Region
U.S. sanctions Turkey over purchase of Russian defense system
The United States imposed long-anticipated sanctions on Turkey on Monday over Ankara’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defense systems, further complicating already strained ties between the two NATO allies. Turkey condemned the sanctions as a “grave mistake” and urged Washington to revise its “unjust decision.” Senior U.S. officials said in a call with reporters that Ankara’s purchase of the S-400s and its refusal to reverse its decision left the United States with no other choice. The sanctions, first reported by Reuters last week, target Turkey’s top defence procurement and development body Presidency of Defence Industries, its chairman Ismail Demir and three other employees. While limited to one company, they are still likely to weigh on the Turkish economy, analysts said, at a ti...
U.S. slams China over Jimmy Lai’s trial
U.S. State Secretary Michael Pompeo has slammed China for charging Hong Kong media mogul, Jimmy Lai, under the draconian National Security Law and demanded that charges must be dropped. Pompeo further accused the Chinese Communist Party of its authoritarian rule and said that China was making a mockery of justice in the region. “Hong Kong’s National Security Law makes a mockery of justice. @JimmyLaiApple’s only “crime” is speaking the truth about the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarianism and fear of freedom. “Charges should be dropped and he should be released immediately,” Pompeo tweeted. Jimmy is set to appear in West Kowloon Court on Saturday after being charged with colluding with foreign powers under the Beijing-imposed national security law. The offence carries a maximum penalty...
Ghanaian fisherman sentenced for snatching ballot box
A 39-year-old fisherman has been sentenced to three months imprisonment for interfering in the just-ended elections at the Sene West constituency in the Bono East region. Christain Nukpeta who a resident of Tato Bator is reported to have snatched a Parliamentary ballot box at one of the polling stations in the area when the counting process was ongoing. He was subsequently pursued by some security personnel and arrested. But the retrieved ballot box was without the seal of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Appearing before the Techiman Circuit Court presided over by Justice Alexander Graham, the accused pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a fine of GH₵3, 600 and in default, serve a six months imprisonment term. In addition, the 39-year-old has been disqualified from voting for the next fi...
U.S. senators seek possible sanctions over Ethiopia conflict abuses
Two U.S. senators have called on their government to consider imposing sanctions on any political or military officials found to be responsible for human rights violations during a month of conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. The proposed resolution was introduced on Wednesday by Senator Ben Cardin, a Democrat, and Senator Jim Risch, a Republican. It was the first such call by U.S. lawmakers since war between Ethiopian federal forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) broke out on Nov. 4. The conflict is thought to have killed thousands and displaced more than 950,000 people, according to United Nations estimates, about 50,000 of them into Sudan. Concern has mounted over reports of civilians targeted by both sides, posing a policy dilemma for the United States, whic...
Ethiopia government admits forces ‘shot at’ UN team in Tigray
An Ethiopian spokesman on Tuesday said that the country’s forces fired on a UN team, claiming they ignored instructions and drove through government checkpoints in the northern region of Tigray. The shooting came as the UN and aid agencies are continuing to seek access to northern Ethiopia, more than a week after fighting there was declared over on November 28. “Some of the UN staff were actually detained and some were shot at,” said Redwan Hussein. “They broke two checkpoints to drive to areas where they were not supposed to go, and that they were told not to go. When they were about to break the third one, they were shot at and detained.” Speaking at a press conference in the capital Addis Ababa, Redwan insisted the UN staffers were to blame for Sunday’s incident close to the town of Shi...
Governor Oyetola: Yoruba believe in unity of Nigeria
The Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, on Saturday said the Yoruba people are a nation of hospitable, accommodating and warm people who believe in the oneness of Nigeria. Oyetola, who fielded questions from international media organisations: BBC, Voice of America, DW News and Radio France, during the 29th edition of Owu International Conference, also lauded the Yoruba race for the role it is playing in fostering peace and unity in the nation. Commenting on the theme of the conference: “Harmony in Owu polity: A recipe for national unity,” Oyetola described the Yoruba race as a believer in the harmony and oneness of the nation, adding that the migration of other tribes to their territories and settlements is not an issue because they are accommodating and hospitable. Oyetola also comme...
African environment ministers support green recovery plan
Ministers of Environment from Africa on Friday agreed to support a comprehensive green recovery plan to boost economies and social systems aimed at building back better from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This is contained in a ministerial statement issued at the end of the eighth special session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in Nairobi, Kenya. Representatives of the 54 African governments re-affirmed their commitment to enhance environmental resilience as well as protect and sustainably use natural resources for the region’s development. The high-level ministerial regional conference held virtually under the theme “Enhancing Environmental Action for Effective Post-COVID Recovery in Africa”, further called to accelerate the protection and restoratio...
Ethiopia aid pact not good enough – EU official
A senior European Union official said on Friday that an agreement between relief organizations and the Ethiopian government for access to the war-hit Tigray region limits aid to federal-controlled areas only and requires too much bureaucracy. “The agreement … has some important shortcomings,” EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic told reporters. “Humanitarian aid should also go to areas not under government control in line with the fundamental principles of humanitarian aid. There may be malnourished children on the other side also.” There was no immediate reaction from Ethiopia’s government, which says it is channelling aid already into the northern region, where it has battled rebellious local forces for a month. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money ...
United Nations, Ethiopia reach aid pact for war-hit Tigray
Ethiopia and the United Nations reached an agreement on Wednesday to channel desperately needed humanitarian aid to a northern region where a month of war has killed, wounded and uprooted large numbers of people. The pact, announced by U.N. officials, will allow aid workers access to government-controlled areas of Tigray, where federal troops have been battling the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and captured the regional capital. The war is believed to have killed thousands, sent 45,000 refugees into Sudan, displaced many more within Tigray, and worsened suffering in a region where 600,000 people were already dependent on food aid even before the flare-up from Nov. 4. Aid agencies had sounded the alarm about a growing humanitarian crisis and been pressing for access, after hundred...
Centre: Africa’s confirmed coronavirus cases surpass 2.16 million
The number of confirmed Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the African continent has reached 2,163,284 as of Monday afternoon, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said. The continental disease control and prevention agency said in a statement that the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 51,708. A total of 1,831,435 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered across the continent so far, according to the continental disease control and prevention agency. The most COVID-19 affected African countries in terms of the number of positive cases include South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, and Ethiopia, figures from the Africa CDC showed. The southern Africa region is the most COVID-19 affected region both in terms of the number of confirmed positive cases as well as ...
US braces for continued surge in coronavirus cases, hospitalisations
As newly reported cases of the coronavirus continued to spike across much of the United States, breaking records for hospitalisations, some local leaders are moving to enact more stringent restrictions. US officials had pleaded with Americans to avoid travel and limit social gatherings as the nation entered its winter holiday season. But many appear to have disregarded those pleas over the long Thanksgiving weekend as the Transportation Security Administration screened nearly 1.2 million airline passengers on Sunday, the highest since mid-March. That number is still about 60 percent lower than the comparable day last year when 2.88 million passengers were screened, the highest ever recorded by the agency. Health officials say they are now preparing for a wave of cases over the next two or ...
U.S. warns Pacific islands about Chinese bid for undersea cable project
The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company’s cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region. Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along with French-headquartered Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland’s Nokia, and Japan’s NEC, for the $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources with direct knowledge of the project details said. The project is designed to improve communications to the island nations of Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Kiribati. Washington sent a diploma...