Jan 17,2023:Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has submitted his resignation after the ruling Communist Party found him responsible for violations and wrongdoing of numerous officials under him, the country’s official news agency has said.
Phuc, 68, has held the largely ceremonial position for less than two years. It was not immediately clear who would replace him.
“Fully being aware of his responsibilities before the party and people, he submitted an application to resign from his assigned positions, quit his job and retire,” the Vietnam News Agency reported on Tuesday, citing the party’s powerful Central Committee.
Phuc’s resignation follows the dismissal of two deputy prime ministers this month in an anti-corruption purge that has led to the arrest of dozens of officials.
Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam’s dismissal comes at a time when the Communist-ruled country is intensifying its fight against corruption, despite concerns the campaign is paralysing routine transactions as officials fear being entangled in inquiries.
Last month, the party disciplined Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son over the alleged involvement of several ministry officials and diplomats in the scandal over repatriation flights.
Jan 16,22:The world’s top 1 percent grabbed nearly two-thirds of the $42 trillion in new wealth created since 2020, Oxfam says in a new report released to coincide with the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The share was almost twice as much money as the amount obtained by the bottom 99 percent of the world’s population, according to Oxfam’s “Survival of the Richest” report released on Monday.
Billionaire fortunes are increasing by $2.7bn a day, while at least 1.7 billion workers now live in countries where inflation is outpacing wages, the report said.
At the same time, half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax for direct descendants, Oxfam said, putting them on track to pass on $5 trillion to their heirs, more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of Africa.
Oxfam said a 5 percent tax on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise $1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty.
“While ordinary people are making daily sacrifices on essentials like food, the super-rich have outdone even their wildest dreams. Just two years in, this decade is shaping up to be the best yet for billionaires — a roaring ‘20s boom for the world’s richest,” said Gabriela Bucher, executive director of Oxfam International.
“Taxing the super-rich and big corporations is the door out of today’s overlapping crises. It’s time we demolish the convenient myth that tax cuts for the richest result in their wealth somehow ‘trickling down’ to everyone else. Forty years of tax cuts for the super-rich have shown that a rising tide doesn’t lift all ships — just the superyachts.”
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, brings together global business and political leaders to discuss political and economic issues of global concern.
The summit, which takes place from Monday to Friday, will be attended by 52 heads of state and nearly 600 CEOs.
Jan 13,2023:Sweden’s state-owned mining company says it has identified more than 1 million tonnes of rare earth minerals in the northern area of Kiruna.
LKAB said on Thursday that the deposit, found next to its iron ore mine, was the largest of rare earth oxides in Europe.
Rare earth minerals are vital to making many high-tech goods. They are used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, portable electronics, microphones and speakers.
Jan Mostrom, LKAB’s CEO, told Al Jazeera that finding the deposit is “quite significant”.
“One thing is that we can identify quite large deposits of this material here inside the European Union, and these materials will be vital for electrification,” he said.
Rare earth elements are not currently mined in Europe. Most come from China, and demand is expected to increase as industries shift towards renewable energy.
When asked if the discovery has the potential to replace China as the lead supplier of rare earth metals to Europe, Mostrom said these were “early stages”.
“Given the volumes we have today, it could bring in the significant volume of material needed in Europe – not nearly to be self-sufficient but it is an important first step,” he said.
EU strategy
Sweden is seen as a crucial part of the European Union’s strategy for self-sufficiency in critical minerals.
“Electrification, the EU’s self-sufficiency and independence from Russia and China will begin in the mine,” said Ebba Busch, Sweden’s energy, business and industry minister.
LKAB says it plans to apply for an exploitation concession this year but added that it would be at least 10 to 15 years before it could begin mining the deposit and shipping to markets.
The approval for new mines in Sweden is a lengthy process in which the risk to water resources and biodiversity is considered.
Jan 12,2023:The Russian Ministry of Defense announced Wednesday that Valery Gerasimov, head of the general staff of the Russian Armed Forces, is taking over as the commander of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Gerasimov replaces General Sergei Surovikin, who was appointed to the post just three months ago. Surovikin has been demoted to one of Gerasimov’s deputies.
The ministry said in a statement that Gerasimov’s promotion was in part to address the “need to organize closer interaction between the branches and arms of the Armed Forces” and improve the support and effectiveness of “command and control of groupings of troops.”
The U.K.’s Defence Ministry said in an intelligence update on Wednesday that Gerasimov assuming the position “is a significant development in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approach to managing the war.”
Surovikin was appointed Russia’s commander in Ukraine in October after Russian forces faced several setbacks in the war.
But those setbacks largely continued under Surovikin’s leadership. In November, Russian forces withdrew from Kherson, the only provincial capital its military captured since invading Ukraine.
Russian forces and fighters with a private Russian mercenary group known as the Wagner Group are locked in an intense battle over the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
U.S. officials said last month they believe a power struggle may be emerging between the Russian military and the Wagner Group over influence with the Kremlin.
Jan 11,2023:The ‘RRR’ phenomenon refuses to subside. SS Rajamouli’s period epic has bagged the coveted Golden Globe for Best Original Song, for the viral track ‘Naatu Naatu’.
M.M Keeravani, the composer of the song went on stage to receive the award. He dedicated the award to Rajamouli and the two leads Ram Charan and NTR Jr. While accepting the award he said, he said: “Thank you very much for this prestigious award: This award belongs to SS Rajamouli for his vision, I thank him for constantly believe and supporting my work. N.T. Rama Rao and Ram Charan who danced with full stamina.”
The song won against formidable contenders like Taylor Swift’s hit track ‘Carolina’ from the film ‘Where The Crawdads Sing’, ‘Ciao Papa’ from Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pinocchio’, Lady Gaga’s ‘Hold My Hand’ from ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and Rihanna’s ‘Lift Me Up’ from ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.
‘Naatu Naatu’s historic win comes a decade after ace composer A.R Rahman bagged a Golden Globe in the category of Best Score-Motion Picture for hype song ‘Jai Ho’ (‘Slumdog Millionaire’) in 2009.
The song is composed by M.M Keeravani and penned by Kala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj.
Jan 07,2023:At least 29 people, including 10 soldiers, have been killed in an operation to arrest the son of jailed Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Mexico’s government says after a shootout with cartel members.
Ovidio Guzman, nicknamed “El Raton”, or “The Mouse”, was rounded up early on Thursday in the northern state of Sinaloa and flown to Mexico City on a military plane.
“Ten members of the military … unfortunately lost their lives in the line of duty,” Defence Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval told reporters on Friday, adding 19 “lawbreakers” were also killed in the operation. Another 35 soldiers sustained gunshot wounds.
Members of the Sinaloa Cartel and their associates went on a rampage after Ovidio Guzman’s arrest, fighting security forces, setting vehicles on fire and blocking roads across the Pacific coastal state.
The violence was concentrated in and around Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, home of the powerful drug cartel, which “El Chapo” headed before his capture in 2016 and extradition to the United States in 2017.