Category: Asia News

The official added that the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) are prepared to defend the country in the face of threats…reports Asian Lite News

Israel’s “threats against Iran” are “psychological warfare” and the Iranian armed forces are fully prepared to protect the country, a top official said here.

Israel has neither a plan nor the capability to take action against Iran, Xinhua news agency quoted Mahmoud Vaezi, chief of staff of the Iranian President’s office, as saying on Wednesday.

“We have no intention of launching an offense and no intention of war, but we are serious in defending the country,” he said.

The official added that the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) are prepared to defend the country in the face of threats.

On Tuesday, Aviv Kochavi, an Israeli general, said that his country’s military “is refreshing its operational plans against Iran”.

He also urged the US to refrain from any plan to return to the 2015 nuclear accord.

Also read:Israel to close land borders with Egypt, Jordan

The apex court dismissed the Sindh government’s appeal against the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) decision to overturn Sheikh’s conviction…reports Asian Lite News

The Pakistan Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the release of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the key accused in the 2002 kidnap and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

The apex court dismissed the Sindh government’s appeal against the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) decision to overturn Sheikh’s conviction, reports Dawn news.

In its the verdict, the three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam also directed to release the suspect.

Only one member opposed the decision.

Thursday’s development comes a day after Sheikh admitted in the Supreme Court that he had played a “minor” role in the brutal killing 19 years ago, Dawn news reported.

The 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal was doing research on religious extremism in Karachi when he was abducted in January 2002.

A graphic video showing his beheading was delivered to the US consulate a month later.

Subsequently, Sheikh was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to death by a trial court.

In its April 2, 2020, order, the SHC had overturned his conviction .

The provincial high court had also acquitted three other men namely Fahad Naseem, Sheikh Adil and Salman Saqib, who had been earlier sentenced to life imprisonment by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi.

Also read:Pak to kickstart vaccine rollout from next week

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called to extend the ongoing nationwide lockdown, which is supposed to be lifted on Sunday….reports Asian Lite News

Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said that the country will close its border crossings with Egypt and Jordan in an effort to curb the entry of new Covid-19 strains.

A statement issued by Deri’s office on Wednesday said that land crossings with Egypt and Jordan will be closed for both Israelis and non-Israelis starting from Thursday morning, reports Xinhua news agency.

The temporary measure will remain effective until Sunday, Deri said.

“In the wake of the uncertainty and as part of the joint effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, I must close the land crossings until the issue would be clarified,” Deri said in the statement.

Also on Wednesday, Kamil Abu Rukun, an official from the Defence Ministry said that the Allenby Bridge or the al-Karameh Bridge which is a major border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank, will be closed on Thursday afternoon “until further notice”.

Passengers from both sides will not be allowed to pass through the crossing, “except for exceptional humanitarian cases”, he said.

Rukun added the measure was decided “in coordination with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority”.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called to extend the ongoing nationwide lockdown, which is supposed to be lifted on Sunday.

“Tomorrow I will bring to the cabinet a proposal to extend the lockdown. For how long? It depends on the morbidity,” he said during a visit to a vaccination centre in the southern city of Sderot.

Israel has been under the third nationwide lockdown since December 19, 2020.

The country has so far reported a total of 619,150 coronavirus cases and 4,539 deaths.

Also read:Israel’s Haifa port hits record high cargo traffic in 2020

Several demonstrations were witnessed all over the country in the past few days, namely in Tripoli, Lebanon’s largest northern city, in protest against the total lockdown…reports Asian Lite News

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Wednesday urged the citizens to stop destroying public properties and attacking the country’s army during their protests against the total lockdown and political deadlock, the National News Agency reported.

“The government is neither formed nor disrupted by burning tires, blocking roads, attacking state institutions, and targeting internal security forces and the Lebanese army,” Diab said during a meeting for the ministerial committee in charge of the vaccination campaign in Lebanon, Xinhua reported.

Several demonstrations were witnessed all over the country in the past few days, namely in Tripoli, Lebanon’s largest northern city, in protest against the total lockdown.

Tuesday’s protests in Tripoli led to the injury of 76 people and the arrest of five people.

Diab noted that the pandemic is spreading rapidly and the total lockdown has helped in avoiding a national disaster in absence of sufficient hospital beds for infected people.

The Prime Minister said that the Lebanese army has started a second round of distributing 266 US dollars to 250,000 families to reduce the suffering of citizens amid the lockdown.

Also read:Lebanon enters full lockdown

A dry run for the Covid-19 vaccination began in Japan’s Kawasaki near Tokyo on Wednesday, as the country prepares to roll out the inoculation drive by late February.

About 60 people, including doctors, nurses and local government staff, participated in the simulation, Xinhua reported.

Japan’s vaccination process is slated to begin with medical workers, then people aged 65 or older from late March, followed by people with preexisting conditions and those caring for the elderly.

Around 10,000 medical workers are in line to get the free inoculations first, followed by 50 million most at-risk people, according to government officials.

Government sources have said that the general public is expected to become eligible for vaccinations from around May.

Taro Kono, administrative reform minister who was appointed to lead the vaccination efforts, has pledged to ensure the swift distribution of doses nationwide.

However, a latest poll conducted by Kyodo News showed that 38, or 80 percent of the country’s 47 prefectural capitals are unsure whether they have enough doctors and nurses to do the job.

Also Read-Russia sees slight decline in new Covid cases