Ecuador opened a “humanitarian corridor” on Friday and lifted its own entry restrictions on the masses of migrants escaping Venezuela’s free-falling economy and streaming towards the Peruvian border, hours before Lima tightens its border controls.
Ecuadoran Interior Minister Mauro Toscanini said there were currently 35 busloads of migrants on the move along the route authorities had opened to Peru.
“We are going to continue as long as we can,” said the minister, whose country is being crossed by tens of thousands of Venezuelans seeking to join relatives and take up work opportunities in Peru, Chile and beyond.
Peru is one of the region’s fastest growing economies, projecting 4.7 percent growth next year.
Venezuelans trying to cross the Peruvian border after a midnight deadline will be required to produce a passport; until then, an identity card will suffice.
However, they will no longer need to produce a passport to enter Ecuador from Colombia.
Ecuador — where close to half a million people have fled this year alone — moved to ease the migrant crisis by lifting its week-long requirement for Venezuelans to produce a passport, which prompted Peru to announce its own identical measure.
Peru’s new passport rules threaten to leave tens of thousands of Venezuelans stranded in Ecuador and Colombia, who are already inundated with migrants from the crisis-wracked country.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will set up a special UN team to ensure a coordinated regional response to the crisis, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.
New Delhi, Aug 22: Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar said today that he was more concerned about the rising trade deficit than the falling rupee, and called for efforts to push exports.
He also said that there is a constituency which benefits from strong rupee but it needs to be put on the back foot.
“I don’t believe in strong rupee… It will be very difficult for the government to try and push up the rupee,” Kumar said at an event organised by industry body CII.
“There is a constituency that benefits from strong rupee…The constituency should be put on back foot,” he added.
The rupee on August 16 had slumped to a life-time low of 70.32 on strong demand for the US dollar.
Kumar further said that economic policy making should not focus only on fiscal deficit number, arguing that large economies like USA, China and European Union do not give much importance to fiscal deficit.
“We must shift debate out of fiscal deficit. Countries like USA, China and European Union don’t give (importance) to it… We need to move from that single, one number (fiscal deficit).
“Nobody is playing by rules, so we should learn to play as it suits our requirements,” Kumar insisted.
He said however that some revenue expenditure can be just be brought to zero.
The main worry, he added, is trade deficit.
“I think it will be much better to try and push exports,” he noted.
Kumar argued that under the current circumstances, tightening fiscal and monetary policy at the same time would be asking for trouble.
He also suggested that India should not boast of being a big economy while negotiating trade deals as the country’s per capita income is still low.
He said Niti Aayog will soon come out with development agenda for ‘New India 2022’.
“We would like Planning Departments of State governments to work as State Niti Aayog,” he said.
Replying to a query, Kumar said nearly all states (excluding four) have signed MoU with the Centre for implementing Ayushman Bharat Healthcare Scheme.
“I met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, she is also willing to come on board,” he said.
Singapore, Aug 22: Aung San Suu Kyi said it was up to Bangladesh to decide how quickly Rohingya refugees would return to Myanmar, appearing to blame Dhaka for the delay.
More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh after a brutal military crackdown on the stateless minority almost a year ago.
The two countries last November signed a deal to repatriate them but it has stalled. Many fear returning to a place where villages were burned to the ground and where they say security forces murdered, tortured and raped members of their communities.
Bangladesh insists the Rohingya are on its soil temporarily but has not forced them back.
In rare public remarks on the crisis, civilian leader Suu Kyi said in a speech in Singapore that Myanmar has been ready to receive Rohingya returnees since January 23 as agreed in the memorandum of understanding.
“It’s very difficult for us to put a time frame on it by ourselves unilaterally because we have to work with Bangladesh in order to do that,” she told an audience in a lecture organised by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute and entitled “Myanmar’s Democratic Transition: Challenges and Way Forward”.
“Bangladesh would also have to decide how quickly they want the process to be completed,” Suu Kyi added.
Since the repatriation was signed the two countries have wrangled over details, including the way refugees are described on ID cards in Bangladesh.
Rohingya living in the crowded camps over the border in Cox’s Bazar insist on safety guarantees and citizenship rights before returning to Rakhine state in western Myanmar, where the United Nations says conditions are not ready for their return.
The US and UN have described the military’s campaign as ethnic cleansing and there is scepticism over whether Myanmar seriously intends to allow mass returns.
The crackdown against the Rohingya was sparked on August 25 last year when insurgents attacked police posts.
Calls have mounted for Myanmar’s military to be held responsible for the campaign, in which thousands are estimated to have died, and the US has sanctioned two army brigades and several commanders who oversaw the expulsion.
But Myanmar says it was simply defending itself and bristles at international calls for justice, arguing that the world does not understand the problem.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate once under house arrest by the junta that ruled for decades, has seen her global reputation crumble since coming to power for failing to speak up for the Rohingya.
“We who are living through the transition in Myanmar view it differently from those who observe it from the outside and who will remain untouched from its outcome,” she said, appearing relaxed and jocular.
She also blamed Rohingya insurgents and avoided criticism of the military.
“The danger of terrorist activities which was the initial cause of events leading to the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine remains real and present today,” she said.
“Unless these security challenges are addressed, the risk of communal violence would remain.” The Rohingya are seen as outsiders in Myanmar but consider Rakhine their homeland.
They were stripped of their citizenship decades ago and subject to periodic purges while denied access to healthcare and freedom of movement.
Islamabad, Aug 21: Prime Minister Imran Khan today chaired the first meeting of his Cabinet during which strategies to shape the new Pakistan government’s policies were discussed, hours after the President administered oath to his 21-member team.
Khan, who was sworn-in as Pakistan’s 22nd Prime Minister on Saturday has vowed to initiate massive economic and tax reforms, launch an austerity drive to cut deficit, curb corruption and bring back laundered money.
The 65-year-old cricketer-turned-politician chaired the first meeting of his Cabinet at the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Cabinet discussed strategies to shape the new government’s policies, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.
Following the Cabinet meeting, Khan met with Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat at the PMO, the report said.
Earlier, 16 ministers from Prime Minister Khan’s 21-strong Cabinet were sworn-in by President Mamnoon Hussain, who administered the oath to them.
The new Cabinet has 16 federal ministers and five advisers to the prime minister, most of them previously held key posts in the regime of former dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf.
The ministers who took the oath include Shah Mehmood Qureshi as the Foreign Minister, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Finance Minister Asad Umer, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood, Health Minister Amir Kiani, Religious Minister Nooru Haq Qadri and Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid.
Other ministers are Khusro Bakhtiar as Minister for Water Resources, Farogh Naseem Minister for Law, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema Minister for States and Frontier Regions and Ghulam Sarwar Khan Minister for Petroleum.
Three women ministers including Fehmida Mirza minister for inter-provincial coordination, Zubaida Jala defence production and Shireen Mazari human rights minister also took the oath.
Qureshi, the vice president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, was the foreign minister from 2008 to 2011 under the Pakistan Peoples Party government when the 2008 Mumbai terror attack took place.
He was in New Delhi when 10 Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists attacked India’s financial capital.
Finance Minister Umer is the son of former Lt Gen Mohammad Umer who was part of the Pakistan Army during 1971 war with India.
After taking the oath, Umer told media that government will address immediate issues like current account deficit but also take long term measures to fix all problems.
“We will bring structural changes so that recurrent crises are avoided,” he said.
Defence Minister Khattak said the Cabinet will work 12 hours every day to fulfill the agenda set out by Prime Minister Khan.
“We will bring peace in the country by working day and night,” he said.
Information minister Chaudhry said that major changes will be introduced in state media to make it independent.
Those who have been appointed as advisers to the prime minister are former law minister in the PPP government Babar Awan (parliamentary affairs); former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary Shehzad Arbab (establishment division); former minister in the regime of Gen Musharraf Abdul Razzak Dawood (commerce, textile, industry amd production and investment); Ishrat Husain (institutional reforms and austerity) and Amin Aslam (climate change).
At least 12 members of Khan’s Cabinet served under General (retd) Musharraf.
Khan, the Chairman of PTI, was administered the oath of office by President Hussain at a simple ceremony in Islamabad on Saturday.
Khan’s government is the third consecutive democratic government in Pakistan since 2008 when Gen Musharraf announced elections after serving as president from 2001 to 2008 following a bloodless coup in 1999.
The PPP formed the government in 2008, followed by the PML-N led by jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2013.
Pakistan’s powerful military has ruled the country through various coups for nearly half of the country’s history since independence in 1947.
Kochi, Aug 19 : Southern Naval Command (SNC) continued their ‘’Operation Madad’’on the 11th day on Sunday and rescued more than 15,000 people, who are stranded in various parts of Kerala due to flash flood.
At an even greater tempo, to meet the increasing requests for relief and rescue from the affected areas of the state, the SNC rescue teams had been augmented by Gemini boats, divers and other resources from both Eastern and Western Naval Commands of the India Navy.
The total number of diving teams deployed were 92, which have been sent to multiple locations across the affected districts. Twenty newly inducted teams were put into action today, to augment those already in place. Rescue operations were extended to two more districts of Kannur and Alappuzha, in addition to the three districts already covered like Thrissur, Ernakulam and Pathanamthitta.
A total of 14,797 people have been rescued by boats, over 609 people airlifted to safety and relief material worth 800 kg air dropped till date, a defence release said here on Sunday.
A total of 48 rescue teams with one Gemini boat each are deployed in Ernakulam district at various places. One team is at Pizhala island, one at Edapally, seven at Perumbavur, 16 at North Paravur, 10 at Aluva, four at Muvattupuzha, seven at Kadangallur and two at Athani. About 250 persons located at Moolamvelli Church were shifted in civil boats to a safe place by the rescue team at Pizhala island.
As water levels started to recede, the rescue team expanded the area of operations to include eight nearby islands. The rescue efforts in the district have expanded to include Athani near Nedumbassery.
In Thrissur district, the deployment at Chalakkudy has been reduced to seven teams and another three teams are deployed at Mala. In Pathanamthitta district, ten teams are deployed at Chengannur, 17 at Thiruvalla, and one team each at Ayroor and Pullad.
Meanwhile, the deployment of teams at Wayanad district was called off as the situation improved and the teams were diverted to other more critical locations. One rescue team is positioned at Kannur and 19 teams are in Alappuzha district.
In addition, all air assets available at INS Garuda have been extensively utilised for winching up stranded personnel, transfer of stores, boats, and provision of relief material – especially food and water. Air rescue has been carried out at various places in all four districts like Thrissur, Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta. Various aircrafts including ALH, Sea King, Chetak and MI 17 (of IAF) were able to rescue more than 59 people today.
Relief material consisting of over a lakh food packets, along with bottled water and medicines, were also airdropped on the roof tops of various houses/ churches. Ten woman in advanced stages of pregnancy were also airlifted to safety.
The Naval Air Station, Garuda has facilitated the undertaking civil aviation operations from Naval Base, Kochi. An interaction at Garuda chaired by Joint DGCA and attended by CIAL APD, CISF and representatives of various airlines was held to review the airfield facilities available and the layout of arrival departure plans, it added.