The NDRRMC said the tropical depression affected over 36,000 residents in central and southern Philippines and caused infrastructure damages worth 110.4 million pesos ($23 million)…reports Asian Lite News
Floodwaters and landslides triggered by a tropical depression that battered the Philippines over the weekend have left at least eight people dead, two injured and one missing, authorities said on Monday.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the casualties were reported in the regions of Eastern Visayas, Davao and Caraga, reports Xinhua news agency.
The NDRRMC said the tropical depression affected over 36,000 residents in central and southern Philippines and caused infrastructure damages worth 110.4 million pesos ($23 million).
The country’s 22nd storm continues to blow away from the Philippines, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 km per hour with gusts of up to 80 km per hour, the state weather bureau said.
Typhoons and tropical storms regularly batter the Philippines from June through December, claiming lives and causing billions of dollars in damages.
Located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines is among the most disaster-prone countries, including active volcanoes, frequent earthquakes, and an average of 20 typhoons a year, causing floods and landslides.
Government data showed the Philippines lost 463 billion pesos in damages to natural disasters from 2010 to 2019.
Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Sunday recommended dissolution of the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament at an emergency Cabinet meeting.
The recommendation to to dissolve the House came two years prior to its term.
It will now be forwarded to President Bidya Devi Bhandari for approval and effect.
Schools, stadiums and boxing arenas have been ordered temporarily closed while convenience stores will be closed during the curfew period, according to the provincial Governor…reports Asian Lite News
Thai authorities have imposed a curfew throughout the coronavirus pandemic-hit Samut Sakhon province near Bangkok in the wake of a rapid resurgence of new confirmed cases in the region.
On Saturday, provincial Governor Verasak Vichitsangsri announced the curfew between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., which came into immediate effect, will remain until January 3, reports Xinhua news agency.
Schools, stadiums and boxing arenas have been ordered temporarily closed while convenience stores will be closed during the curfew period, according to the provincial Governor.
Restaurants are allowed to offer only take-out and delivery food, with no indoor dining allowed, Verasak said.
A travel ban has been imposed to keep residents of Samut Sakhon from leaving the province during the lockdown while no migrant workers or other foreigners are allowed to enter, which locates a large number of Myanmar migrant workers mostly employed in the fishing industry.
The lockdown measures and curfew followed Saturday’s official confirmation of infection so far with a total of 548 people, most of them being Myanmar migrants.
Thailand has so far reported a total of 4,331 confirmed coronavirus cases and 60 deaths.
Prime Minister Lotay Tshering announced the lockdown within Thimphu city with immediate effect and asked everyone to remain home…reports Asian Lite News
Thimphu, the capitalof Bhutan, went into a complete lockdown on Sunday after a 25-year-old woman, who visited a flu clinic at the National Referral Hospital in the city, tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Prime Minister Lotay Tshering announced the lockdown within Thimphu city with immediate effect and asked everyone to remain home, reports Xinhua news agency.
Tshering said all outbound travellers from Thimphu are restricted and only emergencies and important movements into the capital city will be considered and allowed.
He said the Health Ministry would be conducting intensive contact tracing.
The lockdown is expected to enable health officials to trace and test all possible contacts.
“A primary contact had also travelled to various places in western and central parts of the country with multiple stops on the way,” said the Prime Minister.
Depending on the degree of transmission, relaxations will be initiated over the coming days.
The Prime Minister also announced that there would be no deliveries for 72 hours as there is a complete lockdown.
All essential deliveries will resume only after 72 hours.
Bhutan has so far reported 443 confirmed coronavirus cases with no deaths.
Jakarta’s Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria also emphasized that there would be no year-end celebrations in the capital city this year…reports Asian Lite News
Indonesia has imposed stricter restrictions until January 8, 2021 to prevent a spike in Covid-19 cases after the Christmas and year-end holiday seasons, officials said on Sunday.
Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the number of daily cases and deaths rose after long holidays at the end of October this year, especially in Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Bali and South Kalimantan, reports Xinhua news agency.
“Previously, the trend of the cases in these areas had decreased,” Pandjaitan, concurrently a deputy chairman of the National Committee for the Covid-19 Mitigation and Economic Recovery, told a meeting with ministers and regional heads.
Every year in Indonesia, there is an exodus of people who work in major cities returning to their villages or towns of origin for family gatherings or just travelling during the Christmas and year-end holidays.
This time, to deal with the exodus during the pandemic, the government has banned celebrations and gatherings of more than five people in public areas, and limited hours of service activities.
Jakarta’s Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria also emphasized that there would be no year-end celebrations in the capital city this year.
The Jakarta administration has also limited operational hours for offices, malls, cafes, restaurants, places of interest and tourist attractions to 7 p.m. local time with a maximum capacity of 50 per cent each.
The central government also required people travelling to Jakarta and Yogyakarta province during that period to show negative antigen rapid test results.
National Cocid-19 Task Force’s spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito said the rise in the COVID-19 cases did not only occur during the long weekend last October but also happened after the Eid al-Fitr holidays in May and the Independence Day vacation in August this year.
The spike in the cases could trigger next impacts such as fully occupied hospitals and increases in medical workers’ burdens, Adisasmito said.
Meanwhile, the occupancy rates of isolation rooms and intensive care units at hospitals in several areas have exceeded 70 per cent due to the soaring number of daily cases.
Adisasmito noted that the average active cases in December were recorded at 14.39 per cent of the total cases, up from 13.78 per cent last month.
So far, Indonesia has recorded a total of 657,948 cases, the highest in Southeast Asia, with 536,260 recovered patients and 19,659 fatalities.
Meanwhile, President Joko Widodo said the government would provide free Covid-19 vaccines to al citizens.
The President also emphasised that he would be among the first to be vaccinated in Indonesia to convince the public that the vaccine is safe.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has warned of a collapse of the social and political systems and overwhelming chaos without a financial reform in the country.
Al-Kadhimi made his comments during an extraordinary session of the Iraqi cabinet on Saturday to discuss the federal budget for the fiscal year 2021, which came after the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) decided to devaluate the national currency due to the economic crisis that resulted from the decline in oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic, reports Xinhua news agency.
“The political crisis in Iraq is linked to three issues: power, money, and corruption. We are working to address the crisis from an economic standpoint and with a bold decision to overcome the obstacles of corruption and money,” al-Kadhimi’s media office said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, the CBI decided to reduce the value of the Iraqi dinar to be 1,450 dinars per $1 in the central bank, instead of its previous price of 1,119 dinars per dollar.
The exchange rate of the dollar will reach 1,470 dinars in the local market, the statement said.
The CBI attributed the decision to the financial crisis that resulted from the decline in oil prices and the pandemic, which led to a large deficit in the state budget, forcing the government to borrow money from banks to pay salaries and to cover other expenses, according to the statement.
In a separate statement, Iraqi Minister of Finance Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi said “it has become clear that urgent reforms are needed in various economic fields, including the currency exchange rate.”
“Despite the difficulty of this decision, we are forced to take such a step to address a large part of the crisis, and to ensure the protection of the Iraqi economy by achieving a brave reform step,” Allawi added.
It is well-known that Pakistan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Yet, Pakistan’s deep-state operator was well received and escorted by Israeli officials, according to Noor Dahri, an international relations expert and executive director of Islamic Theology and Counter Terrorism think tank…reports Rohit Sharma
Pakistan PM Imran Khan
On November 20, a top Pakistani establishment adviser boarded BA 0165 flight from Lahore to London. The 8 am flight landed at its scheduled time in the British capital. But curiously, the Pakistani insider, occupying a business class seat did not deboard. The flight then continued to its next destination-Tel Aviv’s David Ben-Gurion airport in Israel.
It is well-known that Pakistan does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Yet, Pakistan’s deep-state operator was well received and escorted by Israeli officials, according to Noor Dahri, an international relations expert and executive director of Islamic Theology and Counter Terrorism think tank.
The visit of the Pakistani adviser was meticulously planned, and definitely not an accident, Noor Dahri wrote on Twitter. Israel’s top-secret guest then went on to stay for two days, during which he met many senior officials, including Yossi Cohen, the director of Mossad, the famed Israeli intelligence service. During the exchange a secret message of Pakistan Army chief, Qamar Javed Bajwa, was delivered, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.
Expectedly Pakistani government denied the back-channel confabulation. But the Israeli government, already engaging Gulf countries deeply, did not do so.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Yoav Dudkevitch/JINI via Xinhua/IANS)
In an interview with i24 television channel, Dahri revealed that this is not the first time that Israel had received high-profile visitors from Pakistan. Former Pakistani Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif sent two delegations to Israel. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto too had met an Israeli delegation in Washington. Subsequently, she sent a top-secret team to Israel to help realign the frosty relationship between the two countries.
Further, in 2005, Pakistan’s former foreign minister, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri met the Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom, according to a statement by the Israeli foreign ministry. The visit led to an encounter between the Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon and Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf where they shook hands in public.
Fast forward to 2018, an Israeli plane landed in Rawalpindi, though Pakistan anxious not to upset the Arab Muslim heartland, remained silent about the arrival of this aircraft.
The Express Tribune of Pakistan further reported that Pakistani Immigration and passport office had listed Israel as a country whose citizens were allowed to visit the country, but this move was subsequently explained away as an administrative error.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan with Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa
The visit of the Pakistani insider to Israel has taken place in broader geopolitical context. Key Gulf countries, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain have already agreed to normalise ties with Israel despite their vocal espousal of the Palestinian cause. The Israelis now apparently want to bring Saudi Arabia, the oil rich Arab heavyweight and swing player, on board as well as Pakistan, the founding member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). One of the core objectives of this exercise is to tilt the regional balance of against arch-rival Iran, which exercises unrivalled influence in the Shia heartland of the region, especially in Iraq and Lebanon.
As the geopolitical order in the region mutates dramatically, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Mossad chief Cohen met the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in the Saudi city of Neom according to Asia Times website. The Iranian Foreign minister Javad Zarif took to Instagram and opined that the covert meeting in Saudi Arabia between Crown Prince MBS and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu contributed to the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizade.
There is speculation that there was a Pakistani overhang in the entire exercise. Pakistan is under the scanner because for two days a Pakistani army business jet operated by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was seen parked at the Amman, capital of Jordan, a country that shares a 731-km long border with Saudi Arabia.
Pakistani security analyst Ayesha Siddiqa wrote on her Twitter in a reply to an article in the Dawn Newspaper: “If (a change in) policy (was) not under consideration then what was Pak Army aircraft PA-9834 doing in Amman for two days and reported by Israeli media?”
If Pakistan further reaches out to Israel, it will severely undermine demonisation of Israel and India as “Yahood and Handood”. India on its part needs to be watchful as well open-minded about new opportunities to shape the region that might arise out of possible Islamabad-Tel Aviv thaw.
Multiple rockets were fired at the Bagram Airfield, a major US airbase in Afghanistan’s Parwan province, on Saturday, officials said, adding that there were no immediate reports of damages or casualties.
“Five rounds of rockets were fired onto Bagram Airfield from an abandoned truck parked in Qalandar Khil locality at roughly 5.50 a.m.,” Xinhua news agency quoted a provincial spokesperson as saying.
She said seven rockets failed to be fired and were defused by Afghan security forces.
The Bagram Airfield, some 50 km north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, has served as the main US and NATO military base in Afghanistan over the past 19 years.
It is staffed by the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing of the US Air Force, along with rotating units of the US Army, US Navy, US Marine Corps, and US Coast Guard.
No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack.
Afghanistan has witnessed a series of rocket attacks in recent weeks.
On December 12, at least one person was killed and two others were injured after 10 rockets were fired into different parts of Kabul city.
On November 21, at least 23 rockets were fired on different parts of the city that killed eight civilians.
The reports said that Milley had a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Taliban negotiators in Doha on Tuesday as part of efforts to broker a negotiated peace settlement between the Afghan government and the militant group..reports Asian Lite News
US Army General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met Taliban negotiators this week in Qatar amid the ongoing American troops pullout from Afghanistan, according to media reports.
The reports on Thursday said that Milley had a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Taliban negotiators in Doha on Tuesday as part of efforts to broker a negotiated peace settlement between the Afghan government and the militant group, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Pentagon’s top military officer then flew to Kabul on Wednesday to discuss the peace process with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
“The most important part of the discussions I had with both the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan was the need for an immediate reduction in violence,” Milley told reporters.
“Everything else hinges on that,” he added.
Milley’s trip came amid rising violence in southern parts of Afghanistan and an ongoing drawdown of the US troops in the country.
On December 11, the US military in Afghanistan said that it had carried out a strike against Taliban fighters in Kandahar province.
Intra-Afghan talks in Doha.
The war in Afghanistan, which has caused about 2,400 US military casualties, is the longest one in American history.
President Donald Trump has long sought a full withdrawal from the country, but some of his senior aides from the military and the Pentagon suggested a condition-based withdrawal, a more cautious approach.
Currently, there are approximately 4,500 US troops in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon last month confirmed that US troops in Afghanistan will be reduced to a 2,500 level by mid-January 2021.
On February 29, the US and the Taliban signed an agreement, which called for a full withdrawal of American military forces from Afghanistan by May 2021, if the militant group meets the conditions of the deal, including severing ties with terrorist groups
