Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Law and Justice party, made the claim at a ceremony presenting a report over Poland’s losses from the German invasion.
Kaczynski said that although the reparations process would be “lengthy and difficult,” the issue was to “gain damages for everything that Germany, that the German state, that the German nation, did in Poland in the years 1939-1945.”
He added that “dozens of countries around the world … have received damages from Germany while Poland has not,” which he attributed to a lack of initiative.
Kaczynski said a general principle applied in international relations whereby if one state does another great harm, it must make good for that harm.
“And there is no reason why Poland has been excluded from the action of that principle,” he said.
Around 6 million Poles, including 3 million Polish Jews, were killed during the Second World War, and the capital Warsaw was levelled following a 1944 uprising in which about 200,000 civilians died, according to a Reuters report. (1 Polish zloty = 0.21 U.S. dollars)
In addition to the travel ban on these “high-ranking military, politicians and public figures,” the activities of three non-governmental organizations from Canada are now recognized as undesirable in Russia, the ministry said.
A total of 818 Canadians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, have been under Moscow’s sanctions, including an entry ban, official data showed.
{BERLIN, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) — German carmaker BMW on Wednesday started the in-house production of fuel cell systems for its hydrogen-powered ix5 sport utility vehicle (SUV), which is to be rolled out worldwide for testing and demonstration purposes from the end of this year.}
The car combines hydrogen technology with an electric drive and a high-performance battery. The combination is “adding a unique form of drive system for the premium segment,” according to BMW.
“As a versatile energy source, hydrogen has a key role to play on the road to climate neutrality. And it will also gain substantially in importance as far as personal mobility is concerned,” Oliver Zipse, chief executive officer (CEO) of BMW AG, said at a press conference.
BMW has been working on hydrogen drive technology with fuel cells since 2015. Previously, the carmaker had already tested hydrogen combustion engines, which were deemed less effective in the end.
At its hydrogen competence center in the Bavarian capital of Munich, BMW is stacking the individual fuel cells from Toyota with other components to form a complete fuel cell system.
The BMW fuel cell system alone has an output of 125 kilowatts (kW) or 170 hp (horsepower). Together with the electric motor and a power battery developed for the hydrogen car, the powertrain can deliver 275 kW/374 hp.
The state of Bavaria will invest 500 million euros (500 million U.S. dollars) in hydrogen technology with a research center and hydrogen filling stations, Minister President Markus Soeder said at the press conference. “Hydrogen has a future and Bavaria is a leader in electromobility.”
However, the federal government should also support the development of the technology, Soeder said. “There is an urgent need for hydrogen networks in the south from the federal government as well.”
Total trade value stood at 3.39 trillion yuan (about 492.6 billion U.S. dollars), according to the data.
Service exports expanded 22.8 percent year on year to 1.64 trillion yuan, and service imports were 1.75 trillion yuan, up 18.9 percent from a year ago.
The service trade deficit dropped 20.1 percent to 107.73 billion yuan between January and July.
China’s trade of knowledge-intensive services maintained steady growth in the period, rising 10.2 percent year on year to about 1.42 trillion yuan.
Sectors such as telecommunications and information services saw rapid increases in exports, while insurance services were among the fastest growing areas in imports.
Travel service trade continued to recover, with its trade value expanding 7.5 percent from a year ago to 462.23 billion yuan.
In contrast to merchandise trade, service trade involves transportation, tourism, telecommunications, construction, advertising, computing, and accounting.
The ministry said it would promote the negative list on cross-border service trade nationally and seize opportunities coming from implementing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to expand service trade with all member countries.
New business models such as bonded artwork exhibitions will be nurtured, and the imports of technologies and services in carbon emission reduction and environmental protection will be encouraged, the ministry added.
KIEV, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday met with visiting International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi to discuss the IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP), the presidential press service reported.
At the talks, Zelensky and Grossi stressed the importance of sending the IAEA mission to the plant, noting that any incident at the facility would have global consequences.
Zelensky spoke highly of the IAEA visit to Ukraine, adding that the situation around the nuclear power plant is escalating.
“There are risks of incidents at the plant, failure of nuclear reactors, disconnection of Zaporizhzhia NPP units from our network,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky voiced his belief that the IAEA mission to the facility led by Grossi would find ways to prevent security threats.
The Zaporizhzhia NPP is one of Europe’s largest nuclear power plants. It has been controlled by Russian forces since early March, but its Ukrainian staff has continued to operate it. In recent weeks, Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations of strikes on the facility.
The IAEA mission to the plant is set to assess the plant’s physical damage, determine its safety and security systems’ functionality, evaluate staff conditions, and perform urgent safeguarding activities.
Speaking at a meeting of the Movement of Enterprises of France (MEDEF), Borne said that common goals were required.
“We are entering an era of collective responsibility,” she said.
“Climate change is no longer an inconvenient truth, it’s a destructive reality. We must implement radical and innovative solutions, initiate powerful changes in the way we produce, and invest in training for the jobs of tomorrow.”
If Russia were to cut all gas exports to Europe, France would need to quickly find ways to “make ecological transition an opportunity for innovation, growth and employment,” Borne said.
“We already know that we will have less gas this winter compared to the other years,” she said.
“This crisis is a new challenge for European solidarity, because in return, we will strongly suffer the consequences of a European economic slowdown. We only have one path, lower energy consumption.”
At the beginning of August, the country’s minister for energy transition Agnes Pannier-Runacher said that France’s gas reserves were already 80 percent full, in preparation for possible shortages this winter.
Pannier-Runacher said that France was ahead of its goals, and that the gas reserves would be 100 percent filled by Nov. 1.
French President Emmanuel Macron is also expected to hold a defense council meeting on Friday, to discuss France’s energy plan for the winter.
The Red Cross Society of China will also provide 300,000 U.S. dollars in emergency cash assistance to the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, Zhao said.
Zhao said the decision to increase the humanitarian aid was made in view of further development of the disaster and Pakistan’s disaster-relief need.
China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners, true friends and good brothers sharing weal and woe. Since the floods started to ravage Pakistan, China has been concerned about the affected people in the country, and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has expressed sympathy to Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Zhao said.
Under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, China has provided 4,000 tents, 50,000 blankets, and 50,000 pieces of waterproof canvas.
“We will never forget that Pakistan rushed to our assistance after the Wenchuan earthquake (in China) in 2008 and sent all its tents in stock to the stricken area, which deeply touched the Chinese people,” Zhao said. “We also stand with our brotherly Pakistani people in face of this flood.”
He said China will strengthen cooperation with Pakistan on disaster prevention and mitigation, and provide more assistance to Pakistan in fighting floods and post-disaster reconstruction.
The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan and the Pakistani Embassy in China are contacting relevant enterprises and various sectors to raise funds. Hopefully, the Pakistani people will overcome the floods and rebuild their homeland as early as possible, he added.
The Chinese team ranked first in its group, which also included Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Vietnam, during the semi-finals that concluded at the Alabino training ground in the Moscow region.
The Chinese team will compete with groups from Russia, Belarus and Uzbekistan in the final contest on Saturday.
The International Army Games, initiated by the Russian Defense Ministry, have served as an international platform for militaries to exchange experience and strengthen cooperation.
Itaru Nakamura, commissioner general of the National Police Agency (NPA), made his announcement following the release of a review of security at the time Abe was fatally shot while delivering a street speech during an election campaign.
“The National Police Agency believes it is necessary to steadily implement measures based on the new security requirements under a new system to prevent such an incident from happening again,” Nakamura told a press conference.
“Today, I conveyed to the National Public Safety Commission my intention to resign, in an effort to revamp personnel affairs,” he said, with his resignation likely to be approved at a Cabinet meeting on Friday.
The results of the review in the wake of Abe’s assassination revealed the police’s failure to protect the former leader.
It detailed serious flaws in security plans, insufficient command and communication at the scene, and a failure to notice the gunman approaching Abe.
Abe delivered a stump speech in the western city of Nara on July 8 ahead of an upper house election. A lone assailant was able to approach Abe with a homemade gun and fire two shots from behind Abe with his security details unable to respond in time to prevent or limit the attack.
At the time of the shooting, one policeman from the Tokyo metropolitan police force and a few local police officers were close to Abe at the time of the shooting.
Numerous security experts here have attested the attack could have been prevented or at least not resulted in Abe being fatally wounded, had his security details acted in unison to both suppress the attacker whilst simultaneously shielding and moving Abe out of the line of fire.
According to the NPA, one of the biggest errors in security measures at the time of the shooting involved a police officer from Nara changing his position during Abe’s speech.
He moved from outside a small area of guardrails surrounding Abe where he was covering the former leader’s back, to inside the rails where the policeman then turned his back to the crowd, the agency said.
The local police officer did not inform his team leader or other officers of his movements, said the NPA.
On Thursday, the head of the Nara Prefectural Police, Tomoaki Onizuka, also announced his intention to step down.
More than 70 people died and over 82,000 houses were damaged over the past 24 hours in various rain-related incidents in parts of the country, according to the NDMA statistics.
As the country struggles to cope with the aftermath of torrential rains that triggered massive floods, Pakistan urged the international community to help with relief efforts.
Pakistan’s Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman said that the current climate catastrophe needs immediate International and national mobilization of humanitarian efforts, not just in the form of food, shelter and basic survival amenities, but also in rescue efforts.
“Given the scale of the disaster, there is no question of the provinces or even Islamabad being able to cope with this magnitude of climate catastrophe on their own. Lives are at risk, and thousands are homeless. It is important that international partners mobilize assistance,” the minister said.
The southern Sindh province remained one of the worst-hit regions, where 293 people died in different rain-related incidents and subsequent flooding, followed by 230 in the southwestern Balochistan province, said the NDMA.
The total fatalities also included 169 reported in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and 164 in the eastern Punjab province.
Floods have also damaged over 495,000 houses across Pakistan apart from washing away roads and damaging bridges since mid-June, according to the NDMA.
Considering the prediction of more rains in the country, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed the concerned authorities to expedite rescue and relief operations in flood-affected areas.
“The rehabilitation in the calamity-hit areas is a gigantic task … This is possible only through collective efforts,” Sharif said.
Meanwhile, local authorities along with the Pakistani army are continuing with rescue and relief activities, and sending food items, tents, medicines, and other essential items to almost all the flood-hit areas in the South Asian country.
Talking to Xinhua, Naseer Ibraheem, a volunteer for a local non-governmental organization in the southern Badin district, said that the recent spell of heavy rains has caused unprecedented destruction in the district and the government has declared it a calamity-hit area.
“I have never seen such damage caused by rains in the past. It has rained many folds more in Sindh. People are forced to live in makeshift camps and tents as they have lost their houses to heavy downpours and floods,” Ibraheem said.
“Our organization, like several others in the area, is providing food, tents and cash money to help stranded people … I cannot describe how unfortunate the situation is for them … they have lost almost everything they had to rains and floods. They need our help,” he added.
