There has been alarm over leftwing New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden breaking ranks with the Five Eyes security partnership in refusing to join the UK, US, Australia and Canada in condemning the ending of democracy and arrest of Communist opponents in Hong Kong. Privately, there are also concerns about the European Union signing a deal with China this month.
In the US Joe Biden last week returned campaign donations from a former Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer who registered as an agent of the Chinese companyHikivision which was blacklisted in 2019 for its alleged involvement in China’s repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province.
A source close to the ISC pointed out that concerns had already been high following an investigation by the Sunday Express into the way Chinese state media was buying up academics from British universities to help with propaganda.
This previously includedProfessor Thom Brooks, the Dean of Durham University,an advisor to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, although he quit his role withChina Global Television Network (CGTN) when he learnt about the links to the Chinese government.
“The committee has an investigation ongoing into the threat posed by China and part of that is the problem of useful fools,” the source noted.
“These are individuals, countries and international bodies who are attracted to Chinese money more than ideology but there is definitely an issue with mainstream parties of the left being open to working with China.”
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called for a “pause” in a trade dispute between the US and the European Union as a new wave of American tariffs on French and German products entered into force this week.
“The issue that poisons everyone is that of the price increases and taxes on steel, digital technology, Airbus and particularly our wine sector,” the minister told Journal du Dimanche, according to AFP.
“If we could quickly find a method to settle this dispute with Europe and France, that would be a step forward. It may take time but, in the meantime, we can always order a pause,” Le Drian added.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs
The products that were particularly hard hit by the higher tariffs that took effect on 12 January are French cognac, wine and German aeronautic components. The measure was announced by the US Trade Department at the end of last year as a retaliatory response to levies on four billion dollars worth of goods the EU had earlier imposed on American products.
After the higher tariffs entered into force, Brussels expressed its “regret” over Washington’s choice “to add further EU products to its retaliation list”.
The EU also signalled that it would be “looking forward to engaging constructively” with the upcoming Biden administration in a bid “to resolve this long-lasting dispute as part of a renewed transatlantic agenda”.
According to the estimates of the Federation of Exporters of French Wines and Spirits, the tariffs on spirits could results in more than a $1.2 billion loss in revenues for the industry this year.
Ongoing Trade Spat
Since 2004, the US has accused the European Union of providing the European aerospace giant Airbus with unfair subsidies through government loans, while Brussels maintained that Washington has itself been breaking the World Trade Organisation’s rules by providing unauthorised government financial support to its aircraft maker Boeing.
In 2005, the WTO launched an investigation into the EU’s public support for Airbus and a twin probe into Boeing’s US subsidies.
Cheese imported from Spain is displayed at Cheese Plus on August 26, 2019 in San Francisco, California
The EU-US disagreement culminated in 2019, when the WTO ruled that the EU subsidies paid to Airbus were illegal and gave the go-ahead to the US to impose countervailing duties on its trade partner. In October 2019, the US introduced custom tariffs against $7.5 bn in EU goods, with Italian and Dutch cheese, as well as wines coming from France, Spain and Germany the primary victims of the 25-percent tariff.
However, a year later, the WTO effectively allowed the EU to raise tariffs on up to $4 billion worth of imports from the US after ruling out that the United States was providing illegal subsidies to Boeing. In November 2020, the EU followed the call by slapping its transatlantic partner with billions-in new tariffs, something the US trade authorities called “unfair”.
The office of the US Trade Representative vowed to respond to the measure by adding a number of new products and certain brands of French and German wine and cognac to its list of goods subject to 25-percent duties.
Meanwhile, in early January, the trade authorities decided to postpone imposing another wave of levies, which were announced last summer, on $1.3 billion in French products, including on cosmetic brands and designer bags. The decision came as the US Trade Representative’s office was elaborating a response to France’s adoption of a digital service tax, which the US found threatening to its own companies.
Shoppers are being hit by delays and extra fees of up to £5 on fashion items shipped from the EU.
Top retailers including & Other Stories, Asics, Sezane and Goodhood have blamed Brexit for the delivery chaos, with hold-ups lasting days or even weeks.
In some cases, parcels with the wrong documentation are being returned to sender when they reach the border. The main cause of the delays is understood to be new paperwork and extra customs and border security arrangements.
Shoppers are being hit by delays and extra fees of up to £5 on fashion items shipped from the EU. Lorries are pictured above at a clearance centre
Under new rules, anyone sending parcels from the EU to the UK needs to fill in forms including proof of origin and the reason for sending the package.
Retailers selling to Britain now have to pay customs duties and fill out declaration forms, as well as registering for VAT in the UK. VAT relief on imported goods under £15 has also been abolished.
The import headaches come as shops see a spike in online orders while Britain is in lockdown.
Problems are being compounded by high levels of sickness among postal workers due to Covid.
Meanwhile, some retailers and delivery firms are charging fees to cover the cost of the extra red tape. Parisian fashion brand Sezane told customers that ‘due to Brexit’ all UK orders will be charged a £5 admin fee.
Courier firm TNT is slapping £4.31 on all shipments to and from the EU, rival UPS is charging £4.50 per package and DHL is insisting on €5 per shipment. DPD, which said one in five parcels had been returned because of paperwork issues, is charging £3.50 on packages to cover ‘clearance, handling, and processing costs’. It is unclear whether such costs will be passed on to shoppers.
& Other Stories, which is owned by Swedish fashion giant H&M, admitted it had suffered delays ‘for a limited period’ because of Brexit. Asics and Goodhood also warned online customers about Brexit hold-ups.
A senior retail source said: ‘Some European retailers have clearly said it’s too much hassle to deliver to the UK and slapped big delivery charges on posting to us.’
James Hookham, of the Global Shippers Forum, said: ‘These delays will diminish in time as familiarity breeds content with the process, or contempt at the new prices.
‘But everyone is in novice mode at the moment so delays are inevitable for a while as the new arrangements bed down.’ Catherine Shuttleworth, of retail specialists Savvy Marketing, said delays could mean opportunities for UK-based brands to ‘steal shopper share.’
…And UK’s mail faces more red tape
Anyone sending packages to the EU from Britain also faces new checks that could result in extra costs and delays.
Individuals and retailers mailing parcels need to fill out customs declaration forms – although letters, postcards and documents are usually exempt. The recipient may then have to pay customs or VAT charges and a handling fee.
The charges will depend on the country, whether the package is a gift or commercial goods and its value. Goods under €35 – which were previously exempt from VAT – are now taxable.
Complex product origin rules mean some items are subject to tariffs depending on where their contents were sourced from.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel waits for the arrival of Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj for talks at the chancellery in Berlin, Tuesday, May 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
One could almost hear the collective sighs of relief from Brussels and the capitals of the major European Union (EU) countries Saturday over the election of a new chairman of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU (conservative) party.
On the second ballot at a virtual party conference, Armin Laschet, governor of Germany’s most populous state and a close ally of Merkel, won by a vote of 522-466 over conservative Friedrich Merz — no friend of Merkel or the EU.
Nigel Farage, father of the United Kingdom’s “Brexit” initiative and easily Europe’s best known Euroskeptic, spoke for many on the right in Europe following the vote of the CDU.
“Merz as leader would have believed in the free market and not Brussels’ dictates,” Farage told Newsmax.
Of Laschet, who now looms large as Merkel’s successor as chancellor when she steps down later this year, Farage said without hesitation: “Germany now has a weak pro-EU leader and the block of European Union nations will continue to fall behind the rest of the world.”
A onetime floor leader of the CDU in the Bundestag (parliament), Merz, 65, was an arch-rival of Merkel in her successful campaign to lead the party and become chancellor 16 years ago. In recent years, he has served as chairman of BlackRock Germany and become a millionaire several times over.
Merz made no secret of his desire to move the CDU from the centrist party it has become under Merkel to being a home for “goodwill, traditional conservatives” who is recent years have been “self-radicalizing” and moving to the more conservative Alternative for Germany (AFD) Party.
“I’m skeptical about transferring more powers to the European Union,” Merz said in a recent debate among the candidates for CDU leadership, “I don’t want to see an EU in which our identity dissolves and we’re all just Europeans.”
In contrast, North Rhine-Westphalia Gov. Laschet, 59, has been a longtime EU cheerleader in his other capacity as chairman of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
Throughout the campaign, he closely identified himself with Merkel and told reporters recently: “The CDU must convey the idea that the 16 years when [Merkel] was chancellor were good years, and that we stand by her policies.”
Going back to when it was West Germany before it united with the former Communist East Germany in 1991, Germany has been ruled by the CDU for 50 of the past 70 years.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.
BAHÁ’Í WORLD CENTRE — The release of new essays today on The Baha’i World online publication is complemented by recent developments on the website.
The website, launched in May 2019, has been expanded to include a library of works from The Bahá’í World volumes as well as a “Special Collections” section that brings together a thematically-curated selection of articles.
Among the newly published articles on the site is “A New Cycle of Human Power,” which brings to light the little-known encounters of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá with influential “modernist” writers and artists. The essay explores the impact of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on a number of individuals who were at the cultural vanguard of a society undergoing rapid, radical change.
Slideshow 2 imagesThe Bahá’í World website has been expanded to include a “Special Collections” section that brings together a thematically-curated selection of articles.
Another new article, “The Bahá’í Response to Racial Injustice and Pursuit of Racial Unity: Part 1 (1912-1996),” is the first of a two-part series on the American Bahá’í community’s historical efforts to address racial injustice which has afflicted the United States since its founding. Part 2 of the article, to be published at a later date, will look at the past twenty-five years and the evolving capacity of the Bahá’í community to contribute to racial justice and unity.
Since its launch in May 2019, The Bahá’í World online has sought to make available a selection of thoughtful essays and long-form articles on a range of themes concerned with social progress, conveying advancements in Bahá’í thought and action and reflecting the Faith’s purpose in the world. Other articles in the past year have explored community, economic justice, existential stress, migration, and governance.
The Bahá’í World volumes were established under the direction of Shoghi Effendi shortly after the start of his ministry as Guardian in 1921. The first volume was released in 1926 under the title The Bahá’í Yearbook.
Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, is expanding its arsenal.
The missiles were fired during an exercise in the country’s central desert region and follow the testing of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and new drones.
The chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Major General Hossein Salami, said the use of long-range missiles against enemy warships, aircraft carriers and warships was a defence policy goal.
The missiles have a range of 1,800 kilometres and can now strike moving targets in the ocean.
Chief of Staff General Mohammad Baqeri insisted that Iran had no offensive intentions, but would now be able to “respond to any hostile and malicious act in the shortest time.”
“(Using) Long-range missiles for maritime targets indicates that if the enemies … show any ill will towards our national interests, maritime trade routes or territory, they will be targeted and destroyed by our missiles,” Bagheri said.
This was Iran’s third major military exercise in less than a fortnight.
The European Union has temporarily ceased 88 million euros ($107 million) in budget support for Ethiopia until humanitarian agencies are provided access to those in need of aid in the northern Tigray region.
On Friday, EU High Representative Josep Borrell called on Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to fulfil the values inherent to the Nobel Peace Prize he was awarded in 2019 by working to end the ongoing conflict in Tigray.
“We are ready to help, but unless there is access for humanitarian aid operators, the EU cannot disburse the planned budget support to the Ethiopian government”, Borrell said.
“We receive consistent reports of ethnic-targeted violence, killings, massive looting, rapes, forceful returns of refugees and possible war crimes”, he added.
The top diplomat also called for a calming of tensions with neighbour Sudan and said that the involvement of other countries made the conflict a “direct threat to the stability of the whole region”
He said it was in the “best interest of Ethiopia and the wider region” to permit humanitarian access and to “resume the path towards an inclusive and sustainable peace”.
“Regional experiences are relevant here: Sudan stared into the abyss of civil war two years ago, before the parties to its political dispute stepped back and chose a peaceful transition instead. Ethiopia was the midwife to that transition, together with the African Union and the United Nations”.
“Maybe Khartoum can now return the important effort. But this requires that there first be a de-escalation of tensions between the two countries”, he said.
Ethiopia says it is becoming impatient with a Sudanese military build-up in territory populated by Ethiopian farmers on the Sudanese side of a border dispute.
Sudan’s foreign ministry accused the Ethiopian military aircraft of crossing their border in a “dangerous and unjustified escalation”.
While the reports of killings remain unsubstantiated due to a lack of international access to the region, the United Nations said on Thursday major violations of international law had taken place in Tigray at two refugee camps, home to those who fled repression in neighbouring Eritrea prior to the most recent flare-up in violence.
The body claims satellite imagery showed fires burning and fresh signs of destruction at the Shimelba and Hitsats camps but the UN refugee agency, which has criticised the lack of humanitarian access to the sites, has not said who they believe is responsible.
Eritrea’s Information Minister, Yemane Meskel, tweeted on Friday that the UNHCR “seems to indulge, yet again, in another bout of gratuitous & irresponsible smear campaigns against Eritrea”.
As it will be recalled, its botched scheme in 2004 of “resettling the Kunama language group in third countries in the West”;its preposterous Eligibility Guidelines of 2009 & 2011 peddled to wean the youth from National Service are some of its deplorable excesses in previous years
Both Asmara and Addis Ababa deny the presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray. However, a senior Ethiopian general has since confirmed that they had crossed into the northern region without invitation.
Over the past 7 years, the EU has provided 815 million euros of development aid to Ethiopia, which comes on top of 409 million euros for projects intended for supporting refugees and host communities in the African nation.
Why is there conflict?
Violence been raging since the 4 November, after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a military offensive against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a popular guerrilla organisation in the northern region.
Prime Minister Ahmed claims that the military manoeuvre was a response to the TPLF attacking a military installation where government troops were being housed in Tigray.
In September 2020, Tigray rebuked federal COVID-19 restrictions and held regional parliamentary elections. In response, federal authorities rejected the results, calling the local authorities a “junta” and “fugitives from justice” who must be “made accountable by law” following the November offensive.
The TPLF was the largest political organisation in a ruling coalition since 1991, which took power after the fall of the Derg military regime.
However, after the ascension of Abiy Ahmed to the office of the prime minister, the regional representatives were sidelined by the new government and withdrew in 2019.
<blockquote class="excerptCss" readability="10">
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh has slammed the European Union for its unreasonable, non-constructive, and unwise decision to blacklist Mr Faisal Mekdad, the Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.
</blockquote>
<!-- content -->In a statement on Saturday, Khatibzadeh said the EU’s move to sanction the Syrian foreign minister will escalate the crisis in the Arab country and further complicate the political settlement of this crisis.
“Such an unpleasant measure will only result in further divergence and distrust between Brussels and Damascus. At a time when the Syrian crisis needs a political solution, blacklisting the country’s foreign minister as the person in charge of Syria’s foreign policy means nothing but obstructing the peace process,” the Iranian spokesman said.
He strongly called on the European Union to reconsider its decision, especially at a time when it was expected to condemn the Zionist regime’s attacks and aggression against the Syrian territory in violation of the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and express its serious opposition to the US’ unjust sanctions against the Syrian nation.
Khatibzadeh described the decision as unwise.
The European Union added Mekdad to its sanctions list on Friday.
“As a Government Minister, [he] shares responsibility for the Syria regime’s violent repression against the population,” the European foreign affairs ministers said.
Mekdad was appointed as Syria’s top diplomat in November 2020.
The EU has imposed sanctions against the Syrian regime since 2011. The restrictive measures include travel ban and asset freeze for Syrian government officials and prominent business people benefiting from the war economy.
The sanctions also prohibit the import of oil, and apply export restrictions on equipment or technology that could be used for the war.
In total, 289 Syrian individuals and 70 entities are blacklisted by the EU.
LISBON, Jan. 15 — Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa met here Friday with the College of European Commissioners led by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss the program and priorities of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU).Costa said that the priority of the Portuguese presidency will be “economic recovery” to “ensure that all the instruments that were built become effective” and that the EU support funds reach the 27 member countries.All the EU financial instruments have to be made operational as soon as possible, he said.
In a joint conference with von der Leyen, Costa said the second priority is to ensure the social dimension of Europe is duly put forward in the face of challenges linked to climate change and the digital transition and without leaving anybody behind.
Von der Leyen said that the European Commission will support a fast, smooth rollout of vaccines in the European Union. She also highlighted the importance of the EU’s transatlantic ties and its relations with Africa and India.
Costa and von der Leyen formally invited the EU’s heads of state and government, their institutions, and the social partners to participate in the Social Summit, which will be held in May in Porto.
“With this event, we will send a very strong political signal: the European Union promotes a recovery that gives priority to the people and their well-being,” von der Leyen said.
The previous EU Social Summit took place in November 2017 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and resulted in the proclamation of the “European Pillar of Social Rights.”
Costa argued that the EU needs “a common commitment to make that pillar a reality,” because the “social dimension of the EU is absolutely fundamental.”
“Ecological and digital transitions are changing the way we live and work. To get out of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the recovery must be inclusive, sustainable and resilient,” he concluded.
