March 4, 2022 – Djibouti News Gazette

March 4, 2022

Manchester City Announces Official Cryptocurrency Exchange Partner OKX

OKX becomes Manchester City’s Official Cryptocurrency Partner

Manchester City and OKX have today announced a new multi-year partnership
The partnership will span Manchester City men’s and women’s teams, in addition to the Club’s esports operations

VICTORIA, Seychelles, March 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Premier League champions Manchester City have today announced a global partnership with the world’s second largest crypto exchange, OKX, naming it the Club’s Official Cryptocurrency Exchange Partner.

OKX’s first venture into the world of sport and entertainment, the partnership will span Manchester City men’s and women’s teams, in addition to the Club’s esports operations.

Manchester City sign with crypto partner OKX

OKX’s fast, secure and innovative cryptocurrency exchange is trusted by more than 20 million people in more than 180 markets as a place to explore the power of crypto.

OKX and Man City believe in inspiring continued innovation, talent development and technology advancements – a key partnership alignment between both organisations.

The new partners will collaborate on a number of exclusive experiences for OKX’s global customer base, in addition to an in-stadium presence across the Etihad Stadium and Academy Stadium. The new partners will also look to explore future innovation projects together.

Roel De Vries, Chief Operating Officer, City Football Group, said: “We are pleased to welcome OKX as an Official Partner of Manchester City today as they look to venture into the world of sports. The new partnership aligns our shared values of innovation, drive for success and being at the cutting edge of our respective industries. Their broad and inclusive approach to targeting diverse audiences resonates with our approach. We look forward to working together throughout the partnership.”

Manchester City Stadium

“We are delighted to partner with Manchester City, one of the world’s best-loved and most successful teams. Football and crypto share something important; they are for everyone, they create inclusivity within society. For OKX, Manchester City is a Club that represents the effect football has to make a positive difference in people’s lives, to bring people together around a shared love of the beautiful game. We are entering the Premier League for the first time as City’s official crypto partner to celebrate this community spirit in the world of football because it’s something we both share,” said Jay Hao, CEO of OKX.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/99b1c268-b437-430e-a504-cf4d276df83a
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d63580c8-9c47-4baa-a5ea-93d724c69409
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2c7534e4-7252-4896-bc5a-f94f1ec6f423

Richard Kay
richard.kay@okx.com

March 4, 2022

Open Society Launches Fund for a Free and Democratic Ukraine

New York/Berlin/Kyiv, March 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Open Society Foundations today are pledging an initial $25 million to launch the Ukraine Democracy Fund and urge other funders to join us in supporting civil society in Ukraine in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assault on democracy.

This initiative builds on Open Society’s more than three decades of work in Eastern Europe to support human rights organizations, independent journalists, and other civil society groups. The aim of this fund is to join with private foundations, philanthropists big and small, and the private sector to raise $100 million over the duration of the crisis and its inevitably protracted aftermath.

“We have one simple message: we will never abandon Ukraine,” said Alex Soros, deputy chair of the Open Society Foundations. “As Putin tries to wipe the country off the map, we will do all we can for the people of Ukraine. We urge others to step forward and join us.”

“This is a defining moment for open societies,” said Mark Malloch-Brown, president of the Foundations. “Whatever the Kremlin might say, it is clear that what Putin is really afraid of is neither NATO nor nuclear weapons, but a free and flourishing democracy on his doorstep.”

The fund will advance three goals:

Support for Ukrainian civil society: Since 1990, independent Ukrainian organizations have played a vital role in the country’s democratic development—from fighting corruption to defending independent media and the rights of citizens. These groups are the sinew of any healthy democracy. During the current conflict and its aftermath, the fund will continue to support this work—now more critical than ever.
International solidarity with Ukraine: The fund will advance international efforts to defend Ukraine’s freedom and independence, to battle authoritarianism, and to enhance international accountability efforts through credible documentation of war crimes. This will include resources for investigative journalists, artists, and scholars, as well as for research and advocacy groups who speak out for human rights and the rule of law across the region.
Protecting human dignity: As of today, more than one million people have been forced to flee Ukraine, and many more are displaced within the country. Additional unforeseen threats to civilians lie ahead. The fund will support humanitarian aid for those beyond the reach of other relief efforts, as well as bolstering public health work, protecting and welcoming refugees, and eventually post-conflict reconstruction.

“This has been a time of horror in Ukraine,” said Oleksandr Sushko, executive director of our Kyiv-based International Renaissance Foundation. “At the same time, I feel great pride in seeing how Ukraine, Europe, and much of the world are standing against Putin’s aggression. We will keep defending freedom and the pillars of democracy here and across the globe.”

Founded by George Soros, the Open Society Foundations are the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights. Open Society has been working in Ukraine through the International Renaissance Foundation since 1990.

Office of Communications
Open Society Foundations 
212-548-0378
media@opensocietyfoundations.org

March 4, 2022

UN: Human Rights Violations in Eritrea Continue Unabated

A report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council Friday finds a lack of progress in the human rights situation in Eritrea.

Investigators said that dissenting voices are being violently and systematically crushed by the government.

U.N. special rapporteur Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker said those most at risk include political opponents, activists, journalists, religious leaders, and draft evaders. He said they are subjected to prolonged arbitrary detention in inhuman and degrading conditions, in some instances amounting to torture.

Babiker said thousands of Eritreans have been arbitrarily detained and held in prison since 1991, stripped of their legal rights.

“Some have died over the years,” Babiker said. “The whereabouts of others remain unknown. I urge this Council to extend the maximum possible pressure on the Eritrean authorities to release all prisoners of conscience. A comprehensive reform of the justice sector is also urgently needed to re-establish the foundations of the rule of law.”

The U.N. investigator says the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia is worsening the already dire situation of forced conscription in Eritrea. Babiker said the government justifies its indefinite extension of the national service as necessary to defend the country against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.

The rebel group from Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which borders Eritrea, has been at war with the Ethiopian government since November 2020.

Babiker said the national service program is akin to forced labor and is one of the key sources of human rights violations in the country.

“Conditions for conscripts are extremely harsh, and sexual harassment, severe punishments and inhuman or degrading treatment are common, Babiker said. “The program also has severe impacts on the rights to education and to the decent work of thousands of Eritreans, as well as on their families who cannot survive on the meager pay received by conscripts.”

Babiker said the conditions continue to push thousands of young Eritreans to flee their country every year. He calls on the government to engage in a constructive dialogue to improve human rights in the country.

Ambassador Gerahtu Tesfamicael in Eritrea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said his country has been the target of politically motivated resolutions and mandates of the U.N. Human Rights Council for years.

He said this latest report presents unsubstantiated allegations of violations and ignores the positive developments made in areas of social justice and human rights. While his government faces human rights challenges, the ambassador said there is no systematic human rights crisis in the country.

Source: Voice of America

March 4, 2022

Russia-Ukraine conflict: ‘All of humanity’ at risk from nuclear threat over Ukraine, warns UN

GENEVA— The UN human rights chief slammed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, warning millions there were seeing their rights trampled, while the rising nuclear threat put all humanity at risk.

Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Michelle Bachelet warned that Russia’s full-scale invasion launched a week ago “is generating massive impact on the human rights of millions of people across Ukraine”.

In her opening speech during an urgent council debate on rights violations in Ukraine, she pointed to numerous casualties in a conflict that has already forced more than one million people to flee the country.

During the debate, countries will consider whether to approve the creation of a high-level investigation into abuses committed in the war.

Addressing the council by video link, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister Emine Dzhaparova urged countries to back the resolution. She said Russian troops were engaging “in acts that clearly amount to war crimes and crimes against

humanity”.

The International Criminal Court in the Hague has already begun investigating possible war crimes in Ukraine.

Bachelet did not use such terms.

However, she said her office had recorded 227 civilian deaths, including those of at least 15 children, while stressing that the real numbers “will be far higher”.

Most of the casualties, she said, “were caused by the use of heavy artillery, multi-launch rocket systems and air strikes in populated areas, with concerning reports of use of cluster munitions striking civilian targets.”

“I call for the immediate cessation of such force.”

Russia’s attack was not only putting people in Ukraine at risk, Bachelet said, warning that it had “opened a new and dangerous chapter in world history”.

“Elevated threat levels for nuclear weapons underline the gravity of the risks to all of humanity,” she said.

Her comments came after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered his country’s nuclear forces to be put on high alert.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had earlier accused Western politicians of fixating on nuclear war.

Moscow has the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons and a huge cache of ballistic missiles which form the backbone of the deterrence forces.

Russian Ambassador Gennady Gatilov earlier said Kyiv was the aggressor and that its Western backers were hypocritical and uninterested in ending the conflict.

“The peace and prosperity of Ukraine are not in your interests,” he told the council.

The “puppet regime” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “is of interest to you only as a means of pressure and as a trump card in your confrontation with Russia.”

Since the attack on Ukraine began, Russia has found itself besieged by sanctions and increasingly isolated on the international stage.

The UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday issued a powerful rebuke and overwhelmingly backed a resolution demanding Russia “immediately” withdraw from Ukraine.

Russia lost the vote 141-5, winning the support of only four nations –Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria. Its allies China and Cuba abstained.

Moscow also found scant support for its efforts to block Thursday’s urgent rights council debate, with only four countries in addition to Russia voting against it.

Twenty-nine of the council’s 47 members backed the debate, hinting that the resolution up for discussion will likely get majority approval, observers say.

The draft text calls for the creation of a so-called independentinternational commission of inquiry — the highest level probe that can be ordered by the council — “to investigate all alleged violations and abuses” in the conflict, dating back to 2014, when the Kremlin annexed Crimea.

It calls for the appointment of three investigators to gather evidence “with a view to ensuring that those responsible are held accountable.”

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK