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Greece seeks EU advice on railway safety after train crash — premier

Greece seeks EU advice on railway safety after train crash — premier
Destroyed carriages are seen on the site of a crash, where two trains collided, near the city of Larissa, Greece, on Mar. 3, 2023. (Reuters)
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Updated 10 March 2023
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Greece seeks EU advice on railway safety after train crash — premier

Greece seeks EU advice on railway safety after train crash — premier
  • "I won't hesitate to use any European help available," Mitsotakis said
  • He has also discussed the use of EU funds with EU officials
Updated 10 March 2023
Reuters
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ATHENS: Greece has asked the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) to advise it on ways to improve train safety after a crash on Feb. 28 killed 57 people, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday.
A train with 350 people on board, most of them university students, collided with a cargo train in central Greece.
The crash has stirred public protests against the conservative government and a political system that has repeatedly ignored calls by railway unions to improve safety systems and hire more staff.
Mitsotakis told Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou on Friday that he could not “turn back time,” but could ensure that the investigation into the collision would be transparent and thorough.
“I won’t hesitate to use any European help available,” Mitsotakis said, adding that he had asked ERA to draw up a report with suggestions that would be published.
He has also discussed the use of EU funds with EU officials.
The government, which had been planning to call an election soon, since its term ends in July, has blamed the crash mainly on human error but has acknowledged deficiencies in the railway due to underinvestment and neglect — a legacy of Greece’s debt crisis.
The first opinion poll since the crash occurred, conducted by the Marc polling agency and published on Thursday, showed the conservatives dropping by about 3 percentage points but still ahead of the main leftist opposition.
Hours after the crash, a minister and railway officials resigned. So far, three station masters and one railway inspector have been arrested and charged over the case.
The state-owned Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) is responsible for managing and maintaining rail infrastructure, while Italy’s Hellenic Train oversees passenger and freight services.
Panagiotis Terezakis, an experienced railway engineer and former management consultant to OSE, was named as OSE’s interim president and chief executive on Friday.

Topics: Greece Train Crash EU

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Elections in Burkina Faso ‘not a priority,’ junta leader says

Elections in Burkina Faso ‘not a priority,’ junta leader says
Updated 30 September 2023
AFP
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Elections in Burkina Faso ‘not a priority,’ junta leader says

Elections in Burkina Faso ‘not a priority,’ junta leader says
  • When Traore seized power, he gave himself “two to three months” to improve security in Burkina Faso, but one year on, jihadist violence still blights the West African nation
Updated 30 September 2023
AFP

OUAGADOUGOU: Elections in Burkina Faso are “not a priority” compared to “security,” the country’s military leader Capt. Ibrahim Traore said on state TV, almost a year to the day after coming to power in a coup.

Capt. Traore, who had promised a return to democracy with presidential elections by July 2024, also announced planned changes to the constitution to make it more representative of the “masses.”

“It’s not a priority, I’ll tell you that clearly, it’s security that’s the priority” in a country plagued by extremist violence, he said, referring to elections.

Even so, the goal was still to organize a ballot, he said, without specifying a date.

“There won’t be an election that is only concentrated in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso and other nearby towns,” he said, referring to two cities that have been mainly spared frequent terror attacks.

“It has to be that all Burkinabe people choose their president.”

At 34, Traore was the world’s youngest leader when he was sworn in as interim president, vowing to win back territory and support a transition leading to elections in July 2024.

Traore on Friday went on to say he was planning a “partial change” to the country’s constitution, saying the present text reflected “the opinion of a handful of enlightened people” to the detriment of the “popular masses.”

“The current texts don’t allow us to evolve peacefully,” he said.

Several thousand people demonstrated on Friday in Ouagadougou and other cities in support of the military regime, calling for adopting a new constitution.

When Traore seized power, he gave himself “two to three months” to improve security in Burkina Faso, but one year on, jihadist violence still blights the West African nation.

At the time, he cited the country’s spiraling security situation as justification for the putsch.

Since then, the regime has focused on responding to attacks by affiliates of Al-Qaeda and Daesh and has undertaken a massive recruitment drive for the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland or VDP, a civilian force that supports the military.

However, despite hopes that Traore’s efforts to regain territory and improve security would yield results, “the situation has deteriorated considerably,” said Lassina Diarra, a specialist on safety in the Sahel.

More than 17,000 people have died in attacks since 2015 — more than 6,000 of them just this year, according to a count by NGO monitor the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project or ACLED.

Still, the government claimed at the end of last month that more than 190,000 people had returned to their homes after it chased jihadists from the areas, and regime supporters welcome what they call vital decisions by Traore.

“We are at war,” Traore said Friday, blaming “certain actors” for refusing to sell the army equipment.

“Most of our equipment is Russian,” he added, and there is “not much” French equipment.

Under Traore, relations with France broke down, with French forces helping the Burkinabe army leave the country at the junta’s request in February.

Burkina has since moved closer to Russia and allied with neighboring Mali and Niger, two countries also led by military regimes.

Concerns about the erosion of personal freedoms in the country have recently been raised, and some have condemned alleged abuses by the VDP or armed forces.

French media outlets RFI, France 24, and Jeune Afrique have been suspended in the country, and correspondents from newspapers Liberation and Le Monde have been expelled in the last 12 months.

Traore on Friday said that “individual freedoms must not take precedence over collective freedoms.”

Authorities announced on Thursday that four officers had been detained a day after the military government said it had thwarted a coup attempt.

The junta said late on Wednesday that the intelligence and security services had foiled the attempt the previous day.

Asked about the attempted coup, Traore alluded to “manipulated individuals” and insisted there was “no malaise” in the army.

Topics: Burkina Faso Junta Ibrahim Traore

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Maldives witnessed ‘some incidents’ of violence during elections: watchdog

Maldives witnessed ‘some incidents’ of violence during elections: watchdog
Updated 30 September 2023
AFP
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Maldives witnessed ‘some incidents’ of violence during elections: watchdog

Maldives witnessed ‘some incidents’ of violence during elections: watchdog
  • The Maldives sits in a strategically vital position in the middle of the Indian Ocean, astride one of the world’s busiest east-west shipping lanes
Updated 30 September 2023
AFP

MALE: The Maldives voted Saturday to decide its next president in an election seen as a referendum on whether to hitch its fortunes to China or India, both vying for influence in the tropical paradise.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih faces an uphill battle to secure a second mandate after working to improve strained relations with New Delhi, the archipelago nation’s traditional benefactor.

Frontrunner Mohamed Muizzu helms a party that presided over an influx of Chinese investment money when it last held power and has signalled a return to Beijing’s orbit if he wins.

Muizzu won the election’s first round earlier this month, taking 46 percent of the vote but finishing ahead of Solih by barely 15,000 ballots and short of the absolute majority needed to win outright.

“Queues formed long before polling opened,” one official said.

Solih and Muizzu voted at separate polling booths in the capital Male, with both telling reporters they were confident of victory.

Watchdog Transparency Maldives said there had been some incidents of “electoral violence” without specifying further details.

Police reported arresting 14 people, mostly for taking photographs of their marked ballot papers and sharing them on social media.

The Maldives sits in a strategically vital position in the middle of the Indian Ocean, astride one of the world’s busiest east-west shipping lanes. Muizzu’s party was an eager recipient of financial largesse from China’s Belt and Road infrastructure program.

His mentor, former President Abdulla Yameen, borrowed heavily from China for construction projects and spurned India.

Solih was elected in 2018 on the back of discontent with Yameen’s increasingly autocratic rule, accusing him of pushing the country into a Chinese debt trap.

Yameen’s turn toward Beijing had also alarmed New Delhi, which shares concerns with the US and its allies at China’s growing assertiveness in the Indian Ocean.

India is a member of the strategic Quad alliance alongside the US, Australia and Japan.

But Solih’s restoration of the Maldives’ traditional posture has itself proved controversial, with many in the archipelago disapproving of India’s outsized political and economic clout.

Muizzu has vowed if elected to free his mentor Yameen, currently serving an 11-year sentence for corruption on the same prison island where he had jailed many of his political opponents during his tenure.

The 45-year-old emerged as a candidate after Yameen’s conviction barred the former president from running for public office.

Topics: Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih

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Germany’s government and Elon Musk spar on X over migrant rescue ships

Germany’s government and Elon Musk spar on X over migrant rescue ships
Updated 30 September 2023
AP
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Germany’s government and Elon Musk spar on X over migrant rescue ships

Germany’s government and Elon Musk spar on X over migrant rescue ships
  • “Is the German public aware of this?” Musk wrote in his repost
  • The German Federal Foreign Office replied to Musk directly on X, writing: “Yes. And it’s called saving lives”
Updated 30 September 2023
AP

BERLIN: Germany’s government rebuked X owner Elon Musk after he criticized the recent work of migrant rescue ships that German humanitarian groups operate in the Mediterranean Sea.
Musk late Friday shared a video that showed migrants and aid workers on a boat. The right-wing account that first put the content on X, formerly known as Twitter, praised the populist far-right Alternative for Germany party, which has taken a hard line on migration issues.
“Is the German public aware of this?” Musk wrote in his repost.
The German Federal Foreign Office replied to Musk directly on X, writing: “Yes. And it’s called saving lives.”
Musk responded that he doubted the German public supports the actions of non-governmental organizations that take asylum-seekers from unseaworthy vessels in the Mediterranean. He also asserted it was “surely” a violation of Italy’s sovereignty for German-operated ships to bring rescued migrants to Italian territory.
“So you’re actually proud of it. Interesting,” he wrote to the Foreign Office, adding that he thinks such maritime operations have “invasion vibes.”
The exchange comes as migration has returned to the political forefront in Germany and other European countries, with government officials and opposition politicians sparring about how best to handle an increasing number of arriving migrants.
Cities and communities across Germany have sounded an alarm, saying they are running out of room to accommodate them and to provide kindergarten and school places.
More than 220,000 people applied for asylum in Germany from January to August this year. In all of 2022, about 240,000 people applied for asylum. In 2015-16, more than 1 million people applied for asylum in Germany.

Topics: Germany migrants rescue boats Elon Musk

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Moving mango trees to Dubai, Bangladeshi farmers take wing in Middle East

Moving mango trees to Dubai, Bangladeshi farmers take wing in Middle East
Updated 30 September 2023
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Moving mango trees to Dubai, Bangladeshi farmers take wing in Middle East

Moving mango trees to Dubai, Bangladeshi farmers take wing in Middle East
  • Farmers are tapping into afforestation programs in Gulf countries
  • Bangladeshi growers started exporting saplings to UAE and Qatar in 2019
Updated 30 September 2023
SHEHAB SUMON

DHAKA: After long research and trials at his nursery in Cumilla, some 100 km from Dhaka, Shamsul Alam started to bring tiny mango, jackfruit, and fig trees to the Gulf region. The efforts — and trees — have recently started to yield fruit, inspiring other Bangladeshi farmers to follow in his footsteps.

Alam began to export fruit saplings to Qatar in 2019, and soon also to the UAE and Oman.

“Since 2019, I have exported around 150,000 saplings to UAE, Qatar, and Oman,” he told Arab News. “All these plants are grown now and offer the taste of Bangladeshi fruits to Arabs. Bangladeshi fruit orchards are now seen in Qatar, Oman, and the UAE.”

He tapped into the market at the right moment, as in recent years afforestation programs have been gaining momentum in Gulf countries.

This year, Alam is focusing on mango trees and has already prepared several varieties at his Green World Nursery.

“Dubai ordered some Bangladeshi mango saplings from me. I have prepared 400 mango saplings with seven varieties of Bangladeshi mangoes, and these plants are ready now,” he said. “I hope to make the shipment in October.”

Dr. Reza Khan, principal wildlife specialist at Dubai Safari Park, who ordered the saplings from Alam, told Arab News that they will be planted in the Dubai desert as part of an “experimental” initiative.

“If rice can be grown in the desert, I hope that with proper care mangoes could be cultivated here as well,” he said.

For Bangladeshi growers, the business has potential. While it costs them about $2 to prepare a tree sapling in nurseries in Bangladesh, they sell them in the Gulf market at a price about four times higher.

According to Bangladeshi government data, Qatar has been the largest export destination for Bangladeshi fruit saplings, but the UAE is quickly gaining pace.

“The UAE is a big potential ... Especially saplings of mangoes are very popular,” said Kamrul Hasan, commercial counselor at the Bangladeshi Consulate General of Bangladesh in Dubai.

He believes that the UAE could become a hub for Bangladeshi sapling trade, as exporters have already scored phytosanitary certificates and environmental clearances.

“We have been exporting saplings in larger volumes for the last four-five years,” Hasan told Arab News.

“A lot of nurseries are there in Bangladesh involved in this sapling business and they are very efficient in their work, supplying quality saplings to Middle Eastern countries.”

Mohammad Khadim, who has been exporting saplings to the UAE since last year, says the main competitors for Bangladeshi exporters are Pakistan and India, which have easier access to the Gulf.

“For us, it takes around one month to reach the ports in Gulf countries,” he said. “Our competitors require only one week.”

But he is not discouraged and already plans to expand business to Saudi Arabia, which under the Middle East Green Initiative targets the planting of 50 billion trees across the whole region.

“I am in discussion with some buyers from Saudi Arabia,” Khadim said. “I hope to get positive results in the near future.”

Topics: Dubai Bangladesh Middle East

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Armenia says over 100,000 refugees flee Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia says over 100,000 refugees flee Nagorno-Karabakh
Updated 30 September 2023
AFP
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Armenia says over 100,000 refugees flee Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia says over 100,000 refugees flee Nagorno-Karabakh
  • Nearly all the official population of the ethnic Armenian enclave has left since Azerbaijan launched an offensive to regain control
Updated 30 September 2023
AFP

YEREVAN: Armenia said Saturday that over 100,000 people have fled Nagorno-Karabakh, meaning nearly all the official population of the ethnic Armenian enclave has left since Azerbaijan launched an offensive to regain control.
Nazeli Baghdasaryan, a spokeswoman for Armenia’s prime minister, said the number of refugees entering the country over the past week had reached 100,417, out of Nagorno-Karabakh’s estimated population of 120,000.

Topics: Armenia Nagorno-Karabakh

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