NEW DELHI TIMES R.N.I. No 53449/91 DL-SW-1/4124/20-22 (Monday/Tuesday same week) (Published Every Monday) New Delhi Page 24 Rs. 7.00

25 - 31 January 2021 Vol - 30 No. 52 Email : [email protected] Founder : Dr. Govind Narain Srivastava ISSN -2349-1221

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Presidency has Opportunities are not created heralded a new era in Uzbekistan by anybody exclusively Since Shavkat Mirziyoyev took the office of the President of Uzbekistan, the country In life as we navigate through the endless clusters of events, has not only witnessed an unprecedented era of all round development but we so many a times miss out on certain things, like the has also enhanced its standing in the international arena, emerging opportunity to go on a school trip, or a new friendship or to take as a leading power in Central Asia. Shavkat Mirziyoyev has on a new project, or a career. been hailed as the champion of reforms in Uzbekistan. Shavkat Mirziyoyev was appointed by the Supreme Assembly as the There are many things at play as the opportunity that are being interim President... presented to us in our daily life. Sometimes we deny... By Dr. Ankit Srivastava Page 3 By Dr. Pramila Srivastava Page 24

By NDT Special Bureau Page 2 America’s era of mediocrity is India’s Republic Day Parade Pakistan spoiling the Western Allied now in new hands A humble tribute to our Martyrs supported Afghan Peace process

As President Joe Biden and his designer-wearing, multi- India became independent on 15th August, 1947, after Currently the Afghan Taliban and the Afghan government ethnic running mate Vice-President Kamala Harris... protesting and demanding sovereignty... are engaged in “the Afghan dialogue” in Qatar’s... By Tarek Fatah Page 2 By Sujay Dhawan Page 4 By Himanshu Sharma Page 5

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Opinion NEW DELHI TIMES Unholy Pakistan-Turkey-Azerbaijan cauldron: What’s brewing? issue in purely religious terms whereas time join, so will Qatar and Somalia. Pakistan ◆ By NDT Special Bureau and again, it has been proved that the Indian cancelled friendship with Malaysia, ditched @NewDelhiTimes decision to abrogate the special status of and replaced it with Azerbaijan-Pakistan’s Kashmir was due to administrative factors new-found best friend which substituted [email protected] and for purely secular reasons. Perhaps, they Malaysia in the Turkey-Malaysia- Pakistan are only used to view things for a narrow triad. Qatar did not bow down to the GCC he second Trilateral Meeting of “Islamic lens’ for peddling of a propaganda demands, hence could be a fit case to be roped T Foreign Ministers of Turkey, Pakistan narrative but to in. Iran can and Azerbaijan happened on January 13, their chagrin, be a partner at Islamabad, after over three years of the international but highly its first meeting in Baku in 2017. They Pakistan might ask community controversial about trade and technology. How can Turkey discussed “new and emerging threats to shares a much and a drag. or even Azerbaijan engage with the seventh- regional peace and security”, challenges Azerbaijan for loans. wider view of Pakistan is a century desert mind-set of Pakistan that sees due to the Covid-19 pandemic and climate world affairs. huge liability. everything through religious lenses? In the change. The trio discussed development Azerbaijan’s response Even the liberal complex world of diplomacy, this visit by targets and explored the possibilities of Islamic nations Forming a Turkish FM could pose problems for Pakistani trilateral cooperation in all areas of common will be: “You ask like the UAE separate block membership in the NSG in future. Promised interest, including peace and security, trade do not take their anything but money”. outside the Islamic TV channel could start. and investment, science and technology, OIC will incur propaganda Azerbaijan could be marginalized in Europe, education and cultural cooperation. Saudi wrath. seriously A social media joke particularly in the Mediterranean. Turkey is Is Pakistan That much for the diplomatic niceties! shunned by most NATO partners because of its Now the most reconciled Now on to the brass tacks. What is the real surmised that Pakistan leader’s unpredictability and over-ambitious pertinent to Saudi purpose, earthy motives and true agenda Caliphate plans. Pakistan plays a subservient question. Is won’t release the disapproval? that lies hidden to surface any time? And role in Turkey’s power politics. Pakistan Pakistan out of The UAE the final and the most incisive question: calls Turkey, an “iron brother” but the iron the OIC block, visiting FMs until they has already What is brewing up? First of all, welcome brotherhood is getting rustier each passing day. finally? Should delivered the to the club and the clubhouse of Islamists. In foreign affairs there is nothing brotherly. Pursuing a pernicious Islamist agenda, the maverick commit on loans to killing punch. Turkey connived with Islamic Azerbaijan and mercurial No more loans The world awaits the unfolding of the to overtake Nagorno-Karabakh region of FM Qureshi Pakistan! from Saudi, the agenda of the just concluded meeting of the Armenia. be credited (or UAE hereafter. triad with much trepidation. If Pakistan’s discredited) Pakistan might agenda is neither Kashmir nor borrowing, Now the secret is out that Erdogan assured for pulling Pakistan out of the OIC block? ask Azerbaijan for loans. Azerbaijan’s expect plenty of statements and chest Imran help over Kashmir which allured The OIC’s doors is definitely closing on response will be: “You ask anything but thumping. Turkey wants atomic weapons Pakistan to join Azerbaijan-Armenia war Pakistan. Is another OIC – a nascent Islamic money”. from Pakistan. Alternatively, Pakistan has with mercenaries, army units and weapons. Bloc consisting of Turkey, Pakistan and been eyeing for Turkey’s deadly missiles Now is the payback time. Did the triad of Azerbaijan – coagulating around new core of A social media joke surmised that Pakistan since the Armenian conflict. Things are evil discuss how to mobilize and deploy Ummah? All of them are struggling. Turkey won’t release the visiting FMs until they brewing fast and furious. India’s Islamist mercenaries in Kashmir? It is totally is Pakistan’s new iron brother. Both Turkey commit on loans to Pakistan! Pakistanis neighbour (Pakistan) and Islamists from the condemnable that this triumvirate of the ‘self- and Pakistan are sinking ships, going round should better come out of this mind-set of Middle-East (Turkey and Azerbaijan) are proclaimed messiah of Muslims’ has tried to in circles. Great company. All broken pieces brotherly begging before Ummah friends. on the prowl. India, South Asia, the Middle reduce, albeit unsuccessfully, the Kashmir coming together! Malaysia and Iran may Fools seldom differ. The triad reportedly talked East and the world, beware! America’s era of mediocrity is now in new hands forget the 1953 overthrow of Prime Minister glory and mediocrity with borderline attack on Capitol Hill by declaring the day’s Mohammad Mossadegh of Iran or the corruption when Bill Clinton lied, and his ceremony as a victory of democracy. ◆ By Tarek Fatah backing of coups in Vietnam and Cuba. wife Hillary defended him. The man who He preached “unity,” talked of this “winter Author & Columnist, Canada came to end racial discrimination left us his Other countries where America had a hand in of peril” and said Americans are “good @TarekFatah “three strikes and you are out” policy that overthrowing governments include Nicaragua, people,” even as he and his party planned [email protected] left countless Black Americans in prisons. Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador and to decimate an already dead enemy by s President Joe Biden and his designer- Haiti. In Africa, Patrice Lumumba of Congo George Bush Jr. became the epitome of continuing the task of impeaching former A wearing, multi-ethnic running mate Vice- and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana stand as silliness and false bravado while Obama won President Trump. victims of such actions by America. a Nobel Prize just for being America’s first President Kamala Harris took the oath of office We’ll have to wait until 2024 to see whether Black President notwithstanding his White under the protection of over 25,000 soldiers, And then we have the carnage of Baghdad America’s slide into mediocre leaders mother. With him around, one had to be U.S. networks kept reminding us that the and Kabul to remind us of America’s imprint beholden to billionaires and reminded “man can’t live by speech alone.” troops were in the American capital as it was on the pain of the people who suffered for no the Deep State under threat of an attack by outgoing President fault of theirs. The American slide into mediocrity was ends or if i t Donald Trump’s hardline supporters. now visible and the last four years has thrives. Having said that, the United States has shown how the ego of one man destroyed his Their fear was justified in view of the produced great statesmen who have carved chance of a second term. From suggesting unprecedented attack on the U.S. Capitol the way of freedom of speech, scientific bleach to fight COVID-19 to suggesting his with Trump supporters ransacking the accomplishments and played a leading supporters march towards the Capitol and building, sending members of congress and role in individual liberty and of course the stop the process of validating President- senators into hiding and resulting in the “pursuit of happiness,” hitherto considered elect Joe Biden as the next President. deaths of five people. But wasn’t the attack a sinful, never to be declared as goal in life taste of America’s own medicine? where sacrifice and suffering ensured eternal A self-inflicted wound will ensure Americans say they were shocked by peace. that Donald Trump, despite his many what they saw as an attack on their seat accomplishments, will remain as a symbol In our times the names of Roosevelt, JFK of government, but perhaps this was a of pettiness and arrogance who stood and Johnson resonate as men who aspired reminder to them that attacks on parliaments abandoned by his allies and could only call greatness for the people they served, not and Presidential palaces of democratically on the far-right to respond to his calls. themselves. These were men who lifted elected governments is nothing new for the American spirit in both despair and On Wednesday, Trump flew into the oblivion America. Except that such toppling of hope, fought poverty and landed a man on and in stepped the man he had referred to elected governments was done by America the moon – even Reagan with his call “Mr. as “Sleepy Joe” to become America’s 46th in foreign countries across the world. Who Gorbachev, tear down this wall” or Nixon, President — the first to take the oath under can forget the U.S.-backed bombing of reaching out to Chairman Mao for peace the protection of troops. President Salvador Allende’s Presidential with China, had the future in mind. house La Moneda in Santiago on 9/11 in In his opening address, President Biden

1973 by the Chilean Armed Forces? Not to Then came the era of selfishness, personal invoked the memory of the Jan. 6 mob PC : Getty Images www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper

25 - 31 January 2021 3

Editor’s Desk NEW DELHI TIMES Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Presidency has heralded a new era in Uzbekistan leading industries; modernization and results. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in working out joint measures to combat the intensive development of agriculture; the global economic growth rate, Uzbekistan spread of infection. Uzbekistan provided ◆ Dr. Ankit Srivastava continuing of institutional and structural witnessed impressive growth rates. humanitarian assistance to Kyrgyzstan and Chief Editor reforms aimed at reducing the state’s Tajikistan. @AnkitNDT presence in the economy; further In the first half of 2020, Uzbekistan’s real [email protected] strengthening the protection of rights GDP growth was 0.2 percent, compared with The Uzbek President has highlighted his and priority role for private property; 4.1 percent in the first quarter. However, country’s commitment to foster greater ince Shavkat Mirziyoyev took the encouraging the development of small according to the World Bank, GDP growth regional cooperation in Central Asia. He S office of the President of Uzbekistan, business and private entrepreneurship and was 5.8 percent in the first half of 2019. proposed to establish a Regional Centre the country has not only witnessed an integrated and balanced socio-economic The World Bank forecasts GDP growth for for the Development of Transport and unprecedented era of all round development development of provinces, districts and Uzbekistan at 4.3% in 2021 and 4.5% in Communications under the auspices of the but has also enhanced its standing in the cities for optimum and efficient use of their 2022, according to the Global Economic United Nations. international arena, emerging as a leading potential. Prospects released in January 2021. power in Central Asia. Shavkat Mirziyoyev The Uzbek President also reiterated his has been hailed as the champion of reforms 4) Consistent increase in real income and This is impressive considering the fact support to hold an International Conference in Uzbekistan. job creation; improving social security that in the region of Central Asia, growth on the 10th Anniversary of Regional Joint system and health care; enhancing socio- is expected to recover to 3% this year. In Plan on the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Shavkat Mirziyoyev was appointed by the political activity of women; implementation Human Development Index (HDI) report Strategy. Supreme Assembly as the interim President of targeted programs to build affordable 2020, Uzbekistan increased its position of Uzbekistan on September 8, 2016, housing; development and modernization of by 2 points from 2019 and is now ranked These proposals and initiatives by following the death of President Islam road transport; engineering, communications 106th. These also will definitely go up with Uzbekistan will not only strengthen the Karimov. He was subsequently elected to a and social infrastructure; ensuring the more years of Mirziyoyev in the President’s economic as well as regional standing full term as the President in the December improvement of living conditions of the office. of countries in Central Asia but will also 2016 Presidential election, winning 88.6% population; development of education and strengthen the security architecture in the of the votes, and was sworn in on December science; and improving the state youth The Uzbek legislations on banking (the region. 14, 2016. policy. banking bill prevents the former owners of banks that were nationalized or liquidated in Uzbekistan has also called for a durable Since he took office, Mirziyoyev has 5.) Priority areas in the field of security, inter- recent years during a widespread financial- peace in Afghanistan. The Uzbek President been consistently taking bold decisions ethnic harmony and religious tolerance; sector clean-up from regaining ownership has proposed to establish a permanent UN with the aim of increasing democratic and implementation of balanced, mutually rights or receiving monetary compensation) Commission on Afghanistan to promote participation and economic growth. His beneficial and constructive foreign policy. and land reforms (lifting a ban on the sale of and facilitate the economic and social vision is articulated most famously in his farmland) have also been welcomed by the development of Afghanistan. following pronouncement: “It is high time The Presidency of Shavkat Mirziyoyev International Monetary Fund (IMF). the government serves the people, not ensured that these commitments are This is in accordance with the principle that vice versa”. Mirziyoyev has stressed on translated into reality. Parliamentarians have The country’s position in the credit risk any peace process in Afghanistan must be opening Uzbekistan to trade and investment, been encouraged to interact with the people rating of the Organization for Economic in accordance with the will of the Afghan allowing the free flow of people, ideas and and regularly visit their constituencies. Cooperation and Development (OECD) has people and not imposed by any external technology. improved. According to the World Bank’s power. This has borne positive results for the Doing Business rating, the country rose by The 2017-2021 National Development political system in the country and has also 7 positions ranking 8th place among 190 Thus, in domestic as well as international Strategy was adopted in accordance with raised the trust of politicians and political countries in terms of business registration, affairs, Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s policies have the vision of the new Uzbek President. Five institutions in public perception. The and was among best reformers. been a success. On the domestic front, the priority areas of Uzbekistan’s Development Uzbekistan civil and political landscape has economy is opened up for strategy for 2017-2021 were identified as: shown a great deal of progress. In the sphere of health, Uzbekistan’s the welfare of COVID-19 response earned the praise of the the people. 1.) Further strengthening the role of the Oliy The civil society organisations and mass World Health Organisation (WHO) which Majlis (Parliament) and political parties media are operating under a far-greater noted that “Uzbekistan benefits from a high In the in deepening the democratic reforms and liberal environment. Civil society is now an level of community awareness, as well as a domain of modernization of the country; reforming the active partner in the political process rather working surveillance system providing daily international governance system; and improving public than a foe. The number of registered civil aggregated data to inform decision-making. relations, management system. societies in the country is increasing year by Uzbekistan is year. Additionally, the number of national fast emerging 2.) Ensuring true independence of the diagnostic laboratories increased in as the leading Judiciary; increasing the authority of courts; There has been a marked improvement in response to the outbreak, creating a network regional democratization and improving the judicial transparency in administration and in the of 60 throughout the country”. security actor system; providing guarantees of protection report of the Transparency International in Central of rights and freedoms of citizens and on “Corruption Perception Index 2019”, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has raised the Asia. improving the rule of law. Uzbekistan improved its score to 25 points, international profile of Uzbekistan, rising by 5 positions (taking the 153rd particularly as a regional actor 3.) Further strengthening of the macroeconomic position). in Central Asia. During stability and the maintenance of high This ranking will certainly see a continuous the COVID-19 rates of economic growth; improving spike if the current President stays in power pandemic, Shavkat the competitiveness of the economy for a longer term. Mirziyoyev through deepening of structural reforms; took the modernization and diversification of its The economic reforms of Shavkat lead Mirziyoyev have begun to show positive PC : Getty Images

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International NEW DELHI TIMES India’s Republic Day Parade A humble tribute to our Martyrs ◆ By Sujay Dhawan contingents showcase their prowess by marching before the Head of the Armed Editor Forces and pays tribute to the martyrs who @SujayDhawan laid down their lives for the freedom of the [email protected] country as well as in all the wars and attacks that took place till date. ndia became independent on 15th I August, 1947, after protesting and Our parade has a deep significance for us demanding sovereignty from the brutalities and every year a special Guest of Honour of the British Empire. Thousands of men is invited to attend the parade. Although, and women lost their lives on the path to this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic attain freedom. India’s freedom did not British Prime Minister Boris Johnson come only from non-violence and non- cancelled his visit. cooperation movements but also from the But, yes, always a but come, and we can’t sacrifices laid down by our freedom fighters do without it. So, in the last seven decades such as Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat we are organizing almost the same style of Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, Shivram Rajguru, parade. In our childhood, we used to be very Ashfaqulla Khan, Ram Prasad Bismil, excited about the parade and today also we Lala Lajpat Rai, Chandra Shekhar Azad, are equally excited, moreover, patriotic. But Savarkar, Bhai Parmanand, Roshan Singh there is nothing new in the parade. We all and many more precious souls who will know that the parade will take place in good never be forgotten no matter what. old-fashioned manner. Surprise element is gone. Infact, the air quality is poor in It is needless to say that Mangal Pandey was Delhi due to which the visibility also gets the one who ignited this fire by revolting hampered. The picture quality is hazy. against the Britishers in the year 1857. The revolt was termed as the Sepoy Mutiny by We need to add something more interesting PC : Getty Images the British Raj and was never acknowledged in the parade. It should be treated as a as the First War of Indian Independence as The Republic Day Parade became a highlight tribute to the martyrs who laid down their festival. Festival of Democracy on the used by the Indian revolutionaries. for the Indians. Earlier it was carried out near lives to free our country. President of India whole. Not one road should be booked for the Red Fort and the National Stadium and presides the parade and unfurls the National the parade but the whole country should We attained the freedom, which came at later in the year 1955, it was shifted to the Flag in the morning of the Republic Day and celebrate in joyous manner, like the same huge cost as we lost both our arms and later Rajpath, erstwhile ‘Kingsway’. The parade addresses the nation on the eve. way we celebrate Diwali, Holi or any other heads. In November 1950, we adopted the is carried out till 9 km and is pre-planned festivals. Every nook and corner of the Constitution of India which was drafted by and well-coordinated. We have come a long way. We showcase country should celebrate this day. Nation Babasaheb Ambedkar. It came into effect on tableaux chosen across the nation from should be engulfed with the feeling of pride 26th January, 1950, and thus India became The Republic Day Parade was initiated with selected states and the best one wins. and patriotism instead of just thinking it as a a Republic. the basic thought of paying homage and The Indian Military, Air Force and Navy holiday for relaxing. International Political Scenario of the Week including tolls, insurance rates, taxes and ◆ By NDT Bureau fuel prices. @NewDelhiTimes [email protected] Cameroon Cameroon is hosting the current edition of Argentina the African Nations Championship, known as the Total African Nations Championship Independent truck owners in Argentina, (also referred to as CHAN 2020). The grouping under the TUDA association tournament will take place from January 16 (Transportistas Unidos de Argentina) are to February 7, 2021. blocking roads as part of a protest over what drivers say are exorbitant taxes and highway The games are taking place under intense tolls. security and troops have also been deployed The CIARA-CEC export industry chamber as separatists have vowed to stop the games has expressed its concerns about the in restive English-speaking regions. blockage as it is preventing the grains from reaching the ports. “Currently everything Limbe, Southwest region is one of the is operating, but the terminals only have a venues. Constant Omari, the interim certain amount of storage capacity… If the President of the Confederation of African protest extends over time, it will generate Football (CAF) has said that Cameroon problems. President Paul Biya has guaranteed the the Interior Ministry Spokesman Khaled “I know that the economic and social security of all participants in the competition. Hayouni spoke of groups of people between situation is a crisis deepened by COVID and There is concern,” CIARA-CEC Spokesman “The Head of State gave us the assurance of the ages of 15 and 25 who “burned tires and the necessary measures that we have taken Andres Alcara stated. Argentina Cereals all the provisions for everyone to be secure garbage cans to obstruct the movement of the to preserve the health of Tunisians, and that Chamber and Commodities Stock Exchange and that the competition will take place in security forces”, as well as looting. Clashes they (lockdown measures) have limited has also expressed its concerns at the the best conditions,” Omari said. erupted in marginalized areas that were hit some personal freedoms such as the freedom blockade which threatens the production hard by the unprecedented economic crisis. of movement,” the Prime Minister said. chain and trading of cereals and derivates Tunisia and has stated that “such generate economic “Your voice is heard, and your anger is However, he condemned looting and violence by losses which affect all the links of the agro- Violence took place in several towns in legitimate, and it is my role and the role protesters, who have sometimes targeted police. industrial production chain and put at risk Tunisia (Tunis, Bizerte, Menzel Bourguiba, of the government to work to realize your “I make a distinction between the peaceful the supply of the domestic market and Sousse and Nabeul, Kasserine and Siliana). demands and to make the dream of Tunisia protests and acts of robbery and sabotage,” he processing, as well as impeding the access The unrest began amid a four-day lockdown to become true,” Prime Minister Hichem said, adding that while Tunisia’s post-revolution of trucks with grains to export ports”. TUDA that started January14 - the day Tunisia Mechichi appealed to the protesters on Constitution guarantees the right to protest, his truckdrivers demands a review of their costs, marked its revolution. On January 18, national television on January 19. role is to maintain the peace. www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper

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International NEW DELHI TIMES Pakistan spoiling the Western Allied supported Afghan Peace process The Afghan elite must put on a united front, discard internal factional divisions and strive for harmony. The Taliban must shun violence and join the political process to ensure intra-Afghan peace earning livelihood elsewhere. As foreign The only enemy of peace in Afghanistan is a By Himanshu Sharma ◆ forces are poised to troop out of this most mischievous Pakistan that pushes Kabul into @_Himansh_ troubled country, Afghan stakeholders must the quagmire of medievalism and religious commit themselves to give peace a chance. fundamentalism. Afghan people have [email protected] Hammering out a cohesive power-sharing understood Pakistan’s evil machinations solution should serve the interests of all that unleashed their current misery. India’s urrently the Afghan Taliban and the ethnicities, sects, women and minorities. role is highly beneficial for Afghan peace C Afghan government are engaged in A democratic government only can help dialogue to succeed. “the Afghan dialogue” in Qatar’s capital establish such an egalitarian system. Doha to reach an agreement on the Afghan Pakistan is master-spoiler in the ongoing peace process. Unfortunately, the Taliban Understandably the Taliban and its backer Afghan peace process but blames India has raised its level of violence to secure a Pakistan government do not want a unnecessarily. Pakistani politicians, better position in talks and bargain from a democratic, egalitarian political system in bureaucrats included, are habitual liars lying position of strength. Kabul. The Taliban is a retrograde outfit every day to Pakistani public. Even Afghans that is descendant of the desert culture of a do not believe neighbour Pakistanis. India’s There has been a long history of bad blood primitive social system long gone by. After between Afghanistan’s Hazara community active role is a must for any lasting peace in independence in 1947, Pakistan settled Afghanistan. and the Taliban. In 1998, the Taliban for a fundamentalist Islamic dispensation, massacred thousands of mostly Hazara hence wants a similar Islamic state in its victims in Mazar-i-Sharif. Everybody knows how Pakistan has been neighbourhood in Afghanistan. double dealing with the world in general and The memory of that ghastly atrocity refuses The secular, democratic system of India America in particular for over last 20 years to fade. However, riding on Doha talks, enhances Pakistan’s inferiority complex and in Afghanistan that continued even before Afghanistan must move forward to peace discomfort. Hence Islamabad badly needs an the Afghan war. In 2001, as America’s and prosperity. Afghan factions are fighting equally bad political dispensation in Kabul, coalition partner, Pakistan was overtly amongst themselves, but they should easily fighting against the Taliban while covertly

exactly like the one it has in Islamabad. PC : Getty Images talk to Americans. Peace can arrive in The Taliban, with active Pakistani support, supporting it! Afghanistan only when the Afghans talk to is battling it out, both on the negotiation Throughout December 2019, many Taliban each other in a spirit of reconciliation and table at Doha as well as on the battlefield Pakistan is solely responsible for the mess in leaders visited Pakistan; their stance on accommodation and stop unabated violence. in Afghanistan, to survive and prolong the Afghanistan which it considers its backyard. fundamentalism in Doha talks rising by a nightmare of the Afghan people. India is doing the clean-up act. India’s National notch after each visit. Pakistan is hell-bent Afghanistan has been in a perpetual state Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval recently on installing, in the shape of the Taliban, of conflict which has further aggravated The Afghan elite must put on a united visited Afghanistan to set the things right. the most fundamentalist, tribal, Islamist and since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Kabul. front, discard internal factional divisions cruelest-ever dispensation in Afghanistan. The communists, Mujahideens and the and strive for harmony. The Taliban must Indian initiative has great vision. Pakistan Taliban ruled at different stretches of history shun violence and join the political process created the mess, aggravated it and now talks Blaming India for anything and everything and all those eras were marked by conflict to ensure intra-Afghan peace. It is feared of peace as mediator while the whole world actually makes world understand Pakistan and upheaval. That irretrievably retarded that Islamic State group is waiting in the knows what type of peace it is spreading in better. How long an ever-faulting Pakistan economic growth in Afghanistan forcing wings, so all Afghan parties must strive for a Afghanistan! Pakistan brought Afghanistan will try to clean up the mirror instead of its millions of Afghans to flee homeland for negotiated settlement at the earliest. to this state. dirty face that is full of dirt? Online presence of supporters of the Islamic State proliferates on social networks accounts are not directly associated with the Another prominent network is the Al-Battar ◆ By NDT Bureau Islamic State but disseminate the ideology Media i.e., ‘The Cutting Edge Media’, an @NewDelhiTimes and propaganda. In one sense these can be unofficial media wing of the Islamic State. called the informal or unofficial networks of One of the older support outlets, it produces [email protected] the Islamic State. A few such networks are much unique propaganda content in support examined in this article. of the Islamic State. he Islamic State maintains a significant T online presence making its security One prominent example of such channel In September 2020, Al-Battar Media threat more dangerous. The social media run by the Islamic State followers on social Foundation released a video titled, “To the platforms are not only used as a means media is GreenB1rds. Safiyya Amira Shaikh, Awakening Groups in Mali”. The video of recruitment of new Jihadis but also to a supporter of the Islamic State who plotted was located on the NextCloud platform and glorify the terrorist actions of the Islamic a suicide bomb attack on St Paul’s Cathedral the Internet Archive, with links spread via State which boast of its achievements in

in the City of London, United Kingdom, was PC : Getty Images RocketChat. Syria and Iraq. also a propagandist. Shaikh became active (including material created by the Islamic A perceptible shift has been visible in the on “multiple social media platforms” and Another major IS affiliated network is had set up an account named ‘GreenB1rds’ State media), extremist material (including the Muntasir Media, which has regularly Islamic State’s social media strategy after violent executions carried out by the Islamic the losses it suffered during 2017 and 2018 on the encrypted Telegram Messenger app; produced propaganda material and also encouraging violent attacks in both the UK State), and material encouraging others issued warning of Jihadi attacks. On as a result of the military actions of the to carry out acts of terrorism (including Global Coalition to defeat the ISIS. The loss and abroad, and disseminating pro-ISIL November 14, the pro-ISIS Muntasir Media propaganda. She was given life sentence by specific instructions as to how, and where, to released a video on Telegram of a masked of territory by the Islamic State in 2017 and carry out terrorist attacks). 2018 also exercised a heavy impact on its a court in the UK. individual who claimed to be in Spain. traditional formal media. Since then, the You created some of the material yourself, Islamic State has been urging its supporters In the judgement, the Court noted that Shaikh and instructed others with the necessary In October 2019, police in Spain held the and sympathisers to run online propaganda had become a leading operator of media skills to create other aspects of it. highest person in charge of Spain’s Muntasir channels and crowd source such media channels or groups in support of Islamic Media, a propaganda network of the Islamic operations. State using Telegram which is an encrypted The channels were run with a high degree State (ISIS), which threatened to attempt app. “In particular, with the help of a number of secrecy and technical application – against the judge of the National Court. In the last couple of years, a plethora of of ‘administrators’, you ran a channel called including storing the content in back-ups, At-Taqwa and Al-Dawa media are two accounts belonging to sympathisers of “GreenB1rds” which, as demonstrated on recreating the channels under different other prominent channels associated with the Islamic State have surfaced on social the prosecution Timeline, disseminated names whenever Telegram shut them down”, the Islamic State that disseminate pro-IS media and communication networks. These substantial quantities of terrorist propaganda the court observed in its verdict. material.

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International NEW DELHI TIMES How Pakistan origin UK MPs play the drum for Pakistan’s Propaganda on Kashmir changing DNA configuration of Uyghurs immigrants in Britain produce more violent Sarah-type fake humanists. The fabricated ◆ By NDT Bureau and Tibetans require more attention. jihadis than other countries. Pakistan narrative of Islamophobia is hogwash. @NewDelhiTimes invaded Kashmir in 1947 and is illegally occupying a portion since, but periodically There are over 200 fundamentalist Muslim [email protected] offering sermons to India on Kashmir! outfits across the world, dedicatedly conniving round the clock to spread Islam arah Owens – a Member of Parliament Eviction of locals by the Islamist invaders of seventh-century-variety to every nook S from the Labour party - raised the of Pakistan origin is shaping the ethnic and corner of the society. And they are Kashmir lockdown issue in the British composition of Luton North’s local spending billions of dollars for Islamisation! Parliament. The Pakistani-origin politician, population. Pakistani immigrants are forcing So, buying MPs-especially of doubtful Pak- with connections traceable to China, is dangerous demographic changes for France- Chinese ancestry-is easy meat for them. from Luton North, a constituency with a type situation. Australia and France have predominantly British-Pakistani population. got the shock, so has India. Let Britain take Sarah is excessively dependent on Muslim A past master in India-baiting, she called on Kashmiris living on the Indian side. They votes of Pakistani immigrants who create the British government to condemn India PC : twitter will ask for separate Islamic state in Britain! chaos wherever they go and are known and the social media platform WhatsApp, The British pressed a hasty partition and across the world for nuisance. Even for weaponizing Islamophobia. UK Minister resultant Kashmir mess. They broke Indian moderate Islamic countries like the UAE are for Asia deflated Sarah’s propaganda by subcontinent and now when India is trying driving out Pakistanis. insisting in the UK Parliament that India and Britain occupied Scotland, Wales, and to fix it, one Sarah is sticking her nose in. Pakistan should find a political resolution as Northern Ireland; the first two are still India is working to get back Pakistan per the Shimla Agreement. And Pakistanis, agitating for freedom. And look, British Britain must beware! Fast increasing occupied Kashmir from Pakistan. The EU, desperate to cling onto anything, are MP Sarah is talking! Britain’s ‘Two-Nation Muslim population in Sarah’s constituency the US and the OIC have already washed dancing! Theory’ caused all the mess in prosperous Luton North, populated by fundamentalist their hands off Kashmir. Any misadventure Sarah also spoke of the persecution of South Asia. And now Sarah-a Muslim MP Pakistani varieties, could turn it fast into a by Britain to side with Pakistan’s anti-India Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang of Pakistan origin-is desperate to split South dar-ul-Islam. When Islam spread in Persia-a narratives could get it isolated, that also post region. British Secretary of State had earlier Asian diaspora on religious lines! She does land of great religion and culture-people Brexit. condemned China’s “barbaric treatment” of not know the plight of millions of Kashmiri were too confident that they will survive the Uyghur Muslims and “internment camps, Hindus, rendered homeless in their own Islamic onslaught. And Islam totally overran Britain will pay a heavy price for hosting forced labour, arbitrary detention and forced country. Sarah left Pakistan for money Persia in two decades! Kashmir-named after Pakistanis and electing Sarah-type MPs who sterilisation” seeking review of export and now a rented megaphone. Returning the great Hindu sage Kashyap-was a land are easy-prey to Islamic fundamentalism. controls to Xinjiang province. Sarah is also to Pakistan to fight for Kashmir will make of Hindus but rampant conversion made Hush!!! Islamic funders are extracting their the Chair of the group ‘Chinese for Labour.’ sense, not just reading a sponsored script! it Muslim majority and local Hindus were pound of Islamic flesh! She is as isolated in mercilessly driven out sans their property the UK as Pakistan is in the OIC. Sarah stated, “she heard,” “read somewhere,” Sarah’s controversial selection via the and women! “some report,” on a subject she hardly unions deprived a potential Asian candidate. Labour Party is founded on leftist ideologies. understands. Kashmiri Hindus, not Muslims, Such opportunism wiped out Labour party India has experience of handling Islam Is Sarah, given her Chinese connections, a are the real owners of Kashmir. Suffering politically. Terror outfits-JKLF and Tehreek- for over eight centuries and knows the Chinese communist infiltrator in the British of Hazaras, Ahmadiyas, Balochs and the e-Kashmir- helped her win. Pakistani religion inside out; at least much better than society? Algeria faces a tough economic situation And the need to give priority to national ◆ By NDT Bureau production.” The Algerian Presidency @NewDelhiTimes statement also indicated that the Minister of Public Works, Farouk Chili, was assigned [email protected] the duties of the acting Minister of Transport. O n January 9, 2021, Lazhar Hani was The decision comes as Algeria is struggling dismissed by President Abdelmadjid to reduce its imports bill over the decline in Tebboune as the Transport Minister of oil prices in recent years. Algeria. The dismissal of Hani as the Transport Minister was accompanied by the On January 17, 2021, the Algerian Energy dismissal of the CEO of the airline company, Ministry released figures which mentioned Algerian Airlines Bakhoush Alash, and the about the collapse of oil prices in 2020 official of the company’s catering services, thereby exacerbating an economic crisis. Lamari Mounir Kamal, from their posts. “The overall volume of hydrocarbon exports According to an official statement by the reached 82.2 million tonnes of oil equivalent government, “by order of the President of in 2020, for a value of $20 billion, a decrease the Republic, the duties of Lazhar Hani in of 11 percent and 40 percent respectively his capacity as Minister of Transport were compared to 2019,” the Ministry said in a terminated”. statement. “The overall volume of hydrocarbon exports reached 82.2 million tonnes Oil income to Algeria’s treasury were down of oil equivalent in 2020, for a value of 31 percent year-on-year, the Energy Ministry said. Overall energy output fell 10 per cent $20 billion, a decrease of 11 percent to 142 million tonnes of oil equivalent, hit and 40 percent respectively compared by restrictions linked to the coronavirus to 2019.” pandemic. Output of refined oil products PC : Getty Images - Algerian Energy Ministry fell 1.6 per cent to 28 million tonnes, while production of liquefied natural gas fell 11 also facing a foreign exchange crisis. The in 2020, along with one of the highest The statement added that “this decision per cent to 24 million cubic metres due to country’s foreign reserves dropped to $50 budget deficits in the region. The 2021 came after the Algerian Airlines Company maintenance work. billion, down from $194 in 2014. Algerian budget forecasts a deficit of carried out an importation of supplies related 2,700 trillion dinars (around $20.4 billion, to the activity of catering services (…) and Oil and gas account for 60 per cent of Algeria is Africa’s fourth largest economy. 17.6 billion euros), or 14 percent of GDP. financial directives aimed at establishing Algeria’s state budget and 94 per cent The International Monetary Fund forecasts Thus, spending cuts have been ordered in rational management of hard currency. of its total exports. Therefore, Algeria is that Algeria will see a 5.2 percent recession Algeria. www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper

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International NEW DELHI TIMES Conseil d’État upholds amendment of provisions of the French Internal Security Code prior to recruitment, assignments, transfers, ◆ By NDT Bureau approval or authorization decisions for @NewDelhiTimes certain jobs and by the prefectures on the occasion of requests for residence permits [email protected] or naturalization by foreigners,” a statement n January 4, 2021, Council of State issued by these organisations stated. O (Conseil d’État) - France’s highest The amendment to the French Internal administrative court - rejected an appeal by Security Code follows the passing of Global several French central trade unions to stay Security Bill. The most controversial part of the execution of three decrees of December the Global Security Bill is Article 24. Article 2, 2020, amending the provisions of the 24 of the proposed security law criminalizes French Internal Security Code (CSI) on the publishing of images of police officers personal data processing. with the intent of causing harm. Anyone found The three decrees were Decree no. 2020- guilty could be sentenced to up to a year in jail, 1510 for the “Security-related administrative and fined 45,000 euros ($53,000). The bill also investigations” (EASP) file used by the civil allows for greater powers to the French police administration, Decree no. 2020-1511 for and the deployment of surveillance drones to the “Prevention of public safety breaches” ensure that the law is upheld. (PASP) file used by the police and Decree no. 2020-1512 for the “Information management PC : Getty Images Protests are also ongoing against the and prevention of public safety breaches” Global Security Bill. On January 16, 2021, (GIPASP) file used by the gendarmerie. as well as giving unlimited powers to the limit the collection of the data concerned thousands marched in Paris and cities across French security and law-enforcing agencies. and access to those data to the minimum France carrying banners with slogans such The General Confederation of Labour required to prevent breaches of public as “Police everywhere, justice nowhere”, (CGT), the Workers Force (FO), the The decision by the Conseil d’état stated safety or national security, do not represent and “State of emergency, police state”. Unitary Trade Union Federation (FSU), the that the urgent applications judge dismissed a disproportionate breach of freedom of The protesters are also against the use of Syndicate of Lawyers (SAF), the Syndicate the applications by the associations and opinion, conscience and religion, or freedom ramped-up surveillance tools like drones of Magistrates, the Information and Support trade unions. According to the decision: of association.” and pedestrian cameras. Group for Immigrants (GISTI), the Union “Following discussions during the hearing Syndicale Solidaires and the National held on 23 December, the urgent applications The CGT and other organisations have said In the face of mounting protests, President Union of Students of France (UNEF) had judge found that none of the arguments put that it will reappeal for the annulment of the Emmanuel Macron’s ruling LREM party collectively appealed against the decrees, forward by the applicants was sufficient to three decrees. “These files can have direct has announced it will rewrite the bill’s arguing that these infringed upon the raise a serious doubt over the legality of the consequences on the professional situation controversial Article 24 that deals with fundamental rights of the French citizens and provisions. As the preparatory stages stand, of a number of employees. They are directly filming the police. However, protestors would lead to increasing state surveillance the three decrees of 2 December 2020, which consulted for all administrative inquiries demand a complete withdrawal of the bill. Erdogan looks for new alliances in Turkey? Recent developments in Turkey and the manoeuvres of Erdogan have once again given rise to speculations of an early election. He has lately been reaching out to the other players in the Turkish political landscape

◆ By NDT Bureau @NewDelhiTimes [email protected]

n October 15, 2020, Turkish President O Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that Turkey will hold its next general elections in June 2023. Erdoğan said, “The election will be held in June 2023. Moving it to an earlier time is out of the question.” At that moment, it was felt that all speculations about Turkey holding snap elections, probably in 2021, ended.

However, recent developments in Turkey and the manoeuvres of Erdogan have once again given rise to speculations of an early PC : Getty Images election. He has lately been reaching out Partisi (CHP)), the İYİ (Good) Party, the a meeting with the DSP chair. Negotiations be disturbed by the contacts and visits made to the other players in the Turkish political Felicity Party (Turkish: Saadet Partisi (SP)) will continue in the next period,” Erdoğan or to be made by the President in order to landscape. This may also be prompted by and the Democrat Party (DP). stated. Erdogan also met with Democratic expand the ground of the People’s Alliance. the growing popularity of the opposition Left Party (Turkish: Demokratik Sol Parti Our support is full as these contacts and in Turkey as well as the fact that a unified Erdogan met with Oğuzhan Asiltürk of the (DSP)) chair Önder Aksakal. During the visits will serve to strengthen our alliance,” opposition performed very well in the 2019 SP on January 7. Commenting on his meet Turkish local elections of 2019, there were Bahçeli tweeted. local elections, including Mayoral victories with Asiltürk, Erdogan stated that his visit talks that the DSP candidates tried to break in Istanbul and Ankara. aimed both for a possible future election the CHP’s votes, especially in Istanbul and These meetings of Erdogan have come alliance and to achieve the Felicity Party’s metropolitan cities. in the backdrop of the waning popularity Currently, the ruling Justice and support in the government’s fight against of the AKP. Political support for the AKP Development Party (AKP) partners with terrorism. “My visit aims both courtesy and At this juncture, the MHP is considered the has dropped to the lowest point since it the Nationalist Movement Party (Turkish: an alliance, whether an election alliance or closest to AKP. The MHP leader Devlet came to power in 2002, standing at around Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (MHP)) as part not, we should have all kinds of support on Bahçeli has expressed his full-fledged 30 percent, according to Metropoll. The of the People’s Alliance against the Nation our side in the fight against terrorism for support to the recent meetings of President current AKP MHP alliance may fall short of Alliance, which consists of the Republican the future,” he remarked. “We are currently Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with members of majority in the next Presidential elections in People’s Party (Turkish: Cumhuriyet Halk planning to hold talks like this. We also had opposition parties. “It is not possible for us to Turkey.

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International NEW DELHI TIMES New spat emerges between UK and EU over diplomatic status of EU Ambassador The EU wants that Almeida be given the same diplomatic status like rest of its 123 Ambassadors across the world On the other hand, the UK is declining to ◆ By NDT Bureau grant the bloc’s first-ever Ambassador to @NewDelhiTimes the country full diplomatic status. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Spokesman, [email protected] Jamie Davies, said the Foreign Office was in talks with the EU about “the long-term n Brexit Day, January 31, 2020, the arrangements for the EU delegation in O European Commission’s office in the U.K.” “I am not going to pre-empt the London was closed and on the next day, a outcome of those negotiations,” he said. new EU delegation, modelled on the same lines as that of the Commission’s office The Foreign Office said in a statement, “the in the United States, was opened. The EU, its delegation and staff will receive Representative of the European Union was the privileges and immunities necessary to replaced by the European Union Delegation enable them to carry out their work in the to the United Kingdom. Joao Vale de Almeida U.K. effectively.” is the EU Ambassador to the UK. Almeida was previously the EU’s Ambassador to the Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator US and the UN. Prior to that, he was a senior with the UK, said, “I know the spin. advisor to the former European Commission Sometimes more than the spin from the UK President José Manuel Barroso. authorities speaking about the EU as like an international organisation, but we are the Post Brexit, the United Kingdom (UK) union and the UK took part in the union for and the European Union (EU) are engaged more than 47 years. I hope that we will be in a fresh spat and this spat pertains to the able to get up to find a clever and objective status of the EU Ambassador to the UK.

PC : Getty Images solution to the statute of the EU in London. The EU wants that Almeida be given the I think it would be very wise in my view for same diplomatic status like rest of its 123 around the world, and we expect the and supportive of this status while it was a the UK to find a clever solution.” Ambassadors across the world. “The EU’s United Kingdom to treat the EU Delegation member of the European Union.” “Nothing status in external relations and its subsequent accordingly and without delay,” European has changed since the U.K.’s exit from the In future talks between the EU and the UK, diplomatic status is amply recognized by Commission Spokesman Peter Stano said. European Union to justify any change in the diplomatic status of the EU Ambassador countries and international organizations Stano noted that Britain “was cognizant stance on the U.K.’s part,” he added. will be the most contested topic. Biden calls Canada’s Trudeau, A year after Wuhan lockdown, Mexico’s López Obrador a world still deep in crisis resident Joe Biden made his first stop construction of the pipeline, a senior early a year to the day after the Chinese P calls to foreign leaders as America’s Canadian government official told The N city of Wuhan went into lockdown to commander in chief, dialing up Canadian Associated Press. The official spoke on the contain a virus that had already escaped, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and condition of anonymity to discuss the private President Joe Biden began putting into effect Mexican President Andrés Manuel López conversation between the nations’ leaders. a new war plan for fighting the outbreak in Obrador at a strained moment for the the U.S., Germany topped 50,000 deaths, U.S. relationship with its North American The White House said in a statement and Britain closed in on 100,000. neighbors. that Biden, during the conversation, acknowledged Trudeau’s disappointment The anniversary of the lockdown comes as with his Keystone decision. more contagious variants of the coronavirus spread and efforts to vaccinate people against COVID-19 have been frustrated by Biden also spoke with López Obrador, days disarray and limited supplies in some places.

after the Mexican President accused the Photo AP PC : The scourge has killed over 2 million people U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of worldwide. fabricating drug trafficking charges against Dr. Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said the U.S. should the country’s former Defense Secretary. In the U.S., which has the world’s highest aim to vaccinate 2.5 million a day. death toll at over 410,000, Dr. Anthony While Mexico continues to pledge to block Fauci said a lack of candor about the threat “This was already an emergency,” Topol mass movements of Central American under President Donald Trump probably said, but with more contagious mutations migrants toward the U.S. border, there has cost lives. of the virus circulating, “it became an been no shortage of potential flashpoints emergency to the fourth power.”

PC : AP Photo AP PC : between the two countries. Fauci, who was sidelined by Trump, is now the chief medical adviser to Biden in an In Britain, where a more transmissible ambitious effort to conquer the virus. He variant of the virus is raging, the death toll Biden’s call to Trudeau came after the Mexico demanded the return of former Defense Secretary Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos told CNN that the Trump administration hit close to 96,000, the highest in Europe. Canadian Prime Minister this week publicly delayed getting sound scientific advice to And the government’s chief scientific expressed disappointment over Biden’s after he was arrested in Los Angeles in October, threatening to restrict U.S. agents the country. adviser warned that the mutated version decision - one of his first acts as President - to might be deadlier than the original. issue an executive order halting construction in Mexico if he wasn’t returned. U.S. “When you start talking about things that of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The long prosecutors agreed to drop charges and make no sense medically and no sense Patrick Vallance cautioned that more research disputed project was projected to carry some return Cienfuegos to Mexico. scientifically, that clearly is not helpful,” he is needed but that the evidence suggests that 800,000 barrels of oil a day from the tar said. the variant might kill 13 or 14 people out of sands of Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, But Mexico passed a law restricting foreign every 1,000 infected, compared with 10 in passing through Montana, South Dakota, agents and removing their immunity Biden signed a series of executive orders to 1,000 from the original. Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. anyway, and went on to publish the U.S. mount a more centralized attack on the virus case file against Cienfuegos, whom Mexican and has vowed to vaccinate 100 million Germany extended its lockdown this week In their private conversation, Biden told prosecutors quickly cleared of any charges. people in his first 100 days, a number some until Feb. 14 amid concern about the mutant Trudeau that by issuing the order he was public health experts say is not ambitious viruses. following through on a campaign pledge to Credit : Associated Press (AP) enough. Credit : Associated Press (AP) www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper

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International NEW DELHI TIMES Thailand approves the use of European Central Bank keeps AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine interest rates unchanged PC : Getty Images

conditions over the pandemic period. If ◆ By NDT Bureau favourable financing conditions can be @NewDelhiTimes maintained with asset purchase flows that do not exhaust the envelope over the net [email protected] purchase horizon of the PEPP, the envelope “Now we’ll have to wait for the vaccines need not be used in full. he European Central Bank (ECB) has ◆ By NDT Bureau to be shipped to Thailand, which we’re T kept interest rates unchanged. The speaking with the company about,” Anutin Equally, the envelope can be recalibrated if @NewDelhiTimes following monetary policy decisions were said. required to maintain favourable financing taken by the ECB on January 21. [email protected] conditions to help counter the negative The Bangkok post reports that FDA pandemic shock to the path of inflation. he Food and Drug Administration Secretary-General Paisarn Dunkum said According to the ECB, the interest rate on the T (FDA) of Thailand has given its that the FDA approved the registration of the main refinancing operations and the interest The Governing Council will continue approval for the emergency use of the vaccine, produced in Italy by AstraZeneca rates on the marginal lending facility and the to reinvest the principal payments from AstraZeneca vaccine for COVID-19. Co, after the firm had submitted nearly deposit facility will remain unchanged at maturing securities purchased under the Thailand will procure 50000 doses of the 10,000 pages of its documents for vaccine 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50% respectively. PEPP until at least the end of 2023. In any vaccine in February 2021. This was informed registration for emergency use on December case, the future roll-off of the PEPP portfolio by Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul 22 last year. The ECB further stated that the Governing Council will continue the purchases will be managed to avoid interference with under the pandemic emergency purchase the appropriate monetary policy stance. Macron says he will not apologise for programme (PEPP) with a total envelope of €1,850 billion. The ECB also stated that net purchases under abuses in Algeria during colonial era the asset purchase programme (APP) will The Governing Council will conduct net continue at a monthly pace of €20 billion. asset purchases under the PEPP until at least the end of March 2022 and, in any case, until “The pandemic continues to pose serious it judges that the coronavirus crisis phase is risks to public health and to the euro area and over. The purchases under the PEPP will be global economies,” ECB President Christine conducted to preserve favourable financing Lagarde said during a press conference. Prime Minister of Mongolia resigns in the wake of COVID protests ◆ By NDT Bureau @NewDelhiTimes [email protected]

ongolia’s Prime Minister Khurelsukh. M Ukhnaa has submitted his resignation to Parliament after protests continued in the capital Ulaanbaatar about the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

undertake a number of “symbolic acts” The protests erupted in response to ◆ By NDT Bureau aimed at promoting reconciliation. allegations the government mishandled the @NewDelhiTimes relocation of a COVID-19 patient and her French rule in Algeria began in 1830 with the new-born baby [email protected] invasion of Algiers and lasted until the Algerian War of Independence concluded in 1962. Montsame News Agency reported that rench President Emmanuel Macron has “on January 21, the plenary session of F ruled out the issuance of an apology While the administration of Algeria changed the State Great Khural, the parliament of for the abuses in Algeria committed by the significantly over the 132 years of French Mongolia, held a discussion and voted Ukhnaa and his entire cabinet, formed in French colonial regime. rule, the Mediterranean coastal region of on the resignation of Prime Minister of July 2020, will be stepping down. Algeria, housing the vast majority of its Mongolia U. Khurelsukh. 95.2 percent of There will be “no repentance nor apologies” population, was administered as an integral 63 members in attendance voted in favour At the Parliament session, MP S.Byambatsogt for the occupation of Algeria or the bloody part of France from 1848 until independence. of his departure. highlighted that this is the first occasion eight-year war that ended 132 years of Algeria gained independence following the where the Prime Minister is resigning at his French rule, Macron’s office said, adding March 1962 Evian agreements and July In accordance with corresponding laws, 31st own request since Mongolia adopted its first that the French leader would instead 1962 self-determination referendum. Prime Minister of Mongolia Khurelsukh democratic Constitution in 1992”

India’s only International Newspaper www.NewDelhiTimes.com 10 25 - 31 January 2021

International NEW DELHI TIMES EU leaders agree to keep borders open, want to limit travels uropean Union leaders agreed that their departure and be placed in isolation travel in Europe as much as possible. Don’t E borders should remain open and upon arrival in another location. Von der travel, simply don’t travel.” assessed more measures to counter the Leyen said the commission will make Echoing the ECDC advice, Belgian Prime spread of coronavirus variants during a video precise recommendations to member states Minister Alexander De Croo had proposed a summit as the bloc’s top disease control in the coming days. temporary ban on nonessential travel during official said urgent action was needed to the February school break. stave off a new wave of hospitalizations and Some 400,000 EU citizens have died from deaths. COVID-19-related causes since the start of With the health situation at a critical point, the pandemic, and the head of the European the commission also urged member states Expressing great concern about the virus’ Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, before the meeting to step up the pace of mutations, the 27 leaders looked at further Andrea Ammon, said that “an increasing vaccination, to ensure that at least 80% of border restrictions like limits on all non- number of infections will lead to higher those over age 80 are vaccinated by March, essential travel, better tracking of mutations hospitalization and death rates across all age and that 70% of the adult population across and improving coordination of lockdowns. groups, particularly for those in older age the bloc is protected by the end of the

Though worried that another surge of deaths groups.” summer. Photo AP PC : across the EU was imminent, they could not In a study published just before the summit, Charles Michel, the President of the framework for the use of rapid antigen immediately agree on whether or not to halt the ECDC warned of the high dangers of the European Council, said there is “a global tests and the mutual recognition of PCR non-essential travel. new variants, like those initiating in Britain, and clear support for this proposal.” test results across the bloc of 450 million “It is of great importance not to travel, Brazil and South Africa. Ammon said that inhabitants. But since the EU doesn’t expect vaccines to but you cannot immediately enforce this “member states are also encouraged to be ready for mass distribution before April, Discussions also focused on the disruption legally,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte accelerate vaccination of high-risk groups, leaders should in the meantime find efficient of vaccine deliveries after Pfizer last week said after the conference call. and prepare the health care system for high announced a temporary reduction that has demand.” ways to contain the new variants. The European Commission President Ursula commission believes that better tracking the affected all EU countries. The EU has sealed von der Leyen insisted on the importance Some EU countries have already virus’ mutations with genomic sequencing, six vaccine contracts for more than 2 billion of keeping borders open to ensure that strengthened restrictions by imposing coupled with an increased use of rapid doses, but only the Pfizer-BioNTech and goods continue to move smoothly while stricter curfews and more stringent mask antigen tests, will be crucial. Moderna vaccines have been approved for introducing measures “that keep us all safe.” requirements on public transport and in use so far. The EU Commission said several EU shops. Among the measures the ECDC She said leaders discussed a proposal to nations are testing under 1% of samples. It The EU now expects Pfizer to keep the drop recommends is a ban on nonessential travel introduce new trans-border “dark red zones” has proposed to “urgently” increase genome in deliveries limited to this week, while and a speeding up of vaccinations. where infections rates are particularly high sequencing to at least 5% of positive test resuming full distribution again next week, and where all non-essential travel should “Most said free movement must survive results and would ideally see that figure with the resulting backlog made up during be discouraged. Travelers from these areas but that it is vital to ask not to to travel,” reach 10% to detect the variants. Member February. could be required to undergo tests before Rutte said. “It is essential that we discourage states unanimously agreed on a common Credit : Associated Press (AP) Dutch lawmakers Google threatens to pull Gas explosion rips back coronavirus through Madrid curfew despite search engine in Australia building, killing 4 oogle threatened to make its search She said the code’s “biased arbitration criticism G engine unavailable in Australia if the model” also posed unmanageable financial majority of Dutch lawmakers backed government went ahead with plans to make and operational risks for Google. She A the government’s planned curfew, tech giants pay for news content. suggested a series of tweaks to the bill. despite fierce criticism from some opposition Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison “We feel there is a workable path forward,” legislators. quickly hit back, saying “we don’t respond Silva said. to threats.” The four parties that make up the ruling Like in many other countries, Google coalition and several opposition parties “Australia makes our rules for things you dominates internet searches in Australia. backed a curfew from 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m.- can do in Australia,” Morrison told reporters Silva told senators about 95% of searches in shifting the start a half hour later than in Brisbane. “That’s done in our Parliament. the nation are done through Google. Photo AP PC : originally planned. It’s done by our government. And that’s how things work here in Australia.” powerful gas explosion tore through a The government also announced an A residential building in central Madrid, extension of financial support measures Morrison’s comments came after Mel Silva, killing four people and ripping the facade off to business, pumping an extra 7.6 billion the managing director of Google Australia the structure. euros ($9.2 billion) into efforts to prop up and New Zealand, told a Senate inquiry A tower of smoke rose from the building, ailing businesses and protect jobs amid the into the bill that the new rules would be where repairs were being done to a gas crippling economic downturn caused by the unworkable. boiler, and billowed through Toledo Street, pandemic and lockdown. near the city’s center. Aerial footage shared “If this version of the code were to become Photo AP PC : Prime Minister Mark Rutte said a curfew is law, it would give us no real choice but to by Spain’s National Police showed rubble needed to rein in the spread of COVID-19, stop making Google search available in covering a nearby schoolyard — though Madrid’s mayor said no one was seriously but some opposition lawmakers angrily Australia,” Silva told senators. “And that Asked by one senator how much tax it pays, injured at the school. denounced it as an excessive restriction of would be a bad outcome not only for us, Silva said last year it paid about 59 million liberties. but also for the Australian people, media Australian dollars ($46 million) on revenues All students and staff were inside the school diversity, and the small businesses who use of AU$4.8 billion ($3.7 billion). buildings at the time of the blast. Rutte said that medical experts have warned our products every day.” At least 11 people were injured in the the government that the threat of more Facebook also opposes the rules and has explosion, one seriously, the Madrid contagious variants “is so serious that you The mandatory code of conduct proposed by threatened to remove news stories from its emergency service said in a tweet. have to impose this terrible measure of a the government aims to make Google and site in Australia. Simon Milner, a Facebook curfew in addition to the existing lockdown Facebook pay Australian media companies Vice President, said the sheer volume of The Spanish government’s representative measures.” fairly for using news content they siphon deals it would have to strike would be for the Madrid region, José Manuel Franco, from news sites. unworkable. confirmed three casualties and the Catholic Geert Wilders, leader of the largest parish that owned the damaged building said Silva said it was willing to pay a wide and opposition party, called the proposed curfew The Australia Institute, an independent think the fourth victim was an electrician, a father diverse group of news publishers for the “a sign of utter impotence and panic” from tank, said lawmakers should stand firm of four, who was working on the boiler and value they added, but not under the rules the government. against Google’s bullying. had initially been considered missing. as proposed, which included payments for Credit : Associated Press (AP) links and snippets. Credit : Associated Press (AP) Credit : Associated Press (AP) www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper

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International NEW DELHI TIMES

offers an alternative to cash printed by First-ever treaty to ban nuclear Iran, pressured sovereign governments and central banks — and in the case of Iran and other countries under sanctions like Venezuela, a more weapons enters into force by blackouts stable place to park money than the local currency. he first-ever treaty to ban nuclear international law” in all those countries. T weapons entered into force, hailed as a and pollution, historic step to rid the world of its deadliest The treaty requires that all ratifying weapons but strongly opposed by the world’s countries “never under any circumstances targets Bitcoin nuclear-armed nations. ... develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile ran’s capital and major cities plunged The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive I into darkness in recent weeks as rolling Weapons is now part of international law, devices.” It also bans any transfer or use outages left millions without electricity for culminating a decades-long campaign aimed of nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive hours. Traffic lights died. Offices went dark. at preventing a repetition of the U.S. atomic devices — and the threat to use such Online classes stopped. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the weapons — and requires parties to promote end of World War II. But getting all nations the treaty to other countries. With toxic smog blanketing Tehran skies and to ratify the treaty requiring them to never the country buckling under the pandemic own such weapons seems daunting, if not Fihn said the treaty is “really, really and other mounting crises, social media has been rife with speculation. Soon, fingers impossible, in the current global climate. significant” because it will now be a key Photo AP PC : legal instrument, along with the Geneva pointed at an unlikely culprit: Bitcoin. Conventions on conduct toward civilians “Iranians understand the value of such and soldiers during war and the conventions Within days, as frustration spread among a borderless network much more than banning chemical and biological weapons residents, the government launched a wide- others because we can’t access any kind of and land mines. ranging crackdown on Bitcoin processing centers, which require immense amounts global payment networks,” said Ziya Sadr, a Tehran-based Bitcoin expert. “Bitcoin U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of electricity to power their specialized shines here.” said the treaty demonstrated support computers and to keep them cool — a for multilateral approaches to nuclear burden on Iran’s power grid. Iran’s generously subsidized electricity has disarmament. Authorities shuttered 1,600 centers across put the country on the crypto-mining map, given the operation’s enormous electricity “Nuclear weapons pose growing dangers and the country, including, for the first time, consumption. Electricity goes for around 4 the world needs urgent action to ensure their those legally authorized to operate. As the cents per kilowatt-hour in Iran, compared to elimination and prevent the catastrophic latest in a series of conflicting government an average of 13 cents in the United States. human and environmental consequences moves, the clampdown stirred confusion in any use would cause,” he said in a video the crypto industry — and suspicion that Iran is among the top 10 countries with the message. “The elimination of nuclear Bitcoin had become a useful scapegoat for most Bitcoin mining capacity in the world weapons remains the highest disarmament the nation’s deeper-rooted problems. — 450 megawatts a day. The U.S. network priority of the United Nations.” has a daily capacity of more than 1,100 Since former President Donald Trump megawatts. But not for the nuclear powers. unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from Tehran’s nuclear accord with world powers and re- On Tehran’s outskirts and across Iran’s south As the treaty was approaching the 50 imposed sanctions on Iran, cryptocurrency and northwest, windowless warehouses hum ratifications needed to trigger its entry into has surged in popularity in the Islamic with heavy industrial machinery and rows force, the Trump administration wrote a Republic. of computers that crunch highly complex

PC : AP Photo AP PC : letter to countries that signed it saying they algorithms to verify transactions. The made “a strategic error” and urging them to For Iran, anonymous online transactions transactions, called blocks, are then added made in cryptocurrencies allow individuals When the treaty was approved by the rescind their ratification. to a public record, known as the blockchain. and companies to bypass banking sanctions U.N. General Assembly in July 2017, that have crippled the economy. Bitcoin Credit : Associated Press (AP) more than 120 approved it. But none of The letter said the treaty “turns back the the nine countries known or believed to clock on verification and disarmament” possess nuclear weapons — the United and would endanger the half-century-old States, Russia, Britain, China, France, Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, considered After Trump setbacks, Kim India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel — the cornerstone of nonproliferation efforts. supported it and neither did the 30-nation Jong Un starts over with Biden NATO alliance. Fihn countered at the time that a ban could not undermine nonproliferation since it ast year was a disaster for North Korean While Kim has vowed to strengthen Japan, the world’s only country to suffer was “the end goal of the Nonproliferation L leader Kim Jong Un. his nuclear weapons program in recent nuclear attacks, also does not support the Treaty.” political speeches, he also tried to give treaty, even though the aged survivors of Biden an opening by saying that the fate the bombings in 1945 strongly push for it Daryl Kimball, executive director of the of their relations depends on whether to do so. Japan on its own renounces use Arms Control Association, said the treaty’s Washington discards what he calls and possession of nuclear weapons, but the arrival was a historic step forward in efforts hostile U.S. policies. government has said pursuing a treaty ban to free the world of nuclear weapons and is not realistic with nuclear and non-nuclear “hopefully will compel renewed action It’s unclear how patient Kim will be. North states so sharply divided over it. by nuclear-weapon states to fulfill their Korea has a history of testing new U.S. commitment to the complete elimination of administrations with missile launches and Nonetheless, Beatrice Fihn, executive nuclear weapons.” other provocations aimed at forcing the director of the International Campaign to Photo AP PC : Americans back to the negotiating table. Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the 2017 Nobel Fihn said in an interview that the campaign Peace Prize-winning coalition whose work sees strong public support for the treaty In recent military parades in Pyongyang, He helplessly watched his country’s already helped spearhead the treaty, called it “a really in NATO countries and growing political Kim showcased new weapons he may battered economy decay further amid big day for international law, for the United pressure, citing Belgium and Spain. “We test, including solid-fuel ballistic systems pandemic border closures while brooding Nations and for survivors of Hiroshima and will not stop until we get everyone on designed to be fired from vehicles and over the collapse of made-for-TV summits Nagasaki.” board,” she said. submarines, and the North’s biggest with former President Donald Trump that intercontinental ballistic missile. failed to lift crippling sanctions from his The treaty received its 50th ratification on It will also be campaigning for divestment- country. Oct. 24, triggering a 90-day period before its pressuring financial institutions to stop A revival of tensions would force the U.S. entry into force on January 22. giving capital to between 30 and 40 and South Korea to reckon more deeply companies involved in nuclear weapons and Now he must start all over again with with the possibility that Kim may never Fihn told The Associated Press that 61 missile production including Airbus, Boeing President Joe Biden, who has previously voluntarily deal away the weapons he sees countries had ratified the treaty, with and Lockheed Martin. called Kim a “thug” and accused Trump of as his strongest guarantee of survival. another ratification possible, and “from chasing spectacles instead of meaningful Friday, nuclear weapons will be banned by Credit : Associated Press (AP) reductions of Kim’s nuclear arsenal. Credit : Associated Press (AP)

India’s only International Newspaper www.NewDelhiTimes.com 12 25 - 31 January 2021

Art & Lifestyle NEW DELHI TIMES Japan shows the way A Poem by Shri Prakash The Land of the Rising Sun The Honda Car and the Toyota Van to keep them safe and a transparent government shines for the World to see can move the Earth and the Sky when Jishin and Taifuu strike still overseen by an Emperor Not only after the Morning dawns make consumers with joy cry. which can make many weep. with an ancient lineage But also in the dead of night nurtured by history and folklore with unfailing Electricity. The Narita Airport and the latest The challenges of Nature is as stable as the Heavens above It has built a Market Economy automation have built the Japanese fortitude cemented by the People’s love as good as the best The 1964 Olympic Games and the people’s gratitude and International support already held with singular celebration and many Mega Polis Made them learn from the East and the having a permanent rapport better than the rest. beckon the global tourists West. with its own armed forces to come and see with fascination. Then pass every test and other military allies Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima and many The enchantenment of a Sakura Spring so as to progress and prosper is sure of a bright future others add to the delight of the Buddhist and build a global civilization as well as of peaceful trade and diplomatic Temples, dazzle all the time with scientific creation ties. whose bells glisten and ring with conveniences most sublime. and scholarly imagination. Japan shows the way many can follow. to awaken the Gods from their sleep The Sony TV and Transistor, A Superstar in the coming of Nations to listen to their devotees as they pray whose Swansong will last for a long long time The Toshiba Laptop and the Panasonic A State that elects the Parliamentary Fan for their blessings and Peace Diet Japan will continue to be in its prime. Prada intros anti-uniform during Organists offer soundtrack to all-digital Fashion Week jabs at medieval UK cathedral o traffic jams, no rush to the next They were worn tightly under oversized avid Halls isn’t a doctor, nurse or N venue, no front rows — not even coats and huge V-neck sweaters, or as a D ambulance driver, but he wanted to socially distanced. Milan Fashion Week is layer of comfort under a work suit, should contribute in the fight against COVID-19. unfolding entirely on computer screens and the occasion arise. So he did what he does best: He sat down social media platforms this round for the first “It is not often we find in fashion something on the bench beside at Salisbury Cathedral’s time ever, as the persistent virus resurgence that’s so flexible, with so many facets,” historic organ and began to play. dashed any hopes of even a handful of Prada said in a video conversation with physical shows. Halls is one of the many people who international fashion students. “With one have turned the 800-year-old cathedral piece you can express so many things, in southwestern England into a mass leaving open many possibilities.” vaccination center as the U.K. races to The designers said their still-new inoculate 50 million people. His contribution Photo AP PC : collaboration was based on the principle: if to the effort is offering a bit of Bach, Handel “If these stones could speak, they would the other didn’t like an idea, it gets dropped. and even a little Rodgers & Hammerstein to talk about moments of incredible joy and Or the other is won over, which was the the public as they shuffle through the nave to moments of incredible sadness,” Halls case with Prada accepting pinstripes she has get their shots. said. “It feels thoroughly appropriate that long loathed. “What I think is good, is the the cathedral is playing its part in trying “At times of crisis, people come together possibility to change my mind,” Prada said. to turn things around and to be part of the and want to listen to music; at moments of vaccinations ... To be part of that is such a The show, like others, was broadcast on a joy, people want to listen to music,” Halls, privilege, such an honor.” maxi-screen in the heart of Milan’s shopping the cathedral’s music director, told The PC : AP Photo AP PC : district. But with the city and region around Associated Press. “And so I don’t think it’s The U.K. plans to offer a first dose of it plunged into yet another partial lockdown, any surprise the effect of soothing music vaccine to more than 15 million people by Luxury is in an enforced period of evolution the previews attracted little notice. What on people who probably are feeling quite mid-February as it targets the country’s in this new world order of rotating energy was missing from the streets of stressed for various reasons.” oldest and most vulnerable residents in the lockdowns, where virtually no one has Milan was recouped on social media. program’s first phase. Progressively younger anywhere to go. So it was a mostly captive Salisbury Cathedral, home to one of the groups of people will follow suit, with the Fendi, Etro and outdoor brand Kway audience that flocked to social media by best preserved copies of the Magna Carta government planning to reach everyone over intended physical shows with guests, but the hundreds of thousands (and counting as and England’s tallest church spire, has 18 by September. the shows live on virtually) to watch Milan had to scale back to closed-door runways. been enlisted as a vaccination center as the designers unveil new menswear collections Dolce&Gabbana canceled, saying the government expands its shot program to The need is urgent. Britain’s healthcare for next winter, which, vaccines willing, restrictions in place wouldn’t have allowed football stadiums, convention centers and system is staggering as doctors and may see a return to in-person shopping. the necessary conditions for them to show. hundreds of local doctors offices to speed nurses battle a more contagious variant of delivery. COVID-19. In its digitally conceived preview, Prada Fendi’s collection, designed by Silvia While new infections appear to have introduced the new anti-uniform that speaks Venturini Fendi, featured quilted pieces Hundreds of elderly residents have rolled up peaked, the number of people hospitalized to our new intimacy in our ever-tighter made for easy layering, in the spirit of their sleeves and got their shots in the great is still rising. More than 39,000 patients are circles: luxury long-johns. comfort and cocooning. Etro’s paisley took nave, which is big enough to gather people being treated in U.K. hospitals, 80% more on a casual flair, in silky tops or baggy together while also keeping them safely than during the first peak of the pandemic The first menswear collection by the Miuccia trousers paired with crossbody bags and apart. Prada-Raf Simons collaboration announced baseball caps. Kway’s rain slickers, trenches last April. Britain has reported 93,463 almost a year ago was unveiled on a runway and parkas got their fashion cred from It’s in stark contrast to 1627, when church coronavirus-related deaths, more than any traversing spaces clad in soft faux fur in streaks bright color and varied silhouettes. leaders locked the cathedral gates to keep other country in Europe and the fifth-highest purple, celeste and scarlet. Skinny men in townspeople out as plague swept through toll worldwide. Now, more than ever, as people have tight knit union suits in graphic architecture- Salisbury. Canon Nicholas Papadopulos, The effort at the cathedral is a community more time at home to consider how they inspired patterns grooved in outtakes spliced dean of the cathedral, says he reflected on one, involving many. Organists took turns want to present themselves to the world, into the runway show. that episode with “visceral discomfort” last of two hours playing the massive “Father fashion is less about trends, and more about year when he celebrated the building’s 800th Willis″ — making sure to sanitize in The union suits emphasized both the human individuality. anniversary. body and freedom, elements fundamental to between. the collection, the designers said in notes. Credit : Associated Press (AP) Now, it’s time for a new chapter. Credit : Associated Press (AP) www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper

25 - 31 January 2021 13

THIS DAY | THAT YEAR | NEW DELHI TIMES

January 25, 1981

52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived back in US on this day that year. PC : Getty Images

January 26, 1905

World’s largest diamond, the 3,106-carat Cullinan, was

PC : Getty Images found in South Africa on this day that year.

January 27, 2017

Donald Trump issued executive order banning travel to the US PC : Getty Images for 7 mostly Muslim countries and suspending admission for refugees on this day that year.

January 28, 1986

Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape

PC : Getty Images Canaveral, with all 7 crew members including Christa McAuliffe -who was to be the first teacher in space-killed on this day that year.

January 29, 1985

Oxford University refused to award Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher an honorary degree on this day that year. PC : Getty Images

January 30, 1948

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on this day that year. PC : Getty Images

January 31, 2020

United Kingdom formally withdrew from the European Union on this day that year. PC : Getty Images

India’s only International Newspaper www.NewDelhiTimes.com 14 25 - 31 January 2021

Delhi/NCR NEW DELHI TIMES Union Health Minister inaugurates Burns and Delhi Chief Minister directs officials to Plastic Surgery Block of AIIMS, New Delhi complete ongoing road can provide high quality care for large designing project ◆ By NDT Bureau fraction of population. The new Burns & @NewDelhiTimes Plastic Surgery Block has been conceived ◆ By NDT Bureau with the vision of providing state-of-the-art [email protected] @NewDelhiTimes care in the field of burns management and research.” Dr Harsh Vardhan added that this [email protected] nion Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan initiative by the Government will bridge the U inaugurated the Burns and Plastic gap between this need and availability. He elhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Surgery Block of the All-India Institute of D explained the objective behind setting up has directed the officials of the Public Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and Burns and Plastic Surgery Block. “Burns & Works Department (PWD) to complete the dedicated it to Sushruta, ‘The Father of Plastic Surgery Block has three goals. The PC : Getty Images ongoing projects of redesigning seven roads Plastic Surgery’. in the city within the stipulated time, i.e., first is to reduce the number of deaths due a year. It can deal with mass casualties finishing the projects by 2023. Also present at the event were Dr. Randeep to burns; a present death toll of 1.4lakhs a efficiently by converting the patient receiving Guleria, Director, AIIMS, Dr. Sunil year due to burn is not a happy situation.” area itself into an emergency ward as per need. Kumar, DG, DGHS, Dr Maneesh Singhal, The most important determinant of death in Integration of the block with the trauma center Kejriwal issued these directions during a Professor and Head, Department of Plastic, burn patients is infection. This facility has will provide easy assistance to trauma team review meeting of the PWD officials. Reconstructive & Burns Surgery and other individual cubicles in ICU for 30 patients in no time. These definite steps will help in senior officials of the Health Ministry and and 10 private isolation beds to prevent decreasing deaths in burn patients and also “The process of designing the roads should faculty members of AIIMS, New Delhi any cross infection. Second, by adhering reducing the deformities in survivors.” be done in a swift manner and the project to standard protocols the Institution will be should be completed within the stipulated Dr. Harsh Vardhan noted, “This Center Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “Burn injury is able to reduce the number of people who deadline, i.e., by 2023. one of the biggest causes of workforce loss will end up with deformities. Third is to has been conceived with the vision and this is an issue of concern for a rapidly bring down the costs; management of burns of incorporating our ancient wound The PWD should ensure the removal of all developing economy like India. India has involve direct and indirect costs. Direct cost management skills as well. It will be equipped obstacles, the project needs to be completed as many as 70 lakh burn injuries annually comprises what is spent on medical care, with most recent advances in medicine in two years. There should be no laxity in the with mortality rate as high as 1.4 lakhs per and indirect loss is the economic impact including AYUSH medications that are completion,” Kejriwal asked officials during year and an additional 2.4 lakhs patients due to loss of job, loss of wages, loss of available for burns wound management. In the review meeting end up with severe deformities. Due to productivity and loss of training etc.” addition, the facility will also train necessary its large population, most of the burn care staff and personnel. It will be equipped with facilities are overburdened and the state- He further added, “This Block is equipped the most advanced wound management PWD Minister Satyendar Jain, Secretary of-the-art burn care is negligible. There is to deal with approximately 15,000 burn techniques and equipments such as VAC and PWD, PWD engineer-in-chief, and PWD a dire need for a healthcare facility which emergencies and 5000 burn admissions hyperbaric oxygen chambers.” officials were also present in the meeting. India on the verge of attaining positive growth: RBI way off”, the RBI Bulletin states.” According ◆ By NDT Bureau to the Bulletin, developments in 2020 have @NewDelhiTimes ushered in a new digital transformation on the back of strengthening consumption [email protected] demand and growing corporate sector business transactions. he Reserve Bank of India in its January T 2021 Bulletin (released on January 21, 2021) has stated that Indian economy is one of the verge of reattaining positive growth. The RBI Bulletin mentions: “Recent shifts in the macroeconomic landscape have brightened the outlook, with GDP in striking distance of attaining positive territory and inflation easing closer to the target.

If these movements sustain, policy space could open up to further support the recovery. Merchandise trade has rebounded in early January, attesting the slow healing of domestic demand and the unlocking of

export energies. Current account surpluses PC : Getty Images are ebbing as domestic activity regains vigour. Foreign investment flows are already scenting the imminent upturn” According to the World Economic “What will 2021 look like? The shape of the Forum’s report - Indian Cities in the Post recovery will be V-shaped after all and the Pandemic - released on January 7, 2021, the ‘v’ stands for vaccine. On January 16, India pandemic presents a historic opportunity to launched the biggest vaccination drive in the build back better and create a new urban world, backed by its comparative advantage paradigm – one that enables Indian cities of having the largest vaccine manufacturing to be healthier, more inclusive, and more capacity in the world and a rich experience resilient. An urban reform agenda can be set of mass inoculation drives against polio and up across seven thematic pillars: planning; measles. housing; transport; environment; public health; gender; and vulnerable populations. If successful, it will tilt the balance of risks upwards. E-commerce and digital “It will take years for the economy to mend technologies will likely be the bright spots and heal, but innovative approaches can in India’s recovery in a world in which there convert the pandemic into opportunities. will be rebounds for sure, but pre-pandemic Will the Union Budget 2021-22 be the levels of output and employment are a long game-changer?” the RBI Bulletin states. www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper

25 - 31 January 2021 15

National NEW DELHI TIMES 23rd January will NITI Aayog releases second be celebrated as PARAKRAM DIWAS in edition of India Innovation Index India to mark the birth ◆ By NDT Bureau anniversary of Subash @NewDelhiTimes Chandra Bose [email protected] ◆ By NDT Bureau ITI Aayog has released the second @NewDelhiTimes N edition of the India Innovation Index [email protected] 2020. The India Innovation Index 2020 was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr he government of India has decided Rajiv Kumar, in the presence of Member T that January 23 will be celebrated as (Health) Dr VK Paul, Member (Agriculture) Parakram Diwas every year to mark the birth Dr Ramesh Chand, CEO Amitabh Kant, anniversary of great freedom fighter Subhash Adviser (Science and Technology) Neeraj Chandra Bose. recognition to his indomitable Sinha, and Institute for Competitiveness spirit and selfless service to the nation. Chair Dr Amit Kapoor.

The event was attended by Department of

Scientific and Industrial Research Secretary PC : Getty Images Dr Shekhar C. Mande, Department of Biotechnology Secretary Dr Renu Swarup, Territory and City States, and Major States. (22.28), respectively. With 31.9% of its total Ministry of Earth Sciences Secretary Dr employment generated being knowledge- MN Rajeevan, Ministry of Civil Aviation The first two categories are segregatedfrom intensive, Himachal Pradesh benefits from a Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, and the rest of the Indian states (or Major high number of knowledge workers. Ministry of Statistics and Programme States) due to their geographical categories, Implementation Secretary Dr Kshatrapati varied sizes and administrative capabilities. The innovation score of UT and City States Shivaji, among other. Amongst the Major States, the average averages at 26.01. Delhi, the best performer innovation score is 25.35. Karnataka tops among all groups, naturally tops the ranking The objective of the India Innovation Index at 42.5, which is attributable to its strong in the group of union territories as well. is to scrutinize the innovation capacities number of venture capital deals, registered Chandigarh follows second with a score of and performance of Indian states. The GIs and ICT exports. Karnataka’s high FDI 38.57, whereas Lakshadweep and Jammu index provides an extensive framework for inflow has also enhanced the innovation and Kashmir occupy the last two positions 23rd January 2021 marks the 125th birth the constant evaluation of the innovation capabilities of the state. in the group respectively. anniversary of the great Bose. According ecosystem of the 28 Indian States and 9 to an official release, in order to honour and Union Territories. Maharashtra follows second at 38, while The innovation inputs were measured through remember Netaji’s indomitable spirit and Bihar finishes last at 14.5. The case for the five enabler parameters, and the output selfless service to the nation, Government of The Indian states display a wide range of southern states as the top performers has through two performance parameters. While India has decided to celebrate his birthday scores on the index. Delhi scores the highest also become stronger as four of them occupy ‘Human Capital’, ‘Investment’, ‘Knowledge on the 23rd day of January every year as at 46.6 while Lakshadweep finishes last with the top-five spots within the Major States. Workers’, ‘Business Environment’, ‘Safety “PARAKRAM DIWAS” to inspire people of a score of 11.7, leading to a score range of The NE and Hill states achieve an average and Legal Environment ‘were identified as the country, especially the youth, to act with 34.89. To ensure a fair comparison, states innovation score of 17.89, with Himachal enabler parameters, ‘Knowledge Output’ fortitude in the face of adversity as Netaji have been categorised under three segments, Pradesh as the best performer with a score of and ‘Knowledge Diffusion ‘were chosen as did, and to infuse in them a spirit of patriotic viz. North East and Hill States, Union 25, followed by Manipur (22.77) and Sikkim the performance parameters. fervour. India lashes out at Pakistan in the United Indian Army & Society of Indian Nations for the vandalism of Hindu Temples Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) sign under the agenda item “Culture of Peace”. ◆ By NDT Bureau The resolution cannot be smokescreen for MoU to give impetus to indigenisation @NewDelhiTimes countries like Pakistan to hide behind.

[email protected] The statement from Indian delegation earlier ◆ By NDT Bureau said that India attaches great importance @NewDelhiTimes D uring the 75th Session of the United to the safeguarding cultural heritage and Nations General Assembly, as the UN religious sites. The preamble of the Indian [email protected] adopted Resolution on Promoting a culture Constitution declares India as a “sovereign of peace and tolerance to safeguard religious socialist secular democratic republic” which I ndian Army & Society of Indian site, India hit out at Pakistan for the plight of secures to all citizens “liberty of thought, Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) has the minorities and the vandalism of Hindu expression, belief, faith and worship”. signed a Memorandum of Understanding Temples there. (MoU) to provide a further boost to The Constitution prohibits discrimination indigenisation and domestic manufacturing PC : Press Information Bureau, Government of India on the grounds of religion and guarantees all thereby reducing the dependence on foreign (Capability Development & Sustenance). citizens the right to equal treatment before origin equipment. According to the Indian Army Design Bureau (ADB) has been the law and the right to equal protection of the Ministry of Defence, “Increasing security established to act as a direct facilitator with laws. Article 25 of the Constitution accords challenges due to India’s rising stature the industry and thereby connect the defence everybody the freedom of conscience and in the international community, apart manufacturers directly with the user. These the right to practice, propagate and preach from unresolved borders and revisionist changes have resulted in a collaborative their religion. adversaries require continuous and engagement between the technology provider, concerted capability building of the Army the equipment manufacturer and the user.” India reiterated its call for the application through modernisation to address them.

PC : Getty Images of the principles of objectivity, non- The MoU was signed on the occasion of selectivity and impartiality to form the This can be done by equipping the Army 25 Years of Army-Industry Partnership India said: “It is a matter of great irony that basis of discussions in the United Nations with indigenously built equipment. In order with Confederation of Indian Industry the country where the most recent attack and especially on the issue of religion. India said to optimise capability building and single (CII). Collaboration between the Indian demolition of a Hindu temple took place The United Nations including UN Alliance contact with the industry, Indian Army Army and industry started in 1995 with the in a series of such attacks and where the of Civilizations should not take sides and as has reorganised itself by aligning both the indigenisation of spares and has progressed rights of minorities are being emasculated long as such selectivity exists, the world can revenue and capital routes of procurement to major defence platforms and a wide range is one of the co-sponsors of the resolution never truly foster a culture of peace. under Deputy Chief of Army Staff of weapons and equipment.

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Neighbourhood NEW DELHI TIMES Bhutan PM Lotay Tshering thanks India for the supply of COVID-19 vaccine other senior officials received the vaccines The dispatch of the vaccine was the testimony ◆ By NDT Bureau at the Paro International Airport. to India’s commitment of “neighbourhood @NewDelhiTimes first” and its leadership in the global fight Representing the friendly neighbour was against COVID-19. [email protected] the Ambassador of India to Bhutan, Her Excellency Ruchira Kamboj and the Prime Minister said these supports translate rime Minister of Bhutan Lotay Tshering embassy officials who handed over the into hope and confidence for all the countries P has expressed gratitude to India vaccines the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine, to successfully sail across the pandemic for supplying COVID-19 vaccine to his manufactured by the Serum Institute of soon. country. A statement released by the Bhutan India. Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on January The contribution of 150,000 vaccines 20, 2021 mentioned: “An AN32 glided its prepares Bhutan to wage forward to protect way into the Paro valley around 3.25 pm Venerable Laytshog Lopen Sangay Dorji presided over prayers for auspicious the people and heal from the destructions today (January 20) ferrying Bhutan’s first of the pandemic, together with the rest of consignment of COVID-19 vaccine endeavour, and conducted a thruesoel (purification) of the consignment. the world. India has also extended timely and generous support through supply of As we celebrate the arrival of vaccine as medicines, medical equipment and personal Receiving the vaccine, Prime Minister said the new milestone in our battle to beat protective equipment since March last year. the pandemic at home, we applaud the it was a gift from a trusted friend, who has been with Bhutan all through the decades gesture that signifies the compassion and Meanwhile, the Indian government has and in this pandemic too. generosity of the Prime Minister of India, assured to cover the two doses requirement Shri Narendra Modi, and the people of India of Bhutan’s target population of slightly from the grateful hearts of Bhutan,” he said. for the wellbeing of the humanity,” he said. “It is the display of altruism at best, and an over 533,500 and has committed to deliver “We thank you.” The aircraft of Indian Air Force delivered exhibit of India’s sincerity in the relationship the remaining consignments soon. 150,000 doses of Covishield vaccines from we cherish,” Prime Minister said, adding it The Foreign Minister of Bhutan tweeted: India, making Bhutan the first country to comes despite enormous challenges India Prime Minister said the government and the “Our profound gratitude to the GoI for the receive the gift, just four days after India’s was facing due to the pandemic. people of Bhutan are immensely grateful generous gift of 150,000 doses of Covishield own massive roll out of the vaccine. to the government and people of India for vaccines that Bhutan received today. Deeply “It is of unimaginable value when precious remembering us at this time. grateful to GoI for its abiding friendship Led by Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering, commodities are shared even before meeting and unconditional support to Bhutan’s the Health Minister Dechen Wangmo, your own needs, as opposed to giving out “These will all translate into the prayers and fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.@ Foreign Secretary Kinga Singye and a few only after you have enough.” prosperity of the people of India, emanating DrSJaishankar @RuchiraKamboj” Sri Lanka reopens Bangladesh expects to start Rohingya India gives 1 million to tourists after 10 repatriation to Myanmar in June doses of COVID-19 months angladesh officials say they expect a series of long-standing demands are met. vaccine to Nepal B to begin a third effort to repatriate “Myanmar has to guarantee to return the full ri Lanka reopened to foreign tourists hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees citizenship rights to all Rohingya -- this is S on January 21 after a nearly 10-month to their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state our main demand,” said Jan Mohammad, a pandemic closure that cut deeply into the in June. Rohingya refugee who fled to Bangladesh Indian Ocean island nation’s lucrative travel in 2017 and lives in the Balukhali refugee industry. The target date – seen as premature by many camp in Cox’s Bazar. Rohingya – emerged from this week’s talks Full operations also resumed at the island’s between the two countries under Chinese “We all want to return to our native villages two international airports, accommodating mediation. “We proposed beginning the in Rakhine. Violent crimes were committed the commercial flights. repatriation by March. But Myanmar said that against the Rohingya in Rakhine that led to for some logistical reasons they would need our exodus from Myanmar. All perpetrators Photo AP PC : Under new protocols to prevent the spread some more time,” said Bangladesh Foreign have to be held accountable for their crimes, ndia sent 1 million doses of a of COVID-19, tourists must be tested for the Secretary Masud Bin Momen, who led the he told VOA. “And, there must be a neutral I coronavirus vaccine to Nepal, a gift virus in their country 72 hours prior to their Bangladeshi side in the tripartite meeting. international security force to ensure our that is likely to help repair strained ties flight, when they arrive at their hotel in Sri safety in Rakhine.” between the two neighbours. Lanka and again seven days later. They must stay in a “travel bubble” designated in 14 He added, “I am sure no Rohingya will be Nepal Health Minister Hridayesh Tripathi tourism zones without mixing with the local ready to go back to Rakhine if Myanmar said the AstraZeneca/Oxford University population. About 180 hotels have been does not care to fulfill our demands.” vaccine, manufactured under license by earmarked for tourist accommodations. Subjected to ethnic violence in Myanmar, Serum Institute of India, will be given to PC : Getty Images minority Rohingya Muslims have for health workers and other front-line personnel The resumption of tourism follows a pilot within a week to 10 days. project that began December 26 in which decades escaped persecution and economic 1,500 tourists from Ukraine visited Sri hardship in Myanmar by fleeing to Tripathi said Nepal would like to purchase 4 Lanka in such a travel bubble. neighbouring Bangladesh, where more than million more doses, and asked for the Indian 1.2 million of the refugees now live, mostly government’s help. There was no immediate The government closed the country to in congested shanty colonies. response from Indian officials who were the tourists last March when an outbreak of the “Following our meeting, it appears, we After some 750,000 Rohingya crossed into airport when the vaccine arrived. virus surfaced. The international airports would be able to begin the repatriation by Bangladesh following a brutal military-led were closed except for limited flights June,” Momen told reporters in Dhaka. Nepal Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali campaign in Rakhine in 2017, international enabling Sri Lankans to return home. flew to India last week to formally request Myanmar’s Deputy Minister for international pressure forced Myanmar to agree that it the vaccine. Tourism is a vital economic sector for Sri cooperation U Hau Do Suan and China’s would take back the Rohingya refugees. Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, Lanka, accounting for about 5% of its gross But efforts at repatriation failed in 2018 represented their respective countries in the began supplying coronavirus vaccine to domestic product and employing 250,000 and 2019, when the Rohingya refused to 90-minute virtual meeting. its neighbours as it attempts to strike a people directly and up to 3 million indirectly. return home, saying they still felt unsafe in balance between maintaining enough doses Hotels, other businesses and their employees But many Rohingya in the sprawling Rakhine, and that Myanmar had not assured to inoculate its own people and helping faced crippling income losses. refugee camps around Cox’s Bazar say they them of full citizenship rights. developing countries without the capacity to Credit : Associated Press (AP) are unwilling to return to Myanmar before Credit : Voice of America (VOA) produce their own vaccine. www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper

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North America NEW DELHI TIMES Nicaragua congress adopts life sentences; opposition opposes icaragua’s congress gave final approval from running in the 2021 Presidential N to change the constitution to permit election. life imprisonment. Sandinista legislators defended the life Congress is dominated by President Daniel sentence measure as providing protection Ortega’s Sandinista party, and opposition against rapists and killers. The government legislators voted against the measure or gathered 3 million signatures supporting the abstained. change.

Opponents say life sentences could be used Ortega initially led Nicaragua from 1979 to against the political opposition, like other 1990 following the Sandinista revolution recent measures passed by Ortega’s party. that ousted the Somoza dictatorship. He returned to the presidency in 2007 after “When there isn’t an independent judicial three failed election attempts, and he won system ... applying sentences like this could reelection in 2011. He then sidestepped term be interpreted as a political move to punish limits to get himself reelected in 2016, and any Nicaraguan citizen,” said congressman packed courts and government agencies Miguel Rosales of the opposition Liberal with allies. The Sandinista party controls the PC : AP Photo AP PC : Constitutionalist Party. courts and the legislature. among opposition and human rights groups, information that causes alarm, terror, or Ortega has claimed opponents are guilty In October, congress approved legislation who described it as a threat to free speech. unease in the public.” The law allows the of “hate crimes,” one of the categories that mandating prison sentences for those government to define what information fits could be punished by life in prison. In recent who use online platforms to spread false The Special Cyber Crimes Law establishes that description. months, Ortega’s party has passed laws information or information that could raise prison terms of two to four years for “those essentially banning opposition candidates alarm among people. The bill raised alarm who promote or distribute false or misleading Credit : Associated Press (AP) Remittances OHCHR expresses concern Mexico’s leader to El Salvador at the situation in Haiti takes new shot rebound after early at Twitter in pandemic drop he money sent home to El Salvador continuing spat T by migrants plunged 40% at the resident Andrés Manuel López start of the coronavirus pandemic, but then P Obrador continued his spat with recovered to end 2020 at a record high of Twitter, accusing one of the companies’ $5.92 billion, authorities said. representatives in Mexico of having The country’s central bank said the figure previously worked for politicians of the was 4.8% higher than in 2019, or almost conservative opposition National Action $270 million more. Party. López Obrador suggested the social media company might be biased, and he displayed a resume that he said showed the executive’s previous work for National Action senators and ex-President Felipe Calderon. While López Obrador didn’t name the executive, it was a clear reference to Twitter’s public affairs director for Mexico and Latin America, Hugo Rodriguez. PC : Getty Images

rival neighbourhoods and widespread ◆ By NDT Bureau insecurity have increased in a context of @NewDelhiTimes almost total impunity. In parallel, political tensions are resurfacing due to disputes [email protected] over the timing and scope of elections and PC : Getty Images he United Nations Office of the High a referendum on constitutional reform T Commissioner for Human Rights proposed by the Government. Remittances account for 23% percent of (OHCHR) has expressed concerns at El Salvador’s gross domestic product and the situation in Haiti on account of the Calls for mass protests have been growing. Photo AP PC : benefit about 360,000 households. ongoing political unrest which threatens the This in turn raises concerns of renewed aggravating economic situation. human rights violations by security forces “We just hope he does his job professionally, The lowest point was in April, when during the policing of protests as seen during and doesn’t create bot farms,” López remittances were down 40% as compared to A statement by the OHCHR stated: “We are the months-long protests in 2018 and 2019, Obrador said, referring to robot accounts the same month of 2019, but by June they concerned that persistent insecurity, poverty as well as during demonstrations in October the President believes are responsible for started recovering. and structural inequalities in Haiti coupled and November ,of last year”. criticism of him. The Mexican leader was with increasing political tensions may lead close to former U.S. President Donald The vast majority of Salvadoran migrants, to a pattern of public discontent followed by According to an OHCHR report on the Trump and protested Twitter’s decision to almost 2 million, work in the United States, violent police repression and other human unrest, protests started relatively peacefully suspend Trump’s account. where the economic effects of the pandemic rights violations. in July 2018 but became increasingly violent resulted in lost income. over time, with many violations and abuses Twitter responded, calling the accusation In recent months, kidnappings for ransom, of the rights to life, security of the person “regrettable.” Credit : Associated Press (AP) attacks by criminal gangs against perceived and effective remedy Credit : Associated Press (AP)

India’s only International Newspaper www.NewDelhiTimes.com 18 25 - 31 January 2021

Africa NEW DELHI TIMES Central African Republic in grip of a violence post Presidential polls of these war crimes are arrested and are made ◆ By NDT Bureau accountable for their acts before justice. The @NewDelhiTimes United Nations Security Council has stressed the importance of the MINUSCA having the [email protected] necessary capacities to fulfil its mandate and promote the safety and security of the entral African Republic (CAR) is United Nations peacekeepers, pursuant to C in the midst of a conflict involving Security Council resolution 2552 (2020). the government and the Coalition des Patriotes pour le Changement (Coalition of Patriots for Change: CPC) combatants. On Apart from the UN, regional and December 27, 2020, Presidential Polls were international actors such as the African held in CAR. President Faustin-Archange Union Commissioner for Peace and Touadera won a second term in office with Security, Ambassador Smaïl Chergui; PC : Getty Images 53.9% of the votes, the National Election the President of the Commission of the Authority said. In second place was Anicet- President Francois Bozize and his allies was allegedly carried out by Coalition des Economic Community of Central African Georges Dologuele with 21.1% of the vote, have been blamed for inciting the violence, Patriotes pour le Changement (Coalition of States (ECCAS), Ambassador Gilberto and Martin Ziguele came in third with 7.4%. which erupted after the Constitutional court Patriots for Change: CPC) combatants. Da Piedade Veríssimo; the United Nations The results were validated by the Central rejected his candidacy in December 202l Under-Secretary-General for Peace African Republic’s Constitutional court on Presidential election claiming that he did The attack in CAR took place some 17 Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix; and the January 18. not satisfy the “good morality” requirement kilometres (about 11 miles) from Bangassou, High Representative of the European Union for candidates because of an international the capital of the Mbomou prefecture. for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Since the CAR Presidential polls, tensions warrant and the United Nations sanctions The UN peacekeepers had retaken control Josep Borrell have also reiterated their full have risen in the country. The CPC rebels against him for alleged assassinations, of the city on January 15, 2021, after it support to the MINUSCA. tried to seize the capital Bangui after intense torture and other crimes. was captured two weeks earlier by anti- fighting on the city’s outskirts. President government armed groups amidst election They have strongly condemned the violence Faustin-Archange Touadera’s army, with the The arriving rebels are also being blamed for unrest. The Special Representative of the perpetrated by certain armed groups aimed aid of Russian and Rwandan troops alongside the attack that killed two U.N. peacekeepers. Secretary General of the United Nations at compromising the electoral process and the UN security forces, repelled the attack. On January 18, 2021, an ambush on in the Central African Republic and Head destabilizing the country, as well as the hate Rebel fighters had first seized control of the United Nations peacekeepers in the of MINUSCA, Mankeur Ndiaye, strongly speech and incitement to violence fuelled Bangassou in early December 2020, looting Central African Republic (CAR) killed two condemned the attack carried out in by disinformation campaigns. As such, they shops and plunging the city into crisis. Later peacekeepers, from Gabon and Morocco, particular by the CPC combatants and anti- have called on all actors to work together, the rebel forces finally withdrew from the serving with the UN Multidimensional Balakas, members of the alliance of armed in a peaceful climate, to create favourable town. Fears of further clashes in CAR have Integrated Stabilization Mission in the groups. He stressed that the MINUSCA will conditions for the finalization of the next arisen after armed groups have assembled Central African Republic (MINUSCA), in work with the Central African authorities to stages of the electoral process, in particular on the outskirts of Bangassou. Former Bangassou, Mbomou prefecture. The attack ensure that the perpetrators and accomplices the legislative election. US completes troop withdrawal from Somalia but security threat from Al Shabab remains from Somalia into neighbouring countries in ◆ By NDT Bureau order to allow cross-border operations by both @NewDelhiTimes US and partner forces to maintain pressure against violent extremist organizations [email protected] operating in Somalia.” n December 17, 2021, the United As per information, the US troops from O States military announced that its Somalia are being moved to African troop withdrawal from Somalia is complete. countries such as neighbouring Kenya and The decision to withdraw the US troops from Djibouti, home of the only permanent US Somalia was one of the last major decisions military base in Africa. Even then, the exact taken in the Presidency of Donald Trump. troop number is unknown as of now. When On December 4, 2020, the Pentagon said in asked about the future course of action to be a statement that the United States President taken in Somalia under the incoming Biden Donald Trump ordered the Department administration, the US Africa Command of Defence and the United States Africa spokesman Col. Chris Karns was quoted Command to reposition the majority of in a news daily as saying, “it would be personnel and assets out of Somalia by early PC : Getty Images inappropriate for us to speculate or engage 2021. According to the statement, “The US. in hypotheticals.” Karns was further quoted is not withdrawing or disengaging from as saying that the operation enters its “next Africa. We remain committed to our African African Union peacekeepers in the country, Somalia who supported security forces with phase of periodic engagement with Somali partners and enduring support through a which heavily depended on U.S. air power in counter terrorism operations, a landmine security forces.” whole-of-government approach. Al-Shabab active regions in the south of the explosion in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu country,” Abdisalam Gulaid, former Deputy killed four people and injured six. According While a change in force posture, this action is When the announcement of the US Director of Somali National Intelligence to Somali media, the Deputy Commissioner not a change in U.S. policy. We will continue withdrawal from Somalia was made, was quoted by a newspaper. for Security and Politics in Garasbaale, to degrade violent extremist organizations concerns were expressed at the security Abdi-Rashid Dubad, was among the victims that could threaten our homeland while threat emanating from the terror group Subsequent developments since the US troop killed in the blast. ensuring we maintain our strategic Al-Shabab. “If there will be no immediate withdrawal have proved that these concerns advantage in great power competition. As a replacement, the withdrawal of U.S. troops were not unfounded. Al-Shabab has an A few days earlier, on January 14, Al- result of this decision, some forces may be will not only affect the Somali security estimated 5,000 to 10,000 fighters. Just two Shabab militants took control of territory reassigned outside of East Africa. However, agencies, especially the elite force Danab days after the United States completed the near Dhusamareb, the capital of central the remaining forces will be repositioned that was provided with training, but also withdrawal of 700 military personnel from Somalia’s Galmudug State capital. www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper

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South America NEW DELHI TIMES Earthquake injures 3 in Argentina; Brazil Launches COVID-19 tremor also felt in Chile 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Vaccine Program for Hard A in northwestern Argentina near the border with central Chile, injuring at least three people, authorities said. Hit Indigenous People

Two children and an adult were hospitalized in San Juan province in Argentina after the quake hit, provincial Gov. Sergio Uñac said.

The shaking caused the collapse of a house, damage to roads and some other buildings in several cities, as well power and water cuts, he said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter was 27.6 kilometers (17 miles) southwest of the Argentine town of Porcito and struck at a depth of 14 kilometers (nearly nine miles). PC : Getty Images The quake was followed by a magnitude 5.0 aftershock about 15 minutes later and then at ndigenous people in Brazil’s The coronavirus pandemic has taken a least five more strong aftershocks in the next I rainforest are getting their long tremendous toll on Brazil’s indigenous hour ranging from magnitude 5.3 to 4.8, the awaited first doses of a vaccine against the people because a large part of the population USGS said. coronavirus, which has infected thousands does not have immediate access to a medical in their community and killed hundreds of facility. Strong shaking was felt in Chile’s capital, others. Santiago. Chilean officials said there were The coronavirus has killed 926 indigenous no immediate reports of damage. The Brazilian military flew medical people in Brazil and infected more than workers and 1,000 doses of the CoronaVac 46,000, according to a tribal umbrella PC : Getty Images Credit : Associated Press (AP) Chinese vaccine into the Amazon organization called Articulation of rainforest and began vaccinating the Indigenous People of Brazil. indigenous people, who celebrated the arrival of the vaccine. US Sanctions 23 Actors With So far, Brazil has confirmed more than Isabel Ticuna, one of the people in her village 8,500,000 cases and 210,000 deaths, to get inoculated said, “the vaccination according to Johns Hopkins University Ties to Venezuelan Oil is so important for all of our indigenous COVID Resource Center. community, for all the villagers. It was this that we were waiting for.” Credit : Voice of America (VOA) Colombia says it’s ready to distribute coronavirus vaccines olombian officials say that they Meanwhile nearby countries like Costa C are ready to distribute millions of Rica, Brazil, Mexico and Chile have already COVID-19 vaccines, once the shots arrive gotten their vaccination programs underway. in the South American country.

Officials from the Ministry of Health took journalists through a temperature-controlled

PC : Getty Images warehouse in Bogota that can house up to 50 million vaccines. They displayed brand new he U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. “The United freezers that can keep vaccines at ultracold T three individuals, fourteen entities, States remains committed to targeting those temperatures of -80 degrees Celsius. and six vessels for their ties to a Mexico- enabling the Maduro regime’s abuse of based network involved in the sale of Venezuela’s natural resources.” The freezers, which are about the size of Venezuelan oil benefitting the government a kitchen fridge, can hold up to 200,000 of President Nicolas Maduro. Last June, OFAC designated five other actors vaccines each, officials said. The Ministry of

for their participation in a sanctions-evasion Health says similar warehouses have been Photo AP PC : The list of actors designated by Treasury’s scheme benefitting the Maduro regime and set up at provincial capitals to ensure that Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) the state-controlled oil company Petroleos vaccines stay cool and don’t get spoiled as President Ivan Duque said in December includes an Italian and a Swiss citizen, as de Venezuela (PdVSA). PdVSA and the they travel through the country. More than that the country has purchased 40 million well as a Venezuelan-Spanish dual citizen. Venezuelan Central Bank have also been 3,000 portable containers will be used to doses of coronavirus vaccines from sanctioned under President Donald Trump. keep the vaccines cold as they are taken to Pfizer, AstraZeneca and the World Health The listed entities include organizations remote towns and villages. Organization’s COVAX platform. based in places like Malta, Panama and As of October 2020, the Treasury Department Zimbabwe. Two U.S. companies based in had imposed sanctions on around 160 “We are logistically prepared,” said Gerson Officials say vaccination will begin in New York City were also designated. Venezuelan or Venezuelan-connected Bermont, a Ministry of Health official in February, but have not provided a specific individuals, while the State Department charge of disease prevention. “We will take date. U.S. property of the sanctioned entities is had revoked the visas of more than 1,000 the vaccine to the farthest village and the last frozen, while U.S. based companies that are individuals and their families, according to health post in Colombia.” Coronavirus infections increased dramatically more than 50% owned by the designated the U.S. Congressional Research Service. in Colombia since the Christmas holidays, individuals and entities are blocked. Colombia’s government is aiming to with the country reporting more than 15,000 The U.S. is among the Western nations that vaccinate more than 30 million people this new cases per day in the second week of “Those facilitating the illegitimate Maduro recognized opposition leader Juan Guido as year, out of a population of about 50 million. January, compared to about 7,000 cases per regime’s attempts to circumvent United Venezuela’s interim President. But vaccines have been slow to arrive in day at the start of December. States sanctions contribute to the corruption Colombia, which still hasn’t administered a that consumes Venezuela,” U.S. Treasury Credit : Voice of America (VOA) single shot. Credit : Associated Press (AP)

India’s only International Newspaper www.NewDelhiTimes.com 20 25 - 31 January 2021

Opinion NEW DELHI TIMES Major reset needed for Canada’s and other democracies’ relations with Beijing ◆ By David Kilgour and the U.S. demanded an independent allow for the public listing of human rights Author & Lawyer investigation on how COVID-19 spread to violators and subjects them to visa bans/ humans. Xi offered $2 billion to the WHO, but asset seizures. The six countries with such until mid-January, 2021 blocked WHO and legislation should pursue accountability for investigators from various countries entering those in China who allowed Covid-19 to 2019 Nanos national opinion survey Wuhan. Some class actions for damages become a global pandemic. A indicated that nine in ten pre-pandemic against the government of China appear Canadians then held a negative impression already to be underway in the United States. Francis Fukuyama, formerly of America’s of the Government of China. PC : Getty Images National Endowment for Democracy Many rule of law advocates say Beijing observes correctly: “We aren’t dealing with Many nationals of countries with independent should be held liable for the worldwide the China of the 1990s or... 2000s, but a media probably know that during about 40 consequences of its misfeasance, already completely different animal that represents a days in late 2019 and early 2020 Beijing including more than 92 million infections, clear challenge to our democratic values. We Muslims, Tibetans, Christians and others. concealed and falsified information about two million deaths and about 400 million ...(must) hold it at bay until ... it returns to The despicable commerce is documented in the spread of COVID-19 within China. jobs lost. The global economic loss to date being a more normal authoritarian country, Bloody Harvest (2009) by David Matas and German intelligence and others report that is estimated at about (US$)16 trillion. or ... (more) … liberal ….” the writer, The Slaughter (2014) by Ethan China’s Xi Jinping pressured the World Gutmann, and a 2016 Update. Health Organization (WHO) to delay issuing The pandemic also underlined that The responsible international community a global warning about the virus. American Canada and many democracies are overly must act to safeguard global public health; Canada’s Irwin Cotler and Matas recently government security concluded that Beijing dependent on China for medicines, PPE, indulging gross negligence or worse in Xi’s proposed a number of remedies for the suppressed the information so it could buy and manufactured goods. Canada alone has China carries a long-term cost. Preventing COVID damages caused by the government up PPE and other medical supplies globally. lost about 600,000 manufacturing jobs since another pandemic requires pursuing of China, including: 2000. accountability against Beijing now. We must all speak up for the dignity of those When COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, • The International Court of Justice (ICJ) - who perished. The first step is holding those Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen moved Another major consideration for Canadians Any U.N. member state can ask the U.N. responsible for spreading COVID-19 to pay quickly to screen flights from there on is Xi’s ‘hostage diplomacy’ and his regime’s General Assembly to make a request to damages. December 31, 2019; ban Wuhan residents arrests of Michael Kovrig and Michael the ICJ for an advisory opinion on a legal on January 23; institute intensive testing Spavor, who have remained for more than question. China would not be able to use Canada’s new Foreign Minister, Marc and contact tracing; and bar all visitors from two years in harsh prison conditions. its veto. China on February 6th. If the WHO and its Garneau, is capable of working effectively with the new Biden administration on more 194 member-nations had adapted Taiwan’s A Canadian Security Intelligence Service • The WHO’s behaviour in the current co-ordinated multilateral engagements with practices, many of the infections and deaths (CSIS) academic outreach concluded: pandemic is disappointing. Instead of Beijing. worldwide could have been avoided. “Under (Xi’s) leadership, the Party-state China reforming its policies/practices, it is staging a vehement attack on Western was the WHO that altered its approach David Kilgour, a lawyer by profession, The biggest influx of COVID-19 carriers democracy and values.” One egregious to accommodate Beijing. If interventions served in Canada’s House of Commons for into Europe was about 260,000 Chinese example is the state of democratic in China had begun three weeks earlier, almost 27 years. In Jean Chretien’s Cabinet, citizens, with two-thirds flying back to their governance and the rule of law today in transmission of COVID-19 could have been he was secretary of state (Africa and Latin jobs in Italy. By January 11, 2020, there Hong Kong. reduced by 95 per cent, concluded a study America) and secretary of state (Asia- were 2.2 million confirmed cases in Italy by the U.K’s University of Southampton. Pacific). He is the author of several books and 79,203 deaths. Beijing has for decades conducted organ- and co-author with David Matas of “Bloody harvesting from thousands of prisoners • The Magnitsky laws, named for murdered Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong for European Union governments, Australia, of conscience - Falun Gong, Uyghur Russian whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky, Their Organs.” Life and Times of doctors during COVID-19: The Burnout Effect! addressed urgently. There might be a silver ◆ By Sqn Ldr (Dr) Aseem balance their rights as human beings, duties Sharma, New Delhi Times as ‘Covid warriors’, and obligations towards lining in this shroud, though. Most of the factors discussed above are preventable and @draseemsharmamd their families. could obviate the possibility of a burnout. [email protected] Quite a few factors contribute to the disruption of said balance. Firstly, At a personal level, doctors must continue R esilience. Resilience is a trait exhibited infrastructural deficiencies – shortages of to look out for each other, reset unrealistic by medical personnel in abundance. protective gear, masks, shields, visors, and expectations from self, use spare time This hardiness is acquired as early as Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). to connect with loved ones, destress, the fledgling years at medical school, PC : Getty Images Second, the indispensable nature of the and maintain a positive outlook. At an strengthened thereafter by internship, occupational phenomenon which has three duties of doctors disturbs their work-life administrative level, human resources must houseman duties, the sedulous period of distinct components – psychological and balance. Unlike material resources, human be deployed in a compassionate manner. residency and the arduous working hours physical exhaustion, depersonalization, resources are limited and cannot be expected This can be achieved by spacing out that ensue. Since time immemorial, doctors and a reduced sense of accomplishment. A to function beyond a certain threshold. hospital duties, ushering in replacements, have braved the tribulations of infectious pathbreaking study on staff burnout at a New rostering duties based on duration as well disease outbreaks. History is a testament Add to these factors, the loneliness of York drug rehabilitation centre in 1975 paved as magnitude of care provided, and hiring to this courage, if one looks back at the pandemic care units, and the agonizing loss the way for its acceptance and recognition specialized psychologist services. great Spanish flu pandemic. The ongoing of colleagues and patients - and you have in various professions – healthcare workers, coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is no an ideal setting for occupational burnout. sportspersons, and media executives to At a public level, each citizen must pledge to exception. Not to mention that doctors stay away from name a few. So much so that it is classified their loved ones, meet them sparingly, and do their bit, be it social distancing, hand and Ever since Wuhan notified the World Health as a legit disease under many international are anxious about being vectors of viral respiratory hygiene. Furthermore, they must Organization (WHO) about COVID-19 at disease classifications. transmission. In few countries, health resolve to help (doctors), rather than impede. the beginning of 2020, doctors have been at Even at a political level, public figures must Burnout is an byproduct of mismanaged workers are soft targets of societal anxiety. the frontline. Facing adversity with a strong align themselves with healthcare workers stress, loss of resilience, and diminished These factors, when cumulated, can nudge sense of duty and moral responsibility, and reassure them and the general public. coping mechanisms. And physicians a healthcare professional to the brink of a over the year gone by. However, when this persevering in the ongoing pandemic burnout. This process requires integration at multiple adversity is coupled with an extraordinary make for the perfect target group. One At a public level, a burnout depletes the echelons and must be a cohesive effort to demand on energy, strength, and resources, whole year of the pandemic has seen 17- fighting force by rendering a worker herald and mitigate fatigue and burnout. it can lead to exhaustion, chronic fatigue or 19% of healthcare responders suffer from incapable of discharging professional This would, in turn, sustain our unremitting far worse - a ‘burnout’. COVID-19, as per pooled statistics. Medical duties effectively. This would be disastrous battle against this accelerating pandemic, Burnout is defined by the WHO as an personnel are continually attempting to in terms of pandemic management, if not with due resilience. www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper

25 - 31 January 2021 21

Sports NEW DELHI TIMES European Commission opposes the Archer, Stokes proposed European ‘football Super League’ in England The European Commission regards the proposed European ‘Super League’ against the European model of sports. squad for first 2 Article 165 (2) of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TEFU) states that the Union action should be aimed at developing the European dimension in sport, by promoting fairness and openness in sporting competitions and cooperation between bodies responsible for sport tests vs. India acer Jofra Archer and all-rounder Ben ◆ By Dr. Pawan Mathur P Stokes will spearhead England’s test @PawanMathur tour of India after being named in the 16- man squad for the start of the four-match [email protected] series.

report published by the London based Stokes and Archer were both rested from A newspaper The Times has divulged England’s ongoing tour of Sri Lanka but the details of a proposed European ‘football return alongside opener Rory Burns, who Super League’. The Times reports that PC : Getty Images has been on paternity leave. the Super League would comprise of 15 European football being reserved for the and by the confederations at the continental founding members and 5 other clubs which rich and the powerful.”. The Sports Group level. In this respect, the confederations The squad covers the first two tests in would be determined via a qualification 2019-24 of the European Parliament co- recognise the FIFA Club World Cup, in Chennai next month, starting Feb. 5, with process. Three of Europe’s most successful chaired by Member of European Parliament its current and new format, as the only further updates expected before the third and clubs – Manchester United, Real Madrid (MEP) Mark Tarabella and MEP Tomasz worldwide club competition while FIFA fourth matches in Ahmedabad. and AC Milan – are the driving force behind Frankowski, who represented the Poland recognises the club competitions organised the plans for establishing a Super League. international football team in 22 matches, has by the confederations as the only club The clubs in the proposed European Super also taken a stand against the creation of such continental competitions.” The FIFA League would then play 18 -23 matches a European Super League. Politico.eu quoted statement also mentioned that the idea against each other in a season. Two groups of Frankowski thus: “I find the speculation on a of the proposed European Super League ten teams would play out the first round before closed super league of elite clubs in European would stand in contrast to the “universal two-legged quarter-finals and semi-finals, football very alarming. I welcome and support principles of sporting merit, solidarity, and then a final on neutral ground. The report UEFA’s strong position against this. Sport is a promotion and relegation, and subsidiarity further states that the founder members of the right for everyone, not just an elite group. We are the foundation of the football pyramid proposed European Super League would be must protect and promote the European sports that ensures football’s global success and offered up to £310 million as a joining amount model.” are, as such, enshrined in the FIFA and and the season earnings of the clubs could be confederation statutes”. Aleksander Čeferin up to £213 million. The Super League proposal UEFA, the governing body of European was one of the signatories to the statement. hopes to generate 4 billion euros ($4.86 billion) football, shares the position of the European annually from broadcasters. Union regarding the European model Although the European Commission and of sports. On December 3, 2020, UEFA UEFA are opposed to the creation of the The European Commission has opposed President Aleksander Čeferin held a meeting European Super League, any decision the European ‘Super League’ terming it with a videoconferencing with the European by UEFA to ban players participating in against the European model of sports. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen the breakaway league could face legal This European sports model is construed and discussed the importance of protecting the challenges. This is on account of a decision PC : Getty Images around the European dimension on sports, fundamental aspects of the European model by the 16 December 2020 judgment of which is explicitly mentioned in Article of sport. Čeferin remarked: UEFA’s long- the General Court of the European Union 165 of the Treaty of the Functioning of term model for European football, based on in the International Skating Union case. the European Union (TFEU). Article financial solidarity and values, is perfectly Dutch speed skaters Mark Tuitert and 165(1) of the TFEU sets out the details of aligned with the European Commission’s Niels Kerstholt had filed an antitrust a sports policy, stating that the Union ‘shall vision … We must protect our European complaint against the International Skating The England and Wales Cricket Board has contribute to the promotion of European model of sport for the next generation.” Union (ISU) against banning skaters who ramped up its rotation policy this winter, sporting issues, while taking account of On December 1, 2020, Čeferin met with participated in Ice Derby events. mindful of the psychological demands the specific nature of sport, its structures European Parliament President David Sassoli placed on players in an era of bio-secure They alleged that banning of skaters by the based on voluntary activity and its social via videoconferencing. During the meeting, bubbles and quarantine. ISU for participating in unsanctioned events and educational function’. Article 165 (2) Čeferin emphasised the “importance of was in contravention to of Article 101 TFEU states that the Union action should be aimed continuing to build a model of sports that England and India will also play a five- (prohibiting anti-competitive agreements)1 at developing the European dimension in promotes football for the enjoyment of all, match Twenty20 series in Ahmedabad and and Article 102 TFEU (prohibiting the abuse sport, by promoting fairness and openness rather than the profit of the few.” Sassoli too three one-day internationals in Pune. of a dominant position). On 8 December in sporting competitions and cooperation stressed on the “need to protect the European 2017, the Commission decided that the between bodies responsible for sport model of sport, one based on solidarity, the England squad for first and second tests: Joe ISU’s eligibility rules violated Article 101 involvement of fans and the strengthening of Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Moeen Ali, The European Parliament resolution of 29 TFEU. The General Court ruling of 16 communities who share a love of football and James Anderson, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, March 2007 on the future of professional December 2020 confirmed that the rules of the values of sport” Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, football in Europe stated that European sport, the ISU providing for severe penalties for Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, and football in particular, is an inalienable athletes taking part in speed skating events Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris UEFA has joined FIFA, the governing part of European identity, European culture not recognised by it are contrary to EU Woakes. and citizenship and the European Football body of world football, in denouncing competition law and violated Article 101 of Model, characterised by open sports the proposal for the creation of a closed the TFEU. Credit : Associated Press (AP) competitions within a pyramid structure in European ‘Super League’ by some European which several hundred thousand amateur clubs. FIFA has stated categorically players clubs and millions of volunteers and players participating in such a league would be form the base for the top professional clubs, barred from participating in FIFA recognised is the result of longstanding democratic competition. In a strongly-worded tradition and grass-roots support in the statement, FIFA said that such a competition community as a whole. The system of would not be recognised by either FIFA or promotion and relegation is one of the key the respective confederation. “Any club features of the European model of sports. or player involved in such a competition would as a consequence not be allowed to On January 21, 2021, the web portal Politico. participate in any competition organised by eu quoted Margaritis Schinas, European FIFA or their respective confederation. As Commission Vice President: “There is no per the FIFA and confederations statutes, scope for the few to distort the universal all competitions should be organised or and diverse nature of European football. The recognised by the relevant body at their European way of life is not compatible with respective level, by FIFA at the global level

India’s only International Newspaper www.NewDelhiTimes.com 22 25 - 31 January 2021

Technology & Health NEW DELHI TIMES Bird Flu could be the next COVID: Be SAFE The WHO started by saying that there is no evidence that the virus can spread through food – provided it is cooked at more than 60 degree Celsius. What they have neglected to say is that the chicken is handled by you long before it is cooked be transmitted to a human by an animal. Do cages unable to move, with sliced off beaks How could you think that these diseased you think any government cares when a bird and toes to prevent them from picking each unhappy creatures would not get Avian flu? suffers? The only time they wake up is when other’s feathers. They are full of sores. Most of ◆ By Smt. Maneka How does it spread to humans? From those they know that the disease of the bird can be them have had rounds of other common diseases: Sanjay Gandhi people who work in poultries – which is how transmitted to a human. It was first detected Encephalomyelitis, Chicken Anaemia Virus COVID started. And those who eat poultry @ManekaGandhiBJP in 18 humans in 1997 working in a live bird Infection, Chlamydiosis, Infectious Bronchitis, products. market in Hong Kong (again Chinese). The Infectious Bursal Disease, Infectious Coryza, y the time you read this lakh of strain was identified as H5N1 - the same Infectious Laryngotracheitis, tick fever or The WHO started by saying that there is no B chickens will have died of Avian Flu. strain that is in India now - with a high Spirochaetosis, Avian Leucosis. evidence that the virus can spread through Some will have died naturally. Others will mortality rate. Six of the 18 humans died. food – provided it is cooked at more than have been beaten to death or strangled. Bird Flu has spread across the country. 60 degree Celsius. What they have neglected to say is that the chicken is handled by you How many do you think will be buried or Every single state has it and lakh of chickens long before it is cooked. You buy the raw burnt? Very few. Most of them will land are being killed from Himachal Pradesh to chicken from an open street vendor, touch it on your plate, sold at reduced prices by the Kerala. with your hands, put it into your fridge, put poultries. You, who cower in fear of COVID – this is it in various utensils, which are not washed So what, you say. The newspapers have also a viral flu disease: avian influenza. The at boiling temperatures but with ordinary tap repeatedly told you that bird flu makes no Influenza Type A virus has several strains. water. You cut it and splice it and then cook difference to the quality of chicken you eat When it first came to India it was H1N1. it. By then the virus is in a hundred places and, as long as you cook it, you will come Fourteen years later this massive outbreak PC : Getty Images and you could have become a carrier. to no harm. is from the mutated virus now called H5N1 and H8N1. Even WHO has now diluted its own message This is utter rubbish and it is being doled and warns that these new mutant viruses out by two interested parties: the poultry Just as syphilis, in every language, means could turn into another pandemic. H5N1 industry themselves, so that they do not the disease of foreigners, every government They have permanent diarrhoea, some have has already proven to be very dangerous to go completely bankrupt and you continue believes that avian flu comes from migratory bloody diarrhoea from a parasite called humans. to buy the diseased dead birds. The second birds from a different country, who spread coccidia. Most of them cannot walk without When the disease spreads to humans, it is the government itself- the Animal it as their faeces drop from the air and extreme difficulty and many have rickets. affects the respiratory tract illness, and Husbandry Ministries, who are solely straight into the poultries. That country may They have warts and a thick discharge from its symptom include Acute Respiratory invented to see that India has more poultries, never have had bird flu, but their birds have their eyes, they have pus filled abscesses Distress Syndrome, similar to one caused by more slaughterhouses. The more animals are developed it as they fly towards India? on their necks and feet. Many of them eaten, the more successful the Ministry is. Covid-19. You will start with fever, cough I find it far more likely that the poultries have diabetes, and a large number have Their mandate is NOT sick people. Their and a sore throat. You can have abdominal give it to the migratory birds, who have tuberculosis and they can hardly breathe in mandate is to see that people keep buying pain and diarrhoea. All these symptoms are no resistance and so they die. According the damp poisonous air that pervades the chickens, diseased or not. The mandate for similar to Covid. to the US Center of Disease Control poultry. They inhale their own dried faeces. looking after sick people belongs to the and Prevention (CDC), six countries are They have a deficiency of Vitamin A and There have been no tests for it in India. The Ministry of Health. And never the twain considered the permanent centres for H5N1 manganese, which makes them lame with government labs are now rolling out a test to shall meet. virus in poultry. We top the list followed by swollen eyes. They cough and sneeze. They see whether you have COVID or avian flu. Every article will tell you that no humans China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia and have round worms and tape worms, lice and There is no vaccine or treatment. fleas, ticks and mites. They live on a diet of have ever had Avian Flu. And that it can’t Egypt. In each of these countries you have to Protect yourself. Don’t eat chicken or eggs. antibiotics and dried food with sawdust in it. spread from bird to human. This is not true. see the horrific conditions that chickens are Close down the illegal street vendors. I have normally kept into, understand why they fall If Avian Flu was not zoonotic why are the They die often of heart attacks. done that in my constituency. prey so quickly to Avian Flu. birds being killed under the Infectious and Every now and then they are wiped out by To join the animal welfare movement Contagious Diseases Prevention Act 2009. In India the poultries are like hells on the the contagious fowl pox, fowl cholera or contact [email protected], The word zoonotic means a disease that can Earth. The chickens are kept in filthy small Ranikhet disease. www.peopleforanimalsindia.org

Honda is in on the Cruise project with GM teams up GM, Volkswagen and Ford have teamed A new COVID-19 challenge: up with Pittsburgh autonomous vehicle with Microsoft on company Argo AI, and Hyundai joined with Fiat Chrysler last summer in a deal to use Mutations rise along with cases Waymo’s driverless car technology. driverless cars he race against the virus that causes eneral Motors is teaming up with T COVID-19 has taken a new turn: G Microsoft to accelerate its rollout of Mutations are rapidly popping up, and the electric, self-driving cars. longer it takes to vaccinate people, the more likely it is that a variant that can elude current In the partnership announced, the companies tests, treatments and vaccines could emerge. said Microsoft’s Azure cloud and edge The coronavirus is becoming more computing platform would be used to genetically diverse, and health officials “commercialize its unique autonomous say the high rate of new cases is the main vehicle solutions at scale.” reason. Each new infection gives the virus a chance to mutate as it makes copies of itself, Microsoft joins General Motors, Honda and threatening to undo the progress made so far other institutional investors in a combined Photo AP PC : PC : AP Photo AP PC : to control the pandemic. new equity investment of more than $2 virus and reduce the effectiveness of antibody The World Health Organization urged more billion in Cruise, bringing its valuation to Toyota and Uber are also working together, drugs as treatments. It’s normal for viruses to effort to detect new variants. The U.S. about $30 billion. Cruise, which GM bought while Amazon skipped over the automaker acquire small changes or mutations in their Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016, has been a leader in driverless part of the equation and last summer bought genetic alphabet as they reproduce. Ones that said a new version first identified in the technology and got the go-ahead from self-driving technology company Zoox, help the virus flourish give it a competitive United Kingdom may become dominant in California late last year to test its automated which is developing an autonomous vehicle advantage and thus crowd out other versions. vehicles in San Francisco without backup for a ride-hailing service. the U.S. by March. Although it doesn’t cause drivers. more severe illness, it will lead to more In March, just a couple months after the Mass adoption of driverless vehicles — and hospitalizations and deaths just because it coronavirus was discovered in China, a Auto companies have been joining forces profits — are still a ways off, said industry spreads much more easily, said the CDC, mutation called D614G emerged that made and bringing technology firms on board to analyst Sam Abuelsamid of Guidehouse warning of “a new phase of exponential it more likely to spread. It soon became the try to spread out the enormous costs -- and Insights. growth.” So far, vaccines seem to remain dominant version in the world. by nature, risks -- of developing self-driving effective, but there are signs that some of the and electric vehicles. Credit : Associated Press (AP) new mutations may undermine tests for the Credit : Associated Press (AP) www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper

25 - 31 January 2021 23

Entertainment & Lifestyle NEW DELHI TIMES Bond film ‘No Time to Die’ delayed again because of virus t’s still not time for “No Time to Die.” I Producers of the forthcoming James Bond thriller say the film’s release has been delayed again, until the fall of 2021, because of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic The official 007 Twitter account said that the 25th installment in the franchise will now open on Oct. 8. “No Time To Die” was originally slated to open in April 2020 but was pushed back to November of that year as the virus swept around the world. It was then delayed again to April 2, 2021. The film from director Cary Joji Fukunaga stars Daniel Craig as 007, Rami Malek, Lashana ynchL and Ana de Armas.

It’s one of a slew of major releases to be pushed back or moved to streaming services as Hollywood studios grapple with coronavirus-related Photo AP PC : restrictions that have shuttered cinemas in markets around the world. While mass-vaccination programs in many countries give hope that theaters can reopen, progress on immunization is slow.

Credit : Associated Press (AP) Street in Delhi to Washington, Malek and Leto face off in ‘The Little Things’ be named after enzel Washington has played some D iconic cops over the years, but he doesn’t get hung up on things like that. For late actor Sushant him, it’s all about the script. So when John Lee Hancock came to him with Singh Rajput “ The Little Things,” a 1990-set crime drama Photo AP PC : about law enforcement and obsession, he crossed paths with Washington. street in the Andrews Gunj area in Delhi was intrigued. The part was for Joe Deacon, A will be named after the late actor Sushant who left city duties for the country after a “Denzel and I met at the Golden Globes Singh Rajput. An announcement regarding this grueling case years ago but gets pulled back the year of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ He was was made by Abhishek Dutt, the South Delhi in to help with a new murder. there with John David (Washington) for Municipal Corporation’s (SDMC) Congress ‘BlacKkKlansman,’ and I locked eyes with “There’s an old saying, ‘If it ain’t on the councillor. Denzel for a moment. He locked eyes with page, it ain’t on the stage,’” Washington me... I saw him start to stand up and I thought, said. “And this was on the page first.” Dutt said: “Six months ago I received a ‘Well, you better get up and move towards him request to rename a street in Andrews Then Hancock told him who he wanted for much faster than he’s moving towards you,’” Ganj area after Sushant Singh Rajput. The the other leads: Rami Malek for his unlikely Malek said. “It was shortly thereafter that I proposal has finally been approved. We counterpart, Sergeant Jim Baxter, and Jared realized he and John Lee had me in mind for the will soon be inaugurating this street. It is Leto for the certainly suspicious but maybe role.” The equation was simple enough: When very important to give him the respect he not guilty loner Albert Sparma. Denzel Washington wants you for a movie, deserves.” you say yes. Hancock liked that Washington “I’m like, OK, let me RE-read it,” and Malek were “strange bedfellows.” Sushant Singh Rajput, born on 21 January Washington laughed. ”It wasn’t hard for me 1986 was an Indian actor who is best known at all. It’s like, ‘OK, when do we start?’” “They don’t strike me as the types that for his work in Hindi cinema. He starred would hang out or go to a bar and watch “The Little Things,” which opens in theaters in a number of commercially successful sports,” Hancock said. “I thought that would and on HBO Max on Jan. 29, is one of Bollywood films such as M.S. Dhoni: The really benefit the movie.” Untold Story (2016), Kedarnath (2018) and Malek’s first big roles after his “Bohemian Chhichhore (2019) Rhapsody” awards sweep, where he first Credit : Associated Press (AP) Rajput started his career after dropping out of Narendra Chanchal, renowned Indian his engineering course at the Delhi College of Engineering and entering the theatre industry in Mumbai. He moved on to feature in Hindi television devotional singer, passes away serials, his debut show was the romantic drama Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil (2008), followed by the lead ◆ By NDT Bureau role in the soap opera Pavitra Rishta (2009–2011). @NewDelhiTimes He made his Bollywood debut in the film adaptation Kai [email protected] Po Che! (2013) which became a commercial and critical success. Followed by his starring role in the romantic enowned Indian devotional singer comedy Shuddh Desi Romance (2013) and the role of the R Narendra Chanchal passed away on PC : Getty Images titular detective in the action thriller Detective Byomkesh January 22 at the age of 80. He breathed Bakshy! (2015). His last film, Dil Bechara (2020), was his last in Apollo hospital in Delhi. performed on the last day of the year. His released posthumously on the streaming platform Hotstar. Chanchal was renowned for singing Bhajans ‘Chalo Bulawa Aaya Hai, Mata Ne Bulaya (devotional songs) but he made his mark Hai’ from film Avtaar is still the most Rajput died by suicide at his home in Bandra, Mumbai in in the music industry with the superhit popular song of those who do pilgrimage to June 2020, aged 34. He had reportedly shown signs of clinical track Beshak Mandir Masjid for the 1973 Vaishno Devi. depression and was suffering from bipolar disorder. blockbuster film Bobby and won Filmfare Best Male Playback Award for it. Many prominent personalities from the music The Mumbai Police commenced an investigation, stating that industry paid tributes. Daler Mehndi wrote: the death was being treated as a suicide. The post-mortem Chanchal released an autobiography ‘Deeply saddened to learn that iconic and most report stated that the cause of death was “asphyxia due to called Midnight Singer which narrates his loved #NarendraChanchal ji has left us for the hanging”. life, struggles and hardships leading to heavenly abode. In prayers for his soul to rest achievements. He visited Katra Vaishno in peace. Heartfelt condolences to his family By NDT Bureau Devi every year on December 29 and and legions of fans”.

India’s only International Newspaper www.NewDelhiTimes.com 24 25 - 31 January 2021

Think - Tanks NEW DELHI TIMES Opportunities are not created by anybody exclusively We all long to be happy and successful, we all wish to be the brave and adventurous person that takes on any challenge or opportunities with confidence and eventually conquers it and finds success

◆ By Dr. Pramila our present and we also fear the mistake of calm of a Sunday morning, the savings in Srivastava doing too little or doing too much, not trying our bank account, the apartment we own, @PramilaBK or trying and failing. the friendship we hold dear, the relationship we hold unquestionable. We feel desperately [email protected] Every one of us has come across a dozen quotes and read a hundred books and articles on taking vulnerable and seek safety. So, when the opportunity comes knocking our way we n life as we navigate through the chances and opportunities in life as they come feel reluctant or hesitant to take the chance, I endless clusters of events, we so many along, but the reality is, it’s easier said than done. we may even go so far as to ignore every a times miss out on certain things, like the We look at those people and their words and chance that comes our way fearing for the opportunity to go on a school trip, or a new feel motivated to be the ‘Yes’ man, but honestly, worst and consider ourselves unlucky. friendship or to take on a new project, or a reality doesn’t always present itself to us so career. There are many things at play as the clearly, and we have to adjust to the numerous We all long to be happy and successful, we PC : Getty Images opportunity that are being presented to us in limitations, fears and weaknesses that we are all wish to be the brave and adventurous person that’s why we hope. Opportunity in life will our daily life. Sometimes we deny ourselves constantly trying to overcome. that takes on any challenge or opportunities come knocking on our doors so very often the opportunity and sometimes we are denied Honestly, we are afraid and confused, we with confidence and eventually conquers it but so rarely twice and it’s not some sort of the opportunity or we miss out on it. But are still the scared little kid that’s afraid of and finds success. It seems almost automatic, capital good that will limit one person from opportunities or chances keep on presenting the dark and it isn’t our fault. We long for uncomplicated and serene. But instead, we the same opportunity if one person takes themselves to us at certain points in our life. safety, no matter who, everyone hopes for a often choose worry, fear and hesitance in advantage of it not is it infinitely available So how do we take the chances that are positive result from the decisions they make our mind rather than attempt to taking on the to all. It’s just a chance for us to get up presented to us, how exactly we recognize and opportunities they take. Though it may risk and opportunity. Our caution may often and do something new. The notion that if the opportunities and how do we even be harder or scarier for a financially lesser protect us from getting hurt or getting involved you take an opportunity you will receive decide what to do with them, as in life so or less educated, disabled or a person with in a bad situation but too much reliance on this a bountiful reward for it like the pot of little is revealed to us about what is to come severe anxiety, low self-esteem than a person and we would one day wake up to find that life gold at the end of a rainbow is a lie and a or what is the outcomes of the decisions who’s more financially sound, has a nice has unfortunately passed us by and we have misconception, opportunity only gives us we make. It’s almost overwhelming and house, a car, good friends a loving family and missed out and it may be just too late. the chance to work on ourselves, it teaches daunting when we take the moment to think is confident in his capabilities and potential. We want to be the authors of our own us, it gives us the direction to the reward or about it. Sure, many times we say no to We look for safety through money, exercise, destiny, but we will have nothing to write possibilities and the rest is up to us whether certain opportunities we could have taken food, a good reputation, insurance, love and about unless we take some risks and we work on it, long enough to see it through. and later regret not doing so, or we come to so on. But we remain always vulnerable. opportunities that come knocking our way. An opportunity presented is a chance at regret that we said yes, and took the chance. A small mistake and all our expectations The uncertainty of life is the great mystery redemption, a chance to redeeming ourselves This is because we just don’t know what or work may come crashing down, and for that intrigues us and at the same time it puts for what so ever reason, to be better, older, will become of the things we do and say in the latter, the cost may be devastating. The the fear of God in us, that’s why we pray and to grow wiser. AMCEM reaffirms to address socio-economic and environmental fallout from COVID-19 in a sustainable manner the impacts of the Pandemic was recognised. and Fisheries of South Africa and President environmentally friendly, resilient, low- ◆ By International Institute for Non - Aligned Studies The meeting also proposed an African of AMCEN in her remarks stated that Africa emissions and inclusive sustainable Green Stimulus Programme to address, is amongst the most vulnerable, especially development. @iinsNAM in a sustainable manner, the devastating to Climate Change, and that “our Continent [email protected] socio-economic and environmental impacts has Special Needs and Circumstances. During the session, the participating he COVID-19 crisis has not only led of the COVID-19 Pandemic and to, more Notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, Environment Ministers committed to T to a health crisis in the developing importantly, harness the opportunities which it is essential to maintain the momentum working with the global community to secure nations but has been also accompanied by this approach brings for the Continent. behind a collective, multilateral response a robust, ambitious and transformative post- to the climate crisis through the UNFCCC, 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework that a socio-economic and economic fallout. On December 4, 2020, the Eighth special its Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. aims at reversing biodiversity loss by 2030. The Non-Aligned Movement, being the session of the AMCEM was held virtually We need a coherent and strong Common The AMCEN special session also considered largest representative of the developing under the theme ‘Enhancing environmental African Position for COP26”, which calls Africa’s common approach for engagement world, has stressed on devising measures action for effective post-COVID recovery for enhanced action and greater ambition in the Fifth United Nations Environment aimed at mitigating socio-economic and in Africa’. During the session, AMCEN from all Parties. Assembly (UNEA-5) to be held from 22-26 environmental fallout from COVID-19 in a stressed on the need to accelerate the February 2021 and reiterated the support to sustainable manner and through cooperation protection and restoration of biodiversity AMCEN noted the importance of policies UNEA-5 and also their continued support among the developing world. and ecosystems as part of an effort to and programmes linking public health, for multilateral cooperation at regional, sustainably build back African economies pollution abatement, climate action, continental and global levels. AMCEM One of the major initiatives in the from the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. biodiversity conservation, ecosystems emphasised the need for further elaboration developing world to address the social and integrity, socio-economic equity, and The AMCEM meeting came after the African of adaptation planning and implementation environmental aspects of the COVID-19 prosperity for an effective recovery from Union Special Session on Environment under the Paris Agreement to address crisis was taken recently by the African COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. While noting and Natural Resources of the Specialised extreme weather and slow-onset events. Ministerial Conference on the Environment the impact COVID-19 pandemic has had on Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural (AMCEN). Established in December Africa’s socio-economic development, the Development, Water and Environment, (in arrangement with 1985, following a conference of African Ministers acknowledged it has particularly which took place on 13 November 2020, News from Non-Aligned World) Ministers of Environment held in Cairo, undermined efforts to achieve sustainable and deliberated on the challenges and Egypt, AMCEM’s mandate is to provide development and eradicate poverty. www.iins.org advocacy for environmental protection in opportunities for Africa as a result of the Africa, to ensure that basic human needs COVID-19 Pandemic. The 8th Special AMCEM recognised Contact New Delhi Times are met adequately and in a sustainable Session was built on the outcomes of this effective recovery manner, to ensure that social and economic recent AU STC meeting, and deliberate strategy from COVID-19 For Complaints & Suggestions development is realized at all levels; and on Africa’s common approaches and key pandemic is essential, to ensure that agricultural activities and messages for the fifth United Nations and it can present +91-9999331600 practices meet the food security needs of the Environment Assembly (UNEA-5), the opportunities to further region. United Nations Convention on Biological mainstream environmental A-2/59, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi-110029 Diversity (CBD) COP15 and the United considerations across An AMCEN Bureau meeting was convened Nations Framework Convention on Climate all facets of African Visit us at : twitter@NewDelhiTimes on 28 May 2020 where the need to prioritise Change (UNFCCC) COP26. Barbara economies, striving facebook.com/newdelhitimes a sustainable socio-economic recovery to Creecy, Minister of Environment, Forestry towards a more Printer and Publisher: Dr. (Mrs.) Pramila Srivastava, on behalf of Dr. Ankur Srivastava, Printed at Sudhir Printers, 151, Desh Bandhu Gupta Market, Karol Bagh, Delhi - 110005, Published at A-2/59 Safdarjung Enclave New Delhi-110029. Ph.: 26102520, 26105846 Fax: 26196294 Email: [email protected], Vol. 30, No. 52 Editor : Dr. Ankit Srivastava www.NewDelhiTimes.com India’s only International Newspaper