CHINA WORKING TO STRENGTHEN HOSPITALS AMID SURGE IN COVID CASES

Beijing: Facing a surge in Covid-19 cases, China is setting up more intensive care facilities and trying to strengthen hospitals as Beijing rolls back anti-virus controls that confined millions to their homes, crushed economic growth and set off protests. The latest moves suggest the ruling Communist Party will tolerate more cases without quarantines or shutting down travel or businesses as it winds down its “zero-Covid” strategy.Acabinet meeting was called on Thursday for “full mobilisation” of hospitals to ensure their “combat effectiveness” and increasing drug supplies, according to state media. Officials were told to keep track of the health of everyone aged 65 and older.

It isn’t clear how much infection numbers have increased since Beijing last week ended mandatory testing as often as once a day in many areas. But interviews and socialmedia accounts say there are outbreaks in businesses and schools across the country. Some restaurants and other businesses have closed because too many employees are sick.

Official case numbers are falling, but those no longer cover large parts of the population after mandatory testing ended Wednesday in many areas. On Sunday, the government reported 10,815 new cases, including 8,477 without symptoms. That was barely one-quarter of the previous week’s daily peak above 40,000 but only represents people who are tested after being admitted to hospitals or for jobs in schools and other higher-risk sites.

China has 138,000 intensive care beds, the Bureau of Medical Administration of the National Health Commission said on Friday. That is less than one for every 10,000 people.

SHELLING FROM AFGHANISTAN: PAKISTAN SAYS SIX CIVILIANS KILLED

Heavy gunfire and artillery shelling by Afghan border forces killed six civilians across the border in Pakistan yesterday and wounded another 17, the Pakistan army said.

Pakistani troops retaliated at the Chaman border crossing in southwestern Balochistan province, the army said in a statement, without giving details of any losses on the other side.

Afghan official Noor Ahmad, in Kandahar, the province on the Afghan side of the border, told Reuters the incident was accidental and the situation had returned to normal after the two sides had a meeting.

He gave no further details on any casualties on Afghan side.

The Pakistan army statement described the incident as an "uncalled for aggression" and said Pakistani troops had responded proportionately, avoiding the targeting of civilians on the other side.

The busy Afghan border crossing at Chaman, used for trade and transit, was closed for some hours before reopening, officials on both sides said. The crossing was closed for several days last month after similar clashes.

SERBIAN LEADER HOLDS SECURITY TALKS OVER KOSOVO UNREST

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has met his national security council as tensions rise in Kosovo between the authorities there and ethnic Serbs.

On Saturday a stun grenade was thrown at EU police in north Kosovo, where Serbs form a majority, and local police exchanged fire with unknown groups.

Ethnic Serbs set up road blocks after Kosovan police were deployed in a dispute over car number plates.

Serbia refuses to recognise Kosovo as an independent state.

Kosovo, which has an overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian majority, broke away from Serbia after a war in 1998-99.

Nato, which has peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, called on all parties to avoid provocations. The EU has done likewise, warning that it will not tolerate attacks on EU police or criminal acts.

The latest unrest was triggered by the arrest of a Serb former police officer on Saturday.

Speaking to Reuters news agency after meeting his national security council, Mr Vučić said he wanted to defuse the situation.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti described the protesters as "criminal gangs" and asked the Nato-led peacekeeping Kosovo Force (KFOR) to remove the barricades.

Kosovo police said they had come under fire in different locations close to a lake bordering Serbia late on Saturday, with officers returning fire in self-defence.

Kosovo deployed police to majority-Serb areas - which do not recognise the Kosovo government in the capital Pristina - at the end of last week. This heightened tensions further, after they were already raised for months over a row about vehicle license plates.

Mr Vučić said the use of police violated previous peace agreements. He said he planned to ask Nato peacekeepers for permission to send Serbian police and troops to the area, though acknowledged there was little chance of this being granted.

HIGH-LEVEL U.S. ENVOYS TO VISIT CHINA IN AN ATTEMPT TO REPAIR TIES

The U.S. government is sending its first high-level delegation to China since a pledge made last month by Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden to repair frayed relations.

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink will join National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Laura Rosenberger on the December 11-14 trip.

The two will visit China, South Korea and Japan.

In China, Mr. Kritenbrink will follow up on Mr. Biden’s meeting in Bali last month with Mr. Xi in which the pair pledged “to continue responsibly managing the competition between our two countries and to explore potential areas of cooperation”, the State Department said.

Mr. Kritenbrink will also prepare for Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China in early 2023.

In their Bali meeting, the two leaders discussed issues, including Taiwan’s future, U.S. restrictions on Chinese high-tech imports and China’s moves to expand its influence around the world.

ERDOGAN CALLS ON PUTIN TO ESTABLISH SYRIAN CORRIDOR

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a 30-kilometre security corridor on Turkey’s border with Syria in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Erdogan’s office said on Sunday.

2019 agreement

Referring to Kurdish militants that Ankara considers terrorists, Mr. Erdogan reiterated the “importance and urgency” of creating the corridor in northern Syria in accordance with a 2019 agreement between Turkey and Russia, the statement added.

The call came three weeks after Turkey launched air and artillery strikes in Syria and Iraq in response to a bomb attack in Istanbul on November 13 that killed six persons.

The Turkish government has blamed the bombing on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and its Syrian affiliate the People’s Protection Units, or YPG.

The PKK has waged a 38-year insurgency against Turkey that has led to the loss of tens of thousands of lives. It is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.

The call between Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Putin follows a visit to Turkey this week by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin for talks on the situation in Syria.

PTI THREATENS TO DISSOLVE PUNJAB & KPK ASSEMBLIES

Islamabad : Ousted premier Imran Khan’s PTI on Sunday warned PM Shehbaz Sharif-led government that it will dissolve the assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces if a date for next polls is not announced by December 20. “Leaders ofthe imported government don’t want polls and have no idea how to run the country,” former information minister and PTI’s vice-president Fawad Chaudhry said. He criticised the members of the ruling coalition led by PML-N, saying the country’s affairs are not run bymaking foreignvisits.

“If Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) doesn’t bring a formula for holding general elections by December 20, the Punjab and KP assemblies will be dissolved,” Chaudhry said. PDM is a coalition of parties currently governing Pakistan. Khan’s PTI is in power in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

ALLEGED LOCKERBIE BOMBMAKER IN U.S. CUSTODY

A Libyan intelligence official accused of making the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 was in U.S. custody and will face federal charges in Washington, the U.S. Justice Department said.

The arrest of Abu Agela Masud Kheir Al-Marimi is a milestone in the decades-old investigation into the attack that killed 259 people in the air and 11 on the ground. American authorities in December 2020 announced charges against Masud, who was in Libyan custody at the time. Though he is the third Libyan intelligence official charged in the U.S. in connection with the attack, he would be the first to appear in an American courtroom for prosecution.

The New York-bound Pan Am flight exploded over Lockerbie less than an hour after takeoff from London on December 21, 1988.

SHOOTING OF THREE WOMEN AT CAFE SHOCKS ITALY

Three women including a friend of Italy's new prime minister were killed when a man opened fire at a cafe in Rome, injuring four other people.

Those inside were meeting as part of a local block's residents' committee.

Roberto Gualtieri, mayor of Rome, described the shooting as a "grave episode of violence" and said he would attend an emergency meeting on Monday.

A suspect, 57, is in custody. He has a history of disputes with some of the committee's board, reports say.

Luciana Ciorba, the committee's vice-president, was at the cafe in the Fidene district, Italy's La Repubblica newspaper reports.

She said the gunman had entered the bar on Sunday shouting "I'll kill you all" before using his pistol. He was reportedly overpowered by other residents before being detained by police.

Of those people injured, believed to be two women and two men, one remains in a serious condition.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni named one of the women killed as her friend Nicoletta Golisano. The other dead women were named as Elisabetta Silenzi and Sabina Sperandio.

Ms Meloni also said that a shooting range from which the suspect had allegedly stolen the gun used in the attack had been closed and was under investigation.

UK WEATHER: ALL FLIGHTS SUSPENDED AT STANSTED AIRPORT

All flights have been suspended at Stansted Airport after it was forced to close its runway due to bad weather.

Heathrow and Gatwick also cancelled or delayed flights after snow, ice and freezing fog swept the UK.

A yellow weather warning remains place for Scotland, London and south-west England until Monday morning, with the disruption set to continue.

Trains have also been delayed and drivers warned to take care after several motorway accidents.

Stansted said on Sunday night its only runway was closed to allow for snow clearance due to weather conditions and all flights were suspended.

"Delays to flights were experienced earlier due to de-icing of aircraft which is a ground handler's responsibility and safety of aircraft and passengers is paramount," a spokesman added.

"Passengers are advised to check with their airline for current status of their flights."

More than 50 flights were cancelled at Heathrow on Sunday, after freezing fog resulted in air traffic control restrictions on the number of aircraft that could land and depart per hour .

The airport said it was keeping passengers safe and trying to get them to their destinations as quickly as possible.

MUSK HINTS AT UNVEILING TWITTER’S ‘DARKEST SECRETS’, CALLS THE PLATFORM A ‘CRIME SCENE’

Los Angeles : Twitter CEO Elon Musk created a stir among the microblogging site’s users with yet another cryptic series of tweets. Taking to the platform, the multibillionaire wrote, “Twitter is both a social media company and a crime scene”. This was followed by the Tesla owner sharing a meme, showcasing a gravestone with the words ‘Twitter’s darkest secrets’ written on it. The other image shows a man with a shovel in his hand, who is labelled as ‘Elon’. Users took to the comments, hailing the SpaceX CEO for bringing more transparency to the platform. “It’s expose season. Expose them all. Please,” a user wrote. “Honestly glad you bought this thing. There’s a lot to clean up but sane people are rooting for you,” another user wrote.

In his pursuit to bring more transparency to the microblogging platform, Musk had earlier come up with a new update to the platform after the second instalment of the so-called ‘Twitter Files’ revealed how the company build blacklists and actively limited the visibility of certain accounts. “Twitter is working on a software update that will show your true account status, so you know clearly if you’ve been shadowbanned, the reason why and how to appeal,” Musk tweeted. Journalist Matt Taibbi in collaboration with Musk had published ‘Twitter Files’, documenting Twitter’s internal communications to disclose links with political actors and with a focus on how the social network blocked stories related to Hunter Biden’s laptop in the lead-up to the 2020 US presidential election.

‘CUBA IS DEPOPULATING’: LARGEST EXODUS YET THREATENS COUNTRY’S FUTURE

Baracoa : Roger Garcia Ordaz makes no secret of his many attempts to flee. He has tried to leave Cuba 11 times on boats made of wood, Styrofoam and resin, has had three boat mishaps and eight times picked up at sea by US Coast Guard and sent home.

Hundreds of homemade, rickety boats have left this year from the shores of Baracoa, a fishing village west of Havana where Garcia, 34, lives — so many that locals call the town “Terminal Three”. “Of course Iam going to keep on throwing myself into the sea until I getthere,” he said. “Or if the sea wants to take my life, so be it. ”

Living conditions in Cuba under Communist rule have long been precarious, but today, deepening poverty and hopelessness have set off the largest exodus from the island nation since Fidel Castro rose to power over a half-century ago.

The country has been hit by aone-two punch of tighter US sanctions and the Covid pandemic, which eviscerated one of Cuba’s lifelines — the tourism industry. Food has become even more scarce and more costlty, lines at pharmacies begin before dawn and millions of people endure daily hourslong blackouts. Over the past year, 2,50,000 Cubans, over 2% of the island’s11 million population, have migrated to US,as per US government data. Even for a nation known for mass exodus, the current wave is remarkable. Experts say this wave has no end in sight and threatens the stability of a nation that already has one of the hemisphere’s oldest populations.

The departure of many younger, working-age Cubans augurs a bleak demographic future for the country. “This is the biggest quantitative and qualitative brain drain this country has ever had,” Katrin Hansing,an anthropologist, noted. The departure of many younger, working-age Cubans augurs a bleak demographic future for a country where the average life expectancy of 78 is higher than for the rest of the region, experts said. The government already can barely afford the meagre pensions the country’s older population relies on. The haemorrhaging of Cubans from their homeland is “devastating,” said Elaine Acosta Gonzalez, a research associate at Florida International Unversity. “Cuba is depopulating.”

‘BASKETBALL STAR SPENT 12 OF 18-HOUR FLIGHT TALKING, DIDN’T WANT TO BE ALONE’

WNBA star Brittney Griner didn’t want any alone time as soon as she boarded a US government plane that would bring her home. “I’ve been in prison for 10 months, listening to the Russians. I want to talk,” Griner said, according to Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, who helped secure the basketball star’s release and bring her back to the US. She walked throughout the plane, introducing herself to every member of the flight crew, shaking their hands, Carstens recalled. Ultimately, she spent about 12 hours of an 18-hour flight talking with others on the plane, Carstens said.

NASA’S ORION CAPSULE SPLASHES DOWN IN PACIFIC AFTER LUNAR MISSION

NASA’s Orion space capsule splashed down safely in the Pacific on Sunday, completing the Artemis-1 mission — a more than 25-day journey around the moon. After hurtling through the earth's atmosphere at a speed of 40,000 kmph, the uncrewed capsule floated down to the water with the help of three parachutes.