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Kamis, 26 Agustus 2021

Malaysia's new Cabinet: PM Ismail retains Zafrul as finance minister, names Khairy health minister - The Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has retained Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Aziz as finance minister, but left the deputy premiership post empty, taking a leaf out of predecessor Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's book.

The newly minted premier unveiled his Cabinet on Friday (Aug 27) morning, with his own Umno party dominating the line-up.

Former Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin will be helming the Ministry of Health. Under the previous Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration, Mr Khairy was also the coordinating minister of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

With his appointment as the new health minister, the Rembau MP replaces Datuk Seri Adham Baba when PN was in power. Dr Adham, meanwhile, will now take over Mr Khairy’s old portfolio.

Several senior ministers from the previous administration were also retained, such as International Trade and Industry Minister Azmin Ali, Works Minister Fadillah Yusof, Education Minister Radzi Jidin and Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

“I hope the appointment of this Cabinet will give new confidence for the country to rise up and unite against Covid-19, as well as liberating the Malaysian families from misery as a result of this pandemic,” Datuk Seri Ismail said in a national televised announcement.

“I will make sure this Cabinet emphasises a high performance work culture. Thus, every ministry needs to make short-term and long-term planning and achieve the target. For that, each ministry needs to prove their achievements in the first 100 days (in office),” he added.

Overall, there are 31 ministers and 38 deputies in the new Cabinet.

The new Cabinet line-up was announced a week after Mr Ismail was installed as Malaysia's ninth premier, following the collapse of the PN administration on Aug 16.

The new ministers will be sworn in on Monday.

The similarity of Mr Ismail’s Cabinet to PN’s line-up has prompted the opposition to question the rationale behind it.

Democratic Action Party lawmaker Hannah Yeoh tweeted: “Just the same old composition of #KerajaanGagal (failed government). Same politicians rotating offices in Putrajaya. Ismail Sabri’s Cabinet is nothing more inspiring than Muhyiddin’s Cabinet.”

She also questioned the omission of outgoing Lower House deputy speaker Azalina Othman Said from the newly announced line-up.

“Children will have no reliable spokesperson and how can Azalina be excluded? I now want Ismail Sabri to make Azalina speaker for greater check and balance.” Ms Azalina has been championing women and children’s rights.

Key appointments

Senior Minister (International Trade and Industry): Azmin Ali (Bersatu)
Deputy: Lim Ban Hong (MCA)

Senior Minister (Defence): Hishammuddin Hussein (Umno)
Deputy: Ikmal Hisham Abdul Aziz (Bersatu)

Senior Minister (Works): Fadillah Yusof (GPS)
Deputy: Arthur Joseph Kurup (PBRS)

Senior Minister (Education): Radzi Jidin (Bersatu)
Deputies: Mah Hang Soon (MCA), Eddin Syazlee Shith (Bersatu)

Finance Minister: Tengku Zafrul Aziz
Deputies: Mohd Shahar Abdullah (Umno), Yamani Hafez Musa (Bersatu)

Health Minister: Khairy Jamaluddin (Umno)
Deputies: Noor Azmi Ghazali (Bersatu), Aaron Ago Dagang (GPS)

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister: Adham Baba (Umno)
Deputy: Ahmad Amzad Hashim (PAS)

Home Minister: Hamzah Zainuddin (Bersatu)
Deputies: Ismail Mohamed Said (Umno), Jonathan Yassin (Bersatu)

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2021-08-27 04:36:25Z
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Malaysia's new Cabinet: PM Ismail Sabri retains Zafrul as finance minister, names Khairy health minister - The Straits Times

The newly minted premier unveiled his Cabinet on Friday (Aug 27) morning, with his own Umno party dominating the line-up.

The new Cabinet line-up was announced a week after Datuk Seri Ismail was installed as Malaysia's ninth premier, following the collapse of the PN administration on Aug 16.

The new ministers will be sworn in on Monday.

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Biden presidency shaken to core by Kabul bombings - CNA

WASHINGTON: The bombs that killed US service members and Afghans in the desperate Kabul evacuation inflicted another casualty on the other side of the world - Joe Biden's presidency.

Biden took office promising calm at home and respect for the United States abroad in the wake of the traumatic Donald Trump years.

On Thursday, the deadly attack at Kabul's airport left him with a mountain to climb if he's to persuade the nation and America's partners that either goal remains achievable.

The 78-year-old Democrat was already reeling from the chaos in Afghanistan, where the US-backed government and US-created army vanished almost overnight, leaving the handful of remaining US troops and many thousands of US citizens and allies at the Taliban's mercy.

Working around the clock for 10 days, his administration had thought perhaps it could still pull triumph from disaster.

The airlift was going far better than predicted, with the US military performing flawlessly and the Taliban more or less keeping its end of the bargain in securing Kabul.

Early on Thursday in Washington, the White House proudly rolled out the latest remarkable figures: more than 95,000 people safely flown out since Kabul's fall to the Taliban.

Then the bombs went off, 12 Americans died, and Biden's seven-month-old presidency was shaken to the core.

Shutting himself away with aides in the Situation Room, he canceled a meeting with state governors and told visiting Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that their planned meeting in the Oval Office would have to wait until Friday.

As pressure mounted on Biden to face the public, the White House announced an address to the nation later Thursday.

"The president needs to be out there and taking questions," Ian Bremmer, founder of the Eurasia Group risk consultancy, said. "He is not seen as leading in a time of crisis."

'BLOOD ON HIS HANDS?'

Biden didn't start the Aghan war. That was a Republican, George W Bush.

And Biden was the first of four presidents actually to follow through on promises to end the disaster.

But as Biden himself said, the "buck stops" with him.

That means he will not be able to escape fury and horror back home over the deaths of the servicemen -- or the political fallout.

"Joe Biden has blood on his hands," Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik said. "This horrific national security and humanitarian disaster is solely the result of Joe Biden's weak and incompetent leadership. He is unfit to be commander-in-chief."

Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn tweeted that Biden and all his top national security staff "should resign or face impeachment and removal from office."

The Republican outcry was predictable. But the wider damage reflected in opinion polls will be more worrying for Biden.

While a USA Today/Suffolk University poll this week found overwhelmingly that Americans believe the Afghan war was not worth fighting, Biden isn't getting thanked. The poll found his overall approval at just 41 percent, with 55 per cent disapproving.

"I don't know if Biden will be permanently damaged," Mark Rom, a professor of government, told AFP. "But the Republicans will do everything in their power to see that he is."

Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll, said that given the unpopularity of the Afghan war, Biden may yet ride the disaster out.

"The political question, once we have completely withdrawn, is whether the majority will be glad we aren't there anymore. If so, then the issue is likely to fade," he said.

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2021-08-26 21:45:19Z
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Suicide bombings at Kabul airport kill 12 US troops; threat persists, Pentagon says - CNA

WASHINGTON: American forces in Kabul were bracing for more Islamic State attacks while winding up their evacuation mission, US officials said, as the number of US troops killed in Thursday's (Aug 26) suicide bomb attack rose to 13.

A US official told Reuters the number of US personnel killed was likely to rise even higher. More than a dozen were wounded.

The attack marked the first US military casualties in Afghanistan since February 2020 and represented the deadliest incident for American troops in the country in a decade.

At least two explosions tore through crowds that had thronged the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport desperate to leave Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power almost two weeks ago ahead of US President Joe Biden's Aug 31 deadline to withdraw American troops after two decades.

In a statement, Islamic State claimed responsibility and said one of its suicide bombers had targeted "translators and collaborators with the American army."

Marine Corps General Frank McKenzie, head of the US military's Central Command, told a news briefing the explosions were followed by gunfight. McKenzie said the threat from Islamic State persists alongside "other active threat streams."

"We believe it is their desire to continue these attacks and we expect those attacks to continue - and we're doing everything we can to be prepared," McKenzie said.

McKenzie added that future potential attacks could include rockets being fired at the airport or car bombs attempting to get in. McKenzie said he saw nothing that would convince him that Taliban forces had let the attack take place.

US officials said one bomb detonated near the airport's Abbey Gate and the other was close to the nearby Baron Hotel.

RACE AGAINST TIME

A massive airlift of US and other foreign nationals and their families as well as some Afghans has been under way since the day before Taliban forces captured Kabul on Aug 15, capping a swift advance across the country as American and allied troops withdrew.

The United States has been racing to carry out the airlift before its military is set to fully withdraw from the country by Aug 31. McKenzie said the evacuation mission was not going to stop.

"I think we can continue to conduct our mission, even while we are receiving attacks like this," McKenzie said, adding that US forces will "go after" the perpetrators of Thursday's attack.

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2021-08-26 19:35:00Z
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UN chief condemns 'terrorist attack' in Afghanistan - CNA

"TOTAL PANIC"

At least two explosions went off outside Kabul's airport on Thursday, hours after the United States and its allies warned of possible attacks by Islamic State on crowds gathered there trying to flee Afghanistan after the takeover by the Taliban.

Wounded men in blood-soaked clothes were ferried away from the scene in wheelbarrows, while a boy clutched the arm of a man with a head injury, in images posted on social media.

"Bodies, flesh and people were thrown into a canal nearby," Milad, who was at the scene of the first blast, told AFP.

"When people heard the explosion there was total panic. The Taliban then started firing in the air to disperse the crowd at the gate," a second witness said.

"I saw a man rushing with an injured baby in his hands."

The two devices were detonated as the sun started to set, killing at least six people and wounding many more, according to the Emergency Hospital in Kabul.

Reuters reported at least 13 deaths.

Thick smoke billowed into the sky as men, women and children rushed away from the scene.

The Pentagon said one explosion was at the Abbey Gate of Kabul airport, and at least one more blast hit the nearby Baron Hotel.

Shortly after, an AFP photographer saw several bodies arriving at a Kabul hospital, and more than a dozen injured.

Women with blood-stained faces and clothes wept as the wounded were taken into the clinic on stretchers.

Another witness, 26-year-old Akram Lubega, who works for a catering firm, said he heard the explosion and did not know what was happening.

"Of course we are all scared," the Ugandan national said.

"Everyone is tense and the army is taking positions around the airport."

TALIBAN RESPONSE

The Taliban, whose members are guarding the perimeter outside the airport, are enemies of the Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) after an old name for the region.

The Taliban condemned the blasts and said the explosion happened in area under the control of the US military.

"The Islamic Emirate strongly condemns the bombing targeting civilians at Kabul airport," a statement released by the group's spokesman on Twitter said.

"The explosion took place in an area where US forces are responsible for security."

A Taliban official said the attack was an act of terrorism that should be condemned by the whole world, adding the presence of foreign forces in the country was to blame, a Turkish TV channel said.

"As soon as the airport situation is figured out and the foreign forces leave, we will not have such attacks anymore. It is because of the presence of foreign forces that such attacks take place," said Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a member of the Taliban's cultural commission, told Turkey's Haberturk TV.

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2021-08-26 16:59:00Z
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S'pore's A330 tanker aircraft to head to Qatar to help US airlift evacuees from Afghanistan - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - A tanker aircraft with the capacity to carry more than 37 tonnes left Singapore on Thursday night (Aug 26) to help in efforts to airlift evacuees from Afghanistan.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), which departed from Changi Airbase at around 10.30pm, will be deployed to transport evacuees currently relocated in Qatar to Germany or other countries.

In all, 77 Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) soldiers, comprising pilots, aircrew, engineers and Singapore Army security personnel, will be involved in the humanitarian mission, said the Ministry of Defence (Mindef).

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen told reporters there is an urgent need to protect evacuees and other civilians, and Singapore is directly contributing to this humanitarian cause via this mission.

“We cannot imagine the fear and terror that these displaced people are facing, arising from the situation in Afghanistan,” he said.

“But we take some comfort that the SAF, through this mission, can play a part in providing for a more secure and safe future for some displaced families and individuals.”

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had announced on Monday that Singapore offered the MRTT to help the United States with evacuation efforts after Afghanistan's capital city Kabul fell to the Taleban on Aug 15.

Since then, thousands of people have been trying desperately to get into Kabul's international airport in the hope of getting on an evacuation flight. These include Afghans who had helped the US and its allies by working as translators for military operations.

As at Thursday, an estimated 1,500 Americans are still in Afghanistan, trying to get to the airport to leave before the US withdrawal deadline on Aug 31.

Dr Ng said the SAF crew already has about 200 evacuees waiting for them in Qatar.

“They’re going to depart here from tonight, reach Qatar, pick up these evacuees, and then go onwards to Germany, all in 21 hours. This would have not been possible with our older aircraft.”

From Germany, the plane will loop back to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, going back and forth transporting as many evacuees as it can.

Dr Ng said the air tanker, which attained full operational capability in April, is an ideal aircraft for this operation, given how it was designed for such a mission.

He noted that it can do aerial refuelling, transport people and be configured for medical purposes.

The SAF has previously deployed troops to Iraq and Afghanistan from 2006 to 2013, Dr Ng noted, adding that it has also continued to have a presence in Afghanistan in a variety of roles from 2014.

Singapore had clear reasons for joining the US and other countries in the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said.

“We had to disrupt the terrorist groups of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, because they were also impacting and facilitating terror plots here, particularly for Al-Qaeda.”

While most, if not all, countries wish there was a “different outcome” in Afghanistan, the minister noted that there have been hard-gotten gains in disrupting terror groups in the past two decades.

This gave Singapore the chance to build up its capabilities against terrorism, including by setting up the Counter-Terrorism Information Facility, reorganising the SAF and sharing intelligence with other countries.

“We knew from the (outset) in this fight against terrorism that it was one for the long haul. It wasn’t going to go away in two decades, maybe not even five. And we will use the time to prepare for the threats here,” Dr Ng said.

PM Lee said in a Facebook post on Thursday that he was glad the US accepted Singapore’s offer of help. “I wish them all the best as they carry out this important humanitarian mission,” he added.

Kabul airport explosion appears to be suicide attack, US officials say - CNA

There were few details yet of the attack, but Western countries have been warning of a potential attack by Islamic State militants.

The Taliban, whose fighters are guarding the perimeter outside the airport, are enemies of the Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), after an old name for the region.

"Our guards are also risking their lives at Kabul airport, they face a threat too from the Islamic State group," said a Taliban official, who spoke on condition of anonymity and before the reports of the explosion.

A massive airlift of foreign nationals and their families, as well as some Afghans, has been under way since the day before Taliban forces captured Kabul on Aug 15, capping a swift advance across the country as US and allied troops withdrew.

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the explosion, according to a White House official. Biden was in a meeting with security officials about the situation in Afghanistan, where the United States is in the final steps of ending its 20-year war, when the explosion was first reported, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The United States has been racing to carry out the airlift before its military is set to fully withdraw from the country on Aug 31.

In an alert issued on Wednesday, the US Embassy in Kabul had advised citizens to avoid travelling to the airport and said those already at the gates should leave immediately, citing unspecified "security threats".

A Western diplomat in Kabul said that areas outside the airport gates had been "incredibly crowded" again despite the warnings.

The United States and its allies have mounted one of the biggest air evacuations in history, bringing out about 95,700 people, including 13,400 on Wednesday, the White House said on Thursday.

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2021-08-26 14:23:00Z
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Kamis, 26 Agustus 2021

'BLOOD ON HIS HANDS?'

RACE AGAINST TIME

"TOTAL PANIC"

TALIBAN RESPONSE

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