OSLO: Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist treating victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nadia Murad, a Yazidi human rights activist and survivor of sexual slavery by Daesh in Iraq, won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it had awarded them the prize for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
“Both laureates have made a crucial contribution to focusing attention on, and combating, such war crimes,” it said in its citation.
Mukwege, a gynecologist treating victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, leads the Panzi Hospital in the eastern city of Bukavu.
Opened in 1999, the clinic receives thousands of women each year, many of them requiring surgery from sexual violence.
Murad is an advocate for the Yazidi minority in Iraq and for refugee and women’s rights in general. She was enslaved and raped by Daesh fighters in Mosul in 2014.
The prize will be presented in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.
Congolese Denis Mukwege, Iraq’s Nadia Murad win 2018 Nobel Peace Prize
Congolese Denis Mukwege, Iraq’s Nadia Murad win 2018 Nobel Peace Prize
Kremlin welcomes US sanctions waiver says US and Russia share interest in stable energy markets
DUBAI: Russia sees a U.S. sanctions waiver on its oil as an attempt by Washington to stabilise global energy markets, and the two countries have a shared interest in this, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.
"We see actions by the United States aimed at trying to stabilise energy markets. In this respect, our interests coincide," he said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a temporary authorisation allowing countries around the world to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea on Thursday extending a measure that had previously been granted only to Indian refiners.
Bessent stressed in a post on X that the authorisation would not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government.
“This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction,” Bessent said on a post on X.
However, the measure received mix reviews in European capitals, with many fearing it could help replenish Russia's assualt on Ukraine.
"I am concerned that we are further filling Putin's war chest," German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said in Berlin on Friday.
Reiche said that she saw both sides to the United States' decision to issue a 30-day waiver for the purchase of Russian oil products, understanding the increasing ecnomic and political turnout from the oil crisis, particurlarly in South Korea and Japan.
"It seems to me that domestic political pressure in the United States is very, very high," Reiche said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was more direct, saying on Friday that it was wrong to ease sanctions against Russia for whatever reason. The sentiment was echoed by Norway’s Prime Minister, who also said sanctions should not be eased.
Oil prices held gains above $100 Friday and most equity markets dropped after Iran's leader called for the blocking of the crucial Strait of Hormuz and the opening up of new fronts in the war against the United States and Israel.
With the conflict heading towards its third week and showing no signs of ending, investors are growing increasingly worried about an extended crisis that could fan inflation and hammer the global economy.
