French prosecutors said yesterday they are investigating claims that a Saudi prince kept seven employees in a state of modern-day slavery at an apartment he owned outside Paris.

The inquiry for human trafficking was opened after the women, most from the Philippines, filed complaints of modern-day slavery in October 2019, said the prosecutors’ office in the suburb city of Nanterre.

The maids had been recruited in Saudi Arabia and worked for the prince and his family there and in France, a source close to the case, who refused to be named, added.

They apparently escaped during a trip to France, the source said.

The alleged abuse occurred in 2008, 2013 and 2015 at the apartment in the posh Neuilly-sur-Seine suburb west of the capital.

Prosecutors heard testimony from the women a few weeks ago, but the prince has yet to be questioned since he is not currently in France, the source said.

Some were required to sleep on the floor and barely had time to eat while serving the prince’s four children, according to Le Parisien newspaper.

“The first time we met with them, what was shocking to see was that they were hungry. They were crying with hunger,” Anick Fougeroux, president of the aid group SOS Esclaves (“Slaves”), told the paper.

It’s only been a few days since United States (U.S.) forces left Afghanistan after nearly 20 years, and already the Afghan national army is struggling to hold the line.

In northern Afghanistan, district after district has fallen to the Taliban.

In the last two days, hundreds of Afghan soldiers fled across the border into Tajikistan rather than fight the insurgents.

The Afghan government has put out videos of air strikes on Taliban targets, but on the ground its forces face a determined enemy in some of the most extreme terrain on earth.

More than 300 Afghan military personnel crossed into the Badakhshan province of Tajikistan as Taliban fighters advanced toward the border, the central Asian country’s state committee for national security said in a statement.

Footage has emerged of government officials rushing for the last flight out of Fayzabad as the Taliban closes in.

Bagram airbase – what was the symbol of America’s superpower presence – has been handed over to Afghan forces.

Much of the complex is now deserted – the overwhelming air support gone – leaving those who used to work with western troops worried about their safety.

It comes as U.S. President Joe Biden announced in April the end to Afghanistan’s “forever war,” the Taliban have made strides throughout the country.

The Taliban’s most significant gains have been in the northern half of the country, a traditional stronghold of the U.S.-allied warlords, who helped defeat them in 2001.

The gains in northeastern Badakhshan province in recent days have mostly come to the insurgent movement without a fight, said Mohib-ul Rahman, a provincial council member.

He blamed Taliban successes on the poor morale of troops who are mostly outnumbered and without resupplies.

“Unfortunately, the majority of the districts were left to Taliban without any fight,” Mr Rahman said, before adding: “In the last three days, 10 districts fell to Taliban, eight without a fight.”

The Taliban now control roughly one-third of all 421 districts and district centres in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the fall of the districts and said most were without a fight.

 

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s party won almost the constituencies announced so far from last month’s election, with the outcome of the first set of voting due July 9.

The electoral authority is dealing with numerous complaints that have slowed finalising the counting of votes, Solyana Shimeles, spokesperson for the National Election Board of Ethiopia, told reporters yesterday.

Final results released by NEBE showed Abiy’s Prosperity Party won 49 of 53 constituencies in Oromia, Sidama, Amhara and the Southern regional states. It also took 50 provisional tallies for the Oromia region, the country’s largest.

The prime minister must win 274 seats to take a majority in Ethiopia’s parliament.

Voting in more than 100 constituencies, including in the war-torn Tigray region, didn’t take place on June 21 due to security concerns and may only happen in September, or later.

Agency Reporter

Foreign dignitaries have started arriving in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, ahead of founding President Kenneth Kaunda’s state funeral on Friday.

President Edgar Lungu will lead world leaders at the ceremony, set to be held at Lusaka’s show grounds.

African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has arrived in Lusaka accompanied by AU Commissioner for Trade, Albert Muchanga.

Angolan Vice President Bornito De Sousa, also arrived in the country while more leaders are due to land in Lusaka ahead of KK’s official funeral.

UK’s Minister of State for Africa, James Duddridge, is expected in Lusaka on Thursday for the same purpose.

The Minister will represent Queen Elizabeth II at the State Funeral on Friday.

He is expected to visit the family of the late Kaunda on Thursday and sign the book of condolence there.

READ ALSO: Kenneth Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021)

In her message of condolence to Zambian President Edgar Lungu, Queen Elizabeth said she was greatly saddened by the death of Kaunda.

“I was greatly saddened to receive news of the death of Kenneth Kaunda. During and after his presidency, he worked tirelessly for the good of the Zambian people. His regional leadership in maintaining Zambia as a bastion against Apartheid has earned him a place in history. I will always remember our meetings, and the warmth that Dr Kaunda felt for the Commonwealth. I send you and the Zambian people my condolences in this great loss,” wrote The Queen.

The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, have also expressed their condolences and sadness at the passing of Kaunda.

Kaunda, 97, died on 17 June at the military Maina Soko Hospital in Lusaka.

He will be buried on 7 July. (PANA/NAN)

Agency Reporter

The number of registered prostitutes of all sexes fell by more than one-third in 2020 due to COVID, when brothels and similar services were closed in Germany.

At the end of 2020, around 24,900 prostitutes were officially registered, down by 38 per cent, the official statistics office, Destatis, reported on Thursday.

Most of the prostitutes carried foreign passports of which 35 per cent were Romanians, 11 per cent Bulgarians while German nationals made up around a fifth of the figures.

READ ALSO: Southgate may start Foden against Germany

Brothels and other sex services were closed for months throughout 2020, as the registration process was stopped.

At the end of 2020, some 2,290 businesses in the sector were in possession of a permit.

According to the figures, 79 per cent of the registered prostitutes were aged between 21 and 44 years, 18 per cent older and 3 per cent between 18 and 21.

Prostitution is legal in Germany and current legislation, which took effect in July 2017, requires prostitutes to register with the authorities.

A large number of unregistered prostitutes were, however, not included in the figures released by Destatis.(dpa/NAN)

Agege Reporter

Donald Rumsfeld, 88, the two-time U.S. secretary of defence and a chief architect of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, died on Wednesday, his family said in a statement.

“It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the passing of Donald Rumsfeld, an American statesman and devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather.

At 88, he was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico,” the statement said.

“History may remember him for his extraordinary accomplishments over six decades of public service, but for those who knew him best and whose lives were forever changed as a result.

“We will remember his unwavering love for his wife Joyce, his family and friends, and the integrity he brought to a life dedicated to the country.’’

Rumsfeld was a towering figure in Washington, having served as secretary of defence first from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford and then, after decades in the private sector, from 2001 to 2006 under George W Bush.

He played a major role in Washington’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks.

It was during his second tour at the Pentagon that Rumsfeld became a lightning rod for controversy.

Critics called him a warmonger, accusing him of misleading the U.S. into war with claims about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction that never panned out.

Rumsfeld was also blamed for the U.S. military’s abuses and torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, incidents that provoked worldwide shock and condemnation.

As the U.S. became more deeply mired in the war in Iraq, he was known for both his uncompromising policies and his inflammatory statements toward the domestic opposition and about foreign allies and foes alike.

“Stuff happens,’’ he told reporters in 2003 amid the post-invasion looting and lawlessness in Iraq.

Rumsfeld was born July 9, 1932, in the Midwestern state of Illinois.

After his years as a pilot and flight instructor in the U.S. Navy, Rumsfeld came to Washington in 1957, where he worked for a congressman.

In 1963, at the age of 30, he was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican congressman for Illinois.

He left in 1969 to serve in various advisory roles under president Richard Nixon.

After a year as ambassador to NATO in Brussels, he returned to the capital and became the youngest secretary of defence in U.S. history under President Ford.

READ ALSO: Trump fires Defence Secretary Esper

He left the government to enter the private sector, where he remained until he was tapped by Bush to lead the Defence Department in 2001.

Under Bush, he became the longest-serving secretary of defense at the time.

He vehemently supported the development of missile defence in space and helped turn the lumbering armoured U.S. forces of the Cold War into a more mobile outfit with state-of-the-art weapons.

But Rumsfeld would be most remembered for the Iraq war, which began with the March 2003 invasion and overthrow of then-president Saddam Hussein.

As chief planner of the military campaign, Rumsfeld repeatedly faced heavy criticism and calls for his resignation as Iraq descended into chaos and bloodshed.

In late 2006, Bush parted ways with his defence secretary after a devastating Republican defeat in mid-term congressional elections that became a referendum on the increasingly unpopular Iraq war.

“I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defence in history,’’ the late Republican presidential candidate John McCain said the following year.

Reacting to the news, President Bush described him as “a man of intelligence, integrity, and almost inexhaustible energy” and an “exemplary public servant” who “never flinched from responsibility”. (dpa/NAN)

A grand gathering celebrating the centenary of the Communist Party of China was held at Tian’anmen Square at the heart of Beijing on Thursday.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, arrived at Tian’anmen Rostrum.

Premier Li Keqiang announced the beginning of the ceremony.

Read Also: Buhari congratulates China on 100th anniversary of Communist Party

Military aircraft flew over Tian’anmen Square in echelons. Helicopters flew in the formation of “100,” representing the 100 years of the Party. A 100-gun salute was fired. A national flag-raising ceremony was held.

A congratulatory message jointly issued by eight other political parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and personages without party affiliation was read out at the ceremony.

Representatives of the Chinese Communist Youth League members and Young Pioneers saluted the CPC and expressed commitment to the Party’s cause.

Agency Reporter

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said that he will give recommendations to those people who would aspire to become his successor.

He said it is his responsibility to give recommendations to those people who will aspire to become president.

“On one hand, they say if there is a gap, something will fill it and there are no irreplaceable people.

READ ALSO:Putin is right about U.S.-Russia relations being at low point, says Biden 

“And on the other hand, it is my responsibility to give recommendations to those people who will aspire to become president,’’ he said.

He also expressed hope that someday, he would be able to name a certain person deserving to become next president of Russia. (Sputnik/NAN)

Just as Edgar Snow did many years ago, Ian Goodrum, an American communist, has come to China to see why and how the Communist Party of China works in China.

In Shanghai, he came across Xu Jinfa, a PLA veteran. The 78-year-old told him how fast Shanghai had grown over past decades, reflecting the PRC’s rapid growth and development over its 72-year history.

“I was 7 when Shanghai was liberated. In my childhood, Pudong was a rural and agricultural place, with grass growing all around,” Xu said, while pointing to the bustling skyscrapers in Shanghai’s Pudong.

From Tao Wenzhao, deputy dean of the School of Marxism Studies at Renmin University of China, Ian Goodrum realized the role of the CPC’s capability to pool resources in its wonders.

“In its early years, New China was weak, with limited resources. Under extremely difficult conditions, we achieved something big through concentrating national resources,” Tao told him.

Cheng Meidong from Peking University summarized three capabilities of the CPC.

“The CPC has a strong capability to lead, a scientific method to make decisions and a capability to unite people and get support from people,” Cheng told Goodrum.

And the Party’s mature system to select and promote officials also matters a lot.

READ ALSO: China: 100 years of CPC’s leadership

“Every CPC official that reaches the pinnacle of the leadership structure must have been effective in a variety of challenging assignments, starting in the places most in need,” said Laurence Brahm, senior international fellow at the Center for China and Globalization.

Brahm said this ensured the officials could make the right decisions in demanding moments. “It’s a huge collection of hands-on experience, not just theory.”

Tao also mentioned the Party’s ability to make and implement both short- and long-term planning.

“The plans China made for modernization last for 50 years or 100 years,” Tao said. He drew a comparison with some political leaders in other countries, saying what they cared about are mainly short-term and local interests.

Thanks to all these special traits, the CPC has done an excellent job in governing the nation. China has created more green area than any other nation. It is reaching for the stars as it sends missions to Mars and astronauts to its own space station.

Looking to the future, Ian Goodrum is expecting more.

(chinadaily)

Agency Reporter

U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, in comments ahead of a meeting with Israel’s outgoing President Reuven Rivlin.

“What I can say to you: Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch,’’ Biden said ahead of the White House meeting.

The U.S. president also told Rivlin, who was due to leave office on July 9, that his country “remained determined to counter Iran’s malign activity and support for terrorist proxies.

This which have destabilising consequences for the region, according to a readout from their meeting.

Biden’s comments came a day after he ordered strikes on sites used by Iranian-backed militia groups on the Iraq-Syria border.

The groups were responsible for attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq, Biden said.

Negotiations were under way to try salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

After the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the international nuclear agreement in 2018, Tehran turned its back on the limitations the deal placed on its nuclear programme.

READ ALSO: Putin is right about U.S.-Russia relations being at low point, says Biden

The Islamic Republic then gradually expanded its nuclear activities in contravention of the agreements and restricted international nuclear inspections.

Diplomats from Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China have been trying to mediate between the U.S. and Iran at talks underway in Vienna since April, aiming to save the nuclear pact.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who chose to back out of the deal, and Israel’s former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who repeatedly criticised the agreement, had both been replaced and the U.S. and Israel were adjusting their relations.

Israel’s new Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said earlier this week the two countries would fix mistakes made over the past few years, but stressed he had “serious” concerns about the negotiations for the U.S. to return to the nuclear agreement.

The White House on Monday said that Biden extended an invitation for new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to meet with him soon at the White House.

Biden had reaffirmed that this administration was looking forward to closing collaboration with the new Israeli Government on the many important issues on the bilateral agenda. (dpa/NAN)