by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Hajer M’tiri,
Paris: France on Tuesday announced it was sanctioning nearly 25 people and companies involved in the transfer of materials and substances that may have been used to manufacture chemical weapons in Syria.
Published in the government’s official gazette, the list includes the names and addresses of traders and businesses mostly based in Beirut, Damascus and Paris. A Chinese businessperson from the export hub of Guangdong is also in the list.
The penalty, which consists of asset freezes, targets Syrian, Lebanese and Canadian individuals with companies operating in a number of sectors, such as electronics, logistics, shipping, and metal.
They have all been targeted for being “active intermediaries” of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center — the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons incubator — by “facilitating the supply of goods involved in the production of chemical weapons, including toxic synthetics, such as sarin gas,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire explained in a joint statement.
The list, however, does not include any Syrian officials working for the Assad regime.
The ministers pointed out they lacked sufficient evidence to “take this up to the political level”.
The move comes as Paris hosts 29 foreign ministers and diplomats who have come together to create an “International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons”.
The series of commitments stated in the declaration of principles aims at strengthening cooperation in the fight against impunity for those who use or develop chemical weapons, according to a French Foreign Ministry statement.
“They [leaders] will agree to make any information they were able to obtain on the perpetrators of chemical attacks available to the international community, international investigative organizations (UN, OPCW), and the public,” the statement said, adding that the partnership in no way intended to replace existing international mechanisms, nor did it plan to conduct its own investigations.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict, mainly by regime airstrikes indiscriminately targeting opposition-held areas, while millions more have been displaced.
During the conflict, the Assad regime has been accused many times by international actors of targeting Syrian civilians with chemical weapons.
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Hajer M’tiri,
Paris: The French state’s annual budget deficit fell by 1.3 billion euros in 2017 compared to 2016 to reach 67.8 billion euros, its lowest level since 2008, the French Ministry of Public Accounts revealed on Tuesday.
The previous Socialist government had initially planned a budget deficit of 69.3 billion euros for 2017, but this objective had been revised upwards to 74.1 billion euros by the current government, due to unbudgeted expenses by the outgoing team.
This figure reflects “the respect of the commitments made by the government in terms of control of expenditure and deficit reduction,” said Minister of Public Accounts Gerald Darmanin in a statement.
The ministry explained the unexpected good news for Emmanuel Macron’s government was due to the strong value added sales tax and corporate tax as the economy picked up speed in the second half of the year, while government spending was kept in check.
In line with the rules set by the European treaties, the government has pledged to reduce the public deficit in 2017 to below 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), for the first time in 10 years.
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News
By Arul Louis,
New York : India will “leapfrog” Britain and France to become the world’s fifth largest economy in 2018, ahead of an oncoming major global economic shift towards Asia, according to a British research organisation.
The World Economic League Table (WELT) 2018 released on Monday by Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said that in dollar terms India will rise from its seventh rank to overtake those European economies next year despite the stumble of demonetisation and the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
“The World Economic League Table shows that despite temporary setbacks from demonetisation and the introduction of the new GST tax, India’s economy has still catch up with that of France and the UK and in 2018 will have overtaken them both to become the world’s fifth largest economy in dollar terms,” said CEBR Deputy Chairman Douglas McWilliams.
The CEBR projections give India the fifth spot a year ahead of the International Monetary Fund estimates, which move it up in 2019.
According to the IMF, the size of India’s economy is currently $2.439 trillion. With an annual growth rate of 6.7 per cent in 2017 and 7.4 in 2018, it expects the size of India’s economy to be $2.926 trillion in 2019, when it will pull ahead of France and Britain according to its projections.
The world’s largest economies now are the US ($19.362 trillion), China ($11.937 trillion), Japan ($4.884 trillion), Germany ($3.652 trillion), France ($2.575 trillion), Britain ($2.565 trillion) and India, according to the IMF.
CEBR charts a trend of global economic shift to Asia.
“The interesting trend emerging is that by 2032, five of the 10 largest economies will be in Asia, while European economies will be falling down the ranking and the US will lose its top spot,” CEBR Senior Economist Oliver Kolodseike said.
According to WELT estimate, by 2032 three out of the world’s four largest economies will be Asian – China, India and Japan.
Korea and Indonesia are expected to join list of the world’s top 10 economies, with Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines and Pakistan making the top 25 list.
Construction activities are expected to get a tremendous boost, mainly because of India and China, according to CEBR.
“Construction’s share of world GDP is to reach its highest level ever, driven by ultra large global transformational projects,” Graham Robinson, director of Global Construction Perspectives, said.
“The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and the Indian infrastructural project will boost construction’s share of world GDP to 15 per cent by 2032, probably the highest share of world GDP construction has seen since the pyramids or Great Wall of China were built.”
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Halal Food, Halal Industries, World
Paris : The court of Nanterre in the western suburbs of Paris in France has ruled that a halal supermarket in the Colombes to be closed down and its rental lease to be canceled after it failed to heed warnings that it must “sell pork and alcohol products.”
The supermarket had come under fire last year in August by Nicole Goueta, mayor of Colombes and local authorities for “not catering to the general public.”
The matter was taken to court after the owner of the market objected accusations that it was “discriminatory” and not following the conditions on its lease which stipulated that the market must act as a “general food store.”
The court said that the market had not added alcohol and non-halal meats to its range of products and therefore went against its lease, and ruled its lease to be canceled while ordering the owner of the shop to pay 4,000 euros’ worth of court fees and empty the premises, Daily Sabah News reported.
The warnings to the market came after locals complained that they could no longer get a broad range of products at the now-halal market, which had replaced a regular supermarket and had to travel further to get the products they desired.
The market owner had told Le Parisien, a French daily newspaper, that he did not sell pork or alcohol because he took the supply-demand balance into account in the neighborhood. Many on social media had come to the owner’s rescue, saying there were many specialty shops across France which only sold specific products, and that authorities’ insistence was a “discriminatory” practice.
—SM/OIC-UNA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Paris : Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian signed here on Tuesday 11 cooperation agreements in the fields of education, energy, health, social protection and training.
Several agreements were signed on the sidelines of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s visit to France, to support the Egyptian government’s economic and social reforms, develop renewable energies and strengthen cooperation to train youth, an official source said in a statement.
The two sides signed a declaration to develop the French University of Egypt and a loan agreement between the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Egyptian government to support the energy sector, as well as an agreement to fund health centers in five governorates.
The agreements are also for the construction of five solar power plants with a total capacity of 225 MWs, in addition to the provision of a loan to support the social protection reform and the launch of a technical support program with the ministry of electricity.
The two sides further signed an agreement to enhance cooperation in the field of training leading cadres in the administrative body of the state, and another agreement to establish an “Egyptian headquarters” in the International University City of Paris.
—Ayman Mohammed/AB/OIC-UNA
