NEW YORK, 23 January, 2021 (TON): A recent update on Friday was issued by the New York State Department of Health, Andrew Cuomo on high risk high school winter sports.

The decision will allow athletes to begin practicing basketball, hockey and wrestling beginning February 1, 2021 provided there is approval from county health officials.

The guidelines read, “Effective February 1, 2021, participants in higher risk sports and recreation activities may partake in individual or distanced group training and organized no/low-contact group training and, further, may partake in other types of play, including competitions and tournaments, only as permitted by the respective local health authorities, (i.e., county health departments).

Since March 2020, the famous pandemic has hindered the ability for high school athletes to compete.

The winter state championship tournaments in such sports bowling, basketball and hockey were not completed. There was no spring season in 2020 and no high-risk sports allowed during the fall.

This season, the start of the winter sports was pushed back to January 2, 2021, and did not guarantee permission to high risk sports to be practiced.

Section II Executive Director, Ed Dopp did not comment until he received more information from the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, but did add that the schedules will be provided to the schools willing to compete if the news is indeed true, and the section would begin counting practices.

Barring any changes to the length of the winter season, high-risk sports would need a week to gain the necessary practices required to begin and then would have three weeks to complete seasons prior to the Feb. 28 end date. There are no sectional and state tournaments to be contested, but there could potentially be allowances made to extend the length of time to compete.

LONDON, 23 January, 2021 (TON): Progress in the 2019 death case of 39 Vietnamese migrants in London, took place when the ringleaders of a human smuggling group have been imprisoned for their involvement in the scene.

On Friday the court in the U.K. sentenced seven men to prison when their roles were assured for being involved in the case.

The men were given prison terms ranging from 13 to 27 years for involvement in a people-smuggling plot that led to their deaths.

In October 2019, the case sparked a global outrage when the victims of ages ranging from 14 to 44 slowly suffocated inside a container in the back of a truck discovered at an industrial port near London.

The court ruled two defendants who were identified as the ringleaders of the smuggling group, Gheorghe Nica, 43 and haulier boss Ronan Hughes, 41.

Nica was sentenced to 27 years in prison while Hughes was handed 20 years.

Two truck drivers also caught and received prison sentences, one 23 year old Eamonn Harrison given an 18 year sentence, 13 years and 4 months sentence given to 26 years old driver, Maurice Robinson.

The judge also ordered that the men serve two-thirds of their sentences in custody, rather than the more customary 50%.

Three other men involved in the group were also handed prison terms from three to seven years.

They' had been previously found guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

NEW YORK, 22 January, 2021 (TON): The treaty to ban nuclear weapons happens to enter to force on Friday without the German signature, the host of U.S. warheads.

The international pact has been ratified by 51 states, though none of them are the nuclear powers.

The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) halts its signatories to produce, stockpile, sell, and use nuclear weapons. Whereas, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), has hailed it as a milestone.

ICAN’s representative in Brussels, Leo Hoffmann-Axthelm, told the media that from now on there would be "much more pressure on nuclear powers to finally make good on their old promises to disarm."

Efforts toward nuclear disarmament have stagnated in recent years. Just a handful of powers possess the world's estimated 13,400 nuclear warheads. Some 90% are owned by the US and Russia, with the rest shared among China, France, Britain, Pakistan, India, North Korea and presumably Israel — an undeclared nuclear power.

The states involved are more interested in the modernization than disarmament of the nuclear arsenals.

However, many non-nuclear states are unwilling to accept the situation.

In 2017, 122 states voted in the favor of the prohibition treaty, 51 have since ratified, the reason it got into force.

Mainly, states in Africa, Latin America and Asia have ratified the treaty so far. In Europe, only Ireland, Austria, Malta and Liechtenstein have joined on.

The world's main nuclear powers have so far refused to ratify it, as have NATO's 30 member states which consider atomic weapons essential for reasons of deterrence.

As long as nuclear weapons exist, it will remain a nuclear alliance, National Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) insisted.

An estimated 20 U.S. nuclear bombs are stored at Buchel Air Base in Southwest Germany under a NATO nuclear weapons sharing agreement. German air force pilots would fly the planes that drop the bombs in times of emergency. In an annual NATO nuclear exercise named Steadfast Noon that involves personnel from several allied air forces, the scenario is practiced.

As a result, the German government has also refused to ratify the disarmament treaty.

MEXICO, 23 January, 2021 (TON): Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador asks the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to investigate the fabricated case against former minister, Salvador Cienfuegos.

On Friday, in a new test of bilateral ties with the U.S., Mexico demanded an internal investigation into the conduct of its case against a former defense minister,

He asked the DEA to look into the matter of who tried to fabricate the case against the minister soon after Mexico’s attorney general decided to drop charges.

“I am not going to go to any international body, but I respectfully believe that agency should do an internal investigation and clarify what happened, who made the file, who gave the order to apply it,” Lopez Obrador said, referring to the DEA, during a regular news conference.

After a series of pleas, criminal riddled inconsistencies are hoped to be justified.

WAHINGTON, 23 January, 2021 (TON): Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit on Friday that seeks to block U.S. President Joe Biden’s move to stop certain deportations for 100 days, a move that has provoked some Republicans.

During the filing, the attorney general stated that if the deportation embargo goes into effect, the state has to face irreparable harm.

On the campaign, Biden promised a 100 day moratorium on deportations if elected. This proposal contradicted immensely with the then President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown

On Wednesday, 20th January, after Biden took the office, a top official of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a memo that ordered a pause on certain deportations to enable the department to better deal with “operational challenges” at the U.S-Mexico border during the pandemic.

While on Friday, Paxton argued that the deportation moratorium move is against the president’s constitutional duty to execute federal laws. The temporary freeze violated an enforcement agreement the state brokered with the outgoing Trump administration earlier this month.

SAHEL, 23 January, 2021 (TON): United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Friday called for an end to the unrelenting violence in Africa’s Sahel which has now displaced more than two million people within the borders of their countries for the first time ever.

The area includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger which has been afflicted with the armed insurgent groups and other criminal gangs since 2012.

In the past year, already the violence in Niger and Burkina Faso has forced more than 21,000 people to migrate and leave their homes to seek refuge within their native countries. More than 11,000 people have been displaced as a result of armed attacks in Burkina Faso since December 31, 2020.

According to UN, Sahel has been going through high rates of poverty, insufficient food, insecurity, climatic changes and the diseases.

Many internally displaced people do not even have basic shelter and sleep in the open air because of inappropriate arrangements by the hosts.

The UNHCR has urged the international community to redouble its support for the region.

Across the region, UNHCR and its partners are working to provide critical assistance to hundreds of thousands of displaced people and their hosts, such as shelter, aid items, and cash.

Since 2013, France has been present in the region. It has currently 5,100 stationed troops however, examining this level of commitment.

Meanwhile, the African Development Bank, it would mobilize $6.5 Billion to support efforts by countries in the Sahel.

Launched in 2007 by the African Union, the Great Green Wall is a concerted attempt to roll back the Sahara desert. It helps the communities in the Sahel and Sahara regions to alleviate and adapt to climate change but also to improve food security.

DAMASCUS, 22 January, 2021, (TON): Syrian air defences confronted “an Israeli aggression” in the region of Hama on Friday that killed four people from the same family at Syria's central province of Hama, state media reported.

A father, mother and two children were killed and four others were wounded in the attack, said SANA. It added that three residential homes were destroyed.

The Israeli warplanes fired their missiles from over the Lebanese city of Tripoli, targeting military targets in the vicinity of Hama, media reported, citing a military source.

It added that the air defenses intercepted most of the missiles.

The attack is the latest in a series of Israeli strikes targeting military sites in Syria. It was Israel’s first strike on Syria since Biden took office.

Earlier this month, an intense Israeli missile strike against a series of military positions in eastern Syria killed more than 57 fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

The "intense" missile strike targeted positions of Syrian forces and allied Iranian-backed fighters in the area extending from the city of Deir al-Zour to the al-Bukamal area on the Syrian-Iraqi border said the Observatory.

According to the observatory group, Israel has carried out a total of 39 attacks on Syrian military sites.  These strikes killed at least 217 Syrian soldiers and pro-Iranian fighters.

Israel has been carrying out airstrikes against Hezbollah and Iranian targets in the war-torn country. Syria accuses Israel of “state terrorism” for airstrikes.

The war in Syria has killed more than 387,000 people and displaced millions.

JAKARTA, 22 January, 2021, (TON): Auto throttle expected to be responsible for Sriwijaya Air crash investigators claim.

Sixty two people were travelling on the plane when it plunged into the sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta on 9th January, 2021.

According to the officials, a few days before the crash, a problem with the Boeing 737's autothrottle that controls the engine power of an aircraft had been reported.

The throttle can also be manually handled and it remains unclear whether this became the cause of crash.

"There was a report of malfunction on the autothrottle a couple of days before to the technician in the maintenance log, but we do not know what kind of problem," National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) investigator Nurcayho Utomo told the media.

"If we find the CVR (cockpit voice recorder) we can hear the discussion between the pilots, what they talked about and we will know what the problem is."

From the debris in the Java Sea only the aircraft’s flight data recorder has been recovered, while divers are still on to find the cockpit voice recorder.

In line with the international standards, a preliminary report is expected within 30 days of the crash.

The airline itself said it would not comment on the investigation before the official statement.

NEW YORK, 22, January, 2021 (TON): At the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Pakistan and India sparred over the situation of minority rights in each other's countries as the assembly adopted a resolution, co-sponsored by Pakistan.

India highlighted Pakistan for co-sponsoring the resolution under the agenda of culture of peace and safeguarding religious sites.

India, at the Adoption of Resolution on promoting culture of peace & tolerance to safeguard religious sites, at the United Nations, said," The resolution cannot be smokescreen for countries like Pakistan to hide behind."

India’s representative at the UN assembly stated various incidents from the history of Pakistan and stated that it is a matter of great irony where the most recent attack and demolition of a Hindu temple took place.

As per the media, the ambassador also clarified India’s position on safeguarding religious establishments saying the country has stringent laws against violence or discrimination based on religion and referred to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991.

Exercising right of reply, the Pakistani delegate Chheena said, "The clear difference between India and Pakistan with respect to minority rights can be gauged from the fact that the accused in the Karak incident were immediately arrested, orders were issued for repairing the temple, the highest level of judiciary took immediate notice, and the senior political leadership condemned the incident.

"Whereas in India, blatant acts of discrimination against Muslims and other minorities take place with state complicity," he added.

As a matter of fact, the most recent incident took place on 17th January, 2021, in the Kanpur city, Uttar Pradesh India, where a Muslim shrine had been vandalized by some miscreants and certainly no justified action has been taken since then.

Mishandling a single brick of some property is said to be encroached in one way or another.

NEW YORK, 22 January, 2021, (TON): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday welcomed the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty.

António Guterres said that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) also represents a “strong demonstration of support for multilateral approaches to nuclear disarmament” overall.

In a video message and statement, the UN chief said, "I am pleased to recognize today's entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty in more than two decades. The treaty is an important step towards the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and a strong demonstration of support for multilateral approaches to nuclear disarmament."

The UN chief commended the States that have ratified the Treaty and welcomed the “instrumental role of civil society in advancing the TPNW’s negotiation and entry into force”.

“The survivors of nuclear explosions and nuclear tests offered tragic testimonies and were a moral force behind the Treaty. Entry into force is a tribute to their enduring advocacy”, he said.

Mr. Guterres added that he was looking forward to guiding the UN’s response according the Treaty, including preparations for the first official Meeting of States Parties.

“Nuclear weapons pose growing dangers and the world needs urgent action to ensure their elimination and prevent the catastrophic human and environmental consequences any use would cause”, adding that the “The elimination of nuclear weapons remains the highest disarmament priority of the UN. I call on all states to work together to realize this ambition to advance common security and collective safety."”

The accord was approved initially by 122 nations at the UN General Assembly in 2017, but it was civil society groups led by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) which had put in the “decades of activism” to secure the number of countries required to make it a reality.

So far however, the main nuclear powers of the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China and France, have not signed the accord.