Junior Digest

New Delhi, Nov 3,2021: Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthman, who was involved in the dogfight with Pakistani fighter aircraft a day after the Balakot airstrike, has been promoted to the rank of Group Captain, sources said.

Varthman was among the pilots who faced the Pakistani fighter jets on February 27, 2019, a day after India conducted an airstrike at a terrorist camp in Balakot on February 26, 2019.

In response to the airstrike, Pakistan scrambled its fighter jets. According to the IAF, Abhinandan’s MiG-21 shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet, before being shot down. He landed on the Pakistani side of the border, and was held captive for about 60 hours before being released. Pakistan had denied reports of its F-16 aircraft being shot down.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthman was awarded a Vir Chakra, third highest war time gallantry award.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 6,2021: The U.N. Security Council on Friday called for an end to the fighting in Ethiopia and for talks on a lasting ceasefire as the 15-member body expressed deep concern in a rare statement about the expansion and intensification of military clashes.

The council also “called for refraining from inflammatory hate speech and incitement to violence and divisiveness.”

It had been negotiating a statement for several days and eventually reached a compromise with Russia on the text, diplomats said. Such statements have to be agreed by consensus.

Russia and China have long made clear they believe the year-long conflict, which started in the northern region of Tigray, is an internal affair for Ethiopia. Both countries are council veto-powers – along with the United States, Britain and France – so any strong council action, like sanctions, is unlikely.

The war, which has killed thousands of people and forced more than two million from their homes, has intensified in recent weeks. With rebels threatening to move on the capital Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian army on Friday called on former troops to rejoin to fight them, state media said. read more

A planned Security Council meeting on Ethiopia on Friday was postponed until Monday, said Mexico’s U.N. Ambassador Juan Ramón de la Fuente Ramírez, council president for November.

The statement on Ethiopia – drafted by Ireland, Kenya, Niger, Tunisia and St Vincent and the Grenadines – was only the second by the Security Council in the past year.

“Today the Security Council breaks six months of silence and speaks again with one united voice on the deeply concerning situation in Ethiopia,” Ireland’s U.N. Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason said in a statement.

“For the first time, the council clearly calls for a cessation of hostilities. We believe this should happen immediately, and that all civilians must be protected,” she said.

The United Nations has said that up to 7 million people in the Ethiopian regions of Tigray, Amhara and Afar need help, including 5 million in Tigray where some 400,000 people are estimated to be living in famine-like conditions.

The Security Council “called for the respect of international humanitarian law, for safe and unhindered humanitarian access, the re-establishment of public services, and further urged the scaling up of humanitarian assistance.”

Moscow, Nov 7,2021: At least 94 people dead and another 92 injured were confirmed in Sierra Leone as a result of an explosion sparked by a collision of two trucks, the mayor of the country’s capital of Freetown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, said on Saturday.

“Explosion at Bai Bureh Road, Wellington. What we Know so far: 92 injured (48 at Connaught Hospital, 6 at Choithrams. Hospital, 20 at 34 Military Hospital, 18 at Emergency Hospital). 94 confirmed dead at Connaught Mortuary. Potentially 4 corpses are still at scene of explosion,” Aki-Sawyerr said on Facebook.

Earlier in the day, the mayor said that more than 100 people might have lost their lives in the blast and expressed her condolences to the families of the victims.

The explosion occurred on Friday night after a tank truck carrying fuel collided with another truck, according to the mayor. The extent of damage to property is yet unknown, she added.

Later on Saturday, the country’s emergencies service reported that the death toll of the blast reached 98 people.

The fuel truck crashed into a truck loaded with granite when driving out of a gas station, the authorities said. Shortly after the accident, both drivers got out and warned the onlookers not to approach the scene due to fuel leaks. However, several locals attempted to siphon off the fuel using the commotion, the emergencies service added.

Washington [US], November 4,2021: US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen Mark Milley on Wednesday said that the American military “absolutely” could defend Taiwan from a potential Chinese attack if asked to do so.
Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Milley said he did not expect China to attempt to seize the self-governing island in the next 24 months, but should it happen, US forces “absolutely have the capability” to defend Taipei, “no question about that,” reported The Hill.
He also said that Beijing is “clearly and unambiguously building the capability to provide those options to the national leadership if they so choose at some point in the future.”
“Near future, probably not, but anything can happen,” he added in an interview conducted by NBC News’s Lester Holt.

China in the past several months has amped up its provocations against the island it sees as a rogue territory, flying warplanes into its air identification zone 150 times over the course of about four days in early October.
The aggression has been a critical flashpoint amid the ongoing poor relations between Washington and Beijing, with top Taiwanese and American officials worried about an eventual military confrontation.
Milley stressed the long-held US stance of “strategic ambiguity” when it comes to Taiwan, saying that it would be up to the White House to decide whether to intervene if China sought control of the island, reported The Hill.
Referring to China’s recent test of a hypersonic weapon system, the Pentagon top officer expressed concern over Beijing’s capabilities and said this is why the United States sees the nation as a pacing challenge, saying that it points to one of the most significant global power shifts since the World Wars, reported The Hill.
Milley, who last week said the missile development is “very close” to another “Sputnik moment,” said the world is now “witnessing one of the largest shifts in global geostrategic power.”

Nov 7,2021:Israel stepped up its public opposition on Saturday to a plan by President Joe Biden’s administration to reopen a U.S. consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem, suggesting such a mission should be in the occupied West Bank.

Under former President Donald Trump, Washington delighted Israelis and outraged Palestinians by closing the Jerusalem consulate and placing its staff within the U.S. Embassy to Israel that was moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in 2018.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state and saw the U.S. initiative to move its embassy as undermining that aspiration. Israel, which captured East Jerusalem in 1967, calls Jerusalem its indivisible capital.

Seeking to repair ties with Palestinians, the Biden administration has said it would reopen the consulate, although it has not given a date.

“My position, and it was presented to the Americans … is that there is no place for a U.S. consulate which serves the Palestinians in Jerusalem. We are voicing our opinion consistently, quietly, without drama,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told reporters.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, speaking next to Bennett, proposed reopening the consulate in the de-facto seat of the Palestinian government in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

“If they (the United States) want to open a consulate in Ramallah, we have no problem with that,” he said.

In Ramallah, the spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Lapid’s comments.

“We will only accept a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state. That was what the U.S. administration had announced and had committed itself to doing,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh told Reuters.

Spokespeople for the U.S. Embassy did not immediately comment.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month Washington would “be moving forward with the process of opening a consulate as part of deepening of those ties with the Palestinians”, although one of his senior staff also said Israel’s rejection of the plan was an obstacle.

“My understanding (is) that we need the consent of the host government to open any diplomatic facility,” Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Brian McKeon said during a U.S. Senate hearing when queried on the consulate standoff.

Nov 4,2021:Decaying infrastructure and pollution from toxic “forever chemicals” are causing tens of millions of United States residents to drink contaminated water, increasing the risk of cancer and other ailments, according to a new report.

Fifty-six new contaminants, including pesticides and radioactive materials, have been discovered in US tap water over the past two years, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) reported on Wednesday.

Researchers from the Washington, DC-based non-profit analysed data from nearly 50,000 water systems from across the US to draw their conclusions.

“It’s striking and frustrating how little is being done to improve water quality across the country,” David Andrews, a senior scientist with the EWG told Al Jazeera. “Our scientific understanding of health has progressed, but our drinking water standards are not being updated with the most modern science.”

National US regulations for water, for example, do not include standards for a newer class of chemicals known as PFAS, which are used in the manufacturing of non-stick coatings, Teflon, firefighting film and other products, Andrews said.

Dubbed “forever chemicals” because they build up in human bodies and don’t break down in the environment, small doses of PFAS have been linked to kidney, liver and pancreatic cancer, weaker immune system responses and other serious health problems, the EWG reported.

“There is no federal drinking water standard to test for these PFAS chemicals,” Andrews said.

The administration of US President Joe Biden announced a strategy to regulate PFAS chemicals earlier this month, but it has yet to be implemented.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US government body responsible for creating and enforcing standards for chemical exposure, did not immediately respond to phone calls or emails from Al Jazeera requesting comment.

Contaminated water in the US made headlines in recent years following revelations that more than 25,000 people in Flint, Michigan were harmed through exposure to lead and other toxins in their drinking water. Last year, the state agreed to pay about $600m in compensation to residents, including more than 5,000 children, who were harmed by the polluted water in the working-class city just north of Detroit.

The problems outlined in the latest EWG report are slightly different to what happened in Flint, Andrews said, as contamination in that city was linked to lead pipes through which water travelled after it passed through a treatment plant.

The EWG, in contrast, analysed data from water treatment plants to search for traces of different chemicals.

London [UK], November 4 ,2021: South African novelist Damon Galgut on Wednesday won the 2021 Booker Prize for his novel ‘The Promise’.
The novelist, shortlisted for two of his previous books, received one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards for his cutting depiction of a white family in post-apartheid South Africa, reported The New York Times (NYT).
Galgut had been shortlisted twice before, in 2003 and 2010.
The Booker judges announced Galgut the winner, praising his novel for its “unusual narrative style that balances Faulknerian exuberance with Nabokovian precision, pushes boundaries and is a testament to the flourishing of the novel in the 21st century”, reported NYT.
“The Promise,” Galgut’s ninth book, had already won acclaim among critics for its menacing and bleakly funny portrait of the Swart family, descendants of Dutch settlers who are desperately holding onto their farm and status in post-apartheid South Africa.
“The Promise” was one of six shortlisted novels and stood out for its artistry and scope, judges said.

American authors once again dominated the shortlist this year, accounting for three of the finalists. They were Richard Powers for “Bewilderment,” Maggie Shipstead for “Great Circle,” and Patricia Lockwood for “No One Is Talking About This”, reported NYT.
The other authors were the Sri Lankan writer Anuk Arudpragasam for “A Passage North,” about the lingering trauma from his country’s civil war, and the British and Somali novelist Nadifa Mohamed for “The Fortune Men,” about a Somali man falsely accused of murder in Wales.
The Booker Prize is awarded annually to the best novel written in English and published in Britain or Ireland, and was selected this year from 158 submitted novels.
Last year, the award went to Douglas Stuart for “Shuggie Bain,” his autobiographical debut novel about growing up in Scotland with an alcoholic mother.
In 2019, breaking with tradition, the prize was awarded jointly to Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood.
Since 2014, the prize has been open to any novel written in English and published in Britain. Previously, it was limited to writers from Britain, Ireland, Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth.
Galgut is the third writer from South Africa to win the Booker, following Nadine Gordimer and JM Coetzee, who has won twice.

New Delhi, Nov 6,2021: The Commerce Ministry on Friday set an ambitious target of a five-fold increase in export of technical textiles from two billion dollars to 10 billion dollars over the next three years with plans to support PLIs for the textile sector in states offering affordable infrastructure for textile manufacturing like cheap land and power.

“Time has come to target five times increase in export in three years,” said Piyush Goyal, while speaking to representatives of the Indian Technical Textile Association (ITTA).

The technical textiles sector in India has been growing at an accelerated pace in the past five years with a current rate of eight per cent per annum, supported by the National Technical Textiles Mission launched in February, 2020. In January 2019, for the first time in India, 207 HSN codes were issued for technical textiles and in less than two years, India has become a net exporter in technical textiles. In 2020-21, India’s major share of exports has been in PPEs, N-95 and surgical masks, fabric for PPEs and masks.

The Government is now pushing for growth of technical textiles in the 15-20 per cent range during the next five years to achieve a bigger chunk of the global market, which is worth USD 250 billion. With a current share of USD 19 billion, India is aspiring for USD 40 billion size, which is eight per cent of the international market.

Outlining the strategy to achieve the target, Goyal called for aligning with the best standards in textile manufacturing, while ensuring a parity between the quality of textile meant for international and that for the domestic consumers. He also suggested public-private participation in use of Government funds in research and development in technical textiles, and orienting the growth towards towards high technology and indigenously innovated products.

Washington [US], November 4,2021: Congresswoman Carolyn B Mahoney announced introducing a bill in US Congress, legislation that would make Diwali a nationally recognized federal holiday.
On Wednesday, the Democrat congresswoman from New York joined with Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Congressman Gregory Meeks Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee announced the introduction of the Deepavali Day Act.
“I want to start by wishing a Happy Diwali to all those celebrating around the world this week as the time of reflection and renewal that marks the Hindu New Year comes to a close,” said Rep Maloney.
“This beautiful festival celebrates lightness over darkness, goodness over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. My bill today recognizes the importance of this beautiful holiday and gives it the respect and acknowledgement it deserves,” added Maloney.
“I am proud to join Chairwoman Maloney and our colleagues in introducing this legislation to establish Diwali as a federal holiday in recognition of its importance to our nation’s more than three million Americans of Indian descent, including Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains,” said Rep Krishnamoorthi.
“The meaning of this legislation extends beyond honouring the significance of Diwali to the Indian-American community to acknowledging the contributions of Indian-Americans to our nation,” added Krishnamoorthi.
“I am proud to support Congresswoman Maloney’s resolution to make Diwali a federal holiday. The United States of America is about celebrating the different cultures that make us one,” said Rep Meeks.
“I understand the importance of the festival of lights and hope we can soon make this a reality for members of the Indian diaspora in my district and Indian Americans all over the country,” added Meeks.

“Every year, I join more than six million Americans in celebrating Diwali, a festival of lights, signifying the victory of light over darkness,” said Rep Ro Khanna (D-CA).
“I am proud to co-sponsor this bill with Representative Maloney to recognize Diwali as a federal holiday and know how meaningful this will be to many families across the country,” added Khanna.
If the bill gets approval in the coming years, the holiday would be observed in federal institutions, with significant populations that celebrate Diwali and honour the cultural heritage of millions of Indian Americans who celebrate the holiday in the United States.
Representing the Indian American communities were advocates and members of the Indian diaspora.
“I urge the United States Congress and Senate to pass this landmark legislation allowing all Americans and future generations to come to be able to observe this important holiday as it signifies the democratic values of light and truth triumphing over darkness and untruth as well as strengthening the bonds between the citizenry, families and communities across our nation,” said Dr Sumita Sen Gupta, Author, Educator, and Community Leader in New York.
“The United States holds the largest population of Deepavali (or Diwali) observers outside of Asia and for many Americans, the holiday marks the beginning of the new year in which friends, friends and communities come together to celebrate the triumph of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and good over evil. As the first Indian American elected official in the State of New York, I understand the importance of communities being able to celebrate the festival of lights freely and through the passage of the Deepavali Holiday Act, all Americans will be able to fully observe the holiday without discrimination or persecution,” said Uma Sen Gupta, District Leader At Large in New York.
“For humanity, the biggest struggles stem from inequality, unrighteousness and tyranny. Similar to Christmas, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Independence Day and Juneteenth, on Deepavali we reflect and celebrate the victory over the darkest times in our history to recommit ourselves towards ushering in a new period of peace, enlightenment and prosperity. Deepavali is a holiday that transcends religion, culture or class and I support the Deepavali National Holiday Act to become law,” said Dr Urmilesh Arya, National President of the Association for Indian Americans.
Congresswoman Maloney in the past has successfully worked with advocates across the country and led efforts in Congress urging the US Postal Service to approve and issue a commemorative stamp honouring Diwali, which has been in circulation since 2016.
Maloney relentlessly fought for this cause as she felt that “a relatively small action would hold great meaning for millions of people.”
“Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is recognition of the light within all of us,” said Sanjeev Joshipura, the Executive Director of Indiaspora.
“Observed by a plurality of faiths, including Sikhs, Jains, Hindus and Buddhists, it is an acknowledgement to pursue the good that is there in all of us, and we hope that is a message that can be universally shared,” said Joshipura.

Nov 4,2021:Iran has said it will resume multilateral talks on November 29 in Austria’s capital, Vienna, aimed at reviving the country’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, who became Tehran’s chief negotiator in mid-September, said on Wednesday the date was set in a phone call with European Union mediator Enrique Mora.

“We agreed to start the negotiations aiming at removal of unlawful and inhumane sanctions on 29 November in Vienna,” Bagheri said on Twitter, referring to the measures the United States has imposed on Iran since its unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal – formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan for Action (JCPOA) in May 2018.

Six rounds of talks with the remaining parties to the deal – China, Russia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom – in Vienna, with the US participating indirectly, concluded in late June to allow the administration of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to take form.

The European Union also confirmed the news about the resumption of talks and said the negotiations would be chaired by Mora on behalf of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

“Participants will continue the discussions on the prospect of a possible return of the United States to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the agreement by all sides,” said the EU’s European External Action Service in a statement, which added that the remaining JCPOA signatories would be represented.

In April, Tehran and six powers started to discuss ways to salvage the nuclear pact, which has eroded since 2018 when then-President Donald Trump withdrew the US from it and reimposed punishing sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to breach various limits on uranium enrichment set by the pact.

But the talks have been on hold since the election of Raisi, whose administrations is expected to take a tough approach when the talks resume.

For its part, the US said it could reach an agreement quickly if Iran was “serious” as it announced the resumption of indirect negotiations.

Washington [US], November 3,2021: Microsoft has finally announced the launch of a stable version of its ‘edge browser’ for the Linux operating system later this week.
As per The Verge, the American tech giant will officially launch the ‘edge’ supported browser fully on Linux with regular stable channel updates.
On a related note, the preview versions of ‘edge’ for Linux have been available for more than a year.
For the users who are already using preview builds of ‘edge’ on Linux, The Verge suggests getting the latest stable version by running the sudo apt install Microsoft-edge-stable command.
For the users who are new to ‘edge’ on Linux, then the “installer is now available on Microsoft’s website,” as per The Verge.
‘Edge’ is another browser option that might work on Linux distros where Chrome isn’t fully supported.
According to The Verge, Microsoft has also added a number of privacy features to ‘edge’ to limit tracking and cookies, and “the Linux version of Edge shares most of the same features that are available on Windows and macOS.”

Hanoi [Vietnam], November 8,2021: Vietnam is ranked 4th on the list of top Asian countries for girls’ rights.
Vietnam is one of the leading Asian countries in promoting girls’ political participation rights, according to a report released November 5 by Plan International. The report also identifies opportunities for girls and women in 19 countries in Asia and 14 countries in the Pacific.
Vietnam ranks 4th in the above list. In particular, Vietnam leads the way in law and politics, along with the Philippines and Thailand; ranks second in political voice after Singapore. Vietnam’s health and education indicators also rose from those released in 2020.

Nov 07,2021:From Paris to Sydney, Nairobi to Seoul, more than 200 events are planned worldwide on Saturday to demand immediate action for communities already affected by climate change, particularly in the poorer countries in the South.

In Glasgow, organisers and police said they expected up to 50,000 people to parade through the streets of the city near the COP26 summit venue, which is under tight security.

“The mood is mixed here,” Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from Glasgow, said. “There is anger, there is some form of celebratory tactics to be used, and there is real concern particularly among the families who have joined the demonstrations.

“We’re seeing many children and families turning out, and the message primarily to the climate diplomats is one of you must stand accountable. We are halfway through COP26 right now, and the pressure has never been greater,” he added.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries are in Glasgow to hammer out how to meet the Paris Agreement goals of limiting temperature rises to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius (34.7 to 35.6 Fahrenheit).

So far, some countries have signed up to pledges to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, with separate deals on phasing out coal, ending foreign fossil fuel funding and slashing methane.

The promises followed a significant assessment that showed global carbon dioxide emissions were set to rebound in 2021 to pre-pandemic levels.

But campaigners have been left unimpressed by the summit, with prominent environmental activist Greta Thunberg calling it a “failure”.

“They cannot ignore the scientific consensus and they cannot ignore us,” said Thunberg.

“This is no longer a climate conference. This is now a global greenwashing festival.”
‘We want more’

In Australia on Saturday, more than 1,000 protesters in Sydney and Melbourne – some dressed as lumps of coal or Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a vigorous defender of the mining industry – labelled the talks “a sham” and their national leader “an absolute embarrassment”.

“No more blah, blah blah. Real climate action now,” read one sign at a protest in Sydney.

“We’re all out here to show that we want more from our government,” Georgia, one of the protesters, told the Reuters news agency.

Melbourne’s protest was smaller than Sydney’s, with just a few hundred people turning out for a rally that also featured a giant koala emitting plumes of smoke and protesters dressed as skeletons on bikes.

Several smaller events were held elsewhere in Australia.

Meanwhile, the South Korean capital of Seoul saw approximately 500 demonstrators take to the streets demanding immediate action for communities already hit by the fallout of a heating planet.

South Korea has few energy resources of its own and relies on imported coal – a cheap but dirty fuel – for about 40 percent of the electricity powering the world’s 12th-largest economy, according to figures from the International Energy Agency.

The country aims to be carbon neutral by 2050, but local activists say the goal cannot be accomplished without more fundamental changes.

“At COP26, the expected ‘blah blah blah’ is taking place,” Climate Strike, one of the organising groups of Saturday’s march in Seoul, said.

In Turkey, protesters called for more action to be taken to help save the planet for future generations.

“I want my children to live on a beautiful planet in the future,” said protester Kadriye Basut in Istanbul. “I think we owe that to our children and the planet,” she added.

University lecturer Baris Gencer Baykal, who also attended the demonstration, criticised the 2050 targets set by world leaders and called for an earlier end to the use of coal.

“It cannot be postponed any longer,” he said. “We want climate justice.”
‘It can’t go on like this’

COP26 negotiations continued on Saturday before taking a pause on Sunday ahead of what is shaping up to be a frantic week of shuttle diplomacy, as ministers arrive to push through hard-fought compromises on a number of issues.

Countries still need to flesh out how pledges made in the Paris deal will work in practice, including rules governing carbon markets, common reporting timeframes and transparency.

According to the UN, countries came into COP26 with national climate plans that, when brought together, put Earth on course to warm 2.7C (36.9F) this century.

With just 1.1C (34F) of warming so far, communities across the world are already facing ever more intense fire and drought, displacement and economic ruin wrought by global heating.

Brianna Fruean, a Samoan member of the Pacific Climate Warriors, who addressed a world leaders’ summit at the start of COP26, said it was time for leaders to take note of protesters’ demands.

“It can’t go on like this,” she said. “We refuse to be just victims to this crisis. We are not drowning, we are fighting and on Saturday the world will hear us.”