Malaysia's King Appoints Ismail Sabri as Prime Minister
Malaysia's king appointed Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the Prime Minister, replacing Muhyiddin Yassin, who stepped down this week after losing his parliamentary majority.
Mr. Ismail Sabri, who was Muhyiddin's deputy, takes over as the Southeast Asian nation grapples with a surge in COVID-19 infections and an economic slump, amid growing public anger over the handling of the health crisis.
He secured majority support, with the backing of 114 of parliament's 222 members.
His appointment returns the role of Prime Minister to the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Malaysia's 'grandold party', which was voted out in a 2018 general election amid widespread accusations of graft.
Pakistan Fences Off from Afghan Refugees
On the surface, it almost looks normal on this part of the Pakistani-Afghan border.
But a closer look shows how much things have changed.
The tricolour flag of the Republic of Afghanistan has been replaced with the white flag of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan, and in place of Afghan border security forces now stand gun-holding bearded Taliban militants.
They are now in control of Torkham - the busiest crossing with Pakistan.
A few days back, hundreds of panicked Afghan civilians gathered here for days, desperate for a way out.
Then what seemed inevitable happened: outnumbered Afghan police forces surrendered to the Taliban.
Pakistan, worried about a fighting spillover, had shut its side of the border prior to the Taliban's takeover. But after brief closure it was reopened for trade and restricted pedestrian movement.
Aug 20, 2021
IMF Suspends Afghanistan's Access to Funds
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said Afghanistan will no longer be able to access the lender's resources.
The move follows the Taliban's takeover of the country last weekend.
An IMF spokesperson said it was due to "lack of clarity within the international community" over recognising a government in Afghanistan.
Resources of over $370m (£268m) from the IMF had been set to arrive on 23 August.
These funds were part of a global IMF response to the economic crisis.
Access to the IMF's reserves in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) assets, which can be converted to government-backed money, have also been blocked. SDRs are the IMF's unit of exchange based on sterling, dollars, euros, yen and yuan.
China NPC: Three-child Policy Formally Passed into Law
China has formally revised its laws to allow couples to have up to three children, to boost the birth rate.
The regulation was one of several passed at a meeting of the country's top lawmakers, the National People's Congress (NPC).
That decision has now been formally passed into law, along with several resolutions aimed at boosting the birth rate and "reducing the burden" of raising a child, said Xinhua news agency.
These include cancelling the "social maintenance fee" - a financial penalty couples pay for having children beyond the limit, encouraging local governments to offer parental leave, increasing women's employment rights; and improving childcare infrastructure.
Aug 19, 2021
Taliban Delegation Meets Former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai
Amid efforts to set up a new government in Afghanistan, a delegation of the Taliban led by Anas Haqqani met former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and other officials.
Anas Haqqani, who is a senior leader of the Haqqani Network militant group, held negotiations with Hamid Karzai, the old government's main peace envoy Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of Afghan Senate Fazal Hadi Muslimyar and others.
The Haqqani Network is an important faction of the Taliban based on the border with Pakistan.
Hamid Karzai had announced the formation of a coordination council along with Gulbudeen Hekmatyar and Abdullah Abdullah to look at affairs and smooth transition of power to the Taliban.
Afghanistan is currently without a government after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country leading to the Taliban taking over Kabul.
Nepal's Opposition Party Splits
After months of intraparty rift, Nepal's opposition party CPN-UML has formally split as an opposition faction led by Madhav Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal registered a new party named CPN-UML Samajbadi. The new party under Madhav Nepal's chairmanship has 95 central committee members out of which 58 are from CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist) led by former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
US Freezes Taliban Access to $9.5 Billion Afghan Monetary Reserves
The US has frozen nearly $9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank and stopped shipments of cash to the nation as it tries to keep a Taliban-led government from accessing the money. As per reports, any central bank assets that the Afghan government has in the US will not be available to the Taliban, which remains on the Treasury Department's sanctions designation list.
US sanctions on the Taliban mean that they cannot access any funds. The vast majority of DAB's assets are not currently held in Afghanistan. Most of the rest is in other international accounts and at the Bank for International Settlements, a bank for central banks based in Switzerland, and not physically in DAB vaults, leaving about 0.2 per cent or less of the total accessible to the Taliban.
Aug 18, 2021
Biden Speaks to Johnson on Taliban's Rise
US President Joe Biden has spoken with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the situation in Afghanistan.
As per reports, Biden and Johnson commended the bravery and professionalism of their military and civilian personnel who are working to evacuate their countries' citizens and allies from the country.
The White House said the leaders agreed on the need for close coordination with allies about the future of aid and support to Afghanistan now that the Taliban is in charge.
Johnson holds the presidency of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies, and the White House says he will convene a virtual meeting of the group next week to discuss the path forward in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Crisis: First Vice President Amrullah Saleh Declares Himself the Legitimate Caretaker...
The Taliban held their first official news conference in Kabul since the shock seizure of the city, declaring they wanted peaceful relations with other countries and would respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law.
As per reports, women would be allowed to work and study and "will be very active in society but within the framework of Islam.
Afghan First Vice President Amrullah Saleh meanwhile said that he was in the country and declared himself the legitimate caretaker President and that he would not bow to Kabul's new rulers.
The Taliban news conference came as the United States and Western allies evacuated diplomats and civilians the day after scenes of chaos at Kabul airport as Afghans desperate to flee the Taliban thronged to the terminal.
Aug 17, 2021
WHO Forms Advisory Group "SAGO"
World Health Organization (WHO) has created a new advisory group named, The International Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel Pathogens, or SAGO. The function of SAGO will be to systematically study the emergence of future emerging pathogens with pandemic potential, and advise the development in this regard to WHO.
WHO has made an open call for nominations to SAGO from the member countries, thus providing a transparent foundation for the new scientific advisory group. The group will also work towards finding the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Malaysian PM, His Cabinet Resign
Malaysia's Muhyiddin Yassin stepped down as the Prime Minister after months of political turmoil culminated in the loss of his majority, but his resignation is likely to open another chapter of instability in the absence of any obvious successor.
Muhyiddin's resignation ends a tumultuous 17 months in office, the shortest stint of a Malaysian leader.
The Southeast Asian nation's king appointed Muhyiddin as the caretaker PM until a new one is found, but did not set a timeline. King Al-Sultan Abdullah ruled out elections because of the pandemic, saying he would invoke his constitutional power to appoint a prime minister he believes is likely to command a majority.
Muhyiddin resigned along with his Cabinet after losing majority support in parliament. As caretaker he will have no cabinet, but will perform executive functions and advise the king until a new Prime Minister is appointed.
US Tells Taliban Not to Hinder Military's Evacuation from Kabul
The head of Central Command has met face-to-face with senior Taliban leaders to urge their fighters not to interfere with the US military's evacuation operations at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan.
The official said that in the meeting in Doha, Qatar, Gen. Frank McKenzie won Taliban agreement to establish a deconfliction mechanism - an arrangement by which evacuation operations at the airport can continue without interference by the new rulers of the country.
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