Author: Himalaya Post

PARIS – French hotel and restaurant owners are lobbying the government to regularise more illegal migrants in order to fill 100,000 jobs for which they have found no French takers. “We’re facing a huge shortage in our sector,” Roland Heguy, president of the hotel industry body UMIH, told AFP. “Companies are finding no one, which is why we want to facilitate the integration of refugees in our businesses,” he said. France, like many developed economies, is struggling to fill low-paid, manual jobs. Turnover is high in the hospitality sector, where kitchen work and cleaning jobs are seen as particularly unattractive by many. At a meeting with government in mid-July, industry representatives called for measures to make it easier to hire migrants. In an interview Wednesday, Heguy said the industry was in a position “to issue 100,000 job contracts straight away”, half of them for permanent positions and half for seasonal jobs. France received a record 100,000 asylum requests in 2017, up 17 percent from the year before. Under French law, refugees can work once they get their papers but asylum-seekers must wait nine months after filing their claim for refugee status before taking up a job. An immigration bill passed by parliament last week — but which President Emmanuel Macron has yet to sign into law — cuts the waiting time to six months. The CGT, France’s biggest trade...

Washington D.C. [U.S.A.] –  United States President Donald Trump has shared a picture of him with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker after a joint press conference, where both joined hands to eliminate tariffs. In the picture, Trump and Juncker can be seen sharing a hug, meanwhile, president of the European Commission kissing the US President’s cheek. “Obviously the European Union, as represented by @JunckerEU and the United States, as represented by yours truly, love each other!” Trump captioned the photo. Trump shared the picture after duo delivered a joint statement on Wednesday, and annouced that they have reached a deal to begin solve a dispute over tariffs. President Trump called the meeting a ‘very big day for free and fair trade’. The meeting turned out to be fruitful since the elimination of tariffs would reduce the growing tension between EU and the USA. In another tweet, the US President said, “European Union representatives told me that they would start buying soybeans from our great farmers immediately. Also, they will be buying vast amounts of LNG!” Earlier this year, the Trump administration slapped tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from several U.S. allies, including the EU. Trump also threatened to impose a 20 per cent tariff on all European automobile imports....

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories – Gaza militants halted fire Thursday after targeting Israel with some 180 rockets and mortars, provoking Israeli strikes across the enclave that killed three Palestinians, including a toddler, in another severe flare-up of violence. It was the third major escalation since July and came despite attempts by UN officials and Egypt to secure a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip. Two Palestinian officials said on condition of anonymity that Gaza militants halted rocket fire at noon on Thursday. One of the officials said “they consider this round of escalation over.” Israel’s military declined to comment. Beginning on Wednesday night and into Thursday, fireballs and explosions shook the Gaza Strip while plumes of smoke rose from the enclave. In nearby Israeli communities, residents were sent scrambling to bomb shelters. Most of the rockets fired by Palestinian militants landed in open areas, but at least two hit the Israeli town of Sderot near the Gaza Strip and sirens sounded throughout the night and into the morning. Medics reported at least four wounded taken to Israeli hospitals, including a 30-year-old Thai woman in moderate to severe condition after being injured in the Eshkol region bordering the Gaza Strip. Israel’s military reported seven civilians wounded. Those killed in the Gaza Strip included Enas Khammash, 23, and her 18-month-old daughter Bayan, according...

SANAA – An attack on a bus carrying children in rebel-held northern Yemen on Thursday left dozens of people dead or wounded, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. “Following an attack this morning on a bus driving children in Dahyan Market, northern Saada, (an ICRC-supported) hospital has received dozens of dead and wounded,” the organisation said on Twitter without giving more details. “Under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected during conflict,” it added. The Huthi rebels’ Al-Masirah TV reported that 39 people had been killed and 51 wounded, “mostly children”. It accused the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Shiite rebels on the side of the government of hitting the bus in an air strike. It was not possible to verify the toll or who was behind it. There was no immediate comment from the coalition, which intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognised government to power after it was driven out of the capital Sanaa by the rebels. The UN children’s agency UNICEF said it was “very concerned with the initial reports of children being killed”. “I am watching with horror the images and videos coming from Saada in #Yemen and I have no words. How was this a military target? Why are children being killed?” tweeted UNICEF’s resident representative in Yemen, Meritxell Relano. Last Thursday, attacks on a hospital and a fish market...

Ernakulam/ Trivandrum (Kerala) [India] – At least 20 people died in rain related incidents in Kerala on Thursday. The incessant rains caused rivers in the region to swell, urging the authorities to open the shutters of as many as 22 dams. The inundation has been so severe that the administration was compelled to open the sluice gates of Cheruthoni dam on Idukki reservoir, a first in 26 years. The heavy downpour, caused by annual south-west monsoon, has also hampered several flight operations in the Cochin city. “Water is flowing into the operational area of Cochin International Airport (CIAL). The airport may close with short notice, no long-term parking in CIAL and no diversion from other airports will be permitted till further notification,” read the statement released by the Airport Director of CIAL. The deluge has ravaged several districts of the state, with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) working in a fire-fighting mode. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed , “We have sought help from the Army, Navy, Coast Guard and NDRF. Three NDRF teams have arrived, two teams to arrive soon and six additional NDRF teams have also been called in. Nehru Trophy Boat Race has been cancelled.” District Collector of Ernakulam, Mohammed Y Safirulla said that all hands are on deck to tackle the situation. “Water was released from Edamalayar dam in the morning after which the water...