Flowerbud News

Category: Foreign

  • Court postpones judgment in Reuters journalists case due to judge’s ill health

    Court postpones judgment in Reuters journalists case due to judge’s ill health

    The verdict in Myanmar’s prosecution of two Reuters reporters accused of breaching the Official Secrets Act was postponed on Monday until Sept. 3 because the judge overseeing the case is sick, a court official said.
    Scores of reporters and diplomats had gathered at the Yangon court to hear the verdict on journalists Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, the culmination of eight months of hearings in a landmark case that has come to be seen as a test of progress towards democracy in the Southeast Asian country.

    “We are disappointed not to have received the judge’s decision today,” Reuters said in a statement.

    “Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have already spent more than eight months in prison based on allegations of a crime they did not commit.

    “We look forward to the receiving the verdict next week, when we very much hope that they will be acquitted and reunited with their families.”

    The climax of the case comes amid building pressure on the administration of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi over a security crackdown in the western state of Rakhine that was sparked by militant attacks in August 2017.

    Later on Monday a UN mandated fact-finding mission will release a report on the crackdown, which triggered the exodus of more than 700,000 stateless Muslim Rohingya, according to UN agencies.

    Most are now living in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh.

    On Tuesday, the UN Security Council will hold a briefing on Myanmar in New York.

    Monday’s court proceedings lasted just a few minutes, long enough for a judge standing in for Judge Ye Lwin, who has overseen the case against the Reuters journalists, to announce that a ruling would be made.

    “The judge is in poor health, so I am here to announce that the verdict is postponed to the third,” said Judge Khin Maung Maung.

    Defence lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told reporters that the stand-in judge had said the verdict was ready but it had to be pronounced by the judge assigned to the case.

    Wa Lone smiled broadly and made a thumbs-up sign with his hands in cuffs as he walked into the court, with Kyaw Soe Oo just behind him.

    “We are not afraid or shaken. The truth is on our side. Whatever the situation is, we will not be shaken.

    `They cannot make us weak,” Wa Lone told reporters after the brief hearing.

    Several journalists who came to cover the verdict wore T-shirts that read “Free Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo” and “Journalism is not a crime.”

    The Reuters reporters are accused of breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison, by collecting documents relating to the country’s security forces.

    They told the court during their trial that two police officials handed them papers at a north Yangon restaurant moments before other officers arrested them last December.

    One police witness testified the restaurant meeting was a set-up to entrap the journalists to block or punish them for their reporting of a mass killing of Rohingya and other abuses involving soldiers and police in Inn Din, a village in Rakhine.

    The UN has called the military’s campaign in northern Rakhine a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

    Myanmar has denied allegations of killings, rapes and arson made by refugees against its security forces, saying it conducted a legitimate counterinsurgency operation against Muslim militants.

    But the military acknowledged the killing of the 10 Rohingya men and boys at Inn Din after arresting the Reuters reporters.

    In April the military said seven soldiers had been sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor for their part in the killings. (Reuters/NAN)

  • UN remembers victims of Baghdad, Abuja UN building bombings

    Victims of the UN building bombings in Baghdad, Abuja and others cities around the world have been remembered by the United Nations to commemorate the 2018 World Humanitarian Day.

    Remembering 22 colleagues killed by the “horrific terrorist attack” on the UN headquarters in Baghdad 15 years ago, Secretary-General António Guterres called on all staff to pay tribute to the fallen by “continuing their mission,” and going to “dangerous places with the aim of making them safer”.

    In a wreath-laying ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York, Guterres reminded the people of the UN core commitment to stand “with those who are suffering, to bring them the relief they need”.

    The UN chief  said the attack, which was the first time the UN was deliberately targeted on a massive scale, “was traumatising for the whole organisation, and we learned some very difficult lessons”.

    “Before and since that day, United Nations staff have been targeted by those who would like to weaken us and make us afraid to do our jobs. From Algiers to Kabul to Mogadishu, Abuja and beyond, terrorists have attempted to silence and to banish us,” Guterres said.

    The Abuja UN building was attacked with a car bomb  on Aug. 26, 2011. Twenty one people were killed  and 60 wounded.  Boko Haram  claimed responsibility.

    The car  broke through two security barriers, and its driver detonated the bomb after crashing it into the reception area, causing devastation to the building’s lower floors.

    Then Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, said: “This is not an attack on Nigeria but on the global community. An attack on the world”, while then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the attack as an “assault on those who devote themselves to helping others”.

    In September 2011, the Nigerian Department of State Security alleged that Mamman Nur was the mastermind behind the attack and offered a 26 million naira bounty, while  four men appeared in an Abuja magistrates’ court charged with organising the bombing.

    After observing a minute’s silence, Guterres  said the fallen UN staff had “made the ultimate sacrifice for the values and the Charter of the UN.

    Addressing the audience, which included families and colleagues of the deceased, he said “this was a huge personal loss to so many of us. And an even greater blow to the families of those who were killed”.

    However, Guterres regretted that “the mechanisms in place to look after survivors and the families of victims were inadequate, and it has taken too many years to improve them”.

    While restating that the work of the UN “will never be free from risk,” the Secretary-General stressed that he was “committed to improving security for all United Nations staff”.

    “The blue flag of the United Nations flies high because of the brave women and men who carry it to the farthest corners of the world,” he said, adding that “the legacy of the humanitarian workers, the peacekeepers, the military and civilian staff who have given their lives is lasting and will be ever-present in our hearts”.

    The Nigerian Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative, Amb. Samson Itegboje, represented Nigeria at the event, while some victims of the bombings from Nigeria and other countries, some of whom preferred their identities to be protected, were present at the event.

    Itegboje, who regretted the unfortunate bombing, however, noted that Boko Haram terrorists had been driven out of Nigeria’s territory since 2015 when the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari came on board,  and were now restricted to carrying out suicide bombings on unsuspecting citizens.

    The Nigerian envoy said credit must be given to Buhari for providing leadership in ensuring that the terrorist group, which hitherto held territories and hoisted flags in many local government areas across three Northeast States, and frequently attacked cities including Abuja, had been largely decimated.

  • Court orders U.S. company to pay $500m in damages for dumping cancer causing chemicals in Taiwan

    Taiwan’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a U.S. electronic company to pay 500 million dollars in damages to 486 workers and families for  dumping cancer-causing chemical solvents at factory sites in Taiwan.

    In October 2017, the Taiwan High Court ruled that U.S. electronics firm RCA and its successor companies must pay 718.4 million Taiwan dollars in damages to 486 workers and their families.

    RCA’s successor companies include Technicolor S.A., Thomson Consumer Electronics (Burmuda) and General Electric.

    The Supreme Court upheld the court’s decision but asked it to examine the claims of 246 plaintiffs to clarify the association between their symptoms and past exposure to toxic solvents.

    “We don’t think we lost the battle,” Joseph Lin, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told a news conference outside the court, vowing to continue to help those plaintiffs.
    According to Joseph, it is meaningful that Taiwan’s Supreme Court upheld liability of RCA and its successor companies.

    With dozens of affected workers and their supporters, Liu Ho-yun, who heads a self-help group organised by former RCA employees, said they had been fighting for justice for two decades.

    “We won’t stop until the last plaintiff wins,” she said.

    At factory sites in Taoyuan and Chupei in northern Taiwan, run by RCA from the late 1960s to 1992, untreated solvents were discharged into secret wells and polluted the groundwater.

    According to the self-help group, more than 200 former RCA workers have died of liver and lung cancer since the 1990s.

    The case has been described as the worst-ever work-related health incident in Taiwan. (dpa/NAN)

  • Zimbabwe president challenges opposition petition against his election victory

    Zimbabwe president challenges opposition petition against his election victory

    President Emmerson Mnangagwa of  Zimbabwe has filed submissions
    in the country’s highest court opposing a court challenge to his victory by main opposition leader
    Nelson Chamisa, one of Mnangagwa’s lawyers said on Wednesday.

    Chamisa has said the July 30 vote was rigged and challenged the result which gave Mnangagwa 2.46 million
    votes against 2.15 million votes for him.

    In the petition on Friday, Chamisa’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) filed their paperwork
    with Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court, alleging the result of the July 30 election
    had been rigged in favour of incumbent Mnangagwa, the leader of the ruling ZANU-PF party.

    Party lawyers arrived at the court in the capital, Harare, with plastic boxes full of paperwork.

    Zimbabwe’s electoral commission has said Mnangagwa won the election, the first without longtime President
    Robert Mugabe on the ballot form, garnering 50.8 per cent of the vote against 44.3 per cent for Chamisa.

    Chamisa has claimed he won 56 per cent of votes and called the election “fraudulent, illegal and illegitimate”.

    Judges have 14 days to rule on the case, delaying the inauguration of Mnangagwa which was scheduled for Sunday.

    Mnangagwa, who took over after a military intervention in November 2017, had vowed the first elections after
    the conclusion of Mugabe’s 37-year rule would be free and fair.

    EU observers said that the ZANU-PF candidate had benefitted from an “un-level playing field” and some voter
    intimidation, though international monitors largely praised the conduct of the election.

    On Aug. 1, clashes broke out between security forces and opposition supporters.

    Six died after soldiers opened fire on the protesters in a response the opposition alliance called
    “disproportionate and unjustified”.

    On Aug. 9, opposition figure Tendai Biti was detained by Zimbabwean police after Zambian authorities
    rejected his bid for asylum.

    Police declared Biti and eight other opposition leaders wanted for allegedly fomenting violence following
    the disputed national election.(Reuters/NAN)
    SH

  • Nigeria, India trade hits $12 bn – High Commissioner

    By Temitope Ponle

    The trade volume between India and Nigeria hit 12 billion dollars between April 2017 to March 2018, Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Nagabhushana Reddy, has said.

    Reddy said this while speaking with newsmen at a flag hoisting ceremony to mark the 72nd Independence of India in Abuja on Wednesday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the trade figures between both countries as at January 2018 was 10 billion dollars.

    The high commissioner, however, said that the current figures represented a 26 per cent increase from the previous financial year.

    “Looking at the bilateral relations, our financial year is from April last year to March this year. We have been able to register 12 billion dollars of bilateral trade which marks an increase of 26 per cent from the previous year.”

    He reiterated that Nigeria remained one of India’s major exporter of crude oil, adding that both countries were exploring other areas of bilateral relations.

    “We are looking at bringing more Indian companies here and looking at not just a buyer-seller arrangement but to do more investments.

    “As of today, Indian companies have invested about 10 billion dollars and I think there are about 135 Indian companies in Nigeria.

    “I can mention that Indian investments are in the field of pharmaceuticals, electrical manufacturing, assembly lines for automobiles particularly agricultural related.”

    The envoy said that 2018 also marked 60 years of diplomatic relations between both countries adding that several programmes were being organised to harness various areas of cooperation.

    Reddy said that the upcoming India-West Africa conclave was one of such programmes being organised to bring together chambers of commerce business people and policy makers.

    “We will be inviting all the 15 West African countries at the trade ministers’ level to review existing arrangements and to see how we can harness the complementarities that exist between our two regions.

    “With a number of planned events we are looking at within the year, I am very confident that we will be able to take the already existing strategic partnership that India has with Nigeria to the next high level.”

    He further said that the recently announced 10 guiding principles for deepening India’s engagement with Africa would foster future relations with Nigeria in line with the Federal Government’s economic growth plan.

    “In November 1958, India established the diplomatic house in Lagos; that that was the beginning of our journey.

    “Our prime minister has initiated the 10 guiding principles of India and our prime minister’s drive is to see that we can support your national efforts, to merge with your economic growth plan and national priorities.

    “We would like to bring about a transformation in our engagement which is mutually beneficial.”

    Furthermore, the envoy said that India had trained about 8000 African nationals since 2015, in various capacity building programmes with more than 500 Nigerian officials benefiting from the training opportunities.

    He further reiterated the Indian Government’s commitment to stronger relations with Nigeria and Africa as a whole. (NAN)       edited by Sadiya Hanza

  • Pakistan president pays tribute to victims of anti-terror war in Independence Day speech

    President Mamnoon Hussain of Pakistan on Tuesday paid tribute
    to security personnel who have scarified lives in the war against terrorism, saying that their
    sacrifices have eliminated the scourge of terrorism in the country.

    Hussain was addressing the national flag hoisting ceremony in the capital Islamabad as part of the
    Independence Day celebrations of Pakistan.

    Pakistan got independence from the British colonial rule on Aug. 14, 1947 after a heroic struggle
    under the leadership of Muhammad Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.

    The day dawned with a 31 gun salute in the Federal Capital and 21 gun salute in the provincial
    headquarters.

    The main feature of the celebrations was the national flag hoisting ceremony in Islamabad.

    Hussain and caretaker Prime Minister Nasir ul-Mulk joined hands to hoist the flag at a ceremony
    attended by diplomats, lawmakers, military and civil officials and important personalities.

    President Hussain mentioned the parliamentary elections held on July 25 and said that in spite of
    terrorist attacks, the elections were held with the full participation of the people.

    Deadly terrorist attacks in southwestern Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces
    killed nearly 200 people, including three candidates in July.

    The Taliban and Islamic State group had claimed the attacks.

    The president noted that this year the general elections coincided with the Independence Day.

    “This also envisages a message that the decisions in the country which was achieved through a
    democratic struggle will also be taken through the power of vote.

    “I want to remember and pay homage to all those who sacrificed lives for the country and the system.

    “Terrorists could not break the will of the people,” the president said.

    He also called for peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute with India in accordance with the UN
    resolutions. (Xinhua/NAN)

  • Poland’s president vetoes altered election rules

    Poland’s president vetoes altered election rules

    President Andrzej Duda of Polnad on Thursday vetoed a law proposed by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party that would benefit bigger parties such as PiS and its main opposition grouping in European Parliament elections next year.

    “I’ve decided to veto this bill. This change would mean that the effective electoral threshold would rise to as much as 16.5 per cent from five per cent,” Duda said.

    “This means only two parties would have a real chance of winning representation in the European Parliament,” Duda said.

    A PiS ally, Duda may need the support of smaller parties to secure re-election in 2020. (Reuters/NAN)

  • Hajj 2018: NAHCON concludes pilgrims’ transportation, flies 37,746 to Saudi Arabia

    Hajj 2018: NAHCON concludes pilgrims’ transportation, flies 37,746 to Saudi Arabia

    The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) on Friday concluded the transportation of Nigeria’s pilgrims to this year’s Hajj with the arrival of about 190, making up 37,746 pilgrims now in Saudi Arabia.

    The last batch flew in to the country through a Fly Nass airline from Abuja, which conveyed five pilgrims from Kaduna State, 14 members  of medical team and 171 others.

    The operation was conducted in 101 flights undertaken by Max Air, Fly Nass and Medview Ltd. from various locations in Nigeria,and had targeted  55,000 pilgrims.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Hajj inaugural flight took off with 446 Kogi Pilgrims on July 21 in Abuja, followed by 382 from Nasarawa State.

    With the latest, 37,746 Nigerian pilgrims have now joined about 1.6 million  pilgrims worldwide performing the Hajj in the Holy land this year.

    The Saudi Government had announced the figure, saying 233,000 of the total were domestic pilgrims now in Makkah,while others were being expected.

    Saudi’s General Overseer of Passports, Sulaiman Al-Yahya, said 18 individuals were being prosecuted for illegally transporting pilgrims without permits.

    The Nigerian pilgrims are also expected to join others worldwide to perform the Hajj rites on Monday on Arafat Day, and later observe the Eid-El-Kabir on Tuesday. (NAN)

  • https://flowerbudnews.ng/kawu-explains-wh…ioned-jay-fm-jos/

    By Prudence Arobani

    Victims of the UN building bombings in Baghdad, Abuja and others cities around the world have been remembered by the United Nations to commemorate the 2018 World Humanitarian Day.

    Remembering 22 colleagues killed by the “horrific terrorist attack” on the UN headquarters in Baghdad 15 years ago, Secretary-General António Guterres called on all staff to pay tribute to the fallen by “continuing their mission,” and going to “dangerous places with the aim of making them safer”.

    In a wreath-laying ceremony at the UN headquarters in New York, Guterres reminded the people of the UN core commitment to stand “with those who are suffering, to bring them the relief they need”.

    The UN chief  said the attack, which was the first time the UN was deliberately targeted on a massive scale, “was traumatising for the whole organisation, and we learned some very difficult lessons”.

    “Before and since that day, United Nations staff have been targeted by those who would like to weaken us and make us afraid to do our jobs. From Algiers to Kabul to Mogadishu, Abuja and beyond, terrorists have attempted to silence and to banish us,” Guterres said.

    The Abuja UN building was attacked with a car bomb  on Aug. 26, 2011. Twenty one people were killed  and 60 wounded.  Boko Haram  claimed responsibility.

    The car  broke through two security barriers, and its driver detonated the bomb after crashing it into the reception area, causing devastation to the building’s lower floors.

    Then Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, said: “This is not an attack on Nigeria but on the global community. An attack on the world”, while then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the attack as an “assault on those who devote themselves to helping others”.

    In September 2011, the Nigerian Department of State Security alleged that Mamman Nur was the mastermind behind the attack and offered a 26 million naira bounty, while  four men appeared in an Abuja magistrates’ court charged with organising the bombing.

    After observing a minute’s silence, Guterres  said the fallen UN staff had “made the ultimate sacrifice for the values and the Charter of the UN.

    Addressing the audience, which included families and colleagues of the deceased, he said “this was a huge personal loss to so many of us. And an even greater blow to the families of those who were killed”.

    However, Guterres regretted that “the mechanisms in place to look after survivors and the families of victims were inadequate, and it has taken too many years to improve them”.

    While restating that the work of the UN “will never be free from risk,” the Secretary-General stressed that he was “committed to improving security for all United Nations staff”.

    “The blue flag of the United Nations flies high because of the brave women and men who carry it to the farthest corners of the world,” he said, adding that “the legacy of the humanitarian workers, the peacekeepers, the military and civilian staff who have given their lives is lasting and will be ever-present in our hearts”.

    The Nigerian Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative, Amb. Samson Itegboje, represented Nigeria at the event, while some victims of the bombings from Nigeria and other countries, some of whom preferred their identities to be protected, were present at the event.

    Itegboje, who regretted the unfortunate bombing, however, noted that Boko Haram terrorists had been driven out of Nigeria’s territory since 2015 when the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari came on board,  and were now restricted to carrying out suicide bombings on unsuspecting citizens.

    The Nigerian envoy said credit must be given to Buhari for providing leadership in ensuring that the terrorist group, which hitherto held territories and hoisted flags in many local government areas across three Northeast States, and frequently attacked cities including Abuja, had been largely decimated. (NAN)
    APT/

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