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March
Jakarta. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan removed his finance minister on Monday as part of a government shake-up aimed at bringing in policies to control “rising inflation”, the information minister.
The removal - the second of a finance minister in the 2-1/2 years of Khan’s tenure - comes amidst the restart of a $6 billion IMF bailout programme that had been suspended for one year over questions about fiscal and revenue reforms.
Cash-strapped Pakistan is also preparing to float Eurobonds worth around $2 billion to raise capital from international markets about two months before presenting a budget.
“There has been rising inflation, and the prime minister thinks that we need to bring in a fresh team which could devise pro-poor policies,” information minister Shibli Faraz told local Dunya News TV.
He said Hammad Azhar, the minister for industries and production, would replace Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.
The central bank on March 19 kept its policy rate at 7% for a 10th consecutive month to support economic recovery while keeping inflation expectations well-anchored and maintaining financial stability. It also revised higher its growth rate for the current fiscal year.
The South Asian nation recorded 8.7% CPI Y/Y in February.
Sheikh had lost a parliamentary election earlier this month that was mandatory for him to keep the office of the finance minister constitutionally. However he could have stayed in office until June 10, and it is not clear whether the decision to remove him was also a move to cover for the consequences of that election loss. (Reuters)
March
Pakistan's president tests positive for COVID-19
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi has tested positive for COVID-19, he said on Twitter on Monday, after receiving his first dose of a vaccine.
“Had (first) dose of vaccine, but antibodies start developing after (second) dose that was due in a week. Please continue to be careful,” he said.
Coronavirus cases are rising quickly in the South Asian nation and Prime Minister Imran Khan tested positive two days after receiving his first vaccine dose earlier this month with officials saying he had likely been infected before being vaccinated. (Reuters)
March
Ever Given to be inspected for seaworthiness after refloat: Evergreen
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Evergreen Line said on Monday that the Ever Given container ship would be inspected for seaworthiness after being dislodged from a southern section of the Suez Canal where it had been blocking traffic for nearly a week.
Taiwan listed Evergreen, which is leasing the ship, said decisions regarding the vessel’s cargo would be made after the inspection and that it would coordinate with the ship’s owner after investigation reports were completed. (Reuters)
March
Lebanon could sink like Titanic, parliament speaker says
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Influential parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri said on Monday that Lebanon would sink like the Titanic if it could not form a government as he opened a session to approve emergency funds to literally keep the lights on for two more months.
“The whole country is in danger, the whole country is the Titanic,” Berri said. “It’s time we all woke up because in the end, if the ship sinks, there’ll be no one left.”
Lebanon is in the throes of a financial crisis that poses the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-1990 civil war. Without a new government, it cannot implement the reforms required to unlock desperately needed foreign aid.
But prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri and President Michel Aoun have been at loggerheads for months over the makeup of a new cabinet.
Parliament approved a loan of $200 million to pay for fuel for Lebanon’s electricity company after a warning by the energy ministry that cash had run out for electricity generation beyond the end of the month.
“This should be enough for electricity for around two months or two-and-a-half,” Cesar Abi Khalil, a member of parliament and former energy minister, told Reuters.
The Zahrani power plant, one of Lebanon’s four main electricity producers, has already had to shut down for lack of fuel.
“Any shutdown in one of these big plants affects power generation negatively,” Abi Khalil said. “This means Lebanese make up for it with generators that run on diesel that’s 30% more expensive than the fuel that’s bought by the electricity company.”
Lebanon already lacks power generation capacity and homes and businesses have to cope with power cuts for several hours a day, forcing many to turn to private generators. (Reuters)
March
WHO says COVID likely passed from bats to humans through another animal: AP
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely”, the Associated Press reported on Monday.
The findings were largely as expected and left many questions unanswered, and the team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis, the report bit.ly/3waktXl added, citing a draft copy obtained by the Associated Press. (Reuters)
March
India's coronavirus cases peak over 12 million for first time
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. India has reported on Monday its worst single-day increase in COVID-19 cases since October, taking the tally to more than 12 million for the first time ever.
A total of 68,020 new coronavirus cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said. It was the highest daily rise since Oct. 11, according to a Reuters tally.
India’s overall caseload of 12.04 million - the world’s biggest outside the United States and Brazil - had been falling steadily since a peak in late September, but increased public gatherings and travel are causing a spurt at a time when a majority of Indians are yet to be vaccinated.
India has been reporting a spike in cases - above the 60,000 mark - for three consecutive days, though Monday’s rise was still below September’s peak of more than 90,000 cases a day.
India’s worst affected state, Maharashtra, is considering imposing a strict lockdown this week and has already tightened travel restrictions and imposed night curfew in a bid to put a lid on rising cases of infections.
Daily deaths rose by 291 on Monday and the virus has so far killed 161,843 people in the country. (Reuters)
March
Myanmar army launches air strikes in Karen state, group says
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Myanmar army fighter jets launched air strikes on Saturday on a village near the Thai border in territory controlled by an armed ethnic group, the group said, as fears grow of civil war following last month’s military coup.
The Karen National Union (KNU), the armed ethnic group that controls the southeastern region, said fighter jets attacked Day Pu No in Papun district, an area held by its Brigade 5 forces, at around 8 p.m., forcing villagers to flee.
“They bombed the area... The villagers from that area said two dead and two injured,” a spokesperson for civil society group Karen Peace Support Network said, adding that communication was difficult in the remote region and there could be more casualties.
A spokesman for the junta did not answer phone calls seeking comment.
The reported air assault is the most significant attack for years in the region. The KNU had signed a ceasefire agreement in 2015 but tensions surged after the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government on Feb.1.
Earlier on Saturday, the KNU said Brigade 5 forces overran an army base, killing 10 soldiers including a lieutenant-colonel, as the junta celebrated its annual Armed Forces Day with a parade in the capital, Naypyitaw.
The KNU says it has been sheltering hundreds of people who have fled central Myanmar amid mounting violence in recent weeks. The junta’s troops killed dozens of people on Saturday, including children, in one of the bloodiest days of protests since the coup, news reports and witnesses said. (Reuters)
March
Killing of youths sparks protests in northwest Pakistan
Written by Nur Yasmin
Jakarta. Thousands of protesters broke through a police blockade in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday as they tried to march on the city of Bannu and then on to Islamabad to demand a government probe into the deaths of four young men who they allege were tortured and killed by security forces.
Police fired tear gas in an attempt to keep them from entering the city of Bannu, which lies on the way to Islamabad, on Sunday evening.
The protesters were carrying the bodies of the four young men, aged between 15 and 20, found in a shallow grave on March 21 in the town of Jani Khel, outside Bannu.
“The government didn’t pay any attention to us and left us alone to mourn the slain boys,” Haji Mohammad Wali, one of the protesters, told Reuters by phone.
Relatives of the dead, alleging they died during interrogation by security forces, held a sit-in in Jani Khel for nearly a week, refusing to bury the bodies until an investigation was opened against an army officer they said was responsible.
A Pakistani military spokesman declined to comment about the incident on Sunday, and the military has not commented publicly on the case.
The central government has not commented on the case.
Officials of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, including Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, travelled to Bannu on Sunday to meet with protesters.
“This incident is a challenge for my government and law enforcement agencies,” Khan said in a statement, adding those responsible for the deaths will be held accountable.
The protesters said that after their demands for an inquiry went unheard they decided to march to Islamabad - 300 km (190 miles) away - and local police tried to stop them by placing barricades in Bannu.
The four dead boys had been missing for several weeks, according to their relatives. Relatives said their bodies bore signs of torture when they were found.
Protests were also held in the port city of Karachi on Sunday.
The town of Jani Khel is part of the former semi-autonomous tribal areas, a region along the Afghanistan border that served as a base for the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other jihadist groups until a series of Pakistani military offensives drove them out.
Rights groups have accused the military of carrying out extrajudicial detentions and other abuses in the area - a charge the military has consistently denied. (Reuters)
March
Japan to issue digital vaccine passport - Mint
Japan is set to issue digital health certificates to citizens who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, joining China, the EU and other countries that have adopted similar measures aimed at opening up overseas travel, the Nikkei reported s.nikkei.com/3stfAX6 on Saturday.
In line with international standards, the certificate can be managed on a mobile app, allowing the carrier to present the proof of vaccination when boarding a plane or checking in to a hotel, the report said.
The app is also focused on foreigners staying in Japan and returning to their respective home countries, according to the report//Reuters
March
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido says he tested positive for COVID-19
Written by nuke
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Saturday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus and has mild symptoms.
Guaido said on his Twitter account that he is in isolation and expressed concern about the number of infections in the country.
“I want to express my solidarity with the thousands of Venezuelans suffering during the pandemic,” Guaido wrote on Twitter. “Today we all have a relative or acquaintance affected by COVID-19.”
Dozens of countries have backed Guaido as interim president of Venezuela following Maduro’s re-election in 2018 in a vote Western governments called a sham.
The opposition leader added that he considered the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines to Venezuela urgent.
Venezuela has received 700,000 doses, of which 500,000 were donated by China’s Sinopharm and the rest are Russia’s Sputnik V. Opposition leaders are separately negotiating to buy vaccines via the COVAX program using funds frozen in the United States.
Venezuela’s official figures as of Saturday showed 155,663 cases of coronavirus and 1,555 deaths, though opposition critics say the actual figure is likely higher due to limited testing//Reuters