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world news

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, april 2, 2019

international_peoplesdailyng@yahoo.com

Brexit: Labour to support Norway-style EU proposal

hadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said Labour was “trying to pull the House of Commons together”. Labour MPs are being urged to back a plan to keep the UK in a Norway-style relationship with the EU, as MPs debate Brexit’s next steps. MPs will vote later to see if any proposals can win a majority - after failing to secure majorities last week. Under the Common Market 2.0 proposal, the UK would leave the EU, but retain freedom of movement and make contributions to the EU Budget. The Speaker has selected four motions, including one on a customs union. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC joining a customs union would be a “betrayal of Brexit”. The SNP are also proposing to back the Common Market 2.0 motion, put forward by Tory MP Nick Boles. But the PM’s spokesman said ending free movement was a “very important factor” for the public when voting for Brexit, so they would oppose it. Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, speaking to the BBC’s World at One programme, refused to say whether Labour’s position on free movement had changed. When asked if she was compromising on freedom of movement, she said “we are trying to pull the House of Commons together”. Conservative MPs are being given a free vote on the motions - meaning they will not be told by party bosses which way to go - but the cabinet has been told to abstain. None of today’s votes on the proposals are legally binding, meaning it will be up to the government if they act on the results. Theresa May tried to get MPs to back the withdrawal agreement element of her deal on Friday, but lost by 58 votes - having already failed twice to get support for her overall deal in Parliament. She now has until 12 April to either seek a longer extension to the deadline or decide to leave the EU without a deal. The cabinet is now split over whether to

Sarah Sanders lashed out at Donald Trump's critics on Monday for trying to take down the Republican president move to a softer deal that could mean including a customs union in her plan. Chief whip’s criticism It comes as the Tory Chief Whip criticised the government for not making it clear the UK would “inevitably” have to accept a closer relationship with the EU after Brexit. Julian Smith told a BBC documentary that after his party failed to get a majority in the 2017 election, “the government as a whole probably should have just been clearer on the consequences of that”. In interviews for The Brexit Storm: Laura Kuenssberg’s Inside Story, he also accused ministers of trying to undermine the prime minister. Mr Smith said he witnessed them “sitting around the cabinet table... trying to destabilise her [Mrs May]” and described their behaviour as the “worst example of ill-discipline in cabinet in British political history”. How will the day work? The Commons started with MPs debating and voting on a business motion that laid out plans for the votes later and set aside time for

any next steps on Wednesday. It was approved by 322 votes to 277. The Speaker John Bercow then decided which motions to take forward for MPs to vote on tonight. He picked four of the eight put forward: • Motion C: Committing the government to negotiating “a permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union with the EU” as part of any Brexit deal - proposed by Tory former chancellor Ken Clarke • Motion D: Referred to as Common Market 2.0, this option would mean joining the European Free Trade Association and European Economic Area - proposed by Tory MP Nick Boles • Motion E: This is for a confirmatory referendum, giving the public a vote to approve any Brexit deal passed by Parliament before it can be implemented - proposed by Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson • Motion G: The motion aims to prevent the UK leaving without a deal, including a vote on whether to revoke Article 50 - stopping Brexit - if the EU does not agree

to an extension - proposed by the SNP’s Joanna Cherry He did not choose motions calling for a unilateral exit to the backstop, to leave on 12 April without a deal, to hold a referendum in the case of no-deal or to rejoin the European Free Trade Association. MPs are now debating the proposals until 20:00 BST, after which - as with the indicative votes last week - MPs will be given a piece of paper listing all the options and tick “yes” or “no” on as many as they want. The House will be suspended for 30 minutes to allow the votes to take place. It took two hours for the votes to be counted before, so the result could be around 22:00 BST. Will any of the options get a majority? When MPs voted on proposals last week, all eight failed to win a majority in the Commons. However, the plan for a customs union allowing UK businesses to move goods around the EU without tariffs, but stopping the UK striking independent trade deals - and a confirmatory referendum came the closest. A number of cabinet ministers have spoken out against the proposal. Mr Fox said that if the UK pursued a customs union, it would have to follow rules set by the EU, adding: “It’s time we went back to a proper Brexit.” Environment Secretary Michael Gove said agreeing a customs union would “compromise” pledges the party made in their 2017 manifesto, while Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said ministers were “determined” to avoid that happening. Meanwhile, Tory MP Huw Merriman has written to around 200 of his colleagues who have voted in favour of Mrs May’s deal, appealing for them to back the confirmatory referendum motion to prevent the customs union option succeeding. He said: “It is the only option which keeps the [PM’s] deal alive and is not contingent on more EU negotiations.” Digital Minister Margot James also told BBC Two’s Politics Live that she is thinking about changing her mind to back a confirmatory referendum.

China to curb all types of fentanyl, following US demands

hina says it will crack down on all types of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, following a plea from the US. All fentanyl-related substances will be added to China’s list of controlled narcotic drugs from 1 May, officials said. It follows a pledge Beijing made during US-China trade talks in December. The powerful painkiller, much of it believed to be made in China, is said to be driving a huge rise in drug addiction in the US. The number of deaths from painkillers such as fentanyl led to President Donald Trump declaring a national emergency in 2017. China’s production of the drug has long been a source of tension between the two countries. “The US is concerned about all variants [of fentanyl] and it has all been resolved,” Liu Yuejin, deputy director of China’s narcotics control commission, told a news conference. Mr Liu said the claim that China was the main source of fentanyl “lacked evidence”, and instead blamed a history of abuse of prescription medicine in the US for fuelling demand.

The illegal sale of fentanyl is fuelling the US opioid crisis “We believe that the United States itself is the main factor in the abuse of fentanyl there,” he said. “Some people link drug consumption

with freedom, individuality, and liberation. If the US really wants to resolve the fentanyl substance problem they have more work to do domestically.”

Fentanyl itself is already on China’s list of controlled drugs. Expanding the list to all fentanyl-related substances is aimed at stopping smugglers from changing formulas to circumvent the law. Fentanyl is estimated to be 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine and is usually only approved in the US for severe pain arising in cases like treatment for cancer. Liu Yuejin blamed US culture for fuelling demand for fentanyl The US says the synthetic drug is being sold on the internet and sent by post from China, fuelling the opioid crisis. US authorities list all fentanyl-related products in the most dangerous class of drugs. In 2017, the US announced the first ever indictments against two Chinese individuals for conspiracy “to distribute large quantities” of fentanyl as well as other opioids. The issue over fentanyl figured during a trade war between China and the US that erupted last year. China’s pledge to control the drug came during a post-G20 summit between the two countries in Buenos Aires in December. Source: BBC

PEOPLES DAILY, tuesday, april 2, 2019

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N e w s F r o m A f r i c a Algeria protests: Bouteflika appoints new government

resident Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria has announced a major cabinet reshuffle, after weeks of protests with demonstrators demanding he resign. State TV reports 21 of the country’s 27 ministers have been replaced. Noureddine Bedoui will remain as prime minister, says Ennahar TV. Analysts say the reshuffle could be the start of the process leading to Mr Bouteflika’s resignation. Following the protests, he has dropped plans to seek re-election. The elections have also been postponed and the government has promised to organise a national conference. Now aged 82, Mr Bouteflika has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013. However, President Bouteflika has kept his title as defence minister, just days after Algeria’s powerful army chief, Gen Ahmed Gaed Salah, urged the ailing president to stand down. Other new cabinet members include

Sabri Boukadoum who will reportedly replace Ramtane Lamamra as foreign minister. Mohamed Arkab will take over from Mutapha Guitouni as energy minster, while finance minister Abderrahamane Rouia has been replaced by central bank governor Mohamed Loukal. The appointments have not been officially confirmed by the government. Meanwhile, a top Algerian businessman with ties to Mr Bouteflika has been arrested while trying to cross into neighbouring Tunisia, local media say. Ali Haddad is one of the country’s richest men and a long-time backer of the president. Algerian media say Mr Haddad, 54, was carrying a British passport and large sums of money when he was arrested trying to cross the Tunisian border by car in the early hours of Sunday. The reason for the reported arrest is not clear. Mr Haddad recently resigned as head of Algeria’s employers’ organisation, FCE.

Mr Bouteflika, 82, has served as Algeria’s president since 1999 He went from managing his family’s small hotel to commanding a vast business empire with interests in construction, sports, media and healthcare, among others. Analysts say he was much part of Mr

Bouteflika’s inner circle. Under his tenure, the FCE backed the president’s bid for a fifth term in elections scheduled for April - a position it later retracted as his popularity waned.

EU accused of funding project in Eritrea using ‘forced labour’

ritrean human rights activists have accused the EU of funding a scheme in Eritrea that uses “forced labour”. The EU is backing a road-building project as part of its programme to stem migration from Africa into Europe. National service recruits will be used and the Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans (FHRE) says conscripts are “trapped for an indefinite period within the service”. FHRE has threatened to sue the EU over violating its human rights charter. FHRE director Mulueberhan Temelso has called Eritrea an “open-air prison [where] every person in national service is trapped in

Ten apply to manage Zambia football team

he Football Association of Zambia (Faz) has received 10 applications for the vacant job to manage the country’s national football team, Chipolopolo. The position fell vacant after the departure of Belgian coach Sven Vandenbroek following Zambia’s failure to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nationals finals, to be hosted by Egypt in June. Faz secretary general Adrian Kashala told a media briefing in the capital, Lusaka, on Monday that all the applicants are foreigners. He said the association will have a board meeting this weekend, when the matter will be discussed further. Mr Kashala expressed optimism that the new coach will be announced soon. He further announced the appointment of Lyson Zulu as the association’s technical director, a position that has been vacant for the last three years. Mr Zulu held the position of football development manager at Faz before his latest appointment

extremely harsh conditions”. What’s the issue with national service in Eritrea? Officially, Eritrea requires people to undertake 18 months of national service, but this period was extended indefinitely in the wake of the Ethiopia-Eritrea war that ended in 2000. A 2016 UN human rights investigation said conscripts were used as “forced labour”. The “widely-criticised practice... has robbed the country’s youth of their dreams creating a generation of Eritrean refugees”, rights group Amnesty International said in 2018. Eritrea has said that this is a distorted picture of what is going on and has denied that there is indefinite national service. The government has not commented on what the FHRE is saying. There was hope that it would return to its original 18-month period following the signing of a peace deal with Ethiopia last year, but this has not yet happened. What is the EU doing? The EU has pledged to spend €20m ($22m; £17m) in Eritrea as part of its Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, which is aimed at tackling

Ethiopia-Eritrea relations thawed after Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (left) met Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki last year what the EU calls “irregular migration” by funding job creation schemes in various African countries. The money will be spent on improving the road network in Eritrea. In its explanation of the project, the EU acknowledges that people on national service will be used but it says they will be paid and the pay rates have recently been increased. It adds that the issue is the subject of

“heightened dialogue” with Eritrea. Sources in Eritrea have told the BBC that since 2016 soldiers have nominally received $120 a month, but after deductions, including paying for rations, they personally get paid just $17 a month and their family gets $40. There has been no recent pay increase, the BBC understands. The EU has not responded to a request for comment.

Cyclone Idai: First cholera death in Mozambique as cases double

he first death from cholera has been confirmed in the cyclone-hit port city of Beira, with cases of the disease almost doubling in Mozambique in the past 24 hours, health officials say. Cyclone Idai, which hit on 14 March, caused massive flooding and killed more than 700 people across southern Africa. More than 500 cases of cholera have since been reported in Beira. Aid efforts in Mozambique are now focused on containing

the disease, with a large vaccination campaign under way. Some 517 cases of the disease had been reported by Sunday, up from the figure of 271 announced on Saturday, National Director for Medical Assistance Ussene Isse said on public television. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that at least 900,000 vaccine doses would be arriving in the port city this week. Officials have warned that the outbreak could reach

epidemic proportions, says the BBC’s Southern Africa online correspondent Pumza Fihlani. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced following the cyclone - exposed to unhygienic conditions, some had little to no access to clean drinking water for more than a week. Cholera is spread through human waste in the water supply. The flood water itself is not the primary risk. Instead, the risk comes because the existing

drinking water supplies having been damaged by the flooding. Some 518 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the cyclone, according to the most recent statistics issued by Mozambique’s National Disaster Management Institute (INGC). Some 1.8 million people are said to be affected across southern Africa, with no electricity or running water in areas where homes have been swept away and roads destroyed by the floods.

Malawians ask for repatriation after SA attacks

ore than 100 Malawians have asked to be repatriated to their home country following xenophobic attacks in South Africa, TimesLives reports, quoting the Mayor of Durban, Zandile Gumede. Several others have returned to their previous homes in Burnwood informal settlement after calm was restored. “However, we have about 105 Malawians who have asked to be repatriated. We are helping them together with the International Organisation for Immigration and the

Malawi High Commission,” she said. TimesLive reports that the attacks were sparked by the discovery of stolen goods in the house of a Malawian national. It adds that a gesture by other Malawians residents to write a letter apologising for the crime committed by one of them had been well received by the locals. President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the attacks and backed talks with ambassadors from other African countries

which were organised by his foreign affairs minister. Attacks on African migrants are common in South Africa. The opposition Democratic Alliance says the governing ANC’s policy has failed - blaming corruption, porous borders and a vast number of undocumented foreign nationals. Finance minister Tito Mboweni recently spoke of the need to attract highly skilled people and said narrow nationalism led to economic stagnation. Source: BBC