By ANI

NEW DELHI: India and the European Union on Tuesday held their second maritime safety dialogue in a digital format, throughout which either side dedicated to a free, open, inclusive, and rules-based maritime order within the Indo-Pacific area.

The Ministry of Exterior Affairs (MEA) stated in a launch stated the consultations included developments within the maritime safety surroundings, coverage developments protecting the EU technique for cooperation within the Indo-Pacific and India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans’ Initiative, India-EU maritime cooperation, and regional initiatives to deal with worldwide maritime safety points.

India and the EU mentioned cooperation, together with within the discipline of maritime area consciousness, capacity-building, and joint naval actions, following their profitable joint naval train within the Gulf of Aden in June 2021, the discharge stated.

“India and the EU are dedicated to a free, open, inclusive and rules-based maritime order within the Indo-Pacific area, underpinned by respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty, democracy, rule of regulation, freedom of navigation and overflight, unimpeded lawful commerce, and peaceable decision of disputes in accordance with worldwide regulation, notably the United Nations Conference on Legislation of the Sea (UNCLOS),” the MEA stated.

ALSO READ: Indian Navy’s joint maritime train to boost Inter-Service synergy concludes

The assembly was co-chaired by Sandeep Arya, Joint Secretary for Disarmament and Worldwide Safety Affairs at Ministry of Exterior Affairs, India, and Joanneke Balfoort, Director for Safety and Defence Coverage on the European Exterior Motion Service. 

By PTI

CAIRO: A number one rights group on Monday urged the European Union to reverse its migration coverage on Libya, saying the strategy helps return migrants to “hellish” situations within the North African nation.

Amnesty Worldwide mentioned in an announcement greater than 82,000 migrants had been intercepted and returned to Libya up to now 5 years for the reason that EU started its cooperation with Libyan authorities to dam migrants from reaching European shores.

A lot of those that have been returned to Libya — together with ladies and kids — are held in government-run detention facilities the place they undergo from abuse, together with torture, rape and extortion, the group mentioned. Different migrants had been forcibly disappeared, Amnesty mentioned.

“EU leaders’ cooperation with Libyan authorities is maintaining determined folks trapped in unimaginable horrors in Libya,” mentioned Matteo de Bellis, a migration researcher at Amnesty Worldwide. “It’s excessive time to place an finish to this callous strategy.”

Libya plunged into turmoil following the NATO-backed 2011 rebellion that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The North African nation has since emerged as a well-liked, if extraordinarily harmful, route towards Europe for these fleeing poverty and battle in Africa and the Center East.

Human traffickers have benefited from the chaos within the oil-rich nation, smuggling migrants by means of the nation’s prolonged border with six nations. They pack determined migrants into ill-equipped rubber boats, then embark on dangerous voyages throughout the Mediterranean Sea.

Lately, the EU accelerated efforts to stem the circulation of migrants by means of Libya. Some 455 million euros ($516 million) have been earmarked for Libya since 2015 by means of the EU’s Belief Fund for Africa, substantial quantities of which have gone to finance migration and border administration.

The EU cash, a lot of it funneled by means of Italy, has been used to coach employees and refurbish boats for Libyan authorities. The Libyan coast guard additionally obtained satellite tv for pc telephones and uniforms and can get three new patrol vessels within the subsequent two years.

U.N.-commissioned investigators mentioned in October that abuse and ailing remedy of migrants at sea, in detention facilities and by the hands of traffickers in Libya quantity to crimes in opposition to humanity.

That has added to rising criticism to Europe’s migration insurance policies. Not less than three requests have been filed to the Worldwide Felony Court docket, demanding that Libyan and European officers, in addition to traffickers, militiamen and others be investigated for crimes in opposition to humanity.

Amnesty mentioned Libya’s present authorities has continued to facilitate “additional abuses and entrench impunity.” It cited final month’s appointment of Mohammed Al-Khoja, a militia chief implicated in abuses in opposition to migrants, to go the Division for Combating Irregular Migration, which oversees the detention facilities.

De Bellis referred to as for the EU and its member states to cease the present strategy, and as a substitute deal with opening urgently wanted authorized pathways for the 1000’s trapped in Libya in want of worldwide safety.”

By ANI

NEW DELHI: As France takes on the EU Presidency, Exterior Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday reaffirmed the sturdy strategic partnership between India and France and stated this diplomatic relationship has steadily matured and it is now an opportune time to take it to the subsequent degree.

Earlier this month, France assumed the presidency of the Council of the European Union with impact. The nation will proceed to carry the rotating presidency for the subsequent six months. This era might show to be necessary for New Delhi which shares a detailed strategic partnership with Paris.

Throughout a digital occasion titled “The French Presidency: EU-India Partnership within the Indo Pacific”, Jaishankar cited how new and previous French plane flew throughout the Republic Day parade on Wednesday.

In an interplay with the French Overseas Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Jaishankar stated, “It is vitally simple to speak bout ideas like a strategic partnership. …Yesterday, we noticed the French plane flying on the finale of the Republic Day Parade. I point out this as a result of it’s a seen instance of the strategic between India and France.”

Jaishankar reminded how the India-France relationship has “steadily matured.” “It one thing that goes again a number of many years. After our nuclear check, France was one of many earliest nations with whom we engaged in a optimistic format,” the minister recalled.

With the passage of time, the connection has grown stronger, stated Jaishankar and added that the connection has grown stronger in a number of methods. “There may be defence, there’s nuclear and area, France has been a long-standing associate, an excellent associate, a dependable associate with whom, definitely it’s the need of our authorities to develop the connection and take it to the subsequent degree,” the minister stated.

Stating that ties are past the confines of slim bilateral areas, he added, “Although we’re situated in very completely different components of the world, truly on the large problems with the day our pondering is comparable. And that in my opinion is a powerful pressure which impels nearer partnership.” “I’m stressing the strategic and political points nevertheless it might be commerce and different points,” he added.

By AFP

BRUSSELS: The European Union on Thursday, January 27, 2022, launched a case on the World Commerce Group (WTO) in opposition to China for focusing on Lithuania over its stance on Taiwan. 

“Launching a WTO case just isn’t a step we take flippantly,” stated EU commerce chief Valdis Dombrovskis in an announcement.

“Nevertheless, after repeated failed makes an attempt to resolve the difficulty bilaterally, we see no different manner ahead than to request WTO dispute settlement consultations with China,” he added.

Lithuania, one of many smallest nations within the European Union, made waves in July when it allowed Taiwan to open a diplomatic outpost in Vilnius.

The transfer outraged Beijing, which doesn’t acknowledge Taiwan as a state and considers the island a rebellious territory of the mainland. 

By going to the WTO, the EU lent help to accusations by Lithuanian enterprise leaders and officers that the row has resulted in China blocking imports from Lithuania and different financial restrictions.

Dombrovskis stated that the bloc would proceed to pursue diplomatic options to the feud, and has raised the issue along with his Chinese language counterparts in latest weeks.

America has signaled its help for the European Union and Lithuania within the row.

By Related Press

BRUSSELS: Tensions soared Monday between Russia and the West, with NATO outlining a sequence of potential troop and ship deployments and Eire warning that upcoming Russian conflict video games off its coast wouldn’t be welcome whereas considerations abound that Moscow is planning to invade Ukraine.

The Western alliance’s assertion summed up strikes already introduced by particular person member international locations, however restating them underneath the NATO banner appeared geared toward exhibiting the alliance’s resolve. It was simply one among a sequence of bulletins that signalled the West is ramping up its rhetoric within the data conflict that has accompanied the Ukraine standoff.

Russia has massed an estimated 100,000 troops close to Ukraine’s border and is demanding that NATO promise it’ll by no means enable Ukraine to affix and that different actions, similar to stationing alliance troops in former Soviet bloc international locations, be curtailed. A few of these, like all pledge to completely bar Ukraine, are non-starters for NATO — making a seemingly intractable standoff that many worry can solely finish in conflict.

Russia denies it’s planning an invasion and has mentioned the Western accusations are merely a canopy for NATO’s personal deliberate provocations. Latest days have seen high-stakes diplomacy that failed to achieve any breakthrough and manoeuvring on either side.

On Monday, NATO mentioned that it’s beefing up its “deterrence” within the Baltic Sea space. Denmark is sending a frigate and deploying F-16 warplanes to Lithuania; Spain is sending three ships to affix NATO naval forces and 4 fighter jets to Bulgaria, and France stands able to ship troops to Romania. The Netherlands additionally plans to ship two F-35 fighter plane to Bulgaria from April.

Secretary-Basic Jens Stoltenberg mentioned the alliance will “take all essential measures to guard and defend all allies.” He mentioned: “We are going to all the time reply to any deterioration of our safety surroundings, together with by way of strengthening our collective defence.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov charged that it was NATO and the U.S. who had been behind “tensions escalating” in Europe, not Russia.

“All that is occurring not due to what we, Russia, are doing. That is occurring due to what NATO, the U.S. are doing,” Peskov mentioned throughout a convention name with reporters. He additionally cited U.S. media stories suggesting that Russia is evacuating its diplomats from Ukraine, one thing officers in Moscow denied.

The NATO announcement got here as European Union international ministers sought to placed on a recent show of unity in help of Ukraine, and paper over considerations about divisions on one of the best ways to confront any Russian aggression.

In a press release, the ministers mentioned the EU has stepped up sanction preparations they usually warned that “any additional army aggression by Russia in opposition to Ukraine could have large penalties and extreme prices.”

Individually, the EU additionally dedicated to extend monetary help for embattled Ukraine, vowing to push by way of a particular bundle of 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in loans and grants as quickly as doable.

The West is nervously watching Russian troop actions and conflict video games in Belarus for any indicators {that a} new invasion of Ukraine is imminent. Russia has already invaded Ukraine as soon as, annexing the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Moscow has additionally supported pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists preventing the Kyiv authorities within the Donbass area. Combating in japanese Ukraine has killed round 14,000 folks and nonetheless simmers.

Requested whether or not the EU would comply with a U.S. transfer and order the households of European embassy personnel in Ukraine to depart, EU international coverage chief Josep Borrell mentioned: “We’re not going to do the identical factor.” He mentioned he’s eager to listen to from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken about that call.

Britain on Monday additionally introduced it’s withdrawing some diplomats and dependents from its embassy in Kyiv. The International Workplace mentioned the transfer was “in response to the rising risk from Russia.”

Ukraine’s International Ministry spokesman, Oleg Nikolenko, mentioned the U.S. determination was “a untimely step” and an indication of “extreme warning.” He mentioned that Russia is sowing panic amongst Ukrainians and foreigners as a way to destabilize Ukraine.

Germany has issued no order, but it surely has introduced that the households of embassy staffers might go away if they want. International Minister Annalena Baerbock confused that “we should not contribute to unsettling the state of affairs additional; we have to proceed to help the Ukrainian authorities very clearly and above all preserve the soundness of the nation,”

Arriving on the EU assembly, Irish International Minister Simon Coveney mentioned he would inform his counterparts that Russia plans to holds conflict video games 240 kilometres (150 miles) off Eire’s southwest coast — in worldwide waters however inside Eire’s unique financial zone.

“This isn’t a time to extend army exercise and stress within the context of what’s occurring with and in Ukraine,” Coveney mentioned. “The truth that they’re selecting to do it on the western borders, if you happen to like, of the EU, off the Irish coast, is one thing that in our view is just not welcome.”

Among the member international locations closest to Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — have confirmed that they plan to ship U.S.-made anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, a transfer endorsed by the USA.

However questions have been raised about simply how unified the EU is. Various political, enterprise and power pursuits have lengthy divided the 27-country bloc in its method to Moscow. Round 40% of the EU’s pure gasoline imports come from Russia, a lot of it by way of pipelines throughout Ukraine — and lots of are skittish about being reduce off from that provide in winter, with costs already hovering.

The EU’s two main powers seem most cautious. French President Emmanuel Macron has renewed beforehand rejected requires an EU summit with Putin.

Late on Saturday, the pinnacle of the German navy, Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schoenbach, resigned after coming underneath hearth for saying that Ukraine wouldn’t regain the Crimean Peninsula, and for suggesting that Putin deserves “respect.”

Nonetheless, diplomats and officers mentioned hard-hitting sanctions are being drawn up with the EU’s government department, the European Fee. They had been reluctant to say what the measures could be or what motion by Russia may set off them, however mentioned they’d come inside days of any assault.

By Related Press

COPENHAGEN: A Taliban delegation plans to journey to Norway subsequent week for talks with the Norwegian authorities and a number of other allied nations, in addition to conferences with civil society activists and human rights defenders from Afghanistan.

The Norwegian International Ministry stated Friday that it has invited representatives of the Taliban to Oslo from Jan. 23 to Jan. 25. Norwegian newspaper VG stated particular representatives from the US, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and the European Union have been anticipated to participate.

The ministry didn’t touch upon the newspaper’s report.

Norwegian International Minister Anniken Huitfeldt pressured that the go to was “not a legitimation or recognition of the Taliban. However we should discuss to those that in observe govern the nation immediately.”

”We’re extraordinarily involved concerning the severe state of affairs in Afghanistan,” Huitfeldt stated, noting that financial and political circumstances have created “a full-scale humanitarian disaster for thousands and thousands of individuals” dealing with hunger within the nation.

The appearing international minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, will lead the Taliban delegation to Norway. The journey could be the primary time for the reason that Taliban took over the nation in August that their representatives have held official conferences in Europe. Earlier, they traveled to Russia, Iran, Qatar, Pakistan, China and Turkmenistan.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Afghan deputy tradition and knowledge minister, stated Muttaqi expects to carry separate conferences with the U.S. delegation and bilateral talks with European representatives.

The rights of ladies and women in Afghanistan are prone to characteristic prominently within the talks, together with the West’s recurring demand for the Taliban administration to share energy with Afghanistan’s minority ethnic and spiritual teams.

Muttaqi advised The Related Press in a uncommon interview in December that his authorities was dedicated to training for women and girls.

Deputy tradition minister Mujahid advised the AP on Saturday that the brand new Afghan rulers aimed to have colleges open for women and girls in late March, after the Afghan new yr.

Training for ladies presently is restricted past seventh grade in all however 10 provinces. Within the capital, Kabul, personal universities and excessive colleges have continued to function uninterrupted. Most are small, and the courses have all the time been segregated.

The Norwegian International Ministry stated the Taliban delegation’s conferences with Afghans in Norway would come with “girls leaders, journalists and individuals who work with, amongst different issues, human rights and humanitarian, financial, social and political points.”

Muttaqi is for certain to press the Taliban’s demand that just about $10 billion frozen by the US and different western nations be launched. The United Nations has managed to supply for some liquidity and allowed the brand new administration to pay for imports, together with electrical energy.

The U.N. has warned that as many as 1 million Afghan kids are at risk of ravenous, and many of the nation’s 38 million individuals are residing beneath the poverty line. Even earlier than the Taliban took energy, Afghanistan was desperately poor, with greater than 54% residing on $1.90 a day or much less.

Earlier this week, a Norwegian delegation visited Kabul for talks on the precarious humanitarian state of affairs within the nation, the International Ministry stated Friday.

Norwegian information company NTB stated the Taliban took half in secret talks in Norway when the present prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, served as international minister, which was from 2005 to 2012. The International Ministry stated Norway “for years has had a dialogue with the Taliban.”

Norway additionally was the nation that opened secret talks between the U.S. and the Taliban as America started to press for nationwide reconciliation, hinting as early as 2013 that the battle couldn’t be gained militarily. This led to the opening of the Taliban’s political workplace in Doha, Qatar, the place in 2018 Washington launched negotiations for the ultimate withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan culminating within the chaotic finish to the warfare in August.

The International Ministry in Oslo stated that Afghanistan is experiencing drought, pandemics, financial collapse and the consequences of years of battle. In line with them, some 24 million individuals expertise acute meals insecurity and are not sure of how you can acquire sufficient meals. It’s reported that 1 million kids could die of hunger.

It added that the U.N. estimates that famine will have an effect on greater than half of the inhabitants this winter and that 97% of the inhabitants could fall beneath the poverty line this yr.

“Norway continues to interact in dialogue with the Taliban to advertise human rights, girls’s participation in society, and to strengthen humanitarian and financial efforts in Afghanistan in assist of the Afghan individuals,” the International Ministry stated in a press release.

In line with the Norwegian International Ministry, the Scandinavian nation that’s residence to the Nobel Peace Prize has prior to now been concerned in peace efforts in a variety of nations, together with Mozambique, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Colombia, the Philippines, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Syria, Myanmar, Somalia, Sri Lanka and South Sudan.