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War: More Trouble, EU Agrees To Provide Additional €500M For Arms Supplies To Ukraine

Published

3 years ago

May 17, 2022

EU foreign ministers have agreed to allocate an additional €500 million from the European Peace Facility for arms supplies to Ukraine. This will bring the total amount of the EU military support to Ukraine to €2 billion.

At the same time, however, ministers failed to agree on a sixth package of sanctions against Russia and an oil ban, EU High Representative Josep Borrell reported last night.

The EU High Representative was speaking after the EU Foreign Affairs Council that was joined by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.

Borrell noted that the €2 billion in military support was “just the tip of the iceberg”, because Member States “do a lot from their side without asking for refunding”.

Borrell also said the EU has to help Ukraine to keep producing and exporting grains and wheat via the already established initiative ‘Solidarity Lanes’.

“The storage capacity of Ukraine is full, because they cannot export this grain and they need to empty this storage capacity in order to be able to receive the next crop. So, we are working on how to help them to take this grain out by train,” added Borrell.

Regarding sanctions, he said: “We will continue imposing sanctions on Russia to make the cost of invasion unbearable for the Kremlin. We continue discussing. Unhappily today, it has not been possible to reach an agreement to finalise the 6th sanctions package.

“The issue will go back to the COREPER and [EU] Ambassadors will continue discussing. We are with the same difficulties about unanimity on the oil ban.”

EU ministers also met over lunch with the six foreign ministers of the Western Balkan countries to discuss their path to the European Union.

“Ministers expressed their clear expectation towards the partners as future Member States, to commit to European values and to the European foreign policy.”

“Those who have not yet done so – and Serbia is one of them – should, as soon as they can, step up their alignment and implement sanctions [against Russia],”

Borrell said, adding the European Union’s partner countries could not remain neutral in the current situation: “To maintain close ties with [Vladimir] Putin’s regime is no longer compatible with building a common future with the European Union. Both things at the same time are not compatible. Being neutral today, with respect to the Ukrainian war, is a false concept.”

He also said that the EU intends to support its “partners in order to mitigate the effects of this upcoming crisis”.

Headline

Trump Birthright Citizenship Order Halted In Class-action Suit

Published

2 days ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

A federal judge on Thursday halted President Donald Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship, as opponents of the policy pursue a new legal avenue following the US Supreme Court’s overturning of a previous block.

The high court’s conservative majority delivered a landmark decision in late June that limits the ability of individual judges to issue nationwide injunctions against presidents’ policies.

Several such judges had in fact blocked Trump’s attempt to end the longstanding rule, guaranteed in the US Constitution, that anyone born on US soil is automatically an American citizen.

However, the Supreme Court left open the possibility that orders could be blocked via broad class-action suits against the government.

Trump’s opponents quickly filed new class-action suits seeking to block again the executive order.

On Thursday, Judge Joseph Laplante of the US District of New Hampshire granted class-action status to any child who would potentially be denied citizenship under Trump’s order. The judge ordered a preliminary halt to it as legal proceedings carry on.

The judge delayed his ruling for seven days to permit the Trump administration to appeal.

Cody Wofsy, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who argued the case, called the ruling a “huge victory” that “will help protect the citizenship of all children born in the United States, as the Constitution intended.”

Trump’s executive order decrees that children born to parents in the United States illegally or on temporary visas would not automatically become citizens — a radical reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.

His administration has argued that the 14th Amendment, passed in the wake of the Civil War, addresses the rights of former slaves and not the children of undocumented migrants or temporary US visitors.

The Supreme Court rejected such a narrow definition in a landmark 1898 case.

The current high court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, avoided ruling last month on the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order and only addressed the issue of nationwide injunctions.

It nonetheless permitted the order to go ahead but delayed its ruling from taking effect until late July to allow for new court challenges.

Several lower courts, in issuing their previous injunctions, had ruled that the executive order violated the Constitution.

Headline

PICTORIAL: Two Undocumented Nigerians Arrested For Drug Trafficking In Libya

Published

2 days ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

Libya’s Counter-Terrorism Forces have arrested two undocumented Nigerians over alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

According to a statement shared by Migrant Rescue Watch on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, the suspects were caught with quantities of hashish and hallucinogenic pills, including Tramadol and Lyrica.

Authorities also recovered a large sum of cash suspected to be proceeds from drug sales during the operation.

Following their arrest, the two Nigerians have been handed over to the appropriate legal authorities for further investigation and possible prosecution.

The statement said, “Counter-Terrorism Forces arrested 2 undocumented #migrants of Nigerian nationality for drug trafficking. The individuals were found in possession of hashish, hallucinogenic pills “Tramadol” & “Lyrica” as well as cash from proceeds.

“Both individuals were referred to competent authorities for legal action.”

Headline

31 Workers Escape Death As Tunnel Collapses In Los Angeles

Published

2 days ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

All 31 workers escaped without injuries from a collapsed industrial tunnel in Los Angeles’ Wilmington area, after scrambling over a tall pile of loose underground soil, city officials said late on Wednesday.

The trapped workers were shuttled back to the tunnel’s entry point, more than 5 miles (8 km) away from the affected area, after they escaped the collapsed section and met several coworkers in the unaffected part of the tunnel, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement.

The tunnel, which had a diameter of 18 ft (5.5 m), trapped 27 individuals, while four workers entered the damaged section to assist with rescue, LA Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva told reporters in a media briefing.

“The workers had to climb through debris. They had to make themselves out through,” before they were assisted out, Villanueva said.

Robert Ferrante, chief engineer and general manager of Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, told the briefing that a section of the already built part of the tunnel experienced squeezing ground conditions and partially collapsed.

“LAFD has just reported that all workers who were trapped in the tunnel in Wilmington are now out and accounted for. I just spoke with many of the workers who were trapped. Thank you to all of our brave first responders who acted immediately,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X.

The collapsed section was a part of the Los Angeles County’s Clearwater Project, where the new 7-mile tunnel is being built to upgrade the region’s sewer system, officials added.

(Reuters)