Patna, Oct 28,2020: Polling began Wednesday morning in 71 assembly constituencies of Bihar in the first phase of three-phase elections amid tight security and COVID-19 guidelines in place.
Of the total 2,14,84,787 electors eligible to exercise the franchise, 1,12,76,396 are male voters, 1,01,29,101 are female electors and 599 are in third gender category, according to data provided by the Election Commission
There are 78,691 service electors.
A total of 1,066 candidates — 952 men and 114 women — are in the fray in the first phase of elections being held in constituencies spread across 16 districts.
Guidelines have been issued by the Commission for safe conduct of the electoral exercise in the midst of the raging COVID-19 pandemic
These guidelines include lowering the maximum number of voters for a polling booth from 1,600 to 1,000, staggering the polling hours and extending postal ballot facility to those above 80
Besides, sanitisation of electronic voting machines, wearing of masks and other protective gear by polling personnel and the availability of thermal scanner, hand sanitiser, soap and water has also to be ensured at polling stations
The second and the third phase of polls are scheduled for November 3 and November 7. The results will be announced on November 10.
New Delhi, Oct 27,2020: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday extended the Unlock 5.0 guidelines till November 30 with no new changes.
According to the order, strict lockdown will continue in the containment zones.
The Centre has asked people to exercise extreme caution and follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Jan Aandolan and to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the Unlock 5.0, all activities such as the operation of the metro rail, shopping malls,hotel, restaurants and hospitality services, religious places, yoga and training institutes, gymnasiums, cinemas and entertainment park under the prescribed Standard Operative Procedures while the States and Union Territories have been permitted to take decision on reopening of schools and colleges.
However, the Centre has permitted the state and private universities for research scholars allowing gatherings not above the limit of 100.
International air travel of passengers as permitted by MHA under ‘air bubble scheme’ to continue till November 30, swimming pools being used for training of sportsperson while cinemas, theatres and multiplexes to function upto 50 percent of their seating capacity.
The Covid-19 protocol has to be followed strictly and three precautions: wearing a mask properly, washing hands frequently and maintaining safe distance have to be followed as usual, the guidelines said.
The national directives for COVID-19 management will continue to be followed throughout the country, so as to enforce COVID-19 appropriate behavior.The States have been asked not to impose any local lockdown outside containment zones and there will be no restriction on Inter-State and intra-State movement.
The use of Aarogya setu app to be encouraged while adequate protection for vulnerable persons, the guidelines said.The coronavirus induced country-wide lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from March 25 and it was extended in phases till May 31.
The Unlock process in the country had begun on June 1 with the graded reopening of commercial, social, religious and other activities.
COLOMBOOCT 27,2020: China has raised objections to what it called U.S. bullying of Sri Lanka after Washington said the Indian Ocean island must make “difficult but necessary choices” regarding its ties with China.
The comments by the Chinese embassy in Colombo came shortly before the arrival on Tuesday of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is on a an Asian tour aimed at pushing back against China’s growing influence in the region.
“We are firmly opposed to the United States taking the opportunity of the State Secretary’s visit to sow and interfere in China-Sri Lanka relations, and to coerce and bully Sri Lanka,” the embassy said in a statement late on Monday.
China has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka as part of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, aimed at linking Asia, Europe and beyond, to the alarm of India and the United States.
The embassy said China’s ties with Sri Lanka stretched back 2,000 years and the two countries did not need a third party to dictate terms.
Pompeo’s trip to Sri Lanka, and later to the Maldives, another Indian Ocean island nation, is seen as part of an attempt to counter China’s dominating economic presence in smaller countries that has left some of them in deep debt.
Ahead of the trip, Dean Thompson, the senior State Department official for South and Central Asian affairs, said Sri Lanka must make tough choices to secure its economic independence over the longer term.
China also raised concern about Pompeo making the trip at a time when Sri Lanka is struggling with the novel coronavirus.
“Is it helpful to local epidemic prevention and control? Is it in the interests of the Sri Lankan people,” the embassy asked.
A Chinese delegation led by its top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, visited Colombo this month but it kept its personnel and activities to a minimum in line with guidelines to prevent a surge in cases, the embassy said.
“We are willing to share these practices with the United States, hoping to provide some reference for Mr State Secretary’s visit and its handling of relations with small and medium-sized countries,” it said.
Yerevan, Oct 27,2020: Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday accused each other of violating the new cease-fire announced the day before in a bid to halt the fighting over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh that has killed hundreds, and possibly thousands, in just four weeks.
The truce that took effect Monday morning was agreed upon on Sunday after talks facilitated by the United States.
It was a third attempt to establish a lasting cease-fire in the flare-up of a decades-old conflict. Two previous Russia-brokered cease-fires, including one last weekend, frayed immediately after taking force, with both sides blaming each other for violations.
The new cease-fire was also challenged quickly by accusations from both sides.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry alleged that Armenian forces fired at Azerbaijani settlements and the positions of the Azerbaijani army along the entire front, as well as on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border” using various small arms, mortars and howitzers.
Armenian military officials rejected the accusations and in turn accused Azerbaijani forces of shelling the northeastern area of Nagorno-Karabakh and other areas.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994.
The latest fighting that began September 27 has involved heavy artillery, rockets and drones, killing hundreds in the largest escalation of hostilities over the separatist region in more than a quarter-century.
According to Nagorno-Karabakh officials, 974 of their troops and 37 civilians have been killed in the clashes so far.
Azerbaijani authorities haven’t disclosed their military losses, but say the fighting has killed 65 civilians and wounded 300.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that according to Moscow’s information, the death toll from the fighting was nearing 5,000, significantly higher than what both sides report.
The new cease-fire deal brokered by the US came out of intensive negotiations Washington facilitated over the weekend among the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan and co-chairs of the Minsk Group, set up by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the 1990s to mediate the conflict.
Beijing, Oct 27,2020: China will impose sanctions on US companies including Boeing and Lockheed Martin for supplying weapons to rival Taiwan, a foreign ministry spokesman said Monday.
Raytheon also will be affected, said the spokesman, Zhao Lijian. He gave no details of what penalties might be imposed or when.
China and Taiwan split during a civil war in 1949 and have no diplomatic relations. Beijing claims the democratically led island as part of the communist mainland’s territory and has threatened to invade.
In order to safeguard national interests, China decided to impose sanctions on the American companies that were involved in arms sales to Taiwan, Zhao said at a regular news briefing.
Washington, Oct 27,2020 : A divided US Senate voted mostly along party line to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s nominee, to the Supreme Court, succeeding late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
With 52 votes in favor and 48 against, the Republican-controlled Senate’s confirmation of the 48-year-old conservative judge to the high court drew opposition from all of the Democratic members in the chamber on Monday.
Susan Collins, Republican senator from Maine who faces a tough reelection battle, was the only GOP senator who crossed the political aisle to side with the Democrats.
The confirmation made Barrett, a devout Catholic and longtime law professor at Notre Dame University, the 115th justice of the Supreme Court and the fifth woman ever to sit on the bench.
Shortly after the Senate vote, Justice Clarence Thomas administered Barrett’s Constitutional oath during a nighttime ceremony at the White House South Lawn presided over by Trump.
ISLAMABAD,Oct26,2020: Pakistan’s prime minister has appealed to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to ban Islamophobic content on the site, warning of an increase in radicalisation amongst Muslims, the government said on Sunday.
In a letter, which the Pakistani government posted on Twitter, Imran Khan said that “growing Islamophobia” was encouraging extremism and violence across the world, especially through social media platforms such as Facebook.
“I would ask you to place a similar ban on Islamophobia and hate against Islam for Facebook that you have put in place for the Holocaust,” Khan said.
Facebook said this month it was updating its hate speech policy to ban any content that denied or distorted the Holocaust.
“One cannot send a message that while hate messages against some are unacceptable, these are acceptable against others,” Khan said, adding that this was “reflective of prejudice and bias that will encourage further radicalisation”.
In response to Khan’s appeal, a Facebook spokeswoman told Reuters the company was against all forms of hate and that it did not allow attacks based on race, ethnicity, national origin or religion.
“We’ll remove this hate speech as soon as we become aware of it,” the spokeswoman said in an emailed statement, adding that the company had “more work to do”.
Khan, in his letter, referred to the situation in France, where, he said, Islam was being associated with terrorism.
Earlier on Sunday, Khan said that French President Emmanuel Macron had “attacked Islam” by encouraging the display of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.
Khan’s comments came after Macron paid tribute to a French history teacher beheaded by an Islamist radical who wanted to avenge the use of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad in a class on freedom of expression.
KUALA LUMPUR ,Oct26,2020: Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin faced calls to resign on Monday as doubts swirled over the support that he commands, after the king rejected his request to declare a state of emergency to fight the coronavirus epidemic.
Muhyiddin had requested emergency rule amid a fresh spike in infections in Malaysia and a global pandemic that has battered the economy. But critics accused him of using it as a pretext to suspend parliament and avoid a test of his razor-thin parliamentary majority.
King Al-Sultan Abdullah’s refusal is seen further eroding Muhyiddin’s grip on power, a month after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he has majority support in parliament, including from defectors from the ruling alliance, to form a new government.
Turning down Muhyiddin’s request on Sunday, the king also asked politicians to end any politicking that could destabilise a government that he said has handled the pandemic well, and stressed the importance of the 2021 budget scheduled to be set before parliament on Nov. 6.
But leaders of other parties in Muhyiddin’s coalition and the opposition criticised his move to seek emergency powers and called on him to step down after the bid failed.
Opposition lawmaker Wong Chen said Muhyiddin’s “malicious” proposal was rightfully rejected by the king, and that the premier should resign or fire ministers who proposed the emergency.
The Southeast Asia nation was plunged into political instability in late February following the resignation of the previous prime minister, veteran politician Mahathir Mohamad, after his coalition broke apart, and former ally Muhyiddin forged a new alliance with UMNO to become prime minister.
Within weeks, Muhyiddin was faced with the coronavirus crisis, but the new ruling coalition is also beset with infighting, with UMNO seeking to exert more influence. And some of the UMNO’s corruption tainted leaders, notably former prime minister Najib Razak, have been trying to revive their political fortunes.
The country’s politicians, however, could be influenced by the king’s call to avoid politicking, and put the nation’s needs first, analysts said.
Muhyiddin is holding a cabinet meeting on Monday that is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. (0330 GMT). In a statement on Sunday, the premier said the cabinet would discuss the king’s rejection of his request.
MILAN Oct25,2020: Italy reported another daily record for COVID-19 cases on Saturday as the government planned further restrictions to contain a resurgence of the pandemic, despite a second night of street protests against curfews ordered this week.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said he wants to avoid a repeat of the blanket lockdown earlier in the year. But a number of regions have imposed overnight curfews and the central government is expected to announce more measures soon.
After clashes in the southern city of Naples on Friday night, police faced off against dozens of masked protestors in the centre of Rome after the far-right Forza Nuova group called for a protest against the curfews.
Earlier, health ministry data showed 19,644 new COVID cases and 151 dead as the disease surged in areas like Lombardy, Milan, Campania and Lazio.
Conte pledged to speed up help for businesses suffering in the crisis but said the weeks ahead would be very difficult. “We cannot lower our guard,” he added.
According to a draft decree circulated on Saturday, public gyms and swimming pools may be closed and bars and restaurants told to shut from 6 p.m., while people will be encouraged not to travel outside their home districts.
Like many authorities across Europe, the Italian government is desperate not to close down the economy completely but is facing growing public anger at renewed restrictions being imposed to limit public gatherings.
Earlier in the week, overnight curfews were ordered by local governors in Campania, the area around Naples, Lazio around Rome, and Lombardy, the epicentre of the first wave where the financial capital Milan recorded more than 1,000 new cases on Saturday.
The northern region of Piedmont and Sicily in the south will follow next week and other regions are expected to match them.
With public health services coming under strain, authorities have reopened temporary intensive care facilities built during the first phase. Despite this, Italy’s top public health body warned on Friday services were approaching crisis point.