27-07-2021

TuSeDAY, JulY 27, 2021
7
Tunisia's president fired the country's prime minister Sunday and froze parliament's activities after violent
demonstrations over the country's pandemic and economic situation.
Photo : AP
Tunisian president fires premier
after violent protests
TUNIS : Tunisia's president fired the
country's prime minister Sunday and
froze parliament's activities after
violent demonstrations over the
country's pandemic and economic
situation, reports UNB.
Protesters erupted with celebration
in the streets of Tunis after the latenight
announcement.
President Kais Saied also lifted the
immunity of all parliament members
and said he would name a new prime
minister in the coming hours to bring
calm to the country. He used a special
constitutional measure allowing him to
assume executive power and freeze
parliament for an unspecified period of
time until normal institutional
workings can be restored.
"We have taken these decisions ...
until social peace returns to Tunisia
and until we save the state," he said in a
televised address after an emergency
security meeting following nationwide
Senior US diplomat
in China for talks
on fraught ties
TIANJIN : America's No. 2
diplomat has arrived in
China to discuss the fraught
relationship between the
countries on Monday with
two top Foreign Ministry
officials.
Wendy Sherman, the
deputy secretary of state,
will hold separate meetings
with Vice Foreign Minister
Xie Feng, who is in charge of
U.S.-China relations, and
Foreign Minister Wang Yi at
a closed-off resort hotel in
the city of Tianjin.
She is the highest-ranking
U.S. official to visit China
since President Joe Biden
took office six months ago.
Relations between the
countries deteriorated
sharply under his
predecessor, Donald Trump,
and the two sides remain at
odds over a host of issues
including technology,
cybersecurity, human rights
and other issues.
In an interview Saturday,
Wang accused the U.S. of
adopting a superior attitude
and using its strength to
pressure other countries.
"China would never accept
any country that claims to be
superior to others," he told
China's Phoenix Television.
"If the U.S. has not learned
to treat other countries
equally, China and the
international community
have the responsibility to
help the U.S. learn how to do
this."
Biden administration
officials have said the goal of
the talks is not to negotiate
specific issues but to keep
high-level communications
channels open. The U.S.
wants to ensure that
guardrails are in place to
prevent competition
between the countries from
becoming conflict, they said.
A possible meeting
between Biden and Chinese
President Xi Jinping is
expected to be on the
agenda, possibly on the
sidelines of the G-20
summit in Rome at the end
of October.
protests.
Thousands of people defied virus
restrictions and scorching heat to
demonstrate Sunday in the capital of
Tunis and other cities. The largely
young crowds shouted "Get out!" and
slogans calling for the dissolution of
parliament and early elections.
The protests were called on the 64th
anniversary of Tunisia's independence
by a new group called the July 25
Movement.
Security forces deployed in force,
especially in Tunis where police
blockades blocked all streets leading to
the main artery of the capital, Avenue
Bourguiba. The avenue was a key site
for the Tunisian revolution a decade
ago that brought down a dictatorial
regime and unleashed the Arab Spring
uprisings.
Police also deployed around the
parliament, preventing demonstrators
from accessing it.
Police used tear gas to disperse some
demonstrators throwing projectiles at
officers and made several arrests.
Clashes also took place in several other
towns, notably in Nabeul, Sousse,
Kairouan, Sfax and Tozeur.
Protesters also stormed the offices of
the Islamist movement Ennahdha, the
dominant force in parliament. Videos
circulating online showed smoke
pouring out of the Ennahdha building.
The attackers damaged computers and
other equipment inside and threw
documents onto the streets.
The party denounced the attack,
saying that "criminal gangs" from
inside and outside Tunisia are trying to
"seed chaos and destruction in the
service of an agenda aimed at harming
the Tunisian democratic process."
On the coronavirus front, Tunisia has
reimposed lockdowns and other virus
restrictions because it's facing one of
Africa's worst virus outbreaks.
Delhi Metro trains start
running with 100 pc
seating capacity
NEWDELHI : In view of the improved
coronavirus situation, Delhi Metro services
began running with full seating capacity
from Monday, but there is still no provision
for standing travel for commuters, officials
said, reports BSS.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
(DMRC) till Sunday was running trains
with 50 per cent seating capacity, after
the services had resumed after a long
hiatus on June 7.
Also, to handle increase in volume of
commuters, 16 additional entry gates
have been made operational at 16 stations
(one at each station) across the network
from Monday onwards to facilitate the
movement of passengers.
The DMRC is already facilitating
passenger entry at all its stations through
260 gates. These 16 gates are in addition to
the already operational gates, so, now 276
gates will be operational, officials said.
The stations at which additional gates
became operational include, Janakpuri
West, Karol Bagh, Vaishali, Kashmere Gate,
Central Secretariat, M G Road, the DMRC
said. As and when further relaxations are
announced by the authorities, the DMRC
will ensure that all steps are taken from its
end to provide ease of entry and convenient
travel to the general public, officials said.
In view of the latest guidelines issued on
Saturday by the city government regarding
COVID-19 containment, services began this
morning with full seating capacity.
However, there is still no provision for
standing travel inside coaches, as has been
since June 7, they said.
Sources earlier had said, each coach has a
capacity of about 300 riders, 50 seated and
250 standing. Since, standing commuters
are not allowed, so a maximum of 50 people
can ride in each carriage.
And, effectively the carrying capacity is
about 17-18 per cent which was, 10 per cent
since June 7, due to 50 per cent rule, they
said.The DMRC again appealed to the public
to travel by the metro "only when it is
absolutely necessary and observe all COVIDrelated
travel protocols in place for their own
and everyone else's safety in this fight against
the pandemic". As travel in standing position
is still not permitted by the authorities, entry
at stations will also continue to be regulated
through identified gates as per the ongoing
practice, officials said.
DMRC services were fully suspended since
May 10 in view of the COVID-induced
lockdown in Delhi. It was first imposed on
April 19, and successively extended by the
city government. Metro services initially ran
partially, catering only to people from the
field of essential services, but from May 10, it
was suspended in view of the rising cases
amid the second wave of the coronavirus
pandemic, and resumed services with 50 per
cent seating capacity from June 7 onwards.
The Delhi Disaster Management
Authorities (DDMA) on Saturday
announced further lifting of restrictions.
in view of the improved coronavirus
situation.
In view of the improved coronavirus situation, Delhi Metro services
began running with full seating capacity from Monday. Photo : AP
UN: Women, children
casualties on the rise
in Afghanistan
KABUL : More women and
children were killed and
wounded in Afghanistan in
the first half of 2021 than in
the first six months of any
year since the United
Nations began systematically
keeping count in 2009, a
U.N. report said Monday,
reports UNB.
The war-torn country saw
a 47% increase in the
number of all civilians killed
and wounded in violence
across Afghanistan in the
first six months of the year,
compared to the same period
last year, according to the
report.
"I implore the Taliban and
Afghan leaders to take heed
of the conflict's grim and
chilling trajectory and its
devastating impact on
civilians," said Deborah
Lyons, the U.N. secretarygeneral's
special
representative for
Afghanistan.
"The report provides a
clear warning that
unprecedented numbers of
Afghan civilians will perish
and be maimed this year if
the increasing violence is not
stemmed," Lyons added in a
statement accompanying the
report.
The Taliban have swiftly
captured significant territory
in recent weeks, seized
strategic border crossings
with several neighboring
countries and are
threatening a number of
provincial capitals.
Scottish climber dies
on Pakistan's K2
ISLAMABAD : Scottish
climber Rick Allen has died
while attempting to summit
Pakistan's K2, his expedition
team said, the latest death on
the world's second-highest
peak.
Allen was killed after being
hit by an avalanche while
attempting a new route on the
mountain over the weekend.
His body was recovered on
Sunday evening, reports BSS.
"After consulting with his
family and friends, the legend
will be buried this morning
under the foot of Mighty K2,"
Karakorum Expeditions
wrote on Facebook Monday.
A charity that Allen was
raising money for during the
climb also confirmed his
death. "Rick died doing what
he loved the most and lived
his life with the courage of his
convictions," tweeted
Partners Relief &
Development, adding that
two other climbers on the
expedition survived the
avalanche.
Allen's death comes a week
after South Korea's Kim
Hong-bin was killed after
falling into a crevasse while
descending from the nearby
Broad Peak.
Malaysian parliament reopens
after months-long virus hiatus
KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysia's parliament
convened Monday for the first time this year
after being suspended under a coronavirus
emergency, but critics have slammed the
session as a sham that will not truly test the
embattled premier's support, reports BSS.
Parliament was halted when the king
declared the state of emergency in January
to fight Covid-19, following the advice of
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
But political rivals accused Muhyiddin of
using the crisis to avoid a no-confidence vote
in the legislature while shoring up his weak
coalition government, which was on the
verge of collapse.
Despite the emergency and a nationwide
lockdown, the outbreak has only worsened,
fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant.
Malaysia's caseload breached the onemillion
mark at the weekend.
Facing mounting public anger at the
closure of parliament and pressure from the
king, Muhyiddin agreed to reconvene the
legislature for a five-day sitting before the
state of emergency ends in August.
Lawmakers gathered in the 222-seat lower
house Monday wearing masks and separated
by transparent screens for the start of the
session.It will centre on the pandemic, with
Muhyiddin and ministers expected to brief
lawmakers on an economic recovery plan
and other related matters.
But rival politicians have denounced the
short sitting as a sham, as MPs are not
expected to vote on anything.
Ahead of parliament reopening,
opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim told AFP
the legislature was facing "one of its darkest
moments". The short session is
"undemocratic" and "a tactic by Muhyiddin
to silence political critics and to keep his
shaky regime in power", he added.
Muhyiddin, who seized power in March
last year without an election after the
collapse of a reformist government, has seen
his administration riven by infighting.
The biggest party backing him, the United
Malays National Organisation (UMNO),
announced it was withdrawing support for
his coalition earlier this month. But UMNO
itself is split-some of its MPs still back
Muhyiddin-and his position seems secure in
the short term.
Malaysia's parliament convened Monday for the first time this year after
being suspended under a coronavirus emergency, but critics have
slammed the session as a sham that will not truly test the embattled premier's
support.
Photo : AP
Pandemic leaves Indians mired
in massive medical debts
NEW DELHI : As coronavirus cases
ravaged India this spring, Anil Sharma
visited his 24-year-old son Saurav at a
private hospital in northwest New
Delhi every day for more than two
months. In May, as India's new
COVID-19 cases broke global records to
reach 400,000 a day, Saurav was put
on a ventilator.
The sight of the tube running into
Saurav's throat is seared in Sharma's
mind. "I had to stay strong when I was
with him, but immediately after, I
would break down as soon as I left the
room," he said.
Saurav is home now, still weak and
recovering. But the family's joy is
tempered by a mountain of debt that
piled up while he was sick, reports
UNB.
Life has been tentatively returning to
normal in India as coronavirus cases
have fallen. But millions are embroiled
in a nightmare of huge piles of medical
bills. Most Indians don't have health
insurance and costs for COVID-19
treatment have them drowning in debt.
Sharma exhausted his savings on
paying for an ambulance, tests,
medicines and an ICU bed. Then he
took out bank loans.
As the costs mounted, he borrowed
UN warns of 'unprecedented'
Afghan civilian deaths from
Taliban offensives
KABUL : The United Nations warned Monday
that Afghanistan could see the highest number
of civilian deaths in more than a decade if the
Taliban's offensives across the country are not
halted.
Violence has surged since early May when the
insurgents cranked up operations to coincide
with a final withdrawal of US-led foreign forces.
In a report released Monday documenting
civilian casualties for the first half of 2021, the
UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
(UNAMA) said it expected figures to touch their
highest single-year levels since the mission
began reporting over a decade ago.
It also warned that Afghan troops and progovernment
forces were responsible for a
quarter of all civilian casualties.
from friends and relatives. Then, he
turned to strangers, pleading online for
help on Ketto, an Indian crowdfunding
website. Overall, Sharma says he has
paid over $50,000 in medical bills.
The crowdfunding provided
$28,000, but another $26,000 is
borrowed money he needs to repay, a
kind of debt he has never faced before.
"He was struggling for his life and we
were struggling to provide him an
opportunity to survive," he said, his
voice thick with emotion. "I was a
proud father-and now I have become a
beggar."
The pandemic has devastated India's
economy, bringing financial calamity to
millions at the mercy of its chronically
underfunded and fragmented
healthcare system. Experts say such
costs are bound to hinder an economic
recovery.
"What we have is a patchwork quilt of
incomplete public insurance and a poor
public health system. The pandemic
has shown just how creaky and
unsustainable these two things are,"
said Vivek Dehejia, an economist who
has studied public policy in India.
Even before the pandemic,
healthcare access in India was a
problem.
"Unprecedented numbers of Afghan civilians
will perish and be maimed this year if the
increasing violence is not stemmed," UNAMA
head Deborah Lyons said in a statement
released with the report.
"I implore the Taliban and Afghan leaders to
take heed to the conflict's grim and chilling
trajectory and its devastating impact on
civilians." During the first half of 2021, some
1,659 civilians were killed and another 3,254
wounded-a 47 percent increase compared with
the same period last year, the UNAMA report
said. The rise in civilian casualties was
particularly sharp in May and June-the initial
period of the Taliban's current offensives-with
783 civilians killed and 1,609 wounded, it
added.
Indians pay about 63% of their
medical expenses out-of-pocket. That's
typical of many poor countries with
inadequate government services. Data
on global personal medical costs from
the pandemic are hard to come by, but
in India and many other countries
treatment for COVID is a huge added
burden at a time when hundreds of
millions of jobs have vanished.
In India, many jobs returned as cities
opened up after a severe lockdown in
March 2020, but economists worry
about the loss of some 12 million
salaried positions. Sharma's job as a
marketing professional was one of
them.
When he asked his son's friends to set
up the campaign on Ketto to raise
funds, Sharma hadn't seen a paycheck
in 18 months. Between April and June
this year, 40% of the 4,500 COVID-19
campaigns on the site were for
hospitalization costs, the company said.
The pandemic has driven 32 million
Indians out of the middle class, defined
as those earning $10 to $20 a day,
according to a Pew Research Center
study published in March. It estimated
the crisis has increased the number of
India's poor-those with incomes of $2
or less a day-by 75 million.