Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy | Ukrainian Presidential Press Office

Kyiv: Ukraine’s president says his country is submitting an accelerated application to join the NATO military alliance.

The comment Friday by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came just after Russia said it would annex four region of Ukraine it seized amid its war and held gunpoint referendums viewed as illegitimate by the international community.

Zelenskyy said: We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated accession to NATO.

It wasn’t immediately clear what an accelerated application would mean, as ascension to NATO requires the unanimous support of the alliance’s members.

De facto, we have already proven compatibility with alliance standards. They are real for Ukraine — real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction, Zelenskyy said. We trust each other, we help each other, and we protect each other. This is the alliance.

Zelenskyy also repeated his pledge to reunite all of the Ukrainian territory now held by Russia.

The entire territory of our country will be liberated from this enemy – the enemy not only of Ukraine, but also of life itself, humanity, law and truth, he said. Russia already knows this. It feels our power. It sees that it is here, in Ukraine, that we prove the strength of our values.

Responding to Putin’s call for negotiations, Zelenskyy added: We are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with another president of Russia.

The war has rapidly accelerated Ukraine’s shift toward the West. During Russia’s seven-month war, the country has shifted off Soviet-era weapon systems and used NATO-standard ordinance and weapons, though the process is still ongoing.

In June, the European Union agreed to put Ukraine on the path toward EU membership. That swiftness of that move — nearly unthinkable only months earlier — required unanimous approval among the bloc’s often fractious members.

While there is considerable overlap among the members of the EU and NATO, securing agreement to allow Ukraine into the security alliance and its guarantee of mutual defense could be considerably more difficult. One immediate impediment to Ukraine joining is that it is already engaged in an active military conflict on its soil.

Marta Temido

Lisbon: The tragic death of a pregnant Indian woman in Portugal while being shifted between crisis-hit hospitals here has led to the resignation of the country’s health minister Marta Temido while authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.

The 34-year-old Indian woman reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest during an ambulance transfer from Santa Maria hospital, which had no vacancies in the neonatology service, to another hospital in the capital.

It follows a string of incidents this summer that critics blame on a staffing crisis across Portuguese natal units, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

Temido had been the health minister since 2018, and is credited with steering Portugal through the Covid-19 pandemic.

But on Tuesday, the government said in a statement that Temido had “realised that she no longer had the conditions to remain in office”.

Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa said the woman’s death was “the last straw” that led to Temido’s resignation, the report quoted Portugal’s Lusa news agency as saying.

I am grateful for all the work carried out by Dr. Marta Temido, especially in the exceptional period of combating the COVID19 pandemic. The @govpt continue the ongoing reforms with a view to strengthening the SNS and improving healthcare provided to the Portuguese, Costa, an Indian-origin leader, said in a tweet.

His remarks came after a storm of criticism over the Portuguese government’s handling of staff shortages in maternity units, by temporarily closing some of them and forcing pregnant women to undergo risky transfers between hospitals.

Local media reported that the pregnant tourist died while being moved from Lisbon’s Santa Maria Hospital – the largest in Portugal – because its neonatology unit was full.

Her baby was delivered in good health following an emergency caesarean section, authorities said. An investigation into the woman’s death has been launched, the report said.

There have been similar incidents across Portugal in recent months – including the separate deaths of two infants whose mothers had apparently been transferred between hospitals and endured long delays, it said.

Portugal’s shortage of health staff, especially those specialising in gynaecology and obstetrics, has led to the government considering hiring from abroad.

The closure of some natal units has led to overflowing maternity wards and long wait times, with opposition parties, doctors and nurses pointing blame at the former health minister.

Speaking to local outlet RTP, the chair of the Portuguese doctors association Miguel Guimaraes said Temido quit because she did not have any way of resolving the current crisis – before going on to praise her record in office.

However, Gustavo Tato Borges, the president of Portugal’s public health association, told RTP he did not expect her resignation, and was “surprised” that she had stepped down while there are “acute problems” in the health sector.

NEW DELHI: Nepal is worried about the survival of its tea sector over the possibility of India imposing levies on their tea exports

“Diplomatically India says that Nepal for India is like a younger sister, however, they are threatening us with heavy levies which will lead to a crisis in the sector and endanger livelihoods of thousands of workers,’’ says former Vice Chairman, Tea and Coffee Board of Nepal, Santosh C Kunwar.

The issue gained momentum after India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce in June recommended that the Indian government apply stringent norms for certification of tea that came in from Nepal, in addition to duties.

“The Parliamentary committee also pointed out that the entry of low-quality products from the neighbouring countries was jeopardising the Indian tea industry, and asked that anti-dumping duty ranging from 40-100 per cent be imposed. The panel has also asked that the Indo-Nepal Treaty of 1950 be reviewed,’’ said sources.

India is Nepal’s largest customer for its tea. Out of the 30 million kg of CTC (crush, tear, and curl) tea that India imports annually half the amount at 15 million kg comes from Nepal.

“India suspects that tea from Nepal (which is much cheaper than what is grown within their country) is being surreptitiously blended with Indian tea before being packed and sold in the market. Do we have any control on what the traders do locally?”, Kunwar added.

The blending of Orthodox tea imported from Nepal with Darjeeling tea is also allegedly being done in India. The cost of Orthodox tea from Nepal is less than half of what it costs in India. These are also factors responsible for the possible levies that tea imports from Nepal will attract.

Meanwhile, Nepalese tea planters say they have to follow rigorous quarantine regulations once their supplies land in India – which includes a certification they need from the Central Food Laboratory in Kolkata.

“This certification is valid for only six months for one buyer and costs Rs 30,000. If we intend to sell the same product to another buyer, we need another certification. Tea planters of Nepal are making a presentation to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to convince Indian authorities not to levy more taxes. If bill number 171 (recommended by the Indian Parliamentary Standing Committee) gets cleared, it would be a death knell for Nepal’s tea sector,’’ lamented Kunwar.

Tea produced in Nepal which is cheaper than Rs 250 per kg isn’t allowed to be exported to India at present as it would create challenges for tea producers in India.

Nepalese tea growers are also highlighting the fact that consideration be given to them as they import goods worth $9 billion from India every year as they are almost entirely dependent on India.

Nepal’s tea planters are hoping against hope that the Indian government doesn’t impose heavy duties on their tea and are optimistic that diplomatic ties between the two nations will thwart this possible move.