SUU KYI, ALLIES FACE NEW CHARGE; UN ENVOY WARNS BLOODBATH ′IMMINENT′ IN MYANMAR

Myanmar’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged along with four of her allies with violating the country’s colonial-era Official Secrets Act, her chief lawyer said on Thursday.

Ms. Suu Kyi, three of her deposed Cabinet Ministers and her detained Australian economic adviser, Sean Turnell, were charged a week ago in a Yangon court, Khin Maung Zaw told Reuters by phone, adding he learned of the new charge two days ago.

Myanmar’s military rulers have ordered Internet service providers to shut down wireless broadband services until further notice, several telecoms sources said.

More than 535 individuals have died in day by day demonstrations.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council held an urgent closed-door session on the escalating crisis on Wednesday, and special envoy Christine Schraner Burgener urged it to act. “I appeal to this council to consider all available tools to take collective action and do what is right, what the people of Myanmar deserve,” she said.

She said she remained open to dialogue with the junta, but added: “If we wait only for when they are ready to talk, the ground situation will only worsen. A bloodbath is imminent.”

The council’s statements have so far expressed concern and condemned violence against protesters, but dropped language calling the takeover a coup.

INDIA BACKS WHO CHIEF’S CALL FOR PROBE INTO COVID LAB LEAK THEORY

After WHO director general Tedros Ghebreyesus effectively revived the Covid-19 lab leak theory by saying that all hypotheses regarding the origin of the virus remained on the table, India on Thursday backed his comments and said he had raised the issue of delays and difficulties in accessing raw data.

Released earlier this week, the China-WHO global study appeared to give a clean chit to China by declaring that the lab leak theory seemed unlikely and that the virus was probably passed on to humans from bats via an intermediary animal. But a day later, Ghebreyesus said no theory had been ruled out.

“We fully support the director general’s expectation that future collaborative studies will include more timely and comprehensive data sharing. In this connection, we also welcome his readiness to deploy additional missions,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

India had backed calls for a full probe into the virus’ origin last year, just ahead of border tensions with China.

NEW PORTABLE TEST TO DETECT COVID IN MINUTES

Scientists have developed a new portable, pocket-sized test that can not only diagnose Covid-19 in minutes but also sequence the coronavirus to track the spread of mutations and variants.

The test, dubbed NIRVANA, can simultaneously test for other viruses such as influenza that might be mistaken for the coronavirus, the researchers said.

"This is a virus detection and surveillance method that doesn't require an expensive infrastructure like other approaches," said Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in the US.

"We can accomplish with one portable test the same thing that others are using two or three different tests, with different machines, to do," Belmonte said.

The researchers noted that testing the population is key to stopping the spread of the virus.

Also, tracking the spread of new SARS-CoV-2 variants — some of which could respond differently to treatments or vaccines — is critical, they said.

OPEC AND ALLIES AGREE TO GRADUALLY BOOST CRUDE OIL OUTPUT

The OPEC oil cartel and allied countries said on Thursday that they have decided to gradually add back some 2 million barrels per barrel per day of oil production from May to July, moving cautiously in pace with the recovery of the global economy from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group is gingerly adding back production that was slashed last year to support prices as demand sagged during the worst of the pandemic recession, which sapped demand for fuel. The group will add back 350,000 barrels per day in May, 350,000 in June, and 400,000 in July.

Meanwhile Saudi Arabia will restore an additional 1 million barrels per day that it made on its own.

Oil prices were trading higher despite the decision to increase production, suggesting markets see adequate demand for the added oil. Crude oil traded 3.5% higher at $61.25 per barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude rose 3.0% per barrel to $64.67.

Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman, who has urged careful approach with the recovery still uncertain, said that “the cautiousness is still there” in the group's approach.

He noted that the reductions would only take effect from May, meaning that the Saudi voluntary cut still had a month to run. He also said that under the agreement, the group could “tweak, or adjust” production as needed in coming months.

WHO: EUROPE'S VACCINATION COVID-19 PROGRAMME IS ‘UNACCEPTABLY SLOW’

European nations' immunisation campaigns against COVID-19 are “unacceptably slow” and risk prolonging the pandemic, a senior World Health Organisation official said Thursday.

Hans Kluge, WHO's regional director for Europe, said vaccines “present our best way out of this pandemic,” but noted that to date, only 10% of Europe's population has received one dose and that only 4% have been fully protected with two doses.

“As long as coverage remains low, we need to apply the same public health and social measures as we have in the past, to compensate for delayed schedules,” Dr. Kluge said.

Even those numbers hide the true scope of the problems facing the European Union's 27 nations, where only about 5.6 per cent of its people have had a first vaccine shot, according to the bloc. In Britain, that figure is 46 per cent of its population.

Kluge warned European governments against having “a false sense of security” for having started their immunization campaigns. He noted that Europe remains the second-most affected region in the world in terms of new coronavirus infections and deaths.

WHO said new COVID-19 infections are increasing in every age group except those over 80, in a sign that vaccination efforts are having an impact in slowing outbreaks. But the UN health agency said “early action” to stop the virus' spread must be taken in the absence of high immunization rates.

PFIZER-BIONTECH: SHOT REMAINS 91% EFFECTIVE AFTER 6 MONTHS

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech said on Thursday that their Covid-19 vaccine is 91.3% effective at preventing the disease, citing updated trial data that included participants inoculated for up to six months. The shot was also 100% effective in preventing illness among trial participants in South Africa, where a new variant called B1351 is dominant, although that rate was derived from a relatively small number of nine infections observed there, which were all in the placebo group, Pfizer said.

While the new overall efficacy rate of 91.3% is lower than the 95% originally reported in November for its 44,000-person trial, a number of variants have become more prevalent around the world since then. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the updated result, which includes data on more than 12,000 people fully inoculated for at least six months, positions the drugmakers to submit for full US regulatory approval. The vaccine is currently authorised on an emergency basis.

PAKISTAN COURT ALLOWS COMMERCIAL SALE OF COVID-19 VACCINE

A Pakistani court on Thursday ordered that a batch of the Russian Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine imported by a private company be immediately made available to the public for sale, said officials.

The government had argued that pricing issues should be settled first.

“Any restriction relating to sale of the Covid-19 vaccine at this stage would be against the public interest because of its undisputed urgent need due to the crisis faced by the country,” a Sindh High Court judge said in an order on Thursday.

Pakistan is largely reliant on the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme. It last month allowed private firms to import vaccines and agreed to exempt them from price caps, but later rescinded the exemption and said it would set maximum prices.

The decision threw the government and pharma companies into dispute, and stalled the commercial sale of the vaccine.

Thursday's court order was passed in a case brought last week by M/S AGP ltd, which imported 50,000 doses of Sputnik V on March 17.

NEPAL ALLOWS INTERNET, TELECOM SERVICES DURING INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS

Nepal has become the third country in South Asia after India and Afghanistan to allow international airlines to use the Nepali sky for providing internet and telecom services to their passengers.

The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), an autonomous telecommunications regulatory body, in collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal took the decision after the Telecommunications Authority Board of Directors held a meeting on March 22.

As per the decision, a company willing to provide the services to the passengers can use the frequencies above 10,000 feet from the surface.

Those airlines receiving permission from the International Civil Aviation Organisation would be granted permission to avail internet and telecom services above 10,000 feet in the Nepali sky, said the NTA's spokesperson Santosh Poudel.

PAKISTAN ARRESTS SIX TERRORISTS FOR PLOTTING ATTACKS AGAINST ARMY

Pakistan’s security agencies have arrested six terrorists belonging to Afghanistan-based Tehrik-i-Taliban terror group who were plotting attacks against army personnel, officials said.

According to the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), four terrorists were arrested in Rawalpindi, while two were nabbed in Lahore - the two main cities of Punjab province.

During an intelligence-based operation in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, law enforcement agencies arrested four terrorists involved in a grenade blast. The arrested terrorists had also carried out a grenade blast in Rawalpindi in 2020 that killed one person and wounded 15 others, officials said.

“The arrested terrorists were planning to target the law enforcement agency and army personnel,” the CTD said.

Explosives, detonators, cell phones and other articles to be used for militancy were recovered from them, it added.

During interrogation, the terrorists disclosed that they had been radicalised and motivated by ideology of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), but now they were working for the masterminds based in Afghanistan.

PAK COURT LIFTS BAN ON TIKTOK

A Pakistani court on Thursday lifted its ban on popular Chinese video-sharing app TikTok and ordered the country's telecommunication authority to make sure that "immoral content" is not uploaded on it.

The Peshawar High Court on March 11 had ordered a ban on the TikTok over alleged “obscene content”, the second time in less than six months. The court on Thursday lifted the ban.

Chief Justice of PHC Justice Qaisar Rasheed in his judgement directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to be vigilant against uploading vulgar content on the app.

The court adjourned the hearing in the case till May 25 with the directives to the PTA Authorities to submit a detailed reply in the next hearing.