LIVE
Home Blog Page 1543

British P.M. Johnson Hosts Meeting With Nuclear Industry Leaders

Angel Gimalo
-
0
<strong data-src=British P.M. Johnson Hosts Meeting With Nuclear Industry Leaders" title="British P.M. Johnson Hosts Meeting With Nuclear Industry Leaders" />

Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosted a roundtable at Downing Street today with leaders from the nuclear industry to discuss how to improve domestic energy security and rapidly accelerate nuclear projects in the UK.

The Prime Minister made clear the vision for nuclear to be a major part of the UK’s future energy system as a clean, reliable and safe energy source.

He set out this government’s commitment to supporting the industry to develop a thriving pipeline of future nuclear projects in the UK in a cost-effective way.

Industry representatives set out the various technologies and projects they are developing, from larger nuclear power plants to small modular reactors, capitalising on both British and international expertise.

The Prime Minister invited views on how the UK can accelerate rapid progress on securing new nuclear capacity.

They discussed the benefits of scaling up investment and removing barriers facing development, agreeing to work together to help projects become operational more quickly and cheaply.

The Prime Minister and attendees also reflected on the need to build strong skills and supply chains to support the UK nuclear industry.

Organisations who attended included: Nuclear Industry Association, Aviva Investors, Balfour Beatty, Bechtel Group Incorporated, EDF Energy, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, L&G, MACE, NAMRC, Nuclear Power Jacobs, NuScale, Rolls Royce, Rothesay Life, Westinghouse Electric Company, Urenco, and USS.

Egypt Fixes Price Of Unsubsidised Bread

Zoe Maven
-
0
Egypt Fixes Price Of Unsubsidised Bread

Egypt has fixed the price of unsubsidised bread amid a global surge in wheat prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The move comes after war shut off access to cheaper wheat from the Black Sea region, particularly affecting exports to the Middle East and north African region.

Egypt is the world’s biggest wheat importer, bringing in about 60% of its grain from overseas. Russia and Ukraine accounted for 80% of the country’s imports last year.

The Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, set the price of commercially sold bread at 11.50 Egyptian pounds a kilo on Monday, which is 49 British pence. The new fixed price for flat, round balady bread weighing 90g has been set at 1.00 Egyptian pounds.

Concern about supplies of wheat had already pushed up the price of bread, which is a food staple in Egypt, by as much as a quarter is some bakeries, to 1.25 Egyptian pounds a loaf, while flour prices were up about 15%, Attia Hamad from the Cairo chamber of commerce told Reuters.

Steep rises in food prices have previously caused political unrest in Egypt and other countries including Bangladesh and Indonesia.

In 2007 and 2008, shortages caused by droughts in key wheat and rice-producing countries and a surge in energy costs led to riots in more than 40 nations around the world.

Last week, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned there was a danger of severe hunger, as the war in Ukraine threatened supplies of key staple crops.

Lebanese Judge Charges Central Bank Chief With Corruption

Zoe Maven
-
0
Lebanese Judge Charges Central Bank Chief With Corruption

A Lebanese judge said Monday she has filed charges against the country’s central bank governor, accusing him of illegal enrichment and money laundering during Lebanon’s economic meltdown.

Ghada Aoun, an investigative judge at Mount Lebanon district court, told News correspondents that Governor Riad Salameh’s brother, Raja Salameh, who was detained last week, was also charged with taking part in these crimes.

Aoun also ordered that the brother’s assets be frozen.

The move came as the banking sector went on a two-day strike Monday to protest recent moves by Lebanon’s judiciary against local lenders. Lebanon’s economic crisis erupted in 2019 — the worst in its modern history.

Aoun said that the Salameh brothers and a Ukrainian citizen had formed three illusive companies in France to buy property there. Aoun said last week that Riad Salameh had used his brother to buy real-estate in France worth nearly $12 million.

Riad Salameh, who has been heading the central bank for three decades, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He did not show up Monday morning for questioning by Aoun . Raja Salameh, who was detained on Thursday, will remain in custody.

The suit against the Salamehs was filed by a group of lawyers who accuse the governor of corruption.

In January, Aoun imposed a travel ban and froze some of the assets of the 71-year-old governor who is also being investigated in several European nations, including Switzerland and France, for potential money laundering and embezzlement.

Ukraine Rejects Russian Demand For Surrender In Mariupol

Zoe Maven
-
0
Ukraine Rejects Russian Demand For Surrender In Mariupol

Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged strategic port city.

Even as Russia intensified its attempt to pummel Mariupol into surrender, its offensive in other parts of Ukraine has floundered. Western governments and analysts say the broader conflict is grinding into a war of attrition, with Russia continuing to bombard cities.

In the capital, Kyiv, a shopping center in the densely populated Podil district near the city center was a smoldering, flattened ruin Monday after being hit the day before by shelling that killed eight people, according to emergency officials.

The force of the explosion shattered every window in a neighboring high-rise. Artillery boomed in the distance as firefighters picked their way through the destruction.

Ukrainian authorities also said Russia shelled a chemical plant in northeastern Ukraine, sending toxic ammonia leaking into the air, and hit a military training base in the west with cruise missiles.

The encircled southern city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov has seen some of the worst horrors of the war, under Russian pounding for more than three weeks, in a brutal assault that Ukrainian and Western officials have called a war crime.

Strikes hit an art school sheltering some 400 people only hours before Russia’s offer to open corridors out of the city in return for the capitulation of its defenders, according to Ukrainian officials.

Russian Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev had offered two corridors — one heading east toward Russia and the other west to other parts of Ukraine — in return for Mariupol’s surrender. He did not say what Russia planned if the offer was rejected.

U.S Accuses Myanmar Army Of Genocide Against Rohingya

Zoe Maven
-
0
U.S Accuses Myanmar Army Of Genocide Against Rohingya

The Biden administration has formally determined that violence committed against the Rohingya minority by Myanmar’s military amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity.

Myanmar’s armed forces launched a military operation in 2017 that forced at least 730,000 of the mainly Muslim Rohingya from their homes and into neighboring Bangladesh, where they recounted killings, mass rape and arson. In 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup

The analysis concluded the Myanmar army is committing genocide and Washington believes the formal determination will increase international pressure to hold the junta accountable.

Officials in Myanmar’s embassy in Washington and a junta spokesperson did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment on Sunday.

Myanmar’s military has denied committing genocide against the Rohingya, who are denied citizenship in Myanmar, and said it was conducting an operation against terrorists in 2017.

A U.N. fact-finding mission concluded in 2018 that the military’s campaign included “genocidal acts,” but Washington referred at the time to the atrocities as “ethnic cleansing,” a term that has no legal definition under international criminal law.

A genocide determination does not automatically unleash punitive U.S. action.

Since the Cold War, the State Department has formally used the term six times to describe massacres in Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq and Darfur, the Islamic State’s attacks on Yazidis and other minorities, and most recently last year, over China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslims. China denies the genocide claims.

Germany Seals Gas Deal With Qatar Over Russia

Zoe Maven
-
0
Germany Seals Gas Deal With Qatar Over Russia

Germany and Qatar have reached a long-term energy partnership, even as Europe’s biggest economy seeks to become less dependent on Russian energy sources.

Russia is the largest supplier of gas to Germany and German economy minister Robert Habeck has launched several initiatives to lessen Germany’s energy dependence on Russia since it invaded its neighbour Ukraine.

The Emiri court said in a statement that Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met Habeck on Sunday and the two discussed ways to enhance bilateral relations, particularly in the energy sector.

A spokesperson for the German economics ministry in Berlin confirmed on Sunday that a deal had been clinched.

In a statement, Qatar said that for years it had sought to supply Germany but discussions never led to concrete agreements.

Qatar said it agreed with Germany that “their respective commercial entities would re-engage and progress discussions on long term LNG supplies”.

Habeck also met Qatari Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Sherida al-Kaabi in Doha, where they discussed energy relations and cooperation between Qatar, one of the world’s top natural gas exporters, and Germany, and ways to enhance them, according to a statement from al-Kaabi.

In late February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the construction of two new terminals for liquefied natural gas in response to what some critics said was Germany’s over-reliance on Russian gas.

The terminals are to be located in Brunsbuttel and Wilhelmshaven in northern Germany.

Portuguese President Visits EU Training Mission In Mozambique

Zoe Maven
-
0
Portuguese President Visits EU Training Mission In Mozambique

Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has wrapped up a three-day trip to Mozambique with a visit to two units of the European Union training mission in the country.

During the visit, Rebelo de Sousa said that resolving the conflict in Cabo Delgado, in the north of Mozambique, remained a priority for Portugal and the European Union.

Rebelo de Sousa stressed the need for Mozambique to guarantee the security of the populations and the defeat of terrorism.

Since 2017 that the province of Cabo Delgado, rich in natural gas, has been plagued by armed groups, some with alleged links to the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

The Portuguese head of state assured that as soon as the new Executive led by PM António Costa takes office, the long promised bilateral summit between the two countries, postponed due to elections in Portugal, will be finally scheduled.

Before leaving, Rebelo de Sousa promised he would return to Mozambique in August for the reopening of the Quelimane cathedral in Zambezia province.

Ghana Government To Cut Salaries Of Appointees By Up To 30%

Zoe Maven
-
0

Ghana president, Nana Akufo-Addo could reduce the salaries of appointees by between 20% and 30%, according to reports by local media citing “reliable sources”.

This came up after the President was engaged in an emergency meeting with his cabinet ministers and members of the Economic Management Team (EMT) over the weekend.

Salaries of ministers, heads of state enterprises as well as heads of municipal and district assemblies will all be affected. According to reports, discussions are currently ongoing and a final decision would be out by the close of Monday (21 March).

The move is to protect social interventions such as the School Feeding Programme.

According to the sources, critical among the matters under discussion is whether to maintain the 20% cut across the board or increase it.

Ransford Gyampo, an associate professor in the political science department of the University of Ghana, had earlier in a letter requested the government to reduce the size of his government and slash appointees’ salaries by 30%.

One measure to keep the economy running that the government announced earlier this year is that the treasury will reduce the allocation to metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) for the first quarter of 2022 by roughly 20%.

In a tweet over the weekend, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, the political strategist called on the communications machinery of the Akufo-Addo administration to be more proactive in publicizing governments measures taken to “deal with the fiscal difficulties”.

Nutrition experts educate Kaduna community on proper lifestyle habits

Cleopatra Okohai
-
0
Nutrition experts educate Kaduna community on proper lifestyle habits

The Nutrition Society of Nigeria in collaboration with the Institute of Dietetics Association of Nigeria has initiated a community outreach to promote good nutrition and lifestyle habits in Kaduna State.

Chairperson of the society, Hajiya Hauwa Usman, said the initiative is meant to create awareness on nutrition at Rigasa community in Igabi Local Government Area of the state, was part of activities lined up to commemorate the Nutrition and Dietetics Day.

Usman explained that it was majorly targeted at lactating mothers, pregnant women and women of childbearing age.

“One of our activities is community outreach. We check lactating mothers, pregnant women, women of childbearing age, adults, elderly men and women, among others.

Read Also: Jurist urges action on post-traumatic stress disorder in rape victims

“We are also conducting checks on the children to see if they have any deficiency in nutrition by taking their anthropometric measurements such as weight and height. It would help us to find out if a child is suffering from severe acute malnutrition,” she said.

Usman noted that children found with severe acute malnutrition would be referred to the hospital, while those with moderate malnutrition would be given Micro Nutrients Powder, to get adequate nutrition.

She said adults would have their blood pressure and sugar level checked, and would also be given referrals for proper medical attention.

The chairperson said nutritionists would teach the beneficiaries correct dietary management and healthy tips during the exercise.

She further revealed that Basal Metabolic Index check would be conducted for underweight and overweight people, adding that they would be guided on measures to take in terms of nutrition for healthy living.

“If you ask people to identify those that work in the hospital, they would mention doctors and nurses and exclude dietitians. That is why we want to let them know us and what we do. Let them know that we don’t take care of children only, we also take care of healthy and sick people by prescribing diet in place of medicine” she added.

While commending the Kaduna state government for recruiting nutritionists in secondary health facilities, Usman urged the people to visit nutritionists and dietitians for advice on diet management.

Some of the beneficiaries commended the gesture, describing it as “a step in the right direction.”

ECOWAS, Mali Disagree Agree On Duration Of Transition Before Polls

Zoe Maven
-
0
ECOWAS, Mali Disagree Agree On Duration Of Transition Before Polls

West African mediator for Mali, Goodluck Jonathan, left Bamako on Sunday without reaching an agreement with the Malian junta on the duration of the transition and a date for elections, his delegation and Malian authorities said.

Jonathan, former president of Nigeria, had been on a mission since Friday in Bamako to continue discussions with the military-dominated authorities, with a view to a return to civilian rule in Mali, after two coups in August 2020 and May 2021.

The government of Mali, which has been under West African sanctions since January, says it has submitted a timetable for “elections with a 36-month deadline for the transition,” but “this proposal was not accepted by the West African mediator,” according to a statement issued Sunday evening after Jonathan’s departure.

The government said it had proposed “a new deadline of 29 months,” which the junta leader, Colonel Assimi Goïta, “in a last-ditch effort to reach a realistic compromise (…) has reduced to 24 months.

But “this new deadline, which the Malian authorities consider unavoidable, did not meet with the approval of the mediator and his delegation, who remained in their position,” the government added.

The last proposal made by the junta to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), during the organization’s last summit on the issue in early February in Accra, was a four-year transition.

The regional organization had heavily sanctioned in January the junta of Colonel Goïta, brought to the head of Mali by a first coup d’état in August 2020 and enthroned president “of the transition” following a second putsch in May 2021.

1...1,5421,5431,544...2,559Page 1,543 of 2,559
Kingschat

© 2025 LN247. All Rights Reserved