15-11-2021

At least 26 armed rebels called Naxals were killed by the Indian police in Korchi forest of Gadchiroli
district, 1,012 km from Mumbai, said a top police official late Saturday.
Photo : AP
26 armed rebels killed
by Indian police in
day-long gun battle
MUMBAI : At least 26 armed rebels called
Naxals were killed by the Indian police in
Korchi forest of Gadchiroli district, 1,012
km from Mumbai, said a top police official
late Saturday, reports UNB.
"We have recovered the bodies of 26
Naxals so far from the forest," said the
Gadchiroli district Superintendent of
Police Ankit Goyal from the day-long
gunbattle, which started in the early hours
of Saturday and continued till evening.
Four police personnel were also seriously
injured in the action and were airlifted to
Nagpur by a helicopter for treatment.
The Gadchiroli district in India's western
state of Maharashtra lies on the border of
the Central state of Chhattisgarh.
"There was a camp of Naxals in the
Gyarapatti-Kodagul forest of Korchi, on
the basis of which the police conducted the
search operations since Saturday
morning," Goyal said.
The Naxalite rebels, who have presence
in at least eight Indian states, claim that
they fight for the rights of the poor and
landless in the country and have been
frequently targeting Indian security forces.
In 2019, these eight Indian states
reported 670 cases of naxal violence killing
150 civilians and 52 security personnel
while 145 armed rebels (Naxalite) were
killed and 1,276 were arrested, media
reports said quoting government data. Last
year in 2020, 140 civilians and 43 security
personnel were killed from 665 cases of
naxal violence.
Japan's former princess leaves for
US with commoner husband
TOKYO : A Japanese princess who gave up
the throne to marry her commoner college
sweetheart left for New York on Sunday, as
the couple pursued happiness as newlyweds
and left behind a nation that has criticized
their romance.
The departure of Mako Komuro, the
former Princess Mako, and Kei Komuro,
both 30, as they boarded their plane amid a
flurry of camera flashes at Haneda airport in
Tokyo was carried live by major Japanese
broadcasters.
Kei Komuro, a graduate of Fordham
University law school, has a job at a New
York law firm. He has yet to pass his bar
exam, another piece of news that local media
have used to attack him, although it is
common to pass after multiple attempts.
"I love Mako," he told reporters last month
after registering their marriage in Tokyo.
They did so without a wedding banquet or
any of the other usual celebratory rituals.
"I want to live the only life I have with the
person I love," he said.
Although Japan appears modern in many
ways, values about family relations and the
status of women remain somewhat
antiquated, rooted in feudal practices.
Such views were accentuated in the
public's reaction to the marriage. Some
Japanese feel they have a say in such matters
because taxpayer money supports the
imperial family system. Other princesses
have married commoners and left the palace.
But Mako is the first to have drawn such a
public outcry, including a frenzied reaction
on social media and in local tabloids.
Speculation ranged from whether the
couple could afford to live in Manhattan to
how much money Kei Komuro would earn
and if the former princess would end up
financially supporting her husband.
Mako is the niece of Emperor Naruhito,
who also married a commoner, Masako.
Masako often suffered mentally in the
cloistered, regulated life of the imperial
family. The negative media coverage
surrounding Mako's marriage gave her what
palace doctors described last month as a
form of traumatic stress disorder.
Former Emperor Akihito, the father of the
current emperor, was the first member of the
imperial family to marry a commoner. His
father was the emperor under whom Japan
fought and lost in World War II.
The family holds no political power but
serves as a symbol of the nation, attending
ceremonial events and visiting disaster
zones, and remains relatively popular.
Only males inherit the Chrysanthemum
Thone. Mako is the daughter of the
emperor's younger brother, and her 15-yearold
brother is expected to eventually be
emperor.
UK's Queen to miss
Remembrance
event: palace
LONDON : Britain's Queen
Elizabeth II will miss Sunday's
Remembrance service, which
was supposed to be her first
public appearance since
resting on medical advice, due
to a "sprained back",
Buckingham Palace said. "The
Queen, having sprained her
back, has decided this
morning with great regret that
she will not be able to attend
today's Remembrance
Sunday Service at the
Cenotaph," the palace said in
a statement.
"Her Majesty is
disappointed that she will
miss the service."
Her son Prince Charles will
lay a wreath on her behalf, as
in previous years. The 95-
year-old was due to view the
annual service in central
London from a balcony.
, as she has done since 2017,
when she handed over some
of her duties to younger
members of the family.
MoNDAY, NovEMBEr 15, 2021
7
Myanmar political standoff leaves
economy in tatters
The military takeover in
Myanmar has set its economy
back years, if not decades, as
political unrest and violence
disrupt banking, trade and
livelihoods and millions slide
deeper into poverty.
The Southeast Asian
country was already in
recession when the pandemic
took hold in 2020, paralyzing
its lucrative tourism sector.
Political upheavals after the
army ousted its civilian
government on Feb. 1 have
heaped further misery on its
62 million people, who are
paying sharply higher prices
for food and other necessities
as the value of the kyat, the
national currency, plummets,
reports UNB.
With no end to the political
impasse in sight, the outlook
for the economy is murky.
U.N. humanitarian chief
Martin Griffiths appealed last
week to Myanmar's military
leaders to allow unimpeded
access to more than 3 million
people needing "life-saving"
aid "because of growing
conflict and insecurity,
COVID-19 and a failing
economy."
Griffiths said he was
increasingly concerned about
reports of rising levels of food
insecurity in and around the
cities. Hundreds of thousands
of people in the country have
lost their jobs and poverty has
deepened as Myanmar's
inflation has skyrocketed.
"Imported foods and
medicines cost double what
they used to . . . so people buy
only what they need to buy.
And when traders sell an item
for 1,000 kyats one day and
1,200 the next, it means that
the seller is losing while
selling," said Ma San San, a
trader in Mawlamyine
township who sells Thai
goods. Myanmar's economy
is forecast to shrink by 18.4%
in 2021, according to the
Asian Development Bank,
one of the deepest recent
contractions anywhere.
The civilian government
ousted in February had been
making slow but steady
progress toward weaving
impoverished Myanmar into
the global economy after
decades of quasi-isolation
under past military regimes.
Exports surged over the last
decade, after the generals
relaxed their decades-long
hold on power. Eager to tap a
young and low-cost
workforce, foreign investors
set up factories making
garments and other light
manufactured goods. Yangon,
the former capital and largest
city, was transformed as
moldering buildings dating
back to British colonial days
were spruced up or
demolished, making way for
new roads, industrial zones,
shopping malls and modern
apartments. Private
businesses popped up,
creating jobs and meeting
long-deprived demand for
products like cellphones and
new cars.
But the military still
controlled key government
ministries and many
industries, and corruption
and cronyism thrived.
Months into Myanmar's
political crisis, the country has
returned to the days of black
market trading and dollar
hoarding.
"Now most people are
losing faith in the Myanmar
currency and buying dollars,
so prices are soaring," said
Soe Tun, chairman of the
Myanmar Automobile
Manufacturers and
Distributors Association and
an official of the Myanmar
Rice Association. Trade has
been hindered both by the
global shortage, and surging
costs, of shipping containers
and by China's closure of its
border to exports from
Myanmar to help control
coronavirus outbreaks.
Myanmar's total trade fell
22% from a year earlier in the
10 months from October
2020 to July 2021, Senior
Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who
led the army's takeover,
recently told his militaryinstalled
cabinet. He said the
country logged a trade deficit
of $368 million.
The less Myanmar exports,
the less it earns in foreign
currency - mainly dollars -
making the greenback all the
more scarce and valuable
versus the kyat.
In January, the dollar
bought 1,300-1,400 kyats. In
late September, it hit a record
high 3,000 kyats among
money changers on
downtown Yangon's
Shwebontha Street.
, informally known as
Broker Street.
That has driven up prices in
The military takeover in Myanmar has set its economy back years, if not decades,
as political unrest and violence disrupt banking, trade and livelihoods and millions
slide deeper into poverty.
Photo : AP
kyats for necessities such as
cooking oil, cosmetics, food,
electronics, fuel and other
increasingly costly supplies
that have to be imported
using dollars.
The authorities suspended
vehicle imports from Oct. 1 to
conserve foreign exchange.
To stanch the kyat's plunge,
the Central Bank of
Myanmar has intervened in
the market 36 times since
February. But such
operations have had scant
impact, traders say, since
most dollars sold by the
central bank go to promilitary
businesses.
Future cooperation between China and the United States, two largest
economies in the world, be it in the area of climate change, biodiversity,
trade, or technology, is critical, said World Economic Forum (WEF)
President Borge Brende.
Photo : AP