World
India greets Bangladesh on Independence Day
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday greeted his Bangladeshi counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen and the people of the neighbouring country on their 52nd Independence Day.
In a tweet, Jaishankar said," Warm greetings to FM Dr AK Abdul Momen and the Government and people of #Bangladesh on their National Day."
Read: Bangladesh celebrates Independence Day
"Look forward to working together to add more pages to the golden chapter of India-Bangladesh Maitri," the Indian Foreign Minister wrote with #ShonaliAdhyay.
On December 16, 1971, Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan after nine months of war that claimed an estimated three million lives.
Zelenskyy delivers video speech at Doha Forum
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a surprise video appearance at Qatar’s Doha Forum.
Zelenskyy in his video address Saturday criticized Russia’s ongoing war on his nation. He called on the United Nations and world powers to come to his aid. He compared Russia’s destruction of the port city of Mariupol to the Syrian and Russian destruction wrought on the city of Aleppo in the Syrian war.
“They are destroying our ports,” Zelenskyy said. “The absence of exports from Ukraine will deal a blow to countries worldwide.”
He added: “The future of Europe rests with your efforts.” He called on countries to increase their exports of energy — something particularly important as Qatar is a world leader in the export of natural gas.
Read: Yemen rebels strike oil depot in Saudi city hosting F1 race
He criticized Russia for what he described as threatening the world with its nuclear weapons.
“Russia is deliberating bragging they can destroy with nuclear weapons, not only a certain country but the entire planet,” Zelenskyy said.
He also noted Muslims in Ukraine would have to fight during the upcoming holy fasting month of Ramadan.
“We have to ensure this sacred month of Ramadan is not overshadowed by the misery of people in Ukraine,” he said.
Biden ending Europe trip with unity message that echoes past
Twenty-five years ago, Joe Biden visited Warsaw, Poland, with a warning: Even though the Soviet Union had collapsed, some of NATO’s original members weren’t doing enough to ensure the alliance’s collective defense.
“Now it is time for the people of Western Europe to invest in the security of their continent for the next century,” said Biden, then a U.S. senator.
Biden, now president, speaks again here Saturday as European security faces its most precarious test since World War II. The bloody war in Ukraine has entered its second month, and Western leaders have spent the week consulting over contingency plans in case the conflict mutates or spreads. The invasion has shaken NATO out of any complacency it might have felt and cast a dark shadow over the continent.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the speech will outline the “urgency of the challenge that lies ahead” and “what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world stay in unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression.”
Read: Yemen rebels strike oil depot in Saudi city hosting F1 race
Biden’s remarks will end a four-day trip that included an earlier stop for a series of summits in Brussels. While in Warsaw, he also planned to visit with Polish President Andrzej Duda and meet with Ukrainian refugees and the aid workers who have been helping them.
Some 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled the country, half of them children, according to the European Union. More than 2 million have gone to Poland. Biden previewed his closing speech during appearances Friday in Rzeszow.
“You’re in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs,” the president told members of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division as he visited their temporary headquarters. “Is democracy going to prevail and the values we share, or are autocracies going to prevail?”
During a later briefing on the refugee response, Biden said “the single most important thing that we can do from the outset” to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war “is keep the democracies united in our opposition.”
Biden praised the humanitarian effort as being of “such an enormous consequence” given the scope of the crisis, which adds up to the largest flow of refugees since World War II. He appeared to lament that security concerns “understandably” will keep him from visiting Ukraine.
Read: Putin’s war in Ukraine nearing possibly more dangerous phase
Duda, who appeared with Biden on Friday, said the refugees are “guests.”
“We do not want to call them refugees. They are our guests, our brothers, our neighbors from Ukraine, who today are in a very difficult situation,” he said.
The U.S. has been sending money and supplies to aid the refugee effort. This week, Biden announced $1 billion in additional aid and said the U.S. would accept up to 100,000 refugees.
The U.S. and many of its allies have imposed multiple rounds of economic and other sanctions on Russian individuals, banks and other entities in hopes that the cumulative effect over time will force Putin to withdraw his troops.
Biden was scheduled to return to Washington after his speech in Warsaw on Saturday.
Global Covid cases top 479 million
The overall number of Covid cases has surged past 479 million as the pandemic enters into its third year.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to 479,000,756 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,114,171 Saturday morning.
The US has recorded 79,936,777 cases so far and 976,505 people have died from the virus in the country, the university data shows.
India's Covid-19 tally rose to 43,018,032 on Saturday, as 1,660 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry data.
Read: India reports 1,660 new COVID-19 cases
Besides, as many as 4,100 deaths due to the pandemic were reported since Friday morning, taking the total death toll to 520,855.
This sudden rise in the number of deaths in the country was because "4,005 deaths were reconciled by Maharashtra", said a senior official at the federal health ministry.
Meanwhile, Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January last year, registered 29,809,769 cases as of Saturday, while its Covid death toll rose to 658,855.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh logged 102 fresh Covid cases in 24 hours till Friday morning, taking the total caseload to 19,51,174.
As per the latest government data, the country’s total fatalities remained unchanged at 29,118 as no death was reported during the period.
The daily positivity rate increased to 1.03 per cent from Wednesday’s 0.76 per cent after testing 9,832 samples during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Besides, the mortality rate remained unchanged too at 1.49 per cent.
The recovery rate rose to 96.15 per cent with the recovery of 1,268 more patients during the 24-hour period.
Read: 57 Rohingyas rescued while being trafficked to Malaysia; 2 held
The country reported its first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 last year, along with 178 infections, since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.
On January 28, Bangladesh logged its previous highest daily positivity rate at 33.37 per cent reporting 15,440 cases and 20 deaths.
Besides, the country registered the highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year, while the highest number of daily fatalities was 264 on August 10 last year.
India reports 1,660 new COVID-19 cases
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 43,018,032 on Saturday, as 1,660 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.
Besides, as many as 4,100 deaths due to the pandemic were reported since Friday morning, taking the total death toll to 520,855. This sudden rise in the number of deaths in the country was because "4,005 deaths were reconciled by Maharashtra," said a senior official at the federal health ministry.
Read: 11 dead in India godown fire
There are still 16,741 active COVID-19 cases in the country even as there was a fall of 4,789 active cases during the past 24 hours.
So far 42,480,436 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals so far, out of which 2,349 were discharged during the past 24 hours.
Yemen rebels strike oil depot in Saudi city hosting F1 race
Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked an oil depot on Friday in the Saudi city of Jiddah ahead of a Formula One race in the kingdom. It was the rebels’ highest-profile assault yet, though Saudi authorities pledged the upcoming grand prix would go on as scheduled.
The attack targeted the same fuel depot that the Houthis had attacked in recent days, the North Jiddah Bulk Plant that sits just southeast of the city’s international airport and is a crucial hub for Muslim pilgrims heading to Mecca. No injuries were reported in the attack.
The publicly traded Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Saudi Aramco, did not respond to a request for comment. Saudi authorities acknowledged a “hostile operation” by the Houthis targeting the depot with a missile.
In Yemen, Saudi Arabia leads a coalition battling the Iran-backed Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital of Sanaa in September 2014. The kingdom, which entered the war in 2015, has been internationally criticized for its airstrikes that have killed scores of civilians — something the Houthis point to as they launch drones, missiles and mortars into the kingdom.
Brig. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said the fire damaged two tanks and was put out without injuries.
Read: Ukraine war fuels global economic downturn
“This hostile escalation targets oil facilities and aims to undermine energy security and the backbone of global economy,” al-Malki said, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. “These hostile attacks had no impact or repercussions in any way, shape or form on public life in Jiddah.”
The Saudi-led coalition warned overnight it would launch new attacks on Yemen, including on the hard-hit port city of Hodeida.
Jake Sullivan, White House national security adviser, condemned the attacks and called them “clearly enabled by Iran” despite an ongoing U.N. arms embargo. While Tehran denies arming the Houthis, U.N. experts and Western nations have linked weaponry in the rebels’ hands back to Iran.
In Tehran, authorities bathed its Azadi, or “Freedom,” Square in a light projection showing the faces of Houthi leaders.
“At a time when the parties should be focused on de-escalation and bringing needed life-saving relief to the Yemeni people ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, the Houthis continue their destructive behavior and reckless terrorist attacks striking civilian infrastructure,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken separately said in a statement.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the Houthi attacks on Twitter. “These strikes put civilian lives at risk and must stop,” he wrote.
An Associated Press photojournalist covering practice laps at the F1 track in Jiddah saw the smoke rising in the distance to the east, just after 5:40 p.m. As the flames rose, the tops of the tanks of the bulk plant were clearly visible some 11.5 kilometers (7 miles) away.
Drivers raced on into the evening even as the fire burned.
The second-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jiddah is taking place on Sunday, though concerns had been raised by some over the recent attacks targeting the kingdom.
Hours later, the F1 said plans for Saturday’s third practice and qualifying and Sunday’s race were still set to go ahead. The Saudi Motorsport Co., which promotes the race, acknowledged the attack but said the “race weekend schedule will continue as planned.”
We “remain in direct contact with Saudi security authorities, as well as F1 and the FIA to ensure all necessary security and safety measures,” the company said, referring to motorsport’s governing body.
“The safety and security of all our guests continues to be our main priority.”
The al-Masirah satellite news channel run by Yemen’s Houthi rebels later claimed they had attacked an Aramco facility in Jiddah, along with other targets in Riyadh and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Saudi state TV also acknowledged attacks in one town targeting water tanks that damaged vehicles and homes. Another attack targeted an electrical substation in an area of southwestern Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border, state TV said.
Read: Federal probe ordered into Bengal carnage
The North Jiddah Bulk Plant stores diesel, gasoline and jet fuel for use in Jiddah, the kingdom’s second-largest city. It accounts for over a quarter of all of Saudi Arabia’s supplies and also supplies fuel crucial to running a regional desalination plant.
The Houthis have twice targeted the North Jiddah plant with cruise missiles. One attack came in November 2020. The last came on Sunday as part of a wider barrage by the Houthis.
At the time of the 2020 attack, the targeted tank, which has a capacity of 500,000 barrels, held diesel fuel, according to a recent report by a U.N. panel of experts examining Yemen’s war. Repairing it after the last attack cost Aramco some $1.5 million.
The U.N. experts described the facility as a “civilian target,” which the Houthis should have avoided after the 2020 attack.
“While the facility also supplies the Saudi military with petroleum products, it is mostly supplying civilian customers,” the panel said. “If the plant had been out of service of a significant period, the impact on the kingdom’s economy as well as on the welfare of the residents of the Western region would likely have been significant.”
Cruise missiles and drones remain difficult to defend against, though the U.S. recently sent a significant number of Patriot anti-missile interceptors to Saudi Arabia to resupply the kingdom amid the Houthi attacks.
In September, the AP reported that the U.S. had removed its own Patriot and THAAD defense systems from Prince Sultan Air Base outside of Riyadh.
The attacks have renewed questions about the kingdom’s ability to defend itself from Houthi fire as a yearslong war in the Arab world’s poorest country rages on with no end in sight. It also comes as Saudi Arabia issued an unusually stark warning that it is unable to guarantee its oil production won’t be affected by further attacks — which could push global energy prices even higher amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Benchmark Brent crude prices rose above $120 a barrel in trading Friday.A cloud of smoke rises from a burning oil depot in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, March 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Ukraine war fuels global economic downturn
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been the main contributing factor to the potentially devastating one percent drop in projected global economic growth this year, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
"We anticipated back in September of last year that the global economy would grow by around 3.6 percent," said Richard Kozul-Wright, director of UNCTAD Division on Globalisation and Development Strategies, Thursday.
"We expect it to grow by 2.6 percent this year; and of course, the main contributing factor to that is the war in Ukraine."
With inflation on the rise and developing countries already weighed down by a $1 trillion debt burden to pay back to creditors, the UN body decried the inadequate financial measures already taken to help them withstand exchange rate instability, rising interest rates and soaring food and fuel prices.
Wholesale multilateral fiscal reform – possibly on the scale and ambition of the US Marshall Plan that shouldered Western Europe following the Second World War – is urgently needed to improve the financial liquidity of developing countries to prevent them – and even middle-income countries – from potentially going under, UNCTAD said.
"There is a rapidly worsening outlook for the world's economy and to think that this year, the year after two years of crisis with Covid-19, the average rate of growth of the world economy will be 2.6 percent, down from 5.5 percent last year, and down from the projections that were made in the last quarter of 2021," said UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan.
She called for emergency measures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, namely the activation of rapid funding instruments which the IMF can provide to help countries with looming balance of payments problems.
"Conditions are worsening for everybody," Rebeca said, noting how the climate crisis has played its part, along with successive droughts in the Horn of Africa, the ongoing pandemic and war in Ukraine.
Even relatively wealthy countries that are struggling with multiple cost-of-living pressures have already sought help from the international system to keep them afloat.
"Pakistan went back (to the IMF) at the end of last year," said Kozul-Wright. "Sri Lanka has now gone to the IMF to organise a programme. Egypt, which was already under a programme, has gone back to the IMF to renegotiate."
"And these are not least developed countries, these are middle-income countries that are under very serious economic and in some cases political pressure, as a consequence of the shocks that they now face."
But it is the world's poorest, import-dependent countries that will be worst hit by the global economic downturn, UNCTAD said.
"The brunt is being carried by the developing countries because of the rise in prices of food, of energy and fertilisers that is very steep and also the financial stretch under which the developing countries are already under," said Rebeca.
Although "all regions of the global economy will be adversely affected by this crisis," Kozul-Wright suggested that "high commodity exporters" were likely to do well from a rise in prices. "But the European Union will see a fairly significant downgrade in its growth performance this year…so will parts of central and southern Asia as well."
UNCTAD's policy recommendations include the need for global financial reform to allow developing countries the economic space for "reasonable growth" so that they can service potentially crippling debt levels.
"Debt servicing in 2020 for developing countries excluding China was already $1 trillion, that was the kind of financial pressure that developing countries are in," Kozul-Wright said.
Federal probe ordered into Bengal carnage
A higher court in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Friday ordered the federal investigation agency to probe Tuesday's carnage in West Bengal's Birbhum district where at least eight people were burnt alive by a mob.
The High Court in Kolkata asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit its report by April 7.
"We are of the opinion that facts and circumstances of the case demand that in the interest of justice and to instil confidence in society and to have fair investigation to dig out the truth, it is necessary to hand over the investigation to the CBI," the court said.
"We direct the state government to forthwith hand over the investigation to the CBI. We also direct the state authorities to extend full cooperation to the CBI in carrying out the investigation,” a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj, said.
Read: Bangladesh, Oman discuss boosting cooperation
The court's order came despite the Bengal government promptly setting up a special investigation team to probe the massacre and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing monetary compensation as well as jobs for the families of the victims.
Six women and two children were burnt alive in the wee hours of Tuesday as goons went on a rampage, setting houses on fire, in Birbhum, 200 kms from state capital Kolkata, following the death of a local leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress in a crude bomb attack.
Last year, Bengal witnessed massive post-poll violence in which 16 people were killed, prompting the Indian Home Ministry to seek a report from the state administration.
In fact, on May 6, a day after she was sworn in as the chief minister of Bengal for the third time, Mamata Banerjee announced a compensation of Rs two lakh each for the families of the 16 victims.
Bucking anti-incumbency, Mamata scripted history on May 2 by single-handedly pulling off an astounding victory in the assembly election, staving off a massive challenge from India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Xi talks with British PM over phone
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday afternoon held a phone conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level between China and Britain, Xi said that the bilateral relationship in the past half century has witnessed continuous growth on the whole despite some ups and downs.
The trade volume between the two countries has increased from 300 million U.S. dollars to 100 billion dollars, and the two-way investment stock has risen from almost zero to 50 billion dollars, Xi said.
Read:China, Afghanistan pledge orderly, mutually beneficial cooperation
Last year, bilateral trade reached a new high, and China's investment in Britain more than tripled, Xi said, adding that British-funded enterprises have actively participated in China's reform and opening up, and London has become the world's largest offshore RMB trading hub.
The two countries have coordinated and cooperated in such fields as global development and climate change, and have made positive contributions to tackling humanity's common challenges, Xi said.
Noting that China and Britain have different domestic conditions and development paths, Xi said the two sides should bear in mind a strategic and long-term perspective, respect each other, promote dialogue and communication based on openness and inclusiveness, and expand mutually beneficial cooperation.
Xi said that China is willing to conduct dialogue and cooperation with Britain in a frank, open and inclusive manner, and hopes that the British side can view China and China-Britain relations objectively, and work with China in promoting a continuous development of bilateral ties.
For his part, Johnson said that Britain-China relations are of great importance. Trade between Britain and China has been growing rapidly, and Chinese students in Britain outnumber those in any other European countries, of which, he said, Britain is very proud.
Read:One 'black box' found in China Eastern plane crash
Britain and China, two permanent members of the UN Security Council, share common interests on many issues and can work with each other on many things, he said.
He also said that Britain is willing to have candid dialogues with China, strengthen bilateral exchanges and cooperation, expand bilateral economic and trade cooperation and deepen communication and coordination on such global issues and regional hotspots as climate change and bio-diversity.
China, Afghanistan pledge orderly, mutually beneficial cooperation
Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met here Thursday with Mullah Abul Ghani Baradar, acting deputy prime minister of the Afghan Taliban's caretaker government, with both sides pledging to conduct orderly and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.
During the meeting, Baradar said Afghanistan is an independent country and is willing to establish friendly relations with all countries in the world.
Read: Taliban break promise on higher education for Afghan girls
The Afghan Taliban's caretaker government is a responsible government, Baradar said, adding that Afghanistan attaches great importance to China's security concern and will take pragmatic and firm actions to ensure security across the country so as to contribute to safeguarding regional security.
Afghanistan cherishes China's friendship and appreciates China's help, especially in offering anti-pandemic support and providing the most needed humanitarian assistance during the most difficult times of the Afghan people, the acting deputy prime minister said.
He hoped that more Afghan commodities could be exported to the Chinese market in the future, and welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in his country.
Afghanistan is willing to give play to its unique geographical advantage and fully participate in the building of the Belt and Road so as to become a bridge for regional interconnectivity, he added.
For his part, Wang said that the friendship between China and Afghanistan enjoys a long history. China does not interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs, nor does it seek self-interest or a sphere of influence in Afghanistan.
China is ready to carry forward the traditional friendship between the two sides, and develop normal and neighborly relations with Afghanistan on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, he said.
The Chinese side has noted that the Afghan caretaker government is committed to peaceful reconstruction and has taken a series of positive measures to address concerns of the international community, Wang said.
The Chinese side hopes that the Afghan side will continue to establish an inclusive political structure, implement prudent policies, better safeguard the rights and interests of women and children, and demonstrate the tolerance and friendliness of Muslims, he said.
Wang said that on the premise of respecting Afghanistan's sovereignty, China is ready to carry out mutually beneficial cooperation with Afghanistan in an orderly manner with a focus on improving people's livelihood and enhancing Afghanistan's capacity for independent development, so as to help Afghanistan turn its resource advantage into development advantage.
Read: 250,000 displaced Afghans return to native provinces: gov't
China appreciates and welcomes Afghanistan's active participation in the joint construction of the Belt and Road, and stands ready to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan, replicate more successful experiences, and make Afghanistan, with the geographical strength as the "Heart of Asia", a bridge for regional connectivity, Wang said.
China appreciates Afghanistan's clear declaration and solemn commitment of not allowing any external forces to use the Afghan territory to oppose its neighboring countries or harm the security of other countries, and hopes that Afghanistan will firmly and resolutely fulfill this commitment, he added.