Musings From Abroad

US journalist killed in Ukraine as committee for press seeks justice

Published

3 years ago

March 14, 2022

An American journalist was killed near the capital, Kyiv in Ukraine when he and a colleague came under fire, regional police and a government official have said.

Russian troops opened fire on the car of Brent Renaud and another journalist in Irpin, about 10km (6 miles) northwest of the capital, the Kyiv police force said in a statement on Sunday. It said the injured journalist was taken to a hospital in Kyiv.

The adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, Anton Herashchenko, confirmed the incident on a Telegram channel.

The journalist being treated at the hospital said he and a colleague were shot after they were stopped at a checkpoint just after a bridge in Irpin.

Juan Arredondo told Italian journalist Annalisa Camilli in an interview from the hospital before being taken for surgery that the colleague who was with him was hit in the neck and remained on the ground earlier on Sunday.

Camilli told The Associated Press news agency that she was at the hospital when Arredondo arrived and that Arredondo himself had been wounded, hit in the lower back when stopped at a Russian checkpoint.

He told Camilli that he and Renaud were filming refugees fleeing the area when they were shot at while in a car approaching a checkpoint. The driver turned around but the firing at them continued, Arredondo added.

Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists called for the killers to be brought to justice.

“We are shocked and saddened to learn of the death of U.S. journalist Brent Renaud in Ukraine. This kind of attack is totally unacceptable, and is a violation of international law,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “Russian forces in Ukraine must stop all violence against journalists and other civilians at once, and whoever killed Renaud should be held to account.”

Musings From Abroad

Cancelled Brazil mines contract may cost S’Africa’s Sibanye $522 million

Published

4 hours ago

October 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following the cancellation of a $1.2 billion agreement to purchase Appian’s Brazilian nickel and copper mines, investment firm, Appian Capital Advisory, has filed a $522 million compensation claim against South African miner Sibanye Stillwater, the company announced on Monday.

Last week, the London High Court mandated that Sibanye pay Appian for the lost deal, with a hearing scheduled for November 2025 to decide the exact amount of damages.

“Appian currently claims damages of up to $522 million,” Sibanye spokesperson James Wellsted told Reuters. “Sibanye’s case is therefore that Appian is entitled to either no or significantly reduced damages.”

An Appian representative declined to provide a statement.

In what would turn out to be its largest venture into the battery mineral business, Sibanye announced in October 2021 that it would be purchasing the mines owned by affiliates of funds advising them.

It backed out of the deal three months later, claiming that the Santa Rita mine’s instability would have had a significant negative influence on operations going forward.

According to Wellsted, the claims Sibanye obtained include pre-judgment interest, expenditures and expenses related to the mines’ administration and resale procedure, and the difference between the agreed-upon purchase price and the market value of the shares in the mines.

The financial obligations place additional strain on Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman, who is already dealing with growing losses brought on by a decline in the price of platinum group metals.

According to Wellsted, Sibanye intends to contend that Appian violated a fundamental tenet of English contract law, which requires a claimant to take reasonable measures to lessen its losses.

“Appian is required to mitigate its loss by accepting offers for the mines at fair market value and to account for any profits it has made from its continuing ownership of the mines,” he added.

Musings From Abroad

Uganda signs contract with Yapi Merkezi to develop rail

Published

1 day ago

October 14, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Ugandan government and Turkish construction company, Yapi Merkezi, inked a contract on Monday to build a 272-kilometer (169-mile) stretch of railway, an official from Uganda stated.

Perez Wamburu, the project coordinator for Uganda’s Standard Gauge Railway, stated that the agreement covered the first phase of a 1,700 km electrified train line, costing 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion).

According to Wamburu, work on the project will begin in November.

At the signing event, Bageya Waiswa, the permanent secretary of Uganda’s works ministry, stated that the project will boost trade and lower transportation costs.

He stated that Uganda will finance the project, which will take 48 months to finish once it is underway, using both its own money and loans from export credit institutions.

The rail segment will connect landlocked Uganda to its neighbour’s rail network at the Kenyan border, Malaba, and eventually the Indian Ocean seaport of Mombasa. It will stretch from the capital, Kampala, to this location.

Uganda and China Harbour and Engineering Company Ltd. (CHEC) reached an agreement in 2015 to carry out the project, provided that CHEC assisted in obtaining funding for the railway from the Chinese government.

Uganda ended the deal last year and started negotiations with Yapi Merkezi, which is working on a project identical to this in adjacent Tanzania, after years of failed negotiations.