digitaltimes(DT):Thousands of protesters rallied outside Moldova’s parliament building on Thursday as lawmakers loyal to the outgoing pro-Russian president voted to strip his pro-Western successor of a key power. The move to prevent the former Soviet republic’s president from having control of the powerful state security was put forward by the ruling Socialists. It was approved by 51 votes in favour in the 101-seat parliament.
Scuffles erupted at one point between pro-government and the opposition lawmakers after the Socialist-dominated majority also passed the next year’s budget without a debate.
The narrow vote reflects deep political divisions between the pro-Russian and pro-Western camps in one of the poorest nations in Europe. Sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova also has been a politically strategic area for both the West and Russia since gaining independence after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
President-elect Maia Sandu, a pro-EU reformist who last month decisively defeated her Socialist opponent Igor Dodon in a runoff election, has promised to implement reform and move forward planned integration into the EU.
Dodon had maintained close ties with Russia that date back to the Soviet era, and was an election favorite of Russia’s current President Vladimir Putin. His move to strip Sandu of state security control is seen as an attempt to maintain influence despite the election loss. Addressing supporters at Thursday’s gathering, Sandu called for an early parliamentary election to be held in order to unseat the current administration which she called corrupt.”We have gathered here today to defend our democracy, the right to have a country free of corruption, without poverty, a country where justice would prevail,” Sandu said. “People are dying in hospitals and are running out of medicine, people have no food to eat and the parliamentary majority deals with diminishing presidential powers”.
Moldova’s already weak economy has further suffered in the new coronavirus pandemic. So far, the nation of 3.5 million people has tallied more than 100,000 virus cases and over 2,000 deaths.
In 2014, while it was run by a pro-European coalition, Moldova signed a deal on closer political and economic ties with the EU, now a bloc of 27 nations. However, Brussels has since been increasingly critical of Moldova’s progress on reforms.
Thousands protest in front of Moldova Parliament
Army chief General Naravane to visit Saudi Arabia, UAE:
Diplomat Times Digital : 05 Dec, 2020
Army chief MM Naravane is travelling to Saudi Arabia and the UAE next week, a visit that is being hailed as a new chapter in the relationship between India and a more pragmatic Arab world.
General Naravane will also address the Saudi National Defence College during the first such visit by an Indian army chief to Saudi Arabia.
The news comes amid winds of change blowing through the Arab world, with key nations reaching out to Israel. The geopolitical realism shown by the likes of the UAE, which was the first country to normalise relations with Israel, can also be witnessed in many Arab countries’ refusal to allow Pakistan’s obsession with Kashmir come in the way of expanding ties with India. There is speculation that other Arab countries may follow the UAE’s footsteps and not let the “Palestinian cause” become a hindrance in normalising ties with Israel, America’s closest ally in the region.
While Saudi Arabia – the most important of the Arab states – is being coy about its views on Israel, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that the Saudi Crown Prince and the Israeli leadership are secretly coordinating efforts to push back against their common enemy – Iran, which is also America’s biggest foe in the region.
On its part, India has traditionally maintained warm ties with both the Sunni-dominated Arab nations and Shia-majority Iran. But the emerging Pakistan-Iran-Turkey nexus may force India to take a more clear approach. The Indian army chief’s visit to Saudi Arabia and the UAE will not go unnoticed in Islamabad, Ankara and Tehran. Turkey’s president Recep Erdogan has been a vocal critic of India’s decision to annul the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, and ties between India and Turkey have consequently soured in the past year.
Iran blames ‘enemy’ Israel for nuclear scientist’s killing
Netanyahu met Saudi crown prince, Pompeo in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia denies role in Iranian nuclear scientist’s kill.
Meanwhile, Pakistan, which is lately getting something of a cold shoulder from its longstanding ally and aid-giver Saudi Arabia, is also increasingly embracing Turkey. China has further complicated matters, especially by moving ahead with a proposed 25-year deal with Iran worth $400 billion.
The growing economic ties between India and the Arab world — Saudi Arabia, or instance, is India’s fourth-largest trading partner and supplies about 18 per cent of India’s crude requirement and around 30 per cent of its LPG needs – and the large presence of the Indian diaspora in the Middle East have been key factors driving the dynamic relationship for decades.
But the new geopolitical realities of the Arab world are making these ties even stronger. General Naravane’s visit is a significant step in that direction.
The seventh meeting of the India Mongolia Joint Committee on Cooperation
New Delhi, India December 3 (DT): The seventh meeting of the India-Mongolia Joint Committee on Cooperation was held virtually on Thursday between External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar and Chief Cabinet Secretary of Mongolia L Oyun-Erdene, wherein the two ministers held comprehensive discussions on the range of issues covering bilateral cooperation.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release, during the meeting, the ministers recalled the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Mongolia in May 2015, and Mongolia President Khaltmaagiin Battulga’s visit to India in September 2019.
Both sides further expressed satisfaction over the arrangement of several special flights between the two countries, and exchanged views of possible cooperation in combating COVID-19, including procurement by Mongolia in the future of COVID-19 vaccine from India.
The two ministers also positively evaluated the coordination between the two countries in regional and multilateral forums and agreed to continue to support each other in relevant international forums. The Indian side welcomed the decision by Mongolia to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA), and agreed that this initiative would further promote the use of clean energy in both countries and the world.
Jaishankar and L Oyun-Erdene acknowledged that this year marked the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Mongolia, and noted with satisfaction that the relationship between the two countries had grown deeper and stronger, especially in the last few years.
“The two sides agreed to establish AYUSH Information Cell in Ulaanbaatar at an early date. The Indian side conveyed its appreciation on the institution by Mongolia of a ‘visa on arrival’ status for Indian citizens,” read the release.
The Ministers also reviewed the progress of ongoing developmental partnership projects including the USD 1.236 billion Line of Credit Oil Refinery Project and the USD 20 million Atal Bihari Vajpayee Centre of Excellence in ICT and Outsourcing.
The two sides agreed to hold the next meeting of the India-Mongolia Joint Committee on Cooperation in 2021.
Foreign Minister of Dominican Republic Mr.Roberto Alvarez
New Delhi, India(DT) Today Minister of External Affairs Dr.S Jaishankar attend virtual conversation with Foreign Minister of Dominican Republic Mr.Roberto Alvarez .
They Discussed expanding business , increasing capacity building & traning and working on health and digital cooperation.
A Chinese robot probe sent to return lunar rocks to Earth
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese robot probe sent to return lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s landed on the moon Tuesday, the government announced, adding to a string of increasingly bold space missions by Beijing.
The Chang’e 5 probe “successfully landed” at its planned site, state TV and news agencies reported, citing the China National Space Administration. They didn’t immediately announce any more details.
The probe, launched Nov. 24 from the tropical southern island of Hainan, is the latest venture by a Chinese space program that fired a human into orbit in 2003, has a probe en route to Mars and aims eventually to land a human on the moon.
Boko Haram : Massive Islamic Terrorist Attack In Africa Results In Deaths Of At Least 110 People
Nigeria- A terrorist attack by Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist organization, left at least 110 people dead in Nigeria on Saturday, with most of the victims appearing to be farmers.
“The bodies were taken to Zabarmari village, two kilometers away, where they would be kept ahead of burial Sunday, said resident Mala Bunu, who took part in the search-and-rescue operation,
” the wire service added. “Last month, Boko Haram militants slaughtered 22 farmers working in their irrigation fields near Maiduguri in two separate incidents. Boko Haram and ISWAP, its IS-linked rival, have increasingly targeted loggers, herders and fishermen in their violent campaign, accusing them of spying and passing information to the military and the local militia fighting them.”
coronavirus-vaccine : EU drug agency decide to grant its first approval for a coronavirus vaccine
coronavirus-vaccine : EU drug agency decide to grant its first approval for a coronavirus vaccine
BERLIN (AP) — The EU drug agency said Tuesday it may need another four weeks to decide whether to grant its first approval for a coronavirus vaccine, even as authorities in the United States and Britain continued to aim for a green light before Christmas.
The European Medicines Agency plans to convene a meeting by Dec. 29 to decide if there is enough safety and efficacy data about the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech for it to be approved, the regulator said. The agency also said it could decide as early as Jan. 12 whether to approve a rival shot by American pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc, which was submitted to U.S. and European regulators this week.
If its vaccine is approved, Germany-based BioNTech said its use in Europe could begin before the end of 2020 — but that seems quite ambitious, given that the EU Commission usually needs to rubber-stamp the regulator’s decision. Still, the regulator has also left open the possibility that the date of that meeting will be brought forward if data comes in faster.
The approval date now being eyed would be later than some European countries had hoped. Germany, which has given BioNTech 375 million euros ($450 million) in funding to develop the vaccine, has been preparing to start immunizing people from mid-December onward.
The EU’s top official said Tuesday around 2 billion doses of potential COVID-19 vaccines have been secured for the bloc’s 27 nations, with the first deliveries likely to start before the end of the year.
“It will be a huge step forward toward our normal life,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “In other words, I just wanted to say there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Indian farmers Protest
Indian farmers Protest
NEW DELHI – The Indian government and protesting farmers were unable to reach common ground in talks held Tuesday, with the farmers saying their demonstrations against new agriculture laws will continue as will their blockades of key highways.
The farmers rejected the government’s offer to set up expert committees to discuss the new laws, which deregulate crop pricing, even as the agriculture minister appealed for an end to agitation and invited the farmers for further discussions on Thursday.
“Our movement will continue and we will definitely take back something from the government — be it bullets or a peaceful solution,” Chanda Singh, a farmer leader who was part of the talks, told reporters in New Delhi.
Farmers have been protesting the laws for nearly two months in Punjab and Haryana states — where they have been blocking key highways. The situation escalated last week when tens of thousands of them marched to the Indian capital, where they clashed with police who used tear gas, water cannons and batons against them.
The farmers have since camped along at least five major highways on the outskirts of New Delhi and have said they won’t leave until the government rolls back what they call “black laws.”
The farmers say the laws passed in September will lead the government to stop buying grain at minimum guaranteed prices and result in exploitation by corporations who will push down prices.
The laws add to already existing resentment from farmers, who often complain of being ignored by the government in their push for better crop prices, additional loan waivers and irrigation systems to guarantee water during dry spells.
The government has argued the laws bring about necessary reform that will allow farmers to market their produce and boost production through private investment.
Agriculture supports more than half of India’s 1.3 billion people, but farmers have seen their economic standing diminish over the last three decades. Once accounting for a third of India’s gross domestic product, they now produce only 15% of GDP, which is valued at $2.9 trillion a year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his allies have both tried to allay farmers’ fears about the new laws while also dismissing their concerns. Some of his party leaders have called the farmers “misguided” and “anti-national,” a label often given those who criticize Modi or his policies.
Many opposition party leaders, activists and even some allies of Modi’s party have called the laws anti-farmer and expressed support for those protesting. The demonstrations have also started to draw international attention.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday noted the protests and said “Canada will always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protest.”
“We’ve reached out through multiple means to the Indian authorities to highlight our concerns” Trudeau said in a video address without elaborating.
India’s Foreign Ministry did not directly name Trudeau but said comments by some Canadian leaders were “ill-informed” and “unwarranted.”
“Such comments are unwarranted, especially when pertaining to the internal affairs of a democratic country,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava.
On Tuesday, thousands more joined the protests at multiple locations on the outskirts of the capital. The farmers, driving tractors and trucks, brought food, fuel and firewood to sustain themselves.
“We are here to stay,” said Manjeet Singh, a farmer who was part of a team making meals for the protesters. “We aren’t going anywhere.”
