World

Amman, Dec 19 (IANS) Jordan's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Arab Mining Company to explore lithium and gold in southern Jordan.

The Arab Mining Company will explore gold in an area of 50 square km in Jabal Mubarak in Aqaba of Jordan and will explore lithium in an area of 35 square km in Wadi Araba's Finan area, according to a statement by the Ministry released on Sunday.

It added that exploration works will continue for 12 months, Xinhua news agency reported.

Jordanian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Saleh Kharabsheh stressed the importance of the deal, adding that it will help boost the mining sector and help create jobs.

--IANS
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Tehran, Dec 19 (IANS) Tehran Police Chief Hossein Rahimi has said his forces seized 300 cold weapons, 55 firearms and hunting weapons as well as a shoulder-fired missile during an operation in the Iranian capital on the same day, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Rahimi made the remarks on Sunday in an address to reporters on the sidelines of the 61st stage of the police operation dubbed Ra'ad in Tehran to improve security, Xinhua news agency reported.

He noted that in the operation, 170 hangouts frequented by thieves, thugs and bandits were identified and destroyed, adding 27 bands and groups of robbers were busted, and more than 900 thieves were arrested.

Stolen items worth more than $1 million were recovered, including 289 vehicles and motorcycles, Rahimi added, putting the total number of the recovered items at 2,642.

--iANS
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Yangon, Dec 19 (IANS) An explosion occurred on a ferry boat in Myanmar's largest city of Yangon, injuring 17 people, according to a fire brigade official at the Kyauktada township in downtown Yangon.

Local media reports on Sunday said the boat runs on Yangon's Pansoedan-Dala route, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The ship was going to depart from Yangon to Dala. The explosion happened in the lower room of the boat. A total of 17 were injured, four of them currently in a critical condition", said the fire brigade official.

The injured were sent to Yangon General Hospital for treatment.

--IANS
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Jerusalem, Dec 19 (IANS) Israeli researchers have discovered ancient cotton fibres dating back 7,000 years, the northern University of Haifa (UH) said.

The fibres were found in Tel Tsaf, a prehistoric village located in the Beit She'an Valley near the Jordanian border and north of the West Bank on Sunday.

It was a large village in the Chalcolithic period, which flourished during the transition period between small agricultural societies and large urban state cities, Xinhua news agency reported.

An investigation conducted by UH, in collaboration with Stanford University in the US and the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hannover, Germany, revealed that it is the earliest evidence in the ancient Near East for the use of cotton fibres.

Prior to this discovery, the earliest known evidence of cotton fibres used by humans in the ancient Near East was collected in eastern Jordan.

The researchers estimated that the origin of the fibres found at Tel Tsaf is in the Indus Valley, today's Pakistan, one of the first places where cotton was domesticated.

They noted that the villagers had trade relations with Egypt, Iraq, and Anatolia areas, and it now appears to have reached the Indus Valley, thousands of kilometre away.

The cotton fibres, which were found together with wool and flax ones, were brought to the village as part of fabrics or clothes from ancient textiles, the team concluded.

--IANS
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Charikar (Afghanistan), Dec 19 (IANS) The death toll from an oil tanker blast in a tunnel in Afghanistan's eastern Parwan province reached 19, Deputy to Provincial Health Directorate Abdullah Afghanmal said.

Afghanmal told media on Sunday that 19 bodies and 32 injured people from the blast had been taken to hospitals in the provincial capital Charikar and nearby health centres.

Earlier, Spokesman for the Public Work Ministry, Mawlawi Hamidullah Misbah counted 12 dead and 37 injured from the blast, Xinhua news agency reported.

Spokesman for Parwan provincial administration, Hekmatullah Shamim said that the oil tanker caught fire inside Salang Tunnel on Saturday evening, killing and injuring more than two dozen people.

The official also noted that the fire had been extinguished and the tunnel had also been reopened for traffic. However, locals at the site believed that the number of casualties could be higher than reported.

Salang Tunnel, 3,400 metre above sea level connecting Afghanistan's capital Kabul to the northern eight provinces, is an essential passway and lifeline in Afghanistan.

--IANS
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By ASHIS RAY
London, Dec 18 (IANS) With parliament in recess, politics is also on vacation in UK in what is deemed in this country to be a Christmas truce. But the threat to Indian-origin Prime Minister Rishi Sunak continuing in office seems to be around the corner, if not already present.



Lord Peter Cruddas, a ruling Conservative party peer in the House of Lords and one of the party's biggest recent financial donors, bluntly told The Observer: "Something's going to come to a head because the members don't want Rishi Sunak. The odds are stacked against him.

Sunak, 42, became head of government on October 25. He has at least avoided the ignominy of a tenure shorter than the dubious record set by his immediate predecessor Liz Truss. But he is hemmed in by trouble from within his party as well as the biggest epidemic of strikes by unions in the UK since the 1980s.

Cruddas has donated more than 3.5 million pounds to the Conservatives; and strenuously supported a move in October to bring back Boris Johnson as Prime Minister after he had been forced to resign in July. The plot could therefore be to remove Sunak, perceived to be lacklustre, and reinstate Johnson, who is controversial and allegedly corrupt, but colourful in reaching out to voters.

Cruddas' outburst came as the latest Opinium poll published by The Observer indicated that the extreme right-wing Reform party has increased its support. This is read as a sign that the pro-Brexit and low tax preferring Conservative voters could be drifting away to Reform.

Another pollster YouGov in a survey of national voting intention carried out on December 14-15, put 48 per cent as being with the main opposition Labour party and only 23 per cent remaining with the Conservatives, who won a thumping majority under Johnson only three years ago. This translates to a Labour landslide, if an election is held now.

Sunak is shown as enjoying the confidence of 24 per cent of the electorate, whereas the figure for Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, is 32 per cent. Although Conservative MPs voted overwhelmingly for Sunak to elect him leader and thereby Prime Minister, the party's rank and file - who did not get a chance to have their say - do not believe he can connect with the British masses to win them the next election - which can of course be posted to December 2024.

In a centrespread story headlined "Will Sunak blink first?", Sunday Times surmised: "The Prime Minister is determined to face down union leaders this Christmas. But as their threats of more synchronised strikes in the new year harden, some ministers are getting decidedly nervous."

Nurses, teachers, transport workers, post office staff, civil servants, and energy sector employees have embarked on a wave of work stoppages demanding higher pay and better working conditions. While this is causing considerable inconvenience to the public, they are no more than divided in their sympathies and distinctly empathetic towards nurses.

Meanwhile, Sunak's decision to appoint the quite shrill Suella Braverman, whose mother is a Tamil from Mauritius and her father a Goan, as Home Secretary, continues to haunt him. Nimco Ali, a friend of Johnson and Priti Patel, who is stepping down as an independent government adviser on violence against women, suggested he should sack her.

"He's not going to win (the next election) with Suella as his Home Secretary," she was reported as saying. She accused Braverman of fuelling racism and "normalising" the extreme politics of the Brexit party, which has morphed into the Reform party.

An Indian in the news linked to the current shambolic state of the Conservatives is billionaire steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. He is said to have given in excess of 4 million pounds to the Labour party when it was under Tony Blair's leadership. According to the Sunday Times, he switched his allegiance to the Conservative party in 2019 and invested 10,000 pounds to Johnson's leadership campaign.

"A senior party figure", quoted by the paper, apparently said: "He (Mittal) now looks like he might be ready to become a serious player." There was no comment from Mittal. Contributions to the Conservatives have reportedly slumped by 40 per cent in the past three months.

--IANS
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Lahore, Dec 18 (IANS) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former Prime Minister
Imran Khan on Sunday said that he has a "personal" dispute with former army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa (retd) but he will not take any action against him if he comes into power again, media reports said.

Imran Khan said that new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir himself has said that he will remain neutral. However, he added that holding elections within three months after the dissolution of assemblies will the biggest test of his neutrality.

He said that when Lt Gen Faiz Hameed was removed as DG ISI, it became obvious that a plan has been hatched to topple the PTI government. "I told Gen Bajwa that if the plan to topple the government succeeds, no one will be able to manage the country's
economy," he added, Express Tribune reported.

The former Prime Minister said that he asked the then army chief how Shehbaz Sharif could be considered for the Prime Minister's post as he was named in Rs16 billion worth of corruption cases. However, he added, he later came to know that corruption was not an issue for Gen Bajwa.

"Gen Bajwa used to say that Aleem Khan should be made the (Punjab) Chief Minister. I found out about his illegal possessions so I said how he can be made Chief Minister," he said, Express Tribune reported.

Imran Khan said that Pakistan's economy would have performed even better if there wasn't a coronavirus pandemic and China was not locked down for two years.

Economy of the country is on a decline and income of people is low, then how can loans be returned in this situation, he questioned. "A country cannot prosper if there is no rule of law," he added.

"I told Gen Bajwa that if we catch 10 to 12 top corrupt people, everything will get back on right track."

Imran Khan said that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was formed in 1999 but it should be questioned whether corruption increased or decreased since then.

"We had a decent relation with Gen Bajwa but I don't know what happened later."

--IANS
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Mumbai, Dec 18 (IANS) From "Kar Gayi Chull" to "DJ Waley Babu", Badshah has became the soul of every happening party. The rapper has been choosen as the MTV Beats Artist of the Month for December and he revealed some of his quirks as well as talking about his upcoming "The Paagal Tour" on the channel.

Badshah said: "I am very excited for my first-ever India tour and that is because I'll get to meet my fans and perform for them live. There is so much that I want to say about this tour but haven't until I got this opportunity from MTV Beats.

"And, most importantly, I always wanted to let my fans know who I am and how I turned out to be Badshah. This tour will give me that platform."

The singer's life is full of many good and bad moments that made him what he is today.

Badshah opened up about it: "My life is full of crazy moments, the extreme 'paagal' (crazy) moment of my life was when on a fine morning I just woke up and decided to buy a Rolls-Royce."

"Another 'paagal' moment in my life happened when I decided to drop a whole lot of albums in the time when many artists were just dropping singles... and the latest 'paagal' moment will be 'The Paagal Tour' starting December 24 where I am sure to spend fun-filled moments with my fans."

Badshah will travel to metropolitan cities and smaller towns as well.

--IANS
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Lahore, Dec 18 (IANS) A day after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan
censured former army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa (retd) in his address, Pakistan Punjab' Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi - who was seated on his right - resolved to defend the former military chief, media reports said.

Elahi said that he and his party would be the first to defend Gen Bajwa if anything is said against him.

"I felt very bad when Khan was speaking against Gen Bajwa," the Chief Minister said, speaking in an informal conversation with journalists, The News reported.

Referring to Khan's criticism against the ex-army chief in an address to party workers and supporters on Saturday, he said that the former COAS was a "benefactor" and nothing should be said against benefactors.

"Gen Bajwa (retd) has many favours on him (Khan); therefore, the favours shouldn't be forgotten," the Punjab CM reminded the PTI chief, The News reported.

He said that they are allies of the PTI instead of opponents, but they can't forget the favours of their "benefactors".

The Punjab Chief Minister said that Khan did not allow former federal minister Moonis Elahi to sit with him but Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) backed Imran Khan.

"We agreed immediately when Imran Khan asked to dissolve Punjab Assembly," he added.

On Saturday, Khan in his address to PTI workers criticised the former army chief, saying that he "foresaw the removal of his government" and was aware that some elements wanted to impose Shehbaz Sharif as the Prime Minister, The News reported.

The former Premier was flanked by Parvez and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM Mahmood Khan.

"General Qamar Javed Bajwa told me that he did not want this (Shehbaz becoming PM to happen). So who is responsible? Will anyone tell me this? Gen Bajwa would tell me that the (incumbent rulers) are corrupt."

--IANS
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Dhaka, Dec 18 (IANS) Bangladesh Prime Minsiter Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said that her government has delivered on the promise to provide electricity connection to every household.

Addressing a discussion at Krishibid Institution here, she said: " Though the production cost of electricty is higher, the government provides it at subsidised rates... But it will not be possible to provide electricity at lower rates due to global recession and increase of price of gas in the international market."

"If you want electricity, the actual cost has to be paid," The Dhaka Tribune quoted the Bangladesh Prime Minister as saying.

"Everyone, including businessmen in the country, will have to exercise austerity and will have to be ready to pay the money spent on the (increased) price of gas and transport cost. Otherwise, we will not be able to provide electricity. If you want (electricity), you will have to pay the real prices," she said.

--IANS
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