World

Madrid, Dec 11 (IANS) Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hosted his Lebanese counterpart Najib Mikati on Wednesday in Madrid to address pressing issues in Lebanon and the Middle East.

The Spanish prime minister's office said that the meeting focused on Lebanon's challenging situation, just two weeks after the ceasefire agreement with Israel took effect and five days following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

Both leaders emphasized the importance of solidifying the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel into a lasting peace, paving the way for full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. They stressed the need to end hostilities permanently to foster regional stability.

Sanchez reiterated Spain's support for Lebanon and assured Mikati that Spain would contribute to reconstruction efforts, crucial for enabling displaced individuals to return to their homes, Xinhua news agency reported.

The leaders also highlighted the need for an orderly political transition that preserves Syria's territorial integrity. They agreed that a stable and peaceful Syria is essential for the broader region's benefit, particularly for Lebanon.

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Jakarta, Dec 11 (IANS) Indonesia will build a methanol plant worth 1.2 billion US dollars in Bojonegoro, East Java, as part of the country's efforts to achieve national energy sovereignty, said Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia on Wednesday.

"The construction of this methanol plant is crucial to support the mandatory biodiesel programme, as methanol is used in the biodiesel production process," Bahlil said during the National Investment Coordination Meeting in Jakarta.

Bahlil added that Indonesia needs around two million to 2.3 million tonnes of methanol, highlighting the importance of the methanol plant's downstream development, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ministry has requested support from the Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory to ensure a gas supply of 90 MMBtu (million British thermal units) for the methanol plant.

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Berlin, Dec 11 (IANS) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday submitted a formal request for a vote of confidence in the Bundestag, the country's lower house of parliament.

According to a statement by the federal government, the vote is expected to take place on December 16.

Since the Free Democratic Party (FDP) left Germany's ruling coalition during the government rift last month, the country has been on its way toward a snap election.

Considering the remaining Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Greens in the government no longer have a majority in the Bundestag, Scholz is expected to lose the vote of confidence next week, Xinhua news agency reported.

After Scholz lost the vote, the German president could dissolve the parliament within 21 days. Snap elections will have to take place within 60 days of the dissolution.

Major German parties have agreed that the snap election should be held on February 23, 2025.

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Montevideo, Dec 11 (IANS) Uruguay's 2023 national census counted 3,499,451 inhabitants, 2.5 percentage points higher than the 2011 one, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported.

Despite the growth, the number of children per woman fell from 1.8 to 1.7, according to the census. And there were 31,385 births registered in the country and 34,678 deaths last year, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We are with a negative population growth, unless immigration compensates, or we are already losing population," INE director Diego Aboal said, adding that Uruguay reported "a drop of 18,000 births" in the last eight years.

According to the census, the number of foreign residents settling in Uruguay has grown by 4 per cent since 2011.

Montevideo, the capital city, is still the most populous city with a population of 1,302,954, or 37 per cent of Uruguay's total.

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Abuja, Dec 10 (IANS) The Nigerian government has committed more than $450 million to the country's compressed natural gas (CNG) value chain since the launch of an ambitious initiative partly to address rising petrol or gasoline costs and promote cleaner energy.

This whopping sum of money was invested into creating CNG mother stations, daughter stations, refueling stations, and conversion centers that are springing up across the most populous African country, Tosin Coker, head of commercial for the Presidential CNG Initiative, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the reporters at the 2024 Nigeria Energy Forum in the southwestern state of Lagos.

Coker said the initiative has successfully converted more than 10,000 vehicles from petrol to CNG. It aims to push the conversion rate to "more than 1 million vehicles using petrol to CNG" by 2027.

In May 2023, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu halted the decades-long subsidy on gasoline, shifting focus to the use of CNG to partly cushion the effects of the country's worst cost-of-living crisis triggered by the subsidy removal.

The government launched the CNG initiative in August, aiming to reduce transportation costs by nearly 50 per cent by rolling out gas-powered public buses and switching petrol-powered vehicles to gas.

Coker also said the government had continuously sensitised citizens on the advantages of using CNG to power their vehicles, which, he added, can "guarantee cleaner environment, is cheaper and affordable."

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Beirut, Dec 10 (IANS) Oman hosted a high-level regional meeting on Monday to review progress in implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, nearly 30 years after its adoption, the Lebanon-based UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) announced.

The meeting, attended by ministers, officials, civil society representatives, and UN agencies, concluded with the Muscat Declaration, reaffirming Arab countries' commitment to advancing women's rights under the Beijing framework, Xinhua news agency reported.

Omani Minister of Social Development Laila Al Najjar emphasised the progress witnessed in Oman in terms of laws and regulations that guarantee the protection of women's rights.

ESCWA Executive Secretary Rola Dashti highlighted over 100 legislative amendments issued across Arab states in the past two years to improve women's rights but acknowledged ongoing challenges, including the impact of armed conflicts on 15 million women in the region.

Discussions focused on combating violence against women, boosting women's economic participation, advancing their decision-making roles, and protecting women in conflicts. UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous stressed that sustainable development and peace require women's full empowerment and called for transforming commitments into impactful actions.

Adopted in 1995, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action remains a global framework for advancing women's rights and achieving gender equality.

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Kigali, Dec 10 (IANS) African Union Special Envoy on the Prevention of Genocide and Other Mass Atrocities Adama Dieng called for urgent actions to combat racism, negative ethnicity, xenophobia, and all forms of intolerance in the region.

Speaking at the International Conference on Genocide Prevention in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, Dieng said on Monday that the Rwandan genocide against Tutsi in 1994, in which about a million people were killed, did not start with machetes but dehumanisation of the Tutsi ethnic group. He noted that the conflict in South Sudan started as a political crisis, where hate speech across ethnic lines was encouraged and instigated, Xinhua news agency reported.

Quoting United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Dieng said hate speech is, in itself, an attack on tolerance, inclusion, diversity, and the very essence of human rights norms and principles.

"We should combat intolerance, treat our fellow human beings with dignity and respect. We cannot just be speaking about preventing genocide and then fail to take urgent actions to prevent it," he said.

Dieng congratulated the Rwandan government for transforming the country from ashes in the aftermath of the genocide into a thriving nation where all citizens live peacefully.

The conference was organised as part of the 76th commemoration of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Adopted in 1948, this landmark United Nations instrument defines genocide as an international crime and establishes responsibility for both individuals and states.

Jean-Damascene Bizimana, Rwandan minister of national unity and civic engagement, highlighted the failures of the international community to stop the Rwandan genocide despite the 1948 genocide convention.

He expressed gratitude to all stakeholders who continue to raise awareness about the genocide against the Tutsi and called for collective efforts to prevent genocide and combat its ideology.

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Mogadishu, Dec 10 (IANS) The Somali government has ramped up its efforts to repatriate nationals from foreign African countries, successfully facilitating the return of 230 citizens who were stranded or detained over the past five days.

This repatriation process, supported by the United Nations migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), took place in Libya, Madagascar, and Sudan, Xinhua news agency reported.

On December 5, 161 Somali nationals returned from Libya, while 47 survivors of a boat disaster were brought back from Madagascar on Saturday. On Monday, 22 Somali nationals who had been detained in Sudan for attempting irregular migration were repatriated to Somalia.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ahmed Moallim Fiqi called the successful repatriations a significant milestone in addressing the challenges of irregular migration and ensuring the safety of Somali nationals abroad.

"This operation highlights Somalia's unwavering commitment to its citizens and to addressing migration challenges through cooperation with our international partners," the minister said in a statement released on Thursday when the citizens returned from Libya.

The repatriation efforts, funded by the European Union and implemented by the IOM, saw most of the returnees from Libya on the December 5 charter flight as young men and women under the age of 30 who had been stranded in the country for several months.

The survivors of the Madagascar boat tragedy, aged between 17 and 50, expressed immense relief at returning to safety. The foreign ministry said the survivors of the early November boat tragedy, which claimed 28 lives in the Indian Ocean off Madagascar, shared harrowing accounts of their ordeal.

On Monday, the minister also announced the successful repatriation of 22 Somali citizens who had been detained in Sudan's Dongola and Gadaref detention facilities for three months.

All the 22 individuals arrived safely in Mogadishu, marking another milestone in the ministry's efforts to protect the rights and dignity of Somali citizens abroad and combat human trafficking, Figi said.

Every year, hundreds of Somali migrants embark on perilous journeys along the Northern Mediterranean route, passing through multiple countries with hopes of reaching Europe, the IOM said.

According to the IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix report published in July, more than 1,500 Somali migrants were stranded in Libya, where many face dangerous and precarious conditions.

Insecurity, lack of food, shelter, and healthcare in Libya expose these migrants to significant risks, the IOM said, noting that thousands urgently require protection and humanitarian assistance.

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Sofia, Dec 10 (IANS) A roundtable discussion called for tougher measures to combat serious road accidents and reduce casualties in Bulgaria.

The event was organised on Monday by two Bulgarian non-governmental organisations, the "European Center for Transport Policies" and "Angels on the Road," Xinhua news agency reported.

European Commission data shows that Bulgaria had the highest road accident fatality rate in the European Union last year, with 82 deaths per million population.

A man, introduced simply as "Philip's father," shared his personal tragedy, recounting how his child was killed by a car last September. He identified recurring factors for high road accident fatalities such as significant speeding, alcohol or drug use, gross disregard for traffic laws, inexperienced young drivers with powerful cars, and poor road infrastructure.

Officials at the discussion noted that since August 2023, Bulgaria has implemented measures allowing the state to confiscate vehicles from drunk or drugged drivers. This policy has shown a positive preventive effect.

Peter Petrov, a member of parliament (MP), cited data from the Interior Ministry, revealing that from August 2023 to August 2024, cases of drivers caught with over 1.2 per mille of alcohol dropped by 545, while cases involving drug use decreased by 901 compared to the previous year. Road fatalities during this period decreased by 64, or 11 per cent.

Another MP, Kalin Stoyanov, who served as Interior Minister until August, praised the effectiveness of vehicle confiscation as a deterrent and supported stricter sanctions.

Acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov endorsed the confiscation policy and called for access to traffic data from mobile operators for investigative purposes in traffic accidents. He explained that the current Bulgarian Criminal Procedure Code restricts such data collection to serious intentional crimes.

Sarafov also advocated for supervising prosecutors to press charges for intentional crimes in cases involving drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

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Istanbul, Dec 10 (IANS) Istanbul Airport, Turkey's largest aviation hub, will launch simultaneous takeoff and landing operations on all three runways to accommodate the growing passenger capacity, as announced by the transport and infrastructure minister.

"On April 17, 2025, we will begin simultaneous takeoff and landing operations on all three runways at Istanbul Airport," Abdulkadir Uraloglu said in a statement.

"This will allow us to minimise operational delays. Additionally, we will maximise fuel savings and flight efficiency," the minister added.

Under its expansion plan, the airport will have six runways by 2028. "With the commissioning of the new runways, the efficiency of air traffic operations will further improve," Uraloglu noted.

The airport served approximately 76 million passengers last year and aims to increase this number to 81 million by the end of this year.

Istanbul Airport officially opened in late October 2018 and became fully operational in early April 2019.

--IANS

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