World
EU extends targeted bans on Ukrainian grain until mid-September
The bans apply to the transit of Ukrainian cereals through Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.
The European Commission decided on Monday evening to extend until 15 September a series of exceptional bans on tariff-free imports of Ukrainian grain, whose influx has been credited with depressing prices in Eastern Europe and sparking the anger of local farmers.
The bans are targeted and apply only to the circulation of wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed coming across five countries in Ukraine’s periphery: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.
The extension was approved despite the objections voiced by the authorities in Kyiv, including by President Volodymr Zelenskyy himself, and the “serious concerns” raised by Germany, France and 10 other member states in a joint letter.
“These measures continue to be necessary for a limited period of time given the exceptional circumstances of serious logistical bottlenecks and limited grain storage capacity ahead of the harvest season experienced in five member states,” the European Commission said in a statement.
The bans stem from a deal struck between the European Commission and five Eastern European countries, who had complained about mounting economic losses caused by the grain glut.
As part of its assistance to Ukraine, the European Union suspended all duties and tariffs on the imports of products, such as vegetables, fruits and meats, covered under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
The controversy came to a boil in April, when four of the five concerned countries imposed unilateral measures on a wide range of Ukrainian foodstuffs, going well beyond wheat and maize.
The dispute caught Brussels by surprise and raised questions on how long the bloc’s political solidarity with the war-torn nation would last.
Following behind-the-scenes negotiations, the European Commission reached a deal with the five countries on the condition of releasing a €100-million support package for farmers in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.
The agreement introduced “exceptional and temporary preventive measures” on four Ukrainian products – wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed – that Brussels considered to have the strongest disruptive effect.
These products are allowed only transit through the five Eastern countries, meaning they cannot be stored in their territory nor purchased for domestic consumption.
Instead, they are sent directly to other member states or shipped to low-income nations around the world.
In practice, the “preventive measures” amount to a legalised ban, designed to replace the unilateral restrictions with a coordinated approach.
Hungary, however, has not yet fully lifted its national prohibitions.
According to the original deal, the only-transit bans were scheduled to last until 5 June, coinciding with the one-year extension of the tariff-free system for Ukraine.
In the days leading up to the deadline, the European Commission gave vague answers regarding the future of the “preventive measures” and insisted its decision would be based on economic data from the ground.
Ukraine has publicly denounced the bans, calling them “absolutely unacceptable,” and lobbied EU officials to have them lifted.
Separately, a group of 12 countries, including Germany and France, sent last month a joint letter in which they raised “serious concerns” about the grain deal, its possible incompatibility with the EU’s commercial rules and its lack of transparency.
“We are in favour of finding European solutions to take account of the difficulties encountered by certain member states. However, the integrity of the internal market cannot be an adjustment variable,” the 12 countries wrote in the letter, seen by Euronews.
The objections did not deter Brussels from extending the bans, a decision announced only four hours before the deadline.
The only-transit measures will apply to the same four agricultural products but will exclude sowing seeds.
In its statement, the European Commission said the restrictions will be phased out by 15 September but could be reassessed before then if the circulation of Ukrainian cereals is “impeded by unduly burdensome requirements” in one of the five Eastern European countries.
“The European Commission will not hesitate to act in case national trade bans prevent Ukrainian agricultural goods from reaching countries where they are needed,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, the executive vice-president in charge of trade.
Mindful of the political explosiveness of the issue, the executive has set up a coordination platform gathering representatives from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, as well as Ukraine, to monitor market trends on a regular basis.
The platform’s first meeting took place on Friday.
World
North Korea expands list of crimes punishable by death: report
North Korea is expanding its list of crimes punishable by death, according to reports.
Supreme leader Kim Jong Un’s regime expanded the list of offenses warranting the death penalty from 11 to 16 via revisions of criminal law, according to Yonhap News Agency.
New offenses warranting execution as a punishment include: anti-state propaganda and agitation acts, illegal manufacturing, and the illicit use of weapons are included in the new codes.
KIM JONG UN PROMISES TO ‘STEADILY STRENGTHEN’ NORTH KOREA’S ‘NUCLEAR FORCE’
The legal modifications were codified via multiple amendments between May 2022 and December 2023, according to a report from the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU).
The tightening of the criminal code is intended to strengthen the Kim regime’s grip on the population through its continued monopolization of the marketplace and military.
Earlier this month, North Korea promised to refine its weapons development and strengthen its nuclear capabilities.
NORTH KOREA’S KIM JONG UN REPORTEDLY ORDERED DOZENS OF OFFICIALS EXECUTED AFTER DEADLY FLOODS
Kim Jong Un made the comments Monday at a state event celebrating the country’s 76th anniversary.
“The obvious conclusion is that the nuclear force of the DPRK and the posture capable of properly using it for ensuring the state’s right to security in any time should be more thoroughly perfected,” the dictator said.
“DPRK” is an abbreviation for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kim Jong Un warned that the United States’ increased involvement in the region has forced the regime to pursue more powerful weapons as a deterrence mechanism.
“The DPRK will steadily strengthen its nuclear force capable of fully coping with any threatening acts imposed by its nuclear-armed rival states and redouble its measures and efforts to make all the armed forces of the state, including the nuclear force, fully ready for combat,” the supreme leader said.
The 14th Supreme People’s Assembly, the unicameral legislative body of the country, amended the national constitution last year to enshrine nuclear weaponization as a core principle.
World
Eight killed in Russian drone attacks on medical centre in Sumy, Ukraine
The second attack hit the hospital in northeastern Ukraine as patients evacuated, authorities and witnesses say.
At least eight people have died in two consecutive Russian drone attacks on a medical centre in the northeast Ukrainian city of Sumy, Ukrainian officials have said.
The first attack on Saturday morning killed one person, and it was followed by another attack while patients and staff were evacuating, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel that Russia had hit the hospital using Shahed drones, stating that eleven people were injured.
Sumy lies just across the border from Russia’s Kursk region where Kyiv launched a shock offensive on August 6, which it says is aimed partly at creating a “buffer zone” inside Russia.
Regional prosecutors said the first attack in Sumy on Saturday took place at about 7:35am (04:35 GMT), hitting the hospital where there were 86 patients and 38 staff.
The second attack took place at about 8:25am (05:25 GMT) as rescuers and police were providing assistance and evacuating patients at the scene, prosecutors said.
Dobrobat, a volunteer group that helps repair damaged homes, wrote on Facebook that its volunteers were working at the scene when the second attack came.
It posted a video showing thick smoke, explosions and people rushing to shelter as sirens wailed.
“People are just lying on the street dead,” a volunteer said, filming himself at the scene on his phone.
‘Victory plan’
In Russia, the Defence Ministry said Saturday that air defences overnight had shot down four Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region and one over the Kursk region, both areas bordering Ukraine.
On Thursday, Zelenskyy visited the United States to lobby support for Ukraine, meeting with US President Joe Biden and Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris to detail what he has described in recent weeks as his “victory plan”.
He had previously described the five-point plan as a “bridge” towards a strong enough negotiating position for Ukraine to force Russia to end the war on Kyiv’s terms.
Before the meeting, Biden announced an additional $8bn in military aid for Ukraine, a package including the provision of Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) munitions to “enhance Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities”.
World
Israel Strikes Hezbollah Stronghold in Attempt to Kill Leader
Israeli officials say the country’s warplanes destroyed an underground bunker in a residential area after receiving information that the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was convening a meeting there. Several apartment buildings were flattened.
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