Category: Foreign

Russia unleashed a missile and drone barrage yesterday across parts of Ukraine that killed six people, Kyiv officials said, as Moscow followed through on its promise to retaliate for an attack on a Russian tanker.

Separately, Moscow’s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights early yesterday following a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital.

Three waves of missiles hit the Starokostiantyniv area, damaging several buildings and igniting a fire at a warehouse, said Serhiy Tyurin, deputy head of Ukraine’s Khmelnytsky region military administration. The strike may have been intended for the city’s airfield, officials said.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the facilities of aircraft engine manufacturer Motor Sich in the Zaporizhzhia region had also come under attack.

The Russian barrage followed a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea late Friday. Ukraine also struck a major Russian port with drones earlier the same day.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned what she called a Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on a civilian vessel in the Kerch Strait.

“There can be no justification for such barbaric actions, they will not go unanswered and their authors and perpetrators will inevitably be punished,” she posted on the Telegram messaging app.

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An official with Ukraine’s Security Service confirmed to The Associated Press that a Ukrainian drone packed with 450 kilograms (992 pounds) of explosives struck the tanker that was transporting fuel for Russian forces. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Russia’s Federal Agency for Marine and River Transport posted on Telegram that although the drone blasted a hole in the tanker’s engine room, there were no casualties among the 11 crew members. Yesterday, a Ukrainian missile hit the Chonhar bridge connecting the Russian-occupied Kherson region and northern Crimea, causing minor damage to the span’s roadway, said Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed leader of the Kherson region. He also said several more rockets had been shot down by air defense forces.

The bridge, which is one of three key spans connecting the Crimean Peninsula to the mainland, was previously attacked on July 22 and July 29.

Two of the six killed overnight occurred during a Russian airstrike in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, according to the head of the local regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov. Four others were injured.

Zelenskyy said a guided bomb had hit a blood transfusion center in the area’s Kupyan district late on Saturday.

“This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “Defeating terrorists is a matter of honor for everyone who values life.”

Heavy shelling continued along the front line in eastern Ukraine as Kyiv continued its ongoing counteroffensive. Elsewhere in the Kharkiv region, a 58-year-old woman was killed and a 66-year-old man was wounded after Russian shelling of the village of Podoly, an official said. In Ukraine’s eastern Kupyan region, Russian missiles injured a 55-year-old man and ignited a forest fire, officials said on social media. Russian attacks in the Donetsk region villages of Torske and Niu-York killed two people, local Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said on social media.

Ukrainian shelling in Russian-held Donetsk killed a woman in her 80s, Moscow-appointed Mayor Alexei Kulemzin said. The shelling also set the main building of a university on fire, according to Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-installed head of the illegally annexed region.

Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said the blaze caused the building’s roof to collapse, but that there were no casualties.

Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, located 15 kilometers (9 miles) southwest of the capital, briefly suspended flights Yesterday morning after a drone was shot down in the airspace around the city. It was the fourth attack on Moscow in a month, highlighting the city’s vulnerability as Russia’s war grinds into its 18th month. The drone was destroyed by air defense systems in the Podolsk region of the Moscow suburbs, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

It said no one was injured from the abortive drone attack, although Russian media outlet Baza later reported a 77-year-old man suffered a shrapnel wound on his hand. The reports could not be independently verified.

Ukrainian authorities, which generally avoid commenting on attacks on Russian soil, didn’t say whether it launched the raid.

Flights were last halted at the airport on July 30, when two drones crashed into the Moscow City business district after being jammed by Russian air defenses.

Also yesterday, Ukraine replaced the Soviet hammer and sickle that adorned the 200-foot (61-meter) Mother Ukraine statue in Kyiv with the tryzub, the three-pronged trident that was officially adopted as the country’s coat of arms in 1992.

The change to one of the nation’s most recognizable landmarks is part of a wider shift throughout Ukraine to reclaim its cultural identity from the Soviet era amid Russia’s ongoing invasion.

A fire at a hospital in western Germany late on Thursday night had injured 28 people, five of them seriously, according to local police.

The fire broke out in a patient’s room in the hospital in Hemer, a town about 30 kilometres south-east of Dortmund.

Staff quickly began evacuating other patients from the hospital, according to a police spokeswoman.

The five people who were seriously injured suffered smoke inhalation, but no burns, according to initial findings.

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Four seriously injured people were transferred to other hospitals for treatment while one injured person was treated in the intensive care unit of the hospital itself, according to a spokesman for the fire brigade.

Among the injured are patients as well as employees.

The portion of the building where the fire broke out is no longer useable, the police spokeswoman said.

Criminal investigators from the local police took over the investigation into the cause of the fire. (dpa/NAN)

Former President Donald Trump is expected to arrive in court today for his arraignment on criminal conspiracy charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

 The Washington Post, citing three people familiar with the situation, reported on the Washington court appearance yesterday. A spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service later confirmed Trump’s presence is anticipated and that security precautions are underway amid expectations for “short term traffic implications.”

 The latest indictment against Trump, his third, includes four charges: conspiracy to defraud the government, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

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 Trump has denied any wrongdoing as he has done in his other legal fights.

 Special Counsel Jack Smith accused Trump of instigating the January 6 Capitol riot through his election fraud conspiracy theories.

 Trump and his two co-defendants, aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveria, in the separate federal case tied to the former president’s mishandling of classified documents are scheduled to  appear on Aug. 10 in Fort Pierce, Fla., for an arraignment on the superseding indictment charges.

Whether Trump and Nauta actually appear is another story. The Justice Department signaled last week that it wouldn’t object if they didn’t personally appear because both already entered not-guilty plea in the earlier indictment.

The third co-defendant, De Oliveria, is expected to appear in person for the arraignment after getting his initial hearing postponed on Monday because he hadn’t yet hired a South Florida-based attorney.

The United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) and the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) have called for a holistic approach to ending human trafficking in Nigeria.

Abimbola Adewumi, UNODC Team Leader, Trafficking in Persons/Smuggling of Migrants Portfolio, gave the advice in Abuja, at the inaugural ceremony of the annual peer review for state taskforces on human trafficking.

The event centered on:  ”Boot camp for state task forces on human trafficking and launch of a compendium of good practices in commemoration of the 2023 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

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The boot camp which was organised by NAPTIP, in collaboration with UNODC, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Expertise France, UNHCR, A-TIPSOM Nigeria, UNHR, and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), began on July 31 and will end on Aug. 4.

Adewumi said, “When it comes to the response on human trafficking in Nigeria, we all have agreed that NAPTIP cannot do it all alone as a Federal Government agency.

“This is why the idea of the state task forces on human trafficking also evolved and when the concept evolved in the state task forces we have a combination of law enforcement agencies, traditional rulers, media in some states and civil society organisations.

“It is a composition of different influencers within the community that makes up state task forces based on guideline NAPTIP provided for the states.

“This boot camp is important because it promotes peer learning and understanding from state to state, interventions within the states and to boost holistic approach to tackle trafficking.”

Speaking, the Director-General of NAPTIP, Prof.  Fatima Waziri, commended the state task forces for their commitment in combating human trafficking in Nigeria.

According to her, the unique contributions of the stakeholders resulted in the successes recorded , a development that has made Nigeria to retain its leading position in the fight against human trafficking globally.

“Together, we have made great strides in our collective efforts to eliminate this modern-day slavery and protect the vulnerable.

“The first and second batches of the boot camp were resounding successes, fostering an atmosphere of collaboration, knowledge sharing and strategic planning.

“Participants from various states came together bringing their expertise and experiences to the table, resulting in comprehensive and effective strategies to counter human trafficking.”

“The environmental scanning activities of the boot camps offered the participants ample opportunities to report trends, patterns, and manifestation of trafficking in other states and localities.

“This provided insights into the prevalent forms of trafficking, most endemic locations, destination countries, among other vital information,” she said.

In his remarks, Mr Benjamin Eneanya, Country Project Manager, Expertise France, urged the participants to reflect on success so far recorded, to be able to do more.

“As we gather here today, let us take a moment to reflect on the journey that has brought us together.

“It was in July 2022, we witnessed the inaugural boot camp peer review, uniting 68 participants from 9 state task forces; the historic occasion set the stage for the remarkable progress we have achieved together since then.

“Furthermore, this gathering marks the beginning of the process for the development of the 2nd edition of the STF Compendium of good practices.

“Building upon the success of the first edition, we will pool our collective knowledge, expertise, and experiences to create an even more comprehensive resource that will strengthen our fight against human trafficking,” she said.

Meanwhile, Laurent De Boeck, Chief of Mission of IOM has described human trafficking as a global issue which end  requires a holistic approach.

“The world over, trafficking in persons remains a global problem with over 40 million people being trafficked for various forms of exploitation.

“Nigeria is an important locus as a source, transit, and destination country in the trafficking process.

“IOM recognises the critical role of partnerships and coordination in tackling trafficking in persons.

“Today’s meeting presents an opportunity to strengthen the fight against trafficking in persons.

“The hosting of this meeting which involves various state task forces is a clear indication of Nigeria’s commitment to curbing trafficking in persons.

“Let me also take advantage of this opportunity to congratulate NAPTIP for celebrating 20 years of unwavering commitment to fighting human trafficking in Nigeria with so many great achievements to show for it,” he said.

Former Ivory Coast President Henri Konan Bedie, part of an old guard of politicians who dominated politics in the West African nation for a generation, has died, aged 89, a close relative told Reuters.

 Bedie served as president from 1993 until his ouster in 1999 and later ran a losing race against his long-time political rival President Alassane Ouattara in elections in 2020, when he was 86 years old.

 It is not clear how Bedie died.

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 His spokesman could not be reached for comment.

 He was long remembered – and in some parts reviled – for his role in promoting the issue of “ivoirite”, or Ivorien identity.

 The issue fueled tensions between those who considered themselves natives in the south and east, and the many foreign workers from neighbouring countries long settled in the country’s north.

This month, the United States will serve as President of the United Nations Security Council, a position that rotates every month among the 15 Council members. In this role, the United States will be responsible for setting the agenda of the Security Council for the month, organising Security Council meetings, managing the distribution of information to Council members, issuing statements, and communicating the Council’s actions to the public. The U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, speaks at a briefing attended by United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU. Excerpts: 

August presidency of the UN Security Council

This is the third time I will have the privilege of serving as president of the council, and when my team came to me to discuss our priorities for the month, I think they already knew what I was going to say.  I told them that, once again, addressing famine and food insecurity would be one of our key priorities.  As many of you will remember, this was the focus of my last two presidencies, and this year we will set an ambitious goal for the international community to end famine forever.

In a world abundant with food, no one should ever starve to death, ever.  This is a humanitarian issue, this is a moral issue, and this is a security issue.  And we must address the most insidious driver of famine and food insecurity, conflict.  That’s why this Thursday Secretary Blinken will chair a high-level open debate on famine and conflict-induced global food insecurity.  The council will look at ways the United Nations, member states, civil society, and the private sector can strengthen, coordinate, elevate food security initiatives and eliminate famine.  At a time when more than 345 million people in 79 countries face acute food insecurity, we all have a responsibility to do more and to give more.

Our second priority is the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms around the world.  As we approach the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we will integrate human rights into this month’s council meetings, and we will bring in voices from civil society to brief the council on human rights abuses happening around the world.  Of course, throughout the month we will hold other critical, regularly scheduled council meetings, which are outlined in our planned program of action.

We will call additional meetings on Russia’s war of aggression, as needed.  The world is looking at the Security Council to take on the issues of our time, to root out hunger and famine, to defend human rights, to advance international peace and security.  The United States is committed to advancing progress this month and carrying that progress forward during highlevel week and the SDG summit.

The next two months are a test: Can we live up to the ideals set out in the UN Charter?  Can we put people over politics, progress over power?  I believe we can, but we must work together and we must act with urgency.

The grain deal  

Look, on the grain deal, we know how important that deal was to getting grain to countries in need in Africa and the Middle East.  And so we are supportive of efforts by the Secretary-General, by the Government of Türkiye, as well as others, to encourage Russia to come back into the deal and resume the movements of grain through the Black Sea.

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So I know discussions are going on behind the scenes.  We encourage those discussions.  We encourage others to pressure Russia to come back to the deal because we know how important that deal is to so many countries.  And on your second question on the use of military convoys, I really don’t have anything on that.  I know that efforts are being made across the board to look for alternatives to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, but we know that through that initiative thousands of tons of food will move to the Global South.  And we know that that is the most efficient way, the most effective way, to get the most grain to the market and to the mouths of people in need.

The Black Sea region 

Russia has said itself directly that they may attack civilian ships using the Black Sea.  This is not the actions that we would expect again of a permanent member of the Security Council.  They’re going against all norms, all the values of the UN Charter, and those actions should be roundly condemned by everyone.

And we have raised our concerns about the Wagner Group long before they got in the press for actually attacking their own government.  We have seen their malign efforts on the continent of Africa.  So we certainly worry that this group, at the behest of the Russian Government – because they do not work independently of the Russian Government – is a threat to all of us.  And we have to ensure that the message is clear that any attacks by the Wagner Group will be seen as an attack by the Russian Government.

Colombia, Latin America and food security

 This is the – this is a concern for all of us.  The impact of food insecurity around the world is being – is being addressed here as not just about what we see happening in Ukraine; it’s about the impact of what is happening in Ukraine on the rest of the world.  And my concern over children going to bed hungry wherever they are is certainly a part of this discussion as something that we want to draw attention to during our presidency, but more than drawing attention to, we want to find solutions.  And that’s what we will be working on.

Working with FAO

We are the largest funder of FAO.  We work very, very closely with the FAO.  We want to support the work of scientists who can find solutions for us.  We do think there are solutions to dealing with issues of food insecurity.  There are scientific solutions, there are technical solutions, and this is why we want to bring everyone to the table – the private sector, UN agencies, NGOs, local NGOs that are working on these issues.

And you said something that I have said over and over again, and I’ll say it here.  There is no reason the continent of Africa cannot grow enough food to feed itself.  We just have to find the mechanisms to do that and give the enabling environment to farmers and businesses to do that on the continent of Africa.  Indigenous grain certainly is an element that we need to pay more attention to figure out how those grains might be developed so that they can be used more widely across the continent of Africa.

FAO is one of the UN agencies that we work most closely with on these issues.

Food insecurity in North Korea

We have regularly raised our concerns about the breaking of sanctions as they relate to North Korea.  But let me be clear:  Food is not one of those areas that is sanctioned.  We are very aware of the food insecurity issues in North Korea.  It is something that we know that we can be helpful with if the government just allow that to happen.

What is happening inside of North Korea is that this government is spending all of its money on the development of weapons to threaten the world instead of using the funds that they have to support the well-being of their people.  They closed off their borders to humanitarian assistance, and if they open those borders we as well as others would be there to provide assistance, needed assistance, to the people of North Korea.

We will continue to raise our concerns about this in the Security Council, as you’ve seen we’ve done in the past, and push our counterparts from Russia and China to support efforts to hold North Korea accountable for violations of human rights and as well violations of Security Council resolutions.

180,000 tons of grain destroyed in nine days of Russian strikes

Russia has consistently, since they pulled out of the grain deal, attacked Ukrainian agricultural infrastructure.  They did destroy 180,000 tons of grain.  And we saw from the UN that that grain could have fed in a year hundreds of thousands of – tens of thousands of people around the world.  So this is a concern for us.  We have raised it in in the Security Council and will continue to raise our concerns about that, including in our meeting on Thursday.

I had not heard specifically about the use of Croatian ports, but I know that Ukraine has been looking for alternatives to the Black Sea ports.  We know some of those alternatives have already been put in place.  But they cannot accommodate the capacity, the tons of wheat that need to get to the market that the Black Sea, if it were working efficiently, could provide.  So we, again, support those alternative efforts, but we will continue to support the efforts of the secretary-general and others to find a path forward to resuming the Black Sea Grain Initiative through the Black Sea ports in Odesa.

Russia and the deal 

You asked how positive am I that the Russians will go back into the grain deal.  I can only hope that Russia will re-enter this grain deal.  It’s beneficial to the world, not that we’ve seen any efforts by the Russians to care about what’s happening to people around the world.  But we’re certainly supportive of the secretary-general and others’ efforts to try to find a path that will get Russia to come back into this deal.

And then you ask about climate change.  We know that climate change has impacted food insecurity.  We have seen the drought in the Sahel.  We have seen the impact of flooding on agriculture.  We have seen the impact on livelihoods, on people being able to actually farm and move.  We’ve seen farmers being encroached upon in the Sahel by herders who are bringing their herds into agricultural areas.

So the impact of climate change is also significant on food insecurity.  And it’s why the President made the decision – one of the first decisions he made at the start of the administration was for us to go back into the Paris climate deal and for us to proactively engage with our partners on these issues.  Former Secretary of State Kerry has been actively supporting these efforts and engaging on these efforts, and it’s something that we are working very, very diligently on.

The impact of climate is not a – it’s not a problem for tomorrow; it’s a problem for today.  The secretary-general has described it as an existential threat.  It is something that we feel every day as we look at the patterns of heat across the globe, the patterns of flooding, intensified storms.  We absolutely have to work together to address these issues today.

One week after the military coup in Niger, the new military government has reopened the country’s land borders and airspace with five neighbouring countries, a spokesman for the junta announced on television on Tuesday evening.

The border crossings to Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Libya, and Chad were reopened, he said.

The junta also appointed new governors for the country’s eight regions.

Tensions with the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) remained.

The junta said Niger’s borders with Benin and Nigeria, both ECOWAS members, remained closed for the time being.

On Sunday ECOWAS issued an ultimatum to the coup leaders demanding that the democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum be released and reinstated within a week.

If not, then the group threatened to take measures that could include the use of force.

ECOWAS began a three-day meeting in Nigeria on Wednesday to discuss the way forward. ECOWAS members Burkina Faso and Mali, already suspended after earlier military coups, had sided with Niger.

Meanwhile, France and Italy began evacuating their citizens and others, with two planes landing in France and one in Italy.

The French planes carried mainly French citizens but also Germans and several other EU nationals, some from the United States, Ethiopia, and elsewhere, according to French press reports and the French Foreign Ministry.

The first flight carried at least 260 people, including 12 babies.

The European Commission said in a press release that around 500 people arrived in Paris on Wednesday on board the first two repatriation flights from Niamey.

According to information from the French General Staff, two more planes had also been sent to Niamey for the evacuation.

France has offered to evacuate people from other European countries from Niger as well.

The Foreign Office in Berlin had said that the Germans in Niger were advised to accept the offer.

After a request by France, the European Commission is to cover 75 per cent of the transportation costs, according to a press release.

A flight carrying dozens of people evacuated from Niger landed in Rome on Wednesday morning, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.

On board the Italian plane were 87 people, including 36 Italian nationals, 21 U.S. citizens, four Bulgarians, and two Austrians, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

Tajani said there are almost 100 Italians in Niger.

On July 26, officers of the presidential guard arrested Bazoum and declared him deposed.

The commander of the presidential guard, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, appointed himself the new ruler on Friday.

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Shortly after Tchiani took power, the putschists suspended the constitution and dissolved all constitutional institutions.

In Brussels, the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell said that an imperialist Russia aims to use military regimes in Africa “as pawns in its global chess game.”

Russia under President Vladimir Putin has been fuelling recent military coups in Africa with its false propaganda and “profiting from the establishment of military regimes with its private militias that plunder the wealth of the region,” Borrell said.

Last week’s coup in Niger was the fifth one since 2021 after democratically elected governments were overthrown in Mali, Sudan, Guinea, and Burkina Faso, Borrell wrote in a blog post published on Tuesday evening.

Borrell said in a separate statement on Monday that the EU rejects any accusation of foreign interference in the coup in Niger.

(dpa/NAN)

The Kremlin is seeking to authorise the creation of new paramilitary companies as Russia’s private Wagner military company said it would scale down its operations following a failed mutiny, in an apparent attempt to protect President Vladimir Putin’s regime from another uprising.

 A purported recording of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin posted on Telegram yesterday signaled that the mercenary group would pause recruitment and focus on activities in Africa and Belarus, according to the New York Times.

“As long as we don’t experience a shortage in personnel, we don’t plan to carry out a new recruitment campaign,” the recording reportedly said.

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“As soon as the motherland would need to create a new additional group that would be able to defend the interests of our country, we would begin recruiting.”

The new messaging came after the Kremlin-funded paramilitary group staged an armed march toward Moscow in June, a rebellion against the Russian Ministry of Defence for its handling of the war in Ukraine.

Prigozhin turned his forces around after brokering a deal with Russian ally Belarus to end the rebellion in exchange for immunity, and rejected an offer from Putin to let his group continue fighting in Ukraine under new leadership.

Russia had depended on the private military company to bolster its unprovoked invasion under a tacit agreement that allowed for plausible deniability. In the aftermath of the attempted uprising, Putin bizarrely denied the very existence of the unit — which posed the biggest threat to his authoritarian rule since his rise to power in 1999.

As Prigozhin adopted a new non-threatening tone and largely hid from public view, it was revealed that the Kremlin was paving the way for new paramilitary companies to emerge.

Under the language of the measure, the companies would operate at Putin’s behest while being run by regional governors and funded by the Ministry of Defence, according to the report.

Experts say the measures are in direct response to the newly exposed vulnerabilities in the Kremlin’s power — which have also been exposed on the world stage by Russia’s failure to conquer the former Soviet territory Ukraine and squash counteroffensives from the much smaller sovereign nation as its war entered its 18th month.

Sweden and Denmark are thinking about banning Qur’an burnings, as the actions endanger their security and have provoked strong protests in Muslim countries.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he was in close contact with his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, about a possible ban.

“We are in the most serious security situation since World War II, and we know here that both states, state-like actors and individuals can take advantage of the situation,” Kristersson wrote on Instagram.
Earlier, the Danish government announced that it would consider legal remedies to ban Koran burnings in front of foreign embassies.

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Religions are allowed to be criticised, Danish Foreign Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen said.

“But if you stand in front of a foreign embassy and burn a Qur’an or in front of the Israeli embassy you burn the Torah scroll, it serves no purpose other than to ridicule.
“This, however, endangers the collective security of the country,’’ he said.
Recently, small groups burned copies of the Qur’an during Islamophobic actions in Sweden and Denmark.
This led to angry protests and threats in several Muslim countries.

Reactions were particularly strong in Iraq, whose government expelled the Swedish ambassador.
Earlier, demonstrators in Baghdad broke into the Swedish embassy and set fire to it.