Category: World

The anti-Muslim Danish politician who was due to give a speech at the protest was banned from Sweden for two years. A year earlier, he burned a Quran wrapped in bacon.

Far-right activists burned a Quran in the southern Swedish city of Malmo, sparking riots and unrest after more than 300 people gathered to protest, police has said. 

This came on Friday after an anti-Muslim Danish politician was blocked from attending the same rally and banned from entering Sweden for two years.

Rasmus Paludan, who leads the far-right Danish anti-immigration party Hard Line, was due to travel to Malmo to speak at that event, which was being held on the same day as the Muslim weekly Friday prayers.

Paludan last year attracted media attention and incited controversy for burning a Koran wrapped in bacon, a meat that is anathema for Muslims. 

The protests in Malmo escalated into further violence as the evening wore on, according to police and local media. 

Authorities pre-empted Paludan’s arrival by announcing he had been banned from entering Sweden for two years. He was later arrested near Malmo.

Paludan later put up a scathing message on Facebook.

“Sent back and banned from Sweden for two years. However, rapists and murderers are always welcome!” he wrote.

“We suspect that he was going to break the law in Sweden,” said Calle Persson, spokesman for the police in Malmo.

“There was also a risk that his behaviour … would pose a threat to society.”

But his supporters went ahead with the rally and three people were then arrested for inciting racial hatred.

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

In a move already derided and scorned by social media users throughout the Middle East, the UAE’s ruler optimistically revoked boycotts against Israel ahead of negotiations prior to signing the normalisation deal.

The ruler of the United Arab Emirates has issued a decree formally ending the country’s boycott of Israel amid a US-brokered deal to normalise relations between the two countries.

The state-run WAM news agency said on Saturday that the decree was made by UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on the orders of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the Emirates’ leader.

Business ahead 

The decree cancels a law boycotting Israel, and goes on to allow trade and financial agreements between the two countries. It also allows Israelis and Israeli business to do trade in any of the seven federated Emirates of the UAE. 

“The decree of the new law comes within the UAE’s efforts to expand diplomatic and commercial cooperation with Israel,” WAM said.

Flights, weapons and deals
The announcement comes as El Al Airlines plans to operate Israel’s first direct flight between Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport and the UAE’s capital, Abu Dhabi, carrying an Israeli delegation and top aides to US President Donald Trump, who brokered the August 13 deal to normalise Israeli-UAE ties.

Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner will be among the US officials on the El Al flight departing on August 31 at 0700GMT, a US official said.

Optimistic outlook

The Israel-UAE deal awaits negotiations on details such as opening embassies, trade and travel links before it is officially signed. 

US Secretary of State and former CIA director Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner plan to tour the Middle East trying to drum up more normalisation deals from Arab states.  

There are no official air links between Israel and the UAE, it remains unclear whether El Al would be able to fly over Saudi Arabia, which has no official ties with Israel, to cut down on flight time. 

In May, an Etihad Airways plane flew from the UAE to Tel Aviv to deliver supplies to the Palestinians to use for the novel coronavirus epidemic, marking the first known flight by a UAE carrier to Israel.

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday warned that the coming months are likely to see the coronavirus pandemic get worse, and called on people in Germany to continue taking the threat seriously.

“We have to expect that some things will be even more difficult in the coming months than in summer,” she said at a traditional summer news conference in Berlin.

“It is serious. As serious as it ever was. And keep taking it seriously,” she said, adding: “We will have to keep living with this virus.”

Her remarks come as the number of new daily infections in Germany continues to accelerate after beginning to rise again in early July.

Senior Chinese health official revealed on state television that it was already being administered to people since July 22 under emergency use authorisation.

Coronavirus vaccine tracker: While Russia is facing criticism for approving a novel Coronavirus vaccine without completing all the mandatory tests, it has now emerged that China has already begun injecting its people with a vaccine which is still under development. The vaccine in question, being developed by state-owned Sinopharm, is currently undergoing phase-3 trials in the United Arab Emirates. But senior Chinese health official revealed on state television that it was already being administered to people since July 22 under emergency use authorisation.

A report in The Washington Post said the head of China’s Coronavirus vaccine development programme, Zheng Zongwei had acknowledged on state television that medical workers and some government workers were being given this vaccine since July 22, and that it was likely to be given to many more people in the coming months.

“In order to prevent the disease spread in the fall and winter, we are considering a moderate expansion in the programme… The purpose would be to first build and immunity barrier among special groups in the population,” Zheng is reported to have said.

This vaccine is different from the one that has been approved for use only on the soldiers of China’s People’s Liberation Army. That vaccine, developed b CanSino Biologics in collaboration with Academy of Military Medical Sciences, was approved for limited use in the last week of June. There is no information on the number of people who have already been injected with that vaccine.

Sinopharm vaccine, therefore, is the first vaccine to be authorised for use on general public, though only on special groups right now.

With inputs from The Indian Express

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

PLA soldiers asked what they would write if war broke out the next day: TVBS

Taipei: China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) asked soldiers in the province of Fujian, opposite Taiwan, to write a goodbye letter to their spouses, giving rise to mutterings that war is near, cable station TVBS reported Friday (Aug. 21).

According to the report, soldiers were asked what they would write if war broke out the next day. One responded that since he had chosen to wear the uniform, he would follow orders.

Others told the “organization” not to worry, the “motherland” not to worry, and the people not to worry, because they would “return in glory,” according to a PLA video.

Despite the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, Chinese fighter jets and warships have frequently approached Taiwan, with the warplanes increasingly crossing into the island nation’s Air Defense Identification Zone before being warned off by Taiwanese jets.

The impact of the virus and unprecedented floods across China have led to speculation that the communist regime might try to provoke a confrontation with Taiwan in order to distract the public from its own failings.

Agencies

The terms of the deal and the price of the ships were not revealed

PTI

Beijing/Islamabad: China has launched first of the four advanced naval warships it is building for Pakistan, amid deepening defence ties between the two all-weather allies.

The launching ceremony for the first warship was held at the Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai on Sunday.

Pakistan-China defence ties turn a new chapter with the launch of the first ship of Type-054 class frigate, Pakistan’s state-run APP news agency reported.

The Type-054 class, equipped with the latest surface, subsurface, anti-air weapons, combat management system, and sensors will be one of the technologically advanced surface platforms of the Pakistan Navy fleet, the report said.

Pakistan signed a contract with the China Shipbuilding Trading Company Ltd. (CSTC) for the delivery of two Type-054 A/P frigates in 2017. Last year, the Chinese official media reported that under a major arms deal between the two all-weather allies, China would build four advanced frigates for Pakistan Navy.

The terms of the deal and the price of the ships were not revealed.

The launching of the ship coincided with the 2nd strategic dialogue between Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi held at the Chinese holiday resort of Hainan on August 21.

BLOOMBERG

Ankara: Turkey says its natural gas find in the Black Sea will likely be followed by further discoveries, altering the geopolitics of energy trade in its region.

“It’s just the beginning,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said of Friday’s announcement that Turkey struck gas deep under its territorial waters. “The work will continue for exploration as well as drilling at the same time. We’re very hopeful that it will lead to other fields in the same area.”

Ankara’s state-oil arm TPAO will continue offshore exploration near the 320 billion cubic meter Sakarya field where officials see “much greater potential” for hydrocarbons, Kalin said in an interview at the presidential office in Istanbul on Saturday.

Black Sea Find

The discovery announced by Erdogan is already the largest of its kind in the Black Sea and proved the existence of sizable deposits deep under the seabed. Kalin said it also gave fresh impetus to Turkey’s search for more energy resources to be able to function as more than just a massive consumer and a conduit for cross-border gas trade.

“Turkey will be an energy producing country. That’s a new dimension, a very significant one,” Kalin said. “It puts Turkey at a different level in terms of its strategic location, relations, regional and global affairs.”

“Turkey is a premium gas market, which has never been significant on a global scale. The discovery really reinforces the country’s potential role as an energy producer in the region,” said Ashley Sherman, principal analyst on Caspian and Europe upstream at Wood Mackenzie.

Another prospective area nearby is the eastern Mediterranean Sea, where Turkey is conducting exploratory work with a seismic research ship.

Kalin said the Oruc Reis vessel will continue its survey in waters disputed by Greece and Cyprus, a conflict that’s fueling the tensions with Athens.

“Whatever we find in the eastern Mediterranean, we’d like it to be shared by all. We’d like it to benefit all neighboring countries which have a shore,” Kalin said. “We do not want to see this as a zero-sum game.”

Turkey is mired in territorial disputes with Greece and Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea as it searches for oil and gas. France has temporarily increased its military presence to ward off Turkish steps, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said the European Union was concerned over the increased tensions.

Disputed Waters

Turkey and Cyprus are at loggerheads over offshore gas reserves around the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where the Republic of Cyprus is an EU member state and officially has sovereignty over the entire island.

But the island has been effectively divided into two since Turkey’s military captured the northern third in 1974, following a coup attempt in which a military junta in Athens sought to unite Cyprus with Greece. The Turkish minority’s self-proclaimed state in the north, recognized only by Ankara, also claims rights to any energy resources discovered off its coast.

Just a month ago, Turkey and Greece were set to begin exploratory talks to ease tensions. But that came to an abrupt end after Greece signed a deal with Egypt to draw maritime borders and Turkey accused Athens of acting in bad faith.

Still, Turkey says cooperation around energy resources is possible and would benefit all littoral countries.

“We can turn the natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean into opportunities,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that we just turn a blind eye to the issues, challenges out there. We address them. We try to find some creative ways to overcome them.”

(This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

AFP

The plasma is believed to contain powerful antibodies that can help fight off the disease faster and help protect people from being seriously hurt by it.

While the treatment has already been used on patients in the United States and other nations, the extent of its effectiveness is still debated by experts and some have warned that it could carry side effects. | Photo Credit: AP

American authorities announced on Sunday an emergency approval of blood plasma from recovered coronavirus patients as a treatment against the disease that has killed over 176,000 in the U.S.

The Food and Drug Administration’s authorization comes as President Donald Trump faces intense pressure to curb the contagion that has hobbled the world’s largest economy and clouded his once-promising prospects for re-election in November.

The plasma is believed to contain powerful antibodies that can help fight off the disease faster and help protect people from being seriously hurt by it.

“This product may be effective in treating COVID-19 and… the known and potential benefits of the product outweigh the known and potential risks of the product,” FDA said in a statement.

While the treatment has already been used on patients in the United States and other nations, the extent of its effectiveness is still debated by experts and some have warned that it could carry side effects.

“Convalescent plasma probably works — though it still needs to be proven in clinical trials — but not as a rescue treatment for people who are already severely ill,” said Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

He said that plasma would likely work much better right after a person was exposed to the virus, when the body is trying to neutralize the infection.

Earlier Sunday U.S. media reported that Mr. Trump would announce the emergency authorization at a press conference, but the White House declined to comment on the president’s plans.

Trump spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said the president would announce a “major therapeutic breakthrough.”

However, the FDA already allows convalescent plasma transfusions for coronavirus patients under certain conditions, such as clinical trials and gravely ill people.

The Washington Post, which reported Mr. Trump would announce the approval, said that over 70,000 virus patients in the U.S. have received such a transfusion.

PTI

Washington: Aiming to woo the influential Indian-American voters numbering over 2 million, the Trump campaign has released its first video commercial that has short clips from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches and US President Donald Trump’s historic address in Ahmedabad.

Modi and Trump addressed a huge crowd in Ahmedabad during the US president’s visit to India in February this year. Trump was also accompanied by his wife Melania, daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and top brass of his administration on his trip to India.

“America enjoys a great relationship with India and our campaign enjoys great support from Indian-Americans!” Kimberly Guilfoyle, national chair of Trump Victory Finance Committee said in a tweet releasing the video commercial.

The president’s son Donald Trump Jr, who is leading the campaign and is well connected with the Indian-American community, also retweeted it as the commercial soon became viral on social media with over 66,000 views on Twitter in the first few hours.

Titled “Four More Years” the 107-second video starts with the iconic footage of Modi and Trump walking hand in hand at the NRG Stadium in Houston during the prime minister’s visit to the US last year wherein the leaders of the world’s two largest democracies made a joint address before a strong crowd of Indian-Americans numbering more than 50,000.

Amidst cheering of thousands of his supporters in the US, Modi is seen as saying that Trump “needs no introduction” and that “his name comes up in almost every conversation.”

He is the president of the United States of America “Mr Donald Trump”, the prime minister says at the start of the video, that has been conceptualised by Al Mason, co-chair of the Trump Victory Indian American Finance Committee.

Modi is highly popular among Indian-Americans. His star appeal has attracted record crowds. His address at the Madison Square Garden in 2015 and then in the Silicon Valley two years later, both attracting more than 20,000 people, making the prime minister perhaps the only foreign leader in recent memory to have addressed such huge rallies in the US.

His “Howdy Modi” address in Houston last September was attended by a record 50,000 people. Trump made a solo trip to Houston to join Modi in addressing the historic rally.

After Modi introduces Trump to “my family”, the second part of the commercial has clips form Trump’s address in Ahmedabad this February.

“America loves India. America respects India. And America will always be a faithful and loyal friend to the Indian people,” Trump says in the commercial in which he praises the contribution of four million Indian-Americans.

“They are truly spectacular people,” the president said.

The commercial comes following a research by Mason in battleground States according to which the Indian-Americans, who traditionally vote for the Democrats, are switching over to the Republican party in significant numbers because the friendship that Trump has with Modi and the latter’s high popularity among a large section of the community, of which 2.5 million are eligible to vote.

In the battleground States the Indian-Americans number 1.3 million as per a recent statement made by the Indian-Americans in the Democratic Party.

Mason’s survey was conducted before former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, selected Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, a move the Democratic Party leader believes would stem the flow of Indian-Americans towards the Republicans.

However, both President Trump and his campaign, in recent remarks, asserted that more Indian-Americans support them than the Democrats. In various writings and statement, the Democratic leaders in recent weeks have apprehended that Trump’s friendship with Modi might sway their traditional vote bank this November election.

The Republican National Convention now almost in a virtual mode is being held next week. President Trump is expected to deliver his nomination acceptance speech from the White House lawns on August 27.

The Trump campaign believes that the Indian-Americans can play an important role in this election, especially in the battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, where the two rival campaigns would be battling for every vote. It has also created separate coalitions for the Indian-Americans and Sikhs. For the first time, a presidential campaign has created a coalition group for the Hindus.

The rival Democratic campaign too is coming out with ideas and commercials to woo Indian-Americans. Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez has addressed the community virtually, wherein he has acknowledged the key role that the Indian-Americans can play in the battleground States.

On August 15, both Biden and Harris made a video address at an Indian-American event. The campaign has released a policy paper for Indian–Americans.

A day earlier, a Silicon Valley-based Indian-American political couple released a musical campaign video targeting Indian-Americans in the battleground states and urging them to vote for Biden and Harris.

Democratic supporters are planning to release at least two more Bollywood-style video commercials to attract the Indian-Americans, as the campaign heats up in the next 70-plus days.

PTI | AP

Tehran: Iran said Sunday that an upcoming visit this week by the head of the UN’s atomic watchdog agency to Tehran has nothing to do with a US push to impose so-called snapback sanctions on Iran.

The Trump administration last week dismissed near-universal opposition to its demand to restore all UN sanctions on Iran, declaring that a 30-day countdown for the snapback of penalties eased under the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers had begun.

US allies and foes have joined forces to declare the action illegal and doomed to failure. The US argues that Iran has violated the restrictions imposed on its nuclear programme under the 2015 deal, a charge Tehran has dismissed.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted on Sunday Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA, Kazem Gharibadadi, as saying that the visit this week is neither related to the snapback mechanism nor the US demand.

Gharibabadi said the visit by the IAEA chief Rafael Grossi comes within the framework of Iran’s invitation.

We do not allow others to manage Iran,” he said, adding that Iran’s trust in the IAEA has been damaged in recent months.” He expressed hope Grossi’s visit will lead to building trust.

It is important to assure Tehran that the agency will move based on impartiality, independence and professionalism, said Gharibabadi.

The IAEA said on Saturday that Grossi will head to Tehran to press Iranian authorities for access to sites where the country is thought to have stored or used undeclared nuclear material. Gharibabadi said Grossi was due to meet with Iranian officials on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

The landmark 2015 nuclear deal was endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution and includes the snapback provision. President Donald Trump pulled America out of the accord in 2018 and imposed severe US sanctions on Iran.