Sri Lankan Muslims have decided to forgo the Haj pilgrimage this year due to the worst economic crisis facing the debt-ridden country, a media report said. Saudi Arabia had approved a quota of 1,585 Haj pilgrims from Sri Lanka for the year 2022. However, it was decided no Muslim from Sri Lanka would travel for the pilgrimage this time, following a discussion by several parties, including National Haj Committee, Haj Tour Operators Association of Sri Lanka, and Muslim Religious & Cultural Affairs Department.
Black box of crashed Nepal aircraft found
A team of experienced international and national mountain guides retrieved the black box of the Tara Air plane that crashed in Nepal’s mountainous Mustang district, killing 22 people on board, including four Indians. Chief District Officer Netra Prasad Sharma of Mustang said that rescuers also recovered the last body from the wreckage site of the plane. According to Chief District Officer Sharma, the bodies of 10 people have already been sent to Kathmandu while the rest of the bodies have been shifted to Kobang from the crash site and are in the course of being airlifted to Kathmandu.
New Afghan govt faces military threat from IS
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers are maintaining close ties with al-Qaida as they consolidate control over the country, and their main military threat is coming from the Islamic State extremist group and guerrilla style attacks by former Afghan government security personnel, UN experts said. The experts said in the report to the UN security council that with the onset of better weather, fighting may escalate as both Islamic State and resistance forces undertake operations against Taliban forces. But neither IS nor al-Qaida “is believed to be capable of mounting international attacks before 2023 at the earliest, regardless of their intent or of whether the Taliban acts to restrain them,” the panel of experts said.
Israel signs free trade pact with UAE
Israel signed a free trade pact with the United Arab Emirates, its first with an Arab state and one which eliminates most tariffs and aims to lift their annual bilateral trade to more than $10 billion.
It was signed in Dubai by minister of economy and industry Orna Barbivai and her counterpart, UAE’s minister of economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, after months of negotiations. Tariffs will be removed or reduced on 96% of goods traded between the nations. The UAE predicted the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement would boost annual bilateral trade to over $10 billion within five years. Emirati-Israeli trade stood at $1. 2 billion in 2021. Tariffs will be reduced on goods including food, medicine, diamonds, jewellery, fertilisers and other chemicals.
4 killed, 14 hurt in China quake
At least four people died and 14 others injured after two earthquakes hit southwestern China last week. A shallow 6.1 magnitude quake hit Sichuan province about 100 km west of provincial capital Chengdu, broadcaster CCTV said. It was followed three minutes later by a second quake of magnitude 4. 5 in a nearby county. Tremors were felt in cities across Sichuan province, damaging some telecommunications lines, state media reported.
13 women sworn in as ministers in new Oz govt
A record 13 women, including the first female Muslim, were sworn in as ministers in Australia’s new government. The ceremony conducted by governor-general David Hurley in Canberra came 11 days after new PM Anthony Albanese led the center-left Labor Party to an election victory over the incumbent conservatives. Anne Aly was sworn in as Australia’s first female Muslim minister while Ed Husic became the first Muslim to serve in cabinet. Linda Burney became the first woman, and only the second indigenous person, to serve as indigenous affairs minister. Of the 30 ministers appointed to the new government, nearly half are women. Women also hold a record 10 spots out of 23 in core Cabinet roles.
3 killed, 60 hurt as train derails in Germany
Three people were killed and 16 severely injured when a regional train derailed in southern Germany, police and local officials said. A police spokesperson said the Munich-bound train had been quite full at the time of the crash north of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a ski resort in Bavaria that is also popular with hikers. In total, 60 people were hurt in the accident, said a Garmisch-Partenkirchen district office spokesperson. There were school students on board, the regional Muenchener Merkur newspaper cited local paper as reporting. Pictures on social media showed carriages of a double decker regional train stuck between tree branches and rolled down an embankment.
Number of newborn babies in Japan hits record low
A total of 811,604 babies were born in Japan in 2021, a record low since 1899, as the nation’s demographic crisis intensifies, the government said in a report. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the figure was down 29,231 from a year earlier. The latest data also showed that the number of couples getting married decreased in the recording period by 24,391 to 501,116, the fewest in the post-war era, the Ministry said. In addition, it also said that according to the most recent figures, the number of children a woman will bear in her lifetime retreated 0. 03 point from 2020 to 1.30 in 2021. Japan is facing a demographic crisis, with its society rapidly shrinking due to drastically declining birth rate and fewer people getting married. At the same time, the number of senior citizens is growing, meaning a gradual yet persistent hollowing out of Japan’s workforce-aged people.
Dolphins dying in Black Sea
Dolphins burned from bomb or mine explosions. Several thousand suddenly found dead, some washed up on the coasts of Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine. The sudden and mysterious death of so many of the marine mammals is raising alarm among some scientists that the war in Ukraine may be taking a toll on life in the Black Sea. The battles waged along Ukraine’s coastline have interfered with dolphins’ habitat, scientists say. Some had burns from bomb or mine explosions and they could no longer navigate and could not look for food. The Turkish Marine Research Foundation reported in March “an extraordinary increase” in dead dolphins washing ashore. It said dolphins were being caught in fishing nets.
N Korea reports 21 new Covid deaths
North Korea reported 21 new deaths and 1,74,440 more people with fever symptoms as the country scrambles to slow the spread of Covid across its unvaccinated population. The new deaths and cases increased total numbers to 27 deaths and 524,440 illnesses amid a rapid spread of fever since late April. North Korea said 243,630 people had recovered and 280,810 remained in quarantine. State media didn’t specify how many of the fever cases and deaths were confirmed as Covid infections.
The country imposed what it described as maximum preventive measures after confirming its first Covid cases since the start of the pandemic.
Poisoning suspect of Kremlin critic dies
Dmitry Kovtun, one of two Russian men accused by Britain of poisoning Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, has died of Covid in a Moscow hospital, TASS news agency said. Litvinenko died weeks after drinking green tea laced with radioactive polonium-210 at London's Millennium Hotel, where he met Kovtun and the other suspect, Andrei Lugovoy. British investigators found traces of polonium at sites across London where the two men had been. They denied carrying out the poisoning, and Russia refused to extradite them to face trial. Litvinenko, a British citizen, was a former KGB officer who had become an outspoken opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin. From his deathbed, he accused Putin of ordering his killing, but the Kremlin has always denied any role.
