The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Kiev’s possible accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) will escalate the situation in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and cause “irreversible consequences”.
At a weekly briefing on Friday, the ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova criticised Kiev’s stance on a possible military solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, reports Xinhua news agency.
The Ukrainian authorities are massing troops and weaponry as well as calling up military reservists, she said.
A damaged deserted factory is seen near the train station in Donetsk, east Ukraine. (Photo: Xinhua/Dai Tianfang/IANS)
Zakharova also pointed to the unfolding “hysteria” of Ukrainian media where Russia is portrayed as a threat.
“We call on the Kiev authorities to adopt a responsible approach and finally start fulfilling their obligations under the Minsk package of measures (on Donbas settlement),” she said, reiterating that this would lead to peace in Ukraine and directly in Donbas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Donbas, which comprises the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, on Thursday to assess the situation on the ground amid escalating tensions in the region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Xinhua/Gao Jing/IANS)
“#NATO firmly supports #Ukraine’s sovereignty & territorial integrity. We remain committed to our close partnership,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted on Tuesday after a phone conversation with Zelensky.
“@NATO is the only way to end the war in #Donbass. Ukraine’s MAP (Membership Action Plan) will be a real signal for #Russia,” Zelensky then wrote on Twitter.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas-led Fatah party and the Islamic Hamas movement have accused Israel of interfering in the upcoming legislative elections scheduled for May 22.
Jamal Muheisen, member of the Fatah Central Committee, said a statement issued on Tuesday that Israel is interfering in the Palestinian elections by arresting candidates in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,reports Xinhua news agency.
“Israel arrested on Tuesday morning four candidates who are on Fatah electoral list from East Jerusalem shortly before holding a meeting to discuss preparing their campaign for running in the legislative elections,” Muheisen said.
“Israel is banning all kinds of activities in East Jerusalem that are related to the Palestinian elections, mainly holding rallies and meetings in the city.”
Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum said that the Israeli army arrested one of the group’s electoral candidates from his home in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
“Arresting one of our candidates is a blatant interference in the Palestinian elections and reflects the endless Israeli attempts to sabotage the electoral process,” Barhoum said.
He called on the international community and the international human rights organisations to immediately act to protect the Palestinian electoral process and put an end to the Israeli measures and violations against the Palestinians.
Palestine has also addressed letters to international parties, urging them to exert pressure on Israel to allow holding the Palestinian elections in East Jerusalem.
In February, Palestine announced that it officially addressed the Israeli government, requesting it to allow the Palestinians in East Jerusalem to participate in the legislative elections.
Last week, the Palestinian Central Elections Commission announced that 36 electoral lists have got registered for the legislative elections.
Among the 36 competing lists are Hamas and Fatah. The rest include left-wing parties, independent figures, youths and women.
Besides the legislative polls, the presidential elections will take place on July 31, while the elections of the Palestinian National Council, the highest decision-making body of the Palestine Liberation Organization, is slated for August 31.
The last Palestinian presidential elections were held in March 2005, and the legislative polls in January 2006.
At least 128 people were killed and 72 others remain unaccounted for due to floods and landslides triggered by tropical cyclone Seroja in the Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said on Tuesday.
The National Disaster Management Agency’s spokesman Raditya Jati said in a statement that eight municipalities in the province were impacted by the tropical cyclone, reports Xinhua news agency.
He said 67 deaths were reported in Lembata district, 49 in East Flores and 12 in Alor.
Cyclone Eloise kills 6, displaces 8,300 in Mozambique: UN (Credit: twitter.com/UNOCHA_ROSEA)
“Authorities continue to update data from rapid assessments in the field,” the spokesman said.
According to Jati, the number of people in the province who flee their homes has reached 8,424, as floodwaters and landslides destroyed houses, public facilities, roads and bridges.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua/IANS)
Representatives of China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and Iran, known as the participants in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), met virtually on Friday, and “agreed to resume this session of the Joint Commission in Vienna next week
The parties to the Iran nuclear deal will convene in Vienna next week to discuss the possibility of lifting sanctions on Tehran, as well as the country’s responsibility for further implementing the agreement, the European Union (EU) said in a statement.
Representatives of China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and Iran, known as the participants in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), met virtually on Friday, and “agreed to resume this session of the Joint Commission in Vienna next week, in order to clearly identify sanctions lifting and nuclear implementation measures”, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.
Friday’s high-level online meeting was chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General and Political Director of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Enrique Mora, on behalf of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell.
Josep Borrell, The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
“Positive meeting today,” Mora said on Twitter following the meeting.
The parties will reconvene in Vienna next week, with “substantial work ahead for a key opportunity” to bring the JCPOA back to life, he added.
The participants recognised the prospect of a full return of the US to the JCPOA and “underlined their readiness to positively address this in a joint effort, according to the EEAS.
They also “emphasized their commitment to preserve the JCPOA and discussed modalities to ensure the return to its full and effective implementation”.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who attended the virtual session, said that there is no alternative to the JCPOA.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
All parties involved should make every effort for the earliest possible return of the Iran nuclear deal to the originally established framework, Ryabkov said.
The participants paid special attention to the measures that should be taken by the US to eliminate previously committed violations of the JCPOA and to lift its sanctions against Iran, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
The US confirmed on Friday that it would attend the meeting in Vienna next week, saying it remains “open to” direct talks with Tehran.
“We have agreed to participate in talks with our European, Russian, and Chinese partners to identify the issues involved in a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA with Iran,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran would be aiming for the “choreographed removal of all sanctions” followed by “Iran ceasing remedial measures”.
The EU said in its statement that the coordinator will “intensify separate contacts in Vienna with all JCPOA participants and the US”.
The development was welcomed by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who said it is good that all the relevant actors will meet to work on fully implementing the nuclear agreement again.
The JCPOA was reached in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, the UK, Russia, France, China, plus Germany) and the EU.
Tehran agreed to roll back parts of its nuclear weapons program in exchange for decreased economic sanctions.
President Joe Biden (www.instagram.com/whitehouse)
Washington under former President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and tightened sanctions on Iran.
The US and Iran are at a standoff over reviving the nuclear deal.
The Joe Biden administration said that if Iran returns to full compliance with the JCPOA, the US would do the same.
But Iran insisted its compliance would only take place once US sanctions were removed.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will speak to leaders of the European Union (EU) over the phone to discuss a ban on the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine exports to the country, a media report said.
The BBC report said that Johnson will make the calls this week in a bid “to persuade them to veto any proposal that would prevent vaccine exports from entering the UK”.
The latest flashpoint appears to be over doses made in a Dutch factory, the report said.
Some of the leaders the Prime Minister is likely to speak with are French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to British officials quoted by the Financial Times.
On Thursday, the EU leaders will hold a virtual meeting to discuss the ban on exports of the jabs to the UK which comes after they faced widespread faced criticism for the slow pace of the vaccine rollout on the continent.
The BBC report said that less than 12 per cent of the bloc’s population is reported to have been inoculated against the virus, compared with nearly 40 per cent in the UK.
According to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the EU has exported 41 million vaccine doses to 33 countries in six weeks, with more than 10 million jabs to the UK.
In a warning last week, she said that the EU can “forbid” vaccines made on the continent being sent to the UK if exports from Britain do not improve.
Regarding the ongoing dispute, the UK’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the BBC on Sunday that the EU should not “build walls” which would “only damage both EU citizens and UK”.
Meanwhile, EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has urged all sides to “calm down” as no decisions have been taken on a ban as of now.
According to Iran Shipping Company, none of the crew was injured in the “terrorist” attack, reports Asian Lite News
In yet another alleged “terrorist” attack, an Iranian commercial ship was hit by an explosive object in the Mediterranean Sea, according to local media reports.
“After an explosive object hit the Iran Shahrekord container ship in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea, a part of the ship’s hull was damaged,” Ali Ghiasian, spokesman of Iran Shipping Company said on Friday.
The fire caused by the explosive object was immediately contained by the crew of the ship, he added.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
Meanwhile, the Hamshahrionline news website reported that the attack occurred on Wednesday when the ship was on its way to Europe from Iran.
None of the crew was injured in the “terrorist” attack, Ghiasian noted.
Iran Shahrekord will continue its route after repairing and assessing the damage, he said.
Such terrorist acts are examples of piracy and against the international law, the official said, adding Iran will launch investigations to identify the perpetrators.
Just 9.2 per cent of the US population has been fully vaccinated with against the novel coronavirys, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
Over 116 million vaccine doses had been distributed across the US as of Monday, and more than 92 million doses have been administered, Xinhua news agency quoted the latest CDC data as saying.
About 31 million people have received two doses of vaccines, the CDC data showed.
There are three Covid-19 vaccines currently authorised for emergency use in the US by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FDA authorized the one developed by American drugmaker Pfizer in partnership with German company BioNTech, and another by American drugmaker Moderna, in December 2020.
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was approved for emergency use on February 27. It is the first single-dose vaccine authorized in the United States.
The vast majority of people need to be fully vaccinated before Covid-19 precautions can be lifted broadly.
Until then, it is important that everyone continues to adhere to public health mitigation measures to protect the large number of people who remain unvaccinated, said the CDC.
President Joe Biden said last week that the country would have enough Covid-19 vaccine doses for every adult American by the end of May.
Former head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi (Xinhua/Lu Yang/IANS)
Former head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi has formally accepted the role of Italy’s next Prime Minister and will be sworn in on Saturday.
Draghi has named his cabinet after meeting the Italian president. He has secured the support of almost all the main political parties, following the collapse of the previous administration last month, the BBC reported.
It was thrown into chaos amid a row over how to spend EU coronavirus recovery funds.
Italy is still grappling with the pandemic and is also facing its worst economic crisis in decades. The country has recorded more than 93,000 deaths, the sixth-highest death toll in the world.
Former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte
After receiving the support of the largest group in parliament, the Five Star Movement, Draghi now has backing across the broad political spectrum.
It means he will have a large enough majority to push through his agenda. A senior figure in the Five Star Movement, Luigi Di Maio, will stay on as foreign minister in his cabinet.
Meanwhile, Giancarlo Giorgetti, a senior figure in the populist far-right League party, will be industry minister. Andrea Orlando, from the centre-left Democratic Party, will be labour minister.
The government faces a confidence vote next week — a formality given its cross-party backing.
A staff member measures a visitor’s temperature at Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy. (Photo by Alberto Lingria/Xinhua)
An economist with experience at the highest levels of the European Union and as governor of the Bank of Italy, Draghi is being seen as a safe pair of hands.
“Mario Draghi was the Italian who saved Europe, and I think now he is the European who can save Italy,” former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told the BBC’s Newshour programme last week.
The previous prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, resigned in January after his party lost support for its coalition government over plans for spending EU recovery money.
World Health Organization (WHO) experts came together to review the efficacy of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, after a study showed that it was less effective against a new variant of the virus discovered in South Africa.
At a press briefing here on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said although the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is one of the several that have been shown to be effective in preventing severe disease, hospitalisations and deaths from Covid-19, the emergence of new variants of the virus has raised concerns about their potential impacts on the efficacy of vaccines, reports Xinhua news agency.
He announced that the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) met to review the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and discuss these new developments.
Tedros added that he will meet with the SAGE Chair on Tuesday to discuss its recommendations.
Monday’s development came a day after, South Africa, where the new variant named B.1.351 was found, announced that the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the country would be temporarily put on hold until more clinical efficacy information becomes available.
Frontline workers have been vaccinated
Also at the briefing, Kate O’Brien, director of the Department for Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals at the WHO, said SAGE had met investigators from the trials being conducted in Britain and Brazil, as well as AstraZeneca and investigators from South African trials.
In looking at evidence on the AstraZeneca vaccine across a number of trials, it is very clear that it has efficacy against severe disease, hospitalisations and deaths among different variants, said O’Brien, while admitting that “there are some indications of reduction in the efficacy, some more some less, depending on which variant, which population, and also the neutralizing antibody responses”.
“But we also have evidence that there is the likelihood that the retention of meaningful impact against severe disease is a very plausible scenario for the product against the B.1.351 variant,” she added.
O’Brien also noted that “we really have to sort of sail a steady ship, based on the preponderance of evidence and not lurch from one particular report or another report”.
AstraZeneca
Meanwhile, GAVI, the global Vaccine Alliance and a major player in the WHO-led COVAX initiative for Covid-19 vaccines, has decided to continue rolling out the AstraZeneca vaccine.
According to GAVI CEO Seth Berkley, the AstraZeneca vaccine is efficacious and has been reviewed and approved by a number of stringent regulatory authorities.
“Therefore we suspect that we will continue to roll that out, and we’ll continue to follow the effects of that vaccine over time,” he said.
India has warned against chemical weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists noting the reports of the resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) terror group in Syria...writes Arul Louis.
“India remains concerned about the possibility of such dangerous weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorist organisation and individuals,” R. Ravindra, a Deputy Permanent Representative of India, told the Security Council on Wednesday.
“Terrorist groups have taken advantage of the decade-long conflict in Syria to entrench themselves posing a threat to the entire region. Reports of the resurgence of the IS in the region are being heard with increasing frequency,” he said after the Council heard a briefing on the implementation of its resolution against chemical weapons in that country.
That Resolution adopted in 2013 expressly demanded that “non-State actors” or terror groups “not develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer, or use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery”.
Ravindra said: “The world cannot afford to give these terrorists any sanctuary or dilute its fights against these terrorist groups.”
The UN’s High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu, who briefed the Council on the implementation of its resolution, alleged that Syria was not fully in compliance with it.
“At this stage, due to the identified gaps, inconsistencies, and discrepancies that remain unresolved, the declaration submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic cannot be considered accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC),” she said.
She said that there were 19 outstanding issues and one of them was about a chemical weapons production facility that a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) determined had been used to manufacture such weapons although Damascus has denied such use.
The issue of chemical weapons in Syria has pitted Russia, with some backing from China, against the Western nations which are vehemently opposed to the government of Bashar al-Assad.
With New Delhi in the middle, Ravindra said: “India has consistently underlined the need for impartial and objective investigation into any alleged use of chemical weapons, scrupulously following the procedures and provisions laid down in the (Chemical Weapons) Convention.”
New Delhi also has close ties with Syria.
“India has consistently called for a comprehensive and peaceful resolution of the Syrian conflict through a Syrian-led dialogue,” Ravindra said.
India has “contributed to the return of normalcy and rebuilding of Syria through humanitarian assistance and human resource development” and was now ready to provide it with Covid-19 vaccines, he said.
As for the CWC, Ravindra said India attaches high importance to it.
He said it “is a unique, non-discriminatory disarmament instrument and serves as a model for the elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction”.
He added that India was the first country to be declared the first signatory to the CWC to be declared a chemical weapon-free state.
