World

United Nations, Sep 2 (IANS) The UN Security Council has called on all parties in Libya to preserve the prevailing calm on the ground, and to refrain from violence or other actions that could escalate tensions.

In a press statement on Thursday, the council members condemned the violent clashes perpetrated by armed groups in Libya's Tripoli on August 27, which resulted in civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure.

The council members "called on all parties to preserve the prevailing calm on the ground," said the statement.

They also called on the parties to refrain from violence or any other actions that could escalate tensions and undermine the political process or the ceasefire agreement reached in October 2020, which they said "should be implemented in full, including through the withdrawal of all foreign forces, foreign fighters, and mercenaries from the country without further delay".

The council members reiterated that there can be no military solution in Libya and urged all Libyan parties, facilitated by the UN, to agree a pathway to deliver presidential and parliamentary elections across the country as soon as possible through dialogue, compromise and constructive engagement, in a transparent and inclusive manner.

They called upon the UN Secretary-General to appoint a special representative immediately, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the press statement, the council members stressed "the importance of an inclusive, comprehensive national dialogue and reconciliation process aimed at, inter alia, forming a unified Libyan government able to govern across the country and representing the whole people of Libya".

They urged Libyan parties to respect international law, particularly regarding the protection of civilians, and called on all parties to allow and facilitate full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access.

--IANS
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United Nations, Sep 2 (IANS) Fighting in northern Ethiopia, routing tens of thousands of people from their homes, challenges humanitarian relief delivery, a UN spokesman said.

"We and our partners continue to provide humanitarian aid in the north, including in Afar, where more than 31,000 people were reached with food," said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on Thursday.

"More than 8,000 people have received health services since August 24."

Northernmost Tigray and the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara pay the heaviest toll in the country's north, Xinhua news agency reported.

However, Dujarric added that while the main road into Mekelle is impassable and UN Humanitarian Air Service flights into Tigray's capital grounded, blocking relief from outside the region, aid workers distributed 17 truckloads of fertilisers this week to support farmers within the region during the planting season.

The disruption failed to block humanitarians from distributing food assistance to more than 39,000 people in Tigray's Northwestern Zone since last week, he said.

The tens of thousands of people forced by conflict from their homes last week lived in the Yallo and Gulina districts, bordering Tigray, and Chifra district, bordering the Amhara region, he added. The situation is reported calm in Amhara's Dessie town following the movement of people arriving on Wednesday from elsewhere in the region.

The spokesman said that a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in several Amhara towns impacting the movement of people, limits access to emergency health services and commercial activities.

"We continue to call on all parties to the conflict to take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects, including by allowing civilians to leave for safer areas, in accordance with international humanitarian law," he said.

"Rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access to all those in need across northern Ethiopia remains critical."

--IANS
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Paris, Sep 2 (IANS) French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said that rolling power cuts are "possible" this winter for companies.

Asked by France Inter about the energy shortages caused by the Russian gas cuts and by the unavailability of several of France's nuclear power plants, Borne on Thursday added that these power cuts will concern companies only.

"I confirm that even if the winter is cold and we face supply problems, there could be restrictions but not on households. There will be no gas cuts for households," she stressed.

"There may be cuts on large gas consumers," Borne said, adding that discussions are currently underway with companies to assess the potential consequences of gas cuts.

However, she noted that a mechanism of right to consume would allow companies to exchange their cuts, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The company that it looks like we're going to cut off could agree with a company for which it would be less serious," she said.

Earlier this week, Borne told French broadcaster TMC that "there may be times when, if it is very cold, there may be a problem with the supply for individuals".

If such a situation would arise, energy suppliers could make "rotating load shedding," she said.

She also revealed that "from the beginning of 2023, a rise in prices also seems inevitable for households".

France's Minister for Energy Transition, Agnes Pannier-Runacher announced earlier in August that the country's gas reserves were 80 per cent full in preparation for possible shortages this winter.

She said that France was ahead of its goals, and the country's strategic gas reserves would be 100 per cent filled by November 1.

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron will hold a Defence Council meeting to discuss the country's energy plan for the winter.

--IANS
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London, Sep 1 (IANS) Vaccinated people who were infected by the earlier Omicron subvariants have four times greater protection than vaccinated people who were not infected against the new variants like BA.5, finds a new study.

The study indicates that previous infection in vaccinated people (the so-called hybrid immunity) continues to confer immunity for the variants that are known for their ability to evade the immune response.

"Vaccinated people who were infected by Omicron sub variants BA.1 and BA.2 have a protection against infection with subvariant BA.5, in circulation since June, about four times greater than vaccinated people who were not infected at any time," said lead author Luis Graca from the University of Lisbon.

"Infections in 2020 and 2021 that occurred through infection with earlier variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (ancestral lineage, Alpha and Delta variants) also confer protection against infection for the more recent Omicron variant, although this protection is not as high as that of individuals infected with the BA.1 and BA.2 variants, at the beginning of 2022," Graca added.

For the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine journal, the team accessed the registry of Covid-19 cases at Portugal's national level.

"We used the Portuguese national registry of Covid-19 cases to obtain information on all cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the population over 12 years of age residing in Portugal," the researchers said.

"The virus variant of each infection was determined considering the date of infection and the dominant variant at that time. We considered the infections caused by the first variants of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 together," they added.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Sep 1 (IANS) Tech giant Apple may use "hybrid" OLED technology, which incorporates rigid and flexible OLED panel materials, as part of its rumoured plans to switch to OLED technology for upcoming iPad models.

The tech giant is hesitant to rely solely on the flexible OLED technology it employs in its iPhone models since the panels tend to "crumple", and the effect is more evident as displays get bigger, MacRumors reported citing The Elec.

"When it became known that Apple plans to apply hybrid OLED to the first OLED iPad, the industry has assumed that the cause was cost reduction," the report said.

However, it is understood that there is a reason why Apple preferred hybrid OLED other than this cost reduction.

An official from the parts industry said: "Apple hated the fact that a part of the product screen could look wrinkled to the user's eyes when using a flexible OLED.

"iPhone OLED has a 5-7 inch screen, so these characteristics are not well revealed, but it is relatively noticeable in large-screen (10-20 inch) IT products."

While the hybrid OLED technology has yet to be perfected and will take at least a year to become commercially viable before it could be incorporated into an OLED iPad by around 2024, the report said, adding that both Samsung and LG are pursuing ultra-thin glass substrates measuring just 0.2 mm thick to be used with the technology, down from the current standard of around 0.5 mm.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) The Indian and Chinese armies have once again held talks on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). It is being told that this conversation has taken place at the Division Commander level.

According to defence sources, an Indian Army and Chinese Army Division Commander level meeting was held on Wednesday to discuss routine matters related to maintaining peace along the Line of Actuality in the Ladakh sector.

Sources familiar with the matter said such meetings are held regularly after every three months at various levels to discuss the issues of maintaining peace and border management.

The meeting comes at a time when it is being claimed that the Chinese PLA is continuing heavy construction activities along the LAC to further upgrade its military infrastructure and connectivity in the region.

During the talks, the Indian and Chinese sides under the leadership of the division commanders discussed issues related to peace in the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector and other areas.

Earlier, India and China held talks in the Chushul sector in the wake of recent airspace violations by the Chinese Air Force, where India warned China against any misadventure.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi's mother Paola Maino passed away at her home in Italy on Saturday and her funeral took place on Tuesday, party leaders said on Wednesday.

In a tweet, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said: "Smt. Sonia Gandhi's mother, Mrs. Paola Maino passed away at her home in Italy on Saturday the 27th August, 2022. The funeral took place yesterday".

Sonia Gandhi is abroad for her medical check up, and is accompanied by both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. She was also supposed to visit her ailing mother.

Rahul Gandhi is supposed to return early and address a Congress rally in the national capital on September 4.

--IANS
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Islamabad, Aug 31 (IANS) Health experts in Pakistan have sounded the alarm regarding the outbreak of disease in flood-affected areas, estimating around five million people to fall sick in the next four to 12 weeks.

People in the flooded areas of Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are likely to get diarrhoea, cholera, gastroenteritis, typhoid and vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria, The News quoted the experts as saying.

It is estimated that a disease outbreak would initially require medicines and medical supplies worth 1 billion PKR, they said, and urged donors, philanthropists and common people to donate these after consulting health experts and officials of rescue and welfare organisations.

Of the 33 million people affected due to monsoon rains and floods across Pakistan, it is estimated that around five million people, including children, would get sick due to outbreak of water-borne and vector-borne diseases in the next four to 12 weeks, The News reported.

"As there is no clean drinking water available in the flood-ravaged areas, there is a risk of outbreak of diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, gastroenteritis, dengue and malaria," renowned public health expert and Vice-Chancellor of the Health Services Academy (HSA) Islamabad, Shahzad Ali told The News.

He said children would be more vulnerable due to weak immunity and warned that an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea, and other water-borne diseases could kill hundreds of children and adults if immediate preventive measures were not adopted.

"There is an urgent need to vaccinate all the people in the flood affected areas against typhoid-cholera. This vaccine is available in the country and it can be deployed to prevent deaths from typhoid and cholera in Sindh and Balochistan. Similarly, prophylactic treatment of malaria should also be started to prevent deaths from the vector-borne disease," Khan said.

On the other hand, officials of the welfare organisations working in the flood-hit areas said a large number of people, including women and children, had already started suffering from water-borne infections, including diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, cholera, fever, flu, allergy, scabies and other fungal skin ailments.

"We also believe that around Rs1 billion would be required initially to meet the medical needs of sick people in the flood-hit areas as hundreds of people are getting sick due to water-borne and vector-borne diseases in these areas," said Sufyan Ahmed, Managing Director of the Al-Khidmat Health Foundation, who is coordinating with the charity and welfare organisations for relief operations in the flood-hit areas.

--IANS
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London, Aug 31 (IANS) Workers of the UK's Royal Mail on Wednesday walked out on a strike again in a bitter dispute over pay, with further industrial action planned.

Members of the Communication Workers Union mounted picket lines outside Royal Mail offices across the country, reports dpa news agency.

The Union said more than 100,000 workers are involved, making it the biggest strike of the summer.

The action follows a walkout last week and there will be further stoppages on September 8-9.

The action is in protest at a 2 per cent pay rise, although the company has said more money is on offer.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: "There can be no doubt that postal workers are completely united in their determination to secure the dignified, proper pay rise they deserve.

"We can't keep on living in a country where bosses rake in billions in profit while their employees are forced to use food banks.

"Postal workers won't meekly accept their living standards being hammered by greedy business leaders who are completely out of touch with modern Britain.

"They are sick of corporate failure getting rewarded again and again."

CWU deputy general secretary Terry Pullinger said: "Our members worked miracles during the pandemic and know full well what they are worth.

"They are fighting for a no-strings, real-terms pay rise - something they are fully entitled to.

"Those managing Royal Mail Group are treating our members with contempt by imposing such a minimal amount."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "The CWU's self-centred actions with the wider trade union movement is putting jobs at risk, and making pay rises less affordable."

--IANS
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San Francisco, Aug 31 (IANS) Truth Social, the social media platform launched by Donald Trump to counter Twitter, is yet to get approval from Google Play Store and the former US President's company was working "in good faith with Google".

Google has notified Truth Social of "several violations of standard policies in their current app submission", reiterating that "having effective systems for moderating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app to go live on Google Play".

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) said in a statement that it has "no desire to litigate its business matters in the public sphere, but for the record, has promptly responded to all inquiries from Google".

It said that the Truth Social Android app complies with Google's policies without compromising the promise to be "a haven for free speech".

"As our users know, Truth Social is building a vibrant, family-friendly environment that works expeditiously to remove content that violates its Terms of Service, which independent observers have noted are among the most robust in the industry," the company said.

It alleged that some of its competitors' apps are allowed in the Google Play Store despite "rampantly violating Google's prohibition on sexual content and other policies, whereas Truth Social has zero tolerance for sexually explicit content".

Truth Social was launched in the Apple App Store on February 21.

According to reports, Truth Social is strapped for cash and facing tech and legal troubles.

"The most immediate problem is the platform's stalled SPAC, initially planned as a way to publicly trade shares in the new company without the diligence of an IPO," reports The Verge.

An SEC filings show that the company has lost over $6 million in the first half of this year and hasn't generated any revenue.

--IANS
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