Kazakhstan is about to unveil a plan that aims to diversify its exports by fostering industrial development and to make the country a base for export-oriented manufacturers connected to global value chains. Jacopo Dettoni reports. 

Lithuania is enjoying a boost in FDI project and jobs, with the capital, Vilnius, getting the lion's share.

Investment into the Middle East region by US-based companies showed a notable increase between the beginning fo 2016 and the end of 2018. 

Niamey, Niger — Nine members of an armed rebel movement seeking the release of Niger's ousted president surrendered Monday, officials in the north of the military-ruled country said.  The rebel Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL) was set up in August 2023, a month after Niger's democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, was overthrown in a military coup.  Since then, Bazoum has been imprisoned with his wife, Hadiza, at the presidential palace in Niamey.  An official from Agadez governorate told AFP, "Nine FPL fighters repented and handed over their weapons and ammunition on Monday during a ceremony in the presence of General Ibra Boulama," who is the governor of the region. FPL members began surrendering at the start of the month after discreet negotiations by "influential local personalities," the Air-Info media outlet reported.  On November 1, FPL spokesman Idrissa Madaki and three other members turned themselves in separately in two towns near the Libyan border, according to Niger's army and national television.  Last week, FPL leader Mahmoud Sallah was "provisionally stripped" of his nationality as were seven members of the Bazoum regime who were suspected of "terrorist bomb attacks."  Sallah had claimed responsibility for attacking the army in the north and disabling part of a crucial pipeline carrying crude oil to Benin in June. He had also threatened to attack strategic sites.  Another rebel movement also demanding Bazoum's release, the Patriotic Front for Justice (FPJ), has held since June the military prefect of northeastern Bilma and four of his security team, who were kidnapped after an ambush.  Authorities in Niger, which is also battling attacks by jihadist groups, have stepped up security in recent weeks, with military patrols, checks and searches of vehicles.

United Nations — The United Nations renewed its appeal for an immediate cease-fire in Sudan on Tuesday, with officials warning that civilians are paying a high price for the fighting, as external parties fuel the conflict by supplying weapons.  “It is long past time for the warring parties to come to the negotiating table,” said U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo. “The only path out of this conflict is a negotiated political solution.”  DiCarlo said that in the absence of a nationwide cease-fire, local ones could give civilians some respite and create openings for dialogue for a more comprehensive agreement.  She told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the rival leaders of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) appear convinced that they can each win on the battlefield and have escalated their military operations and attacks.  “This is possible thanks to considerable external support, including a steady flow of weapons into the country,” she said. “To put it bluntly, certain purported allies of the parties are enabling the slaughter in Sudan. This is unconscionable, it is illegal, and it must end.”  Russia and Egypt are reported to be among the countries providing the SAF with arms and equipment.  Meanwhile, Sudanese officials have publicly accused the United Arab Emirates of funneling weapons to the RSF militia through neighboring Chad. The UAE vehemently denies the accusation, but a U.N. panel of experts said earlier this year there was substance to media reports that cargo planes originating in the UAE capital had landed in eastern Chad with arms, ammunition and medical equipment destined for the paramilitary group.  Sudan’s ambassador stood by the claim on Tuesday, telling the council that the RSF is using humanitarian convoys to smuggle both weapons and foreign mercenaries through the Adre border crossing with Chad. Sudan’s authorization for that crossing is about to expire and humanitarians — and most council members — want it to remain open.  “We commend the Sudanese authorities for opening the Adre border crossing in mid-August,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. “This single route allowed aid organizations to bring enough food, health and nutrition supplies to serve more than 1.9 million people. Now, Sudanese authorities must keep Adre border crossing open indefinitely. Millions of lives depend on it.”  Eleven million people have been displaced and half of Sudan’s population, an estimated 25 million people, are struggling with crisis-level food insecurity, according to the U.N. Famine was confirmed in August in the northern part of Sudan’s Darfur region.  “In North Darfur, fighting in and around El Fasher continues to intensify and block the movement of aid supplies into the area,” said Ramesh Rajasingham, director of the coordination division of the U.N. office on humanitarian affairs.  El Fasher is the capital of North Darfur and has been the epicenter of a battle for the last seven months between the RSF, who are poised to capture the city, and the SAF, which are trying to hold on to it. More than 1.5 million civilians in El Fasher, many of them displaced from other parts of Sudan, are caught in the crossfire.  Humanitarians have confirmed famine conditions in parts of El Fasher, including at the Zamzam camp for displaced persons, which houses more than 400,000 people. Rajasingham said about a third of the children in the camp are malnourished, including 10% who are severely malnourished.  Since Oct. 20, tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced from eastern Al Jazirah state, following a wave of RSF attacks on villages there that reportedly killed more than 120 civilians. Women and girls were raped, markets looted, and homes and farms were burned to the ground. “The international community must take what’s happening in Sudan seriously and must take urgent action to address it,” Rajasingham said of the spreading conflict. On Friday, the U.N. Security Council’s sanctions committee for Sudan designated RSF commanders Abdel Rahman Juma Barkalla and Osman Mohamed Hamid Mohamed for sanctions for their roles in the violence in Darfur.  The United States said Tuesday that it is adding Barkalla to its own sanctions list and noted it had already designated Hamid in May 2024. The U.N. Security Council is working on a draft resolution focused on the protection of civilians through the implementation of commitments both parties made last year in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as well as supporting mediation that would lead to a cease-fire. No date for a vote has been announced.

Panel: Compound Climate Threats Increase Need for Regional Cooperation in the Pacific Panel: Compound Climate Threats Increase Need for Regional Cooperation in the Pacific

Jerusalem/Beirut — Israel said on Monday there was progress in talks about a Lebanon cease-fire and indicated Russia could play a part by stopping Hezbollah rearming via Syria, although the Iran-backed group said it had not received any new truce proposals. Pummeled by Israel's offensive, Hezbollah said diplomatic contacts were under way involving its backers in Tehran, Washington and Moscow, whilst reiterating its readiness to fight on, saying it had enough weapons for a "long war." In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the war against Hezbollah was not yet over. The main challenge facing any cease-fire deal would be enforcement, he said, though there was "a certain progress" in talks. After previous rounds of fruitless U.S.-led diplomacy to secure a Lebanon truce, the comments indicate renewed focus on the issue as President Joe Biden prepares to leave office in January, with President-elect Donald Trump set to replace him. Hopes of a Gaza truce have meanwhile suffered a setback, with Qatar suspending its mediation role. Ignited by the war in Gaza, the conflict at the Lebanese-Israeli border had been rumbling on for a year before Israel went on the offensive in late September, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south. Saar, addressing a Jerusalem news conference, said Israel was working with the United States on a cease-fire. Israel wants Hezbollah north of the Litani river – some 30 km from the border - and unable to rearm, he said. Saar said a basic principle for any agreement had to be that Hezbollah would not be able to bring weapons into Lebanon from Syria. "It is vital to the success of any arrangement in Lebanon," he said. "And the Russians are, as you know, present in Syria. And if they are in agreement with this principle, I think they can contribute effectively to this objective." Russia deployed forces into Syria nearly a decade ago to support President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war there. Hezbollah also sent fighters to help Assad, and carved out big sway on the ground alongside other Iran-backed groups. Syria is widely seen as a major conduit for Iran to supply weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Israel has struck targets in Syria regularly during the conflict. An Israeli airstrike temporarily cut Syria's main Homs-Damascus highway on Monday, Syrian media reported. In Lebanon, relatives held funerals for 20 people killed in a strike on the southern town of Deir Qanoun-Ras al-Ain, including seven medics from rescue groups affiliated with Hezbollah and its Shiite ally Amal. 'Testing the waters' In Beirut, Hezbollah official Mohammad Afif linked intensified political contacts to the looming change of U.S. leadership. "There is a great movement between Washington and Moscow and Tehran and a number of capitals," he said. "We hear a lot of talk, but so far, according to my information, nothing official has reached Lebanon or us in this regard," he told a news conference. The contacts were "in the phase of testing the waters and presenting initial ideas." Israel Hayom reported on Sunday that substantial progress has been made in diplomatic negotiations over a proposed Lebanon cease-fire that would require Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, barring its military presence near the Israeli border, while the IDF would return to the international border. Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's best-selling newspaper, reported on Monday that Israel and Lebanon have exchanged drafts through U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, signaling progress in efforts to reach a final agreement. The Lebanese government, which includes Hezbollah, has repeatedly called for a cease-fire based on the full implementation of a U.N. resolution that ended a war between the group and Israel in 2006. The resolution calls for the area south of the Litani river to be free of all weapons other than those of the Lebanese state. Lebanon and Israel have accused each other of violating the resolution. Israel says its campaign aims to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people forced to evacuate the north due to rockets fired by Hezbollah, which opened fire on Oct. 8, 2003, in solidarity with Hamas. Israel's offensive has forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes in Lebanon in the last seven weeks. Since the eruption of hostilities a year ago, Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,189 people in Lebanon, the majority of them since late September, according to health ministry figures, which do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Hezbollah attacks have killed roughly 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon over the last year.

… Seek targeted relief measures to save media, nation’s economy The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), arising from the three-day All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC) in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State Capital, has called on the federal government to urgently mitigate the negative impact of fuel subsidy removal and the exchange rate volatility on the economy. […]

The post Ease impact of fuel subsidy removal, exchange rate volatility, editors urge FG first appeared on Business Hallmark.

[VOA] United Nations -- The United Nations renewed its appeal for an immediate cease-fire in Sudan on Tuesday, with officials warning that civilians are paying a high price for the fighting, as external parties fuel the conflict by supplying weapons.

"We’re playing with fire, but there can be no more playing for time. We’re out of time," says UN Secretary General António Guterres

At least 22 killed in Lebanon and Gaza strikes as Israeli defence minister rejects ceasefire

“It’s been horrible; I’ve been sick on and off for the last 10 days,” said 29-year-old asthmatic Natasha Sohail, who teaches A-Level students at three private schools in Lahore. Last week, her condition worsened with a vertigo attack and fever. “It’s criminal what is happening here,” said an incensed Sohail, referring to the “band-aid measures” […]

Wall Street firms are expected to pay heftier bonuses for this year, the first increase since a bumper year in 2021, according to a report by compensation consultancy Johnson Associates. Payouts will probably rise after financiers benefited from several factors in recent months: a recovery in dealmaking, the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates and equity […]

to write a cease and desist letter

When worker ants are exposed to a pathogenic fungus, they build nests that are more compartmentalised to reduce the risk of an epidemic

It may soon be possible to vaccinate ourselves against the diseases of old age, keeping our body and brain healthier for longer

Launching a million tonnes of moon dust around Earth could dim sunlight across our planet by 1.8 per cent. This would reduce the global temperature, but whether it would be worth the resources, and the risks involved in such a strategy, are unclear

An independent task force formed by NASA to look into unidentified anomalous phenomena found no evidence of alien craft, and suggests that if we want to find proof of visitors we need better data

The British Heart Foundation’s Reflections of Research competition showcases beautiful images captured by researchers studying heart and circulatory disease

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