Haiti-unrest-health-UN

Share This Article:

The UN Security Council on Monday strongly condemned an attack on UN peacekeepers in Mali, which killed three peacekeepers from Chad and injured three others.

In a press statement, the members of the Security Council expressed their deepest condolences and sympathy to the families of the victims, as well as to Chad, and wished a speedy and full recovery to those injured.

The council members called on the transitional government of Mali to swiftly investigate Monday’s attack near Tessalit, with the support from the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, promote accountability by bringing the perpetrators to justice, and keep the relevant troop-contributing country informed of the progress.

Attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law, and terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, they stressed.

Expressing their concern about the security situation in Mali, the council members reiterated their full support to MINUSMA and the other security presences in the Sahel region.

XINHUA

2 (LUSAKA, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) — The Zambian government said on Monday that it was in the process of formulating a national climate change adaptation plan aimed at building resilience against the negative effects of climate change.

Collins Nzovu, the Minister of Green Economy and Environment, said the plan will identify the country’s medium and long-term climate risks and vulnerabilities and mainstream them into the national development planning and budgeting processes.

‘Additionally, the national adaptation plan will set out priority adaptation actions thereby directing investments into the building of the resilience of our people and the economy to the adverse impacts of climate change,’ he said in remarks delivered the launch of a strategic plan for the Zambian Parliamentary Caucus on the Environment and Climate Change.

The government, he said, has also commenced the preparation of a green growth strategy which will contain concrete actions whose implementation will contribute to transforming Zambia into a green economy.

The green growth strategy will also provide an avenue for catalyzing government’s quest to attain sustainable development aspirations, he added.

XINHUA

3 (London, Oct 18, 2022 (AFP) – The UK government said on Tuesday it was taking ‘decisive steps’ against a Chinese recruitment effort to bring in former and serving British airforce pilots to train its military personnel.

While British military personnel frequently take part in training exercises with foreign armies, any collusion by ex-pilots with China — which London has dubbed the ‘number one threat’ to domestic and global security — poses a serious concern.

‘We are taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former UK Armed Forces pilots to train People’s Liberation Army personnel,’ a spokesperson for the British defence ministry told AFP.

UK media said that over 30 ex-pilots had accepted offers upwards of £240,000 ($273,750) with many of those recruited in their 50s and having recently left the British airforce.

The practice has been going on since 2019 but has been stepped up recently, the reports said.

AFP

4 (Vienna, Oct 18, 2022 (AFP) – Six men accused of helping a gunman who carried out Austria’s first deadly jihadist attack go on trial in a Vienna court on Tuesday.

On November 2, 2020, convicted Islamic State sympathiser Kujtim Fejzulai went on a shooting rampage in downtown Vienna, killing four and wounding 23 others before police shot him dead.

In the wake of the EU member’s deadliest shooting in decades, the Austrian government and in particular its intelligence service were accused of failing to monitor the Islamist movement in the country.

According to the federal prosecutors’ charge sheet seen by AFP, the six defendants — all men aged between 21 and 32 years old — were not directly involved in the deadly attack, but are suspected of actively helping Fejzulai prepare for the shooting.

AFP

5 (Caracas, Oct 18, 2022 (AFP) – A landslide in northern Venezuela has killed at least three people, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday.

Initial reports spoke of significant damage after the landslide in El Castano, a district of Maracay, the capital of the state of Aragua, located 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Caracas.

Venezuelan television footage showed mudslides devastating everything in their path, sweeping away vehicles, trees and huge boulders.

Maduro made the announcement during a speech in Las Tejerias, where a landslide a week ago has left 54 dead and eight missing, according to the latest toll cited by the president.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency