BRUSSELS: EU countries on Wednesday agreed new sanctions on Belarus over the Ukraine war to align them more closely with measures targeting Russia, in a bid to curb evasion of the penalties, officials said.
“EU Ambassadors agreed in principle on a new package of sanctions targeting Belarus,” announced Belgium, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency.
“This package will strengthen our measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including combating circumvention of sanctions,” it said.
The European Union has gone after the government of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin’s closest ally, for allowing his country to be used as a staging post for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Bringing the sanctions on Belarus more into line with those on Moscow is seen as vital for stemming the flow to Russia of banned goods, such as microchips, that can be used on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Officials say Belarus has acted as a backdoor to get sanctioned products from the EU into Russia, as they could be officially exported to Belarus before heading on to its giant neighbor.
“Belarus must no longer serve as a route to circumvent our sanctions against Russia. With this package we increase the pressure on both countries and make our sanctions against Russia even more effective,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X.
The push to strengthen the sanctions on Belarus, which is in a customs union with Russia, was stalled for over a year as efforts to relax restrictions on its lucrative fertilizer exports were blocked by Lithuania.
Some EU states argued that fertilizer exports should be allowed to help alleviate problems with food supplies in developing nations.
But the Baltic state argued that third countries had already moved to obtain supplies from elsewhere, and that removing restrictions on Belarus would see revenues worth billions of dollars flow to Belarusian authorities.
EU diplomats said no exemptions had been granted for fertilizer exports.
Before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the EU had already targeted Lukashenko’s government with repeated rounds of sanctions over its crackdown on protests.
The 27-nation bloc has hit Russia with an unprecedented 14 packages of sanctions over its war on Ukraine.
EU toughens Belarus sanctions to curb Russia evasion
https://arab.news/8pgg7
EU toughens Belarus sanctions to curb Russia evasion
- “EU Ambassadors agreed in principle on a new package of sanctions targeting Belarus,” announced Belgium
- “This package will strengthen our measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”
Myanmar central bank denies UN report on weapons transactions
Myanmar’s central bank denied a UN report that the country’s military government can still access money and weapons for its war against anti-coup forces, saying financial institutions under the bank’s supervision followed prescribed procedures.
The Central Bank of Myanmar “expressed our strong objection to the UN Special Rapporteur’s report,” it said in a statement published in a junta newspaper on Saturday. “The UN report severely harms the interests of Myanmar civilians and the relationship between Myanmar and other countries.”
The rapporteur on Myanmar’s human rights, Tom Andrews, reported on Wednesday that while international efforts to isolate the junta appear to have dented its ability to buy military equipment, it still imported $253 million worth of weapons, dual-use technologies, manufacturing equipment and other materials in the 12 months to March.
The report said Myanmar had the help of international banks, including those from Southeast Asian neighbor Thailand, for its purchases.
Facing its biggest challenge since its 2021 coup against Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, Myanmar’s military is caught up in multiple, low-intensity conflicts and grappling to stabilize a crumbling economy.
Western countries have imposed multiple financial sanctions on Myanmar’s military, banks and associated businesses.
The central bank said local and international banks engaged in transactions with Myanmar have undergone comprehensive due diligence measures for all business relationships and transactions.
“The financial transactions are only for the importation of essential goods and basic necessities for Myanmar civilians, such as medicines and medical supplies, agricultural and livestock supplies, fertilizers, edible oil and fuels,” it said.
The UN report said exports from Singapore had plunged to just over $10 million from over $110 million in 2022 but that Thai companies in Thailand partially filled the gap, transferring $120 million worth of weapons and materials in 2023, double from the previous year.
Thailand’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the country’s banking and financial institutions follow protocols like other major financial hubs, adding the government will look into the UN rapporteur’s report.
Greek firefighters tame wildfire on island of Serifos
- Dozens of firefighters with 15 fire engines battled to contain the fire, backed up by a water-carrying helicopter
- The wildfire, which at one point had raged across 15 kilometers, damaged holiday homes and storehouses
ATHENS: Greek firefighters managed to contain on Sunday a wildfire that had raged uncontrolled overnight on the Aegean island of Serifos, damaging houses and prompting the evacuation of several hamlets.
Dozens of firefighters with 15 fire engines battled to contain the fire, backed up by a water-carrying helicopter. It had broken out amid low vegetation on Saturday and spread quickly, fanned by strong winds, the fire brigade said.
The wildfire, which at one point had raged across 15 kilometers, damaged holiday homes and storehouses, the island’s mayor, Kostas Revinthis, told Greek television.
With hot, windy conditions across much of the country, dozens of wildfires broke out on Saturday and authorities advised people to stay away from forested areas.
A wildfire in a mountainous forest area just outside Athens had eased by Sunday morning but some 160 firefighters were still engaged in extinguishing it, officials said.
The strong winds are not expected to abate until later on Sunday, meteorologists said.
Wildfires are common in the Mediterranean country but have become more devastating in recent years as summers have become hotter, drier and windier, which scientists link to the effects of climate change.
After last summer’s deadly forest fires and following its warmest winter on record, Greece developed a new doctrine, which includes deploying an extra fire engine to each new blaze, speeding up air support and clearing forests.
Colombia rebel group agrees to ‘unilateral ceasefire’
- Latest attempt by Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro to end six decades of conflict between the government and rebel groups
CARACAS: A Colombian splinter group of former FARC guerrillas known as Segunda Marquetalia has agreed to a “unilateral ceasefire” and the release of captives following negotiations with the government, according to a joint statement Saturday.
The talks, held this week in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, are the latest attempt by Colombia’s leftist President Gustavo Petro to end six decades of conflict between the government and rebel groups.
As part of the ceasefire deal, Segunda Marquetalia committed to the “delivery of the people they are holding,” according to a document signed by chief government negotiator Armando Novoa and rebel representative Walter Mendoza.
“The full implementation of de-escalation will begin as soon as the presidential decree on offensive military operations comes into force,” said the text seen by AFP, without specifying a date.
A meeting in Tumaco, in western Colombia, will be held between the two parties “no later than July 20” to present the “de-escalation” agreement and to define a timetable for identifying social and economic projects.
The accord follows days of negotiations in Caracas, where seven delegates from each side began talks Monday.
Segunda Marquetalia is a rebel group that broke away from a historic 2016 ceasefire deal with FARC guerillas.
Those present at the Caracas talks include the rebels’ leader known under the alias Ivan Marquez, who was thought to be dead until he reappeared in a video in May.
Marquez — whose real name is Luciano Marin — was the chief FARC negotiator for the 2016 deal, returned to civilian life and was elected a senator, before launching a new rebellion in 2019.
But at the opening of the Caracas talks, he said that he was “fully willing to contribute to the common achievement of peace for Colombia.”
Saturday’s agreement stipulates that the rebel group agreed “not to remain armed or in uniform” in urban centers or “land and river routes.”
It also asserts that the ceasefire does not restrict the national security forces’ “constitutional and legal powers.”
Colombia’s leadership has faced multiple obstacles in their efforts to end the conflict between the country’s security forces, guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs.
The government and Segunda Marquetalia announced in February plans to hold peace talks.
The rebel group is considered second in importance only to the main FARC dissident group, the EMC, with Segunda Marquetalia having around 1,600 members according to military intelligence.
Talks between the government and the EMC began in October 2023 but they have been plagued by ceasefire violations and a major split in the group in April, which saw half of its fighters abandon peace negotiations.
The Colombian government has been involved since 2022 in stop-start talks with the Marxist National Liberation Army (ELN) — responsible for the kidnapping last October of the father of a Liverpool footballer, Luis Diaz.
Polls open in French snap parliamentary elections
- Support for anti-immigration and euroskeptic National Rally party surges despite President Emmanuel Macron’s pledges to prevent its ascent
PARIS: Polls opened in France on Sunday for the first round of snap parliamentary elections which could see the far-right party of Marine Le Pen take power in a historic first.
With Russia’s war against Ukraine in its third year and energy and food prices much higher, support for the anti-immigration and euroskeptic National Rally (RN) party has surged despite President Emmanuel Macron’s pledges to prevent its ascent.
Polling stations opened across mainland France at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and will close 12 hours later, immediately followed by projections that usually predict the result with a degree of accuracy.
Voters in France’s overseas territories that span the globe cast ballots earlier in the weekend. Some 49 million people are eligible to vote.
Cassandre Cazaux, a nurse who voted in France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia, where tensions remain high following last month’s deadly riots, said the elections were “decisive.”
“It should be well attended, but I don’t know if everyone will play along and come out to vote,” she said.
Elections for the 577 seats in the National Assembly are a two-round process. The shape of the new parliament will become clear after the second round on July 7.
Most polls show the RN on course to win the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, parliament’s lower house, although it remains unclear if the party will secure an outright majority.
A high turnout is predicted and final opinion polls have given the RN between 35 percent and 37 percent of the vote, against 27.5-29 percent for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance and 20-21 percent for Macron’s centrist camp.
If the RN obtains an absolute majority, party chief Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 28-year-old protege with no governing experience, could become prime minister in a tense “cohabitation” with Macron.
On Monday, Macron plans to convene a government meeting to decide the further course of action, government sources said.
France is heading for a year of political chaos and confusion with a hung Assembly, said Mujtaba Rahman, Europe head at Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy.
“There is no precedent in recent French politics for such an impasse,” Rahman said.
Macron’s decision to call the snap vote after the RN’s strong showing in European Parliament elections this month stunned friends and foes and sparked uncertainty in Europe’s second-biggest economy.
The Paris stock exchange suffered its biggest monthly decline in two years in June, dropping by 6.4 percent, according to figures released on Friday.
In an editorial, French daily Le Monde said it was time to mobilize against the far right.
“Yielding any power to it means nothing less than taking the risk of seeing everything that has been built and conquered over more than two and a half centuries gradually being undone,” it said.
Wielding mops and buckets, several activists of the Femen feminist collective dressed as cleaners on Saturday demonstrated bare-breasted at the Trocadero in Paris, chanting slogans against the extreme right.
Separately, tens of thousands of people joined an LGBTQ Pride march in Paris, with some carrying placards targeting the far right.
“I think it’s even more important right now to fight against hatred in general, in all its forms,” said 19-year-old student Themis Hallin-Mallet.
Many have pointed to a spike in hate speech, intolerance and racism during the charged campaign. A video of two RN supporters verbally assaulting a black woman has gone viral in recent days.
Macron has deplored “racism or anti-Semitism.”
He apparently hoped to catch political opponents off guard by presenting voters with a crucial choice about France’s future, but observers say he might have lost his gamble.
Support for Macron’s centrist camp has collapsed, while left-wing parties put their bickering aside to form the New Popular Front, in a nod to an alliance founded in 1936 to combat fascism.
Analysts say Le Pen’s years-long efforts to clean up the image of a party co-founded by a former Waffen SS member have been paying off.
The party has promised to bolster purchasing power, curb immigration and boost law and order.
A defiant Macron has stood by his decision to call the elections, while warning voters that a win by the far right or hard left could spark a “civil war.”
He has insisted he will serve out the remainder of his second term until 2027, no matter which party wins.
Russia downs 36 Ukraine-launched drones
- Ukrainian drones launched overnight targeting Russian territory
