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UAE FM Visit Signals Arab World Willing To Engage With Syria

Zoe Maven
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UAE FM Visit Signals Arab World Willing To Engage With Syria

The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates has met with Syria’s president strongman Bashar Assad in Damascus on Tuesday.

The visit by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the first by an Emirati foreign minister since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011. It comes as some Arab countries are improving ties with Syria.

Syria badly needs to boost relations with oil-rich countries as its economy is being strangled by crippling Western sanctions and it faces the task of post-war reconstruction. The UAE is also home to thousands of Syrians who work in the Gulf nation and send money to their relatives at home.

Most Gulf countries, at odds with regional rival Iran, seek warmer ties with Damascus, hoping to peel it away from Tehran. Iran is a traditional ally of Syria and sent advisers and resources to back Assad during the 10-year war.

Syria was expelled from the 22-member Arab League and boycotted by its neighbors after its civil war erupted in 2011. More than 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict which displaced half of Syria’s population. Large parts of Syria have been destroyed and reconstruction would cost tens of billions of dollars.

Arab and Western countries generally blamed Assad for the deadly crackdown on the 2011 protests that evolved into civil war, and supported the opposition in the early days of the conflict.

Lithuania Border In State Of Emergency Over Migrants

Zoe Maven
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0
Lithuania Border In State Of Emergency Over Migrants

Lithuania’s parliament has declared a state of emergency at the country’s border with Belarus and at camps hosting migrants who arrived from there, according to a tally of votes.

The state of emergency, which begins at midnight local time (2200 GMT) in the night of Tuesday to Wednesday and is to last a month, allows border guards to use “mental coercion” and “proportional physical violence” to prevent migrants from entering Lithuania.

EU member states accuse Belarus of encouraging illegal migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa to cross the border into the EU in revenge for sanctions already slapped on Minsk over human rights abuses.

Lithuania’s declaration bans all travel to within five kilometres of the Belarus border, unless allowed by border guards. Mobile phones could be taken away from migrants and public gatherings near the border and in the camps could be forbidden.

Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte told parliament that the measures would also deter anyone seeking to aid migrants adding that People who live, and work near the border will be able to continue to do so, but people who want to get there,  it will be harder for them to do so.

Lithuania on Monday said it was moving troops to the Belarus border to prepare for a possible influx of migrants.

Victims Of Sierra Leone Blast Buried In Mass Ceremony

Zoe Maven
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0
Victims Of Sierra Leone Blast Buried In Mass Ceremony

The bodies of dozens of over 100 victims killed during an explosion in Sierra Leone last week have been buried in a mass ceremony in Waterloo.

The coffins were transported in military trucks from the morgue in the capital Freetown to the cemetery in Waterloo, a neighboring city.

The trucks passed by the site of the explosion, where people stood in in the street to pay their last respects to the victims.

At the cemetery, relatives and workers – dressed in protective clothes to bury the bodies – followed the trucks while crying and covered their faces.

Dozens of coffins were lined up covered with the Sierrra Leone’s flag reading “Rest in Peace”, during the ceremony attended by Sierra Leone President Julius Maadia Bio, and other officials.

In a short speech during the burial Bio said there would be an investigation and called on authorities and society to work together in order to avoid these disasters from happening.

The explosion took place late on Friday when a tanker collided with another truck as it was pulling into a gas station near a busy intersection in Wellington, just east of the capital, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.

According to officials and witnesses, the oil tanker truck exploded, killing more than 100 people and severely injuring dozens of others after large crowds gathered to collect leaking fuel

45 Feet Christmas Tree Standing In Market Place, Derby

Angel Gimalo
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45 Feet Christmas Tree Standing In Market Place, Derby

A crane has lifted and placed a 45 feet christmas tree in a city, centre ahead of a lights switch-on fronted by singer Simon Webbe.

The tree, which has come from solihull, is now standing in market place, derby.

It will be decorated on monday evening and tuesday ahead of webbe’s appearance on saturday.

Derby City Councillor Ross Mccristal said the authority “Can’t wait to mark the start of the festive season” at the switch-on.

Simon Webbe will take to the stage near the council house at about 17:30 gmt

Ahead of the switch-on, there will be entertainment from about 15:30, which will include a lantern parade, and dance and theatre performances.

Libyans Collect Voter Cards Ahead Of December Elections

Zoe Maven
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Libyans Collect Voter Cards Ahead Of December Elections

Millions of Libyans have started collecting their voters card in various electoral commission offices across the country.

Libya on Monday stepped up preparations for landmark elections, opening registration for candidates in presidential and parliamentary polls as the country seeks to move on from a decade of war

Expectations are reportedly high as over 2.8 million of Libya’s seven million residents have registered to vote in the upcoming general elections.

Both presidential and parliamentary elections are slated for December 24, but in early October, parliament split the dates of the vote by postponing legislative elections until January.

However, foreign powers have been pushing hard for both elections to be still held on the same date, as agreed at UN-led talks last year.

Libya’s first-ever direct presidential poll, with a first-round on December 24, is the climax of a process launched last year by the United Nations to draw a line under years of violence since the revolt that toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

But despite a year of relative peace following a ceasefire between eastern and western camps, the process has been overshadowed by wrangling over the legal basis for the votes and the powers of whoever wins.

That has sparked fears of a return to violence in the event of a contested result.

France Formally Returns Looted Benin Artworks At Ceremony

Zoe Maven
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0
France Formally Returns Looted Benin Artworks At Ceremony

French President Emmanuel Macron has hosted his counterpart from Benin, President Patrice Talon, on to formally seal an agreement to return 26 artworks taken from the former French colony’s Palace of Abomey – today a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The 26 pieces, from a trove of objects snatched by French forces in 1892, were exhibited at the Quai Branly museum in Paris in the run-up to Tuesday’s ceremony.

They will be shipped to the West African country in the coming days.

The decision to return them follows growing calls in Africa for European countries to return the colonial spoils from museums and is also part of a drive by French President Emmanuel Macron to improve his country’s image in Africa, especially among young people.

The treasures are from the kingdom of Dahomey in the south of present-day Benin and include the throne of Dahomey’s last king, Behanzin, as well as three totemic statues, four palace doors, several portable altars and three warrior dance staffs.

The Élysée said Macron’s commitment for Africans to be able see their cultural wealth at home and not just in European museums “marks an important step in building a new relationship between France and Africa”.

Last month, Macron announced that a “talking drum” cherished by Ivory Coast’s Ebrie people, also at the Quai Branly, would be handed back as well.

UN Says 16 Local Staff Detained In Ethiopia Amid Violence

Zoe Maven
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UN Says 16 Local Staff Detained In Ethiopia Amid Violence

Sixteen Ethiopian staff working for the United Nations were reportedly detained after government raids targeting ethnic Tigrayans, even as foreign envoys scramble to end the country’s year-long war.

The detentions in Addis Ababa followed the declaration of a six-month nationwide state of emergency last week after Tigrayan and Oromo rebels claimed major advances on the ground, raising fears of a march on the capital.

Humanitarian sources said, some UN staff members were taken from their homes, shortly after a senior UN envoy visited Tigray to plead for more aid to civilians.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the world body’s headquarters that sixteen UN staffers, all Ethiopian nationals, remained in detention while another six were freed.

Lawyers say arbitrary detentions of ethnic Tigrayans—commonplace during the war—have spiked in the last week, ensnaring thousands, with the new measures allowing the authorities to hold anyone suspected of supporting “terrorist groups” without a warrant.

Tensions between the Ethiopian government and the UN have been high throughout the war, which has killed thousands of people and, according to the UN, pushed hundreds of thousands into famine-like conditions due to a de facto humanitarian blockade on Tigray.

Clean Energy: Rolls-Royce To Develop Small Nuclear Reactors

Angel Gimalo
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Clean Energy: Rolls-Royce To Develop Small Nuclear Reactors

Rolls-Royce been backed by a consortium of private investors and the UK government to develop small nuclear reactors to generate cleaner energy.

The creation of the rolls-royce small modular reactor (smr) business was announced following a £195m cash injection from private firms and a £210m grant from the government.

It is hoped the new company could create up to 40,000 jobs by 2050.

However, critics say the focus should be on renewable power, not new nuclear.

Currently, about 21% of UK electricity generation comes from nuclear power.

Egypt Sends Aid As South Sudan Flood Victims Hit Over One Million

Angel Gimalo
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0
Egypt Sends Aid As South Sudan Flood Victims Hit Over One Million

The government of South Sudan says more than one million people have been affected by flash flooding this year.

Disaster Management Minister Peter Mayen Majongdit announced this while receiving food aid from Egypt.

He said the donated food items that include sugar, rice, lentils and other items would be distributed to the affected people.

Cairo airlifted 12 metric tonnes of assorted food items.

Jonglei state in the east and the two oil-producing states of unity and upper nile in the north are said to be the worst affected as a result of rising waters across the country since may.

Malawian President Tasks Citizens On National Development

Angel Gimalo
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0
Malawian President Tasks Citizens On National Development

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera has asked each citizen to take responsibility for the country’s development rather than always demanding it from the politicians.

He said he had hundreds of messages on his phone from people asking him “to run their families for them” just because he is president – adding that mps had similar messages from their constituents.

The Malawian President asked citizens to implement plans at household level that were in line with a national development plan, which he was launching.

He gave an example of the country’s plan to improve productivity and commercialisation of agriculture – which he said could not happen “without fundamental changes at the household level”.

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