Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh), Jan 3,2022: Ninety days later, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the Lakhimpur Kheri violence which claimed eight lives, including those of four farmers, filed a chargesheet on Monday.
The farmers who were protesting against the Centre’s farm laws were killed in Tikunia village when a vehicle mowed them down on October 3 last year. Three BJP workers were killed in retaliation by a mob that became furious after seeing the farmers die. A journalist was also killed.
In the chargesheet spread over 5,000 pages, the prosecution has added a name in the list of accused.
Now 14 people have been accused including Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra. The prosecution has added the name of Virendra Shukla, a confidant of Ajay Mishra, and charged him under section 201 of the Indian Penal Code, prosecution lawyer S P Yadav said.
So far 13 accused, including Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra, have been sent to jail. While Ashish Mishra was arrested on October 10, Lavkush and Ashish Pandey, his close aides, were taken into custody on October 7. Both are in judicial custody.
Ashish Mishra’s involvement led to attacks on the BJP ahead of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Political parties have been demanding the resignation of Minister Ajay Mishra.
Taipei [Taiwan], January 2,2022: Taiwan witnesses a rise in immigration from Hong Kong amid national security crackdown.
The democratic island of Taiwan is expecting a new wave of arrivals from the former British colony of Hong Kong, where the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is presiding over a city-wide crackdown on civil society, public dissent and political opposition under a draconian national security law, according to Radio Free Asia.
The latest statistics from the Taiwan Immigration Department indicate that number of Hong Kong residents emigrating to Taiwan hit a new high in 2021, the island’s Mainland Affairs Commission (MAC) spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng told reporters on Friday.
Earlier, the island’s interior ministry handed out 9,772 residence cards to Hong Kong residents between January and November 2021, compared with 9,501 in the same period in 2020, according to Radio Free Asia.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong public servants who had already taken a mandatory oath of allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be rejected by Taiwan, unless they were employees of the Hospital Authority, serving in public healthcare facilities.
Taiwan’s interior ministry handed out 9,772 residence cards to Hong Kong residents between January and November 2021, compared with 9,501 in the same period in 2020.
Permanent residency was awarded to 1,572 Hongkongers, compared with 1,397 in the same period the previous year, according to Radio Free Asia.
Jan 02,202:The United States has cut Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea out of a duty-free trade programme over alleged human rights violations and recent coups.
In a statement on Saturday, the US Trade Representative (USTR) said it terminated the three countries from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) “due to actions taken by each of their governments in violation of the AGOA Statute”.
It said the US was deeply concerned “by the gross violations of internationally recognised human rights being perpetrated by the government of Ethiopia and other parties amid the widening conflict in northern Ethiopia”, as well as by “the unconstitutional change in governments in both Guinea and Mali”.
There was no immediate comment from the Washington embassies of the three African countries.
The AGOA trade legislation provides sub-Saharan African nations with duty-free access to the US if they meet certain eligibility requirements, such as eliminating barriers to US trade and investment and making progress towards political pluralism.
In 2020, 38 countries were eligible for AGOA.
In its Saturday statement, the USTR said Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea may still rejoin the pact if they met the statute’s provisions.
New York [US], January 1,2022: The turmoil in Myanmar is projected to have driven almost half the population into poverty heading into 2022, wiping out the impressive gains made since 2005, according to a UN Humanitarian Needs Overview published on Friday by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
This comes as people in the Southeast Asia country are facing an unprecedented political, socioeconomic, human rights and humanitarian crisis with needs escalating dramatically since the military takeover and a severe COVID-19 third wave, UN News reported.
The situation has been worsening since the beginning of 2021, when the military took over the country, ousting the democratically elected Government. Nearly 14 out of 15 states and regions are now estimated to be within the critical threshold for acute malnutrition.
For this year, the analysis projects that 14.4 million people will need aid in some form, approximately a quarter of the population. The number includes 6.9 million men, 7.5 million women, and five million children.
Price hikes, COVID-19 movement restrictions, and ongoing insecurity have forced the most vulnerable people to emergency strategies to buy food and other basic supplies, according to UN News.
Prices for key household commodities have risen significantly, making some food items unaffordable. At the same time, farming incomes have been affected by lower prices for some crops, higher input prices, and limited access to credit.
Monsoon floods in July and August have also affected more than 120,000 people, resulting in crop losses and contributing to food insecurity. For 2022, the humanitarian affairs office OCHA, says the outlook “remains dire”.
The political and security situation is “expected to remain volatile” and the fourth wave of COVID-19, due to relatively low vaccination rates and the emergence of new variants, is considered a rising risk.
According to the reports coming out of the country, prices are only expected to decrease marginally, while farm gate prices will likely remain low. As a result, consumer prices are projected to be higher, with incomes continuing to decrease.
The unrelenting stress on communities is having an undeniable impact on the physical and mental health of the nation, particularly the psychological well-being of children and young people, according to OCHA.
Moscow [Russia], December 31,2021: According to the Russian Times, Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted a bill to State Duma on Wednesday to simplify the process of attaining citizenship for people living within the border of the Soviet Union and their children.
According to TASS News, this option will be available for children or Great Patriotic War veterans, former USSR citizens and people who are close relatives of the Russian citizens. This bill states that Russian citizens cannot be stripped of their citizenship. It also stated that Russian citizens have a right to change citizenship and that they will not be expelled or extradited.
According to TASS News, under this legislation, the rights of no citizen will be restricted based on colour, race, ethnicity, language and religion. The significant distinction in this newly submitted bill and the current legislation is that only marriage will not qualify for citizenship. This bill will simplify the process of providing citizenship to people that have a child with a Russian citizen, including through adoption.
Eligible candidates for this simplified naturalization would also include military service members that served in Russian units stationed outside of Russia as of February 6, 1992. Notably, this simplified acquisition of Russian citizenship is not applicable for investors and highly qualified professionals.
According to TASS News, Special Circumstances Naturalizations can be initiated by the federal government, a regional head and the non-profit group: Russia- A country of opportunities. These applicants can avail simplified naturalization if they are able to justify it. It can include their accomplishments in culture, science, engineering, manufacturing, sports, civil activity, economy and contribution to Russia’s defence and security.
Putin previously cited that Russia faces demographic and economic challenges as it has vast areas but the nation only has a population of 146 million. He said that this population in relation to its land size is “insufficient”. He said that Russia only has 81 million people of working age and this comes off as a disadvantage to it and that this is a small viable labour force relative to its size.
According to Russian Times-News(rt news), earlier this month, Putin said “We need to make sure that people who would like to come to work here prepare for this trip to our country and for work here [while] in their homelands,”
Citizenship Revocation
According to TASS News, this bill contains the grounds on which the naturalization of citizenship will be revoked. It includes terrorism-related felonies, such crimes as drug trafficking and crimes against the state.
In the previous legislation the citizenship renunciation used to be handled by the President however in the current legislation this has changed. Now, if anyone wants renunciation of their citizenship, it will be handled by the Interior Ministry.
This bill also provides special rights to the President in special circumstances to naturalize foreign nationals or other people without citizenship.
Moscow, Dec 31,2021: NATO countries are systematically transforming Ukraine into a military foothold against Russia and building bases there, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Sputnik.
“NATO member states are systematically transforming Ukraine into a military foothold against Russia, building their bases there, using its territory for conducting exercises. If this year there were seven such maneuvers, then in the coming year, according to a law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada [the parliament] of Ukraine, 10 [drills are planned], including one year-round [exercise],” Lavrov said.
The minister added that the number of troops participating in drills in Ukraine will double in 2022 and reach 64,000.
New Delhi, Dec 29,2021: India on Wednesday welcomed Egypt as the fourth new member of the BRICS New Development Bank family.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in a tweet said: “India welcomes Egypt as the fourth new member of #BRICS #NewDevelopmentBank family. Bangladesh, UAE & Uruguay joined in Sep 2021.
“Membership expansion enables @NDB_int to position itself as a premier development institution for emerging economies.”
On Wednesday, the New Development Bank (NDB) – established by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in 2015 – admitted Egypt as a new member.
NDB’s Board of Governors authorised the Bank to conduct formal negotiations with prospective members in late 2020. After a round of successful negotiations, NDB started expanding its membership in September 2021 with the admission of Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Uruguay.
Egypt is the fourth new member admitted into NDB, further expanding the Bank’s global outreach, said the Shanghai-headquartered NDB in a statement.
Egypt will have in NDB a new platform to foster cooperation in infrastructure and sustainable development with BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries.