Junior Digest

Kathmandu, Jul 28,2020: A crucial meeting of Nepal’s ruling communist party scheduled for Tuesday to iron out the differences between Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and the rival faction led by party executive chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” has been postponed indefinitely.

The meeting of the 45-member Standing Committee of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) was scheduled for 11 am.

The two leaders — Prime Minister Oli and Prachanda — need more time for informal consultations to sort out their differences, Standing Committee member Ganesh Shah said, announcing the postponement of the talks.

On Wednesday last week, a Standing Committee meeting was briefly held at the Prime Minister’s Official residence at Baluwatar. However, the prime minister did not attend the meeting.

Subsequently, the party decided to convene another meeting a week later, on July 28, to review its activities, the government’s performance, finalising division of work among party’s cadres and leaders, and proposed general convention among other issues.

Tuesday’s meeting was postponed as the two leaders need some more time for consultation, PM’s press advisor Surya Thapa said in a Facebook post.

The date of the next meeting will be decided after the two leaders hold consultations, he said.

A bitter internal feud has been brewing in the ruling NCP since the last few weeks after top party leaders, including Prachanda, demanded Oli’s resignation, saying his recent anti-India remarks were “neither politically correct nor diplomatically appropriate.” They are also against Oli’s autocratic style of functioning.

The differences grew further after Oli said that some of the ruling party leaders are aligning with the southern neighbour to remove him from power after his government issued a new political map incorporating three Indian territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura.

Prachanda on Monday last week said efforts were going on to resolve the intra-party differences and ruled out an early general convention of the party as proposed by embattled Prime Minister Oli.

Oli and Prachanda have held at least eight meetings in recent weeks to sort out the differences between them. But, as the Prime Minister did not accept the condition of a one-man-one-post, the talks failed. Oli has refused to give up his post as prime minister as well as a co-chairman of the NCP.

The Australian government said on Friday it plans to give Google and Facebook three months to negotiate with Australian media businesses fair pay for news content.

The government has released a draft mandatory code of conduct that aims to succeed where other countries have failed in making the global digital giants pay for news siphoned from commercial media companies.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Google and Facebook would be the first digital platforms targeted by the proposed legislation but others could follow.

“It’s about a fair go for Australian news media businesses, it’s about ensuring that we have increased competition, increased consumer protection and a sustainable media landscape,” Mr. Frydenberg said.

“Nothing less than the future of the Australian media landscape is at stake with these changes,” he added.

If the U.S.-based platforms could not agree with the Australian media businesses on pricing after three months, arbitrators would be appointed to make a binding decision, the draft said.

The draft will be open to consultation until Aug. 28, with the legislation to be introduced to Parliament soon after, Mr. Frydenberg said.

As well as payment, the code covers issues including access to user data and transparency of algorithms used to rank and present media content.

Breaches of the code could attract penalties of up to 10% of the platform’s annual turnover or a 10 million Australian dollar ($7.2 milllion) fine.

Mr. Frydenberg said the motive was not to protect Australian businesses from competition or disruption but to ensure they are paid fairly for original content.

The conservative government is pushing ahead with the changes after the pandemic created an advertising revenue crisis for many Australian media companies.

Facebook and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

HANOI ,July 31,2020: There had been so few coronavirus cases in Vietnam that every patient was known by a number: Patient 17 brought the virus back from Europe after an initial wave of infections from Wuhan. Patient 91, a British pilot, almost died.
Now there is a new number that has become an unwelcome marker.

Patient 416, a 57-year-old man in the central city of Danang, tested positive for coronavirus last week after more than three months without a new infection in the Southeast Asian country.

In just over a few days, a total of 47 people linked to Danang have tested positive, signalling the start of a third, untraceable and more concerning wave of infections in a country that had reopened faster than most of the world, confident it had beaten the disease.
The surge has spread to six cities and provinces in six days, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the Central Highlands.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, on Wednesday warned that the entire country was now at risk of infection.

“Everyone, including health workers, had let their guard down months before the reintroduction of the virus,” said Truong Huu Khanh, head of the infectious diseases department at the Nhi Dong I Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

“People had stopped wearing masks in public and some health workers didn’t pay enough attention to ‘high risk’ cases”.

So successful was its fight against COVID-19 that the post-pandemic “new normal” in Vietnam looked very much like the old one. Bars, restaurants and hotels had reopened with minimal social distancing measures in place. In early July, the number of domestic air passengers even rose by 27% compared to the previous year, according to state media.

But that oasis in a pandemic-stricken world began to disintegrate when Patient 416 went to a local hospital in Danang with a cough and fever. The last person to test positive for an infection in the community was a 16-year-old girl in April.

Patient 416 was initially diagnosed with pneumonia, according to Vietnam’s health ministry, and did not test positive for the coronavirus until July 23. Days earlier, he had visited other hospitals in Danang to help his ailing mother, and attended one party and a wedding.

Vietnam’s outbreak had been under control, thanks to an aggressive contact-tracing system and a centralised quarantine programme, which had kept the coronavirus tally to under 500 cases, with no deaths.

“We acted fast and fiercely back in March but the virus is still breaking out all over the world,” said Khanh.
“We can’t let our guard down. This third wave is the cost for a moment of complacency”.
TESTING PATIENCE

The origin of the outbreak in Danang is unclear.

News of Patient 416’s infection prompted the mass exodus of over 80,000 tourists from the popular resort city. On Thursday, authorities in Hanoi said they would begin the mass testing of 20,000 of those tourists who had returned to the capital, as Vietnam’s human-powered contact tracing system was redeployed.

Some of the latest cases, including Patient 449, an American citizen based in Danang who appears to have developed symptoms in mid-June, indicate the virus had been quietly spreading in the city for several weeks.
It was not clear when Patient 449, who the health ministry said suffered from chronic pneumonia, was tested for the virus, but he was treated for COVID-like symptoms at three different hospitals before testing positive at a fourth hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

The health ministry stopped publishing testing data in mid-May, when 260,000 tests had been carried out.

On Monday, the ministry said it had completed 430,000 tests since the pandemic began, indicating that testing continued to rise as thousands of returning overseas Vietnamese were quarantined.

It was not clear, however, to what extent COVID-19 testing outside quarantine had continued. Khanh said some outside testing, especially on patients with pneumonia symptoms, had been in effect but on a significantly smaller scale.

Although the two issues have not been officially linked, the government has over recent days made several strongly-worded statements about illegal immigration, indicating that the source of the new infections may have come from overseas.

AHMEDABAD, July 28,2020: Two teenage girls from India have discovered an Earth-bound asteroid by poring through images from a University of Hawaii telescope, an Indian space education institute said on Monday.

The asteroid is presently near Mars and its orbit is expected to cross that of Earth in about one million years’ time, said SPACE India, a private institute where the two 14-year-old girls received training.

“I look forward to… when we will get a chance to name the asteroid,” said Vaidehi Vekariya, who added that she wants to become an astronaut when she is older.

The asteroid, currently called HLV2514, may be officially christened only after NASA confirms its orbit, a SPACE India spokeswoman said.

Radhika Lakhani, the other student, said she was working hard on her education. “I don’t even have a TV at home, so that I can concentrate on my studies.”
Asteroids and comets pose a potential threat to Earth, and scientists discover thousands of them each year. In 2013, an asteroid heavier than the Eiffel Tower exploded over central Russia, leaving more than 1,000 people injured from its shockwave.

The two girls, who hail from Surat, discovered the object as part of an asteroid search campaign conducted by SPACE India along with the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC), a NASA-affiliated citizen scientist group.
IASC Director J. Patrick Miller confirmed the discovery, according to an email from him to the girls.

The girls used specialised software to analyse the images snapped by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii, and made the discovery in June, SPACE India said.

New Delhi, Jul 26 ,2020: India is observing the 21st anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas on Sunday.
Named after the successful ‘Operation Vijay’, Kargil Vijay Diwas is a day when the country pays homage to the Kargil War heroes and celebrates victory over Pakistan.

‘Operation Vijay’ was the name given to India’s limited war against Pakistan after the neighbouring country occupied the high outposts in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kargil in 1999.

On July 26, 1999, India successfully recaptured the Indian territories which were captured by the Pakistani intruders in the Kargil-Drass sector. The war was fought for over 60 days.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet said, ‘On Kargil Vijay Diwas, we remember the courage and determination of our armed forces, who steadfastly protected our nation in 1999. Their valour continues to inspire generations’.

KOLKATA,July 30,2020: West Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra passed away at a city hospital in the early hours of Thursday. He was 78.
Sources at the private hospital where Mitra was admitted to said he died due to heart and age-related ailments.
“He was admitted to the hospital a few days back after his creatinine level was found to be high during a routine check-up. He was a patient of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and also had other age-related ailments,” a senior official of the hospital said.
Mitra passed away around 1.30 am following a cardiac arrest, the hospital sources said, adding he had tested negative for COVID-19.
He is survived by his wife and son.
According to a family member of the Congress leader, he was taken to the hospital a few days back for regular health check-up.
Mitra had undergone a bypass surgery some years back when he was a Lok Sabha MP.
Gaurav Gogoi, Congress MP and All India Congress Committee (AICC) incharge of party affairs in the state, condoled the demise of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) chief.
“My heart goes out to the family of the Lt Somen Mitra. He was a giant of Bengal, and he touched the lives of millions of people in his long journey. My condolences to his family and all those who admired him. His legacy will not be forgotten,” Gogoi tweeted.
Commonly known as ‘Chhorda’ (younger brother), Mitra was one of the most firebrand politicians of the 1960s and ’70s. He was baptized into the Congress, through student politics in the late sixties.
A three-time president of the Congress’ West Bengal unit from 1992-1996, 1996-1998 and then again from September 2018, Mitra was a seven-term MLA from the Sealdah assembly constituency.
He left the Congress in 2008 to form his political outfit Pragatisheel (Progressive) Indira Congress. He later merged his outfit with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and won the election on a TMC ticket from the Diamond Harbour parliamentary seat that year.
Mitra quit the TMC in 2014 to rejoin the Congress.
He was one of the chief architects behind the CPM-led Left Front and Congress alliance in West Bengal during the 2016 assembly polls.

July 27,2020: Around 500 armed men attacked the Masalit community in Sudan’s Darfur, killing dozens, looting, and burning down houses, the UN said. Amid a recent surge in violence, locals demanded more protection from authorities.
More than 60 people were killed and another 60 injured in renewed violence in Sudan’s Darfur region, said the United Nations.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said around 500 armed men attacked the Masalit community in the town of Masteri. The attackers looted and burnt houses, as well as a part of the local market.
“This was one of the latest of a series of security incidents reported over the last week that left several villages and houses burned, markets and shops looted, and infrastructure damaged,” said the UN statement.

OCHA’s Khartoum office stated that “The escalation of violence in different parts of Darfur region is leading to increased displacement, compromising the agricultural season, causing loss of lives and livelihoods and driving growing humanitarian needs.”

Following the attack, around 500 locals staged a protest demanding more protection. They said they would not bury their dead until authorities took action.
Renewed violence

Last week, armed men killed 20 civilians including children, as they attacked fields of local communities. Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said the government would send security forces to protect citizens and the farming season.

The recent series mark a surge in violence after years, targeting African farming tribes in conflict with nomadic Arab tribes, involving land disputes.

Protests in 2019 overthrew Omar al-Bashir in Sudan. The country has been ruled by an interim government since then, which has been working with several militant groups to achieve long-term peace. Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court over charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

July 28,2020: A Malaysian court pronounced former Prime Minister Najib Razak guilty in his first corruption trial over the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB investment fund.

The outcome is widely seen as a test of the rule of law five months after a new government took power. Razak’s Malay party returned to office as a key player in the new ruling alliance, less than two years after its shocking ouster in 2018 elections driven by public anger over the 1MDB scandal.

“I find the accused guilty and convict the accused of all seven charges,” Judge Mohamad Nazlan Ghazali said after spending two hours to read out his ruling.

The judge said Razak had failed to raise reasonable doubt and that prosecutors had established beyond reasonable doubt that Razak misappropriated the money for his own use.

The current trial involved a charge of abuse of power, three charges of criminal breach of trust and three money laundering charges.
‘Misled by rogue bankers’

Razak has promised to appeal. He said he was misled by rogue bankers and the case against him is political. “From day one, I have said this is the chance for me to clear my name,” he wrote on Facebook late on July 27. “After this, we will go to the Court of Appeal. I am ready.”

Analysts said the ruling would bolster the prosecution’s case in Razak’s other trials. He faces 42 charges in five separate trials and could face years in prison.

The conviction would serve as a solid foundation for the prosecution in ensuing IMDB-related trials, said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with Singapore’s Institute of International Affairs.

He said the ruling also would strengthen the credibility of current Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who was fired as Razak’s deputy in 2016 for speaking out on the 1MDB scandal although he now relies on Razak’s party for support.

Razak’s party is the biggest bloc in the current Malay nationalist alliance, which was formed in March after a political coup by Mr. Muhyiddin’s party toppled the former reformist government.
1MDB set up for Malaysia’s economic development

Razak, shortly after taking office in 2009, set up 1MDB to ostensibly accelerate Malaysia’s economic development.

But the fund accumulated billions in debt, and U.S. investigators allege that at least $4.5 billion was stolen from it and laundered by Razak’s associates to finance Hollywood films and buy hotels, a luxury yacht, artwork, jewelry and other extravagances. More than $700 million from the fund allegedly landed in Razak’s bank accounts.

Razak’s wife and several officials from his party and previous government have also been charged with graft. Razak, whose father and uncles were Malaysia’s second and third Prime Ministers, denies any wrongdoing. He calls the prosecutions a political attack on him.

Razak’s first trial began in April 2019 over seven charges related to the transfer of 42 million ringgit ($9.8 million) from SRC International, a former 1MDB unit, into his bank accounts through intermediary companies.

Razak was accused of using his position to receive a bribe for approving a government guarantee for billions in loans to SRC, committing criminal breach of trust and accepting proceeds from unlawful activities.
Complex trail of money

Evidence showed a complex trail of money through the accounts that paid for renovating Razak’s home, credit card purchases including a Chanel watch bought in Hawaii as a birthday gift for his wife and disbursements to political parties.

In defence, Razak has said he was misled by rogue bankers led by Malaysian fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, identified by investigators as a mastermind in the 1MDB saga.

Razak testified he assumed the money was part of an Arab donation arranged by Low. The judge debunked that argument in the guilty verdict, finding it an elaborate but weak fabrication. Razak’s lawyers said Low had used the donation as a guise to keep Razak from being suspicious of his plundering of the 1MDB fund. Prosecutors argued that Razak was the real power behind 1MDB and SRC, and called the Arab donation manufactured evidence to cover up his tracks.

New Delhi:Jul 31,2020: India on Thursday said the process for disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh has not yet been completed though some progress was made, an assertion that came two days after China claimed frontline troops of the two countries have “completed” this exercise at most locations along their border.

China had also said that the situation on the ground was easing.

“There has been some progress made towards this objective but the disengagement process has yet not been completed,” Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told an online media briefing when asked about the Chinese claim on Tuesday.

He also said the senior commanders of the two militaries will be meeting in the “near future” to work out steps to complete the process of disengagement.

“As we have stated earlier, the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas is the basis of our bilateral relationship,” Srivastava said.

“Therefore, we expect that the Chinese side will sincerely work with us for complete disengagement and de-escalation and full restoration of peace and tranquility in the border areas at the earliest as agreed to by the Special Representatives,” he added.

New Delhi, Jul 26 ,2020: While lauding the country’s fight against Coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that it still remains as dangerous as before and stressed the need to take all precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.

Speaking on his monthly radio show Mann Ki Baat, the PM said India’s Covid-19 recovery rate as well death toll was better than other nations.

‘Over the last few months, the way the country fought against Corona unitedly, has proven many apprehensions wrong. Today, the recovery rate in our country is better compared to other countries; the mortality rate in the context of Corona in our country is much less as well, compared to most countries, of course, the loss of even one life is saddening, but India has also succeeded in saving the lives of millions of her people,’ Mr Modi further said.

At the same time, he stressed the need to take all precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.

‘The hazards of Corona are far from being over. At many places, it is spreading fast. We need to be extra vigilant. We have to bear in mind that Corona is as fatal today as it was in the beginning- that’s why we have to be fully cautions.

‘Wearing a face mask, using a gamchha or a light towel to cover, two yard distancing, frequently washing hands, avoiding spitting anywhere, taking full care of hygiene and sanitation- these are our weapons to protect us from Corona, ‘ the PM stated.

He further said that ‘as citizens, we should not be negligent at all; nor let others be so.’

‘There are times when masks cause inconvenience, one feels like removing them from the face- especially during a conversation. When a mask is required the most, we tend to remove it. At such times, I urge you that whenever you feel your mask is bothersome and you want to remove it, spare a thought for those doctors, those nurses; think of our Corona warriors.
‘You will find them wearing masks for hours together, diligently working to save our lives- sometimes wearing masks for a span of eight to ten hours. Just think about them… you too will feel that as citizens, we should not be negligent at all; nor let others be so. On the one hand, we have to fight the battle against Corona with full awareness and vigilance; on the other, whatever our responsibilities, through sheer perseverance… business, jobs or studies… we have to lend pace to it, taking it to greater heights,’ he added.

Seoul, Jul 28,2020: North Korea leader Kim Jong Un said his country’s hard-won nuclear weapons were a solid security guarantee and a reliable, effective deterrent that could prevent a second Korean War, state media reported Tuesday.

Kim’s comments before war veterans marking the 67th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War again show he has no intention of abandoning his weapons as prospects dim for resuming diplomacy with the United States.

North Korea has previously ratcheted up fiery rhetoric or conducted weapons tests to wrest outside concessions. But some experts say Pyongyang will likely avoid serious talks with Washington before the US presidential elections in November as there is a chance for a US leadership change.

Kim said in his speech Monday his country has tried to become a nuclear state with an absolute might to prevent another war and that it has now built such a deterrent, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

Now, we’ve changed to a country which can defend itself reliably and unwaveringly against high-intensity pressures and military threats and blackmailing by imperialistic reactionaries and hostile forces, Kim said.

There won’t any war on this land again and our national security and future will be guaranteed firmly and permanently because of our reliable, effective self-defensive nuclear deterrent, Kim said.

Kim’s speech followed recent remarks by both North Korean and U.S. officials suggesting they were reluctant to engage in a new round of diplomacy on the North’s nuclear program anytime soon.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said President Donald Trump would only want to engage with Kim if there were real prospects of progress. Kim’s sister and senior ruling party official, Kim Yo Jong, said a new summit would be unpractical for North Korea and that Pyongyang won’t gift Trump a high-level meeting that he can boast as a foreign policy achievement.

Kim Jong Un and Trump met three times since Kim in 2018 abruptly reached out to Washington and Seoul for talks after expressing his intent to deal away his advancing nuclear arsenals.

Many experts were skeptical of Kim’s disarmament commitment and said he only aimed to weaken US-led sanctions and perfect his nuclear program.

The nuclear diplomacy remains largely stalled since a second Kim-Trump meeting in February 2019 in Vietnam collapsed without reaching any agreement because Trump Kim rejected Kim’s proposal to get extensive sanctions relief in return for a limited denuclearization step.

Kim entered this year with a vow to bolster his nuclear program and threatened to unveil a new strategic weapon.

He also said he would no longer be bound by a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests. Kim hasn’t performed such high-profile weapons tests, which some analysts say could completely derail diplomacy with the United States.

Kabul [Afghanistan], July 28,2020: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Tuesday that a total of 10,708 members of the Afghan National Security and Defence Forces (ANDSF) have been killed and injured since the signing of the US-Taliban peace deal on February 29.
“Between February 29, 2020, and July 21, 2020, ANDSF losses have been 10,708, with 3560 martyred, 6781 wounded and the rest kidnapped, imprisoned or unaccounted for,” Ghani said at the senior officials meeting in Kabul, as quoted by Tolo News agency.
The president also noted that civilian losses over the same period to 775, while 1,609 more were wounded and 689 kidnapped.
According to Ghani, rocket attacks by the Taliban during his provincial visits have become a routine.
On February 29, the United States and the Taliban movement signed a peace deal in the Qatari capital of Doha, stipulating gradual withdrawal of US troops, beginning of intra-Afghan negotiations and prisoner exchanges. Despite the agreement reached, the situation in Afghanistan remains unstable.

Washington DC, July 31,2020: Amid demand for “Universal Mail-In Voting,” US President Donald Trump has suggested the postponement of the upcoming Presidential elections due in November.
“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” Trump tweeted.
According to media reports, six US states — California, Utah, Hawaii, Colorado, Oregon and Washington — were planning to hold “all-mail” ballot elections.

July29,2020: A sero-surveillance study done in Mumbai has revealed that 57% of slum population and 16 per cent of non-slum residents in three civic wards had developed antibodies, indicating many people would already be affected by COVID-19 than the official tally suggests.

The sero-surveillance started on June 3 and 6,936 samples out of an estimated 8,870 were collected from slum and non-slum population of three civic wards — R-North, M-West and F-North — in the first half of July.
It showed high proportion of asymptomatic COVID-19 infection in the city.

The study revealed that 57% of slum population and 16 per cent of non-slum residents in these civic wards had developed antibodies, the BMC said on Tuesday.

“These results will be valuable to learn more about herd immunity,” stated a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) release.

Also read: 6% seroprevalence in Haryana districts bordering Delhi

The civic body is going to conduct another survey that will provide information about infection spread and throw light on herd immunity as well, it said.

The Serological Surveillance for SARS-CoV2 infection was jointly commissioned by NITI Aayog, the BMC and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).
A serological survey involves testing of blood serum of individuals to check for the prevalence of antibodies against an infection.

The study found high proportion of asymptomatic COVID-19 infection in the city.

The civic authorities claimed the sero surveillance result indicates that “asymptomatic infections are likely to be a high proportion of all infections“.

“Although prevalence in women was marginally higher than men, age-wise prevalence in the population was comparable in these wards,” the BMC said.
The BMC claimed that higher prevalence in slums could be possibly due to population density and shared common facilities like toilets and water points, the release said.

The civic body further claimed that although it is still unclear what level of prevalence leads to herd immunity, findings indicate that at least in slums this could be attained sooner than later, if the immunity exists and persists in a significant proportion of the population.

The civic body said the sero-surveillance survey also indicates that the infection fatality rate (IFR) is likely to be very low, in the range of 0.05-0.10 per cent.
“Lower prevalence in non-slums could be due to better social distancing and access to better hygiene in addition to interventions by MCGM (BMC) to stem the spread of infection,” the BMC stated.

The BMC said together with relatively low prevalence in non-slums suggests that social distancing and related precautions such as wearing masks are effective in slowing the infection spread and should continue as a new normal in all sections of the society independent of prevalence.

The study was carried out in collaboration with organisations like Kasturba Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), A T E Chandra Foundation and IDFC Institute.

As on July 28, Mumbai has recorded 1,10,846 COVID-19 cases and 6,184 deaths.

Chandigarh, Jul 28,2020: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday condemned the attempts reportedly being made to convert a famous gurdwara in Pakistan’s Lahore city into a mosque.

“Strongly condemn attempts being made to convert holy Gurdwara Sri Shahidi Asthan in Lahore, site of martyrdom of Bhai Taru Singh Ji, into mosque.

“Urge @DrSJaishankar to convey Punjab’s concerns in strongest terms to Pakistan to safeguard all Sikh places of reverence,” Singh said in a tweet.

Gurdwara Shahidi Asthan is a historical shrine where Bhai Taru Singh made the supreme sacrifice in 1745.

India on Monday lodged a strong protest with the Pakistan High Commission over reports of attempts being made to convert the gurdwara at Naulakha Bazaar into a mosque.

July 27,2020: Germany has rejected a proposal floated by US President Donald Trump to allow Russia back into the Group of Seven (G7) most advanced economies, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in an interview published Monday.

“The reason for Russia’s exclusion was the annexation of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine,” he told the Rheinische Post newspaper. “As long as we do not have a solution there, I see no chance for this.”

Russia was expelled from the G7 in 2014 after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region.
‘Don’t need’ more members

“Russia itself can make the biggest contribution to reopening such doors,” Maas said, urging the Kremlin to do more to overcome the conflict.

“The G7 and G20 are two sensibly coordinated formats,” the minister added. The G20 is the larger gathering of the world’s most industrialized countries which still includes Russia.

“We don’t need G11 or G12,” Maas said.

A role for Russia

Still, Maas said Russia remains important to the G7.

“We also know that we need Russia in order solve conflicts in Syria, Libya, and Ukraine,” Maas said.

He called on Russia to do its part in Ukraine, saying that Moscow had been slow to act there.

The foreign minister also criticized Russia for preventing the arrival of humanitarian aid to 1.5 million people in Syria.

“Russia is in control of how it is perceived,” Maas said.

Geneva, Jul 28,2020:The proportion of children under five years of age chronically infected with hepatitis B (HBV) dropped to just under 1 per cent in 2019 down from around 5 per cent in the pre-vaccine era (the period between the 1980s and the early 2000s), according to new estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO).

This marks the achievement of one of the milestone targets to eliminate viral hepatitis in the Sustainable Development Goals ─ to reach under 1 per cent prevalence of HBV infections in children under five years of age by 2020.

“No infant should grow up only to die of hepatitis B because they were not vaccinated ─ today’s milestone means that we have dramatically reduced the number of cases of liver damage and liver cancer in future generations,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Preventing mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B is the most important strategy for controlling the disease and saving lives. Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must ensure that mothers and newborns have access to life-saving services including hepatitis B vaccinations,” he said.

On World Hepatitis Day 2020, WHO is calling for united and stepped-up action to build on this achievement through intensified efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HBV through testing pregnant women and provision of antiviral prophylaxis to those who need it and maintaining and expanding access to hepatitis B immunization and birth dose vaccine.

Globally, more than 250 million people are living with chronic HBV infection. Infants are especially vulnerable: about 90 per cent of children infected with HBV in their first year of life become chronic HBV carriers. HBV attacks the liver and claims the lives of nearly 900 000 people each year.

Infants can be protected from HBV through a safe and effective vaccine that provides over 95 per cent protection against infection. WHO recommends that all infants receive a first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine as soon as possible after birth – preferably within 24 hours followed by at least 2 additional doses.

The scale-up of hepatitis B vaccine worldwide over the last two decades, which has been in large part due to the support provided by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has been a great public health success story and contributed to the decrease in HBV infections among children. In 2019, coverage of 3 doses of the hepatitis B vaccine during childhood reached 85 per cent worldwide, up from around 30 per cent in 2000.

However, access to the first critical dose within 24 hours of birth remains uneven. Global coverage of this birth dose is 43%, but this drops to 34% in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region and only 6% in the WHO African Region.

“Expanding access to a timely birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine is the cornerstone of efforts to prevent mother-to-children transmission of HBV. For countries especially in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, where the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine has not yet been introduced, it is a priority to assure that protection as early as possible,” said Dr Meg Doherty, Director of Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes.

An additional way to protect children is to provide pregnant women with antiviral treatment to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HBV. WHO already recommends routine testing of all pregnant women for HBV, as well as HIV and syphilis as early as possible in their pregnancy. In view of new evidence on the safety and efficacy of antiviral prophylaxis in pregnant women and their children,

WHO is issuing today 2 new recommendations: Pregnant women who test positive for hepatitis B infection and have a high level of HBV in the blood (known as HBV viral load) should receive preventive antiviral therapy with tenofovir from the 28th week of pregnancy until birth. The antiviral drug, tenofovir is available at low cost in many countries of the world for less than US$3 per month.

In settings where HBV viral load testing is not available, WHO recommends the use of an alternative low cost test (HBeAg) to determine whether a woman is eligible for preventive antiviral therapy.

In countries that have already achieved high coverage of hepatitis B immunization, including timely birth dose, routine testing for HBV infection among pregnant women and antiviral prophylaxis for those in need is an additional opportunity to prevent onward transmission from mother to child.

Stopping vertical transmission of HBV is a key pillar of the global ‘triple elimination’ initiative, which seeks to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of three infections that are prevalent in low- and middle-income countries: HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B virus,” added Dr Doherty.

Eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HBV is also an important stepping stone for reaching the targets of WHO’s global hepatitis strategy, which aims to reduce new hepatitis infections by 90% and deaths by 65%, compared to 2015 levels.

COVID-19 threatens to hamper progress in eliminating HBV.
According to a new modelling study conducted by Imperial College London in collaboration with WHO, disruptions to the hepatitis B vaccination programme due to the pandemic could have a serious impact on efforts to reach the targets of the global strategy.

Under a worst-case scenario, with high levels of disruptions of both the birth dose and childhood HBV immunization (by 60% and 20% for one year respectively), as well as a delay and slow recovery in the expansion of the vaccination programme towards the planned 2030 WHO-targets in the post COVID-19 period, there would be a projected 5.3 million additional chronic HBV infections among children born between 2020 and 2030 and 1 million additional HBV-related deaths among those children later on. Thus, missed opportunities now to prevent new HBV infections will have a long-lasting and life-impacting effect.

World Hepatitis Day is commemorated each year on July 28 to enhance awareness of viral hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that causes a range of health problems, including liver cancer. This year’s theme is “Hepatitis-free future,” with a strong focus on preventing hepatitis B among mothers and newborns.

There are five main strains of the hepatitis virus: A, B, C, D and E. Together, hepatitis B and C are the most common cause of deaths, with 1.3 million lives lost each year. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, viral hepatitis continues to claim thousands of lives every day.