Montenegro’s billion-dollar road to nowhere
27 November 2021 |
3:36 pm
In Montenegro, the construction of a motorway to open up the Balkan nation – a project launched in 2014 – is now more than two years behind schedule. With its high environmental and financial costs (more than $1 billion), this pharaonic project has dangerously increased the debt of the country of 600,000 inhabitants. FRANCE 24 investigates. The work is being financed by a Chinese bank and largely carried out by a Chinese state-owned company and a local firm close to the previous government, which signed the deal. But if Montenegro defaults on its loan, the contract stipulates that the country must relinquish sovereignty over certain parts of its territory. This burden on the country’s new government has aggravated the strong suspicions of corruption around the building site.
Related
Related
1 day ago
Britain's opposition Labour Party won a parliamentary seat in northern England on Friday and control of several councils, inflicting heavy losses on the governing Conservatives to pile more pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
3 hours ago
The senior leader of India's opposition Congress party is set to contest the Lok Sabha national elections from his family's legacy seat. Gandhi is also seeking reelection from Wayanad in the south.
5 hours ago
Whether public or private, German media outlets have struggled to find a way of reporting about the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
1 day ago
According to a UNESCO report, a whopping 70 percent of environmental reporters regularly face threats, attacks and intimidation. Meanwhile, UNESCO awards its World Press Freedom Prize to all Palestinian journalists covering the war in Gaza, who are paying a heavy price for their reporting.
1 day ago
More than six months after the start of Israel's devastating offensive in response to the October 7 attacks, Palestinian journalists in Gaza continue to pay a heavy price.
1 day ago
Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Saturday.
Latest
31 mins ago
FRANCE 24's culture editor Eve Jackson tells us about the life and work of US writer Paul Auster, who has died aged 77. Best known for "The New York Trilogy" mystery novels, Auster wrote more than 30 books that were translated into 40 languages. He had a particularly big following in France.
31 mins ago
In this Science segment, we look at the public health scandal surrounding a prescription drug called Androcur. First used in the 1980s to treat acne, hair loss or hirsutism (excessive body hair), it was later prescribed as a contraceptive pill.
1 hour ago
The ongoing war in Gaza has prompted debates in Malaysia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia over what is seen there as the West's moral decline for not having more forcefully condemned Israeli actions.
1 hour ago
Viral videos on social media claim to show US President Joe Biden either "shaking hands with a ghost" or with "thin air". Sources also report that former president Donald Trump has been flatulent and sleepy in the courtroom during his New York trial. We review these viral claims in this edition of Truth or Fake.
3 hours ago
Taiwan's Defense Ministry said on Friday that a number of Chinese military planes crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait.
×
Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox every day of the week. Stay informed with the Guardian’s leading coverage of Nigerian and world news, business, technology and sports.
0 Comments
We will review and take appropriate action.