Talks between Indian and Chinese army commanders to disengage troops from key friction areas along their border have ended in a stalemate which has failed to ease a 17-month standoff.
The continuing standoff means the two nations will keep troops in the forward areas of Ladakh for a second consecutive winter in dangerously freezing temperatures.
In a statement, India’s defense ministry, said it gave constructive suggestions but the Chinese side was not agreeable and could not provide any forward-looking proposals.
A statement from a Chinese military spokesperson on the other hand said the Indian side sticks to unreasonable and unrealistic demands, adding difficulties to the negotiations.
The commanders from both armies met for the talks Sunday after a gap of two months at Moldo on the Chinese side in the Ladakh area.
Since February, both India and China have withdrawn troops from some faceoff sites on the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, Gogra and Galwan Valley, but they continue to maintain extra troops as part of a multi-tier deployment.
Sunday’s talks came amid frustration expressed by the Indian army chief at what he called the massive deployment of troops and weaponry by the Chinese side.
The Chinese statement from Senior Col. Long Shaohua of the Western Theater Command said “China’s determination to safeguard its sovereignty is unwavering, and China hopes India will not misjudge the situation.”
The troops from both sides used to retreat to their traditional summer holding positions around this time, but since the faceoff started in May 2020 have continued to remain close to the disputed border.
Both countries have stationed tens of thousands of soldiers backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets along the de facto border.
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in an oil facility in the southern town of Zahrani, south of the port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. A huge fire broke out at an oil facility in southern Lebanon's coastal town of Zahrani, but the cause was not immediately known. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Firefighters in Lebanon extinguished a huge blaze that broke out in a storage tank at one of the country’s main oil facilities in the country’s south Monday.
Energy Minister Walid Fayad said the fire broke out when workers were transferring gasoline from one storage tank to another in the coastal town of Zahrani.
Fayad told reporters at the facility that the situation was now almost under full control, stating earlier that the storage tank was for the Lebanese army.
He said nearly 250,000 liters of gasoline were burnt during the blaze, which lasted more than three hours. No one was reported hurt.
The fire came as cash-strapped Lebanon struggles through a serious power crisis partly due to severe shortages in fuel that have resulted in electricity cuts lasting up to 22 hours a day.
State-run National News Agency said it was not immediately clear what caused the fire.
In the meantime, Lebanese troops had closed the highway linking Beirut with southern Lebanon that passes through Zahrani.
The road was reopened after the fire was extinguished.
The Zahrani Oil Installation is about 50 kilometers south of Beirut. It is close to one of Lebanon’s main power stations, which stopped functioning two days ago due to a fuel shortage.
Earlier in the day, the head of the civil defense, Raymound Khattar, told the local MTV station that he believes there were 300,000 liters of gasoline in the tanker.
Khattar added that workers focused on extinguishing the fire and cooling down a nearby tanker to keep it from igniting.
Voter turnout in Iraq’s elections was 41 percent, according to preliminary results announced Monday, which is an indication of widespread distrust of the country’s leaders and the vote for a new parliament.
The weekend’s election was held months ahead of schedule as a concession to a youth-led popular uprising against corruption and mismanagement. However the vote was reportedly marred by widespread apathy and a boycott by many.
The Independent High Electoral Commission on Monday said preliminary results show turnout from Sunday’s election was 41 percent. That’s down from 44 percent in the 2018 elections, which was an all-time low.
Tens of thousands of people protested in late 2019 and early 2020, and were met by security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas. More than 600 people were killed and thousands injured within just a few months.
Although authorities gave in and called the early elections, the death toll and the heavy-handed crackdown – as well as a string of targeted assassinations – prompted many protesters to later call for a boycott of the vote.
More definitive results were expected later Monday, with groups drawn from Iraq’s majority Shiite Muslim factions expected to come out on top as has been the case since 2003.
Influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who was the major winner in the 2018 elections, was expected to sweep up more seats. However, none of the parties were expected to win a clear majority, and negotiations to choose a prime minister tasked with forming a government were expected to drag on for weeks or even months.
The election was the sixth held since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Many were skeptical that independent candidates from the protest movement stood a chance against well-entrenched parties and politicians, many of them backed by powerful armed militias.
The National All Progressives Congress (APC) Media has rated Kwara State as first among its equals in the North-central states based on the approach it adopted in the ongoing school infrastructural development.
The national team, led by Dr. Tom Ohikere, was on a nationwide tour of APC states that received UBEC grants to assess how the funds are being utilised.
Giving a preliminary report on their findings, Ohikere stated, “We have seen evidential achievements of the UBEC/SUBEB projects spread across the three senatorial districts. We were amazingly stunned by the quality of the projects executed.
“The construction and reconstruction of blocks of classrooms were massive. The training and retraining of teachers have been given a top-notch priority. And this is aimed at equipping the teachers to give standard education to our children.
“Furthermore, the salaries, allowance, leave bonus and arrears, alongside the implementation of promotion of teachers are done at appropriate time, as we have seem from our own findings.
“We note that this is largely due to proper monitoring that we have seen in the state.”
“This is a legendary and commendable effort, given the fact that you (Kwara) operate with an overburdened financial base.
“From what we observed, your whole approach to infrastructure development in schools is first among the equals in the north central,” he added.
The report presentation was well attended by government functionaries, including Deputy Governor Kayode Alabi; Chief Whip Kwara House of Assembly, Hon. Ali Amuda; Chairman, House Committee on Education, Hon. Baba Saliu Boriya; Hon. Awolola Ayokunnumi; Commissioner for Education, Sa’adatu Modibo Kawu; and her counterpart in Finance, Florence Olasumbo Oyeyemi; Special Adviser Political Communication, Alhaji Basir Adigun; Special Adviser Political, Abdullateef Alakawa; Special Adviser on Strategy, Saadu Salau; state Secretary for APC, Mustapha Isowo; the Publicity Secretary, Tajudeen Aro; and Alhaji Gali Alaya; among other dignitaries.
Dr. Ohikere however observed that the government needs to improve on few areas like the enhancement of the curriculum of the state School for Special Needs; capacity building for the education secretaries in various local governments and the media unit in the kwara SUBEB, announcing that they resolved to partner with the International Institute of Journalism to train some selected states on the specified fields.
He added that after a thorough inspection and evaluation, they have nominated Katsina and Jigawa from North-west; Kwara and Nasarawa from North-central; and Osun and Ogun from South-western zone to be recognized at the National Day of Public Commendation on APC revolution of basic education come November, this year.
In his remarks, The Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, appreciated the team for their objective assessment of the projects executed and assured them that actions will be taken to effect some of their recommendations.
Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq
AbdulRazaq, who spoke through the Deputy Governor, Kayode Alabi, said no effort will be spared in the ongoing strive to reposition the education sector, even as he called on all relevant stakeholders to key in.
He expressed his delight at the steps the Chairman of the state SUBEB, Prof. Shehu Adaramaja, has been taking to place Kwara high and be value driven with regard to project execution, citing a number of cases that guided his conviction about his capability to deliver on any given task.
Adaramaja, on his part, said the team’s appraisal and commendation were premised only on the 50 per cent projects executed, which his agency categorised as phase one, adding that the phase two will kick-start by November and will attract more laurels to the state.
The SUBEB Chairman thanked the state government for its consistent support, narrating how Governor AbdulRazaq has been committed to move the education sector to greater heights in the state.
Anambra International Cargo and Passenger Airport will commence flight operations on the twenty-first of this month.
Governor Willie Obiano disclosed this when he joined the Anglican Bishop of Afikpo Diocese, Right Reverend Paul Udogu to celebrate his fifty years birthday.
The service was officiated by the Archbishop Metropolitan and Primate of all Nigeria, Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Igboezunu Aguleri in Anambra East Local Government Area.
Governor Obiano reassured that his administration will finish on a very strong note, saying that they have written to Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority concerning the commencement of flight operations at the airport, assuring that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority will soon come for another inspection.
While expressing satisfaction with the components of the airport, the Governor reminded the people of Anambra of the need to vote for APGA in November sixth governorship election for enhanced development of the State.
The Archbishop Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba thanked Governor Obiano who he maintained performed creditably, praying that God’s will shall prevail in the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra State.
He called on eligible voters to participate actively in the election and assured of sustaining prayer for both the State and nation.
Earlier in a sermon, the Archbishop of Bendel Ecclesiastical Province and Bishop of Ugheli, Diocese, Most Reverend Cyril Odutemu said that Anambra State is moving geometrically in development, prayed for continuity, saying that the State always stand out in all ramifications which he explained is the reason God had always chosen the people of Anambra in strategic positions, calling on the celebrant not to forget his community Aguleri.
The service was jointly facilitated by Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of the Niger and Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Reverend Alexender Ibezim, Bishop of Niger West, Right Reverend Johnson Ekwe and Litany of clergy.
The APGA Flag bearer for the next month’s governorship election Professor Chukwuma Soludo and wife Nonye, his running mate, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, among others attended the service.
Unveiling of a book written by the celebrant Right Reverend Paul Udogu and prayers featured at the event.
Right Reverend Udogu was born on 9th October 1971.
The Nobel Prize for economics this year recognizes pivotal research that upended long-standing beliefs about the effects of minimum wage increases and influxes of immigrant workers.
United States-based economists David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens were awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in economics for their pioneering the use of “natural experiments” to understand the causal effects of economic policy and other events.
Natural experiments use real-life situations to work out effects on the world, an approach that has spread to other fields and revolutionised empirical research.
One such experiment by Canada-born economist Card on a minimum wage increase in the US state of New Jersey in the early 1990s prompted researchers to review their view that such increases should always lead to falls in employment.
“Natural experiments are everywhere,” Eva Mörk, a member of the Prize Committee for the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, told a news conference of the effect the method has had across all the social sciences.
Past Nobel economics prizes have been dominated by US institutes and this was no exception.
Card currently works at the University of California, Berkeley; Angrist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge and Dutch-born Imbens at Stanford University.
“I was just absolutely stunned to get a telephone call, then I was just absolutely thrilled to hear the news,” Imbens said on a call with reporters in Stockholm, adding he was thrilled to share the prize with two of his good friends. Angrist was best man at his wedding.
The prize, formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the last of this year’s crop of Nobels and sees the winners share a sum of 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.14m).
Empirical contributions
Card took half the prize “for his empirical contributions to labour economics”, the academy said.
Angrist and Imbens shared the other half “for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships”.
The prestigious prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were created and funded in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and wealthy businessman Alfred Nobel.
They have been awarded since 1901, though the economics prize – created through a donation from Sweden’s central bank on its 300th anniversary – is a later addition that was first handed out in 1969.
While the economics award has tended to live in the shadow of the often already famous winners of the prizes for peace and literature, laureates over the years include a number of hugely influential economists, such as the Austrian-British Friedrich August von Hayek and American Milton Friedman.
THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND W.H.O LAUNCHED A MASS DRUG ADMINISTRATION CAMPAIGN TARGETING CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 5 AND 16 IN SEVERAL SCHOOLS IN IBBA COUNTY IN WESTERN EQUITORIAL STATE, SOUTH-WEST, SOUTH SUDAN.
ABOUT 120 SCHOOL PUPILS HAVE BEEN HOSPITALISED AFTER PARTICIPATING IN THE DEWORMING EXERCISE CARRIED OUT BY PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS.
THE CHILDREN WERE ALLEGEDLY GIVEN EXPIRED TABLETS OR AN OVERDOSE, BUT THE HEALTH MINISTRY HAS DENIED THIS.
HEALTH MINISTRY OFFICIAL, DR VICTORIA ANIB MAJUR SAID PRELIMINARY FINDINGS SHOWED THAT THE DRUG MIGHT HAVE BEEN GIVEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH TO SOME OF THE CHILDREN, WHO DEVELOPED SIDE EFFECTS SUCH AS ABDOMINAL PAIN, DIZZINESS AND HEADACHES.
MOST OF THOSE AFFECTED WERE FROM IBBA GIRLS PRIMARY SCHOOL AND IT IS UNCLEAR WHY IT WAS MOST AFFECTED.
THE FOUNDER OF IBBA GIRLS BOARDING SCHOOL, NAGOMORO BRIDGET HAS THREATENED TO SUE THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION FOR MASS DRUG ADMINISTRATION THAT LEFT NEARLY EVERY PUPIL HOSPITALIZED, BUT THE U.N HEALTH AGENCY SAID THE CHILDREN’S BODIES REACTED ACCORDINGLY.
ACCORDING TO THE PARENTS, THE ORAL TABLETS WERE ADMINISTERED BY SELECTED TEACHERS AND COMMUNITY DRUG DISTRIBUTORS BASED ON THE HEIGHT AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE OF EACH CHILD.
HOWEVER, THE NATIONAL MINISTRY OF HEALTH HAD SAID SURVEYS WERE CONDUCTED IN 80 COUNTIES WHERE 51 TURNED TO BE ENDEMIC AND WERE MARKED FOR MASS DRUG ADMINISTRATION.
IT ADDED THAT ABOUT 1.5 MILLION CHILDREN IN 51 COUNTIES WERE TARGETED IN DIFFERENT PHASES OF THE DEWORMING DRUG ADMINISTRATION CAMPAIGN ACROSS SOUTH SUDAN.
NAGOMORO BRIDGET, CONDEMNED WHAT SHE CALLS “UNPROFESSIONAL” MASS DRUG ADMINISTRATION IN IBBA AND THREATENS TO TAKE A LEGAL PROCEDURES AGAINST THE ORGANIZATION BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN.
HOURS AFTER TAKING THE TABLET, THE PUPILS DEVELOPED ADVERSE SIDE EFFECTS SUCH AS VOMITING, ABDOMINAL PAIN, HEADACHE AND EPIGASTRIC PAIN AMONG OTHERS.
STUDIES HAS SHOWN THAT PRAZIQUANTEL IS USED TO TREAT INFECTIONS CAUSED BY SCHISTOSOMA – A PARASITIC FLATWORMS THAT CAUSES A HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT GROUP OF INFECTIONS IN HUMANS.
IN ITS 21ST LIST PUBLISHED IN 2019, PRAZIQUANTEL TABLET WAS AMONG THE OVER 460 MEDICATIONS THE WHO MODEL LIST OF ESSENTIAL MEDICINES CONSIDERED TO BE MOST EFFECTIVE AND SAFE TO MEET THE MOST IMPORTANT NEEDS IN A HEALTH SYSTEM.
IN RESPONSE, THE WHO TECHNICAL OFFICER FOR NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES, DR. MUTALE NSAKASHALA SEIKWE –-SAYS THE SIDE EFFECTS PRESENTED IN IBBA WERE AN INDICATION OF THE MEDICINE KILLING THE PARASITES.
A 252MWdc solar PV plant has been inaugurated in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, EDP Renewable’s largest solar power plant in the country.
Energias de Portugal is a Portuguese electric utilities company, headquartered in Lisbon. It was founded in 1976 through the merger of 14 nationalised electricity companies.
The Pereira Barreto solar plant is the largest ever developed by the group and is the fifth largest solar project in the Latin American state.
The project includes five solar parks, 600,000 solar panels and will generate 547,000 MWh of electricity per annum, enough to power 750,000 households.
The project created 1,500 jobs during construction thereby contributing to the socio-economic development of the region.
The project is part of efforts by the group to expand its presence within the renewable energy sector, and to contribute to the energy transition. The system is expected to help avoid more than 150 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per annum, according to a statement.
Electricity generated from the plant will be integrated into the grid for commercialisation via EDP Brazil’s grid, the third-largest private trader and the largest retail trader in the Brazilian market, according to EDP.
The inauguration comes as Brazil struggles to stabilise its power supply due to drought impacting hydropower systems.
As a result, Brazil is planning to increase its natural gas imports from Argentina.
The winner of the 2021 Nobel prize for outstanding work in the field of economics will be announced Monday.
Unlike the other Nobel prizes, the economics award wasn’t established in the will of Alfred Nobel but by the Swedish central bank in his memory in 1968, with the first winner selected a year later. It is the last prize announced each year.
Last year’s prize went to two Stanford University economists who tackled the tricky problem of making auctions run more efficiently.
It also created an endearing moment when one had to knock on the other’s door in the middle of the night to wake him up and tell him they had won.
Last week, the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia for their fight for freedom of expression in countries where reporters have faced persistent attacks, harassment and even murder.
The Nobel Prize for literature was awarded to U.K.-based Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, who was recognized for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee.”
The prize for physiology or medicine went to Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries into how the human body perceives temperature and touch.
Three scientists won the physics prize for work that found order in seeming disorder, helping to explain and predict complex forces of nature, including expanding our understanding of climate change.
Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan won the chemistry prize for finding an easier and environmentally cleaner way to build molecules that can be used to make compounds, including medicines and pesticides.
A Southern California beach that had been closed since an undersea pipeline leaked crude into ocean waters last week is set to reopen Monday, officials announced Sunday night.
City and state beaches in Huntington Beach will reopen after water quality tests revealed no detectable levels of oil associated toxins in the ocean water, the city of Huntington Beach and California State Parks said in a news release.
They are still urging visitors to avoid areas that smell of oil and not to touch any oiled materials that wash ashore.
That news will likely please surfers and beach-goers like Richard Beach, who returned to the waves in Huntington Beach with his bodyboard — until lifeguards jet skis chased him out on Sunday.
He trekked back across the beach, passing workers in hazmat suits tasked with clearing the sand of sticky, black blobs that washed ashore after the spill.
Huntington Beach and nearby coastal communities have been reeling from last week’s spill that officials said sent at least about 25,000 gallons (95,000 liters) and no more than 132,000 gallons (500,000 liters) of oil into the ocean.
It was caused by a leak about 5 miles (8 kilometers) off the coast in a pipeline owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy that shuttles crude from offshore oil platforms to the coast.
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