Paris, July 26 (IANS) France’s TGV high-speed train services are gradually resuming after severe disruptions caused by arson attacks, with one-third of the trains expected to be operational by Friday afternoon, announced the resigning Minister for Transport, Patrice Vergriete.

France’s TGV high-speed train traffic on the Atlantic, Northern, and Eastern routes was severely disrupted due to arson attacks targeting installations, the French national rail company SNCF reported on its X social media account Friday morning.

According to the SNCF, 800,000 passengers were affected by the attacks, with some trains diverted and many canceled.

International travel through the English Channel and to neighbouring Belgium has also been disrupted, Xinhua news agency reported.

Despite the attacks, the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games on Friday evening will proceed unaffected, as the incidents have no impact on the transport network in the Paris region, confirmed Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, quoted by BFMTV.

“All the evidence indicates that these acts were deliberate,” Vergriete told BFMTV on Friday. The resigning Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, stated on X, “Our intelligence services and law enforcement agencies are mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts.”

–IANS

as/

Beirut, July 26 (IANS) Two Hezbollah members were killed on Friday in an Israeli strike on a Lebanese village in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources told Xinhua.

The sources, who spoke anonymously, said that an Israeli warplane fired two air-to-ground missiles targeting the vicinity of the southeast village of Markaba in southern Lebanon, killing two Hezbollah members. The two killed men were Abbas Hussein Hammoud and Fadl Nour al-Din.

They added that a civil defense ambulance transported their bodies to a hospital in the border area, and several houses adjacent to the targeted point were damaged.

Military sources said that Israeli warplanes and drones carried out on Friday four raids on four towns and villages in the eastern sector of the border area, and Israeli artillery shelled nine towns and villages with about 45 shells, causing material damage and the outbreak of several fires that the Civil Defense worked to extinguish.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced in separate statements that air defense units fired anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli warplanes inside Lebanese airspace in the southern region, forcing them to retreat and withdraw behind the Lebanese border with occupied Palestine, Xinhua news agency.

In this context, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon spokesman Andrea Tenenti expressed on Friday concern over the increasing intensity of the conflict across the borderline and the potential risks of a sudden, wider conflict that is difficult to control.

He called on all concerned parties to cease fire and return to the full implementation of Resolution 1701, which is ultimately the path to stability and peace.

He called on Lebanon and Israel to commit to UN Resolution 1701, which remains the most effective framework for addressing the current situation and working towards a long-term settlement of the conflict.

–IANS

/as

Moscow, July 26 (IANS) Russia’s central bank has raised its key interest rate by 200 basis points from 16 to 18 per cent, it said in a statement Friday.

Inflation continues to rise and currently surpasses the bank’s April forecast, the bank said, adding that domestic demand continues to grow faster than the capacity to expand supply.

The central bank has revised its inflation forecast for 2024, raising it to 6.5-7.0 per cent. It said that annual inflation would decline to 4.0-4.5 percent in 2025 and stay close to 4 percent further on, Xinhua news agency reported.

Data for the second quarter of 2024 indicate that the Russian economy continued to grow rapidly. However, labor shortages were on the rise, and the growth in domestic demand did not lead to a proportional increase in the supply of goods and services but rather intensified inflationary pressures, according to the statement.

“Given that from January 1 to July 28, 2024, the average key rate is 16 per cent, from July 29 to the end of 2024, the average key rate is projected to be in the range from 18.0-19.4 per cent,” the bank said.

The bank will review the possibility of raising the key interest rate further at its upcoming meeting, scheduled for September 13.

–IANS

as/

Ljubljana, July 26 (IANS) The Slovenian centre-left government on Friday nominated Tomaz Vesel, a former head of the national Court of Audit, as its candidate for European Commissioner.

Head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is expected to begin talks with candidates from all European Union (EU) member states next month, after which she will assign their areas of responsibility. The commissioners, who serve a five-year term, must also receive approval from the European Parliament.

Vesel, 57, served as president of the Slovenian Court of Audit from 2013 to 2022 and was a supervisor for the International Football Association (FIFA) from 2016 to 2021, Xinhua news agency reported.

Despite von der Leyen’s request for EU members to each nominate two candidates, including one woman, Slovenia has chosen to put forward only one candidate.

Slovenia’s outgoing European Commissioner, Janez Lenarcic, is currently in charge of crisis management.

–IANS

/as

Kuala Lumpur, July 26 (IANS) The median monthly wages of the formal sector in Malaysia rose 9.4 per cent year on year to 2,844 ringgit (610 US dollars) in March 2024, official data showed Friday.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the increase in median monthly wages denotes a better labor market landscape, in line with the growing economic expansion in the first quarter of 2024.

It is noted that the number of citizens in the formal sector also continued to show a year-on-year increase, with a growth of 1.5 percent in March, Xinhua news agency reported.

Looking at the comparison by sex, male formal employees comprising 55.3 percent (3.62 million persons) of the total formal employees in March, received a median monthly wage of 2,900 ringgit.

Meanwhile, female formal employees, who made up 44.7 percent (2.92 million persons) of the total formal employees, earned a median monthly wage of 2,800 ringgit in March.

In terms of wage distribution, 31.2 percent of Malaysia’s formal employees earned below 2,000 ringgit in March, marking a decrease of 3.6 percentage points from the 34.8 percent recorded a year ago.

–IANS

/as