Foreign Tit Bits Today
By Yadnom Awu/Asaba
Ukraine
Thousands of Ukrainians have mounted the biggest anti- government protests in the country in recent times.
The protests held in major cities across the country, including Lviv, Odessa ,Kharkiv and the capital city of Kiyev.
The demonstrators say they are against the Tuesday night assent of President Wladimyr Zelensky to Bills which they say aim to whittle the powers and influence of the country’s anti- corruption agencies.
The bill had been passed by the legislature , despite growing public concerns.
Critics say they are shocked at the action of Zelensky, just days after the bills were transmitted to him for action.
The swift presidential assent has drawn public angst, including the protesters who accused Zelensky of trying to weaken the agencies and compromise the integrity of the country ‘s anti- graft crusade.
Israel
Israelis Protest Humanitarian Situation in Gaza
Israelis, on Tuesday night, protested the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
They said that the human- induced mass starvation was unacceptable.
The protests held in Tel-Aviv , seat of the Israeli government, and came strong on the heels of the disclosure in Gaza, of the high incidence of starvation – related deaths.
The Gaza-run Ministry of Health said that 102 Palestinians,mainly children, had died of starvation over the past 21 months when Israel launched its war on the enclave.
The deaths are inclusive of 23, including four children, recorded over the past three days.
The Israeli protesters called for an end to the war and the policy of mass starvation of Gazans.
Armed with placards that are condemnatory of Israel’ s policies, especially its war on Gaza, the protesters also called for the prompt release of Israeli hostages still in the custody of Hamas and its affiliates.
Informed sources say that around 50 of the hostages, including 20 believed to be alive, are still in Hamas’ custody.
There are ongoing talks between officials of Hamas and Israel on a temporary ceasefire during which some of the hostages, including 10 in the first batch, would be released in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners as well as the unconditional inflow of aid into Gaza.
Israel had severely restricted humanitarian inflow into the enclave after creating the now controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in concert with America, to sideline the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
The GHF has four aid distribution centres, but rarely operates three of them, thus compelling thousands of starving Gazans to throng its sole aid centre in their desperate search for food..
UNRWA ran 400 such centres before Israel side stepped it with the GHF.
The UN and other credible organizations have said that more than 1,000 persons have been killed and many more wounded at, or, near, the GHF aid centres by Israeli troops.
America
America,Japan Reach Trade Deal
The President of the United States of America,Donald Trump, has announced a new trade deal with the Asian giant, Japan
In announcing the deal, Trump hailed it as a major breakthrough and a new frontier in trade between both countries.
He did not give much details but it is understood that both countries had now imposed a 15 percent tariff on each other’s exports.
Trump boasted that Japan, under the aegis of the deal, would invest more than $500 billion in the American economy, though he did not say over what period.
Like most other countries, Trump had threatened Japan with a stiff unilateral tariff regime if the talks failed to yield a deal before the month end.
Japan is the
single largest exporter of cars to America.
Iran
Iran Won’t Surrender Its Nuclear Programme – President
The President of Iran, Mazoud Pezeshkhian, has said his country would never give up its nuclear programme.
He said that while Iran would not close its door on dialogue, it would not take dictation from anywhere else.
According to him, Iran, as a sovereign country, would not be rail-rolled into any unfavourable condition by external forces he did not name.
He maintained that the country would not abandon its nuclear enrichment, nor give up its nuclear programme, within the ambit of international law.
In an obvious reference to the recent American and Israeli bombing of Iran’ s nuclear facilities in Isfahan Natanz and Fordow and the claims that they had been destroyed, the President said that the capacity for nuclear programme was resident in the country, having been etched in the hearts and minds of the country ‘ s many scientists.
America recently deployed 125 assault and other aircraft , including the 30- ton bomb carrying B-2 Bombers, to strike the Fordow underground nuclear reactor, after Israeli efforts in that regard proved futile for lack of potent technology.
Australia
Australia’s Senate Suspends Senator for Pro- Palestine Campaign
The Senate of Australia has voted to suspend a member, Senator Faruqi, for comments and actions considered to be pro- Palestine.
The move has caught and split public opinion, especially coming after Australia, together with some 20 other countries, had issued a statement condemning the Israeli starvation and other policies in Gaza and called for their decisive cessation.
Australia is part of the Western alliance which had traditionally backed Israel, especially regarding its policies affecting Palestinians.
America
Protesters Take Anti Israeli Protests to UN
Thousands of persons have taken their pro- Palestine protests to the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York.
The protesters accused the United Nations of failure and or neglect for not ending the war in Gaza and its humanitarian crisis.
At the official residence of the UN Secretary -General, Antonio Guterres, they expressed disgust that the UN, under his watch, could not stop the catastrophe in Gaza and the West Bank.
They called for a decisive end to the ongoing war in Gaza and for the free inflow of aid into the enclave.
A similar protest by other persons was also held at the Union Square in New York.
The United Nations has had many encouraging resolutions on the Israeli /Palestinian crisis , especially its occupation and war in Gaza as well as its policies in the occupied West Bank, but hardly anyone has been effectual as Israel, backed by America, has repeatedly breached them and defied international law and conventions.
Turkiye
Russia, Ukraine To Resume Talks
Officials of both Russia and Ukraine are expected to resume peace talks soon, sources have said.
The development comes days after the President of Ukraine, Wladimyr Zelensky, called for urgent talks with Russia on their three years war.
Diplomats familiar with the topic said today that both sides had angled for the prompt resumption of talks.
Both countries had been involved in a dialogue in Istanbul,Turkiye, but earlier rounds of the talks did not yield any breakthroughs, beyond the deals for prisoner exchanges.
Three rounds of such exchanges have been carried out, though no worthwhile progress has been made regarding an end to the war which began after Russia invaded Ukraine.
American President Donald Trump, had, penultimate week, threatened to impose severe sanctions on Russia if it failed to resume talks and reach a peace deal with its neighbour, within 50 days.
The 50 -day period is yet to lapse but Russia appears to have dismissed the ultimatum through remarks by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.
Both countries have suffered mass casualties in the war, but Russia has gained full it partial control of four regions of Ukraine.
Palestine
Coalition Calls For End to War As Starvation Death Toll Hits 102
A coalition of charity and humanitarian groups has called for an urgent end to the war in Gaza and for the prompt resumption of adequate humanitarian supplies into the enclave under the auspices of the United Nations (UN).
The 102 – strong coalition said the Israeli policy of mass starvation and blockade of all humanitarian needs was indefensible and needed to end urgently.
The call of the coalition comes just days after a coalition of nearly 30 countries made a similar call.
It also.comes as the Hamas -run Gaza Ministry of Health said that the death toll of Palestinians related to starvation had reached 102 over the past 21: months.
It said that the figure comprised the 23, including four children, who died since Monday this week.
It added that a majority of the dead were children.
The disclosure came as the World Health Organization,(WHO), called for an end to the war and the full resumption of aid supplies under the umbrella of the United Nations (UN).
Tarik Jarasevic, spokesman of the WHO, also said that Israel had not only bombed the official residence of its person, but also stripped and detained some of them.
He described the situation as unacceptable
