Datasets:

ILSUM

/

ILSUM-1.0

like 3

1adc9877cd15160985b95e14b82fca68

China has expressed grave concern over the reported killing of two of its nationals who were kidnapped in Pakistan last month.According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, Beijing is working with Pakistani authorities to verify relevant information in this matter."We have taken note of relevant reports and we express our grave concern. We have been trying to rescue the two kidnapped hostages over the past days," Hua Chunying said. "The Chinese side is working to learn about and verify relevant information through various channels, including working with Pakistani authorities," she added.She also said that the Chinese side is firmly opposed to the acts of kidnapping civilians in any form.Hua Chunying further added that China is opposed to terrorism and extreme violence in any form. (With IANS inputs)

China expresses concern over killing of its ‘kidnapped’ nationals in Pakistan

"We have taken note of relevant reports and we express our grave concern. We have been trying to rescue the two kidnapped hostages over the past days," Hua Chunying said.

41ad0fa616e61c815836f424b7523861

WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus/FileWhen will coronavirus pandemic be over? This is the most sought-after question that continues to loom large the world over. In a press briefing, the World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he hopes that coronavirus pandemic will be over within two years. Dr. Tedros said the Spanish flu of 1918 took two years to overcome. He, however, added that current advances in technology could enable the world to halt the virus "in a shorter time.""Of course with more connectiveness, the virus has a better chance of spreading," Tedros said. "But at the same time, we have also the technology to stop it, and the knowledge to stop it," he added, stressing the importance of "national unity, global solidarity.""We hope to finish this pandemic before less than two years," Tedros told reporters from the WHO's headquarters in Geneva, saying that it should be possible to tame the novel coronavirus faster than the deadly 1918 pandemic.The deadly flu of 1918 had killed at least 50 million people. The coronavirus has so far claimed lives of 800,000 people and infected 22.7 million more.

When will coronavirus pandemic be over? WHO's answer is in years

When will coronavirus pandemic be over? This is the most sought-after question that continues to loom large the world over. In a press briefing, the World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he hopes that coronavirus pandemic will be over within two years.

9b37a3a91b60e7ded2bd774f8efb26e0

US Election 2020: Donald Trump's reelection within grasp as he gets must-win FloridaPresident Donald Trump has won Florida and its 29 electoral votes, the biggest prize among the perennial battlegrounds and a state crucial to his reelection hopes.A victory in Florida means reelection is within Trump’s grasp. A loss in the state would have made it nearly impossible for Trump to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to retain the White House.Democrat Joe Biden’s campaign had hoped the devastating toll of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly among older adults, would put him in a strong position in a state popular with retirees.Trump moved his official residence to his Palm Beach estate Mar-a-Lago from New York last year.Trump narrowly beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state in 2016.

US Election 2020: Donald Trump's re-election within grasp as he gets must-win Florida

A victory in Florida means reelection is within Trump’s grasp. A loss in the state would have made it nearly impossible for Trump to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to retain the White House.

f7533683d48df439e869b0bf17cb806d

US Election 2020 Results Key Updates: States won by Donald Trump and Joe BidenUS President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden are competing against each other for the White House. The outcome will decide who will sit in the White House for the next four years. Biden, former vice president, has maintained his lead mid-way with 209 of the 538 electoral college seats. Trump, who is seeking second consecutive term, has defended 118 electoral college seats.The counting of votes in the crucial US presidential election began on Tuesday night. The White House's next occupant needs to win 270 of the 538 electoral college votes. Experts say that Joe Biden has multiple paths to victory, with Trump having very little room to maneuver.Meanwhile, President Donald Trump in a tweet expressed confidence on the results. "WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU!" he tweeted. Trump is watching the election results from the White House.Nevada: 6Georgia: 16Alaska: 3Maine: 4Pennsylvania: 20Michigan: 16North Carolina: 15 Wisconsin: 10An unprecedented 103.2 million people cast their ballots in this year’s presidential election. The early birds represent 74.3 percent of the total turnout in the 2016 election. A tally by The Associated Press shows the early vote in several states, including hotly-contested Texas and Arizona, exceeded the total vote of four years ago. In Kentucky, nearly 13 times as many voters cast their ballots early this year than in 2016.

US Election 2020 Results Key Updates: States won by Donald Trump and Joe Biden

US Election 2020 Results: The next occupant to the White House needs to win 270 of the 538 electoral college votes. Experts say that Joe Biden has multiple paths to victory, with Trump having very little room to maneuver.

54fb84c5791192e35de9f0e8772c5b96

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh HasinaA Bangladeshi court on Wednesday sentenced 19 people to death and 19 others, including former premier Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman, to life imprisonment in the 2004 grenade attack. Twenty four people were killed and 500 injured, including the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina in the attack.The attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004 targeted Hasina, now the prime minister of Bangladesh. Hasina survived in the attack with a partial hearing loss. Former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar is among 19 people who were sentenced to death by the court on Wednesday.Rahman, the BNP's senior vice president who lives in exile in London, and 18 others were given life imprisonment. Investigations found an influential quarter of the then BNP-led government, including Rahman, masterminded and sponsored the attackers -- the operatives of militant Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI).( With inputs from PTI )

2004 grenade attack on Sheikh Hasina: 19 sentenced to death, 19 to life imprisonment including Khaleda Zia's son Tarique Rahman

The attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004 targeted Hasina, now the prime minister of Bangladesh. Hasina survived in the attack with a partial hearing loss.

5cffca336c89dd45dcdf2e50e743cfea

US President Donald Trump is "not satisfied" with the progress made by Pakistan in its fight against terrorism, the White House said on Friday.The White House also said that for the first time, the US is holding Pakistan accountable for its actions. "I know that we have restored some clarity in our relationship with Pakistan. For the first time we're holding Pakistan accountable for its actions," White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters during a press conference. "We've seen modest progress in terms of Pakistan's actual acknowledgement of these concerns, but the President is not satisfied with progress when it comes to Pakistan," Shah said. He was responding to a question on the progress made in President's (Trump's) South Asia Policy which was announced in August last year. "The US is working closely with our partners in Afghanistan. We've made significant progress against ISIS, reducing their presence and eliminating hundreds of fighters. We've eliminated their top leaders, and we're working relentlessly to target their leadership and bases wherever they emerge," Shah said. In another news conference, the Pentagon said that the South Asia policy offers an opportunity to Pakistan."The (Defence) Secretary believes that Pakistan has an opportunity to do more with respect to regional security, and that it's in its interests to do more with respect to regional security. It's an opportunity, and we would welcome Pakistan's involvement," Pentagon Chief Press Spokesperson Dana White said.

Donald Trump 'not satisfied' with progress made by Pak in its fight against terrorism: White House

"I know that we have restored some clarity in our relationship with Pakistan. For the first time we're holding Pakistan accountable for its actions," White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said.

417cab204a1fd8d0f0ae7c080b247775

Representational ImageChina said on Friday that there was no "link" between the situation of Indian crew on two stranded ships at Chinese ports and its strained relations with India and Australia. The External Affairs Ministry on Thursday said in New Delhi that two cargo vessels with a total of 39 Indians on board have been on anchorage in Chinese waters as they were not allowed to unload their cargo though some other ships have managed to do so."There is a considerable amount of stress on the crew members on account of this unprecedented situation," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.Srivastava said bulk cargo vessel MV Jag Anand is on anchorage near Jingtang port in Hebei province of China since June 13 and it has 23 Indian sailors.Another vessel, MV Anastasia with 16 Indian nationals as its crew, is on anchorage near Caofeidian port in China since September 20, waiting for discharge of its cargo, he said at a media briefing."Our Embassy in Beijing has been in constant touch with provincial and central government authorities in China, requesting that the ships be allowed to dock and/or the crew be allowed to be changed," he said.Asked about India’s concern relating to the Indian crew members of the ships and whether China’s decision on this issue has related to the current situation between India, China and Australia, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing on Friday "we stated repeatedly that China has clear stipulations on quarantine measures"."Concerning this, China has stayed in close communication with the Indian side and responding to their requests as well as providing necessary assistance for them,” he said."As far as I understand, China allows the crew change while meeting certain quarantine conditions. But this Jingtang port is not in the list for such crew changes,” he said.Wang however, did not refer to the 16 crew members of Caofeidian port."For more specifics, you may refer to the competent and local authorities,” he said."As to whether this has anything to do with the bilateral relations, I don’t see any link,” he added.The relations between India and China were under stress over the current military standoff at Eastern Ladakh.The ties between Australia and China in the past few months nose-dived after Canberra barred Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies from its national 5G network over national security concerns.China also resented Canberra's push for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus in April. Reports from Australia say China has been restricting a number of Australian exports, including coal.China last month blamed the freight forwarder of Jag Anand' ship for the impasse, saying he is not letting the ship to leave. 

China says no 'link' between stranded Indian ship crew and its strained ties with India, Australia

Another vessel, MV Anastasia with 16 Indian nationals as its crew, is on anchorage near Caofeidian port in China since September 20, waiting for discharge of its cargo, he said at a media briefing.

72462a84d0bce2a23390ddb941fdc2fe

A woman helping to clean up downtown walks near graffiti Sunday, May 31, 2020, in Seattle, following a night of unrest and protests over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was in police custody in Minneapolis. Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on May 25. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)Interstate 5 through downtown Seattle was closed Sunday afternoon because of George Floyd protest activity, the second day in arrow the main north-south freeway on the West Coast was shut down, and there was also widespread looting in Bellevue, Washington.Bellevue’s mayor declared an emergency Sunday evening because of the violence and said she was enacting a 5:30 p.m. curfew for the downtown area of the city east of Seattle.Bellevue Police said dozens of people broke into Bellevue Square, a large shopping mall. Officers entered the facility and chased looters out. Mayor Lynne Robinson said people were stealing merchandise from storefronts and that help was requested from other police agencies. Earlier, the Washington State Patrol said it was sending units to help quell the unrest there.Bellevue Police Chief Steve Mylett said at an evening news conference that authorities learned earlier that a criminal gang planned activity in the city Sunday afternoon. He said there was widespread looting and assaults, and the criminal element “swelled very quickly.”““They were there to destroy,” chief said. “We welcome peaceful protest ... this is something different.”Mylett said he was disgusted at what happened to Floyd, who was killed when a Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck, but that violence overshadows legitimate protests.Washington State Patrol spokesman Rick Johnson said I-5 was closed for safety reasons, and all Interstate 405 ramps to downtown Bellevue were closed as well because of the mayhem there.Hundreds of people gathered to rally Sunday in downtown Seattle following unrest Saturday night that saw storefronts smashed and looting. The first part of the Sunday demonstrations was mostly peaceful. However several people were later arrested, and police deployed incendiary devices to control the crowd.Mayor Jenny Durkan has again imposed a 5 p.m. curfew for all of Seattle. At a Sunday evening news conference, Durkan said thousands of people have protested peacefully in the city over the weekend. But those who cause mayhem don’t honor concerns about racism and Floyd’s death and “came to, number one, purposely create violence and destruction,” she said.Washington Gov. Jay Inslee dispatched an additional 200 National Guard troops to Seattle to help maintain order after protests turned chaotic, with looters smashing up storefronts and stealing clothes and other items from downtown shops. Inslee’s order means that up to to 400 National Guard personnel will be available to assist.Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best said of Sunday’s 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew: “We fully intend to enforce that curfew in the city.”The mayor of Portland, Oregon, also imposed a Sunday curfew for 8 p.m. Portland, too, saw widespread mayhem Friday and Saturday. Other Northwest cities with Sunday curfews included Eugene and Salem in Oregon.Protesters gathered again in Portland on Sunday evening.Police in Seattle arrested at least 27 people Saturday on charges like assault and looting, while Portland police arrested 48 people after downtown storefronts were vandalized and fires were set overnight Saturday.On Sunday morning, hundreds of people of all ages turned out in downtown Seattle to help clean up the destruction, sweeping up broken glass and cleaning off graffiti. Durkan and Best walked through the area and spoke with business owners.“I visited downtown this morning. It wasn’t a downtown I recognized,” Durkan said Sunday. “But what I did recognize were the hundreds of volunteers and residents who came because they love Seattle.”There were protests and rallies in other Northwest cities on Sunday. In Spokane, hundreds marched through downtown carrying signs that said “Black Lives Matter” and chanting “no justice, no peace.” In Boise, Idaho, on Sunday hundreds of people gathered at the Capitol for Floyd protest rally.In Seattle, Durkan announced her curfew for Saturday and Sunday after rioters torched police vehicles and spilled onto I-5, forcing the freeway’s temporary closure through the central part of the Northwest’s largest city.Thousands of people gathered in downtown Seattle in the rain to protest the killing of Floyd, a black man who died Monday after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck until he stopped breathing. His death has prompted protests across the U.S. and Europe.A largely peaceful demonstration happened in Seattle on Saturday afternoon, while police later deployed flash bang grenades to disperse people they said had begun throw rocks and bottles at officers. Police also pepper-sprayed demonstrators who got close to police lines, and officers with bicycles pushed people to move back.News footage showed at least one destroyed police cruiser, other vehicle fires and people breaking into retail stores and other businesses. Video shot by a journalist from the Seattle news website Crosscut showed police arriving as storefronts were being smashed and broken into. As one officer restrained a person being arrested, the video showed the officer putting his knee on the man’s neck and the crowd yells for him to remove it. The video then shows a second officer pulling the knee off the neck and onto the detained man’s back.Best said officers and others were injured, though she didn’t provide details.Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced Sunday morning that his city’s curfew would continue, and starts again at 8 p.m. Sunday. In a tweet Sunday morning, Wheeler wrote: “Agitators are not led by a conviction to change systemic racism. They are opportunists, using the cover of legitimate protests to sow fear in our communities. Don’t let them.”

George Floyd murder case: Protests again close I-5, looting; vandalism in Washington's Bellevue

Interstate 5 through downtown Seattle was closed Sunday afternoon because of George Floyd protest activity, the second day in arrow the main north-south freeway on the West Coast was shut down, and there was also widespread looting in Bellevue, Washington.

d49b7758e65bbe71432960888c944eab

Some aspects of marriage laws for Hindus in Bangladesh mirror those for Muslims in India, according to a US government report.The International Religious Freedom Report for 2016 (IRFR) released in Washington on Tuesday examined the marriage laws governing religious groups in various countries and said that polygamy is permitted for Hindu men in Bangladesh."Under Hindu (civil) law, men may have multiple wives, but there are officially no options for divorce," the report said."Buddhists are covered under Hindu law and divorced Hindus and Buddhists may not legally remarry."Women are also prohibited from inheriting property under the civil laws for Hindus, the report said.There is opposition to the prohibition on divorce and remarriage for Hindus and Buddhists, which do not apply to other religions. Several organisations, including Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), Bangladesh Mahila Parishad and Banchte Shekha have criticised the government for continuing to uphold these laws, IRFR said."A survey conducted during the year by Research Initiatives in Bangladesh and MJF showed that 26.7 per cent of Hindu men and 29.2 per cent of Hindu women would like to obtain a divorce but did not do so because of existing laws," it added.A Muslim man may have as many as four wives although he must obtain the written consent of his existing wife or wives before marrying again, the report said.Although Muslims women have fewer divorce rights than men, courts must approve divorces and men have to pay former wives three months of alimony, the report noted.In Pakistan, the report noted that non-Muslims faced difficulties because there was no law for civil or common law marriages while Muslims could register their marriages."According to Hindu and Sikh leaders, the legal uncertainty surrounding the process of registering marriages for their communities continued to create difficulties for Hindu and Sikh women in obtaining their inheritances, accessing health services, voting, obtaining a passport, and buying or selling property," the report said.However, it added, "The media reported some expressed concern that a provision of the national bill permitting annulment of Hindu marriages could be used to legitimise forced conversions of Hindu women."The report also said that the Sindh Provincial Assembly has passed a law for registration of marriages for Hindus in Sindh "as long as both parties are 18 or older, give consent to the marriage, and are not within a degree of familial relationship prohibited by Hindu custom".

Bangladesh allows polygamy for Hindus, but bans divorcee remarriage: US report

The International Religious Freedom Report for 2016 (IRFR) released in Washington on Tuesday examined the marriage laws governing religious groups in various countries and said that polygamy is permitted for Hindu men in Bangladesh.

78bb80774616a0e1e0db4465aeb30444

The recent loss of its so-called “caliphate” will cripple the Islamic State group but the terror threat posed by the extremists is not over yet, the European Union’s counter-terrorism coordinator said.Gilles de Kerchove said that there hasn’t been a massive flow of ISIS fighters returning to Europe as many had feared following the group’s loss of territory in Syria and Iraq, adding that the intelligence services describe the fighters’ return as “more a trickle than a flow.”Related Stories Syria says it liberated Deir el-Zour city from ISIS militantsISIS will pay 'big price' for every attack on US, says Donald TrumpISIS suspect arrested in Mumbai, radicalised youths from SaudiTaken note of ISIS claiming Kashmir attack, says govt; top cop denies terror group’s imprintHowever, people inspired by the ideology remain a threat and the group is likely to entrench in other parts of world with “weak governance” such as Libya or Afghanistan, the EU official said.De Kerchove was in Turkey for talks on enhancing cooperation against terrorism. ISIS has been driven from more than 96 percent of the large parts of Iraq and Syria it once held, crushing its goal of establishing a “caliphate” in the region.Raqqa, the group’s de-facto capital in Syria, fell to Kurdish-led forces on Oct. 17, four months after operations to reclaim it began. The city was the group’s hub of operations, and its capture was a major symbolic blow.“With no physical ‘caliphate’ anymore, it will be much more difficult for the organization to repeat what they have done and attract so many people,” de Kerchove said. “That does not mean that the game is over. We still have to address the ideology. More and more, we see in Europe (people) inspired by terrorism, home-grown terrorism.”He said Islamic State “will probably develop in one way or the other in some parts where you have weak governance. Either more weak governance like in Libya or Afghanistan or where it’s more difficult to police, like in the Sinai.”An attack on a mosque in Egypt’s northern Sinai region last week killed more than 300 people.Addressing the issue of dozens of European women and children in Iraq and Syria whose husbands and fathers joined IS, de Kerchove said they should be allowed to return, but spoke of the necessity of putting in place effective rehabilitation programs.He praised Turkey’s efforts to fortify its border with Syria, through the construction of a wall and improved policing.“I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to cross the border but it’s now 10 times more difficult than it was before,” he said.

ISIS remains threat despite loss of ‘caliphate’: Top EU official

ISIS has been driven from more than 96 percent of the large parts of Iraq and Syria it once held, crushing its goal of establishing a “caliphate” in the region.

c6748752d1d1a626b69daea8c3bc6412

US President Donald TrumpUS President Donald Trump Friday warned of imposing substantial tariffs on imports from China if the trade negotiations do not go well."China has to do a lot of things to turn it around. But you'll be seeing. They've got to do a lot of things. It (tariff increase) goes on September 1," Trump said a day after he announced to impose 10 per cent tariff on Chinese products worth nearly USD 300 billion.This is in addition to the 25 per cent import tariff on Chinese products worth USD 250 billion. The next round of the US-China trade talks is scheduled for September. "Frankly, if they don't do, I can always increase it very substantially. In other words, I could increase it -- if I wanted to, I could increase it to a very much higher number," he said.Observing that the US was "so far behind" China before he became the President, Trump said America had been treated badly. "And I don't blame China. I blame our past leaders, our past presidents, our past trade representatives. They've done a terrible job," he said."We can't just go and make an even deal with China. We have to make a much better deal. Because, right now, they have a very unfair playing field, and I'm turning it around. We are getting 25 per cent of USD 250 billion and now we'll be getting 10 per cent of probably close to USD 350 billion. It's a lot of money,” he said.Trump further said China was devaluing their currency and they're also pouring money in. "Their currency is going to hell, but they're also pouring money in. That will totally pay for the tariffs. The tariffs are not being paid for by our people; it's being paid for by China because of devaluation and because they're pumping money in," he said.Trump said the US was taking in billions of dollars from China. "We never took in 10 cents from China. Out of that many billions of dollars, we're taking a part of it and we're giving it to the farmers because they've been targeted by China. They come out totally whole. So, you interviewed the wrong farmer, but that’s all right," said the US President. Also Read: Trump again offers to intervene in Kashmir dispute 'if wanted' by India, PakistanAlso Read: Donald Trump offered mediation as US wants improved Indo-Pak relations: State Department official

US President Donald Trump warns China of substantial increase in import tariffs

US President Donald Trump Friday warned of imposing substantial tariffs on imports from China if the trade negotiations do not go well.

e208b564fa7d9bc4972f2481702d79c8

Situation could worsen if US doesn't recognise Taliban, says Imran Khan Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that if the US does not hold talks with the Taliban and take a positive stance on its recognition it could escalate difficulties in the region, local media reported. Imran Khan, during an interview with a Russian media outlet on Friday, said that Afghanistan is currently the most important issue for the entire region as the country is at a historic crossroads, Pakistan's Dunya News reported on Saturday.When asked about Pakistan's assistance to the Taliban against the US, he said: "If Pakistan helped Taliban win against the US, it means that Pakistan is stronger than the US and whole of the Europeans and so strong that it has been able to make a lightly armed militia of around 60,000 fighters, beat a well-equipped armed of 3,00,000."He also said, "The Afghan people consider the war against external forces as jihad and the Taliban have learned a lot in 20 years."On Wednesday, Imran Khan had said that the US war against terrorism was "disastrous" for Pakistan as Washington used Islamabad like a "hired gun" during their 20-year presence in Afghanistan. "We (Pakistan) were like a hired gun.""We were supposed to make them (the US) win the war in Afghanistan, which we never could," Khan said in an interview with CNN. On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said that the US would reassess its ties with Pakistan following the military drawdown from Afghanistan.Blinken told US Congress during a hearing that Pakistan has a "multiplicity of interests some that are in conflict with ours".Pakistan has had deep ties with the Taliban and other outfits in the region. Moreover, the country has been accused of supporting the group during the US war on terror.Despite ample evidence presented by the international community, Imran Khan, in the CNN interview, denied charges that Pakistan harbours terrorists and has given them a safe haven. (With inputs from ANI)Also Read | Imran Khan bats for Taliban, says 'incentivize' them on women's rights, inclusive government /* .jw-reset-text, .jw-reset{line-height: 2em;}*/ .jw-time-tip .jw-time-chapter{display:none;} if ('' == comscore_jw_loaded || 'undefined' == comscore_jw_loaded || undefined == comscore_jw_loaded) { var comscore_jw_loaded = 1; firstjw = document.getElementsByClassName('jwvidplayer')[0]; cs_jw_script = document.createElement('script'); cs_jw_script.src = 'https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/internal-c2/plugins/streamingtag_plugin_jwplayer.js'; firstjw.parentNode.insertBefore(cs_jw_script, firstjw.nextSibling); } var jwconfig_3955713983 = { "file": "https://vod-indiatv.akamaized.net/hls/2021/09/0_oakngccu/master.m3u8", "image": "https://thumbs.indiatvnews.com/vod/0_oakngccu_big_thumb.jpg", "title": "Afghanistan faces food crisis under Taliban`s new government", "height": "440px", "width": "100%", "aspectratio": "16:9", "autostart": false, "controls": true, "mute": false, "volume": 25, "floating": false, "sharing": { "code": "", "sites": [ "facebook", "twitter", "email" ] }, "stretching": "exactfit", "primary": "html5", "hlshtml": true, "sharing_link": "", "duration": "161", "advertising": { "client": "vast", "autoplayadsmuted": true, "skipoffset": 5, "cuetext": "", "skipmessage": "Skip ad in xx", "skiptext": "SKIP", "preloadAds": true, "schedule": [ { "offset": "pre", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PreRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" }, { "offset": "50%", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_MidRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=" }, { "offset": "post", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PostRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" } ] } }; var jwvidplayer_3955713983 = ''; jwsetup_3955713983(); function jwsetup_3955713983() { jwvidplayer_3955713983 = jwplayer("jwvidplayer_3955713983").setup(jwconfig_3955713983); jwvidplayer_3955713983.on('ready', function () { ns_.StreamingAnalytics.JWPlayer(jwvidplayer_3955713983, { publisherId: "20465327", labelmapping: "c2=\"20465327\", c3=\"IndiaTV News\", c4=\"null\", c6=\"null\", ns_st_mp=\"jwplayer\", ns_st_cl=\"0\", ns_st_ci=\"0_oakngccu\", ns_st_pr=\"Afghanistan faces food crisis under Taliban`s new government\", ns_st_sn=\"0\", ns_st_en=\"0\", ns_st_ep=\"Afghanistan faces food crisis under Taliban`s new government\", ns_st_ct=\"null\", ns_st_ge=\"News\", ns_st_st=\"Afghanistan faces food crisis under Taliban`s new government\", ns_st_ce=\"0\", ns_st_ia=\"0\", ns_st_ddt=\"2021-09-17\", ns_st_tdt=\"2021-09-17\", ns_st_pu=\"IndiaTV News\", ns_st_cu=\"https://vod-indiatv.akamaized.net/hls/2021/09/0_oakngccu/master.m3u8\", ns_st_ty=\"video\"" }); }); jwvidplayer_3955713983.on('all', function (r) { if (jwvidplayer_3955713983.getState() == 'error' || jwvidplayer_3955713983.getState() == 'setupError') { jwvidplayer_3955713983.stop(); jwvidplayer_3955713983.remove(); jwvidplayer_3955713983 = ''; jwsetup_3955713983(); return; } }); jwvidplayer_3955713983.on('error', function (t) { jwvidplayer_3955713983.stop(); jwvidplayer_3955713983.remove(); jwvidplayer_3955713983 = ''; jwsetup_3955713983(); return; }); jwvidplayer_3955713983.on('mute', function () { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_3955713983.on('adPlay', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_3955713983.on('adPause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_3955713983.on('pause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_3955713983.on('error', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_3955713983.on('adBlock', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); }

Situation could worsen if US doesn't recognise Taliban, says Imran Khan

Pakistan has had deep ties with the Taliban and other outfits in the region. Moreover, the country has been accused of supporting the group during the US war on terror.

e008c95c9d564d857b073d8f74b3e638

Confirmed COVID-19 cases exceed 8,000 in UKThe number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Britain reached 8,077 as of Tuesday morning, according to the latest figure from the Department of Health and Social Care.A total of 90,436 people have been tested across Britain, of which 8,077 were confirmed positive, while 422 patients who contracted the novel coronavirus have died, said the department, Xinhua reported.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday evening a series of measures to restrict social contact in Britain, so as to curb the spread of COVID-19.Starting from Monday midnight, those measures, dubbed as "lock down" by local media, allow people in the country to leave their homes only for "very limited purposes".

Confirmed COVID-19 cases exceed 8,000 in UK

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Britain reached 8,077 as of Tuesday morning, according to the latest figure from the Department of Health and Social Care.

4930217f6f15d0e23e371566ea281c47

Video: Pilots land passenger plane weighing 5,73,794 kg sideways during storm in LondonIn a nail-biting event, the footage shows the incredible moment a pilot landed his passenger plane sideways at Heathrow airport, after battling fierce 91mph winds caused by Storm Dennis. The world's largest passenger plane weighing 5,73,794 kg being landed sideways by pilots, after contending with powerful headwinds brought by Storm Dennis.Video shows the pilot's skilful manoeuvre, as the Etihad Airbus A380 aircraft hovered sideways over the runway before successfully landing on Saturday, a report in British media said on Sunday.In the video, Etihad pilots are seen braving the stubborn winds as the massive aircraft gingerly descends upon the runway. The pilots pulled off a rather classy sideways steer.The incident came as hundreds of flights into and out of the UK were grounded on Saturday because of Storm Dennis, with easyJet cancelling more than 230 flights.The storm, the second to hit the UK in as many weeks, has unleashed strong winds and heavy rain over the weekend.In some parts of the UK, more than a month's rain has fallen in just two days, causing the Environment Agency (EA) to issue a record number of flood warnings and alerts for England.John Curtin, the EA's Flood and Coastal Risk Management Executive Director, said on Sunday that the 594 warnings and alerts in place were a record.Parts of Wales saw more than a month's rainfall in 48 hours from Friday to Sunday morning.The Met Office said that 156.2mm of rain had fallen over this period at Crai Reservoir in Powys, Wales, well above Wales' average monthly rainfall of 111.1mm in February.The village of Nantgarw, Rhondda Cynon Taff, near Cardiff, is among the worst effected in the UK.Mason said the weather was "unprecedented," adding he had "never experienced anything like this before."Georgie Timmins, crisis response officer at the British Red Cross, said: "The storms are expected to continue, and water is anticipated to be at peak levels on Monday and Tuesday. It is important people are ready should the worst happen."

Pilots land passenger plane weighing 5,73,794 kg sideways during storm in London | Watch Video

In a nail-biting event, the footage shows the incredible moment a pilot landed his passenger plane sideways at Heathrow airport, after battling fierce 91mph winds caused by Storm Dennis.

1dd82b4b233348ad0ec404523b2b474a

Trump plans ‘major announcement’ on border, longest shutdownPresident Donald Trump said he’ll be making a “major announcement” on the government shutdown and the southern border on Saturday afternoon as the standstill over his border wall continues into its fifth week.Democrats are now proposing hundreds of millions of dollars for new immigration judges and improvements to ports of entry from Mexico but nothing for the wall, a House aide said, as the party begins fleshing out its vision of improving border security.After days of bitter clashes between Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, it was unclear if the twin developments represented serious steps toward resolving the nasty partisan fight or posturing. But they were the first tangible signs of movement in a dispute that has caused a partial government shutdown, which Saturday was entering its record 29th day.Trump’s refusal to sign spending bills that lack $5.7 billion he wants to start constructing that wall, which Democrats oppose, has prompted the shutdown.The White House declined to provide details late Friday about what the president would be announcing. But Trump was not expected to sign the national emergency declaration he’s been threatening as an option to circumvent Congress, according to two people familiar with the planning.Instead, Trump was expected to propose the outlines of a new deal that the administration believes could potentially pave the way to an end to the shutdown, according to one of the people. They were not authorized to discuss the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.The move, amid a shutdown that has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks, represents the first major overture by the president since Jan. 8, when he delivered an Oval Office address making the public case for his border wall. Democrats have said they will not negotiate until the government reopens, raising questions about how Trump might move the ball forward.Democrats were proposing $563 million to hire 75 more immigration judges, who currently face large backlogs processing cases, and $524 million to improve ports of entry in Calexico, California, and San Luis, Arizona, the Democratic House aide said. The money is to be added to spending bills, largely negotiated between the House and Senate, that the House plans to vote on next week.In addition, Democrats were working toward adding money for more border security personnel and for sensors and other technology to a separate bill financing the Department of Homeland Security, but no funds for a wall or other physical barriers, the aide said.It was possible Democrats would unveil that measure next week as the cornerstone of their border security alternative to Trump’s wall, the aide said. Earlier Friday, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., who chairs the House Appropriations Committee’s homeland security subcommittee, said in an interview that some Democrats were asking leaders, “What is our plan?”The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the details publicly. The Democrats’ spending plans were first reported by The New York Times.In a video posted on his Twitter feed late Friday, Trump said both sides should “take the politics out of it” and “get to work” to “make a deal.” But he also repeated his warnings, saying: “We have to secure our southern border. If we don’t do that, we’re a very, very sad and foolish lot.”White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said only that Trump was “going to continue fighting for border security” and “going to continue looking for the solution” to end what the administration had repeatedly referred to as a “humanitarian and national security crisis at the border.”While few would argue that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border, as the demand for entry by migrants and the Trump administration’s hardline response overwhelm border resources, critics say Trump has dramatically exaggerated the security risks and argue that a wall would do little to solve existing problems.Trump will be speaking from the Diplomatic Room at 3 p.m.Trump’s Friday evening tweeted announcement came after Pelosi, D-Calif., on Friday canceled her plans to travel by commercial plane to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan, saying Trump had caused a security risk by talking about the trip. The White House said there was no such leak.It was the latest turn — and potentially the most dangerous — in the high-stakes brinkmanship between Trump and Pelosi that has been playing out against the stalled negotiations over how to end the partial government shutdown.And it showed once again the willingness of the former hard-charging businessman to hit hard when challenged, as he was earlier this week when Pelosi suggested postponing his State of the Union address until after the shutdown.It was an unusually combative week between the executive and legislative branches.Tensions flared when Pelosi suggested Trump postpone the annual State of the Union address, a grand Washington tradition — and a platform for his border wall fight with Democrats — that was tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29.Trump never responded directly. Instead, he abruptly canceled Pelosi’s military flight on Thursday, hours before she and a congressional delegation were to depart for Afghanistan on the previously undisclosed visit to U.S. troops.Trump belittled the trip as a “public relations event” — even though he had just made a similar stop in a conflict zone during the shutdown — and said it would be best if Pelosi remained in Washington to negotiate to reopen the government.Pelosi, undeterred, quietly began making her own preparations for the overseas trip.But on Friday, Pelosi said her plan to travel by commercial plane had been “leaked” by the White House.“The administration leaked that we were traveling commercially,” Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol. She said it was “very irresponsible on the part of the president.”She said the State Department told her “the president outing” the original trip made the scene on the ground in Afghanistan “more dangerous because it’s a signal to the bad actors that we’re coming.”The White House said it had leaked nothing that would cause a security risk.Denying military aircraft to a senior lawmaker — let alone the speaker, who is second in line to the presidency after the vice president, traveling to a combat region — is very rare.Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California slammed Trump for revealing the closely held travel plan, calling it “completely and utterly irresponsible in every way.”Some Republicans expressed frustration. Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted, “One sophomoric response does not deserve another.” He called Pelosi’s State of the Union move “very irresponsible and blatantly political” but said Trump’s reaction was “also inappropriate.”

Trump plans ‘major announcement’ on border, longest shutdown

Trump’s refusal to sign spending bills that lack $5.7 billion he wants to start constructing that wall, which Democrats oppose, has prompted the shutdown.

e0b73cfbc6c948e410bf61ecea2e9aec

North Korea reports 270,000 new fever cases amid COVID crisis Health officials in North Korea found 2,69,510 more people with feverish symptoms and reported another six deaths, state media said Tuesday, as the country grapples with an escalating but largely undiagnosed COVID-19 outbreak across its unvaccinated population.According to the North's anti-virus headquarters, 56 people have died and more than 1.48 million fell ill amid a rapid spread of fever nationwide since late April and outside experts believe most of the illnesses to be COVID-19. The North said at least 663,910 people were still in quarantine. State media isn't specifying how many of the fever cases have been confirmed as COVID-19.North Korea likely lacks testing supplies to confirm coronavirus infections in large numbers and its virus response is mostly isolating people with symptoms at shelters.Failing to slow the virus could have dire consequences for North Korea, considering its broken health care system and that its 26 million people are believed to be unvaccinated.The country also grapples with malnourishment and other conditions of poverty and lacks public health tools, including antiviral drugs or intensive care units, which suppressed hospitalisations and deaths in other countries.Some experts suspect that North Korea is underreporting its death toll to soften the blow on the leadership of authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un, who even before the outbreak was navigating his toughest moment in a decade in rule, with the pandemic unleashing further shock on an economy broken by mismanagement and US-led sanctions over his nuclear ambitions.The North's fatalities may surge in the coming weeks considering weeks-long intervals between infections and deaths.After maintaining a widely doubted claim for two years that it had perfectly kept the virus out of its territory, North Korea acknowledged domestic COVID-19 infections last week, saying that an unspecified number of people in capital Pyongyang tested positive for the fast-moving omicron variant.Describing the outbreak as a “great upheaval,” Kim imposed the country's maximum preventive measures that restricted the travel of people and supplies between cities and counties.More than a million public health officials, teachers, and medical students have been mobilized to identify people with fevers so they could be quarantined. Kim during a ruling party meeting on Sunday also ordered his military to get involved in the pandemic response in Pyongyang, raising concern that medicine supplies aren't arriving at pharmacies in time.North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday Korean People's Army on Monday started to deploy officers and non-commissioned officers from its medical units to help with the transport of medicine to pharmacies in Pyongyang, which began to stay open 24 hours a day to deal with the virus crisis.Experts say the country's extremely strict border closures may have staved off a huge outbreak until now.It's unclear whether the North's admission of an outbreak communicates a willingness to receive outside help. The country has shunned millions of vaccines offered by the UN-backed COVAX distribution program, likely because of international monitoring requirements attached to those shots.South Korea has publicly offered to send vaccines, medicine and health personnel, but North Korea has so far ignored the proposal amid icy relations between the rivals over a stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.Some experts say Kim's praise of China's pandemic response during a virus meeting last week indicates that the North would be more willing to receive help from its main ally. (Except for the headline, Indiatvnews.com has not edited the copy)Also Read | North Korea reports 8 new Covid deaths as Kim laments virus response

North Korea reports 2,70,000 new fever cases amid COVID crisis; 56 dead so far

North Korea likely lacks testing supplies to confirm coronavirus infections in large numbers and its virus response is mostly isolating people with symptoms at shelters.

5a1dfd757b743a4d7fb0c6bfa4825d67

The Donald Trump administration on Monday informed the US Congress that though Iran is complying with the nuclear deal, it is breaching “the spirit” of the deal.The Trump administration said that though Iran can keep enjoying sanctions relief, it insisted that Tehran would face consequences for breaching the deal.President Donald Trump, who lambasted the 2015 pact as a candidate, gave himself more time to decide whether to scuttle it or let it stand. Instead, senior Trump administration officials sought to emphasize their deep concerns about Iran’s non-nuclear behavior and vowed that those transgressions won’t go unpunished.In a shift from Trump’s previous threat to “rip up” the deal, officials said the administration was working with U.S. allies to try to fix the deal’s flaws, including the expiration of some nuclear restrictions after a decade or more. The officials also said the U.S. would slap Tehran with new sanctions penalizing it for developing ballistic missiles and other activity.Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and “the entire administration judge that Iran is unquestionably in default of the spirit” of the agreement, one official said. That assessment carries no legal force, while Trump’s certification that Iran is technically complying clears the way for sanctions to remain lifted.The late-night announcement capped a day of frenzied, last-minute decision-making by the president, exposing deep and lingering divisions within his administration about how to deal with a top national security issue.Since early last week, Trump’s administration had been prepared to make the certification, a quarterly requirement. Trump first told Congress in April that Iran was indeed complying. With no final decision on his broader Iran policy, the White House had planned to let the status quo stand for another three months.As planned, a public roll-out began Monday morning involving close choreography among the White House, the State Department and parts of government. The White House National Security Council distributed talking points to other agencies while national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin briefed outside policy experts who frequently comment on such issues in the media.Then, just as the White House was preparing to brief reporters, the announcement was abruptly halted and the talking points temporarily recalled as the president reconsidered the decision, according to officials and others briefed by the administration. Among the options Trump discussed with Tillerson and other aides was to extend the sanctions relief but refuse to certify Iran’s compliance, several officials said.With a midnight deadline just hours away, officials disclosed the final decision to reporters on a chaotic conference call on the condition that it not be published until midnight — after the White House had a chance to formally notify Congress.Ultimately, the president’s decision was the same on the substance to what his administration had been planning all along. Although the language was toughened to add the declaration that Iran is “in default of the spirit” of the deal, Iran will continue receiving the same sanctions relief that it did under former President Barack Obama.In April, when Trump made his first certification, he paired it with new sanctions for non-nuclear behavior to show there was no softening of his stance toward the Islamic Republic. Earlier Monday, the White House had told outside experts it would repeat that playbook, by punishing more than a dozen Iranian individuals, organizations and procurement networks involved in ballistic missiles and other nefarious behavior.But the day came and went with no such announcement, although officials said they expected more sanctions would eventually be coming. It was unclear why the administration held off or for how long, but typically the Treasury Department prefers to issue new sanctions during business hours.“We receive contradictory signals,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday at the Council on Foreign Relations, before the decision was announced. “So we don’t know which one to interpret in what way.”For Trump, a vocal critic of the deal, the obligation to report to Congress on Iran’s conformity has created an unwelcome, tri-monthly headache. Still undecided about whether to withdraw from the deal, Trump must either vouch for Tehran’s compliance or try to claim Iran is breaching it — even though the International Atomic Energy Agency that monitors the deal says it is not.In its condemnation of Iran, senior officials emphasized several longstanding U.S. concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile programs, human rights abuses and support for terrorism in the region. They also criticized Iran for detaining U.S. citizens and limiting freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf.Under the deal struck by Obama and other world leaders, Iran agreed to roll back its nuclear program, long suspected of being aimed at developing atomic weapons, in return for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. The deal does not address global concerns about Iran’s non-nuclear activities, but also doesn’t prevent the U.S. and others from punishing Iran for those activities. Iran remains on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism for its support of anti-Israel groups.Scuttling the deal would put further distance between Trump and foreign leaders who are already upset over his move to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris global climate change accord. Other powers that brokered the nuclear deal along with the U.S. have said there’s no appetite for renegotiating it.(With AP inputs)

Iran complying with nuclear deal but defying its spirit, says US

The Trump administration said that though Iran can keep enjoying sanctions relief, it insisted that Tehran would face consequences for breaching the deal.

ffb18d30141db664cc8ceb2fa4e77602

Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Friday, April 15, 2022. Palestinians clashed with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. Medics said more than 150 Palestinians were wounded in the most serious violence at the site in nearly a year.The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, a major weeklong Jewish holiday beginning Friday at sundown, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday. The holidays are expected to bring tens of thousands of faithful into Jerusalem’s Old City, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.Hours after the clashes began, the police said they had put an end to the violence and arrested “hundreds” of suspects. The mosque was re-opened, and some 60,000 people attended the main Friday prayers midday, according to the Islamic endowment that administers the site.After prayers, thousands of Palestinians marched around the esplanade, chanting “with our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Al-Aqsa,” in addition to slogans in support of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza. Some carried Palestinian and Hamas flags.Israeli authorities said that before the violence broke out they had held negotiations with Muslim leaders to ensure calm. But the police say Palestinians stockpiled rocks and other objects inside the compound and hurled stones at the Mughrabi Gate, which leads to the Western Wall — a major Jewish holy site — triggering the violence.Palestinian witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, said a small group of Palestinians threw rocks at police, who then entered the compound in force, setting off a wider conflagration. Palestinians view any large deployment of police at Al-Aqsa as a provocation.Palestinians threw rocks and fireworks, and police fired tear gas and stun grenades on the sprawling esplanade surrounding the mosque. A large group of Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the mosque as they fought Israeli security forces.Israeli police later entered the mosque and arrested people inside. Israeli security forces rarely enter the building, and when they do it is seen by Palestinians as a major escalation.The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it treated 152 people, many of them wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades, or beaten with batons. The endowment said one of the guards at the site was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.The Israeli police said three officers were wounded from “massive stone-throwing,” with two evacuated from the scene for treatment.Neighboring Jordan, which has custodianship over the holy site, and the Palestinian Authority issued a joint statement accusing Israel of “a dangerous and condemnable escalation that threatens to explode the situation.”Israel’s national security minister, Omer Barlev, who oversees the police force, said Israel had “no interest” in violence at the holy site but that police were forced to confront “violent elements” who attacked them with stones and metal bars. He said Israel was committed to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike.Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, speaking at a holiday gathering with security officials, said authorities “are working to calm things on the Temple Mount and throughout Israel. At the same time, we are prepared for any scenario.”The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on a hilltop in Jerusalem’s Old City that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the Jewish temples in antiquity. It has been a major flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicenter of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to Al-Aqsa and other major holy sites, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future independent state including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also captured during the war nearly 55 years ago.Tensions have soared in recent weeks following a series of attacks by Palestinians that killed 14 people inside Israel. Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and military operations across the occupied West Bank, setting off clashes with Palestinians.The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 17-year-old died early Friday from wounds suffered during clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Jenin the day before.At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in the recent wave of violence, according to an Associated Press count, many of whom had carried out attacks or were involved in the clashes, but also an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appears to have been killed by mistake.Weeks of protests and clashes in and around Al-Aqsa during Ramadan last year eventually ignited a fourth Gaza war between Israel and Hamas. This year, Israel has lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try and calm tensions ahead of Ramadan, but the attacks and the military raids have brought about another cycle of unrest.Hamas condemned what it said were “brutal attacks” on worshippers at Al-Aqsa, saying Israel would bear “all the consequences.”Earlier this week, Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza had called on Palestinians to camp out at the Al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over the site or partition it.Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years large groups of nationalist and religious Jews have regularly visited the site with police escorts.A radical Jewish group recently called on people to bring animals to the site in order to sacrifice them for Passover, offering cash rewards for those who succeeded or even tried. Israeli police work to prevent such activities, but the call was widely circulated by Palestinians on social media, along with calls for Muslims to prevent any sacrifices from taking place.Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, issued a statement calling on Muslim leaders to act to stop the violence. It also noted that “bringing a sacrifice to the Temple Mount today is in opposition to the decision of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.”

Palestinians clash with Israeli police at Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem

Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years large groups of nationalist and religious Jews have regularly visited the site with police escorts.

0ddcdfceddd4244e5927f59c42f86549

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi GrandiThe United Nations on Saturday said that though nations must rescue migrants and people in need of protection, but those who they save do not have "the unfettered right" to choose their host country."While states have obligations to save lives and afford protection to refugees, people who are rescued do not have the unfettered right to choose where they wish to go," UNHCR's chief Filippo Grandi Grandi said.Related Stories India observes World Refugee DayMore than 1.70 lakh Lankan refugees, asylum-seekers, IDPs: UNHCRUN agency starts relocation of South Sudanese refugees in EthiopiaUS withdraws from UNHRC, calls it 'cesspool of political bias' "Disembarkation needs to occur in a place of genuine safety, including for those who may be in need of international protection; but not necessarily in a place of their preference," he underlined.UNHCR welcomed the actions taken this week by six European countries - France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Spain and Portugal - to take a share of around 450 refugees and migrants stranded in the Mediterranean amid a battle over where the rescue ship should dock, Grandi said."As well as ending an ordeal for these individuals, this sets a positive example of how, by working together, countries can uphold sea rescue and manage borders while simultaneously meeting international asylum obligations," he said.Current arrangements for managing the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean, bringing them to shore and processing them are "far from adequate", Grandi said.He called for solutions that go beyond "piecemeal" or "ship-by-ship" arrangements," saying this approach put migrant lives at risk "with each attempted boat journey".Grandi also deplored moves by Italy and Malta to crack down on charity boats operating in the Mediterranean, sharply reining in their rescue efforts as they accuse them of encouraging migrants to make the perilous crossing.Italy's anti-migrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's closure of Italian ports to charity and international rescue ships has sparked a series of diplomatic standoffs since June involving Italy, Malta and other EU states over where rescue migrants should land."Recent actions to refuse disembarkation of rescued people by NGO vessels, and other restrictions on NGO operations, are deeply worrying, and do not address the root causes that drive refugee outflows and irregular migration," said Grandi.He urged EU states to implement the conclusions of a summit of European leaders in late June at which they controversially agreed to set up secure centres for migrants in the bloc, to tighten its borders, create 'disembarkation platforms' outside the bloc and to redistribute refugees among member states.(With IANS inputs)

Migrants don't have 'unfettered right' to choose their host country: UN

UNHCR welcomed the actions taken this week by six European countries - France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Spain and Portugal - to take a share of around 450 refugees and migrants stranded in the Mediterranean amid a battle over where the rescue ship should dock

2967313be55fd139dafed1c69404c3f5

US has imposed sanctions of the network that supports Basij Resistance Force, an Iranian paramillitary force, which Trump administration has accused of training child soldiers. Intensifying its pressure on Iran, the US imposed sanctions on Tuesday on a multibillion-dollar financial network that supports an Iranian paramilitary force, alleging it recruits and trains child soldiers for the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards. The announcement came two weeks before the Trump administration reimposed some of the United States’ harshest sanctions against Iran, including its oil sector.Related Stories US sanctions may force India to pay for Iranian oil in rupeeIndia committed to buying Iranian oil despite US sanctions: IranSentiment hurting prices, enough oil available in other parts of the world, says Govt as Iran sanctions loomAnnouncing sanctions against Basij Resistance Force, the US Department of Treasury alleged that the paramilitary force subordinate to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) indulges in militia recruits, trains, and deploys child soldiers to fight in IRGC-fueled conflicts across the region."This Iran-based network is known as Bonyad Taavon Basij, which is translated as Basij Cooperative Foundation, and is comprised of at least 20 corporations and financial institutions," the Treasury said. Bonyad Taavon Basij employs shell companies and other measures to mask Basij ownership and control over a variety of multibillion-dollar business interests in Iran’s automotive, mining, metals, and banking industries, many of which have significant international dealings across the Middle East and with Europe, it said."The Bonyad Taavon Basij network is an example of how the IRGC and Iranian military forces have expanded their economic involvement in major industries, and infiltrated seemingly legitimate businesses to fund terrorism and other malign activities," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. This vast network provides financial infrastructure to the Basij’s efforts to recruit, train, and indoctrinate child soldiers who are coerced into combat under the IRGC’s direction, he alleged."The international community must understand that business entanglements with the Bonyad Taavon Basij network and IRGC front companies have real world humanitarian consequences. This helps fuel the Iranian regime’s violent ambitions across the Middle East," Mnuchin said.The press release issued by the Treasury included a number of pictures of child soldiers with weapons. In one picture found on the website one can see pictures of Presidents Obama, Bush and others that are part of a compilation of pictures where these children are doing target practice."The Basij recruit and train fighters for the IRGC Quds Force, who then deploy them to Syria to support the brutal Assad regime. They also recruit Afghan immigrants to Iran, again including children, to join their militias. Children recruited by the Basij have tragically fought and died in battlegrounds in Syria," a senior administration official told reporters during a conference call.In addition to Basij, the US designated an extensive network in Iran that provides the financial infrastructure to the Basij, supporting not only the IRGC and its Quds Force, but also by extension providing support to their efforts to coerce child soldiers into combat under the IRGC's direction.

US imposes sanctions on Iranian financial network for supporting child soldiers

The announcement came two weeks before the Trump administration reimposed some of the United States’ harshest sanctions against Iran, including its oil sector.

49366959dc800f28446aea2e3fda45ac

In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. For America's allies and rivals alike, the chaos unfolding during Donald Trump's final days as president is the logical result of four years of global instability brought on by the man who promised to change the way the world viewed the United States. The House is expected to impeach President Donald Trump for his encouragement of supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol, a vote that would make him the first American president to be impeached twice.While the previous three impeachments — those of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and Trump — took months before a final vote, including investigations and hearings, this time it will have only taken a week. After the rioting at the Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said “we must take action,” and Democrats — and some Republicans — share her view ahead of Wednesday’s vote.For now, the Republican-led Senate is not expected to hold a trial and vote on whether to convict Trump before Democrat Joe Biden is sworn in as president Jan. 20. Still, Democrats feel that action by the House would send an important message to the country.A look at what will happen as the House moves closer to impeaching Trump in his last week in office:THE BASICS OF IMPEACHMENTIn normal order, there would be an impeachment investigation and the evidence would be sent to the House Judiciary Committee, which would hold hearings, draft articles and send them to the full House. That’s what happened in 2019 when the House impeached Trump over his dealings with the president of Ukraine. It took three months.This time, with so few days to act — and a feeling among Democrats that there is little need to investigate what happened since most members of Congress heard Trump speak to his supporters and were in the Capitol when the mob broke in — impeachment is going straight to the House floor for a vote, which would come as soon as Wednesday.Once the House votes to impeach, the articles and evidence would be sent to the Senate, where a trial would be held and there would be final votes to convict or acquit. That’s what the Senate did in early February of last year after Trump was impeached the first time.THE ARTICLESDemocrats will begin debate Wednesday on a single impeachment charge: “incitement of insurrection.”“President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government,” reads the four-page impeachment article, which was introduced by Democratic Reps. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Ted Lieu of California and Jamie Raskin of Maryland.“He will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office,” it reads.The article says the behavior is consistent with Trump’s prior efforts to “subvert and obstruct” the results of the election and references his recent call with the Georgia secretary of state, in which he said he wanted him to find him more votes after losing the state to Biden.Trump has falsely claimed there was widespread fraud in the election, and the baseless claims have been repeatedly echoed by congressional Republicans and the insurgents who descended on the Capitol. Just before the riots, Trump spoke to the supporters near the White House and encouraged them to “fight like hell.”As the protesters broke in, both chambers were debating GOP challenges to the electoral vote count in Arizona as part of the process for certifying Biden’s election win.REPUBLICAN SUPPORTOn Tuesday, five Republicans said they would support impeachment. No Republicans supported Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 Republican in the House and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, said she would vote to impeach Trump because “there has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”Cheney said Trump “summoned” the mob that attacked the Capitol last week, “assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack.”New York Rep. John Katko was the first Republican to say he’d vote to impeach. A former federal prosecutor, he said he did not make the decision lightly.“To allow the president of the United States to incite this attack without consequence is a direct threat to the future of our democracy,” Katko said. “I cannot sit by without taking action.”Also saying they would vote for impeachment were Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan and Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington.SENDING TO THE SENATEOnce the House passes the articles, Pelosi can decide when she sends them to the Senate. Under the current schedule, the Senate is not set to resume full sessions until Jan. 19, which is the day before Biden’s inauguration.Some Democrats suggested Pelosi might wait to send the articles and allow Biden to begin his term without impeachment hanging over him. But many other Democrats have urged Pelosi to move immediately.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who will be in charge once Biden is sworn in, suggested in a letter to colleagues Tuesday the chamber might divide its time between confirming Biden’s nominees, approving COVID relief and conducting the trial.If the trial isn’t held until Trump is already out of office, it could still have the effect of preventing him from running for president again.Biden has said it’s important to ensure that the “folks who engaged in sedition and threatening the lives, defacing public property, caused great damage — that they be held accountable.”SENATE POLITICSIt’s unlikely, for now, that enough Republicans would vote to convict since two-thirds of the Senate is needed. Yet some Republicans have told Trump to resign, including Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and few are defending him.Republican Sen. Ben Sasse has said he would take a look at what the House approves but stopped short of committing to support it.Other Republicans have said that impeachment would be divisive. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, long a key ally of the president, has been critical of his behavior in inciting the riots but said impeachment “will do far more harm than good.”Only one Republican voted to convict Trump last year — Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.WHAT IMPEACHMENT WOULD MEANDemocrats say they have to move forward, even if the Senate doesn’t convict.Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted on Friday that some people might ask why they would try to impeach a president with only a few days left in office.“The answer: Precedent,” he said. “It must be made clear that no president, now or in the future, can lead an insurrection against the U.S. government.” /* .jw-reset-text, .jw-reset{line-height: 2em;}*/ .jw-time-tip .jw-time-chapter{display:none;} if ('' == comscore_jw_loaded || 'undefined' == comscore_jw_loaded || undefined == comscore_jw_loaded) { var comscore_jw_loaded = 1; firstjw = document.getElementsByClassName('jwvidplayer')[0]; cs_jw_script = document.createElement('script'); cs_jw_script.src = 'https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/internal-c2/plugins/streamingtag_plugin_jwplayer.js'; firstjw.parentNode.insertBefore(cs_jw_script, firstjw.nextSibling); } var jwconfig_2878330632 = { "file": "https://vod-indiatv.akamaized.net/hls/2021/01/0_7ox2pfmr/master.m3u8", "image": "https://thumbs.indiatvnews.com/vod/0_7ox2pfmr_big_thumb.jpg", "title": "impeachment proceedings is ridiculous: Trump", "height": "440px", "width": "100%", "aspectratio": "16:9", "autostart": false, "controls": true, "mute": false, "volume": 25, "floating": false, "sharing": { "code": "", "sites": [ "facebook", "twitter", "email" ] }, "stretching": "exactfit", "primary": "html5", "hlshtml": true, "sharing_link": "", "duration": "106", "advertising": { "client": "vast", "autoplayadsmuted": true, "skipoffset": 5, "cuetext": "", "skipmessage": "Skip ad in xx", "skiptext": "SKIP", "preloadAds": true, "schedule": [ { "offset": "pre", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PreRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" }, { "offset": "50%", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_MidRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=" }, { "offset": "post", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PostRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" } ] } }; var jwvidplayer_2878330632 = ''; jwsetup_2878330632(); function jwsetup_2878330632() { jwvidplayer_2878330632 = jwplayer("jwvidplayer_2878330632").setup(jwconfig_2878330632); jwvidplayer_2878330632.on('ready', function () { ns_.StreamingAnalytics.JWPlayer(jwvidplayer_2878330632, { publisherId: "20465327", labelmapping: "c2=\"20465327\", c3=\"IndiaTV News\", c4=\"null\", c6=\"null\", ns_st_mp=\"jwplayer\", ns_st_cl=\"0\", ns_st_ci=\"0_7ox2pfmr\", ns_st_pr=\"impeachment proceedings is ridiculous: Trump\", ns_st_sn=\"0\", ns_st_en=\"0\", ns_st_ep=\"impeachment proceedings is ridiculous: Trump\", ns_st_ct=\"null\", ns_st_ge=\"News\", ns_st_st=\"impeachment proceedings is ridiculous: Trump\", ns_st_ce=\"0\", ns_st_ia=\"0\", ns_st_ddt=\"2021-01-13\", ns_st_tdt=\"2021-01-13\", ns_st_pu=\"IndiaTV News\", ns_st_cu=\"https://vod-indiatv.akamaized.net/hls/2021/01/0_7ox2pfmr/master.m3u8\", ns_st_ty=\"video\"" }); }); jwvidplayer_2878330632.on('all', function (r) { if (jwvidplayer_2878330632.getState() == 'error' || jwvidplayer_2878330632.getState() == 'setupError') { jwvidplayer_2878330632.stop(); jwvidplayer_2878330632.remove(); jwvidplayer_2878330632 = ''; jwsetup_2878330632(); return; } }); jwvidplayer_2878330632.on('error', function (t) { jwvidplayer_2878330632.stop(); jwvidplayer_2878330632.remove(); jwvidplayer_2878330632 = ''; jwsetup_2878330632(); return; }); jwvidplayer_2878330632.on('mute', function () { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_2878330632.on('adPlay', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_2878330632.on('adPause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_2878330632.on('pause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_2878330632.on('error', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_2878330632.on('adBlock', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); }

EXPLAINER: How Trump’s 2nd impeachment will unfold

For now, the Republican-led Senate is not expected to hold a trial and vote on whether to convict Trump before Democrat Joe Biden is sworn in as president Jan. 20. Still, Democrats feel that action by the House would send an important message to the country.

e2cc2774b68f15e183327c57c064b8f9

10 years since end of civil war in Sri LankaAs Sri Lanka on Saturday marked the 10-year anniversary since its brutal civil war came to an end, the country finds itself again at a crossroads following the Easter Sunday bombings that ripped through the nations fragile peace and fuelled some of the islands worst fears of returning to violence.The island nation was set to commemorate the end of the bloody armed conflict between the government and the insurgent group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil-Eelam (LTTE). The 30-year-long war, fought in the north and east of the country, has brought about serious divisions among a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, reported Efe news. Related Stories Sri Lankan government blocks Facebook, Whatsapp after unrestSri Lankan government imposes nationwide curfew, blocks social media as communal violence spreadsSri Lanka President bans NTJ, two other Islamist extremist organisationsSri Lankan Muslim leaders appeal for calm, say attacks against community are helping extremismSri Lanka police arrest close aid of Easter bombers, several passports seized Sri Lanka bombings: Muslim leaders express solidarity with victims, call for united identity in countryUS, Sri Lanka announce to join hands for peace, security in Indo-PacificThe anti-Muslim violence that followed three weeks after the Easter Sunday blasts was a dangerous reminder of the 1983 riots against the Tamil community, where mobs made up of members of the majority ethnic group Sinhalese burned Tamil homes and businesses to the ground. The Easter Sunday bombs have opened a new front for this already polarized community, said Sri Lankan political commentator Kusal Perera. "There is now a triangular polarization in society. The polarization between the Sinhala and the Tamil communities still exists and now there is Sinhala-Muslim conflict as well, which is further compounded by a Tamil-Muslim polarization," he said. The Sri Lankan government, which claimed a military victory against the armed group in 2009, has been slow when it comes to working toward reconciliation and reparation. "There has been no effort by the victor - the Sinhalese government - to offer any political solutions to the Tamil community," Perera said. "Although the idea of reconciliation has been floated around, it has been without a political solution, largely limited to Colombo-centric efforts and infrastructure development." "The core issues concerning the Tamil community, which was directly affected by the war, have yet to be addressed," he added. "The current government, which came in with the promise of delivering solutions, has failed to deliver on the problems of missing persons, land issues and militarization."Human rights activist Marisa Desilva, who works with communities in the north and east, said that even after a decade has passed since the end of the civil war, "the Tamil conflict remains unresolved.""Families of the disappeared and people struggling to return to their lands occupied by the military have continuously protested on the streets, some for more than two years now," she said. "The Yahapalanaya (Good Governance) government elected in 2015 on the promise of change and reform has failed miserably in delivering any lasting solution to the national question, not being able to even deliver on basics such as constitutional and security reforms." While most of the political issues of the community remain unsolved, psychosocial problems stemming from exposure to decades of violence and conflict have also gone unaddressed. The Easter Sunday attacks have triggered these traumatic experiences for many who lived through the war. In Vanni, the area most affected by the 30-year conflict, many are staying away from even the villages' Hindu temples. Consultant psychiatrist S. Sivayokan said he felt this reaction was disproportionate to the Easter Sunday attacks. Fears of further attacks have kept many citizens of the country away from public places, even in areas over 300 km (186 miles) away from Colombo, where most of the blasts took place. "The attacks on April 21 have triggered the post-traumatic stress disorder issues that many in the community exposed to the war have," he said.Many have "re-experienced" their trauma caused by wartime horrors since the Easter Sunday blasts. The community that was most affected by the attacks was provided little assistance to deal with the traumatic experiences of 30 years of war, with authorities paying very little attention to the psychosocial wellbeing of those dealing with PTSD even 10 years after the conflict subdued.While some individuals have recovered from the trauma they faced, many "are still suffering and unable to cope." The current psychosis of fear is being used by the military to regain lost ground, Perera claimed. "The fear psychosis of believing that the new group is capable of bombing anywhere is further militarizing society," she said. In the aftermath of the attacks and subsequent anti-Muslim violence, the military has deployed a large number of troops in an attempt to control the situation, with over 7,000 armed personnel being deployed in the North Western Province alone. "We observe that there are multiple checkpoints appearing in the post-conflict areas, where even the Tamil community - which had earlier asked for less military presence - calling for military support again," Perera added. However, Perera said she viewed this as part of the current government's failure to take control of the situation.Both the government and the military have given repeated assurances of security and safety being established in all parts of the island. Army Commander Lt Gen. Mahesh Senanayake on Thursday said that the military would maintain the country's "hard-won peace" as it tackles the new threat of global terrorism.

Sri Lanka marks 10 years since end of civil war; sees serious divisions among multi-ethnic, multi-religious society

The anti-Muslim violence that followed three weeks after the Easter Sunday blasts was a dangerous reminder of the 1983 riots against the Tamil community, where mobs made up of members of the majority ethnic group Sinhalese burned Tamil homes and businesses to the ground.

1d1d11ea2ee1de3bb3309b3e01c1424a

Mexico deports 311 Indian migrants back to South AsiaMexican immigration authorities say they have deported 311 Indian citizens in unprecedented repatriation to that South Asian nation. The National Immigration Institute said in a statement late Wednesday that it had flown the 310 men and one woman to New Dehli from Toluca.The migrants had been detained by immigration officials in various Mexican states before being concentrated at a detention centre in the Gulf state of Veracruz in preparation for their deportation.The vast majority of migrants transiting Mexico toward the U.S. border are from Central America, but among the mix are people from all over the world. Mexico has stepped up its immigration enforcement in recent months under pressure from the United States. The government has deployed thousands of National Guard agents along the major migration routes.

Mexico deports 311 Indian citizens to New Delhi

Mexican immigration authorities say they have deported 311 Indian citizens in unprecedented repatriation to that South Asian nation. The National Immigration Institute said in a statement late Wednesday that it had flown the 310 men and one woman to New Dehli from Toluca.

5b9af07079f38e202ba92d80b9cd4b96

Sri Lanka removed from FATF's Grey ListSri Lanka has been removed from the "Grey List" of the international terror financing watchdog FATF, according to a media report.The island nation will no longer be subject to the Financial Action Task Force's monitoring under its on-going global anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance process, the Colombo Gazette reported on Saturday.The FATF, whose five-day plenary concluded in Paris on Friday, said Sri Lanka made significant progress in addressing the strategic AML/CFT deficiencies identified earlier, the daily said.In October 2016, the FATF announced that Sri Lanka will be subjected to a review of the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of the terror financing watchdog to assess the progress of AML/CFT effectiveness in the country.The Paris based organisation indicated Sri Lanka had not made sufficient progress in four parameters -- international cooperation, supervision, legal persons and arrangements and targeted financial sanctions on proliferations (North Korea and Iran), the daily said.At its meeting at Buenos Aires, Argentina in October 2017, the FATF listed Sri Lanka as a jurisdiction with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies which is more commonly identified as "Grey List" and provided a time-bound action plan, the report said.The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.On Friday, the FATF retained Pakistan on its "Grey List" and warned it of getting blacklisted, if it does not control terror funding by February next year.ALSO READ | FATF retains Pakistan in Grey List with 4-month ultimatumALSO READ | Pakistan to remain on FATF's grey list till feb 2020

Sri Lanka removed from FATF's Grey List

The FATF, whose five-day plenary concluded in Paris on Friday, said Sri Lanka made significant progress in addressing the strategic AML/CFT deficiencies identified earlier.

d57a0c63d25665201d96b28270dbe913

A bulldozer clears out the road damaged by landslide to access a village swamped by another landslide in Quang Nam province, Vietnam on ThursdayTyphoon Molave set off landslides that killed at least 19 people and left 45 missing in central Vietnam, where ferocious wind and rain blew away roofs and knocked out power in a region of 1.7 million residents, state media said Thursday.The casualties from the landslides bring the overall death toll from the storm to at least 35, including 12 fishermen whose boats sank Wednesday as the typhoon approached with winds of up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour. Vietnamese officials say it’s the worst typhoon to hit the country in 20 years.At least 59 people remain missing in the landslides and at sea. The toll may rise with many regions still unable to report details of the devastation amid the stormy weather.Rescuers dug up eight bodies Thursday morning in Tra Van village in south central Quang Nam province where a hillside collapsed on houses. The victims had taken shelter in the community as the typhoon approached, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.In Tra Leng village, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from Tra Van, another landslide buried a community with several houses occupied by about 45 people. Four managed to escape. Rescuers have recovered eight bodies and were scrambling to save 37 others, Vietnam News said.Tra Leng remains inaccessible due to damaged roads and other landslides and government disaster-response teams were using bulldozers and excavators to open up a road to bring in more rescuers and heavy equipment.Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung traveled to the site where soldiers were clearing up a landslide with bulldozers and ordered officers to urgently bring in troops to the landslide-hit village.“We must reach the landslide site the fastest way. First, send in more soldiers before we can get the big machine there. We have to reach the area by all means, including by using helicopters,” he said.As troops scrambled to rescue those buried alive in Tra Leng, another part of a rain-soaked mountainside cascaded down in a torrent of mud in nearby Phuoc Loc district Thursday morning, trapping 11 people. Three bodies were pulled out immediately by villagers, Vietnam News said.Other villagers in Phuoc Loc were advised to flee to safety given the unstable mountain slope.The three landslide-hit areas lie in the mountains of the hard-hit province of Quang Nam in a coastal region still recovering from floods that killed 136 people and destroyed hundreds of houses earlier this month.Four people were killed by falling trees and collapsed houses in Quang Nam and Gia Lai provinces when the typhoon slammed into the coast Wednesday. Navy search and rescue boats found the bodies of 12 of 26 fishermen whose boats sank Wednesday off Binh Dinh province, state media said.The typhoon blew off roofs of about 56,000 houses and caused a massive blackout in Quang Ngai province, where 1.7 million people endured the typhoon onslaught overnight in darkness, according to Vietnam News.At least 40,000 people were evacuated to emergency shelters and authorities shut down offices, factories and schools to prevent casualties.The typhoon left at least 16 people dead in the Philippines before blowing across the South China Sea toward Vietnam.

Vietnam: Typhoon, landslides leave 35 dead, 59 missing

Typhoon Molave set off landslides that killed at least 19 people and left 45 missing in central Vietnam, where ferocious wind and rain blew away roofs and knocked out power in a region of 1.7 million residents, state media said Thursday.

f0e80c5406b699a54f7c3ff2376232ae

Hong Kong protest leader Jimmy Sham 'attacked with hammers'The leader of one of Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy groups, Jimmy Sham was attacked with hammers. Photographs on social media showed Jimmy Sham of the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) lying in the street, covered in blood, the BBC reported on Thursday. Afterwards, the activist said he "remained committed to the ideal of peaceful non-violence". Mass protests in support of greater democracy in the territory, which began in June, show no sign of abating. The attack on Sham came hours after the territory's leader suspended her annual address after being heckled in parliament. The CHRF said he was set upon by a group of up to five hammer-wielding men in the Mong Kok district of the Kowloon peninsula, and left with head injuries. It added that he was conscious as he was taken to hospital, and was in a stable condition. It was the second time Sham had been attacked since the protests began. The CHRF linked the attack to government supporters, who are suspected of assaulting other pro-democracy activists in recent months. "It is not hard to link this incident to a spreading political terror in order to threaten and inhibit the legitimate exercise of natural and legal rights," it said in a statement. Jimmy Sham is a long-time political activist in Hong Kong, mostly known for campaigning for LGBT rights. In the anti-government protests he has been one of the leaders of the Civil Human Rights Front, a non-violent protest groups behind several of the huge marches since June. The group said it was applying for a police permit to hold a new march on Sunday. Its recent requests have been rejected, while more hardcore activists have held protests in defiance of bans and clashed with police. While still in hospital, Sham released a statement on Facebook, saying the attack "only enables me to connect even more" with fellow protesters. He also thanked the police for swiftly arriving to help him and urged them to find who was behind the assault. ALSO READ | Video shows terrifying moment when Hong Kong Police shot 18-year-old protester in chestThe leader of one of Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy groups, Jimmy Sham was attacked with hammers.Photographs on social media showed Jimmy Sham of the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) lying in the street, covered in blood, the BBC reported on Thursday.Afterwards, the activist said he "remained committed to the ideal of peaceful non-violence".Mass protests in support of greater democracy in the territory, which began in June, show no sign of abating.The attack on Sham came hours after the territory's leader suspended her annual address after being heckled in parliament.The CHRF said he was set upon by a group of up to five hammer-wielding men in the Mong Kok district of the Kowloon peninsula, and left with head injuries.It added that he was conscious as he was taken to hospital, and was in a stable condition.It was the second time Sham had been attacked since the protests began.The CHRF linked the attack to government supporters, who are suspected of assaulting other pro-democracy activists in recent months."It is not hard to link this incident to a spreading political terror in order to threaten and inhibit the legitimate exercise of natural and legal rights," it said in a statement.Jimmy Sham is a long-time political activist in Hong Kong, mostly known for campaigning for LGBT rights.In the anti-government protests he has been one of the leaders of the Civil Human Rights Front, a non-violent protest groups behind several of the huge marches since June.The group said it was applying for a police permit to hold a new march on Sunday.Its recent requests have been rejected, while more hardcore activists have held protests in defiance of bans and clashed with police.While still in hospital, Sham released a statement on Facebook, saying the attack "only enables me to connect even more" with fellow protesters.He also thanked the police for swiftly arriving to help him and urged them to find who was behind the assault.ALSO READ | PHOTOS: A dramatic escalation of violence in Hong KongALSO READ | Hong Kong police shoot 17-year-old protester in chest 

Hong Kong protest leader Jimmy Sham 'attacked with hammers'

The leader of one of Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy groups, Jimmy Sham was attacked with hammers. Photographs on social media showed Jimmy Sham of the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) lying in the street, covered in blood, the BBC reported on Thursday.

1e381a2cb1400f2a9aa9067bd102bdf1

Pakistan’s Foreign Office today rubbished remarks by a top US military official regarding Islamabad’s ‘serious’ contributions to fight terrorism. Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said that US General Joseph Dunford's allegations that the notorious spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (IS) has ties with militant groups is false.He also said that Pakistan is not a safe haven for terror groups and countries security forces have taken indiscriminate action against terrorists’ hideouts.The FO official also lashed out at the US saying ‘it cannot scapegoat Pakistan for its failures in Afghanistan’.“Pakistan has begun a decisive offensive against terrorists on its soil,” the spokesperson said, calling General Dunford's statement ‘baseless’. "The US is trying to blame Pakistan for its failures in Afghanistan," he noted.The reaction from Islamabad comes two days after Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dunford informed the US Senate Armed Services Committee that ‘it is clear to me that the ISI has connections with terrorist groups’.According to Zakaria, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif discussed regional security with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday and will also meet National Security Adviser General McMaster during his visit.Zakaria also accused India of using terrorist organisations like Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA) against Pakistan.The FO also accused India of being involved in "economic terrorism" and a plot to sabotage economic activity in Pakistan by attacking the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).He accused India of committing 1,000 ceasefire violations this year, which have resulted in deaths of 45 civilians and injured 155 others, including children and women.Zakaria also mentioned Amnesty International's recent report on pellet gunshot victims and accused Indian forces of rape and 'braid-chopping' "as tools to terrorise Kashmiri women and deter the men".

Pakistan rejects US General's allegations of ISI's links with terrorists; says India involved in ‘economic terrorism’

Pakistan FO said that Islamabad is not a safe haven for terror groups and countries security forces have taken indiscriminate action against terrorists’ hideouts.

84f2fc9d97d8cfa8f9c1a5789a11dc50

Imran Khan- File photoImran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday emerged as the single largest party in Pakistan’s  National Assembly with its candidates winning 76 seats and leading in 43 others according to the latest unofficial results and trends in the parliamentary polls.Jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won 43 seats and was leading in 20 constituencies while Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by former president Asif Ali Zardari won 18 seats and its candidates were leading in 19 seats.Related Stories Pakistan Elections : Imran Khan to be next PM? PTI leading on over 100 seats, PML-N distant second, PPP thirdImran Khan likely to be Pakistan's next PM: Everything you need to know about the cricketer-turned-politicianPak elections: Imran Khan inching towards PM chair as Nawaz Sharif's party alleges 'blatant rigging''My son's father is Pakistan's next PM': Jemima Congratulates former husband Imran Khan on electoral successHowever, the opposition parties have alleged "blatant" rigging in these elections.A single party will need at least 137 of the directly elected seats to be able to form the government on its own.The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) -- an alliance of traditional religious parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan and Tehreek-e-Jafaria -- and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were leading in eight seats each.In the eastern city of Lahore, capital of Punjab province and the country's political heartland, PTI supporters rejoiced by waving flags and raising party slogans as results trickled in after the voting yesterday.The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) officially announced the first result at 4.00am.While final results are expected in the coming hours, initial outcomes show that the PTI was emerging as the single largest party in the National Assembly. Pakistan's National Assembly comprises a total of 342 members, of which 272 are directly elected whereas the rest - 60 seats reserved for women and 10 for religious minorities - are selected later through proportional representation among parties with more than five per cent of the vote.A party can only form the government if it manages to clinch 172 seats in total. The two main parties - PML-N and PPP - have raised questions on the transparency of the vote counting process, alleging their polling agents were not allowed to verify vote counts as is mandated by law. PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif, who is hoping to become the next prime minister after the jailing of his brother and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a corruption case, rejected the election results, alleging "blatant" rigging.He did not say who he believes could have rigged the polls, but allegations of manipulating the elections have been made against the country's influential military.Awami National Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Pak-Sarzameen Party, Muttahida Majlas-i-Amal and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan also alleged that their polling agents were either ousted of the polling stations at the time of counting or denied certified results by the polling staff."Some five other parties including the PPP have raised the rigging issue in polls. After consulting them, I will announce the future course of action. Pakistan has suffered today," Sharif told journalists.He has convened a meeting with other parties this evening to discuss the issue and formulate a common strategy."We will fight this injustice and use all options," he said, adding that there has been a "blatant violation" of the mandate.The ECP rejected the "blatant" rigging allegations.In an unusual press conference early today, Chief Election Commissioner Muhammad Raza Khan congratulated the people of Pakistan for participating in the election process.He, however, acknowledged that the delay in announcement of election results has "caused some annoyance". He stressed the delay was on account of a new system - Results Transmission System - introduced by it. Asked about the doubts and the allegations, he said: "We will prove ourselves that we did our job right." "These elections were fair and we have not received any complaint. If anyone has proof, we will take action," he asserted.Elections were also held yesterday for four provincial assemblies - Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.The provincial trends showed that the PTI was leading in 120 seats in Punjab followed by the PML-N with 119 seats in the provincial assembly of 299 members.In Sindh, the PPP was heading towards a two-thirds majority in its traditional bastion. The party was leading in 72 seats according to the latest trends available for 113 of the provincial assembly's 131 seats.In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI was heading towards a two-thirds majority with its candidates leading in 67 seats. The KP assembly has 99 seats. Balochistan was heading towards a hung assembly. Balochistan Awami Party was ahead in 12 seats while MMA was leading in 9. Balochistan National Party was leading in 8 seats.The election marks the second democratic transition of power in the nation's 70-year history. The military has ruled Pakistan through various coups for nearly half of the country's history since independence in 1947.The run up to the elections had seen a massive crackdown on the media and allegations that the military has secretly backed the campaign of Khan while targeting his political opponents.The ECP was also criticised for deploying the Army both inside and outside of polling stations. Controversy has also arisen over allowing militant groups to participate in the election. The leading among them are Mumbai-terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led banned Jamat-ud Dawa's candidates who suffered humiliating defeats.(With PTI inputs)

Pakistan Elections: Imran Khan's PTI emerges as single largest party amid allegations of vote rigging

Jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won 43 seats and was leading in 20 constituencies while Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by former president Asif Ali Zardari won 18 seats and its candidates were leading in 19 seats.

9e657d7a55eb67fda1c3932ea2b7643a

Indian-American 1st Muslim woman in Virginia SenateIndian-American Democrat Ghazala Hashmi has become the first Muslim woman to be elected to the Virginia State Senate following her stunning victory over sitting Republican Senator Republican Glen Sturtevant.Following her win in Tuesday's election, Hashmi will now represent Virginia's 10th Senate district. The race was one of the most watched contests in the state as the Democrats were looking to flip the Senate by cutting the narrow 20-19 Republican edge, reports The American Bazaar.Hashmi was born in India and emigrated to the US as a child with her family. She is also a former director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning at Reynolds Community College.Her impressive win in her first ever campaign for a public office shows that Hashmi may have struck the right note with the voters. She feels strongly about gun violence in the country and actively campaigned against it.Hashmi dedicated her win to her supporters with a tweet saying it belonged to all those who believed in the need for "progressive change in Virginia"."This victory, is not mine alone. It belongs to all of you who believed that we needed to make progressive change here in Virginia, for all of you who felt that you haven't had a voice and believed in me to be yours in the General Assembly," she tweeted on Tuesday night.In another tweet, she also admired the state's willingness to make the change. "Today we sent a message that the status quo is no longer accepted," she wrote."Thank you all for your support and passion in helping me become the next state Senator for Virginia's 10th District! I couldn't be more honoured to be a part of the change to come for Virginia."Hashmi also reached out to her voters through social media to inform them about the causes that she would be undertaking, The American Bazaar reported."After flipping the Senate, I'll have Democrats by my side to fight to protect Virginians from the climate crisis and senseless gun violence, and work to expand our access to affordable health care and funding for public education," she wrote."I can't wait to work together in the state Senate."ALSO READ | Undeterred by impeachment proceedings Trump says he is winningALSO READ | Trump impeachment public hearings to begin 'next week'

Indian-American 1st Muslim woman in Virginia Senate

Hashmi was born in India and emigrated to the US as a child with her family. She is also a former director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning at Reynolds Community College.

529aa168fea8d4606b395d0bd757e581

Amid the Sikkim standoff, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval today held talks with his Chinese Counterpart and State Councillor Yang Jiechi on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs meeting here.Yang met separately with senior security representatives from South Africa, Brazil and India, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.Yang separately exchanged views with the three senior representatives on bilateral relations, international and regional issues and multilateral affairs, and set forth China's position on bilateral issues and major problems, the report said, without giving further details.Both Doval and Yang are Special Representatives of the India-China border mechanism. Doval arrived here yesterday to take part in the two-day Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) NSAs meeting being hosted by Yang.His visit has raised expectations about the likelihood of India and China finding a solution to the over a month-long standoff at Doklam area in the Sikkim sector.Chinese and Indian troops have been locked in a face-off in the trijunction area for more than a month since Indian troops stopped the Chinese army from building a road in the area.China claimed that it was constructing the road within its territory. India protested the construction, fearing it would allow China to cut India's access to its northeastern states.

NSA Ajit Doval holds talks with Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi amid Sikkim standoff

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval today held talks with his Chinese Counterpart and State Councillor Yang Jiechi on the sidelines of the BRICS NSAs meeting here

a715ef4cd94cb3ef523c7d0b77af1b27

First for Breaking news, coronavirus vaccine trial updates, photos, video, news, views and top stories from monsoon rains, business, politics, education, science and more in India and worldwide.The total number of global coronavirus cases has surpassed 11.7 million, including more than 540,000 fatalities. More than 6,641,000 patients are reported to have recovered. Follow this breaking news blog for live updates on coronavirus pandemic as it continues to pose a challenge for health workers and scientists who are in a race against time to produce a vaccine/medicine.IndiaTvNews.com brings you the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis that has resulted in job losses in millions and changing the way we work. Stay Home, Stay Safe, and Stay Informed as our team of dedicated editors/reporters bring you the latest news on coronavirus, coronavirus vaccine trial updates, photos, video, news, views and top stories from monsoon rains, business, politics, education, science, yoga and much more in India and worldwide.

Breaking News: July 7, 2020 | As it happened

Get all the latest news on India's coronavirus cases, updates on COVID-19 vaccine, monsoon rains, business, politics, science, education and much more in India and worldwide.

35d02f49a00c601acb632d5b83e025cd

US man stabs father to death during Zoom video call as attendees watch horrorAlong Island man was stabbed to death by his adult son Thursday while on a Zoom video chat, police said, leading to 911 calls from people who watched the horror unfold on their screens.Thomas Scully-Powers, 32, fled out a window after attacking his 72-year-old father, Dwight Powers, around noon at their home near South Oaks Hospital in Amityville, Suffolk County police said.Scully-Powers was arrested about an hour later, having gotten only about 1 mile away from the home. He remained hospitalised Thursday night for treatment of minor injuries from his jump.Police said details on his arraignment and detention will be available once he is released from the hospital. Information on a lawyer who could comment on his behalf was not immediately available.

US man stabs father to death during Zoom video call as attendees watch horror

Along Island man was stabbed to death by his adult son Thursday while on a Zoom video chat, police said, leading to 911 calls from people who watched the horror unfold on their screens.

c530944a028ef8f834bf0e4a20884663

Sushma Swaraj addressing 73rd session of UNGA in New York Launching a scathing attack on Pakistan, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday told the United Nations that Islamabad has acquired expertise not only in spreading terrorism but also in disowning it.Addressing the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Sushma Swaraj said that the biggest proof of Pakistan's complicity in terror activities emerged when the dreaded terrorist Osama Bin Laden was found in that country.  Related Stories After Sushma snubs Qureshi at SAARC meet, Pak accuses India of obstructing regional progressPak Foreign Minister Qureshi takes personal jibe at Sushma Swaraj on sidelines of UNGA Sushma Swaraj at UN General Assembly 2018: 'UNSC reforms should be initiated at the earliest'Sushma Swaraj tears into Pakistan at UNGA: Top 10 quotesSushma Swaraj reminded how some photographs displayed by Pakistani representative at UN last lear as “proof” of “human rights violations” by India turned out to be from another country. She added that similar false accusations have become part of Pakistan's standard rhetoric.Accusing Pakistan of glorifying killers, Sushma Swaraj said that Islamabad is refusing to see the blood of the innocents."Who can be a greater transgressor of human rights than a terrorist? Those who take innocent human lives in pursuit of war by other means are defenders of inhuman behavior, not of human rights. Pakistan glorifies killers. it refuses to see the blood of innocents," Sushma Swaraj said.Dismissing Pakistan's accusation of sabotaging dialogue process, Sushma Swaraj said that Pakistan was responsible for obstructing the process every time India took a step forward."Allegations that we are not ready to initiate dialogue process with Pakistan, are untrue. It is because of Pakistan that the process remains obstructed every time we take a step forward," Sushma said."We are accused of sabotaging the process of talks. This is a complete lie. We believe that talks are only rational means to resolve the most complex of disputes. Talks with Pakistan have begun many times. If they stopped, it was only because of their behavior," she added.Accusing Pakistan of indulging in verbal duplicity over terrorism, Sushma Swaraj said,"In our case, terrorism is bred not in some faraway land, but across our border. Our neighbour’s expertise is not restricted to spawning grounds for terrorism; it is also an expert in trying to mask malevolence with verbal duplicity."Sushma told the world body that after assuming power, Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting a meeting between the countries’ foreign ministers on the margins of the General Assembly. India accepted the proposal but, within hours of its acceptance, news came that terrorists had killed three Indian jawans, she said. “Does this indicate a desire for dialogue,” Swaraj asked.She noted that various governments in India over the years have tried the peace option with Pakistan. Prime Minister Modi, by inviting the Heads of the SAARC nations to his swearing in ceremony in 2014, had begun his attempt for dialogue on his very first day in office. Swaraj said she too had in December 2016, personally gone to Islamabad and offered a comprehensive bilateral dialogue. “But soon after, Pakistan-sponsored terrorists attacked our air force base in Pathankot on January 2. Please explain to me how we could pursue talks in the midst of terrorist bloodshed,” she asked.The demon of terrorism now stalks the world, at a faster pace somewhere, a slower pace elsewhere, but life-threatening everywhere, Swaraj said.  Even as the killers of the 9/11 terror atacks in New York met their fate, Swaraj said the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks Hafiz Saeed “still roams the streets of Pakistan with impunity.”Swaraj, in her speech delivered in Hindi, told the world leaders that the most startling evidence of Pakistan’s duplicity was the fact that Osama bin Laden, the architect and ideologue of 9/11 was given safe haven in the country and even after the world’s most wanted terrorist was killed by American special forces, “Pakistan continued to behave as if nothing had happened.”“America had declared Osama bin Laden it’s most dangerous enemy, and launched an exhaustive, worldwide search to bring him to justice. What America perhaps could not comprehend was that Osama would get sanctuary in a country that claimed to be America’s friend and ally: Pakistan,” she said. She also pointed out that Pakistan’s “commitment to terrorism as an instrument of official policy has not abated one bit. Neither has its belief in hypocrisy.” “What is heartening is that the world is no longer ready to believe Islamabad,” she said citing that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has put Pakistan on notice over terror funding. Swaraj also slammed Pakistan for time and again accusing India of human rights violations, saying “who can be a greater transgressor of human rights than a terrorist?  “Those who take innocent human lives in pursuit of war by other means are defenders of inhuman behaviour, not of human rights. Pakistan glorifies killers; it refuses to see the blood of innocents,” she said.Swaraj said it has become something of a habit with Pakistan to “throw the dust of deceit and deception against India in order to provide some thin cover for its own guilt.”(With agency inputs)

Sushma Swaraj at UNGA 2018: 'Pakistan glorifies killers, it refuses to see blood of innocents'

Dismissing Pakistan's accusation of sabotaging dialogue process, Sushma Swaraj said that Pakistan was responsible for obstructing the process every time India took a step forward.

7e37dd4a0826d5189174c3357297f346

Sri Lanka temporarily suspends COVID-19 jabs due to delay in securing vaccines from SII: MinisterSri Lanka has temporarily halted its COVID-19 vaccination programme as there was a delay in securing more AstraZeneca vaccines from the Serum Institute of India, a top health minister has said. Sri Lanka launched its inoculation programme in late January when India gifted 500,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca. Till Thursday 913,219 people out of the island nation's 21 million population had been vaccinated.The vaccination programme has been halted from Wednesday night due to the need to use the available Oxford-AstraZeneca doses for the second jab of those already vaccinated, primary health care and COVID-19 prevention minister Dr Sudarshani Fernandopulle was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror newspaper on Friday.She said the COVID-19 vaccination programme was temporarily suspended as there was a delay in securing more AstraZeneca vaccines, the report added.The Serum Institute of India (SII) recently suspended exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine.The WHO has recommended that the second jab must be made available within 12 weeks of the first. The second dose was to be administered from April 19, the report said.After the free gift, Sri Lanka placed an order for more doses of the Indian vaccine.The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, Covishield, has been developed in collaboration with SII.The Pune-based vaccine major has entered into a collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine.The Serum Institute had curtailed exports in the recent weeks.So, Fernandopulle said that Sri Lanka was not able to gain any assurances on the arrival of the next consignment from India in time.This week China donated 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines. However, neither the local health regulators or the WHO have approved its emergency use.Officials said the Chinese vaccine will be administered to the Chinese workers in the country.Sri Lanka is also to order 700,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.ALSO READ | Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines highly effective after first shot, suggests study

Sri Lanka temporarily suspends COVID-19 jabs due to delay in securing vaccines from SII: Minister

Sri Lanka has temporarily halted its COVID-19 vaccination programme as there was a delay in securing more AstraZeneca vaccines from the Serum Institute of India, a top health minister has said.

7caaea3b165b40496ae00fccdc09f20f

Indian Navy diving and medical teams have been deployed to assist Sri Lanka Navy operations in the flood-hit southwestern region, as the death toll from the disaster today rose to 177 with 104 people still missing in the island nation's worst torrential rains in 14 years. Rescuers pulled out more bodies buried in the mudslides triggered by monsoon rains, taking the death toll to 177. The death toll is expected to rise further as 109 people are still missing, according to the Disaster Management Centre. Sri Lankan Naval spokesperson Chaminda Walakauluge said two Indian ships INS 'Kirch' and INS 'Shardul' have arrived and "they joined us (Sri Lanka Navy) in extending relief". Indian Navy diving and medical teams arrived in INS Shardul yesterday have been deployed to assist Sri Lanka Navy operations at Kalutara, Ratmalana and Galle. Indian High Commission here tweeted images of "Indian diving and medical teams deployed at Kalutara, Ratmalana (and) Galle with (Sri Lankan) navy relief (operations)." Indian Naval personnel of INS 'Kirch' that arrived in the island on Saturday are currently engaging in flood relief operations at Udugama and Galapatha in the Kalutara District in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Navy. "They are here as part of India's continued commitment to assist in flood relief efforts in Sri Lanka in response to a request from the Government of Sri Lanka," the Indian High Commission said. INS 'Shardul' has nearly 200 personnel on board, including specialized rescue, diving and medical teams, as well as a large amount of relief material and Gemini inflatable boats. INS 'Kirch' was carrying 125 personnel. It had diving teams, relief supplies, inflatable gemini boats and a mobile medical team. The Indian ships brought in rice, atta (flour), dal, sugar, bed sheets, blankets, durries, rain coats, milk, biscuits etc. The rescue, diving and medical teams on board were deployed in coordination with the Sri Lanka Navy and other authorities, in the worst affected areas in the south and the Western regions of Ratnapura and Horana, Sri Lankan Navy said. A third Indian ship, INS Jalashwa, with additional relief material, is also expected to arrive today with more relief.Lankan Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake thanked India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing assistance within hours of a request being made.Karuanayake said Prime Minister Modi's gesture demonstrated the new level of Indo-Lanka relations under the current government of the President Maithripala Sirisena. Meanwhile, the Meteorology Department today warned of more rains followed by strong winds and people residing in low lying areas in the south were advised to evacuate to safer locations as all the major rivers are overflowing. More rains are expected in the next two days as the depression in the east central Bay of Bengal intensified into a cyclonic storm 'MORA' and is now moving away from the island, it said. The incessant rains experienced since Thursday night have driven nearly half a million people out of their inundated homes in the southern and western regions. Police said a Sri Lankan Airforce helicopter (SLAF) MI-17 carrying relief aid for flood victims crashed in the southern Galle district, the worst hit of the 14 districts by flash floods and earth slips in the on going monsoonal rains, while carrying out relief operations in the flood-stricken areas.There were no casualties and Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena telephoned Squadron Leader Bhanuka Delgoda, the pilot of the MI-17, to congratulate him for his bravery. The pilot lost control of the helicopter due to bad weather and crashed into woods, police said. On Saturday, a Lanka Air Force airman, Y M S Yaparatne, 37, died while carrying out relief operations in the Galle district as he fell off from the helicopter. Flood waters were receding in the worst affected districts of Ratnapura and Kalutara but the authorities said cleaning up operations could take weeks. Some 412 houses were fully damaged with over 4,200 houses suffering partial damage. Some 471,000 people remain displaced while over 75,000 people are currently being housed in over 330 temporary relief accommodations.Following India's lead in sending out emergency relief to Sri Lanka, more countries have started pledging assistance to provide relief to the flood victims. China is to donate relief items worth of USD 2.2 million.  The relief goods, to be dispatched to Colombo by a chartered flight soon, include tents, blankets, sheets, rain boots and life jackets.Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang sent condolence messages to President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe respectively on the loss of the lives and property in floods and landslides caused by heavy rain. The flooding is the worst since May 2003 when 250 people were killed and 10,000 homes destroyed after a similarly powerful Southwest monsoon, officials had said. Sri Lanka, which has been heavily deforested for cash crops, often witnesses landslides during the monsoon season.

Sri Lanka floods: Indian Navy teams deployed; death toll rises to 177

Indian Navy diving and medical teams have been deployed to assist Sri Lanka Navy operations in the flood-hit southwestern region.

911cccba10ab8504cb610d00b0800e75

Kulbhushan Jadhav hearing: India objects to Pak's use of abusive language at ICJIndia has strongly objected to the abusive language used by Pakistan's counsel in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), urging the UN court to draw a redline.While presenting India's case before the ICJ, former solicitor general of India Harish Salve drew the court's attention to the abusive language used by Pakistan through its counsel Khawar Qureshi on the second day of the hearing.Related Stories This photo taken ahead of Kulbhushan Jadhav hearing at ICJ tells you the mood of the nation Pakistan ad hoc judge at ICJ suffers cardiac arrest during Jadhav hearing: ReportIndia demands annulment of Jadhav's sentence by Pak army court | 10 arguments by Harish Salve at ICJPakistan claims India did not provide answers to key questions in Jadhav caseJadhav hearing: Pak counsel concludes arguments, requests ICJ to reject India's applicationKulbhushan Jadhav hearing: ICJ refuses to entertain Pakistan's request to adjourn caseKulbhushan Jadhav case: Pakistan asks ICJ to dismiss India's plea"The language echoed in this court... perhaps this Court may lay down some redlines. The transcript is peppered with words such as shameless, nonesense, disgraceful... India takes exception to being addressed in this fashion in an international court."India strongly objects to the abusive language of Pakistan's counsel," Salve said as the International Court of Justice began the second round of public hearing in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case."A criticism of a sovereign state of the case made out of the other state must be in language consistent with the dignity of other states. Humpty Dumpty has no place in this court," he said. He said that "when you are strong on law you hammer the law, when you are strong on facts you hammer the facts and when you are strong on neither you hammer the table... Pakistan has hammered the proverbial table. India has hammered facts".Adding that, the transcript was peppered (by Pakistan) with words such as shameless, nonsensical, laughable, breathtaking arrogance. India takes exception to being addressed in this fashion. I would let the matter rest as Indian culture prevents me from indulging in a similar language of insults, he said in the international court. Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017. His sentencing evoked a sharp reaction in India.On Wednesday, India will have a maximum of 90 minutes to submit its final arguments in the case. Pakistan will also get 90 minutes to respond to India's arguments on Thursday.The ICJ is expected to deliver its verdict in the summer of 2019. (With inputs from agencies)

Kulbhushan Jadhav hearing: India objects to Pak's use of abusive language at ICJ

"India strongly objects to abusive language of Pakistan's counsel," Salve said as the International Court of Justice began the second round of public hearing in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.

2c63960925350ffb55c2d7dbef28c35b

Global WarNing: Watch video as NASA scientists fly over Greenland to track melting glaciersLike nearly every other glacier on Greenland, the massive Kangerlussuaq is melting. In fact, the giant frozen island has seen one of its biggest melts on record this year. NASA scientist Josh Willis is now closely studying the phenomenon in hopes of figuring out precisely how global warming is eating away at Greenland’s ice.Specifically, he wants to know whether the melting is being caused more by warm air or warm seawater. The answer could be crucial to Earth’s future.Water brings more heat to something frozen faster than air does, as anyone who has ever defrosted a steak under the faucet knows.If Willis’ theory that much of the damage is from the water turns out to be correct, he said, “there’s a lot higher potential for Greenland to melt more quickly than we thought.” And that means seas rising faster and coastal communities being inundated more.Greenland contains enough ice to make world sea levels rise by 20 feet if it were all to melt. In a single day this month, it lost a record 13.7 billion tons (12.5 billion metric tons) by one estimate.“It’s a little scary,” Willis said as looked down on an area filled with more water than ice. “We’re definitely watching the ice sheet disappear in front of us.”Climate change is eating away at Greenland’s glaciers in two ways. The most obvious way is from the warm air above, which has been brutal this summer, with a European heat wave in July working like a hair dryer on the ice. The other way is from warm, salty water, some of it from North America’s Gulf Stream, nibbling at coastal glaciers from below.When University of Georgia ice scientist Tom Mote, who isn’t part of this project, started studying Greenland’s glaciers in the early 1990s, researchers really didn’t think the water was a big factor.Willis’ project — called Oceans Melting Greenland, or OMG — is showing that it is. Now the question is how much and how fast.What Willis is measuring is the water 660 feet (200 meters) or more below the surface, which is warmer and saltier than the stuff that touches the air. It’s this deep water that does the major damage.To measure this, NASA is spending five years crisscrossing the island in a tricked-out 77-year-old DC-3 built for World War II. Willis, project manager Ian McCubbin and mechanic Rich Gill drop long, cylindrical probes through a special tube in the floor of the plane, watching as the sensors parachute down and then dive into the chilly water.McCubbin then waits for a tone on his computer that tells him the probe is underwater and measuring temperature and salinity. When all of the flight’s five probes start signaling — with a sound McCubbin likens to “a fax machine or an AOL modem” — he and Willis high-five.Meanwhile, pilots Andy Ferguson and Don Watrous bank the plane toward the blue-green spots, looking for the next target and pointing out stunning giant icebergs and signs of glacial retreat over the radio.Image Source : APAs the data is radioed back from one ,000 probe now deep in the water near Kangerlussuaq in eastern Greenland, it initially looks like the temperature hasn’t changed much over the last year or two, which could be good news. But that’s just one data point. Each year for the past four years, NASA has been looking at all of Greenland, and the numbers overall haven’t been quite as comforting.As the data is radioed back from one ,000 probe now deep in the water near Kangerlussuaq in eastern Greenland, it initially looks like the temperature hasn’t changed much over the last year or two, which could be good news. But that’s just one data point. Each year for the past four years, NASA has been looking at all of Greenland, and the numbers overall haven’t been quite as comforting.As the data is radioed back from one $2,000 probe now deep in the water near Kangerlussuaq in eastern Greenland, it initially looks like the temperature hasn’t changed much over the last year or two, which could be good news. But that’s just one data point. Each year for the past four years, NASA has been looking at all of Greenland, and the numbers overall haven’t been quite as comforting.If the water is playing a much bigger role than scientists thought, it could mean seas will be rising faster and higher than expected. That’s because 90% of the heat energy from climate change goes into the oceans, Willis said. Warm water provides “a bigger bang for the buck” than air when it comes to melting ice, Willis said.Just how crucial seawater is to melting was illustrated, somewhat paradoxically, by the Jakobshavn glacier, the fast-shrinking glacier on Greenland’s more populated west coast. In recent years, it suddenly started to grow a bit, probably because of a cooling of waters as a result of a temporary shift in weather and water-current patterns, Willis said.In general, oceans warm up much more slowly than the air, yet they stay warmer longer. The water weakens glaciers and causes icebergs to break loose. Those icebergs eventually melt, adding to the seas.“Some of them are as big as a city,” Willis said.A 2019 study by Danish climate scientist Ruth Mottram looked at 28 glaciers in Greenland with long-term data. Nearly all are melting, with only one or two that could be considered somewhat stable.“One glacier retreating looks like carelessness, but 28 retreating is the sign of something going on,” Mottram told The Associated Press.A 2017 study concluded that coastal glaciers and icecaps — what Willis is studying — reached a “tipping point” for ice loss in 1997 and since then have been rapidly deteriorating. A NASA satellite found that Greenland’s ice sheet lost about 255 billion metric tons a year between 2003 and 2016, with the loss rate generally getting worse.It will take centuries for all of Greenland’s massive ice sheet to melt, but how fast is the key question. If warm water plays a bigger role than scientists suspect, by the year 2100, Greenland alone could cause 3 or 4 feet (more than 1 meter) of sea level rise, Willis said.Other scientists, such as the University of Colorado’s Ted Scambos, say Greenland’s contribution to sea level rise by 2100 would probably be closer to 1 foot (30 centimeters).That’s a big spread.“I tend toward the higher number, but I’m hoping for a lower number,” said University of Maryland Baltimore County glaciologist Christopher Shuman, whose family owns property along the coast.

'Global WarNing': NASA scientists fly over Greenland to track melting glaciers | Video

Like nearly every other glacier on Greenland, the massive Kangerlussuaq is melting. In fact, the giant frozen island has seen one of its biggest melts on record this year.

2d8adde1b7d9b7715a61151ee38b25e8

Pak Hindu girl student raped and murdered, reveals autopsy report. Representational image A Pakistani Hindu dental college student, who was found dead in mysterious circumstances in her hostel room in Sindh province, was raped before being murdered, the final postmortem report has revealed. Nimrita Chandni, a final-year student of Bibi Asifa Dental College in Sindh province, was found dead on a cot by her friends on September 16 with a rope tied to her Her final postmortem report, which was issued by Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Woman Medico-Legal Officer (WMLO) Dr Amrita on Wednesday, revealed that the girl was sexually abused before being murdered, the News International reported on According to the autopsy report, her death was caused by suffocation.Asphyxial signs caused by a ligature on the neck were seen during the autopsy."Such signs are produced either in strangulation or hanging and are to be ascertained through circumstantial evidence as corroborative at the crime scene by state investigation authorities," the WMLO said.A DNA test confirmed the presence of male DNA profile indicated from semen residue on the deceased's clothes, whereas a vaginal swab tested positive for a forced sexual act, the report said.A previous autopsy report, which stated it to be a case of suicide, was questioned by several medico-legal experts.Experts and officials of the medico-legal section of the health department in Karachi believed that the earlier autopsy report carried many flaws and missed key facts.They said the ligature mark in picture was not due to a dupatta. The post-mortem findings show suicide but ligature mark shows strangulation, the experts had said.They also said it was also questionable as to how a five-feet-tall girl managed to hang herself from the ceiling fan, which was 15 feet high.Earlier, Larkana Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University's (SMBBMU) Vice-Chancellor (VC) Aneela Atta Ur Rahman had claimed that the 25-year-old student committed suicide.However, her brother Dr Vishal, a medical consultant in Dow Medical College in Karachi, had said that the marks around her neck suggested that Nimrita did not commit suicide.Following a massive protest over the girl's death and demand for a "transparent investigation" into the incident by her family, the Sindh High Court on September 18 ordered a judicial inquiry into the matter.The probe is being supervised by the Larkana District and Sessions Judge.Hindus, which comprised approximately 2 per cent of Pakistan's population, are mainly concentrated in Sindh province. There have been periodic reports of their forced conversion to Islam.ALSO READ | Pak Army 'too busy' to get involved in political matters: Maj Gen GhafoorALSO READ | Ex-Pakistan PM Sharif discharged from hospital

Pakistani Hindu girl student raped and murdered, reveals autopsy report

Nimrita Chandni, a final-year student of Bibi Asifa Dental College in Sindh province, was found dead on a cot by her friends on September 16 with a rope tied to her

45cca62c50024f10a7db7ed47647e56c

The top U.S. diplomat returned to the besieged nation of Qatar on Thursday for a final round of talks on a shuttle-diplomacy tour aimed at breaking a deadlock between the tiny OPEC member and four Arab neighbors.U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was expected to deliver a readout to 37-year-old Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of his meetings with the king of Saudi Arabia and other officials from three other Arab countries lined up against Qatar.The trip has yet to result in any sort of breakthrough to an increasingly entrenched dispute that has divided some of America’s most important Mideast allies.Tillerson has been shuttling between Qatar, Saudi Arabia and mediator Kuwait since Monday trying to break the impasse, though officials have been careful to downplay expectations and caution any resolution could be months away.His clearest achievement has been to secure a memorandum of understanding with Qatar to strengthen its counterterrorism efforts and address shortfalls in policing terrorism funding.That deal goes to the core of the anti-Qatar quartet’s complaints against the natural gas-rich state: that it provides support for extremist groups.Qatar vehemently denies the allegation, though it has provided aid that helps Islamist groups that others have branded as terrorists, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.The anti-Qatar bloc argues the pressure and demands it has placed on Qatar helped lead to the counterterrorism pact, but it has said it does not go far enough to end the dispute.It is holding fast to its insistence that Qatar must bow to a 13-point list of demands that included shutting down Qatar’s flagship Al-Jazeera network and other news outlets, cutting ties with Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, limiting Qatar’s ties with Iran and expelling Turkish troops stationed in the tiny Gulf country.Qatar has rejected the demands, saying that agreeing to them wholesale would undermine its sovereignty.The squabble among five of its Mideast allies has put the United States in an uncomfortable position and risks complicating the Pentagon’s operations in the region.Qatar hosts al-Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East and hub for U.S.-led operations against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, while American surveillance planes and other aircraft fly from the UAE.

Top US diplomat heads back to Qatar, but impasse grinds on

The top U.S. diplomat returned to the besieged nation of Qatar on Thursday for a final round of talks on a shuttle-diplomacy tour aimed at breaking a deadlock between the tiny OPEC member and four Arab neighbors.

0d07cbaffdd93bf82d2619b551377029

Fukushima : A liquor shop's manager clears the damaged bottles following an earthquake in Fukushima, northeastern Japan Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021.Japan witnessed a massive 7.1-magnitude earthquake late on Saturday, however, no tsunami warning has been issued. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the earthquake struck off Japan's northeastern Fukushima Prefecture at around 11.08 p.m. local time (1408 GMT), with its epicenter at a latitude of 37.7 degrees north and a longitude of 141.8 degrees east, and at depth of 60 km, Xinhua news agency reported. The quake logged Upper 6 in some parts of Fukushima Prefecture on the Japanese seismic intensity scale which peaks at 7.The quake was also felt in the capital Tokyo where an intensity scale of 4 was logged, with many reporting that their houses and furniture underwent strong shaking and some saying they felt dizzy because of the quake. Meanwhile, the Japanese government has set up a task force at the prime minister's office following the powerful earthquake.So far no abnormality has been found at Japan Atomic Power Co.'s inactive Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in the village of Tokai in Ibaraki Prefecture, according to the operator.Twitter users have posted some terrifying videos, showing the intensity of the earthquake that struck Japan on Saturday. 

Terrifying videos show how Japan struggled through 7.1-magnitude quake; no tsunami warning

The quake was also felt in the capital Tokyo where an intensity scale of 4 was logged, with many reporting that their houses and furniture underwent strong shaking and some saying they felt dizzy because of the quake.

c0fee6e580c6c96cdc04f6d81a7595f9

Displaced Ukrainians queue to board a Poland bound train in Lviv, western Ukraine, Sunday, March 13, 2022. The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has entered its 19th day today. Russia escalated attacks in western Ukraine on Sunday with a deadly airstrike on a military base where Ukrainian troops had trained with NATO forces, bringing the conflict closer to Poland and other members of the bloc. Continued fighting in multiple regions caused more misery throughout Ukraine and provoked renewed international outrage. Outside the capital city of Kyiv, a U.S. video journalist died Sunday and another American journalist was injured when they were attacked by Russian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to create new “pseudo-republics” to break his country apart. He called on Ukraine’s regions not to repeat the experience of 2014, when pro-Russian separatists began fighting against Ukrainian forces in two eastern areas.

Russia Ukraine War LIVE Updates: Fourth round of Kyiv-Moscow conflict talks underway

Ukrainian officials said at least 35 people were killed and 134 wounded Sunday when more than 30 cruise missiles were fired at the Yavoriv military range, just 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Polish border.

ea118436b5ceda36849693e07e222da9

Turkey to lower COVID vaccination age to 18. Turkey will lower the Covid-19 vaccination eligibility age to 18 starting from Friday onwards, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.The government aims to administer at least the first doses of vaccine to 70 per cent of its population before mid-July, Koca said at a press conference here on Wednesday after a meeting of the coronavirus scientific board.Turkey started mass vaccination against Covid-19 on January 14 after the authorities approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, reports Xinhua news agency.More than 29,904,000 people have been vaccinated till date.Turkey has so far reported 5,387,545 and 49,358 deaths, while the total recoveries climbed to 5,248,862.The rate of pneumonia in Covid infected patients stands at 2.9 per cent and the number of seriously ill patients is 763 in the country, said the Health Ministry.Turkey reported its first Covid-19 case on March 11, 2020. 

Turkey to lower COVID vaccination age to 18

The govt aims to administer at least the first doses of vaccine to 70 per cent of its population before mid-July, Koca said at a PC on Wednesday after a meeting of the coronavirus scientific board.

b2fcb15287989bd72934b7d654b41469

United is first to cut US flying due to coronavirus outbreak Amid the outbreak of coronavirus, the United States has decided to reduce flights, freeze hiring and ask employees to volunteer for unpaid leave as the airline struggles with weak demand for travel because of the new virus outbreak. In a statement on Wednesday, the Donald Trump-led country had said it will reduce passenger-carrying capacity by 20 per cent on international routes and per cent in the US — the first airline to cut domestic flying. United officials said they will temporarily ground an unspecified number of planes.The moves by United are the clearest sign yet of the financial harm to US airlines from the virus, which has already led them to suspend flights to China and reduce service to other countries.United announced the cuts shortly after several airline CEOs met at the White House with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. The administration is seeking the airlines’ help in tracing travelers who might have come in contact with people ill with COVID-19.The virus “is affecting the airline business, as it would,” Trump said after the meeting. “A lot of people are staying in our country, and they’re shopping and using our hotels in this country. So from that standpoint, I think probably there is a positive impact, but there is also an impact on overseas travel, which will be fairly substantial.”Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who was also in the meeting, said his agency has screened more than 53,000 people “and prevented a number of folks from coming into the country” largely because of cooperation from the airlines. He did not elaborate.Wolf said the administration wants additional information about travelers so that public-health agencies can “get in touch with them, looking for a few more pieces of information and data from them.”The airline CEOs said their companies have stepped up cleaning procedures to help protect passengers and employees from the virus.United’s decision to reduce flying came shortly after Germany’s Lufthansa announced it would park 150 planes because of falling demand.Airline bookings have slumped as the outbreak has spread beyond China to the U.S. and dozens of other countries. Some large corporations have banned or limited employee travel and a few large business conferences have been canceled.At Chicago-based United, the deepest reductions in flying will be between the U.S. and Asia — a cut of 50%. United, like Delta and American, suspended service to mainland China and Hong Kong last month. United will also chop 10% from its schedule between the U.S. and Europe, 5% to Latin America.United officials said they don’t plan to abandon service to many US cities, but they will eliminate some routes as part of the 10% cut in the April schedule for domestic service. For example, the airline will stop flying from Chicago to Eugene, Oregon, but it will continue to serve Eugene from San Francisco and Denver. It will also reduce the number of daily flights on some routes.United’s top executives said they expect those reductions to extend into May, but they have not determined what to do after that — it will depend on bookings over the next few weeks.CEO Oscar Munoz and President Scott Kirby said hiring has been frozen at least through June 30 except for critical positions. And they said in a letter to employees that beginning immediately, U.S.-based workers could apply for a voluntary, unpaid leave of absence or a reduced schedule. Officials said the company does not plan layoffs.“We sincerely hope that these latest measures are enough, but the dynamic nature of this outbreak requires us to be nimble and flexible moving forward in how we respond,” Munoz and Kirby said in their letter.Southwest Airlines has not reduced flying and doesn’t have immediate plans to do so, said spokesman Brad Hawkins. American Airlines declined to comment on its plans. Delta Air Lines did not immediately respond for comment.Also Read | Coronavirus outbreak LIVE updatesAlso Read 8 including German national show Covid-19 symptoms in Andhra Pradesh​ /* .jw-reset-text, .jw-reset{line-height: 2em;}*/ .jw-time-tip .jw-time-chapter{display:none;} if ('' == comscore_jw_loaded || 'undefined' == comscore_jw_loaded || undefined == comscore_jw_loaded) { var comscore_jw_loaded = 1; firstjw = document.getElementsByClassName('jwvidplayer')[0]; cs_jw_script = document.createElement('script'); cs_jw_script.src = 'https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/internal-c2/plugins/streamingtag_plugin_jwplayer.js'; firstjw.parentNode.insertBefore(cs_jw_script, firstjw.nextSibling); } var jwconfig_2895245530 = { "file": "https://indiatv-vh.akamaihd.net/i/vod/0_bjcy8y54_,20,21,22,.mp4.csmil/master.m3u8", "image": "https://thumbs.indiatvnews.com/vod/0_bjcy8y54_big_thumb.jpg", "title": "Coronavirus: How deadly is the disease?", "height": "440px", "width": "100%", "aspectratio": "16:9", "autostart": false, "controls": true, "mute": false, "volume": 25, "floating": false, "sharing": { "code": "", "sites": [ "facebook", "twitter", "email" ] }, "stretching": "exactfit", "primary": "html5", "hlshtml": true, "sharing_link": "", "advertising": { "client": "vast", "autoplayadsmuted": true, "skipoffset": 5, "cuetext": "", "skipmessage": "Skip ad in xx", "skiptext": "SKIP", "preloadAds": true, "schedule": [ { "offset": "pre", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PreRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" }, { "offset": "50%", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_MidRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=" }, { "offset": "post", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PostRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" } ] } }; var jwvidplayer_2895245530 = ''; jwsetup_2895245530(); function jwsetup_2895245530() { jwvidplayer_2895245530 = jwplayer("jwvidplayer_2895245530").setup(jwconfig_2895245530); jwvidplayer_2895245530.on('ready', function () { ns_.StreamingAnalytics.JWPlayer(jwvidplayer_2895245530, { publisherId: "20465327", labelmapping: "c2=\"20465327\", c3=\"IndiaTV News\", c4=\"null\", c6=\"null\", ns_st_mp=\"jwplayer\", ns_st_cl=\"0\", ns_st_ci=\"0_bjcy8y54\", ns_st_pr=\"Coronavirus: How deadly is the disease?\", ns_st_sn=\"0\", ns_st_en=\"0\", ns_st_ep=\"Coronavirus: How deadly is the disease?\", ns_st_ct=\"null\", ns_st_ge=\"News\", ns_st_st=\"Coronavirus: How deadly is the disease?\", ns_st_ce=\"0\", ns_st_ia=\"0\", ns_st_ddt=\"2020-03-04\", ns_st_tdt=\"2020-03-04\", ns_st_pu=\"IndiaTV News\", ns_st_cu=\"https://indiatv-vh.akamaihd.net/i/vod/0_bjcy8y54_,20,21,22,.mp4.csmil/master.m3u8\", ns_st_ty=\"video\"" }); }); jwvidplayer_2895245530.on('all', function (r) { if (jwvidplayer_2895245530.getState() == 'error' || jwvidplayer_2895245530.getState() == 'setupError') { jwvidplayer_2895245530.stop(); jwvidplayer_2895245530.remove(); jwvidplayer_2895245530 = ''; jwsetup_2895245530(); return; } }); jwvidplayer_2895245530.on('error', function (t) { jwvidplayer_2895245530.stop(); jwvidplayer_2895245530.remove(); jwvidplayer_2895245530 = ''; jwsetup_2895245530(); return; }); jwvidplayer_2895245530.on('mute', function () { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_2895245530.on('adPlay', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_2895245530.on('adPause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_2895245530.on('pause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_2895245530.on('error', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_2895245530.on('adBlock', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); }

Coronavirus: US reduces flights, freezes hiring as airlines struggle with few travellers

Coronavirus outbreak: United officials said they don’t plan to abandon service to any US cities, but they will eliminate some routes as part of the 10 per cent cut in the April schedule for domestic service.

030584a2daa31e6f2354127bfe32ed8a

A small passenger plane carrying at least 17 passengers crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday in Congo’s eastern city of Goma, killing at least 25 people, including people on the ground.There are two survivors, including one member of the crew, according to the National Border Health Program, which confirmed 25 dead in a statement later Sunday. The survivors are being cared for at a local hospital, it said.The 19-seater aircraft crashed into residential homes in the Mapendo district near Goma’s airport in the North Kivu province shortly after “missing” its takeoff, according to provincial governor Nzanzu Kasivita Carly. Black smoke rose from the plane in the morning, whose wreckage could be seen amid destroyed homes as dozens of men tried to help with the rescue efforts. The smoke cleared as rescue workers carried bodies in stretchers and hundreds gathered at the scene.Placide Kambale, a local pilot, said he took a taxi to the scene of the crash to help out. When he got there, the plane was on fire.“I called other young people from the neighborhood, they helped me to try to remove those who still moved,” he said. “We have managed to recover two that was quickly sent to the hospital,” but then the fire expanded.Joseph Makundi, coordinator of the North-Kivu civil protection, said that at least 25 people had been killed.The Dornier 228-200 was owned by private carrier Busy Bee and was headed to Beni, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of Goma in the same province.Congo’s government said there were 17 passengers aboard the plane, according to the manifest.The U.N. mission in Congo said it sent an Emergency Crash and Rescue team with two fire engines to support Congolese authorities.Plane crashes are frequent in the central African nation of Congo because of poor maintenance and relaxed air safety standards. None of Congo’s commercial carriers, including Busy Bee, are allowed to fly into European Union airspace because of safety concerns. ALSO READ | MiG 21 trainer aircraft crashes in Gwalior, both pilots eject safelyALSO READ | Small plane crashes in cotton fields 100 kms off Hyderabad; both pilots killed

At least 25 dead as passenger plane crashes into homes in DR Congo

A small passenger plane carrying at least 17 passengers crashed shortly after takeoff Sunday in Congo’s eastern city of Goma, killing at least 25 people, including people on the ground.

df7916abcc88473dc58d1be15802935a

RMS Titanic Titanic, the gigantic ship started its venture on April 10, 1912, five days before it collided with an iceberg and sank into the frigid water of Atlantic on its maiden voyage. More than a century of research and debate, have brought different theories and facts about the ship, which has become famous even after the failure on its first expedition.Fourteen years before the Titanic expedition, writer Morgan Robertson wrote a novel 'Futility', a story of a huge ship named 'Titan' that hits an iceberg in Northern Atlantic. Like Titanic, Titan too didn't have enough lifeboats which claimed more than 1000 passengers' lives. Read on to know such interesting facts about the unsinkable ship, Titanic.1. The Royal Mail Ship Titanic was the world’s largest passenger ship and the largest man-made moving object on Earth. 2. It had left the port of Southampton, England and was heading for New York.3. Titanic's interiors were loosely inspired by the Ritz hotel, London. It had amenities like squash court, gym, swimming pool, Turkish bath, a dog kennel. 4. It even had its own on-board newspaper – the Atlantic Daily Bulletin.5. The ship which is known for its royalty had only two bathtubs for more than 700 third class passengers.6. It took 2 hours and 40 minutes to sink in the ocean after colliding with the iceberg. {img-32333}7. Speaking about the iceberg, its age was around 1000 BC when it hit the ship. 8. The musicians were so dedicated that they kept playing for two hours and five minutes before the ship sank.9. The Titanic was equipped to carry 64 lifeboats but carried only 20 among which most of the lifeboats were not filled to capacity. 10. Unaware about the sinking, the chief baker had consumed a generous amount of alcohol which kept him swim for two hours in the freezing Atlantic water before he was rescued.11. Out of more than 1500 deaths, only around 350 bodies were found. 12. The remains of this massive ship were found in 1985, at 2,500 feet deep in the ocean, seventy-three years after the ship sand.13. A lifeboat drill was scheduled in the day Titanic sank but it was cancelled by Captain Edward John Smith.14. A ship named Californian was just 20 miles away from Titanic when it hit the iceberg. Distress signals were also sent to Californian but its wireless operator had already gone to bed. 15. Out of four iconic smokestacks, only three worked and the fourth was to make the ship look impressive.

Titanic anniversary: 15 fascinating facts about gigantic ship

Fourteen years before the Titanic expedition, writer Morgan Robertson wrote a novel 'Futility', a story of a huge ship named 'Titan' that hits an iceberg in Northern Atlantic. Like Titanic, Titan too did not have enough lifeboats which claimed more than 1000 passengers' lives. Read on to know such interesting facts about the unsinkable ship, Titanic.

c377514b65aa23c63f93a6847583d261

Trump uses Scotland Yard IT service hack to attack London MayorUS President Donald Trump on Saturday used a brief hack into Scotland Yard’s news and Twitter service to reopen his feud with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, blaming him for the breach.A series of bizarre messages from the official news website and Twitter were sent out to more than a million followers of the Metropolitan Police accounts overnight on Friday."With the incompetent Mayor of London, you will never have safe streets," Trump said, alongside a retweet of a Twitter message related to the hack.The US president and Khan have repeatedly clashed in the past, exchanging Twitter barbs against each other.The Met Police clarified in a statement that there had been no hack of the Met Police’s own IT infrastructure but that the breach was linked with a third-party news service it uses.“We are assessing to establish what criminal offences have been committed,” the force said in a statement.It adds: “The Met Police Press Bureau uses an online provider called MyNewsDesk to issue news releases and other content. When a story is published via MyNewsDesk, it appears on the Met’s website and Twitter accounts and generates an email to those who’ve subscribed to receive our news updates."On Friday (July 19), unauthorised messages appeared on the news section of our website as well as on the @metpoliceuk Twitter feed and in emails sent to subscribers.”The Met police said it has begun making changes to its access arrangements to MyNewsDesk.The bizarre Tweets, which have subsequently been deleted, contained offensive language and mentioned the names of several people. The posts also linked to press releases regarding the rapper Digga D and an apparent missing child. Also Read | US naval ship destroys Iranian drone in Strait of Horumz, says TrumpAlso Read | Trump leaning on issue of race to win a second term in 2020

Trump uses Scotland Yard IT service hack to attack London Mayor

A series of bizarre messages from the official news website and Twitter were sent out to more than a million followers of the Metropolitan Police accounts overnight on Friday.

dbc9ddee62c9c8809bbdad60f160d69b

Breaking news LIVE: Top Headlines this HourThe total number of global coronavirus cases has surpassed 18.6 million, including more than 704,000 fatalities. More than 11,931,000 patients are reported to have recovered. Follow this breaking news blog for live updates on coronavirus pandemic as it continues to pose a challenge for health workers and scientists who are in a race against time to produce a vaccine/medicine.IndiaTvNews.com brings you the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis that has resulted in job losses in millions and changing the way we work. Stay Home, Stay Safe, and Stay Informed as our team of dedicated editors/reporters bring you the latest news on coronavirus, coronavirus vaccine trial updates, photos, video, news, views and top stories from monsoon rains, business, politics, education, science, yoga and much more in India and worldwide.

Breaking news: August 6, 2020 | As it happened

Get all the latest news on India's coronavirus cases, updates on COVID-19 vaccine, monsoon rains, business, politics, science, education and much more in India and worldwide.

f41eab1472c47438d720451be67f5c50

'Tomorrow. Vaccines': Lancet editor creates buzz with COVID-19 vaccine tweet (Representational Image)As the world struggles to contain the coronavirus pandemic, drug companies are working round the clock to find a possible vaccine to combat COVID-19. Globally, around 140 vaccine candidates are in the pre-clinical trial stage of which around two dozens are in various phases of the human clinical trial stage, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).There was a buzz in the medical fraternity after medical journal The Lancet's chief editor dropped a tweet that appears to confirm the speculation that Phase-1 clinical trial results of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by scientists at Oxford University will be published on Monday.The Oxford vaccine candidate is believed to be leading the race among over 100 such candidates to find an effective protection against the deadly disease."Tomorrow. Vaccines. Just saying," Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, said in a tweet on Sunday.According to a report in The Telegraph last week, the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine generated an immune response against the disease in the Phase-1 trial. The vaccine has been developed at the University of Oxford's Jenner Institute.Oxford in April had announced an agreement with the UK-based global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for further development, large-scale manufacture and potential distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate.Robert Peston, a journalist at British broadcaster ITV, earlier reported that The Lancet was due to publish clinical data on the vaccine.While the Phase-1 trial of the vaccine candidate began in April itself, the Phase 2/Phase 3 UK trial of the Oxford vaccine, named AZD1222, in about 10,000 adult volunteers was announced in May.However, the results of the Phase 1 trial are still awaited.(With IANS Inputs)

'Tomorrow. Vaccines': Lancet editor creates buzz with COVID-19 vaccine tweet

There was a buzz in the medical fraternity after the Medical journal The Lancet's chief editor has dropped a tweet that appears to confirm the speculation that Phase-1 clinical trial results of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by scientists at Oxford University will be published on Monday.

8eb442a5ae11934f3e1c1bbeefe1bb95

Twin bombs exploded at a mosque in a busy area in the city of Benghazi today, killing at least two people and wounding 75 others, a Libyan official said, in the second attack targeting the city's houses of worship in less than a month. The explosion took place just before Friday prayers at the Saad Ibn Ibada mosque located between Benghazi's al-Majouri and Berka districts, said Motaz Agouri, an official from Benghazi security directorate's media office. Related Stories 7 Die In Libyan Protests In Benghazi: Medical OfficialClash Breaks Out In Benghazi, LibyaUS captures key militant involved in 2012 Benghazi attack Twin car bombs kill at least 27, injure over 30 in east Libya city of BenghaziHe also said that the two bombs were planted in separate rooms at the site of the mosque. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Photos of the mosque after the explosion emerged on social media sites showing the damaged building with smashed doors and windows, and blood staining parts of the floor. Later, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya condemned the attack in a statement. "This heinous act should not provide a justification for revenge attacks. Prompt, impartial investigations should bring perpetrators to justice," the group said. Benghazi, a troubled city with occasional bombings and attacks, has seen often seen fighting between forces loyal to the self-styled Libyan National Army, led by military strongman Khalifa Hifter, and Islamist militia opponents. In January, a twin car bombing near a mosque in Benghazi's Salmani neighborhood killed at least 33 people.Libya descended into chaos after the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed ruler Moammar Gadhafi. The country has been since split between rival governments in the east and the west, each backed by an array of militias. 

Bombings at mosque in Libya's Benghazi kill 2, injure 75

The explosion took place just before Friday prayers at the Saad Ibn Ibada mosque located between Benghazi's al-Majouri and Berka districts, said Motaz Agouri, an official from Benghazi security directorate's media office.

d342cf192ea9c4ee7f1b390842c85330

UK’s COVID-19 death toll rises by 315The death toll from the novel coronavirus in UK hospitals, care homes and the wider community rose by 315 to hit 28,446 on Sunday, the latest government figures revealed. The latest figures indicate that the UK’s toll is now edging closer to that in Italy, one of the worst hit countries in the pandemic where the figure stands at 28,710 this week.UK C abinet Office minister Michael Gove announced the figures at the daily 10 Downing Street briefing as he also confirmed that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be laying out a detailed plan next week to start easing the economy out of the current lockdown.“We’re consulting with employers and unions, professionals and public health experts, to establish how we can ensure that we have the safest possible working environments, and the Prime Minister will be saying more,” the minister said.He also confirmed a pilot in the Isle of Wight region of Britain of a new contact tracing app created by the digital arm of the state-funded National Health Service, NHSX, that could alert users when they have come into contact with someone who has coronavirus symptoms and should seek a Covid-19 test. After the pilot of the "test, track and trace procedures" on the island, the app is expected to be made more widely available later this month.Gove went on to pay tribute to Muslims currently celebrating Ramzan during lockdown.He said: "For those experiencing the first Ramzan without a loved one, this will be a particularly painful time."As with Christians who could not celebrate Easter together in church, and the Jewish community whose Passover rituals were affected by social distancing, our thoughts are with Muslim neighbours who cannot break their fast together and must adapt their religious and cultural practices because of the crisis."Professor Stephen Powis, the National Medical Director of NHS England, who joined the minister at the daily briefing said the number of hospital admissions for coronavirus, as well as the number of occupied critical care beds were "continuing to fall" across the country.He reiterated that the falling number of deaths also indicated that “we were past the peak of the virus” in the UK. 

UK’s COVID-19 death toll rises by 315 to reach 28,446

The death toll from the novel coronavirus in UK hospitals, care homes and the wider community rose by 315 to hit 28,446 on Sunday, the latest government figures revealed.

a74f7caeaa69950e6b067fd843372c97

Virtually ruling out any bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official today said that the “atmosphere” was “not right” for such meeting.“The atmosphere is not right for a bilateral meeting between President Xi and Prime Minister Modi,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said ahead of the summit beginning tomorrow.China and India have been engaged in a standoff in the Dokalam area near the Bhutan tri-junction for past 19 days after a Chinese Army’s construction party attempted to build a road. Doka La is the Indian name for the region which Bhutan recognises as Dokalam, while China claims it as part of its Donglang region. There were reports that Modi and Xi may meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit to resolve the standoff.  China’s state-run media yesterday had quoted Chinese analysts as saying that Beijing would be forced to use a “military way” to end the standoff in the Sikkim sector if India refuses to listen to the “historical lessons” being offered by it.(With PTI inputs)

‘Atmosphere not right’ for bilateral meeting between PM Modi and President Xi during G20 Summit, says China

“The atmosphere is not right for a bilateral meeting between President Xi and Prime Minister Modi,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said.

666dc639435358d74efca15d81b20862

Magnitude 3.8 earthquake hits Hindu Kush, Afghanistan An earthquake of magnitude 3.8 on the Richter scale struck Hindu Kush, Afghanistan on Sunday. According to the National Centre for Seismology the earthquake hit at 5:28 am today. More details awaited. 

Magnitude 3.8 earthquake hits Hindu Kush, Afghanistan

An earthquake of magnitude 3.8 on the Richter scale struck Hindu Kush, Afghanistan on Sunday. According to the National Centre for Seismology the earthquake hit at 5:28 am today.

8f34d216a801f30448d18a1f92bd33de

US President Donald Trump arrived in Ireland US President Donald Trump arrived in Ireland on Wednesday afternoon following a three-day state visit to Britain, a media report said.This is the first official visit ever paid by Trump to Ireland after he became the US President, the Xinhua news agency reported.Related Stories Trump to hold talks with Theresa May amid protestsTrump fails to recognise his gift to Queen Elizabeth II, Melania comes to rescueIndian-origin CEOs among top team at Trump business meet in UKTrump joins world leaders at 75th D-Day anniversaryLocal TV channel footage showed that the US President's plane Air Force One arrived at Shannon Airport at about 4:50 p.m. local time. Trump and his wife Melania Trump were greeted by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at the airport which is located at Ireland's western coastal area along the Atlantic Ocean. A "peace camp" was set up outside Shannon Airport where people protested against Trump's visit to Ireland mainly over climate change issues. A large-scale protest is also planned in the Irish capital Dublin on Thursday. Due to the planned protests against Trump, over 1,500 police personnel have been deployed in County Clare where Shannon Airport and Doonbeg are located, reported local media. According to the media reports, Trump will hold a meeting with Varadkar at the airport and topics of the meeting will include Brexit, peace process in Northern Ireland, trade and visa issues between the two countries. After the talk, Trump will travel by helicopter to Doonbeg, a small village along the western coastal area of Ireland where Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Ireland, a property bought by Trump in early 2014, is located. He will stay at his golf resort for the first night and then fly to France on Thursday for the D-Day commemoration before returning to his Doonbeg resort where dinner will be held in his honour later that evening.

US President Donald Trump visits Ireland amid protest

A "peace camp" was set up outside Shannon Airport where people protested against Trump's visit to Ireland mainly over climate change issues.

38b431545b744626a46083afd5da718b

Image for representationA twin-engine skydiving aircraft has crashed near an airfield on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, killing all nine passengers on board, authorities said."There were 9 souls on board the King Air twin engine plane that went down near Dillingham Airfield with no apparent survivors," the Hawaii Department of Transportation tweeted on Friday.Related Stories Arvind Kejriwal announces Rs 1-crore help for kin of IAF personnel killed in AN-32 crash2009 Swiss aircraft deal: CBI files case against arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, IAF officials2009 Swiss aircraft buy: CBI books Sanjay Bhandari, IAF officialsHonolulu Fire Department received the first call of the downed craft at about 6.30 p.m. (local time) on Friday and when firefighters arrived, they found the wreckage of the craft fully engulfed in flames, Hawaii News Now website reported.The plane crashed on North Shore in Oahu, part of the Hawaiian island chain and home to the state capital, Honolulu. Photos showed smoke billowing from miles away. It was not yet clear whether the plane was taking off or landing.Dillingham Airfield, 56 km northwest of downtown Honolulu, is a general aviation airport operated by the Hawaii Department of Transportation under a 25-year lease from the US Army.

9 killed in Hawaii aircraft crash

Honolulu Fire Department received the first call of the downed craft at about 6.30 p.m. (local time) on Friday and when firefighters arrived, they found the wreckage of the craft fully engulfed in flames, Hawaii News Now website reported.

4804688dd67c64e5b5a43e71dca07b51

Aerial photo shows Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo, Tuesday, April 13, 2021Japan's government decided Tuesday to start releasing massive amounts of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean in two years — an option fiercely opposed by local fishermen and residents. The decision, long speculated but delayed for years due to safety concerns and protests, came at a meeting of Cabinet ministers who endorsed the ocean release as the best option.The accumulating water has been stored in tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi plant since 2011 when a massive earthquake and tsunami damaged its reactors and their cooling water became contaminated and began leaking.The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., says its storage capacity will be full late next year.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the ocean release was the "most realistic" option and that disposing of the water is "unavoidable" for the decommissioning of the Fukushima plant, which is expected to take decades.TEPCO and government officials say tritium, which is not harmful in small amounts, cannot be removed from the water, but all other selected radionuclides can be reduced to levels allowed for release. Some scientists say the long-term impact on marine life from low-dose exposure to such large volumes of water is unknown.Under the basic plan adopted by the ministers, TEPCO will start releasing the water in about two years after building a facility under the regulatory authority's safety requirements. It said the disposal of the water cannot be postponed further and is necessary to improve the environment surrounding the plant so residents can live there safely.TEPCO says its water storage capacity of 1.37 million tons will be full around the fall of 2022. Also, the area now filled with storage tanks will have to be freed up for building new facilities that will be needed for removing melted fuel debris from inside the reactors, a process expected to start in coming years.In the decade since the tsunami disaster, water meant to cool the nuclear material has constantly escaped from the damaged primary containment vessels into the basements of the reactor buildings. To make up for the loss, more water has been pumped into the reactors to continue to cool the melted fuel. Water is also pumped out and treated, part of which is recycled as cooling water, and the remainder stored in 1,020 tanks now holding 1.25 million tons of radioactive water.Those tanks that occupy a large space at the plant complex interfere with the safe and steady progress of the decommissioning, Economy and Industry Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama said. The tanks also could be damaged and leak in case of another powerful earthquake or tsunami, the report said.Releasing the water to the ocean was described as the most realistic method by a government panel that for nearly seven years had discussed how to dispose of the water without further harming Fukushima's image, fisheries and other businesses. The report it prepared last year mentioned evaporation as a less desirable option.About 70% of the water in the tanks exceeds allowable discharge limits for contamination but will be filtered again and diluted with seawater before it is released, the report says. According to a preliminary estimate, gradual releases of water will take about 30 years but will be completed before the plant is fully decommissioned.Japan will abide by international rules for a release, obtain support from the International Atomic Energy Agency and others, and ensure disclosure of data and transparency to gain an understanding of the international community, the report said. China and South Korea have raised serious concerns about the discharge of the water and its potential impact.The government has said it will do the utmost to support local fisheries, and the report said TEPCO would compensate for damages if they occur despite those efforts.Kajiyama is set to visit Fukushima on Tuesday afternoon to meet with local town and fisheries officials to explain the decision. He said he will continue to make efforts to gain their understanding over the next two years.(Except for the headline, Indiatvnews.com has not edited the copy)

Japan to release contaminated Fukushima nuclear plant water into sea

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the ocean release was the "most realistic" option and that disposing of the water is "unavoidable" for the decommissioning of the Fukushima plant, which is expected to take decades.

93628c756178836f921e7f27752b4ddf

China acting in contradiction to its agreements with India: US congressmenChina has been acting in contradiction to its agreements with India to change the status quo and challenge Indian troops at the border, an influential bipartisan Congressional Caucus has said and hoped that Beijing will scale back on their excessive weaponry and infrastructure at the Line of Actual Control.The Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans on Thursday also expressed their condolences for the lives lost in the Galwan Valley. The troops of India and China are locked in an over eight-week standoff in several areas in eastern Ladakh including Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley and Gogra Hot Spring since May 5. The situation deteriorated last month following the Galwan Valley clashes that left 20 Indian Army personnel dead.“As members of the Caucus on India and Indian Americans, we are extremely disappointed by the events that took place at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley area on June 15,” congressmen George Holding and Brad Sherman, co-chairmen of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans said in a statement on Thursday.The House of Representatives Caucus on India and Indian Americans, led by congressmen Holding and Sherman in a letter to India’s Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, said that over the last few months, the Chinese authorities have been acting with impunity and have attempted to transgress on the LAC, which resulted in diplomatic discussions to implement a process for de-escalation along the LAC on June 6. The letter was signed by seven other lawmakers.“Only nine days after the agreement, the Chinese attempted to build new infrastructure on the Indian side of the LAC, the letter said. "Dissatisfied with your government’s response, the Chinese troops disregarded the recently implemented disengagement process and erupted in premeditated violence, which resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers,” it said.The bipartisan letter was signed by four members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, two members of the House Armed Services Committee and one each from the House intelligence, judiciary and agricultural committees. “We offer our condolences to the families of the fallen soldiers, and we will keep them in our thoughts and prayers. We are disappointed that China has been acting in contradiction to their agreements with India, in their attempt to change the status quo and challenge Indian troops at the border,” the letter said.“It is my hope that they scale back on their excessive weaponry and infrastructure at the Line of Actual Control and uphold both their longstanding and new-founded agreements with India,” said the letter. The letter among others was signed by congressmen Ro Khanna, Joe Wilson, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Steve Chabot, Pramila Jayapal, Ted Yoho and T J Cox.Over the last few weeks, bipartisan support for India against China has been increasing. A day earlier, Senator Bob Menendez, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said US-India partnership, based on their shared commitment to democracy, is vital to uphold international law, international norms and the institutions that can peacefully and diplomatically resolve disputes and aggression.“As India and China work to disengage along the Line of Actual Control, I remain deeply concerned by China's aggressive behaviour in territorial disputes,” Menendez said. “From the 2017 Doklam standoff to the recent violence along the borders in Sikkim and Ladakh, to China's new claims to Bhutanese territory, Beijing has all too often sought to redraw the map of Asia without regard for its neighbours,” he said.Last month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that for the sake of grabbing territory, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) appears to have instigated the most violent clash between China and India since those nations went to war in 1962. “I am extremely concerned by the ongoing Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control on the India-China border,” said congressman Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs last month.“China is demonstrating once again that it is willing to bully its neighbours rather than resolve conflicts according to international law,” Engel said. Top Republican Senator Marco Rubio also called recently India’s Ambassador to the US to express his solidarity with the people of India as they firmly confront unwarranted and lawless armed aggression by the Communist Party of China.“India has made it clear, they will not be bullied by Beijing,” he said. Senator Tom Cotton slammed China of its aggression against India. 

China acting in contradiction to its agreements with India: US congressmen

China has been acting in contradiction to its agreements with India to change the status quo and challenge Indian troops at the border, an influential bipartisan Congressional Caucus has said and hoped that Beijing will scale back on their excessive weaponry and infrastructure at the Line of Actual Control.

e0dbcdb9ca519cf89f7a57e93f44a588

In this March 10, 2011, file photo, then-Vice President Joe Biden, left, shakes hands with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia. U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin held their first conversation as counterparts Tuesday in a phone call that underscored troubled relations and the delicate balance between the former Cold War foes.According to the White House, Biden raised concerns about the arrest of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, Russia’s alleged involvement in a massive cyber-espionage campaign and reports of Russian bounties on American troops in Afghanistan. The Kremlin, meanwhile, focused on Putin’s response to Biden’s proposal to extend the last remaining U.S.-Russia arms control treaty.While the readouts from the two capitals emphasized different elements, they both suggested that U.S-Russia relations will be guided, at least at the beginning of the Biden administration, by a desire to do no harm but also no urgency to repair existing damage.The two presidents agreed to have their teams work urgently to complete a five-year extension of the New START nuclear weapons treaty that expires next month. Former President Donald Trump’s administration had withdrawn from two arms control treaties with Russia and had been prepared to let New START lapse.Unlike his immediate predecessors — including Trump, who was enamored of Putin and frequently undercut his own administration’s tough stance on Russia — Biden has not held out hope for a “reset” in relations. Instead, he has indicated he wants to manage differences without necessarily resolving them or improving ties.And with a heavy domestic agenda and looming decisions needed on Iran and China, a direct confrontation with Russia is not likely something Biden seeks.Although the leaders agreed to work together to extend New START before it expires Feb. 5 and to look at other areas of potential strategic cooperation, the White House said Biden was firm on U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, while Russia is supporting separatists in the country’s east.Biden also raised the SolarWinds cyber hack, which has been attributed to Russia, reports of Russian bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan, interference in the 2020 U.S. election, the poisoning of Navalny and the weekend crackdown on Navalny’s supporters.“President Biden made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies,” the White House said. Biden told Putin in the phone call, first reported by The Associated Press, that the U.S. would defend itself and take action, which could include further sanctions, to ensure Moscow does not act with impunity, officials said.Moscow had reached out last week to request the call, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly. Biden agreed, but he wanted first to prepare with his staff and speak with European allies, including the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, which he did.Before he spoke to Putin, Biden also called NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg to pledge U.S. commitment to the decades-old alliance founded as a bulwark against Russian aggression.The Kremlin’s readout of the call did not address the most contentious issues between the countries, though it said the leaders also discussed other “acute issues on the bilateral and international agenda.”It described the talk as “frank and businesslike” — often a diplomatic way of referring to tense discussions. It also said Putin congratulated Biden on becoming president and “noted that normalization of ties between Russia and the United States would serve the interests of both countries.”Among the issues the Kremlin said were discussed were the coronavirus pandemic, the Iran nuclear agreement, Ukraine and issues related to trade and the economy.The call came as Putin considers the aftermath of pro-Navalny protests that took place in more than 100 Russian cities over the weekend. Biden’s team has already reacted strongly to the crackdown on the protests, in which more than 3,700 people were arrested across Russia, including more than 1,400 in Moscow. More protests are planned for the coming weekend.Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and Putin’s best-known critic, was arrested Jan. 17 as he returned to Russia from Germany, where he had spent nearly five months recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Biden has previously condemned the use of chemical weapons.Russian authorities deny the accusations.Just from the public accounts, Biden’s discussion with Putin appeared diametrically opposed to Trump’s relationship with the Russian president.Trump had seemed to seek Putin’s approval, frequently casting doubt on Russian interference in the 2016 elections, including when he stood next to Putin at their 2018 summit in Helsinki. He also downplayed Russia’s involvement in the hack of federal government agencies last year and the allegations that Russia offered the Taliban bounties.Still, despite that conciliatory approach, Trump’s administration toed a tough line against Moscow, imposing sanctions on the country, Russian companies and business leaders for issues including Ukraine, energy supplies and attacks on dissidents.Biden, in his call with Putin, broke sharply with Trump by declaring that he knew that Russia attempted to interfere with both the 2016 and 2020 U.S. elections.

First Biden-Putin call shows both cautious on big concerns

The two presidents agreed to have their teams work urgently to complete a five-year extension of the New START nuclear weapons treaty that expires next month.

790535c3144bc9ab93591fa152726edc

Bangladesh ports warned against continued rainsThe Bangladesh Meteorological Department has asked the maritime ports to continue with the Local Cautionary Signal No. 3 as strong monsoon persists over the North Bay of Bengal, the media reported. Deep convection is taking place while squally weather may affect the ports, North Bay and adjoining coastal areas, bdnews24 quoted the Met Office as saying on Friday.It advised all fishing boats and trawlers over North Bay to remain close to the coast and proceed with caution until further notice.They were also advised against venturing into the deep sea.Rains in different parts of the country, including Dhaka, continued on Friday, which have caused rivers to flow above the danger level at four points.In Saturday's forecast, the Met Office said light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely to occur at most places of the country.

Bangladesh ports warned against continued rains

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department has asked the maritime ports to continue with the Local Cautionary Signal No. 3 as strong monsoon persists over the North Bay of Bengal, the media reported.

dbbe6d621b99ec9325c179ad4cbe0b85

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is making a two-day visit to Beijing starting Tuesday and is expected to discuss with Chinese leaders his next steps after his nuclear summit.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is making a two-day visit to Beijing starting Tuesday and is expected to discuss with Chinese leaders his next steps after his nuclear summit with President Donald Trump last week.Kim’s visit to Beijing, while expected, is one way for China to highlight its crucial role in U.S. efforts to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. The U.S. has long looked to China to use its influence with North Korea to bring it to negotiations, but the visit comes as ties between Beijing and Washington are being tested by a major trade dispute.Related Stories Can United States attack a nuclear-armed North Korea? End to strained ties? Trump accepts North Korean dictator Kim Jong's offer, will meet him by MayCIA director meets Kim Jong Un: Trump says ‘good relationship’ formed with North KoreaNorth Korea Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un brings his own toilet to Trump SummitChinese President Xi Jinping “is exerting a lot of influence from behind the scenes,” said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Glaser said it was predictable Xi would want to be briefed by Kim directly about the North Korean leader’s talks with Trump.“I expect they will talk about the path going forward and where priorities should lie,” Glaser said. Those priorities, from China’s perspective, would be to ensure that Beijing is included in any in peace treaty talks and for creating an environment on the Korean Peninsula that will make it unnecessary for US troops to remain.Security was tight Tuesday morning in the Pyongyang airport, where another flight was unexpectedly delayed, and later at the Beijing airport where paramilitary police prevented journalists from shooting photos. A motorcade including sedans, minibuses, motorcycles and a stretch limo with a golden emblem like one Kim used previously was seen leaving the airport.Roads near the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where senior Chinese officials meet with visiting leaders, were closed and the same motorcade with motorcycle escorts was later seen heading into the compound. A ring of police vehicles and black sedans surrounded the perimeter of the guesthouse where Kim stayed on his first visit earlier this year. Kim’s presence there and the schedule of his visit, including any meetings with Xi, have not been confirmed.Kim was diplomatically isolated for years before making his first foreign trip as leader in March to meet with Xi in Beijing. This would be his third visit to China, North Korea’s main ally and key source of trade and economic assistance. Following his summit with Trump, Kim was expected to meet with Chinese leaders to discuss progress in halting his country’s missile and nuclear weapons programs in exchange for economic incentives.The Singapore meeting resulted in a surprise announcement of a U.S. suspension of military drills with its South Korean ally, a goal long pursued by Beijing and Pyongyang. That move is seen as potentially weakening defenses and diplomacy among America’s Asian allies, while bolstering China and Russia.The U.S. has stationed combat troops in South Korea since the Korean War, in which China fought on North Korea’s side and which ended in 1953 with an armistice and no peace treaty.The state media treatment of Kim’s visit departed from past practice of not announcing his travels until Kim returned home. Analysts said Beijing appeared to be trying to normalize such visits.Cheng Xiaohe, an associate professor at Renmin University’s School of International Studies in Beijing, said the frequency of Kim’s visits was “unprecedented.” He noted that unlike on previous visits, China’s state broadcaster CCTV announced Kim’s visit before his departure.“This is an improvement. This shows that China is moving toward a healthier and more normal direction in relations with North Korea,” Cheng said.The visit comes as a dispute over the large trade imbalance between China and the U.S. has been escalating, straining ties between the world’s two largest economies and moving them closer to a potential trade war.Trump recently ordered tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods in retaliation for intellectual property theft. The tariffs were quickly matched by China on U.S. exports, a move that drew the president’s ire. On Tuesday morning China woke to news that Trump directed the U.S. Trade Representative to prepare new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports, a move swiftly criticized by Beijing.A trade war with the U.S. could make it less attractive for China to use its influence over North Korea to help the U.S. achieve its objectives of denuclearization.“The potential comprehensive trade war will make the cooperation between China and U.S. in North Korea’s nuclear issue more complicated,” Cheng said. “There will be a big question mark over whether China and U.S. will continue this cooperation.” 

Kim Jong Un to visit China today, expected to discuss denuclearisation

Kim’s visit to Beijing, while expected, is one way for China to highlight its crucial role in U.S. efforts to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.

44a3ff595d14cac9acda358cbb2c92fd

A person wears a mask as he stands in line at Costco Saturday, April 4, 2020, in Salt Lake City. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now advising Americans to voluntarily wear a basic cloth or fabric face mask to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)The New York governor said Saturday the Chinese government was facilitating a shipment of 1,000 donated ventilators to his state, highlighting the extreme measures leaders are taking in what has become a cutthroat scramble to independently secure enough lifesaving devices during the coronavirus pandemic.In a sign of the disorganized response to the global crisis, Gov. Andrew Cuomo praised the Chinese government for its help in securing the shipment of the breathing machines that was scheduled to arrive at Kennedy Airport on Saturday, while acknowledging that the U.S. government’s stockpile of medical supplies would fall drastically short.“We’re all in the same battle here,” Cuomo said, noting that the state of Oregon also volunteered to send 140 ventilators to New York. “And the battle is stopping the spread of the virus.”The rush to secure supplies has prompted intense squabbling between the states and federal government at a moment the nation is facing one of its gravest emergencies. Leaders like Cuomo have been forced to go outside normal channels and work with authoritarian governments and private companies.Trump said states are making inflated requests for medical supplies when the need isn’t there and suggested he had a hand in the ventilator shipment arriving from China to New York. Trump also said he’d like to hear a more resounding “thank you” from Cuomo for providing medical supplies and helping quickly to add hospital capacity. Cuomo acknowledged he asked the White House and others for help negotiating the ventilators.“We have given the governor of New York more than anybody has ever been given in a long time,” Trump told reporters in Washington.While the state of Massachusetts used the New England Patriots’ team plane to pick up over a million masks from China, Russia has also sent medical equipment to the U.S. Meanwhile, Trump has said he’d prevent the export of N95 protective masks to Canada and other nations, prompting a rebuke from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said his country won’t bring retaliatory measures as it continues to ship gloves and testing kits to the U.S.The number of people infected in the U.S. has exceeded 300,000, with the death toll climbing past 8,400; more than 3,500 of those deaths are in New York state, including more than 1,900 in New York City. In addition to getting ventilators from China and Oregon, Cuomo ordered private hospitals in the state to redistribute breathing machines to those most in need.“I want this all to be over,” Cuomo said, noting that while it’s been roughly 30 days since the state’s first case, “it feels like an entire lifetime.”Trump said the federal government is setting up a 2,500-bed field hospital at New York’s Javits Convention Center that will be staffed by the military. He said similar hospital projects are being built in Louisiana and Dallas.“There will be a lot of death, unfortunately, but a lot less death than if this wasn’t done,” Trump said. He later added that the federal government is “a backup ... the greatest backup that ever existed for the states.”As the number of people infected has grown to more than 1.1 million worldwide, health care systems are straining under the surge of patients. In China, air raid sirens sounded across the country Saturday and flags flew at half staff in tribute to victims of the coronavirus pandemic, including the health care “martyrs” who have died fighting to save others.With the highest number of infections in Europe and their hospitals overwhelmed, Spain and Italy struggled to protect medical staff on the front lines, while 17 medics in Egypt’s main cancer hospital tested positive for the virus.Italy and Spain, with combined deaths of more than 25,000 and nearly a quarter-million infections, have reported a high percentage of infections among health care workers.Carlo Palermo, head of Italy’s hospital doctors’ union, fought tears as he told reporters in Rome of the physical risks and psychological trauma the outbreak is causing, noting reports that two nurses had killed themselves.“It’s a indescribable condition of stress. Unbearable,” he said.Overall, new infections continued to slow their once-exponential pace in Italy, with 4,805 new cases registered Saturday that brought the country’s official count to 124,632. The death toll continued to mount, with 681 new victims bringing the world’s highest toll to 15,362.In France, 7,560 people have died of coronavirus-related issues including at least 2,028 in nursing homes, health director Jerome Salomon said. More than 440 of the overall deaths happened in the last 24 hours.In the U.S., the outbreak is deepening in other areas beyond New York. More than 400 people have died in Louisiana, and state authorities have been sprinting to find ventilators similar to New York. Michigan has more than 14,000 infections and 500 deaths, with Detroit being the state’s epicenter.With the arrival of the weekend and spring weather, many Americans struggled to adhere to social distancing and stay-at-home orders that cover most of the country. The sheriff in San Diego issued about two dozen citations to people, saying violators were breaking the rules by having picnics near the beach.And officials from the major sports leagues had a phone call with Trump about resuming competition. Asked if he thought the NFL season would start on time in September with fans in the stands, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, said: “I’m not anticipating that happening in this state.”In China, where the coronavirus was first detected in December, authorities have cautiously lifted restrictions amid dropping numbers of infections. On Sunday the government reported just 30 new coronavirus cases, including 25 people who had arrived from overseas. The other five were in the southern province of Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong. There were three new deaths for an official total of 3,329.Spain’s Health Ministry reported 18,324 infected health workers as of Saturday, representing 15% of the total number of infections in the country.As Spain completes its third week in a state of emergency, there were signs the number of new infections were slowing. But they were still high, with 7,026 new cases reported overnight Saturday and 809 deaths.Worldwide, confirmed infections rose past 1.1 million and deaths exceeded 63,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say both greatly under-count the true number of victims because of lack of testing, mild cases that were missed and governments that are underplaying the crisis.At the same time, more than 233,000 people have recovered from the virus, which causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever and cough in most patients, who recover within a few weeks. But for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

New York gets Chinese ventilators; Trump wants more thanks

The New York governor said Saturday the Chinese government was facilitating a shipment of 1,000 donated ventilators to his state, highlighting the extreme measures leaders are taking in what has become a cutthroat scramble to independently secure enough lifesaving devices during the coronavirus pandemic.

c455006758a87721673d4ddbf41ccd88

In a surprise retaliatory move Thursday, Facebook blocked Australians from sharing news stories, escalating a fight with the government over whether powerful tech companies should have to pay news organizations for content.For two decades, global news outlets have complained internet companies are getting rich at their expense, selling advertising linked to their reports without sharing revenue. Now, Australia is joining France and other governments in pushing Google, Facebook, and other internet giants to pay. That might channel more money to a news industry that is cutting coverage as revenue shrinks. But it also sets up a clash with some of the tech industry’s biggest names.Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., has announced agreements to pay publishers in Australia while Facebook said Thursday it has blocked users in the country from viewing or sharing news.WHAT IS HAPPENING IN AUSTRALIA?Facing a proposed law to compel internet companies to pay news organizations, Google has announced deals with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Seven West Media. No financial details were released. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. is in negotiations.Google accounts for 53% percent of Australian online advertising revenue and Facebook 23%, according to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.Google had threatened to make its search engine unavailable in Australia in response to the legislation, which would create a panel to make pricing decisions on the news.On Thursday, Facebook responded by blocking users from accessing and sharing Australian news.Facebook said the proposed law “ignores the realities” of its relationship with publishers that use its service to “share news content.” That was despite Frydenberg saying this week Google and Facebook “do want to enter into these commercial arrangements.”WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OTHER COUNTRIES?Australia’s proposed law would be the first of its kind, but other governments also are pressuring Google, Facebook, and other internet companies to pay news outlets and other publishers for the material.In Europe, Google had to negotiate with French publishers after a court last year upheld an order saying such agreements were required by a 2019 European Union copyright directive.France is the first government to enforce the rules, but the decision suggests Google, Facebook, and other companies will face similar requirements in other parts of the 27-nation trade bloc.Google and a group of French publishers have announced a framework agreement for the American company to negotiate licensing deals with individual publishers. The company has deals with outlets including the newspaper Le Monde and the weekly magazine l’Obs.Last year, Facebook announced it would pay U.S. news organizations including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and USA Today for headlines. No financial details were released.In Spain, Google shut down its news website after a 2014 law required it to pay publishers.WHY DOES THIS MATTER?Developments in Australia and Europe suggest the financial balance between multibillion-dollar internet companies and news organizations might be shifting.Australia is responding to complaints internet companies should share advertising and other revenue connected to news reports, magazine articles, and other content that appears on their websites or is shared by users.The government acted after its competition regulator tried and failed to negotiate a voluntary payment plan with Google. The proposed law would create a panel to make binding decisions on the price of news reports to help give individual publishers more negotiating leverage with global internet companies.WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE PUBLIC?Google’s agreement means a new revenue stream for news outfits, but whether that translates into more coverage for readers, viewers, and listeners is unclear.The union for Australian journalists is calling on media companies to make sure online revenue goes into newsgathering.“Any monies from these deals need to end up in the newsroom, not the boardroom,” said Marcus Strom, president of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance. “We will be pressing the case for transparency on how these funds are spent.”In the meantime, access occasionally could suffer: Facebook’s move Thursday initially blocked some Australian commercial and government communications pages.ALSO READ | WhatsApp to offer more info on privacy policy update via banner

EXPLAINER: What’s up between Google, Facebook and Australia?

For two decades, global news outlets have complained internet companies are getting rich at their expense, selling advertising linked to their reports without sharing revenue.

f7f4d19071c4f83ef40a0a8157d7ec91

With Myanmar drawing condemnation for violence that has driven at least 370,000 Rohingya to flee the country, the government said Wednesday its leader Aung San Suu Kyi would skip this week’s U.N. General Assembly.Suu Kyi was missing the assembly, which opened Tuesday and runs through September 25, in order to address domestic security issues, according to presidential office spokesman Zaw Htay. Suu Kyi is not Myanmar’s president — her official titles are state counselor and foreign minister — but she effectively serves as leader of the Southeast Asian nation.Zaw Htay said that, with President Htin Kyaw hospitalized, the second vice president would attend the U.N. meeting.“The first reason (Suu Kyi cannot attend) is because of the Rakhine terrorist attacks,” Zaw Htay said. “The state counselor is focusing to calm the situation in Rakhine state. There are circumstances. The second reason is, there are people inciting riots in some areas. We are trying to take care of the security issue in many other places. The third is that we are hearing that there will be terrorist attacks and we are trying to address this issue.”The crisis erupted on Aug. 25, when an insurgent Rohingya group attacked on police outposts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. That prompted Myanmar’s military to launch “clearance operations” against the rebels, setting off a wave of violence that have left hundreds dead and thousands of homes burned — mostly Rohingya in both cases.The government blames Rohingya for the attacks, but journalists who visited the region found evidence that raises doubts about its claims that Rohingya set fire to their own homes.Many of the Rohingya who flooded into refugee camps in Bangladesh told of Myanmar soldiers shooting indiscriminately, burning their homes and warning them to leave or die. Others said they were attacked by Buddhist mobs.Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who lived under house arrest for many years under a military junta that ultimately gave way to an elected government, has faced a torrent of international criticism and pressure since the crisis erupted.On Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the killing of Muslims a political disaster and called Suu Kyi a “brutal woman.” U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said the Rohingya were victims of what “seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”Bangladesh has been overwhelmed with the massive influx of Rohingya, many of whom arrived hungry and traumatized after walking for days through jungles or being packed into rickety wooden boats.Before Aug. 25, Bangladesh had already been housing some 500,000 Rohingya refugees who fled earlier flashes of violence including anti-Muslim riots in 2012.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has pledged to help the new arrivals, but demanded that Myanmar “take their nationals back.”With two pre-existing camps packed beyond capacity, the government said it would provide 2,000 acres (810 hectares) for a new camp in the border district of Cox’s Bazar. Many of the new arrivals were staying in schools, or were huddling under tarps in makeshift settlements along roads and in open fields.Basic resources were scarce, including food, clean water and medical aid.Dozens of foreign diplomats and aid agency officials were set to meet Rohingya refugees Wednesday near the Kutupalong refugee camp, according to Kazi Abdur Rahman, additional deputy commissioner in Cox’s Bazar district.“A humanitarian crisis is going on here,” he said. The diplomats “will visit camps, talk to them, see their condition. We need to work together during such a serious crisis.”Two human rights groups have accused the U.N. Security Council of ignoring the crisis.“This is an international peace and security crisis” and there is no excuse for the Security Council “sitting on its hands,” Louis Charbonneau of Human Rights Watch said Tuesday alongside representatives from Amnesty International at the U.N. headquartersThe Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the world’s largest Muslim body, urged Myanmar to allow in U.N. monitors so they can investigate what it alleged was systematic brutality against the Rohingya. The U.N. Human Rights Council approved an investigative mission earlier this year, but Myanmar in June refused to allow it to enter. An envoy’s visit in July was met with protests.The ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority has faced decades of discrimination persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship despite centuries-old roots in the country.On Tuesday, the president’s office said Myanmar’s government had established a new committee to address security and economic development in Rohingya areas. It said the 15-member committee would work on implementing recommendations made last month by a commission led by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Rohingya crisis: Myanmar’s Aung Suu Kyi to skip UN General Assembly meet

Suu Kyi was missing the assembly, which opened Tuesday and runs through September 25, in order to address domestic security issues.

ae4797c6b58baf2cc44dc4db408271c6

Breaking news The total number of global coronavirus cases has surpassed 4.8 million, including more than 320,000 fatalities. More than 1,907,000 patients are reported to have recovered. Follow this breaking news blog for live updates on coronavirus pandemic as it continues to pose a challenge for health workers and scientists who are in a race against time to produce a vaccine/medicine. IndiaTvNews.com brings you the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis that has resulted in job losses in millions and changing the way we work. Stay Home, Stay Safe and Stay Informed as our team of dedicated editors/reporters bring you the latest news on coronavirus:

Coronavirus Updates: May 19, 2020 | As it happened

The total number of global coronavirus cases has surpassed 4.8 million, including more than 320,000 fatalities. More than 1,907,000 patients are reported to have recovered. Follow this LIVE blog for latest on coronavirus

86f80cf0ef8777c7af140cc11e8b84f0

Trump campaign files for recount of votes in GeorgiaThe Trump Campaign has filed a petition for recount of votes in Georgia, days after US President-elect Joe Biden wrested the Republican stronghold by a little over 1,2000 votes.Democrat Biden became the first Democrat to have won the key battleground state since 1992 after a hand recount of nearly five million votes, that lasted for several days.Georgia hadn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1992.In case of a recount, election officials in Georgia will have to re-scan the five million hand-recounted and audited legal ballots."We are focused on ensuring that every aspect of Georgia State Law and the US Constitution are followed so that every legal vote is counted."President Trump and his campaign continue to insist on an honest recount in Georgia, which has to include signature matching and other vital safeguards," the Trump campaign said in a late-night statement on Saturday."Without signature matching, this recount would be a sham and again allow for illegal votes to be counted. If there is no signature matching, this would be as phony as the initial vote count and recount," said the statement issued by the legal team of the campaign."Let's stop giving the people false results. There must be a time when we stop counting illegal ballots. Hopefully it is coming soon," said the campaign, a day after Georgia Secretary of State, who is also from the same Republican Party, officially certified the election results which was narrowly won by Biden.After initial counting of votes in the state, Biden was leading by about 14,000 votes, which prompted the Georgia Secretary of State to order a hand recount which reduced Biden's lead slightly to 12,284.Georgia has 16 electoral college votes.President-elect Biden has secured 306 electoral votes as compared to Trump's 232.To win the race to the White House, the successful candidate should have at least 270 electoral votes out of the 538-member Electoral College. Trump won Georgia by 5 percentage points in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton.Trump has refused to concede the election results and has filed multiple lawsuits challenging poll results in several states. "Can't accept the results of an election with hundreds of thousands of fraudulent votes cast, enough to easily flip the Election.You're just unhappy that I'm bringing the troops back home where they belong!" Trump said in a tweet Saturday night.Also Read: Trump's eldest son tests positive for coronavirus

Trump campaign files for recount of votes in Georgia

In case of a recount, election officials in Georgia will have to re-scan the five million hand-recounted and audited legal ballots.

8d5e4668234d92ffbcba214401d2aa07

The identity of ISIS chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was confirmed by the US forces after DNA samples were taken from his underwear and blood. Baghdadi's underwear and a blood sample were used to match his DNA on Monday. Earlier on Sunday, President Donald Trump in a televised address had announced that "the world's number one terrorist leader" died during a "dangerous and daring night-time raid into northwestern Syria" by US Special Operations forces on Saturday.His body was mutilated in the blast and the US troops had to dig through debris to reach his corpse. Soldiers conducted a DNA test using a small field kit to confirm his identity.Baghdadi's remains have been disposed off in the sea.According to reports, a source undercover in Baghdadi's inner circle had direct access to the IS leader.The source gave US intelligence a pair of Baghdadi's used underwear and a blood sample at some point this year.US soldiers used the DNA from those samples to positively identify him from the remains found in the compound after the blast. That same source was at Baghdadi's compound when it was raided and he left with US forces, Abdi added.When Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals in Pakistan in May 2011, US forces had to send his remains off to an American lab in Afghanistan to confirm his identity via DNA.Baghdadi's DNA was confirmed to be a match within about 15 minutes, according to President Trump.The White House said that Baghdadi was identified via both DNA tests and visual evidence.His head was reportedly still intact, which meant a bio metric facial-recognition scanner was used to identify him.Baghdadi, who was in his late 40s and carried a bounty of at least $25 million, was one of the most wanted terrorists in the world.He presided over the brutal 'Caliphate' that he had set up in Syria and Iraq enforcing a fundamentalist code and killing thousands.Also Read | Trump releases photo of dog injured in raid on ISIS chief al-BaghdadiAlso Read | Not over yet: New US Syria mission after al-Baghdadi death

Baghdadi's identity confirmed through DNA samples from underwear, blood

When Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals in Pakistan in May 2011, US forces had to send his remains off to an American lab in Afghanistan to confirm his identity via DNA.

3958473d75dd469f379fb2be9590a4f1

Joe Biden to let health experts decide who will get a COVID-19 vaccine first: GounderUS President-elect Joe Biden will let health experts decide who will get a COVID-19 vaccine in the country first, according to Dr. Celine Gounder, a member of his coronavirus advisory board.Since the risk for COVID-19 can vary among different groups of people, prioritisation for a vaccine will be tricky, and Biden will leave those decisions to health experts, the Indian-American infectious disease physician said.It is expected that there will likely be a limited supply of coronavirus vaccine doses available immediately after a vaccine is authorised by the US Food and Drug Administration."Other than health care workers, others who will be first in line to get it will be people who do have chronic underlying medical conditions who are older, as well as communities of colour who have been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic," Gounder told CNN on Friday.The country's death toll since the pandemic's start is now more than 264,000. And nearly another 60,000 people could lose their lives over the next three weeks, according to an ensemble forecast published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week."Now among those groups is where it starts to get a little bit more contentious," she added. "How do you prioritise between the 85-year-old woman in a nursing home, versus the 65-year-old African American -- especially when that 65-year-old may be as just as high-risk of significant disease?"The CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) will recommend groups to receive the vaccine first."That's where it gets a bit more political and frankly, this is where the President-elect is leaving it to the public health experts and scientists to figure out how best to allocate the limited supply first," said Gounder, who was named by Biden earlier this month to his coronavirus advisory board.The ACIP called an emergency meeting for December 1, where they will vote on the very first group to get a vaccine."Because we know that the vaccine will be available in very limited doses, even if they prioritise health care workers and older people in their population, it's going to be really important to be a little more granular," said Rick Bright, another member of Biden's coronavirus advisory board."They're going to discuss that granularity in health care workers. If I only have so many doses available, how do I prioritise those health care workers first and make those recommendations to the states?" he said.Typically, the ACIP meets after a vaccine is authorised by the FDA to make recommendations, but they are working proactively in anticipation of a quick decision by the FDA, the report said."We foresee imminent authorisation if this vaccine is shown to be effective and safe in the near future and we want to be at the point where we are providing appropriate guidance to the states and jurisdictions for the use of these vaccines," ACIP chair Dr. Jose Romero told CNN.US pharmaceutical major Pfizer has applied to the FDA for emergency use authorisation for its vaccine. An independent panel of experts, the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, is slated to meet on December 10 to discuss the application, the report said.FDA officials say a decision should be made within a few weeks of the meeting and possibly much sooner.The US on Friday marked the 25th day in a row with more than 100,000 new cases. Hospitalisations hit a new high on Thursday -- for the 17th consecutive day -- with more than 90,400 COVID-19 patients nationwide, according to the COVID Tracking Project. 

Joe Biden to let health experts decide who will get a COVID-19 vaccine first: Gounder

US President-elect Joe Biden will let health experts decide who will get a COVID-19 vaccine in the country first, according to Dr. Celine Gounder, a member of his coronavirus advisory board.

60a92325f85c426c93b4c33a57b7cd7e

New Coronavirus Strain: UK reports highest daily Covid-19 deaths since AprilAfter the discovery of a second new variant of the novel coronavirus in Britain, the UK has reported the highest number of single-day Covid-19 fatalities since late April.According to official figures, the UK reported 744 fatalities on Wednesday, which increased the overall death toll to 69,157, reports Xinhua news agency.Another 39,237 people also tested positive for the virus, the highest daily increase since the start of the pandemic in the country, bringing the overall caseload in the UK to 2,155,996, the data showed.The figures were revealed as Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that more areas of the East and South East of England will be put into Tier Four restrictions, the highest level.Under the new tougher measures, residents in Tier Four areas must stay at home, with limited exemptions.People are also urged to work from home when they can.In his announcement, Hancock also said that the second new variant was reportedly related to travellers from South Africa, and two cases have been reported so far."This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK," he said.On December 19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced the discovery of a first mutant Covid-19 strain which is said to be about 70 per cent more transmissible.As a result, Johnson imposed Tier Four restrictions om London and other parts of England. 

New Coronavirus Strain: UK reports highest daily Covid-19 deaths since April

According to official figures, the UK reported 744 fatalities on Wednesday, which increased the overall death toll to 69,157, reports Xinhua news agency.

18964b09c44501201ac316b86fc13b85

Saudis sentence 5 people to death for Khashoggi’s killingA court in Saudi Arabia sentenced five people to death on Monday for the killing of Washington Post columnist and royal family critic Jamal Khashoggi, whose grisly slaying in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul drew international condemnation and cast a cloud of suspicion over Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.Three other people were found guilty by Riyadh’s criminal court of covering up the crime and were sentenced to a combined 24 years in prison, according to a statement read by the Saudi attorney general’s office on state TV. In all, 11 people were put on trial in Saudi Arabia over the killing. The names of those found guilty were not disclosed by the government. Executions in the kingdom are carried out by beheading, sometimes in public. All the verdicts can be appealed.A small number of diplomats, including from Turkey, as well as members of Khashoggi’s family were allowed to attend the nine court sessions, though independent media were barred. The trial concluded the killing was not premeditated, according to Shaalan al-Shaalan, a spokesperson from the attorney general’s office. That finding is in line with the Saudi government’s official explanation, which has been called into question by evidence that a hit team of Saudi agents with tools was sent to dispatch Khashoggi.While the case in Saudi Arabia has largely concluded, questions linger outside Riyadh about the crown prince’s culpability in the slaying. Amnesty International pronounced the outcome a “whitewash.” Agnes Callamard, who investigated the killing for the United Nations, condemned the trial as a “mockery of justice,” saying, “The fact that that the chain of command and the state have not been investigated means that the system that made it possible for Jamal Khashoggi to be killed has not been touched.”“The decision is too unlawful to be acceptable,” Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, said in a text message to The Associated Press. “It is unacceptable.” Khashoggi, who was a resident of the U.S., had walked into his country’s consulate on Oct. 2, 2018, for an appointment to pick up documents that would allow him to marry. He never walked out, and his body has not been found.A team of 15 Saudi agents had flown to Turkey to meet Khashoggi inside the consulate. They included a forensic doctor, intelligence and security officers and individuals who worked for the crown prince’s office, according to Callamard’s independent investigation. Turkish officials allege Khashoggi was killed and then dismembered with a bone saw. The slaying stunned Saudi Arabia’s Western allies and immediately raised questions about how the high-level operation could have been carried out without the knowledge of Prince Mohammed — even as the kingdom insists the crown prince had nothing to do with the killing.In an interview in September with CBS’ “60 Minutes”, Prince Mohammed said: “I take full responsibility as a leader in Saudi Arabia.” But he reiterated that he had no knowledge of the operation, saying he could not keep such close track of the country’s millions of employees. The prince’s father, King Salman, ordered a shake-up of top security posts after the killing.Turkey, a rival of Saudi Arabia, has used the killing on its soil to pressure the kingdom. Turkey, which had demanded the suspects be tried there, apparently had the Saudi Consulate bugged and has shared audio of the killing with the C.I.A., among others.Saudi Arabia initially offered shifting accounts about Khashoggi’s disappearance. As international pressure mounted because of the Turkish leaks, the kingdom eventually settled on the explanation that he was killed by rogue officials in a brawl.The 101-page report released this year by Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, included details from the audio Turkish authorities shared with her. She reported hearing Saudi agents waiting for Khashoggi to arrive and one of them asking how they would carry out the body. Not to worry, the doctor said. “Joints will be separated. It is not a problem,” he said in the audio. “If we take plastic bags and cut it into pieces, it will be finished. We will wrap each of them.”Khashoggi had spent the last year of his life in exile in the U.S. writing in the Post about human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. At a time when Prince Mohammed’s social reforms were being widely hailed in the West, Khashoggi’s columns criticized the parallel crackdown on dissent the prince was overseeing. Numerous critics of the Saudi crown prince are in prison and face trial on national security charges.In Washington, Congress has said it believes Prince Mohammed is “responsible for the murder.” President Donald Trump has condemned the killing but has stood by the 34-year-old crown prince and defended U.S.-Saudi ties. Washington has sanctioned 17 Saudis suspected of being involved. Among those sanctioned is Saud al-Qahtani, a hawkish former adviser to the crown prince. The Saudi attorney general’s office said Monday that al-Qahtani was investigated and had no proven involvement in the killing.Meanwhile, Ahmed al-Asiri, also a former adviser to the crown prince who was deputy head of intelligence, was tried and released because of insufficient evidence, the attorney general’s office said. The court also ordered the release of Saudi Arabia’s consul-general in Istanbul at the time, Mohammed al-Otaibi. He is among those sanctioned by the U.S. over his “involvement in gross violations of human rights.” The U.S. State Department has also issued travel bans against his immediate family.One of Kashoggi’s sons, Salah, who lives in Saudi Arabia, tweeted after the verdicts that the Saudi judicial system “was fair to us and achieved justice.” In Turkey, Yasin Aktay, a member of Turkey’s ruling party and a friend of Khashoggi’s, criticized the verdict, saying the Saudi court had failed to bring the real perpetrators to justice. “The prosecutor sentenced five hit men to death but did not touch those who were behind the five,” Aktay said.Although Khashoggi’s killing tarnished Prince Mohammed’s reputation in the West, he is hugely popular at home, especially among young Saudis happy with the social changes he has ushered in. Some American executives who had stayed away because of the backlash over the slaying have resumed doing business with the kingdom.Saudi Arabia over the past months has opened the previously closed-off country to tourists and travelers from around the world as part of a push to boost the economy and change perceptions of the kingdom.Also Read: UN expert eyes probe of Saudi prince role in Khashoggi deathAlso Read: India's support to Palestinian cause is invaluable: Saudi envoy

Saudis sentence 5 people to death for Khashoggi’s killing

A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced five people to death on Monday for the killing of Washington Post columnist and royal family critic Jamal Khashoggi, whose grisly slaying in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul drew international condemnation and cast a cloud of suspicion over Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

5b284a6bbdac7a68e40a50b1794b2795

The class 12 student of an Indian school, who will turn 18 later this month, was taking driving classes, his friends told Khaleej Times.An Indian woman died after she was run over by her teenager son in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the media reported on Tuesday.According to family sources, the 17-year-old boy did not have a driving licence, reports the Khaleej Times.The incident took place in Sharjah's Muweilah area.Sharjah Police took the woman to Al Qasimi Hospital where she was pronounced dead.The class 12 student of an Indian school, who will turn 18 later this month, was taking driving classes, his friends told Khaleej Times.The family hails from India's Uttar Pradesh. The boy is the oldest of five siblings.According to a source close to the family, he was trying to park the car when he hit the accelerator instead of the brake and ran over his mother. She was seated outside a park when the incident happened.ALSO READ | India decides against joining RCEP trade dealALSO READ | Iran to further cut nuke commitments in next 2 days

Indian boy runs over mother in UAE freak accident

The incident took place in Sharjah's Muweilah area. Sharjah Police took the woman to Al Qasimi Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

7c342dea8dc91fbe8bcf479027f1642c

In this March, 31, 2020, photo, women and children wait for their turn to fetch water in a poor suburb of Harare, Zimbabwe. For people around the world who are affected by war and poverty, the simple act of washing hands is a luxury, even during the coronavirus pandemic. In Zimbabwe, clean water is often saved for daily tasks like doing dishes and flushing toilets. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi) Violet Manuel hastily abandoned her uncle’s funeral and grabbed two empty containers when she heard a boy running down the dirt road shouting, “Water, water, water!” The 72-year-old joined dozens of people seeking their daily ration in Zimbabwe’s densely populated town of Chitungwiza.“Social distancing here?” Manuel asked tartly. She sighed with relief after getting her allotment of 40 liters (10.5 gallons) but worried about the coronavirus.“I got the water, but chances are that I also got the disease,” she told The Associated Press. And yet her plans for the water did not include hand-washing but “more important” tasks such as cleaning dishes and flushing the toilet.Such choices underscore the challenges of preventing the spread of the coronavirus in slums, camps and other crowded settlements around the world where clean water is scarce and survival is a daily struggle.Some 3 billion people, from indigenous communities in Brazil to war-shattered villages in northern Yemen, have nowhere to wash their hands with soap and clean water at home, according to the charity group WaterAid. It fears that global funding is being rushed toward vaccines and treatments without “any real commitment to prevention.”Definitively linking COVID-19 cases to water access isn’t easy without deeper investigation, said Gregory Bulit with UNICEF’s water and sanitation team, “but what we know is, without water, the risk is increased.”In the Arab region alone, about 74 million people don’t have access to a basic hand-washing facility, the United Nations says.Nearly a decade of civil war has damaged much of Syria’s water infrastructure, and millions must resort to alternative measures. In the last rebel-held territory of Idlib, where the most recent military operations displaced nearly 1 million people, resources are badly strained.Yasser Aboud, a father of three in Idlib, said he has doubled the amount of water he buys to keep his family clean amid virus fears. He and his wife lost their jobs and must cut spending on clothes and food to afford it.In Yemen, five years of war left over 3 million people displaced with no secure source of water, and there are growing fears that primitive sources such as wells are contaminated.And in Manaus, Brazil, 300 families in one poor indigenous community have water only three days a week from a dirty well.“Water is like gold around here,” said Neinha Reis, a 27-year-old mother of two. To wash their hands, they depend on donations of hand sanitizer. Reis and most of the other residents have fallen ill with symptoms similar to those of COVID-19 in the past month.Across Africa, where virus cases are closing in on 100,000, more than half of the continent’s 1.3 billion people must leave their homes to get water, according to the Afrobarometer research group.Where it is made available via trucks or wells, the long lines of people could become “potentially dangerous breeding grounds for the virus,” said Maxwell Samaila, program manager with the aid group Mercy Corps in Nigeria.In rural parts of sub-Saharan Africa, where most have to travel up to three hours for water, “you have 200 people touching the (well) handle one after the other,” said Bram Riems, an adviser on water, sanitation and hygiene with Action Against Hunger.At an open area surrounded by filthy apartment blocks in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, women in orange T-shirts ticked off names of people fetching water from a row of communal taps that Doctors Without Borders provided in poor suburbs. Many services in the country have collapsed, along with its economy.Kuda Sigobodhla, a hygiene promotion officer for the aid group, said training sessions had been organized before the outbreak arrived in Zimbabwe so that water distribution points did not become epicenters of contagion.“We had to do something,” Sigobodhla said.But while the empty buckets were neatly spaced 1 meter apart, their owners huddled in groups, chatting and occasionally exchanging cigarettes and high-fives while waiting their turn.One man shouted about social distancing but only a few seemed to listen. A hand-washing bucket was available, but most did not use it.To encourage hand-washing in some parts of Africa, aid groups are using measures such as placing mirrors and soap at makeshift taps.“We know people like to look at themselves when they wash their hands, so putting a mirror helps,” said Riems, of Action Against Hunger. His organization is piloting the project in Ethiopia, where only a third of the population has access to basic water services.Fear also could be a motivating factor, he said, citing a recent GeoPoll survey that found more than 70% of people in Africa are “very concerned” about the coronavirus. GeoPoll surveyed 5,000 people in 12 countries.Meanwhile, investment in water and hygiene has been precariously low.“Of 51 major announcements of financial support from donor agencies to developing countries, only six have included any mention of hygiene,” WaterAid has said of COVID-19 emergency funding from governments and aid groups in the past two months.Africa alone needs an annual investment of $22 billion, according to the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa, an initiative of the Group of 20 most-developed countries and international financial institutions. But the investment by African governments and external financiers currently hovers around $8 billion to $10 billion, it said.Some fear such woeful funding could now come with a huge human cost.“Funding for (water, sanitation and hygiene) has been going down,” Riems said. “Not enough people will have access to water, not enough people will be able to wash their hands and more people will get sick.”

Coronavirus spread feared where water is scarce around the world. Know why

Some 3 billion people, from indigenous communities in Brazil to war-shattered villages in northern Yemen, have nowhere to wash their hands with soap and clean water at home, according to the charity group WaterAid. It fears that global funding is being rushed toward vaccines and treatments without “any real commitment to prevention.”

ad0d268ec539dd6caeee582d8a473be0

A body wrapped in plastic is loaded onto a refrigerated container truck used as a temporary morgue by medical workers wearing personal protective equipment due to COVID-19 concerns, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at Brooklyn Hospital Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.It has become a grim ritual outside New York City’s hospitals: workers in protective gear loading the bodies of coronavirus victims into refrigerated trailers. A surge in deaths in the epicenter of the crisis in the U.S. has overwhelmed the city’s permanent morgues and filled storage spaces in many hospitals to capacity. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is sending 85 refrigerated trucks to serve as temporary morgues, the city said.It’s been that way for days at Brooklyn Hospital Center, where a worker Tuesday wheeled out a gurney carrying a body covered in white plastic, a forklift operator carefully raised a body into the trailer and undertakers came to claim the remains of yet another of the city’s nearly 1,000 coronavirus dead.The hospital said in a statement that the “unprecedented crisis calls for extraordinary measures” and that extra storage is needed “to accommodate the tragic spike in deaths, placing a strain on the entire system of care — from hospitals to funeral homes.”“Grieving families cannot quickly make arrangements, and their loved ones who have passed are remaining in hospitals longer, thus the need for this accommodation,” the hospital in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood said.The city's medical examiner's office has also started operating a makeshift morgue, as it did after the Sept. 11 attacks, to provide emergency capacity as the city’s permanent facilities fill up.The city's coronavirus death toll more than doubled in the past four days, surging from 450 on Friday to 932 as of Tuesday morning.For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia and can be fatal.The city and FEMA have delivered refrigerated trucks to various hospitals, while the Office of Chief Medical Examiner has been guiding them on how to properly move and store bodies, officials said.“To see the scenes of trailers out there and what they're doing with those trailers — they're freezers, and nobody can even believe it,” President Donald Trump said Tuesday.At some hospitals, like Lenox Hill in Manhattan, the trailers are being parked on city streets, along sidewalks and in front of apartments. Cars and buses passed by as bodies were loaded Tuesday outside Brooklyn Hospital Center.Cellphone videos posted on social media over the weekend drew attention to hospitals using trailers to store bodies. An image from one video of the activity outside Brooklyn Hospital Center appeared on the front page of Tuesday’s New York Post.“It's hard to believe this, but this is for real,” said the man shooting the video, his voice quaking. “Lord have mercy, help us Lord, this is for real.”(Except the headline, IndiaTvNews.com has not edited the copy)

As COVID-19 death toll in NYC rises, 85 trucks converted into make-shift morgues

It has become a grim ritual outside New York City’s hospitals: workers in protective gear loading the bodies of coronavirus victims into refrigerated trailers.

05c1b67f35e730964a0a3eedca0cc851

Pakistan receives $452.4mn second tranche of IMF loanPakistan has received $452.4 million as the second tranche of the $6 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, taking the foreign exchange reserves of the country's struggling economy up to $18 billion. "On December 23, SBP received $452.4 million from IMF as second tranche under EFF (extended fund facility) programme," the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a statement on Thursday.The country's foreign exchange reserves stood at $17.595 billion in the week ended December 20 compared with $17.655 billion in previous week. The SBP's reserves increased $14 million to $10.907 billion, The News International reported. The SBP didn't include the latest disbursement in its weekly reserves data."These funds (IMF loan tranche) will be part of SBP weekly reserves data as of December 27, to be released on January 2, 2020," the SBP said. With inclusion of the second tranche, the country's foreign exchange reserves rose to $18 billion, while the reserves held by the SBP increased to $11.35 billion. Last week, the executive board of the IMF approved the second tranche following the completion of the first review of three-year extended fund facility in July.The Washington-based lender, after the first review, posed trust on continuity of IMF-backed reforms needed to bring Pakistan's economy on the stability path. But, it cautioned against fiscal slippages with risks to reforms remaining elevated. The growth was projected to further slide to 2.4 per cent in the current fiscal year from 3.3 percent in the last fiscal of 2018/19, The News International reported.The IMF's total loan disbursements reached to $1.44 billion following the second tranche release. The country bagged the first loan installment of around $1 billion in July.Also Read: India's growth rate didn't match increase in jobs: IMFAlso Read:IMF team reviews Pakistan's performance under Extended Fund Facility

Pakistan receives $452.4mn second tranche of IMF loan

The Washington-based lender, after the first review, posed trust on continuity of IMF-backed reforms needed to bring Pakistan's economy on the stability path. But, it cautioned against fiscal slippages with risks to reforms remaining elevated. The growth was projected to further slide to 2.4 per cent in the current fiscal year from 3.3 percent in the last fiscal of 2018/19, The News International reported.

f8a2b77c88fa4bf2cb17bfdff7508251

Singapore reports 642 new coronavirus cases; total rises to 31,068Singapore has reported 642 new COVID-19 cases, a majority of them foreign workers living in dormitories, taking the total number of infections in the country to 31,068, the Health Ministry said on Saturday. Six of the patients are either Singapore citizens or permanent residents (foreigners), it said. Among the new 642 cases, 636 are foreign workers living in dormitories. The total number of infections has gone up to 31,068, the ministry said in its daily update.Earlier on Saturday, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said that after June 1 when the 'circuit breaker' ends, employees should only return to workplaces if they need specialised equipment and machinery that cannot be accessed from home, or if they need to fulfil legal requirements.Wong, who co-chairs the multi ministry task force handling the COVID-19 outbreak, said that many employers and managers will need to adjust to this new normal.For those who do have to be onsite, employers should consider if staff really need to go in every day. They could arrange for employees to work from home a few days a week, the minister said.These employers should also offer staggered work hours, and must ensure that the work environment is safe with measures such as good ventilation, high hygiene standards, and safe distancing in place."All these workplace measures are critical in our fight against COVID-19. They will reduce the need for daily movement of people, and minimise the risks of the virus flaring up again," The Straits Times quoted Wong as saying.As of Friday, eight patients were in a critical condition in the intensive care unit, while most of the 790 patients in hospital were stable and improving.A total of 23 people have died of diseases-linked complications.On Friday, 838 more COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals and community facilities. A total of 12,995 patients have been discharged so far.A total of 16.650 patients were in community facilities.

Singapore reports 642 new coronavirus cases; total rises to 31,068

Singapore has reported 642 new COVID-19 cases, a majority of them foreign workers living in dormitories, taking the total number of infections in the country to 31,068, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

8e54cf16d1ce382f10bfee009ec43aa8

People gather and pray around a makeshift memorial, Tuesday, May 26, 2020, in Minneapolis, near the site where a black man, who was taken into police custody the day before, later died. The FBI and Minnesota agents are investigating the death of a black man in Minneapolis police custody after video from a bystander showed a white officer kneeling on his neck during his arrest as he pleaded that he couldn't breathe. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP)Four Minneapolis officers involved in the arrest of a black man who died in police custody were fired Tuesday, hours after a bystander’s video showed an officer kneeling on the handcuffed man’s neck, even after he pleaded that he could not breathe and stopped moving.Mayor Jacob Frey announced the firings on Twitter, saying “This is the right call.”The man’s death Monday night was under investigation by the FBI and state law enforcement authorities. It immediately drew comparisons to the case of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who died in 2014 in New York after he was placed in a chokehold by police and pleaded for his life, saying he could not breathe.In a post on his Facebook page, Frey apologized Tuesday to the black community for the officer’s treatment of the man, who was later identified as 46-year-old George Floyd, who worked security at a restaurant.“Being Black in America should not be a death sentence. For five minutes, we watched a white officer press his knee into a Black man’s neck. Five minutes. When you hear someone calling for help, you’re supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic, human sense,” Frey posted.Police said the man matched the description of a suspect in a forgery case at a grocery store, and that he resisted arrest.The video starts with the shirtless man on the ground, and does not show what happened in the moments prior. The unidentified officer is kneeling on his neck, ignoring his pleas. “Please, please, please, I can’t breathe. Please, man,” said Floyd, who has his face against the pavement.Floyd also moans. One of the officers tells him to “relax.” The man calls for his mother and says: “My stomach hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts ... I can’t breathe.” As bystanders shout their concern, one officer says, “He’s talking, so he’s breathing.”But Floyd stops talking and slowly becomes motionless under the officer’s restraint. The officer does not remove his knee until the man is loaded onto a gurney by paramedics.Several witnesses had gathered on a nearby sidewalk, some recording the scene on their phones. The bystanders become increasingly agitated. One man yells repeatedly. “He’s not responsive right now!” Two witnesses, including one woman who said she was a Minneapolis firefighter, yell at the officers to check the man’s pulse. “Check his pulse right now and tell me what it is!” she said.At one point, an officer says: “Don’t do drugs, guys.” And one man yells, “Don’t do drugs, bro? What is that? What do you think this is?”The Hennepin County medical examiner identified Floyd but said the cause of death was pending.Floyd had worked security for five years at a restaurant called Conga Latin Bistro and rented a home from the restaurant owner, Jovanni Thunstrom.He was “a good friend, person and a good tenant,” the restaurateur told the Star Tribune. “He was family. His co-workers and friends loved him.”Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights and personal injury attorney, said he had been hired by Floyd’s family.“We all watched the horrific death of George Floyd on video as witnesses begged the police officer to take him into the police car and get off his neck,” Crump said in a statement. “This abusive, excessive and inhumane use of force cost the life of a man who was being detained by the police for questioning about a non-violent charge.”Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said the department would conduct a full internal investigation. Police did not identify the officers, but attorney Tom Kelly confirmed he is representing Derek Chauvin, the officer seen with his knee on Floyd’s neck. Kelly declined to comment further.Police did not immediately respond to a request for Chauvin’s service record. News accounts show he was one of six officers who fired their weapons in the 2006 death of Wayne Reyes, whom police said pointed a sawed-off shotgun at officers after stabbing two people. Chauvin also shot and wounded a man in 2008 in a struggle after Chauvin and his partner responded to a reported domestic assault.Several hundred protesters gathered Tuesday evening in the street where Floyd died, chanting and carrying banners that read, “I can’t breathe” and “Jail killer KKKops.” They eventually marched about 2 1/2 miles to a city police precinct, with some protesters damaging windows, a squad car and spraying graffiti on the building.Experts on police use of force told The Associated Press that the officer clearly restrained the man too long. They noted the man was under control and no longer fighting. Andrew Scott, a former Boca Raton, Florida, police chief who now testifies as an expert witness in use-of-force cases, called Floyd’s death “a combination of not being trained properly or disregarding their training.”“He couldn’t move. He was telling them he couldn’t breathe, and they ignored him,” Scott said. “I can’t even describe it. It was difficult to watch.”The New York City officer in the Garner case said he was using a legal maneuver called “the seatbelt” to bring down Garner, whom police said had been resisting arrest. But the medical examiner referred to it as a chokehold in the autopsy report and said it contributed to his death. Chokehold maneuvers are banned under New York police policy.A grand jury later decided against indicting the officers involved in Garner’s death, sparking protests around the country. The New York Police Department ultimately fired the officer who restrained Garner, but it was five years later, after a federal investigation, a city prosecutor’s investigation and an internal misconduct trial.In Minneapolis, kneeling on a suspect’s neck is allowed under the department’s use-of-force policy for officers who have received training in how to compress a neck without applying direct pressure to the airway. It is considered a “non-deadly force option,” according to the department’s policy handbook.A chokehold is considered a deadly force option and involves someone obstructing the airway. According to the department’s use-of-force policy, officers are to use only an amount of force necessary that would be objectively reasonable.Before the officers were fired, the police union asked the public to wait for the investigation to take its course and not to “rush to judgment and immediately condemn our officers.” Messages left with the union after the firings were not returned.The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, which would handle any prosecution of police on state criminal charges, said in a statement that it was “shocked and saddened” by the video and pledged to handle the case fairly. The FBI is investigating whether the officers willfully deprived Floyd of his rights. If those federal civil rights charges are brought, they would be handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, which declined comment.The death came amid outrage over the death of Ahmaud Arbery, who was fatally shot Feb. 23 in Georgia after a white father and son pursued the 25-year-old black man they had spotted running in their subdivision. More than two months passed before charges were brought. Crump also represents Arbery’s father.

Four Minneapolis officers fired after death of black man

Four Minneapolis officers involved in the arrest of a black man who died in police custody were fired Tuesday, hours after a bystander’s video showed an officer kneeling on the handcuffed man’s neck, even after he pleaded that he could not breathe and stopped moving.

ac49fd82799bff6a21c337129d6f9952

Representational Image

Small plane crashes in field in eastern Germany, 2 dead

The two-engine aircraft took off from the town of Strausberg late Saturday morning and came down in a field near Praedikow, a few kilometers (miles) away.

cf6fd9dfd49b5a695ebf12ecb31915e1

Mumbai attack mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed has "blood on his hands", and wants to bring extremism into the mainstream politics of Pakistan, a former top American spymaster said on Saturday. The Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) head and LeT founder, who has a USD 10 million American bounty on his head for terror activities, was freed by Pakistan  on Friday."Saeed is a terrorist. Worked with the LeT, a Kashmiri militant group, and al-Qaida on attacks," Michael Morell, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) deputy director, who has also served twice as its acting director, said in a tweet.Related Stories Hafiz Saeed's release order: Pakistan 'hoodwinking' global community Opinion | Rajat Sharma on Hafiz Saeed release: 'Pakistan is not going to act against JuD chief' 'Hafiz Saeed has 'blood on his hands', wants to bring extremism into mainstream in Pak'"He has blood on his hands. Now wants to bring extremism into the political mainstream in Pakistan," he said after Saeed, a UN and US designated terrorist, was released from house arrest in Lahore.Saeed, in his late 60s, was under house arrest for 297 days since January.The fire-brand cleric's release after midnight came ahead of the 9th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people, including six Americans, were killed.A deeply concerned US has asked the Pakistan government to re-arrest and charge Saeed for his crimes. It also asked Pakistan to ensure that the LeT leader is behind bars."NO! JuD is NOT tied to Islamic State. What a rookie... Seriously. Hafiz Saeed's Release Completes the Political Mainstreaming of Jihadists in Pakistan," tweeted Christine Fair, a well-known South Asian expert on terrorist groups.NBC news said Saeed's release could once again sour US relations with Pakistan.The New York Times said, for decades, Pakistan has cast a benign eye on groups like LeT - which is perceived as an asset because its attacks target Indian soldiers in Kashmir - even as the government battles jihadist groups like the Pakistan Taliban that directly threatens the country."But despite its pressure on Pakistan to move against militants like Saeed, the United States has also sent mixed messages. Just a month ago, the United States Senate struck down a provision tying American government funding to Pakistan to the country's efforts to curb Lashkar-e-Taiba's operations."The provision, part of a broader Pentagon-funding legislation that Congress introduced this past summer, would have forced the secretary of defence to certify that Islamabad was thwarting Lashkar-e-Taiba's activities inside Pakistan or risk USD 350 million in American assistance," the Times wrote.Meanwhile, in an op-ed, The Washington Examiner said the Trump administration "should work with India" to "capture or kill" Saeed."Trump should call Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and offer to work with him to capture or kill Saeed," the daily said, adding that Saeed intends to lead a new Muslim theocratic political bloc in next year's parliamentary polls."Although Pakistan's electoral commission has refused to certify the bloc, Saeed's populist power should not be understated. Charismatic and determined, if left unchecked in his political party or terrorist activities, Saeed could destabilise the region," the daily added.The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai terror attack. 

Hafiz Saeed has 'blood on his hands', wants to bring extremism into mainstream in Pak: Ex-CIA deputy director

"Saeed is a terrorist. Worked with the LeT, a Kashmiri militant group, and al-Qaida on attacks," Michael Morell, former CIA deputy director said in a tweet.

3b1ebeda06037e37b82a80ac7e4216fa

London could be under lockdown for monthsUK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has warned that London could be under a lockdown for months, as it will be "very difficult" to keep a highly infectious mutant strain of the novel coronavirus under control until vaccinations are rolled out.His remarks on Sunday came just hours after the new Tier Four restrictions came into force in the British capital and parts of southeast England, reports Xinhua news agency.The new tighter restrictions will be reviewed on December 30.Hancock however indicated that it was unlikely they would be relaxed at that point."It is going to be very difficult to keep it under control until we have the vaccine rolled out," he told Sky News."We know with this new variant you can catch it more easily from a small amount of the virus being present."All of the different measures we have in place, we need more of them to control the spread of the new variant than we did to control the spread of the old variant."That is the fundamental problem," the Health Secretary added.Hancock also criticized people who fled London before the new Tier Four lockdown came into force as "totally irresponsible"."I think those scenes were totally irresponsible," Hancock said while speaking to the BBC later in the day."We have all got a responsibility. We in the government of course have a responsibility, but so does every single person."The plea that I have is that people will play their part because it is only by acting -- all of us -- that we can get this under control," he added.On December 19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson effectively cancelled Christmas for more than 16 million people in London, south-eastern and eastern England as the region went into a new two-week lockdown on Sunday midnight.Addressing a virtual briefing, Johnson said that the previous plan to allow up to three households to meet during five days around Christmas will have to be scrapped due to the discovery of the mutant strain.An estimated 16.4 million people living in the new Tier Four areas, which include London and much of the surrounding region, will have to stay at home for a fortnight.They will be barred from socialising with more than one person even outdoors, meaning no Christmas gatherings of entire families, while shops, leisure facilities, gyms, and hairdressers will be closed.England was previously under a three-tier system.London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire had just moved into Tier Three on December 16 while some other areas in east and southeast of England entered Tier Three from December 19 following a rapid rise in infections in the area.The UK has so far reported a total of 2,046,161 coronavirus cases since the onset of the pandemic earlier this year, while the death toll stood at 67,503.

London could be under lockdown for months, 'very difficult' to control new coronavirus strain: UK Health Secy

On December 19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson effectively cancelled Christmas for more than 16 million people in London, south-eastern and eastern England as the region went into a new two-week lockdown on Sunday midnight.

b35817da26f07cf992b752c794f98e65

Altaf Hussain, 65, requested asylum in the 1990s and later gained UK citizenship.Altaf Hussain, the exiled leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), one of Pakistan's biggest political parties, was arrested on Tuesday by Scotland Yard in London over a hate speech in 2016 in which he asked his followers to take the law into their own hands. The Metropolitan Police would only confirm that a man in his 60s had been held in an investigation into speeches related to his MQM party.The MQM has dominated politics in Karachi for three decades because of its support in the densely populated working class neighbourhoods of Urdu-speaking Muhajirs, descendants of Muslims who migrated from India when Pakistan was created in 1947.Related Stories Imran Khan asks citizens to declare assets by June 30No PM Modi-Imran Khan meeting on the sidelines of SCO, says MEAPakistan decides to let PM Modi's plane fly over its airspace to BishkekArmy man killed, 3 others injured in ceasefire violation by Pakistan in J-K's PoonchHussain, 65, requested asylum in the 1990s and later gained UK citizenship.But he maintains a firm grip over the MQM and its main power base, the financial capital of Karachi.Hussain was arrested Tuesday morning and taken to a south London police station. Fifteen officers took part in a dawn raid at his north London home, Geo News reported.Altaf Hussain has been arrested in relation to the hate speech of 2016 in which he had urged his followers to take the law into their own hands, it said. His arrest was confirmed to the BBC Urdu service by his spokesman, Qasim Raza.The police statement does not name Hussain, referring instead to "an individual associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Pakistan".He was arrested at an "address in north-west London... on suspicion of intentionally encouraging or assisting offences contrary to Section 44 of the Serious Crime Act 2007", the statement said, adding that the man remains in custody.Two premises are being searched, in an investigation led by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command.It focuses on "a speech broadcast in August 2016 by an individual associated with the MQM movement in Pakistan as well as other speeches previously broadcast by the same person". (Except for the headline IndiaTVnews.com has not edited anything in the story)

MQM founder Altaf Hussain arrested in London over 2016 hate speech

The MQM has dominated politics in Karachi for three decades because of its support in the densely populated working class neighbourhoods of Urdu-speaking Muhajirs, descendants of Muslims who migrated from India when Pakistan was created in 1947.

2f576eee30b3617e807f04b01c1d7efe

Pak conducts highest number of coronavirus tests over 24-hour period as cases cross 48,000-markPakistan conducted the highest number of tests per day during the last 24 hours as the coronavirus cases crossed 48,000-mark on Thursday, the health ministry said. Pakistan recorded 2,193 new cases, taking the total number of infections to 48,091. The death toll stands at 1,017 with 32 new fatalities.As many as 15,346 coronavirus tests, the highest in a single day, were conducted in the last 24 hours, health officials said. The authorities have conducted 429,600 tests so far. Sindh reported the maximum number of 18,964 cases, followed by 17,382 in Punjab, 6,815 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 2,968 in Balochistan, 1,235 in Islamabad, 579 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 148 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.As many as 14,155 patients have recovered so far, the officials said. The number of daily testing increased after Planning Minister Asad Umar on Tuesday said that 30,000 tests per day would be sufficient for Pakistan to control the spread of the deadly virus.Pakistan is in a position to conduct over 25,000 tests per day, he said, expressing hope that by May-end or early June the country would be able to conduct 30,000 tests per day. 

Pakistan conducts highest number of coronavirus tests over 24-hour period as cases cross 48,000-mark

Pakistan conducted the highest number of tests per day during the last 24 hours as the coronavirus cases crossed 48,000-mark on Thursday, the health ministry said.

f37955db9c9fceecf91e611856b7f669

People wait in line at a COVID-19 testing site in Times Square, New YorkThe Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus will not be the last version to worry the world, scientists have warned. Every infection provides a chance for the virus to mutate and omicron has an edge over its predecessors -- it spreads way faster despite emerging on a planet with a stronger patchwork of immunity from vaccines and prior illness. That means more people in whom the virus can further evolve. Experts don’t know what the next variants will look like or how they might shape the pandemic, but they say there’s no guarantee the sequels of omicron will cause milder illness or that the existing vaccines will work against them.They urge wider vaccination now, while today’s shots still work.“The faster omicron spreads, the more opportunities there are for mutation, potentially leading to more variants,” Leonardo Martinez, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Boston University, said.Since it emerged in mid-November, omicron has raced across the globe like fire through dry grass. Research shows the variant is at least twice as contagious as delta and at least four times as contagious as the original version of the virus.Omicron is more likely than delta to reinfect individuals who previously had COVID-19 and to cause “breakthrough infections” in vaccinated people while also attacking the unvaccinated. The World Health Organization reported a record 15 million new COVID-19 cases for the week of January 3-9, a 55 per cent increase from the previous week.Along with keeping comparatively healthy people out of work and school, the ease with which the variant spreads increases the odds the virus will infect and linger inside people with weakened immune systems - giving it more time to develop potent mutations.“It’s the longer, persistent infections that seem to be the most likely breeding grounds for new variants,” said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s only when you have a very widespread infection that you’re going to provide the opportunity for that to occur.”Because omicron appears to cause less severe disease than delta, its behavior has kindled hope that it could be the start of a trend that eventually makes the virus milder like a common cold.It’s a possibility, experts say, given that viruses don’t spread well if they kill their hosts very quickly. But viruses don’t always get less deadly over time.A variant could also achieve its main goal - replicating - if infected people developed mild symptoms initially, spread the virus by interacting with others, then got very sick later, Ray explained by way of example.“People have wondered whether the virus will evolve to mildness. But there’s no particular reason for it to do so,” he said. “I don’t think we can be confident that the virus will become less lethal over time.”Getting progressively better at evading immunity helps a virus to survive over the long term. When SARS-CoV-2 first struck, no one was immune. But infections and vaccines have conferred at least some immunity to much of the world, so the virus must adapt.There are many possible avenues for evolution. Animals could potentially incubate and unleash new variants. Pet dogs and cats, deer and farm-raised mink are only a few of the animals vulnerable to the virus, which can potentially mutate within them and leap back to people.Another potential route: With both omicron and delta circulating, people may get double infections that could spawn what Ray calls “Frankenvariants,” hybrids with characteristics of both types.When new variants do develop, scientists said it’s still very difficult to know from genetic features which ones might take off. For example, omicron has many more mutations than previous variants, around 30 in the spike protein that lets it attach to human cells. But the so-called IHU variant identified in France and being monitored by the WHO has 46 mutations and doesn’t seem to have spread much at all.To curb the emergence of variants, scientists stress continuing with public health measures such as masking and getting vaccinated. While omicron is better able to evade immunity than delta, experts said, vaccines still offer protection and booster shots greatly reduce serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths.Anne Thomas, a 64-year-old IT analyst in Westerly, Rhode Island, said she’s fully vaccinated and boosted and also tries to stay safe by mostly staying home while her state has one of the highest COVID-19 case rates in the US.“I have no doubt at all that these viruses are going to continue to mutate and we’re going to be dealing with this for a very long time,” she said.Ray likened vaccines to armor for humanity that greatly hinders viral spread even if it doesn’t completely stop it. For a virus that spreads exponentially, he said, “anything that curbs transmission can have a great effect.” Also, when vaccinated people get sick, Ray said their illness is usually milder and clears more quickly, leaving less time to spawn dangerous variants.Experts say the virus won’t become endemic like the flu as long as global vaccination rates are so low. During a recent press conference, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that protecting people from future variants — including those that may be fully resistant to today’s shots — depends on ending global vaccine inequity.Tedros said he’d like to see 70 per cent of people in every country vaccinated by mid-year. Currently, there are dozens of countries where less than a quarter of the population is fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. And in the United States, many people continue to resist available vaccines.“These huge unvaccinated swaths in the U.S., Africa, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere are basically variant factories,” said Dr. Prabhat Jha of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. “It’s been a colossal failure in global leadership that we have not been able to do this.”In the meantime, new variants are inevitable, said Louis Mansky, director of the Institute for Molecular Virology at the University of Minnesota.With so many unvaccinated people, he said, “the virus is still kind of in control of what’s going on.”(With inputs from AP)Also Read | Maharashtra logs 238 fresh Omicron cases, 43,211 new Covid-19 infections

Omicron twice as contagious as delta; expect more worrisome variants: Scientists warn

The World Health Organization reported a record 15 million new COVID-19 cases for the week of January 3-9, a 55 per cent increase from the previous week.

1c25e0ce618454d7d6f064a83ddb6d11

Egypt: 17 killed, 32 injured in deadly car explosion in central CairoAt least 17 people have been killed and 32 others were left injured in a deadly explosion outside Egypt's National Cancer Institute in central Cairo, Egypt's health ministry said early on Monday.Several videos have been surfaced on social media that showed fire trucks trying to control a massive fire, which damaged several cars.Egypt's interior ministry in a statement said a car driving against traffic on Cairo's corniche collided with three other vehicles, causing a massive explosion,According to Reuters sources, Egypt’s public prosecutor is probing the cause of the explosion, but there was no official statement indicating that the explosion was an attack.(With inputs from Reuters)ALSO READ: 20 killed, many injured in mass shooting at Texas Walmart ALSO READ: US: Nine killed in Ohio in second mass shooting incident in 24 hours ALSO READ: Two mass shootings in less than 24 hours shock US

Egypt: 17 killed, 32 injured in deadly car explosion in central Cairo

At least 17 people have been killed and 32 others were left injured in a deadly explosion outside Egypt's National Cancer Institute in central Cairo, Egypt's health ministry said early on Monday. Several videos have been shared on social media that showed fire trucks trying to control a massive fire, which damaged several cars.

c84bdb548a485f5e2bd9ecb8f018f51c

The Taliban on Tuesday threatened the US with more violence and bloodshed after Washington ruled out peace talks with the rebels for unleashing a wave of carnage on Afghanistan.Taliban militants, who have until now systematically rejected the Afghan government's call for dialogue, said in a statement that US President Donald Trump and his allies have been "advocating war and not peace", Efe news reported."Trump and his pro-war allies should understand that each action has a reaction. If you are emphasizing on war, then we Mujahid nation also can't welcome you with flowers," the statement said."Although our enemy only emphasize on war, we believe our nation's undefeatable resistance and endless patience will finally make the invaders accept the truth and come to the negotiation table," said Taliban chief Mullah Haibatullah.The statement added that Afghanistan "has a long history of defeating arrogant invaders" which is why Trump's refusal to talks will only "boost the human and material losses of the American military manifold".On Monday, during a lunch at the White House with the ambassadors of member countries of the UN Security Council, Trump said: "Innocent people are being killed left and right by the Taliban. Bombing in the middle of children, in the middle of families -- bombing, killing all over Afghanistan."So there's no talking to the Taliban. We do not want to talk to the Taliban."We're going to finish what we have to finish," he said. "What nobody else has been able to finish, we're going to be able to do it."The latest round of attacks in Kabul by the Taliban were a direct challenge to Trump, who had asserted on January 16 that the US troops had made "tremendous strides" in fighting the Islamic State (IS) and the Taliban. He had said the South Asia policy he had announced last August was "working far more rapidly than anybody would understand".Taliban terrorists attacked the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul on January 21-22, killing 22 people including 14 foreigners.The IS militants killed at least four people in an attack on the outpost of a British organisation, Save the Children, in Jalalabad on January 24. On January 27, they struck again with an ambulance loaded with explosives killing 103 people. On Monday, IS terrorists attacked a military base in Kabul, killing 11 soldiers.In recent times, the Afghan government has pushed for talks through the Kabul Process, a peace mechanism it launched along with the UN and the international community following an attack in May 2017 that had left 150 dead in the Afghan capital.The Taliban rejected the Kabul Process as well as a G4 peace initiative involving Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US.

Taliban threatens more violence after US rejects talks

The latest round of attacks in Kabul by the Taliban were a direct challenge to Trump, who had asserted on January 16 that the US troops had made "tremendous strides" in fighting the Islamic State (IS) and the Taliban.

9add39ccfdedf35fee38ca5324e93d8a

At least 6 injured at high school shooting in California, suspect at largeOne person was killed and several others were injured Thursday during a shooting at a Southern California high school and the student gunman was in custody, authorities said.The shooting occurred around 7:30 a.m. at Saugus High School in the city of Santa Clarita, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles.Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital tweeted that one female patient was dead, two males were in critical condition and one male was in good condition.It was unclear if there were any other injured. Initial reports fluctuated as high as six.Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva tweeted that the suspect was in custody and was being treated at a hospital. He said the suspect was a student but gave no further information.Television images showed deputies swarming the school and several people being moved on gurneys. Lines of students were escorted from the school by armed deputies.White House spokesman Judd Deere said President Donald Trump was monitoring the reports.Saugus High School and other schools in the area were locked down. Student Sharon Orelana Cordova told KNBC-TV she hid under a table in a nurse’s office until officers came to get her.“When I got out I saw this person lying on the ground ... with blood all over,” she said.Freshman Rosie Rodriguez was walking up the library stairs when she heard noises that “sounded like balloons” popping. When she saw other students running, she realized they were gunshots.Still carrying a backpack laden with books, she ran across the street to a home, where a person she didn’t know gave shelter to her and about 10 other students.During the more than hour they were there, students including Rodriguez called their families and texted with friends. Nobody in the house saw what happened directly.“I just heard a lot of kids crying. We were scared,” Rodriguez said. On a normal day, Rodriguez said, Saugus High School felt very safe. “We never really thought this would happen in our school,” she said.Student Mason Peters told KCAL-TV his class heard a “distinctive sound” outside.“And so my teacher quickly sprang to his feet, got up, locked the door, asking the students to get the keys,” he said. “And so we like reinforced it, turned off all the lights and then we got a bunch of desks and stuff and reinforced the doors. And we all just like stayed hidden.”ALSO READ | Watch: Dramatic video shows Hong Kong Police shooting protester; man set on fire  

1 dead, several injured in California school shooting

A shooting has occurred at a high school in Southern California on Thursday. The Deputies have arrived at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita.

1490d34802311f596a3578edf8b5d213

Woman wearing a face mask walks past mannequins wearing face masks in the window of a temporarily closed branch of the Topshop women's clothing chain during England's second coronavirus lockdown, in London. The retail empire of tycoon Philip Green, which owns well-known British fashion chains like Topshop, appears to be on the brink of collapse following the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic. In another devastating blow to the British retailing industry in the run-up to the crucial Christmas trading period, Arcadia Group said Friday it is working on “contingency options to secure the future of the group’s brands.”Like other high street names, Arcadia's brands - which employ around 15,000 people and include Burton, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins - have suffered during the pandemic and the associated restrictions across the U.K., including two national lockdowns in England.Competition has increased from low-cost rivals like Primark, as well as from online disruptors such as ASOS and Boohoo. Critics have also said that Green, who has been embroiled in a series of controversies over the past few years, has not invested enough in the businesses to get them in shape to deal with the new competition in retail.In a statement, the group sought to blame the virus for its woes. It said the "forced closure of our stores for sustained periods as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a material impact on trading across our businesses.”However, it stressed that its brands “continue to trade” and that its stores will be opening again in England as soon as coronavirus restrictions are lifted next week.England is in a four-week lockdown that has forced the closure of all shops selling items deemed to be non-essential. The lockdown expires on Dec. 2 and shops will be allowed to reopen. The other nations of the U.K. — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — have taken slightly different approaches but all have at various stages reimposed restrictions that closed non-essential shops.Arcadia has reportedly been in emergency talks with lenders in a bid to secure a 30 million-pound ($40 billion) loan to help shore up its finances.If it goes into so-called administration as soon as next week, there is likely to be a scramble among creditors to get control of company assets.It is the latest retailer to have been hammered by the closure of stores in the face of the coronavirus, with rivals in Britain including Debenhams, Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group and Oasis Warehouse all sliding into insolvency since the pandemic struck in March.ALSO READ | UK asks regulator to approve Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine

UK tycoon Philip Green's Arcadia Group, which owns Topshop, on brink of collapse

The retail empire of tycoon Philip Green, which owns well-known British fashion chains like Topshop, appears to be on the brink of collapse following the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic.

599a6dc45743683fae1a2a0592ce2849

U.S. Army soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team and South Korean soldiers take their positions during a demonstration of the combined arms live-fire exercise as part of the annual joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States at the Rodriquez Multi-Purpose Range Complex in Pocheon, north of Seoul, South Korea. The South Korean and U.S. militaries have postponed on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020, their annual joint drills out of concerns over a virus outbreakThe South Korean and U.S. militaries announced Thursday that they were postponing their annual joint drills due to concern about a viral outbreak that has infected soldiers in both countries’ armed forces, put many troops in quarantine and closed base facilities. Twenty South Korean soldiers and one American service member in South Korea have tested positive for the new coronavirus, which has infected about 1,600 people in the Asian country, the largest outbreak outside mainland China.In a joint news conference, South Korean and U.S. military officers said their joint drills planned for the first half of this year will be put off until further notice.South Korean military chief Park Han-ki proposed the delay out of concerns for troop safety and Robert Abrams, the commander of the U.S. military in South Korea, accepted Park’s proposal based on the severity of the virus outbreak, said Kim Joon Rak, a spokesman at the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.Lee Peters, a U.S. military spokesman, said the postponement decision “was not taken lightly” and that two countries’ alliance remains “ironclad and unbreakable.”“Despite the postponement of combined training, the ROK-US alliance remains committed to providing a credible military deterrence and maintaining a robust combined defense posture to protect the ROK against any threat,” he said. ROK stands for the Republic of Korea.South Korea boasts a 600,000-strong military, while the U.S. has 28,500 troops in the country and those troops are at particular risk due to the close quarters at the bases where they are stationed.In recent days, South Korea suspended some unilateral field training, placed 9,570 troops under quarantine and banned most of its enlisted soldiers from leaving their bases. The U.S. military closed some amenities at several bases and was urging its personnel to avoid handshakes and large gatherings if possible.Experts say the postponement of the drills was inevitable because the potential spread of the virus into military barracks could significantly weaken military readiness.The allies have previously suspended or scaled back their regular military exercises, but that was part of diplomatic efforts to disarm North Korea, which views the training as a rehearsal for an invasion.North Korea has not publicly reported any case of the virus, but many experts say the the country also likely reduced its own military training as it’s preoccupied with guarding against the virus.An epidemic in North Korea could cause a devastating consequence because of its dilapidated medical and health care infrastructures, experts say.This makes it unlikely that North Korea would launch any major provocation anytime soon though leader Kim Jong Un in late December threatened to unveil “a new strategic weapon” soon, said analyst Kim Dae-young at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy in South Korea.The allies were supposed to hold their major springtime drills in March, mostly tabletop exercises and simulations. The drills were revised to create more space in nuclear disarmament diplomacy with North Korea and replaced much bigger exercises that had particularly irritated Pyongyang.Yang Wook, a military expert who teaches at South Korea’s Hannam University, said the springtime command post drills involve officers gathering at a small place so it’s easier for them to catch the virus if there is a patient.“If they all wear gas masks and train together, they could be safe. If they can’t do so, it’s not a bad idea to be more cautious,” Yang said. 

South Korea, US postpone annual military drills due to coronavirus

The South Korean and U.S. militaries announced Thursday that they were postponing their annual joint drills due to concern about a viral outbreak that has infected soldiers in both countries’ armed forces, put many troops in quarantine and closed base facilities

6555f4ec74576b6e56c9c18911b1372a

Peshawar mosque opens doors to women after 23 yearsPeshawar's historic Sunehri Masjid has opened its doors to female worshippers for the first time since 1996, a move warmly welcomed by women of the city. Nearly 15-20 women offered prayers on Friday after the administration of the mosque, located on main Saddar road in Cantonment area, announced the move, reports Dawn news.Mosque officials said women will also be allowed during Eid prayers.The mosque's imam, Muhammad Ismail, said the decision, which comes days ahead of International Women's Day observed on March 8, was taken to facilitate women living in Saddar and other areas."Before 1996, women were allowed to attend Friday prayer congregations in the upper portion of the mosque," he recalled, adding that in 1996, females were barred from praying in the mosque due to growing militancy."Now we have opened the upper portion again so that women can offer Friday prayers alongside males in a separate section and listen to Friday 'khutba' (sermon)," Ismail said.A woman who attended the prayers at the mosque on Friday along with her daughters, told Dawn news: "I am really happy, and this is a really good decision."She said the facility should be available to women for daily prayers as well.ALSO READ | Sunni Board to build mosque, hospital on 5-acre Ayodhya siteALSO READ | AIMPLB to SC: Women, men can pray together in mosques

Peshawar mosque opens doors to women after 23 years

Peshawar's historic Sunehri Masjid has opened its doors to female worshippers for the first time since 1996, a move warmly welcomed by women of the city.

515bec0e336ae44a37037dc92ed5693f

Turkey has captured slain IS leader al-Baghdadi’s wife: President Erdogan Turkey has captured a wife of the slain leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.Erdogan made the announcement while delivering a speech in the capital of Ankara but gave no other details. He did not say when or how the woman was captured or identify her by name.Al-Baghdadi was known to have four wives. One of his aides has said he the shadowy IS leader had four wives, the maximum number he can have at one time under Islamic law.“We caught his wife, but we didn’t make a fuss about it. I am announcing this today for the first time,” Erdogan said, while criticizing the United States for leading a “communications campaign” about Baghdadi’s slaying.The IS leader blew himself up during an Oct. 26 raid by U.S. special forces on his heavily fortified safe house in the Syrian province of Idlib.Erdogan’s announcement comes just days after Turkish forces captured al-Baghdadi’s elder sister, identified as Rasmiya Awad, in the town of Azaz, in Aleppo province in northwestern Syria.The area is part of the region administered by Turkey after it carried out military incursions to chase away IS militants and Kurdish fighters, starting in 2016. Allied Syrian groups manage the area known as the Euphrates Shield zone.Awad was with her husband, daughter-in-law and five children when she was detained. A Turkish official said the 65-year-old sister is suspected of being affiliated with the extremist group and called her capture an intelligence “gold mine.” Authorities had posted a picture of the sister.It was not Immediately clear if Awad’s capture led to intelligence that allowed for the detention of the wife.One of al-Baghdadi’s wives is an Iraqi known by the name of Nour, the daughter of one of his aides, Abu Abdullah al-Zubaie. She was identified by name by al-Baghdadi’s brother-in-law in a recent interview with al-Arabiya TV. The brother-in-law, Mohamad Ali Sajit, who is in Iraqi custody, said al-Baghdadi had four wives when he last met him, sometime last summer.Also, one of al-Baghdadi’s ex-wives was arrested in Lebanon in 2014, and was freed a year later in a prisoner swap with al-Qaida. The Iraqi ex-wife, Saja al-Dulaimi, had fled from al-Baghdadi in 2009 while pregnant with his daughter. At one point, al-Baghdadi was also believed to have married to a German teenager in 2015 but she was reported to have fled a year later.The raid that killed al-Baghdadi was a major blow to his extremist group, which has lost territories it held in Syria and Iraq in a series of military defeats by the U.S-led coalition and Syrian and Iraqi allies.Al-Baghdadi’s aide, a Saudi, was killed hours after the raid, also in northwestern Syria, in a U.S. strike. The group named a successor to al-Baghdadi days later, but little is known about him or how the group’s structure has been affected by the successive blows.Up and until his death, al-Baghdadi had moved from place to place in eastern Syria amid a tightening U.S.-led campaign against his group as IS-held territory fell bit by bit. He ended up in Idlib, in northwestern Syria, an area controlled by a rival, al-Qaida-linked militant group. It was not clear if any of his wives were with him at the time of the raid, during which two of his children were killed.

Turkey has captured slain IS leader al-Baghdadi’s wife: President Erdogan

Turkey has captured a wife of the slain leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.

853a278887cc460d7573b1fbfb1f30ce

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wave to a crowd as they board Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base.His presidency over, Donald Trump said farewell to Washington on Wednesday but also hinted about a comeback despite a legacy of chaos, tumult and bitter divisions in the country he led for four years.“So just a goodbye. We love you," Trump told supporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland where he walked across a red carpet and boarded Air Force One to head to Florida. "We will be back in some form.”Trump departed office as the only president ever impeached twice, and with millions more out of work than when he was sworn in and 400,000 dead from the coronavirus. Under his watch, Republicans lost the presidency and both chambers of Congress. He will be forever remembered for inciting an insurrection, two weeks before Democrat Joe Biden moved into the White House, at the Capitol that left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer, and horrified the nation. It was on Trump's on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017, that he had painted a dire picture of “American carnage."The first president in modern history to boycott his successor’s inauguration, Trump is still stewing about his loss and maintains that election won by Biden was stolen from him. Republican officials in several critical states, members of his own administration and a wide swath of judges, including those appointed by Trump, have rejected those arguments.Trump refused to participate in any of the symbolic passing-of-the-torch traditions surrounding the peaceful transition of power, including inviting the Joe and Jill Biden to the White House for a get-to-know-you visit.He did follow at least one tradition: The White House said Trump left behind a note for Biden. A Trump spokesman, Judd Deere, declined to say what Trump wrote or characterize the sentiment in the note, citing privacy for communication between presidents.Members of Trump’s family gathered for the send-off on the military base along with the president’s loyalists, who chanted “We love you!” “Thank you, Trump” and “U.S.A.” Four Army cannons fired a 21-gun salute.Speaking without notes, Trump said his presidency was an “incredible four years.” He told the crowd that he and first lady Melania Trump loved them and praised his family for its hard work, saying they could have chosen to have an easier life.ALSO READ | Trump leaves note for Biden in White House: Reports“It’s been something very special. We’ve accomplished a lot,” Trump said, citing the installation of conservative judges, creation of the space force, development of coronavirus vaccines and management of a robust pre-pandemic economy. “I hope they don’t raise your taxes, but if they do, I told you so,” he said of the incoming Biden administration.He acknowledged that his was not a “regular administration” and told his backers that he would be returning in some form. He said the Trump campaign had worked so hard: “We’ve left it all on the field," he said.Without mention's Biden's name, Trump wished the new administration great luck and success, which he said would made easier because he had laid “a foundation.”“I will always fight for you," he told the crowd. “I will be watching. I will be listening.”Before arriving at the airport, Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House that being president had been the honor of his lifetime.“We love the American people, and again, it has been something very special," he said over the sound of the Marine One helicopter. "And I just want to say goodbye but hopefully it’s not a long-term goodbye. We’ll see each other again.”Trump and first lady Melania Trump landed in Florida a more than an hour before Biden was to be sworn in as the 46th U.S. president. Air Force One flew low along the Florida coast as Biden's inauguration ceremony flashed across televisions on board. A loud cheer went up from the crowd awaiting his arrival when the plane made a low approach to Palm Beach International Airport as the “Star-Spangled Banner” played over loudspeakers.Several hundred supporters lined his limousine route to Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. It had a party atmosphere. Trump and American flags waved, with many supporters wearing red, white and blue clothing.Shari Ackerly parked her three-wheeled motorcycle along the road, painted with red, white and blue stripes and “Trump - Make America Great.” A Trump-Pence campaign sign laid against the headrest, the vice president’s name crossed out.Ackerly said she wanted to show her support for Trump, saying she supported him since he gave Sen. Ted Cruz the nickname “Lyin’ Ted” in the 2016 Republican debates. “He told it like it is,” she said.In Florida, he will face an uncertain future.Aides had urged Trump to spend his final days in office trying to salvage his legacy by highlighting his administration’s achievements — tax cuts, scaled-back federal regulations, normalizing relations in the Middle East. But Trump largely refused, taking a single trip to the Texas border and releasing a video in which he pledged to his supporters that “the movement we started is only just beginning.” In his final hours, Trump issued pardons for more than 140 people, including his former strategist, rap performers, ex-members of Congress and other allies of him and his family.ALSO READ | Holding Melania's hand, Trump leaves White House for the last timeTrump will be in Florida with a small group of former White House aides as he charts a political future that looks very different now from just two weeks ago.Before the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, Trump had been expected to remain his party’s de facto leader, wielding enormous power as he served as a kingmaker and mulled a 2024 presidential run. But now he appears more powerless than ever — shunned by so many in his party, impeached twice, denied the Twitter bullhorn he had intended to use as his weapon and even facing the prospect that, if he is convicted in his Senate trial, he could be barred from seeking a second term.For now, Trump remains angry and embarrassed, consumed with rage and grievance. He spent the week after the election sinking deeper and deeper into a world of conspiracy, and those who have spoken with him say he continues to believe he won in November. He has lashed out at Republicans for perceived disloyalty and has threatened, both publicly and privately, to spend the coming years backing primary challenges against those he feel betrayed him.Some expect him to eventually turn completely on the Republican Party, perhaps by flirting with a run as a third-party candidate as an act of revenge.For all the chaos and drama and bending the world to his will, Trump ended his term as he began it: largely alone. The Republican Party he co-opted finally appeared to have had enough after Trump’s supporters violently stormed the Capitol, hunting for lawmakers who refused to go along with Trump’s unconstitutional efforts to overturn the results of a democratic election.White House cleaning crews worked overnight Wednesday and were still going as the sun rose to get the building cleaned and ready for its new occupants. Most walls were stripped down to the hooks that once held photographs, and offices were devoid of the clutter and trinkets that gave them life.While Trump has left the White House, he retains his grip on the Republican base, with the support of millions of loyal voters, along with allies still helming the Republican National Committee and many state party organizations.The city he leaves will not miss him. Trump rarely left the confines of the White House, except to visit his own hotel. He and his wife never once ate dinner at any other local restaurant and never ventured out to shop in its stores or see the sites. When he did leave, it was almost always to one of his properties: his golf course in Virginia, his golf course in New Jersey, his private club and nearby golf course in Palm Beach, Florida.The city overwhelmingly supported Biden, with 93% of the vote. Trump received just 5.4% of the vote — or fewer than 18,600 ballots — not enough to fill the Washington Capitals hockey arena. /* .jw-reset-text, .jw-reset{line-height: 2em;}*/ .jw-time-tip .jw-time-chapter{display:none;} if ('' == comscore_jw_loaded || 'undefined' == comscore_jw_loaded || undefined == comscore_jw_loaded) { var comscore_jw_loaded = 1; firstjw = document.getElementsByClassName('jwvidplayer')[0]; cs_jw_script = document.createElement('script'); cs_jw_script.src = 'https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/internal-c2/plugins/streamingtag_plugin_jwplayer.js'; firstjw.parentNode.insertBefore(cs_jw_script, firstjw.nextSibling); } var jwconfig_9743758112 = { "file": "https://vod-indiatv.akamaized.net/hls/2021/01/0_irrwuhkk/master.m3u8", "image": "https://thumbs.indiatvnews.com/vod/0_irrwuhkk_big_thumb.jpg", "title": "Donald Trump: We pray for new administration’s success", "height": "440px", "width": "100%", "aspectratio": "16:9", "autostart": false, "controls": true, "mute": false, "volume": 25, "floating": false, "sharing": { "code": "", "sites": [ "facebook", "twitter", "email" ] }, "stretching": "exactfit", "primary": "html5", "hlshtml": true, "sharing_link": "", "duration": "114", "advertising": { "client": "vast", "autoplayadsmuted": true, "skipoffset": 5, "cuetext": "", "skipmessage": "Skip ad in xx", "skiptext": "SKIP", "preloadAds": true, "schedule": [ { "offset": "pre", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PreRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" }, { "offset": "50%", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_MidRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=" }, { "offset": "post", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PostRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" } ] } }; var jwvidplayer_9743758112 = ''; jwsetup_9743758112(); function jwsetup_9743758112() { jwvidplayer_9743758112 = jwplayer("jwvidplayer_9743758112").setup(jwconfig_9743758112); jwvidplayer_9743758112.on('ready', function () { ns_.StreamingAnalytics.JWPlayer(jwvidplayer_9743758112, { publisherId: "20465327", labelmapping: "c2=\"20465327\", c3=\"IndiaTV News\", c4=\"null\", c6=\"null\", ns_st_mp=\"jwplayer\", ns_st_cl=\"0\", ns_st_ci=\"0_irrwuhkk\", ns_st_pr=\"Donald Trump: We pray for new administration’s success\", ns_st_sn=\"0\", ns_st_en=\"0\", ns_st_ep=\"Donald Trump: We pray for new administration’s success\", ns_st_ct=\"null\", ns_st_ge=\"News\", ns_st_st=\"Donald Trump: We pray for new administration’s success\", ns_st_ce=\"0\", ns_st_ia=\"0\", ns_st_ddt=\"2021-01-20\", ns_st_tdt=\"2021-01-20\", ns_st_pu=\"IndiaTV News\", ns_st_cu=\"https://vod-indiatv.akamaized.net/hls/2021/01/0_irrwuhkk/master.m3u8\", ns_st_ty=\"video\"" }); }); jwvidplayer_9743758112.on('all', function (r) { if (jwvidplayer_9743758112.getState() == 'error' || jwvidplayer_9743758112.getState() == 'setupError') { jwvidplayer_9743758112.stop(); jwvidplayer_9743758112.remove(); jwvidplayer_9743758112 = ''; jwsetup_9743758112(); return; } }); jwvidplayer_9743758112.on('error', function (t) { jwvidplayer_9743758112.stop(); jwvidplayer_9743758112.remove(); jwvidplayer_9743758112 = ''; jwsetup_9743758112(); return; }); jwvidplayer_9743758112.on('mute', function () { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_9743758112.on('adPlay', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_9743758112.on('adPause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_9743758112.on('pause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_9743758112.on('error', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_9743758112.on('adBlock', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); }

'Will be back in some form', says Donald Trump as he leaves White House

Trump refused to participate in any of the symbolic passing-of-the-torch traditions surrounding the peaceful transition of power, including inviting the Joe and Jill Biden to the White House for a get-to-know-you visit.

2f46c4044a94ee07d866d873fa66fa6b

India and Israel today elevated their ties to the strategic partnership level, vowing to do "much more together" to combat growing radicalisation and terrorism while pitching for strong action against those financing and providing sanctuaries to terror groups. The issue of terror and "strategic threats" along with various other topics like cooperation in defence and security, water, agriculture, space and West Asia figured prominently in the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu here today. After the wide-ranging talks, the two sides signed seven pacts covering areas like innovation, water conservation, agriculture and space. During the second of his three-day visit, Modi also met Moshe Holtzberg, the Israeli child who narrowly escaped death  in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. "This is a good day... You and I can change the world... Our relationship is made in heaven and we are doing the implementation part," Netanyahu said with Modi standing by his side during a joint media appearance. The Israeli prime minister, who is devoting full time to Modi during his three-day visit and joining him at all his engagements, said the two countries together "can make a big difference" to the world. Modi, while describing his stay in Israel so far as "productive" and "memorable", said, "Our goal is to build a relationship that reflects our shared priorities and draws on enduring bonds between our peoples. The first Indian prime minister to visit Israel said both the countries live in "complex geographies" and are aware of "strategic threats" to regional peace and stability. "India has suffered first-hand the violence and hatred spread by terror. So has Israel," he said, adding the two leaders had "agreed to do much more together to protect our strategic interests and also cooperate to combat growing radicalization and terrorism, including in cyber space." Netanyahu said the two countries need to cooperate in the field of counter-terrorism as he described 26/11 as a "horrible terrorist attack". Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, while briefing the media on the talks later, said the two countries had decided to elevate their relationship to the strategic partnership, which gives a special dimension to the ties. A joint statement issued after the talks said "strong measures should be taken against terrorists, terror organisations, their networks and all those who encourage, support and finance terrorism, or provide sanctury to terrorists and terror groups." Though nobody was named in this context, the Indian side saw this as a reference to Pakistan. "There are a lot of common challenges, including cyber security," the foreign secretary said, adding, "There is an ongoing dialogue on homeland security (between India and Israel). This is expected to be strengthened." The joint statement said two prime ministers recognised that terrorism poses a grave threat to global peace and stability and reiterated their strong commitment to combat it in all its forms and manifestations. "They stressed that there can be no justification for acts of terror on any grounds whatsoever," it said. Modi and Netanyahu asserted that fight against terror won't succeed if it is segmented, Jaishankar said. Both leaders also committed to cooperate for the early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International terrorism (CCIT), the statement added. The foreign secretary was asked why there was no action like the one witnessed during Modi's recent visit to Washington when the US had declared Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin as a 'global terrorist' recently. Responding, he said the American sanctioning system is unique and cannot be used as a "norm". "No other country has the policy or legal institution to do it (sanction)... The US is an exception," he added. Referring to areas of defence and security, Jaishankar said India and Israel have been having "time-tested" and long-standing partnership on defence, joint development and transfer of technology. The foreign secretary said Israel is excited about the 'Make-in-India' programme and wants to "Make-with-India'. "There is appetite for working with us. There is a lot of enthusiasm, there are a lot of possibilities," he said. The two sides signed seven agreements, including in areas like space, agriculture and water conservation. Jaishankar said the pact in the field of agriculture is crucial for India to meet its ambitious goal of doubling the farmers' income by 2022.Modi and Netanyahu also discussed the situation in West Asia and the wider region. "It is India's hope that peace, dialogue, and restraint will prevail," Modi said. India and Israel also agreed to set up a USD 40 million fund for industrial Research and Development, and innovation fund, with both countries contributing USD 20 million each. Jaishankar said Modi and Netanyahu also discussed visa liberalisation. India invited Israel to be a partner country in the annual Technology Summit. Modi also invited Netanyahu and his family to pay a visit to India.

India, Israel now strategic partners; vow to do more against terror jointly

India and Israel today elevated their ties to the strategic partnership level, vowing to do "much more together" to combat growing radicalisation and terrorism.

1d5a1ffe3edbc86bd43b27d273b6417c

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in US special opsISIS leader and most wanted terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in a special ops raid conducted by US troops in Syria, international media is reporting. The raid which killed the ISIS chief was reportedly conducted on Saturday and authorised by US President Donald Trump a week in advance.US Army officials told Newsweek that Baghdadi was the target of a top-secret raid carried out in Syria's Idlib province. The official also said that Baghdadi was killed in the raid. Another Pentagon source told the American weekly that the department has "High Confidence" that the high-value target killed during the raid was indeed Baghdadi, further verification is underway, the report said. Idlib province of Syria where the raid was carried out is controlled by Syrian militias including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham - the former Nusra Front- which clashed with ISIS in recent years. The final nod was given to the special ops raid after the command received 'actionable intelligence' after constant surveillance for some time. Trump tweeted Sunday morning from his official handle -- "Something very big has just happened!"White House Spokesperson Hogan Gidley has announced that Trump will make a 'major statement' at 9 am EST (06:30 pm IST).Also Read | Timeline of the rise and fall of the Islamic State group /* .jw-reset-text, .jw-reset{line-height: 2em;}*/ .jw-time-tip .jw-time-chapter{display:none;} if ('' == comscore_jw_loaded || 'undefined' == comscore_jw_loaded || undefined == comscore_jw_loaded) { var comscore_jw_loaded = 1; firstjw = document.getElementsByClassName('jwvidplayer')[0]; cs_jw_script = document.createElement('script'); cs_jw_script.src = 'https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/internal-c2/plugins/streamingtag_plugin_jwplayer.js'; firstjw.parentNode.insertBefore(cs_jw_script, firstjw.nextSibling); } var jwconfig_6156762182 = { "file": "https://indiatv-vh.akamaihd.net/i/vod/0_q7rr3f20_,20,21,22,.mp4.csmil/master.m3u8", "image": "https://thumbs.indiatvnews.com/vod/0_q7rr3f20_big_thumb.jpg", "title": "ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in US raid", "height": "440px", "width": "100%", "aspectratio": "16:9", "autostart": false, "controls": true, "mute": false, "volume": 25, "floating": false, "sharing": { "code": "", "sites": [ "facebook", "twitter", "email" ] }, "stretching": "exactfit", "primary": "html5", "hlshtml": true, "sharing_link": "", "advertising": { "client": "vast", "autoplayadsmuted": true, "skipoffset": 5, "cuetext": "", "skipmessage": "Skip ad in xx", "skiptext": "SKIP", "preloadAds": true, "schedule": [ { "offset": "pre", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PreRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" }, { "offset": "50%", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_MidRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=" }, { "offset": "post", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PostRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" } ] } }; var jwvidplayer_6156762182 = ''; jwsetup_6156762182(); function jwsetup_6156762182() { jwvidplayer_6156762182 = jwplayer("jwvidplayer_6156762182").setup(jwconfig_6156762182); jwvidplayer_6156762182.on('ready', function () { ns_.StreamingAnalytics.JWPlayer(jwvidplayer_6156762182, { publisherId: "20465327", labelmapping: "c2=\"20465327\", c3=\"IndiaTV News\", c4=\"null\", c6=\"null\", ns_st_mp=\"jwplayer\", ns_st_cl=\"0\", ns_st_ci=\"0_q7rr3f20\", ns_st_pr=\"ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in US raid\", ns_st_sn=\"0\", ns_st_en=\"0\", ns_st_ep=\"ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in US raid\", ns_st_ct=\"null\", ns_st_ge=\"News\", ns_st_st=\"ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in US raid\", ns_st_ce=\"0\", ns_st_ia=\"0\", ns_st_ddt=\"2019-10-27\", ns_st_tdt=\"2019-10-27\", ns_st_pu=\"IndiaTV News\", ns_st_cu=\"https://indiatv-vh.akamaihd.net/i/vod/0_q7rr3f20_,20,21,22,.mp4.csmil/master.m3u8\", ns_st_ty=\"video\"" }); }); jwvidplayer_6156762182.on('all', function (r) { if (jwvidplayer_6156762182.getState() == 'error' || jwvidplayer_6156762182.getState() == 'setupError') { jwvidplayer_6156762182.stop(); jwvidplayer_6156762182.remove(); jwvidplayer_6156762182 = ''; jwsetup_6156762182(); return; } }); jwvidplayer_6156762182.on('error', function (t) { jwvidplayer_6156762182.stop(); jwvidplayer_6156762182.remove(); jwvidplayer_6156762182 = ''; jwsetup_6156762182(); return; }); jwvidplayer_6156762182.on('mute', function () { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_6156762182.on('adPlay', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_6156762182.on('adPause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_6156762182.on('pause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_6156762182.on('error', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_6156762182.on('adBlock', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); }  

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in US special ops

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in a top-secret raid carried out by the US troops in Syria's Idlib province, international media is reporting. Donald Trump is expected to make a statement at 06:30 PM IST.

be891522d179936ca00d653a43d68dcf

Myanmar's military says almost 400 people have died in recent violence in the western state of Rakhine triggered by attacks on security forces by insurgents from the Rohingya ethnic minority.The numbers, posted Friday on the Facebook page of the country's military commander, are a sharp increase over the previously reported toll of just over 100. The statement said all but 29 of the 399 dead were insurgents, whom it described as terrorists.The statement said there had been 90 armed clashes including an initial 30 attacks by insurgents on Aug. 25, making the combat more extensive than previously announced.The army, responding to the Aug. 25 attacks, launched what it called clearance operations against the insurgents. Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar, say security forces attacked and burned Rohingya villages, shooting civilians and causing others to flee. Hundreds of civilians have been killed, they say.Tens of thousands have fled into neighboring Bangladesh, an exodus that continued Friday.Bangladeshi border guards have tried to keep them out, but thousands could be seen Friday making their way across muddy rice fields.Young people helped carry the elderly, some on makeshift stretchers, and children carried newborns.Some, carrying bundles of clothes, cooking utensils and small solar panels, said they had walked at least three days to get to the border.Sham Shu Hoque, 34, crossed the border with 17 family members. He said he left his village of Ngan Chaung on Aug. 25 after it was attacked by Myanmar security forces who shot at the villagers. He said troops also used rocket-propelled grenades, and helicopters fired some sort of incendiary device.Five people were killed in front of his house, he said. His family survived the attack but was told by the soldiers to leave. They took a week to reach Bangladesh, hiding in villages along the way, he said.Most of Myanmar's estimated 1 million Rohingya live in northern Rakhine state. They face severe persecution, with the government refusing to recognize them as a legitimate native ethnic minority, leaving them without citizenship and basic rights.Longstanding tension between the Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists erupted in bloody rioting in 2012. The insurgent group that claimed responsibility for last week's attacks, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, said it acted to protect Rohingya communities.The U.S. group Human Rights Watch said it has obtained satellite images that suggest burning villages across a large swathe of Rakhine state. It said the locations match some of the accounts given by refugees who have fled into Bangladesh of settlements that have been attacked and destroyed by Myanmar soldiers, police and armed civilians."The government has to stop this offensive," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch. "It has to allow humanitarian assistance and let journalists into this area. We have to actually see what's happened because quite clearly human rights violations have taken place."He said it was possible the violations had occurred on both sides."There has to be some sort of de-escalation," he said.

Myanmar military says death toll in clashes almost 400

The statement said there had been 90 armed clashes including an initial 30 attacks by insurgents on Aug. 25, making the combat more extensive than previously announced.

5a65b7f3f6ff7e4241150add086ef371

Speculation over how North Korea will handle the costs for Kim’s June 12 meeting with Trump has taken off after a  report cited  that Trump administration has been “seeking a discreet way” to help pay Kim’s hotel bill.When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump hold their summit at an exclusive venue in Singapore, one of the priciest destinations in Asia, they will no doubt run up quite a bill. And if past precedent is any indication, expect Pyongyang to pay as little of it as possible.Speculation over how North Korea will handle the costs for Kim’s June 12 meeting with Trump has taken off after a Washington Post report cited two anonymous U.S. officials suggesting the Trump administration has been “seeking a discreet way” to help pay Kim’s hotel bill.The report suggested host nation Singapore might take care of it.But what exactly needs to be paid for isn’t yet clear.Sure there are the costs of summit venue and the hotels, with one reported option, the Fullerton, coming with a $6,000-a-night price tag for its presidential suite. But that would hardly break the North Korean bank.While Kim could decide to stay the night, or maybe even two, he might also be in a hurry to get back home, in which case the North wouldn’t need a room so much as a base camp. North Korea has an embassy in Singapore, but that likely wouldn’t be good enough to meet the logistical and security demands of a full-on summit.The North may want to send a large delegation to accompany Kim and provide its own security. If there are any feelers going out about cost-sharing, that’s a likely topic. But it would be more of a sweetener than a necessity.Whatever the venue, it’s debatable why an outside party would need to pay.North Korea’s government, which is no stranger to hosting lavish events like military parades and party congresses of its own, has ample funds to cover important meetings for Kim.While highly speculative — Kim is even more averse to divulging details about his personal wealth than Trump — the North Korean leader is believed by some foreign experts to be worth well over $1 billion and have access to billions dollars more thanks to the full backing of his country.But as history has shown, summits with the Kim family don’t come cheap.Seoul reportedly spent somewhere in the range of $5 million to cover the costs of costs of President Moon Jae-in’s first summit with Kim in April — a day-long affair that was held in publicly owned buildings on the South Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone.And though this falls in a category all of its own, former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s administration secretly paid $500 million to just to get Kim Jong Un’s father to agree to the first-ever North-South Korea summit in 2000.The South Korean president won that year’s Nobel Peace Prize, before the payment was made public. One of his aides was convicted and went to prison.Hosting North Koreans at sports events can also have extra costs attached.South Korea paid $2.5 million to cover the costs of more than 400 North Koreans, only 22 of whom were athletes, at the Pyeongchang Games in February.The Olympics were the first big step of Kim’s ongoing diplomatic campaign, which he announced with great fanfare in January. But they weren’t the first time Seoul had shelled out in the name of Korean unity.For the Asian Games in Busan in 2002, it gave about $1.3 million, then $836,000 for a Universiade in 2003 and another $385,000 for the Asian Games in 2014.U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert has denied the U.S. would pay for North Korea in Singapore and said Washington wasn’t asking anyone else to, either.In keeping with normal practice, Singapore, as the host nation, will have to put out for general security and various other expenses.Singapore announced Monday that it was declaring part of its city center a “special event area” from June 10 to 14 for the summit. The designation will allow for greater security in the area, which is near the U.S. Embassy as well as several hotels, including the Shangri-La.The Shangri-La has been mentioned as a possible venue for the talks due to its experience as the site of an annual security conference that draws defense officials from around the globe.Singapore’s Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen on Saturday confirmed the country would foot some costs, while steering clear of the details or whether Pyongyang or Washington had made any specifics requests.“We want to contribute in our small way so that this summit can occur,” he told reporters.The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has also offered to chip in a share of the million dollars it was awarded for winning the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

At Trump-Kim summit, don’t expect North Korea to foot the bill

Speculation over how North Korea will handle the costs for Kim’s June 12 meeting with Trump has taken off after a Washington Post report cited two anonymous U.S. officials suggesting the Trump administration has been “seeking a discreet way” to help pay Kim’s hotel bill.

3f61a1dfd8c0440ef8e395bd646e8e42

A woman wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks in front of a clothing shop in Tokyo.COVID-19 cases in Japan increased by 87 to 15,662, with the figure including 39 new infections in the capital, remaining below 100 for a sixth straight day and dropping well below the April 17 peak of 201 cases, official figures showed. The nationwide death toll from the pneumonia-causing virus now stands at 619, including those from a cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama near Tokyo, the latest figures on Friday showed, Xinhua news agency reported.Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who also serves as Japan's minister in charge of the coronavirus response, said on Friday that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country is dropping, but before restrictions are lifted the slowdown in the pace of new infections must continue for a certain duration.Nishimura attributed the decline in new infections to efforts made by the public to adhere to the government requests including to refrain from going outside without good reason, work from home, significantly reduce human-to-human contact, avoid crowds and wear masks outside, among others.Noting that the number of people discharged from hospitals is increasing, Nishimura also said that there are plans in place to ease restrictions in 34 of Japan's 47 prefectures that are not under special alert.He said 27 prefectures are mulling whether to lift the stay-at-home request and replace it with a "stay-in-your-prefecture" measure, but requests to avoid visiting entertainment districts to eat and drink will likely be maintained.Nishimura also said that gatherings of up to 50 people may be allowed in 21 prefectures that have not been overly affected by the spread of the virus, but stressed that preventative measures were key as the virus can be spread by asymptomatic carriers.In terms of the nationwide state of emergency being lifted, he said that the focal point for experts was on the number of new daily infections and that officials needed to see definitive trends on a weekly and two-weekly basis.His remarks echoed those of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who said that he would consult with experts on May 14 and consider if the emergency period can be lifted at an earlier juncture based on varying factors including the rate of new infections.The Japanese leader, who issued the extension until the end of May of the nationwide state of emergency on Monday, also said the capacity of the health care system must be taken into consideration when deciding on when the emergency period can be ended.As for the latest infection figures, Tokyo remains the epicenter of Japan's outbreak with 4,810 confirmed infections, accounting for more than one-third of all cases across the nation, followed by Osaka Prefecture with 1,716 infections.Kanagawa Prefecture, meanwhile, has recorded 1,148 cases, Saitama Prefecture 943 infections, Hokkaido Prefecture 934 infections, while Chiba Prefecture has recorded 870 cases of COVID-19, according to the latest figures.The health ministry also said there are currently a total of 291 patients considered severely ill and are on ventilators or have otherwise been admitted to intensive care units, while a total of 6,557 people have been discharged from hospitals, according to the figures.

Japan eyes lifting restrictions as coronavirus cases decline

COVID-19 cases in Japan increased by 87 to 15,662, with the figure including 39 new infections in the capital, remaining below 100 for a sixth straight day and dropping well below the April 17 peak of 201 cases, official figures showed.

f8f83e40b0f9674b6716e10f3011923d

Two Indian-origin ministers in Singapore play key role in facilitating Trump-Kim summit Two Indian-origin ministers in Singapore, Vivian Balakrishnan and K Shanmugam, are playing a key role in facilitating a hassle-free summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un here tomorrow. Balakrishnan, Singapore's Foreign Minister, made important visits to Washington, Pyongyang and Beijing in recent days to ensure that there would be no last-minute spoilers for the historic meeting hosted by the city-state. Balakrishnan, 57, is from the ruling People's Action Party. He studied medicine and later pursued postgraduate education in ophthalmology. Shanmugam is Singapore's Minister for Law and Home Affairs and he has the responsibility to make sure that the summit, the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean top leader, goes without a hitch from the security point of view. A lawyer by profession, 59-year-old Shanmugam also belongs to the ruling People's Action Party. Singapore is one of the few countries that have diplomatic relations with both the US and North Korea. Balakrishnan, who received Kim, the Chairman of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, yesterday at Changi Airport, said the summit comes after 70 years of suspicion, war and diplomatic failures. "This is not the way conventional diplomacy would have been conducted, but perhaps you need two very unconventional leaders to have brought us to this stage," he told the BBC. "They may be able to pull rabbits out of a hat that the rest of us conventional diplomats would not have been able to do," he said. Still, he noted that decades of tension cannot be resolved in one meeting, although, based on his interactions with their staff and meeting them personally, "both are supremely confident, both are hopeful". Balakrishnan also said that the Singapore government was footing the hotel bill for Kim and his delegation who are staying at the plush St Regis hotel here. He added that the expenditure forms part of the 20 million Singapore dollars (USD 15 million) that Singapore is spending on the summit in all. Of this, half is on security, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday. Meanwhile, Law and Home Affairs Minister Shanmugam is confident that security is in place for the Trump-Kim summit. "The fact that we prepared this in two weeks, this adds to logistics demands by officers who worked around the clock," Shanmugam said at a security briefing yesterday. "We are confident that we have put security in place. We have 5,000 Home Team officers such as police and emergency response teams like civil defence," he was quoted as saying by Channel News Asia. Shanmugam said that four people have been turned away at Singapore's immigration checkpoints in the lead-up to the summit. 

Two Indian-origin ministers in Singapore play key role in facilitating Trump-Kim summit

Balakrishnan, Singapore's Foreign Minister, made important visits to Washington, Pyongyang and Beijing in recent days to ensure that there would be no last-minute spoilers for the historic meeting hosted by the city-state.

c66ce18effa71e0f90b51a95fa4019a3

Macron’s office on Tuesday confirmed a video that is widely circulating online.French President Emmanuel Macron was slapped Tuesday in the face by a man during a visit to a small town in southeastern France, an incident that prompted a wide show of support for French politicians from all sides.The French president was greeting the public waiting for him behind barriers in the town of Tain-l’Hermitage after he visited a high school that is training students to work in hotels and restaurants.A video shows a man slapping Macron in the face and his bodyguards pushing the man away as the French leader is quickly rushed from the scene.A bodyguard, who was standing right behind Macron, raised a hand in defense of the president, but was a fraction of a second too late to stop the slap. The bodyguard then put his arm around the president to protect him.ALSO READ: PM Modi calls French President Macron, thanks him for help during Covid second waveMacron just managed to turn his face away as the attacker’s right hand connected, making it seem that he struck more a glancing blow than a direct slap.French news broadcaster BFM TV said two people have been detained by police. Macron hasn't commented yet on the incident and continued his visit.The man, who was wearing a mask, appears to have cried out “Montjoie! Saint Denis!” a centuries-old royalist war cry, before finishing with “A bas la Macronie,” or “Down with Macron.”In 2018, the royalist call was cried out by someone who threw a cream pie at far-left lawmaker Eric Coquerel. At the time, the extreme-right, monarchist group Action Francaise, took responsibility for that action. Coquerel on Tuesday expressed his solidarity with Macron. /* .jw-reset-text, .jw-reset{line-height: 2em;}*/ .jw-time-tip .jw-time-chapter{display:none;} if ('' == comscore_jw_loaded || 'undefined' == comscore_jw_loaded || undefined == comscore_jw_loaded) { var comscore_jw_loaded = 1; firstjw = document.getElementsByClassName('jwvidplayer')[0]; cs_jw_script = document.createElement('script'); cs_jw_script.src = 'https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/internal-c2/plugins/streamingtag_plugin_jwplayer.js'; firstjw.parentNode.insertBefore(cs_jw_script, firstjw.nextSibling); } var jwconfig_4842066781 = { "file": "https://vod-indiatv.akamaized.net/hls/2021/06/0_ahgw3kz0/master.m3u8", "image": "https://thumbs.indiatvnews.com/vod/0_ahgw3kz0_big_thumb.jpg", "title": "French President Emmanuel Macron slapped in face during walkabout", "height": "440px", "width": "100%", "aspectratio": "16:9", "autostart": false, "controls": true, "mute": false, "volume": 25, "floating": false, "sharing": { "code": "", "sites": [ "facebook", "twitter", "email" ] }, "stretching": "exactfit", "primary": "html5", "hlshtml": true, "sharing_link": "", "duration": "62", "advertising": { "client": "vast", "autoplayadsmuted": true, "skipoffset": 5, "cuetext": "", "skipmessage": "Skip ad in xx", "skiptext": "SKIP", "preloadAds": true, "schedule": [ { "offset": "pre", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PreRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" }, { "offset": "50%", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_MidRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=" }, { "offset": "post", "tag": "https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?iu=/8323530/Eng_Video_Desktop_PostRoll&description_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indiatvnews.com&tfcd=0&npa=0&sz=640x480&gdfp_req=1&output=vast&unviewed_position_start=1&env=vp&impl=s&correlator=", "type": "linear" } ] } }; var jwvidplayer_4842066781 = ''; jwsetup_4842066781(); function jwsetup_4842066781() { jwvidplayer_4842066781 = jwplayer("jwvidplayer_4842066781").setup(jwconfig_4842066781); jwvidplayer_4842066781.on('ready', function () { ns_.StreamingAnalytics.JWPlayer(jwvidplayer_4842066781, { publisherId: "20465327", labelmapping: "c2=\"20465327\", c3=\"IndiaTV News\", c4=\"null\", c6=\"null\", ns_st_mp=\"jwplayer\", ns_st_cl=\"0\", ns_st_ci=\"0_ahgw3kz0\", ns_st_pr=\"French President Emmanuel Macron slapped in face during walkabout\", ns_st_sn=\"0\", ns_st_en=\"0\", ns_st_ep=\"French President Emmanuel Macron slapped in face during walkabout\", ns_st_ct=\"null\", ns_st_ge=\"News\", ns_st_st=\"French President Emmanuel Macron slapped in face during walkabout\", ns_st_ce=\"0\", ns_st_ia=\"0\", ns_st_ddt=\"2021-06-08\", ns_st_tdt=\"2021-06-08\", ns_st_pu=\"IndiaTV News\", ns_st_cu=\"https://vod-indiatv.akamaized.net/hls/2021/06/0_ahgw3kz0/master.m3u8\", ns_st_ty=\"video\"" }); }); jwvidplayer_4842066781.on('all', function (r) { if (jwvidplayer_4842066781.getState() == 'error' || jwvidplayer_4842066781.getState() == 'setupError') { jwvidplayer_4842066781.stop(); jwvidplayer_4842066781.remove(); jwvidplayer_4842066781 = ''; jwsetup_4842066781(); return; } }); jwvidplayer_4842066781.on('error', function (t) { jwvidplayer_4842066781.stop(); jwvidplayer_4842066781.remove(); jwvidplayer_4842066781 = ''; jwsetup_4842066781(); return; }); jwvidplayer_4842066781.on('mute', function () { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_4842066781.on('adPlay', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_4842066781.on('adPause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_4842066781.on('pause', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_4842066781.on('error', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); jwvidplayer_4842066781.on('adBlock', function (event) { ga('send', 'event', 'JW Player Events', 'Errors', event.message); }); } Speaking at the National Assembly, Prime Minister Jean Castex said “through the head of state, that’s democracy that has been targeted,” in comments prompting loud applauds from lawmakers from all ranks, standing up in a show of support.“Democracy is about debate, dialogue, confrontation of ideas, expression of legitimate disagreements, of course, but in no case it can be violence, verbal assault and even less physical assault,” Castex said.Far-right leader Marine Le Pen firmly condemned on Twitter “the intolerable physical aggression targeting the president of the Republic.”ALSO READ: Maharashtra's Covid toll crosses 1 lakh mark, tally overtakes FranceVisibly fuming, she said later that while Macron is her top political adversary, the assault was “deeply, deeply reprehensible.”Former President Francois Hollande of the Socialist Party tweeted that the assault is a “unbearable and intolerable blow against our institutions ... The entire nation must show solidarity with the head of state.”Less than one year before France's next presidential election and as the country is gradually reopening its pandemic-hit economy, Macron, a centrist, last week started a political “tour de France,” seeking to visit French regions in the coming months to "feel the pulse of the country.”Macron has said in an interview he wanted to engage with people in a mass consultation with the French public aimed at “turning the page" of the pandemic — and preparing his possible campaign for a second term.The attack follows mounting concerns in France about violence targeting elected officials, particularly after the often-violent “yellow vest” economic protest movement that repeatedly clashed with riot officers in 2019.Village mayors and lawmakers have been among those targeted by physical assaults, death threats and harassment.But France’s well-protected head of state has been spared until now, which compounded the shockwaves that rippled through French politics in the wake of the attack.Macron, like his predecessors, enjoys spending time in meet-and-greets with members of the public. Called “crowd baths” in French, they have long been a staple of French politics and only very rarely produce shows of disrespect for the head of state.A bystander yanked then President Nicolas Sarkozy’s suit during a crowd bath in 2011 and his successor, Hollande, was showered with flour the next year, months before winning the presidential election.

Caught on camera: French President Emmanuel Macron slapped in public

The French president can be seen greeting the public waiting for him behind barriers in the town of Tain-l’Hermitage after he visited a high school that is training students to work in hotels and restaurants.

995a4298f63c9589774993363a50868b

Israel launches fresh air strikes on GazaIsrael on Saturday launched fresh aerial attacks at Hamas targets on the Gaza strip in response to two rockets fired from the enclave. The escalation of violence comes two days after a fragile ceasefire was agreed between the Islamic Jihad group and Israel on Thursday. The truce ended tensions between the Islamist group and the Israeli security forces, Efe news reported. The Israeli army said several Hamas targets were attacked after two rockets were fired around 2 am local time (00.00 GMT) on Saturday that led to sounding of sirens in Beersheba, the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel.The rockets were intercepted by Iron Dome Aerial Defence System.Among the targets were a training camp of the Hamas group, a military complex used by its naval forces and an underground infrastructure, a military statement said.A military spokesperson told Efe news that this was the first time in the last few days that Israel had struck Hamas targets.The militant group that has been ruling Gaza since 2007 was not at the centre of the latest escalation of tensions earlier this week and had not been the target of the retaliatory bombings from Israel.The attacks were focussed on the Islamic Jihad, which marked a change in Israel's position concerning Hamas. Israel would previously blame Hamas for all the incidents originating from the area.The flare-up in violence early Tuesday followed Israeli's tactical strike against Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu Al Ata, which killed him and his wife.The Islamic Jihad, with second-highest numbers of militias after Hamas in the area, began a massive attack with 460 projectiles to which Israel responded with raids on its targets.In the 48-hour long intense bombing, 35 Palestinians were killed, including 19 from the militia. The rest were civilians, including three women and eight minors.On early Thursday morning, a tense calm returned to the area with a ceasefire entering into effect after a deal was brokered by Egypt and the United Nations.ALSO READ | Israel vows to keep hitting militants as 18 killed in GazaALSO READ | Israeli airstrike kills Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza home

Israel launches fresh air strikes on Gaza

The militant group that has been ruling Gaza since 2007 was not at the centre of the latest escalation of tensions earlier this week and had not been the target of the retaliatory bombings from Israel.

5ae4f563edd5992adb773a1f29dfb52a

Continuing its hard-line approach against the existing visa rules, the Trump administration has rolled out a new questionnaire for US visa applicants worldwide that asks for social media handles for the last five years and biographical information going back 15 years. The new questions, part of an effort to tighten vetting of would-be visitors to the United States, was approved on May 23 by the Office of Management and Budget despite criticism from a range of education officials and academic groups during a public comment period. Critics argue that the new questions will be burdensome and will lead to long delays in processing and discourage international students and scientists from coming to the United States. With the new procedures getting a nod by the Trump administration, the consular officials can ask for all prior passport numbers, details of social media handles for the last five years, email addresses, phone numbers and 15 years of biographical information including addresses, employment and travel history. “Officials will request for the additional information when they determine that such information is required to confirm identity or conduct more rigorous national security vetting,” Reuters quoted a State Department official as saying. The State Department said earlier the tighter vetting would apply to visa applicants “who have been determined to warrant additional scrutiny in connection with terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities.”President Donald Trump has vowed to increase national security and border protections, proposing to give more money to the military and make Mexico pay to build a wall along the southern US border.While the new questions are voluntary, the form says failure to provide the information may delay or prevent the processing of an individual visa application.

Trump administration approves stringent visa norms that include social media checks

The Trump administration has rolled out a new questionnaire for US visa applicants worldwide that asks for social media handles for the last five years and biographical information going back 15 years

ffca3eda72ba1fea08b122a9c89d105e

Trump administration not sharing threat assessment, intelligence reports: Biden transition teamUS President-elect Joe Biden's transition team has said that they are not getting access to real-time threat assessment and intelligence reports by the outgoing Trump administration. According to media projections, Democrat Biden has won the November 3 presidential election. However, Trump, the Republican incumbent, has alleged election fraud and mounted legal fights in a number of battleground states.“I would say intelligence briefings and access to real-time threat assessments -- real-time information about air engagements around the world and the threats that we were facing -- I think, the fact that the incoming president and his income National Security Team don't have access to that, it shouldn't surprise anyone,” Jen Psaki, an advisor to the transition team told reporters during a conference call on Friday.Responding to a question on the 9/11 Commission report, Psaki said: “Oh! I'm sure many Republicans in the Senate have seen and read that with interest, but hopefully we'll hear more and see more coming out in the coming days. " The 9/11 Commission report said one among many reasons why officials were ill-prepared for the terrorist attack in September 2002 was due to a delayed presidential transition in 2000.Psaki said that the transition team is not interested in having a "food fight" with the General Services Administration or any other department. “We just want to get access to intelligence information, to threat assessments, to the ongoing work on COVID-19 so that we can prepare to govern, bring the American people together, and get the pandemic under control,” she said.“It has been six days, but with everyday that passes, it becomes more concerning that our National Security Team and the president-elect and the vice president-elect don't have access to those threat assessments, intelligence briefings, real-time information about our engagements around the world because, you know, you don't know what you don't know, and in order to prepare to govern it is important that they have access to that information,” she said.Another transition advisor Yohannes Abraham said that President-elect Biden has a wealth of experience spanning decades in matters of national security and foreign policy, and he has surrounded himself with a team that is similarly seasoned and experienced.“But, exactly, each passing day, lack of access to current classified operations or back channel conversations that are happening really put the American people's interest, as it relates to their national security, at risk,” he said.Lack of co-operation with the transition team, Psaki said, should concern everybody because there shouldn't be a politicisation of the Military.President-elect Biden has a wealth of not just experience but contacts, people he's worked with in the past, people who he can engage with to get briefings, have discussions with in the national security field, and he will certainly be doing that, she asserted.“And while our agency review team can't be engaging directly with the agency, many of them have served relatively recently and also have an understanding of what the needs are and how we can work together to address the threats to the degree,” Psaki said.

Trump administration not sharing threat assessment, intelligence reports: Biden transition team

US President-elect Joe Biden's transition team has said that they are not getting access to real-time threat assessment and intelligence reports by the outgoing Trump administration.

6b062d2a41cf447c1316ded1676fd45e

UK abolishes ‘sexist’ tax on women’s sanitary productsBritain on Friday became the latest country to abolish the so-called “tampon tax,” eliminating sales taxes on women’s sanitary products.The move was widely praised by women’s rights advocates as well as proponents of the country’s departure from the European Union.Treasury chief Rishi Sunak had committed to ending the widely unpopular tax on tampons and sanitary pads in his budget in March but the change could only take effect Friday after Britain had finally left the economic orbit of the European Union.Under EU law, nations cannot reduce the rate of value-added tax on menstrual products below 5% as they are deemed to be luxury items and not essentials. Ireland is the only EU country that does not charge a levy on sanitary products as its zero tax rate was in place before the EU set its floor.“Sanitary products are essential, so it’s right that we do not charge VAT,” said Sunak. “We have already rolled out free sanitary products in schools, colleges and hospitals and this commitment takes us another step closer to making them available and affordable for all women.”Britain officially left the bloc’s vast single market for people, goods and services at 11 p.m. London time on Thursday, giving it greater scope to set its own laws. A new U.K.-EU trade deal will bring new restrictions and red tape, but for British Brexit supporters, it means reclaiming national independence from the EU and its rules. They pointed to the abolition of the tampon tax as an early positive change from Brexit.Britain’s treasury has previously estimated the move will save the average woman nearly 40 pounds ($55) over her lifetime.“It’s been a long road to reach this point, but at last, the sexist tax that saw sanitary products classed as nonessential, luxury items can be consigned to the history books,” said Felicia Willow, chief of the Fawcett Society, a women’s rights charity.Many other countries have also eliminated the tampon tax, including Australia, Canada and India. In the United States, several states including New York and Florida have also nixed the tax.

UK abolishes ‘sexist’ tax on women’s sanitary products

Treasury chief Rishi Sunak had committed to ending the widely unpopular tax on tampons and sanitary pads in his budget in March but the change could only take effect Friday after Britain had finally left the economic orbit of the European Union.

7b05ed53889765116a38d6e06f81ea67

Adopting a strong resolution to fight corruption, India and other G20 members have committed to make their public administrations more resilient against the menace, while ensuring that companies too are held liable in addition to individual perpetrators of this crime.The declaration assumes significance as an OECD Anti- Bribery Convention, adopted nearly a decade ago, has been actively enforced so far only by a few countries and the prosecution rate is dismal even in the majority of the countries having ratified it.   In their joint declaration issued after the end of the two-day Summit on Saturday night, the G20 leaders said they remain committed to fighting corruption, including through practical international cooperation and technical assistance, and will continue to fully implement the G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan 2017-18.   "We endorse four sets of High Level Principles aimed at fostering integrity in the public and private sector. By endorsing the High Level Principles on the Liability of Legal Persons, we commit to ensuring that not only individual perpetrators but also companies benefiting from corruption can be held liable," they said.   G20 countries have already committed themselves to a number of measures to strengthen transparency and integrity in the public sector, including requirements for the conduct of public officials.   In their 2017 declaration, the G20 members also made a strong commitment to make their respective public administrations more resilient against corruption.   The leaders also said they will intensify their fight against illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products.   "Wildlife trafficking is a threat to the planet's biodiversity, economic development, and, among others, health and security, and is facilitated by high levels of corruption, which the G20 cannot tolerate," the declaration said.   The leaders also endorsed the High Level Principles on Countering Corruption in Customs and called for publishing a guide on requesting international cooperation in civil and administrative proceedings.   "We will continue our work to address integrity in sports and urge international sports organisations to intensify their fight against corruption by achieving the highest global integrity and anti-corruption standards.   "In this respect, we strive for a common understanding regarding corruption risks in bids to host major sport events.   "We are also committed to fighting corruption in contracts, including in the natural resources sector. We call for ratification and implementation by all G20 members of the UN Convention against Corruption and for a strong involvement in its review process," it added.   The Principles document adopted by the G20 leaders noted that corruption hampers the efficient and effective operation of government, its fairness and impartiality of decision- making and the delivery of government services.   "A public administration, resilient against corruption, underpinned by a culture of integrity, accountability and transparency not only fosters citizens' trust but can also affect the attractiveness of a country as a business location," it added.   Incidentally, India figures among the countries where corruption has been a major political issue and the Modi government has been maintaining it will leave no stone unturned in its fight against graft and black money.   For many years, G20 has been listing corruption as one of the biggest impediments to global economic growth and its sustainable development agenda.   Ahead of the G20 Summit, some rights groups had called for reaching wider consensus among leaders of the top economies for implementing laws akin to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of the US.   While the G20 has been stressing on greater efforts for tackling this menace for more than six years now, the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention (OECD Convention) has been actively enforced so far only by four countries.   The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, adopted in 1997, requires each signatory country to make foreign bribery a crime for which individuals and enterprises are responsible.   The Convention is a key instrument for curbing the export of corruption globally because the 41 signatory countries are responsible for approximately two-thirds of world exports and almost 90 per cent of total foreign direct investment outflows.   As per OECD, nearly two decades after the OECD Convention on Combating Foreign Bribery entered into force, there are still 20 countries with "little or no enforcement and nine countries with only limited enforcement".   About half of the Convention countries have failed to prosecute any foreign bribery case since they joined the Convention. There are a few improvements, but the performance of the majority of the 41 countries that agreed to combat foreign bribery in international business transactions is far from satisfactory.   Only four countries improved since last year -- Greece, Netherlands, Norway and South Korea, while Argentina was the one country that regressed, the OECD said.

G20 vows to make companies, not only individuals, liable for graft

Adopting a strong resolution to fight corruption, India and other G20 members have committed to make their public administrations more resilient against the menace