01-06-2021 The Asian Independent

12 01-06-2021 to 15-06-2021 NEWS
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
World economy to grow
at 6% this year: OECD
16 Taliban militants
dead, 8 arrested in
AFGHANISTAN
Kabul : At least 16 Taliban militants were killed and eight
others arrested in two Afghan provinces, the country's Ministry
of Defence confirmed on Monday.
In Kunduz province, five people were freed from the
Taliban's clutches after Afghan National Army commandos raided
a hideout in Qosh Tapa village on the outskirts of provincial
capital Kunduz city on Sunday night, Xinhua news agency quoted
the Ministry as saying in a statement.
"The army commandos raided a Taliban hideout at midnight.
During the operation, the security forces received hostile fire.
They returned fire in self-defense.
"In ensuing gunfight, 12 enemy combatants were killed and
eight others arrested," the statement said.
The freed people and the arrested militants were shifted to an
army camp.
The Taliban hideout was destroyed and the weapons and
ammunition were seized during the raid, the statement added.
In Helmand province, four militants were killed and two
wounded after Afghan Air Force bombed a Taliban position in
Chah-e-Angir, an area in restive Nad Ali district, on Sunday.
The Taliban have intensified attacks on provincial capitals,
districts, bases and checkpoints after US President Joe Biden
announced that American troops will pull out from the country
by September 11, 2021 after almost 20 years.
NATO agreed to follow suit.
Almost 10,000 NATO soldiers from the Resolute Support
training mission, including 2,500 soldiers from the US and
around 1,100 from Germany, the two biggest contingents, are
due to leave the country.
The withdrawal formally began on May 1.
Paris : The global economy could grow
by "nearly 6 per cent" this year, the
Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) said on
Monday, while warning that recovery from
the Covid-19 pandemic-related losses will
be "very uneven". Growth will be driven
by the world's three main economic powers,
with China's gross domestic product
(GDP) set to expand by more than 8 per
cent, dpa news agency quoted the Parisbased
OECD as saying in its 2021
Economic Outlook.
The US should be close behind, registering
nearly 7 per cent GDP growth, with
the European Union clocking a higherthan-usual
4.25 per cent. But while this
year's projected rebound would amount to
"an impressive surge after the 3.5 per-cent
contraction in 2020" it is unlikely to return
living standards "to the level expected
before the pandemic" by the end of next
year, the OECD said. It also noted that pandemic-related
curbs have made it more difficult
to estimate GDP and "may have
reduced the comparability of economic
outcomes across countries". The OECD
Berlin : The German federal
police on Monday carried out
raids in several cities targeting
organised smuggling of
migrants.
Starting at 6 a.m., 33 properties
were simultaneously
searched in Berlin, Hamburg
and the states of North Rhine
Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and
Saxony as well as in the
Slovakian capital Bratislava,
dpa news agency quoted
spokesperson for the Criminal
Investigation Department here
as saying.
Around 700 officers were
deployed, with the main focus
of the operation in Berlin.
One of the two main suspects,
a Vietnamese national,
said it while it was "very encouraging" that
some governments provided "unprecedented"
support for businesses forced to close
by pandemic restrictions, it warned that
most countries do not have the means for
such spending, meaning "headwinds"
remain for global growth.
Developing countries "have less policy
capacity to support activity than advanced
was arrested there.
Another arrest was made in
Bratislava. According to the
spokesperson, the women are
accused of professional smuggling.
They are alleged to have
economies", the OECD said, meaning
that weighed against pre-pandemic
expectations, "output shortfall" in developing
economies could be "more than
twice that in the median advanced economy"
by the end of 2022. A "disturbing"
scarcity of coronavirus vaccines in poorer
countries could sharpen the divide, the
Organization added.
Raids in Germany target organised migrant smuggling
smuggled people from Vietnam
to Germany via flats in
Slovakia.
"Smuggling wages" of
13,000 to 21,000 euros
($15,850-$25,600) were
demanded, the spokesperson
said.
The people concerned were
then forced to work off the
resulting debts in nail or massage
studios or in so-called
brothel flats, police said.
According to the spokesperson,
the operation was carried out
on behalf of the Berlin Public
Prosecutor's Office and the
Leipzig Public Prosecutor's
Office.
This was embedded in
investigations by Europol.
Covid: Inserting breathing tubes early may cut ICU stay
London : Inserting breathing tubes
early may reduce Covid-19 patients'
ICU stay by a week, claims a study.
The study, led by researchers at
McMaster University and the
University of Toronto in Canada,
looked at tracheostomies, which are a
procedure that helps patients breathe
through tubes, the Daily Mail reported.
The findings, published in the
peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA
Otolaryngology - Head & Neck
Surgery, showed that tracheostomy
shortened Covid patients' stay in the
ICU when it was done within two
weeks of their arrival.
In addition, the procedure didn't
pose a significant risk to healthcare
workers if they use personal protective
equipment, the report said.
One of Covid's severe symptoms is
the inability to breathe on one's own.
The virus causes mucus and other fluids
to block patients' lungs, making it
difficult for air to get through.
In the usual scenario, doctors insert
a breathing tube into a patient -- in a
procedure called tracheostomy -- on
patients after spending two weeks on a
ventilator. The procedure involves cutting
a hole into a patient's neck -- connected
to their windpipe -- and hooking
that tube up to the ventilator. It
helps air flow more easily into the
lungs.
But, the medical community has
different opinions on performing the
procedure -- and its timing.
To examine what benefits the procedure
may have for patients, the team
conducted a systematic review and
meta-analysis of 69 studies.
The results conflict with past guidance
to physicians, which recommends
waiting 14 days to give a
patient breathing tubes so that the doctor
can ensure they really do need
breathing help for an extended period
of time.
Another concern, especially when
it's done earlier is that it can endanger
the healthcare workers tending to ICU
patients.
While cutting into a patient's neck
or moving a ventilator during this procedure,
coronavirus particles will
escape from the patient. This is a riskier
process when it's done soon after a
patient has arrived at the hospital,
since Covid patients tend to be at a
higher risk of infecting others within
the first two weeks of their disease.
The National Institute of Health
recommends extreme caution during
tracheostomies for this reason.
The researchers found, however,
that only five per cent of studies in
their summary analysis reported
healthcare workers testing positive
after a breathing tube procedure, the
report said.