Mideast in Pictures: Palestinians clash with Israeli soldiers over settlement expansion in Nablus
Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli soldiers Friday following a protest against the expansion of Jewish settlements near the West Bank city of Nablus.
Israel’s continued settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories has been one of the major issues hampering the Israeli-Palestinian peace process which has stalled since 2014.
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Palestinian protester burns tires during clashes with Israeli soldiers after a protest against the expanding of Jewish settlements in Kufr Qadoom village near the West Bank city of Nablus, Aug. 20, 2021.
Palestinian protester burns tires during clashes with Israeli soldiers after a protest against the expanding of Jewish settlements in Kufr Qadoom village near the West Bank city of Nablus, Aug. 20, 2021.
Protesters run to take cover from tear gas canister during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the village of Beita, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, Aug 20, 2021.
Protesters run to take cover from tear gas canister during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the village of Beita, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, Aug 20, 2021.
A protester uses a slingshot to throw back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldiers in the village of Beita, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, Aug. 20, 2021.
Container ship Ever Given crosses Suez Canal for return trip
The Panamanian-flagged and Japanese-owned ship Ever Given on Friday crossed the Suez Canal for the first time since it blocked the waterway for six days in March, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement.
“The 400-metre, 220,000-ton container ship that was docked at the UK port of Felixstowe, has returned to Port Said on Thursday night,” said the statement.
“Accompanied by two tug boats and most professional guides, all security measures were taken to ensure the safe crossing of the ship,” the SCA said.
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The ship ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal and jammed global shipping traffic for nearly a week until it was refloated on March 29 by a fleet of Egyptian tugboats and diggers.
The ship was seized for more than three months until the SAC and ship owner reached a deal in July allowing the vessel to leave Egyptian waters.
People take photos of the Ever Given container ship sailing on the Suez Canal in Ismailia Province, Egypt, July 7, 2021.
Southeast Asia saw a marginal increase in new Covid-19 cases on Friday, but the death toll was lower, collated data from Asean countries showed.
Atotal of 95,512 new cases were reported on Friday, higher than Thursday’s 95,081, but deaths were lower at 2,696 from the previous day’s 2,786.
Total Covid-19 cases in the region crossed 9.14 million while the death toll rose to 201,176.
The Philippines reported a steep jump in new cases to 17,231 with 317 deaths on Friday, from 14,895 and 258 respectively on Thursday.
Cumulative cases in the country totalled 1,807,800 with 31,198 deaths.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday approved the easing of lockdown measures in Metro Manila until August 31 in selected businesses, but prohibited dining in at restaurants, both indoor and outdoor.
Meanwhile, Vietnam reported 10,657 new cases and 390 deaths, bringing cumulative cases in the country to 332,268 with 7,540 deaths. Ho Chi Minh City on Friday issued stay-at-home orders to its residents, with exceptions only for emergencies, as Covid-19 deaths soar. The city’s spokesman said that the curbs on movement should reduce infections and give authorities a chance to focus on treating gravely ill patients.
“This now clearly shows the beginning of the fourth wave, which is gaining momentum, particularly due to infections within the young adult population,” the RKI said.
Daily COVID-19 infections in Germany continued to rise sharply as 9,280 new cases were registered within one day, 3,702 more than one week ago, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Friday.
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“This now clearly shows the beginning of the fourth wave, which is gaining momentum, particularly due to infections within the young adult population,” the RKI said on Thursday evening in its weekly report on the current infection situation.
The COVID-19 incidence in Germany in the past seven days also kept rising and reached 48.8 cases per 100,000 citizens on Friday, up from 44.2 the previous day and 30.1 a week ago, according to the federal government agency for disease control and prevention.
People visit the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, capital of Germany, June 4, 2021.
Minister of Health Jens Spahn on Friday proposed offering booster shots for all Germans. “My goal is both to ensure booster vaccinations and donate vaccines to the poorer states,” he told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).
Almost 48.7 million people in Germany have been fully vaccinated as of Friday, bringing the country’s vaccination rate to 58.5 percent, and more than 53 million Germans have received at least one vaccine dose.
Ismail Sabri appointed as Malaysias new PM amid worsening COVID-19 pandemic
Ismail Sabri, 61, was appointed by the king as Malaysias new prime minister. He is the vice president of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and had served in Muhyiddins cabinet as defense minister before being appointed as deputy prime minister in July.
Malaysia’s King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah has appointed former deputy prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob as new prime minister of the country, the national palace said on Friday.
In a statement, the national palace said Ismail Sabri had received the backing of 114 out of the 220 members of the parliament (MP) in the lower house of parliament, a simple majority to form the government, hence Sultan Abdullah had agreed to appoint him as the prime minister in accordance with the constitution.
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Ismail Sabri is scheduled to be sworn in on Saturday, the statement added.
Ismail Sabri’s appointment came as Malaysia was mired in political fighting despite a dire situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Malaysia saw a new record high of daily COVID-19 infections for the third consecutive day with 23,564 reported on Friday, bringing the national total to 1,513,024.
“His Majesty expressed his view with the appointment of the Prime Minister, the government must continue its efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic immediately for the benefit and security of the people and the well-being of the country, which is greatly affected by the crisis and the threat caused by the pandemic,” the national palace said in a statement.
“His Majesty expressed the hope that with the appointment of the new Prime Minister, the political crisis can be ended immediately and all members of parliament can set aside their political agenda to unite and unanimously work to address the COVID-19 pandemic in the interest of the people and the country,” it said.
Ismail Sabri is succeeding Muhyiddin Yassin, who resigned on Monday after losing majority support in the lower house of parliament.
Ismail Sabri, 61, is the vice president of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and had served in Muhyiddin’s cabinet as defense minister before being appointed as deputy prime minister in July.
He has received backing from his own party UMNO and other parties in Muhyiddin’s government, which gave him the simple majority in the lower house of parliament.
However, Ismail Sabri might not have much “honeymoon” on his new post as he would face an immediate task to consolidate his power and form a cabinet which is capable of handling the pandemic and the economic hardship.
With an identical political coalition of Muhyiddin’s, Ismail Sabri came to power with a slim majority and this poses challenges for him to enjoy a stable government, political analysts said. Muhyiddin was forced to resign after about a dozen of UMNO MPs withdrew their support.
Political observer Azmi Hassan said the new prime minister will face pressure from his coalition partners as well as from his own party, with each competing to secure their interest.
He said the new prime minister needs to ensure that his cabinet appointments are made based on merit, and that he forms a capable cabinet.
“Ismail Sabri needs to demonstrate that he will design his cabinet not according to the party hierarchy but according to capabilities,” he said.
Oh Ei Sun, principal advisor for Malaysia’s Pacific Research Center, said Ismail Sabri will need to rapidly consolidate his political position to face the COVID-19 situation.
On politics, he is likely to face the same problems as Muhyiddin because he would have a very slim majority and if any of the coalition’s components who are not happy with whatever policy or positions, they could throw tantrums just like UMNO did to Muhyiddin, and then his administration would be unstable just like Muhyiddin’s, Oh Ei Sun said.
Southeast Asia reported a jump in new Covid-19 cases and related deaths on Thursday, collated data showed.
Asean countries confirmed 95,081 new cases, higher than Wednesday’s 82,265, while deaths rose to 2,786 from the previous day’s 2,300.
The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 9.04 million across the region with 198,480 deaths
Philippines reported 14,895 new cases and 258 deaths on Thursday, bringing cumulative cases in the country to 1,791,003 and deaths to 30,881.
The Philippine government has allocated 45.3 billion pesos (Bt28 billion) to procure Covid-19 vaccines to be provided as a booster shot or a third jab for those who had earlier received two jabs. Eight brands of vaccine have been approved for this project, including mRNA types such as Pfizer and Moderna.
Meanwhile, Myanmar reported 2,590 new cases and 159 deaths, bringing cumulative cases in the country to 365,759 and the death toll to 13,945. The military government announced that the domestic manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines will start within this year under cooperation with China and Russia. It is estimated that Myanmar will first produce Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine while it is unclear which of China’s vaccines will be chosen for domestic production.
Shenzhen sets up temporary protection area for whale
The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen has set up a temporary protection area for a Brydes whale that has been lingering in waters there for more than a month, local authorities said Wednesday.
The area currently covers 64 square kilometers in Dapeng Bay off Shenzhen and is subject to change based on the whale’s activities, according to Shenzhen municipal fishery department.
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Yachts, recreational and tourism vessels, motorboats, and sailboards are banned in the area, while fishing boats are prohibited from fishing in it. Ships passing the area are asked to sail at a low speed and take precautions to avoid the whale.
The restrictive measures for the temporary protection area will be effective until the whale leaves the waters off Shenzhen.
The Bryde’s whale was first spotted in Dapeng Bay on June 29. Experts said it is a subadult with a length of around 8 meters.
Bryde’s whales, mainly found in tropical and subtropical waters, are marked by three ridges in front of their blowhole, a dark grey back, and a white or pink abdomen.
U.S. hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan met with condemnation: British media
“It is unconscionable that the Biden administration accelerated this withdrawal without having plans in place to get all American citizens and allied Afghan partners who assisted American forces out of the country first,” said an article quoting Jim Carafano of the Heritage Foundation as saying.
U.S. “hasty and ill-planned” withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan leading to chaos and deaths was met with wide condemnation, according to an article published Monday by British media the Daily Mail.
“The president never addressed the real questions: why would he not leave a few thousand troops to provide air power?” Elliott Abrams, Vandenberg Coalition chairman and former senior State Department official, asked in the article.
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“Why did he not understand that his decisions would create chaos?” he said, viewing the withdrawal as a “disgraceful performance.”
Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, scenes of chaotic evacuation at the Kabul airport and desperate Afghans who fell from the sky after clinging to planes taking off shocked the world.
“It’s not that we left Afghanistan. It’s the grossly incompetent way we left!” Former U.S. President Donald Trump said, refuting President Joe Biden, who, in a speech at the White House on Monday, defended his decision to bring home U.S. troops before blaming Afghan leaders for their failure to prevent the country collapsing.
“It is unconscionable that the Biden administration accelerated this withdrawal without having plans in place to get all American citizens and allied Afghan partners who assisted American forces out of the country first,” the article quoted Jim Carafano of the Heritage Foundation as saying.
“It is shocking that there was no contingency planning in place to respond to the worst-case scenario,” he said.
At least eight people were killed during chaos at the Kabul airport on Monday, and two of them were shot dead by U.S. troops, the Daily Mail reported.
Study finds evidence of novel coronavirus circulating in Italy in late summer 2019
“We estimate SARS-CoV-2 progenitor of known human infections to have emerged in late June-late August 2019,” said a new study.
Anew study has revealed evidence that the novel coronavirus may have been circulating undetected in northern Italy as early as late August or early September 2019, months before the first infections were officially reported.
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The study report entitled “Molecular evidence for SARS-CoV-2 in samples collected from patients with morbilliform eruptions since late summer 2019 in Lombardy, Northern Italy,” was produced by a team of 16 researchers, including four senior authors — three from the University of Milan and one from the High Institute of Health in Rome.
The 27-page report yet to be peer-reviewed, which was published on the repository of pre-prints SSRN in early August, is based on the investigation into the 435 skin samples collected from Lombardy Region to test for measles and rubella from 2018 to earlier this year.
A sanitation worker wearing a protective suit and a face mask cleans the ground at Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Italy, on March 31, 2020.
Of the skin samples, researchers found molecular evidence of infections with SARS-CoV-2 in 13 subjects, of which the earliest positive case was dated on Sept. 12, 2019.
Meanwhile, no clear proof of infection was found in the 281 samples collected between August 2018 and July 2019, according to the report.
“We estimate SARS-CoV-2 progenitor of known human infections to have emerged in late June-late August 2019,” it said.
CDCs data sharing problem misguides assessment on Delta variant in U.S.: Washington Post
The CDCs failure in real-time data sharing “led top administration officials, including the president himself, to offer overly rosy assessments of the vaccines effectiveness against the Delta variant that may have lulled Americans into a false sense of security,” said a report of the Washington Post.
Problems in the data sharing approach of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has prevented senior U.S. officials from getting real-time situation about the COVID-19 pandemic and the lethal Delta variant, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
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The officials said that the information gap “stymied” the country’s response to curb the disease, according to the report, adding that “the CDC’s fumbles on the Delta variant tell a more complicated story: the once-storied agency faces other challenges that have hampered an agile response to the pandemic.”
The report added that the CDC’s failure in real-time data sharing “led top administration officials, including the president himself, to offer overly rosy assessments of the vaccines’ effectiveness against the Delta variant that may have lulled Americans into a false sense of security.”
Guests dine outside in Coral Gables near Miami, Florida, the United States, Aug. 11, 2021.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky announced Wednesday plans to improve the crippled approach by developing a new forecasting and outbreak analytics center to analyze data in real time to better assess disease threats, said the report.
Walensky said it would be the country’s first government-wide forecasting center and its leadership team would include well-respected epidemiologists.
Palestinian protester burns tires during clashes with Israeli soldiers after a protest against the expanding of Jewish settlements in Kufr Qadoom village near the West Bank city of Nablus, Aug. 20, 2021.
Protesters run to take cover from tear gas canister during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the village of Beita, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, Aug 20, 2021.
A protester uses a slingshot to throw back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldiers in the village of Beita, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, Aug. 20, 2021.
People take photos of the Ever Given container ship sailing on the Suez Canal in Ismailia Province, Egypt, July 7, 2021.
People visit the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, capital of Germany, June 4, 2021.
A sanitation worker wearing a protective suit and a face mask cleans the ground at Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Italy, on March 31, 2020.
Guests dine outside in Coral Gables near Miami, Florida, the United States, Aug. 11, 2021.
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