Day: August 2, 2022

MONTEVIDEO— Four South American countries on Tuesday launch an unprecedented joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup with the hope of bringing the global showpiece back to its first home.

Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile’s intention to bid has long been in the making.

More than three years ago they committed to create a local organizing committee to co-ordinate with South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL to plan their bid.

But it has taken until now for the “Juntos 2030” (Together 2030) bid to be made official.

It centers on the desire to “bring the World Cup back to its original home: South America,” said CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez.

The very first edition of the World Cup in 1930 was held in Uruguay and won by the hosts, beating their neighbors Argentina 4-2 in the final.

The joint South American bid aims to stage the 2030 final in the very same Centenario stadium that hosted the first title match 100 years earlier.

“For us it should be called the 2030 Centenary World Cup,” said Uruguay’s sports minister Sebastian Bauza.

“What we have to focus on is the Centenary World Cup. The 100 year celebration of the first World Cup will be here. Back to the legend, back to its roots!”

Should it be successful, though, the two tournaments could not be more different.

In 1930 there were only 13 teams and the entire tournament was played in the same city — Montevideo — in just three stadiums.

In 2030 there will be 48 teams with around 15 stadiums used across the four countries.

If successful it would be the first time that as many as four countries host the World Cup.

The 2026 tournament has already been awarded to three countries — Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Despite the Latin American region being one of the worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Chile’s sports minister Alexandra Benado insisted in an interview published on Monday that all four countries remain in a position to

host the tournament.

“Our proposal will be austere and sustainable and will meet FIFA’s demands,” Benado told El Mercurio newspaper.

The joint South American bid will likely come up against at least two other proposals.

Spain and Portugal have officially submitted a joint bid while Morocco have repeatedly insisted they will bid to become only the second ever African country to host the finals.

The United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland decided in February to abandon a joint bid that would have seen five FIFA member federations hosting the tournament.

There has also been tentative talk of an Israeli bid alongside the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

The last World Cup to be hosted in South America was Brazil 2014.

More than half of the 21 World Cup finals already staged have been in Europe but later this year Qatar will host the finals, only the second time they will be in Asia.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

KINSHASA— Two people have been killed and several injured after UN peacekeepers returning from leave in Uganda opened fire to force their way through a border into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bintou Keita, the head of the UN peacekeeping mission, has described the troops’ actions as unspeakable and irresponsible.

She said arrests had been made and an investigation opened.

A video shared on social media shows troops in a UN convoy trying to cross the border from Uganda into eastern DR Congo – and an argument can be heard.

Then suddenly there are loud bursts of gunfire from the convoy and people scatter in all directions. The UN troops drive into DR Congo still shooting.

Over the last week there have been violent protests in DR Congo against the UN’s Monusco mission, which many feel has failed to protect people from armed attacks in which 20 people died.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

KAMPALA— Ugandan police are deploying a standby force to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after UN peacekeeping troops opened fire on a border post, killing two people and wounding 15, including an 8-year-old Ugandan girl.

Uganda says it has deployed a team to monitor ongoing tensions in the eastern DRC resulting from a deadly shooting involving MONUSCO soldiers.

The incident that has been described in a statement by the UN Special Representative Bintou Keita as unspeakable and irresponsible happened in the town of Kasindi in the DRC’S Beni territory close to Uganda.

The statement said that during the incident, soldiers from the Intervention Brigade of the MONUSCO force from Tanzania, returning from leave, opened fire at the border post for unexplained reasons and forced their way through.

Fred Enanga, the Uganda Police spokesperson, described the incident.

“So, one of the bullets strayed and hit an eight-year-old juvenile called Bira Jackline,” he said. “She’s getting treatment at Bwera hospital. The stray bullet hit her shoulder and it was retrieved. So, she’s out of danger.”

In his statement, Bintou said the perpetrators of the shooting were identified and arrested pending the conclusions of the investigation, which has already started in collaboration with Congolese authorities.

Bintou added that contact had also been established with Uganda so that legal proceedings can be initiated urgently with the participation of victims and witnesses.

MONUSCO, the peacekeeping mission in the DRC, was in 2010 given the mandate to carry out offensive operations.

In another statement, U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres said he was saddened and outraged by the incident and demanded accountability.

With ongoing tension between DRC locals and MONUSCO, Enanga said authorities are monitoring the situation.

“We’ve been closely monitoring what happened from the other side of Bunagana and DRC,” he said. “We don’t want the violence there to affect our borderline. We have a standby team monitoring.”

Trade between DRC and Uganda slowed down since March due to the resumption of fighting between DRC government forces and M23 rebels who took over the town of Bunagana. Uganda has since March registered 41,164 asylum seekers comprising 21,235 households.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

ADDIS ABABA— The vast majority of deaths due to monkeypox have been registered on the African continent but Africa remains the only part of the world with no doses of the vaccine, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The World Health Organisation declared monkeypox a new global health emergency after 20,000 cases were reported in 77 countries. Some 75 people have died in the 11 African countries where the disease was recorded, the acting head of the African Centre for Disease Control, Ahmed Ogwell has said.

While the disease was already present on the continent in Central and West Africa before the global spread, it was detected in Europe, North America and Asia in May 2022, as it spread.

Monkeypox on the continent was mainly spread to people via infected rodents – while in Europe and North America – people with no links to animals or recent trips to the African continent seem to be contracting the disease.

WHO has stressed that anyone can be infected with monkeypox if they are in close contact with someone with the disease or they touch contaminated clothing or sheets. However, researchers are still looking into how it is spread via skin-to-skin contact.

Both the U.S. and Europe have secured doses after a number of delays; the European Commission reported it has purchased 160,000 vaccines, while the U.S. has obtained some 800,000 doses that will soon be distributed.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

KUALA LUMPUR— Malaysia and the United States (US) value their longstanding bilateral ties and will continue working together on economic prosperity and security.

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (picture) said this during a luncheon hosted in honour of the latter at a leading hotel here, Tuesday.

Pelosi and her congressional delegation arrived in Malaysia early Tuesday as part of the official visit to four Asian countries.

Ismail Sabri in his welcoming remarks pointed out that both sides enjoyed good relations in all fields including economy, investment, health and defence.

The prime minister said the partnership was further strengthened and went a notch higher through the recently concluded ASEAN-US Special Summit held in Washington DC from May 12 to 13, which also bought ASEAN closer to the US.

The partnership was also strengthened through vaccine diplomacy cooperation where the US has donated one million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines to Malaysia to help the country’s fight against the pandemic.

In defence, the US has extended a lot of assistance so far, including grant assistance worth US$200 million, he said.

“As we all know, Malaysia and the US enjoy good relations and remain important partners in all fields. In economy, the US is the biggest investor in the country,” he said in his speech in Malay at the luncheon meet.

Also in attendance at the event were Malaysian Senior Minister for Defence Hishammuddin Hussein and Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.

The prime minister thanked Pelosi and her delegation for her maiden visit to Malaysia in an effort to boost bilateral ties between both nations.

Meanwhile, Pelosi said she and her high-powered delegation were willing to learn more from Malaysia and collaborate closely in terms of security and economic prosperity.

“Malaysia is very important. We’ve had over 60 years of relationship between the United States and Malaysia. We value that relationship,” she added.

Kuala Lumpur is Pelosi’s second stop after Singapore on Monday before she heads to South Korea and Japan with her tour being closely watched to see if Taiwan is also on her itinerary.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry had said that in the event of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, Beijing will take decisive measures to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the US will be fully responsible for all the consequences resulting from the visit.

As part of her itinerary here, she paid a courtesy call on Dewan Rakyat (Malaysian Parliament) Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun at the Parliament building at noon.

The US established diplomatic ties with Malaysia in 1957 following the then Malaya’s independence from Britain.

The US is currently Malaysia’s third largest global trade partner and export destination, while Malaysia is the US’ 17th largest trade partner.

Despite the challenging global economy and economic uncertainties following the outbreak of Covid-19, total trade between the two countries increased by 21.4 per cent year-on-year to RM217.10 billion (US$52.37 billion) in 2021.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

JOHANNESBURG— At least four people have died during protests over the cost of electricity in a South African township, police officials have said.

On Monday, residents angry at the high cost of basic services barricaded roads with burning tyres and set ablaze a municipal building in Thembisa township, northeast of the financial hub, Johannesburg.

Authorities said two people were killed in alleged police shootings after the protests broke out in the morning.

“It’s alleged they have been shot,” local municipal police spokeswoman Kelebogile Thepa said.

Later in the evening, Thepa said two more bodies had been found near the entrance of the burned building – bringing the total death toll to four.

Police were yet to confirm what caused the deaths, she added. Investigations were under way.

Protests over poor services occur regularly in South Africa, which is battling some of the highest unemployment and crime rates in the world. Power cuts have also become frequent in recent months, as national utility company Eskom battles high debts and a labour strike.

The latest bout of protests came less than two weeks after former President Thabo Mbeki warned the country could see an uprising similar to the Arab Spring, triggered by mounting discontent.

Last month, Mbeki accused President Cyril Ramaphosa of failing to deliver on his promises to tackle widespread poverty, inequality and unemployment, which stands at more than 34.5 percent, with youth joblessness at nearly 64 percent.

The situation has been worsened by the rise of food prices occasioned by disruptions in wheat supply as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues.

A year ago, South Africa saw an outbreak of the worst violence the country has experienced since the end of the apartheid era three decades ago. The large-scale rioting and looting then left more than 350 dead.

The 10 days of rioting followed the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma for snubbing corruption investigators. They happened mainly in KwaZulu-Natal province but also in Gauteng where Johannesburg is located.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK