WARSAW: Slovakia became the third European Union country to ban food imports from Ukraine on Monday, deepening the challenge for the bloc as it works to help Ukraine transport its grain to world markets.
Slovakia followed Poland and Hungary, both of which announced bans Saturday on Ukrainian food imports through June 30. They did so in response to rising anger from farmers who say that a glut of grain in their countries is causing them economic hardship.
The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, manages trade on behalf of the 27 member countries and objects to them taking unilateral or uncoordinated measures.
At a briefing in Brussels, two spokespeople stressed gratitude to Poland and other Central European countries for supporting Ukraine, but said a solution must be found that respects the EU legal framework.
“We are dealing with a war, right? And this war has consequences, obviously, on farmers and more generally, the population in Ukraine and the European Union and its member states,” said Eric Mamer, chief spokesperson.
He acknowledged that Poland and other countries “have been doing their utmost in order to help Ukraine, adding: “So this is not about sanctioning. This is about finding solutions based on EU law in the interests at the same time of the Ukrainians and of the EU."
Five EU countries that neighbor Ukraine have asked the EU to treat the matter of Ukrainian food with urgency. Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia argue that they can’t allow their own farmers to bear the cost of disruption that Ukrainian grain and other agriculture products are causing to their markets.
“The Hungarian government will always stand by Hungarian farmers and will protect Hungarian agriculture,” the agriculture minister, Istvan Nagy, said. He said the surge in Ukrainian products on European markets had made it “impossible” for Hungarian farmers to remain competitive.
Bulgaria is reportedly mulling a similar ban. Meanwhile, a delegation of Ukrainian officials visited Warsaw on Monday for government consultations on the issue.
Nagy also said that low production costs in Ukraine, owing to practices being used that are not permitted in EU countries, had allowed Ukraine to export large quantities of poultry, eggs and honey to the European market, driving costs down to unsustainable levels.
The Slovak Agriculture Ministry announced last week that tests of 1,500 tons of grain from Ukraine in one mill in Slovakia revealed it contained a pesticide banned in the EU. As a result, the Slovak authorities decided to test all Ukrainian grain in the country and temporarily banned its processing.
Ukraine and Russia are both major global suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other affordable food products that developing nations depend on. The war upended those supplies to Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia where people were already going hungry and helped push millions more people into poverty or food insecurity.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it became too dangerous for ships to sail in the Black Sea, disrupting the flow of large ships carrying food to distant markets. Shipments resumed under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
The EU reacted to the crisis by lifting tariffs and other trade duties on Ukraine to help keep its economy afloat. That helped to divert Ukraine’s grain flows destined for Africa and the Middle East through Europe — but much of this food has instead remained in the bordering countries, creating a glut that has caused high losses for local farmers.
The EU measures expire in June, but the EU is expected to renew them.
Ukraine's EU neighbors are, with the exception of Hungary, allies of Ukraine who favor their neighbor’s future membership in the EU.
Yet already the EU’s decision to banish tariffs for Ukrainian goods as a result of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor underlines the challenges that would come with integrating a huge food producer with the rest of the bloc.
Their bans come as Russia threatens to pull out of the Black Sea deal. Moscow is complaining that a separate agreement to facilitate exports of Russian food and fertilizers amid Western sanctions hasn’t worked.
Global food commodity prices surged to record levels after the invasion of Ukraine and have been falling steadily since, but food is still expensive for people in many places because of factors like droughts, trade restrictions and the high cost of buying imported food priced in dollars as some emerging economies’ currencies weaken.
EU investigates after 3 countries ban Ukraine grain imports
https://arab.news/zqk6s
EU investigates after 3 countries ban Ukraine grain imports
- Bans deepens a challenge for the bloc as it works to help Ukraine transport its grain to world markets
- Move in response to rising anger from farmers who say that a glut of grain in their countries is causing them economic hardship
EU seeks to relax rules on turning away asylum seekers
The European Commission said it proposed broadening the so-called “safe third country” concept, which allows member states to “consider an asylum application inadmissible when applicants could receive effective protection” elsewhere.
“EU countries have been under significant migratory pressure for the past decade,” said migration commissioner Magnus Brunner, describing the proposal as “another tool to help member states process asylum claims in a more efficient way.”
Brussels has been under pressure to clamp down on arrivals and facilitate deportations, following a souring of public opinion on migration that has fueled hard-right electoral gains in several member states.
Under current rules, asylum seekers can have their application rejected if they could have filed it in a “safe” third country where they have “a genuine connection.”
This is normally understood to mean a nation where the applicant has lived and worked or has family.
The commission proposal weakens such requirements to include any country that an asylum seeker has transited through on the way to Europe, as long as it is considered safe. This opens the way for failed applicants to be sent there.
The planned reform also says that the safe third country concept can be applied in absence of any connection or transit, if there is a deal between member states and a third “safe nation,” and removes the suspensive effect of appeals.
The change would significantly boost the number of those who could see their applications refused and become eligible for deportation, as many cross numerous borders on their way to Europe.
In April for example, of almost 20,000 people who reached Europe via sea from northern Africa, many came from as far away as Bangladesh, Eritrea, Pakistan and Syria, according to the EU’s border agency.
The proposal needs approval from the European Parliament and member states to become law — but has already triggered fierce criticism.
Sarah Chander, director of the Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, said the EU was “cynically distorting the concept of ‘safety’ to meet its own repressive ends.”
“It is paving the way for migrants to be removed and deported basically anywhere, putting people in danger,” she said.
Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza nears collapse after renewed Israeli strikes
- At least 31 people are trapped inside Indonesia Hospital as of Tuesday morning
Jakarta: The Indonesia Hospital, one of the last partially functional medical centers in northern Gaza, is nearing collapse after days of Israeli strikes on its key infrastructure, the Jakarta-based nongovernmental organization funding the facility said on Tuesday.
The hospital in Beit Lahiya, a four-story building located near the Jabalia refugee camp, was built from donations organized by the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee.
Like other healthcare facilities in Gaza, it has been targeted by Israel’s new military onslaught on the besieged enclave, in which hundreds of people were killed in the past three days.
“A quadcopter targeted the hospital’s generators. Two of them were destroyed in the ensuing fire. Our water supply has been disrupted, and people aren’t able to enter or exit the hospital area because there’s a risk of being shot,” Dr. Hadiki Habib, chairman of MER-C’s executive committee, told Arab News.
At least 31 people were trapped inside the Indonesia Hospital as of Tuesday morning, including eight health workers and bedridden patients.
The Indonesia Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital are the only two hospitals still treating patients in northern Gaza, Habib added, as Israeli attacks have forced most public hospitals in the area out of service.
Israel launched a new ground operation, called Operation Gideon’s Chariots, across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, following over two months of total blockade on the enclave after Tel Aviv unilaterally broke a ceasefire with the Palestinian group Hamas in March.
But Israeli forces have carried out brutal attacks in hundreds of locations across Gaza in the lead-up to the operation, killing hundreds of Palestinians.
The latest offensive comes as Israel continues its onslaught of Gaza that began in October 2023 and has killed more than 53,400 Palestinians and wounded over 121,000 more. The deadly attacks have also pushed 2 million others to starvation after Israeli forces destroyed most of the region’s infrastructure and buildings and blocked humanitarian aid.
It was only on Monday that Israel’s military said it allowed five aid trucks into Gaza, though according to the UN, the enclave needs at least 500 trucks of aid and commercial goods every day.
“It’s very sad and heartbreaking. The Indonesia Hospital is barely functioning. All logistics needs have been blocked by Israel and there are threats against healthcare workers to leave and empty the facility,” Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees in Jakarta, told Arab News.
The Indonesia Hospital was one of the first targets hit when Israel began its assault on Gaza, in which it regularly targets medical facilities.
Attacks on health centers, medical personnel and patients constitute war crimes under the 1949 Geneva Convention.
“There is no place left that is safe from Israel’s pursuit,” Murad said. “For the sake of humanity, the international community must pressure Israel to agree to a ceasefire so that we can stop this humanitarian tragedy.”
New EU and UK sanctions target Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers illicitly transporting oil
- The 27-nation bloc targeted 189 ships in all, and imposed asset freezes and travel bans on several officials as well as on a number of Russian companies
- The measures were endorsed by EU foreign ministers in Brussels
BRUSSELS: The European Union on Tuesday agreed to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, notably targeting almost 200 ships from the shadow fleet illicitly transporting oil to skirt Western restrictions put in place over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The 27-nation bloc targeted 189 ships in all, and imposed asset freezes and travel bans on several officials as well as on a number of Russian companies. The measures were endorsed by EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that while President Vladimir “Putin feigns interest in peace, more sanctions are in the works. Russia’s actions and those who enable Russia face severe consequences.”
Russia uses its ” shadow fleet ” of ships to transport oil and gas, or to carry stolen Ukrainian grain. The EU has now targeted almost 350 of the ships in total.
The new measures are not obviously linked to Russian delays in agreeing to a ceasefire. Work on the measures began in the days after the last package was finalized three months ago.
Ukrainian officials have said that the shadow fleet involves around 500 aging ships of uncertain ownership and safety practices that are dodging sanctions and keeping the oil revenue coming.
Ratings agency S&P Global and the Kyiv School of Economics Institute, a think tank, have put the number at over 400 ships that can transport oil, or products made from crude such as diesel fuel and gasoline.
Vessels from the shadow fleet have also come under suspicion of damaging undersea cables, particularly in the Baltic Sea. Finnish police on Dec. 26 seized the Eagle S, a tanker they said was part of the dark fleet, on suspicion it used its anchor to damage the Estlink 2 undersea power cable that supplies electricity from Finland to Estonia.
The EU also said that it targeted people and companies, including an insurer, that make it possible for the shadow fleet to operate, hitting interests in the United Arab Emirates, Turkiye and Hong Kong.
In parallel, the UK targeted the shadow fleet in a raft of 100 new sanctions that it said are aimed at “ramping up pressure” on the Kremlin.
In a statement Tuesday, Britain’s Foreign Office said the sanctions will hit entities supporting Russia’s military, energy exports and information war, as well as financial institutions helping to fund its war against Ukraine.
It added that the sanctions will target the supply chains of Russian weapons, including Iskander missiles which have been fired into civilian areas in Ukraine during the war. The UK will also sanction 18 more ships in the “shadow fleet” carrying Russian oil.
“Putin’s latest strikes once again show his true colors as a warmonger,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said. “We urge him to agree a full, unconditional ceasefire right away so there can be talks on a just and lasting peace.”
The EU has slapped several rounds of sanctions on Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Around 2,400 officials and “entities” — often government agencies, banks and organizations — have been hit.
Indian doctors urge vigilance as COVID-19 cases rise
- Health authorities say ‘situation under control’ in India as infection rates surge in Asia
- India was one of worst-hit countries during pandemic in 2021
NEW DELHI: Indian doctors are calling for vigilance over a recent rise in COVID-19 cases in the country, as a new wave of infections is spreading in parts of Asia, especially Hong Kong and Singapore.
The new spread of the virus that a few years ago brought the world to a standstill has been linked to JN.1, a highly transmissible subvariant of the Omicron strain of the COVID-19 virus. It emerged in late 2023 and spread globally through early 2024, becoming one of the dominant variants in many countries.
As COVID-19 cases surged in Southeast and East Asia, India’s health authorities held an expert meeting on Monday.
It concluded that “the current COVID-19 situation in India remains under control,” as the Ministry of Health reported only 257 active COVID-19 cases nationwide and “almost all of these cases are mild, with no hospitalization required,” officials told the Press Trust of India.
Kerala has recorded the highest infection numbers, followed by Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.
The actual number of cases, however, was likely to be much higher, as coronavirus testing is not being conducted regularly.
“What we have is called multiplex PCR, which tests for multiple organisms, including COVID. That’s why we are catching these patients,” Dr. Atul Kakar, of Internal Medicine at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, told Arab News.
“All these cases which we have seen, they are like a normal viral infection itself … We need to be vigilant, but it’s not to create panic.”
In 2021, India was one of the worst-hit countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. At its peak, health authorities recorded over 400,000 new cases per day.
Hospitals across many states were overwhelmed with patients and faced severe shortages of oxygen supplies, hospital beds, ventilators, and critical medicines.
The World Health Organization estimates that 4.7 million deaths in India were directly and indirectly related to COVID-19.
While the prevalent virus variant behind the current spike in Asia spreads quickly, the type of infection seen in India appears to be showing that it is less severe than the one that wreaked havoc in 2021.
“Fortunately, it is mostly an upper respiratory infection. Only people with immunodeficiency, severe comorbid disease, old age, on steroids, on cancer therapy will have more severe disease,” Dr. Jacob John, renowned virologist and retired professor at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, told Arab News.
“We always have to be alert about all respiratory infections ... particularly senior citizens or anybody with any chronic lung, chronic heart, chronic kidney diseases, and on steroid therapy, immunosuppressed. They should all wear a good mask.”
Microsoft CEO heckled over company’s ties to Israeli military
- Employee tells Satya Nadella to show annual conference ‘how Microsoft is killing Palestinians’
- ‘A top Azure customer is committing crimes against humanity. We see it live on the internet every day’
LONDON: A keynote address by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was interrupted by an employee protesting the company’s relationship with Israel on Monday.
Joe Lopez, a firmware engineer who works on Microsoft’s cloud-computing platform Azure, shouted “Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians” during the company’s annual developer conference.
Before he was escorted from the room, he added: “How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?”
It was not the only protest against Microsoft’s relationship with Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
A group called No Azure for Apartheid, which has been campaigning for over a year, also demonstrated at the conference.
Azure is believed to have been used by Israel in surveillance of Palestinians and is utilized by the Ofek Unit, a branch of the air force that identifies airstrike targets, The Guardian reported.
Lopez emailed colleagues to explain his actions. “As one of the largest companies in the world, Microsoft has immeasurable power to do the right thing: demand an end to this senseless tragedy, or we will cease our technological support for Israel,” he said.
“If leadership continues to ignore this demand, I promise that it won’t go unnoticed. The world has already woken up to our complicity and is turning against us. The boycotts will increase and our image will continue to spiral into disrepair.”
Lopez added: “Leadership rejects our claims that Azure technology is being used to target or harm civilians in Gaza. Those of us who have been paying attention know that this is a bold-faced lie.”
He concluded: “We don’t need an internal audit to know that a top Azure customer is committing crimes against humanity. We see it live on the internet every day.”
Anna Hattle, a Microsoft employee and organizer of the No Azure for Apartheid campaign, emailed senior management on May 15 stating: “One year ago, workers launched the No Azure for Apartheid campaign and petition in a state of urgency after 7 months of genocide.”
Referencing the 1948 mass displacement of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians known as the Nakba, Hattle said the world is “currently witnessing the same crimes committed 77 years ago with one key difference: now, the Israeli Occupation Forces are carrying out this genocide at a much greater scale thanks to Microsoft cloud and AI technology.”
On April 6, employees Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal accused Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman of profiting from war at an artificial intelligence event. Aboussad and Agrawal were subsequently dismissed by the company.
Google also fired 50 people last year after a series of internal protests against its own cloud-computing relationship with the Israeli military.
Microsoft refused to comment on Lopez’s protest. An earlier investigation by the company concluded that there was “no evidence” Israel uses its technology to harm or target people.
