by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
United Nations : The UN Security Council has failed to adopt two competing draft resolutions on Venezuela, sponsored by the US and Russia respectively.
The US draft received nine votes in favour, three against, and three abstentions in the 15-member council, on Thursday. Russia and China, as well as South Africa, vetoed the resolution, Xinhua reported.
Minutes later, the Security Council voted on the Russian draft, which received four votes in favour, seven against and four abstentions.
The US draft stresses the need to prevent further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Venezuela and to facilitate unhindered access and delivery of assistance to all in need in the entirety of the territory of Venezuela in accordance with humanitarian principles.
The Russian draft, on the contrary, calls that international assistance should be provided with the consent of, and on the basis of an appeal by, the government of Venezuela. It also urges the settlement of the current situation through peaceful means and supports all initiatives aimed at reaching a political solution among Venezuelans.
Thursday’s Security Council meeting is the third on the situation in Venezuela in just over a month due to the escalation of political tension facing the Latin American country.
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, said that the meeting “may be exploited as a step for preparations of a real, not humanitarian, intervention,” adding that it may cause the alleged inability of the Security Council to resolve the situation in Venezuela.
“At the Security Council, on the Venezuelan issue, our starting point is to uphold the spirit of the UN Charter and the basic principles governing international relations, promote a peaceful settlement of the Venezuelan issue and maintain long-term peace, stability and development in Latin America,” said Wu Haitao, China’s deputy permanent representative to the UN.
China opposes external forces interfering in Venezuela internal affairs and opposes military intervention in Venezuela, he stressed.
Venezuela has been plunged into a political crisis since January 23 when National Assembly President Juan Guaido declared himself interim president and was recognized by the United States and some other countries.
A US-backed drive to deliver “humanitarian aid” to Venezuela through border crossings on February 23 met strong resistance from the Venezuelan government as President Nicolas Maduro believed the aid, mainly from the US, is a smokescreen for a military invasion.
The Venezuelan government has closed borders with Brazil and Colombia and some air and sea routes.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : The US House of Representatives has approved a Bill expanding background checks for all gun sales, including those at gun shows and on the internet.
The Bipartisan Background Check Act seeks to close loopholes that allow people to buy guns without being subjected to a federal background check — under current law, private purchases are excluded from those checks.
The legislation is the most significant gun control measure to make progress in Congress in more than two decades.
The Democratic-controlled House passed it by 240 votes to 190 but the Bill was unlikely to be approved in the Senate, where Republicans have a majority, the BBC reported on Thursday.
President Donald Trump would also need to sign it for it to become a law.
Critics of the legislation, including many Republicans, say the changes would not have stopped many of the recent mass shootings, including the one at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018 in which 17 persons were killed, which sparked the largest student-led activism for stronger restrictions.
Campaigners say there is strong public support for expanded checks and increasing dissatisfaction with congressional inaction.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Damscus : A Syrian-Russian joint coordination committee has demanded the US forces to withdraw from Syria, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.
The Joint Coordination Committee for Return of Syrian Refugees said in a statement that the US must withdraw its forces, which are illegally present on Syrian soil, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Syrian government in coordination with the Russian side will organise humanitarian convoys as of the beginning of March to help return the displaced Syrians in the Rukban camp in southeastern Syria to their areas, said the statement.
The US forces in the al-Tanf area are preventing aid convoys from reaching the camp, which is controlled by the rebels near the Syrian-Jordanian border, it said.
The humanitarian convoys would reach the area in coordination with the UN, the statement added.
The Syrian and Russian sides opened two humanitarian corridors near al-Tanf for the evacuation of people from al-Rukban on February 19.
The statement charged that the US forces in al-Tanf were preventing the people from leaving the camp.
The Rukban camp is home to 50,000 displaced Syrians, who are suffering from the harsh humanitarian situation because of the cold weather and lack of supplies.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He expressed optimism that the two countries would reach a trade agreement and defuse a dispute between the world’s two largest economies, as both sides agreed to continue their negotiations for two more days.
“I would say that it’s more likely that a deal will happen,” Trump told the media on Friday at the White House.
“The fact that they’re willing to stay for quite a bit longer period, doubling up the time, that means something,” Trump said, adding: “I think there’s a good chance that it happens.”
Speaking through an interpreter, Liu, China’s top trade negotiator, said: “We believe that it is very likely that it will happen. And we hope that ultimately we will have a deal.”
Liu has been granted authority to negotiate directly with the US by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Voice of America (VOA) news reported.
Liu also brought a letter from Xi where the President thaned Trump for the “lovely video” the Trumps’ grandchildren made for Xi and his wife to mark the Chinese Lunar New Year.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed that talks have been extended through Sunday.
Trump also appeared to ease on his threat to more than double tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods if no deal is achieved by the March 1 deadline which was agreed by the two leaders during a December 1 meeting in Buenos Aires.
“You can tell this to President Xi,” Trump said to Liu. “If I see progress being made, substantial progress being made, it would not be inappropriate to extend that deadline, keep it at 10 per cent instead of raising it to 25 per cent. And I would be inclined to doing that.”
The US is calling on China to make structural changes on key issues such as stopping the theft of American technology and reining in improper subsidies and other advantages provided to state-owned companies.
Trump said he expected to meet Xi to work out the finer points of the deal. “Probably in Mar-a-Lago, probably fairly soon.”
The two countries imposed more than $360 billion in tariffs in two-way trade last year, after Trump triggered the trade dispute over complaints of unfair trade practices, the VOA reported.
The tariffs have weighed heavily on both countries’ manufacturing sectors and raised concern they could exacerbate the global economic slowdown.
In Friday’s meeting, Mnuchin told Trump that “currency manipulation”, a significant sticking point in the trade talks, had been resolved.
“We’ve actually concluded and reached an agreement, one of the strongest agreements ever on currency, but we have a lot of work to do over the next two days,” Mnuchin said.
Details of the currency deal or any other part of the agreement have not yet been released.
This week’s round of talks in Washington was originally scheduled to last two days.
In pursuit of an accord, China has already adopted several goodwill measures, such as lowering tariffs on imported vehicles from the US, resuming soy purchases from the US and introducing an initiative that would prohibit forced technology transfer from American countries doing business in the Asian nation.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US State Department on Friday said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Japanese counterpart discussed the next-step engagement with North Korea over phone.
Pompeo and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Thursday reaffirmed their shared commitment to the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, the State Department said in a statement, reports Xinhua.
The two also committed to strengthening trilateral cooperation with the Republic of Korea on a unified approach toward North Korea, according to the statement.
The phone call between the two allies’ top diplomats came one day after US President Donald Trump’s call with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The White House said Wednesday that the two leaders committed to coordinating closely in advance of the US-North Korea upcoming Hanoi summit.
Trump announced on February 8 that his second meeting with North Korea’s top leader Kim Jong Un would take place in Hanoi of Vietnam on February 27-28.
—IANS
