Tripoli: The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said that 331 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya in the past week.
“In the period of January 22-28, 2023, 331 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya,” IOM added in a statement on Monday.
The rescued migrants included 20 women and 35 children, it added.
So far this year, a total of 1,103 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya, while 17 died and 18 others went missing off the Libyan coast, IOM revealed.
In 2022, a total of 24,684 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya, the IOM said, adding 529 migrants died and 848 others went missing off the Libyan coast on the Central Mediterranean route, Xinhua news agency reported.
Because of the insecurity and chaos in the country since the fall of late leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, many migrants, mostly Africans, chose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya.
Rescued migrants usually end up inside overcrowded reception centres across Libya, despite repeated international calls to close those centres and release the migrants.
San Francisco: An asteroid, about the size of a box truck, will have a very close encounter with the Earth this week, NASA Systems has predicted.
The asteroid, called Asteroid 2023, is expected to fly over South America. During its flight, the asteroid is predicted to be only 2,200 miles above Earth’s surface, making it the closest in recorded history, according to NASA.
However, the space agency said that there is no risk of the asteroid impacting Earth, and even if it did, the small asteroid, which is estimated to be 11.5 to 28 feet (3.5 to 8.5 metres) across, would disintegrate harmlessly in the atmosphere, with some of the larger debris potentially falling as small meteorites.
The asteroid was initially spotted by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov on Saturday and reported to the Minor Planet Center (MPC).
NASA’s Scout impact hazard assessment system was then used to analyse MPC’s data and predict the near miss.
“Scout quickly ruled out 2023 BU as an impactor, but despite the very few observations, it was nonetheless able to predict that the asteroid would make an extraordinarily close approach with Earth,” Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at JPL who developed Scout, said in a statement.
“In fact, this is one of the closest approaches by a known near-Earth object ever recorded,” he added.
Although this asteroid poses no threat to Earth, NASA has been focusing on building planetary defences against them.
Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here’s an offering of the best of this week’s crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Islamabad: An international Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation will visit Pakistan next week to discuss the ninth review of the USD 7 billion Extended Fund Facility, Dawn reported citing the official.
According to the statement released by the IMF, the international fund organization Resident Representative for Pakistan Esther Perez Ruiz said: “At the request of the authorities, an in-person Fund mission is scheduled to visit Islamabad [from] January 31 – February 9 to continue the discussions under the ninth EFF review.”
The Pakistani rupee has dived to a historic low against the United States dollar after an exchange cap was lifted as the cash-strapped country seeks the help from IMF. Earlier, Pakistan entered a USD 6 billion programme in 2019 but later on, it increased to USD 7 billion.
If everything goes well then the international organization would release USD 1.8 billion, which is still pending, according to Dawn.
It had earlier been put off for two months due to the Pakistan Muslim League-N-led government’s unwillingness to accept certain conditions placed before it by the IMF, and the disagreements have yet to be resolved.
However, it is pertinent to mention that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has indicated that the government is finally ready to swallow the bitter pill of the IMF’s “stringent” conditions to revive the loan programme.
In the statement, Ruiz said that the mission would focus on policies to restore domestic and external sustainability, including strengthening the fiscal position with durable and high-quality measures while supporting the vulnerable and those affected by the floods; restoring the viability of the power sector and reverse the continued accumulation of circular debt; and re-establish the proper functioning of the foreign exchange market, allowing the exchange rate to clear the forex shortage.
“Stronger policy efforts and reforms are critical to reduce the current elevated uncertainty that weighs on the outlook, strengthen Pakistan’s resilience, and obtain financing support from official partners and the markets that is vital for Pakistan’s sustainable development,” Dawn quoted her as saying.
The Financial Post recently reported that with Pakistan Finance Ministry being unable to furnish tenable answers for the IMF to commence formal negotiations on the 9th review, it may delay the release of funds from the IMF.
The IMF visit to Pakistan scheduled for October has been delayed amidst differences between Pakistan’s commitment to the IMF on fiscal consolidation.
“Pakistan and the global lender continued talks virtually but differences still persisted over tax collection targets, and non-starter energy reforms including hiking of gas tariff, rising circular debt, and expenditure overrun, making consensus harder to strike on a staff-level agreement for completion of the review,” according to the Financial Post report.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that the government knows that it has no other option but to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and face humiliation and that their legs start shaking at the name of elections, reported The Express Tribune.
Srinagar, Jan 24: The Jammu & Kashmir government is likely to submit budget proposals of the Union Territory for 2023-24 to the Government of India in the next week.
Sources disclosed to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the UT administration has finalized the budget proposals for 2023-24 and revised estimates for 2022-23 and would submit them to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in the next week.
“The proposals would be submitted to the MHA for their forward submission to the Union Finance Ministry. This would be followed- up by discussions between J&K administration, MHA and Finance Ministry on the proposals, “they said, adding that J&K’s budget is likely to be presented in the Parliament in the month of March.
The central assistance for J&K would be announced in the Union Budget to be presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1. Last year, J&K was allocated Rs 35,581.44 crore central assistance.
On December 6, 2022, KNO had reported that the Union Finance Ministry has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to submit Jammu & Kashmir’s budget proposals for the next fiscal year.
This will be the fourth consecutive budget of Jammu & Kashmir which will be presented in the Parliament in absence of the Legislative Assembly in the Union Territory. The budget is being presented in the Parliament as law-making powers of UT Assembly are vested with the Parliament in absence of elected government in J&K
Jammu & Kashmir has been without an elected government since June 19, 2018. The budget for 2019-20 was approved by the Governor Satya Pal as head of the State Administrative Council. After the abrogation of Article 370 and reorganization of J&K, all its budgets were presented in the Parliament by the Union Finance Ministry due to the absence of an elected Government in UT—(KNO)
Saudi project clears 1,045 mines within week in Yemen (Photo: IANS)
Sanaa: The Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance in Yemen (Masam) announced they have cleared 1,045 mines in the war-ravaged Arab nation in the third week of January.
Masam said in a statement that it had cleared 15 anti-personnel mines, 131 anti-tank mines, 896 unexploded ordnance, and three other explosive devices in the war-torn provinces of Dhalea, Shabwa, Hodeidah and Taiz, reports Xinhua news agency.
A total of 383,193 Houthi-laid mines have been cleared since the Saudi project was launched in Yemen in 2018.
These landmines and improvised explosive devices laid by the Houthi militia continue to pose a threat to Yemeni civilians despite the ongoing mine-clearing efforts.
According to the pro-government demining experts in Yemen, more than 1 million landmines have been laid since the outbreak of the civil war in late 2014, when the Houthi militia took control of several northern provinces and forced the government out of the capital Sanaa.
Joanna & the Maestro (Cup & Nuzzle, Burning Bright Productions and Bauer Media) | Planet Radio Conversations from a Long Marriage (Radio 4) | BBC Sounds Real Money: TheHunt for Tether’s Billions (Tortoise Media) | Tortoise Ken Bruce (Radio 2) | BBC Sounds
All-the-medals national treasure Dame Joanna Lumley has a new classical music podcast with her husband, Stephen “Stevie” Barlow. It’s called Joanna & the Maestro and it’s quite the most wonderfully fruity thing you ever heard. Just 10 minutes in its company and you find yourself describing things – even quite ordinary things, such as a cup of coffee or the dog – as divine. Beautiful. Exquisite. Gorgeous.
Gorgeous is what Lumley does, and gorgeous is what she loves, as she explains in the first episode. When she was young, she loved the piano and wanted to play. But she struggled with reading the notes, so lessons went no further. Still, she and her family listened to classical records, and she heard music, too, when doing dance classes in Malaya, specifically Offenbach’s Barcarolle: “I can hear it to this day.” When pop came along, “I liked gorgeous music, so I loved the Everly Brothers… Elvis had a beautiful voice.”
Barlow, the maestro of the title, and just as fruity as Lumley, is an esteemed conductor. He has an office in their garden – “the music room” (pronounced “rum”) – where he works and where the podcast is recorded, and occasionally he pops over to the piano and tinkles out a tune. We learn that, in contrast to Lumley, Barlow had two piano teachers when he was young, one for theory, one for playing, and progressed to the King’s School, Canterbury, where his talent was nurtured further. His knowledge leads to some interesting details, such as the order in which members of an orchestra are listed on a score and a discussion about castrati and countertenors.
Oh, it’s all divine, delicious and lovely, including the music, and they are sweet company, though I was slightly brought up short when Barlow exclaimed: “I’m discovering so many things about you!”, in contrast to Lumley’s encouraging him to tell stories she clearly already knows. He’s been primed to excel throughout his life, while she has a tendency to put down her own knowledge, just to encourage him some more. “Stevie, this is what I wanted us to do in these shows,” she says. “Me being the average listener and you being the above-average musician, able to give answers.”
In an odd piece of timing, Lumley is also appearing on Radio 4 as one half of a happily married couple, this time fictional. Conversations from a Long Marriage, starring Lumley and Roger Allam, written by Jan Etherington, is being rerun ahead of season 4, and nestles happily in its 6.30pm comedy slot. It’s cosy and gentle and – for me – slightly phoned in by these two great actors. The stories and jokes often revolve around one of them desiring a bit more attention from the other: we’ve had Joanna wanting Roger to be more physically affectionate, like a lusty couple they know, and Roger being grumpy about Joanna working with a dynamic younger man. Surely most long-term couples are relaxed about such things, while being far spikier about others? Perhaps I’m wrong, and everyone else, apart from me and my husband, is in an exquisite Joanna & the Maestro-style relationship. Whatever, I will always have time for Lumley, who somehow manages to make everything in life, even ludicrous garden bridges, more absolutely fabulous (sorry). There are few people who can do that.
Another woman who never lets you down is the excellent tech journalist Aleks Krotoski. As host of Radio 4’s The Digital Human she is full of delighted, doggedly earned knowledge about the virtual world, but also, vitally, she’s a great storyteller. Her scripts are consistently on point, and she delivers them with panache.
Krotoski has spent the past year looking at cryptocurrency for Tortoise Media, and Real Money: TheHunt for Tether’s Billions is the result. Cryptocurrency Tether’s USP is that it is tethered to the US dollar. One tether equals one dollar, so it seems a safe bet. Before you start yawning, not only does Krotoski sell Tether’s story well, it’s a very interesting tale. Tether has never published its accounts, and a man called Nathan Anderson has offered $1m to anyone who can pin down just what Tether’s investments actually are. Even more intriguing is a central character called Brock Pierce, who has done many things in his life, including being a child actor in a 90s ice hockey film. Pierce is Tether’s daddy. Did you know that the physical centre of cryptocurrency – its Silicon Valley – is Puerto Rico? Me neither. Krotoski and producer Joanna Humphreys are there, tracking Pierce down – “It’s like we’re chasing ghosts” – and this show brings along even the least crypto-interested with them.
Ken Bruce will join Greatest Hits Radio after more than three decades at Radio 2. Photograph: Bauer Media/PA
Finally, what a shocker re Ken Bruce, eh? Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio has pulled off a genuine coup in getting Bruce – plus his beloved PopMaster quiz – over to its station. The most successful commercial radio groups have been tempting big BBC talent to the dark (read: better-paying) side for the past few years, and it’s quite a tally once you start counting. Bauer has Simon Mayo and Ken Bruce; Global has John Humphrys, Andrew Marr, Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel; Wireless has Chris Evans, Graham Norton and Vanessa Feltz. That’s five big ex-Radio 2s, three ex-Radio 4s and a BBC One-er. Plus, Greatest Hits also has Alex Lester, Richard Allinson, Mark Goodier and Jackie Brambles…
So who will take over Ken’s old slot in March? Radio 2 has been shifting from golf club bants to a campier, female-friendly, 90s kitchen disco vibe for a few years now. Liza Tarbuck? Rylan Clark? We shall see.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
The Russian missile attack in Dnipro, the nurses’ strike in London, naked activists in Madrid and Coco Gauff at the Australian Open – the most striking images this week
Continue reading…
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here’s an offering of the best of this week’s crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.
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#nations #cartoonists #week #politics
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
A wild Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) is spotted in a weak and exhausted semi-conscious state in the bushes of parthenium plants at Tehatta, West Bengal, India. The Asian palm civet, a nocturnal carnivore species also known as the common palm civet, toddy cat, and musang, is found in south and south-east Asia, it produces a buttery, honey-like secretion that is scraped off its perineal glands. This civet is threatened by poaching and illegal wildlife trade; buyers use it for the increased production of the world’s most expensive coffee, kopi luwak (civet coffee)
