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October
US Warns China Against Taiwan Attack, Stresses US 'Ambiguity'
Written by Nur YasminThe U.S. national security adviser warned China on Wednesday against any attempt to take Taiwan by force, saying amphibious landings were notoriously difficult and there was a lot of ambiguity about how the United States would respond.
Robert O’Brien told an event at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas that China was engaged in a massive naval buildup probably not seen since Germany’s attempt to compete with Britain’s Royal Navy prior to World War One.
“Part of that is to give them the ability to push us back out of the Western Pacific, and allow them to engage in an amphibious landing in Taiwan,” he said.
“The problem with that is that amphibious landings are notoriously difficult,” O’Brien added, pointing to the 100-mile (160-km) distance between China and Taiwan and the paucity of landing beaches on the island.
“It’s not an easy task, and there’s also a lot of ambiguity about what the United States would do in response to an attack by China on Taiwan,” he added when asked what U.S. options would be if China moved to absorb Taiwan.
O’Brien was referring to a long-standing U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would intervene to protect Taiwan, which China considers its province and has vowed to bring under its control, by force if necessary.
The United States is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, but it has not made clear whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack, something that would likely lead to a much broader conflict with Beijing.
O’Brien’s comments come when China has significantly stepped up military activity near Taiwan and when U.S.-China relations have plunged to the lowest point in decades in the run-up to President Donald Trump’s Nov. 3 re-election bid.
O’Brien repeated U.S. calls for Taiwan to spend more on its own defense and to carry out military reforms to make clear to China the risks of attempting to invade.
“You can’t just spend 1% of your GDP, which the Taiwanese have been doing - 1.2% - on defense, and hope to deter a China that’s been engaged in the most massive military build-up in 70 years,” he said.
Taiwan needed to “turn themselves into a porcupine” militarily, he said, adding: “Lions generally don’t like to eat porcupines.”
On Tuesday, the senior U.S. defense official for East Asia called Taiwan’s plan to boost defense spending by $1.4 billion next year insufficient.
He said it needed to invest in capabilities including more coastal defense cruise missiles, naval mines, fast-attack craft, mobile artillery, and advanced surveillance assets.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, in a response provided to Reuters, said they will “strive for an adequate budget” in accordance with their needs to build a solid national defense force. (Reuters)
October
World Health Organization (WHO) stated that about one in 10 people might be infected with the Coronavirus (COVID-19). This makes a large part of the world's population vulnerable to the COVID-19 disease caused by this deadly virus.
As reported by Channel News Asia, Tuesday, WHO emergencies expert, Mike Ryan, said that the Corona pandemic has soared in several Southeast Asian countries, as well as increasing in parts of Europe and the East Mediterranean region.
"Our current best estimates tell us about 10 percent of the global population may have been infected by this virus. It varies depending on the country, it varies from urban to rural, it varies depending on groups. But what it does mean is that the vast majority of the world remains at risk. We are now heading into a difficult period. The disease continues to spread,” Mike Ryan's statement was delivered while giving an explanation to the WHO Executive Board in which the United States (US) launched a covert attack to China for what he called a failure to provide accurate and timely information about Corona.
WHO and other experts claimed that the Coronavirus, which is believed to have emerged on a food market at Wuhan city, China late last year, came from animals. WHO deployed a number of its experts on an international mission to China to investigate the origins of the Coronavirus, for being considered by Chinese authorities.
US Assistant Secretary of Health, Brett Giroir, stated that it was imperative for the 194 WHO member countries to receive regular and timely developments so that all countries can be involved in the process and have confidence in the results.
Germany, speaking for the European Union, said that an expert mission has to be deployed immediately, while Australia supporting a swift investigation.
Meanwhile, Russia's Deputy Health Minister, Alexandra Dronova, called for an evaluation of the legal and financial impact of the US government announcing its effective exit from WHO in July next year. (CNA)
October
The blast that devastated large parts of Beirut in August was one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in history, experts say.
As reported by BBC.com on Monday, the Sheffield University, UK, experts team said the best estimate for the yield is 500 tons of TNT equivalent, with a reasonable upper limit of 1.1 kilotons. This puts it at around one-twentieth of the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
The team mapped how the shockwave propagated through the city. The group hopes its work can help emergency planners prepare for future disasters.
"When we know what the yield is from these sorts of events, we can then work out the loading that comes from that. And that tells us how to construct buildings that are more resilient," Dr. Sam Rigby from Sheffield's Blast and Impact Engineering Research Group stated
"Even things like glazing, in Beirut, glazing damage was reported up 10km away from the center of the explosion, and the research Group knows falling glass causes a lot of injuries," he said.
The 4 August explosion was the result of the accidental detonation of approximately 2,750 tonnes of improperly stored ammonium nitrate. The blast led to some 190 deaths, as well as more than 6,000 injuries. (BBC)
October
Debt Cancellation Needed To Help Poorest Countries: World Bank
Written by Nur YasminThe COVID-19 pandemic could trigger a debt crisis in some countries, so investors must be ready for granting some form of relief that could also include debt cancellation, World Bank President David Malpass was quoted as saying on Sunday.
“It is evident that some countries are unable to repay the debt they have taken on. We must therefore also reduce the debt level. This can be called debt relief or cancellation,” Malpass told Handelsblatt business daily in an interview.
“It is important that the amount of debt is reduced by restructuring,” Malpass added.
He pointed to similar steps in previous financial crises such as in Latin America and the so-called HIPC initiative for highly indebted countries in the 1990s.
Rich countries last month backed an extension of the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), approved in April to help developing nations survive the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen 43 of a potential 73 eligible countries defer $5 billion in “official sector” debt payments.
Amid warnings the pandemic could push 100 million people into extreme poverty, Malpass renewed his call for private banks and investment funds to get involved too.
“These investors are not doing enough and I am disappointed with them. Also, some of the major Chinese lenders did not get enough involved. The effect of the aid measures is therefore less than it could be,” the World Bank head said.
Malpass warned that the pandemic could trigger another debt crisis as some developing countries had already entered a downward spiral of weaker growth and financial trouble.
“The enormous budget deficits and debt payments are overwhelming these economies. In addition, the banks there are getting into difficulties due to bad loans,” Malpass added. (Reuters)
October
U.S. President Trump and Melania Tests Positive For COVID-19
Written by Nur YasminU.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19 and would immediately quarantine and begin the “recovery process.”
“We will get through this,” Trump tweeted.
Trump’s positive test follows news that Hope Hicks, a top adviser and trusted aide, had tested positive for the new coronavirus.
Hicks travels regularly with the president on Air Force One and, along with other senior aides, accompanied him to Ohio for the presidential debate on Tuesday and to Minnesota for a campaign event on Wednesday.
Trump, who is tested regularly for the virus that causes COVID-19, has kept up a rigorous travel schedule across the country in recent weeks, holding rallies with thousands of people in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election, despite warnings from public health professionals against having events with large crowds.
Trump has come under sharp criticism for his response to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people in the United States alone. The president has touted his management of the crisis. (Reuters)
October
GAVI Provides $150m To Poorer Countries For COVID-19 Vaccines
Written by Nur YasminThe GAVI vaccine alliance’s board has approved up to $150 million to help 92 low- and middle-income countries prepare for the delivery of future COVID-19 vaccines, including technical assistance and cold chain equipment, it said on Thursday.
The initial funds will help establish the COVAX facility at an operational level and ensure routine immunisation programmes continue in eligible countries, GAVI said in a statement.
In all, 168 countries have joined the COVAX global vaccine facility, led by GAVI and the World Health Organization (WHO), including 76 wealthy or self-financing countries, it said. COVAX aims to deliver 2 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021. (Reuters)
October
India's Covid-19 Infections Rise To 6.31 Million
Written by Nur YasminIndia’s coronavirus case tally increased by 86,821 in the last 24 hours to 6.31 million by Thursday morning, data from the health ministry showed, as the country eased more restrictions to combat the economic hit from the pandemic.
Deaths from coronavirus infections rose by 1,181 to 98,678, the ministry said.
The South Asian nation on Wednesday permitted states to open schools and movie theaters. The country’s richest state Maharashtra, home to financial hub Mumbai, said it would also allow bars and restaurants to operate fully.
India reported its worst economic contraction in decades for the quarter to June as the COVID-19 pandemic forced many businesses to close and the country to impose one of the strictest lockdowns to prevent the virus from spreading. (Reuters)
September
Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Becomes New Kuwait Leader
Written by Nur YasminKuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah became the emir of the new ruler of the oil-rich nation on Tuesday night, according to state media reports, occupying the highest position after decades of service in the security service.
Sheikh Nawaf, 83, has served as crown prince since 2006, leaping over the traditional order between the Al Jaber and Al Salam descendants of the royal ruling family.
State television carried a speech by Anas Khalid al-Saleh, the Minister of Home Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Kuwait, announcing that Sheikh Nawaf was sworn in hours after the death of Sheikh Sabah, as quoted by The New Arab.
Sheikh Nawaf, like Sheikh Sabah, was born before Kuwait discovered the oil fields that made this small country one of the richest countries in the world. Born June 25, 1937, Sheikh Nawaf became governor of the Hawalli region of Kuwait and later became the country's interior minister, a position he held for nearly a decade.
Sheikh Nawaf served as the Kuwaiti defense minister starting in 1988. He was cast in 1990 when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and occupied the country for seven months. On February 24, 1991, US and allied forces invaded Kuwait and ended 100 hours later.
America only suffered 148 deaths from fighting during the entire campaign, while more than 20,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed. Sheikh Nawaf served as Minister of Social Affairs and Labor after the war, then as Deputy Chief of the Kuwaiti National Guard and again as Minister of the Interior. He became crown prince under Sheikh Sabah in February 2006.
Shaykh Nawaf is married, has four sons and one daughter. (RRI)
September
Kuwaiti leader Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah died at the age of 91, the Kuwaiti national news agency Kuna reported on Tuesday.
"With great sorrow, we the people of Kuwait, the Arab nation and the Islamic state, and the friendliest people in the world, mourns the death of His Majesty Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait. We belong to Allah and to Allah we will return," Kuna, as quoted by The New Arab said on Wednesday.
Before the announcement of his death, Kuwait stopped all regular programming and broadcast the verses of the Koran, in a rare act which marks the impending announcement of an important death.
The emir is widely regarded as the architect of modern Kuwaiti foreign policy, recently lauded in the Arab world for his anti-normalization and state neutrality on many divisive regional issues. The emir - who has ruled the Gulf state since 2006 - traveled to the US for treatment.
Prior to his departure, Al-Sabah authorized his half-brother Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to use part of his constitutional powers. (RRI)
September
World Bank Seeks Board Approval For $12b Coronavirus Vaccine Financing Plan
Written by Nur YasminWorld Bank President David Malpass said on Tuesday he is seeking board approval for a $12 billion coronavirus vaccine financing plan to help poor and developing countries secure a sufficient share of vaccine doses when they become available in the coming months.
Malpass told Reuters in an exclusive interview that the initiative, part of $160 billion in coronavirus aid financing pledged by the multilateral lender, is aimed at helping countries procure and distribute vaccines early to healthcare and other essential workers and expand global production. He said the board was expected to consider the plan in early October.
Global competition for early coronavirus vaccine doses is already fierce, months ahead of any approvals, as wealthy countries move to secure supplies.
The U.S. government has pledged over $3 billion to secure hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines under development by Britain's AstraZeneca Plc AZN.L and by U.S. drug giant Pfizer Inc PFE.N and Germany's BioNTech SE 22UAy.F.
Malpass said the World Bank plan aimed to put poor and middle-income countries, where the virus is spreading most rapidly, on the same footing as richer countries by ensuring they have financing to secure supplies and a system for distribution, which will encourage drugmakers to meet their demand.
Without early doses that can bring outbreaks under control, many of these countries risk economic collapse that will push hundreds of millions of people back into poverty.
“Our goal is to alter the course of the pandemic for the low- and middle-income developing countries,” Malpass said. “This is a market signal to the manufacturers that there will be financing available for the developing countries and there will be demand. We will begin asking the manufacturers to begin creating allocations for these countries.”Malpass said the World Bank also was asking wealthy countries that have “over-reserved” more doses than they will ultimately need to release those doses to poorer countries.
He added that he is working to persuade countries that equitable distribution of vaccines “is important to the world and will give a better outcome for the world.”
Separately, Brent McIntosh, U.S. Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, told a Foreign Policy magazine forum on Tuesday that wealthy countries were working on broad vaccine availability.
“There have been intense conversations among various developed countries on ensuring that there are vaccines available in the developing world and those conversations are ongoing at the highest levels,” said McIntosh, who oversees U.S. involvement in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The World Bank program will disburse grant or loan funding to countries, and will be able to select any vaccine that meets safety criteria, including approval from multiple “highly respected, stringent regulatory agencies,” such as those in the United States, Canada, Japan and several European countries, Malpass said.
The World Bank’s private-sector arm, the International Financing Corp, in July launched a $4 billion financing platform to boost investment in developing country production of vaccines and other critical health products. (Reuters)
