Aug222017

Syria: UN relief officials condemn targeting of civilians, infrastructure as airstrikes hit Raqqa

United Nations

22 August 2017 – Senior United Nations humanitarian officials for Syria today expressed deep concern over many civilians reportedly killed in airstrikes and other attacks in the last few days in Raqqa city, where coalition forces are fighting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists.

&#8220The UN condemns attacks directed against civilians and civilian infrastructure. The humanitarian community reminds all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law to protect civilians and to spare no effort to prevent civilian casualties,&#8221 said a joint statement issued by Ali Al-Za’tari, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, and Ramesh Rajasingham, the acting Regional Humanitarian Coordinator.

These unconfirmed accounts come on the heels of an increasing number of reported civilian casualties due to intensified military operations, including airstrikes. In recent months, regular airstrikes and shelling in the city have reportedly resulted in scores of civilian casualties, including women and children, the statement said.

An estimated 75,000 people have been displaced from Raqqa city, but 18,000 to 25,000 civilians who remain trapped risk being killed by ISIL snipers or mines if they try to flee, or being used as human shields or killed in indiscriminate airstrikes if they remain.

Aug222017

UNICEF warns use of children as ‘human bombs’ is on the rise in north-east Nigeria

United Nations

22 August 2017 – The United Nations children agency today expressed extreme concern at the appalling increase in the cruel and calculated use of children, especially girls, as &#8220human bombs&#8221 in north-east Nigeria.

&#8220Since the beginning of January 2017, 83 children had been used as so-called human bombs, 55 being girls, most of them often under 15 years old,&#8221 UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson Marixie Mercado told reporters at today’s regular press briefing in Geneva.

&#8220The 27 other children were boys and one was an infant strapped to a girl,&#8221 she continued.

She pointed out that since 2014, children have been repeatedly used in this way, calling the number of children used so far this year alone was &#8220already four times higher than what it was for all of 2016.&#8221

&#8220Children used as human bombs are, above all, victims, not perpetrators,&#8221 Ms. Mercado underscored.

She went on to say that the use of children in such attacks has a further impact of creating suspicion and fear of children released, rescued, or escaped from Boko Haram. &#8220They face rejection when they tried to reintegrate their communities which compounds their suffering,&#8221 she explained.

Ms. Mercado painted a dire picture, describing the situation as a massive displacement and malnutrition crisis &#8211 &#8220a deadly combination for children.&#8221

She said that per cent of the persons displaced by the insurgencies in north-east Nigeria are children, and the vast majority of them in Borno state, where most of those attacks are taking place.&#8221

North-east Nigeria is one of the four countries or regions facing the spectre of famine, with up to 450,000 children at risk of severe acute malnutrition this year, according to UNICEF.

UNICEF is providing psychosocial support for children who had been held by Boko Haram and the agency is also working with families and communities to foster the acceptance of returned children &#8211 including through social and economic reintegration support.

As of July, UNICEF has supported more than 3,000 children and 1,200 women. It also backed reconciliation activities in north-east Nigeria led by communities, religious leaders and influential women to help promote tolerance, acceptance, and reintegration.

Noting that a $1 billion dollar appeal to minimally help sustain people in Nigeria is only 60 per cent funded, Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters at the briefing that the situation for civilians in the area was extremely grave.

Humanitarian Coordinator Edward Kallon stressed that women and children in Borno state face grave human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence. He noted that, since the start of the conflict in 2009, more than 20,000 people had been killed with thousands of women and girls abducted and abused.

In total, 8.5 million people in the worst-affected states of Borno, namely Adamawa and Yobe, need of humanitarian assistance. In its eighth year, this crisis shows no sign of abating, said Mr. Laerke. Food insecurity affects 5.2 million people, some of whom are on the brink of famine.

Aug222017

Press release: Britain’s track and field stars celebrated at Downing Street

HM Government

To celebrate the success of the World Para Athletics and World Athletics Championships, the Prime Minister welcomed leading British athletes, coaches and administrators to Downing Street today [22 August 2017].

For the first time ever, both championships were staged in the same city in the same year this summer, with the spotlight being thrown on London, just as with the Olympics and Paralympics five years ago.

Both Championships boasted record ticket sales and London welcomed more than 3,000 athletes from over 200 nations competing in 250 events. Great Britain and Northern Ireland finished third in the medal table in the World Para Athletics Championships and sixth in the medal table at the IAAF World Championships.

Among the sporting stars to meet the Prime Minister, were double World Para Athletics gold medallist (200 metres and 100 metres T38) Sophie Hahn, World Para Athletics 400 metres T38 gold medallist Kadeena Cox, World Athletics Championships gold medallists Adam Gemili and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (part of 4 x 100 metre winning team) and silver medallists Asha Philip (part of women’s 4 x 100 metres team) and Laviai Nielsen (part of 4 x 400 metre team).

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

Everyone involved in staging both the World Para Athletics and World Athletics Championships should be incredibly proud of what they achieved.

But it’s not just about the medal successes and the new records set. London 2017 will help to inspire many future generations to write their own place in the history books and to live healthier and more active lives.

When it comes to opportunity, this government is determined to do everything we can to help anybody, whatever your background, to go as far as your talents will take you.

Through UK Sport, the National Lottery and the government are investing over £38 million to support British Athletics in the four years to Tokyo 2020, to give our athletes the best possible chance to fulfil their potential.

Niels de Vos, Championship Director and CEO of UK Athletics, said:

The Summer of World Athletics was a great success and we are honoured to have been invited to Downing Street to celebrate the achievements of everyone involved, from the British athletes winning the medals to the coaches and mentors behind them to the support and organisational staff making the successes and Championships possible.

We witnessed some fine moments during the World Para Athletics Championships and IAAF World Championships and the response has truly shown the impact athletics continues to have on the UK and beyond. I would like to thank the Prime Minister for welcoming us all to Downing Street for what has been another memorable moment of the summer.

More people attended the World Para Athletics Championships this summer than in all previous championships combined. Meanwhile, the World Athletics Championship set a new Guinness World Record for its ticket sales – with over 700,000 sold, far exceeding the previous record of just over 417,000 for the 2009 Championships in Berlin.

Through UK Sport, the National Lottery and the government are investing over £38 million to support British Athletics in the four years to Tokyo 2020. This funding helped athletes prepare for London 2017 and will also give our athletes the best chance of medal success at the next Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The London 2017 Organising Committee delivered the IAAF World Athletics Championships and World Para-Athletics Championships on behalf of UK Athletics, the Greater London Authority and UK Sport, supported by Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport, after both events were awarded to London in 2011 and 2012.

Polly Maton, silver medallist in the T47 long jump at the World Para Athletics Championships, said:

It is amazing to be invited to Downing Street to celebrate what were a great World Para Athletics Championships not just for myself but for the whole British team.

It is great to take the time to reflect on what we have all achieved during what has been a special summer for everyone involved in another iconic London location.

From racing in front of a passionate home crowd in the London Stadium to coming to Downing Street, it will all live long in the memory.

Martyn Rooney, bronze medallist in the men’s 4x400m relay at the World Athletics Championships, said:

The IAAF World Championships in London were such a fantastic experience and to be invited to Downing Street to celebrate the success of the British team is a great way to round off the summer.

Winning a medal in front of that crowd in the London Stadium is something I will never forget. I have a lot of fond memories from the Championships and this is another moment to cherish.

Aug222017

Speech: PM to athletics stars: ‘your success will inspire further generations of athletes’

HM Government

I am delighted to welcome you to Downing Street and to have this opportunity – on behalf of the whole country – to thank you for everything you did to make London 2017 the biggest and best World Athletics and Para Athletics Championships in history.

This was the first time that the World Athletics and Para Athletics have been held in the same city in the same summer.

And just as with the Olympics and Paralympics five years ago, you showed the world that when it comes to hosting a global sporting event there is no-where better than the United Kingdom.

The statistics speak for themselves. More people attended the World Para Athletics Championships this summer than in all previous Championships combined.

This included almost 100,000 children – with Transport for London taking the largest number of schoolchildren to a single destination in their history.

While the World Athletics Championship set a new Guinness Record for its ticket sales – with over 700,000 sold, far exceeding the previous record of just over 417,000 for the 2009 Championships in Berlin.

Across the two championships, London welcomed more than 3,000 athletes from over 200 nations competing in 250 events.

And this was all made possible by the fantastic organising team – and by an army of 4,500 volunteers.

So first of all, I want to thank Cherry Alexander and all her team at London 2017, the GLA, UK Athletics, UK sport and all the volunteers for everything they did to make these Championships such an incredible success. Second, I want to pay tribute to all our athletes in the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team.

Once again this summer we have seen the results of your incredible hard work and dedication, as you push the limits of what’s possible against the toughest competition in the world.

With 39 medals in the Para Athletics, you didn’t just surpass your pre-Championship target, you amassed the best tally for GB and Northern Ireland in the modern era.

And this included 30 new records, the highest number of any nation at the Championships.

In the World Athletics Championships, the nation came together to honour the most successful British athlete of all time – Sir Mo Farah.

But his retirement from the track was far from the only story of these Championships. For we also saw the emergence of an exciting new generation of British talent.

And in that 4 by 100 metres relay final…when the eyes of the world were on Usain Bolt’s final race – and that American team with all its big names – it was our British team who re-wrote the script and stormed to the Gold medal.

So as we celebrate the biggest and best Championships ever – let us also look to the future with confidence.

And as we do so, let me assure you that the government will be right behind you every step of the way.

We know how crucial the lottery and other sources of funding are to your success, and I have also increased government funding to UK Sport for the Tokyo cycle. That means UK Sport have been able to invest over £27 million pounds for athletics and almost £12 million pounds for Para-Athletics for the Tokyo cycle.

And with that funding – and with all your hard work, the hours of training, those cold, dark mornings and long winters, and all the dedication that you give, I know that we can stand here today not just treasuring great memories of this summer and the summers that have gone before, but with real excitement about the future ahead.

A future in which your success will inspire further generations of athletes from Great Britain and Northern Ireland to write their own place in the history books.

A future in which your success will inspire all of us to get out there and live healthier and more active lives.

And a future in which Great Britain and Northern Ireland will truly establish our place as a global sporting superpower.

So thank you for everything that you have done.

Thank you for making our whole country so proud once again.

And let us go forward, inspired by the memory and the legacy of London 2017 – the greatest World Athletics and Para Athletics Championships of all time.

Aug222017

Mergers: Commission opens in-depth investigation into proposed acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer

EU

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “Seeds and pesticide products are essential for farmers and ultimately consumers. We need to ensure effective competition so that farmers can have access to innovative products, better quality and also purchase products at competitive prices. And at the same time maintain an environment where companies can innovate and invest in improved products.”

The proposed acquisition of Monsanto (US) by Bayer (Germany) would create the world’s largest integrated pesticides and seeds company. It would combine two competitors with leading portfolios in non-selective herbicides, seeds and traits, and digital agriculture. Both companies are active in developing new products in these areas. Moreover, the transaction would take place in industries that are already globally concentrated, as illustrated by the recent mergers of Dow and Dupont and Syngenta and ChemChina, in which the Commission intervened to protect competition for the benefit of farmers and consumers.

The Commission’s preliminary concerns

The Commission has preliminary concerns that the proposed acquisition could reduce competition in a number of different markets resulting in higher prices, lower quality, less choice and less innovation. In particular, the initial market investigation identified preliminary concerns in the following three areas:

  • Pesticides
    Monsanto’s pesticide product glyphosate is the most sold non-selective herbicide in Europe. Bayer produces glufosinate ammonium, also a non-selective herbicide and one of the very few alternatives to glyphosate. According to the Commission’s preliminary investigation, Monsanto and Bayer are two of a limited number of competitors in this field capable of discovering new active ingredients and developing new formulations, including addressing the growing problem of weed resistance to existing products.
    In addition, the Commission will further assess both Monsanto’s activities in biological pesticide products that would compete with Bayer’s existing portfolio of chemical pesticide products, and the parties’ overlapping activities in products that tackle varroa mites, a parasite affecting bee colonies in Europe. 
  • Seeds
    Bayer and Monsanto are both active in the breeding of vegetable seeds. The Commission’s initial investigation shows that the parties have high combined market shares in a number of these vegetable seeds markets, and that some of their products compete directly with each other.
    Bayer and Monsanto are also active in the breeding and licensing of seeds for several field crops. Monsanto has the highest market share in oilseed rape seeds in Europe. Bayer, with the highest market share in oilseed rape seeds at global level, is one of the few players with the means to compete intensively in this market. Furthermore, both parties are important licensors of cotton seeds to their competitors in Europe, and both are investing in research and innovation programs for wheat. 
  • Traits
    A trait is a characteristic of a plant, such as height, herbicide tolerance and insect or disease resistance, and can be developed in laboratories and introduced in certain plant varieties.
    The Commission’s preliminary investigation indicates that Monsanto has a dominant position in several traits markets worldwide. Bayer is one of the few competitors to Monsanto in certain traits markets, and has notably developed alternative herbicide tolerance traits to Monsanto’s. The Commission will investigate in particular whether the transaction could lead to a reduction of competition in these markets, taking into account the existing links between the few worldwide competitors through cross-licensing and through research and development cooperations.

Finally, the merged entity would hold both the largest portfolio of pesticides products and the strongest global market positions in seeds and traits, making it the largest integrated company in the industry. The Commission will further investigate whether competitors’ access to distributors and farmers could become more difficult if Bayer and Monsanto were to bundle or tie their sales of pesticide products and seeds, notably with the advent of digital agriculture. Digital agriculture consists in the collection of data and information about farms with the aim of providing tailored advice or aggregated data to farmers. Both Bayer and Monsanto are currently investing in this emerging technology.

The transaction was notified to the Commission on 30 June 2017. The Commission now has 90 working days, until 8 January 2018, to take a decision. The opening of an in-depth investigation does not prejudge the final result of the investigation.

On 31 July 2017, Bayer and Monsanto submitted commitments to address some of the Commission’s preliminary concerns. However, the Commission considered these commitments insufficient to clearly dismiss its serious doubts as to the transaction’s compatibility with the EU Merger Regulation. The Commission therefore did not test them with market participants.

Given the worldwide scope of Bayer and Monsanto’s activities, the Commission is cooperating closely with other competition authorities, notably with the Department of Justice in the US and the antitrust authorities of Australia, Brazil, Canada and South Africa.

Background

Petitions

The Commission has been petitioned through emails, postcards, letters and tweets expressing concerns about the proposed acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer. The Commission’s mandate under the European merger control rules is to assess the merger solely from a competition perspective. This assessment must be impartial and is subject to the scrutiny of the European Courts.

The other concerns raised by the petitioners are subject to European and national rules to protect food safety, consumers, the environment and the climate.

Companies and products

Bayer, headquartered in Germany, is a diversified pharmaceuticals, consumer health, agriculture (Bayer Crop Science) and animal health company. This transaction mainly concerns the Bayer Crop Science division. Bayer Crop Science operates three business segments: (i) Crop Protection; (ii) Seeds and Traits; and (iii) Environmental Science. Bayer is also active in developing digital agriculture technologies.

Monsanto, headquartered in the US, is an agriculture company which produces seeds for broad acre crops, fruits and vegetables as well as plant biotechnology traits. It also provides pesticide products, including the glyphosate herbicide under the “Roundup” brand and other herbicides for agricultural and non-agricultural use. Additionally, Monsanto is involved in research on biological agriculture and provides farmers with digital agriculture services through its ‘Climate Corporation’ business.

Merger control rules and procedures

The Commission has the duty to assess mergers and acquisitions involving companies with a turnover above certain thresholds (see Article 1 of the Merger Regulation) and to prevent concentrations that would significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area or any substantial part of it.

The vast majority of notified mergers do not pose competition problems and are cleared after a routine review. From the moment a transaction is notified, the Commission generally has a total of 25 working days to decide whether to grant approval (Phase I) or to start an in-depth investigation (Phase II).

In addition to the current transaction, there are two other on-going phase II merger investigations: the proposed acquisition of NXP by Qualcomm and the proposed acquisition of Haldex by Knorr-Bremse.

More information will be available on the competition website, in the Commission’s public case register under the case number M.8084.