German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday sharply criticized Turkey’s military offensive in the northern Syrian town of Afrin and condemned ongoing attacks by Syrian forces in eastern Ghouta, near Damascus.
Speaking to lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house of parliament, Merkel said the German government was condemning the air strikes on eastern Ghouta “in the strongest terms”. She pointed to the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but also blamed Russia for “just watching” the events unfold.
Turning to the fighting in Afrin, Merkel said that Turkey’s actions were unacceptable despite its security interests. “I’m also condemning this in the strongest terms,” she added.
your ad hereWhen Nestle executive Stephan Canz attended the German school in Nairobi in the early 1980s, it was surrounded by lush coffee farms.
Today, the trees have long since been uprooted and replaced by a shopping mall and upmarket homes, driving a sharp drop in
production of Kenya’s premium beans.
“The coffee has disappeared,” said Canz, who co-manages Swiss-based Nestle’s partnerships with coffee farmers globally. “You have to go almost to the slopes of Mount Kenya to find coffee.”
Kenya accounts for just 1 percent of the global crop, but its high-quality arabica beans are sought-after for blending with other varieties.
Alarmed by a steep drop in the country’s production, Nestle, which buys 10 percent of the world’s coffee and has the leading packaged coffee business, is working with farmers to guarantee its supplies.
In a $1 million project, begun in 2010, it says it is boosting bean production and quality.
Mary Wanja, with 350 coffee trees on her plot in rural Kirinyaga at the foot of Mount Kenya, is one of more than 40,000 of Kenya’s 600,000 coffee farmers participating in the project.
She harvested 1,200 kg of coffee last year, double the previous year, and saw her annual earnings rise to 100 shillings ($0.99) per kg, from 70 shillings.
“We are planting more trees so we can harvest more,” she said, standing amid newly planted seedlings provided by the Nestle project, which she joined three years ago.
Multiplier effect
Since Kenya’s production peaked at 129,000 tonnes in 1988/89 it has dropped steadily due to poor management and global price swings. Farmers have switched crops or sold their land.
Nestle, which is counting on growth in its coffee business as it overhauls its business to improve performance, works with a local milling and marketing company, Coffee Management Services (CMS), to train farmers regularly on fertilizer application, pest and disease control. It provides seedlings for farmers wishing to plant more.
“People didn’t know how and when to apply fertilizer properly. Nestle has taught us a lot,” said William Njeru, a farmer who harvested 7,600 kg last year, up from around 1,200 kg a year before he joined the project five years ago.
“If we can have other partners who are doing what Nestle is doing, the multiplier effect on productivity in Kenya can be very high,” said Peter Kimata, deputy head of Nestle’s partner CMS.
A half hour drive up the road from his office sits an abandoned coffee factory with rusting machinery.
Farmer Moses Wachira says it was closed in 2013 after its management embezzled farmers’ money. That forced 500 farmers to start selling their coffee to brokers who offer lower prices.
“These problems are causing production to fall because nobody watches to ensure managers do not misappropriate farmers’ money,” said the white-bearded farmer.
Kenya’s harvest fell 12 percent in the 2016/17 season to 40,700 metric tonnes, according to government data.
Government efforts to revive the sector have faltered. Last year, a judge stopped the government from acting on the recommendations of an official report on ways to boost coffee production after farmers claimed they were not consulted.
Some Kenyan farmers will miss out on expanding the crop to meet 2-3 percent annual growth in global demand for coffee, according to Nestle, as consumers discover new ways of consuming coffee, including capsules and cold brews.
Demand for coffee is also growing locally.
In Kenya, cafe chain Java, owned by Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj, opened its first shop in 1999 and has grown to 68 retail outlets, as an emerging middle class and young professionals develop a taste for lattes and mocha.
“The coffee has to come from somewhere,” said Canz.
your ad hereНародний депутат України Надія Савченко намагається через суд оскаржити рішення Верховної Ради про виключення її зі складу парламентського комітету з національної безпеки й оборони.
Як написала Савченко у Facebook, 21 березня вона подала відповідний адміністративний позов до Верховного суду України.
«Відзначу, що постанова, за яку депутати проголосували на засіданні сесії Верховної Ради 15 березня, є незаконною та підлягає скасуванню, оскільки підстави, визначені чинним законодавством, для ухвалення такого рішення відсутні. Неможливо виключити члена комiтету з комiтету. В законодавствi України є тiльки механiзми вiдкликання голови комiтету, заступника голови та секретаря комiтету», – написала Савченко.
15 березня Верховна Рада виключила Савченко зі складу комітету з питань національної безпеки та оборони.
Це сталося того ж дня, коли генеральний прокурор Юрій Луценко в парламенті заявив, що вносить на розгляд Верховної Ради подання на притягнення до кримінальної відповідальності, затримання й арешт народного депутата Надії Савченко за підозрою в плануванні теракту в парламенті України.
Савченко пізніше заявила, що не планувала теракту, а лише «політичну провокацію».
…
Pope Francis announced on Wednesday that he will make the first papal trip to Ireland in nearly 40 years, visiting Dublin for two days in August to conclude an international Catholic Church meeting on families.
There had been speculation that the pope would also visit Northern Ireland, whose leaders had floated the idea of a papal visit.
But the pope, who announced the visit to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly audience, said his visit would be limited to the Irish capital.
The World Meeting of Families is taking place in Dublin Aug. 21-26. The pope will preside at the closing ceremonies on the final two days, Aug. 25-26.
The Catholic Church’s once blanket influence on politics and society in Ireland has plummeted in recent years in the wake of a series of clerical sex abuse scandals.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, 39, the country’s first openly gay leader, has said he would campaign for a liberalization of the country’s restrictive abortion laws ahead of a referendum in the coming months.
In a defeat for the Church and the Vatican, Ireland backed same-sex marriage in a referendum in 2015.
The last pope to visit Ireland was Pope John Paul in 1979, the same year Varadkar was born.
Ireland and the Vatican have only recently put an end to years of difficult relations.
In 2011, Dublin stunned the Vatican by closing its embassy to the Vatican, bringing relations between the once ironclad allies to an all-time low.
The closure followed a row earlier that year over the Irish Church’s handling of sex abuse cases and accusations that the Vatican had encouraged secrecy.
Ireland was the only major country of ancient Catholic tradition without an embassy to the Vatican until a scaled-down embassy was reopened in 2014.
Former Prime Minister Enda Kenny said after meeting the pope in 2016 that if he decided to visit Northern Ireland, the Dublin government would help facilitate the visit.
At the time, UTV television quoted the late Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness of Northern Ireland as saying: “I think there is no prospect whatsoever of him coming to Ireland and him not coming to the north.”
The Vatican did not say why the trip would not include other parts of Ireland or Northern Ireland.
…
Поліція США повідомляє, що підозрюваний у встановленні вибухових пристроїв у посилках, загинув, підірвавшись, коли до нього наблизилися правоохоронці.
У поліції заявляють, що підозрюваний – 24-річний чоловік. Інших подробиць про нього не повідомляють. За даними правоохоронців, їм вдалося вистежити підозрюваного і знайти його авто біля готелю в передмісті Остіна. Коли спецпризначенці наблизилися, чоловік підірвався у своєму автомобілі.
Від 2 березня в Остіні вибухнули чотири пакунки, внаслідок чого загинули щонайменше дві людини, ще четверо були поранені.
П’ята посилка вибухнула на складі фірми вантажоперевезень FedEx поблизу Сан-Антоніо в Техасі 20 березня.
У пошуках підозрюваного брали участь сотні поліцейських і агентів ФБР.
your ad hereПрезидент Росії Володимир Путін доручив адміністрації опрацювати прохання політика Ксенії Собчак про помилування 16 людей, серед яких є український режисер Олег Сенцов та активіст Олександр Кольченко.
«Такий список був переданий Собчак президенту. Президент його прийняв і доручив своїй адміністрації опрацювати цей список», – повідомив речник президента Росії Дмитро Пєсков.
Раніше штаб Ксенії Собчак повідомив, що запропонував президенту Росії Володимиру Путіну помилувати людей із списку, в якому є 16 прізвищ, переважно росіян, зокрема, брата опозиціонера Олексія Навального – Олега Навального, фігурантів «справи 26 березня» Дмитра Борисова та Станіслава Зимовця. Також у списку є прізвища утримуваних в Росії українського режисера Олега Сенцова та активіста Олександра Кольченка.
Олександр Кольченко та український режисер Олег Сенцов були затримані російськими спецслужбами в Криму в травні 2014 року. Їх звинуватили в організації терактів на півострові. У серпні 2015 року суд в Ростові-на-Дону засудив Сенцова до 20 років колонії суворого режиму. Кольченко отримав 10 років колонії. Обвинувачені свою провину не визнали.
Сенцов і Кольченко визнані правозахисним рухом «Меморіал» політичними в’язнями. Російська влада включила їх до списку «терористів і екстремістів».
…
French commuters face major train service disruptions on Thursday due to an unexpectedly large walkout by railway workers angry at the government’s plans to shake up the state-owned and highly indebted SNCF rail company.
Labor unions said last week they would launch rolling strikes in early April, but France’s transport minister said many were planning to join a wider day of public service protests on Thursday, reducing rail services by 50 percent.
“There will ultimately be serious disruption tomorrow,” Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne said.
Unions are on a collision course with the government over its plans for the biggest shake-up of SNCF (Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer) since the nationalization of the railways in the 1930s. Among the government’s plans are the trimming of benefits received by SNCF’s 260,000 employees and a cut in its 45 billion euro ($56 billion) debt.
The showdown was due to start with strikes two days a week over three months from April 3. It is shaping up as the biggest test of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency since the 40-year-old came to power last May on a promise of sweeping economic reforms.
Thursday’s stoppages are not part of the programmed rolling strikes. They are being organized to dovetail with a day of demonstrations by civil servants and public service employees opposed to plans to change the retirement system.
Minister Borne said the stoppages would halve regional rail services nationally and that high-speed TGV connections between major cities would be cut to 40 percent of normal levels.
…
Посол Великої Британії в Москві Лорі Брістоу не буде присутній на зустрічі, яку скликає Міністерство закордонних справ Росії 21 березня у зв’язку зі справою про отруєння подвійного агента Сергія Скрипаля в британському Солсбері. Про це повідомляє посольство Сполученого Королівства в Москві.
«Посол не буде присутній на зустрічі, і ми вирішуємо, чи посилати представників на робочому рівні», – заявили в посольстві.
20 березня Міністерство закордонних справ Росії заявило, що викликає всіх акредитованих послів іноземних держав для роз’яснень у «справі Скрипаля».
Екс-розвідника Сергія Скрипаля та його дочку Юлію виявили 4 березня непритомними на лавці в парку Солсбері на півдні Великої Британії. Пізніше британські слідчі встановили, що їх отруїли нервово-паралітичною речовиною «Новачок», яку розробили в Росії. 66-річний Сергій Скрипаль та його 33-річна дочка Юлія перебувають у лікарні в «критичному, але стабільному» стані.
14 березня прем’єр-міністр Великої Британії Тереза Мей звинуватила Росію в отруєнні Скрипаля і його дочки й оголосила про вислання 23 російських дипломатів. Цей захід підтримали в адміністрації президента США. Про розробку подібних санкцій також оголосив президент Франції.
17 березня Росія оголосила про вислання 23 британських дипломатів, скасувала відкриття генконсульства Британії в Санкт-Петербурзі, а також заявила про припинення діяльності Британської ради.
Президент Росії Володимир Путін заперечив причетність його країни до отруєння Сергія Скрипаля та його дочки.
…
The White House has defended U.S. President Donald Trump’s phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his election victory. The call early Tuesday coincided with the announcement by a Senate panel that a careful investigation showed Russia had meddled in the U.S. 2016 presidential election. Trump made no mention of the finding Tuesday but rather spoke of the need to meet with Putin to discuss important global issues. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
…
Political turmoil continues to swirl around President Donald Trump. In recent days, Trump has stepped up his criticism of the Russia probe being led by special counsel Robert Mueller. This comes in the wake of last week’s firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and a congressional loss in Pennsylvania that could portend a Democratic wave in the November midterm elections. VOA national correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
…
Peter G. Peterson, a billionaire and business executive who became one of the most prominent voices to argue for entitlement reform and reducing the U.S. national debt, died of natural causes early Tuesday, his family said. He was 91.
Born in the small town of Kearney, Nebraska, to Greek immigrants, Peterson was CEO of two major U.S. companies and co-founded one of the world’s largest private-equity firms.
He was a national figure in business by the early 1960s, serving as chairman and CEO of Bell and Howell, one of the largest manufacturers of movie cameras at the time.
He left Bell and Howell to work for the Nixon administration in the early 1970s, eventually serving as secretary of commerce from 1972 to 1973.
Lehman Brothers
He took over as chief executive of the investment bank Lehman Brothers in 1973 after leaving the Nixon administration. In 1985, he co-founded the private-equity firm Blackstone Group with Stephen Schwarzman.
“His intelligence, wit and vision made him an inspirational leader who brought people together from the White House to Wall Street,” his family said in a statement.
Blackstone went on to become one of biggest private-equity firms in the world, with $434 billion in assets under management at the end of last year. When the firm went public in 2007, Peterson’s stake in the company made him a billionaire. His wealth was estimated at $2 billion, according to Forbes Magazine.
Fiscal challenges
Peterson dedicated the rest of his life to what he called “key fiscal challenges threatening America’s future,” donating $1 billion to create the Peter G. Peterson Foundation in 2007.
He never publicly endorsed the fiscal ideals of the Tea Party. However, his ideas did give him some common ground with them.
He long argued that the United States’ entitlement programs, principally Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, had to be restructured or benefits cut back to avoid bankrupting the government. Through his foundation, he disseminated his ideas among the public and politicians.
“The fact he was able to start a serious debate about the future of Social Security and other entitlement programs was a huge accomplishment,” said Fred Bergsten, founder of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who worked with Peterson in various capacities going back to the 1970s.
Raising taxes
Peterson was not considered ideological when it came to dealing with Social Security and Medicare. A life-long Republican, he still believed that raising taxes should be considered as part of any major restructuring of the U.S. budget, Bergsten said.
The foundation quickly became a major voice on all budget-related matters, repeatedly quoted in national media outlets. In 2008, his organization helped bankroll the documentary “I.O.U.S.A,” with the goal of making the federal government’s ballooning national debt, then around $10 trillion, a central campaign issue.
“What is most significant is most of our challenges are not really being discussed,” Peterson told The Associated Press in 2008 when he created his foundation. “I’ve been a very lucky beneficiary of the American dream as the son of immigrants. And, the more I look at some of these problems, the more persuaded I am they will pose a serious threat to this country.”
Peterson is survived by his wife, Joan Ganz Cooney, who co-founded the Children’s Television Workshop, and children John Peterson, Jim Peterson, David Peterson, Holly Peterson and Michael Peterson, and nine grandchildren.
…