by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Washington : The World Bank and the government of Iraq signed two projects worth $510 million on Wednesday, to help the Iraqi people improve their living conditions, as well as to enhance water supplies and create more jobs.
The two projects, along with the ongoing $750 million Emergency Operation for Development Project and other planned commitments, will increase the World Bank’s total commitment to Iraq to $4.7 billion, compared to $600 million four years ago, the World Bank said in a statement.
It indicated that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim attended the signing ceremony for the two projects, which took place on the sidelines of the Iraq Reconstruction Conference held in Kuwait on February 12-14.
The Group affirmed that its increased commitment will help support the immediate restoration of education and health services, rebuilding important roads and bridges as well as rehabilitation of electricity and water systems. It noted that the ongoing emergency reconstruction projects have already created thousands of jobs for Iraqis, expecting that the new projects will create millions more.
The Bank also stressed that its commitment to scaling up support for Iraq reconstruction and development subject to availability of resources. In addition to the financial support, the Group has actively engaged with the Iraqi government through providing technical assistance for Iraq’s recovery and laying the foundation for private sector investments in the country, said the statement.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : At least 17 people were killed and several others were injured in a school shooting on Wednesday in the US state of Florida.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told the press that 12 were killed in the school building, two were killed outside the building, one on a road nearby and two died in hospital from wounds.
The shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, which was voted Florida’s safest city last year, CNN reported.
The school said the incident took place as the school was dismissing students.
The shooter was identified as Nikolaus Cruz, a 19-year-old expelled student at the school. He was captured shortly after the shooting. An AR-15 semi-automatic rifle was found at the site.
The Police reportedly captured the suspect about 1.6 kilometres from the school.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said, “My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school.”
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut — a prominent voice in the fight for gun control — took to the Senate floor late this afternoon to address the Florida school shooting.
We are responsible for a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else,” he said.
“Let me just note once again for my colleagues: this happens nowhere else other than the United States of America. This epidemic of mass slaughter, this scourge of school shooting after school shooting,” he added.
“It only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : Citing increasing threats from China and Russia, the Pentagon has asked for a major boost in military spending for 2019, requesting Congress to approve a budget of $686 billion, one of the largest in the country’s history, the media reported.
Touting the proposal on Monday, President Donald Trump said the US military would be the strongest it has ever been, including “increasing arsenals of virtually every weapon”, reports CNN.
The $686 billion budget is an increase of $80 billion from 2017 the Pentagon has said that it was primarily aimed at countering Russia and China.
“Great power competition, not terrorism, has emerged as the central challenge to US security and prosperity,” Under Secretary Of Defence David L. Norquist told reporters Monday following the unveiling of the budget proposal.
“It is increasingly clear that China and Russia want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model-gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic, and security decisions,” the budget document said.
Beijing is “using predatory economics to intimidate its neighbours while militarizing features in the South China Sea”, according to the document.
China “seeks Indo-Pacific regional hegemony in the near-term”, but in the long term seeks to “achieve global pre-eminence” over the US, CNN quoted the document as saying.
“Russia has violated the borders of nearby nations and pursues veto power over the economic, diplomatic, and security decisions of its neighbours,” it added.
The proposal would add 25,900 service members to the military and further grow the force by 56,600 by 2023, allowing the Defence Department to fill in units, and recruit pilots, maintainers and cyber-security experts, according to Norquist.
Troops would also receive a 2.6 per cent pay raise during the 2019 calendar year, in what would be the largest salary increase since 2010.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Washington : US President Donald Trump has declined to give a timeline for releasing Washington’s plan for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, saying that neither party was committed to the process, the media reported.
“We are going to see what goes on,” Trump told the Israel Hayom daily in an interview released on Sunday.
“Right now, I would say the Palestinians are not looking to make peace, they are not looking to make peace. And I am not necessarily sure that Israel is looking to make peace… So we are just going to have to see what happens,” he said.
The US’ role as a broker in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has come under fire following the Trump administration’s decision in December to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, upending seven decades of US foreign policy, CNN reported.
Top Palestinian officials condemned the move, saying it disqualified the US from playing the role of arbiter. The UN voted overwhelmingly to condemn the decision.
The Israeli daily was also asked about his comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos that “Jerusalem is off the table” in terms of negotiations.
In his reply, he seemed to qualify his earlier remarks, reports CNN.
“I wanted to make it clear that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” he told the newspaper.
“As for specific boundaries, I would support what both sides agreed to.
“I think both sides will have to make hard compromises to reach a peace agreement,” Trump added.
Asked about the issue of settlements, the US President called them “something that very much complicates and always have complicated making peace”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Harvey Weinstein (Left)
New York : New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has filed a lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein, his brother Robert and their firm, the Weinstein Company, a move that could complicate the sale of the disgraced mogul’s film studio, the media reported.
Schneiderman said on Sunday that a four-month investigation into sexual harassment found “vicious and exploitative mistreatment of company employees”, reports CNN.
The lawsuit, filed electronically in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, cites what it calls “egregious” violations of state, civil and human rights laws.
Harvey and Robert Weinstein co-founded the company in March 2005. Previously deemed as one of Hollywood’s most powerful film studios, it has produced Hollywood blockbusters like “Django Unchained”, “The King’s Speech”, “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Inglourious Basterds”.
The complaint alleges “a years-long gender-based hostile work environment, a pattern of quid pro-quo sexual harassment, and routine misuse of corporate resources for unlawful ends”.
The alleged misconduct began in 2005 and continued through October 2017, the suit has claimed.
The lawsuit has also delayed a fire sale of the company, which was expected to be finalised on Sunday, reports The New York Times.
“Any sale of the Weinstein Company must ensure that victims will be compensated, employees will be protected going forward, and that neither perpetrators nor enablers will be unjustly enriched,” Schneiderman said.
The company has been trying to avoid bankruptcy since reports of the allegations were first revealed by The New York Times and The New Yorker magazine.
Before the lawsuit, the company was nearing a deal to sell itself to an investor group for about $275 million, plus the assumption of $225 million in debt, informed officials told The New York Times.
Robert had frantically tried to keep control of the company following his brother’s firing in October.
The brothers, who jointly own about 42 per cent of the company, would receive no cash from the proposed sale, according to the officials.
Other equity holders, including the advertising giant WPP Group, may also be wiped out.
In reply to the lawsuit, Weinstein attorney Benjamin Brafman said in a statement that “a fair investigation by Schneiderman will demonstrate that many of the allegations against Harvey Weinstein are without merit”, CNN reported.
“While Mr. (Harvey) Weinstein’s behaviour was not without fault, there certainly was no criminality,” the statement added.
—IANS
