ISLAMABAD, 1 February 2020, TON: The Government of Pakistan has decided in principle Islamabad not evacuate Pakistani citizens stranded in China’s coronavirus-hit regions, in order to ensure the safety of the larger public.

Foreign Ministry data reflected that approximately 28,300 Pakistani students are currently studying at Chinese universities, with more than 500 of them in the virus epicenter of Wuhan. Only four Pakistani students tested positive for the virus.

Many countries including the US, UK, Japan, Australia and India have flown their citizens out of China after the outbreak of the virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak a global health emergency. Earlier, on Friday, Pakistan announced it was suspending all direct flights to and from the country until 2 February 2020.

USA, 1 February 2020, TON: United States is temporarily denying entry to noncitizens who have recently traveled to China, hoping to limit the spread of the new Coronavirus to Americans. The American restrictions, announced on Friday, exempt immediate family members of American citizens and permanent residents.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  has been working on the Coronavirus since December last year. As a precautionary measure any American citizen returning home who has been in the Hubei province of China within the past 14 days will be graded as in the virus’s incubation period and will be quarantined for up to 14 days. 

Addressing joint press conference at Brussels, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said,  Albania will not change its position on giving shelter to members of an Iranian opposition group. He said, “Albania is proud of granting asylum to thousands of people whose lives were threatened by the Iranian government".

Since 2018 Albania has expelled an Iranian ambassador and several diplomats for activities against the Mujahideen-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and others. In middle January this year Albanian Foreign Minister Gent Cakaj declared two Iranian diplomats namely, Mohammad Ali Arzpeima Nemati and Ahmad Hosseini Alast, as persona non grata and asked to leave Albania. Albania is also promoting Sufism including Bektashi group that remained target of Iran.

Earlier, in a casual talk, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg was talking about regime change in Iran. NATO countries including Albania are hosting the members of Mujahideen-e Khalq Organization. Besides US and UK, Mujahideen-e Khalq Organization has its members in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.  

In the name of protecting Tibet's environmental and cultural rights, the US House of Representatives has passed a bill by an overwhelming vote of 392 to 22 that authorizes

financial and travel sanctions against Chinese officials who interfere in the process of selecting the successor to the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet. In the next step the bill will be presented to the Senate and signed into law by the president.

The bill provides that the succession or reincarnation of Tibetan Buddhist leaders which includes nomination of 15th Dalai Lama, is an exclusively religious matter that should be decided solely by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The bill will also prohibit China from opening any new consulate in the US until Beijing allows Washington to open its diplomatic station in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.

If we recall, US Congressman McGovern said on the House floor, "The Dalai Lama should be commended for his decision to devolve political authority to elected leaders. The Tibetan exile community is also to be commended for adopting a system of self-governance with democratic institutions to choose their own leaders, including holding multiple 'free and fair' elections to select its Parliament and chief executive."

There are serious concerns that Coronavirus may be linked with Washington’s plans to preventing Beijing from installing a Dalai Lama and linking it with “Global Magnitsky Act". The Global Magnitsky Act allows the US to sanction foreign government officials implicated in human rights abuses anywhere in the world. There are reports that last month Americans had been engaged in dialogue with Tibetan leaders and Beijing.

As the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the new Coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency, India’s Hindu to leader, Swami

Chakrapani Maharaj, president of Hindu Mahasabha, said on Friday said cow urine and cow dung can be useful deadly Coronavirus disease that killed many across China. He claimed that any who reads, “Om Namah Shivay” and then applies cow dung on body, will be saved.

Meanwhile, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which guards the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, has prepared a 600-bedded facility in Chhawla area,  near New Delhi to quarantine and provide basic medical care to those suspected to have been affected by Coronavirus, Those kept at the centre will be provided with food, water and other basic amenities. Indian Prime Minister has also tasked India Army to establish a similar facility at Indian Army Camp near Manesar.

Satinder Pal Singh, Joint Secretary in the Indian Shipping Ministry said, “I have ensured that all Indian ports scan people disembarking from ships to prevent spreading of the deadly Coronavirus through sea route.” Air India Managing Director Ashwani Lohani said on Friday morning, “Air India flight has been assigned to bring back stuck Indians back from Wuhan but no service will take place in the plane. Whatever food is there will be kept in seat pockets. As there will be no service, there will be no interaction between cabin crew and passengers."

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper says the Pentagon will not remove all its forces from Africa. In a statement, Esper said on 30^th January, "We are not going to totally withdraw forces from Africa Esper is carrying out a global troop review meant to find ways to free up more resources to address challenges from China's military in Asia.
Soon after the announcement by Washington of troops withdrawal from over three dozen US Africana bases, the activities of terrorist have increase manifolds especially in Sahel and beyond. The scale and frequency of terrorist attacks reflected that terrorist organizations wanted to convince US leadership not to withdraw the troops and equipment from Africa.

Interestingly, French leadership has especially has expressed concerns about US pullout of forces from various strategic locations in Africa. US and France are partners in combating anti-western extremist elements in Africa from Northern to Southern Africa and from Eastern to Western Africa especially Sahel region, where there is stiff resistance to foreign occupation.

The non-withdrawal of US troops from Africa was authenticated by General Stephen Townsend of US Africa Command, when he said during congress hearing that Africa is key ground for competition with China and Russia.  
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Meanwhile, Washington had been supporting Iran backed elements in African countries through arms and finances against the ingenious Muslims religious and political leadership but now Pentagon claims Iran-backed forces were looking at opportunities to hit back at the US in Africa after the killing of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani in Iraq.

TRIPOLI, 30 January 2020, TON: Turkey has warned France to stop supporting Libya's eastern-based illegitimate militia forces and their leader, General Khalifa Haftar. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “It is no secret that France has supported warlord Khalifa Haftar since 2011 to have the upper hand over the natural resources of Libya.” The statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was issued in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks claiming that Turkey is breaching an agreement to halt foreign interference in the conflict-ravaged Libya.

US, Russia, France, Spain, Italy, Egypt, UAE and others are supporting US nationality holder General Haftar by finances and arms despite the fact that UN has recognizes Prime Minister Faiz al-Siraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA). Turkey has deployed its troops in Libya to bring peace in war ravaged Libya which is burning since almost a decade, after US-France-UK supported ouster of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

JAMMU AND KASHMIR: In August, the government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) guaranteed under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and bifurcated the state into two union territories. This was preceded and followed by a region-wide clampdown on civil liberties, increased militarisation, a communications blackout and detention of key political leaders such as Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. In a move to silence critics, hundreds of other political leaders and activists were also detained under various administrative detention laws. No official information on the number of people detained, their access to lawyers or family members, where they were held and under what charges was made available. Government-imposed restrictions prevented journalists and activists from independently documenting and sharing information about the situation, including allegations of human rights

abuses. Access to emergency services, healthcare, education and other services were highly restricted. The United Nations human rights experts including the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of expression, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, the Special Rapporteur on the right to peaceful assembly and association and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions described the crackdown as ‘a form of collective punishment’. While many communication services have been restored such as telephone, mobile phones, SMS etc., the internet continues to be shut down. Kashmir valley accounts for half of all internet shutdowns in India that reports the highest number of shutdowns in the world. Prior to August, Kashmiri women and men throughout the country faced targeted attacks, harassment and arbitrary arrests after 42 members of the security forces were killed in Pulwama, J&K, in a suicide bomb attack in February. Kashmiri university students and traders in northern states, primarily Uttarakhand, Haryana and Bihar were beaten, threatened, and intimidated by some Hindu nationalist groups causing many students to flee their universities. In June, the authorities denied Amnesty International India permission to hold an event to launch a briefing on the misuse of the draconian J&K Public Safety Act (PSA) in Srinagar, the region’s capital verbally citing the ‘prevailing law and order situation’ as the reason.

JERUSALEM, 30 January 2020, TON: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejecting President Trump’s US’ crafted Middle East peace plan said, “We rejected this deal from the start and our stance is… we say a thousand times, no, no, no!” The Palestinian leadership has rejected the plan saying. “There no division of Jerusalem will be tolerated and Palestinian state without Jerusalem was impossible.”

Meanwhile, Palestinian organized mass protests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip chanting slogans and carrying banners against US-Israeli conspiracy against the Muslim’s lands. As a reaction of Palestinian response to Middle East peace plan and outright rejection, Israeli soldiers carried out, on Thursday airstrikes targeting five targets in central and southern Gaza Strip. Reportedly, one of the missile also hit structures near Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, causing destruction. Media reports claimed that a Hamas leader was killed; however, same could not be confirmed by other sources.

After the airstrikes, Israeli military carried out additional missile attacks while Israeli warplanes continued attacking several other locations causing damage to the buildings with no casualty. Some of the missile fell on open places.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spokesperson claimed that Tel Aviv carried out attack as response to a rocket attack carried out from Gaza towards Israel. He added, Israeli strikes targeted Izz-ud-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas setup in Khan Younis and farmhouse in Deir al-Balah city in Gaza Strip. However, causalities were not spelled out.

29 January 2020, TON: Afghanistan will play Pakistan on Friday in a quarter-final match in the ICC Under 19 World Cup.

Afghan coach Rajees Ahmadzai said that his team is ready for Friday’s match with Pakistan “just like any other match” adding adding that "Any match against Pakistan is interesting to everyone as Pakistan is always a strong side.”

Ahmadzai expressed confidence in his players, and said they have an advantage of high morale having beaten Pakistan several times at the Under 19 level previously.

Afghanistan beat South Africa and UAE in group matches in the World Cup, and the match against Canada was abandoned due to rain, which meant Afghanistan topped Group-D with 5 points.

“We will try not to be emotional and will play with a clear mind because when players are emotional, they tend to lose their control and strength and are not able to focus on the match properly,” he said.