Foreign Tit Bits Today
By Yadnom Awu/ Asaba
China
Chinese Delegation Heads To America For Trade Talks
A delegation of the Chinese government is headed for America to resume peace talks between both countries.
The talks had been holding, on a lower key, in London, following threats of huge tariffs on China by American President, Donald Trump.
The American leader has threatened a 50 per cent tariff on Chinese products but recently paused implementation for three months to allow for talks between both countries after Beijin threatened retaliatory measures.
Trump says the huge tariffs, pegged at 50 per cent,are meant to dissuade China from further trading with Russia, which is under stiff Western sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine, and in order to cut back on the deficit balance of trade with Beijing.
Ukraine
Ukraine Holds Day Of Mourning For Fatal Victims Of Russian Attacks
Ukraine is holding a day of national mourning for the fatal victims of the deadly Russian attacks on its capital, Kiev.
More than 23 persons died in the attacks on Thursday.
A moment of silence is to be observed today throughout the country, in memory of the dead,including four children.
The attacks, described as the heaviest and most intense in days, targeted many parts of Kiev destroying buildings and mangling infrastructure.
Rescue operations continue today at many sites hit in the assault in which the British Embassy and the consulate of the European Union( EU ) in the city were partly impacted.
Ukrainian officials say that at least 600 drones and 30 ballistic and cruise missiles were deployed in the onslaught which came the same day that Ukraine hit several regions of Russia with its own firepower .
The Ukrainian attacks hit two oil refineries, including the one in Samara that was set alight.
Both Russia and Ukraine had accused each other of sabotaging the ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the war by their attacks.
American President Donald Trump, is at the head of the efforts to diplomatically resolve the nearly three year old war in which tens of thousands of troops have died on both sides.
Iran
Iran Warns On Move By E3 Countries To Reimpose Sanctions
The Islamic Republic of Iran has strongly warned against the reimposition. of sanctions on it by three European powers.
This followed the threat on Thursday by France, Britain and Germany, otherwise called the E3 Nations, to teimpose stuff sanctions on Iran for alleged non- compliance.
The group said Iran could not in good conscience claim that its Uranium Enrichment Programme which had reportedly reached the 60 per cent threshold, was solely for civilian power needs only.
It gave Iran a 30-day window to resume negotiations on its nuclear programme or face the reimposition of the sanction regime under the snapback principle.
Reacting to the threat, the Foreign. Minister of Iran, Abbas Araghchi, warned that the threat was unacceptable and that it could have grave consequences, if carried out.
He urged the group to reconsider what he termed their wrong decision in the overall interest of all stakeholders.
Iran reached a deal with the international community regarding its nuclear programme but American President Donald Trump, unilaterally walked out of the deal during his first term, thus giving Iran the threshold to renrich its Uranium beyond the agreed 6 per cent limit.
Fearing that Iran was at the threshold of developing the dreaded nuclear bomb aftef it reached the 60 per cent threshold of enrichment, the United Nations ,(UN) via its nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) based in Vienna, Austria, resumed inspection of Teheran ‘s nuclear facilities in Isfahan
Natanz and Fordow, the last of which is 250 feet below the earth and under a mountain.
But an itchy Israel, fearing that its military deterrence in the Middle East could be eternally lost if Iran developed its own umm nuclear bomb, unilaterally bombed the sites during a 12- day war that saw both countries engage in high stake military gunfire exchanges.
Doubtful of its success in knocking off the programme and the effects of Iran’ s nuclear programme, Israel had to invite in America which deployed its deep penetration bunker busters to try and mangle the Fordow facility, after its bombing failed to destroy it.
That operation, code named Mid night Hammer, involved 250 attack , refuelling and other aircraft,including the dreaded B-2 Bombers, which can carry up to 30 tons of explosives n a single sortie.
That operation was the first time that the B-2 Bombers would be in active military service.
Experts however failed to agree on how much damage the huge bombs caused Fordow, just as doubts persist over the whereabouts of the enriched Uranium of Iran.
China and Russia are understood to have drawn up an alternative plan of action in which Iran would have six months to resume talks on the nuclear programme.
Experts warn that Iran could withdraw from the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) under which signatory- countries place their nuclear programmes under the telescope of the IAEA.
Israel which has been leading Western antagonism to the nuclear programme of Iran, is itself not a signatory to the NPT, even though it is believed to have 360 nuclear war heads secretly developed with clandestine American technology.
Aside from Israel and North Korea which are classified as rogue nuclear states, other nuclear weapon states are China, Britain, France, America, India, Pakistan and Russia, which is said to have more stock than the rest combined.
Qatar
Qatar Says Mediators Yet To Hear From Israel On New Peace Deal
The Qatari Government says mediators are yet to hear from Israeli on the latest peace proposal put forward to establish a ceasefire between Hamas and the Jewish state regarding their nearly two- year old war.
A Qatari Foreign Ministry official disclosed this on Thursday in Doha.
He said that the mediators were still awaiting Israel response to the proposal for a ceasefire for 60 days during which both sides would exchange hostages and prisoners, living and dead.
Hamas agreed to the proposal on August 18, but Israel had yet to formally accept or reject it, concentrating instead,on its battle to gain full control of Gaza City in the embattled enclave of Gaza.
American President, Donald Trump, on Wednesday at the White House, held a policy meeting on the post- war Gaza.
Former America. Envoy, Krushner and former Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair, attended the meeting but its deliberations and resolutions remain closely guarded secrets.
