Chinese president discusses with Merkel, Macron as China-EU investment deal looms

Deal

Beijing, Dec.30, 2020 (dpa/NAN) Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday had a discussion with European leaders as a landmark investment agreement between China and the European Union is expected to be reached after seven years of negotiations.

Xi spoke via video conference to French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, state broadcaster CCTV said.

China and the EU have been ironing out the details of an investment agreement that would offer European companies access to previously closed or tightly regulated Chinese markets.

It will ensure a level playing field for European and domestic firms in China and ease Chinese investment in Europe.

Under the deal, China agrees to pursue steps to ratify two International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions on forced labour, according to an internal document released Monday by the Commission to member states.

According to the paper, China has agreed in principle to open markets such as new energy vehicles, private healthcare, financial and cloud services to European investment.

“The negotiated result is the most ambitious outcome that China has ever agreed with a third country,’’ the document said.

The agreement appears to be reaching completion as China this year surpassed the United States as the EU’s top trading partner.

The China and EU bilateral trade in the first nine months reached 516.8 billion dollars, overtaking the U.S and EU’s 501 billion dollars’ worth of trade.

Critics say the deal will complicate U.S. president-elect Joe Biden’s plans to reinstate partnerships with European allies and further rein in China’s influence.(dpa/NAN)

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Edited by Halima Sheji/Isaac Aregbesola

China sentences 10 accused of fleeing Hong Kong for Taiwan to prison

Sentence

Beijing, Dec. 30, (dpa/NAN)  Ten people accused of fleeing Hong Kong for Taiwan were handed prison sentences of up to three years by a south China court on Wednesday.

The defendants were among 12 Hong Kong residents who attempted to flee to Taiwan on a speedboat in August but were captured by the maritime police of Shenzhen, in south China.

Two people accused of organising illegal border crossings were sentenced to three and two years in prison, respectively, while the other eight received seven-month prison sentences for illegal border crossing, according to the Yantian District People’s Court.

Among the latter group was Andy Li, a prominent figure in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.

Two underage members of the group, known as the Hong Kong 12, were initially not convicted and, according to Hong Kong media reports, will return to Hong Kong on Wednesday to be handed over to police.

A number of Hong Kong activists have recently fled to Taiwan or other states out of fear of prosecution under the city’s new national security law, which has ushered in a crackdown on the territory’s democratic opposition.

The defendants’ family members said they have been denied access to their loved ones and that the defendants were unable to choose their legal representation.

At the start of the trial on Monday, diplomats from several Western countries gathered in front of the courthouse, but they were refused entry.

Beijing’s enactment in June of a Hong Kong national security law has led to a swift crackdown on democratic freedoms in the previously semi-autonomous city.

The law targets secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces in the financial hub.

The Taiwan government late Wednesday said it regretted seeing the Chinese ruling on the Hong Kong pro-democracy individuals and the lack of transparency in the trial.

Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng said in a statement that Beijing and Hong Kong authorities’ repression of pro-democracy activists helped little in solving problems in Hong Kong and would speed up the process of losing people’s trust.

The council urged Beijing to ensure the 10 Hong Kong individuals’ basic human rights were not violated as well as a fair investigation for the two individuals being sent back to Hong Kong.

Amnesty International also warned that the Hong Kong individuals’ were at risk of being tortured or receiving ill treatment in Chinese prisons. The rights group also called for the release of the 10.

In Taiwan, thousands of people took to the streets on Oct. 25 in Taipei to join a global campaign calling for the immediate release of 12 Hong Kong youths detained in China. (pms dpa/NAN)

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Edited by Halima Sheji/Maureen Atuonwu

Invitation

Cairo, Dec.30,2020 (dpa/NAN) Saudi King Salman has invited Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad to attend an upcoming Gulf summit in Riyadh expected to focus on resolving a year-long diplomatic row between a Saudi-led bloc and Doha.

Saudi Arabia is due to host on Jan. 5, an annual summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a U.S.-allied grouping.

The invitation was handed to Tamim on Wednesday by GCC head Nayef al-Hajraf, the official Saudi news agency SPA reported.

Qatar’s state news agency QNA confirmed the delivery of the invitation but did not say if Tamiam will attend the summit.

Tamim skipped the GCC summit held in Saudi Arabia in the past two years and sent representatives instead.

The Riyadh meeting is to convene amid optimism about ending the rift, one of the most serious experienced by the GCC since it was created in 1981.

Earlier this month, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said efforts aimed at ending the Gulf crisis had resulted in “significant progress.’’

In 2017, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), severed diplomatic and transportation links with Qatar, accusing it of supporting militant groups, an accusation that Doha denies.

Kuwait and the United States have since been trying to mediate a solution.

Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE are members of the GCC.(dpa/NAN)

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Edited by Halima Sheji/Ese E. Ekama

Explosion

Sana’a, Dec. 30, 2020 (dpa/NAN) A huge explosion on Wednesday hit a main airport in the city of Aden, in war-devastated Yemen, shortly after the arrival of members of the new government from Saudi Arabia, witnesses said.

The blast took place shortly after a plane carrying members of the government landed at the Aden airport, they told dpa.

The cause or the result of the explosion was not immediately known.

However, Mokhtar al-Rahbi, an adviser at the Yemeni Information Ministry, blamed southern separatists for the blast.

On Saturday, Yemeni President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi swore in the new government that was formed under a power-sharing deal brokered by Saudi Arabia in 2019.

The 24-strong government includes members of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) as part of a bid to end a power struggle between loyalists to Hadi and secessionists.

The STC, formed in 2017, is backed by the United Arab Emirates, while Hadi’s government is backed by Saudi Arabia.

Both are part of a Saudi-led coalition formed in 2015 to fight the Iran-linked Houthi rebels, who have taken control of the capital Sana’a and other cities in northern Yemen since late 2014.

Yemen’s conflict has pushed the Arab country to the brink of famine and devastated its health facilities.(dpa/NAN)

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Edited by Halima Sheji/Ekemini Ladejobi

Riga, Dec. 30, 2020 (dpa/NAN)  Health authorities and other public institutions in Lithuania were hit by a cyber attack, the Defence Ministry’s national centre for cyber security said on Wednesday.

Government agencies received emails with infected attachments, which when opened spread the virus Emotet to the internal computer network.

From there it was able to automatically send false emails and execute other malicious activities, the centre for cyber security said in a statement.

Usage of the health authorities’ email server was temporarily limited to contain the spread of the virus after it was discovered on Tuesday.

Lithuania has repeatedly been victim to cyber attacks.

In December, a large number of public sector websites were hacked, resulting in the spread of false information.(dpa/NAN)

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Edited by Halima Sheji/Ekemini Ladejobi

Indonesia bans hard-line Islamist group over alleged ties to IS

Ban

Jakarta, Dec. 30, 2020 (dpa/NAN) Indonesia has banned the Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI), a hard-line and controversial Islamist group, for its alleged ties to Islamic State, the chief security minister said on Wednesday.

Mohammad Mahfud said that the group had lost its legal standing as a mass organisation since June 2019 but had continued to carry out its activities as an organisation and often had been at odds with the authorities.

“Starting from today, if there is an organisation that claims to be FPI, we should consider it non-existent because they have lost their legal standing,’’ Mahfud said.

At the end of the press conference, Mahfud showed a video clip taken in January 2015 of FPI members pledging their allegiance to Islamic State in Makassar, in South Sulawesi province.

The FPI’s leader, firebrand cleric Rizieq Shihab, who returned to Indonesia in November after a three-year, self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia, is now under police custody for alleged mass gatherings following his return that broke the COVID-19 quarantine law.

A staff member at the German embassy in Jakarta has been declared persona non grata by Indonesia’s foreign ministry following her visit to the group’s headquarters earlier this month and confirmation from the embassy that the visit was unauthorised.

The group played an influential role in organising rallies in 2016 against then-Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, whom they accused of insulting the Koran.

Purnama was prosecuted on blasphemy charges and sentenced to two years in prison in 2017. (dpa/NAN)

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Edited by Halima Sheji/Emmanuel Yashim

Trade

Brussels, Dec.30,2020 (dpa/NAN)  The European Union signed the post-Brexit deal on Wednesday, setting it on path to be provisionally implemented after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to sign it for London later today.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council chief Charles Michel put their ink on the agreement on Wednesday morning  just a week after the deal had been struck.

The 27 EU ambassadors gave their go-ahead for the provisional application on Tuesday afternoon.

The deal which provides for zero tariffs and zero quotas between the trading partners  still needs to be ratified by the European Parliament.

The European Commission proposed a period of provisional application until February 28, but this might be extended if the lawmakers are scheduled to give their approval in March.

Also on Wednesday, the British parliament will vote on whether to accept the deal.(dpa/NAN)

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Edited by Halima Sheji/Ekemini Ladejobi

Sentence

Istanbul, Dec. 30, 2020 (dpa/NAN) A court in Ankara on Wednesday sentenced 92 defendants, including former generals to life in prison or attempting to violate constitutional order.

The trial was linked to the 2016 abortive putsch by a faction in Turkish military.

The trial, focusing on the incidents at land forces headquarters in Ankara, started in 2017 with 132 defendants on trial.

Out of the 92 life sentences given, 12 were aggravated life sentences, state news agency Anadolu reported. Aggravated life sentences are the most severe terms possible in Turkey.

Twenty-eight people were given varying jail sentences, with some facing up to more than 19 years in prison. The charges ranged from attempted murder to membership in an armed terrorist organisation.

The court acquitted nine people of all charges, while trial will continue for three others, Anadolu reported.

Turkey blames U.S-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen for the attempted coup on July 15, 2016 and has jailed thousands over alleged links to the cleric.

Once an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Gulen denies any role in the failed attempt that left more than 250 dead.

Ankara has designated Gulen’s movement, accused of infiltrating key state institutions for decades a terrorist organisation.

Several trials related to the coup are still ongoing in Turkey. (dpa/NAN)

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Edited by Halima Sheji/Ese E. Ekama

Smuggling

Hanoi, Dec. 30, 2020 (dpa/NAN) A court in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region sentenced a man to 12-and-a-half years in jail for illegally transporting 29 kilogrammes of white rhino horn from Mozambique, state media reported on Wednesday.

Do Thanh Son, 38, “was found guilty of violating regulations on the management and protection of endangered, precious and rare animals,’’ online newspaper VnExpress reported, quoting Can Tho provincial court.

In December 2019, Son reportedly travelled to Mozambique and found work in a restaurant.

Only a few months later, his employer asked Son to smuggle rhino horns to Vietnam for a fee of 1,000 dollars

Son left Mozambique in late February. His flight was supposed to land in Ho Chi Minh City, but he was forced to divert to Can Tho in the Mekong Delta region due to Coronavirus travel restrictions.

When customs officials at Can Tho airport scanned two pieces of Son’s luggage, they found suspicious items hidden inside one of his bags.

Son refused to open his bags, claiming he was transporting koi fish that would die if the bags were opened.

Officials forced him to open the bags and found 11 rhino horns weighing a combined total of just under 29 kilogrammes.

It took until December to sentence Son, in spite his arrest in February.

The sale and purchase of rhino horns is strictly prohibited in Vietnam. The horns, however, remain highly popular, with many believing they offer miracle cures for diseases like cancer.

In China and Vietnam, one kilogramme of rhino horn can sell for up to 30,000 dollars. (dpa/NAN)

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Edited by Halima Sheji/Ese E. Ekama