Day: November 4, 2021

Posted on

US: Iran nuclear talks to resume Nov 29 after five months

WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS/TEHRAN— Iran agreed Wednesday to resume talks on Nov 29 with world powers on reviving a nuclear deal after a five-month gap, with the United States urging a quick resolution.

 

The indirect negotiations in Vienna come amid mounting pressure on Iran, with Western nations warning that the clerical state’s nuclear work is advancing to dangerous levels and Israel threatening to attack.

 

EU envoy Enrique Mora, who led six rounds of talks earlier this year and recently flew to Tehran to seek progress, will again chair the November 29 meeting, the European Union announced in BRUSSELS.

 

President Joe Biden took office hoping to return to the 2015 agreement from which his predecessor Donald Trump bolted.

 

But the talks earlier this year failed to secure a breakthrough with Iran, which requested a pause after the June election of a new hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi.

 

In WASHINGTON, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the United States believed it is possible to resolve “quickly” the “relatively small number of issues that remained outstanding at the end of June.”

 

“We believe that if the Iranians are serious, we can manage to do that in relatively short order,” Price told reporters.

 

“But we’ve also been clear, including as this pause has dragged on for some time, that this window of opportunity will not be open forever.”

 

Trump slapped sweeping sanctions on Iran as he withdrew the United States in 2018, leading Tehran to take steps out of compliance with the deal through which it had been drastically scaling back sensitive nuclear work.

 

Iran wants a lifting of all US sanctions but the Biden administration says that it will only negotiate measures taken by Trump over the nuclear program, such as a unilateral US ban on other nations buying Iranian oil — not steps imposed on other concerns such as human rights.

 

Iran also wants commitments that the United States will stay committed to the deal — an unlikely proposition in Washington, where Trump’s Republican Party, emboldened by a state election win Tuesday, fiercely opposes Biden’s diplomacy with Iran.

 

“The American president lacks authority and refuses to offer guarantees,” Iran’s top security official Ali Shamkhani in TEHRAN wrote on Twitter as the talks were announced.

 

“If that does not change, the result of the negotiations is already clear.”

 

Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri, Iran’s lead negotiator, confirmed the Nov 29 resumption of talks and said the goal would be “the removal of unlawful and inhumane sanctions.”

 

Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat who heads the House committee on intelligence, said that Trump had hurt US credibility on Iran by not honoring a US commitment made under former president Barack Obama.

 

But Schiff acknowledged frustration with Iran and warned that Congress could ramp up pressure if Tehran does not comply with the accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

 

“If we can’t get Iran through negotiations back to the table in the JCPOA, then we’re going to have to really ramp up sanctions and get the international community together as we once had,” Schiff said at the Aspen Security Forum.

 

Adding to US frustrations, Iran has refused to meet directly with the US envoy, Rob Malley, with European mediators instead shuttling between hotels in Vienna.

 

Britain, France and Germany — which along with China and Russia remain in the deal — have voiced growing concern that Iran’s nuclear work could advance to the point that the JCPOA would be useless.

 

Israel has been widely suspected in a sabotage campaign that has included the assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist a year ago.

 

On a visit to Washington last month, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid warned that the Jewish state would not hesitate to use force against Iran, whose rulers have repeatedly threatened Israel and back virulently anti-Israeli movements such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Posted on

Myanmar Seizes Over 3,500 Tonnes Of Illegal Timber In 10 Months

YANGON – The Myanmar authorities, seized over 3,500 tonnes of illegal timber across the country, in 10 months of this year, according to figures released by the Forestry Department, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, today.

 

As of Oct 31, the authorities confiscated over 1,061 tonnes of teak, over 548 tonnes of hardwood, and over 1,909 tonnes of other types of timber, in the country’s regions, states and Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory.

 

According to the department’s data, 593 offenders were charged in connection with the cases, along with the seizure of 393 vehicles and machines, during the ten-month period.

 

The Forest Department has been cracking down on illegal logging and trading of forest products, and committed to implementing tree plantation projects in substitution.

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Posted on

QS-AUR 2022: 22 Malaysian Universities Improved Their Rankings This Year

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia)— Twenty-two universities in Malaysia improved their rankings in the Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS): Asia University Ranking (QS-AUR) 2022, four universities retained their positions while 10 others dropped in ranking.

 

The Higher Education Ministry (MoHE) in a statement on Thursday said Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia were among the universities that improved their rankings.

 

“The four universities that retained their positions are Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Kelantan,” the statement read.

 

The ministry said the QS-AUR 2022 rankings showed 36 local universities participated this year compared to 35 previously.

 

UM announced in a statement on Tuesday that they had been ranked eighth in QS-AUR 2022, one rung up from last year, the first time the university was placed in the ten best-ranked universities since the rankings were published in 2009.

 

According to the ministry, the improvement in rankings by local universities meant that Malaysian universities could compete with universities in other Asian countries even with the various challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

“This success shows that Malaysia can be a premier higher education hub in the Asian region,” the ministry said.

 

Meanwhile QS World University Rankings research director Ben Sowter said universities in Malaysia continue to improve in rankings even with stiff competition.

 

Overall, 687 universities from 18 countries, including 40 new entrants, participated in the QS-AUR 2022, which is the largest ever comparison conducted in the Asian region.

 

The QS-AUR 2022 is based on 11 main performance indicators, including academic reputation, graduate marketability, quality of research and productivity, international faculty ratio and international collaborations with various institutions.

 

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Posted on

Malaysia Records 5,713 New COVID Cases, 5,865 Recoveries Thursday

KUALA LUMPUR— The number of new COVID-19 cases in Malaysia still exceeds the 5,000 mark with a total of 5,713 cases recorded on Thursday, bringing the total number of positive cases to 2,492,343.

 

However, the number of recovered cases showed a slightly higher figure at 5,865, bringing the cumulative number of recoveries to 2,396,244 as of 12 noon.

 

Health director-general, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, in a statement, said that 98.4 per cent of the 5,713 new COVID-19 cases were categories one and two while the rest were categories three, four and five.

 

“Out of the total daily cases recorded, 289 of them involving foreigners. Meanwhile, 555 cases required treatment at the Intensive Care Unit, with 280 of them requiring respiratory assistance,” he said.

 

Dr Noor Hisham said the COVID-19 infectivity rate (Rt) nationwide on Thursday is 0.94.

 

Other detailed information on the current situation of COVID-19 infection and transmission in Malaysia will be uploaded on the COVIDNOW website at https://covidnow.moh.gov.my and the data will be updated at 12 midnight daily.

 

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Posted on

Malaysia On Track To Revive Economy Through Budget 2022

KUALA LUMPUR— Malaysia is on track to revive its economy in 2022 through an expansionary budget announced last Friday, said Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz on Thursday.

 

Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg earlier today, Tengku Zafrul said the government has planned to minimise the economic scarring brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the economic growth to a medium-term trajectory.

 

“We shouldn’t pull the brakes too early, we want to make sure that the economic scarring is minimised and the economic growth returns to its medium-term trajectory.

 

“In terms of funding the debt, we have enough liquidity in the market. Obviously, we have a diverse investors’ base and we are confident that we will be able to raise the debts or bonds required domestically,” he pointed out.

 

Under the largest ever budget worth RM332.1 billion, the government has introduced tax proposals under Budget 2022 including the prosperity tax, a review of real property gains tax, as well as imposition of service tax on delivery services to boost its coffers.

 

“We did announce one particular tax, which is the prosperity tax, which is a one-off tax. It only involves a marginal increase in tax (collection) involving more than 230 large companies listed on the stock exchange, which make excess profits during the pandemic.

 

“It is a progressive tax of 9.0 per cent. So it is not a big amount and that is to assist the funding of our healthcare package during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Tengku Zafrul.

 

He also brushed aside the perception that the introduction of the prosperity tax might not be a business-friendly move, saying that the market would somewhat adjust to the announcement.

 

“I am not concerned about that (perception). If we look at where we are today, if you look at the strength of the currency and the economy, and as I’ve said, the progressive tax (will) only involve 230 listed companies.

 

“If you look at the businesses, we even have a RM40 billion assistance package just for the business sector and we also have a RM4.8 billion programme for jobs, guaranteeing 600,000 Malaysian jobs. We need to look at it holistically and the key focus now is on the economy and creating employment,” he added.

 

Meanwhile, the government is very bullish on the economy in 2022, driven by strong economic performance next year, with estimated growth of between 5.5 per cent and 6.5 per cent.

 

The country has also to-date vaccinated 75 per cent of its total population comprising over 90 per cent of Malaysian adult population.

 

Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia’s fiscal and monetary policy were still accommodative and the government is looking to reduce the fiscal deficit to 6.0 per cent of gross domestic product in 2022 from 6.5 per cent this year.

 

“There is room to play and in the budget, we have assumed the oil price to be around US$66 per barrel and as you know (now) it is much higher than that. The new tax measures are also not incorporated in our revenue line next year,” he added.

 

 

 

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Posted on

DOLE to speed up claims of OFWs in Saudi

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has directed the creation of a technical working group (TWG) to expedite the claims of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) who were forced to return home in 2016 without getting paid their salaries and end of contract benefits.

 

Bello also ordered the inclusion of OFW representatives in the group that will meet with its counterpart from KSA in order to hasten the processing of claims by some 9,000 OFWs.

 

The marching orders came after the successful talks between the Philippine and KSA governments led by Bello and KSA Labor Minister Ahmed al-Rajhi during the Abu Dhabi Dialogue held in Dubai last week.

 

During the meeting, Al-Rahji agreed to pay the P4.6 billion worth of unpaid wages and benefits to affected OFWs.

 

“The Department will set up a technical working group which will comprise significant DOLE agencies, such as the labor office in KSA, OWWA, POEA, as well as representatives from the KSA workers’ group, to determine all details relevant to the release of the full settlement,” the labor chief said in a meeting with the affected OFWs on Tuesday, November 2.

 

The Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) are DOLE’s lead agencies in protecting distressed OFWs all over the world.

 

According to OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, all specifics, such as eligibility, distribution mechanism, and documentary requirements, will be finalized through the TWG and should be ready before the scheduled visit of the KSA labor minister in December this year.

 

“We acknowledge the urgency of your situation and we are ever-conscious that you have been waiting for your hard-earned and well-deserved wages for more than four years,” Bello said, noting that DOLE hopes to form and convene the TWG next week.

 

The former KSA workers present during the meeting, together with 20 more OFWs who attended via the Zoom platform, also thanked Bello for actively working on their case since the secretary took his oath in 2016.

 

Source: Department Of Labor and Employment Republic of Philippines