ISLAMABAD, 21 December 2020, (TON): Outlining the EU Disinfo Lab findings “enormously damaging”, a European Union-based human rights activist has called for institution of a lawsuit against the Indian government to be held accountable in the court to prevent exacerbation of such propaganda.

 “This should have consequences for Indian government that has the final responsibility. The Indian government should be held accountable for this in the court,” said Mr Vermaut, an official member of the International Alliance for the Defence of Rights and Freedoms, an NGO with participatory status to the United Nations ECOSOC committee.

In an interview with Islamabad Policy Research Institute on Sunday, he suggested that all the victim parties needed to sit down together for legal proceedings against India for the “enormous damage” caused to Pakistan, China, the European Union, the United Nations as well as the minorities living in India, who were already suffering due to policies of New Delhi.

“If we do not do this, new sites will be created tomorrow. We will have to act on this,” said Mr Vermaut, who is also president of PostVersa, Human Rights and Fundamental Rights chapter.

He said that the EU DisinfoLab’s revelations showed that even the Indian people were deceived by their government as it pretended to have the support of the largest parliament in the world and also the EU.

“Who would have ever thought that this would be possible that we could be so deceived today in 2020. No one would have ever thought that a country like India is dealing with such matters.”

He stressed the need for “disinfecting” internet and freeing it from such fake websites and a large scale investigation into the issue.

Mr Vermaut observed that the campaign was just meant to isolate Pakistan and China and portray a good image of India.

 “This is of course not excusable. It is a form of propaganda that tries to put all Pakistani citizens and all Chinese people in a bad light. European Union was also put in bad light by associating it with its so-called support to Narendra Modi,” he added.

Mr Vermaut said, “It seemed that Indian intelligence services were involved in such matters as the false information drive was purely meant to hurt Pakistan and China.”

The human rights activist said that it was the largest exposure of fake news sites in the world which had never happened before.

NEW DELHI, 21 December 2020, (TON): The Indian Supreme Court today asked the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to decide on December 21, today, the petitions seeking review of its verdict scrapping the Roshni Act which was considered illegal by J&K High Court as it was giving rights to the occupants of State land.

The Roshni Act was enacted in 2001 with the twin objective of generating resources for financing power projects and conferment of proprietary rights to the occupants of State land.

Tushar Mehta told the top court that Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has already filed a review petition in the high court and said that the authority is "not against bonafide and common people who are not land grabbers".

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had on October 9 declared the Roshni Act "illegal, unconstitutional and unsustainable", and ordered a CBI probe into the allotment of land under this law.

Dhaka, 21 December, 2020 (TON) Halima Akter, Bangladesh:

The European Union (EU) has agreed to provide $25.7 million to the United Nations Children Fund's (UNICEF) child protection project in Bangladesh in the following four years.

This announcement has been come from both sides mutually on a press release on Sunday.

Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh, mentioned that the European Union's support is a remarkable achievement for Bangladesh to assist children, especially children living with disabilities. During the COVID-19 period, such a notable contribution will help more to protect child rights. It will also ensure children's equal opportunities and equal social service.

According to the speech of the delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh Maurizio Cian, as families face a hard time tackling challenges in mid of the pandemic, we must invest now for the enriching full potential of the children and adolescents to contribute to their society in the future.

The project is, especially, for the adolescents and children living with disabilities including the street children. More than 10 million children will be provided social services under this project, and they will get their rights. It will emphasize the child protection system, policies, and legislation to secure child rights.

There is little initiative regarding children with disabilities in Bangladesh. They do not get access to school for education, and their families cannot afford their healthcare for a long time due to financial problems. This project will helpful for them to bring them to mainstream society.

BEIJING, 21 December, 2020, (TON): An aircraft carrier group led by the Shandong, China’s newest carrier, has sailed through the Taiwan Strait on its way to routine drills in the South China Sea, China’s navy said on Monday, after Taiwan mobilised its forces to monitor the trip. The Shandong was accompanied by four other ships.

The Shandong sailed through the Taiwan Strait a day after a US warship passed through the same stretch of sea. China’s military said it tailed the ship.

China’s navy said the Shandong and its accompanying ships had “smoothly” transited the sensitive and narrow Taiwan Strait on Sunday, heading for exercises in the South China Sea, where China has extensive and disputed territorial gains.

The drills are part of “normal arrangements made in accordance with annual plans”, it said. “In the future, we will continue to organise similar operations based on training needs.”

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said the Shandong was accompanied by four warships and had set out from the northern Chinese port of Dalian on Thursday. Taiwan said it sent six warships and eight air force aircraft to “stand guard” and monitor the Chinese ships’ movements.

While it is not the first time China’s carriers have passed close to Taiwan, Taiwan has complained of repeated Chinese military activity, including China's regular flying of air force aircraft near the island.

China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province which it has vowed to retake, but Taiwan's leaders say it is clearly much more than a province, arguing that it is a sovereign state.

Taiwan dispute with China has left relations frayed with a constant threat of a violent flare up that could drag the US into the fray.

In the meantime, the US has been intensifying its outreach to Taiwan, reassuring Taiwan of its continued support. In September, the US sent its senior official to hold meetings on the island for decades. China strongly criticised the meeting, warning "not to send any wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' elements to avoid severe damage to China-US relations".

MUMBAI, 21 December 2020, TON - The New Delhi High Court dismissed a plea from India’s Future Group, In which they want to restrain U.S. partner Amazon.com Inc to sale their asset of $3.4 billion to Reliance Industries Ltd.

Amazon said Future Group breached agreements that they made with Amazon in 2019. It sold retail assets in August to Reliance Industries.

Amazon received a restraining order from a Singaporean mediator in October, in which the parties agreed to use it in the case of a dispute.

It was later stated that the order was not binding, prompting Amazon to file a complaint with the Indian market regulator.

According to Forrester Research, India's retail sector will grow by 46% to $1. 1.3 trillion per year over the next four years. Statistics show that the main battle is over groceries, which will be around $7 40 billion a year by 2024.

WASHINGTON, 21 December 2020, (TON):  Capitol Hill negotiators signed a deal Sunday on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package. The agreement, announced by congressional leaders, would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.

The final agreement would be the largest spending measure yet. It combined $900 billion for COVID-19 relief with a $1.4 trillion government-wide funding plan and lots of other unrelated measures on taxes, health, infrastructure and education. The government-wide funding would keep the government open through September.

The government-wide appropriations bill would fund agencies through next September. That measure was likely to provide a last $1.4 billion installment for Trump’s US-Mexico border wall as a condition of winning his signature.

CAIRO, 21 December 2020, (TON): Al-Azhar issued a Fatwa saying, “joining the Muslim Brotherhood and other terrorist groups is forbidden according to Shariah and that God has forbidden division and disagreement”.

Al-Azhar Fatwa Global Center said, “It is clear to the public what these groups have done in distorting some texts, cutting them out of their context, and using them to achieve personal goals or interests and corrupting the land.”

Abdullah Al-Najjar, a member of the Islamic Research Academy said, “Joining the terrorist Brotherhood is forbidden by law cooperating in immorality and aggression, for that group violates the law of God and is involved in terrorism.”

Hussein Al-Qadi, a researcher in religious affairs and Islamic movements, said that the fatwa is the first of its kind in the history of Al-Azhar. In the past, Imam Muhammad Mustafa Al-Maraghi, rector of Al-Azhar also demanded the dissolution of the Brotherhood.

Egypt is under tremendous Western pressures that compel to take up certain activities to realize the world community that Cairo is doing a lot to fight against religious extremism and terrorism. Muslim Brotherhood is a non-violent political party not only in Egypt but a number of other countries. Often international pressures lead to similar Fatwas in many countries.

BAGHDAD, 21 December, 2020, (TON): Eight rockets targeted the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone late Sunday, Iraq's military and Iraqi officials said, sparking fears of renewed unrest as next month's anniversary of the U.S. slaying of an Iranian general draws near.

According to a statement by Iraqi military “an outlawed group” launched eight rockets targeting the Green Zone, injuring one Iraqi security person manning a checkpoint and causing material damage to some cars and the residential complex.The US Embassy said minor damage was caused to the embassy compound but that there were no injuries or casualties.

In a statement released, the US Embassy in Baghdad said Sunday's rocket attack "resulted in engagement of Embassy defensive systems."

Witnesses in Baghdad said the C-RAM defense system installed at the US Embassy was activated to intercept incoming rockets. Video on social media showed tracers from the C-RAM in the skies over the Green Zone.

 “We call on all Iraqi political and governmental leaders to take steps to prevent such attacks and hold accountable those responsible,” the statement said.

The C-RAM system was installed by the U.S. over the summer as armed groups stepped up rocket attacks targeting the embassy and its premises.

The U.S. withdrew some staff from its embassy in Baghdad earlier this month, temporarily reducing personnel ahead of the first anniversary of the U.S. airstrike that killed Iran’s top general, Qassim Soleimani, outside Baghdad's airport on 3^rd January. Soleimani’s killing sparked outrage and led Iraq’s parliament to pass a non-binding resolution days later, calling for the expulsion of all foreign troops from Iraq.

In Iraq, the US plans to reduce the number of troops from 3,000 to 2,500 by mid-January, before Trump is to leave office. But the frequency of rocket attacks in Iraq has frustrated the Trump administration.

A spokesman for the Presidency of the Republic of Iraq issued a written statement saying "targeting the Green Zone is a terrorist act that endangers the security and lives of innocent citizens and their property.

"It represents a targeting of the country's sovereignty and national efforts to preserve the state's prestige," the statement said. "Targeting diplomatic missions undermines Iraq's international reputation and its foreign relations."

The Green Zone is an area of Iraq's capital city where the embassies of several western countries are located. It is largely viewed as a safe location, but is frequently the target of rocket attacks. Rockets have previously been fired at the Green Zone to protest the US troop presence in Iraq.

KUALA LUMPUR, 21 December, 2020, (TON): Malaysia will enter 2021 with its biggest spending plan yet to spur its virus-hit economy, but concerns are focusing on how to foot the bill after a sovereign-rating downgrade earlier this month.

The government expects revenue to rise 4.2 per cent next year, counting on higher tax collections, without raising taxes or introducing new ones - coupled with a move to slash its dependence on oil. The plan hinges on one key assumption: that tax income will rise as economic activity returns close to normal.

Malaysia’s economy is losing an estimated MYR 2.4 billion daily during the Movement Control Order (MCO), a total of MYR 63 billion, as all the business activities are suspended.

According to the Malaysian Ministry of Finance, Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract by 4.5% in 2020, before regaining its growth in 2021 of 6.5% to 7.5%.

"If the economy does not recover as strongly as the 6.5%-7.5% that the government is expecting, any revenue shortfall is likely to manifest" in lower tax revenue, said Mr Wellian Wiranto, an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp in Singapore.

Even with the pandemic still raging, the government relaxed restrictions this month to give the economy some breathing room. Daily virus cases hit a record-high of 2,234 on 10^th December.

Since abolishing an unpopular Goods and Services Tax in 2018, the country has depended on oil-and-gas revenue and dividends, largely from state energy company Petroliam Nasional Bhd, to fill its coffers. That backfired when crude prices plunged this year, contributing to a 14 per cent decline in government revenue for 2020.

Earlier this year, the World Bank’s Malaysia Economic Monitor, projected Malaysia’s economy to contract by 3.1 percent in 2020 due to a sharp slowdown in economic activity caused by COVID-19 and measures to contain its spread.

The implementation and subsequent extension of the Movement Control Order (MCO) have greatly affected Malaysia’s economic performance.

RAMALLAH, 21 December 2020, (TON): A Palestinian official said on Sunday that there is a joint Palestinian-Egyptian-Jordanian move to support holding an international peace conference to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The move came as a result of a consultative meeting among three foreign ministers in Cairo on Saturday who stressed that the Palestinian cause is the central Arab issue and discussed ways to push the concerned parties to engage in the peace process.

Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt Diab al-Louh told Palestinian official radio station "Voice of Palestine" that the ministers held the meeting to place the Palestinian issue at the front of the Arab and international position to find a just and comprehensive solution.

"The ministers are going to take advantage of the political changes in the Middle East Region, as well as the world, to support holding the international peace conference," al-Louh said.

The move will be based on the international resolutions related to the Palestinian issue in order to allow the Palestinians to establish their independent state on the borders of 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, according to al-Louh.

He explained that the move includes political, diplomatic and legal actions at the international level, as well as the European Union, which stresses the importance of solving the Palestinian issue as soon as possible.

Earlier, on 28 October, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted a request to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, to hold urgent consultations and prepare an international peace conference.

The last US-sponsored peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians had stopped in 2014 due to differences over settlement, security, and borders. The Palestinians rejected sole American sponsorship of the peace negotiations.

The Palestinians are calling for holding an international conference for peace in the Middle East; however, their call is facing significant political obstacles.