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Minggu, 01 Agustus 2021

Fires rage across southern Europe, forcing hundreds to evacuate - CNA

ANKARA: Dozens of villages were evacuated in tourist hotspots in southern Turkey on Sunday (Aug 1) as wildfires that have claimed eight lives raged for a fifth day, while blazes also hit Greece, Italy and Spain.

Fanned by soaring temperatures and strong winds - with experts saying that climate change increases both the frequency and intensity of such blazes - this year's fire season has been significantly more destructive than the previous average, EU data shows.

Turkey is suffering its worst fires in at least a decade with nearly 95,000 hectares burnt so far this year, compared with an average of 13,516 at the same point in the years between 2008 and 2020.

A neighbourhood in the tourist city of Bodrum has been evacuated, CNN Turk broadcaster reported, as strong winds fanned flames from the nearby Milas district.

Unable to leave by road, 540 residents were taken to hotels by boats, the channel said.

People were also evacuated from the resort city of Antalya, and two bodies were found in that region on Sunday, taking the number of people killed to eight.

After hitting record levels last month, temperatures are set to remain high.

A temperature of 49.1 degrees Celsius was recorded in the southeastern town of Cizre on Jul 20.

And the mercury is expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius in Antalya on Monday.

Turkey's defence ministry released satellite images showing the extent of the damage, with forest areas turned black and smoke still visible.

More than 330 people have received medical treatment since the fires in Turkey broke out. (Photo: AFP)

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been criticised after it emerged that Turkey has no firefighting planes even though one-third of its territory is forested and fires are becoming increasingly frequent.

According to EU figures, Turkey has been hit by 133 wildfires in 2021 so far compared with an average of 43 by this point in the years between 2008 and 2020.

GREEK 'CATASTROPHE'

Meanwhile a major blaze broke out early Saturday near Patras in the western Greece.

Five villages have been evacuated and eight people were hospitalised with burns and respiratory problems in the region, which remains on alert.

Around 20 homes have been burnt down, according to a provisional figure from the fire brigade.

The mayor of nearby village Aigialeias, Dimitris Kalogeropoulos, called it "an immense catastrophe".

Nearly 300 firefighters, two water bomber planes and five helicopters were battling to put out a forest fire in Greece. (Photo: AFP/STR)

Flames consumed around 30 houses, barns and stables in the villages of Ziria, Kamares, Achaias and Labiri.

"We slept outside overnight, terrified that we would not have a house when we woke up," a Labiri resident told Greek TV station Skai.

The seaside resort of Loggos was also evacuated, with nearly 100 residents and tourists sent to the nearby city of Aigio.

According to EU data, 13,500 hectares had been burnt in Greece, compared with an average of 7,500 at this point in the year from 2008-20.

'CRAZY SUMMER'

Italy was again hit by fires after more than 20,000 hectares of forest, olive groves and crops were destroyed by a blaze in Sardinia last weekend.

More than 800 flare-ups were recorded this weekend, mainly in the south, Italy's fire brigade said.

"In the last 24 hours, firefighters have carried out more than 800 interventions: 250 in Sicily, 130 in Puglia and Calabria, 90 in Lazio and 70 in Campania," the brigade tweeted.

It added that firefighters were still battling blazes in the Sicilian cities of Catania, Palermo and Syracuse.

While the south of Italy has been burning, the north has suffered wild storms.

"The cost of the damage caused throughout the northern Italian countryside by the violent storms and hail during this crazy summer amounts to tens of millions of euros," the Coldiretti agricultural organisation said.

In Spain, dozens of firefighters backed by water-dropping aircraft were battling a wildfire that broke out Saturday afternoon near the San Juan reservoir, about 70 kilometres east of Madrid.

Firefighters said Sunday they had managed to stabilise the blaze overnight but local authorities urged people to stay away from the reservoir, a popular bathing spot for residents of the Spanish capital.

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2021-08-01 17:27:47Z
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Britain believes Iran attacked Israeli-managed tanker off Oman - CNA

DUBAI/LONDON: Britain said on Sunday (Aug 31) it believed Iran carried out an attack on an Israeli-managed petroleum product tanker off the coast of Oman on Thursday that killed a Briton and a Romanian, and said it was working with partners on a "concerted response".

Iran earlier on Sunday denied it was involved in the incident, after it was blamed by Israel.

UK assessments had concluded that it was highly likely that Iran had used one or more drones to carry out the "unlawful and callous" attack, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

"We believe this attack was deliberate, targeted, and a clear violation of international law by Iran," he said on Sunday. "The UK is working with our international partners on a concerted response to this unacceptable attack."

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had accused Tehran of "trying to shirk responsibility" for the attack, and called its denial "cowardly".

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a weekly news conference on Sunday that the "Zionist regime (Israel) has created insecurity, terror and violence ... These accusations about Iran's involvement are condemned by Tehran".

"Such accusations are meant by Israel to divert attention from facts and are baseless," Khatibzadeh said.

The Briton and Romanian were killed in the incident involving the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned ship managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.

The US Navy, which was escorting the tanker with its aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, said on Saturday that early indications "clearly pointed" to a drone attack.

Speaking during a weekly meeting of his cabinet on Sunday, Bennett said: "I declare unequivocally: Iran is the one that carried out the attack on the ship," adding that intelligence supports his claim.

"We, in any case, have our own way to relay the message to Iran," Bennett said. Israel's foreign minister said earlier the incident deserved a harsh response.

There were varying explanations for what happened to the tanker. Zodiac Maritime described the incident as "suspected piracy" and a source at the Oman Maritime Security Center said it was an accident that occurred outside Omani territorial waters.

US and European sources familiar with intelligence reporting said Iran was their leading suspect for the incident.

Iran and Israel have traded accusations of carrying out attacks on each other's vessels in recent months.

Tensions have risen in the Gulf region since the United States reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 after then-President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.

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2021-08-01 18:05:55Z
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Myanmar junta chief names himself prime minister, says will cooperate with Asean - The Straits Times

BANGKOK - Myanmar's military junta on Sunday (Aug 1) declared itself caretaker government of the embattled country, with chief Min Aung Hlaing named as prime minister.

The announcement will likely raise the stakes as Asean foreign ministers hold a virtual meeting on Monday to find the way forward in Myanmar's six-month-old political and humanitarian crisis.

Although Asean has not officially recognised the junta, its representatives have been taking part in official Asean meetings. Similar access has not been given to leaders of the rival National Unity Government which includes elected lawmakers ousted by the Feb 1 military coup.

In a 50-minute speech broadcast over state media on Sunday, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing - dressed in a traditional jacket instead of a military uniform - promised to hold a "free and fair" election and lift the current state of emergency by August 2023. He claims the November 2020 election that re-elected the National League for Democracy (NLD) government was fraudulent.

The military chief also said: "Myanmar is ready to work on Asean cooperation within the Asean framework, including the dialogue with the special Asean envoy of Myanmar."

Earlier, he appeared to have dismissed a five-point consensus on the Myanmar crisis hammered out by Asean leaders in April. The junta said it would cooperate with Asean only if the steps proposed complemented its road map.

Since April, Asean has struggled to pick a special envoy to facilitate a dialogue among Myanmar's political stakeholders.

Gen Min Aung Hlaing said on Sunday that his administration had chosen former Thai deputy foreign minister Virasakdi Futrakul, one of the nominees for the role, "but for various reasons the new proposals were released and we could not keep moving onward".

Other nominees were reportedly former Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda, Brunei's second foreign affairs minister Erywan Yusof and veteran Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail.

Myanmar's healthcare system, already debilitated by medical workers' strikes and military reprisals on dissidents, has been overwhelmed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Officially, the country logged 4,725 new cases on Saturday. But its death toll reached 392 - triple that of neighbouring Thailand, which is logging four times as many new infections.

Given the severe constraints on the testing capacities within Myanmar, medical experts said the country's real Covid-19 caseload is far higher. Many patients are being treated at home by volunteer doctors and charity workers, who told The Straits Times they have to work discreetly to evade arrest.

Meanwhile, violent military crackdowns on people opposing the coup have spawned "people's defence forces" which are waging localised insurgencies against the junta. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 940 people have been killed by the junta since the coup.

The numbers are disputed by Gen Min Aung Hlaing, who blamed "NLD extremists" on Sunday for inciting healthcare workers to turn against the state. He alleged that people were committing "bioterrorism" by spreading fake news about Covid-19.

The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, comprising a group of international experts working on human rights in the country, has called for international humanitarian intervention in Myanmar.

"The makeshift efforts to ease the plight of people crossing into Thailand and India are far from being able to roll back the epicentre of the pandemic within the country, which needs to be the primary strategic objective of massive regional and international action," said council member Marzuki Darusman in a statement released on July 22.

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2021-08-01 12:57:36Z
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Malaysia's opposition MPs to attend Parliament despite postponement - The Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR - All eyes will be on Malaysia's Parliament on Monday (Aug 2) after opposition lawmakers insisted they would still turn up at the Lower House despite the special sitting being postponed by the Muhyiddin Yassin administration, amid an open row between the premier and the palace.

The opposition has decried the adjournment, to an unspecified date, as "ridiculous".

"Opposition MPs from Democratic Action Party (DAP), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Amanah Negara will be going to Parliament tomorrow," DAP lawmaker Teo Nie Ching told The Straits Times on Sunday, referring to the component parties of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.

"Clearly, the Prime Minister is fearful of Parliament debating the King's public statement and that a majority of MPs will express full support for the King against the Prime Minister. Or he is afraid that a majority of MPs will show their loss of confidence in him, following the loss of confidence in his leadership by the King," DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng wrote in a letter to the Malaysiakini news website on Sunday.

"We shall be there tomorrow in Parliament," he added.

Monday's session was called off after 11 Covid-19 cases were discovered among Parliament attendees.

Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Sunday denied that the postponement was due to politics, insisting it was based on science and health data.

"The Health Ministry issued an advice for Parliament to be adjourned, and we follow (the advice) because this is an issue that involves lives," Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

The move comes amid an open row between Tan Sri Muhyiddin and the King, Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, over the government's unilateral decision to cancel emergency ordinances instead of discussing them in Parliament as directed by the King.

The postponement is seen by government critics as an attempt to scupper calls for the Prime Minister to resign.

Mr Lim said: "When factories are closed because Covid-19 positive cases are detected, the factories reopen after two days and proper sanitisation. Why was sanitisation not done last Friday so that Parliament can reopen on Monday?"

Another opposition MP, Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, who heads the Muda party, tweeted on Saturday: "I will still go to Parliament this Monday. You want to stop me, then stop me. I am not afraid."

The PH presidential council also issued a statement on Saturday indicating that its MPs, who represent 88 of the 222 parliamentary seats, would be there.

"No matter what happens, MPs cannot be stopped from attending Parliament on Monday to fulfil their duties and responsibilities to the people and the country, and fulfil our oaths to defend the Federal Constitution," said the statement, signed by PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and Mr Lim.

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2021-08-01 10:02:15Z
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Chinese cities test millions as Covid-19 cases surge - The Straits Times

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese cities rolled out mass testing of millions of people and imposed fresh travel restrictions as the health authorities battled on Sunday (Aug 1) to contain the country's most widespread coronavirus outbreak in months.

China on Sunday reported 75 new coronavirus cases with 53 local transmissions, with a cluster linked to an eastern airport now reported to have spread to over 20 cities and more than a dozen provinces.

The outbreak is geographically the largest to hit China in several months, after the country's successes in largely snuffing out the pandemic within its borders in 2020.

That record has been thrown into jeopardy after the fast-spreading Delta variant broke out at Nanjing airport in eastern Jiangsu province in July 2021.

The authorities have now conducted three rounds of testing on the city's 9.2 million residents and placed hundreds of thousands under lockdown, in an effort to curb an outbreak Beijing has blamed on the highly-contagious Delta variant and peak tourist season.

Officials are now scrambling to track people nationwide who recently travelled from Nanjing or Zhangjiajie, a tourist city in Hunan province which has locked down all 1.5 million residents and shut all tourist attractions.

Fresh cases were reported on Sunday on Hainan island - another popular tourist destination - as well as in the Ningxia region and Shandong province, the authorities said.

The country is also battling a separate rise in cases in the flood-ravaged city of Zhengzhou in Henan province, after two cleaners at a hospital treating coronavirus patients coming from abroad tested positive.

Twenty-seven locally transmitted cases have been detected, with the authorities on Sunday ordering mass testing of all 10 million residents. The head of the city's health commission has also been sacked.

And after reports that some people sickened in the latest cluster were vaccinated, health officials have said this is "normal" and stressed the importance of vaccination alongside strict measures.

"The Covid-19 vaccine's protection against the Delta variant may have somewhat declined, but the current vaccine still has a good preventative and protective effect against the Delta variant," said Dr Feng Zijian, a virologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 1.6 billion vaccine doses have so far been administered nationwide as of Friday, Beijing's National Health Commission said. It does not provide figures on how many people have been fully vaccinated.

Chinese cities test millions as COVID-19 cases surge - CNA

BEIJING: Chinese cities rolled out mass testing of millions of people and imposed fresh travel restrictions as health authorities battled Sunday (Aug 1) to contain the country's most widespread coronavirus outbreak in months.

The outbreak is geographically the largest to hit China in several months after the country's successes in largely snuffing out the pandemic within its borders last year.

That record has been thrown into jeopardy after the fast-spreading Delta variant broke out at Nanjing airport in eastern Jiangsu province in July.

Authorities have now conducted three rounds of testing on the city's 9.2 million residents and placed hundreds of thousands under lockdown, in an effort to curb an outbreak Beijing has blamed on the highly-contagious Delta variant and the peak tourist season.

Fresh cases were reported Sunday in Hainan island - another popular tourist destination - as well as Ningxia and Shandong provinces, authorities said.

The country is also battling a separate rise in cases in the flood-ravaged city of Zhengzhou in Henan province after two cleaners at a hospital treating coronavirus patients coming from abroad tested positive.

Twenty-seven locally transmitted cases have been detected, with authorities on Sunday ordering mass testing of all 10 million residents. The head of the city's health commission has also been sacked.

And after reports that some people sickened in the latest cluster were vaccinated, health officials have said this was "normal" and stressed the importance of vaccination alongside strict measures.

"The COVID-19 vaccine's protection against the Delta variant may have somewhat declined, but the current vaccine still has a good preventative and protective effect against the Delta variant," said Feng Zijian, virologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 1.6 billion vaccine doses have so far been administered nationwide as of Friday, Beijing's National Health Commission (NHC) said. It does not provide figures on how many people have been fully vaccinated.

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2021-08-01 07:40:26Z
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Myanmar military ruler promises elections, says ready to work with ASEAN - CNA

BANGKOK: Myanmar's military ruler Min Aung Hlaing on Sunday (Aug 1) again promised new multi-party elections and said his government is ready to work with any special envoy named by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

He also said a state of emergency would lifted by August 2023, extending the military's initial timeline given when it deposed Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb 1.

He spoke in a televised address six months after the army seized power from a civilian government after disputed elections won by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling party, which he described as "terrorists".

"We will accomplish the provisions of the state of emergency by August 2023," he said.

"I pledge to hold multiparty elections without fail."

The general's announcement would place Myanmar in the military's grip for nearly two-and-a-half-years - instead of the initial one-year timeline the junta announced days after the coup.

"Myanmar is ready to work on ASEAN cooperation within the ASEAN framework including the dialogue with the ASEAN Special Envoy in Myanmar," Min Aung Hlaing added.

READ: What's happening in Myanmar, six months after the coup?

The army seized power from the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi after her ruling party won elections that the military argued were tainted by fraud. The country's electoral commission dismissed this allegation.

Across Myanmar small groups of demonstrators marched on Sunday.

Protesters in the northern town of Kale held banners reading "strength for the revolution" while demonstrators let off flares at a march in the commercial capital Yangon.

Tens of thousands of civil servants and other workers have either been sacked for joining rallies or are still on strike in support of a nationwide civil disobedience campaign.

ASEAN MEETING

ASEAN foreign ministers are to meet on Monday, when diplomats say they aim to finalise a special envoy tasked with ending violence and promoting dialogue between the junta and its opponents.

The United Nations, China and the United States, among others, have identified the Southeast Asian bloc, whose 10 members include Myanmar, as best placed to lead diplomatic efforts to restore stability in Myanmar.

The Southeast Asian nation has been racked by a deadly crackdown on protests, economic collapse and a refugee exodus since the coup. A surge in coronavirus infections has overwhelmed Myanmar's health system, worsening the humanitarian crisis in the past month.

READ: US top diplomat Blinken to court Southeast Asia in virtual meetings next week

READ: Commentary - Myanmar is turning into a super-spreader COVID-19 state

The search for a special envoy began in April, when ASEAN leaders produced a "five-point consensus" to tackle the turmoil in Myanmar.

The UN and US have both urged ASEAN to expedite appointment of the special envoy in recent weeks.

The second minister for foreign affairs of Brunei, Erywan Yusof, said on Friday night he hoped a final decision would be made on Monday. Brunei is chair of ASEAN this year.

"Without the envoy leading the way, it is very difficult" to address the situation in Myanmar, he said.

ASEAN has been deeply divided on the envoy, and discussed appointing more than one to break the deadlock.

READ: Myanmar democracy movement moves out of jailed Aung San Suu Kyi's shadow

ENVOY ROLE

Four regional diplomatic sources said Erywan was favoured to become envoy and be assisted by "advisers". But a meeting of senior ASEAN officials on Thursday failed to reach agreement, they said.

As well as the nine other ASEAN members, Myanmar's military regime will have to approve the appointment, they said.

A spokesman for Myanmar's National Unity Government which opposes the military junta, Sasa, said the envoy must "put the people of Myanmar front and centre".

"Anything that can help alleviate the people's suffering is welcome," he said.

Erywan publicly confirmed he was one of four candidates. Diplomats said the others were Thailand's deputy foreign minister Weerasak Footrakul, former Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda and veteran Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail.

ASEAN will also announce a proposal to provide aid to Myanmar, including support to combat the pandemic, diplomats said.

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2021-08-01 06:00:00Z
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Minggu, 01 Agustus 2021

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