Allied forces at the time consisted mainly of U.S., British, Canadian, Polish and French troops.

Biden had already used a D-Day commemoration at a U.S. military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer in northern France earlier on Thursday to call for the defence of democracy.

“We know the dark forces that these heroes fought against 80 years ago, they never fade,” Biden said. He cited the Russian war against Ukraine as an example.

Biden’s speech at Pointe du Hoc is not part of the official D-Day celebrations, but is likely to be aimed at a U.S. audience in particular.

Biden is in a tight race with Donald Trump for a second term in the White House.

Biden is in France for a visit which will last for several days. After his stops in Normandy, he is scheduled to be received as a state guest by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Saturday. (dpa/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

HS

===

Edited by Halima Sheji

Raid

Berlin, June 6, 2024 (dpa/NAN) German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has called for tough action on hate online, after police raids were carried out in all states on Thursday to curtail crime .

“We must stop the spiral of hatred and violence. The hate that is spread online is the breeding ground for violence,’’ she said.

Earlier, state and federal police carried out 130 searches and other measures to target people suspected of posting hate speech online.

Some 70 homes were searched and numerous suspects questioned, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said in Wiesbaden.

Faeser explained that the authorities were taking tough action against Islamist and anti-Semitic hate speech that glorifies the terror of Hamas and denies Israel’s right to exist.

“We are acting just as decisively against right-wing extremist and anti-democratic hate postings, including vile death threats against public officials and elected representatives in our country,” she added.

“More than half of the hate postings processed could be attributed to the phenomenon of politically motivated crime – right-wing,” the BKA said earlier.

BKA officials said that around a third of the cases involved politically motivated offences that could not be clearly attributed to a political movement; some cases also involved imported ideologies and religious ideology.

The BKA added that criminal postings included incitement to hatred and propaganda offences such as the use of swastikas or other Nazi symbols.

They also included anti-Semitic statements relating to the Middle East conflict, such as the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” the” BKA said.

BKA said that the slogan can be understood as a call for the destruction of Israel, expulsion and extermination of the Jewish population.

However, posts involving threats and insults to politicians, public officials and elected representatives were also tracked. “In some cases, the threats also include concrete execution scenarios,” the BKA added.

There has recently been a surge in violent attacks on politicians of all parties amid campaigning for the European Parliament elections, taking place on June 6 to 9. (dpa/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

HS

===

Edited by Halima Sheji

S/ korea -Africa summit beginning of stronger cooperation on economy

Economy

Seoul, June 5, 2024 (Yonhap/NAN) South Korea says it has signed nearly 50 initial agreements with African nations to boost cooperation on trade, energy, critical minerals and a wide range of other industrial and economic fields.

Seoul’s industry ministry said on Wednesday.

The memorandums of understanding (MOUs) were signed on the sidelines of the two-day Korea-Africa Summit held in Seoul from Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The summit was the first of its kind hosted by South Korea for African partners, which focused on expanding their cooperative relations.

At the government-to-government level, 12 MOUs were signed between South Korea and 11 African countries.

South Korea and Tanzania declared the initiation of negotiations for an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with a goal to deepen their trade ties.

An EPA is meant to establish a mutually beneficial trade network with partner nations beyond a simple market opening, though it covers a smaller scope of areas compared with a traditional free trade agreement.

South Korea also agreed with Morocco upon talks to push for negotiations on a bilateral EPA, which would call for a stronger relationship on supply chains, digital industry and a broader range of trade issues.

The Seoul government also signed a Trade and Investment Promotion Framework with eight African countries, including Ghana, Malawi and Zimbabwe with the goal of facilitating trade and investment.

A respective agreement on critical minerals was signed with Tanzania and Madagascar, which is expected to help ensure South Korea’s stable supply chains of key industry minerals for the rechargeable battery and other sectors.

Among state-run agencies and private entities of South Korea and the African nations, 16 MOUs and 19 contracts were signed on the margins of the summit.

Of the contracts, South Korea’s Hyosung Corp. signed a transformer supply deal with the power agency of Mozambique.

Those agreements aimed to expand bilateral cooperation on advanced small modular reactors, electricity, new renewable energy resources, critical minerals and infrastructure projects, as well as trade and investment, according to the ministry.

A business summit took place in Seoul, which brought together some 400 government officials from South Korea and Africa, including presidents and top officials from 18 African nations.

as well as corporate officials from Hyundai Motor Co., LG Corp., POSCO Holding Inc. and Doosan Enerbility Co., among other firms.

The participants discussed how to work more closely on facilitating the industrialisation of African nations and strengthening their economic security in terms of food, major minerals and joint responses to climate change, the ministry said.

“The partnership between South Korea and Africa is a tell-tale example of how global citizens, in spite of different backgrounds, can get together to achieve the goal of joint prosperity,” Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun told the summit, vowing thorough follow-up measures to achieve tangible.(Yonhap/NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

HS

===

Edited by Halima Sheji