KABUL: 18 March 2020, TON:  Following the Taliban’s statement over its strong standpoint against the malicious terrorist group, IS-K or so called Daesh, the US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad – who had signed a peace deal with the Taliban’s deputy leader around two weeks ago in the Gulf state of Qatar – said that the fulfillment of the agreement by Washington would depend on Taliban’s stand on their commitments, in accordance to the peace deal.

The progressive remarks made while there is a strong distrust between the Afghan government and Taliban who are supposed to sit in one table under Afghan-to-Afghan negotiations to end the endless war in their country. “I welcome the Taliban’s statement denouncing Daesh and committing to stop any attempts by Daesh to recruit, fundraise, or train inside Afghanistan,” Khalilzad twitted and added, “These mirror Taliban’s public commitments (in our agreement) against Al Qaeda and all other groups that threaten the US or its allies.” Khalilzad had termed Taliban’s operation against IS-K in Kunar as a positives step, which are stated in the US-Taliban peace deal.

The Taliban group in a statement said that they have fought the IS-K and that most of the Daesh hideouts have been destroyed during their operations in eastern Afghanistan. After one and half years of negotiations with the Taliban, Khalilzad had hammered out an agreement with the group’s political office in Qatar that paved way for reduction in number of foreign troops and also facilitate direct-Afghan-talks. Based on the agreement, the Taliban should cut ties with other terrorists groups and assured that Afghanistan would not be used against U.S. and allies by any terrorists groups. In return, the U.S. would reduce the number of its roughly 13,000 troops to 8,600 within 135 days and the Afghan government would release around 5,000 Taliban prisoners. But the crucial phase of peace process, which is the intra-Afghan talks, is still looming in an unfinished business, as the Afghan government and Taliban are seemed reluctant to get into practical steps.

President Ashraf Ghani has signed a decree, which allows the gradual release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners but the militants group insists that all of the 5,000 prisoners be released at the same time before its representatives set on a negotiation table with the government’s delegation. On the other hand, the current political controversies among the Afghan politicians over Presidency Power and Election have become another great challenge against peace process. Afghan peace process should be finalized because internal stability of Afghan is necessary for Afghan people as they are suffering a lot due to prolonged war.

BEIJING, 18 March 2020, TON : Pakistani President Dr. Arif Alvi’s recent visit to Beijing weighted with rich benefits and symbolized mutual benefits for both the countries.

As the nations of the world are worried about tackling a new pandemic of Coronavirus, Pakistan and China are thinking ahead. For official visits by foreign leaders, timing always matters. But particularly now, as countries all over the world are preoccupied with self-defense amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, and national leaders are, by and large, avoiding international trips, according to an article published by China Daily on Wednesday.

President Alvi third foreign leader to visit China since the outbreak of Coronavirus in China appealed to global attention, following Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga

China and Pakistan had high ties and strong mutual bonds. Chinese investment in economic and trade sector benefiting both the countries.

Bilateral ties are so good, at both the government-to-government and people-to-people levels, that official statements here refer to Pakistan as an “all-weather friend”, the man on the street calls it “ba tie”, meaning there’s an ironclad bond that could not be better.

At this time of struggle, President Alvi offered valuable moral support to China and expressed appreciation of what it has contributed to the global campaign to contain the ongoing pandemic.

As China realizes control over the outbreak at home, Pakistan is witnessing a continuous rise in infections. How China has responded to the outbreak and what it has learned from it can provide useful insight into Pakistan’s own endeavors to bring the virus under control. And as work and production resume in China, Beijing will be better equipped to provide Pakistan with what it needs.

The series of memorandums signed in Beijing, under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, portend a solid step forward in bilateral economic cooperation, which will in turn raise overall relations to a higher level.

CPEC China- Pakistan economic corridor will pave the way to economic, agricultural and trade cooperation not only between China and Pakistan but also attract the world leaders to make investment in CPEC projects.  President Allvi’s visit is of great significance for long term practical benefits for both the neighboring countries.

NEW YORK: 18 March 2020, TON: "The temporary shutdown of cross-border movement within the EU will inevitably impact when and how vulnerable children in Greece are relocated to Germany, Finland and other states," a senior UNICEF official said.

European border bounds will affect refugee children because of the Coronavirus will affect plans to transfer hundreds of children out of "dire and dangerous" refugee camps in Greece, a senior official for the United Nations children's fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

European countries including Finland, France, Portugal and Luxembourg, and the German city of Berlin, agreed in recent weeks to take unaccompanied minors from Greece after thousands of refugees and migrants arrived in the EU member state, including those fleeing violence in Syria.

But some EU member states have now imposed checks at borders that are normally in a zone of control-free travel, and EU leaders were expected later on Tuesday to seal the bloc's external borders.

"The temporary shutdown of cross-border movement within the EU will inevitably impact when and how vulnerable children in Greece are relocated to Germany, Finland and other states," Afshan Khan, Special Coordinator for the Refugee and Migrant response in Europe, said by email in response to a question from Reuters.

She urged countries to explore "all possible measures to expedite the transfer of these children, so they can begin moving as soon as the borders reopen".

She also called for coronavirus testing procedures to be set up for the children and alternatives found to collective living arrangements.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday there were at least 10 confirmed coronavirus cases among refugees and asylum seekers in Germany. Some aid officials worry this might undermine future support for taking refugees.

UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic urged all national authorities to treat refugees and asylum seekers who fall sick with the virus the same way as other nationals.

Un should play its immediate role to assist the refugee children and to provide medical care and assistance to the effected.

ISLAMABAD, 18 March 2020, TON: Prime Minister Imran Khan while addressing the nation discussed about the threats of Coronavius and its implications on the national economy, expressed his optimism that together, the government and the nation would win the fight against the pandemic.

The prime Minister advised the people not to panic from the situation. The country could not go for a complete lockdown due to the economic situation, which had seen vital signs of resurgence from the last year.

“The situation in Pakistan has been different. About 25 per cent of the country’s population is poor. The 2019 was a difficult year. Slowly and gradually, we arrested the economic situation, which showed signs of recovery. In case of lockdown, the people would be saved from the coronavirus, but could die from poverty,” he said referring to the lockdown of cities in Europe and the United States.

Dilating upon the negative impacts of the Coronavirus on the world economy, the prime minister warned that Pakistan had to endure its shocks due to slide in the prices of oil, aviation industry and transport.

He talked about  his fears that certain elements could try to push prices of the daily use items through artificial shortage and gave a stern warning to such elements that they would be strongly dealt in accordance with law.

Such elements in the past had created shortage of sugar and flour through hoarding, he added.

He said, “I give a clear message to these people that such situation will evoke strong reaction from the state that will move strictly against hoarders and profiteers trying to take undue benefits from the situation.”

The prime minister advised the nation to follow basic hygienic measures like frequently washing of hands and avoiding social gatherings, and said as Muslims they had firm belief in life and death, but they should also follow the teachings of Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) about taking precautions in such situation.

“As a nation, we will face and Insha’Allah win this war,” he declared, and said under such scenario, they could also approach the International Monetary Funds (IMF).

The prime minister also assured doctors, nurses and other medical staff that the government would ensure provision of all the required health equipment to assist them in their Jihad against the virus.

He said the government was ready to take action to the situation after the outbreak of Coronavirus in China. On January 15, the government took decisions as the people were arriving Pakistan and they could carry the pathogen, he added.

He said the government was in constant contact with the Chinese and Iranian governments after the outbreak there.

The Pakistani Zaireen (pilgrims) were arriving at the border of Balochistan province, which was a deserted place where the provision of logistics was difficult, he said and appreciated the provincial government and the armed forces, who did well to handle the situation.

The prime minister referred to the government’s response, which, he said, was continuously following the situation.

“Our response started from January 15, as we had started screening of passengers at airports and so far about nine lakh were screened out,” he added.

On February 26, he said, the first coronavirus case was reported. Last week, the National Security Committee meeting was held after the cases surged to 20. They studied the world responses, like in Italy which was in complete lockdown whereas the United Kingdom had a different approach to the situation. The United States did not do anything at first, but now went for lockdown of its cities.

The National Coordination Committee was formed with the National Disaster Management Authority and all the chief ministers as its members. The economic committee was tasked to keep check on prices of food items, he added.

Expressing satisfaction at the availability of face masks, he said in severe cases, they could require ventilators and other equipment, and assured that arrangements in that regard were being made.

The prime minister said the core medical committee was continuously advising the government after reviewing the world scenario and the latest experiences.

President Dr Arif Alvi, he said, was visiting China recently and they would also learn a lot from the Chinese experience. China had almost overcome the outbreak, he added.

The prime minister said from the world experiences, they had fears over spread of virus in Pakistan, but expressed the confidence that they would overcome the situation.

He said the symptoms of the Coronavirus  resemblance to flu or cough like symptoms, but advised the people that every flu or cough was not related to the coronavirus.

The prime minister said the recovery from the Coronavirus was 97 per cent whereas in 90 per cent, the sufferers experienced mild symptoms.

He said the severe cases were hardly three to four p

The new dates would mean the tournament would start just one week after the US Open, if that event remains in its scheduled slot.

"The whole world is affected by the public health crisis connected with COVID-19. In order to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved in organising the tournament, the French Tennis Federation has made the decision to hold the 2020 edition of Roland-Garros from 20th September to 4th October 2020," read a statement.

"In order to act responsibly and protect the health of its employees, service providers and suppliers during the organisation period, the FFT has chosen the only option that will allow them to maintain the 2020 edition of the tournament while joining the fight against COVID-19."

French federation of tennis president Bernard Giudicelli said: "We have made a difficult yet brave decision in this unprecedented situation, which has evolved greatly since last weekend. We are acting responsibly, and must work together in the fight to ensure everybody's health and safety."

Last week, the ATP announced it was suspending the men's tennis tour for six weeks "due to escalating health and safety issues" arising from spread of the virus. All events on the ATP Tour and second-tier ATP Challenger Tour are cancelled until April 27.

The International Tennis Federation, which runs the lower tiers of the professional game as well as the junior and senior circuits, followed the ATP by announcing there would be no tournaments on any of its tours until April 20 at the earliest.

The WTA Tour said Monday it was suspending the women's season until May 2, having already called off events in Bogota, Guadalajara and Charleston.

Next month's Fed Cup finals in Budapest have also been postponed indefinitely.

The revamped 12-team women's competition scheduled for April 14-19 as well as a series of play-off ties were both put on hold.

New York, 17 March 2020, TON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a phone call he initiated with top Chinese official Yang Jiechi, voiced anger that Beijing has used official channels "to shift blame for COVID-19 to the United States", the State Department said. Pompeo "stressed that this is not the time to spread disinformation and outlandish rumours, but rather a time for all nations to come together to fight this common threat", the department added.

The State Department on Friday summoned the Chinese ambassador, Cui Tiankai, to denounce Beijing's promotion of a conspiracy theory that had gained wide attention on social media. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian suggested on Twitter last week that "patient zero" in the global pandemic may have come from the United States.

"It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation," tweeted Zhao, who is known for his provocative statements on social media.

Pompeo himself has sought to link China to the global pandemic, repeatedly referring to the "Wuhan virus" despite advice from health professionals that such geographic labels can be stigmatising.
ang issued a "stern warning to the United States that any scheme to smear China will be doomed to fail", Xinhua said in its summary of the call with Pompeo.

The key Chinese foreign policy leader "noted that some US politicians have frequently slandered China and its anti-epidemic efforts and stigmatised the country, which has enraged the Chinese people", Xinhua said.

Yang called on the US side to "correct its wrongful behaviour".

Trump is under fire over his handling of the pandemic, and his backers have sought to cast the coronavirus as a disease brought by foreigners.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton, a Trump ally, has spoken of the "Chinese coronavirus" and in a recent statement vowed, "we will hold accountable those who inflicted it on the world".

While COVID-19 has largely come under control in China, it has killed more than 7,000 people around the world and severely disrupted daily life in Western countries.

New York, 17 March 2020, TON: A spat between the US and China over the novel coronavirus escalated on Tuesday as President Donald Trump angered Beijing by referring to the pathogen as the "Chinese Virus." The two countries have sparred over the origin of the virus for days, with a Chinese official promoting conspiracy theories claiming it was brought to China by the US army and American officials using terms seen as stigmatising a nation.

"The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus," Trump tweeted Monday night. He doubled down on the comment on Tuesday morning while Tweeting about how US states were being affected, saying: "Some are being hit hard by the Chinese Virus, some are being hit practically not at all."

Trump's allies had previously referred to the pandemic as the "Chinese coronavirus", but Beijing said Tuesday it was "strongly indignant" over the phrase, which it called "a kind of stigmatisation". The United States should "immediately stop its unjustified accusations against China," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters.

A commentary by the official Xinhua news agency said using "racist and xenophobic names to cast blame for the outbreak on other countries can only reveal politicians' irresponsibility and incompetence which will intensify virus fears".

The war of words reignited diplomatic tensions between the two countries, which have tussled over trade and other disputes since Trump took office. Trump's comments were also criticised inside the US, with warnings it could incite a backlash against the Asian-American community.

"Our Asian-American communities -- people YOU serve -- are already suffering. They don't need you fueling more bigotry," tweeted New York city mayor Bill de Blasio, whose state is one of the hardest-hit by the virus in the US. The World Health Organization said more cases and deaths had been reported in the rest of the world than in China.

The new coronavirus virus was first detected late last year, with China's own health officials initially saying its source was a live animal market in the central city of Wuhan, whose government had initially tried to cover up the outbreak. But China has sought to distance itself from the virus, saying the origin is still unknown, while seeking global goodwill by offering aid to countries facing serious outbreaks.

Washington, 17 March 2010, TON: The US Justice Department abruptly dropped its criminal case against the company controlled by a confident of Russian President Vladimir Putin that allegedly funded the campaign to meddle in the 2016 elections.

Just weeks before the trial was to begin, the Justice department announced it was withdrawing the eight-count indictment of Concord Management and Consulting, a company owned by close Putin ally Yevgeniy Prigozhin.

The Internet Research Agency, Mueller charged, actively pumped disinformation, memes and fake news into social media through false accounts to influence US voters and tilt the election four years ago to help President Donald Trump.

Like Mueller, US intelligence chiefs concluded that the Concord-run operation was one half of a sweeping campaign overseen by Putin -- the other half was hacking by Russian intelligence -- to help Trump and hurt his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

In a filing in Washington federal district court, the Justice Department said that Concord's tactics of trying to use US law and court procedure to pry out classified intelligence related to the evidence against it was a threat to national security.

"The government has concluded that further proceedings as to Concord, a Russian company with no presence in the United States and no exposure to meaningful punishment in the event of conviction, promotes neither the interests of justice nor the nation's security," it said.

Concord was the only one of 25 Russians and three Russian companies charged by Mueller to be brought to trial. The rest are considered out of reach of US law, but the charges against them -- including Prigozhin-- remain in place.

The Justice Department said recent rules changes regarding evidence based on classified US intelligence made it harder to proceed in the case without exposing secrets.

BEIJING: 17 March, 2020 , TON: China has granted clinical trials on its first vaccine developed to combat the new coronavirus.

The researchers are led by Chen Wei, of China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences, it said.

Russia undergo testing potential coronavirus. Russian scientists have begun to test vaccine prototypes for the new coronavirus, and will to present the most effective one by June, a laboratory chief at a state biotech institute said.

"The prototypes have been created. We are starting laboratory testing on animals, to ensure effectiveness and safety," Ilnaz Imatdinov of the Vector Institute in Siberia told the Vesti Novosibirsk television channel on Monday.

"In June we will present one or two showing the best results."

Vector Institute is a state virology and biotechnology centre in Novosibirsk, which previously worked on vaccines for the Ebola virus. The country has announced it is closing borders to all foreign nationals beginning Wednesday as part of measures to halt the spread of the virus. Takeda sees speedy approval of coronavirus. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. said its plasma-derived therapy against coronavirus currently in development has the potential to be among the first approved treatments for the deadly pathogen.

The Japanese pharmaceutical company could have an edge because the treatment involves a process that already has approval from regulators. The key point in negotiations with regulators for approval is whether it has the necessary concentration of the antibody, or titer, needed to fight the Covid-19 disease, said Julie Kim, Zurich-based president of Takeda's plasma-derived therapies unit. The process to manufacture the therapy, using antibodies from recovered patients, is the same as Takeda's other immunoglobulin products, which have approval from regulatory bodies around the world including the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Kim said.

"We don't have to demonstrate safety, we just have to agree with the regulatory agencies on how to demonstrate that the titer of antibody present in the final product is sufficient to be effective against the disease," Kim told Bloomberg in a phone interview. She said the response from the FDA and European Medicines Agency would be key to the timing for approval, which could be as early as in nine months.

Takeda shares rose as much as 1.3% in afternoon trading in Tokyo, erasing an earlier drop of as much as 4.6% amid a broader market rebound.

Takeda is one of many pharmaceutical companies racing to find a treatment for the coronavirus that has swept across the globe, killing more than 7,000. The U.S. has been granting fast-track approvals for drugmakers developing therapies, and Gilead Sciences Inc. and AbbVie Inc. have emerged as front-runners for potential treatments.

A roundtable of pharmaceutical executives told U.S. President Donald Trump this month that antiviral medications could be available for patients in a matter of months. Vaccines, which would prevent healthy people from contracting the disease, are further from reaching doctors' offices and pharmacy shelves.

Baghdad, 17 March 2020, TON: Iraq's president named ex-Najaf city governor Adnan Zurfi as the new prime minister, tasked with ruling a country hit by street protests, military unrest and now the coronavirus pandemic.

The nomination came hours after two rockets hit an Iraqi military base hosting US-led coalition and NATO troops, the third such attack within a week, without causing casualties according to military officials.

Lawmaker Zurfi, 54, is the former governor of the Shiite holy city of Najaf and once belonged to the Dawa party, the longtime opposition force to ex-dictator Saddam Hussein who was ousted in the 2003 US-led invasion.

President Barham Saleh said he had nominated Zurfi to replace outgoing premier Adel Abdel Mahdi, who resigned in December, at a time when Iraq has been rocked by an unprecedented wave of anti-government rallies. Zurfi, a member of the Nasr coalition led by ex-PM Haider al-Abadi, now has 30 days to pull together a government, which must then be confirmed by parliament.

His nomination comes at an especially tumultuous time for Iraq, which has been battered by almost six months of street protests, collapsing oil prices, the novel coronavirus outbreak and the renewed rocket attacks which Washington blames on pro-Iranian forces.

A senior government source told that political factions had intensely debated names for days, seeking a "non-confrontational" figure in an attempt to preserve the status quo. Iraq has since 2003 been governed under a sectarian power-sharing system characterised by intense horsetrading between sects and parties. An earlier nominee, Mohammad Allawi, had failed to form a cabinet by March 2, triggering a new 15-day deadline for Saleh that was set to end late Tuesday. The president's announcement came just hours after a new pre-dawn rocket attack targeted foreign troops stationed in Iraq.

Two rockets hit the Besmaya base about 60 kilometres (40 miles) south of Baghdad, according to the Iraqi military, the US-led coalition and NATO, all of which have forces stationed there. The Iraqi military made no mention of casualties and a NATO press officer told that  none of its forces were hurt. The past week has seen a renewed spike in rockets hitting Iraqi bases hosting foreign forces, with three coalition troops killed on March 11 in an attack on the Taji air base, which was targeted again on March 14. Iraq's parliament, which sees the US strikes as a violation of its sovereignty, has voted to oust all foreign forces -- but the paralysis gripping the political class has slowed the implementation of the decision.