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NATO top diplomats meet as Finland joins alliance
Deutsche Welle
04 Apr 2023, 18:09
NATO foreign ministers are gathering in Brussels to discuss the war in Ukraine as Finland is set to become the 31st member of the alliance.
NATO foreign ministers are meeting on Tuesday at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels for a two-day summit to discuss the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The meeting coincides with the 74th anniversary of the alliance's founding.
At the same time, Finland is becoming the 31st member of NATO, doubling the length of the alliance's border with Russia. Although Finland had to overcome Turkish opposition, the Nordic country completed all the formalities in well under a year, making it the fastest accession process in the alliance's recent history.
Only the ceremonial part remains. Finland's foreign minister will hand the accession papers to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the keeper of NATO's founding treaty, and then the country's blue-and-white flag will be raised hoisted alongside those of its new allies, in front of the gleaming headquarters in Brussels.
Stoltenberg: Putin is getting the opposite of what he wanted
Finland's accession to NATO will be a historic event and direct result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said, adding the alliance would ensure that Sweden will also become a full-fledged member.
"[Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin had as a declared goal of the invasion of Ukraine to get less NATO," he told reporters ahead of a meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers. "He is getting exactly the opposite. ... Finland today, and soon also Sweden will become a full fledged member of the alliance."
Russia decried the move as as an "assault" on Russia's security and national interests. "The expansion of NATO is an attack on our security and Russia's national interests," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Russia would be forced to take countermeasures accordingly, he added.
Finland is in, Sweden still out
The event marks the end of an era of military non-alignment for Finland that began after the country repelled an invasion attempt by the Soviet Union during World War Two and opted to try to maintain friendly relations with neighbouring Russia.
Finland applied for NATO membership alongside Sweden in May 2022 in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but its application got tangled up in Ankara's opposition to Sweden's entry.
Sweden's application for membership remains blocked by Turkey due to a number of sticking points, among them Ankara's concerns over what it says is a lack of cooperation in fighting terrorism. All NATO members must unanimously agree to admit new members.
Talks with Ukraine
The accession ceremony for Finland will be followed by a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission, a high-level forum for ministers of the alliance to discuss cooperation with Kiev. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is to take part.
The NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting is taking place over objections from Hungary. Budapest has accused Ukraine of failing to respect the Hungarian language rights of the country's Transcarpathian ethnic minority.
Hungary, like Turkey, has also not yet ratified Sweden's NATO membership. In a government statement, Hungary cited "an ample amount of grievances" with Sweden over EU budget funds, among other things.
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Climate activist Greta Thunberg arrested in the Netherlands
Dutch authorities have detained Greta Thunberg and other climate protesters from the Extinction Rebellion group after they blocked a motorway in The Hague on Saturday.
Dutch authorities have detained prominent climate activist Greta Thunberg, along with several Extinction Rebellion demonstrators, after they occupied a motorway in The Hague.
Thunberg and members of Extinction Rebellion were seen waiting in a bus, while police arrested more people. The protest was against fossil fuel subsidies.
Dozens of police officers, including officers on horseback, were seen blocking protesters from getting onto the A12 motorway leading to the parliament in The Hague.
Activists from the group have blocked the highway more than 30 times previously to protest the subsidies. A small group of people managed to sit down on another road and were detained after ignoring police orders to leave.
The demonstrators waved and chanted: "We are unstoppable, another world is possible."
"It's important to demonstrate today because we are living in a state of planetary emergency," Thunberg told AFP news agency. "We must do everything to avoid that crisis and to save human lives," she added.
Asked whether she was worried about being arrested, Thunberg said: "Why should I be?"
Extinction Rebellion has said it will continue to hold protests until the Dutch government stops using public funds to subsidize the oil and gas industry.
Protest to apply pressure on Dutch government to ditch fossil fuel subsidies
"Meanwhile the ecological crisis continues to rage and the country's outgoing cabinet pretends that we have all the time in the world, while the crisis is now," Extinction Rebellion said in a statement posted on X.
The protest was part of a plan to apply pressure on the Dutch government ahead of a planned debate about fossil fuel subsidies in June.
Thunberg inspires global youth movement to fight climate change
In February, Thunberg, who is 21 years old, was cleared of a public order offense by a London court over a protest at an oil and gas conference in October.
In January, she was detained with other activists during protests against the demolition of the German coal village of Luetzerath. She shot to fame in 2018 when she began staging weekly protests outside the Swedish parliament.
She has repeatedly been fined in Sweden and the UK for civil disobedience in connection with protests.
McDonald's: Behind the fast-food firm's boycott controversy
The sudden decision by McDonald's to take over ownership of its branches in Israel has thrust the franchise company Alonyal and its chief executive Omri Padan into the spotlight.
McDonald's will buy back all of its Israeli restaurants after global sales slumped due to a boycott of the brand over its perceived support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
The fast-food giant uses a franchise system which means that individual operators are licensed to run outlets and employ staff. But the broader company came in for criticism after Mr Padan offered free meals to Israeli forces around the start of the Israel-Gaza war on 7 October.
A boycott was sparked after Muslim-majority countries such as Kuwait, Malaysia and Pakistan issued statements distancing themselves from the firm for what they saw as support of Israel.
Mr Padan, however, is not new to controversy related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the 30 years the businessman has been operating restaurants for McDonald's in Israel, he has been at the centre of a number of disputes.
In 2013, the Israeli businessman angered Israel's settler movement when he refused calls to open a branch of the fast-food chain in the settlement of Ariel in the occupied West Bank. Mr Padan's company Alonyal was asked to set up a restaurant in a shopping centre but declined, saying the firm had a policy of staying out of the occupied territories.
At the time, the firm said the decision had not been co-ordinated with McDonald's headquarters in the US.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem - land the Palestinians want as part of a future state - in the 1967 Middle East war.
The vast majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
Mr Padan is one of the founders of the group Peace Now, which opposes all settlements and views them as obstacles to peace. Peace Now says he is no longer a member of the group, which was founded in 1978.
A leader of the Yesha Council, the settlers' umbrella organisation, said at the time that McDonald's had gone from being a for-profit company to one with an "anti-Israeli political agenda".
Alonyal's decision resurfaced in 2019 when McDonald's won a tender to run a restaurant and hot dog stand at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport.
In response, several letters of protest were sent by settlement leaders in the West Bank that called on the finance and transportation ministries, as well as the Israel airport authority, to block the move. Protests were also held outside the fast-food chain's restaurants in Tel Aviv.
And on Thursday, it was abruptly announced that Alonyal would sell the sprawling franchise back to the US food giant.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed by McDonald's, although a reputation management expert, who has worked on behalf a number of large companies but did not want to speak on the record, said that those outraged by the decision to offer free meals to Israeli forces may be "angry that this deal makes Mr Padan possibly a very rich man".
They might be pleased though, about the effect the boycott has had.
Mr Padan's departure comes after McDonald's said that the Israel-Gaza conflict had "meaningfully impacted" performance in some overseas markets in the fourth quarter of 2023.
For the unit that includes the Middle East, China and India, sales growth stood at 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2023 - far below market expectations.
At the start of the year, McDonald's chief executive Chris Kempczinski blamed the backlash on "misinformation".
The boycott was also described as "disheartening and ill-founded" by the firm, which relies on thousands of independent businesses to own and operate most of its more than 40,000 stores around the world. About 5% are located in the Middle East.
The brand management expert said: "I get it. They are buying back the franchises to regain control but I'm not sure they have."
They also questioned where the company might draw a line: "Does this mean [McDonald's] will now need to act and offer deals in other areas where reputational damage has been caused?"
On Thursday, McDonald's said that it "remains committed to the Israeli market and to ensuring a positive employee and customer experience in the market going forward."
It also thanked Alonyal for building the brand in Israel, while Mr Padan said: "We are encouraged by what the future holds."
BBC News did not receive further comment from Mr Padan or Alonyal through McDonald's.
Source: BBC
Saudi Arabia to celebrate Eid on Wednesday
Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday (April 10) as the Shawwal crescent was not sighted.
The Saudi Supreme Court confirmed this information in an announcement on Monday (April 8).
This time Fasting will last for 30 days in the country.
Earlier on Saturday (April 6), the country's Supreme Court called for sighting the moon of Eid on Monday evening. According to the order of the Supreme Court, millions of Muslims kept their eyes in the western sky after Maghrib prayers on this day. But shortly afterwards, the Saudi Supreme Court said that the moon of Shawwal was not sighted. Therefore, the holy Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated on Wednesday (April 10).
“The situation in East Turkestan is a global concern”
Salih Hudayar, foreign minister of East Turkestan Government-in-Exile (ETGE) on Saturday participated in a virtual discussion organised by the Asian Human Rights Forum, focusing on grave human rights violations, especially in Asian countries.
Salih Hudayar in his statement during the session, emphasised that the situation is a global concern that needs immediate international attention and action.
Three Tanzanian soldiers killed by mortar fire in DR Congo
The soldiers were part of a southern African peacekeeping mission sent to help government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo fight M23 rebels.
Mortar fire in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) killed three Tanzanian soldiers who were part of a Southern African peacekeeping mission sent to help government forces fight M23 rebels, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) said on Monday.
"This unfortunate incident happened after a hostile mortar round had fallen near the camp they were staying at," the 16-member bloc said in a statement. Three other Tanzanian soldiers were wounded, it added.
The statement added that another South African soldier on the SADC mission had died while receiving treatment for unspecified health problems at a hospital in the provincial capital, Goma. It was not clear if that death was related to the mortar round.
The force includes soldiers from regional military heavyweights South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi.
The SADC mission suffered its first losses in mid-February, when two South African soldiers were killed and three wounded by a mortar bomb.
What is the SADC mission doing in DRC?
After several years of dormancy, the predominantly Tutsi M23 (March 23 Movement) group took up arms again in late 2021.
It has seized large swaths of DR Congo's North Kivu province, which has been wracked by violence in the decades since regional wars in the 1990s.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations and Western countries accuse Rwanda of supporting the rebels in a bid to control the region's vast mineral wealth, a charge Rwanda denies.
The regional bloc SADC sent soldiers to North Kivu province in December to help the government tackle instability and armed groups in the restive eastern region.
The SADC mission was to take over from an East African peacekeeping force, whose mandate was ended by the DRC, which accused it of colluding with the rebels instead of fighting them.
Meanwhile, the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) is also winding down. The 15,000 UN troops began leaving in February at the request of the DRC government, which considers them ineffective.
Ireland: Simon Harris elected new prime minister
Ireland's parliament has voted in Simon Harris as the country's youngest ever prime minister. Harris, 37, replaces Leo Varadkar after he abruptly quit last month citing personal and political reasons.
Simon Harris has become the Republic of Ireland's youngest ever prime minister, or taoiseach, after being elected to succeed party colleague Leo Varadkar.
The 37-year-old former health and higher education minister, best known for coordinating Ireland's initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, received 88 votes from lawmakers, with 69 against.
Fine Gael party leader Harris will now travel to the official residence of the president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, where his appointment will be confirmed.
Harris' predecessor both as Fine Gael leader and taoiseach, Varadkar, abruptly stepped down last month citing personal and political reasons. Varadkar formally resigned at an audience with President Higgins on Monday evening, paving the way for Harris' election on Tuesday.
Who is Ireland's new prime minister, Simon Harris?
Born in Greystones, County Wicklow, on Ireland's east coast, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Dublin, Harris quit university aged 20 to work as a political aide, was elected to parliament at just 24 and was handed a cabinet post before he turned 30.
At Fine Gael's annual party conference on Saturday, the father-of-two outlined his focus on law and order, supporting small businesses and reconnecting with rural voters.
What are Simon Harris' political challenges?
But Harris takes charge of a coalition government which has less than a year until an election which could see the opposition left-wing, Irish Republican Sinn Fein take power for the first time.
Recent polling data shows Fine Gael on just 21% of the vote, ahead of coalition partners Fianna Fail (16%) but behind Sinn Fein (26%).
Harris he will face the same deep-rooted problems, including unease at record numbers of asylum seekers but most notably a severe shortage of affordable housing.
Data on Monday showed asking prices for Irish homes rose by 6.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, the fastest rate of growth since 2022.
An opinion poll on Sunday showed housing remained Irish voters' top concern, and Harris has pledged to fix the crisis "once and for all."
Harris is due to announce a reshuffle of the Fine Gael members of the cabinet, which therefore won't include the foreign or finance ministries, but a coalition agreement leaves little room for major new policy initiatives.
China’s real estate crisis: Shanghai-based property giant Shimao Group faces liquidation suit
Amid the real estate crisis in China, another Shanghai-based property giant Shimao Group said on Monday that it had received a liquidation petition from a Chinese state-owned bank in yet another instance of creditors taking legal action to reclaim money from troubled developers in the world’s second-largest economy, CNN reported on Monday.
A “winding-up petition” was filed against the company by China Construction Bank (Asia) on April 5 in Hong Kong, according to a stock exchange filing by Shimao. The petition is in “connection with a financial obligation of the company for approximately HK 1,579.5 million dollars (USD 204 million),” the filing said.
Shimao said it will “oppose the petition vigorously” and will continue to work toward an offshore restructuring that maximizes value for its stakeholders.
“The company is of the view that the petition does not represent collective interests of the company’s offshore creditors and other stakeholders,” it said.
Shimao’s debt troubles date back to July 2022, when it failed to pay the interest and principal on a USD 1 billion bond. The company’s shares were down over 14 per cent in Hong Kong on Monday, having fallen nearly 40 per cent this year.
China’s massive real estate sector fell into trouble after the government clamped down on excessive borrowing by developers in 2020 in an attempt to cool the property bubble. Since then, dozens of Chinese developers have defaulted on their debts, CNN reported.
The industry has since become a drag on the broader economy, which is grappling with a slow recovery from three years of pandemic lockdowns and a series of headwinds, from record-high youth unemployment to mounting financial stress at local governments.
In January, Evergrande, the world’s most-indebted property developer and the poster child of China’s property crisis, was ordered to liquidate by a Hong Kong court.
The liquidation order, made by the city’s High Court, came after the embattled Chinese real estate giant and its overseas creditors failed to agree on how to restructure the company’s massive debt during talks that went on for 19 months.
There are still questions about how the collapse of Evergrande will affect investors, thousands of workers and homebuyers waiting for their apartments.
Country Garden, another major developer that defaulted on its debt last year, received a liquidation petition in February from a creditor after not repaying a loan.
Source: The Print
