World

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's estranged wife, Jashodaben, survived a fatal crash on Wednesday on a national highway, police confirmed.

One of her relatives died when their vehicle collided with a truck in the western state of Rajasthan. Jashodaben, her bodyguard and the driver suffered minor injuries. Seven people were travelling in the SUV.

Police have launched an inquiry to find out what caused the accident.

Jashodaben, who does not live with Modi, married him in 1967 when he was 17 years old.

She has said in interviews that he had left her after three years, during which they spent some three months together and that they had parted amicably.

Modi publicly admitted his marriage for the first time in 2014 when he filed his nomination papers as the prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party which went on to win the election.

Critics have accused him of deserting his wife after he joined the Hindu nationalist organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which prizes celibacy. They say the fact that he refused to acknowledge her for so long is a telltale sign of his attitude towards women.

Source : BBC

Fears over a dengue vaccine in the Philippines have led to a big drop in immunisation rates for preventable diseases, officials have warned. Health Under-Secretary Enrique Domingo said many parents were refusing to get their children vaccinated for polio, chicken pox and tetanus.

The fears centre on Dengvaxia, a drug developed by French company Sanofi.

Sanofi and local experts say there is no evidence linking the deaths of 14 children to the drug.

However, the company had warned last year that the vaccine could make the disease worse in some people not infected before.

Dengue fever affects more than 400 million people each year around the world. Dengvaxia is the world's first vaccine against dengue.

The mosquito-borne disease is a leading cause of serious illness and death among children in some Asian and Latin American countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

What did Domingo say about immunisation rates?

"Our programmes are suffering... (people) are scared of all vaccines now", he warned. Domingo added that vaccination rates for some preventable diseases had dropped as much as 60% in recent years - significantly lower that the nationwide target of 85%.

He expressed concerns about potential epidemics in the Philippines - a nation of about 100 million people, many of whom are impoverished.

What triggered fears about Dengvaxia?

More than 800,000 children were vaccinated across the country in 2016-17. Fourteen of them have died. Dengvaxia immunisations were halted last year, as the Philippines launched an investigation into what caused the deaths.

On Saturday, Doctors for Public Welfare (DPW) said a clinical review conducted by Philippine General Hospital forensic pathologists had determined that the deaths were not linked to the vaccine, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.

What about Sanofi's reaction?

In a statement, the French company said: "The University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital expert panel confirmed... that there is currently no evidence directly linking the Dengvaxia vaccine to any of the 14 deaths.

"In Dengvaxia clinical trials conducted over more than a decade and the over one million doses of the vaccine administered, no deaths related to the vaccine have been reported to us.

"Clinical evidence confirms dengue vaccination in the Philippines will provide a net reduction in dengue disease."

Last November, Sanofi announced that its vaccine could worsen the potentially deadly disease in people not previously infected.

"For those not previously infected by dengue virus, however, the analysis found that in the longer term, more cases of severe disease could occur following vaccination upon a subsequent dengue infection," the firm said in a statement.

Sanofi says Dengvaxia has been registered in 19 countries and launched in 11 of them.

In its latest advice on the vaccine, the WHO said that "until a full review has been conducted, WHO recommends vaccination only in individuals with a documented past dengue infection".

Source : BBC News

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is to attend Friday's opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, which are being held in the South, ministers in Seoul say.

Kim Yo-jong is the youngest daughter of late leader Kim Jong-il and her role was strengthened last year when she was promoted to the politburo.

Both Koreas will march under one flag at the opening ceremony. The North's participation has been seen as a thawing of bilateral ties. However, experts say it is unlikely to have any impact on the North's nuclear ambitions.

The US believes the North is using the Olympics for propaganda purposes and is sending Vice-President Mike Pence to the opening ceremony to counter it.

"We're travelling to the Olympics to make sure that North Korea doesn't use the powerful symbolism in the backdrop of the Winter Olympics to paper over the truth about their regime," he said.

Kim Yo-jong, who shares the same mother as Kim Jong-un, will accompany the North's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-Nam, whose attendance was announced at the weekend.

Source : BBC

Fidel Castro’s oldest son, Fidel “Fidelito” Castro Díaz-Balart, committed suicide on Thursday in Havana, according to Cuba’s state media.

Castro, 68, whose resemblance to his father earned him the nickname “Fidelito,” had been seeking medical attention for the past few months after falling into a “deep depression,” Cuban officials said.

Fidel Castro’s oldest son, Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart, center, committed suicide late Thursday, according to various news reports. Getty Images.

Fidelito was born to Fidel Castro’s first wife, Mirta Díaz-Balart, on Sept. 1, 1949 in Havana. He was cousin to Lincoln and Mario Díaz-Balart — two South Florida Republican political leaders known for their vehement opposition to Castro. Mario is a congressman; his brother Lincoln is a former congressman and now an attorney.

Along with Castro’s wife Dalia Soto del Valle, Fidelito and six siblings formed Castro’s family.

Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Coral Gables-based nonprofit Cuban Studies Institute, said Fidelito was the only one of Castro’s children who chose a life in government and politics.

“He worked with his father, and his father tried to build him up,” Suchlicki said.

The son was sent to the Soviet Union to study nuclear physics, and he oversaw Cuba’s nuclear power program from 1980 to 1992 — until Castro publicly fired his son.

“He was fired for incompetence,” the father declared.

In the twilight of Castro’s life, Fidelito’s role and stature diminished, a trend that continued when Castro’s brother, Raúl Castro, took over in 2006. Fidel Castro died in November 2016 at age 90 — one of the last times Fidelito was seen in public.

The eldest son of the Cuba’s revolutionary leader had less clout in recent years.

“In the past few years, his star had been declining. He hadn’t been doing much,” Suchlicki said. “I understand he was depressed for a while.”

Frank Calzon, executive director for the advocacy group Center for a Free Cuba, said there may be tensions in the Castro family stemming from Raúl Castro’s ascendancy to power.

“There has been some speculation of the anger and disappointment of Fidel’s family after General Raúl Castro became president and his children took the spotlight, and hardly anything else was heard of Fidel’s offspring,” Calzon said, adding he didn’t know whether the tense family relations played any role in Fidelito’s suicide.

Calzon noted that other prominent figures in Cuba’s Castro-era history have taken their own lives. Haydée Santamaría, a heroine of the revolution who remained in a leadership position until her death, killed herself on the anniversary of the revolution in 1980. Eddy Suñol, a rebel army officer who later became a judge, killed himself after Fidel Castro overruled one of his decisions.

The suicide rate in Cuba is among the highest in the Americas, according to a 2014 study by the Pan American Health Organization, a regional office of the World Health Organization.

Prior to his death, Fidelito served as a scientific adviser to the Cuban government and was the vice president of the country’s Academy of Sciences.

He began his studies in Cuba and later moved to the now-defunct Soviet Union, where he received his Ph.D. in physics from the Kurchatov Institute in Russia. He later earned a degree from Lomonosov Moscow State University and continued his studies in Cuba and Spain.

He had three children — Mirta María, Fidel Antonio and José Raúl — with his first wife Natasha Smirnova, whom he met in Russia. After divorcing Smirnova, he married María Victoria Barreiro from Cuba.

Fidelito is also survived by five half brothers: Alexis, Alexander, Antonio, Alejandro and Angel (children of Castro’s second wife), as well as a half sister, Alina Fernández Revuelta, who was born out of wedlock.

Funeral arrangements will be made by the family, according to Cuban officials.

Aftershocks continue to rattle Taiwan after a strong earthquake that killed at least four people and injured more than 200 others.

The powerful 6.4-magnitude tremor struck at 23:50 (15:50 GMT) about 20km (12 miles) off the island's east coast.

Multiple buildings across the city of Hualien have been badly damaged. More than 140 people still remain unaccounted for from one building.

Hualien, a popular tourist hub, is home to about 100,000 people.

Residents in the city of Hualien have been told to stay away from their damaged homes, and about 800 have taken shelter in community buildings because of the aftershocks.

Images from the city showed tilted structures, scattered debris and extensive damage to roads in the area.

The Yunman Cuidi building, which has residential and commercial floors, is tilting to one side after sustaining major damage. About 143 of its residents remain unaccounted for, local media said.

Rescuers on Wednesday morning were still working to reach at least five other people who are thought to be trapped in buildings including two people believed to be stuck inside the Marshal Hotel.

Among the several badly damaged buildings was a hospital, local media said.

"We were still open when [the earthquake] happened," Lin Ching-wen, who operates a restaurant near the hospital told newswire Reuters.

"I grabbed my wife and children and we ran out and tried to rescue people."

Emergency responders, including soldiers, worked through the night, rescuing about 150 people from damaged buildings, but powerful aftershocks have disrupted rescue efforts.

Source : BBC

Authorities in Zimbabwe have launched a campaign to find and repatriate millions of dollars of cash and assets smuggled overseas during the last years of the rule of Robert Mugabe, senior officials say. 

Goodson Nguni, the commissioner of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) told the Guardian that the effort would be intensified when an amnesty allowing voluntary surrender of illegally obtained wealth expired at the end of next month.

Several high-profile politicians who were close to Grace Mugabe, the former first lady, and opponents of Emmerson Mnangagwa, the new president, have already been detained, prompting concerns that graft investigations might be used as a political tool.

“The big worry is that there is really no comprehensive anti-corruption drive but rather … some kind of witch-hunt by a victorious faction within the Zanu-PF … This is nothing to do with ending corruption, but a lot to do with vengeance,” said Dewa Mavhinga, Human Rights Watch’s southern Africa director.

Nguni denied that the campaign was only targeting enemies of Mnangagwa, the former spy chief and vice-president who took power after a military takeover in November.

“We are going to follow the evidence. This is not political,” Nguni said.

Though her husband is still respected for his role in the brutal liberations wars of the late 1960s and the 1970s, Grace Mugabe is widely reviled in Zimbabwe for her extravagant lifestyle. The 52-year-old former secretary was also routinely accused of involvement in corrupt land deals.

Mnangagwa told the BBC in Davos last week that no one had been granted immunity from prosecution, though the 94-year-old former president would be “left in peace”.

Local media reports have described a series of investigations targeting Grace Mugabe’s farm at Mazowe, on the outskirts of the capital Harare.

“These are just rumours. There may be police investigations or other inquiries but not by us,” he said.

Nguni confirmed the Zacc was investigating whether the former first lady fraudulently obtained a doctorate in 2014.

Grace Mugabe, whose apparent desire to succeed her husband prompted the army takeover that eventually saw Robert Mugabe resign, was awarded a PhD by the University of Zimbabwe after only months of supposed study.

Last month three luxury cars apparently belonging to Grace Mugabe or her children were briefly detained in Botswana as they were driven out of Zimbabwe.

The Rolls-Royce Ghost, a red Porsche and a Range Rover – worth at least $500,000 in total – were suspected of being used to smuggle cash and other valuables out of Zimbabwe.

They were released after several hours of searches and when Russell Goreraza, Grace Mugabe’s eldest son, produced documents proving that his mother had granted him permission to drive her Rolls-Royce to Botswana and on to South Africa.

Grace Mugabe has purchased significant property in South Africa, including a luxurious residence in Johannesburg.

Last year however she was controversially granted diplomatic immunity to avoid arrest after an alleged assault on a model whom she found with her sons in a luxury apartment in the city.

The former first lady would be unlikely to be granted a similar privilege on future visits to South Africa, potentially ruling out one bolthole should life in Zimbabwe become too difficult.

So far, the family appear to have escaped any direct sanction, though a security detachment provided by the government to the first lady, who has remained in the luxurious home in Harare she shares with her husband since the military takeover, has been redeployed.

Under an agreement negotiated before he stepped down, Mugabe and his wife will be entitled to diplomatic passports and four first-class air or train trips within Zimbabwe and four trips abroad on a private plane each year.

Mugabe will get a residence, a car fleet and private air travel as part of a new government-funded retirement package for former leaders, according to state media.

Mugabe will also be entitled to at least 20 staffers including six personal security guards, all paid for from state coffers, according to details of the benefits published in The Herald newspaper.

Mnangagwa is hoping that a high profile campaign against corruption will bolster the chances of Zanu-PF, the ruling party, in elections due before July.

The home affairs minister, Obert Mpofu, has suggested the government might turn to Interpol to hunt down those outside the country.

“We are doing everything possible to ensure that those that have committed crimes within Zimbabwe and are outside Zimbabwe are brought to book. If it means engaging Interpol, we will go that route,” Mpofu was quoted as saying

The United Kingdom Ambassador to Maldives James Dauris on Monday claims the chief justice was quoted saying local judges are "under great pressure." 

Ambassador Dauris who tweeted the highlights of his conversation with Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed, said that the two had phone conversation in which Saeed affirmed the signatures on Supreme Court orders have not been forged.

"He told me about the great pressure judges are under," Dauris tweeted.

Dauris urged the Maldivian citizens respect and support an independent judiciary in the country. He added "it is in the fundamental interests of every Maldivian that the independence of the judiciary is respected & supported."

Supreme Court on Thursday night issued a release order for nine political leaders from jail that includes former President Mohamed Nasheed along with Jumhooree Party leader Qasim Ibrahim and former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb among others.

President Yameen on Sunday claimed the top-court order for the release of political leaders cannot be implemented accordingly as it was 'unconstitutional.'

Government inaction to implement the top-court order has come to international communities' attention. Maldives government has been advised to respect the Supreme Court order from United States, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka and even the European Union.

The mounting international and opposition pressure on the state to implement the top-court order has become exacerbating for Yameen's administration.

(Mohamed Rehan, Maldives)

Nearly 63 million women are "missing" from India's population due to foeticide, disease, neglect, or inadequate nutrition, a government survey says, adding that more than two million women disappear every year.

The survey, released on Monday, pointed out the phenomenon of "son preference" among Indians that has created an estimated 21 million "unwanted" girls.

"Indian parents often continue to have children till they have the desired number of sons," it said.

"Families that have sons are more likely to stop having children than families where a girl is born. This is suggestive of parents having children until they have as many sons as they want."

Rebecca Reichmann Tavares, a former India representative at the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, said: "the Indian society has been aware of this issue for some time".

"It is against the law to determine the sex of a foetus, but it is still widely practiced. And we find that even in the states where people are more educated and have higher incomes, the practice is more widespread," Tavares said.

"It really goes to show that economic development and higher level of education are not enough to promote or ensure gender equality. Even having a legal and policy system that has done everything to ensure legal rights for women and for girls, has not been enough."

The survey comes as the sex ratio in India worsened over the years despite government campaigns to bring gender parity.

Source : Al Jazeera

Security forces in the Maldives have sealed off the country's parliament and arrested two opposition legislators, amid a deepening crisis over President Abdulla Yameen's refusal to free jailed politicians.

Soldiers in riot gear surrounded the parliament building in Male on Sunday, soon after the opposition petitioned the parliament to remove the island nation's attorney general and its chief prosecutor.

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the parliamentary leader of the opposition, accused the pair of breaking the law by failing to act on a Supreme Court verdict overturning "terrorism" convictions against nine dissidents, including exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed.

The top court's ruling has plunged the Maldives into fresh political turmoil and dealt a major blow to Yameen, who is accused of corruption, misrule and rights abuses. He denies the allegations.

 Source : Al Jazeera

Australia and Sri Lanka signed a Subsidiary Arrangement for grant assistance to work together on strengthening governance in Sri Lanka through a four year program valued at AUS$ 31 million or approximately LKR 3850 million, a statement from the Ministry of Finance said today.

Secretary to the Ministry of Finance , Dr. R. H. S. Samaratunga and Australian High Commissioner Bryce Hutchesson signed the Arrangement on behalf of Sri Lanka and Australia respectively.

 A senior Ministry official said that the the Governance for Growth Program aims to support Sri Lanka’s efforts to increase economic growth with a view to reducing poverty and inequality in the country. The program will support activities that improve the policy formation and delivery capabilities of government at national, provincial and local levels to bring about inclusive economic growth.

Activities under the program will include a partnership with the World Bank to support the Sri Lankan Government’s implementation of national economic reforms as well as working with The Asia Foundation to strengthen public sector service delivery at the sub-national level, including women and people with disabilities.

The program will also provide opportunities for research collaboration and building of institutional linkages to support the quality of Sri Lanka’s economic decision-making and public service delivery.

The Ministry of Finance and Mass Media will act as the Sri Lankan counterpart of the Governance for Growth program overall, with a key role in contributing to strategic management of the program.

Nigel, a handsome gannet bird who lived on a desolate island off the coast of New Zealand, died suddenly this week. Wherever his soul has landed, the singles scene surely cannot be worse.

The bird was lured to Mana Island five years ago by wildlife officials who, in hopes of establishing a gannet colony there, had placed concrete gannet decoys on cliffsides and broadcast the sound of the species’ calls. Nigel accepted the invitation, arriving in 2013 as the island’s first gannet in 40 years. But none of his brethren joined him.

In the absence of a living love interest, Nigel became enamoured with one of the 80 faux birds. He built her — it? — a nest. He groomed her “chilly, concrete feathers . . . year after year after year,” the Guardian reported. He died next to her in that unrequited love nest, the vibrant orange-yellow plumage of his head contrasting, as ever, with the weathered, lemony paint of hers.

“Whether or not he was lonely, he certainly never got anything back, and that must have been [a] very strange experience,” conservation ranger Chris Bell, who also lives on the island, told the paper. “I think we all have a lot of empathy for him because he had this fairly hopeless situation.”

As he persisted in this futile courtship, Nigel accrued something of a fan base. Mana is a scientific reserve that, like other New Zealand islands, has been the focus of replanting and rodent eradication efforts. Friends of Mana Island, one of the groups that have planted trees and shrubs, said on Facebook that Nigel “won the hearts” of members and volunteers who “spent many hours over the years maintaining the concrete colony.”

Another gannet spent some time on Mana last year. Unfortunately, it was a he, dubbed Norman.

Perhaps the saddest twist to this tale is that three other gannets settled on Mana last month after conservation officials tweaked the sound system used to attract them, according to the New Zealand website ‘Stuff’. This raised the possibility of breeding. But Nigel paid them no attention.

“This just feels like the wrong ending to the story,” Bell told Stuff. “He died right at the beginning of something great.” But Nigel — whose nickname was “no mates” — will forever be remembered as the pioneer of the colony and credited with signalling to the new trio that Mana was suitable habitat, Bell said.

Source : Washington Post

The United States will resume admissions for refugees from 11 countries identified as presenting a high-security risk, but with extra vetting for these mostly Middle Eastern and African nations, senior U.S. officials said on Monday.

 The changes came after a 90-day review of refugee admissions from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen by the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and intelligence agencies.

The new rules are the latest changes to the U.S. refugee program made by the administration of President Donald Trump to address what it sees as national security issues.

Some of the administration’s actions, including an executive order to temporarily ban all refugees, have sparked lengthy court battles. Refugee advocates have said they see the administration’s actions as intended to reduce the number of refugees, particularly those from Muslim countries.

During the review period, which lasted from late October to last week, admissions of refugees from those countries dropped sharply, according to a Reuters analysis of State Department data.

The changes announced on Monday include additional screening for certain people from the 11 countries, and a periodic review of a list of countries identified as presenting higher security risks.

The new guidelines were announced at a press briefing by senior administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. They offered no details about which people from the 11 countries will be subject to the extra screening, citing security concerns.

The list of “high-risk” countries was last updated by the Obama administration in 2015, the senior administration officials said.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen would like officials to factor in risks to the United States other than terrorism, such as transnational organized crime, a senior administration official said.

During the briefing, officials said refugees will not be barred from admission to the United States solely on the basis of nationality.

“The big picture is that there is no longer a refugee pause on countries, including the 11 high-risk countries, with these measures taking effect,” one senior administration official said in a briefing with reporters. “We’ll be resuming admissions with the new security measures in place.”

In an address at the Wilson Center on Monday morning, Nielsen spoke about the new security measures, saying they “seek to prevent the program from being exploited by terrorists, criminals and fraudsters.”

“These changes will not only improve security but importantly they will help us better assess legitimate refugees fleeing persecution,” she said.

Refugee advocates said they worry the new security measures will block refugees from the 11 countries from admission to the United States.

“Adding yet more hurdles to an already overly bureaucratic process will burden those seeking safety for themselves and their families,” Amnesty International USA said in a statement.

Since becoming U.S. president, Trump has imposed numerous limits on the refugee program, including capping the number of refugees allowed into the country in the 2018 fiscal year at less than half the number set by former President Barack Obama for 2017. He also issued an executive order pausing the refugee program pending a thorough review, instituted stricter vetting requirements and quit negotiations on a voluntary pact to deal with global migration.

For each of the last three years, refugees from the 11 countries made up more than 40 percent of U.S. admissions. But a Reuters review of State Department data shows that as the 90-day review went into effect, refugee admissions from the 11 countries plummeted.

Since Oct. 25, the day the 90-day review went into effect, 46 refugees from the 11 countries have been allowed into the United States, according to State Department data.

Source : Reuters