Turkiye to send commando unit to help quell unrest in Kosovo

Member of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) stand guard near a municipal building in Leposavic, Kosovo, on May 31, 2023. (Reuters)

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Updated 03 June 2023

June 03, 2023 15:58

Turkiye to send commando unit to help quell unrest in Kosovo

The request came from NATO’s Joint Force Command Naples, the ministry said
A defense ministry official said around 500 Turkish troops would be going to Kosovo

Updated 03 June 2023

June 03, 2023 15:58

ANKARA: The Turkish defense ministry announced Saturday it will be sending a commando battalion to northern Kosovo in response to a NATO request for troops to help quell violent unrest.
The request came from NATO’s Joint Force Command Naples, the ministry said in a press statement posted on its official Twitter account, and the battalion will join the alliance’s peacekeeping mission in the region, known as KFOR, as a reserve unit.
A defense ministry official said around 500 Turkish troops would be going to Kosovo. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with ministry regulations.
NATO announced on Tuesday that it would be sending 700 troops to bolster the force in the area. KFOR currently consists of almost 3,800 troops, including some 350 from Turkiye.
Violent clashes with ethnic Serbs on Monday left 30 international soldiers — 11 Italians and 19 Hungarians — wounded, including fractures and burns from improvised explosive incendiary devices.
The clashes grew out of a confrontation that unfolded earlier after ethnic Albanian officials elected in votes overwhelmingly boycotted by Serbs entered municipal buildings to take office and were blocked by Serbs.
“We urge restraint and dialogue to resolve these developments in northern Kosovo which endanger regional security and stability,” the Turkish statement read. The Turkish commando battalion will be deploying to the Sultan Murat Barracks in Kosovo on Sunday and Monday.

Nobel chemistry winners are announced early in rare slip-up

Updated 58 min 11 sec ago

October 04, 2023 23:12

Nobel chemistry winners are announced early in rare slip-up

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said it was investigating
“We don’t know what happened,” the academy’s secretary-general, Hans Ellengren, told AP

Updated 58 min 11 sec ago

October 04, 2023 23:12

STOCKHOLM: The most prestigious and secretive prize in science ran headfirst into the digital era Wednesday when Swedish media got an emailed press release revealing the winners of the Nobel Prize in chemistry and the news prematurely went public.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said it was investigating.
About four hours before the official announcement was planned Wednesday, several Swedish media received a press release from the academy revealing that U.S.-based scientists Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov had won the 2023 chemistry prize for their work on quantum dots.
The Associated Press did not receive the press release in advance and decided not to publish the names until confirmed by the academy, but many Swedish media organizations did. Many were suspicious of the email at first. They published the information, however, since the academy didn’t write it off as false, merely insisting that the final decision on a winner had not yet been taken.
“We don’t know what happened,” the academy’s secretary-general, Hans Ellengren, told The Associated Press. “This is very unfortunate, and we regret very much that that this happened. Exactly what happened I can’t tell, because we don’t know ourselves.”
The five-member Nobel Prize committees spend months whittling down lists of nominations before the full academy makes its official decision on the day of the award, announcing Nobel winners at a scheduled news conference.
Wednesday's premature press release reinforced suspicions that the final decision is just a formality, since material including background information on the winners must be prepared in advance.
More importantly, it showed the difficulty of keeping anything secret for long in the age when virtually everything is online.
“It is an important principle that the prize winners are the first to find out, and that everyone else finds out afterward at the same time,” the former head of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Göran Hansson, told news agency TT. “But in the electronic era the leaks can occur in different ways than in the newspaper era.”
Until just under a decade ago, the academy sent a courier to AP and other news agencies carrying an envelope with the names of the winners. The courier would be connected to the academy by phone and wait for a cue to hand over the envelope at the moment the prize committee started reading the names of the winners.
The academy stopped the practice since the awards were being announced simultaneously on the digital platforms of the Nobel Prizes.
It is not the first time the names of winners slip out before the Nobel announcements. The literature prize, in a particular, was plagued by leaks in recent decades. And in 2010, Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet published the name of the medicine winner in advance.
TV4, public broadcaster SVT and news agency TT were among the Swedish media who received the news release by email at 7:31 a.m., just over four hours ahead of the scheduled prize announcement at 11:45 a.m.
Ellengren, the academy’s secretary-general, said it would not comment on the exact process of nominating and awarding Nobel Prize laureates.
"The actual decision is not made until the academy meets the very same day as we announce the prize,” he said.
For the official press release to be published in advance is extremely rare, said Fredrick Malmberg, head of news at Swedish television station TV4.
“I have worked since 1995 at TV4 and I cannot remember anything like this before,” he said. “It is incredible."

Topics: Nobel Prize Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Julia Ormond sues Harvey Weinstein saying he assaulted her; accuses CAA, Disney, Miramax of enabling

Updated 04 October 2023

October 04, 2023 22:17

Julia Ormond sues Harvey Weinstein saying he assaulted her; accuses CAA, Disney, Miramax of enabling

Ormond filed the case in state Supreme Court in Manhattan under the Adult Survivors Act
She accuses him of committing sexual battery against her in December 1995

Updated 04 October 2023

October 04, 2023 22:17

NEW YORK: Julia Ormond, who starred in films alongside the likes of Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford in the 1990s before her spotlight faded, filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 1995 and then hindering her career.
Ormond, who also accuses the Walt Disney Company, Miramax and her former agents of knowing Weinstein was a problem but doing nothing about it, filed the case in state Supreme Court in Manhattan under the Adult Survivors Act, a law passed last year that allows a temporary window for those who allege sexual assault to file past the state's normal deadlines.
In her suit, Ormond says she was a star on the rise when she met Weinstein in 1994. She says she kept in touch with him to discuss scripts and projects, and in 1995 entered into a production agreement with Miramax, where he was co-chairman. She accuses him of committing sexual battery against her in December 1995 after a business meeting, and then retaliating against her and negatively affecting her career after she confronted him weeks later.
The British actress says she told her U.S. agents at the time, Creative Artists Agency, but received no support and was advised not to take any legal action or other steps. She accuses CAA, Disney and Miramax, saying that they knew Weinstein presented a danger to women but did nothing to stop him or to help her.
Weinstein, 71, was convicted of rape and sexual assault in New York in 2020 and is in prison in the state. Last year, he also was convicted of another rape in Los Angeles. He has appealed both convictions.
Weinstein attorney Imran Ansari said his client “categorically denies the allegations made against him by Julia Ormond and he is prepared to vehemently defend himself.”
Emails seeking comment were sent to CAA, Disney and Miramax.

Topics: Julia Ormond Harvey Weinstein sexual assault Lawsuit

‘Left in dark’: Indian-trained Afghan cadets face limbo with no army to serve

Updated 04 October 2023

Suman Sharma

October 04, 2023 20:55

‘Left in dark’: Indian-trained Afghan cadets face limbo with no army to serve

82 Afghan cadets have been stranded in India since the Taliban takeover in 2021
Afghan Embassy offered them some support, but it ceased operations in India

Updated 04 October 2023

Suman Sharma

October 04, 2023 20:55

NEW KDELHI: Ajmal Hoodman took a course at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun to undergo training and return to Afghanistan as an officer. But everything suddenly changed in August 2021, when the government that sent him to India collapsed as the Taliban took over the country.
Hoodman, 27, who graduated as lieutenant four months later, no longer had an army to serve.
He is not the only one. A few dozen more Afghan cadets, not only of the Dehradun academy but also the National Defence Academy in Pune and the Officers Training Academy in Chennai, found themselves stranded in India, some fearing for their lives under Afghanistan’s new rulers, whom many of them had earlier fought.
“Many of us got inspired by our grand family members and for most of us it was a dream, pride and honor to wear the army uniform,” Hoodman told Arab News.
“In total, we are 82 Afghan National Army officers.”
That army, which supported Afghanistan’s previous Western-backed administration, no longer exists.
Indian military schools started to train Afghans in 1948. The academies have a set number of seats allocated for cadets from friendly foreign nations and the fees are covered by their respective countries.
The NDA, which admits cadets directly after school, provides a graduate degree from Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
After completing this degree, cadets proceed to the Indian Military Academy for a year-long specialized military training, leading to their commission as army officers.
Parvez Amna Bakhshi, a 23-year-old boxing and Kung Fu medalist with a merit card from the NDA, graduated in November 2022.
But his training is not complete yet. For nearly a year, he has been waiting for clearance to continue the program and to have his student visa reviewed.
Bakhshi comes from Panjshir, a region that has a history of resistance. In the 1980s, its famed commander Ahmad Shah Massoud defended it from Soviet forces and in the 1990s led an offensive against the first Taliban regime.
In 2021, Panjshir was the last to fall to Taliban forces.
“We are ready to give blood to take our country back, but due to lack of support and leadership, resistance against the Taliban is not possible,” he told Arab News.
Bakhshi’s name is permanently engraved in the NDA gymnasium, owing to his accomplishments. They mean little, however, in a reality where he and his fellow cadets are left in limbo.
“We’re unable to cover our finances,” he said. “India has left us in the dark.”
The Afghan Embassy in New Delhi had earlier offered some support to them, but now even the embassy is no more. The mission ceased its operations on Oct. 1, citing a lack of support from Indian authorities.
India does not recognize the Taliban government and suspended its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan after their return to power. In June 2022, New Delhi deployed a “technical team” to the Afghan capital to “monitor and coordinate” Indian humanitarian assistance there.
Since then, the embassy, whose staff were appointed by the previous regime, lost its diplomatic significance. The mission said in a statement announcing the closure that it could not “function normally” in the “absence of diplomatic consideration and systemic support” from the Indian government.
Bakhshi had hoped for the much-coveted scholarship of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Including Afghans in the ICCR’s annual program for foreign nationals seeking undergraduate and postgraduate education in India was part of New Delhi’s efforts to strengthen ties with the government in Kabul. Under the scholarship, Afghan students received a stipend of $300 and housing assistance.
Bakhshi has been trying to get it — to no avail.
“This scholarship can at least help us continue our degree or learn some other skill so as to take up a job, as our financial situation is too bad,” he said. “We are just spending what we have in our savings, which won’t last long.”
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to requests for comment on the status of Afghan cadets.
Out of 82, two have their stay secured under the ICCR scheme and another nine are still undergoing training at their respective academies. The rest are idle and in legal limbo.
“Each of us is ready to give our lives for our country, but right now it’s about supporting ourselves and our families back home,” said Lt. Esmatullah Asil, a 27-year-old graduate of the Dehradun academy.
“So many times, we knocked on different doors, but they just gave excuses. Our expectation is only visa or scholarships, which is not a very big deal.”

Topics: Indian Military Academy Dehradun India Afghan cadets

Panic-buying hits Malaysia after Indian curbs on rice exports

Updated 04 October 2023

Nor Arlene Tan

October 04, 2023 20:39

Panic-buying hits Malaysia after Indian curbs on rice exports

Price of imports rose by over 30 percent last month
Sellers say they are facing shortage in supply of local grain

Updated 04 October 2023

Nor Arlene Tan

October 04, 2023 20:39

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian shoppers are emptying rice shelves as panic-buying spreads across a country that is grappling with rising prices following India’s decision to ban exports of the food staple.
International rice supply has been squeezed after the world’s biggest rice exporter banned shipments of the grain in July. This has led to rising costs and concerns over supply shortages in Asia, which accounts for about 90 percent of global rice consumption.
The ban’s impacts are being felt particularly keenly in Malaysia, a country of more than 32 million people that imports about a third of its rice needs.
With the retail price of imported white rice estimated to have risen by more than 30 percent last month, retailers in Kuala Lumpur have cited a shortage of local rice supply. This followed people seeking out cheaper options and panic-buying in different parts of the country.
“We don’t have the stock for local rice, and it has been like that for quite some time,” Sin, a clerk at Usaha Jaya wholesaler in Kuala Lumpur, told Arab News on Wednesday.
Most consumers now have to opt for the more expensive imported rice due to a shortage of local grain, said Sin, whose shop mainly supplies smaller stores in the capital.
“Nowadays, most people are buying imported rice because there is no supply of local rice. The cost of rice has increased a lot,” he said.
Malaysia this week introduced a subsidy and other measures to lower rice prices amid the crisis, including a task force to inspect local supply chains. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has even warned of legal action against anyone found hoarding rice.
The government maintains that enough rice is available, with Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu reportedly saying on Monday that there was no shortage of rice in the country and urging people not to panic-buy.
But Khor Cheng Hai, who sells rice at Kindness Enterprise, said he has been unable to secure stock of locally produced rice.
“Before this, there was panic-buying among our customers. But now, not anymore … We sell imported rice here, we tried to order local rice, but (wholesalers) said there is no stock,” Khor told Arab News.
“It’s not just my shop, my customers went to (other shops) and they complained that there is no local rice too. The government always said in the media that there were enough stocks of local rice.
“But when we ordered (these), there was no local rice available. What can we do?”
Malaysia’s rice crisis highlights faults within an industry that has been “trending downward,” said Prof. Fatimah Mohamed Arshad, a senior fellow at the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs.
“As production declines, the dependency on imports increases together with imported inflation,” Arshad said in a statement.
“India’s export-ban shock plunged the country into ‘rice shortage and price crises’, which is avoidable if Malaysia had been able to ensure rice supply security through higher productivity and production and a more competitive industry.”
The government has said it wants to urge rice supplier nations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, such as Thailand and Vietnam, to prioritize exports of the grain to fellow member states.

ASEAN is a gateway for Kuala Lumpur to easily source rice from abroad, said Dr. Larry Wong, a senior visiting fellow at the Institute of Strategic & International Studies in Malaysia.
“A lot of this settlement is bilateral, Peninsular Malaysia is very connected to the ASEAN continent and rice can come through by sea, by rail and road. There shouldn’t be a problem,” Wong told Arab News.
“Malaysia is very lucky as we are a small, open economy but a big trading nation,” he said. “Don’t source from the same country, but source from different countries. Disruption like this will never stop.
“Disruption like this also cannot stay for long.”

Topics: Malaysia Shoppers India food staple

UK launches safeguarding review into death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif

Updated 04 October 2023

Arab News

October 04, 2023 18:17

UK launches safeguarding review into death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif

SSCP will investigate the work of all agencies involved with the girl’s family, including, police, health, social care and education

Updated 04 October 2023

Arab News

October 04, 2023 18:17

LONDON: The UK is launching a safeguarding review into the death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif, who was found at her home in Woking on Aug. 10, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

Her father, stepmother and uncle are all charged with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership will investigate the work of all agencies involved with the girl’s family, including, police, health, social care and education.

The purpose of a local safeguarding child practice review, which is a statutory process, is for public agencies to learn ways to improve how they work to protect and promote the welfare of children.

Derek Benson, chair of the SSCP, said: “This process is likely to take some time.

“Findings may not be shared by the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership until the partnership is assured that doing so will not prejudice any future legal proceedings,” he said.

A post-mortem examination found that Sara had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries,” but the cause of her death has yet to be determined, the BBC reported.

Urfan Sharif, 41, Beinash Batool, 29, and Faisal Malik, 28, are scheduled to appear for a plea hearing on Dec. 1 and will face trial in September 2024.

New photos of Sara were released by Surrey Police in September as part of the ongoing investigation.

“The photos present Sara in the way we believe she may have dressed in the months prior to her death,” police said.

“We are hoping that these images will prompt more people to come forward with information about her and her family,” they added.

Topics: Sara Sharif

Turkiye to send commando unit to help quell unrest in Kosovo

Turkiye to send commando unit to help quell unrest in Kosovo

NATO soldiers injured in Kosovo clashes with Serb protesters

NATO urges Kosovo to de-escalate tension with Serbia

Nobel chemistry winners are announced early in rare slip-up

Nobel chemistry winners are announced early in rare slip-up

Nobel laureate engages young Indians in movement to ‘globalize compassion’

Nobel in medicine goes to 2 scientists whose work enabled creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19

Julia Ormond sues Harvey Weinstein saying he assaulted her; accuses CAA, Disney, Miramax of enabling

Julia Ormond sues Harvey Weinstein saying he assaulted her; accuses CAA, Disney, Miramax of enabling

Harvey Weinstein will not face retrial on deadlocked rape charges: LA judge

Harvey Weinstein gets 16 years for rape, sexual assault

‘Left in dark’: Indian-trained Afghan cadets face limbo with no army to serve

‘Left in dark’: Indian-trained Afghan cadets face limbo with no army to serve

At Pakistan Military Academy, cadets transform into officers with discipline, purpose, love of country

Indian navy chief welcomes Saudi cadets during first joint training

Panic-buying hits Malaysia after Indian curbs on rice exports

Panic-buying hits Malaysia after Indian curbs on rice exports

ASEAN-GCC Summit will reshape dynamics of our relations, says Malaysian envoy

Riyadh region mayor attends Malaysian National Day event

UK launches safeguarding review into death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif

UK launches safeguarding review into death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif

Sara Sharif: Pakistan court moves siblings to government childcare facility

Children back with Sara Sharif grandfather after police raid

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Turkiye to send commando unit to help quell unrest in Kosovo

Turkiye to send commando unit to help quell unrest in Kosovo

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