December Issue

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Trump lights US national
CHRISTMAS TREE
Washington US President
Donald Trump has lit the national
Christmas tree, located behind
the White House, in a ceremony
followed by a performance of
the 1960s-hit pop band, The
Beach Boys. On Thursday,
Trump and his wife, Melania
Trump, went hand in hand to the
Ellipse, a public park to participate
in the Christmas tree lighting
ceremony, an annual tradition
which US Presidents usually
attend. “We want to wish
everybody a merry Christmas, a
happy New Year, have unbelievable
holidays, and we are now
going to light a very beautiful
tree,” said Trump. After a countdown
from ten initiated by
Trump, the first lady flipped a
switch to set aglow a 8.5-metre
Christmas tree, illuminated with
bright yellow and blue lights,
Efe news reported. Then, The
Beach Boys, now left with only
one founding member, Mike
Love, took the stage and performed
their traditional
Pentagon withdraws plan
to ban use of cluster bombs
Washington, The Pentagon
has withdrawn a plan to ban the
use of certain cluster bombs that
are widely seen as a hazard to
civilians, Pentagon spokesman
Tom Crossen has said. “The
Department of Defense has
determined that cluster munitions
remain a vital military
capability in the tougher warfighting
environment ahead of
us, while still a relatively safe
one,” said the statement on
Thursday, Xinhua news agency
reported. In response, Mary
Wareham, from the Cluster
Munition Coalition, an international
campaign seeking to eliminate
cluster bombs, argued that
there is no compelling reason for
the use of cluster munitions.
“We condemn this decision to
reverse the long-held US commitment
not to use cluster munitions
that fail more than 1 per
cent of the time, resulting in
Africa
regained unity
with
Morocco’s
return to AU,
says top
official
deadly unexploded sub-munitions.”
she said.
Cluster bombs contain
bomblets that scatter widely and
can detonate months or years
later. The Convention on Cluster
Munitions, an international treaty
that began in 2018 and has been
signed by more than 100 countries,
prohibits the use, transfer
and stockpile of the weapon.
However, the US is not a signatory.
Instead, the then Republican
George W. Bush administration
set a now nine-year-old policy
that the US, by January 1, 2019,
would end its use of cluster
bombs that did not meet a standard
of failing to detonate 1 per
cent of the time or less, according
to a The Hill report. The US
rarely uses cluster bombs but it
has sold them to other countries
and says they could be useful in
any future large-scale ground
war, said the report.
Abidjan, Chairperson of the African
Union Commission, Moussa Faki,
termed the return of Morocco to the
African Union as “delightful” and added
that with it Africa has regained its unity.
“With the delightful return of the
Kingdom of Morocco, embodied today by
the presence of King Mohammed VI,
Africa has regained its unity,” he said at
the opening ceremony on Wednesday of
the 5th African Union-European Union
Summit, which was attended by the King.
“With this return, the AU-EU couple has
Christmas song “Little Saint
Nick”. The First Lady unveiled
on Monday the White House’s
Christmas decoration and said
that “the President, Barron, and I
are very excited for our first
Christmas in the White House”.
WORLD
Pope urges world to take decisive
measures to address Rohingya crisis
Dhaka, In his first public
speech in Bangladesh
delivered on Thursday,
Pope Francis considered
that no one could ignore
the gravity of the Muslim
minority Rohingyas’ situation
and urged the international
community to take
decisive measures to
address this grave crisis.
Once again, the Pope
avoided mentioning the word
“Rohingya” explicitly in the
speech delivered at the presidential
palace in the Bangladeshi
capital, referring to them as “a
massive influx of refugees from
Rakhine State,” Efe news agency
reported.
“It is imperative that the international
community take decisive
measures to address this
grave crisis, not only by working
to resolve the political issues that
have led to the mass displacement
of people, but also by
offering immediate material
assistance to Bangladesh in its
effort to respond effectively to
urgent human needs,” the Pope
said. The Pontiff, who minutes
earlier had met privately with
Bangladesh’s President Abdul
Hamid, praised the spirit of generosity
and solidarity which
marked the country’s society.
This spirit, he added, had
been seen most vividly in the
Bangladeshi society’s humanitarian
outreach to the refugees
regained its balance, its
strengths and an exceptional bicontinental
status,” he added,
MAP news agency reported.
Since the last summit held in
Brussels in 2014, the AU has
undergone significant changes
that are part of a restructuring
dynamic driven by its leaders in
order to make it an effective
instrument of development and integration
and achieve the aspirations of the African
peoples, he added. The theme of this 5th
from Rakhine State, providing
them with temporary shelter and
the basic necessities of life, at no
little sacrifice. “None of us can
fail to be aware of the gravity of
the situation, the immense toll of
human suffering involved, and
the precarious living conditions
of so many of our brothers and
sisters, a majority of whom are
women and children, crowded in
the refugee camps,” said Pope
Francis. The Pope highlighted
the importance of meetings with
leaders from various religions
which are to take place during
the visit, and added that the
country was known for the harmony
that has traditionally existed
between followers of various
religions.
“This atmosphere of mutual
respect, and a growing climate of
interreligious dialogue, enables
believers to express freely their
deepest convictions about the
meaning and purpose of life. In a
world where religion is often _
scandalously _ misused to
The Pope highlighted
the importance of meetings
with leaders from
various religions which
are to take place during
the visit, and added that
the country was known
for the harmony that has
traditionally existed
between followers of
various religions.
foment division, such a
witness to its reconciling and
unifying power is all the more
necessary,” he added.
The Pope recalled the common
reaction of indignation that
followed 2016’s terrorist attack
in Dhaka, and the clear message
sent by the nation’s religious
authorities that the name of God
can never be invoked to justify
hatred and violence against fellow
humans.
Pope Francis also mentioned
the role played by the Catholics
in Bangladesh, who despite
being a relatively small community
collaborate in the development
of the country, particularly
through their schools, clinics and
dispensaries. “I am confident
that, in accordance with the letter
and the spirit of the national
Constitution, the Catholic community
will continue to enjoy the
freedom to carry out these good
works as an expression of its
commitment to the common
good,” he added.
December 2017
21
US urges all nations to sever ties with
N. Korea, Russia calls it ‘goading’ Kim
United Nations, The US has urged all nations
to cut diplomatic and trade ties with North Korea
after its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test
and warned that if it comes to war, the rogue
regime will be “totally destroyed”.
The call was rejected by Russia on
Thursday as it accused Washington
of provoking Pyongyang into stepping
up its nuclear missile programme.
Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov dismissed the call by
the US Permanent Representative to
the UN Nikki Haley to sever ties
with North Korea and said “sanctions
do not work”. He advocated
negotiations instead. Speaking during
a visit to the Belarussian capital
Minsk, Lavrov asked whether
America was actively seeking to destroy North
Korea. The Americans, he said, “should explain to
us all what they’re after”.
“If they want to find a pretext for destroying
North Korea, as the US envoy said at the UN
Security Council, then let them say it outright and
let the supreme American leadership confirm it.”
Calling for new talks with North Korea, Lavrov
added: “We have already emphasised… that the
squeeze of sanctions has essentially come to an
end, and that those resolutions which
introduced the sanctions should have
included a requirement to renew the
political process, a requirement to
renew talks. “But the Americans
completely ignore this requirement
and I consider this a big mistake.”
Speaking at the UNSC on
Wednesday, Haley warned that
North Korea’s government will be
“utterly destroyed” if a war breaks
out. She said that Washington also
called on China to show leadership
and cut off oil supplies to pressure
Pyongyang following the test. Haley told the
Council that the North Korean dictator was bringing
“the world closer to war”. “We have never
sought war with North Korea,” she said. “And if
war comes, make no mistake, the North Korean
regime will be utterly destroyed.”
Unemployme
nt in
Germany falls
to record low
Berlin, Germany’s labour
market is going from strength
to strength, according to figures
from the Federal
Employment Agency. The
number of unemployed
Germans fell by 20,000 to
2.36 million in November, hitting
the lowest level since the
re-unifiction in 1990, Xinhua
reported on Thursday citing
the Agency figures. As a consequence,
the unemployment
rate also declined by 0.1 point
to 5.3 per cent. Year on year,
164,000 fewer people were
registered as out of work than
that in November 2016.
“The labour market’s very
good development continues,”
said Valerie Holsboer, member
of the executive board of
the Federal Employment
Agency.
“Unemployment and
underemployment are
decreasing and companies’
demand is still rising from an
already high level,” Holsboer
added. The Federal
Employment Agency
described November’s fall in
unemployment as “stronger
than usual.” Even on a seasonally-adjusted
basis there were
18,000 fewer Germans out of
work during the month.
AU-EU Summit, which dovetails
with that of the AU for
the year 2017, namely
‘Harnessing the Demographic
Dividend through
Investments in Youth’, “is far
from being mere coincidence”,
he noted, adding that
this thematic convergence
confirms that Africa and
Europe share the same concerns regarding
today’s demands. “This invites us to build
up a strategic alliance and not just a partnership
in pursuit of mercantile interests,
through a deeper dialogue between our
cultures and our civilizations and through
the building of a bridge of friendship
between our two continents,” Faki said.
The 5th AU-EU Summit is themed
‘Investing in Youth for a Sustainable
Future’. In addition to the main theme of
youth, the Summit will also discuss an
array of issues as peace and security, governance,
democracy, human rights, migration
and mobility, investment and trade,
competence building and job creation.