Day: December 25, 2022

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered his wishes to all the Christians celebrating Sunday in his nightly video address on Sunday.

 

Zelenskyy thanked everyone who has “done everything so that we can live. Live our life and in our country.”

 

Among those he thanked are the military personnel who are holding the front and trying to push it farther; repairmen, utility workers, volunteers, nurses and all medical personnel, educators and IT specialists, and everyone who is helping Ukraine remain resilient.

Zelenskyy also thanked journalists who spread the truth, as well as the leaders and people of the world who support Ukraine.

 

He also urged caution.

 

“There are only a few days left this year. We must be aware that our enemy will try to make this time dark and difficult for us,” Zelenskyy said. “Russia lost everything it could this year. But it is trying to compensate for its losses with the gloating of its propagandists after the missile strikes at our country, at our energy sector.”

 

“I know that the darkness will not prevent us from leading the occupiers to their new defeats,” he added.

 

Putin overtures

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Rossiya 1 state television on Sunday that his country is ready to negotiate with all parties involved in the war in Ukraine, but that Kyiv and its Western backers have refused to engage in talks.

 

The Kremlin, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, said it will fight until all its aims are achieved, while Kyiv said it will not rest until every Russian soldier is ejected from all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

 

“We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them — we are not the ones refusing to negotiate; they are,” Putin said in the interview.

 

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Zelenskyy, said that Putin needed to return to reality and acknowledge that it was Russia that did not want to negotiate.

 

“Russia single-handedly attacked Ukraine and is killing citizens,” Podolyak said on Twitter. “Russia doesn’t want negotiations but tries to avoid responsibility.”

 

He echoed the United States’ CIA assessment earlier in December that Russia was not yet serious about a real negotiation to end the war.

 

Putin argued Russia was acting in the “right direction” in Ukraine because the West, led by the United States, was trying to cleave Russia apart. Washington denies it is plotting Russia’s collapse.

 

“I believe that we are acting in the right direction; we are defending our national interests, the interests of our citizens, our people. And we have no other choice but to protect our citizens,” Putin said.

 

Papal call for peace

 

Earlier Sunday, Pope Francis delivered his traditional Christmas address from St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, describing Russia’s war in Ukraine as “senseless” and calling for an end to the conflict.

 

“May the Lord inspire us to offer concrete gestures of solidarity to assist all those who are suffering, and may he enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the thunder of weapons and put an immediate end to this senseless war,” he said.

 

Recalling how Bethlehem means “house of bread,” the 86-year-old pontiff called on the world to remember children who go hungry today while so much food is wasted, and resources are spent instead on weapons. He pointed out how the war in Ukraine has worsened the reality of world hunger, especially in Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa, which is facing widespread famine. He said food is used as a weapon of war by making distribution difficult to people already suffering.

 

“On this day, let us learn from the prince of peace and — starting with those who hold political responsibilities — commit ourselves to making food solely an instrument of peace,” he said.

 

Christmas eve attack

 

On Christmas Eve, Russia launched an artillery attack on central Kherson in southern Ukraine, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55 others. Sixteen people were killed in Kherson and Kherson Oblast that day, said the regional governor, Yaroslav Yanushevich.

 

Zelenskyy condemned the Russian attack on Kherson, saying that the attack is “terror; it is killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure.”

 

One rocket landed next to a supermarket in downtown Kherson, Yuriy Sobolevskyi, first deputy head of Kherson Oblast Council, said in a Telegram post. According to Ukraine’s interior ministry, 66 cars were on fire after the shelling.

 

Photos of the strike – burning cars and what appeared to be bodies – were on the president’s Telegram account.

 

“Social networks will most likely mark these photos as ‘sensitive content,'” Zelenskyy wrote. “But this is not sensitive content. It is the real life of Ukraine and Ukrainians.”

 

Some material for this article came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

 

Source: Voice of America

Dutch King Willem-Alexander welcomed the government’s apology for the Netherlands’ role in 250 years of slavery in his Christmas address on Sunday, saying it was the “start of a long journey.”

 

Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday officially apologized for the Dutch state’s involvement in slavery in its former colonies, calling it a “crime against humanity.”

 

“Nobody today bears responsibility for the inhumane acts that were inflicted on the lives of men, women and children,” Willem-Alexander said from the palace of Huis ten Bosch in The Hague.

 

“But by honestly facing our shared past and recognizing the crime against humanity that is slavery, we lay the ground for a shared future — a future in which we stand against all modern forms of discrimination, exploitation and injustice,” the king said. “The apology offered by the government is the start of a long journey.”

 

The Netherlands funded its “Golden Age” of empire and culture in the 16th and 17th centuries by shipping around 600,000 Africans as part of the slave trade, mostly to South America and the Caribbean.

 

The Dutch government says several major commemorative events will be held from next year and has announced a $212 million fund for social initiatives.

 

Willem-Alexander promised that the topic would retain the royal family’s attention during the commemorative year and that they would remain “involved.”

 

But Rutte’s move went against the wishes of some slavery commemoration organizations who wanted the apology to be offered on July 1, 2023.

 

Descendants of Dutch slavery will then celebrate 150 years of liberation from slavery in an annual celebration called “Keti Koti” (Breaking the Chains) in Suriname.

 

The leaders of the Caribbean island Sint Maarten and Suriname in South America regretted the lack of dialogue from the Netherlands over the apology.

 

Some former Dutch colonies have demanded compensation for slavery and criticized the government for not offering concrete actions.

 

Source: Voice of America

Across the region, millions of people are living in poverty and facing multiple daily threats to their food security. An estimated 146 million people are facing crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa. Climatic shocks, such as prolonged drought and recurrent flooding, conflict, desert locusts, and economic downturns, exacerbated by the effects of COVID-19, have combined to hit communities hard. The impact of global drivers is compounding the effect of pre-existing deep-rooted local drivers such as poverty and marginalisation.

The crisis has spread across all of Africa – from East Africa with the fourth consecutive failed rains in the Horn of Africa and extreme flooding for four successive years in South Sudan, to the Sahel region of West Africa plagued by insecurity and political instability, to Southern Africa where countries, such as Zimbabwe, are experiencing surging inflation. Unfortunately, this is not new and in 2010–2011, in spite of early warning signs that failed rains in East Africa would result in acute food insecurity and a loss of lives, the humanitarian response was too little and too late. History almost repeated itself in 2016–2017, but governments and humanitarian organisations mobilised a response sufficient enough to head off mass mortality.

Warnings of the current situation were given as early as 12 months ago when African Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies started to launch hunger crisis emergency appeals. So far, 17 African National Societies have responded to the hunger crisis across the region with the limited resources they have. However, to respond to the rapidly escalating humanitarian needs and scale up, for the National Society response, funding for the crisis needs to be urgently increased. The IFRC, in turn, must quickly and massively scale-up life-saving assistance to millions of people facing crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity, of which hundreds of thousands are at immediate risk of or experiencing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, but also to decisively address the root causes of this crisis through longer-term commitments.

The report details how the African Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies plan to scale up life-saving assistance to millions of people and the response efforts since the launch of the emergency appeal. At the same time, through longer-term programming, African National Societies will address the root causes of food insecurity. IFRC will build on our previous successes and work in support of government plans and frameworks to improve the resilience of the most impoverished communities, including displaced populations.

Source: International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies

The death toll from a fuel tanker explosion in a South African city east of Johannesburg has risen to 15, the health minister said Sunday.

“Yesterday [Saturday], the death toll was at 10 people and now we are sitting at 15 as of this morning,” Joe Phaahla told reporters at Tambo Memorial Hospital.

The tanker, transporting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), was caught beneath a bridge close to the hospital and houses on Saturday morning in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.

The minister said three hospital employees, two nurses and a driver, died later from severe burn injuries.

Thirty-seven people were injured, including 24 patients and 13 staff members who were in the hospital’s accident and emergency unit at the time of the blast.

They “sustained severe burns and have been diverted to neighboring hospitals”, Phaahla said.

Others were hit by shattered glass, he added, while some were hurt as they were in the parking lot or in front of the hospital.

Videos on social media showed a huge fireball under the bridge, which the tanker appeared to have been too high to go under.

It was carrying 60,000 liters of LPG gas, which is used especially in cooking and gas stoves, and had come from the southeast of the country.

The health minister said the blast severely damaged the hospital’s accident and emergency unit and X-ray departments, adding the roof was also damaged.

Source: Voice of America

Manama, Export Bahrain celebrates the addition of its 5th and 6th international awards – ‘Best SME Export Development Solutions – MENA 2022’ by UK based Capital Finance International and the ‘Most Innovative Export Platform Bahrain 2022’ by the International Business Magazine Award to its awards shelf.

The accolades come as a global acknowledgement of Export Bahrain’s diligent efforts and its tailor-made solutions for Bahrain based businesses since its inception. Over the last four years, Export Bahrain has launched a number of solutions to meet the needs of SMEs and facilitate their journey to international markets. The global awards echo Export Bahrain’s belief in the significance of the SME sector and their vital role in shaping the Kingdom’s future by diversifying its economy.

Since its inception, the award-winning national export entity has successfully facilitated the export of 65 products and services across 12 different sectors valued at over 300M USD to 68 international markets that include the GCC region, Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

It is noteworthy that the annual awards, which are exclusively presented to recognize excellence in finance, international trade, and other entrepreneurial enablers around the world, acknowledge the role of Export Bahrain in facilitating exports of Bahrain-based businesses, providing them with a range of diverse solutions to meet their needs and aspiration and ensuring to enable businesses in specific to unlock more potentials through exporting.

Commenting on the occasion, Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce, stated: “We are pleased to receive the two respectable awards which come as a recognition of Export Bahrain’s exceptional role in supporting SMEs. The accolades endorse our ongoing commitment to providing SMEs with bespoke solutions tailored for every phase of their export journey and our endeavors to encourage a national export culture. We strive to build on our success and broaden our reach by maintaining our eagerness to assist Bahrain based businesses and developing innovative, high-quality services and solutions across various economic sectors.”

Commenting on the occasion, Export Bahrain Chief Executive Officer, Safa Sharif A.Khaliq stated: “We are extremely honored to see that the Export Bahrain’s efforts have been acknowledged on an international scale. This award reaffirms the company’s endeavors toward uplifting this vital sector by supporting SMEs and encouraging Bahrain based businesses to access international opportunities. This recognition represents the national acknowledgement of not only Export Bahrain’s devoted efforts towards SMEs, but also their well-deserved success around the world.”

Source: Bahrain News Agency