News Lelemuku

LONDON, LELEMUKU.COM - Prince Philip has decided to stop driving at age 97, less than a month after he was involved in a collision that left two women injured, Buckingham Palace said Saturday.

The palace said in a statement that "after careful consideration,'' Queen Elizabeth II's husband "has taken the decision to voluntarily surrender his driving license.''

Philip was behind the wheel of a Land Rover near the royal family's Sandringham estate in eastern England when he smashed into another car on Jan. 17. Philip had to behelped outof his overturned vehicle but wasn't injured. Two women in the other car were injured, though not seriously, and a 9-month-old baby boy was unhurt.

Philip was photographed driving again two days later, without a seat belt. Police said they offered him "suitable words of advice'' after that.

The prince was not charged in the crash. Police said he and the other driver were both given breath tests for alcohol and passed.

In a letter of apology to one of the injured women, Philip said he was dazzled by the sun when he pulled onto a main road near the royal retreat, 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of London.

He told Emma Fairweather, who suffered a broken wrist in the crash, that "I can only imagine that I failed to see the car coming, and I am very contrite about the consequences.'' The letter was published by a newspaper.

There is no upper age limit for licensing drivers in Britain, although drivers over 70 are required to renew their licenses every three years and tell authorities about any medical conditions that might raise safety issues. (VOA)

KIEV, LELEMUKU.COM - Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is running for president in next month's election, accused the incumbent of corruption — charges his office rejected as a lie as the race was heating up.

Tymoshenko told The Associated Press in an interview Monday that President Petro Poroshenko has used his position to enrich himself. She also alleged that Poroshenko's associates have engaged in a sprawling effort to bribe voters to ensure his re-election in the March 31 presidential vote.

Tymoshenko, 58, claimed that voters are being offered 1,000 hryvnia ($37) in exchange for supporting the 53-year-old Poroshenko, adding that she asked the Interior Ministry to investigate.

“They are setting up that network of bribery across the entire country,” she said. “I hope that the Interior Ministry will not allow that to be the basis of the president's campaign. How can a ‘democratic’ president treat his nation like that?”

Poroshenko's office quickly dismissed Tymoshenko's claims.

“Tymoshenko has been invariably leading the ratings of liars, and she obviously tries now to strengthen her positions,” Poroshenko's press service said in a written statement in response to AP requests for comment.

The statement sought to turn the tables on Tymoshenko, charging that it was her political movement that engaged in bribing voters, noting that one of its activists has recently been convicted on those charges.

Recent opinion polls have shown 41-year-old comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who played the nation's president in a popular TV series, surging ahead of Tymoshenko and Poroshenko.

A survey conducted jointly by four respected polling agencies that was released Monday had 21.9 percent of respondents supporting Zelenskiy while Tymoshenko had 19.2 percent and Poroshenko was third with 14.8 Percent. Other candidates were trailing behind.

The poll of 10,000 people in face-to-face interviews was completed last week and had a margin of error of 1 percentage point.

Zelenskiy's high rating reflects both his popularity as a widely-recognizable TV persona and the public disillusionment with current leaders.

Ukraine has been hit by economic troubles and a sharp plunge in living standards after Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and a separatist insurgency in the east.

Tymoshenko pointed at Poroshenko's personal fortune and alleged that the president, a multimillionaire with assets including a chocolate maker, media and other businesses, has profited from the fighting.

“The president has made some of those earnings by lending his own money to the country at fantastically high interest rates during the war,” she told the AP. “This is an example of a conflict of interests. This is an example of how people abuse their senior position to engage in politicized, corrupt business.”

In 2014, Forbes estimated Poroshenko's fortune at $1.3 billion. The value of his assets has shrunk since then.

Tymoshenko promised to track down “every copeck” and show “how the country has been robbed during the war under the cover of patriotic slogans” if she wins the vote.

She also promised to initiate constitutional amendments to increase the powers of parliament.

Tymoshenko served as the country's prime minister in 2007-2010. She later spent two-and-a-half years in prison for signing a gas deal with Russia, which was largely viewed as retribution by her political rival, then-President Viktor Yanukovych.

She narrowly lost to Yanukovych in the 2010 presidential vote and to Poroshenko in 2014 after Yanukovych was driven from power by massive protests.

Tymoshenko, a native of the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine, has been positioning herself as a pro-NATO, pro-European Union candidate and a staunch supporter of the troops who are fighting Russia-backed separatist in the industrial Donbas region. (VOA)

LONDON, LELEMUKU.COM - Nissan announced Sunday it has cancelled plans to make its X-Trail SUV in the UK — a sharp blow to British Prime Minister Theresa May, who fought to have the model built in northern England as she sought to shore up confidence in the British economy after it leaves the European Union.

Nissan said it will consolidate production of the next generation X-Trail at its plant in Kyushu, Japan, where the model is currently produced, allowing the company to reduce investment costs in the early stages of the project.

That reverses a decision in late 2016 to build the SUV at Nissan's Sunderland plant in northern England, which employs 7,000 workers. That plant will continue to make Nissan's Juke and Qashqai models. The announcement Sunday made no mention of any layoffs relating to the X-Trail SUV decision.

"While we have taken this decision for business reasons, the continued uncertainty around the UK's future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours to plan for the future," Nissan Europe Chairman Gianluca de Ficchy said in a statement.

Less than two months before Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29, Britain still doesn't have an agreement on what will replace 45 years of frictionless trade. This has caused an enormous amount of concern among businesses in Britain, which fear the country is going to crash out of the vast EU trade bloc without a divorce deal, a scenario economists predict would hurt the U.K. economy.

The Nissan decision, first reported by Sky News, is a major setback for May's Conservative government, which had pointed to Nissan's 2016 announcement that Sunderland would make the SUV — months after the country's Brexit referendum — as proof that major manufacturers still had confidence in Britain's economic future.

Nissan's announced its plans to build the X-Trail and Qashqai models in Sunderland after the government sent a letter to company officials offering undisclosed reassurances about its ability to compete in the future.

British politicians have sharply criticized May's Brexit deal and voted it down in Parliament.

May's government has refused to rule out a no-deal Brexit, saying the threat strengthens her hand with EU negotiators. Parliament voted last week to give May more time to try to iron out a compromise with the bloc.

Nissan's change of heart comes just days after Britain's carmakers issued a stark assessment about Brexit's impact on the industry, warning that their exports are at risk if the U.K. leaves the EU without an agreement.

Investment in the industry fell 46 percent last year and new car production dropped 9.1 percent to 1.52 million vehicles, in part because of concerns over Brexit, the Society of Motor Manufacturing said.

The group's chief executive, Mike Hawes, described the threat of a no-deal Brexit as "catastrophic."

He says the drop in investment is only a foreshadowing of what could happen if the U.K. leaves the EU on March 29 without a deal.

"With fewer than 60 days before we leave the EU and the risk of crashing out without a deal looking increasingly real, UK Automotive is on red alert," Hawes said Thursday. "Brexit uncertainty has already done enormous damage to output, investment and jobs." (VOA)

VATICAN, LELEMUKU.COM - Pope Francis is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a unique, thriving island of Catholicism as he embarks on the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam.

While Francis is building on two of his priorities with his Sunday-Tuesday visit to the United Arab Emirates — promoting interfaith dialogue and visiting the Catholic peripheries — diplomatic protocol will likely dictate that he leaves other concerns behind.

The Emirates’ support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, which has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the UAE’s problematic record on human rights and labor violations at home will likely will get a pass, at least in public.

Interreligious dialogue

Francis is traveling to Abu Dhabi to participate in a conference on interreligious dialogue sponsored by the Emirates-based Muslim Council of Elders, an initiative that seeks to counter religious fanaticism by promoting a moderate brand of Islam. It’s the brainchild of Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam learning that trains clerics and scholars from around the world.

It will be the fifth meeting between Francis and el-Tayeb, evidence that Al-Azhar’s freeze in relations with the Holy See sparked by Pope Benedict XVI’s 2006 comments linking Islam to violence has thoroughly thawed.

In a video message to the Emirates on the eve of his trip, Francis paid homage to his “friend and dear brother’’el-Tayeb and praised his courage in calling the meeting to assert that “God unites and doesn’t divide.’’

“I am pleased with this meeting offered by the Lord to write, on your dear land, a new page in the history of relations among religions and confirm that we are brothers despite our differences,’’ Francis said.

In a statement Saturday, Al-Azhar described the upcoming meeting as “historic’’ and praised the “deeply fraternal relationship’’ between its imam and the pope, which it said even includes birthday greetings.

Openness to other faiths
Francis and el-Tayeb are to address the “Human Fraternity Meeting’’ Monday that has drawn not only Christian and Muslim representatives but hundreds of Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and other Christian faith leaders. It’s all part of the Emirates’ “Year of Tolerance’’ and its effort to show its openness to other faiths in a region otherwise known for severe restrictions on religions outside of Islam.

“It’s something new for the Muslim world, that within the discussion of dialogue, they’re talking about interreligious dialogue across the board,’’ beyond basic Christian-Muslim relations, said Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Sant’Egidio Community, a Rome-based Catholic organization active in interfaith relations who will be attending the conference.

Mass for thousands

Francis’ other main initiative in Abu Dhabi is a giant Mass on Tuesday in the city’s main sports arena that is expected to draw some 135,000 people in what some have called the largest show of public Christian worship on the Arabian Peninsula. There, Francis will see firsthand a Catholic community that is big, diverse and dynamic, at a time when the wider Mideast has seen an exodus of Christians fleeing persecution at the hands of the Islamic State group and others.

Of the more than 9 million people now living in the UAE, around 1 million are Emirati while the rest are foreigners drawn to the oil-rich federation to work in everything from white-collar finance to construction.

The Catholic Church believes there are about 1 million Catholics in the UAE. Most are Filipino and Indian, many of whom have left behind families for work and can face precarious labor conditions, which human rights groups regularly denounce.

“The church has a unique role because it becomes home,’’ said Brandon Vaidyanathan, chair of the sociology department at Catholic University in Washington, who grew up in Dubai. “It becomes a place of belonging’’ in a country where foreigners can live, work and practice their faith but will never gain citizenship.

Vaidyanathan, who converted from Hinduism to Catholicism while living in Dubai, said the Emirates’ religious tolerance is commendable given the trends of the region. He noted the “unprecedented” nature of the government’s invitation to Francis, its donation of lands for churches and even a recent decision to rename a mosque “Mother Mary of Jesus.’’

Religious freedom vs. freedom to worship

Yet he pointed to the difference between freedom to worship and true religious freedom. Crosses, for example, can only be displayed inside churches, proselytizing for faiths other than Islam is banned and Muslims are forbidden from converting.

Francis will likely focus on issues of religious freedom and fraternity in his public remarks. Unlike all his other foreign trips, he will not deliver a political speech.

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said the reason was to give greater emphasis to his speech to the interfaith conference. He dodged a question about whether Francis would raise Yemen’s yearslong war in his private talks with the sheikh. The UAE is deeply involved in the Saudi-led war in the Arab world’s poorest country, where tens of thousands have been killed and millions face food and medical shortages.

“I don’t know if the Holy Father will confront it publicly or privately, but certainly on many occasions, even recently, he has underlined the need to search for peace in particular to guarantee the humanitarian rights of the population, especially children,’’ Gisotti said.

Aid groups working in Yemen hope Francis won’t just rely on his past appeals, but will use his visit to bring his message to the Emirati leadership. (VOA)

LONDON, LELEMUKU.COM - It would be irresponsible for the European Union to refuse to reopen negotiations over Britain’s exit deal, British trade minister Liam Fox said in an interview aired Sunday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has said she is seeking changes to the Withdrawal Agreement she agreed to with Brussels last year in order to win the support of parliament.

The EU has said the deal cannot be renegotiated.

“Are they really saying that they would rather not negotiate and end up in a ‘no-deal’ position?” Fox told Sky News in a prerecorded interview. “It is in all our interests to get to that agreement and for the EU to say we are not going to even discuss it seems to me to be quite irresponsible.”

With less than two months until Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29, the opposition Labour Party has said it is now inevitable that the government will have to request an extension to the Article 50 exit negotiation period.

Fox, who has previously spoken out strongly against delaying the exit date, said extending the negotiations without a deal in place would not solve anything, but it was “a very different argument” if Britain just needed more time to get the necessary legislation in place for a smooth exit.

He is the second senior minister to suggest such a delay may be needed, after Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Thursday Britain may need time to get legislation through.

“There is a big difference between if we had an agreement and we need some time to get the legalities done, that is one thing,” Fox said. “I think to extend simply because we hadn’t reached an agreement would not provide any impetus for that agreement to be reached.”

Fox said Britain would “be able to deal” with leaving the bloc without an agreement but it would not be in the country’s interests. (VOA)

NEW YORK, LELEMUKU.COM - The United Nations is appealing for $162 million to provide protection and life-saving assistance to 2.3 million of the most vulnerable people in eastern Ukraine, which is in its fifth year of civil war.

The United Nations reports more than 3,300 people have been killed and up to 9,000 injured since 2014 when civil war broke out in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and the government.

The conflict remains active and potentially deadly for millions of civilians who are liable to be hit by daily shelling and sniper fire. Nearly 2 million of the 2.3 million people the U.N. plans to assist this year are located on both sides of the contact line. This is the 500-kilometer line of separation between Ukrainian Government and rebel forces.

Spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Jens Laerke, tells VOA the increasingly protracted nature of the conflict is having a particularly severe impact on the elderly. He says they comprise one-third of people in need, the highest proportion of elderly affected in the world.

“That is a special problem not least because they have limited mobility. They cannot go and collect their pensions," said Laerke. "They cannot go to health centers. They cannot get out of their homes and houses. So, they are suffering alone in their homes. These days it is extremely cold. They may not have fuel. They do not have access to the food that they need. They do not have access to the medicine that they may require.”

Laerke says this grim picture is magnified by the risks people encounter along the contact line. He says large stretches of populated areas in the buffer zone dividing the warring factions are littered with landmines and explosive remnants of war. The United Nations reports these weapons caused 270 deaths and injuries last year.

Money from the appeal will provide food, shelter and household items, access to clean water, education and health. It also will support winterization activities, such as supplying people with warm blankets, kerosene for heating and other relief needed to help them survive the harsh winter. (VOA)

WARSAW, LELEMUKU.COM - Krzysztof Strzemeski watched with unease as a high school friend voiced support for Poland’s nationalist government on social media, followed by hate-filled extremist posts. But when the liberal mayor of Gdansk was stabbed to death in public in January, he could no longer hold back his anger.

“Congratulations for your perseverance sharing right-wing filth,” the 58-year-old university lecturer wrote to his former classmate. The two haven’t communicated since.

Poland’s political fissures have widened in recent months, pitting conservatives — many of them government supporters — against liberal critics who accuse the ruling party of threatening the country’s hard-won democracy by undermining the independence of the judiciary and the media.

In this toxic atmosphere, there has been an increase in hate speech, political threats and, most stunningly, the assassination of popular Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz, a critic of the ruling Law and Justice Party’s anti-immigrant policies.

After stabbing Adamowicz during a Jan. 13 charity event, the attacker grabbed a microphone and said that was his revenge against an opposition political party that Adamowicz had once belonged to.

Although there have been suggestions the assailant also had psychological problems, some government critics blamed Poland’s heated political discourse, some of it from state television. Commentators had often vilified Adamowicz for his open acceptance of refugees and gays, and his widow said he had been getting death threats, causing the family to live in fear.

Poles have long spoken of “two tribes” in their central European country. Now, increasingly there is talk of a “Polish-Polish war” — a divide that is greater than at any time since the 1980s, when the Soviet-backed Communist regime tried to crush the Solidarity freedom movement by imposing martial law.

The wedge issues that Poland faces are familiar in many other places: immigration and borders, abortion, the relationship of the nation’s mostly Catholic society to Jews, Muslims and other faiths, and the rights of gays and women.

On one level, it seems to be a microcosm of the political struggles elsewhere in Europe and in the United States. But Poland is also one of the European Union’s largest and most economically dynamic countries, and its course will help shape the continent’s future.

Poland’s current government has aligned itself with other populist, conservative or nationalist figures — U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The Law and Justice Party won the 2015 election amid Europe’s migration crisis and a weariness with the centrist government that had been in power for eight years. Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski vowed more help for the poor, a tough anti-corruption stance and a hard line against Muslim migrants, who he said carried “parasites and protozoa” dangerous to the native European population.

After mass street protests against his party’s plans to overhaul the judicial system, Kaczynski turned his language against internal critics, referring to protesters as “the worst sort of Poles” and “national traitors.” His language was widely denounced as reminiscent of the worst of the last century in Europe.

Last year saw a surge in anti-Semitic rhetoric in Poland after the passage of a controversial Holocaust speech law. Some of that was spoken even by public officials and TV commentators, creating a new normal in what seems to be acceptable speech.

On Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a far-right activist who had been imprisoned for burning an effigy of a Jew in 2015 staged a protest outside the Auschwitz memorial site, saying it was time to “fight Jewry.” Holocaust survivors had gathered for solemn observances not far away.

Muslims, while only a tiny percentage of Poland’s population, have increasingly been taunted, spat on and even assaulted, according to the Never Again association, which monitors such crimes.

Since Adamowicz’s killing, prosecutors have faced criticism for failing to investigate death threats against politicians. Two weeks before his death, the public prosecutor halted proceedings into symbolic “political death notices” that the far-right group All-Polish Youth issued for Adamowicz and 10 other mayors who had pledged support for the integration of migrants.

There also have been dramatic calls on all sides for reconciliation. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has met with opposition leaders and urged more “mutual respect” in public debate.

But state television continues to vilify ideological opponents.

Last week, journalists on a talk show lashed out at Rafal Pankowski, a sociologist and the head of Never Again. One of them called him a “terrible” person, among those “who live from a hatred of their own fatherland.”

Pankowski, who will be honored by the Anti-Defamation League next week for his work fighting anti-Semitism, decried the “climate of hatred in the air” and the fact that taxpayer money was going to fund such “crass propaganda.”

Marcin Makowski, a conservative journalist and commentator, said he believes it’s unfair to put all the blame on the government, recalling instances of harsh political rhetoric used by its opponents that fanned hatred and in some cases seemed to call for violence. When Kaczynski’s brother, President Lech Kaczynski, died in a plane crash in 2010, some even joked about it, Makowski recalled.

“None of them are saints and pretending as such is pure hypocrisy,” Makowski said. (VOA)

PARIS, LELEMUKU.COM - At the peak of France's "yellow vest" crisis, President Emmanuel Macron's wife and close aides were shown the Elysee Palace's nuclear-proof bunker in case the anti-government protesters attempted an assault on the presidency.

The startling revelation by Journal du Dimanche, which the president's office has not denied, shows just how anxious Macron's inner circle were over the challenge to his authority, as he sought a way to quell popular anger.

Six weeks on, Macron is back on the offensive and opinion polls point to a recovery in his battered popularity. Successful outings to a trio of townhall debates with local mayors and disenchanted voters have re-energized the president and lifted the gloom in his office.

In Bourg-de-Peage in the southern Drome region, Macron turned up unannounced at a local debate, rolled up his shirt-sleeves, and for several hours explained his policies aimed at spurring growth and creating jobs.

"This was the Emmanuel Macron I remembered, the spirit from the campaign was back," one aide who worked with Macron during the 2016-2017 presidential campaign told Reuters.

The yellow vests, named after high-visibility vests French drivers must keep in their cars, had thrown Macron onto the defensive late last year. Their initial protests— against fuel tax hikes that Macron then scrapped— spiraled into a broader movement against the political elite and inequality, triggering some of the worst street violence in Paris in decades.

Despite the recovery in his fortunes, Macron told reporters on a flight to Egypt on Sunday that he still felt like he was "walking on thin ice."

That same day, however, 10,000 pro-government supporters marched in the rain in a riposte to the yellow vest protests.

It was a far cry from the million citizens who rallied in support of General Charles de Gaulle at a march that helped end the May 1968 uprising, but still a welcome sight for Macron supporters who had questioned whether he could bounce back.

'A rather beautiful moment'

In another small victory for Macron, he appears for now to have changed the narrative coming out of France's influential 24-hour news channels.

BFM TV's ticker, which Macron's PR team obsesses over, went from "Macron pushed to the wall" in December to "Will Macron emerge from this victorious?" last weekend.

Even Macron's opponents acknowledge that he has performed well in the townhall sessions, part of a two-month long national debate Macron promises will influence policymaking, appearing self-assured and confident as the audiences grilled him.

"In terms of form, the performance was a success," Damien Abad, a lawmaker for the center-right Les Republicains party told Reuters. "It was a rather beautiful moment. But the French expect more than unanswered questions."

An Ifop poll last week showed Macron's popularity up 4 points at 27 percent. Surveys have also shown his party back ahead of the far-right in voting intentions for the May European Parliament elections.

But there is no guarantee that trend will continue, and the yellow vest protests rumble on. Some want to channel their energy into becoming a political force and aim to contest the May EU elections, though that decision has revealed deep splits within their amorphous movement.

Macron, a former investment banker, has been told by advisers to avoid some of the cutting remarks that angered voters and made him look arrogant, but he is still prone to faux pas.

Moreover, further tough reforms lie ahead. Plans for stricter rules on unemployment benefits, a leaner public sector and a merging of varying pension plans into a single system could push voters back onto the streets.

The polls suggest that Macron's increasingly tough response to the violent street marches has reassured conservative voters unnerved by the scale of the unrest.

"In my constituency, I'm told 'we're not always for your policies, but we want this whole saga to end'," Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, a lawmaker in Macron's La Republique En Marche, told Reuters.

"The French don't like chaos. The grand debate is a smart way to get out of this through the front door."

Analysts warn, however, that Macron's national debate also risks raising expectations.

"Giving people a chance to speak is a big decision, and he'll have to show that it served a purpose," Ifop's Frederic Dabi said. (VOA)

ROME, LELEMUKU.COM - Five people were killed Friday when a helicopter and a small tourist airplane collided near the border between France and Italy.

Italy's mountain rescue service said rescue workers found two people injured at the crash site and evacuated them.

Officials said the helicopter was carrying skiers to a glacier in the northwestern Italian region of Val d'Aosta when it collided with the tourist airplane about 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) over the Rutorglacier.

It was not immediately clear how the crash happened. The identities and nationalities of the victims had not yet been released.

Italy's Val d'Aosta regionis popular with skiers. A website for the region says skiers frequently access the area by helicopter during winter. (VOA)

LONDON, LELEMUKU.COM - Queen Elizabeth II urged Britain to seek the common ground and grasp the big picture, a coded plea to the political class to resolve the Brexit crisis that has shocked investors and allies alike.

With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, the United Kingdom is in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project it joined in 1973.

While Elizabeth, 92, did not mention Brexit explicitly in a speech to her local Women’s Institute in Norfolk, the monarch said every generation faced “fresh challenges and opportunities.”

“As we look for new answers in the modern age, I for one prefer the tried and tested recipes, like speaking well of each other and respecting different points of view; coming together to seek out the common ground; and never losing sight of the bigger picture,” the queen said.

The comments were interpreted as a coded signal to Britain’s political class. The Times’ main headline read: “End Brexit feud, Queen tells warring politicians” while the BBC said there was no doubt the monarch was sending a message.

As head of state, the queen remains neutral on politics in public and is unable to vote, though ahead of the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, she made a delicately crafted plea for Scots to think carefully about their future. (VOA)

LONDON, LELEMUKU.COM - Things are already tough for Victoria Mickleburgh, whose 3-year-old daughter Grace, has Type 1 diabetes and needs insulin every day to stay alive.

Mickleburgh, 38, gave up her job as a management consultant to care for her daughter, who must be monitored constantly, even in the middle of the night, to make sure her blood sugar levels are steady. Every time Grace has so much as a cookie, Vicki needs to check her.

So for this family in southeastern England, the question of whether insulin and the equipment needed to deliver it will be available if Britain leaves the European Union without a Brexit agreement is more than just a political debate. Unlike produce or machinery, a delay in the supply of drugs from continental Europe could have dire consequences.

“It’s a life or death situation,” Mickleburgh said. The constant talk about a no-deal Brexit and the havoc it could cause in trade with the EU is making her nervous. “You don’t want the additional stress or worry of where her next vial of insulin is going to come from.”

Mickleburgh’s stress highlights a problem for everyone in this country. Britain’s pending departure from the EU comes at a time when drug supplies are stretched because of market forces that have little to do with Brexit. Now pharmacists and drugmakers are concerned that shortages of life-saving medicines may occur if Britain can’t negotiate an agreement to facilitate trade after March 29, the day it is scheduled to leave the bloc.

Planning for a no-deal Brexit

The risk of a no-deal Brexit is increasing as Prime Minister Theresa May tries to push ahead with the draft agreement she negotiated with the EU after it was overwhelmingly defeated by Parliament. While opposition leaders have demanded that the government reject the possibility of a no-deal departure, May says this would weaken her negotiating position.

Against this backdrop, the government has stepped up planning for the disruptions that are likely to be caused if 45 years of free trade end abruptly March 29, triggering border checks that could cause lengthy delays at the English Channel ports that are the gateway to trade with the EU. Pharmaceutical companies are building up stockpiles of drugs in Britain and insist they are ready for disruption.

“Despite the industry doing everything it can (to prepare) for no deal, the complexity of no deal means there will be stresses in the system,” said Mike Thompson, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, which represents drugmakers who supply more than 80 percent of branded medicines to the National Health Service. “This is a challenge for everybody.”

Stockpiling not enough

But stockpiling isn’t enough to ensure long-term supplies because two-thirds of the medicines consumed in the U.K. come from the continent and 90 percent of that is shipped on trucks through three chokepoints: Calais in France and the ports of Dover and Folkestone in Britain.

Drug companies are pushing the British government to open other ports for their use. There are plans to lease additional ferries and the government has proposed airlifting drugs if necessary.

“The government recognizes the vital importance of medicines and medical products and is working to ensure that there is sufficient roll-on, roll-off freight capacity to enable these vital products to continue to move freely into the U.K.,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock said a statement, adding that medicines would be given priority over other things.

Consumers wonder whether the government is doing enough. Much of the focus has been on drugs that require strict temperature controls and are most at risk from long delays on hot summer days. Insulin, for example, must be stored at between 2 degrees and 8 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Novo Nordisk, a Danish company that is Britain’s biggest insulin provider, has made expanding storage capacity one of its primary goals. The company says it has a 16-week supply of insulin in Britain, more than double the normal seven weeks, and it plans to increase that to 18 weeks within the next few months.

“In the event of a no deal Brexit, then the replenishment of the stock is the really key thing here,” said Pinder Sahota, general manager of Novo Nordisk in the U.K. He says the company has booked air freights and looking to transport through additional ports.

Shortages not Brexit related

Britain is already experiencing shortages of some drugs for reasons not to do with Brexit, including manufacturing problems, increasing global demand and price pressures. The Department of Health agreed to pay a premium for 80 generic drugs that were in short supply last month, up from less than 50 in October.

Graham Phillips, superintendent pharmacist at Manor Pharmacy Group in Wheathampstead, north of London, said anxiety is increasing because of Brexit. People in his village, where many are elderly, are already calling the pharmacy because of concerns about supplies.

“I have no confidence that this can be managed on this scale,” he said. “It’s an enormous undertaking. The idea that you can stockpile the whole of the NHS’ drug bill for a six-month period, which is billions of pounds, and you can manage logistics, I think that’s cloud cuckoo land.” (VOA)

LONDON, LELEMUKU.COM - Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it faces a bill of up to $1 billion if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal, comprising World Trade Organization tariffs and the impact of a weaker pound.

The impact of Brexit on Ford, based on internal calculations, would be in the range of $500 million to $1 billion depending on a variety of factors, Ford said in a statement.

Sky News earlier on Thursday reported the hit could be $800 million.

Car makers and other manufacturers, including Airbus earlier on Thursday, have warned about the toll a no-deal Brexit could impose, including higher tariffs, disruption to supply chains and threats to jobs.

Countdown to Brexit

Britain is due to leave the European Union in 64 days, and with Prime Minister Theresa May failing to win support for her negotiated deal, companies are increasingly worried about the possibility of a chaotic Brexit.

Ford Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks on Wednesday declined to say what the financial impact of a no-deal exit could be, but said Ford was already planning for it.

"We clearly have already started to work on the eventuality of there being a hard Brexit," he told reporters at the No. 2 U.S. automaker's headquarters outside Detroit. "We're certainly hoping that does not happen, but we can't wait."

"We're actually incurring costs, doing things now to prepare for that, so there will be an impact. It's a material impact," he added.

Last week, Shanks said a no-deal exit was unlikely, but if it occurred it would be "catastrophic."

Ford estimated last March that a hard Brexit, which would see WTO tariffs of 10 percent on imports and exports and lower levels on components, would cost it up to $1 billion per year.

Top-selling auto brand

Ford, the top-selling automotive brand in Britain, operates two engine plants in Britain, its third-largest market, and the destination for roughly one in three cars made at its German Cologne plant.

On Jan. 10, Ford, which employs 53,000 people in Europe, said it would cut thousands of jobs and look at plant closures in Europe as part of its plan to return to profit in the region.

The automaker employs about 13,000 people in Britain. (VOA)

MADRID, LELEMUKU.COM - The search for a two-year-old Spanish boy who fell into a narrow well Jan. 13 entered its riskiest phase Thursday as miners went down a new 60-meter (197-foot) parallel shaft to start digging across to the well.

There have been no signs of life since the boy, Julen, fell into the borehole as his family walked through a private estate in Totalan in southern Spain. Rescuers found the well was blocked with earth, raising fears soil had collapsed onto the child.

"Members of the Mines Rescue Brigade sent from Asturias [region] have just accessed the vertical well to start excavation ... in the search for Julen," said regional government representative Alfonso Celis at the site.

Miners working in rotating shifts will dig a 4-meter passage with picks and pneumatic hammers from the bottom of the shaft toward the borehole, which is 100 meters (300 feet) deep and just 25 cm wide.

Children and families have been holding candlelight vigils across Spain in support of the missing boy and of the massive rescue operation, even as hopes of finding him alive have faded with each passing day.

Engineers and miners have worked for 10 days in a row but have run into various technical problems while drilling a shaft parallel to the well.

"No miner is left in a mine, and Julen is now considered a miner," Juan Lopez Escobar, one of the engineers in charge of the rescue operation, was quoted as saying by EFE news agency. "Whatever may have happened, a miner is always pulled out."

He told reporters earlier that digging the horizontal passage would be the most dangerous part of the effort.

El Pais reported that Julen's parents suffered another tragedy in 2017 when their three-year-old son died suddenly after suffering a cardiac arrest while walking along a beach. (VOA)

SARAJEVO, LELEMUKU.COM - A Muslim party said it would launch a legal bid to change the name of Bosnia's Serb region,enraging all Serbian parties in the volatile country and prompting calls for calm from the European Union.

The largest Bosnian Muslim party, SDA, said Wednesday that the name Republika Srpska (Serb Republic) discriminated against Bosniaks and Croats there, and that it would challenge it in the
constitutional court.

Under the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended Bosnia's 1992-95 war, the country is split into two highly autonomous regions, the Serb-dominated Serb Republic and the federation dominated by Muslim Bosniaksand Croats, linked via a weak central government.

SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic said the legal challenge was a response to "intensified attacks on Bosnia and its integrity" by Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik.

Dodik, who heads the Serb SNSD party, said the initiative was anti-constitutional and that Serbs will halt their work in the central government.

"If the appeal is accepted, we will call a special session of the Republika Srpska National Assembly at which we will decide about the future status of the RS [Serb Republic],"Dodik said after meeting other Serb politicians. He currently chairs Bosnia's inter-ethnic three-man presidency as its Serb member.

'Polarizing' actions

The EU delegation in Bosnia issued a statement saying: "We call on all political parties to refrain from political maneuvers aimed at distracting attention from the real issues facing Bosnia.

"Polarizing statements and actions ... will not facilitate the formation of new authorities at a crucial moment for the country's EU path," the delegation added.

Bosnia is hoping to become an EU candidate this year.

Bosnia's international peace overseer, Valentin Inzko, said the name challenge "in the midst of discussions on government formation is irresponsible and counterproductive, and further undermines the trust between constituent peoples and their political representatives."

Following parliamentary and presidential elections in October, a dispute between Serb, Croat and Bosniak presidency members over Bosnia's integration into NATO has delayed the formation of the central government.

The Bosniak and Croat pro-NATO presidency members refuse to approve Dodik's candidate for the job of prime minister unless he pledges support for NATO integration. But pro-Russian Dodikis strongly against it. (VOA)

AMSTERDAM, LELEMUKU.COM - A “full body scan” carried out on the Van Gogh Museum’s version of the Dutch master’s iconic “Sunflowers” has shown the painting is not fit to travel because it’s in “stable but vulnerable” condition, the museum’s director said Thursday.

“We’ve decided that any stresses that the picture could be subjected to were it to travel, were (it) to be lent, that those might be too risky,” director Axel Rueger told The Associated Press in the studio where the painting is undergoing restoration. “So therefore we decided that from now on we will not be able to lend the picture any more to other exhibitions to other museums — so it will always stay in Amsterdam.”

For Van Gogh fans who can’t make it to Amsterdam, the predominantly yellow 1889 painting of a bunch of sunflowers in a vase is based on another version of the work painted a year earlier that is on display at London’s National Gallery. Other versions of the work are in Philadelphia, Tokyo and Munich.

The painting in Amsterdam is hardly a frequent flyer — it has only been loaned out six times, the last time to the National Gallery so it could hang next to that London museum’s version.

Ella Hendriks, who worked on the current restoration project, said the painting underwent a series of tests she likened to a “full body scan” on a human patient. The tests used precision imaging machines to peer through the surface and decide what could and could not be done to the painting.

One test, usually used to examine retinas, gave a crucial insight by creating a “virtual cross-section” of layers of paint and varnish.

“We can see ... that the paint layer is mixed in together with the varnish layer so there’s not a clear division between them,” Hendriks said.

That discovery has limited the amount of work restorer Rene Boitelle can carry out. He will remove some patches of beeswax that was applied after Van Gogh finished the work and have now gone a milky white color, and will use special paint to rework some previous restorations to make them less visible.

To return the painting to its original state would involve removing the varnish, which Van Gogh did not apply to the painting. Also, some previous restorations are under the varnish and can’t be treated.

“That varnish cannot be removed safely - at least not with the methods and materials available to us now,” Boitelle said. “I can remove the wax but the retouchings are there to stay - at least for now.”

The painting will go back on display at the museum Feb. 22 and an exhibition about the research and restoration will open in June.

That means Boitelle has just a few more weeks to incredibly carefully spruce up one of the world’s most recognizable artworks.

“It’s quite exciting, obviously, but I try not to be too aware and too conscious of all the myths and the iconic value that the painting has,” he said. “After all it’s still just a painting like so many we’ve treated here in this studio and I’ll treat it with the same dedication and seriousness and concentration as I would treat any other painting that is not iconic.” (VOA)

OSLO, LELEMUKU.COM - Inpex Corporation announced that through its subsidiary Inpex Norge AS, it has been awarded exploration licenses PL1027 located in the western Barents Sea offshore and PL1016 located in the northern Norwegian Sea offshore the Kingdom of Norway as part of Norway’s Awards in Predefined Areas (APA) 2018 licensing round.

The annual APA licensing rounds aim to promote the further exploration of blocks in previously explored, mature areas by allowing tenders to be submitted for any acreage within predefined areas where licenses have not been awarded.

The licenses provide the groundwork for Inpex’s third and fourth exploration projects in Norway following the company’s acquisition of exploration license PL950 in 2018, and are expected to contribute to the further enhancement of Inpex’s global project portfolio.

Inpex will next follow the required administrative procedures involving Norwegian government authorities, the operators of the licenses and partners prior to assessing the possibility of discovering hydrocarbon deposits through exploration activities.

PL1027 is located in the western Barents Sea approximately 250 kilometers offshore Norway and covers a surface area of approximately 1,220 square kilometers where the water depth is approximately 440 meters.

PL1016 is located in the northern Norwegian Sea approximately 250 kilometers offshore Norway and covers a surface area of approximately 1,310 square kilometers where the water depth ranges between approximately 350 and 1,000 meters.

Additionally and also as a part of the APA 2018 licensing round, Inpex was awarded a 40% participating interest in exploration license PL767B, an extension area to exploration license PL767 in which Inpex acquired* a 40% interest in 2017.

Oil and natural gas exploration activities in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea began in the 1960s, resulting in the discovery of numerous large-scale oil and gas fields. Thereafter, exploration activities have expanded north to the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. In recent years, oil and gas fields estimated to hold reserves of several hundred million barrels of oil equivalent have been discovered in succession in the Barents Sea, which is considered to be a promising area where further hydrocarbon discoveries are believed possible.

The acquisition of these licenses is aligned to Inpex’s pursuit of the “sustainable growth of oil and natural gas E&P activities,” one of the growth targets outlined in the company’s “VISION 2040” announced in May 2018.

Through Inpex Norge AS, which it established in 2014, Inpex will continue to proactively pursue full-scale oil and natural gas exploration and development activities in Norway. The impact of this award on the company’s consolidated financial results is minimal. (Inpex)

BRUSSELS, LELEMUKU.COM - The European Union on Wednesday warned countries running lucrative schemes granting passports and visas to rich foreigners to toughen checks on applicants amid concern they could be flouting security, money laundering and tax laws.

EU countries have welcomed in more than 6,000 new citizens and close to 100,000 new residents through golden passport and visa schemes over the past decade, attracting around 25 billion euros ($28 billion) in foreign direct investment, according to anti-corruption watchdogs Transparency International and Global Witness.

In a first-ever report on the schemes, the EU Commission said that such documents issued in one country can open a back door to citizenship or residency in all 28 states.

Justice Commissioner Vera Jurova said golden visas are the equivalent of "opening the golden gate to Europe for some privileged people."

"We want more guarantees related to security and anti-money laundering. We expect more transparency," she told reporters in Brussels.

Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta offer passports to investors without any real connections to the countries or even the obligation to live there by paying between 800,000 and 2 million euros ($909,000 to $2.3 million).

Twenty EU states offer visas in exchange for investment: Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.

Investment can range from 13,500 euros to over 5 million euros ($15,350 to $5.7 million) in the form of capital and property investments, buying government bonds, one-time payments to the national budget or certain donations to charity.

Cyprus toughened up vetting procedures last year after it was accused of running a "passports-for-cash" scheme. It said passport numbers would be capped at 700 a year.

The Mediterranean island introduced the scheme in the wake of a 2013 financial crisis that brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy and forced it to accept a multibillion-euro rescue program from creditors. One Cyprus lawmaker has estimated that the scheme generated around 4.8 billion euros ($5.4 billion) between 2013 and 2016.

In compiling the report, Commission researchers struggled to obtain clear information about how the schemes are run, the number of applicants and where they come from, as well as how many are granted or refused visas. They noted that EU countries exchange little or no information about the applicants.

But the report did find that the security checks run on applicants are insufficient, and it recommends that EU computer databases like the one controlling Europe's passport-free travel area be used routinely. Tougher "due diligence" controls are also needed to ensure that money laundering rules are not circumvented, while more monitoring and reporting could help tackle tax evasion.

Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said the Commission "will monitor full compliance with EU law."

"The work we have done together over the past years in terms of increasing security, strengthening our borders and closing information gaps should not be jeopardized," he warned.

The Commission proposed setting up a working group with EU member countries to study the schemes by year's end.

The report angered Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, who underlined that, over the past five years, the number of citizenships granted by Cyprus under its scheme amounts to 0.3 percent of the EU's total.

He said that Cyprus has the toughest citizenship criteria among all 20 countries, "and despite this, Cyprus is being targeted."

"These double standards must finally come to an end and I want to be strict about this," Anastasiades said.

Malta welcomed the Commission report, but said it has "reservations on a few issues," notably that people it accepts under the schemes undergo far more rigorous checks than others granted residency or citizenship. It also underlined that physical presence in Malta is mandatory. (VOA)

BERN, LELEMUKU.COM - Japan's prime minister says China's slowing growth, Brexit woes and U.S.-China trade disputes pose risks to the world economy, while decrying the World Trade Organization as "behind the curve" and in need of reform to help ease trade tensions.

Shinzo Abe used his return to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, after five years to hail the benefits of two "mega deals" in trade— on the Pacific Rim and between Japan and the European Union— at a time when populism and isolationism have elbowed in on an era of globalism.

"The world economy is gradually and moderately improving. I think without a doubt this is taking place," he said. "Worldwide, however, there are risks. U.S.-China trade friction is one of those risks and Japan traditionally has said tit-for-tat trade-restrictive measures are of no benefit."

Abe said the WTO needs to be changed, calling for a trading system that protects intellectual property rights. That was a veiled reference to China, which the Trump administration and others say is cheating on trade rules and stealing intellectual property from Western companies.

"Major changes are taking place and the WTO is behind the curve— it's not keeping up with pace," Abe said in a brief question-and-answer session with the forum's chief. "We have to make the WTO into a more credible existence. We need to reform it."

Abe's appearance and a later speech by Germany's Angela Merkel were shaping up as a one-two punch by major leaders in favor of global cooperation. A day earlier, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo extolled their governments' renewed focus on national self-interest.

Meanwhile, several other leaders— like those of the United States, Britain, and France— decided to not travel to Davos to deal with political troubles back home, including the U.S. government shutdown, Brexit, and popular protests.

China was set to get its say, too— and possibly retort against Western complaints about its trade policies. Vice President Wang Qishan was set to speak later Wednesday, the second day of the elite Davos gathering.

Away from the Swiss slopes, efforts were looming to defuse the U.S.-China tensions on trade. A high-level Chinese delegation is expected to visit Washington on Jan. 30, as the two sides seek to strike an accord to end their conflict.

However, Hong Kong's Beijing-backed chief executive said Wednesday she's ``quite worried'' that the rules-based system that has governed global trade for decades is under threat.

Carrie Lam said any erosion of traditional rules could lead to rising political tensions.

Worries over the future of the rules governing global trade have been stoked over the past couple of years, particularly since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump. His administration has taken umbrage against China and the two countries have imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions worth of traded goods, igniting a trade war that could seriously hobble the global economy.

Merkel, meanwhile, was to address the gathering amid growing uncertainty in Europe over Brexit after British lawmakers last week voted down Prime Minister Theresa May's deal with the European Union. Since then, speculation has risen that Britain could crash out of the bloc without a deal or that end up extending its date of departure from the current March 29. (VOA)

LONDON, LELEMUKU,COM - They're united in nothing when it comes to political philosophy, but the leaders of Britain's two main political parties share a similar Brexit-related conundrum — namely, how can they corral their fractious lawmakers?

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain's Labor Party, the country's main opposition party, is caught between powerful factions over whether he should back growing calls for a rerun referendum on leaving the European Union. On Tuesday, he edged closer to doing so, but now risks seeing resignations from his front-bench parliamentary team.

Likewise, British Prime Minister Theresa May is also boxed in after her highly contentious Brexit withdrawal agreement was voted down last week in the biggest parliamentary reversal ever handed a prime minister in British history.

A total of 432 lawmakers, including a third of her own ruling Conservative Party, refused to endorse the deal. Her cabinet, split down the middle between rebellious hardline Brexiters and dissident pro-EU ministers, is being buffeted by threats of ministerial resignations and conspiracies.

Wilkins Micawber, the British fictional character conceived by novelist Charles Dickens, would no doubt sympathize with their plight as they try to navigate their way out of a political labyrinth. Both leaders appear to be running down the clock, having adopted the so-called Micawber Principle of hoping "something turns up" to rescue them.

But it isn't clear anything can, and a smashup seems inevitable in what the Economist has dubbed "the mother of all messes." Parliament's rejection of the proposed Brexit deal has thrust the rancorously divided country into a political and constitutional crisis.

May stubbornly plows on with a draft deal she stills appears to believe can be tinkered, if only EU negotiators would play ball. So far, they have refused to do so, as exasperation mounts across Europe with Britain's chaotic state.

On Monday, Corbyn accused May of being trapped in Groundhog Day, as she ruled out a second referendum to break the political deadlock or even delay Britain's scheduled March 29 departure from the European Union. Corbyn was referencing the 1993 film starring Bill Murray, in which a weatherman is fated to live out the same day over and over again.

Customs union with EU

May indicated she would try to secure "concessions" from Brussels to make an amended deal more palatable for critics before bringing it back to the House of Commons for another vote.

As the squabbling continues, traditional procedures and conventions are increasingly being cast aside. Cabinet ministers and lawmakers are in open revolt.

May's proposed deal would see Britain locked in a customs union with the EU for several years while it negotiates a vaguely defined free trade settlement.

In the temporary customs union, Britain would be unable to influence EU laws, regulations and product standards it would have to observe. The transition was reached to avoid customs checks on the border separating Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, but British lawmakers fear Britain could be trapped indefinitely in the transition.

Threat of resignations

Most lawmakers and commentators say the deal is dead, leaving Britain either having to leave the EU without a deal, which could push the country into recession, or staying in the bloc. The third alternative is developing another last-minute plan. Either of the options could fail to secure a majority in the House of Commons.

Corbyn is backing a parliament vote on holding a rerun referendum to avoid a rebellion from one party faction, but without actually endorsing another plebiscite himself in the hopes he can avoid half his leadership team resigning.

His tactic throughout the uproar over Brexit has been one of calculated equivocation, his critics complain. But it arguably has been dictated by the splits in his own party.

Amber Rudd, May's works and pensions minister, and a possible candidate to replace her, has warned May that up to 40 ministers could quit next week when parliament votes on a motion to prohibit the government from taking the country out of the EU in March without a deal.

How that would work legally is unclear. (VOA)

ROME, LELEMUKU.COM - Italy's interior minister on Tuesday called the French leader Emmanuel Macron "a terrible president," in comments that were sure to further add to tensions with Italy's trans-Alpine neighbour over immigration.

Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing League that governs in coalition with the 5-Star Movement, said his issue was not with the French people but with "with Macron, who talks a lot and achieves little, who give lessons of generosity, and then rejects thousands of migrants at the Italian border."

"If Macron is so good, he can prove it with facts by letting in thousands of refugees who are in Italy and whom he promised hospitality, with other European countries," Salvini continued in a Facebook live transmission.

He said he hoped French voters would send Macron a message during the European elections in late May by showing their support for far-right leader Marine Le Pen, with whom Salvini is allied in European politics.

The 5-Star leader, Luigi Di Maio, already sparked annoyance earlier this month by saying his populist movement was ready to help France's anti-government yellow vest protesters. The French Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the Italian ambassador over sharp anti-French comments from Italy about Europe's migrant crisis.

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has tried to tamp tensions down, saying that while questioning the efficiency of global politics was legitimate "this does not mean to put into discussion our historic friendship with France, nor with the French people."

"This relationship remains strong and steady despite the political discussion," Conte said.

The summons by the French Foreign Ministry on Monday was in reaction to Di Maio's accusations that France is leading colonial-style policies in Africa that are "impoverishing" Africans and driving them to Europe's shores. Salvini repeated them on Tuesday morning television. The populist government last fall accused France of dumping under-age migrants over the border without authorization.

In the recent spat, the populist Italian government accuses France of obliging 14 African countries using the CFA franc currency, established in 1945, to buy French government bonds with half of their reserves to finance public spending in France.

The Italian financial daily il Sole 24 Ore reported that the deposits made by the 14 countries into the French Treasury had marginal impact on French coffers, totaling 10 billion euros — or just 0.5 percent of the French public debt. It also noted that only 9 percent of the 23,370 migrants that arrived in Italy last year came from the 14 countries using the CFA.

A French diplomatic official said Ambassador Teresa Castaldo was questioned Monday about the "unfriendly and baseless" comments. The official said they run counter to "Franco-Italian partnership" and the sense of "European community." The diplomat was not authorized to be publicly named. (VOA)