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May
Jerusalem violence leads to Hamas rockets on Israel, nine dead in Gaza
Written by Nur Yasmin
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets toward the Jerusalem area and southern Israel on Monday, carrying out a threat to punish Israel for violent confrontations with Palestinians in Jerusalem.
The Gaza health ministry said nine Palestinians, including three children, were killed "in a series of strikes in northern Gaza". It did not explicitly blame Israel for the deaths, in an area that has been a staging ground for militants' cross-border rocket attacks.
Rocket sirens sounded in Jerusalem, in nearby towns and in communities near Gaza minutes after the expiry of an ultimatum from the enclave's ruling Hamas Islamist group demanding Israel stand down forces in the al Aqsa mosque compound and another flashpoint in the holy city.
As Israel celebrated "Jerusalem Day" earlier on Monday, marking its capture of eastern sections of the holy city in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, violence erupted at the mosque, Islam's third most sacred site.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said more than 300 Palestinians were injured in clashes with police who fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas in the compound, which is also revered by Jews at the site of biblical temples.
The skirmishes, in which police said 21 officers were also hurt, at al Aqsa had died down by the 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) deadline Hamas had set.
Rockets fired from Gaza last hit the Jerusalem area during a 2014 war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the territory.
"The terrorist organisations crossed a red line on Jerusalem Day and attacked us, on the outskirts of Jerusalem," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech.
"Israel will respond very forcefully. We will not tolerate attacks on our territory, our capital, our citizens and our soldiers. Whoever strikes us will pay a heavy price," he said.
International efforts to stem the violence appeared to have already begun. A Palestinian official told Reuters that Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations, which have mediated truces between Israel and Hamas in the past, were in contact with the group's leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Israeli Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus said that on Monday, at least six of the 45 rockets fired from Gaza were launched towards Jerusalem's outskirts, where a house was hit. No casualties were reported.
"We have started to attack Hamas military targets," Conricus said in a briefing to foreign reporters, putting no timeframe on any Israeli offensive. "Hamas will pay a heavy price."
He said Israel had carried out an air strike in northern Gaza against Hamas militants and was looking into reports that children were killed.
"We had multiple events of rockets fired by Gaza terrorists falling short. This might be the same," Conricus said.
Along the fortified Gaza-Israeli border, a Palestinian anti-tank missile fired from the tiny coastal territory struck a civilian vehicle, injuring one Israeli, he said.
Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks.
"This is a message the enemy should understand well," said Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing.
VIOLENCE AROUND AL AQSA MOSQUE
The hostilities caught Netanyahu at an awkward time, as opponents negotiate the formation of a governing coalition to unseat him after an inconclusive March 23 election.
For Hamas, some commentators said, its challenge to Israel was a sign to Palestinians, whose own elections have been postponed by President Mahmoud Abbas, that it was now calling the shots in holding Israel accountable for events in Jerusalem.
Recent clashes in Jerusalem have raised international concern about wider conflict, and the White House called on Israel to ensure calm during "Jerusalem Day". L8N2MX0K2
The Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem has also been a focal point of Palestinian protests during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Several Palestinian families face eviction, under Israeli court order, from homes claimed by Jewish settlers in a long-running legal case.
In an effort to defuse tensions, police changed the route of a traditional Jerusalem Day march, in which thousands of Israeli flag-waving Jewish youth walk through the Old City. They entered through Jaffa Gate, bypassing the Damascus Gate outside the Muslim quarter, which has been a flashpoint in recent weeks.
Police rushed the marchers to cover at Jaffa Gate after the sirens went off.
May
S.Korea's Moon says 'time to take action' on N.Korea ahead of summit with Biden
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday he seeshis final year in office as the last chance to achieve a lasting peace with North Korea, and said it was time to take action amid stalled talks over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes.
Moon's comments, in a speech marking the fourth year of his presidency, come ahead of his first summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on May 21.
The South Korean president is expected to push the United States to seek engagement with North Korea, though Biden has shown little interest in making North Korea a top priority.
"I will consider the remaining one year of my term to be the last opportunity to move from an incomplete peace toward one that is irreversible," Moon said. "Now, the time for long deliberations is also coming to an end. It is time to take action."
Biden's administration says its overtures to Pyongyang have not been answered, and it recently completed a policy review that called for a "practical" approach of using diplomacy to find achievable goals toward eventually persuading North Korea to surrender its nuclear weapons.
Moon said that he welcomed the conclusion of the policy review and that it demonstrated a "view that the current stalemate in dialogue is not desirable."
Biden, however, has shown no sign of loosening sanctions, which have hampered Moon's efforts to launch economic and tourism projects with the North, and the White House has not appointed a special envoy to handle the issue.
Both Koreas are also distracted by the fallout from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Facing declining poll numbers at home, Moon promised the government would further boost fiscal spending if needed to increase jobs, as the country deals with its worst unemployment rate in two decades.
North Korea claims to have zero confirmed cases of the virus, but has imposed strict border lockdowns and movement restrictions that crippled trade and exacerbated economic problems.
Moon has made engaging with North Korea a signature project and appeared to make progress in 2018 amid summits with leader Kim Jong Un, but as Moon enters his final year in office, Pyongyang shows little interest in talking.
North Korea's government consistently criticises and ridicules the South, and last year it blew up an inter-Korean liaison office built on its territory. But it has not tested nuclear weapons or long-range missiles since 2017.
In his speech, Moon said he didn't think North Korea is rejecting dialogue, but rather was waiting to further assess U.S. policy.
Although three inter-Korean summits and two North Korea-U.S. summits since 2018 did not resolve the nuclear issues, they helped defuse tension and maintain peace, and proved that diplomacy was the key, he said.
"If there is an opportunity to restart the clock of peace and advance the peace process on the Korean Peninsula, I will do everything I can," Moon said. "I look forward to North Korea responding positively." (Reuters)
May
At least 68 killed in Afghan school blast, families bury victims
Written by Nur Yasmin
The death toll from a bomb attack outside a school in the Afghan capital Kabul has risen to 68, officials said on Sunday, with doctors struggling to care for 165 injured victims and families searching desperately for missing children.
Explosions on Saturday evening shook the neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi, home to a large community of Shi'ites from the Hazara ethnic minority which has been targeted in the past by Islamic State, a Sunni militant group.
A car bomb was detonated in front of the Sayed Al-Shuhada school and two more bombs exploded when students rushed out in panic.
Officials said most of those killed were schoolgirls. Some families were still searching hospitals for their children.
"The first blast was powerful and happened so close to the children that some of them could not be found," said an Afghan official, requesting anonymity.
An eyewitness told Reuters all but seven or eight of the victims were schoolgirls going home after finishing their studies. On Sunday, civilians and policemen collected books and school bags strewn across a blood-stained road now busy with shoppers ahead of celebrations for Eid al-Fitr next week.
President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday blamed Taliban insurgents but a spokesman for the group denied involvement and condemned any attacks on Afghan civilians.
Pope Francis called the attack as "inhuman act" in remarks to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Sunday.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the attack and expressed his deepest sympathies to the victims' families and to the Afghan government and people.
Families of the victims blamed the government and Western powers for failing to put an end to violence and the ongoing war.
MORGUES
Bodies were still being collected from morgues as the first burials were conducted in the west of the city. Some families were still searching for missing relatives on Sunday, gathering outside hospitals to read names posted on the walls, and checking morgues.
"The entire night we carried bodies of young girls and boys to a graveyard and prayed for everyone wounded in the attack," said Mohammed Reza Ali, who has been helping families of the victims at a private hospital.
"Why not just kill all of us to put and end to this war?" he said.
Security was intensified across Kabul after the attack but authorities said they would not be able to provide security to all schools, mosques and other public places.
Conflict is raging in Afghanistan, with security forces in daily combat with the Taliban, who have waged war to overthrow the foreign-backed government since they were ousted from power in Kabul in 2001.
Although the United States did not meet a May 1 withdrawal deadline agreed in talks with the Taliban last year, its military pull-out has begun, with President Joe Biden announcing that all troops will be gone by Sept. 11.
But the foreign troop withdrawal has led to a surge in fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents.
Critics of the decision say the Islamist militants will make a grab for power and civilians live in fear of being subjected once more to brutal and oppressive Taliban rule.
On Twitter, China's ambassador to Afghanistan, Wang Yu, said the abrupt U.S. announcement of a complete withdrawal of forces had led to a succession of attacks throughout the country.
"China calls on foreign troops in Afghanistan to take into full account the security of people in the country and the region, pull out in a responsible manner and avoid inflicting more turmoil and suffering on the Afghan people," he said.
Condemning the killing of civilians, India's foreign ministry said the death of more than 50 young girls made this an attack on the future of Afghanistan.
"The perpetrators clearly seek to destroy the painstaking and hard-won achievements that the Afghans have put in place over the last two decades," a statement said. (Reuters)
May
Afghan Taliban declares three-day ceasefire for Eid celebration this week -spokesman
Written by Nur Yasmin
Taliban insurgents said on Monday they would observe a three-day ceasefire in Afghanistan for the Muslim religious holiday of Eid, starting this week, after weeks of increasing violence that gripped the country.
"In order that the Mujahideen again provide a peaceful and secure atmosphere to our compatriots during Eid-ul-Fitr so that they may celebrate this joyous occasion, all Mujahideen ... are instructed to halt all offensive operations," Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesman, said on Twitter.
Eid will begin on Wednesday or Thursday this week depending on the sighting of the moon.
The ceasefire declaration came two days after bombings outside a school in the western part of the Afghan capital, Kabul, killed at least 68, most of them students, and injured more than 165 others.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Taliban insurgents, fighting to overthrow the Afghan government since their ouster by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, denied involvement in the bombings and condemned them.
Afghan government leadership said the group was behind the attack.
Naeem said the group's fighters had been instructed to cease all military operations against the Afghan government, but added they were ready to retaliate if attacked by government forces.
Fraidoon Khwazoon, a spokesman for Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, which heads the peace process, said the group welcomed the Taliban's ceasefire announcement.
President Ashraf Ghani's spokesmen were not immediately available to comment on whether they would observe the ceasefire.
Peace talks between both warring sides in the Qatari capital, Doha, which began last year, have made no progress and violence has risen.
Kabul has been on high alert since Washington announced plans last month to pull out all U.S. troops by Sept. 11, with Afghan officials saying the Taliban stepped up attacks across the country following the announcement. (Reuters)
May
Vietnam says new COVID outbreak threatens stability
Written by Nur Yasmin
Vietnam reported 102 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday as the Southeast Asian country battled a fast-spreading outbreak which Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said threatened political stability if not brought under control.
The new cases raised the total to 3,332 since the pandemic began, with 35 deaths, the Ministry of Health said.
Vietnam has been praised for its record in containing its outbreaks quickly through targeted mass testing and a strict, centralised quarantine programme.
But a new outbreak emerged late last month and has spread rapidly in the country, infecting 333 people in 25 cities and provinces, including the capital Hanoi, and leaving around 10 hospitals under lockdown.
"The risk for the outbreak to spread nationwide is very high," Chinh said on Sunday. "We need to deploy stronger measures to curb the outbreak.
"If the outbreak spread nationwide, it would affect political stability, people's health and the National Assembly and People's Council elections, and the consequence would be unpredictable."
Chinh said coronavirus infections in neighbouring countries has put pressure on Vietnam, adding that illegal immigrants were among the prime sources of the virus.
Of the 102 new cases, 92 were transmitted locally, the health ministry said. (Reuters)
May
Australia's most populous state extends COVID restrictions in hunt for outbreak source
Written by Nur Yasmin
Australia's most populous state recorded no new COVID-19 infections for a third straight day on Sunday but extended raised social distancing and mask-wearing rules by a week as the authorities hunted for the source of a small outbreak.
After a Sydney couple tested positive to the coronavirus last week, ending a long run without community transmission, the authorities reinstated some social distancing measures until May 10, and a campaign to get more people tested, as they scrambled to determine the source of infection.
On Sunday, the authorities reported a third straight day without a new case, easing concerns about a wider outbreak in the city, but cited the mystery cause of infection as a reason for extending the measures.
"As the 'missing link' case hasn't been identified we're keen to prevent a super-spreading event," said New South Wales state premier Gladys Berejiklian in a tweet.
"All safeguards/restrictions will be in place for an extra week, except for shoppers in retail who will no longer be required to wear a mask."
That means the more than five million people living in and around Sydney must wear masks on public transport and in most public venues, while households are limited to 20 guests at any one time until May 17.
Australia has largely eliminated the virus, with 79 days in 2021 without a locally acquired case, according to the government, as a result of a strategy of closing international and domestic borders, as well as social distancing measures.
As the country awaits vaccine shipments and watches infection spikes in other countries, top lawmakers have said borders now appear likely to reopen in 2022, not 2021 as previously envisaged.
In an interview with News Corp newspapers published on Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it was unlikely Australia would reopen its borders soon, although he did not offer a timeline.
"I don't see an appetite for that at the moment," he said, referring to border reopening.
"What we're seeing at the moment is the appreciation of the people that the pandemic isn't going anywhere. We have to be careful not to exchange that way of life for what everyone else has." (Reuters)
May
Chinese rocket debris lands in Indian Ocean, draws criticism from NASA
Written by Nur Yasmin
Remnants of China's biggest rocket landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, with most of its components destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere, ending days of speculation over where the debris would hit but drawing U.S. criticism over lack of transparency.
The coordinates given by Chinese state media, citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office, put the point of impact in the ocean, west of the Maldives archipelago.
Debris from the Long March 5B has had some people looking warily skyward since it blasted off from China's Hainan island on April 29, but the China Manned Space Engineering Office said most of the debris was burnt up in the atmosphere.
State media reported parts of the rocket re-entered the atmosphere at 10:24 a.m. Beijing time (0224 GMT) and landed at a location with the coordinates of longitude 72.47 degrees east and latitude 2.65 degrees north.
The U.S. Space command confirmed the re-entry of the rocket over the Arabian Peninsula, but said it was unknown if the debris impacted land or water.
"The exact location of the impact and the span of debris, both of which are unknown at this time, will not be released by U.S. Space Command," it said in a statement on its website.
The Long March was the second deployment of the 5B variant since its maiden flight in May 2020. Last year, pieces from the first Long March 5B fell on Ivory Coast, damaging several buildings. No injuries were reported.
"Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, a former senator and astronaut who was picked for the role in March, said in a statement after the re-entry.
"It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris."
ANXIETY OVER POTENTIAL DEBRIS ZONE
With most of the Earth's surface covered by water, the odds of populated area on land being hit had been low, and the likelihood of injuries even lower, according to experts.
But uncertainty over the rocket's orbital decay and China's failure to issue stronger reassurances in the run-up to the re-entry fuelled anxiety.
"It is critical that China and all spacefaring nations and commercial entities act responsibly and transparently in space to ensure the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of outer space activities," Nelson said.
Harvard-based astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told Reuters that the potential debris zone could have been as far north as New York, Madrid or Beijing, and as far south as southern Chile and Wellington, New Zealand.
Since large chunks of the NASA space station Skylab fell from orbit in July 1979 and landed in Australia, most countries have sought to avoid such uncontrolled re-entries through their spacecraft design, McDowell said.
"It makes the Chinese rocket designers look lazy that they didn't address this," said McDowell.
The Global Times, a Chinese tabloid, dismissed as "Western hype" concerns the rocket was "out of control" and could cause damage.
"It is common practice across the world for upper stages of rockets to burn up while reentering the atmosphere," Wang Wenbin, a spokesman at China's foreign ministry, said at a regular media briefing on May 7.
"To my knowledge, the upper stage of this rocket has been deactivated, which means most of its parts will burn up upon re-entry, making the likelihood of damage to aviation or ground facilities and activities extremely low," Wang said at the time.
The rocket, which put into orbit an unmanned Tianhe module containing what will become living quarters for three crew on a permanent Chinese space station, will be followed by 10 more missions to complete the station by 2022. (Reuters)
May
Israel and South Korea to sign free trade pact -
Israel will sign a free trade agreement with South Korea this week, marking the first such arrangement with an Asian market, Israel's economy ministry said on Sunday.
The deal is meant to bolster bilateral trade by cutting out customs duties and offering safety nets on investments. Bilateral trade reached about US$2.4 billion in 2020, about two thirds of it goods and services imported into Israel, the ministry said.
More than 95per cent of Israeli exports to South Korea will be customs-free, the ministry said. Israel is working on similar deals with China, Vietnam and India, it added//CNA
May
Australia's most populous state extends COVID-19 restrictions in hunt for outbreak source
Written by nuke
A medical worker swabs a member of the public at the Bondi Beach drive-through coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing centre as the city experiences an outbreak in Sydney, Australia, December 21, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott -
Australia's most populous state of New South Wales recorded no new COVID-19 infections for a third straight day on Sunday (May 9), but extended raised social distancing and mask-wearing rules by a week as the authorities hunted for the source of a small outbreak.
After a Sydney couple tested positive for the coronavirus last week, ending a long run without community transmission, the authorities reinstated some social distancing measures until May 10, and a campaign to get more people tested, as they scrambled to determine the source of infection.
"As the 'missing link' case hasn't been identified we're keen to prevent a super-spreading event," said New South Wales state premier Gladys Berejiklian in a tweet.
"All safeguards/restrictions will be in place for an extra week, except for shoppers in retail who will no longer be required to wear a mask."
That means the more than 5 million people living in and around Sydney must wear masks on public transport and in most public venues, while households are limited to 20 guests at any one time until May 17.
Australia has largely eliminated the virus, with 79 days in 2021 without a locally acquired case, according to the government, as a result of a strategy of closing international and domestic borders, as well as social distancing measures.
As the country awaits vaccine shipments and watches infection spikes in other countries, top lawmakers have said borders now appear likely to reopen in 2022, not 2021 as previously envisaged.
In an interview with News Corp newspapers published on Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it was unlikely Australia would reopen its borders soon, although he did not offer a timeline.
"I don't see an appetite for that at the moment," he said, referring to border reopening.
"What we're seeing at the moment is the appreciation of the people that the pandemic isn't going anywhere. We have to be careful not to exchange that way of life for what everyone else has."//CNA
May
Labour's Sadiq Khan speaks after he was reelected and declared as the next Mayor of London at City Hall, in London, Saturday, May 8, 2021. (Photo: AP/Victoria Jones/PA) -
Labour politician Sadiq Khan won re-election as London mayor on Saturday (May 8) in a narrower than expected victory over Conservative rival Shaun Bailey.
Khan became the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital when first elected in 2016.
He won a second term with just over 1.2 million votes, who gained 977,601 votes in Thursday's poll. Turnout was lower than at the previous election, at 42 per cent.
The 50-year-old politician's victory was one of the bright spots for the main opposition Labour party after a largely desultory showing in local elections on Thursday.
In his victory speech Khan said that during his second term he would be focusing on "building bridges between the different communities" and between city hall and the government.
He said he wanted "to ensure London can play its part in a national recovery" and to "build a brighter greener and more equal future" for the capital.
Khan campaigned on a promise of "jobs, jobs, jobs", bidding to keep London on its perch as a top world city while tackling the crisis and the fallout from Brexit, which could threaten the capital's vital financial sector.
Khan has made a name for himself as a vocal critic of Brexit and of successive Conservative prime ministers, including his mayoral predecessor Boris Johnson - as well as for a feud with former US president Donald Trump.
The pair became embroiled in an extraordinary war of words after Khan criticised Trump's controversial travel ban on people from certain Muslim countries.
In a series of bizarre attacks, Trump accused Khan of doing a "very bad job on terrorism" and called him a "stone cold loser" and a "national disgrace".
Entering his first term, Khan vowed to focus on providing affordable homes for Londoners and freezing transport fares, but saw his agenda engulfed by the pandemic.
He is London's third mayor after Labour's Ken Livingstone (2000-2008) and Johnson (2008-2016), and there is widespread speculation he could try to follow in his predecessor's footsteps to Downing Street.
In his previous role as a human rights lawyer, Khan spent three years chairing the civil liberties campaign group Liberty.
In his victory speech, Khan referred to his humble origins, growing up in public housing in an ethnically mixed residential area in south London.
"I grew up on a council estate, a working class boy, a child of immigrants, but I'm now the Mayor of London," he said, describing himself as "a Londoner through and through"//CNA