The Nation Newspaper

Category: Foreign

  • We won’t negotiate until US lifts sanctions, says Iranian President

    Iran has responded to calls from Washington to renegotiate its landmark nuclear deal with world powers with President Hassan Rohani saying Tehran would be willing to negotiate only when the United States lifts pressure and apologizes for what he called “illegal actions.”

    “We have always been a man of negotiation and diplomacy, the same way that we’ve been a man of war and defense,” Rohani said on April 24.

    “Negotiation is only possible if all the pressures are lifted, they apologize for their illegal actions and there is mutual respect,” Rohani said.

    Global oil prices on April 23 hit their highest level since November after Washington announced that it will end all waivers on imports from sanctions-hit Iran next week.

    That has put pressure on importers to stop buying oil from Tehran and has further tightened the global oil supply.

    Iran agreed to a nuclear deal in 2015 with world powers, including the United States — receiving relief from international sanctions in return for curbing its nuclear program and ensuring it is not trying to produce nuclear weapons.

    But the United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and began reimposing its own sanctions.

    U.S. President Donald Trump says the Iran nuclear deal was “fatally flawed” because it did not address Iran’s ballistic-missile program or Tehran’s alleged state sponsorship of terrorism.

    Other signatories to the nuclear deal — France, Germany, Britain, the European Union, Russia, and China — have been working to try to save the international agreement.

    But the cancellation of waivers by Washington means the United States is now threatening sanctions against importers in any country that don’t comply with U.S. sanctions and continue to buy oil from Iran.

  • Egyptians vote President could rule until 2030

    Egyptians have overwhelmingly approved in a referendum constitutional changes that could allow President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to stay in power until 2030.

    The National Election Authority said 88.8% of those who took part endorsed the proposals. The turnout was 44.3%.

    Mr Sisi’s second term has been extended from four to six years, and he will be allowed him to stand for one more term.

    Read Also: U.S. should focus on helping Egyptians protect their freedoms

    The changes also give him more power over the judiciary and further enshrine the military’s role in politics.

    In 2013, Mr Sisi led the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, following protests against his rule.

    Since then, he has overseen what human rights groups say is an unprecedented crackdown on dissent that has led to the detention of tens of thousands of people.

     

  • ‘Sri Lanka attacks retaliation for New Zealand Mosque shootings’

    The Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka were an act of revenge for a recent attack on mosques in New Zealand, according to the country’s Minister of Defense.

    “The preliminary investigations have revealed that what happened in Sri Lanka (on Sunday) was in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch,” Ruwan Wijewardene told Parliament on April 23, according to Reuters.

    Wijewardene didn’t provide details nor indicate the source of information behind the claim that the Sri Lanka bombings, which killed 321 and wounded around 500, were intended to avenge the Christchurch shooting attacks.

    Fifty people were killed in the New Zealand attacks on March 15, in which a heavily armed lone gunman shot victims attending Friday prayers at two mosques.

    Wijewardene said two Sri Lankan jihadi groups—the National Thawheed Jama’ut and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim—were behind the blasts.

    It’s unclear whether the Sri Lankan groups received assistance from international terrorist organizations and, if so, what was the nature of their involvement.

    Read Also: Sri Lanka attacks: Death toll hits 290

    Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament that investigators are looking into any potential foreign links.

    The ISIS terror group has claimed responsibility for the attacks through its Amaq propaganda agency.

    In a statement, the terror group said it was targeting Christians and citizens of countries bombing its territory.

    “A security source told Amaq agency the perpetrators of the attack targeting the citizens of [U.S.-led] coalition countries and Christians in Sri Lanka were Islamic State [ISIS] fighters,” the statement said, according to The Independent.

    The statement contained no additional information or evidence.

    The Independent reported that ISIS supporters had earlier circulated photographs claiming to show three of the suicide bombers allegedly responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks.

    The photographs reportedly showed the men posing with weapons in front of the ISIS flag and were captioned with the names Abul Muktar, Abu Ubaida, and Abul Barra.

    The New York Times reported that the Sri Lankan government said it had received a warning of a possible threat to churches by National Thowheeth Jama’ath more than 10 days before the attacks.

    The warning was conveyed by an unidentified foreign intelligence agency, according to the report.

    Earlier on April 23, Sri Lankan government and military sources said a Syrian had been detained among 40 people being questioned over the bombs.

    “He was arrested after the interrogation of local suspects,” one of the sources said, referring to the unidentified Syrian.

    TheEpochTimes

  • 17 killed in Uganda after heavy rains, flooding

    At least 17 people – mostly children – died after heavy rains in eastern Uganda caused by flooding, police said on Tuesday.

    The rains hit the districts of Kamuli and Buyende during the night, with some people drowning in the flood waters and others hit by collapsing walls, the region’s police spokesperson Michael Kasadha said.

    “Many of the children could not quickly run away from the floods and it’s probably the reason why they died in large numbers,” he said.

    More than 50 injured people have been taken to hospital and police say they expect to retrieve more bodies.

    Read Also: Uganda understudies Nigeria’s pension model

    In October 2018, at least 34 people were killed in mudslides triggered by torrential rains in a mountainous area of eastern Uganda that is prone to such disasters, Red Cross spokeswoman, Irene Nakasiita, said.

    People were killed by boulders and chunks of mud rolling down hills following a sustained period of heavy rains Thursday afternoon in the district of Bududa.

    Houses were destroyed in at least three villages, and in some cases only body parts of the victims have been recovered from the mud, she said.

    “We expect the death toll to increase as some people are still missing,” she said. “It’s really bad.”

    In March 2010, at least 100 people died in similar mudslides in Bududa, and injuries or deaths have been reported every year since then during the wet season.

    Efforts by Uganda’s government over the years to relocate people have not succeeded.

    NAN

  • Trump to make state visit to UK in June

    President Donald Trump has accepted Queen Elizabeth’s invitation to make a state visit to Britain in June, Buckingham Palace said on Tuesday.

    Trump and his wife Melania will make the trip from June 3 to June 5, the palace said, adding that further details would be announced in due course.

    Trump will hold a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Downing Street and the trip also coincides with events to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings during World War Two.

    “The UK and U.S. have a deep and enduring partnership that is rooted in our common history and shared interests,” May said in a statement.

    Read Also: Trump to meet North Korea’s Kim in Vietnam

    “The State Visit is an opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defense, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead.”

    The Trumps met the queen for tea at Windsor Castle on their last trip to Britain in July, which was not deemed a state visit.

    Similarly, Trump and his wife will travel to France on June 6, where Trump will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.

    NAN

  • Grieving relatives bury dead in Sri Lanka amid new security fears

    Sri Lanka buried more of its dead on Tuesday from suicide bomb attacks on churches holding Easter services and luxury hotels that killed 321 people in the country’s worst violence in a decade.

    More than 1,000 mourners gathered at the St. Sebastian church in the coastal city of Negombo, just north of the capital, Colombo, where more than 100 parishioners were killed as they worshiped on Sunday morning.

    The ceremony began with prayers and singing under a tent put up in the church courtyard.

    Pall-bearers dressed in white then carried in the coffins one by one.

    Relatives gathered around the wooden coffins, crying and comforting each other.

    Some were overcome by the grief and sweltering heat and needed support from family members.

    Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Sri Lanka, who led the service, urged other churches to delay memorials amid fears that more bombers may be at large.

    “The security forces have not cleared the situation yet … there could be more attacks on public gatherings,” he said.

    “I urge priests to not conduct any service at churches until I notify.’’

    Read Also: Hundreds killed in Sri Lanka Easter attacks

    Most of the 321 dead and 500 wounded were Sri Lankans, although government officials said 38 foreigners were killed.

    The bombs shattered a relative calm in the Buddhist-majority Indian Ocean Island since a bitter civil war fought by Tamil separatists ended 10 years ago and raised fears of a return to sectarian violence.

    Sri Lanka’s 22 million people include minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus.

    Up to now, Christians had largely managed to keep out of the worst of the island’s conflict and communal tensions.

    A senior Buddhist leader, who attended the St. Sebastian service appealed for unity.

    “Buddhism is about love and compassion, so is Catholicism. The roots are the same. I have come in this spirit,” said Chief Incumbent of the Dharmayathanaya Temple, Venerable-Elle Gunawansa-Thero.

    “In this country we are branches of the same river, of the same tree. We have to stick together,” he said.

    Similarly, Islamic State says its members were behind the Easter Sunday suicide bombings in Sri Lanka, in a statement carried by the extremist group’s mouthpiece Amaq.

    NAN

     

  • Local extremist group part of global terror network- Sri Lankan PM

    Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister on Tuesday informed the parliament that local extremist group “National Towheed Jamaat’’ was linked to a global terror network.

    Wickremesinghe said that following Sunday’s deadly attacks search operations were ongoing to nab more suspects, who were linked to this group.

    The prime minister assured that all steps would be taken to prevent terrorism from raising its head in the island country again.

    “This was an attack which had been planned for a long time. There were handlers, who were guiding the suicide bombers.

    “Police are working to arrest them. We have to consider these extremists to be a part of a global terror network,” the prime minister said.

    “We will never allow another war to begin in this country,” he added.

    State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene told parliament that initial investigations had revealed that Sunday’s explosions by the local group was in retaliation to the Christchurch attacks in New Zealand.

    He said the “National Tawheed Jamaat” were behind the attacks and further investigations were underway.

    The minister expressed his condolences to all the victims and their families, including the foreign nationals, who had died or got injured in the explosions.

    He also promised to arrest all those involved.

    Opposition Leader and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa urged all citizens to unite at this hour of grief and offered his condolences to all victims and their families.

    According to police, the death toll from a string of explosions that rocked Sri Lanka on Sunday rose to 310 while over 500 were injured.

    Similarly, Forty-five children were killed and dozens were injured in the suicide attacks across Sri Lanka, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in Geneva.

    The youngest of the 13 children, who died in the city of Batticaloa was 18 months old, according to UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac.

    In Negombo, the blast in St Sebastian’s Church killed 27 children.
    In addition, five foreign children were confirmed dead.

    “No child should experience such a heartbreaking situation and no parents should lose their child forever under such horrible circumstances,” Boulierac said.

    Boulierac added that also many children lost parents in the attacks.

  • US imposes sanctions on Iranian oil marketers

    The Trump administration has announced it will no longer exempt any countries from US sanctions if they continue to buy Iranian oil, increasing economic pressure on the Middle Eastern country.

    The White House is stepping up pressure on Iran in a move that primarily affects the five remaining major importers – China and India, and the US treaty allies Japan, South Korea and Turkey.

    President Donald Trump made the decision as part of the “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, although Turkey and China have already criticised the administration.

    The move aims to eliminate all of Iran’s revenue from oil exports, which the US says funds destabilising activity throughout the Middle East and beyond.

    “This decision is intended to bring Iran’s oil exports to zero, denying the regime its principal source of revenue,” the White House said in a statement.

    Announcing the step, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said no more sanctions waivers would be granted when the current batch expire on May 2, choking off Iranian income that had been more than £38.5 billion a year.

    “The goal remains simply to deprive the outlaw regime of the funds that it has used to destabilise the Middle East for decades and incentivise Iran to behave like a normal country,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at the State Department.

    Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the aim is to deny of Iran of its principal source of revenue.

    The administration granted eight waivers when it reimposed sanctions on Iran in November after Mr Trump pulled the US out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

    The waivers were issued in part to give the countries they were issued to more time to find alternate energy sources, but also to prevent a shock to global oil markets from the sudden removal of Iranian crude.

    Three of those waivers, for Greece, Italy and Taiwan, are no longer needed because they have all halted their imports of Iranian oil.

    But the other five countries involved continue to import Iranian oil and had lobbied for their waivers to be extended.

    Nato ally, Turkey, has made perhaps the most public case for an extension, with senior officials telling their US counterparts that Iranian oil is critical to meeting their country’s energy needs.

    They have also made the case that as a neighbour of Iran, Turkey cannot be expected to completely close its economy to Iranian goods.

    Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said the move “will not serve regional peace and stability.”

    In a message posted on Twitter on Monday, Cavusoglu said: “Turkey rejects unilateral sanctions and impositions on how to conduct relations with neighbours.”

  • Extinction Rebellion: 1,000 protesters arrested as Police clear Waterloo Bridge

    Police officers have removed climate change activists from Waterloo Bridge after a week of protests which have seen almost 1,000 people arrested.

    Members of Extinction Rebellion have occupied the bridge for several days as part of its tactics of disruption, which have included fixing a boat at the junction of Oxford Street and Regent Street, occupying Waterloo Bridge and disrupting the Docklands Light Railway by climbing on a train.

    But officers managed to remove the final activists on Sunday evening, some of whom were chained to each other and glued to the floor or other protesters in an effort to remain there.

    Olympic gold medallist Etienne Stott was one of the activists arrested on Waterloo Bridge as police cleared the final section of carriageway, reopening the road to traffic.

    The London 2012 canoe slalom champion was carried from the bridge by four officers at around 8.30pm as he shouted of the “ecological crisis”.

    Officers asked activists to move to Marble Arch, which is the only police-approved protest area in the capital.

    A total of 963 people had been arrested as of 7pm on Sunday while 40 have been charged in connection with the XR protests, the Met Police said.

    This comes as the group decided to change tactics in its second week of protests, shifting from disruption to political negotiations.

    A spokesman said there would be no escalation of activity on Bank Holiday Monday but warned that the disruption could get “much worse” if politicians were not open to their negotiation requests.

    But at Marble Arch, activists will meet to “vision what’s going to happen in the coming week”, an Extinction Rebellion member said.

    Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, 16, spoke at the Marble Arch rally on Sunday to much applause, telling the hundreds-strong crowd that humanity was at a crossroads.

    She is famous for having initiated the school strike for climate movement which spread across the world, and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

    The world was ‘now facing an existential crisis’ that has been ‘ignored for decades’ by those in power and they ‘will not get away with it for any longer,’ she said.

  • Google searches for Notre Dame outnumber Sri Lanka attacks

    Searches for the Sri Lanka blasts outnumbered those of the Paris fire in only three countries.

    The fire which ravaged France’s iconic Notre Dame Cathedral received seven times more searches on Google than the bombings which rocked Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday and killed nearly 300 people.

    According to data retrieved from Google Trends, search results for both disasters has since plateaued, but comparisons between both stories reveals that worldwide search interest was at least seven times greater for the keywords “Notre Dame” over “Sri Lanka” during this past week.

    Within 24 hours of both incidents, Trends says that the Notre Dame fire recorded between five and nine times more search interest than Sri Lanka.

    There were no deaths reported in the April 15 fire which tore through Paris’ historic gothic Cathedral but analysis of the data reveals that it was only in three countries, neighboring India, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates in which searches for the Sri Lanka blasts outnumbered those of the Paris fire.

    More than 500 people were injured in the attacks on April 21, which saw a series of coordinated bombings against churches and hotels in the island nation.

    Most of the victims were Sri Lankans, however, dozens of foreigners are also among the dead.

    So far there has been no claim of responsibility.

    Sri Lanka’s health minister claimed that a local organisation was linked to the string of bombings.

    Read Also: Serial blasts kill over 200 in Sri Lanka

    Rajitha Senaratne on Monday blamed President Maithripala Sirisena’s government for failing to act on intelligence shared 14 days before the blasts.

    While Google does not release the exact numbers of searches, according to Trends, France, Mexico, Argentina, Italy and Brazil all reported 90 percent more searches for Notre Dame over Sri Lanka.

    Aljazeera