Washington, Jan 9,2021: A media house in the United States has reported that the White House coronavirus task force believes that a highly infectious variant of the coronavirus may have evolved in the United States.
The NBC News channel reported on Friday citing a document that it said was sent out to all 50 states of the country.
The news report claimed the new strain is already surging in several US communities in tandem with the United Kingdom, variant and could be 50 per cent more transmissible.
The news report claimed that the task force dispatched a report to all the states of the country on January 3 and called for aggressive mitigation measures to contain the spread of the new strain, measures advocated by it include imposing strict social distancing and use of ‘effective face masks’
The report claimed that a few details are available regarding the US strain, though it did not mention if the US strain is more lethal.
The United States has reported more than 21.7 million coronavirus cases and 367,143 virus-related deaths since January 2020, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
Jan 08,2021:The Centre will hold the eighth round of talks with the representatives of farmers’ unions in New Delhi today to address the issues concerning them. In the earlier meeting on 4th of this month, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said that the government wanted farmer unions to discuss the three farm laws clause-wise, but they could not find any solution as farmer unions remained adamant on the repeal of these three laws.
The Government has repeatedly assured the farmers’ leaders that it is committed to address their issues and both sides need to take steps forward to arrive at an amicable solution. Mr Tomar had reiterated that Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the Mandi system will continue like before.
Jan 08,2021:The state-run Global Times says violence in US capital is the result of society’s ‘severe division’ and ‘failure to control’ the divide.
The assault on the US Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump reflects a failure of leadership, as well as the deep divide running through American society, editorials in China’s state media said on Friday.
Hundreds of supporters of President Trump besieged the Capitol on Wednesday in what House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi described as “an armed insurrection against America”.
The Global Times, a tabloid run by the People’s Daily, the newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, described the riots as a sign of “internal collapse” that could not easily be reversed.
“The unprecedented mob in the Capitol, a symbol of the US system, is the result of the US society’s severe division and the country’s failure to control such division,” it said.
“As time goes by and with abuses of resources by generations of politicians, the US political system has degraded,” the paper said, adding that such politicians “deserve chaos, violence”.
It also lashed out at what it described as “double standards” among US politicians who expressed support for pro-democracy protesters, who forced their way into the territory’s Legislative Council in 2019.
“In Hong Kong, violent actions are described as a ‘beautiful sight,’ in the US, people involved in this chaos are called ‘mobs’,” it said.
False equivalence
The Hong Kong protesters, amid mass rallies against a proposed extradition law with mainland China that evolved into calls for universal suffrage, broke through police barricades and vandalised the legislative chamber.
Hong Kong media pushed back on the comparison between the two events, saying Hong Kong protesters were fighting for more freedom at the ballot box, while the pro-Trump supporters were staging a “violent insurrection” to undermine their country’s free and fair elections.
Hong Kong Free Press said the comparison between the turmoil in the US and Hong Kong protests amounted to “perverse propaganda”. China has since imposed a sweeping National Security Law on the territory under which more than 50 pro-democracy politicians, activists and even academics were this week arrested.
Meanwhile, the official China Daily newspaper said Trump’s “narrow nationalism” had taken a toll on the US.
“If the Biden administration can draw lessons from the ‘darkest day’ in US history, the pain the country experienced these days may come to be viewed as growing pains,” it said.
“The violence and chaos that have erupted in the US over the past year show what happens when a country’s leaders lose touch with reality,” it added.
Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, earlier said that Beijing hoped the American people could “regain peace, stability and safety”, following the chaos at the Capitol.
As the violence unfolded, Global Times also published reports claiming Chinese netizens had labelled the riot “karma”, juxtaposing images of the events in Hong Kong Legco and the US capital.
The publication quoted Chinese netizens as saying that they saw the “chaos in the US as revenge”.
“This is the first political coup to happen in the American continent without the involvement of US embassies,” Global Times quoted one unnamed commenter as saying.
On the Chinese social media platform, Sina Weibo, a photo of a pro-Trump supporter sitting inside the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi also went viral.
Washington, Jan 8,2021: The Democrats in both the houses of Congress on Thursday called for the removal of President Donald Trump from office after the violent invasion of the Capitol by his supporters, which they alleged was instigated by the president himself.
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said Mr Trump should be removed immediately. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that if President Trump is not removed from office then he could be impeached, a BBC report said.
However removing Trump from office would require Republican support and so far only a few have backed such a course of action.
Four people died during the riot, and 68 have now been arrested, even as the police looks for more suspects.
The failure of the police to prevent the mob from forcing its way into the Capitol Hill has also come under deep scrutiny, with officers being criticised for not anticipating such a turn of events even though there had been a build up for several days now.
Ms Pelosi has called for the resignation of the head of the US Capitol Police (USCP).
The official responsible for security in the House of Representatives, the sergeant at arms, has now resigned. Mr Schumer has called for his counterpart in the Senate to be sacked.
Jan 06,2021:The Saudi foreign minister has said that Saudi Arabia and its three Arab allies agreed to restore full ties with Qatar.
His remarks came after Gulf leaders signed a “solidarity and stability” agreement in Saudi Arabia as they met for the Gulf Cooperation Council annual summit on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia on Monday announced the reopening of land borders with Qatar after a three and a half-year spat that saw the kingdom, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain cut diplomatic and trade ties and impose a land, sea and air blockade on the Gulf state.
The quartet accused Doha of, among other things, supporting terrorist groups and being too close to Iran, allegations that Qatar has consistently denied.
While the Saudi decision marks a major milestone towards resolving the Gulf crisis, the path to full reconciliation is far from guaranteed. The rift between Abu Dhabi and Doha has been deepest, with the UAE and Qatar at sharp ideological odds.
KATHMANDU,Jan 06,2021: Nepal’s top court on Wednesday will begin hearings on petitions challenging Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s sudden decision to dissolve the parliament, a move that has triggered public outrage and has been labelled unconstitutional.
Pro-government activists holding portraits of Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, also known as K.P. Oli, take part in a rally in his support, after the dissolution of parliament, in Kathmandu, Nepal January 3, 2021. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar/File Photo
In their plea before the Supreme Court, politicians, activists and lawyers are questioning whether it is the legitimate right of the leader to dissolve the parliament, 18 months before schedule.
The Oli, 68, cited internal squabbling within his ruling Communist party and lack of political unity as reasons behind his Dec. 20 decision.
His colleagues and opposition political parties have blamed Oli for derailing a stable government amid a pandemic that has triggered an economic downturn.
Seven ministers have quit Oli’s government to oppose his move and protesters last month burnt effigies of him.
“The constitution duly defines and delimits the power of the prime minister,” said Dinesh Tripathi, an independent petitioner.
“It does not give Oli the prerogative to cause an untimely death to parliament at his will,” he said.
The five-member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, including the chief justice, will hear at least 13 petitions questioning the rights of the prime minister.
Officials working with Oli said his move was in line with the constitution.
“We are fully prepared to face the challenge in the court,” said Rajan Bhattarai, an aide to Oli.
If the court upholds Oli’s move, Nepal will hold elections this summer. If not, parliament will be reinstated.
“If the verdict is in favour of the dissolution, there will be elections for a new parliament but we risk that in the near future, governments may not complete a full five-year-term, as the prime minister could dissolve it anytime,” said constitutional lawyer Bhimarjun Acharya.
“The country has been trapped into a tunnel of instability, as the dissolution was a blunder,” Acharya added.
Beijing, Jan 6,2021: Several former lawmakers and opposition activists in Hong Kong were reportedly arrested on Wednesday morning, on suspicion of violating the city’s sweeping national security legislation, in what is being seen as the biggest crackdown yet since the law was imposed by Beijing last year.
According to reports, those arrested had participated in a primary election held last July, designed to thin the field of pro-democracy candidates ahead of legislative elections in September, a CNN report said.
Those elections had to be postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but not before several of the candidates were disqualified and warned that those participating could be charged with breaching the newly imposed security law.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong police appeared to follow through on that threat, reportedly arresting primary candidates in an early morning sweep.
Those detained include former Democratic Party lawmakers James To, Andrew Wan, and Lam Cheuk-ting, who had until late last year been members of the city’s Legislative Council, before they and all other members of the pro-democracy bloc stepped down in protest of the government’s decision to eject several lawmakers.