politicodiary

Recently, the home of Mahmoud Salhiya was demolished in Sheikh Jarrah by the Israeli forces. His house was located on the east part of the road which travels from north to south through Jerusalem and separates Israeli and Palestinian sectors. The demolition could be seen as a way to control the Palestinian and Israeli activists. The demolition happened in a very dramatic way as the authorities arrived at the site at the early hours of the day, on one the coldest night of the year. The Israeli police forcibly removed the 15 members of the Salhiya’s house and the house was bulldozed thereafter. Later, they arrested Mahmoud Salhiya and five members of his family, as well as some of their supporters, both Palestinian and Israeli activists. There is an ongoing attempt to displace the Palestinians from their homes. Recently, this has been done not just in Sheikh Jarrah but also in other places such as Silwan. Also, the outskirts of the Old City of Silwan have become a place for continu...

  The trade relations between India and South Africa have done exceedingly well recently. The target set by the leaders of both countries was USD 10 Billion. The actual numbers have exceeded to USD 11.6 billion. Consul General Anju Ranjan announced the results at the reception on the occasion to celebrate the 73rd Republic Day of India. "India-South Africa trade has crossed the landmark. We have achieved the 100 per cent target and now it has increased from USD 10 billion to USD 11.6 billion," Ranjan said. The exemplary results have been achieved despite the restriction posed by the Covid-19 pandemic in India and South-Africa. In midst of the Covid-19 pandemic many commercial activities were organised at both countries to promote the trade activities, like organizing the virtual exhibitions and buyer-seller meets. Business activities in ceramics, telecom, agriculture, printing and textiles sectors were promoted as a part of the agreement between both countries to improve bi...

  While the British are keen that the current PM Boris Johnson might resign, he isn’t budging from 10 Downing Street, sources have confirmed. The nudging comes when during a parliamentary session the opposition leader Keir Starmer said that it was time Johnson thought about resigning as the Scotland Yard would open its own investigation into parties held during COVID-19 lockdown at Downing Street. The session could be seen as unpleasant, full of shouts and allegations. Johnson defended his leadership and presented achievements. But in response, the party gate has accused him of ‘demeaning the office of the Prime Minister.’ It seems Johnson’s Conservative government continues to be not in the good books due to certain glitches that happened at the time of the lockdown. One major one was the surprise party for his 56th birthday in the midst of a peaked Covid-19 scare that was heavily criticized and showed recklessness on the part of the UK Prime Minister. It is believed that Bo...

The Libyan Health Minister Ali al-Zenati is under the scanner over charges of corruption. He and his second in command have now found themselves in custody over alleged corruption in the prices of oxygen cylinders with notoriety of scaled up prices. Covid 19 seems to have brought out the devil in many who have made a lot of money over PPE and related services, at the expense of people’s wellbeing.   In a statement made by the Attorney General it was said that, the government had “heard about the failure to comply with the regulations applied in administrative contracts ..., especially regarding the sale of oxygen production units, with a markup of up to 1000% of the purchase price.” The same source also cites "the signing of contracts directly with companies founded on August 10, 2021, which do not meet the requirements of solvency and expertise to carry out the work subject to the contracts." Both have now been placed under pre-trial custody before the case is heard in c...

The current situation arising at the Ukraine borders with Russia’s threating with troops build up has united the leaders in the west. Joe Biden declared a "total unanimity" with the leaders in Europe against the actions of Russia's to build-up troops on the Ukraine borders. Joe Biden also informed that the leaders in Europe have complete agreement with him on the common strategy against current actions of Russia, he shared this after a video call with the European allies on Monday. After the call with leaders from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the EU, Biden shared with media “I had a very, very, very good meeting - total unanimity with all the European leaders." Additionally, UK has warned Russia, of "swift" and "unprecedented" sanctions if an incursion takes place.   Russia has not shown any indication of change in their stand to invade Ukraine yet.   The leaders from US and Europe agreed on international unity in face of growing Russi...

On January 23 rd , the locals of Senegal went out to the polling station to elect local representatives. These elections are a test for President Macky Sall and the opposition. Last year there were deadly riots in Senegal and later the opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, was arrested. Senegal is located In the west part of Africa, with Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau on its borders. With a population of 16.7 million people, one third are eligible to vote now. The Poll takes place five months ahead of general elections. Senegal enjoys a dry tropical climate. There has been peace in Senegal with less impact from violence engulfing the region. Now, few terrorists the neighbouring countries are engaging in cross-border trafficking, with the intention to create instability. Amongst all other countries in the South African continent, Senegal has the reputation of being the is one of the most stable countries in terms of Political and other activities. After the independence i...

The Malaysian ghost of forced labor follows Canada too; so much so that the Maple country has now cancelled some contracts to prevent itself from being pulled into human rights issues. It is now confirmed that the Public Services and Procurement Canada has finally terminated two supply contracts with Supermax Healthcare Canada following allegations that the nitrile gloves it manufactured in Malaysia for use by Canadian health care workers were made with forced labour. A whooping $222 million were being invested into procuring these gloves that were to equip healthcare workers in Canada. This was a part of an $8billion push led by the former procurement minister Anita Anand. It is worth mentioning that the Canadian action has come after the US had initiated there’s in October led by the US Customs and Border Protection. In November, the department announced that deliveries from this company were being held until the government could review the results of an independe...

What is worrying the world is not the whooping increase in Internet user base, but instead how to tackle the scrambling of signals with 5G network that will affect airline flights? Those companies that might be launching the 5G wireless services near airports are in for trouble. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had reasons to believe that there can be potential 5G interference in communication signaling to aircrafts. This means, 5G could potentially affect height readings that play a key role in bad-weather landings on some jets and airlines say the Boeing 777 is among models initially in the spotlight. This has become more prominent as American airlines have been forced to cancel their flights. Even India has cancelled its flights to the US over the potential rollouts. Meanwhile, two wireless carriers have said they will delay their deployment plans.  This includes AT&T and Verizon. Now, AT&T and Verizon are supposed to deploy their 5G wireless service on Wedn...

 The new Finance minister of Turkey, Mr. Nureddin Nebati, was in news last month for his surprising reply during a TV interview. When asked by a reporter, regarding the economic situation of Turkey, Nebati replied by saying “I won’t give a number now,” he told a surprised television interviewer. “Can you look into my eyes? What do you see?... The economy is the sparkle in the eyes.” Considering the selection of Nebati by president, Erdogan his response sounded rather unconventional to all. Turkey is facing high rates of inflation, erratic currency rates and high interest rates. Nureddin Nebati was selected by the President Tayyip Erdogan as the finance minister to drive the new economic policy in a rather unconventional way. He has completed six weeks in the role of Minister of Finance and Treasury, in Erdogan’s cabinet. The remarks of 58-year-old minister, during the TV interview has created  a stir in the market. Two weeks, ago, justifying his efforts, Nebati, said on th...

Another country has reached its boiling point, something that has taken not only the country’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev by surprise but also most analysts. Kazakhstan has had enough and now the land locked country is in no mood to endure more. A civil unrest has broken there in the first week of January and this is going to redefine the geopolitical dynamics for neighboring nations too. The small population of 19 million now wants government restructuring. The anger stems from oppression under Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989 before handing over power to his hand-picked successor Tokayev in 2019. But he continues to hover around as the head of the Security Council and it became clear that the old ruler was not eager to relinquish his power. Many protesters shouted “old man out!” in reference to Nazarbayev, and his statue was pulled down in the southern city of Taldykorgan. His nephew Samat Abish, deputy head of the main security service and several o...

For 18 years together Iraqi people have suffered under corrupt governance. Electricity and water have never been available to them in abundance. But with a new government likely to come into action, things are looking up for the civilians. It should be heartwarming to note that the government has already issued some 96 arrest warrants to corrupt officials, a huge feat for the Iraqi people. Confirmed by the Integrity Commission, this includes current and former ministers, undersecretaries and former deputies, as well as former and current governors and director generals of several ministries, according to a statement from the commission. This also includes the deputy electricity minister who has been arrested under corruption charges too. While the government might have tried to take these corrupt officials to task earlier as well, there has been low success rate due to the latter’s’ affiliations with Even after the US led oust of the dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraqi people have suffere...

On Wednesday, Carrie Lam, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong has said that the city will outlaw a host of new national security crimes. During her opening session of the first legislative session of a new “patriots only”, she vowed to bring in new security laws. Her commitment is to bring an array of new security laws for the city. The details of the Crimes which would be included in the planned “local legislation”, is not yet clear. The purpose of introduction of new laws are expected to meet a constitutional requirement for Hong Kong and also to have its own national security law. The list of laws laid out in article 23 of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, include the treason, secession, sedition, subversion and theft of state secrets. Few other laws included in Article 23 also restricts the involvement and foreign political organisations in Hong Kong and also restricts conducting political activities in city. This laws also stops the...

Life amidst the Pandemic is not easy for anyone, everyone from rich to poor face  the trails of Pandemic in their own way. The current wave of Pandemic has shown  wide affects to the Australian Open tennis courts, the French President and the US Supreme Court. Though the Omicron is milder than its predecessors, still the speed of its transmission is keeping the hospital beds occupied and a major work-force out of job. With the third consecutive year, the overall feeling in world is shifting towards to a new way of living, especially in the democratic countries. Whereas China is moving in a different direction with lockdown of its cities and millions of people in order to prevent the Winter Olympics. It is believed that this move of China is another showcase of its proof of super-power, though this would be another epic centre of infection to the world. Beijing is put on high alert and clusters with high number of Omicron cases have ...

On Monday, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s requested to China for its assistance in mitigating the debt amidst deepening forex crisis. The request by Sri Lankan PM was made during a meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Colombo on Sunday, saying that this will help Colombo immensely at this time, and the assistance from Beijing will be really appreciated. The request from Rajapaksa is mainly about restructuring the debt payments to resolve the current economic crisis arises due to Covid 19 pandemic. As per estimates, payment of USD 1.5 to 2 billion are due this year. As per the experts from international rating agencies, Sri Lanka does not have the ability to pay USD 1500 million. As per the initial agreement Sri Lanka has to pay USD 500 million next week. President Rajapaksa has made a request for a concessional trade credit scheme for imports from China, as per him, this will enable industries to run smoothly. The visit of Chinese Foreign Minis...

Four days after a major fire broke out at the South Africa’s parliament in Cape Town, Firefighters have handed over the responsibility to police. The fire has destroyed the main chamber, causing the roof of one building to collapse. A man was arrested in this case, suspected to be cause the fire. He has appeared in court under the charges for housebreak, theft, arson and contravention. As per the law the access to government buildings is restricted, where-as he has entered the building un-lawfully. Explosive devices were also found with him as per the Police. The suspected man is in custody now. His motive behind this is still not clear, as per Police Officials, it is too early to make any comment on the real motive, neither it is clear if it was an intentional attack on the seat of South Africa’s democracy. As of now, he is on Police custody till the bail hearing. No more arrests have been made so far in this case. The National Ass...

The foreign Minister of France, Jean-Yves Le Drian has said that, there is a bit of  progress in Iran Nuclear deal but in order to reach the deal, the time is really short. He has welcomed the efforts of negotiators on the current progress, but his concern  is regarding the short time to negotiate the deal. He also added, that based on the discussions in Vienna, he has convinced that the talks are going in a positive direction, therefore they will reach a deal soon. Talking on television, he commented 'bits of progress have been made in the last few days. Time is of the essence because, if we don't get an accord quickly there will be nothing to negotiate.' Similar sentiments were shared by Britain. During talks with Israel this week, Britain also said that time was running out for a deal. Also, Germany said similar thing, adding that negotiations were 'entering a crucial phase; and that there was 'not much time.' As per comments from Washington, on Tue...

Strangely, influencers in social media are spreading fake news about the Covid-19 spread and this is influencing people’s minds against the vaccination. Fake news about Covid-19 vaccines has played a major role in preventing people from trusting the vaccine process can save their lives. Since the start of the pandemic, rumors and conspiracy theories have been rife, unsettling many people and making vaccination campaigns more difficult. Religious leaders are saying that vaccines can affect fertility, breastfeeding abilities or lead to death too. The WHO has found that the majority of fake news is spreading in North America, Australia, and Russia and elsewhere in Europe. From there, they also reach African social media channels. The global health body is fighting this kind of misinformation on the continent of 1.3 billion people. Since December 2020, the WHO has been working with 20 partners in Africa. They formed the Africa Infodemic Response Alliance, whose aim is to debunk dange...