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Russian President Putin To Participate At UNSC Meet

Zoe Maven
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Russian President Putin To Participate At UNSC Meet

Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting that will be chaired by Indian PM Narendra Modi on Monday.

The meet will be on Maritime Security and begins at 5:30 pm IST and is happening at a time when India is the President of the council and will be deciding the agenda of the high table.

The participation of the Russian president shows Moscow’s backing to the India-led initiative and the close relationship between both countries.

Russia is a permanent member of the council — P5 and has been coordinating with New Delhi since it took a seat at the high table. India is a non-permanent member of the UNSC for a two-year term which started on January 01, 2021.

Narendra Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to preside over a UN Security Council Open Debate. The meet will see several Heads of State and Government participating, including the President of Congo.

Also, the meeting will focus on finding ways to counter maritime crime and insecurity, and strengthening coordination in the maritime domain.

In the past, India has been coming out with policies on the issue. In 2015, India put forth the vision of ‘Security and Growth for all in the Region’ (SAGAR).

At the East Asia Summit in 2019, India announced Indo-Pacific Oceans’ Initiative (IPOI) in which countries such as France and Australia have also joined.

IPOI has seven pillars of maritime security which are Maritime Ecology, Maritime Resources, Capacity Building and Resource Sharing, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, Science, Technology and Academic Cooperation and Trade Connectivity and Maritime Transport.

Two Policemen, Six Others Injured In Quetta Bomb Attack

Zoe Maven
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Two Policemen, Six Others Injured In Quetta Bomb Attack

Two police have died and at least six other local people have been injured in a blast that took place in Serena Hotel in Quetta on Sunday evening.

The explosion took place at Zarghoon Road, near the University Chowk in the area. These bombs were placed on a motorcycle, near a police van, as per the initial police reports.

It is believed that the target was the police van which was reportedly transporting 15 policemen.

Emergency services such as police officials and ambulances have rushed to the spot of the explosion to help the injured.

All injured people have been taken to the nearby Civil Hospital, Deputy Inspector General Quetta informed local media. An emergency has been declared in all nearby hospitals as several casualties are being recorded.

Several windows of the nearby buildings were also shattered due to the explosion. As of now, no group or individual has claimed this explosion. However an investigation has been launched into the attack.

Hong Kong Signals Path To Adopting China Anti-Sanctions Law

Zoe Maven
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Hong Kong Signals Path To Adopting China Anti-Sanctions Law

Hong Kong’s justice secretary said on Sunday that a mainland Chinese law to counter foreign sanctions could also be adopted in the China-ruled city by writing it into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, pending a decision by the Chinese parliament.

Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng’s comments are the strongest official indication so far that Hong Kong would embrace the mainland law, passed in June to counter foreign sanctions.

Under the law, individuals or entities involved in making or implementing discriminatory measures against Chinese citizens or entities could be put on an anti-sanctions list by relevant departments in the Chinese government.

Cheng wrote in an official blog entry that the “most natural and appropriate way” to introduce the anti-sanctions law into Hong Kong would be to add it to an annex of the Basic Law, or Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.

She added that such a move needed first to be approved by the highest organ of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress. Local media have reported that a decision would likely be made during a meeting in Beijing on Aug 17-20.

Critics have warned that the anti-foreign sanctions law could undermine Hong Kong’s reputation as a global financial hub, and tarnish sentiment among foreign firms.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 with a guarantee of a high degree of autonomy and freedoms.

The U.S. government issued a business advisory last month warning firms that they are subject to the territory’s laws, including a China-imposed national security law, under which foreign nationals, including one U.S. citizen, have been arrested.

U.N. Condemns Zimbabwe Child Marriage Practice

Zoe Maven
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U.N. Condemns Zimbabwe Child Marriage Practice

The United Nations has condemned the practice of child marriage in Zimbabwe following the death of a 14-year-old girl after she gave birth at a shrine, an incident that caused outrage among citizens and rights activists.

The case has brought to the fore the practice of child marriage, a practice which the government has been accused of traditionally turning a blind eye to.

Zimbabwe has two sets of marriage laws, the Marriage Act and Customary Marriages Act but neither law gives a minimum age for marriage consent, while the customary law allows polygamy.

A new marriages bill that is before parliament for debate seeks to synchronise the laws, ban marriage of anyone below 18 years and prosecute anyone involved in the marriage of a minor.

The U.N. in Zimbabwe said in a statement that it “notes with deep concern and condemns strongly” the circumstances leading to the death of Memory Machaya, the 14-year-old girl from rural Marange in the east of the country.

One in three girls in Zimbabwe was likely to be married before turning 18 years, said the U.N., whose office in Zimbabwe groups all 25 U.N. agencies operating in the country.

Police and the country’s state gender commission said they were investigating the circumstances that led to the girl’s death and burial.

Local media have reported that the girl died last month but the case came to light only last week after angry relatives, who were barred from attending her burial, told their story to the state-owned press.

Top Houthi Negotiator Says No Point In Meeting U.N. Envoy Now

Zoe Maven
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0
Top Houthi Negotiator Says No Point In Meeting U.N. Envoy Now

The chief negotiator for Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement says it will be futile to hold talks with the United Nations new special envoy for Yemen without movement on the group’s key conditions under stalled peace efforts.

Houthi negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam, who is based in Oman, tweeted this in response to Grundberg’s appointment saying airports and ports should be opened before any talks as a humanitarian necessity and priority.

The appointment of Swedish diplomat Hans Grundberg on Friday as the new U.N. envoy comes as the United Nations and United States struggle to secure a breakthrough to end more than six years of war between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition that backs Yemen’s recognized government.

A U.N.-led initiative for a ceasefire and the lifting of sea and air restrictions imposed by the coalition on Houthi-held areas has stalled, with the coalition seeking a simultaneous deal and the Houthis insisting on an end to the blockade first.

The conflict, widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the Saudi-backed government from the capital Sanaa, but the war has been in military stalemate for years with the group controlling most big urban centers.

The Houthis say they are fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.

German Greens Co-Leader Defends Embattled Candidate

Zoe Maven
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German Greens Co-Leader Defends Embattled Candidate

The co-leader of Germany’s Greens has defended the party’s candidate for chancellor at next month’s federal election, and brushed off suggestions that he should replace her after she made a string of costly mistakes.

The ecologists briefly surged in the polls to overtake Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc after they named Annalena Baerbock as their chancellor candidate in April, but have since waned.

Baerbock’s error-strewn campaign has included mistakes in her resume and a scandal over a Christmas bonus payment that she failed to declare to parliament. Baerbock has also said that sexist scrutiny is holding her back.

Asked whether the Greens should replace Baerbock with him as their chancellor candidate, Habeck responded: “No, that’s not a debate.”

Adding to the Greens’ woes, the party will be excluded from the ballot in the state of Saarland in the Sept. 26 national election due to irregularities in the selection of regional candidates following internal squabbling.

An opinion poll published earlier on Sunday showed the left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD) drawing level with the Greens on 18%, behind Merkel’s conservatives on 26%. Merkel, in power since 2005, plans to stand down after the election.

The INSA poll showed that in a hypothetical direct vote for chancellor, SPD candidate Olaf Scholz was well ahead, with 27% support. Conservative Armin Laschet languished on 14%, one point ahead of Baerbock, on 13%.

The Greens presented an “emergency climate protection program” on Tuesday, aiming to reset their campaign.

Singapore To Tweak Policies On Foreign Workers

Zoe Maven
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0
Singapore To Tweak Policies On Foreign Workers

The Singapore government is set to adjust foreign worker policies to address concerns among locals over competition for jobs, even as the global business hub remains open to talent from overseas.

In his National Day Message on Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said policies have to be adjusted to manage the quality, numbers and concentrations of foreigners in Singapore.

He added that if this is done well,  they can continue to welcome foreign workers and new immigrants as they should.

Foreign labour has long been a hot button issue in Singapore, but uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic have increased employment worries among locals as the city-state recovers from last year’s record recession.

The issue was also highlighted by opposition parties during last year’s general election campaign as they mounted a historic challenge to Lee’s People’s Action Party, which has ruled Singapore since its independence in 1965.

Just under 30% of Singapore’s 5.7 million population are non-residents, up from around 10% in 1990, according to government statistics.

Lee warned that turning inwards would damage Singapore’s standing as a global and regional hub. “It would cost us jobs and opportunities.”

His government has been tightening foreign worker policies for several years while taking steps to promote local hiring, including by raising the salary threshold for issuing work permits.

The number of people living in Singapore declined 0.3% last year, the first drop since 2003, as travel curbs and job losses brought about by the pandemic pushed foreign workers from the country.

U.S. State Department Announces 5 Additions To Terrorist List

Zoe Maven
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0
U.S. State Department Announces 5 Additions To Terrorist List

The State Department has announced the addition of five alleged Islamist militants to its Specially Designated Global Terrorist list, requiring the blocking of any ownership or interests in U.S. properties they hold.

The designations also expose to possible U.S. sanctions individuals or foreign financial institutions who engage in certain transactions with the five.

They include Bonomade Machude Omar, the senior military commander of Islamic State’s affiliate in Mozambique, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

According to Blinken, Omar led a group of extremists who killed dozens of people in an attack on the Amarula Hotel in the town of Palma in March.

He also is responsible for attacks elsewhere in Mozambique and in Tanzania, Blinken said.

Sidang Hitta and Salem Ould al-Hasan, senior leaders of Mali-based al Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, also were designated, as were Ali Mohamed Rage and Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, leaders of the al Shabaab group of Somalia.

Peru’s New Govt Eyes Natural Gas, Hydroelectric Sectors

Zoe Maven
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0
Peru’s New Govt Eyes Natural Gas, Hydroelectric Sectors

Peru’s new Prime Minister Guido Bellido says the state is planning to participate in key industries, including natural gas and new hydroelectric projects, under a new leftist administration.

Bellido, the top aide to newly inaugurated President Pedro Castillo, said the government will also seek to create new public companies, a shift for the Andean nation which in recent decades has focused on divesting its state-controlled corporations.

Castillo, a former elementary school teacher, and Bellido are now poised to tilt Peru sharply to the left if they can surmount the significant hurdle of getting greenlit by the opposition-led Congress.

They have also set up a committee to keep inflation in check, and shore up the waning strength of the local sol currency, which is at a historic low against the dollar largely due to higher political risk, analysts say.

Peru’s more moderate Economy Minister Pedro Francke will be in charge of the committee, he said, adding that they need to stop the dollar’s rise against the local Sol currency.

Bellido, who is also a congressman for his native Cuzco region, was little-known in Lima political circles before Castillo, won the presidency this June, campaigning with the Marxist-Leninist party Free Peru.

In a wide-ranging interview from Lima’s ornamental government palace, Bellido said he has little concern for potential challenges from Congress, and said Castillo will not be impeached, unlike his predecessor Martin Vizcarra.

Castillo is Peru’s fifth president in five years due to continued political turmoil. He has yet to give any interviews since taking office.

Close Ally Of Kremlin Critic Navalny Leaves Russia

Zoe Maven
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1
Close Ally Of Kremlin Critic Navalny Leaves Russia

Lyubov Sobol, a prominent ally of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, has reportedly left Russia days after being sentenced to parole-like restrictions amid a crackdown on the opposition.

Sobol could not be reached for comment and her allies declined to speak on her behalf while News Media said she had flown to Turkey on Saturday evening. The chief editor of the Ekho Moskvy radio station also said she had left the country.

The 33-year-old is one of the most well-known faces of Navalny’s entourage. She stayed behind in Moscow this year as other close political allies fled fearing prosecution ahead of September’s parliamentary elections.

Sobol was sentenced to 1-1/2 years of parole-like restrictions on Tuesday for flouting COVID-19 curbs on protests, a charge she called politically-motivated nonsense. The restrictions included not being allowed to leave home at night.

After the ruling, she said on Ekho Moskvy radio station that the sentence had not yet come into force and that the restrictions were not effective. “Essentially, you can interpret this as the possibility of leaving the country,” she said.

Navalny’s allies have faced mounting pressure. This week a June court ruling formally came into force outlawing the nationwide activist network built up by Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest domestic opponent, as “extremist”.

Navalny himself is serving 2-1/2 years in jail for parole violations in an embezzlement case he says was trumped up.

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