World

Jerusalem, Sep 19 (IANS) Israel's cabinet has approved the establishment of an annual gathering of senior officials from the US and five Middle Eastern countries, namely Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt.

The decision "institutionalises" the work of the Negev Forum, a six-party meeting held in Sde Boker in southern Israel's Negev Desert in March 2022, said a statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid's office.

The Negev Forum will act on the basis of six working multilateral groups in the fields of food security and water, energy, tourism, health, education and tolerance, and regional security, the office was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency reported.

Among the four Arab countries in the forum, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco normalised ties with Israel in 2020, while Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace accord with Israel in 1979.

--IANS
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Abuja, Sep 19 (IANS) The death toll of Lassa fever in Nigeria this year has risen to 171, despite measures by the government to reduce infections across the country, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said on Sunday.

In its latest Lassa fever situation report, the NCDC said there have been a total of 917 confirmed cases, with 6,660 suspected cases recorded since the beginning of the year. In the week from September 5 to 11 alone, eight new confirmed cases and one death were recorded, Xinhua news agency reported.

So far, 25 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 102 out of the 774 local government areas in the most populous African country, the public health agency said.

With the death toll rising to 171, the NCDC said the case fatality rate was 18.6 percent, lower than that for the same period last year, which was 23.3 per cent.

The disease control center said the predominant age group affected is 21-30 years, with the male-to-female ratio for confirmed cases being 1:0.8.

According to the World Health Organization, Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic illness caused by the Lassa virus, a member of the arenavirus family of viruses. Humans usually become infected with the Lassa virus through exposure to food or household items contaminated with urine or feces of infected Mastomys rats. The disease is endemic in the rodent population in parts of West Africa.

In some cases, Lassa fever has similar symptoms to malaria, appearing between one and three weeks after exposure to the virus. In mild cases, the disease causes fever, fatigue, weakness, and headache.

The NCDC said it remained committed to supporting state public health teams to achieve the goal of reducing the Lassa fever case fatality rate to a single digit.

The disease control agency said it is currently distributing medical response commodities to states and treatment centers as part of measures to control the spread of the disease.

--IANS
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Madrid, Sep 18 (IANS) China is carrying out illegal, transnational policing operations across five continents, targeting overseas critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with harassment, threats against their families back home and "persuasion" techniques to get them to go back, according to a recent report.

Chinese police are currently running at least 54 "overseas police service centers" in foreign countries, some of which work with law enforcement back home to run operations on foreign soil, the report from Safeguard Defenders said, RFA reported.

Initially started as a pilot scheme by police in Qingtian county, Zhejiang province, in 2019, the overseas stations were ostensibly set up to help Chinese nationals overseas with administrative tasks, the report said.

"But they also serve a far more sinister and wholly illegal purpose. Some official anecdotes of official operations explicitly cite the active involvement of Hometown Associations on the ground in tracking and pursuing targets indicated by [police or public prosecutors in China]," the report said.

Hometown Associations are community based groups of people from the same town in China, and are connected to the hierarchy of the CCP's United Front Work Department, which runs outreach and influence operations both in China and overseas, RFA reported.

One of the key operations the service centers are involved in is the "persuasion to return" process, in which pressure is brought to bear on activists overseas using threats and retaliation against their loved ones back in China.

"In the mere 15 months between April 2021 and July 2022 alone, a staggering 230,000 Chinese nationals were returned to face potential criminal charges in China through these methods, which often include threats and harassment to family members back home or directly to the target abroad either through online or physical means," Safeguard Defenders said.

The "persuasion to return" campaign was rolled out as a pilot project across 10 provinces in 2018, and official guidelines include denying targets' children the right to education in China, or targeting their family members for harassment.

"The combination of an absolute absence of minimal judicial safeguards for the target and the association by guilt methods employed on their families, as well as the illegal methods adopted to circumvent official international cooperation mechanisms and the use of United Front Work-related organizations abroad to aid in such efforts, pose a most grave risk to the international rule of law and territorial sovereignty," the report found, RFA reported.

--IANS
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London, Sep 18 (IANS) Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that the Defence Ministry and the General Headquarters (GHQ) will consult on the appointment of the next chief of army staff (COAS) by October end and the decision will be made soon, media reports said.

Asif was speaking at Nawaz Sharif's London residence where he arrived accompanying Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Samaa TV reported.

The ruling PML-N leadership at a party meeting is expected to hold a consultation over the key appointment as Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa is set to retire on November 29, according to the report.

Asif said that the appointment of the next Chief of Army Staff (COAS) is a routine matter and it is the first time in history that Imran Khan is raising a ‘hue and cry' over the issue.

Imran Khan has proposed to postpone the appointment until after the general elections and grant an extension [to Gen Bajwa], Asif said.

The date of appointment is over two months away, he said, adding that only Imran Khan is worried about the appointment and raising a hue and cry.

Shehbaz Sharif, who is enroute New York for the UN General Assembly session, has arrived in London where the ruling PML-N is holding a party meeting to finalise some key decisions, including the one on the appointment of the next COAS, Samaa TV reported.

The Prime Minister and his entourage landed at the Luton airport where he was received by Pakistan Ambassador to the UK, Moazam Ali Khan. He then left for London accompanied by federal ministers Marriyum Aurangzeb and Khawaja Asif.

During the PML-N meeting under Nawaz Sharif, consultations will be held on the key November decision while the no-confidence motion in Punjab will also be discussed, Samaa TV reported.

--IANS
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Beirut, Sep 18 (IANS) Lebanon has started implementing its plan to return 15,000 Syrian refugees monthly to their homeland, Elnashra news website reported.

Syrian refugees wishing to return home will be transported by the buses sent by the Syrian government, according to Elnashra on Saturday.

The process will take place in cooperation with the Lebanese General Security Directorate and the Lebanese Red Cross, which will escort them to the Masna'a crossing between Lebanon and Syria under the supervision of the UN Refugee Agency, Xinhua news agency reported.

The first convoy plans to depart in 10 days, according to Elnashra.

"If no obstacles rise, the Lebanese General Security Directorate can organise the return of 200,000 Syrians within approximately a year," it added.

On July 4, Lebanese Minister of the Displaced, Issam Charafeddine announced that the Lebanese government would secure the return of 15,000 displaced Syrians monthly to their homeland.

Lebanese authorities said Lebanon would implement its plan regardless of the international position on this matter as the presence of a significant number of refugees weighs heavily on the country's economy which is already mired in an unprecedented crisis.

Lebanon hosts the world's largest number of refugees per capita, with a government estimate of the Syrian refugees in the country at 1.5 million.

--IANS
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Damascus, Sep 18 (IANS) Israel has carried out 25 missile strikes inside Syria in 2022, killing 27 government soldiers and injuring 23 civilians, a war monitor reported.

The Israeli attacks destroyed about 73 targets, including buildings, warehouses, headquarters and vehicles, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Saturday.

The injured include a girl and at least three women, the Britain-based watchdog added.

The report comes just hours after an Israeli midnight missile strike on the airport of the capital Damascus and military sites south of the capital, killing five soldiers, Xinhua news agency reported.

--IANS
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Johannesburg, Sep 18 (IANS) Four cases of avian flu or bird flu were confirmed among the endangered penguins at Boulders Penguin Colony in Cape Town, News24, a local news website reported, citing a clinical veterinarian.

As of Friday, there had been four confirmed cases and another seven suspected cases, said Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) management.

Once seabirds show symptoms of bird flu, they usually die soon afterward, News24 reported on Saturday, quoting David Roberts, a clinical veterinarian at the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) as saying.

The flu strain is the same as the one detected in seabirds in the Western Cape last year. That outbreak saw thousands of birds die in vulnerable colonies. Now, conservationists worry the same fate could await the endangered penguins, if no quick action is taken.

Roberts said that it could also pose a significant risk to breeding colonies if there is an outbreak in endangered species like the African Penguin, Cape Cormorant and Cape Gannet, Xinhua news agency reported.

The outbreak of bird flu in 2021 killed an estimated 230 African penguins, he added.

"At the peak of the outbreak, more than 500 affected birds were collected per day. The population-level effect was of an unprecedented scale, and nearly 15 per cent of the South African population of Cape cormorants died from avian influenza in less than four months," he said.

The outbreak devastated the endangered Cape cormorant population in the Western Cape, resulting in the deaths of 24,000 birds. The worst-affected area was Dyer Island off Gansbaai, home to a Cape cormorant breeding colony.

According to Roberts, the actual number of deaths was likely to be far higher. Before the outbreak, there were an estimated 57,000 Cape cormorant breeding pairs in South Africa. However, the population had dropped by 50 per cent over the last 30 years.

Bird flu refers to the disease caused by infection with avian (bird) influenza virus. Strains of the influenza virus primarily infect birds.

--IANS
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Dakar, Sep 18 (IANS) Senegalese President Macky Sall appointed a new Prime Minister, a position he abolished in 2019 and reinstated in 2021.

According to a presidential decree, the Inspector of taxes and domains Amadou Ba was appointed the Prime Minister and he received instructions to form a cabinet during Saturday.

Aged 61, the new Prime Minister was Minister of Economy and Finance (2013-2019) under the regime of Macky Sall, then Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad (2019-2020), Xinhua news agency reported.

In place since November 2020, the outgoing government had 33 Ministers and four Secretaries of State.

--IANS
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MUNICH, Sep 18 (IANS) Germany's Oktoberfest, the largest folk festival in Germany, started in Munich, Bavaria, after a two-year Covid-induced break.

Covering an area of 34.5 hectare, the festival is expected to receive millions of visitors from all over the world with special Oktoberfest beers and hearty specialties like fried sausages and pork knuckles.

At Sunday noon, the Mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter tapped the first Oktoberfest beer barrel, marking the opening of the Munich Oktoberfest, which will last until October 3, Xinhua news agency reported.

The first Oktoberfest took place in 1810. There have only been 26 cancellations in its long history, mostly due to wars and pandemics.

--IANS
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By Ashe O
Washington, Sep 17 (IANS) When Florida Judge Aileen Cannon appointed Raymond J. Dearie, a former Chief Federal Judge in New York, to sort through more than 11,000 documents - including classified materials - that FBI agents seized from former president Donald Trump's Florida residence last month, jurists across both the Republican and Democrats side hailed the move.


The 78-year-old Dearie, a former Chief Federal Judge in New York and the then President Ronald Reagan appointee, was described by his peer group lawyers and colleagues as an exemplary jurist who is well suited to the job of special master, having previously served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA), which oversees sensitive national security cases.

The Department of Justice also said he was acceptable to them after Judge Cannon rejected two candidates proposed by them.

In 2015, Dearie took the unusual step of reducing the prison sentences of three convicted Canadian terrorists, saying he had been "haunted" by the case and his growing sense that their sentences were unfair. Under federal law, Dearie had been required to sentence the men to 25-year terms for conspiring to acquire missiles on behalf of the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group fighting the government of Sri Lanka. He later cut those sentences to 15 years.

While the DOJ has been hit by Florida Judge Cannon's ruling to slow down investigation into Trump's classified documents case until Dearie reviews the documents in public interest to prevent reputational harm with a possible indictment of the former President, the DOJ has continued to maintain that a special master is legally unnecessary and should not be charged with reviewing any of the 100 or so seized documents marked as classified.

Appointing a special master to review these documents, prosecutors argued in numerous court filings, would slow down a criminal investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information and could pose a national security risk, according to multiple reports in the media outlets.

Here's everything you need to know about Dearie and what he will be doing in this high-profile and unusual investigation.

What is a special master? A special master is an impartial outside expert who can essentially be viewed as a judge's helper, said David R. Cohen, an attorney and longtime special master. In theory, the special master can help with whatever a judge needs.

In this case, Cannon appointed a special master to sort through the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago on August 8 to see if any should be shielded from criminal investigators because of attorney-client or executive privileges.

How did Judge Cannon choose Dearie? When Cannon granted Trump's request to appoint a special master earlier this month, she asked the Justice Department and Trump's legal team to jointly submit a list of potential candidates. In a subsequent joint filing, the Justice Department named two judges as candidates. Trump's side proposed a lawyer who is not a judge, and Dearie. Trump's lawyers then told the judge they did not believe any of the Justice Department's candidates would be suitable special masters. The Justice Department said they thought Dearie would be acceptable. Days later, Cannon named Dearie for the high-profile job.

Is Dearie still working as a judge? Yes, Dearie still serves as a judge in Brooklyn federal court, albeit on senior status, which means he can take a reduced caseload if he chooses. He has also recently signalled that he plans to leave the bench. It is not immediately clear if the appointment will speed his departure from Brooklyn federal court or if court administrators will work out some other accommodation for the unusual dynamic of a judge appointing another judge a special master.

What will he do as a special master in this case? The Justice Department and Trump's lawyers have held drastically different positions on what the special master should do in this case. Trump wants the special master to search through all the seized documents - including the classified ones - to see if any are protected by attorney-client or executive privileges and should not be used in the investigation.

On the other side, the Justice Department has questioned whether Trump, who is no longer President, can even invoke executive privilege - a power that Presidents can assert to shield communications from courts, Congress, or the public.

Either way, the Justice Department did not want classified documents to be part of the special master review, saying that privilege would not apply to them or to the unclassified documents, and that delaying investigators' access to those sensitive documents could pose national security risks.

Ultimately, Cannon ruled in Trump's favour. She also denied a bid by prosecutors to allow them to use the seized material in their ongoing criminal investigation before Dearie conducts his review.

How long does Dearie have to complete the job? Cannon ordered Dearie to complete his review by November 30. She said he should prioritise sorting through the classified documents, though she did not provide a timeline as to when that portion must be completed.

The Justice Department had asked in a previous court filing for the review to be completed by October 17. And Trump's lawyers had said a special master would need 90 days to complete a review.

Does Dearie have the necessary clearance to sift through these highly classified materials? Because Dearie previously served on the FISA court, it will probably not take much time or effort to get him authorised to review the classified material, and he may not have to travel far to look at them. New York City has a number of federal facilities in which Dearie could review highly classified material, which is important since the storage and safekeeping of such documents is the crux of the case.

Can Dearie get help for his review? In theory, yes. Special masters typically have others help them review documents. But in this case, staff assistance could be complicated by the 100 classified documents, and whether any potential assistants have the necessary security clearances. It is possible that Dearie could end up reviewing that material on his own, and hiring others to help him with the non-classified documents.

Now what? The Justice Department is expected to file an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. Depending on what part of Cannon's decision the government challenges, the appeal may or may not interfere with the special master's review.

Once Dearie completes his review, he would deliver his recommendations to Cannon on what documents should be shielded from investigators. It's up to Cannon to decide whether she will follow those recommendations.

--IANS
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