SCA MORNING PRESS CLIPS
Prepared for the U.S. Department of State
Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
TO: | SCA & Staff |
DATE: | Monday, November 18, 2024 6:30 AM ET |
Afghanistan
Taliban relocation plan could worsen humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, analysts say (VOA)
VOA [11/15/2024 7:40 PM, Roshan Noorzai and Noshaba Ashna, 4566K, Negative]
The Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation announced plans this week to return millions of internally displaced people (IDP) to their home villages and provinces in Afghanistan, a move analysts warn could worsen the country’s humanitarian crisis.
"In the first phase, 5,000 displaced families in Kabul would be moved to different places to their places of origin. Most of these families are from [the northeastern province of] Kunduz," said the ministry’s statement, issued Wednesday.
The Taliban called on national and international organizations to support their relocation plan. "This is a priority for the ministry," the statement said.
"It is a good decision to relocate displaced families to their communities of origin," said Sayed Ahmad Selab, the founder of the Selab Charity Foundation and former Afghan parliamentarian, adding, "but it could bring about a humanitarian crisis under the current circumstances.".
Most of these families would not have shelter, Selab said, if they were returned to their provinces.
"They were displaced because of the yearslong conflict and drought. Most of them lost their houses and would have no prospects of jobs and places to live if they were returned," he said.
The United Nations refugee agency, or UNHCR, says there are 3.2 million IDPs in Afghanistan.
More than 7.6 million Afghans are living as refugees in Pakistan and Iran, including 1.6 million Afghans who left after the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021.
About a year ago, both Iran and Pakistan started forcible repatriation of Afghan refugees from their countries. The Taliban government said in June that around 2,000 Afghans were arriving daily from these countries.
Hafiz Ahmad Miakhil, a former adviser to the Ministry of Refugee and Repatriation, told VOA that he does not think the Taliban "have any policy in place for the relocation plan.".
He told VOA that the Taliban’s ministry is not in a position to undertake the repatriation of millions of internally displaced people.
"For the repatriation of internally displaced people, there is the need to construct schools and provide shelters and health services. The Taliban don’t have the resources to do so," Miakhil said.
He added that the Taliban would need the support of the international community and for that, the Taliban "have to get recognized nationally and internationally.".
The Taliban, who seized power in August 2021 after the former Afghan government collapsed, are not yet recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan by any country.
Under the Taliban, Afghanistan is facing multiple crises. Sanctions against the Taliban, no banking transfers, frozen assets, no access to global institutions and the dwindling of foreign aid have moved millions into poverty and hunger.
There are 11.6 million people who are food insecure in Afghanistan.
In September, the U.N. said that it received only 30% of the $3 billion needed this year for the humanitarian response in the country.
Since returning to power, the Taliban have imposed repressive measures on women and imposed their strict interpretation of Islam in the country.
"The de facto authorities are exacerbating this crisis by policies that focus insufficiently on the real needs of its people and undermine its economic potential," said Roza Otunbayeva, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan.
Abdul Hamid Jalili, the former Afghan attache in the Peshawar Consulate, told VOA that the Taliban’s decision to return IDPs to their villages "would bring yet another humanitarian crisis.". Revealed: the truth behind the Taliban’s brutal Kabul ‘regeneration’ programme (The Guardian)
The Guardian [11/18/2024 12:00 AM, Mark Townsend, 92.4M, Neutral]
When the Taliban began a sweeping redevelopment drive in Kabul soon after returning to power three years ago, they claimed there was a need to modernise Afghanistan’s historic capital. A new investigation, however, reveals that the Taliban’s regeneration programme has left thousands of people homeless and had a brutal impact on the most vulnerable communities, with claims of properties being demolished with children still inside.
Using satellite imagery, social media footage and testimony from Afghan residents, the findings offer a first comprehensive insight into the Taliban’s ambitious redevelopment of Kabul – but also its true cost.
Satellite analysis indicates that 1.56 sq km (385 acres) of the city – the equivalent of more than 220 football pitches – was flattened within the city between August 2021 and August 2024.
The investigation, a collaboration between the Guardian, the Centre for Information Resilience’s Afghan Witness project, Lighthouse Reports and the Afghan news outlets Zan Times and Etilaat Roz also uncovered signs that the destruction is in part linked to ethnicity.
The satellite analysis, carried out by Afghan Witness, showed that of the six most-affected districts – where at least 50,000 sq metres (12 acres) of residential properties were demolished – three were areas populated by the minority Hazara community and two were populated by the minority Tajiks.
Most affected was Kabul’s District 13, a predominantly Hazara area.
The investigation also analysed the large-scale razing of “informal settlements”. In some cases, the destruction of the sprawling slums, which are typically inhabited by poorer communities displaced by conflict or climate change – have been conducted so brutally that residents reported injuries and deaths.
In at least two settlements, residents allege that homes were demolished with people still inside. In one large slum – in Kabul’s District 22 – evicted families alleged that a four-year-old and a 15-year-old died during its demolition.“Women, children and elderly men were begging for them to stop the destruction until we can find a shelter, but they wouldn’t listen,” said a resident, who had spent a decade in the settlement after being displaced from Pakistan.
He claimed in the aftermath of the demolition his young niece also died from lack of shelter after their home was destroyed during the heat of summer.
Residents who attempted to film such demolitions were reportedly beaten.
In another significant destruction of an informal settlement in the north of the city, the Taliban’s administration in Kabul tweeted a series of photos in August 2024 chronicling bulldozers razing structures.
Residents described scenes of mayhem and desperation as the site was demolished. “It was like the earthquake in Herat [which killed thousands last year]. Houses were buried; all our belongings were also buried,” said one resident.
Others testified that homes were demolished with people inside. “My nephew came by, crying that his mother and brother were inside the house and the loader was demolishing it,” said one.Jalaluddin, who lived in the settlement with nearly 50 family members for two decades, said he could not afford to rent a new home and was now living in an abandoned factory.“We don’t even have tents – we just have shelters made from plastic pieces. Some days we don’t have anything to eat. We sleep with an empty stomach,” he said.
Many of the land-clearance projects in residential areas are for building or widening roads.
Fakhrullah Sarwari, an urban planner who worked with the former Afghan government, said: “Most of these plans were part of previous government plans, but they were unable to be implemented because they couldn’t force people to evacuate the area.“We do need better mobility, but with the majority of the population living below the poverty line, demolishing homes to build wider roads doesn’t address underlying issues,” he said.
Human rights groups say women are particularly vulnerable after eviction, warning it can increase gender-based violence.
One woman, interviewed by Zan Times, reveals the difficulties of female-led households. Offering cleaning services door to door, she earns between one and three dollars a day and has struggled to get compensation from the Taliban after they demolished her home in a residential area in north Kabul.
One reason is that she is not allowed into Kabul’s municipal offices without a male guardian to accompany her, under the Taliban’s rules of segregation.
Another woman who lost her home in the same area can no longer work due to Taliban restrictions. Denied compensation, her family must rely solely on her husband’s modest income repairing shoes.
Of a dozen people evicted who were interviewed for the investigation, only one had found permanent accommodation since their eviction. Residents say fear prevents them from protesting at the destruction of their homes.
The demolitions come months after the UN warned that Afghanistan’s economy had “basically collapsed” with rampant food insecurity and 6.3 million people displaced within the country.
One woman, whose family home of 40 years was demolished in August 2023, said: “At first, they told us that they would compensate us and not leave us homeless, but once the houses were demolished, nobody cared about us.”
Her family stopped travelling to the municipal offices to ask for their compensation when they could no longer afford the bus fare.
The Taliban authorities have not commented on the findings. They have previously justified the demolition of informal settlements as reclaiming stolen land acquired by “opportunists and usurpers”. They also state that residential land is often cleared for infrastructure projects. Afghanistan, One Of The World’s Most Vulnerable Countries To Climate Change (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [11/16/2024 3:49 AM, Abubakar Siddique, 1251K, Negative]
One of the world’s poorest countries, Afghanistan is also among the leading nations affected by climate change.
Decades of war and environmental degradation have made Afghanistan the fourth most vulnerable country in the world to the impacts of climate change.
Rising temperatures have exacerbated the frequency and severity of natural disasters, including droughts, floods, and landslides, experts say.
Deadly natural disasters in recent years have, in turn, aggravated the devastating humanitarian and economic crises in Afghanistan, where millions are at risk of starvation.
Climate change presents unique challenges to Afghanistan’s population of some 40 million, experts say, with around 80 percent of its people dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods.
The collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government and the Taliban’s seizure of power in 2021 has complicated Afghanistan’s ability to deal with the climate change crisis.
In the wake of the Taliban takeover, international donors immediately halted billions in development aid. International humanitarian assistance, meanwhile, has sharply receded in recent years, partly due to the extremist group’s dismal human rights record.
A Taliban delegation is participating as an observer at the UN Climate Conference in Baku. But the Taliban’s cash-strapped and unrecognized government is unlikely to attract the international assistance needed for Afghanistan to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Afghanistan contributes little to global emissions but has experienced rapid temperature rises. Since 1950, its mean temperature has risen 1.8 degrees Celsius, higher than the global average of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Rising temperatures have "wreaked havoc on agriculture and the agricultural value chain -- the country’s economic backbone," according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
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Floods in the spring and summer killed more than 300 Afghans, displaced more than 20,000, and destroyed thousands of homes and hectares of farmland. The UNDP estimates that the floods caused more than $400 million in annual economic losses.
Afghanistan is a major source of fresh water for its neighbors. But climate change has rapidly increased water scarcity by decimating the country’s hydrological infrastructure.
UNICEF, the UN’s children’s agency, estimates that eight out of every 10 Afghans no longer have access to safe drinking water.
More than 64 percent of Afghanistan’s population is dealing with drought, pushing an increasing number of Afghans into food insecurity, according to the UN.
Data by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also shows that "climate change is increasingly a trigger for internal displacement as well as migration out of Afghanistan.". Malala: I never imagined women’s rights would be lost so easily (BBC)
BBC [11/17/2024 7:21 PM, Amber Sandhu and Kulsum Hafeji, 67197K, Neutral]
A bullet failed to silence her, now Malala Yousafzai is lending her voice to the women of Afghanistan.
In just a few years since the Taliban retook control of the country, women’s rights have been eroded to the point where even singing is banned.
Malala has a personal history with the Taliban across the border in Pakistan, after a gunman from the hardline Islamist group shot her as she sat on a school bus.
The speed of change in Afghanistan, if not the brutality, has surprised Malala, who since that near-fatal shooting in 2012 has campaigned for equality.
"I never imagined that the rights of women would be compromised so easily," Malala tells BBC Asian Network.
"A lot of girls are finding themselves in a very hopeless, depressing situation where they do not see any way out," the 27-year-old Nobel Prize Winner says.
"The future looks very dark to them.".
In 2021, the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, 20 years after a US-led invasion toppled their regime in the fallout of the 9/11 attacks in New York.
In the three-and-a-half years since Western forces left the country, "morality laws" have meant women in Afghanistan have lost dozens of rights.
A dress code means they must be fully covered and strict rules have banned them from travelling without a male chaperone or looking a man in the eye unless they’re related by blood or marriage.
"The restrictions are just so extreme that it does not even make sense to anybody," says Malala.
The United Nations (UN) says the rules amount to "gender apartheid" - a system where people face economic and social discrimination based on their sex and something human rights group Amnesty International wants recognised as crime under international law., external.
But the rules have been defended by the Taliban, which claims they’re accepted in Afghan society and that the international community should respect "Islamic laws, traditions and the values of Muslim societies".
"Women lost everything," says Malala.
"They [the Taliban] know that to take away women’s rights you have to start with the foundation, and that is education.".
The UN says since the takeover more than a million girls are not in school in Afghanistan, external - about 80% - and in 2022 about 100,000 female students were banned from their university courses.
It’s also reported a correlation between the lack of access to education and a rise in child marriage and deaths during pregnancy and childbirth.
"Afghan women live in very dark times now," Malala says.
"But they show resistance.".
The Pakistan-born activist, who became the youngest person ever to win a Nobel Peace Prize, is an executive producer on an upcoming film, Bread & Roses, that documents the lives of three Afghan women living under the Taliban regime.
The documentary follows Zahra, a dentist forced to give up her practice, activist Taranom, who flees to the border, and government employee Sharifa, who loses her job and her independence.
But the film isn’t just about the stories of three women, Malala says.
"It’s about the 20 million Afghan girls and women whose stories may not make it to our screens.".
Bread & Roses was directed by Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani and US actress Jennifer Lawrence was also brought on board as a producer.
Sahra tells Asian Network her mission was "to tell the story of a nation under the Taliban dictatorship".
"How slowly, all the rights have been taken away.".
Sahra managed to flee Afghanistan after the US-backed government collapsed following the withdrawal of troops in August 2021.
But she kept in touch with women back home, who would share videos which she then collected and archived.
"It was very important to find young, modern, educated women that have talent they were ready to dedicate to society," says Sahra.
"They were ready to build the country but now they have to sit at home and almost do nothing.".Even though the film hasn’t been released yet, Sahra believes the situation in Afghanistan has already deteriorated to the point where it would be impossible to make if she started now.
"At that time, women could still go out and demonstrate," she says.
"Nowadays, women are not even allowed to sing... the situation is getting more difficult.".
The first-hand footage shows the women at protests - they kept the cameras rolling while being arrested by the Taliban.
And Sahra says the project only got harder over time as more of their rights were stripped away.
"We were really honoured that these women trusted us to share their stories," she says.
"And it was really important for us to put their security in our priorities.
"But when they were out in the street asking for their rights, it was not for the documentary.
"It was for them, for their own life, for their own freedom.".
Malala says that, for women in Afghanistan, "defiance is extremely challenging".
"Despite all of these challenges, they’re out on their streets and risking their lives to hope for a better world for themselves.".
All three of the women featured in the film are no longer living in Afghanistan and Sahra and Malala are hopeful the film will raise awareness of what women who remain endure.
"They are doing all that they can to fight for their rights, to raise their voices," Malala says.
"They’re putting so much at risk. It’s our time to be their sisters and be their supporters.".
Malala also hopes the documentary prompts more international pressure on the Taliban to restore women’s rights.
"I was completely shocked when I saw the reality of the Taliban take over," she says.
"We really have to question what sort of systems we have put in place to guarantee protection to women in Afghanistan, but also elsewhere.".
And as much as Bread & Roses deals with stories of loss and oppression, the film is also about resilience and hope.
"There’s so much for us to learn from the bravery and courage of these Afghan women," says Malala.
"If they are not scared, if they are not losing that courage to stand up to the Taliban, we should learn from them and we should stand in solidarity with them.".
The title itself was inspired by an Afghan saying.
"Bread is a symbol of freedom, earning a salary and supporting the family," Sahra says.
"We have a saying in my language that the one who gave you bread is the one who orders you.
"So if you find your bread, that means you are the boss of you.".
That’s exactly the future she hopes to see for the women of Afghanistan and, based on what she’s seen, one she believes they will achieve in the end.
"Women in Afghanistan, they keep changing the tactic," she says.
"They keep searching for a new way to keep fighting back.". Trump transition team compiling list of current and former U.S. military officers for possible courts-martial (NBC News)
NBC News [11/17/2024 6:55 AM, Courtney Kube, Carol E. Lee, Vaughn Hillyard, and Mosheh Gains, 60726K, Neutral]
The Trump transition team is compiling a list of senior current and former U.S. military officers who were directly involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and exploring whether they could be court-martialed for their involvement, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the plan. Officials working on the transition are considering creating a commission to investigate the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, including gathering information about who was directly involved in the decision-making for the military, how it was carried out and whether the military leaders could be eligible for charges as serious as treason, the two sources said.“They’re taking it very seriously,” the person with knowledge of the plan said.The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Matt Flynn, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics and global threats, is helping lead the effort, the sources said. It is being framed as a review of how the U.S. first got into the war in Afghanistan and how it ultimately withdrew.“Matt Flynn has nothing to do with the Trump transition team, much less leading any review concerning military justice matters,” said Mark S. Zaid, Flynn’s attorney. Zaid said in a statement that “no one has sought out Mr. Flynn’s views on this hypothetical legal scenario.” Multiple officials on the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment about this article.
“The sources apparently pushing this story appear to be your typical selfish Washington, D.C., insiders seeking to gain better positioning for their own administration jobs,” said a person with knowledge of the campaign. President-elect Donald Trump has condemned the withdrawal as a “humiliation” and “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country.” It is not clear, though, what would legally justify “treason” charges, since the military officers were following the orders of President Joe Biden to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan.A 2022 independent review by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction blamed both the Trump and Biden administrations for the chaotic U.S. withdrawal in 2021.Trump first reached an agreement with the Taliban in 2020 to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan, roughly 13,000 troops, and release 5,000 Taliban fighters from prison. The Biden administration then completed the withdrawal and badly overestimated the ability of Afghan government forces to fight the Taliban on their own.Trump’s choice for defense secretary, Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, has criticized the withdrawal, saying the U.S. lost the war and wasted billions of dollars.In his book “The War on Warriors,” Hegseth wrote: “The next president of the United States needs to radically overhaul Pentagon senior leadership to make us ready to defend our nation and defeat our enemies. Lots of people need to be fired. The debacle in Afghanistan, of course, is the most glaring example.”Hegseth calls the withdrawal a “humiliating retreat” and says leaders at the Defense Department were not held accountable for the deadly attack at Abbey Gate, which killed 13 U.S. service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians. Nor were they held accountable for a subsequent U.S. airstrike in Kabul that officials thought would kill the Islamic State group leader behind the suicide attack but instead killed 10 innocent Afghans, including seven children, he wrote.“These generals lied. They mismanaged. They violated their oath. They failed. They disgraced our troops, and our nation. They got people killed, unnecessarily,” he wrote. “And, to this moment, they keep their jobs. Worse, they continue to actively erode our military and its values — by capitulating to civilians with radical agendas. They are an embarrassment, with stars still on their shoulders.”The transition team is looking at the possibility of recalling several commanders to active duty for possible charges, the U.S. official said. It is not clear the Trump administration would pursue treason charges, and instead it could focus on lesser charges that highlight the officers’ involvement. “They want to set an example,” said the person with knowledge of the plan.Speaking to NBC News days before the election, Howard Lutnick, one of the two advisers leading the transition, said that Trump learned after his first administration that he had hired Democratic generals and that he would not make that mistake again. Former officials who worked in Trump’s first administration have said they advised Trump against policies they thought would weaken U.S. national security, such as withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria. And they advised against actions that they thought might violate the Constitution or inflame tensions domestically, such as deploying active-duty U.S. troops to quell protests after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Pakistan
IMF, Pakistan wrap up unscheduled talks on $7 bln bailout (Reuters)
Reuters [11/16/2024 1:28 AM, Jasper Ward and Asif Shahzad, 37270K, Neutral]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday it held constructive talks with authorities in Pakistan on economic policy and reform efforts to reduce vulnerabilities during an unscheduled staff visit.
The unusual visit from Nov 12 to Nov 15 discussed a $7-billion bailout within six weeks of its approval by the IMF board, but came too early for the first review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), due in the first quarter of 2025.
"We are encouraged by the authorities’ reaffirmed commitment to the economic reforms supported by the 2024 EFF," Nathan Porter, the chief of the IMF’s Pakistan mission, who led the talks, said in a statement.
The constructive discussions on economic policy and reform efforts to reduce vulnerabilities would help to lay the basis for stronger and sustainable growth, he added.
The mission did not state the weaknesses, but sources in Pakistan’s finance ministry have said some major lapses prompted the IMF to intervene.
Among these were a shortfall of nearly 190 billion rupees ($685 million) in revenue collection during the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
The period also saw an external financing gap of $2.5 billion, while Pakistan failed in the bid to sell its national airline, a major setback on the path to privatising loss-making state-owned enterprises, required by the IMF.
Losses running into billions of dollars in the power and gas sector, the main hole in the economy, were also discussed, the IMF said, adding that structural energy reforms were critical to restore the sector’s viability.
Both sides agreed on the need to continue prudent fiscal and monetary policies, and mobilise revenue from untapped tax bases, the mission added.
Pakistan has struggled for decades with boom-and-bust economic cycles, prompting 23 IMF bailouts for the South Asian nation since 1958. Militants kill seven paramilitary troops in southwestern Pakistan (Reuters)
Reuters [11/16/2024 6:57 AM, Saleem Ahmed, 37270K, Negative]
Militants stormed a paramilitary checkpoint in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing seven troops, the latest in a string of attacks by separatist insurgents, police said.
The early-morning attack in the mountainous Kalat district, some 150 km south of Quetta, capital of the southwestern Balochistan province, continued for several hours, said police officer Habib-ur-Rehman.
Another 18 wounded paramilitary soldiers, some in critical condition, were admitted to local hospitals, he said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack.
Separatist militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) said in an email sent to a Reuters reporter that its fighters had attacked the checkpoint.
The group has stepped up its operations recently, claiming a suicide bombing last week that targeted Pakistani army troops at a railway station minutes before they were due to board a train to return home for vacations. It killed 27, including 19 soldiers, who were in civilian clothing.
The group also claimed a suicide bombing last month outside the southern Karachi international airport, which killed two Chinese engineers.
The BLA and several other militant groups have been fighting for decades for a separate homeland to gain a greater share of the mineral and resource rich Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
The region is home to Gwadar Port, built by China as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $65 billion investment in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to expand China’s global reach by road, rail and sea. Pakistan gripped by health emergency over ‘unbearable’ smog (Nikkei Asia)
Nikkei Asia [11/17/2024 10:24 PM, Adnan Aamir, 2376K, Negative]
Businessman Javed Ahmed is taking no chances with his family as Pakistan’s business and banking hub Lahore shuts down over toxic smog that marked it as the world’s most polluted city."I am working from home and we as a family have limited our outdoor activities to the minimum possible," he told Nikkei Asia. "As a Lahore resident, smog is not new for me. Still, I have not seen anything like the smog we’re having now. It’s unbearable."The city of 13 million is close to the border with India, where the capital New Delhi routinely makes international headlines for its choking air quality. But even Pakistan’s greenest city, the purpose-built capital Islamabad, is experiencing unusually high levels of air pollution that vaulted the country to the top of Switzerland-based IQAir’s widely-followed Air Quality Index (AQI).On Thursday, Lahore posted an eye-watering 1,136 on the AQI scale, earning it the dubious distinction as the world’s most polluted city, while India’s capital reached 422. Readings above 300 are considered hazardous to human health.The smog blanketing Lahore was even visible from space, as seen in satellite images released by NASA.Smog is a type of air pollution where pollutants from cars, factories, crop burning and construction dust mix with sunlight to cast a brownish haze. In winter, the cold weather traps pollution closer to the ground, while the absence of wind and rain can intensify smog."Pollution in Lahore remains at the same level throughout the year. [In November], the atmosphere becomes stable, with no rainfall, and temperatures drop. This traps pollutants near the ground, creating a smog situation," said Qamar uz Zaman Chaudhry, a Pakistani climate scientist and former director general of Pakistan’s Meteorological Department.Fine particulate matter and other pollutants in smog are so minuscule that they bypass natural respiratory defenses and cause damage to the human body, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an international environmental advocacy group.Last week, more than 15,000 cases of respiratory and viral infections were reported in Lahore. UNICEF warned that more than 11 million children in Pakistan under five and pregnant women are highly vulnerable to smog.As the UN holds its annual climate talks, experts blame climate change and the impact of carbon emissions for Pakistan’s especially poor air quality this year."It is not Lahore specific, but a regional problem and a public service emergency," Ahmad Rafay Alam, an environmental lawyer based in Lahore, told Nikkei Asia.About 45% of air pollution in Pakistan is caused by vehicular emissions and another 35% is linked to industry and energy production, Alam added.In response, the government of Punjab province, where Lahore is located, imposed so-called green lockdowns. Schools have been closed for 10 days, while museums, zoos, and parks are shuttered and restrictions have been imposed, including on barbecue restaurants and motorcycle rickshaws. Officials warned Friday of a possible full lockdown as they declared a health emergency.But the measures will do little to get at the root of the problem, Alam said. "None of these current measures will be effective. they appear to be action for the sake of action," he added.Aftab Alam Khan, an Islamabad-based expert on climate change and social development, said the economic effects of smog-induced lockdowns will be severe. "Air pollution has made cities uninhabitable, leading to business closures, reduced productivity and diminished economic activity," he told Nikkei.Even the capital Islamabad hit a rare 268 on the air quality index last week."There is limited sunlight, and visibility is very low in late afternoon," said local resident Sidra Ali. "Islamabad is becoming like Lahore in terms of smog and it’s pretty bad."Despite frosty relations between the nuclear-armed rivals, toxic air prompted Punjab’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif to call for talks between Pakistan and India to mitigate a problem exacerbated by burning of stubble left after harvesting rice fields.Across the border, Indian officials have banned nonessential construction in the capital and called on residents to avoid burning coal and wood for heating, as deteriorating air quality caused delays to flights and enveloped the Taj Mahal.Pakistan should learn from its neighbor China about how to control air pollution. The Chinese capital, Beijing, once topped the list of cities with toxic air, Khan said."For China, it was not a quick fix. China spent five years working to manage industrial and vehicle emissions. Pakistan must develop a similar five-year plan to address this issue," Khan told Nikkei.The required fixes include upgrading oil refineries, replacing combustion engines with newer ones, ramping up electric vehicle production and shifting to renewable energy, said environmental lawyer Alam."It may take 10 to 15 years, but if these policies are consistently implemented, a 30% to 50% drop in air pollution could be achieved," he added. India
India Says Long-Range Hypersonic Missile Test Was Successful (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [11/17/2024 1:29 AM, Dan Strumpf, 27782K, Positive]
India conducted its first successful test of a long-range hypersonic missile, bringing the country a step closer toward deploying a high-tech weapon that’s in the arsenal of only a handful of countries.The Defence Research and Development Organisation conducted the test late Saturday off the coast of the state of Odisha, the Indian government said in a statement Sunday. The missile is designed to carry payloads over 1,500 kilometers (932 miles), it said.Defense Minister Rajnath Singh called the test a “major milestone” for India.“This is a historic moment and this significant achievement has put our country in the group of select nations having capabilities of such critical and advanced military technologies,” he said in a post on X. Hypersonic missiles are fast, low-flying weapons designed to be too quick and agile for traditional defense systems to detect. Unlike ballistic missiles, they don’t follow a predetermined, arched trajectory and can maneuver on the way to their target.China, the US and Russia currently have the most advanced hypersonic missile capabilities. In addition to India, other countries researching the technology include Japan, Australia, France, Germany and North Korea. India’s successful test of hypersonic missile puts it among elite group (Reuters)
Reuters [11/17/2024 1:16 AM, Manoj Kumar, 37270K, Positive]
India has successfully tested a domestically developed long-range hypersonic missile, it said on Sunday, attaining a key milestone in military development that puts it in a small group of nations possessing the advanced technology.
The global push for hypersonic weapons figures in the efforts of some countries, such as India, which is striving to develop advanced long-range missiles, along with China, Russia and the United States.
The Indian missile, developed by the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation and industry partners, is designed to carry payloads for ranges exceeding 1,500 km (930 miles) for the armed forces, the government said in a statement.
"The flight data ... confirmed the successful terminal manoeuvres and impact with high degree of accuracy," it added.
The test-firing took place from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam island off the eastern coast of Odisha state on Saturday, it said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called the test a "historic achievement" in a post on X, adding that it placed India among a select group of nations possessing such critical and advanced technologies. Nigeria and India agree deeper ties in maritime security, counter-terrorism (Reuters)
Reuters [11/17/2024 9:05 AM, Felix Onuah, 37270K, Neutral]
Nigeria and India on Sunday agreed to deepen collaboration in maritime security, intelligence and counter-terrorism during a state visit to the West African country by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi is the first Indian premier to visit Nigeria in 17 years after an invitation by President Bola Tinubu, who is seeking investments from some of the world’s biggest economies.
Modi arrived in the capital Abuja on Saturday night and met Tinubu at the presidential villa on Sunday where the two leaders also discussed economic development, defence, healthcare and food security, a joint statement said.
With growing threats in the Gulf of Guinea and the Indian Ocean, the two countries agreed to coordinated action to safeguard maritime trade routes and combat piracy.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is seeking to woo more Indian investment and cheaper lines of credit to boost its economy and create jobs.
On the sidelines of the G20 summit last year, Nigeria said it had secured nearly $14 billion of pledges from Indian investors, including Jindal Steel and Power which committed to pump $3 billion into Nigeria’s steel sector.
There are more than 200 Indian companies operating in Nigeria.
After Nigeria, Modi was set to travel to Brazil to attend this year’s G20 summit. Twenty-three arrested in India’s Manipur after violent protests (Reuters)
Reuters [11/17/2024 9:16 AM, Manoj Kumar, 88008K, Negative]
Police arrested 23 people on Sunday in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur for ransacking and setting fire to the homes of lawmakers and ministers, while hundreds demonstrated against recent violent killings in defiance of a curfew.The violence, marking the second straight day of unrest in the area, has led to a tense standoff in Imphal, the state capital."The situation is relatively calm today but unpredictable,” a senior state police official told Reuters, adding the situation was being closely monitored.Since May 2023, inter-communal clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities have resulted in at least 250 deaths and displaced 60,000 people in the region.As a result Manipur has become divided into two ethnic enclaves: the Meitei controlled valley, and the Kuki-dominated hills, separated by a stretch of no-man’s land monitored by federal forces.Tensions flared last week when a 31-year-old woman from the Kuki tribal community was burned alive. Kuki groups have blamed Meitei militants for the act.Citing a failure by state Chief Minister N Biren Singh to resolve the crisis, the National People’s Party, an ally of the ruling BJP with seven lawmakers in the 60-member state assembly, announced on Sunday its withdrawal of support from the state government.The 23 arrests followed Saturday’s violence, which involved what a police statement said was the "ransacking and arson" of the houses of several state lawmakers and ministers."Police resorted to firing tear gas shells to disperse the mob. Eight persons have been injured in the process," the statement said, adding additional security forces were deployed.An indefinite curfew was imposed on Saturday and internet and mobile services were suspended after protesters tried to storm the residences of several lawmakers including Chief Minister Singh.Protesters are demanding accountability for the deadly violence, that has, in the latest incident, claimed the lives of at least two women and two children.The body of a woman, and that of a two-year-old child, believed to be members of a missing Meitei family, were on Sunday found in a river, after three other bodies, including two children, were recovered on Friday.Identification is ongoing, but they are likely linked to the missing family, a district administration official from Jiribam told Reuters.A Kuki man’s body was also found from the area on Sunday though authorities have yet to confirm cause of death, but said it “could be linked to the violence”. Fresh ethnic clashes in India’s Manipur after six bodies found (BBC)
BBC [11/17/2024 4:14 PM, Cherylann Mollan, 67.2M, Negative]
India’s north-eastern state of Manipur is on high alert after authorities recovered the bodies of six women and children, who reportedly belonged to the majority Meitei community.
Meitei groups have alleged that they were kidnapped by people from the minority Kuki group. The police, however, have not confirmed this.
The news sparked a fresh wave of violent protests over the weekend, prompting authorities to snap internet services in some parts of the state.
The two ethnic groups have been locked in a deadly ethnic conflict since last May, which has killed 200 people and displaced thousands.
On Saturday, protesters ransacked and torched the houses and offices of at least a dozen lawmakers, mostly from the state’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Police have arrested 23 people in connection with the violence and authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew and have suspended internet services in Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley and Bishnupur district.
In the wake of the unrest, the federal government has rushed top security officials to the state. Federal Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level security meeting on the situation on Sunday, but the state remains on edge.
At least 20 people - both Kukis and Meities - have died in flare-ups that have erupted between the two ethnic groups this month.
Tensions began on 7 November, after members of an armed group allegedly raped a woman, who reportedly belonged to the Kuki community, and set her on fire in the state’s Jiribam district.
Four days later, a police station and relief camp housing Meitei refugees in the area was attacked. The majority community blamed Kuki groups for the assault.
Police on the same day shot dead 10 suspected militants in what they said was a shoot-out, also known as an "encounter" in India.
Police alleged that the armed men were suspected Kuki militants, but Kuki organisations deny this and claim that the individuals were "village volunteers" - or armed civilians protecting the community.
Following the attack on the relief camp, six inhabitants - a grandmother, her two daughters and three grandchildren - went missing. Meitei groups alleged that they were abducted by armed Kuki men when they had attacked the area.
On Friday, police reportedly recovered six bodies - and though they have not confirmed their identities, some Indian media reports say they are that of the missing persons.
Protesters and civil society groups in the region are demanding that authorities put an end to the violence and take firm action against armed groups.
Clashes between the Kukis and Meiteis erupted in May last year - they were sparked by Kuki protests against demands from Meiteis to be given official tribal status, which would make them eligible for affirmative action and other benefits.
Since then, the state has witnessed months of violence and unrest, with only sporadic moments of calm.
Today, Manipur is divided into two camps, with Meiteis inhabiting the Imphal Valley and Kukis living in the surrounding hill areas. Borders and buffer zones guarded by security forces separate the two regions. India Hospital Fire Kills 10 Newborn Babies (New York Times)
New York Times [11/16/2024 4:14 PM, Suhasini Raj, Anupreeta Das, and Pragati K.B., 831K, Negative]
Ten newborns were killed in a hospital fire in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the latest in a string of similar tragedies that highlight the abysmal state of building safety and fire preparedness in the world’s most populous country.
The fire, which broke out late Friday at the Maharani Laxmibai Medical College and Hospital in Jhansi, was caused by an electrical short circuit on the ground floor, according to Sachin Mahur, the chief medical superintendent of the government-run facility.
That was the location of the neonatal intensive care unit. Flames quickly engulfed the ward, which held 49 infants, Mr. Mahur said, speaking via telephone from the hospital. All the victims were less than a year old and on life support. Of those saved from the fire, 17 remained at the hospital, while others went home to their parents or were moved to another hospital, he said. A nurse also suffered burns.“Some of the newborns who died were under observation after their treatment was over and to be sent home in the next day or two,” Mr. Mahur said. But the fire spread so quickly that it was impossible to save them, he said.
Hospital fires are not uncommon in India. In May, seven newborn babies lost their lives in New Delhi when a fire broke out at the private neonatal clinic. In one of India’s worst such fires in 2011, 93 people died in a private hospital in Kolkata.“Even though over a decade has elapsed since that disaster, no lessons seem to have been learnt because the frequency with which accidental fires keep breaking out in hospitals has not reduced,” wrote the authors of a 2023 study on fire accidents in India. The study found that despite new building codes and safety systems to prevent fires or reduce their severity, implementation remains lax.
Images of the charred ward in Jhansi and of distraught parents were shared on social media. “Who will return my baby?” one cried in front of TV cameras.
The government announced compensation of five hundred thousand rupees, or about $6,000, for those parents who had lost their babies.
India is woefully understaffed and underequipped to manage fire outbreaks. Data provided to the Parliament in 2019 showed that the country had only 3,377 fire stations when regulations called for 8,559. The fire service had about 55,000 people, when a half-million were called for, and 7,300 vehicles, when it should have had 33,000. An Indian family froze to death crossing the Canada-US border, a perilous trip becoming more common (AP)
AP [11/16/2024 12:04 AM, Michael Goldberg and Ryan J. Foley, 88008K, Neutral]
On the last night of their lives, Jagdish Patel, his wife and their two young children tried to slip into the U.S. across a near-empty stretch of the Canadian border.
Wind chills reached minus 36 Fahrenheit (minus 38 Celsius) that night in January 2022 as the family from India set out on foot to meet a waiting van. They walked amid vast farm fields and bulky snowdrifts, navigating in the black of an almost-moonless night.
The driver, waiting in northern Minnesota, messaged his boss: "Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard conditions, please.".
Coordinating things in Canada, federal prosecutors say, was Harshkumar Patel, an experienced smuggler nicknamed "Dirty Harry." On the U.S. side was Steve Shand, the driver recently recruited by Patel at a casino near their Florida homes, prosecutors say.
The two men, whose trial is scheduled to start Monday, are accused of being part of a sophisticated human smuggling operation feeding a fast-growing population of Indians living illegally in the U.S. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Over the five weeks the two worked together, documents filed by prosecutors allege they spoke often about the bitter cold as they smuggled five groups of Indians over that quiet stretch of border.
"16 degrees cold as hell," Shand messaged during an earlier trip. "They going to be alive when they get here?".
On the last trip, on Jan. 19, 2022, Shand was to pick up 11 more Indian migrants, including the Patels. Only seven survived.
Canadian authorities found the Patels later that morning, dead from the cold.
In Jagdish Patel’s frozen arms was the body of his 3-year-old son, Dharmik, wrapped in a blanket.
Dreams of leaving India
The narrow streets of Dingucha, a quiet village in the western Indian state of Gujarat, are spattered with ads to move overseas.
"Make your dream of going abroad come true," one poster says, listing three tantalizing destinations: "Canada. Australia. USA.".
This is where the family´s deadly journey began.
Jagdish Patel, 39, grew up in Dingucha. He and his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s, lived with his parents, raising their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi, and Dharmik. (Patel is a common Indian surname and they are unrelated to Harshkumar Patel.) The couple were schoolteachers, local news reports say.
The family was fairly well off by local standards, living in a well-kept, two-story house with a front patio and a wide veranda.
"It wasn´t a lavish life," said Vaibhav Jha, a local reporter who spent days in the village. "But there was no urgent need, no desperation.".
Experts say illegal immigration from India is driven by everything from political repression to a dysfunctional American immigration system that can take years, if not decades, to navigate legally.
But much is rooted in economics, and how even low-wage jobs in the West can ignite hopes for a better life.
Those hopes have changed Dingucha.
Today, so many villagers have gone overseas - legally and otherwise - that blocks of homes stand vacant and the social media feeds of those who remain are filled with old neighbors showing off houses and cars.
That drives even more people to leave.
"There was so much pressure in the village, where people grew up aspiring to the good life," Jha said.
Smuggling networks were glad to help, charging fees that could reach $90,000 per person. In Dingucha, Jha said, many families afforded that by selling farmland.
Satveer Chaudhary is a Minneapolis-based immigration attorney who has helped migrants exploited by motel owners, many of them Gujaratis.
Smugglers with ties to the Gujarati business community have built an underground network, he said, bringing in workers willing to do low- or even no-wage jobs.
"Their own community has taken advantage of them," Chaudhary said.
The pipeline of illegal immigration from India has long existed but has increased sharply along the U.S.-Canada border. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending Sept. 30, which amounted to 60% of all arrests along that border and more than 10 times the number two years ago.
By 2022, the Pew Research Center estimates there were more than 725,000 Indians living illegally in the U.S., behind only Mexicans and El Salvadorans.
In India, investigating officer Dilip Thakor said media attention had led to the arrest of three men in the Patel case, but hundreds of such cases don´t even reach the courts.
With so many Indians trying to get to the U.S., the smuggling networks see no need to warn off customers.
They "tell people that it´s very easy to cross into the U.S. They never tell them of the dangers involved," Thakor said.
U.S. prosecutors allege Patel and Shand were part of a sprawling operation, with people to scout for business in India, acquire Canadian student visas, arrange transportation and smuggle migrants into the U.S., mostly via Washington state or Minnesota.
On Monday, at the federal courthouse in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Patel, 29, and Shand, 50, will each face four counts related to human smuggling.
Patel´s attorney, Thomas Leinenweber, told The Associated Press his client came to America to escape poverty and build a better life and "now stands unjustly accused of participating in this horrible crime.".
Shand’s attorney’s did not return calls seeking comment. Prosecutors say Shand told investigators that Patel paid him about $25,000 for the five trips.
His final passengers, though, never made it.
The last night
By 3 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2022, the 11 Indian migrants had spent hours wandering in gusting snow and brutal cold trying to find Shand. Many were in jeans and rubber work boots. None wore serious winter clothing.
Shand, though, was stuck. Prosecutors allege he had been heading to the pickup spot in a rented 15-passenger van when he drove into a ditch roughly a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) from the border.
Eventually, two migrants stumbled across the van. Sometime later, a passing pipeline company worker pulled the vehicle from the ditch.
Soon after that, a U.S. Border Patrol agent, on watch for migrants after boot prints were found near the border, pulled over Shand.
Shand repeatedly insisted there was no one else outside, even as five more desperate Indians wandered to the vehicle from the fields, including one going in and out of consciousness.
They had been walking for more than 11 hours.
There were no children among the migrants, but one man had a backpack filled with toys, children´s clothes and diapers. He said a family of four Indians asked him to hold it, because they had to carry their young son.
Sometime in the night they had become separated.
Hours later, the Patels’ bodies were found just inside Canada, in a field near where the migrants had crossed into the U.S.
Jagdish was holding Dharmik, with daughter Vihangi nearby. Vaishaliben was a short walk away.
Hemant Shah, an Indian-born businessman living in Winnipeg, some 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of where the migrants were found, helped organize a virtual prayer service for the Patels.
He’s accustomed to hard winters and can´t fathom the suffering they endured.
"How could these people have even thought about going and crossing the border?" Shah said.
Greed, he said, had taken four lives: "There was no humanity.". Why India and China Are Finally Starting to Patch Things Up (Time – opinion)
Time [11/17/2024 5:00 AM, Michael Kugelman, 15975K, Neutral]
In June 2020, a bloody border clash broke out between India and China in the Ladakh region—the deadliest since a 1962 war. Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors plunged to their lowest level in decades. But, after four years of icy ties, the relationship is finally beginning to thaw.
India and China struck a border deal last month that calls for resuming patrols in Ladakh, and for disengaging troops that restore positions to pre-crisis locations. The accord likely paved the way for an Oct. 23 meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping—a first since the 2020 Ladakh clash—on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in Russia. They pledged to strengthen communication and cooperation.
These developments provide a chance to inch ties forward. New Delhi has long insisted the relationship can’t improve until border tensions are eased; that precondition has now been met. The two sides can also leverage the thaw to tap more fully into existing areas of cooperation. Trade ties have remained robust despite deep tensions, and goodwill triggered by the border deal could unlock more Chinese investment in India. New Delhi and Beijing work together in many global forums, from BRICS to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. They share many common interests, from countering terrorism and promoting multilateralism to embracing non-Western economic models—and rejecting what they view as U.S. moral crusading around the world.
A lasting détente between the two Asian giants would have far-reaching consequences, including for Washington’s strategic partnership with New Delhi—which is fueled by the shared goal of countering Chinese power. But it could also serve as a hedge against the unpredictability of President-elect Donald Trump, should he decide to jettison his hardline approach to Beijing and seek his own rapprochement with Xi—a leader Trump has often praised, including as recently as last month.
Yet the significance of the thaw shouldn’t be overstated. That’s because India-China relations are still deeply fraught, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.
The Ladakh deal, for instance, does little to resolve a broader India-China border dispute. The countries share a 2,100-mi. frontier, of which 50,000 square miles are disputed—an area equal to the size of Greece. Additionally, mistrust between border troops remains high; traumatic memories of the Ladakh clash—which entailed Indian soldiers getting beaten to death with iron rods, and getting flung to their deaths into icy rivers—still strikes a nerve.
Tensions are high elsewhere, too. The mammoth Chinese Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure project, which New Delhi categorically rejects because it winds through Indian-claimed territory, remains a flashpoint. India also worries about Beijing’s naval power projection in the Indian Ocean, stretching eastward over a massive expanse from a Chinese naval base in Djibouti to what New Delhi believes are Chinese spy ships operating near the Andaman Sea, where India has island territories. Closer to home, New Delhi is concerned about the surveillance risks posed by Chinese technologies in India.
Furthermore, India and China have strong security ties with the other’s main rival. Thanks to a series of foundational defense accords, the Indian and U.S. militaries are cooperating on unprecedented levels, and ramping up arms sales and technology transfers. India has now evolved into a net security provider for the U.S., providing Washington with military equipment and helping its allies counter Chinese provocations. The U.S. has even supplied intelligence to New Delhi at critical moments. For its part, Beijing continues to pursue its longstanding security alliance with Islamabad. It provides significant military aid to Pakistan, including equipment for ballistic missiles (which has produced a flurry of recent U.S. sanctions).
Meanwhile, India and China also have profound differences on core issues. Beijing rejects many Indian policies in Kashmir, the disputed region that’s provoked multiple India-Pakistan wars. India is strengthening ties with Taiwan, which Beijing views as a renegade province of China. The Dalai Lama—the exiled leader of Tibet, who Beijing regards as a dangerous separatist—has long been based in India. India and China are also each part of rival global forums: India participates in the Indo-Pacific Quad, while China leads BRI.
Yet bilateral ties should continue to improve. Continued talks on the border—which have happened regularly since the Ladakh crisis—to discuss other flashpoints, and to reassert mutual commitments to longstanding protocols that forbid the discharge of firearms, could help avert future escalations. The next opportunity for high-level dialogue could come this month, if Modi and Xi attend the G20 leaders summit in Brazil.
The best hope for deeper ties lies with their robust economic partnership (China was India’s top trade partner last year). India’s chief economic advisor is making the case for more Chinese FDI that could accelerate Beijing’s long-term plans to invest in top Indian industries. And China, with its recent economic setbacks, stands to benefit from increasing engagement with the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
The incoming return of Trump could also spur more India-China business bonhomie, if their collective fear of U.S. tariffs prompts them to carve out more commercial space for themselves.
Ultimately, relations will sometimes be cooperative, particularly on the economy, but they’ll remain competitive—and possibly at times even confrontational. Still, even a modest India-China thaw is a good thing. The world is on fire, and it can’t afford yet another crisis—much less a conflict. NSB
Bangladesh’s Interim Leader Yunus Urges ‘Patience’ for Election (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg [11/17/2024 9:08 AM, Arun Devnath, 27782K, Positive]
Bangladesh’s interim government will complete essential reforms before setting the roadmap for an election, Muhammad Yunus, head of the administration, said in an televised address to the nation.“Until then, I ask for your patience,” he said, adding “reform is the enduring vitality of the nation.”Bangladesh started taking necessary steps to organize the national poll, with the Election Commission to be formed within a few days. The commission will be able to start updating the voter list and other tasks directly related to a “free and fair” election.For the first time, the government is working to ensure that expatriate Bangladeshis can exercise voting rights through postal ballots. Bangladesh will seek extradition of ex-premier Sheikh Hasina from India (AP)
AP [11/17/2024 10:22 AM, Julhas Alam, 31638K, Negative]
Bangladesh’s interim leader and Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus said Sunday that his administration will seek the extradition of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from India, where has been in exile since fleeing a mass uprising in August.
In a televised address to the nation on his first 100 days in office, Yunus said that the interim government will try those responsible including Hasina for hundreds of deaths during the student-led uprising that ended her 15-year rule. Yunus took the helm on Aug. 8, three days after Hasina fled the country.
He said that not only the deaths in the uprising but all other violations of human rights, including alleged enforced disappearances while Hasina was in power, would be investigated. Bangladesh has sought help from the global police organization Interpol in issuing a red notice for the arrest of Hasina and her associates.
"We will seek the return of the fallen autocrat Sheikh Hasina from India," Yunus said. "I have already discussed the issue with chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan.".
While Hasina and her close associates are facing numerous criminal charges at home, the Yunus-led government is also pushing for the ICC to take up the case.
Seeking Hasina’s extradition could also pose a challenge for India, which has treated her as a trusted friend.
Yunus said his government’s most important task was to hold a new election to hand over power to an elected government, but he did not spell out any timeframe. He said his administration would first bring about reforms in various sectors including in the electoral system.
He promised that once the electoral reforms are completed, a roadmap for the new election would be unveiled.
Yunus has been talking to political parties including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Hasina’s main rival, which has sought an election in two to three months. The party believes it will form the next government as Hasina’s Awami League party and its allies face a political debacle following her ouster.
Yunus said the Election Commission will be reconstituted soon.
"But as we move forward, we need to complete a lot of work. The train will reach its final station depending on how quickly we can lay down the railway tracks, and this will happen through consensus among the political parties," he said.
Yunus also downplayed as "exaggerated" reports of attacks on minorities, especially Hindus, many of whom complained that hard-line Islamists are becoming increasingly influential since Hasina’s ouster. Bangladesh tribunal tells investigators to finish probe against ousted premier Hasina by next month (AP)
AP [11/18/2024 3:25 AM, Julhas Alam, 456K, Neutral]
A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Monday told investigators they have one month to complete their work on ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her close aides, who face charges of crimes against humanity after hundreds of people were killed in a mass uprising this summer.
Golam Mortuza Majumdar, the head judge of the three-member International Crimes Tribunal, set Dec. 17 for investigators to finish their work, as the tribunal heard updates Monday from police about what the country’s security agencies have done to arrest Hasina and her close aides.
The decision came after prosecutors sought more time for the investigation.
Mohammed Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor of the tribunal, told the judges during Monday’s hearing that they were working in line with an extradition treaty signed earlier with India to make Hasina’s return possible.
Hasina has been living in exile in India since Aug. 5 when she fled the country amid the student-led protests. The Dhaka-based tribunal on Oct. 17 issued arrest warrants for Hasina and 45 others, including former Cabinet ministers, advisers and military and civil officials. The country is now being run by an interim government headed by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus.
At least 13 people, including a former law minister and a businessman who was Hasina’s private-sector adviser, appeared before the tribunal on Monday, said B.M. Sultan Mahmud, a prosecutor at the tribunal. One former Cabinet minister was not brought to the tribunal as he was in custody for police interrogation in a separate case. A further six people will appear on Wednesday, tribunal officials said. At least 20 suspects have been arrested in the case.
The tribunal will also seek updates from police on their progress in arresting the other suspects, including Hasina.
After the hearing on Monday, the tribunal’s head judge ordered authorities to send all 13 suspects to jail, pending investigation.
The chief prosecutor of the tribunal has already sought help from Interpol through the country’s police chief to arrest Hasina. On Sunday, Yunus said in an address to the nation that his administration would seek Hasina’s extradition from India.
Authorities say hundreds of people were killed during the uprising in July and August, mainly by security agents seeking to quell the initial protests over government jobs. The violence intensified as the protests morphed into an anti-government movement, with more bloodshed, ending Hasina’s 15-year rule. Hasina had also earlier sought an investigation into the killings. Bangladeshi ex-ministers face ‘massacre’ charges in court (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [11/18/2024 2:00 AM, Sabiha Alam, 1.4M, Negative]
Thirteen Bangladeshi former top government officials arrested after the revolution in August appeared in court Monday accused of "enabling massacres", with prosecutors repeating extradition demands for exiled ex-leader Sheikh Hasina.
Dozens of Hasina’s allies have been taken into custody since her regime collapsed, accused of involvement in a police crackdown that killed more than 700 people during the unrest that led to her ouster.
Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam said the 13 defendants, who included 11 former ministers, a judge and an ex-government secretary, were accused of command responsibility for the deadly crackdown on the student-led protest that ousted the regime.
Hasina, who fled to old ally India by helicopter on August 5, was also due in court in Dhaka on Monday to face charges of "massacres, killings, and crimes against humanity", but she remained a fugitive in exile.
"We have produced 13 defendants today, including 11 former ministers, a bureaucrat, and a judge," Islam, the chief prosecutor of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, told reporters.
"They are complicit in enabling massacres by participating in planning, inciting violence, ordering law enforcement officers to shoot on sight, and obstructing efforts to prevent a genocide."
Around half a dozen lawyers supported the defendants, who were brought from custody and led into court surrounded by a ring of security forces to separate them from the large crowd outside.
Hasina’s 15-year tenure saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.
The charges the 13 face are so far limited to the police crackdown on student-led protests, but Islam requested more time to compile evidence stretching back further.
"The crimes that led to mass murders and genocide have occurred over the past 16 years across the country," he told reporters.
The court gave prosecutors until December 17 to submit their investigation report.
The defendants listened to the charges read to them but were not asked yet to give a plea.
At one point, former industry minister Kamal Ahmed Majumdar stood up and spoke, appealing to the judge that he wanted "to say something", an AFP reporter in the court heard.
He was not allowed to speak further.
Others in court included once powerful ex-law minister Anisul Huq, former Supreme Court judge Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik, and former energy adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury.
Former social affairs minister Dipu Moni is the only woman among the 13.
Islam said efforts are being made to bring 77-year-old Hasina to Dhaka for trial, a day after interim leader Muhammad Yunus said Bangladesh was seeking her extradition.
Islam said they had contacted Interpol "seeking assistance in arresting her, as she has committed crimes against humanity".
Red notices issued by the global police body alert law enforcement agencies worldwide about fugitives.
India is a member of Interpol, but the red notice does not mean New Delhi must hand Hasina over as each country applies their own laws on whether an arrest should be made. Around 1,500 killed in Bangladesh protests that ousted PM Hasina (Reuters)
Reuters [11/17/2024 11:57 AM, Ruma Paul, 37270K, Negative]
About 1,500 people died in protests that brought down Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina this year, and as many as 3,500 may have been forcibly abducted during her 15-year rule, interim leader Muhammad Yunus said on Sunday.
The estimate by the economist and Nobel peace laureate, who is due to organise elections, is higher than the previous official count of about 1,000 deaths in the student-led demonstrations, which drew a ferocious crackdown.
The protests, which began in July as a student-led movement against public sector job quotas, escalated into some of the deadliest unrest since Bangladeshi independence in 1971, forcing Hasina to flee to India.
"Every day, new names are being added to the list of martyrs," Yunus said in an address to the nation marking 100 days of the interim government, pledging to prosecute those responsible for the violence.
Yunus’ government has vowed to ensure justice for victims of what he referred to as the "autocratic regime’s wrath".
Yunus said a commission investigating forced disappearances had found information on 1,600 cases as of October, but that the total could potentially exceed 3,500.
And he reiterated his government’s commitment to demanding Hasina’s extradition from India.
"We will prosecute all the crimes committed over the past 15 years," he said, adding that the government had begun efforts to bring those responsible for the disappearances and killings, and the July-August violence, to international courts.
He said a road map for the next general election in the country of 170 million people would be unveiled once electoral reforms were completed.
Political parties including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia have been pressing the interim government for a clear plan to hold a national election as soon as possible.
In September, army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman, whose refusal to support Sheikh Hasina during the student protests led her to flee, told Reuters that democracy should be restored within a year to a year-and-a-half, but urged patience. Bangladesh deaths from dengue cross 400 as outbreak worsens (Reuters)
Reuters [11/17/2024 3:18 AM, Ruma Paul, 2376K, Negative]
Bangladesh is battling its worst outbreak of dengue in years, with more than 400 deaths as rising temperatures and a longer monsoon season drive a surge in infections, leaving hospitals struggling to cope, particularly in urban areas.
At least 407 people have died from related complications in 2024, with 78,595 patients admitted to hospital nationwide, the latest official figures show.
By mid-November, 4,173 patients were being treated, with 1,835 of them in Dhaka, the capital, and 2,338 elsewhere.
"We’re witnessing monsoon-like rainfall even in October, which is unusual," said Kabirul Bashar, a zoology professor at Jahangirnagar University.
Shifting weather patterns caused by climate change provided optimal conditions for the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary carrier of the disease, he added.
"These changes in the season are fostering ideal conditions for the mosquitoes to breed.".
Dense populations in cities exacerbate the spread of the disease, usually more common in the monsoon season from June to September though it has spilled beyond that window this year.
A rise in temperatures and longer monsoons, both linked to climate change, have caused a spike in mosquito breeding, driving the rapid spread of the virus.
Bashar called for year-round vector surveillance in Bangladesh to monitor and rein in the disease.
If detected early and treated properly, deaths from dengue can be reduced to less than 1%, said a renowned physician, Dr ABM Abdullah, adding, "Early diagnosis and prevention are key to controlling dengue.".
Last year was the deadliest on record in the current crisis, with 1,705 deaths and more than 321,000 infections reported.
The growing frequency and severity of outbreaks strains Bangladesh’s already overwhelmed healthcare system, as hospitals battle to treat thousands of patients.
Health officials have urged precautions against mosquito bites, such as mosquito repellents and bed nets, while experts want tougher measures to eliminate the stagnant waters where mosquitoes breed.
Delays in seeking treatment, particularly among rural populations who must travel long distances to specialised facilities in Dhaka, are swelling the toll, doctors said.
The disease can often show only mild initial symptoms that go undiagnosed until patients are critical. Bhutan, after prioritizing happiness, now faces an existential crisis (CBS News)
CBS News [11/17/2024 7:35 PM, Lesley Stahl, Aliza Chasan, Shari Finkelstein, and Collette Richards, 59828K, Neutral]
Bhutan, the tiny kingdom that introduced Gross National Happiness to the world, has a problem: young people are leaving the country in record numbers.
The country boasts free health care, free education, a rising life expectancy and an economy that’s grown over the last 30 years — still, people are leaving.
Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay believes it is ironically the success of Gross National Happiness that has made young Bhutanese so sought after abroad.
"It is an existential crisis," he said.
Holding the outside world at bay
Bhutan, which is about the size of Maryland, was largely isolated from the rest of the world for centuries. The kingdom was so protective of its unique Buddhist culture that it only started allowing foreign tourists to visit in the 1970s and didn’t introduce television until 1999.
Buddhism is the country’s national religion. Bhutanese, especially older men and women, spend hours spinning prayer wheels full of Buddhist scriptures. Prayer flags flutter on hillsides and in forests, turning nature itself into a shrine.
Bhutan’s capital city of Thimpu still has no traffic lights. The nation’s roads are shared by cars and cows.
Dasho Kinley Dorji, who ran Bhutan’s first newspaper before serving as the government’s minister of information and communications, describes the population as nervous, surrounded as it is by India and China, and lacking military might or economic power.
"Bhutan’s strength was going to be our identity, to be different from everyone around us," he said.
Bhutanese wear different clothes and construct buildings in a traditional architectural style. The culture remains strong today.
"We came to realize that, you know, that what we had in the past, what is old, is actually very valuable," Dorji said.
Bhutan was, and is today, largely a subsistence agricultural society. Many families still live in multigenerational farmhouses.
The country was unified by the man who became its first king in 1907. His sons and grandsons — who are referred to in Bhutan as the second, third, fourth and today, fifth, kings — have reigned since.
Bhutan’s unique path to modernity
It was Bhutan’s fourth king who, as a young, newly-crowned ruler in the 1970s, set Bhutan onto its path toward modernity. Jigme Singye Wangchuck, on his way home from a summit of nonaligned nations in Cuba, landed at an airport in India, where journalists asked him what Bhutan’s gross national product was.
"And the king said, ‘Actually, in Bhutan, gross national happiness is much more important to us than gross national product,’" Dorji recounted.
The phrase stuck and attracted international attention. Maximizing Gross National Happiness became a primary responsibility of Bhutan’s government, led today by Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay.
"Gross National Happiness acknowledges that economic growth is important, but that growth must be sustainable. It must… be balanced by the preservation of our unique culture," Tobgay said. "People matter. Our happiness, our well-being matters. Everything should serve that.".
Every five years, surveyors fan out across Bhutan measuring the nation’s happiness. The results are analyzed and factored into public policy.
"Gross National Happiness does not directly equate to happiness in the moment. One happiness is fleeting, it is emotion, it is joy," Tobgay said.
The other — the kind Bhutan is focused on, Tobgay said — is contentment, being happy with life and oneself.
It’s also about nature. By law, at least 60% of the country must remain under forest cover. And with most of its energy coming from hydroelectric power, Bhutan was the first and remains today one of the only countries in the world to be carbon negative.
It earns foreign revenue selling excess hydropower to India and from tourism, but there are limits. The country is full of gorgeous mountains, but summiting mountain peaks isn’t allowed.
"For a Bhutanese, it’s very easy to understand: You know, the mountains are sacred," Dorji said.
School is taught in English and it’s free, as is health care.
And though the country has a king, Bhutan is also a democracy.
Introducing Bhutan to democracy
A quarter century after introducing Gross National Happiness, the fourth king decided the best thing for his country would be to have an elected parliament and a prime minister.
"[It’s] the only country where democracy was introduced in a time of peace and stability, where democracy was literally gifted, imposed on the people, not just gifted, because the people didn’t want it," Tobgay said.
As a reporter, Dorji covered the king’s travels throughout Bhutan as he held meetings called consultations to discuss the idea with his subjects. Dorji remembers people begging the king not to institute a democracy.
"Because when they looked around the world, their horizon was India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan: Democracy," Dorji said. "Which is really synonymous with violence, with corruption. So they said, ‘No, thank you. We don’t really need that. We are fine.’".
The king was not swayed by their arguments, arguing in response that a leader chosen by birth and not by merit might one day lead the country to disaster. Then, at just 51, he abdicated and passed the crown to his 26-year-old son, the fifth and current king. Bhutanese headed to the polls for the first time ever in 2008.
Today the fifth king is 44. He is adored in the country and works closely with the prime minister.
So why are young Bhutanese leaving the country in record numbers?
Bhutan is currently facing what is known in the country as a crisis of outmigration. The COVID-19 pandemic hit Bhutan’s economy hard, shutting down tourism. Recovery has been slow.
Many Bhutanese, with their excellent English, found higher-paying jobs in Australia, even doing menial labor. Word of opportunities spread fast on social media and now a devastating 9% of the country’s population, most of them young people, have left.
"This is a very difficult situation for Bhutan," Tobgay said.
Luring people back with a City of Mindfulness
Bhutan’s government has mobilized, with the king launching a bold, high-stakes plan to lure people back. Prime Minister Tobgay is trying to attract more business and tourists to Bhutan, highlighting landmarks like a centuries-old suspension bridge, part of an ancient 250-mile trail from one end of the country to the other that is now open to trekking tourists.
But tourism can only do so much and Bhutan’s king knows it, so he has decided to create a new city in southern Bhutan with different rules from the rest of the country. It will be an attempt at a new model of robust economic development, while still holding true to Bhutanese values.
The king is calling it the Gelephu Mindfulness City.
He turned to Danish architect Bjarke Ingels to design it. The new city will have neighborhoods nestled between the area’s many rivers, connected by a series of unusual bridges. The bridges will also act as public buildings, with one home to a Buddhist center, another to health care facilities and yet another a university. There won’t be any skyscrapers, and everything will be built with local materials.
Right now, the area — located in Bhutan’s lowlands — is largely undeveloped. Dr. Lotay Tshering, a former prime minister whom the king has tapped to lead the new city, said it will be built in phases over the next two decades, with no polluting industries allowed.
The area is also home to a lot of wildlife, including elephants. The new city will have wildlife corridors to protect the animals.
The king has said the success of the project will shape the future of Bhutan.
"When we say we follow the principles of Gross National Happiness, we do not mean we are happy with less… We also want to be rich. We also want to be technologically high standard," Dr. Tshering said. "We want Bhutanese to be heading multi-million dollar companies, multinational companies.".
A Bhutanese team is collaborating with experts around the world, seeking investors to help build the city, the cost of which is likely to run in the billions. The city will have its own legal framework modeled on Singapore’s and will run on clean hydroelectric power, with the hope of drawing technology companies, especially AI.
Deciding to stay
Ingels presented his plans to the king, and the king then presented them to the nation, last December.
Namgay Zam, a journalist who used to anchor Bhutan’s nightly newscast, was in attendance. She’d been in the middle of planning a move to Australia with her family when she went to hear the king that day at a packed stadium.
"He did what no king had done before. He asked the people to help him directly. And he said, ‘Will you help me?’ And there was shocked silence," Zam said. "Even for me, I froze. And I was like, ‘Did he just ask us to help him?’ And then he said, ‘Will you help me,’ a second time.".
For Zam, it was a yes.
"I came home and I told my husband, ‘We can’t leave,’" Zam said. "And he said, ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘I’ve signed a social contract with his majesty, because I said yes.’".
Zam and her husband did not go to Australia, but the king and his family did. He visited the country last month to bring his vision for the new Gelephu Mindfulness City and the future of Bhutan to packed stadiums of more than 20,000 Bhutanese who live in Australia now, all in the hopes of one day luring them back home.
"If we succeed, we can show that you can create a city that does not displace nature, that is anchored and rooted in the local heritage and culture, and that still allows for growth and prosperity to happen," Ingels said. "That is a struggle a lot of places in the world are struggling with.". Sri Lankan Leader’s Leftist Coalition Wins Elections (New York Times)
New York Times [11/15/2024 4:14 PM, Pamodi Waravita, 831K, Neutral]
The leftist coalition of Sri Lanka’s new president has won the country’s parliamentary elections, giving him a clearer mandate to broaden welfare programs after years of austerity and economic crisis.
In final results announced on Friday, a day after the voting, the National People’s Power coalition of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won 159 of 225 parliamentary seats, giving him a two-thirds majority in the legislature.
Although he was elected in September, his group had only three seats at the time. That prompted him to dissolve Parliament and hold elections.
Sri Lanka’s presidential election in September was its first since a crushing economic crisis in 2022. That year, the country defaulted on its external debt, leaving it unable to pay for crucial imports, including fuel and food. As Sri Lankans lined up for basic necessities, they also organized an uprising that led to the ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The public blamed Mr. Rajapaksa and his family, long intertwined with Sri Lankan politics, for the economic crisis. They face allegations of corruption and human rights violations from activists, opposition parties and others.
Mr. Dissanayake, 55, presented himself as an alternative to the “politics as usual” culture, where power had been shared between a few ruling parties since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948.
His bloc rose to popularity in 2022, on a platform of tougher measures against nepotism and corruption that resonated with Sri Lankans. Mr. Dissanayake also favors broader welfare measures as people continue to struggle with the fallout of the 2022 crisis.
The winning coalition’s main competition was a party led by Sajith Premadasa. He and others, including former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, had raised concerns about the winning coalition’s lack of experience in politics, pointing out that the bloc never held parliamentary power before.
Mr. Wickremesinghe took the reins after Mr. Rajapaksa resigned in 2022, and he led Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and its external creditors. He secured $2.9 billion in financial assistance from the I.M.F. and debt restructuring agreements with the creditors.
The agreements, based on an I.M.F. analysis of Sri Lanka’s financing needs versus its ability to repay debt, were heavily criticized by Mr. Dissanayake in the election campaign. Highlighting the burden of austerity measures placed on the public, his party promised to renegotiate the arrangement when in power.
However, in an interview this week, Mr. Dissanayake said that the government would continue with the existing program because renegotiations could create fresh economic instability. Sri Lanka president keeps finance minister role, reappoints Amarasuriya as prime minister (Reuters)
Reuters [11/18/2024 2:23 AM, Uditha Jayasinghe, 5.2M, Neutral]
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake retained the key finance minister portfolio and reappointed Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister on Monday as the Indian Ocean island nation targets stronger recovery from a draining financial crisis.
Dissanayake, whose leftist coalition won a record 159 seats in the 225-member parliament in a general election last week, also reappointed veteran legislator Vijitha Herath to helm the foreign affairs ministry.Dissanayake, who has held the key finance minister portfolio since he was elected in September, will continue in that role, two party sources told Reuters, as Sri Lanka looks to chart a stronger recovery out of its worst financial crisis since independence from the British in 1948.
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is in Colombo for a third review of its $2.9 billion programme that is expected to release a tranche of about $337 million.
The new parliament will meet on Thursday to elect a speaker and Dissanayake will present his key policy priorities to the newly minted lawmakers.
"This power comes with accountability. Accountability to the people, and this power should be wielded with humility, restraint and boundaries. I have every confidence in this cabinet and parliament," Dissanayake said in a speech after the swearing-in.
"The real work we will be judged on begins now."
A nation of 22 million, Sri Lanka was crushed by a 2022 economic crisis triggered by a severe shortage of foreign currency that pushed it into a sovereign default and caused its economy to shrink by 7.3% in 2022 and 2.3% last year.
The president will have to present an interim budget in the next few weeks, as well as find ways to reduce taxes and increase welfare, which were his key election pledges, without derailing the IMF programme.
Dissanayake will also have to complete a $12.5 billion debt restructuring with bondholders and put growth on a sustainable path.
A political outsider in a country dominated by family parties for decades, Dissanayake comfortably won the island’s presidential election in September.
But his Marxist-leaning National People’s Power (NPP) coalition had just three seats in parliament, prompting him to dissolve it and seek a fresh mandate in last Thursday’s snap election.
Prime Minister Amarasuriya, 54, polled the second highest number of preferential votes, and is an academic with a doctorate in social anthropology from the University of Edinburgh. She will also hold the education and higher education portfolios. ‘Need a change’: Sri Lanka’s leftist win sparks hopes, bridges old divides (Al Jazeera)
Al Jazeera [11/15/2024 9:14 PM, Aanya Wipulasena, 25768K, Neutral]
Abdul Rahuman Seyyadu Sulaiman, 56, wanted to be heard.As Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake left the polling station at the Abeysingharama Temple in Maradana, Colombo, on Thursday, Sulaiman called out to him, urging him to stop and listen to his grievances. The police quickly accosted Sulaiman and asked him to leave the venue.“I want [Dissanayake] to listen to the woes of my people,” Sulaiman said later. “When the former government cremated a baby during the COVID-19 pandemic, I protested it. I spoke on behalf of my religion. Justice was not served to the Muslim people.”Sulaiman’s hope that Dissanayake will deliver justice that his predecessors did not finds echoes across Sri Lanka, which overwhelmingly voted for the centre-left leader in presidential elections in September. Now, that hope will be tested like never before.Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) won a landslide majority in Thursday’s parliamentary election, securing 159 seats in a house of 225 members – representing a comfortable two-thirds majority. The main opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), under its leader Sajith Premadasa, won just 40 seats.Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s New Democratic Front secured five seats, and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) of the Rajapaksa family, which dominated the country’s politics for much of the past two decades, won just three seats.The NPP’s Samanmalee Gunasinghe, who contested and won from Colombo, said: “We are happy that now we can work for the people. They have shown they need a change from the old politics.”Vote for changeAccording to political analyst Aruna Kulatunga, this is the first time since 1977 – when Sri Lanka changed its parliamentary system to proportional representation – that a single party has won a clear majority. This is also the first time that the incumbent president has the numbers needed to pass legislation in parliament without needing to rely on any allies or coalition partners.“The importance of this result, therefore, is that the Sri Lankan political fabric, fractured along racial, religious and ideological lines, has got the opportunity to unite behind a single party,” Kulatunga said, “without the horse-trading that took place in the previous coalition governments and the resultant weakening of the election pledges given.”With a two-thirds majority, Dissanayake can now amend the constitution. The NPP has earlier promised a referendum on a new constitution.The expectations from the NPP are high. Led by Dissanayake’s Marxist-leaning Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, the NPP also includes multiple organisations, including civil society groups that came together during the 2022 protests against the government of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was ousted from power.Vasantha Raj, 38, a daily wage earner from Dehiwala, Colombo, said he did not know the names of the NPP candidates contesting from his area but voted for the alliance – it didn’t matter who was representing it.“We have been voting for the same people for years and nothing has changed. This time, we’ll see what these ones [the NPP] do,” Raj said.The riseDissanayake, whose political fortunes rose sharply after the 2022 protests, focused in his election campaign on strengthening the country’s economy and tackling widespread corruption. At the heart of the 2022 protests was anger over the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy under the Rajapaksa family – Gotabaya’s elder brother Mahinda was prime minister.Wickremesinghe, who took office after the Rajapaksas were forced out of power, did stabilise the economy, using loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders. But as a part of the deal with the IMF, he also introduced severe austerity measures, cut back on social security measures and raised taxes.MF Sareena, 63, who accompanied her 83-year-old mother to a polling booth in Dematagoda, Colombo, said she too hoped the new government would fight corruption and provide relief to the poor.“My mother is very sick. She is old and I am looking after her. We find it hard to get by every day. Food prices are high, and medicines are unaffordable. We hope things will change soon,” Sareena said.On Friday, after all the results were announced, Nihal Abeysinghe, secretary of the National People’s Power, acknowledged the burden of hopes that the party carries. “We will ensure that we will not misuse this power just like the people who have done it in the past,” he said at a news conference.Tamil supportStakes are particularly high in the north of the country where the Tamil community voted for the NPP, breaking with its pattern of voting for Tamil parties. The NPP secured a majority of the seats in the north. The north and east of the country, where the Tamil population is largely based, were the epicentres of the bloodiest battles during a three-decade civil war between the Tamil rebels and the Sri Lankan army. The war ended in 2009 when Sri Lankan armed forces decimated the Tamil armed leadership.Ahilan Kadirgamar, senior lecturer in sociology at the University of Jaffna, said that in the weeks leading up to the parliamentary elections, there was a clear wave of support for the NPP from the Tamil community in the north. Many Tamil voters, he said, were angry at their community’s political leaders for their failure to deliver on promises of a better deal for them.Now, the hard work for the NPP begins, he said. To address the concerns of the people of the north and east, the Sri Lankan government must return land taken over by the military and other government departments, especially during the civil war. The government, he said, must address the worries of the country’s Tamil and Muslim minorities, frequent targets of xenophobia.“This is not easy work,” Kadirgamar said. Central Asia
At Turkmenistan’s Showpiece Beach Resort, The Tide Is Always Out (Radio Free Europe)
Radio Free Europe [11/17/2024 3:22 AM, Sahra Ghulam Nabi, 1251K, Neutral]
It’s a seaside resort without a sea.
Avaza was built at huge expense between 2007 and 2017 as a holiday destination for Turkmenistan’s leaders and state employees but has now fallen victim to plummeting water levels in the Caspian Sea.
RFE/RL spoke to Mergen (not his real name), who traveled there with his wife and two children in June. It was the family’s first vacation in three years, but it ended in disappointment.
"Part of the coast, where we bathed in the sea three years ago, was now just sand and stone. The sea was 25-30 meters away," he said.
Avaza is the only beach resort in Turkmenistan, with dozens of hotels, aquaparks, and other amenities. In August, it played host to President Serdar Berdymukhammedov and other top officials. State enterprises and institutions also send their staff there for vacations.
It’s not clear whether they all felt as let down as Mergen.
"Even if you walk into the sea for dozens of meters, it doesn’t come any higher than your knees," he said. "Three years ago, it was up to your neck.".
The Caspian Sea has been retreating for years.
This has been largely blamed on reduced flows from the Ural and Volga rivers, owing to hydroelectric projects in Russia and decreased snowfall.
Turkmenistan is the only country on the Caspian that has not acknowledged the problem.
But it’s clear to any visitor in Avaza, where you can walk to the end of a pier and still be far from the sea. Mergen said his family spent the holiday walking along the coast because the water was too shallow to bathe in.
A reporter from RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service, who visited Avaza in July 2024, said hotels were trying to build artificial beaches further from what was originally the shore. But even then, after walking 100 meters into the water, it was only knee-deep.
Turkmenistan has never released figures on how much it cost to develop Avaza. A source inside the regime told RFE/RL that some of the luxury hotels cost $40 million-$50 million each.
The falling sea levels have also affected the port of Turkmenbashi, 15 kilometers away. Opened with fanfare in 2018, it is Turkmenistan’s newest port. But it’s now too shallow.
"They are deepening the seabed near the port. Hydraulic pumps are dredging sand," said a specialist involved in the work who wished to remain anonymous. "The dredging is not only by the port, but also further out to sea on the routes to Azerbaijan. Expensive machinery has been bought from Russia for the dredging work," he added.
Will Our Grandchildren ‘See The Caspian Sea’?
In 2018, officials said that Turkmenbashi had a capacity for 17 million tons of cargo and 300,000 passengers a year. They have released no actual figures for cargo or passenger volume since then.
The claimed capacity would make it an important conduit to foreign trade for Turkmenistan, which the regime keeps largely isolated from outside contacts.
But now ships are being diverted to the old port, 2 kilometers away.
"They brought two cranes there from the new port," the specialist said. "Up until now, the old port was used for small passenger ships.".
As they headed home from their Caspian vacation, Mergen and his wife were left pondering what the future might hold.
"We were thinking whether our grandchildren will see the Caspian Sea, if the problem is not addressed," he said.
"Will they vacation in Avaza, which could be hundreds, even thousands of meters from the sea? We returned home asking each other these questions.". Indo-Pacific
Emergency Declared as Smog Chokes Parts of India and Pakistan (New York Times)
New York Times [11/18/2024 3:07 AM, Yan Zhuang, 831K, Negative]
The authorities in New Delhi closed schools and urged people to stay indoors as toxic smog, which has plagued neighboring Pakistan for weeks, choked India’s capital in what officials called a medical emergency.
New Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area, home to about 55 million people, had the world’s worst air pollution on Monday, according to IQAir, a Swiss company that measures air quality. The reading on its index rose to over 1,600.
Anything above 301 on that index is considered hazardous, potentially leading to severe eye and throat irritation and serious heart and lung conditions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency essentially considers anything beyond 500 to be off the charts.“All of North India has been plunged into a medical emergency,” Atishi Marlena, the chief minister of Delhi, said on Monday, adding that many cities were “reeling under severe levels of pollution.”
The same pollution has enveloped parts of Pakistan, where the authorities have banned most outdoor events, canceled most classes and told some workers to stay home.
Parts of northern India and Pakistan experience severe air pollution each year in the late fall, as farmers burn straw left over from their rice harvests to make room for new planting. But even for a region with cities that regularly top the list of the world’s most polluted, the air quality readings this year have been dire.
For weeks, Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan, has experienced some of the worst air pollution on record, surpassing 1,000 on IQAir’s index for the first time earlier this month.
Punjab, which borders India, began closing some schools two weeks ago. It enacted more measures in the following days and asked workers to stay at home last week. It has also banned outdoor events and most construction activity, and it has closed parks, playgrounds and monuments.
The authorities there declared a health emergency on Friday, warning of an “unprecedented rise” in the number of patients with lung and respiratory diseases, allergies and eye and throat irritation.
Delhi announced similar measures last week as its air quality, which had been poor for weeks, deteriorated further. The capital region’s Commission for Air Quality Management said on Thursday that all primary schools would close and shift to online learning and that some construction work that generates dust and pollution would be halted.
On Sunday, more measures were introduced as the pollution worsened. Some secondary school classes moved online, while diesel trucks were banned from entering Delhi. The authorities have not indicated how long the measures will last.
Many scientists have said that farmers burning rice stubble in Punjab are largely responsible for the pollution, although Pakistani officials have also pointed at India, where farmers also burn crops. Falling temperatures also appear to play a part, with cooler air trapping pollutants and preventing them from dispersing over the Himalayas.For weeks, Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan, has experienced some of the worst air pollution on record, surpassing 1,000 on IQAir’s index for the first time earlier this month.
Punjab, which borders India, began closing some schools two weeks ago. It enacted more measures in the following days and asked workers to stay at home last week. It has also banned outdoor events and most construction activity, and it has closed parks, playgrounds and monuments.
The authorities there declared a health emergency on Friday, warning of an “unprecedented rise” in the number of patients with lung and respiratory diseases, allergies and eye and throat irritation.
Delhi announced similar measures last week as its air quality, which had been poor for weeks, deteriorated further. The capital region’s Commission for Air Quality Management said on Thursday that all primary schools would close and shift to online learning and that some construction work that generates dust and pollution would be halted.
On Sunday, more measures were introduced as the pollution worsened. Some secondary school classes moved online, while diesel trucks were banned from entering Delhi. The authorities have not indicated how long the measures will last.
Many scientists have said that farmers burning rice stubble in Punjab are largely responsible for the pollution, although Pakistani officials have also pointed at India, where farmers also burn crops. Falling temperatures also appear to play a part, with cooler air trapping pollutants and preventing them from dispersing over the Himalayas. Direct Pakistan-Bangladesh Shipping Route Marks Rebuilding Ties (Agence France-Presse)
Agence France-Presse [11/17/2024 7:54 PM, Staff, 9769K, Neutral]
The first cargo ship in decades to sail directly from Pakistan to Bangladesh successfully unloaded its containers, port officials told AFP Sunday, as both sides seek to rebuild ties after decades of frosty relations.The two countries, once one nation, split in 1971 after a brutal war, with Bangladesh then drawing closer to Pakistan’s rival India.But its ties with New Delhi have frayed after a student-led revolution in August toppled Bangladesh’s autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India by helicopter.The 182-metre (597-foot) long container ship -- the Panama-flagged Yuan Xiang Fa Zhan -- had sailed from Pakistan’s Karachi to Bangladesh’s Chittagong.Top Chittagong port official Omar Faruq confirmed to AFP on Sunday that the ship had unloaded its cargo on November 11 before departing.Pakistan’s envoy to Dhaka, Syed Ahmed Maroof, sparked widespread discussion on social media in Bangladesh when he said after the docking that the direct shipping route was "a major step" in boosting trade across the region.The route will "promote new opportunities for businesses on both sides", Maroof wrote on Facebook.Chittagong port authorities said the ship brought goods from Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, including raw materials for Bangladesh’s key garment industry and basic foodstuffs.In September, Bangladesh eased import restrictions on Pakistani goods, which previously required a mandatory physical inspection on arrival which resulted in long delays.Pakistani goods previously had to be off-loaded onto feeder vessels -- usually in Sri Lanka, Malaysia or Singapore -- before travelling to Bangladesh. Twitter
Afghanistan
Suhail Shaheen@suhailshaheen1
[11/16/2024 1:40 PM, 737.2K followers, 48 retweets, 244 likes]
According to the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled, it has transparently dispensed Afs. 10,409, 000,000 to orphans, the disabled and widows in the country through banking system in the past five months and the series have been continuing.
Jahanzeb Wesa@JahanzebWesa
[11/17/2024 2:11 PM, 4.7K followers, 4 retweets, 5 likes]
On the occasion of International Student Day, Afghan girls under control of Taliban have been deprived of the right to education for more than 1,157 days. Girls students consider the deprivation of education as waste of their lives & demand reopening of schools & universities.
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[11/16/2024 4:24 PM, 244.5K followers, 71 retweets, 448 likes]
Afghanistan’s National Resistance Front says their forces targeted the Taliban’s intelligence headquarters in Kunduz, killing three Taliban operatives and wounding two others. Pakistan
Shehbaz Sharif@CMShehbaz
[11/16/2024 6:12 AM, 6.7M followers, 619 retweets, 1.9K likes]
Strongly condemn the terrorist attack in Johan, Kalat. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. Immediate action will be taken against the perpetrators. Such cowardly acts cannot deter our resolve—together with our nation and security forces, we will eliminate this menace.
Shehbaz Sharif@CMShehbaz
[11/17/2024 7:21 PM, 6.7M followers, 447 retweets, 1.5K likes]
I wish to felicitate President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on resounding victory of his party in the parliamentary elections. This is a testament to the confidence and trust that the people of Sri Lanka have reposed in his vision and leadership. Pakistan remains committed to further expanding its close and longstanding relations with Sri Lanka, which are based on mutual respect, shared values, and a long history of cooperation. @anuradisanayake @PMDNewsGov @MFASriLanka
Imran Khan@ImranKhanPTI
[11/16/2024 3:10 AM, 20.9M followers, 15K retweets, 27K likes]
Message from Former Prime Minister, Imran Khan (November 15, 2024)
After keeping me and my wife in jail for a year, the Prosecutor General has admitted in the High Court that there was a mistrial in the ToshaKhana (Gift Repository) case, and that the requirements of justice were not observed. This is an admission of political vengeance by the Mafia who are holding the state hostage and using NAB for victimisation. It is a big question mark on our judicial system. Following this admission, I demand the resignations of the Chairman NAB, the Prosecutor General, and the investigation officers, and the relevant judges. Disciplinary action must be taken against them for the mistrial of the country’s most popular leader at the behest of the occupying mafia.
I was sentenced in five frivolous cases in an equally ridiculous manner and two more bogus trials are speedily being conducted so that I can be detracted from the movement for genuine sovereignty, democracy, and rule of law. But I will continue the fight for the genuine freedom of Pakistanis until the very last drop of my blood!
Following the passing of the 26th Constitutional Amendment, the High Court and the Supreme Court have become no more than kangaroo courts, and their status now is similar to any government department. By curbing the power of the judiciary, the country’s already corrupt judicial system will come to a complete stand still. It is said that democracy is in danger. But is there any democracy left in the country? Democracy means liberty, rule of law, and the free provision of justice. Democracy in the country has been annihilated. The country has been turned into a Banana Republic!
This is why I am calling upon the Pakistani nation, that this is the time, to not only come out on November 24, but for every individual to take on the responsibility to launch a movement for mass mobilization. Through this movement will the dream of genuine freedom, democracy, and rule of law be realized. Otherwise, life-long slavery will remain the nation’s destiny. If not now, then when? If not you, then who?
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[11/17/2024 3:18 AM, 214.7K followers, 139 retweets, 717 likes]
Pakistan’s policy and media space have been heavily focused on Trump and the Khan factor. The more important issue may be that the incoming Trump administration may place less priority on relations with Islamabad than any other US administration has in quite a few years.
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[11/15/2024 1:26 PM, 214.7K followers, 1.6K retweets, 4.3K likes]
Pakistan is working to strengthen its digital economy while simultaneously taking draconian steps to police online content-including banning platforms, installing a firewall & now cracking down on VPNs. This is a textbook case of shooting yourself in the foot. Both feet in fact.
Hamid Mir@HamidMirPAK
[11/17/2024 12:00 AM, 8.5M followers, 400 retweets, 1.4K likes]
US lawmakers ask Biden to seek Imran’s release. The lawmakers criticised the US Embassy in Islamabad for failing to address the concerns of the Pakistani-American community. They want direct interference of @usembislamabad in Pakistani politics. https://www.dawn.com/news/1872903 Tanvi Madan@tanvi_madan
[11/16/2024 10:06 AM, 90.4K followers, 6 retweets, 20 likes]
After a Russian dep PM visited Pakistan & Rus-Pak military exercise, Rus dep defense minister was in Pak. Met chiefs of army, air force, navy; chaired 5th consultative cmte mtg. Acc to RU, talked global/reg security, mil coop; agreed to Interdepartmental Cooperation Plan for 2025
Tanvi Madan@tanvi_madan
[11/16/2024 10:08 AM, 90.4K followers, 1 retweet, 5 likes]
2/ 5th Joint Military Consultative Committee Meeting took place a couple of weeks ago. 7th Druzbha military exercise took place in October. A Russian deputy PM visited in September.
Habib Khan@HabibKhanT
[11/17/2024 2:36 PM, 244.5K followers, 15 retweets, 49 likes]
Pakistan has waged Jihad against digital freedom, declaring VPNs un-Islamic. Earlier this year, the government banned countless websites, including Twitter. The irony? The Pakistani Prime Minister continues tweeting on X—likely using a VPN himself. India
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[11/17/2024 7:38 PM, 103.6M followers, 3.5K retweets, 29K likes]
Landed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to take part in the G20 Summit. I look forward to the Summit deliberations and fruitful talks with various world leaders.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[11/17/2024 7:51 AM, 103.6M followers, 5K retweets, 23K likes]
Honoured to be conferred with the ‘Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger’ Award by Nigeria. I accept it with great humility and dedicate it to the people of India.
Narendra Modi@narendramodi
[11/17/2024 9:18 AM, 103.6M followers, 3.1K retweets, 16K likes]
Speaking at the inauguration of the Bodoland Mohotsov. Our Government is committed to ensuring progress and prosperity for the vibrant Bodo community. https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1dRKZdeRWnQJB
Dr. S. Jaishankar@DrSJaishankar
[11/17/2024 10:37 AM, 3.3M followers, 1.4K retweets, 17K likes]
Pleased to meet Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu Garu today in Delhi. Assured continued support of MEA in meeting the new development targets and aspirations of Andhra Pradesh. @ncbn
Rahul Gandhi@RahulGandhi
[11/17/2024 1:17 PM, 27.3M followers, 4.9K retweets, 15K likes]
The recent string of violent clashes and continuing bloodshed in Manipur is deeply disturbing. After more than a year of division and suffering, it was the hope of every Indian that the Central and State governments would have made every effort at reconciliation and found a solution. I urge the PM once again to visit Manipur and work towards restoring peace and healing in the region. NSB
Sabria Chowdhury Balland@sabriaballand
[11/17/2024 4:23 PM, 7.3K followers, 3 likes]
The few cases of violence that did occur were politically motivated but were falsely framed as religious conflicts to destabilize #Bangladesh, says Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus. https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/365446/yunus-reports-on-violence-against-minorities
Sabria Chowdhury Balland@sabriaballand
[11/17/2024 4:10 PM, 7.3K followers, 1 retweet, 1 like]
While Hasina and her close associates are facing numerous criminal charges at home, the Yunus-led government is also pushing for the ICC to take up the case. #Bangladesh https://apnews.com/article/bangladesh-sheikh-hasina-extradition-india-4265a19fe3144af5f7347072e8c64a14Jon Danilowicz@JonFDanilowicz
[11/17/2024 2:13 PM, 9.5K followers, 24 retweets, 178 likes]
This Al Jazeera interview of @ChiefAdviserGoB provides some important updates on #Bangladesh interim government’s progress and prospects going forward. This is reassuring for those who want to see the interim government succeed. Well worth watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=eGx2s6W5dy2WxrZJ&v=RRbxFxxJm88&feature=youtu.be
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[11/18/2024 2:20 AM, 100.1K followers, 16 likes]
I am delighted that after nearly seven years, a Refresher Workshop for Dzongrabs and Dungpas is being held in Damphu, Tsirang, with support from the @EU_Commission.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[11/18/2024 2:20 AM, 100.1K followers, 1 like]
To the Dzongrabs and Dungpas, I emphasized their critical role in ensuring that initiatives like the Economic Stimulus Programme, road construction, education, healthcare, and tourism translate into real benefits for the people.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[11/18/2024 2:20 AM, 100.1K followers, 1 like] I urged them to take ownership by engaging directly with schools, hospitals, and infrastructure projects, supporting youth through programs like ESP, and promoting opportunities in domestic tourism and local businesses.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[11/18/2024 2:20 AM, 100.1K followers, 3 likes]
Above all, I stressed that His Majesty The King is spearheading transformative initiatives like the Gelephu Mindfulness City, and it is our shared responsibility to support His Majesty’s vision and ensure it progresses without any distractions.
Tshering Tobgay@tsheringtobgay
[11/18/2024 2:20 AM, 100.1K followers, 2 likes]
I am grateful to the @EU_Commission for their steadfast support in strengthening good governance and decentralization in Bhutan - your partnership continues to make a meaningful difference for our people.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[11/17/2024 11:39 AM, 110.9K followers, 209 retweets, 211 likes]
President Dr @MMuizzu attends the official reception to celebrate one year in office. He was accompanied by First Lady Madam Sajidha Mohamed.
The President’s Office, Maldives@presidencymv
[11/17/2024 12:02 PM, 110.9K followers, 177 retweets, 177 likes]
In his address to the nation on the occasion, the President Dr @MMuizzu reflected on the achievements of the administration in the past 52 weeks, highlighting the major developmental projects undertaken and the administration’s priorities for the years ahead. #Hafthaa52
K P Sharma Oli@kpsharmaoli
[11/17/2024 10:53 AM, 861.3K followers, 198 retweets, 1.2K likes]
Happy to announce that Nepal has started exporting 40 MW of electricity to Bangladesh today! This follows a trilateral agreement between Nepal, India, and Bangladesh on Oct 3 to export power via India’s transmission line. #EnergyCooperation #NepalBangladesh #Sustainability
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[11/17/2024 3:10 AM, 214.7K followers, 4 retweets, 33 likes]
What I’ve taken from my conversations in Nepal is that a country for so long close to and dependent on India is now grappling with China’s growing inroads—and how to balance the two powers and their competition. The stakes are especially high for Nepal because of its location.
Michael Kugelman@MichaelKugelman
[11/17/2024 2:25 AM, 214.7K followers, 8 retweets, 176 likes] I’ve traveled to South Asia for 15 years and yet until this trip to Nepal I’d never engaged in pillion riding. I’m proud to say I have now done it, and survived (and told the driver to go very slow and put my hands on his shoulders and held on for dear life). Central Asia
Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s Press-service@president_uz
[11/17/2024 8:27 AM, 205.1K followers, 3 retweets, 59 likes]
President Shavkat #Mirziyoyev reviewed the progress on ensuring an uninterrupted energy supply for the population and enterprises during the autumn-winter season. Measures include enhancing energy efficiency in industry, modernizing gas supply networks and expanding exploration efforts in collaboration with private companies.
Saida Mirziyoyeva@SMirziyoyeva
[11/15/2024 12:07 PM, 20.5K followers, 7 retweets, 76 likes]
Today, we engaged in an open and heartfelt dialogue with students, discussing pressing issues and exchanging ideas and perspectives. Listening to young people is vital, as they are the ones who will shape the future we all share. #youth
Navbahor Imamova@Navbahor
[11/18/2024 1:02 AM, 23.8K followers, 2 likes]
Tashkent @USAGMgov #SolutionsJournalism workshop is on with 22 journalists and bloggers from leading media outlets in Uzbekistan. Bold infos and goals/visions from the participants. Good luck! !
Navbahor Imamova@Navbahor
[11/17/2024 4:37 AM, 23.8K followers, 3 retweets, 4 likes]
Good to see local media expansion and collaboration in Ferghana, which is one of the largest media markets (10 mln+) not only in Uzbekistan but Central Asia. Most of the content is entertainment, unfortunately, but there are news journalists who are trying to make a difference.
Navbahor Imamova@Navbahor
[11/15/2024 5:54 PM, 23.8K followers, 1 retweet, 4 likes]
Ferghana, Uzbekistan: Another brilliant training session @USAGMgov with Andrew Lehren in this part of the world, where we have spent three days focusing on #SolutionsJournalism, fact-checking and gathering, storytelling, and best practices. 1/2
Navbahor Imamova@Navbahor
[11/15/2024 5:54 PM, 23.8K followers, 1 like]
20 journalists and bloggers from Namangan, Andijan, and Ferghana @USAGMgov workshop deeply appreciated learning from Andrew Lehren, a Pulitzer-award winner, who shared his expertise and experience doing stories of global relevance. 2/2{End of Report} To subscribe to the SCA Morning Press Clips, please email SCA-PressOfficers@state.gov. Please do not reply directly to this email.