British PM Theresa May to hold emergency meeting on seized tanker in Iran.
Prime Minister Theresa May will hold a meeting of Britain's emergencies committee to discuss Iran's seizure of a UK-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf. The meeting will discuss the maintenance of the security of shipping in the Persian Gulf as well as receive the latest s from ministers and officials.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt spoke to his French and German counterparts over the issue. Both ministers agreed with the foreign secretary that safe passage for vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is a top priority for European nations while avoiding any possible escalation.
Iranian authorities impounded the Stena Impero with 23 crew members aboard off the port of Bandar Abbas after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized it in the highly sensitive Strait of Hormuz.
UK was considering options in response to Iran's seizure of oil tanker.
Britain's junior Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood on 21 July, 2019 said the government was considering several options in response to Iran's seizure of a British-flagged tanker. He was talking to a news channel in London. Ellwood, however, denied that Britain had been negligent in providing protection to its ships passing through the Gulf and said the Royal Navy was too small to manage UK interests around the globe.
London priority is to de-escalate tensions with Iran in the Gulf, and has called for the release of the Stena Impero oil tanker which was seized in what Britain said was an illegal move in Omani waters.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition secured a majority in the upper house of parliament in elections. According to vote counts by public television and other media, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito had won 64 seats in the upper house after two hours of voting.
- Israel Aerospace signs $50 Million deal. State-owned defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries has signed a $50 million follow-up contract to provide complementary missile systems to the Indian navy and India’s MDL Shipyard. The agreement involves a range of maintenance and other services for sub-systems of Israel Aerospace's naval medium-range surface-to-air missile.
- Boris Johnson elected as UK Prime Minister. Boris Johnson elected as the leader of Britain's governing Conservative Party. He is declared as country's next Prime Minister. Johnson will formally take over as Prime Minister. He succeeds Theresa May. She got stepped down over her failure to get parliament to ratify her Brexit deal. Johnson served as UK foreign minister and London's Mayor.
North Korea fires two projectiles toward East Sea. North Korea has fired two projectiles toward the East Sea, according to South Korean officials. The South Korean military said that North Korea launched the two unidentified projectiles from the Wonson area, and that the flight distance was approximately 430 kilometers. They were launched early morning on 25 July, 2019, local time.
A senior US administration official told CNN that they are aware of reports of a short-range projectile launched from North Korea but declined to offer further comment. The firing comes ahead of US-South Korean military exercises next month that North Korea has warned could affect the planned resumption of denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
Pakistan on July 25 announced that it will send its first astronaut to space in 2022 using close ally China’s satellite launch facilities. Pakistan’s decision came as India on July 22 successfully launched its second lunar mission Chandrayaan 2. Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s Minister for Science and Technology, said the selection process of the astronaut for the space mission would start from February 2020.
The Pakistani Air Force will play a lead role in the selection process of the astronaut for the space mission that initially 50 pilots will be selected, from which the list will be brought down to 25 and then 10. In 2018, Pakistan launched two indigenously-built satellites, onboard the Chinese Long March (LM-2C) rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre located at the Gobi desert, The Express Tribune reported.
One of them was a remote sensing satellite (PRSS1) — a dual-purpose Earth observational and optical satellite. The second test satellite launched was a PAK-TES-1A to enhance satellite manufacture capabilities in the country.
North Korea says missile launch a warning to South Korean 'warmongers'. North Korea on 26 July, 2019 described the test of two new missiles a solemn warning against what it described as "South Korean warmongers". The short-range missiles were fired into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, from Wonsan on North Korea's east coast.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said his country was forced to develop weapons to eliminate potential and direct threats. He said the test involved a new tactical guided weapons system. The North criticized a decision by South Korea and the US to hold military drills next month. North Korea has long regarded the drills as preparation for an invasion.
WHO says Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal & Thailand achieve Hepatitis B control.
Bangladesh along with Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand in South-East Asia Region has been able to achieve Hepatitis B control. The prevalence of the deadly disease has come down to less than one per cent among five-year-old children says the WHO in its report published on 26 July, 2019.
Reviewing the immunisation data for the region, WHO found that Bangladesh has consistently provided above 90 percent immunisation to infants for Hepatitis B over the last many years leading to the control of the disease.
Preventing Hepatitis B infection in infancy substantially reduces chronic infections and cases of liver cancer and cirrhosis in adulthood. According to WHO data viral hepatitis kills 4,10,000 people every year. in the eleven South-East Asian countries where it is running its programme.
US Supreme court allows Trump to use 2.5 billion dollar of Pentagon funds for border wall.
The US Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump to use 2.5 billion dollar of Pentagon funds for building sections of a border wall with Mexico.
The court ruled by five votes to four to block a ruling by a federal judge in California that barred the President from spending the money on the wall. The wall, dividing the United States and Mexico, was Mr Trump's major campaign promise during the 2016 election. It is a big victory for Border Security and the Rule of Law. The decision by the Supreme Court means that the money will be used for wall projects in California, Arizona and New Mexico.
The President has argued that a new wall would help to curb illegal immigration, which he says is fuelling crime and placing a strain on the economy. Donald Trump declared an emergency earlier this year, saying he needed 6.7 billion dollar to build the wall as a matter of national security. He ended the shutdown in February after the Congress gave him approximately 1.4 billion dollars in border wall funding.
Congo confirms 1st Ebola case in city of Goma. The Health Ministry Congo has confirmed the country’s first Ebola case in the city of Goma, home to more than 2 million people. The regional capital in eastern Congo borders neighbouring Rwanda, which has been preparing for possible cases since an outbreak began nearly a year ago.
In the US, slow-moving tropical storm Barry weakened after making landfall in the southern state Louisiana. After briefly becoming the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, Barry was downgraded to a tropical storm following its landfall.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards warned that Barry could still cause disastrous flooding across a wide stretch of the Gulf Coast of the United States overnight. Edwards warned residents to remain vigilant as it is expected to produce days of heavy rain.
Flash flood warnings have affected about 11.7 million people in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Illinois. Mississippi and Alabama have been hit the hardest so far, with the Alabama city of Mobile reporting a total of 136mm of rain in the last 36 hours.
United States regulators have approved a five billion dollar penalty to be levied on Facebook to settle a probe into the social network's privacy and data protection lapses. This was reported in Wall Street Journal, which says that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the settlement in a 3-2 vote with the two Democratic members of the consumer protection agency dissenting.
According to the report, the deal, which would be the largest penalty ever imposed by the FTC for privacy violations, still needs approval from the Justice Department before it is finalized.
UN holds high-level meeting on Ebola outbreak in Congo. Almost a year after the outbreak of Ebola was declared in eastern Congo, the UN has held a high-level meeting in Geneva to take stock of the coordinated response and galvanize further support for the government-led effort to defeat the deadly disease.
The meeting was chaired by WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock. Dr Ghebreyesus said, together with the government, the Global Body can and will end the outbreak. The first case of Ebola was confirmed in Goma, a city of about one million people south of the outbreak's epicentre.
The Saudi military has intercepted a drone launched at the kingdom's southern border by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. Col. Turki al-Maliki, was quoted in the state-run Saudi Press Agency as saying the drone was launched by the Houthi rebels from Yemen's Governorate of Sanaa toward the Saudi city of Jizan.
A Saudi-led coalition allied with Yemen's Government has been at war with the Houthis since 2015. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis, with Saudi-led air strikes blamed for many civilian deaths.
World Health Organization (WHO) declares ebola outbreak in Congo a global health emergency.
The deadly Ebola outbreak in Congo is now an international health emergency, the World Health Organization announced after the virus spread this week to a city of two million people.
A WHO expert committee had declined on three previous occasions to advise the United Nations health agency to make the declaration for this outbreak, which other experts say has long met the conditions. More than 1,600 people have died since August in the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, which is unfolding in a region described as a war zone.
Iran urges Europe to accelerate efforts to save nuclear deal. Iran has asked Europe to speed up efforts to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal.
French President Emmanuel Macron told that Europe must accelerate its efforts to realize Iran's legitimate interests and bring about a ceasefire in Washington's economic war against Iran. That missed opportunities would force Iran to drop further commitments under the deal.
- Palau became the 76th country to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA). Palau, an archipelago of more than 500 islands in Oceania, has become 76th signatory country to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA). The agreement was opened for signature during COP22 at Marrakech, Morocco on 15 November 2016. Countries which have signed agreement until now include India, United Kingdom (UK), Japan, France, Australia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), amongst others.
UN calls for better-coordinated 'global response' to terrorism, organised crime. The United Nations Security Council called for a better-coordinated global response to international terrorism and organised crime by working together to identify and eliminate such threats. The council unanimously adopted the Peru-drafted resolution on 19 July, 2019, which calls for increased cross-border collaboration in efforts to investigate and dismantle the links between terrorist groups and organized crime networks.
The resolution asked states to enhance coordination of efforts at all levels in order to strengthen a global response to linkages between international terrorism and organized crime. The resolution also called for states to investigate, disrupt and dismantle organized crime networks in accordance with national legislation regarding money laundering, corruption and bribery.
Sri Lanka: Construction begins for upgradation of Palali airport near Jaffna.
Construction work has begun for upgradation of Palali airport near Jaffna in Tamil-majority Northern Province. It may be mentioned that Palali airport was used for air travel between then Madras and Jaffna in the 1960s but got disrupted due to decades-long LTTE War.
The development of the north is a high priority of his government, and an international airport in the Jaffna peninsula would boost the economy in the region.
Iraqs Babylon listed as UNESCOs World Heritage Site. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee voted to list sprawling Mesopotamian metropolis of Babylon as a World Heritage Site (WHS) 30 years of lobbying efforts by Iraq. Iraq to have Babylon site recognised by UNESCO.
It is a massive 10sq-km complex of which just 18% has been excavated. It was the Centre of ancient Babylonian empire more than 4,000 years ago. The excavation of the site began in the early 1800s. It is the largest populated city in the ancient history. It is internationally known for its hanging gardens, the Ishtar Gate and Tower of Babel.
Italy's Prosecco hills added to UNESCO World Heritage list. Italy’s Prosecco hills northeast of Venice cultivated for centuries added to the World Heritage list by the UN cultural Organization. The grapes produce the famous prosecco sparkling wine are grown.
The landscape is characterized by hogback hills, ciglioni and small plots of vines on narrow grassy terraces, forests, small villages and farmland. The region became Italy's 55th World Heritage site. The prosecco sparkling white has the highest classification available to Italian wine. It is produced in a territory spread over nine provinces in Italy's northeast. The sales of the wine rose six per cent in 2018 to 460 million bottles
U.S. State Department approves possible $2.2 billion arms sale to Taiwan. The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale to Taiwan of M1A2T Abrams tanks, Stinger missiles and related equipment at an estimated value of $2.2 billion, the Pentagon said, despite Chinese criticism of the deal. The sale of the weapons requested by Taiwan, including 108 General Dynamics Corp M1A2T Abrams tanks and 250 Stinger missiles, would not alter the basic military balance in the region.
DSCA notified Congress the possible arms sale, which it said could also include mounted machine guns, ammunition, Hercules armoured vehicles for recovering inoperative tanks, heavy equipment transporters and related support.
Budj Bim Cultural Landscape received UNESCO's World heritage list. The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in south-west Victoria has received UNESCO's World heritage list. It is the first in Australia to be in the list. UNESCO's desicion recognises Budj Bim’s significance to all of humanity. Budj Bim is the 20th site in Australia to make it on to the UNESCO World Heritage List,
The landscape is marked for its Aboriginal cultural importance after a decades-long campaign run by traditional owners, some of whom were present for the decision. It is considered as one of the oldest aquaculture sites in the world. More than a decade of fervent lobbying, the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape has finally been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. The landscape was cared for over 6,600 years and is important to the Gunditjmara People.
There are also remains of about 300 stone huts. These are the only remaining permanent houses built by an indigenous community in Australia. It challenges the common perception that all Aboriginal people were nomadic.
- Sri Lanka has become fifth country in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Southeast Asia region to eliminate measles. The other countries in the region which have achieved this feat are Bhutan, Maldives, DPRKorea and Timor-Leste. Measles is a highly infectious illness caused by the rubeola virus. WHO estimate that 2.6 million people who have not had the vaccine die of measles every year.
- France to impose green tax on plane tickets. France will impose green tax up to €18 on plane tickets from 2020. The move aims to fund less-polluting transportation projects. A similar tax was introduced in Sweden in April 2018, which imposed an added charge of up to €40 on every ticket in a bid to lessen the impact of air travel on the climate.
The French senate on 11 July, 2019 approved a digital services tax despite threats of retaliation by the US, which argues that it unfairly targets American tech giants. The 3 percent tax will be levied on sales generated in France by multinational firms like Google and Facebook.
The French government has argued that such firms headquartered outside the country pay little or no tax. Meanwhile, the US administration has ordered an inquiry into the move which could result in retaliatory tariffs.
- Indian Minister of State for Shipping and Chemical & Fertilizers, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya will flag off an inland waterways vessel containing cargo from Bhutan to Bangladesh via River Brahmaputra (NW 2) and the Indo Bangla Protocol Route. This is a first of its kind movement where an Indian inland waterways is being used for connecting two countries – landlocked Bhutan and Bangladesh.
Qu Dongyu became the first Chinese national to be elected to head the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He will succeed Brazil's Jose Graziano da Silva. FAO looks into the issue of food security, agricultural development, agro-business, trade, and biotechnology.
The headquarters of FAO is in Rome.
Abu Dhabi to host first ISA's joint security exercise ISALEX19. Representatives of 50 law enforcement agencies of the International Security Alliance are taking part in the first joint security exercise in Abu Dhabi, which will start on 30 June, 2019.
The participants include representatives from tactical teams, rapid intervention units, communications, civil defence, and explosive ordnance disposal, teams. The International Security Alliance, launched in 2017 in Abu Dhabi, is an international working group to confront organised, transnational and extremist crimes. The alliance now comprises nine countries, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, France, Italy, Spain, Senegal, Singapore, and the Slovak Republic.
Germany's Ursula von der Leyen nominated to lead EU Commission. European Union (EU) leaders have put forward their nominations for the bloc's top jobs, with a woman proposed as European Commission Chief for the first time. German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen has been nominated for the post to replace Jean-Claude Juncker.
Hungarian parliament passes controversial science sector reform bill. The Hungarian parliament passed a bill on 02 July, 2019 enabling the takeover of research institutes by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, which is accused by critics of seeking to control key institutions and sectors. The bill, approved by 131 of lawmakers in the 199-seat assembly, gives Mr Orban's nationalist, anti-migration government control of a vast network of research institutes currently run by the two-century-old Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA).
That since coming to power in 2010, he has tightened his control over most key institutions in Hungary, including public media, the judiciary and the education sector. Scientists have condemned the move against research institutes as a threat to academic freedom.
US declares Balochistan Liberation Army as global terrorist organization. The United States has declared the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) as a global terrorist organization, a move decried as unjustified by the separatist group fighting Pakistani rule in the resource-rich Balochistan province.
Pakistan banned the outfit in 2006 and have been urging the US to do the same.
- Egypt's 4,000-year-old Lahun pyramid has opened its doors to the public for the first time, displaying a network of passage ways and an ancient burial chamber. A small team of archaeologists from the Egyptian ministry of antiquities spent around a year clearing out the burial chamber inside the pyramid. A variety of artefacts were excavated including amulets, scarabs, shells, and chains.
Sudan's ruling military council and a coalition of opposition and protest groups have reached an agreement to share power during a transition period leading to elections. The two sides agreed to establish a sovereign council by rotation between the military and civilians for a period of three years or slightly more. The two sides also agreed to form an independent 'technocratic' government and to launch a transparent, independent investigation into violent events in recent weeks.
Omar al-Degair, a leader of the Forces for Freedom and Change -- an umbrella organization of opposition groups, hailed the agreement as the beginning of a new era and said the agreement opens the way for the formation of the institutions of the transitional authority. General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Deputy Head of the Transitional Military Council, said that the agreement will be comprehensive and will not exclude anyone. The power-sharing agreement came after two days of talks in Khartoum that resumed on 03 July, 2019.
Dubai Duty Free has announced that Indian Rupee will now be an accepted currency at all the retail outlets of the Dubai airport. However, the change, if any, will be given back in Dirhams and not the Indian currency.
Stores at the Dubai Airport will accept notes of various denominations, including 100s, 200s, 500s and 2000s. The move makes the Indian rupee the 16th international currency to be accepted at Dubai's airports. Out of the 90 million passengers who used Dubai's airports, 12 million of them travelled to or from Indian destinations.
Tunisia's Premier banned the Niqab, Muslim face covering for women in government offices, citing security concerns after attacks in the North African country. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed signed a government circular banning access to public administrations and institutions to anyone with the face covered for security reasons.
The ban on the Niqab, which covers the entire face apart from the eyes, comes at a time of heightened security following a June 27 double suicide bombing in Tunis that left two dead and seven wounded.
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