In Germany, local politics holds up weapons for Ukraine

A German Army soldier prepares practice ammunition for a self-propelled howitzer 2000 tank during NATO artillery exercise in southern Germany on July 20, 2022. (AFP/File)
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Updated 28 December 2023
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In Germany, local politics holds up weapons for Ukraine

  • A dispute with a city council has hampered plans by arms giant Diehl Defense to expand production of munitions parts 
  • The EU has pledged to provide Ukraine with 1M artillery rounds by March 2024 to aid in the fight against Russia

FRANKFURT, Germany: Europe’s efforts to boost arms production and help Ukraine to fend off Russia’s invasion are facing an unexpected obstacle in a German local government.
The city council in Troisdorf, which has a population close to 80,000, has for the time being blocked plans put forward by a major arms company to expand production locally.
Citing development needs, the “no” by the western municipality near Cologne is calling into question the European Union’s ability to manufacture more weapons at a crucial time.
Earlier this year, the 27-member EU pledged to step up supplies of much-needed artillery shells to Ukraine as Kyiv’s forces faced shortfalls.
The mayor of Troisdorf rarely has a role to play in international politics, but the local official was called to account by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in parliament in early December for holding up the project.
Recognizing the risks, the popular minister urged local and regional authorities to work to speed up the rate of arms production.
“The pressure (...) is great because in Europe and in Germany there is a real bottleneck on ammunition,” Pistorius told MPs.
For weeks, Troisdorf has been at loggerheads with arms giant Diehl Defense, whose local factory produces the ignition devices needed for large quantities of explosives, such as rockets and missile charges.
These parts are used in the manufacture of the Iris-T air defense system, three of which have been delivered by the German government to Ukraine.

The Troisdorf site is an important link in Europe’s objectives to back Ukraine, as Kyiv urges its allies to supply it with more munitions at a time when it is struggling to repel the Russian offensive.
The EU has pledged to provide Ukraine with one million artillery rounds by March 2024 to aid in Kyiv’s fight against Russia.
To date, it has delivered about 300,000 rounds from its own stocks, now depleted.
German industry’s share of the EU plan should eventually reach 300,000 to 400,000 shells a year, more than three times the production at the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, industry sources told AFP.
But Diehl Defense now sees the future of its Troisdorf site in serious jeopardy after the city decided to claim part of the business park where the group’s subsidiary DynITEC is based.
The arms manufacturer wanted to buy the land, which had been put up for sale by the former Dynamit Nobel weapons company, so that it could expand its production capacity.
For its part, the local authority is planning to convert the site, which is the size of 50 football pitches and ideally located near the city center, into homes and offices.
“By calling the Troisdorf site into question, the Federal Republic of Germany’s defense capability is being undermined,” warned Thomas Bodenmueller, a member of the Diehl Defense board of directors, in response.

A broad spectrum of city councillors, from the conservative mayor Alexander Biber to the ecologist Greens and far-left Die Linke — roughly two-thirds of the council — refused to sacrifice such a large area in the city center.
This is because, according to the local authorities, the production of explosives and combat devices requires huge protective zones around the factory which cannot be built on for safety reasons.
For Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, chair of the Bundestag lower house’s defense committee and a staunch backer of Ukraine, the position of Troisdorf’s mayor “is quite simply irresponsible.”
“This is about Ukraine, but also and above all about Germany’s security,” she told AFP.
For the time being, Biber remains unmoved.
Despite mediation meetings in the run-up to the Christmas holidays, no compromise has yet been found and he is not alone in his resistance.
Earlier this year, the Rheinmetall group, another flagship of the German arms industry, said it would not build a new ammunition powder factory in the Saxony region of eastern Germany.
The project had caused concern among the local population and with public acceptance lacking, Rheinmetall moved the project to another location in Bavaria.
While experts say Kyiv needs three million rounds of ammunition a year, Pistorius warned last month that the EU would likely fail to reach its March target of delivering even one million desperately needed howitzer rounds.
 


EU antiques import clampdown could gut trade, warn dealers

Updated 4 sec ago
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EU antiques import clampdown could gut trade, warn dealers

Dealers wishing to import goods such as archaeological treasures will have to provide documentation and proof
The regulation is a European response to developments spanning terrorism in the Middle East to changing attitudes to cultural appropriation

PARIS: New European rules designed to crack down on the trafficking of stolen antiques and art are causing alarm among gallery owners, with some dealers warning of suffocating red tape that will affect trade.

The sector is bracing for the implementation of Regulation 2019/880 on June 28 which will introduce strict new requirements for imports into the European Union from non-EU countries.

Dealers wishing to import goods such as archaeological treasures will have to provide documentation and proof that they have been exported from their country of origin legally.

Other items including artworks, coins or books that are worth more than 18,000 euros ($20,500) and are more than 200 years old will also be subject to the restrictions.

“We’ll end up buying nothing outside the European Union,” warned Antonia Eberwein, vice president of the National Union of Antiques Dealers (SNA) in France.

She warned that the markets for archaeological items, as well as pre-Columbian, Chinese or Indian art “risk being depleted, without putting an end to illicit trafficking, which by nature is invisible and undeclared.”

Pierre Valentin, an art and heritage specialist at London-based law firm Fieldfisher, believes the aim of the regulation is “laudable” but that implementing it could lead to an “evidential nightmare for collectors.”

In some cases, goods will have left their country of origin centuries ago before changing hands several times among collectors, with today’s owners left needing to prove their property was exported legally.

“We’re being asked to provide things that don’t exist,” said Eberwein, calling the regulation “absurd” and the evidence requirement “a total lack of understanding of the realities” of the market.

The regulation is a European response to developments spanning terrorism in the Middle East to changing attitudes to cultural appropriation.

The links between organized crime, terror groups and trafficking in cultural goods have been repeatedly raised by international police group Interpol and the United Nations.

Al-Qaeda and Daesh group were both found to have looted archaeological sites under their control in Iraq and Syria to help fund their activities.

The EU regulation, which was first proposed in 2017 following years of Daesh attacks in Europe, refers to the pillaging of archaeological sites reaching “an industrial scale.”

The European Commission estimated in 2017 that the illicit trade in cultural goods could be worth up to 6.0 billion euros a year, putting it on a par with drugs, arms or counterfeit goods trafficking.

“Money is the life blood of war for the terrorists who attack our continent or who fight in Iraq and Syria,” then EU economic affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici said at the time.

There is also growing sensitivity in Europe about the continent’s colonial history and its role in looting artistic and cultural property.

Many major European institutions from the British Museum to the Louvre in Paris are analizing their collections and, in a small number of cases, returning items to their countries of origin.

Edouard de Lamaze, president of France’s Council of Auction Houses, which regulates auction houses, said the changes would have some positive effects and “will enhance transparency for buyers and collectors, and strengthen the role of auctioneers.”

But it also risks bringing “a heavy administrative burden and a slowdown in activity.”

Auctioneers “will now have to systematically rely on experts to trace the history of artworks — a task that is difficult, if not impossible,” especially in the case of inherited items with no documentation, he added.

Some countries, such as Mexico, “ban all exports and claim their entire archaeological heritage,” noted Alexandre Giquello, head of France’s Drouot auction group.

He views the regulation “very unfavorably” and warned of “significant economic losses.”

“While the aim is commendable, it could penalize a large part of the market by introducing a very convoluted process that is slow to implement and will drastically increase delays,” he said.

Paris-based gallery owner David Ghezelbash, who specializes in archaeological items from Greece, Egypt and Italy, said he was “not concerned,” however.

He operates outside the EU, including with American museums, and he already regularly commissions independent experts “to trace the history of each work, as far as possible.”

He acknowledged that “a grey area” would be formed for objects without documented provenance, however, especially inherited pieces which risk being discredited.

Indonesia’s health ministry issues warning over COVID-19 surge in Asia

Updated 44 min 9 sec ago
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Indonesia’s health ministry issues warning over COVID-19 surge in Asia

  • Indonesia was among hardest-hit in the region during the pandemic
  • Local cases have so far remained relatively low amid the latest wave

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s government has urged healthcare facilities to step up COVID-19 surveillance, as a more transmissible omicron subvariant drives a surge in cases across Asia.

Parts of Asia have been reporting a new wave of infections since last month, especially Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

The new spread of the coronavirus that brought the world to a standstill a few years ago has been linked to JN.1, a highly transmissible variant of the omicron strain of COVID-19.

It emerged in late 2023 and spread globally through early 2024, becoming one of the dominant variants in many countries.

Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin met with President Prabowo Subianto on Tuesday to report on the country’s COVID-19 situation.

“Cases are indeed increasing, but the rise is caused by variants that are relatively less deadly,” Sadikin told reporters after the meeting.

His statement comes after Indonesia’s Health Ministry issued a circular last week instructing regional agencies, hospitals, community centers and other medical service facilities across the country to monitor case trends and report unusual conditions.

Health quarantine facilities are also instructed to “step up surveillance on people, transportation and items coming from abroad, especially those from countries that are reporting surges in COVID-19 cases,” the circular stated.

Indonesia has confirmed 72 COVID-19 cases and reported no deaths in 2025, the latest data from the Health Ministry showed. The caseload was at seven from last week alone, with the positive rate declining to 2.05 percent from a peak of 3.62 percent the previous week.

Indonesia was among the hardest-hit countries in Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a cumulative death toll of around 162,000, it has the second-highest number in the region, after 533,000 recorded in India.


Top Philippine senator to seek dismissal of Duterte impeachment case 

Updated 04 June 2025
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Top Philippine senator to seek dismissal of Duterte impeachment case 

  • Resolution was drafted by Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a staunch ally of Duterte and a former police chief under her father’s 2016-2022 presidency
  • The Senate’s current session ends next week, which the draft resolution said was insufficient time to act on the impeachment case

MANILA: A top Philippine senator has drafted a resolution seeking to dismiss an impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, his office said on Wednesday, which could boost her chances of political survival after an acrimonious fallout with the president. The lower house in February impeached Duterte, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, on accusations that included budget anomalies, amassing unusual wealth and an alleged threat to the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the first lady, and the house speaker.

Sara Duterte faces a lifetime ban from office if convicted in a Senate trial. She has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

The resolution was drafted, according to his office, by Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a staunch ally of Duterte and a former police chief under her father’s 2016-2022 presidency. A Senate source, who declined to be identified, confirmed the draft was circulating among senators.

The draft seen by Reuters says the Senate did not act promptly to begin proceedings upon receipt of the impeachment article, so the case was “de facto dismissed” as 100 days had already passed.

It was not immediately clear when the resolution would be filed or how much support it would have. If it succeeds, it could intensify an escalating battle for power between Marcos and former ally Duterte ahead of a 2028 presidential election that she is widely expected to contest, with Marcos limited to a single term and unable to run again.

At stake is the legacy and future influence of Marcos, who has waged a decades-long campaign to defend his family’s name from what he says are false historical narratives of plunder and brutality during the 1970s and 1980s rule of his strongman father and namesake. The effort to dismiss the case comes after a stronger-than-expected showing for allies of Duterte in last month’s midterm elections, demonstrating her popularity and unswerving influence, despite the row with Marcos, humiliating legislative enquiries and the arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court of her father in March.

The Senate’s current session ends next week, which the draft resolution said was insufficient time to act on the impeachment case. A new Senate will convene in late July.

“The matter cannot cross over to the incoming 20th Congress,” the draft said.

Marcos has called for unity among all political camps and has distanced himself from the impeachment of Duterte, which was backed overwhelmingly by a lower house controlled by his allies. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Dela Rosa’s proposed resolution.


Ukraine invited to Hague NATO summit, Zelensky attendance unclear

Updated 04 June 2025
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Ukraine invited to Hague NATO summit, Zelensky attendance unclear

  • NATO chief: ‘I invited Ukraine to the summit. We will as soon as possible bring out the program with more details’

BRUSSELS: Ukraine has been invited to a NATO summit in The Hague this month, Mark Rutte, the military bloc’s chief, said on Wednesday, without specifying whether this meant Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky would attend.

“I invited Ukraine to the summit. We will as soon as possible bring out the program with more details,” Rutte told reporters before a meeting with defense ministers in Brussels.

Asked whether Zelensky personally had been invited, Rutte only said the program would be published in due course.


India’s Modi to visit Kashmir to unveil strategic railway

Updated 04 June 2025
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India’s Modi to visit Kashmir to unveil strategic railway

  • The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the center of a bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan
  • Indian leader set to visit on Friday to open the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-meter-long steel and concrete span that connects two mountains

SRINAGAR, India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to make his first visit to contested Kashmir since a conflict between India and Pakistan last month, inaugurating a strategic railway to the mountainous region, his office said Wednesday.

The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the center of a bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan, divided between them since independence from British rule in 1947.

Modi is set to visit on Friday to open the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-meter-long (4,314-foot-long) steel and concrete span that connects two mountains with an arch 359 meters above the river below.

“The project establishes all-weather, seamless rail connectivity between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the country,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

Modi is expected to flag off a special train.

Last month, nuclear-armed India and Pakistan fought an intense four-day conflict, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10.

More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides.

The conflict was triggered by an April 22 attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing – a charge Islamabad denies.

Rebel groups in Indian-run Kashmir have waged a 35-year-long insurgency demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.

The 272-kilometer (169-mile) Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway – with 36 tunnels and 943 bridges – has been constructed “aiming to transform regional mobility and driving socio-economic integration,” the statement added.

Its dramatic centerpiece is the Chenab Bridge, which India calls the “world’s highest railway arch bridge.”

While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China.

Indian Railways calls the $24-million bridge “arguably the biggest civil engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history.”

The bridge will facilitate the movement of people and goods – as well as troops – that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and air.

The train line could slash travel time between the town of Katra and Srinagar, the region’s key city, by half, taking around three hours.

The bridge will also revolutionize logistics in Ladakh, the icy region in India bordering China.

India and China, the world’s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia.

Their troops clashed in 2020, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, and forces from both sides today face off across contested high-altitude borderlands.

The railway begins in the garrison city of Udhampur, headquarters of the army’s northern command, and runs north to Srinagar.