World

Germany’s coalition government on Wednesday allowed a Chinese firm to take a smaller-than-planned stake in a Hamburg port, after Chancellor Olaf Scholz resisted calls to ban the controversial sale outright.

Under the compromise reached by Scholz’s cabinet, Chinese shipping giant Cosco will be allowed to buy a stake “below 25 percent” in a container terminal owned by HHLA, the economy ministry said in a statement.

“The reason for the partial prohibition is the existence of a threat to public order and safety.”

China’s state-owned Cosco had initially sought a 35-percent stake and the deal would have automatically gone ahead if a compromise solution hadn’t been found this week.

The fate of the Tollerort terminal at Hamburg’s port — Europe’s third busiest — has sparked a fierce row in Scholz’s coalition government, amid growing concern about critical infrastructure falling into foreign hands.

Scholz, a former Hamburg mayor, had supported the sale and has repeatedly stressed the importance of strong trade ties with China.

He is due to visit China next week, the first European Union leader to make the trip since November 2019.

But Scholz’s coalition partners the Greens and the FDP wanted to veto the Hamburg port deal, citing security risks.

Badly burnt by its over-reliance on Russian energy, many in Germany are also wary of becoming too dependent on China economically.

Six German ministries, including those of economy, defence and foreign affairs, had opposed the Cosco sale.

The European Commission had also expressed reservations about the deal, a source told AFP at the weekend.

The agreement to settle for allowing a reduced stake of 24.9 percent, thereby depriving Cosco of voting rights, “reduces the acquisition to a purely financial participation”, the economy ministry said.

But the face-saving compromise failed to silence some critics.

Anton Hofreiter, a Green party lawmaker and chairman of the German parliament’s European affairs committee, said greenlighting the deal was the wrong decision.

“(Scholz’s) argument… that this is a purely commercial project is fatally reminiscent of the statements on Russia and Nord Stream,” he told the Funke media group.

“The attitude can be described as naive at best. We urgently need a realistic view of China.”

Beijing meanwhile welcomed the deal’s sign off and accused critics of “hyping up” the acquisition.

“Cooperation is mutually beneficial. We hope the relevant parties will view pragmatic cooperation between China and Germany rationally and stop baselessly hyping it up,” said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.

German carmaker Mercedes-Benz is expected to sell its Russian assets to a local investor, the Russian ministry of industry and trade said Wednesday, becoming the latest automaker to exit since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine.

“Mercedes-Benz intends to sell its shares in Russian subsidiaries to a local investor,” Avtodom, the ministry said in a Telegram statement.

“The new owner of the Russian divisions of Mercedes-Benz, Avtodom, will be able to attract other companies as partners for joint productions,” the ministry added.

Mercedes-Benz confirmed it intended to sell in a separate statement. 

“The fulfilment of obligations to customers in Russia… as well as the preservation of jobs for employees of the Russian divisions of the company” were the priority in concluding the deal with Avtodom, general director of Mercedes-Benz-RUS Natalya Koroleva said. 

“The completion of the transaction is subject to the approval of all relevant authorities,” Mercedes-Benz said in the statement. 

Many Western companies left Russia for ethical or logistical reasons since Moscow launched what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24.

No financial details of the transaction were provided by either side on Wednesday.

Western sanctions imposed on Russia since the beginning of the Ukraine offensive have heavily disrupted supply chains.

The technology and car manufacturing sector were particularly affected. 

Rishi Sunak will on Wednesday face off against opposition lawmakers for the first time as British prime minister, in a likely raucous parliamentary session following weeks of political turmoil. 

His parliamentary debut as prime minister comes a day after he took power as the first UK leader of colour, vowing to repair the damage wrought by outgoing leader Liz Truss through her disastrous budget, which sparked economic carnage.

Sunak faces a daunting array of problems from the war in Ukraine to a cost-of-living crisis at home and expected budget cuts.

Asked about possible cuts to foreign aid Wednesday, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the government faced some difficult decisions.

He said Covid had been unprecedented and then “straight off the back of Covid, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin invaded Ukraine which then amplified the global challenges” the pandemic had created.

“We have got to be realistic because there are a whole bunch of realities domestically that we have got to address,” he told BBC radio.

Sunak on Tuesday also pledged to unite his fractured Conservatives and an increasingly unimpressed country, and began his tenure by re-appointing a host of ministers from his predecessor’s top team.

The right-leaning Times daily welcomed a “generally broad and capable set of cabinet appointments” although the left-wing Guardian expressed scepticism that he would be able to unite the party.

“Sooner or later, he will face the parliamentary disunity that his election sought to banish,” it said in an editorial. 

Sunak, finance minister under ex-premier Boris Johnson, retained Jeremy Hunt as chancellor of the exchequer, bidding to keep markets onside after he stabilised the situation with his initial appointment nearly two weeks ago.

He also kept Truss’s foreign, defence, trade and culture ministers, among others, as well as controversially bringing back recently fired Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

The line-up “reflects a unified party and a cabinet with significant experience, ensuring that at this uncertain time there is continuity at the heart of government”, a Downing Street source said.

The continuity cabinet could hold an inaugural meeting Wednesday before Sunak heads to the House of Commons for his first weekly “Prime Minister’s Questions”, when he will battle Labour leader Keir Starmer and other opposition lawmakers.

They will undoubtedly seek to capitalise on weeks of chaos at the top of government, and reiterate demands for a general election following the selection — by Conservative MPs — of their third leader in two months.

“The Tories have crashed the economy, with low wages, high prices and a cost-of-living crisis,” Starmer said Tuesday, in a taste of the attack lines to come. 

“The public needs a fresh start and a say on Britain’s future.”

– ‘Difficult decisions’ –

Truss left office as the UK’s shortest-serving premier in history, replaced by its youngest since 1812 and first Hindu leader.

Sunak, 42, triumphed in a 96-hour Tory leadership contest after rival contender Penny Mordaunt failed to secure enough nominations from Tory lawmakers and Johnson dramatically aborted an audacious comeback bid.

Truss and Johnson offered their support — though Johnson, who privately blamed his ex-minister for toppling him in July, is thought to be fuming and still harbouring hopes of an eventual Downing Street return.

In his first call with a foreign leader, Sunak told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Britain would continue its “steadfast support” following Russia’s invasion.

He also spoke to US President Joe Biden, who had earlier hailed the appointment of the first British-Indian prime minister as “groundbreaking”.

European leaders offered their own congratulations, while Irish premier Micheal Martin reminded Sunak of their “shared responsibility” to safeguard peace in Northern Ireland following tensions under Johnson and Truss.

Sunak is unlikely to enjoy much, if any, of a political honeymoon due to the proliferation of issues waiting in his in tray.

Markets — and opposition parties — are eagerly awaiting an October 31 Halloween fiscal statement from Hunt, which is likely to contain curbs on public spending to meet tens of billions of pounds in budget shortfalls. 

Labour and others are expected to keep demanding a snap election — not due until January 2025 at the latest.

Bangladesh rescue workers found the bodies of four missing crew of a dredger boat, taking the death toll from Cyclone Sitrang to 28 as millions remained without power, officials said Wednesday.

Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the Atlantic or typhoons in the Pacific — are a regular menace in the region but scientists say climate change is likely making them more intense and frequent.

Cyclone Sitrang made landfall in southern Bangladesh on Monday but authorities managed to get about a million people to safety before the monster storm hit.

With winds of 80 kilometres (55 miles) per hour, it still left a trail of devastation in the country’s densely populated, low-lying coastal region, which is home to tens of millions of people.

The government said nearly 10,000 tin-roofed homes were either “destroyed or damaged” and crops on large swathes of farmland were wrecked at a time of record-high food inflation.

Fire department divers found the bodies of four crew of a dredger boat that sank during the storm in the Bay of Bengal.

“We found one body on Tuesday night and three more this morning. Four crew are still missing,” Abdullah Pasha from the fire department told AFP.

Nearly five million people were still without power on Wednesday, Rural Electrification Board official Debashish Chakrabarty told AFP. 

Nearly a million people who were evacuated from low-lying regions have now returned to their homes.

Trees were uprooted as far away as the capital Dhaka, hundreds of kilometres from the storm’s centre.

Heavy rains lashed much of the country, flooding cities such as Dhaka, Khulna and Barisal — which took on 324 millimetres (13 inches) of rainfall on Monday.

About 33,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, controversially relocated from the mainland to a storm-prone island, were ordered to stay indoors but there were no reports of casualties or damage, officials said.

In recent years, better forecasting and more effective evacuation planning have dramatically reduced the death toll from such storms.

The worst recorded, in 1970, killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Residents of the Athens suburb of Glyfada who are struggling to heat their homes as energy prices soar now have an option — free firewood from the local council.

“We need it… especially in this difficult year,” says Yiannis Dimitrakopoulos, a 75-year-old pensioner queuing for logs. 

Dozens of people wait patiently in their cars for their turn. 

“We try to get as much wood as we can. We have a fuel oil central heating system but you never know,” says Erofili Generali, a teacher in her 50s.

She looks on while her husband fills the boot of their car with wood collected from local forests and parks.

Although temperatures in Glyfada remain fairly mild during the winter season, the inhabitants of this fashionable southern suburb, nicknamed the Athens Riviera, still need to heat their homes somewhat in winter. 

– Fuel oil and gas heating –

When natural gas prices more than quadrupled in September, many began to wonder how they would afford it.

Many Greeks are still recovering from the financial impact of the county’s decade-long economic crisis, and with inflation running at more than 10 percent for the last six months, the price of food and essential goods has shot up.

In Glyfada, which has a population of around 90,000, homes are mainly equipped with central heating systems that use fuel oil or, increasingly, natural gas.

“We feel betrayed about these exorbitant natural gas prices,” says Dimitrakopoulos.

He recalls how the Greek government has heavily promoted gas for heating in recent years.

Some homes in the area do have fireplaces, although these are not used as the main source of heating.

So the council has stepped in to help with free firewood.

“Many trees came down in a snowstorm in January, so we decided not to recycle the wood into industrial fuel like we used to,” explains Annie Kafka, Glyfada’s deputy civil protection officer.  

Instead, the wood was chopped up so the council could “offer it to households because of the energy crisis”.

Launched at the beginning of October, firewood distribution usually takes place twice a week. 

Approximately 3,000 households have already benefitted from the initiative. 

Meanwhile, demand is exploding. Some 14,000 people have registered on the council’s website, according to Kafka.

Households are notified by SMS when they can come and fill up their car boots. “Vulnerable families obviously have priority,” Kafka says.

– Air pollution –

In September, the council in Zografou, an eastern suburb of Athens, launched a similar initiative.

“The demand from our residents was impressive,” said local councillor Dimosthenis Bouloukos.

But in the country’s densely populated capital, the initiative has not been welcomed with the same enthusiasm, mainly due to environmental concerns.

“Burning wood adds significantly to air pollution, especially in big cities like Athens that already suffer from nitrogen oxide emissions,” explains Petros Varelidis, head of the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency.

During Greece’s financial crisis, which lasted from 2008 to 2018, a large number of the city’s residents resorted to firewood to heat their homes as they could no longer afford fuel oil or gas.

As a result, Greece’s main cities found themselves shrouded in choking smog. 

But while Glyfada’s residents are aware of the environmental damage caused by burning wood, they argue that there is no other way, given the tough economic times that lie ahead.

“It’s a form of recycling, even if it is harmful,” says Dimitrakopoulos. “This year it’s justifiable.”