News in Brief

Date: 12 September 2022 - 21:26

News ID: ۱۰۶۸۳۸

BERLIN (AP) — The German government said Monday that it can’t stop a shipment of Russian uranium destined for French nuclear plants from being processed at a site in Germany because atomic fuel isn’t covered by European Union sanctions on Russia. Environmentalists have called on Germany and the Netherlands to block the shipment of uranium aboard the Russian ship Mikhail Dudin in the English Channel from being transported to a processing plant in Lingen, close to the German-Dutch border. “We have no legal grounds to prevent the transport of uranium from Russia, because the sanctions imposed by the EU due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine exempt the import of nuclear fuel, like Russian gas, to the EU from import bans,” said a spokesman for Germany’s Environment Ministry, Andreas Kuebler. Safety requirements for the shipment had been examined and found to meet requirements, meaning German authorities had to approve it, he added.

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BEIJING (AP) — The death toll from a major earthquake in western China rose to 93 as the search for survivors continued, authorities said. A magnitude 6.8 quake hit Sichuan province last week, with much of the damage concentrated in Ganze Tibetan Autonomous Region in the province. Another 25 people remain missing as of Sunday evening, rescuers said, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The search for survivors and recovery of bodies were complicated by heavy rains and the risks of landslides, which forced some residents to move to temporary shelters. The earthquake also affected Chengdu, the provincial capital, where residents were under strict zero-COVID controls, meaning they were not allowed to leave their buildings. Footage online showed residents banging at metal gates at the front of apartment complexes as they sought to leave their buildings.

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LONDON (Reuters) -- Staff at 26 English further education colleges are planning to take ten days of strike action starting on Sept. 26 over a pay dispute, the University and College Union (UCU) said on Monday. “College staff are set to take unprecedented strike action because they cannot go on being paid so little,” UCU’s general secretary Jo Grady said. “Inflation is soaring and college bosses have more money at their disposal than they have had in years, yet they are refusing to protect their staff from the cost-of-living crisis.” The union said 89.9% of its members voted in favor of strike action on an overall turnout of 57.9%. The strikes will take place over four weeks in the first half term of the academic year, the union added.

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Thousands of nurses in Minnesota launched a three-day strike Monday over issues of pay and what they say is understaffing that has been worsened by the strains of the coronavirus pandemic. The labor action includes 15,000 nurses and seven health care systems in the Minneapolis and Duluth areas. Those groups have recruited temporary nurses and say they expect to maintain most services. Nurses were seeking more than 30% increases in compensation by the end of the three-year contract. Hospitals have offered 10% to 12%. The Minnesota Nurses Association said that unless benefits are substantially improved, the continued loss of nurses will leave hospitals vulnerable. “They need to see it as the crisis that it is,” union president Mary Turner said when nurses gave notice in August of their strike plans. “We’ve said over and over that this isn’t something we do lightly but were not going to just sit back and do nothing. We can’t.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- A majority of adults in the U.S. say that health care is not handled well in the country, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll reveals that public satisfaction with the U.S. health care system is remarkably low, with fewer than half of Americans saying it is generally handled well. Only 12% say it is handled extremely or very well. Americans have similar views about health care for older adults. Black and Hispanic adults in particular are resoundingly worried about health care access, with nearly 6 in 10 saying they are very or extremely concerned about getting good care. Fewer than half of white adults, 44%, expressed the same level of worry. Racial disparities have long troubled America’s health care system. They have been abundantly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Black and Hispanic people dying disproportionately from the virus. Black and Hispanic men also make up a disproportionately high rate of recent monkeypox infections.

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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s prime minister said Monday that the prolonged stay of more than 1 million Rohingya refugees in crowded camps in the country has become a serious security and stability concern. “Apart from their own miseries, their prolonged presence is causing a serious impact on the economy, environment, security and sociopolitical stability of Bangladesh,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said at the opening ceremony of a three-day meeting of military officials from 24 countries in the Indo-Pacific region. The United States is the co-host of the gathering, called the Indo-Pacific Armies Management Seminar, along with the Bangladesh army. Last month, the refugees marked the fifth anniversary of a mass exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh who were fleeing a harsh crackdown by Myanmar’s military. In total, Bangladesh is hosting more than 1 million Rohingya refugees. Hasina has said that repatriation is the only solution to the crisis, but that Bangladesh would not force them to go back to Myanmar.