United News of Bangladesh

President Joe Biden says U.S. forces would defend Taiwan if China tries to invade the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing as part of its territory, adding to displays of official American support for the island democracy. Biden said “yes” when asked during an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS News's “60 Minutes” program whether “U.S. forces, U.S. men and women, would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion." CBS News reported the White House said after the interview U.S. policy hasn't changed. That policy says Washington wants to see Taiwan's status resolved peacefully but doesn't say whether U.S. forces might be sent in response to a Chinese attack. Tension is rising following efforts by Chinese President Xi Jinping's government to intimidate Taiwan by firing missiles into the nearby sea and flying fighter jets nearby and visits to Taipei by political figures including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Monday expressed “sincere gratitude” to Biden for “affirming the U.S. government’s rock-solid promise of security to Taiwan.” Taiwan will “resist authoritarian expansion and aggression” and “deepen the close security partnership” with Washington and other governments “with similar thinking” to protect regional stability, the statement said. Washington is obligated by federal law to see that Taiwan has the means to defend itself but doesn't say whether U.S. forces would be sent. The United States has no formal relations with the island but maintains informal diplomatic ties. Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war that ended with the Communist Party in control of the mainland. The two governments say they are one country but dispute which is entitled to be the national leader. Beijing criticizes official foreign contact with Taiwan's elected government as encouragement to make its de facto independence permanent, a step the mainland says would lead to war. Washington says it doesn't support formal independence for Taiwan, a stance Biden repeated in the interview broadcast Sunday. “Taiwan makes their own judgments about their independence,” the president said. “We’re not encouraging their being independent.” In May, Biden said “yes” when asked at a news conference in Tokyo whether he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if China invaded.

A bus reportedly taking 47 people to COVID-19 quarantine in southwest China crashed before dawn Sunday morning, killing 27 and injuring 20 others, media said. The bus overturned on an expressway in Guizhou province, a brief statement from the Sandu county police said, without mentioning any connection to quarantine. The injured were being treated, it said. Chinese business news outlet Caixin said Sandu officials confirmed the passengers were “epidemic-related people” being taken from Guiyang, the provincial capital, to Lido county, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast. Guiyang reported about 180 new cases on Friday. China has maintained a strict “zero-COVID” policy that isolates infected people and close contacts to try to contain the spread of the disease. The bus overturned about 2:40 a.m., according to an online report by an arm of the Guizhou Daily media group. Following the accident, it said that provincial leaders called for an examination into the pandemic transfer and isolation procedures.

Chinese authorities said Saturday that 14 people had died and one remained missing after a flood at an iron mine earlier this month. The search and rescue operation has ended and an investigation into the cause of the Sept. 2 flood is underway, the Tangshan city government said in a brief statement. The mine is about 160 kilometers (100 miles) east of Beijing in Hebei province. Hebei is a major producer of iron ore and steel.

As the war in Ukraine approaches its ninth month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin today (September 16, 2022) that it was “not a time for war”. As the two leaders began their first face-to-face encounter since the Russia-Ukraine war started, PM Modi told Putin in Samarkand, “Excellency, I know today’s time is not a time for war”, NDTV reported. Following Putin’s admission that China, Russia’s main ally, has “concerns” about the crisis in Ukraine, PM Modi made his remarks. Read: Vladimir Putin invites PM Modi to visit Russia in 2022 Putin explained to the Indian Prime Minister that he wanted the war in Ukraine, which started in February, to end as soon as possible and that he recognised India’s worries. Putin told Modi: “I know your position on the conflict in Ukraine, your concerns.... We will do our best to end this as soon as possible,” the NDTV report added. On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, Modi and Putin spoke about bilateral, regional, and international matters. Read: Over phone, Prime Minister Modi & Putin talk way forward on ties India has not condemned Russia for invading Ukraine. New Delhi has pushed for a diplomatic solution to the problem. Since the end of the Cold War, New Delhi and Moscow have had a close relationship, and Russia continues to be India’s primary arms supplier. Despite Putin’s admission that Beijing has “concerns” about the situation in Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping stated on Thursday that Beijing was eager to cooperate with Russia to advance “each other’s basic interests”. Read: Modi vows to bolster ties with Europe amid Ukraine crisis

A massive fire sent flames and black smoke pouring Friday from a 42-story skyscraper in central China belonging to the country’s largest telecoms operator, but no casualties were reported, officials said. Dozens of floors burned in the China Telecom building in the city of Changsha, the capital of central Hunan province. The city’s fire department said it sent 280 firefighters who were able to quickly extinguish the blaze on the 218-meter (720-foot) building. No injuries or deaths have been reported, China Telecom said in a statement. It said there was no disruption to cellphone service, but social media users complained of being unable to use their phones. Videos of the blaze showed one side of the building scorched black, with debris falling to the ground. Other videos from local media showed workers inside managing to evacuate the building. There was no immediate information on the cause of the blaze.

At least nine people were killed when the boundary wall of an Army enclave collapsed on their temporary housing sheds in India's Uttar Pradesh state in the small hours of Friday following incessant monsoon rains. The tragedy occurred in the Dilkusha area of Lucknow, the capital of the northern state, situated more than 500km from Delhi. "The boundary wall collapsed on the temporary huts outside the Army enclave around 2am. Some 11 migrant workers were sleeping inside the huts at the time," a senior police officer told the local media. "We have brought out the bodies of nine people, including two minors. Two people have been rescued alive and hospitalised," the officer said. "Rains triggered the wall collapse." Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced a compensation of 4 lakh Indian rupees for the families of each of the deceased and 2 lakh Indian rupees for each of the injured. Wall collapses are common in India, particularly during the monsoon season.

As many as eight workers died after a platform lift at an under-construction building in the western Indian state of Gujarat plunged seven floors to the ground on Wednesday. The tragedy occurred on the campus of the prestigious Gujarat University in the city of Ahmedabad this morning, police said. Read: India’s main opposition protests rising prices, lack of jobs "Preliminary investigation has revealed the elevator carrying the workers crashed to the ground from the seventh floor, killing the eight," deputy police commissioner Lavina Sinha told the local media. A probe has been ordered into the accident, the officer said, adding that directors of the private firm contracted by the university for the construction of the building could be booked for negligence. Read:Donald Lu to visit India Sept 5-8 to deepen India-U.S. global strategic partnership Hundreds of workers die every year in work-related accidents at construction sites across the country, where safety rules are hardly adhered to.

Fighting on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan killed about 100 troops Tuesday as attacks on both sides fed fears of broader hostilities breaking out between the longtime adversaries. Armenia said at least 49 of its soldiers were killed; Azerbaijan said it lost 50. The fighting erupted minutes after midnight with Azerbaijani forces unleashing an artillery barrage and drone attacks in many sections of Armenian territory, according to Armenia’s Defense Ministry. It said shelling grew less intense during the day but Azerbaijani troops were trying to advance into Armenian territory. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said it was responding to a “large-scale provocation” by Armenia late Monday and early Tuesday. It said Armenian troops planted mines and fired on Azerbaijani military positions. The two countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh in a six-week war in 2020 that killed more than 6,600 people and ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal. Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers under the deal. Read: After hiking fuel price by 30%, Indonesia considering buying cheap Russian oil The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday urged both parties “to refrain from further escalation and show restraint.” Moscow has engaged in a delicate balancing act in seeking to maintain friendly ties with both ex-Soviet nations. It has strong economic and security ties with Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, while also has been developing close cooperation with oil-rich Azerbaijan. The international community also urged calm. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Armenia and Azerbaijan “to take immediate steps to deescalate tensions, exercise maximum restraint and resolve any outstanding issues through dialogue” and implement previous agreements, his spokesman said. The U.N. Security Council scheduled closed consultations Wednesday on the renewed fighting. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Russian President Vladimir Putin and later also had calls with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Council President Charles Michel and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with both Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev. The U.S. has a special envoy in the region, Blinken said, “and my hope is that we can move this from conflict back to the negotiating table and back to trying to build a peace.” Speaking in parliament early Tuesday, Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of having had an uncompromising stance at recent European Union-brokered talks in Brussels. Read: UN chief appeals to world to help badly flood-hit Pakistan Armenia said the Azerbaijani shelling Tuesday damaged civilian infrastructure and wounded an unspecified number of people. On Facebook, Aliyev expressed condolences “to the families and relatives of our servicemen who died on September 13 while preventing large-scale provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces in the direction of the Kalbajar, Lachin, Dashkasan and Zangilan regions of Azerbaijan.” Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, also placed the blame for the violence on Armenia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed support for Aliyev and said in a statement that Turkey and Azerbaijan are “brotherly ... in all matters.” The governor of Gegharkunik province, one of the regions that came under Azerbaijani shelling, said there was a 40-minute lull in the fighting, apparently reflecting Moscow’s attempt to negotiate a truce, before it later resumed. The governor, Karen Sarkisyan, said four Armenian troops in his region were killed and another 43 were wounded by the shelling. The Armenian government said it would officially ask Russia for assistance under a friendship treaty between the countries, and also appeal to the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-dominated security alliance of ex-Soviet nations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from comment on Armenia’s request but added during a conference call with reporters that Putin was “taking every effort to help de-escalate tensions.”

Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia, is contemplating buying Russian oil to ease the burden of rising energy prices. In an interview with the Financial Times, Widodo said, “We always monitor all of the options. If there is the country (and) they give a better price, of course,” Widodo raised the price of subsidised fuel by 30% earlier this month, citing financial concerns as the reason for the price increase. Read: Indonesia hikes fuel prices by 30%, cuts energy subsidies Thousands of protestors gathered last week in Jakarta and other major cities to condemn the government’s decision to reduce fuel subsidies. The 270 million-strong nation was rocked by demonstrations after the decision. However, any decision to buy Russian crude oil at a price higher than the G7-agreed price cap could result in US penalties against Indonesia. Sandiaga Uno, Indonesia’s minister of tourism, claimed in August that Indonesia had received a 30% discount on Russian petroleum. The nation’s state-owned oil corporation, Pertamina, then declared that it was examining the risks of acquiring Russian oil. Read: Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Kerry to visit Greece, Indonesia, Vietnam Due to rising food costs, Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, reported annual inflation of 4.7% in August.

At least three Afghan crew members were killed Saturday when a U.S.-manufactured Black Hawk helicopter they were flying crashed, the Taliban’s defense ministry said. The statement said that five others were wounded in the accident during a training session overseen by Afghanistan's defense ministry at the capital of Kabul. It is not known how many U.S. choppers remain in the hands of the Taliban government. As the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed in mid-August last year, dozens of Afghan pilots fled to Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghan air force pilots played a key role, alongside their U.S. counterparts, in the 20-year war against Taliban insurgents that ended with the departure of foreign troops last year. The airstrikes inflicted heavy casualties among the Taliban and repeatedly drove them from positions they had seized in different parts of the country. Read: UN warns 6 million Afghans at risk of famine as crises grow Last year about 140 Afghan pilots and others were flown out of Tajikistan then to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and their final destination in the U.S. Separately, three civilians were wounded when a bicycle bomb exploded in Kabul, said Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the the capital's police chief. The attack occurred in the Shai neighborhood and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.   Recently, the Islamic State group has claimed similar attacks in the country. IS has waged a bloody campaign of attacks on Taliban targets and minority groups, particularly Shiites whom the extremist IS considers heretics.