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German minister praises ‘esteemed’ Taiwan, China protests ‘vile’ visit

German minister praises ‘esteemed’ Taiwan, China protests ‘vile’ visit
German education minister’s Bettina Stark-Watzinger politically sensitive visit is taking place as Berlin is reviews its previously close ties with China. (Reuters)
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Updated 21 March 2023
Reuters

German minister praises ‘esteemed’ Taiwan, China protests ‘vile’ visit

German minister praises ‘esteemed’ Taiwan, China protests ‘vile’ visit
  • But education minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger says her trip was not connected to her government’s China strategy
  • Germany has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, though it does maintain a de facto embassy in Taipei
Updated 21 March 2023
Reuters

TAIPEI: Germany’s education minister said on Tuesday she was honored to visit “esteemed partner” Taiwan but that her trip was not connected to her government’s China strategy, as Beijing said it had protested to Berlin about her “vile conduct” in going there.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has increased military, political and economic pressure to assert those claims. The politically sensitive visit is taking place as Berlin is reviews its previously close ties with China.
A visit to Taiwan in January by a delegation of high-ranking lawmakers from the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), the smallest party in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way coalition, led to protests from Beijing.
Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger, also of the FDP, said at the signing of a technology cooperation agreement with Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Tsung-tsong that it was “extremely important to my ministry and me to promote cooperation with like-minded partners.”
“This arrangement stands for enhancing cooperation on the basis of the democratic values transparency, openness, reciprocity and scientific freedom, to only name a few,” she said.
“It is a great pleasure and honor for me to be the first minister heading a specialist government department to visit Taiwan in 26 years,” she added. “Taiwan, with its excellent research institutions, is a highly esteemed partner.”
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said they had filed a strong protest with Germany about her “vile conduct.”
Germany should “immediately stop associating and interacting with Taiwan independence separatist forces, immediately stop sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces, and immediately stop using the Taiwan issue to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” Wang told a daily news briefing.
Germany, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, though it does maintain a de facto embassy in Taipei.
Given the sensitivity of the trip, Stark-Watzinger is not scheduled to meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.
In a departure from the policies of Germany’s former chancellor, Angela Merkel, Olaf Scholz’s government is developing a new China strategy to reduce dependence on Asia’s economic superpower, hitherto a vital export market for German goods.
Responding to a question from a reporter, Stark-Watzinger said: “The federal government’s China strategy remains unchanged. To that extent, this visit today is not connected with that.”

Topics: Germany China Taiwan

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Major aid group’s women staff partially resume work in Afghanistan

Major aid group’s women staff partially resume work in Afghanistan
Updated 21 sec ago
AFP

Major aid group’s women staff partially resume work in Afghanistan

Major aid group’s women staff partially resume work in Afghanistan
  • The Norwegian Refugee Council resumed working months after the Taliban government banned women from working for NGOs
Updated 21 sec ago
AFP

KABUL: A leading international NGO’s Afghan women staff have resumed their work in some provinces, months after the Taliban government banned them from working.

Several aid groups suspended operations in protest at the order that was announced at the end of December, and later extended to include Afghan women working for the United Nations.

“I am glad to confirm that we have been able to resume most of our humanitarian operations in Kandahar as well as a number of other regions in Afghanistan,” Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the independent Norwegian Refugee Council said on Monday.

“All our work is for women and men, girls and boys alike, and with equal participation of our female and male humanitarian colleagues,” he said in a tweet.

It comes after Egeland traveled to Kandahar — the Taliban government’s traditional stronghold — last month where he announced that officials had said they would consider a “temporary agreement” to allow women to return to work.

“This arrangement ensures the delivery of much-needed assistance while the authorities finalize national guidelines to facilitate women’s participation in humanitarian efforts,” Christian Jepsen, a spokesperson for the NRC, said on Tuesday.

The UN has previously also reported that the Taliban is working on guidelines that will provide more clarity.

The Taliban authorities have not commented.

Government officials claim the ban was imposed because women were not observing rules on wearing the hijab, an allegation denied by aid workers. The Taliban government is not officially recognized by any country or world body, and only a handful of nations have a presence in Afghanistan.

UNAMA, the UN’s mission in Afghanistan, said in a statement last month that the ban “seriously undermines our work” and that lifting restrictions was essential.

“We must remain focused on our objective to support the people of Afghanistan. We cannot disengage despite the challenges,” the statement said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that funding for aid operations “remains at worryingly low levels and the ban is exacerbating this trend.”

Since the ban, UNAMA has asked all of its Afghan staff — men and women — to work from home, but other agencies in the country “have had different ways of handling the situation,” he noted.

Topics: Afghanistan

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Ukraine evacuates thousands after key dam destroyed

Ukraine evacuates thousands after key dam destroyed
Updated 06 June 2023
AFP

Ukraine evacuates thousands after key dam destroyed

Ukraine evacuates thousands after key dam destroyed
  • Washington warned there would be "likely many deaths" as Moscow and Kyiv traded blame for ripping a gaping hole in the Kakhovka dam
  • People in Kherson, the largest population centre nearby, headed for higher ground as water poured into the Dnipro River
Updated 06 June 2023
AFP

KHERSON, Ukraine: An attack on a major Russian-held dam in southern Ukraine on Tuesday unleashed a torrent of water that flooded a small city and two dozen villages and forced the evacuation of 17,000 people, sparking fears of a humanitarian disaster.
Washington warned there would be “likely many deaths” as Moscow and Kyiv traded blame for ripping a gaping hole in the Kakhovka dam, which is located on the frontline and provides cooling water for Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
Kyiv said the destruction of the dam — seized by Russia in the early hours of the war — was an attempt by Moscow to hamper its long-awaited offensive, which Ukraine’s leader stressed would not be affected.
An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was scheduled for 2000 GMT Tuesday following requests from Russia and Ukraine, diplomatic sources said.
People in Kherson, the largest population center nearby, headed for higher ground as water poured into the Dnipro River.
“There is shooting, now there is flooding,” said Lyudmyla, who had loaded a washing machine onto a cart attached to an old Soviet car.
“Everything is going to die here,” added Sergiy as water from the dam poured into the city which was the scene of heavy fighting in 2022.
Ukrainian authorities said 17,000 people were being evacuated and a total of 24 villages had been flooded.
“Over 40,000 people are in danger of being flooded,” Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said, adding that 25,000 more people should be evacuated on the Russian-occupied side of the Dnipro River.
Vladimir Leontyev, the Moscow-installed mayor of Nova Kakhovka where the dam is located, said the city was underwater and hundreds of people had been evacuated.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of blowing up the dam and said authorities expected up to 80 settlements to be flooded, urging the world to “react.”
“This crime carries enormous threats and will have dire consequences for people’s lives and the environment,” Zelensky told a Vatican peace envoy, Italian cardinal Matteo Zuppi, in Kyiv, the presidency said.
He later said in a Telegram message that the explosion “did not affect Ukraine’s ability to de-occupy its own territories.”
Kyiv also called for a meeting of the UN Security Council and warned of a potential “ecocide” after 150 tons of engine oil spilled into the river.
Western powers also blamed Russia for the damage, with EU chief Charles Michel calling it a “war crime,” while NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the dam breach was “outrageous“
The United States “cannot say conclusively what happened at this point,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Russia however said the dam was partially destroyed by “multiple strikes” coming from Ukrainian forces and urged the world to condemn Kyiv’s “criminal acts.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the destruction was the result of “deliberate sabotage by the Ukrainian side.”
The Soviet-era dam, built in the 1950s, sits on the Dnipro River, which provides cooling water for the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant some 150 kilometers (90 miles) away.
Moscow and Kyiv offered conflicting versions on the safety of the facility.
The Russian-installed director of the plant, Yuri Chernichuk, echoed the UN agency and said that “at the moment, there is no security threat to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.”
“The water level in the cooling pond has not changed,” he said, adding that the situation was under control.
But Ukraine, which in 1986 suffered the devastating Chernobyl nuclear disaster, sounded the alarm.
“The world once again finds itself on the brink of a nuclear disaster, because the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lost its source of cooling. And this danger is now growing rapidly,” Zelensky’s aide Mykhaylo Podolyak said.
The Ukrainian nuclear operator, Energoatom, said the water level of the Kakhovka reservoir was “rapidly decreasing, which is an additional threat to the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.”
The UN humanitarian agency said it was concerned about “the severe humanitarian impact on hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the front line.”
“Flooding and fast-moving water can move mines and explosive ordnance to new areas which previously had been assessed as safe, thus putting more people in danger,” it added.
News of the damage came after Russia said Ukraine had begun a long-expected counter-offensive to claw back lost territory after Moscow invaded in February, 2022.
On Tuesday, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Moscow had halted Kyiv’s offensive but lost 71 soldiers over the past three days, an extremely rare admission of Russia’s losses.
On Monday, Zelensky praised his troops for advances claimed near the devastated city of Bakhmut.
Kyiv already accused Moscow of mining the dam as combat raged nearby in October, during the last major offensive by Ukrainian forces seeking to regain lost territory. Russia denies the claim.
The Kakhovka dam has strategic value as it pumps water into the North Crimean Canal, which starts in southern Ukraine and crosses the entire Crimean peninsula.
Experts say that any problem with the dam could cause water supply problems for Crimea, which has been under Russian control since 2014.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Kherson Kakhovka dam

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Novocure’s lung cancer device extends survival in late-stage study

Novocure’s lung cancer device extends survival in late-stage study
Updated 06 June 2023
Reuters

Novocure’s lung cancer device extends survival in late-stage study

Novocure’s lung cancer device extends survival in late-stage study
  • The device, used with certain chemotherapies and immunotherapies, helps in creating electric fields that disrupt cancer cell growth
  • Analysts raised concerns that only a small group of patients in the study were previously treated with ICI
Updated 06 June 2023
Reuters

DUBAI: Novocure said on Tuesday its experimental device to treat a type of lung cancer showed a statistically significant improvement in extending overall survival among patients in a late-stage study.
The device, used with certain chemotherapies and immunotherapies, helps in creating electric fields that disrupt cancer cell growth.
Data from the study showed the device, along with a class of immunotherapies know as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), extended survival by 8 months compared to patients treated with ICI alone. However, analysts raised concerns that only a small group of patients in the study were previously treated with ICI such as Merck’s Keytruda, while it is now a standard of care and most patients take it.
This raises the question whether the data would apply in a real-world setting where most patients initiate treatment with checkpoint inhibitors, analysts said.
Novocure’s shares fell 17.1 percent to $67.70 in early trading.
“Only 2 percent of patients in the ICI arm had prior ICI exposure,” said Emily Bodnar, H.C. Wainwright & Co. analyst.
Novocure’s device along with standard therapies, including chemotherapies and immunotherapies, also extended survival to 13.2 months compared to 9.9 months in patients treated with standard therapies alone.
The therapy is the first in more than seven years to show a significant extension in overall survival in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer treatment (NSCLC) after a type of chemotherapy in late-stage study, the company said.
Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and NSCLC accounts for about 85 percent of all lung cancers, the company said.
Novocure plans to submit marketing application to the US Food and Drug Administration in the second half of 2023 based on the data.

Topics: Novocure lung cancer

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No sanctions on Israel for its occupation and annexation of Golan

No sanctions on Israel for its occupation and annexation of Golan
Updated 06 June 2023
Khaldon Azhari

No sanctions on Israel for its occupation and annexation of Golan

No sanctions on Israel for its occupation and annexation of Golan
  • Many in the Arab countries voiced hope that Japan would apply sanctions against Israel
Updated 06 June 2023
Khaldon Azhari

TOKYO: While Japan and G7 partners apply severe sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine and changing the status quo by military force, they have expressed no interest in equally applying sanctions on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights.

“Generally speaking, according to the international law, to unilaterally annex land which has been taken by force, is not recognized under that law,” Japanese Foreign Minister HAYASHI Yoshimasa said in response to a question by Arab News Japan.

“From this perspective, Israel’s occupation is something that we do not recognize and we have been consistent on this point with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute under the two states solution. We feel that it should be resolved between the two parties concerned,” Hayashi added.

The foreign minister was reminded of the 56th anniversary of the 1967 war in the Middle East, resulting in Israel changing the status quo of the Syrian and Palestinian borders, by annexing the Golan Heights and occupying Palestinian Territories through military force.

Many in the Arab countries voiced hope that Japan would apply sanctions against Israel in the same way they did to Russia.

Hayashi’s reply, however, suggests that changing the status quo by military force can be dealt with on a case by case principle such as by diplomacy rather than the sanctions’ approach against Russia.

“We are strongly calling upon Israel’s government to refrain from unilateral activities which change the status quo,” he urged.

Hayashi went on to say, “With regard to Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine, this disturbs the international order which was developed by the efforts of the international society and we have been liaising with the international society to take a resolute action and response to this.”

Furthermore, the Japanese foreign minister noted, “With regard to relations between countries, we make a comprehensive review based on the individual situation,” thus intimating that the Israeli occupation of Palestine and annexation of the Golan Heights are not shaking the international order.

Topics: Israel Japan Golan Heights

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Top polluter Indonesia to phase out single-use plastic by 2030

Top polluter Indonesia to phase out single-use plastic by 2030
Updated 06 June 2023
SHEANY YASUKO LAI 

Top polluter Indonesia to phase out single-use plastic by 2030

Top polluter Indonesia to phase out single-use plastic by 2030
  • Over 18 percent of waste produced by Indonesia is plastic
  • Bali was first Indonesian province to ban single-use plastic in 2019
Updated 06 June 2023
SHEANY YASUKO LAI 

JAKARTA: Indonesia, one of the world’s worst plastic polluters, is going to phase out single-use plastic products by the end of 2029, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya announced this week, as the country aims to achieve its zero-waste goals by 2040.  

Asia has been identified as the biggest contributor to ocean plastic, and Indonesia — an archipelago nation of 270 million people — is a major source country.  

Indonesia produced 68.5 million tons of waste in 2022, government data shows, more than 18 percent of which was plastic.  

Less than 10 percent of waste is recycled in Indonesia, and more than half ends up in landfills. 

“Plastic pollution is a real threat that will impact all communities across the world,” Nurbaya said in remarks issued on the occasion of World Environment Day.  

“By the end of 2029, we will phase out several types of single-use plastics.”  

This includes plastic shopping bags, plastic straws and Styrofoam items commonly used for food packaging.  

“This is a way to deal with packaging wastes that are difficult to collect, have no (economic) value, (and are) hard to recycle,” the minister said, adding that manufacturers are also mandated to reduce their use of plastic packaging by 30 percent by the end of 2029 to “push the growth of sustainable businesses and the circular economy in Indonesia.”  

The shift to a circular economy has been advocated by the UN Environment Program, which last month said countries and companies could slash plastic pollution by 80 percent in less than two decades by implementing deep policy and market changes. 

“We are heading toward sustainable waste management (and the) practices of a circular economy,” Nurbaya said. “The potential of the circular economy not only brings economic benefits for the public but is also in line with achieving the zero-waste target by 2040, and zero emissions by 2050, or sooner.”  

Indonesia has seen efforts to reduce single-use plastics, including Bali province’s 2019 ban on single-use plastic bags, straws, and Styrofoam, and a similar one enforced in the capital, Jakarta, in 2020.  

But bans alone may not be enough when the world’s fourth most populous country is lacking a proper waste management system. 

“Government commitments and policies must prioritize reduction efforts,” Muharram Atha Rasyadi, urban campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, told Arab News. 

“Sorting-based waste management is also key … so that some materials with the potential to become waste can be managed and not all of them turn into a residue that ends up in landfills.” 

Topics: Indonesia Plastic ban

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