Day: September 14, 2024

A cultural event titled “Written in the Sky: My China Story” was held in Berlin on Saturday to celebrate the upcoming 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Officials from the Chinese Embassy in Germany, the Center for Language Education and Cooperation under China’s Ministry of Education, and the Association of German China Societies participated in the event. Teachers and students from the German Burg Chinese Chorus, and various schools and universities were also among the nearly 200 attendees.

At the event, the German Burg Chinese Chorus performed several classic songs, including “To the Cloud” and “Jasmine Flower,” in both Chinese and German.

All attendees also watched a special video message sent by the astronauts of Shenzhou-18 from the space station.

In his speech, Chinese Ambassador to Germany Deng Hongbo emphasized that both China and Germany share a profound cultural heritage, and mutual appreciation, attraction, and learning have never ceased. He also highlighted th
at in an era of both opportunities and challenges, the world needs more exchange and cooperation than ever before.

Ivan Pavlovic, one of the chorus members, is pursuing a degree in Modern East Asian Studies with a focus on the Chinese economy at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

“My story with China is more than an academic connection. The bond (with China) has shaped my life in many ways and continues to challenge and enrich me in new and unexpected ways,” he said.

The “Written in the Sky: My China Story” event will also be held at the United Nations headquarters and in countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia. Enditem

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Trade between Afghanistan and Central Asian countries reached nearly 700 million U.S. dollars over the past five months, the local media Tolonews reported on Saturday.

“Trade volume between Afghanistan and the central Asian countries reached 684 million U.S. dollars during the past five months, including 60 million U.S. dollars in exports and 624 million U.S. dollars in imports,” the local media quoted spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad as saying.

Afghanistan has an annual trade volume of about 10 billion U.S. dollars, of which 2 billion U.S. dollars are exported and 8 billion U.S. dollars are imported from other countries, the report added.

Agricultural products, processed food items, textiles, leather, electrical parts, and construction materials are the most demanded goods among Afghan importers. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s main exports include coal, saffron, fresh and dried fruits, hand-woven carpets, and precious and semi-precious stones.

Source: The Namibia
Press Agency

Hamas issued an urgent humanitarian appeal on Saturday to save two million displaced people in the Gaza Strip before winter arrives.

“We are issuing an urgent humanitarian appeal to save two million displaced people in the Gaza Strip before it is too late, as winter approaches, weather conditions worsen, and the displaced people’s tents deteriorate,” the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said in a statement.

The statement noted that there are 543 shelter and displacement centers in the Strip due to the Israeli military’s “forced displacement by compelling citizens to evacuate their homes and safe residential neighborhoods, which is a violation of international law.”

According to the statement, 74 percent of the displaced people’s tents have become unusable, and 100,000 out of 135,000 tents need immediate replacement.

It confirmed that these tents are completely dilapidated as they are made of wood, nylon, and fabric and have deteriorated due to the sun’s heat and the climatic conditions in Gaza, beco
ming completely out of service.

The statement urged the international community and relevant organizations to act urgently and provide immediate relief to the displaced people.

Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 others taken hostage. Enditem

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Worries that China’s external surpluses result from industrial policies reflect “an incomplete view,” and trade balances in China and the United States are primarily driven by domestic macro forces, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a new analysis.

“External balances are ultimately determined by macroeconomic fundamentals, while the link to trade and industrial policy is more tenuous,” four IMF economists, led by IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, wrote in a blog published Thursday.

“China’s subsidies are concentrated in priority sectors such as software, automobiles, transportation, semiconductors, and more recently, green technology. Yet, the country’s manufacturing trade surplus is not concentrated among any specific industries and the share of the major sectoral contributors has remained fairly stable over time,” the IMF economists noted.

Compared with the 2000s, China now accounts for a substantially larger share of the global economy, so much so that even though its trade surp
lus is smaller relative to its economy, it has remained relatively stable over time as a share of global output. “Hence spillovers from trade developments in China continue to be quite sizable for the rest of the world,” they said.

The latest analysis-stylized simulations using the IMF’s Group of Twenty model illustrate that macroeconomic factors have driven China’s rising trade surplus since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These include negative domestic demand shocks in China, due to the property market downturn and low household confidence, as well as a dissaving shock in the United States due to elevated government and personal spending,” said the economists.

They argued that “homegrown surpluses and deficits call for homegrown solutions” that require setting the macro dials appropriately, adding that sustained growth in China will come from addressing long-standing domestic imbalances.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

From a military perspective, Ukrainians should not be restricted in using delivered weapons, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Military Committee Chair Rob Bauer said here on Saturday.

Speaking after a meeting of the NATO Military Committee in Prague, Bauer said lifting the restrictions on the use of supplied weapons to Ukraine would be logical from a military point of view.

However, he noted that countries providing these weapons to Ukraine have the right to put limits on individual weapons, adding that there is a political discussion on the matter.

According to the Czech News Agency, debates on restrictions on the use of weapons supplied to Ukraine are taking place at various levels. Italy has introduced them, while countries such as the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Netherlands do not set any conditions for the use of weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that by providing Ukraine with long-range weapons, Western countries risk involving directly in the Russia-Ukrain
e conflict.

In such circumstances, Russia would be forced to make “appropriate decisions” based on the new threats, Putin was quoted by Russian media as saying.

According to Western media reports, Ukraine has been pleading with its Western allies for it to use their missiles, including long-range ones, to fire deep into Russian territory. Enditem

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

South Sudan’s transitional government on Friday announced the postponement of long-delayed elections and extended the transition period by two years after failing to meet key provisions of a peace agreement.

This is the second time the country, which gained independence in 2011, has postponed elections and extended a transition period that began in February 2020.

The extension follows recommendations from both election-related institutions and the security sector, which stressed that the additional time would allow for the completion of essential tasks before the next elections, said Martin Elia Lomuro, minister for Cabinet Affairs in the transitional government.

He noted that the government has reset the transition period, which will begin in February 2025 and last until 2026.

The world’s youngest nation was expected to elect leaders in the country’s first-ever general elections on Dec. 22, 2026, at the end of the transitional period.

The Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South
Sudan was signed in 2018 to end the bloody civil war that had killed some 400,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Under the agreement, the government was supposed to be dissolved on Sept. 22 as South Sudan prepared for elections in December this year.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency