Pakistan PM Imran Khan lost two of his key aides when they resigned after the assets and dual nationalities of over a dozen of his special assistants were made public, prompting the opposition to mount an attack on the government. Tania Aidrus, special assistant to PM on ‘Digital Pakistan’ announced her resignation and special assistant on health Dr Zafar Mirza too quit the high-profile job. The resignations come amid recent criticism levelled against the government after assets and nationalities of 15 special assistants to the PM were made public. Aidrus, a former Google executive, announced her resignation after documents found that she had a Canadian citizenship and was also a resident of Singapore. Hours after Aidrus’ resignation, Dr Mirza also quit: “I worked hard & honestly. It was a privilege to serve Pakistan. I am satisfied that I leave at a time when Covid-19 has declined in Pakistan as a result of a grand national effort. Due to the ongoing negative discussion about the role of SAPMs & criticism on the gov, I choose to resign,” Mirza tweeted.
Hindu temple priest arrested
The chief priest of Singapore's oldest Hindu temple was arrested on charges of 'criminal breach of trust', according to police. The Sri Mariamman Temple had lodged a police complaint after finding out that some gold ornaments, which were in the custody of the priest, had gone missing, the temple said in a statement. During an audit, it was discovered that the gold ornaments were missing, the temple said. 'Gold ornaments, which are frequently used for prayers, are kept under the custody of the chief priest in the inner sanctum of the temple. Regular audits are done to ensure that the gold ornaments are physically accounted for,' it said. The priest was questioned and he later returned all the missing items, the temple said. No other person was involved in the incident, according to the Sri Mariamman Temple committee.
American killed in Pak court while standing trial
A man gunned down in a Pakistani courtroom while standing trial on a charge of blasphemy was a US citizen, according to a US state department statement. Tahir Naseem was “lured to Pakistan” from his home in Illinois and entrapped by the country’s blasphemy laws, the statement said. It did not elaborate on the circumstances in which Naseem came to be in Pakistan. Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law calls for the death penalty for anyone found guilty of insulting Islam. Pakistani officials said Naseem was charged with blasphemy after he declared himself a prophet. “We urge Pakistan to immediately reform its often abused blasphemy laws and its court system, which allow such abuses to occur, and to ensure that the suspect is prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” said the statement issued by Cale Brown, the state department’s principal deputy spokesperson. The US Commission on International Freedom too condemned the killing.
Af prez to keep 400 Taliban insurgents in jail
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani dashed hopes for a start to negotiations with Taliban insurgents, announcing the final 400 Taliban prisoners whose release is a prerequisite to start talks, will remain jailed. The announcement frustrates US efforts to find an end to Afghanistan’s years of relentless war. Addressing the nation, Ghani said the 400 Taliban are convicted of crimes he has no authority to forgive. Instead, he will call a loya jirga - or traditional grand council of elders - to decide whether they should go free. He said the council would meet “shortly”. Ghani’s announcement was certain to delay the start of negotiations between the warring sides.
Surge in burnt notes as S Koreans try to microwave the virus
Worried South Koreans are putting banknotes in their microwaves and washing machines, damaging the bills in their attempts to cleanse them of the coronavirus. A Bank of Korea official said the amount of money returned to the bank after being burnt between January and June had risen to 1.32 billion won ($1.1 billion) from 480 million ($400 million) in the same period last year. In an example given by the bank, a person came in to redeem at least 35.5 million won ($30,000) in notes damaged after he had put them in the washing machine. Another person had put 5.2 million won in the microwave to sterilise it.
Hong Kong delays polls
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam postponed a September 6 election to the Chinese-ruled city’s legislature by a year because of a rise in coronavirus cases, dealing a blow to the pro-democracy opposition which had hoped to make huge gains. The decision came after 12 pro-democracy candidates were disqualified from running for perceived subversive intentions and opposition to a sweeping new security law imposed by Beijing. Avery Ng, secretary-general of the League of Social Democrats, said: “Obviously the Chinese Communist Party is using Covid-19 as a cover to stop Hong Kongers from voting against the government.” Lam said the decision was aimed at only safeguarding people’s health. Hong Kong has reported over 3,000 virus cases since January. The number of new infections has been in the triple-digits for the past 10 days.
US naturalisation application fee raised by $520
The US has increased fees for certain immigration applications, a CNN report said. According to a statement, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services increased the cost of online naturalisation applications from $640 to $1,160, a more than 80% rise. There will also be a first time $50 fee for asylum seekers. The new fees take effect on October 2. Unlike most government agencies, USCIS is fee funded and it last updated its fee structure in December 2016. “These overdue adjustments in fees are necessary to efficiently and fairly administer our nation’s lawful immigration system,” said Joseph Edlow, USCIS deputy director for policy.
US imposes rights curbs on Chinese firm
The US has imposed sanctions on a Chinese company and two officials related to the company for what it said were human rights abuses against Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang province. The move blacklisted the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps along with Sun Jinlong, former party secretary of the XPCC, and Peng Jiarui, deputy party secretary and XPCC commander, the treasury department said. It identified the firm as a paramilitary organisation subordinate to the Chinese Communist Party that “enhances internal control over the region”.
NZ now suspends extradition treaty with HK
New Zealand has reportedly suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong becoming the fourth country to do so, following the passage of a controversial national security law by China that “punishes secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign or external forces”. After Canada, United Kingdom and Australia, New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said that they had also made a number of other changes following China’s decision to impose a new law for the autonomous territory. “New Zealand can no longer trust that Hong Kong’s criminal justice system is sufficiently independent from China. If China in future shows adherence to the ‘one country, two systems’ framework then we could reconsider this decision,” Peters reportedly said in a statement. However, the Chinese embassy in New Zealand reportedly called the decision a “violation of international law and gross interference in China’s internal affairs,” in a statement. New Zealand’s announcement comes in the wake of even the US adopting a stricter stance on China. On 15 July, US President Donald Trump signed an order to end preferential treatment for Hong Kong.
Cracks visible in China-Russia ties
Amidst a global uproar against China over various issues, including a military standoff with India, Beijing's ties with Moscow appears to have hit a roadblock with the latter announcing a postponement of delivery of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to Beijing. The S-400 air defence missile system is considered the most advanced of its kind in Russia, capable of destroying targets at a distance of up to 400 km and a height of up to 30 km. China received the first batch of S-400 missile in 2018, a military-diplomatic source told Russia's TASS news agency. Citing Chinese newspaper Sohu, UAWire reported, "This time, Russia announced the postponement of the delivery of missiles for the Chinese S-400 system. To a certain extent, we can say that it is for the sake of China. Getting a gun is not as easy as signing an invoice after receiving a weapon. They say that the work on delivering these weapons is quite complicated. While China has to send personnel for training, Russia also needs to send a lot of technical personnel to put the weapons into service," Sohu said. Amidst a military standoff between India and China, many experts believe that the move could be considered as pro-China. It appears that cracks have started to appear in relations between Beijing and Moscow relations. Recently, Russia has accused one of its leading Arctic researchers of treason, alleging that he gave sensitive information to China.
First dog to test positive for Covid in US dies
The first dog to test positive for the coronavirus in the United States has died, National Geographic magazine reported, after struggling with symptoms that may be familiar to many of the virus's human sufferers. Buddy, the seven-year-old German shepherd became sick in April, around the same time his owner Robert Mahoney was recovering from Covid -19, according to the magazine. Buddy seemed to have a stuffed nose and difficulty in breathing, and his condition only worsened over the following weeks and months. Mahoney and his wife eventually euthanized the dog on July 11 after Buddy began vomiting blood clots, urinating blood and was unable to walk. But the family told National Geographic they had a hard time confirming their suspicion that Buddy was infected with SARS-CoV-2. "Without a shadow of a doubt, I thought (Buddy) was positive," Mahoney said, but many vets in their area were closed because of the pandemic. A clinic was finally able to confirm that Buddy was positive, and found that the family's 10-month-old puppy - who was never sick - had virus antibodies.
Malaysia ex-PM Najib Razak gets 12 years’ jail
A Malaysian court sentenced former PM Najib Razak to serve up to 12 years in prison after finding him guilty of crimes involving the multi-billion dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund that brought down his government two years ago. Najib was calm and stone-faced as he became the first Malaysian leader to be convicted. He has vowed to appeal the verdict. Judge sentenced Najib to 12 years in jail on one count of abuse of power, 10 years each for three counts of criminal breach of trust, and 10 years each for three counts of money laundering, as well as a fine of 210 million ringgit ($49.4 million). But he ordered the sentences to run concurrently, meaning that Najib will face up to 12 years in jail. Najib faces 42 charges in five separate trials. Najib asked the court to take into account his achievements during his nine-year tenure and gave an oath that he wasn’t aware of the 42 million ringgit ($9.8 million) channeled into his bank accounts from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB. Najib, 67, said he was misled by rogue bankers and the case against him is political. “I want justice. I want to clear my name,” he wrote on Facebook.
Bezos ex-wife gives $1.7bn of Amazon fortune to charities
MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon.com Inc’s billionaire chief executive Jeff Bezos, has donated $1.7 billion of her wealth in the past year to causes including racial equality, LGBTQ rights, public health and climate change, she said in a blog post. Scott, who was previously known as MacKenzie Bezos, also announced her new last name, which she said was taken from her middle name. Last year, Scott signed the Giving Pledge in a commitment to donate the majority of her fortune after her split from Bezos left her with a 4% stake in Amazon. “Like many, I watched the first half of 2020 with a mixture of heartbreak and horror,” she wrote in a post on Medium. “I began work to complete my pledge with the belief that my life had yielded two assets that could be of value to others: the money these systems helped deliver to me, and a conviction that people who have experience with inequities are the ones best equipped to design solutions.”
Beijing-linked hackers targeted Vatican ahead of talks
Chinese hackers infiltrated the Vatican’s computer networks in the past three months, a private monitoring group has concluded, in an apparent espionage effort before the beginning of sensitive negotiations with Beijing. The attack was detected by Recorded Future, a firm based in Massachusetts. Chinese hackers and state authorities have often used cyber attacks to try to gather information on groups of Buddhist Tibetans, Muslim Uighurs and Falun Gong practitioners outside China. But this appears to be the first time that hackers, presumed by cyber security experts at Recorded Future to be working for the Chinese state, have been publicly caught directly hacking into the Vatican and the Holy See’s Study Mission to China, the Hong Kong-based group of de facto Vatican representatives who have played a role in negotiating the Catholic Church’s status.
Russia to register world’s 1st vaccine by August 12?
Russia plans to register a coronavirus vaccine by August 10-12, clearing the way for what its backers say would be the world’s first official approval of an inoculation against the pandemic. The drug developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and the Russian Direct Investment Fund may be approved for civilian use within three to seven days of registration by regulators, according to a source. The vaccine is expected to get conditional registration in August, meaning it will still need to conduct trials on another 1,600 people, Deputy PM Tatyana Golikova said in a meeting of officials.
Zimbabwe min who helped overthrow Mugabe dies of Covid
Zimbabwe’s agriculture minister Perrance Shiri died of coronavirus. He led a military unit that massacred thousands of civilians during civil strife in the 1980s and helped plot the coup that overthrew the country’s longtime strongman leader Robert Mugabe in 2017. Shiri was 55, and was thought to have contracted the virus from his driver, who also died recently. Zimbabwe has reported 2,817 cases of the virus, and 40 deaths.
