UCP supporters favour Smith, Jean and Toews as top 3 contenders in leadership race, poll shows

CBC/Radio-Canada - Yesterday 

United Conservative supporters are leaning toward three top contenders in the party's leadership race, according to a new poll — but one political scientist says its results aren't a sure indicator of who's on top.


© Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press, submitted by Brian Jean, Jason Franson/The Canadian PressFormer Wildrose Party leaders Danielle Smith (left) and Brian Jean (centre) had the most support amongst United Conservative Party supporters in a new poll, while former finance minister Travis Toews (right) followed in third.

The recent poll from Canadian research company Leger asked UCP supporters which of the candidates they felt would make the best party leader. Former Wildrose Party leaders Danielle Smith (with 22 per cent) and Brian Jean (20 per cent) had the most support, while former finance minister Travis Toews followed with 15 per cent.

Duane Bratt, political scientist at Mount Royal University, said something important to remember is that this poll was not a survey of UCP members, who will be the ones deciding the party's next leader.

"I think [the poll] tells us who the wider population has name recognition of," Bratt said.

"It doesn't help us understand how the leadership race is going to work because to do that you would need access to the actual membership list."

Even if the poll did survey UCP members, Bratt said having a preferential ballot in the actual race makes it hard to predict who might come out on top.

The poll surveyed 1,025 Albertans aged 18 and older. Among them, 351 were identified as UCP supporters, indicating they would vote for the party if a provincial election was held today. Surveys were conducted online between July 15 and 17. Results were weighted according to age, gender and region based on 2016 Census data, the Leger website states.

A margin of error was not stated as the poll was a non-probability survey, according to Leger.

How important is name recognition?

Bratt said it's not surprising the former Wildrose leaders and a former provincial minister are the candidates with the greatest name recognition.

Andrews Enns, an executive vice-president at Leger, said even though the poll didn't survey party members, the results shouldn't be completely discounted in predicting the next UCP leader.

"Party members are also members of the public and so I think there will be … some reflection of this in terms of where things currently are," Enns said.

While the poll may not indicate who UCP members favour, name recognition could still be an important factor in determining which candidates can rally the most membership support, according to Bratt.

"If you're going to sell memberships, people have to know who you are," he said.

Former cabinet minister Rajan Sawhney received zero per cent support in the poll.

None of the other approved candidates got more than 2 per cent support. Notably among them are two other former cabinet ministers: Leela Aheer and Rebecca Shulz.

Enns said it may seem shocking that some former cabinet ministers would receive little to no support in the poll, but he said the general public doesn't "really have much recollection" of ministers unless they're in top positions.

"It's almost like the public has kind of a certain capacity to take in who's doing what and who's playing an active role in government," he said.

 
NDP slightly in lead with decided voters

The poll also suggests the New Democratic Party is slightly in the lead with voter support in the general public, with 45 per cent of decided voters favouring Rachel Notley's party, while 41 per cent support the UCP.

However, Bratt said if current support for the NDP was broken down by legislative seats, it may still lead to a UCP government.

While the NDP has an "overwhelming lead" in Edmonton, and the UCP dominates rural Alberta, the parties are almost tied in support in Calgary, Bratt said.

"For the NDP to win their path to victory, they can't be neck to neck in Calgary. They have to win substantially," he said.

The poll shows that at 61 per cent support, decided voters in Edmonton are more likely to vote for the NDP. Support for the UCP is highest outside of Edmonton and Calgary at 51 per cent. Within the City of Calgary, UCP support is at 41 per cent.

UCP support also appears to increase with voter age, the poll results showed.

Enns said one interesting finding of the poll is that when asked what the most important quality the party's new leader should have, UCP supporters indicated the candidate should have a clear plan for Alberta's economic growth.

"This actually provides some important information potentially to those campaigns," Enns said.

"If their goal is to attract members from the UCP supporter base … this would be some of the messaging that would be most appealing in terms of getting the Albertan economy back on track and investing in some of those core services like health and education."

Found in bunker of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising leader: Tefillin, Talmud pages

Bunker where Jewish Fighting Organization leader Mordechai Anielewicz was killed fighting the Nazis in 1943 uncovered.

Israel National News
Jul 24, 2022, 
WarsawISTOCK

Polish archaeologists succeeded in locating and excavating the bunker of Mordechai Anielewicz, the commander of the Jewish Fighting Organization which fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, who was killed in 1943 in a battle against the Nazis.

Among the items found at the site: many personal items used by the leaders of the rebellion and its fighters, including tefillin, torn pages from the Talmud, handwashing cups, Shabbat candlesticks, glasses, dinnerware and an iron.

Yediot Ahronot journalist Itamar Eichner reported that due to the fact that the entire Jewish quarter was completely destroyed by the Germans, it was difficult to find the exact site of the bunker. The bunker was finally found by comparing pre-war and post-war maps and with the help of advanced GPS techniques. Today it is known with certainty that this is the basement where Anielewicz's bunker was located and archaeologists are examining if it will be possible to present the findings at the site itself.



The excavations were carried out in a bunker that was part of the building at 18 Mila Street in the ghetto area. Anielewicz, his girlfriend Mira Fuchrer and many of the men under his command were killed in the bunker on May 8, 1943.

The headquarters of the Jewish Fighting Organization in the ghetto was captured by the Nazis in one of the last battles of the uprising. Some of the fighters committed suicide in order not to be captured by the Germans.

Related articles:

French Jews honor 79th anniversary of Warsaw Ghetto uprising

After 78 years, Jewish remains from Warsaw Ghetto buried

SPACE RACE 2.0
UAE astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi selected for six-month ISS mission


File photo of Sultan al-Neyadi. (Supplied)


Marco Ferrari, Al Arabiya English
Published: 25 July ,2022: 

United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi has been selected for a mission to spend six months aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the official WAM news agency reported on Monday.

He will take part in the NASA mission which plans to set off in the spring of 2023.

Officials announced in April that they had purchased a place on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flight, without identifying who would be taking part in the mission, The Associated Press reported.

The mission will place the UAE on the list of only 11 countries that have sent their astronauts on long-term missions in space.

Al-Neyadi is due to set a new record for the longest time an Arab astronaut has spent aboard the station.

In 2019, fellow emirati Hazza al-Mansouri became the first person from the UAE in space and the first Arab to board the ISS, where he spent eight days conducting experiments and filming the first tour of the ISS in Arabic.

Both men are members of Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center.

“I am proud to congratulate Sultan Al Neyadi on being selected as the 1st Arab astronaut to spend 6 months on the International Space Station as part of a mission to commence in 2023,” UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed said in a tweet.

“This historic milestone builds on the strong foundations of the UAE’s burgeoning space program,” he added.

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said in a WAM statement: “God willing, our youth raised their heads to the sky, where the place and position of the United Arab Emirates is due.”

Astronauts including al-Mansouri remembered the 37th anniversary of the first Arab spaceflight in June, when Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan bin Salman spoke to Al Arabiya English about his pioneering trip.

The Prince affirmed the Kingdom’s ambitions to send astronauts out of the earth’s atmosphere again, and discussed the country’s space program.

In recent years, the UAE has taken the lead in its space ambitions, training several astronauts and developing the Hope probe, which is currently researching the atmosphere of Mars.

Speaker of Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg praises Kazakhstan’s political, economic transformation 

LUXEMBOURG. KAZINFORM -  24 July 2022

Ambassador of Kazakhstan Mr. Margulan Baimukhan met with the President of Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg Mr. Fernand Etgen, who is also the Head of the «Luxembourg-Kazakhstan» Friendship Group at the Chamber of Deputies of the Grand Duchy, Kazinform has learned from the press service of the Kazakh MFA.

 Taking into account the symbolism of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Luxembourg, the parties discussed further development of political and economic cooperation, importance of ensuring energy and food security. The interlocutors also noted the need to intensify the inter-parliamentary dialogue, including organization of bilateral visits of Kazakh and Luxembourg parliamentarians.

 The Kazakh diplomat briefed the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies on political reforms initiated by the President of Kazakhstan K. Tokayev, socio-economic development of the «New Kazakhstan», results of the national referendum aimed at strengthening the principles of democracy, rule of law and civil society institutions.

 Noting a significant increase in mutual trade between Kazakhstan and the EU in the first half of this year, which has already exceeded 20 billion US dollars (an increase of 51.2%), M. Baimukhan drew the politician's attention to export, transport and transit opportunities of Kazakhstan. 

Along with this, the Kazakh diplomat noted the focus of our country on achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, and stressed that Kazakhstan, being a major economy in Central Asia, pays special attention to improving the investment climate and creating the most favorable conditions for investors. 

The Kazakh diplomat also informed the Luxembourgish parliamentarian about results of the IV Consultative Meeting of Heads of States of Central Asia in Cholpon-Ata and The Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation for the Development of Central Asia in the 21st century was agreed upon and the procedure for its signing began. 

Emphasizing the role of Luxembourg as one of the founders of the European Union and its democratic institutions, F. Etgen noted that political transformations in Kazakhstan indicate an active stage in the development of Kazakhstani democratic institutions, while economic success and diversification of the economy of the Kazakhstan reveal the high potential of the country. 

The parliamentarian also stressed that Kazakhstan and Luxembourg have many mutual interests on the world stage, expressed his interest in further strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation. 

The parties agreed to maintain constant contact in order to implement the upcoming bilateral events. The Kazakh diplomat once again confirmed the invitation of the Mazhilis of the Parliament to visit Kazakhstan. In turn, the Speaker of the Luxembourgish Parliament expressed his readiness to meet with his Kazakh counterparts in Luxembourg.

TOO LATE

Mideast nations wake up to need for action to stem damage from climate change

People cross the Diyala River, a tributary of the Tigris, where decreasing water levels this year have raised alarm among residents, near Baghdad, Iraq, on June 29, 2022. (AP)

The Associated Press, Cairo
Published: 25 July ,2022

Temperatures in the Middle East have risen far faster than the world’s average in the past three decades. Precipitation has been decreasing, and experts predict droughts will come with greater frequency and severity.

The Middle East is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to the impact of climate change — and already the effects are being seen.

In Iraq, intensified sandstorms have repeatedly smothered cities this year, shutting down commerce and sending thousands to hospitals. Rising soil salinity in Egypt’s Nile Delta is eating away at crucial farmland. In Afghanistan, drought has helped fuel the migration of young people from their villages, searching for jobs. In recent weeks, temperatures in some parts of the region have topped 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).

This year’s annual UN climate change conference, known as COP27, is being held in Egypt in November, throwing a spotlight on the region. Governments across the Middle East have awakened to the dangers of climate change, particularly to the damage it is already inflicting on their economies.

“We’re literally seeing the effects right in front of us. ... These impacts are not something that will hit us nine or 10 years down the line,” said Lama El Hatow, an environmental climate change consultant who has worked with the World Bank and specializes on the Middle East and North Africa.

“More and more states are starting to understand that it’s necessary” to act, she said.

Egypt, Morocco, and other countries in the region have been stepping up initiatives for clean energy. But a top priority for them at COP27 is to push for more international funding to help them deal with the dangers they are already facing from climate change.

One reason for the Middle East’s vulnerability is that there is simply no margin to cushion the blow on millions of people as the rise in temperatures accelerates: The region already has high temperatures and limited water resources even in normal circumstances.

Middle East governments also have a limited ability to adapt, the International Monetary Fund noted in a report earlier this year. Economies and infrastructure are weak, and regulations are often unenforced. Poverty is widespread, making job creation a priority over climate protection.

At the same time, developing nations are pressuring countries in the Mideast and elsewhere to make emissions cuts, even as they themselves backslide on promises.

The threats are dire.

As the region grows hotter and drier, the United Nations has warned that the Mideast’s crop production could drop 30 percent by 2025. The region is expected to lose 6 percent to14 percent of its GDP by 2050 because of water scarcity, according to the World Bank. In Egypt, precipitation has fallen 22 percent in the past 30 years, according to the World Bank.

Droughts are expected to become more frequent and severe. The Eastern Mediterranean recently saw its worst drought in 900 years, according to NASA, a heavy blow to countries like Syria and Lebanon where agriculture relies on rainfall. Demand for water in Jordan and the Gulf countries is putting unsustainable pressure on underground water aquifers. In Iraq, the increased aridity has caused an increase in sandstorms.

At the same time, warming waters and air make extreme and often destructive weather events more frequent, like deadly floods that have repeatedly hit Sudan and Afghanistan.

The climate damage has potentially dangerous social repercussions.

Many of those who lose the livelihoods they once made in agriculture or tourism will move to the cities in search of jobs, said Karim Elgendy, an associate fellow at Chatham House. That will likely increase urban unemployment, strain social services, and could raise social tensions and affect security, said Elgendy, who is also a non-resident scholar with the Middle East Institute.

Adapting infrastructure and economies to weather the damage will be enormously expensive: the equivalent of 3.3 percent of the region’s GDP every year for the next 10 years, the IMF estimates. The spending needs to go toward everything from creating more efficient water use systems and new agricultural methods to building coastal protections, beefing up social safety nets, and improving awareness campaigns.

So one of top priorities for Mideast and other developing nations at this year’s COP is to press the United States, Europe, and other wealthier nations to follow through on long-time promises to provide them with billions in climate financing.

So far, developed nations have fallen short on those promises. Also, most of the money they have provided has gone to helping poorer countries pay for reducing greenhouse gas emissions — for “mitigation,” in UN terminology, as opposed to “adaptation.”

For this year’s COP, the top theme repeated by UN officials, the Egyptian hosts and climate activists is the implementation of commitments. The gathering aims to push countries to spell out how they will reach promised emission reduction targets — and to come up with even deeper cuts, since experts say the targets as they are now will still lead to disastrous levels of warming.

Developing nations will also want richer countries to show how they will carry out a promise from the last COP to provide $500 billion in climate financing over the next five years — and to ensure at least half that funding is for adaptation, not mitigation.

World events, however, threaten to undercut the momentum from COP26. On emissions cuts, the spike in world energy prices and the war in Ukraine have prompted some European countries to turn back to coal for power generation — though they insist it’s only a temporary step. The Middle East also has several countries whose economies rely on their fossil fuel resources — Saudi Arabia and the Gulf most obviously, but also Egypt, with its increasing natural gas production.

Persistent inflation and the possibility of recession could make top nations hesitant on making climate financing commitments.

With international officials often emphasizing emission reduction, El Hatow said it should be remembered the countries of Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere in the developing world have not contributed substantially to climate change, yet are bearing the brunt of it.

“We need to talk about financing for adaptation,” she said, “to adapt to a problem they did not cause.”

Rockets target ( UAE ) gas complex in north Iraq (KURDISTAN)


This file photo taken on July 14, 2014, shows a view of the Kawergosk Refinery, some 20 kilometres east of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. (File photo: AFP)

AFP
Published: 25 July ,2022

Three Katyusha rockets hit a gas complex in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on Saturday, a local official said, in the latest attack to target the Emirati-owned facility.

“It is still not yet clear if there was any damage” in the attack on the Khor Mor complex, said Ramak Ramadan, district chief of Chamchamal where the facility is located.

In June, the site owned by UAE energy company Dana Gas was targeted three separate times by rockets that did not cause casualties or damage.

No none has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The gas field lies between the cities of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniyah, in a region administered by Kurdish authorities.

Rockets also struck the Kawergost refinery in Kurdistan in April and May.

The assaults have come amid a simmering oil dispute between Kurdistan and the federal government in Baghdad.

Read more:

Another rocket attack targets UAE’s Dana Gas site in Iraq: Sources

Rocket targets UAE’s Dana Gas complex in Iraq, ‘no damage or injuries’

In pictures: How Russia's invasion of Ukraine has unfolded



#15 of 743

Attribution: AP

Kim Phuc, the girl in the famous 1972 Vietnam War napalm attack photo, poses for a picture in front of a plane taking refugees fleeing the Ukraine war from Poland to Canada.

Phuc's iconic Associated Press photo, in which she runs with her napalm-scalded body exposed, was etched on the fuselage of the plane.

Ukraine hopes to ship grain again this week under UN deal despite Russian attack
A view shows a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is being fired in an undisclosed location, in Ukraine. (Reuters)

Reuters, Kyiv
Published: 25 July ,2022: 

Ukraine said on Monday it hoped a UN-brokered deal aimed at easing global food shortages by resuming grain exports from the Black Sea region would start to be implemented this week.

Moscow brushed aside concerns that the deal could be derailed by a Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s port of Odesa on Saturday, saying it targeted only military infrastructure.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denounced the attack as “barbarism” that shows Moscow cannot be trusted.

A global wheat shortage and soaring European energy prices are some of the most far-reaching effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, threatening millions in poorer countries with hunger and prompting fears in Europe over heating supplies this winter.

Officials from Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkey agreed on Friday there would be no attacks on ship moving through the Black Sea to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait and on
to markets. They will set up a joint monitoring centre.

A senior Ukrainian government official said he hoped the first grain shipment from Ukraine, a major world supplier, could be made this week, with shipments from other ports mentioned in the deal within two weeks.

“We believe that over the next 24 hours we will be ready to work to resume exports from our ports. We are talking about the port of Chornomorsk, it will be the first, then there will be Odesa, then the port of Pivdeny,” deputy infrastructure minister Yuriy Vaskov told a news conference.

As the war enters its sixth month, the Ukrainian military reported widespread Russian shelling in eastern Ukraine overnight. It said Moscow continued to prepare for an assault on Bakhmut in the industrial Donbas region, which Russia aims to seize on behalf of separatist proxies.

Ukraine said its forces had used US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems to destroy 50 Russian ammunition depots since receiving the weapons last month. Russia did not immediately comment but its Defense Ministry said its forces had destroyed an ammunition depot for HIMARS systems.

Reuters could not independently verify the Russian or Ukrainian statements.

Grain exports

Russia’s Black Sea fleet has blocked grain exports from Ukraine since Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion. A UN official called Friday’s deal a “de facto ceasefire” for the ships and facilities covered in the agreement.

Moscow denies responsibility for the food crisis, blaming Western sanctions for slowing its food and fertilizer exports and Ukraine for mining the approaches to its ports. Under Friday’s deal pilots will guide ships along safe channels.

Ukraine’s military said two Kalibr missiles fired on Saturday from Russian warships hit the area of a pumping station at Odesa port and two others were shot down by air defense forces. They did not hit the grain storage area or cause significant damage.

Russia said the strikes had hit a Ukrainian warship and a weapons store in Odesa with precision missiles.

“They are in no way related to infrastructure that is used for the export of grain. This should not affect -- and will not affect -- the beginning of shipments,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Peskov also signalled that Russian natural gas exports to Europe -- restarted last week at reduced volumes -- may soon increase.

Diplomats from the European Union, which has joined the United States in imposing sanctions on Russia but has continuedto buy its gas, were set to discuss targets on Monday for member states to cut their gas use. Russia has reduced supplies to Europe, blaming the sanctions.

Peskov said the installation of a turbine repaired by Canada would enable gas to be supplied to Europe in “corresponding Volumes,” adding that other repairs were needed to the pipeline, which was shut down for 10 days this month during maintenance.

Global wheat prices rose sharply on Monday due to uncertainty over the grain agreement, erasing most of the falls seen on Friday when traders had anticipated an easing of supply shortages.

Referendums

As well as the eastern Donbas region, Russia has set its sights on large swathes of southern Ukraine, where it has occupied two regions north of the Black Sea peninsula Crimea,
which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Russian news agency RIA said the two regions, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, might hold referendums in early September on joining Russia, quoting Vladimir Rogov, member of the Russia-appointed Zaporizhzhia provincial government.

Ukraine’s military reported progress in what it has termed a steady counter-offensive in Kherson, however, saying its forces had moved within firing range of Russian targets. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Britain said Russian commanders continue to face a dilemma - whether to bolster their defenses around Kherson and nearby areas or resource their offensive in the east.

Moscow has charged 92 members of Ukrainian armed forces with crimes against humanity and proposed a new international tribunal to handle the investigation, Alexander Bastrykin, thehead of Russia’s investigative committee, said.

The announcement comes after the United States and more than 40 other nations agreed on July 14 to coordinate investigations into suspected war crimes in Ukraine, mostly concerning alleged actions by Russian forces and their proxies.

Putin calls the war a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarizing Ukraine and rooting out dangerous nationalists. Kyiv and the West call this a baseless pretext for an aggressive
land grab.

Russia's Lavrov courts Africa in quest for more non-Western friends

Republic of Congo's President Denis Sassou Nguesso and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meet in Oyo, Republic of Congo, July 25, 2022. (Reuters)


Reuters
Published: 25 July ,2022

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Congo Republic on Monday, the second leg of an African tour aimed at strengthening Moscow's ties with a continent that has refused to join Western condemnation and sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

African countries, which have a tangled legacy of relations with the West and the former Soviet Union, have largely avoided taking sides over the war in Ukraine. Many import Russian grain and increasingly energy too, but they also buy Ukrainian grain and benefit from Western aid flows and trade ties.

Africa is also being courted by the West this week, with French President Emmanuel Macron due to visit Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau and US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer on his way to Egypt and Ethiopia.

Lavrov has already visited Egypt and will head from Congo to Uganda, then Ethiopia, where African Union diplomats said he had invited ambassadors from several member states to a private meeting on Wednesday, dismaying Western donors.

An invitation letter from the Russian ambassador to Ethiopia and the AU, sent to a number of African ambassadors and seen by Reuters, said the goal of the meeting was to deepen cooperation between Russia and African states.

Two AU diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity said the planned meeting, which would coincide with Hammer's visit, was causing friction among Western donors because it signalled a pivot towards Russia.

Spokespersons for the AU, which is based in Addis Ababa, and for the Ethiopian foreign affairs ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

In a column published in newspapers in the four countries included in his tour, Lavrov praised Africa for resisting what he called Western attempts to impose a unipolar world order.

“We appreciate the considered African position as to the situation in and around Ukraine,” he wrote in the column, adding that African countries had come under “unprecedented” Western pressure to join the sanctions.

Balancing act

In Congo Republic, a small oil-producing former French colony north of the much larger Democratic Republic of Congo, Lavrov visited President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who has been in power since 1979, with a five-year gap from 1992 to 1997.

In a statement, Lavrov's spokeswoman said this was the first visit by a Russian or Soviet foreign affairs minister to the country. She said friendly ties dated back to the Soviet era and that 8,000 Congolese citizens had studied in Russia.

Lavrov was expected later in Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni has a long history of balancing strong relations with Western allies and good ties with Moscow.

Sarah Bireete, head of Kampala-based campaign group the Centre for Constitutional Governance, said Museveni, who has been in power for 36 years, was increasingly keen on Russia because it did not question his government's record.

“Uganda has strong alliances with the West but they are beginning to question his democratic credentials so Museveni is now running to Russia which doesn't query his human rights or democracy record,” she said.

Museveni's son Muhoozi Kainerugaba, an army general widely seen as being groomed to succeed his father, praised Russia on social media shortly after President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

“The majority of mankind (that are non-white) support Russia's stand in Ukraine. Putin is absolutely right!” he wrote.

Uganda's state broadcaster said it would carry news bulletins from Russian state-funded channel RT twice a day under a new memorandum of understanding signed with Moscow.

Uganda is among several nations in Eastern Africa suffering from food shortages due to the region's worst drought in 40 years, plus soaring inflation fueled by the crisis in Ukraine.

Western powers have blamed Russia for the crisis, and last week the US announced a $1.3 billion package to help tackle hunger in the region. Russia blames Western sanctions for grain supply problems.

Russia now plans to «help» Ukrainian people «free themselves from the pro-Western regime»

Newsroom - Yesterday 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated that they will "help" the Ukrainian people "free themselves from the pro-Western regime" led by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.


© Provided by News 360

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov - 

MINISTERIO DE ASUNTOS EXTERIORES DE RUSIA

"Of course we will help the Ukrainian people to free themselves from the regime that is so absolutely contrary to the people and contrary to history," Lavrov said during an event in Cairo and assured that the Russian and Ukrainian peoples "will live together" in the future.

Lavrov has argued that Russia "feels sorry for the Ukrainian people" who deserve "something much better." "We are sorry for the Ukrainian history that is collapsing before our eyes and we are sorry for those who have fallen for the propaganda of the Kiev regime and those who support it and who want to turn Ukraine into an eternal enemy of Russia. They will not succeed," he said during a meeting with permanent representatives of the Arab League states.

Lavrov himself assured in an interview with the India Today channel in April, shortly after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that Russia "has no plans to change the regime in Ukraine". He then assured that it should be up to the Ukrainians themselves to decide which leaders they want.

Volkswagen investors question plan for incoming CEO to lead Porsche listing


Oliver Blume, CEO of luxury car manufacturer Porsche AG, speaks at the Automobilwoche car summit in Ludwigsburg, Germany. (File photo: Reuters)

Reuters, Berlin/Frankfurt
Published: 25 July ,2022: 

Volkswagen investors believe incoming CEO Oliver Blume will struggle to lead both the Volkswagen Group and Porsche -- and to pull off a planned listing of the sports car maker while wearing both hats.

Friday’s announcement that group CEO Herbert Diess would be replaced by Porsche boss Blume has rekindled investor concerns about corporate governance problems at Europe’s top carmaker, which some shareholders have said weighs on the stock’s performance.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

“Blume can’t take care of everything ... this underscores the bad corporate management at Wolfsburg,” said Ingo Speich, head of sustainability and corporate governance at top-20 Volkswagen investor Deka Investment, referring to the German carmaking group’s headquarters.

“It is poison for the Porsche IPO,” Speich added. Volkswagen plans to list the luxury cars division in the fourth quarter.

Porsche AG may already have to go public at a steep discount if it decides to go ahead with the listing as economic obstacles mount, Reuters reported last week.

Those concerns have been exacerbated by questions over how Blume can manage his dual role.

“Mr Blume will maintain his role as CEO including after a possible IPO,” Volkswagen said on Monday in response to Reuters’ questions.

Just days before his appointment was announced, Blume and other Porsche AG executives speaking at its capital markets day sold a possible listing of the sports car brand as a means to give it more independence and entrepreneurial freedom while raising funds for the group.

His dual role calls that independence into question, analysts at Stifel and UBS said.

“Such a double mandate can only exist temporarily in an emergency situation -- it won’t work in the long-term,” said Ulrich Hocker of the German Association for the Protection of
Securities (DSW), which represents retail investors.

Still, most do not at this stage expect a delay to the listing. Some, including car industry veteran Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer speculated Porsche finance chief Lutz Meschke may eventually take over from Blume at the sports car brand.

In its statement on Friday, Volkswagen did not outline any succession planning for Blume at Porsche.

Volkswagen’s share price has nearly halved since March 2021, underperforming a 17 percent drop in the STOXX Europe 600 Automobiles & Parts Index over the same period.

The carmaker answers to a complex web of investors -- its supervisory board controlled by workers’ representatives and regional government, and a holding company owned by the Porsche and Piech families, staffed in part with Volkswagen executives.

Porsche AG’s Meschke is on the board of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, Volkswagen’s top shareholder and owner of more than half its voting rights, while Volkswagen’s chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch is its CEO.

Tensions over who pulls the strings in Wolfsburg have spelled the end of the road for several Volkswagen executives before Diess, with former CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder and former VW brand chief Wolfgang Bernhard forced out of their jobs in the late 2000s after repeated clashes with the works council.

While Diess is largely given credit for Volkswagen’s pivot to electrification -- lifting the carmaker from the reputational ruin of the Dieselgate scandal to leading Europe’s electric car market -- the governance issues caused by his confrontational approach to leadership ultimately weighed on the investment case, analysts at Stifel Europe Equity Research said.

“Poor corporate governance makes many investors shy away,” Janne Werning, who heads ESG Capital Markets & Stewardship at Union Investment, a top-10 shareholder in Volkswagen, said at the carmaker’s annual general meeting (AGM) last year.

Union Investment, which repeated its criticism of Volkswagen’s governance at the most recent AGM in May, declined to comment for this article.

Volkswagen’s billionaire clan plotted CEO Diess’s ouster while he was on US trip


Herbert Diess, CEO of German carmaker Volkswagen AG, poses in an ID.3 pre-production prototype during the presentation of Volkswagen's new electric car on the eve of the International Frankfurt Motor Show IAA in Frankfurt, Germany. (File photo: Reuters)

Bloomberg
Published: 24 July ,2022

Volkswagen AG’s dramatic move to oust its combative chief executive officer was set in motion a week ago, when his backing from the billionaire Porsche and Piech family began to crumble.

Unwavering support from the reclusive clan that majority-owns VW had helped Herbert Diess survive frequent clashes with powerful worker representatives. But as key project failures combined with worker discontent, the family concluded he had to go.

The decisive day was July 20, according to people familiar with the deliberations. The top committee of VW’s supervisory board, comprising family representatives, officials from the German state of Lower Saxony officials and labor leaders, determined Diess’s time was up. He learned this around lunchtime the next day, still jet-lagged from a visit to the automaker’s SUV factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In the end, Diess’s undoing is a brutal reflection of the challenges facing leaders of industrial behemoths trying to modernize for the digital age. VW’s unions wield significant influence even by German standards, where worker representatives account for half the seats on supervisory boards. Their leaders and the state are resistant to drastic and expedient change that will compromise jobs.

While Diess excelled at setting a strategic direction for VW, his delivery ruffled feathers and the company’s execution has been patchy. The outsider brought in from BMW AG in 2015 didn’t accumulate enough allies and became increasingly isolated. Threats of cost cuts and delays developing software for the vehicles of tomorrow ultimately cost him his position.

“The departure of CEO Herbert Diess should not be a surprise given how marginalized he had become in recent months,” Philippe Houchois, a Jefferies analyst, wrote in a report. “The timing is unfortunate and another illustration of dysfunction at VW.”

Spokespeople for VW declined to comment on the events leading up to Diess’s dismissal.
Software woes

Momentum to remove Diess before VW’s summer break started building last weekend during individual discussions among the eight-member presidium within its supervisory board. Diess was in the US to shore up progress in a market where Europe’s biggest carmaker has long lagged.

While the top executive was away, key representatives of VW’s main stakeholders started contemplating who could replace Diess should tensions within the company worsen. There have been repeated flare-ups, including late last year, when Diess warned the company risked falling behind Tesla Inc. and mused about major job cuts. In December, VW overhauled its management board, stripping Diess of some responsibilities while tasking him with leading Cariad, the carmaker’s software unit.

Since then, discord at Cariad has pushed back the scheduled rollout of important new models, including the electric Porsche Macan SUV. His struggle to muster broader support to execute his 89-billion euro ($91 billion) electric-vehicle and software strategy started to fray support among Porsche and Piech family members.
The successor

During the deliberations of the last week, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume emerged as the heir apparent with his long history of key operational positions at VW and track record of rejuvenating the sports-car division. As VW’s power players weighed pros and cons of putting a new leader in charge, they started to tilt toward making a change.

Hours after Diess returned from Chattanooga, he was hit with the decision and given 24 hours to respond. After consulting with legal advisers, he decided it was time to go.

Diess informed VW Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch on Friday. A meeting of the company’s 20-member supervisory board was called for 4:30 p.m. in Germany. Fifteen minutes before the start of the meeting, the presidium members informed their respective camps that Diess’s replacement was on the agenda. The board voted unanimously for his ouster.

Diess, credited with putting in place the industry’s biggest EV rollout, will make way for Blume in just over a month. He’s likely still entitled to be paid in full under his contract through October 2025. Depending on the automaker’s operating results and share performance, the amount could reach more than 30 million euros.