09-08-2022

tuesDAy, AuGust 9, 2022
11
France's going through
its most severe
drought ever, PM says
PARIS : French Prime
Minister Elisabeth Borne
warned that France is facing
the "most severe drought"
ever recorded in the country
and announced the
activation of a government
crisis unit.
Borne said in a written
statement on Friday that
many areas in France are
going through a "historic
situation" as the country
endures its third heatwave
this summer.
"The exceptional drought
we are currently
experiencing is depriving
many municipalities of
water and is a tragedy for
our farmers, our ecosystems
and biodiversity," the
statement said.
Weather forecasts suggest
that the heat, which
increases evaporation and
water needs, could continue
for the next 15 days, possibly
making the situation even
more worrying, the
statement stressed.
The government's crisis
unit will be in charge of
monitoring the situation in
the hardest-hit areas and
coordinate measures like
bringing drinking water to
some places.
It will also monitor the
impact of the drought on
France's energy production,
transport infrastructure and
agriculture. The drought
may force French energy
giant EDF to cut power
production at nuclear plants
which use river water to cool
reactors.
World stock markets
mixed ahead of US
jobs data
BEIJING : Global stock
markets and Wall Street
futures were mixed Friday
ahead of an update on the
U.S. jobs market while the
Federal Reserve weighs
whether more rate hikes are
needed to cool surging
inflation.
London, Paris and
Frankfurt were lower while
Shanghai and Tokyo
advanced. Oil prices fell back.
Investors were looking
ahead to monthly U.S.
employment numbers for
possible signs of weakness
that might prompt the Fed to
decide it needs to ease off on
rate hikes to cool inflation.
Other data suggest the
economy is slowing, which
should reduce pressure for
prices to rise.
"Consensus is looking for a
softening in the labor market
for July," said Stephen Innes
of SPI Asset Management in
a report.
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A doa mahfil was held at the meeting room of Director General of Family Planning on the occasion
of 92nd birth anniversary of Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib.
Photo : Courtesy
Shift in war's front seen as grain
leaves Ukraine; plant hit
KYIV: Six more ships carrying agricultural
cargo held up by the war in Ukraine received
authorization Sunday to leave the country's
Black Sea coast as analysts warned that
Russia was moving troops and equipment in
the direction of the southern port cities to
stave off a Ukrainian counteroffensive,
reports UNB.
Ukraine and Russia also accused each
other of shelling Europe's largest nuclear
power plant.
The loaded vessels were cleared to depart
from Chornomorsk and Odesa, according to
the Joint Coordination Center, which
oversees an international deal intended to
get some 20 million tons of grain out of
Ukraine to feed millions going hungry in
Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia.
Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United
Nations signed the agreements last month to
create a 111-nautical-mile sea corridor that
would allow cargo ships to travel safely out of
ports that Russia's military had blockaded
and through waters that Ukraine's military
had mined. Implementation of the deal,
which is in effect for four months, has
proceeded slowly since the first ship
embarked on Aug. 1.
Four of the carriers cleared Sunday to leave
Ukraine were transporting more than
219,000 tons of corn. The fifth was carrying
more than 6,600 tons of sunflower oil and
the sixth 11,000 tons of soya, the Joint
Coordination Center said.
Three other cargo ships that left Friday
passed their inspections and received
clearance Sunday to pass through Turkey's
Bosporus Strait on the way to their final
destinations, the Center said.
However, the vessel that left Ukraine last
Monday with great fanfare as the first under
the grain exports deal had its scheduled
arrival in Lebanon delayed Sunday,
according to a Lebanese Cabinet minister
and the Ukraine Embassy. The cause of the
delay was not immediately clear.
Ukrainian officials were initially skeptical
of a grain export deal, citing suspicions that
Moscow would try to exploit shipping
activity to mass troops offshore or send longrange
missiles from the Black Sea, as it has
done multiple times during the war.
The agreements call for ships to leave
Ukraine under military escort and to
undergo inspections to make sure they carry
only grain, fertilizer or food and not any
other commodities. Inbound cargo vessels
are checked to ensure they are not carrying
weapons.
In a weekend analysis, Britain's Defense
Ministry said the Russian invasion that
started Feb. 24 "is about to enter a new
phase" in which the fighting would shift to a
roughly 350-kilometer (217-mile) front line
extending from near the city of Zaporizhzhia
to Russian-occupied Kherson.
That area includes the Zaporizhzhia
Nuclear Power Station which came under
fire late Saturday. Each side accused the
other of the attack.
Ukraine's nuclear power plant operator,
Energoatom, said Russian shelling damaged
three radiation monitors around the storage
facility for spent nuclear fuels and that one
worker was injured. Russian news agencies,
citing the separatist-run administration of
the plant, said Ukrainian forces fired those
shells.
Russian forces have occupied the power
station for months. Russian soldiers there
took shelter in bunkers before Saturday's
attack, according to Energoatom.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the
International Atomic Energy Agency,
recently warned that the way the plant was
being run and the fighting going on around it
posed grave health and environmental
threats.
For the last four months of the war, Russia
has concentrated on capturing the Donbas
region of eastern Ukraine, where pro-
Moscow separatists have controlled some
5 killed, 9 injured in
fiery multi-vehicle
crash in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES : At least
five people were killed and
nine others injured
Thursday afternoon in a
fiery multi-vehicle crash in
Los Angeles, authorities
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said.
The Los Angeles County
Fire Department said in a
tweet that the agency
responded to the crash at
about 1:41 p.m. local time
(2041 GMT) at La Brea and
Slauson avenues.
Five people were
pronounced died at the
scene. Eight of the nine
injured were transported
to area hospitals, said the
department.
The crash was caused by
a Mercedes coupe that was
speeding south on La Brea
Avenue and ran a red light,
slamming into several cars
at Slauson Avenue,
reported KABC-TV, the
West Coast flagship station
of the ABC network, citing
the California Highway
Patrol. At least six vehicles
were involved in the crash
and three of them burst
into flames after the
impact, the report said.
The Los Angeles County
Fire Department said the
incident is still under
investigation.Palestine
calls for help to stop Israeli
settlement expansion,
protect two-state solution.
Berlin forest fire
contained but ammo
dump still a problem
BERLIN : A fire
accompanied by explosions
at a police ammunition
dump in a Berlin forest was
contained and large parts of
it were extinguished on
Friday, but authorities were
still waiting to get access to
the dump itself.
The fire broke out in the
early hours of Thursday in
the Grunewald forest on the
western edge of the German
capital. The site is far from
the nearest homes and no
one had to be evacuated, but
authorities declared a 1,000-
meter (more than half-mile)
exclusion zone and a nearby
highway and railway line
remained closed on Friday.
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China extends threatening military
exercises around Taiwan
BEIJING: - China said Monday it was
extending threatening military exercises
surrounding Taiwan that have disrupted
shipping and air traffic and substantially
raised concerns about the potential for
conflict in a region crucial to global trade,
reports UNB.
The exercises would include antisubmarine
drills, apparently targeting U.S.
support for Taiwan in the event of a potential
Chinese invasion, according to social media
posts from the eastern leadership of China's
ruling Communist Party's military arm, the
People's Liberation Army.
The military has said the exercises
involving missile strikes, warplanes and ship
movements crossing the midline of the
Taiwan Strait dividing the sides were a
response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi's visit to the self-ruled island last week.
China has ignored calls to calm the
tensions, and there was no immediate
indication when it would end what amounts
to a blockade.
Taiwan's defense ministry said Sunday it
detected a total of 66 aircraft and 14 warships
conducting the naval and air exercises. The
island has responded by putting its military
on alert and deploying ships, planes and
other assets to monitor Chinese aircraft,
ships and drones that are "simulating attacks
on the island of Taiwan and our ships at sea."
Meanwhile, Taiwan's official Central News
Agency reported that Taiwan's army will
conduct live-fire artillery drills in southern
Pingtung County on Tuesday and Thursday,
in response to the Chinese exercises.
The drills will include snipers, combat
vehicles, armored vehicles as well as attack
helicopters, said the report, which cited an
anonymous source.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory
and has threatened to annex it by force if
necessary. The two sides split in 1949 after a
civil war, but Beijing considers visits to
Taiwan by foreign officials as recognizing its
sovereignty.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has called
on the international community to "support
democratic Taiwan" and "halt any escalation
of the regional security situation." The Group
of Seven industrialized nations has also
criticized China's actions, prompting Beijing
to cancel a meeting between Foreign
Minister Wang Yi and his Japanese
counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi. China
has cut off defense and climate talks with
the U.S. and imposed sanctions on Pelosi
in retaliation for her visit.
The Biden administration and Pelosi say
the U.S. remains committed to the "one-
China" policy that extends formal
diplomatic recognition to Beijing while
allowing robust informal relations and
defense ties with Taipei.
The U.S. however criticized Beijing's
actions in the Taiwan Strait, with White
House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
calling them "fundamentally
irresponsible."
"There's no need and no reason for this
escalation," Jean-Pierre said.
In Washington, Taiwan's de facto
ambassador Bi-khim Hsiao said China had
no reason to "be so furious," over Pelosi's
visit, which follows a long tradition of
American lawmakers visiting Taiwan.
"Well, you know, we have been living
under the threat from China for decades,"
Hsiao told CBS News on Sunday. "If you
have a kid being bullied at school, you
don't say you don't go to school. You try to
find a way to deal with the bully.
No reported damage in Philippines
from Chinese rocket debris
MANILA : There was no reported damage in
a western Philippine region where debris
from a rocket that boosted part of China's
new space station reportedly fell, a Filipino
official said Monday, reports UNB.
Philippine Space Agency official Marc
Talampas said authorities have been advised
to be on the lookout for the rocket debris,
which may have splashed down into
seawaters off Palawan province.
"We are monitoring the situation and have
also issued an advisory to the public to be
vigilant, avoid contact with any suspected
floating debris and to report to local
authorities immediately," Talampas told The
Associated Press.
The China Manned Space Agency reported
Sunday that most of the final stage of the
Long March-5B rocket burned up after
entering the atmosphere. It said the booster
would be allowed to fall unguided.
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