United News of Bangladesh

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday kicked off a fresh nationwide anti-polio campaign after three new cases of the crippling disease were reported in the country. "We have launched a new anti-polio campaign with a renewed zeal and focus ... A polio-free Pakistan is our national goal," the prime minister said on Twitter. Millions of children up to the age of five would be given polio drops by health workers across the country as part of the door-to-door vaccination campaign. Also Read: Malaysia vaccinating for polio after first case in 27 years Pakistan recorded three cases of polio in April and May of this year from North Waziristan, a district located along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, according to government officials. No polio cases were reported from February 2021 to March 2022 in Pakistan. According to officials, more than 25 districts in southwest Balochistan and KP provinces are at high risk of poliovirus spread. Earlier in the day, Shahbaz called an emergency meeting of the National Task Force for Polio Eradication, stressing the importance of collaboration among all stakeholders, including federal, provincial and international agencies in eradicating the poliovirus.    

Herzing University <https://www.herzing.edu/>, the accredited, private nonprofit institution with 10 campuses in seven states and an online division, has announced InUni as its strategic advisor on international markets. InUni, part of Global University Systems (GUS), is a leading worldwide international higher education services company with a network of higher-education institutions, delivering a wide variety of programmes, including bachelor's and master's degree programmes, across the USA, UK and Europe. Also read:The most decisive platform for the Indian woodworking, furniture and mattress manufacturing Industry is set to create new benchmarks Herzing University specialises in nursing <https://www.herzing.edu/nursing-programs>, healthcare <https://www.herzing.edu/healthcare>, technology <https://www.herzing.edu/technology-degree-programs>, business <https://www.herzing.edu/business-programs> and public safety <https://www.herzing.edu/public-safety> degree programmes. The university's personalised approach to education, accelerated formats and flexible schedules has resonated with students across the country as well as international students aspiring to study in the USA. "This is a very important development for InUni and we are delighted to have such a prestigious partnership," says David Fisher, Chairman ofInUni. "There has been an increasing appetite for programs and courses related to healthcare, business and technology streams in the past couple of years. With a greater number of students now wanting to study in the US, Herzing University provides a great opportunity for them to realise their dreams." "InUni brings to the table years of rich experience specialising in marketing, admissions and processes," says Vice President of Admissions Derrick Pope from Herzing University. "The team brings an astute understanding of different geographies, audiences, people and insights and we are excited to have them as our partner." InUni aims to democratise the world through higher education, partnering with universities to offer customised, quality-focused, end-to-end solutions to meet their specific needs. Student experience is InUni's priority. With 75,000 people currently studying worldwide, it aims to be inclusive, culturally diverse and always providing students with a fresh perspective. About Herzing University: Herzing University <https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3076462-1&h=948873223&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.h erzing.edu%2F%3Futm_source%3Dpress%2520release%26utm_medium%3Dpr%2520news%2520wi re%2520boilerplate%26utm_campaign%3Dhome_page&a=Herzing+University> is an accredited, private nonprofit institution with ten campuses across seven states, a continuing education division and an online division. Also read:India's top court orders release of ex-PM Rajiv Gandhi's assassin Founded in Milwaukee in 1965, more than 40,000 students have graduated from the University's career-focused and flexible master's, bachelor's, and associate degree, diploma and continuing education programs. Fields of study span nursing, healthcare, technology, business and public safety. From 2013 through 2021, U.S. News & World Report has continually recognized Herzing University as having some of the best online programs nationally. Herzing University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. More information about Herzing University is available at www.herzing.edu About InUni: InUni <https://www.inuniglobal.com/about-InUni.html>, a company of Global University Systems (GUS), is an international student counselling partner with several leading universities across the UK, USA, and Europe. It helps international students through their application and admission journey with universities that suit their interests and academic qualifications. InUni also works with several partners across the globe to for direct outreach to the students interested in study at various international destinations. It also partners with institutions to enhance the overall student experience as they begin their journey for international higher education program. Source: InUni

The 12th edition of INDIAWOOD (2nd - 6th June, 2022, BIEC, Bengaluru) organised by NuernbergMesse India will once again cement its position as the most relevant and important forum for the woodworking and furniture manufacturing Industry in India. With country pavilions from Germany, USA, Canada, Turkey, Malaysia, Finland, Estonia, Taiwan, Gabon amongst others, the five-day event will offer a comprehensive range of innovative products and provide information on the latest technological developments. Also read:Herzing University announces InUni as international markets strategic adviser India's furniture market is expected to cross USD 27 billion by the end of the year 2025, making the furniture market in India a billion-dollar Industry. Factors contributing to the growth of India's furniture market include the middle-class population, rising disposable income, and an increasing number of urban households. With the recent entry of leading global players in India, the market share of the organized sector has been growing consistently. Spread over 65,000 sq. meters plus area with 5 dedicated themed halls, the event is expected to attract a record number of visitors. Visitors from all quarters including furniture manufacturers, kitchen manufacturers, saw millers, board manufacturers, fittings and component manufactures, traders, architects, builders and interior designers can look forward to the latest in technologies, materials and innovations over the five-day event. "Wood in Architecture and Design (WAD)", one day conference, to be held on the 3rd of June, will aim to bring the traditionalists and the modernists on a common platform to explore the versatility, durability and application of wood in architecture and design. The event is expected to attract Architects, Structural Engineers, Designers and Mass-Timber manufacturers amongst others. www.w-a-d.in "INDIA MATTRESSTECH + UPHOLSTERY SUPPLIES EXPO (IME), International Trade Fair for Mattress and Upholstery Production Technology, Machinery, Supplies, Production Tools and Accessories, held concurrently from 2nd - 5th June at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre. www.indiamattresstechexpo.com Also read:India's top court orders release of ex-PM Rajiv Gandhi's assassin About NuernbergMesse India NuernbergMesse India - With 17 shows spread across different Industry verticals, today the offerings of NuernbergMesse India are varied and versatile, in sync with the trends of the time and deeply rooted in Industry awareness and development. Contact for Exhibition: Belliappa. M.KSenior Manager -ProjectsDirect line: +91-80-46748883Email: [email protected] Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1819452/INDIAWOOD.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1818353/IndiaWood_IME_Logo.jpg Source: NuernbergMesse India Private Limited 

India's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the release of one of the life convicts in the assassination case of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. A two-judge bench of the apex court pronounced the judgment in the wake of a plea seeking the release of AG Perarivalan, who has already served 31 years in jail. Read: Extradition of PK Halder has to go through legal process: Indian envoy Gandhi was assassinated on 21st May in 1991 by a suicide bomber of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) when he was campaigning for the Congress party at Sriperumpudur in Tamil Nadu state. Gandhi's assassination was seen by many as a retaliation by the LTTE (now defunct) for India's involvement in Sri Lanka's civil war in the late 80s. Gandhi, then Indian PM, deployed peacekeepers there in 1987. Read: Rohingyas from India coming to Bangladesh: FM Perarivalan (now 50) was arrested on June 11, 1991. He was subsequently sentenced to life in jail along with few others for aiding Sivarasan, the LTTE man who had hatched the conspiracy to eliminate Gandhi.

A government watchdog says decisions by Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan were the key factors in the collapse of that nation’s military. The new report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, mirrors assertions made by senior Pentagon and military leaders in the aftermath of the U.S. troop withdrawal that ended last August in the chaotic evacuation of Americans and other civilians from the embattled country. Military leaders have made it clear that their recommendation was to leave about 2,500 U.S. troops in the country, but that plan was not approved. In February 2020, the Trump administration signed an agreement with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, in which the U.S. promised to fully withdraw its troops by May 2021. The Taliban committed to several conditions, including stopping attacks on American and coalition forces. The stated objective was to promote a peace negotiation between the Taliban and the Afghan government, but that diplomatic effort never gained traction before Biden took office in January 2022. Just a few months later, Biden announced he would complete the U.S. military withdrawal. The announcement fueled the Taliban’s campaign to retake the country, aided by the Afghans’ widespread distrust of their government and entrenched corruption that led to low pay, lack of food and poor living conditions among the Afghan troops. Read: Delhi suffers at 49C as heatwave sweeps India “Many Afghans thought the U.S.-Taliban agreement was an act of bad faith and a signal that the U.S. was handing over Afghanistan to the enemy as it rushed to exit the country,” the interim report said. “Its immediate effect was a dramatic loss in (Afghan troops’) morale.” U.S. officials have said they were surprised by the quick collapse of the military and the government, prompting sharp congressional criticism of the intelligence community for failing to foresee it. At a congressional hearing last week, senators questioned whether there is a need to reform how intelligence agencies assess a foreign military’s will to fight. Lawmakers pointed to two key examples: U.S. intelligence believed that the Kabul government would hold on for months against the Taliban, and more recently believed that Ukraine’s forces would quickly fall to Russia’s invasion. Both were wrong. Military and defense leaders have said that the Afghanistan collapse was built on years of missteps, as the U.S. struggled to find a successful way to train and equip Afghan forces. In a blunt assessment of the war, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress last fall that the result was years in the making. Read: Indonesia tourist bus smashes into billboard, killing 14 “Outcomes in a war like this, an outcome that is a strategic failure — the enemy is in charge in Kabul, there’s no way else to describe that — that is a cumulative effect of 20 years,” Milley said, adding that lessons need to be learned, including whether the U.S. military made the Afghans overly dependent on American technology in a mistaken effort to make the Afghan army look like the American army. Indeed, in the end, the new report said that the Afghans were still heavily dependent on U.S. air support for strikes and emergency evacuations, and also on U.S. contractors to maintain and repair aircraft and other systems. But all agree that the Doha agreement was a lynchpin in the collapse. “The signing of the Doha agreement had a really pernicious effect on the government of Afghanistan and on its military — psychological more than anything else, but we set a date-certain for when we were going to leave and when they could expect all assistance to end,” Gen. Frank McKenzie told Congress last year. McKenzie, who was then the top U.S. general in the Middle East and has since retired, argued to keep 2,500 U.S. troops there, as did Milley. The Doha agreement, said the SIGAR report, led the Afghan population and its military to feel abandoned. And the Trump administration’s decision to limit U.S. airstrikes against the Taliban stopped any progress the Afghans were making, and left them unable and eventually unwilling to hold territory, it said. According to the report, a former U.S. commander in Afghanistan said the U.S. built the Afghan army to rely on contractor support. “Without it, it can’t function. Game over,” the commander told SIGAR. “When the contractors pulled out, it was like we pulled all the sticks out of the Jenga pile and expected it to stay up.” More broadly, the SIGAR report said that both the U.S. and Afghan governments “lacked the political will to dedicate the time and resources necessary to reconstruct an entire security sector in a war-torn and impoverished country.” Neither side, it said, “appeared to have the political commitment to doing what it would take to address the challenges.” As a result, it said, the Afghan military couldn’t operate independently and never really became a cohesive force.

An intense heatwave is sweeping through northern India with temperatures hitting a record 49.2C (120.5F) in parts of the India's capital, Delhi, reported BBC. This is the fifth heatwave in the capital since March. Officials in many parts of the country have asked people to take precautions as temperatures are set to remain high. They warned the heat could cause health concerns for the vulnerable, including infants, the elderly and people with chronic diseases. The states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Bihar have particularly witnessed soaring temperatures in the past few days, India's weather department said. It added that temperatures are likely to fall by 2-4C in some areas but there may not be any respite from intense heat. Severe heatwaves have thrown millions of lives and livelihoods out of gear in northern India this summer. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked state chief ministers to draw up plans to mitigate the impact of extreme heat as temperatures rose faster than usual. Also read: Extreme heatwave batters millions in India, Pakistan While heatwaves are common in India, especially in May and June, summer began early this year with high temperatures from March, when the first heatwave arrived. Average maximum temperatures for the month were the highest in 122 years. The Centre for Science and Environment, a think-tank, says that early heatwaves this year have affected around 15 states, including the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, usually known for its pleasant temperatures. Many experts say India is now recording more intense, frequent heatwaves that are also longer in duration Naresh Kumar, a senior scientist at the India Meteorological Department (IMD), attributes the current heatwave to local atmospheric factors. The major one was weak western disturbances - storms originating in the Mediterranean region - which meant little pre-monsoon rainfall in north-western and central India. Anticyclones - an area of high atmospheric pressure where the air sinks - also led to hot, dry weather over parts of western India in March. The effects are visible. Farmers say the unexpected temperature spikes have affected their wheat harvest, a development that could potentially have global consequences given supply disruptions due to the Ukraine war. The heat has also triggered an increase in power demand, leading to outages in many states and fears of a coal shortage. Mr Modi also flagged the increased risk of fires due to rising temperatures.  Also read: Heat wave: Temperature hits maximum 41°C in Chuadanga Summers have always been gruelling in many parts of India - especially in the northern and central regions. Even before air-conditioners and water coolers started selling in the millions, people had devised their own ways of coping with the heat - from keeping water cool in earthen jugs to rubbing raw mangoes on their bodies to ward off heat strokes. But many experts say India is now recording more intense, frequent heatwaves that are also longer in duration. Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, agrees that several atmospheric factors have led to the current heatwave. But adding to all that, he says, is global warming. "That's the root cause for the increase in heatwaves," he says, adding that more research is needed to link climate change to other, less extreme weather fluctuations. D Sivananda Pai, director of the Institute for Climate Change Studies, points to other challenges apart from climate change - such as increasing population and the resulting strain on resources. This, in turn, leads to factors that worsen the situation, such as deforestation and increasing use of transport. "When you have more concrete roads and buildings, heat is trapped inside without being able to rise to the surface. This warms the air further," Mr Pai says. And the cost of such extreme weather events is disproportionately borne by the poor. "Poor people have fewer resources to cool down as well as fewer options to stay inside, away from the heat," says Dr Chandni Singh, senior researcher at Indian Institute for Human Settlements and a lead author at Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). While more attention is paid to mortality due to heatwaves, Ms Singh says policymakers should also focus on how extreme weather affects the quality of people's lives. "Heatwaves can have serious health consequences. If temperatures are high even at night, the body doesn't get a chance to recuperate, increasing the possibility of illnesses and higher medical bills," she says. A "long-term vision", Mr Koll says, is essential when planning for the future. "There are places in India where the temperature itself may not be that high, but when combined with high humidity, life can be very difficult," he says, referring to the need to take into account the wet-bulb temperature - a scientific measure of when heat and humidity combine. He also emphasises on paying attention to areas away from the spotlight. "Many children in rural areas attend schools in sheds with tin roofs, which would be unbearable in the heat," he says. Since 2015, both the federal and state governments have issued a number of measures to mitigate the effects of heatwaves, such as banning working outside during the hottest hours and issuing timely advisories. But these can only be completely effective if accompanied by big-picture changes such as an overhaul of labour laws and greening cities, Ms Singh says. "Our buildings are made in such a way that they trap heat instead of ensuring ventilation. There is so much innovation internationally that we can learn from," she says. "We are doing some things right but it's time to up our game - because we have to live with the heat."

A tourist bus with an apparently drowsy driver slammed into a billboard Monday on a highway on Indonesia’s main island of Java, killing at least 14 people and injuring 19 others, police said. The bus, carrying Indonesian tourists from Surabaya, the capital of East Java province, was returning from a trip to Central Java’s Dieng Plateau, a popular mountain resort, when it hit the billboard on the Mojokerto toll road just after dawn, East Java traffic police chief Latief Usman said. Television news showed police and medical personnel removing victims from the bus, which crashed just 400 meters (yards) before the highway exit. READ: Landslide kills 12 women at illegal gold mine in Indonesia Usman said police are still investigating the cause of the accident, but that the driver reportedly appeared drowsy before the crash. He said police haven’t yet questioned the driver, who suffered severe injuries. Nineteen people were being treated in four hospitals in Mojokerto, mostly for broken bones. Road accidents are common in Indonesia because of poor safety standards and infrastructure.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un blasted officials over slow medicine deliveries and ordered his military to respond to the surging but largely undiagnosed COVID-19 crisis that has left 1.2 million people ill with fever and 50 dead in a matter of days, state media said Monday. More than 564,860 people are in quarantine due to the fever that has rapidly spread among people in and around the capital, Pyongyang, since late April. Eight more deaths and 392,920 newly detected fevers were reported Monday, the North's emergency anti-virus headquarters said. Also read: North Korea reports 15 more suspected COVID-19 deaths State media didn’t specify how many were confirmed as COVID-19, but North Korea is believed to lack sufficient testing supplies to confirm coronavirus infections in large numbers and is mostly relying on isolating people with symptoms at shelters. Failing to slow the virus could have dire consequences for North Korea, considering its broken health care system and that its 26 million people are believed to be unvaccinated, with malnourishment and other conditions of poverty. Kim during a ruling party Politburo meeting on Sunday criticized government and health officials over what he portrayed as a botched pandemic response, saying medicine supplies aren’t being distributed to pharmacies in time because of their “irresponsible work attitude” and lack of organization, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. The Politburo had issued an emergency order to immediately release and quickly distribute state medicine reserves and for pharmacies to open for 24-hour shifts, but Kim said such steps weren’t being properly implemented. Kim ordered the medical units of his military to get involved in stabilizing the supply of medicine in Pyongyang, KCNA said. Kim and Politburo members after the meeting made on-site inspections of pharmacies in a district in Pyongyang, where Kim lamented that most of the shops were in poor condition and lacked storage spaces and criticized some pharmacists for not wearing proper white gowns. North Korea acknowledged a COVID-19 outbreak for the first time last Thursday, saying an unspecified number of people had tested positive for the omicron variant. It instituted a lockdown and Kim ordered public health officials, teachers and others to identify people with fevers so they could be quarantined. North Korea’s claim of a perfect record in keeping out the virus for 2 1/2 years was widely doubted. But its extremely strict border closure, large-scale quarantines and propaganda that stressed anti-virus controls as a matter of “national existence” may have staved off a huge outbreak until now. It’s not clear if North Korea’s urgent messaging about its outbreak indicates a willingness to receive outside help. The country shunned millions of vaccine doses offered by the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program, likely because they carried international monitoring requirements. Also read:North Korea confirms 21 new deaths as it battles COVID-19 South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol said in Parliament on Monday that the South was willing to send vaccines, medicine, equipment and health personnel to the North if it’s willing to accept. South Korean officials say Pyongyang so far has made no request for Seoul’s help. Inter-Korean relations have deteriorated since 2019 after the larger negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea collapsed over disagreements involving the North's nuclear arsenal and U.S.-led sanctions. Kim has previously praised China’s pandemic response and urged his officials to learn from it, which may indicate North Korea is more willing to accept help from its major ally. Chinese officials said last week that Beijing was ready to offer help but they had no information about any such request being made. Even as he called for a lockdown of cities and counties to slow the spread of COVID-19, Kim also stressed the country’s economic goals should be met, which likely means huge groups will continue to gather at agricultural, industrial and construction sites. While accelerating his missile tests in brinkmanship aimed at pressuring Washington for economic and security concessions, Kim has been grappling with domestic challenges and a pandemic-shocked economy, pushing him to perhaps the toughest moment of his decade in power. State media in recent weeks have emphasized farming campaigns to protect crops amid a drought during rice-planting season, a worrisome development in a country with chronic food shortages. Kim is also intent on achieving his stated goals in a five-year national development plan announced in early 2021 after he showed unusual candor by acknowledging that his previous economic plans weren’t working.

India on Sunday said it would keep a window open to export wheat to food-deficit countries at the government level despite restrictions announced two days earlier. India’s Commerce Secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam told reporters the government will also allow private companies to meet previous commitments to export nearly 4.3 million tons of wheat until July. India exported 1 million tons of wheat in April. India mainly exports wheat to neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Also read: No need to import wheat before August, says food secretary A notice in the government gazette by the Directorate of Foreign Trade on Friday said a spike in global prices for wheat was threatening the food security of India and neighboring and vulnerable countries. A key aim of restrictions on exports is to control rising domestic prices. Global wheat prices have risen by more than 40% since the beginning of the year. Before the war, Ukraine and Russia accounted for a third of global wheat and barley exports. Since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, Ukraine’s ports have been blocked and civilian infrastructure and grain silos have been destroyed. At the same time, India’s own wheat harvest has suffered from a record-shattering heat wave that is stunting production. He said India's wheat production this year has come down by three million tons from 106 million tons last year. Wheat prices have shot up by 20-40% in India. "The current rise in prices seems to be a panic reaction rather than a reaction based on a genuine collapse in supply or a sudden shooting of demand," Subrahmanyam said. Also read: India bans wheat exports Even though it is the world’s second-largest producer of wheat, India consumes most of the wheat it produces. It had set a goal of exporting 10 million tons of the grain in 2022-23, looking to capitalize on the global disruptions to wheat supplies from the war and find new markets for its wheat in Europe, Africa and Asia. Up to 90 million tons of wheat were consumed in India last year out of a total production of 109 million tons, Subrahmanyam said, adding that India exported 7 million tons of wheat last year.

North Korea has confirmed 15 more deaths and hundreds of thousands of additional patients with fevers as it mobilizes more than a million health and other workers to try to suppress the country’s first COVID-19 outbreak, state media reported Sunday. After maintaining a widely disputed claim to be coronavirus-free for more than two years, North Korea announced Thursday that it had found its first COVID-19 patients since the pandemic began. It has said a fever has spread across the country “explosively” since late April but hasn’t disclosed exactly how many COVID-19 cases it has found. Some experts say North Korea lacks the diagnostic kits needed to test a large number of suspected COVID-19 patients. The additional deaths reported Sunday took the country’s reported fever-related fatalities to 42. The official Korean Central News Agency also reported that another 296,180 people with fevers had been tallied, taking the reported total to 820,620. The outbreak has triggered concern about a humanitarian crisis in North Korea because most of the country’s 26 million people are believed to be unvaccinated against the coronavirus and its public health care system has been in shambles for decades. Some experts say North Korea might suffer huge fatalities if it doesn’t immediately receive outside shipments of vaccines, medicines and other medical supplies. “Without COVID-19 test kits, North Korea is resorting to body temperature checks to guess at infections. But with such a very inferior and inaccurate method of examination, it’s impossible to find asymptomatic virus carriers and control viral surges,” said analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at South Korea’s Sejong Institute. “As North Korea's (suspected) COVID-19 infections are explosively increasing, its death toll is expected to continue to rise," Cheong added. Since Thursday, North Korea has imposed a nationwide lockdown to fight the virus. That could further strain the country’s fragile economy, which has suffered in recent years due to sharply reduced external trade caused by pandemic-related border shutdowns, punishing U.N. economic sanctions over its nuclear program and its own mismanagement, observers say. During a meeting on the outbreak Saturday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un described the outbreak as a historically “great upheaval” and called for unity between the government and people to stabilize the outbreak as quickly as possible. KCNA said Sunday that more than 1.3 million people have been engaged in works to examine and treat sick people and raise public awareness of hygiene. It said everyone with fevers and others with abnormal symptoms was being put in quarantine and treated. KCNA said the elevated pandemic response includes the establishment of more quarantine facilities, the urgent transportation of medical supplies to hospitals and increased disinfection efforts. READ: Nearly 1 million COVID-19 deaths: A look at the US numbers “All provinces, cities and counties of the country have been totally locked down and working units, production units and residential units closed from each other since the morning of May 12 and strict and intensive examination of all the people is being conducted,” KCNA said. Of those with symptoms, 496,030 have recovered, while as of Saturday 324,4550 were still receiving treatment, KCNA reported, citing the country’s emergency epidemic prevention center. State media reports said Kim and other senior North Korean officials are donating their private reserve medicines to support the country’s anti-pandemic fight. During Saturday’s meeting, Kim expressed optimism that the country could bring the outbreak under control, saying most transmissions are occurring within communities that are isolated from one another and not spreading from region to region. Despite the outbreak, Kim has ordered officials to go ahead with planned economic, construction and other state projects, a suggestion that authorities aren’t requiring people to confine themselves at home. Hours after it admitted its virus outbreak Thursday, North Korea even fired ballistic missiles toward the sea in a continuation of its recent streak of weapons tests. KCNA said that Kim, accompanied by top deputies, visited a mourning station Saturday set up for senior official Yang Hyong Sop, who died a day earlier, to express his condolences and meet bereaved relatives. A separate KCNA dispatch said Sunday that officials and laborers in the northeast were launching initiatives to prevent an expected spring drought from damaging crop yields and quality. South Korea and China have offered to send vaccines, medical supplies and other aid shipments to North Korea, but Pyongyang hasn’t publicly responded to the overtures. North Korea previously rebuffed millions of doses of vaccines offered by the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program amid speculation that it worried about possible side effects of vaccines or international monitoring requirements attached to those shots. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday the United States supported international aid efforts but doesn’t plan to share its vaccine supplies with the North. The North Korean virus outbreak could still be a major topic of discussion when President Joe Biden visits Seoul later this week for a summit with newly inaugurated South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. South Korea’s former spy chief Park Jie-won wrote on Facebook on Friday that he had proposed in May 2021 as the then-director of the National Intelligence Service that Washington send 60 million doses of vaccines to North Korea as humanitarian aid via COVAX. He said there were later talks in the U.N. and the Vatican about shipping 60 million doses to North Korea as well, but such aid was never realized as no formal offers were made to North Korea. Park said he hopes North Korea would accept Yoon’s aid offers quickly though he said he doubts whether the North would do so.