Pageloader -->

WORLD NEWS

18 APRIL 2023

SLOVAKIA BECOMES 3RD NATION TO DEFY EU, BAN FOOD IMPORTS FROM UKRAINE

 

Slovakia became the third European Union country to ban food imports from Ukraine on Monday, deepening the challenge for the bloc as it works to help Ukraine transport its grain to world markets.

Slovakia followed Poland and Hungary, both of which announced bans on Saturday on Ukrainian food imports through June 30. They did so in response to rising anger from farmers who say a glut of grain in their countries is causing them economic hardship.

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, manages trade on behalf of the 27 member countries and objects to them taking unilateral or uncoordinated measures.

 

 

IRAN INVITES SAUDI KING TO VISIT AMID THAW IN TIES

 

TEHRAN: Iran said on Monday it has formally invited Saudi King Salman to visit Tehran, following a reconciliation pact reached last month between the two sides.

Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran in 2016, after its embassy in Tehran and consulate in the northwestern city of Mashhad were attacked during protests over Riyadh's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. The two West Asian powerhouses had held several rounds of dialogue in Iraq and Oman before reaching the agreement to mend ties on March 10 in China.

On Monday, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said President Ebrahim Raisi had had already received an invitation to visit the Sunni-ruled kingdom.

 

 

BRAZIL'S WELCOME OF RUSSIAN MINISTER PROMPTS US BLOWBACK

 

BRASILIA, Brazil -- Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday expressed gratitude to Brazil for its approach in pushing for an end to hostilities in Ukraine — an effort that has irked both Kyiv and the West, and by afternoon prompted an unusually sharp rebuke from the White House.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has refused to provide weapons to Ukraine while proposing a club of nations including Brazil and China to mediate peace.

On Sunday, Lula told reporters in Abu Dhabi that two nations – both Russia and Ukraine – had decided to go to war, and a day earlier in Beijing said the U.S. must stop “stimulating” the continued fighting and start discussing peace. Earlier this month, he suggested Ukraine could cede Crimea to end the war, which the spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, and others rejected.

After meeting Brazil’s foreign minister on Monday, Lavrov told reporters in a short press conference that the West has engaged in “a rather tough struggle” to maintain its dominance in world affairs, including economics and geopolitics.

“As for the process in Ukraine, we are grateful to our Brazilian friends for their excellent understanding of this situation’s genesis. We are grateful (to them) for striving to contribute to finding ways to settle it," Lavrov said, sitting alongside his Brazilian counterpart, Mauro Vieira.

 

 

CHINESE NAT’L HELD ON BLASPHEMY CHARGES IN PAK

 

Peshawar : Pakistani police arrested a Chinese national on blasphemy charges after he allegedly insulted Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, authorities said on Monday. Under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws, a conviction for the offense carries the death penalty.

Police identified the man only as Tian from China and said he was arrested on Sunday night, hours after hundreds of residents and labourers working on a dam project blocked a key highway and rallied to demand his arrest.

The rally took place in the town of Komela — located close to the site of the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan — in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, according to local police chief Naseer Khan.

Khan said officers quickly responded to the protests by “rescuing and arresting” the Chinese man, who was later transported to Abbottabad by an army helicopter because of concerns he could be attacked by residents. Khan said security for other Chinese engineers and workers had been further beefed up in the town.

According to Khan, the accusations arose from a workplace disagreement: Tian allegedly became upset and reprimanded two local drivers for taking too muchtime from work to pray. Other labourers then claimed he had insulted the prophet.

There was no immediate comment from the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad.

 

 

FBI MAKES ARRESTS OVER ALLEGED SECRET CHINESE 'POLICE STATIONS' IN NEW YORK

 

US prosecutors have arrested two men in New York for allegedly operating a Chinese "secret police station" in Manhattan's Chinatown neighbourhood.

Lu Jianwang, 61, and Chen Jinping, 59, both New York City residents, face charges of conspiring to act as agents for China and obstruction of justice.

They are expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday.

China has previously denied operating the stations, calling them "service centres" for nationals overseas.

Mr Lu of the Bronx and Mr Chen of Manhattan worked together to establish the first overseas police station in the United States on behalf of China's Ministry of Public Security, the US Department of Justice alleged on Monday.

The outpost was closed in autumn of 2022, the department said, after those involved became aware of an FBI investigation into the station.

"This prosecution reveals the Chinese government's flagrant violation of our nation's sovereignty by establishing a secret police station in the middle of New York City," said Breon Pearce, the top prosecutor in Brooklyn.

The stations are believed to be among at least 100 operating across the globe in 53 countries, including the UK and the Netherlands. And last month, Canada's federal police announced an investigation into two Montreal-area sites thought to be police outposts.

"The PRC's [People's Republic of China] actions go far beyond the bounds of acceptable nation-state conduct. We will resolutely defend the freedoms of all those living in our country from the threat of authoritarian repression," said assistant attorney general Matthew Olsen, from the Justice Department's National Security Division.

 

 

TOP KREMLIN CRITIC CONVICTED OF TREASON, GIVEN 25 YEARS

 

A Russian court on Monday convicted a top opposition activist of treason for publicly denouncing Moscow’s war in Ukraine and sentenced him to 25 years in prison as part of the Kremlin’s relentless crackdown on critics of the invasion. Vladimir Kara-Murza, Jr, an activist and journalist who twice survived poisonings he blamed on Russian authorities, has rejected the charges against him as punishment for standing up to President Putin and likened the proceedings to the show trials under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Human rights organisations and Western governments denounced the verdict and demanded his release.

The charges against KaraMurza, a 41-year-old dual Russian-British citizen who has been behind bars since his arrest a year ago, stem from a March 2022 speech to the Arizona House of Representatives in which he denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with other speeches abroad.

 

 

U.S. WARSHIP SAILS THROUGH TAIWAN STRAIT DAYS AFTER DRILLS BY CHINA

 

TAIPEI: A U.S. warship sailed through the waters separating Taiwan and mainland China, days after Beijing staged war games around the island. Western Navies regularly conduct "freedom of navigation operations" to assert the international status of regional waterways such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

 

 

EXTREMISTS RAZE AHMADI SHRINE

 

Radical Islamists belonging to Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) allegedly attacked and demolished a 118-year-old worship place of the minority Ahmadi community in the Punjab province, police said on Monday. The incident occurred on Sunday at the Ahmadi worship place in Sargodha district. According to TLP, the worship place was built like a mosque, the official said. Members of the community present had to scale walls to save their lives.

 

 

‘AUS BIZMAN GAVE CHINA SPY REPORTS ON AUKUS’

 

Sydney : Chinese spies allegedly gave a “well-connected” Australian businessman cash-filled envelopes in exchange for handwritten reports about lithium mining and the AUKUS security pact, a Sydney court was told Monday.

Australian police allege that Alexander Csergo sold information to two Chinese spies known as “Ken” and “Evelyn” while he worked in Shanghai as a marketing executive. The 55-year-old — who has spent more than two decades working in China — was arrested in Sydney on Friday and has been charged with one count of “reckless foreign interference”.

A government lawyer told the court that Csergo, an Australian national, had travelled home with a “shopping list” of spying priorities drawn up for him by theChinese agents. “Hedid this for cash that was given to him,” prosecutor Connor McCraith told the court. The court was told the Chinese spies were eager for information on lithium mining, iron ore production, and the AUKUS alliance — a Western security pact that Beijing views with suspicion.

Csergo moved to China around 2002, working for a series of multinational firms in advertising, marketing, communications and data analytics. Csergo had first been approached by Chinese intelligence agents in 2021. “He attended face-to-face meetings at various cafes in Shanghai,” magistrate Michael Barko. Csergo was a sophisticated operator who appeared to be “well connected" in the upper echelons of Shanghai’s business community, Barko added.

 

 

U.K. PM RISHI SUNAK FACES PROBE OVER WIFE’S BUSINESS INTEREST

 

LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing a watchdog inquiry under his parliamentary declaration of interest obligations related to a Budget policy that could benefit his wife, Akshata Murty, through her business interest in a childcare firm. The inquiry has been opened by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

 

 

MYANMAR TO FREE 3,000 PRISONERS IN BUDDHIST NEW YEAR AMNESTY

 

YANGON: Myanmar’s junta on Monday began releasing more than 3,000 prisoners to mark the Buddhist New Year, without specifying whether those jailed in its bloody crackdown on dissent would be freed. The military has arrested thousands since its coup more than two years ago, which plunged the country into turmoil.

 

 

BANGLADESH TO PAY RUSSIA IN YUAN FOR NUCLEAR PLANT

 

Bangladesh and Russia have agreed to use yuan to settle payment for a nuclear plant Moscow is building in the South Asian country, a Bangladesh government official said on Monday.

Bangladesh is constructing the first of two nuclear power plants in collaboration with Russia’s state-owned atomic company Rosatom in a $12.65 billion project, 90% of which is financed through a Russian loan repayable within 28 years, with a 10-year grace period. “Russia wanted us to make payment in rouble but that’s not possible for us. So we have agreed to pay in Chinese yuan,” said Uttam Kumar Karmaker, a senior official in the Bangladesh Economic Relations Division.

The project will help curb frequent power cuts which analysts expect to worsen this year as Bangladesh’s ability to import fuels has taken a hit following a rapid decline in the value of its currency and foreign exchange reserves.

 

Comments (0)


Today
8:03am
Hi Jenna! I made a new design, and i wanted to show it to you.
8:03am
It's quite clean and it's inspired from Bulkit.
8:12am
Oh really??! I want to see that.
8:13am
FYI it was done in less than a day.
8:17am
Great to hear it. Just send me the PSD files so i can have a look at it.
8:18am
And if you have a prototype, you can also send me the link to it.

Monday
4:55pm
Hey Jenna, what's up?
4:56pm
Iam coming to LA tomorrow. Interested in having lunch?
5:21pm
Hey mate, it's been a while. Sure I would love to.
5:27pm
Ok. Let's say i pick you up at 12:30 at work, works?
5:43pm
Yup, that works great.
5:44pm
And yeah, don't forget to bring some of my favourite cheese cake.
5:27pm
No worries

Today
2:01pm
Hello Jenna, did you read my proposal?
2:01pm
Didn't hear from you since i sent it.
2:02pm
Hello Milly, Iam really sorry, Iam so busy recently, but i had the time to read it.
2:04pm
And what did you think about it?
2:05pm
Actually it's quite good, there might be some small changes but overall it's great.
2:07pm
I think that i can give it to my boss at this stage.
2:09pm
Crossing fingers then

Details