Barack Obama 'Not Optimistic' On Syria As Aleppo Pummelled

November 21, 2016

Damascus/Syria, Nov 21: US President Barack Obama said he is "not optimistic" about Syria's future, as the UN warned time is running out to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Aleppo which has been pounded by air strikes for nearly a week.

obamaGovernment forces launched a ferocious assault last Tuesday to recapture eastern Aleppo, killing 115 civilians so far. In fresh fighting on Sunday at least eight children died when rebel rocket fire hit their school in the government-controlled west.

Obama warned that Syria's second city was likely to fall, and that Russian and Iranian backing for Syrian leader Bashar al Assad had made the situation untenable for the opposition.

"I am not optimistic about the short-term prospects in Syria," he said Sunday at a summit of Pacific leaders in Lima.

"Once Russia and Iran made a decision to back Assad in a brutal air campaign... it was very hard to see a way in which even a trained and committed moderate opposition could hold its ground for long periods of time."

Obama earlier Sunday urged greater efforts to end the violence when he met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

But in Damascus, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura was rebuffed on a truce proposal that would allow the opposition to administer the city's rebel-held east.

"We are running out of time, we are running against time," de Mistura said after meeting Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.

Muallem said he had rejected the proposal, under which jihadist forces would leave and the government would recognise the opposition administration in the east which has been bombarded by air strikes, barrel bombs and artillery.

"How is it possible that the UN wants to reward terrorists?" he asked.

Aid agencies fear that instead of a humanitarian or a political initiative there will be "an acceleration of military activities" in eastern Aleppo and elsewhere, de Mistura told journalists.

"By Christmas... due to military intensification, you will have the virtual collapse of what is left in eastern Aleppo; you may have 200,000 people moving towards Turkey -- that would be a humanitarian catastrophe."

'War crimes'

On Sunday, rebels retaliated with a barrage of rockets into government-held western Aleppo, state media said, hitting a primary school and killing at least eight children.

Syrian television showed bloodied and weeping children being treated in hospital, and an AFP journalist saw pupils being rushed from the school after the attack.

But regime forces broke through into the city's northeastern area of Massaken Hanano, sparking fierce clashes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It also reported heavy fighting as the army sought to gain ground in two eastern neighbourhoods.

The Britain-based monitoring group said at least 19 civilians including five children were killed in the east on Sunday. That brought to 115 the number of civilians killed since the bombardment resumed.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the indiscriminate shelling, saying it had killed and maimed civilians, destroyed schools and left the city's east without functioning hospitals.

"The Secretary-General reminds all parties to the conflict that targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime," his office said in a statement.

"Those responsible for these and other atrocities in Syria, whoever and wherever they are, must one day be brought to account."

On Monday the UN Security Council is scheduled to meet in New York to discuss humanitarian efforts in Syria. Last week it decided to extend for another year a probe into chemical attacks in the country and who is responsible.

The regime offensive on eastern Aleppo has forced hospitals and schools to close and destroyed facilities for hard-pressed rescue workers.

Shelling on Friday destroyed one of the last hospitals there and staff were also forced to evacuate the area's only children's hospital because of repeated attacks.

Russia, which intervened militarily last year, says it is not involved in the current assault on Aleppo, and is instead concentrating its firepower on opposition and jihadist forces in neighbouring Idlib province.

But Damascus and its allies have made clear they want rebels expelled from eastern Aleppo, which fell from regime control in mid-2012.

More than 250,000 people remain in eastern Aleppo, which has been sealed off since government forces surrounded it in mid-July. No aid has entered the east since then and the siege has created food and fuel shortages.

More than 300,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011.

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News Network
May 2,2020
Seoul, May 2: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made his first public appearance since speculation about his health began last month, cutting the ribbon at the opening of a fertilizer factory, KCNA reported Saturday.
 
Kim attended the event on Friday in Sunchon, near the capital Pyongyang, after nearly three weeks of swirling rumours that the leader of the nuclear-armed nation was seriously ill or possibly dead.
 
The North Korean leader had not made a public appearance since presiding over a Workers' Party politburo meeting on April 11, and the following day state media reported that he had inspected fighter jets.
 
At Friday's event, "all the participants broke into thunderous cheers of 'hurrah!'" when Kim appeared, the Korean Central news agency reported.
 
He inspected the facility and was "briefed about the production processes," the report said.
 
Kim "said with deep emotion" that his grandfather Kim Il Sung and father Kim Jong Il "would be greatly pleased if they heard the news that the modern phosphatic fertilizer factory has been built," it added.
 
Also in attendance were other senior officials, including his sister and close adviser, Kim Yo Jong. Photos from the ceremony were not immediately released.
 
Conjecture over Kim's health had grown since his conspicuous no-show at April 15 celebrations for the birthday of his grandfather, the North's founder -- the most important day in the country's political calendar.
 
His absence unleashed a series of unconfirmed reports over his condition, triggering global fears over the North's nuclear arsenal -- and who would succeed Kim were he unable to lead.
 
A top security advisor to South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said less than a week ago that Kim was "alive and well," downplaying rumors that he was ill or incapacitated.
 
The advisor, Moon Chung-in, told CNN that Kim had been staying in Wonsan -- a resort town in the east of North Korea -- since April 13, adding: "No suspicious movements have so far been detected."
 
South Korea Reports Kim Jong Un Is 'Alive and Well' Amid Rumours of His Death
 
South Korea has told CNN that the rumours of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's death are untrue.
 
Rumours of ill health
 
Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, reported that Kim was undergoing treatment after a cardiovascular procedure last month.
 
Citing an unidentified source inside the country, it said Kim -- who is in his mid-30s -- had needed urgent treatment due to heavy smoking, obesity and fatigue.
 
Soon afterwards, CNN reported that Washington was "monitoring intelligence" that Kim was in "grave danger" after undergoing surgery, quoting an anonymous US official.
 
US President Donald Trump appeared to confirm that Kim was alive earlier this week.
 
On Friday, Trump refused to comment on Kim's reported re-emergence.
 
Previous absences from the public eye on Kim's part have prompted speculation about his health.
 
The North is extremely secretive, and doubly so about its leadership.
 
Kim's father and predecessor had been dead for two days before anyone outside the innermost circles of North Korean leadership was any the wiser.
 
In 2014, Kim Jong Un dropped out of sight for nearly six weeks before reappearing with a cane.
 
Days later, the South's spy agency said he had undergone surgery to remove a cyst from his ankle.

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Agencies
February 20,2020

Tokyo, Feb 20: One more Indian on board the cruise ship Diamond Princess quarantined off the coast of Japan was tested positive for novel coronavirus, the Indian Embassy in Tokyo said on Wednesday, adding that all seven Indian nationals infected with the virus have been shifted to hospitals in Japan for treatment.

"1 Indian crew who tested positive for #COVID19 among 88 new cases yesterday on #DiamondPrincess taken to hospital for treatment. Indians receiving treatment responding well. From today, the disembarkation of passengers only started, likely to continue till 21 Feb," the embassy tweeted.

"As of 2100 JST, altogether 7 Indian nationals (crew members on board #DiamondPrincess) are receiving treatment in hospitals in Japan, after testing positive for #COVID19 over last few days. Their health conditions are improving. 
@MEAIndia," the following tweet read.

A total of 138 Indians, including 132 crew and 6 passengers, were among the 3,711 people on board the luxury cruise ship which was quarantine off Japan on February 5 after it emerged that a former passenger had tested positive for the virus.

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News Network
May 27,2020

Geneva, May 27: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide has increased by nearly 100,000 over the past 24 hours to surpass 5.4 million, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

According to the WHO, the global case tally currently stands at 5,404,512 -- a rise by 99,780 over the past day.

The death count worldwide amounts to 343,514 -- an increase by 1,486.

Most cases of infection are recorded in the Americas -- 2,454,452, with 143,739 deaths.

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