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mic-nz · 1 year ago

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Full List of The Military Boarding Schools in Europe [Up to 60 Schools]

Military boarding schools in Europe have played a pivotal role in shaping the future leaders of Europe for centuries. These institutions are renowned for their rich history, rigorous academic programs, and specialized training, providing a well-rounded education that equips students with the skills and knowledge needed for military careers. In this comprehensive guide, we will embark on an educational journey across Europe, uncovering the fascinating world of military boarding schools delving into their history, academics, courses, and other vital aspects that make them prestigious learning centers.

The History of Military Boarding Schools in Europe

Military cadets march toward Red Square during the Victory Day military parade on Sunday, May 9, 2021, marking the 76th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) European military boarding schools have a storied tradition of excellence in education and leadership development. These institutions offer a unique educational experience that harmonizes rigorous academics with specialized training and character development. With a rich history that dates back centuries, European military boarding schools have played a significant role in shaping the future military leaders of the continent. One such esteemed institution is the Theresian Military Academy in Austria. Founded in 1751 by Empress Maria Theresa, this academy symbolizes tradition and excellence in military education. As one of Europe's oldest military schools, it has produced countless distinguished alumni who have gone on to serve their countries with honor and distinction. From its early days of training young officers for the Habsburg Empire to its modern focus on leadership development, the Theresian Military Academy continues to uphold its reputation as a premier institution for aspiring military leaders. Another notable European boarding school is the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom, established in 1802. This academy boasts a long and prestigious lineage, counting British Prime Ministers and foreign dignitaries among its alumni. An interesting facet of Sandhurst is its unique tri-service approach, where it trains officers for all three branches of the British Armed Forces - the Army, Navy, and Air Force. This comprehensive training encourages cadets to develop a well-rounded understanding of military operations and fosters cooperation and camaraderie among future leaders from different military branches. The history of military boarding schools in Europe is truly captivating, and the aforementioned examples are just the tip of the iceberg. As we delve deeper into the topic of tradition and excellence, we will unveil more enthralling stories and lesser-known facts about these venerable institutions. From their humble beginnings to their modern-day influence, European military boarding schools continue to make their mark on the world of military education and prepare the leaders of tomorrow.

The List of The Military Boarding Academies in Europe

Here is a list of military boarding schools in Europe: Albania: Military Academy of Tirana Austria: Theresian Military Academy Belgium: Royal Military Academy of Belgium Bulgaria: Vassil Levski National Military University Croatia: Croatian Military Academy Czech Republic: Military University of Technology Brno University of Defence, Hradec Králové Denmark: Royal Danish Military Academy Royal Danish Naval Academy Estonia: Estonian National Defence Academy Finland: National Defence University Naval Academy Air Force Academy France: École Polytechnique École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr French Naval Academy French Air Force Academy Germany: German Federal Armed Forces Academy Helmut Schmidt University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg Greece: Hellenic Military Academy Hellenic Naval Academy Hellenic Air Force Academy Hungary: National University of Public Service Ireland: Military College, Defence Forces Training Centre Italy: Military Academy of Modena Naval Academy of Livorno Air Force Academy of Pozzuoli Latvia: National Defence Academy of Latvia Lithuania: Lithuanian Military Academy Netherlands: Royal Netherlands Military Academy Royal Netherlands Naval Academy Royal Netherlands Air Force Academy Norway: Norwegian Military Academy Norwegian Naval Academy Norwegian Air Force Academy Poland: Academy of National Defence Military University of Technology Tadeusz Kościuszko Land Forces Military Academy Air Forces Military Academy Polish Naval Academy Portugal: Military Academy Naval Academy Air Force Academy Romania: National Defence University "Carol I" Naval Academy "Mircea cel Bătrân" Air Force Academy "Henri Coandă" Serbia: Military Academy of the Republic of Serbia Slovakia: Military Academy in Liptovský Mikuláš Air Force Academy in Košice Slovenia: Military Academy of the Slovenian Armed Forces Spain: General Military Academy Naval Academy Air Force Academy Sweden: Swedish Military Academy Switzerland: Military Academy at ETH Zurich Ukraine: Ivan Cherniakhiv National Defence University of Ukraine Hetman Petro Sahaidachny National Naval Academy of Ukraine Ivan Kozhedub National Air Force University of Ukraine United Kingdom: Britannia Royal Naval College Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Royal Air Force College Cranwell It is important to note that not all of these schools are open to international students. Some are only open to citizens of the country in which they are located. It is also important to note that some schools are not total boarding schools. Some only offer boarding during the week or at certain times of the year. Many of these European military academies are proud members of prestigious organizations like the Conference of European Military Academies (CEMA) and the International Association of Military Academies (IAMA). These affiliations foster international cooperation and knowledge exchange, enriching the education of future military leaders. Additionally, these institutions often have exchange agreements with renowned military academies in the United States, such as the United States Military Academy at West Point, strengthening transatlantic ties in military education. Let's explore Europe's prestigious military boarding schools, delving into their history, academic offerings, and unique contributions to the training of future military leaders. 1. The Military Academy of Tirana in Albania The Military Academy of Tirana in Albania is a cornerstone for fostering the nation's military leadership. Founded in 1945, it is known for its enduring commitment to producing exceptional military officers. This institution combines rigorous academic programs with intensive military training to shape well-rounded leaders. The academy's academic curriculum includes various subjects, including military strategy, leadership, and international relations. It's a testament to Albania's dedication to preparing its military leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to tackle contemporary security challenges. The graduate program offers specialized degrees in national security, defense management, and military technology. The MAT is a highly selective institution, and applicants must meet stringent academic and physical fitness requirements. The MAT is also a residential academy, so students live and study on campus. Notable Alumni Some of the MAT's notable alumni include: General of the Army Muhamet Xheka, former Chief of the General Staff of the Albanian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Hysni Gjergji, former Minister of Defense of Albania Lieutenant General Ramush Haradinaj, former Prime Minister of Kosovo Major General Shefki Kuqi, former Commander of the Kosovo Security Force The Military Academy of Tirana is a member of the Conference of European Military Academies (CEMA) and the International Association of Military Academies (IAMA). The MAT also has exchange agreements with several universities in the United States, including the United States Military Academy at West Point. The Military Academy of Tirana has played an important role in Albanian history. The academy's graduates have led the Albanian army in many wars, including the Kosovo War and the War in Afghanistan. The MAT's graduates have also served in key government positions and helped shape Albania's post-communist democracy. 2. Theresian Military Academy in Austria Theresian Military Academy in Austria carries a legacy dating back to 1751, making it one of the oldest military academies in Europe and the oldest military boarding schools in Europe. This rich history is emblematic of Austria's enduring commitment to military education. The academy is renowned for its comprehensive programs, providing students with a strong military sciences and leadership foundation. It's a place where tradition meets innovation, where cadets learn the art of strategy, leadership, and modern warfare. Notable Alumni Some of the TMA's notable alumni include: Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky, one of the most successful Austrian military leaders of the 19th century Prince Eugene of Savoy, a leading Austrian general during the War of the Spanish Succession Archduke Albrecht of Austria, a commander of the Austrian army during the Austro-Prussian War General Alfred Redl, the chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff before World War I General Erwin Rommel, a leading German general during World War II The TMA has played an important role in Austrian history. The academy's graduates have led the Austrian army in many wars, including the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II. 3. The Royal Military Academy of Belgium The Royal Military Academy of Belgium has been a vanguard of military education since its establishment in 1834. This academy is a beacon for Belgium's military aspirations, offering diverse programs covering military science, engineering, and leadership. It remains dedicated to producing officers with both academic acumen and practical military expertise. This military school is where Belgium's finest minds are molded into military leaders capable of guiding the nation in an ever-evolving security landscape. Notable Alumni Some of the RMA's notable alumni include: King Leopold II of Belgium General Émile Vandervelde, Prime Minister of Belgium during World War I General Jean-Baptiste Piron, Commander of the Belgian First Division during World War II General Henri Rolin, Chief of the Belgian General Staff during the Cold War General Charles de Gaulle, President of France 4. The Vassil Levski National Military University In Bulgaria The Vassil Levski National Military University plays a pivotal role in shaping the nation's military leadership. Founded in 1878, this institution is dedicated to combining military and civilian higher education. Students here receive an interdisciplinary education encompassing military science, leadership, and modern strategy. It is a testament to Bulgaria's commitment to developing well-rounded military leaders capable of navigating the complexities of contemporary security challenges. Notable Alumni Some of the VLNMU's notable alumni include: General Ivan Valkov, Commander of the Bulgarian First Army during World War II General Georgi Radev, Chief of the Bulgarian General Staff during the Cold War General Zhelyu Zhelev, President of Bulgaria from 1990 to 1997 General Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2001 to 2005 General Boyko Borisov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2009 to 2013 and 2014 to 2021 The VLNMU has played an important role in Bulgarian history. The academy's graduates have led the Bulgarian army in many wars, including the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II. Let's continue our journey across Europe to explore more of these prestigious military institutions, their historical significance, and their impact on shaping tomorrow's military leaders. 5. Croatian Military Academy Croatia's Croatian Military Academy is renowned for its commitment to producing officers equipped with cutting-edge knowledge and strong leadership skills. Established in 2002, it represents the nation's dedication to military education. This academy combines academic excellence with a rigorous military training program, ensuring its students are well-prepared for modern warfare and defense challenges. Notable Alumni Some of the CMA's notable alumni include: General Ante Gotovina, Commander of the Croatian Army during the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina General Davor Šuker, Commander of the Croatian Army during the War in Afghanistan General Damir Krstičević, Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces General Zdravko Dešković, Minister of Defense of Croatia General Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister of Croatia The CMA has played an important role in Croatian history. The academy's graduates have led the Croatian army in many peacekeeping and combat operations, including the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the War in Afghanistan. 6. Military University of Technology Brno in Czech Republic The Military University of Technology Brno in the Czech Republic is a hub of technological innovation and military expertise. Founded in 1951, this institution marries cutting-edge scientific knowledge with military strategy. Cadets here delve into military technology, engineering, and leadership. It stands as a testament to the Czech Republic's commitment to fostering military leaders capable of adapting to the fast-paced advancements in modern warfare. Notable Alumni Some of the MUTB's notable alumni include: General Petr Pavel, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee General Jiří Šedivý, Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces Lieutenant General Aleš Opata, Commander of the Czech Air Force Major General Petr Liška, Commander of the Czech Land Forces Major General Josef Kopecký, Commander of the Czech Special Forces The Military University of Technology Brno played an important role in the Czechoslovak army during the Cold War. The academy's graduates led the Czechoslovak army in many military exercises and training missions. The MUTB's graduates also served in key government positions and helped to shape Czechoslovakia's communist regime. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the Military University of Technology Brno underwent a major transformation. The academy's curriculum was reformed to reflect the new democratic values of Czechoslovakia. The MUTB also opened its doors to international students. Today, the Military University of Technology Brno is one of the prestigious military boarding schools in Europe that offers a rigorous academic program in military science and technology. 7. University of Defence in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic The University of Defence in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic, is another pillar of military education. Established in 1952, this institution focuses on preparing leaders for all branches of the Czech armed forces. It offers a range of programs covering military science, leadership, and international relations. Here, students acquire knowledge and develop the leadership and strategic thinking required for the nation's defense. Notable Alumni Some of the UDHK's notable alumni include: General Aleš Opata, Commander of the Czech Air Force Major General Petr Liška, Commander of the Czech Land Forces Major General Josef Kopecký, Commander of the Czech Special Forces General Pavel Kolář, former Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces General Josef Bečvář, former Minister of Defense of the Czech Republic 8. The Royal Danish Military Academy in Denmark Denmark's Royal Danish Military Academy traces its roots back to 1713, reflecting a history steeped in tradition and a dedication to military education. This institution offers cadets a comprehensive military science, leadership, and international relations education. It is the crucible where Denmark's military leaders are forged, ready to serve their nation and adapt to the challenges of the modern world. The RDDA is also a residential academy, so students live and study on campus. Notable Alumni Some of the RDDA's notable alumni include: General Peter Bartram, Chief of the Defence of Denmark Lieutenant General Michael Clausen, Commander of the Danish Defence Staff Major General Jan Dam, Commander of the Danish Army Major General Torben Gade, Commander of the Danish Air Force Major General Niels-Erik Sørensen, Commander of the Danish Navy 9. Royal Danish Naval Academy In Denmark The Royal Danish Naval Academy specializes in nurturing naval leaders with the knowledge and skills to safeguard the nation's maritime interests. Founded in 1701, it is significant in Denmark's long-standing maritime history, shaping officers to protect the nation's extensive coastline and maritime territories. 10. Estonian National Defence Academy Estonia's Estonian National Defence Academy is pivotal in preparing officers for the nation's defense forces. Read the full article

#Admission #Bestmilitary #Military #MilitaryAcademies #MilitaryAcademy #MilitaryAdmission #MilitaryCollege #MilitaryGuide #MilitarySchool #MilitarySchools #MilitarySchoolsinEurope

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xtruss · 3 years ago

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File — In this Oct. 1, 2019, file photo spectators wave Chinese flags as military vehicles carrying DF-41 ballistic missiles roll during a parade to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of Communist China in Beijing. Trucks carrying weapons including a nuclear-armed missile designed to evade U.S. defenses rumbled through Beijing as the Communist Party celebrated its 70th anniversary in power. China appears to be moving faster toward a capability to launch its newer nuclear missiles from underground silos, possibly to improve its ability to respond promptly to a nuclear attack, according to an American expert who analyzed satellite images of recent construction at a missile training area. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) AP Photo / Mark Schiefelbein

US Warned of Beijing’s ‘Massive’ Muscle Flexing in Line With ‘Shifting Chinese Nuclear Doctrine’

— By Svetlana Ekimenko | August 8, 2021 | Sputnik

Following recent warnings by Pentagon officials about the rapid advances in China’s nuclear capability, since June, independent experts scouring obtained commercial satellite images have reported on what they believe is a missile silo construction boom in China’s remote western deserts.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has been warned to prepare to confront the growing nuclear challenge of China. Analysts warn that Beijing is possibly carrying out “the most significant expansion of its nuclear arsenal ever,” reported the Financial Times.

The recent statements echo concerns voiced in July by US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price, who said developments “suggest that the PRC's nuclear arsenal will grow more quickly and to a higher level than perhaps previously anticipated."

Biden extended the New Start Treaty with Russia just two weeks after his inauguration, with the two countries recently restarting a bilateral dialogue on strategic stability in the wake of the June summit between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart.

The upper stage of the newly upgraded DF-5B Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile, as seen after the military parade held in Beijing on September 3, 2015.

However, analysts claim that evidence of China's nuclear buildup warrants heightened attention. Since June, experts say they have discovered more than 200 missile silos under construction in China’s remote western deserts.

“For a very, very long time, we talked about China as a future problem. Now, China is clearly a nuclear problem,” David Santoro, president of Hawaii-based think-tank Pacific Forum, was cited by the outlet as saying.

Chinese Nuclear Doctrine ‘Eroded’

Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and Matt Korda, research associate for the Nuclear Information Project (FAS), in late July reported an 800 sq km missile silo construction in Eastern Xinjiang.

China is building more than 100 new missile silos in its western desert, analysts say. Satellite images point to a construction spree for ICBM launch tubes that could a signal a major expansion of Beijing’s nuclear capabilities, though some could be decoys. Washington Post

Their discovery was made using commercial satellite imagery, with higher resolution images of the site subsequently provided by Earth imaging company Planet. This followed a report earlier in the month that China appeared to be constructing 120 missile silos near Yumen in the province of Gansu.

“We have known for a while that China is in a nuclear build-up situation. What is happening now is a more rapid build-up,” said Santoro.

Beijing is building 10 times as many silos for intercontinental ballistic missiles as it currently has in operation, suspect analysts cited by the outlet.

Following up on the commitment made between President Biden and Russian President Putin last month, U.S. and Russian delegations are meeting today in Geneva for a bilateral U.S. - Russia Strategic Stability Dialogue — U.S. Mission Geneva, Switzerland.

China is believed to have about 350 nuclear warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Furthermore, it's claimed that the expansion exceeds the number of Russia’s silo-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBMs) and is estimated to equal half of the US’s total ICBM force.

China's DF-41 ICBM

Accordingly, experts believe that Beijing is deviating from decades of nuclear strategy based around minimum deterrence. Since its first atomic test in 1964, China has adhered to this policy, pledging to acquire no more nuclear capabilities than required for retaliating against an attack. Beijing also vowed never to use a nuclear weapons first, traditionally maintaining a large portion of its warheads in central storage, separate from their launchers.

Washington's development of missile defence systems as well as its space-based military assets are perceived by China as a threat, underscore nuclear experts, as it could render their “minimum deterrence” second-strike capability useless.

Chinese participants are cited as having indicated in semi-official bilateral meetings that Beijing might boost its nuclear force to counter these US “threats.” Experts believe the recent discoveries suggest Beijing is gearing up to adopt a “launch on warning” stance. Under this scenario, China would potentially launch a counterstrike the instant it became aware that an attack against it was under way.

For the last three decades, the Chinese military has been undertaking a systematic modernisation of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which has acquired more mobile ICBMs, rendering nuclear weapons harder to detect for an adversary, claim US analysts.

In March, China’s leader Xi Jinping urged the military to “accelerate the creation of an enhanced strategic deterrent and joint warfighting systems.”

An armored personnel carrier of China's People's Liberation Army's Hong Kong garrison rolls down streets on their way to mountain drills.

“They don’t have the command and control platforms to manage their sea and air platforms. On land, you can keep warheads and launchers separate, but you cannot do that on a sub. What we worry about is that we have commanders who could strike without a link to Beijing,” said Santoro.

Zhao Tong, a nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy in Beijing, weighed in on the reported missile silo programme that has triggered Washington’s concerns, saying:

“The expansion of China’s nuclear arsenal is increasingly driven by a change in geopolitical perspective. There is a popular thinking in Chinese policy that a larger nuclear arsenal could help China counter the perceived strategic hostility of the US.”

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born2battle · 4 years ago

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My Reflections as Head Mistress of Army Public School (Junior Wing), Pune

This Blog is a sequel to the previous Blog and covers the period when myself and the children continued to stay in Pune for the purpose of higher education. Our innings in Pune commenced with a jubilant start in Jun 1996, when Ashvini got admission in Junior Wing of Fergusson College and Nandini & Aditya began to adapt to the new environment in Army Public School ( APS ), Pune. Even Vivek began his professionally enriching experience, as an important Staff Officer in HQ Southern Command. I was appointed as the Principal of AWWA Pre-Primary School. I was happy to take on this responsibility since I could devote time for the School activities as ANA were already grown up. Our tenure for the next two years was really memorable for each of us, as we learnt so much in our respective domain.

In Jun 1998, Vivek received his posting order to take up an instructional assignment at DSSC, Wellington. We felt happy as well as sad on receipt of this news. It was certainly an honour for Vivek, to be selected as an Instructor at the prestigious Staff College. However, we had to reconcile to the fact that the rest of us could not move to Wellington, since both Ashvini & Nandini were in 12th and 10th standard. It was therefore essential for us to remain in Pune to enable continuity for their Board Exams next year and subsequent College admissions. Thus, began my saga of another experience in Separated Family Accommodation ( SFA ) at Pune.

As a policy, SFA is allotted in case of postings either to a Field/ High Altitude area or in case of postings to a Peace Station, if the children are appearing for their Board Exams. In our case, we were entitled SFA under the second clause but had to shift out from our spacious Bungalow, after one month of Vivek's departure for Wellington. It was another exciting challenge which involved the packing, moving and unpacking of the entire baggage and finally setting up our new Home again. The transition was smooth due to the enthusiastic assistance by our children, who applied the concept of "Place for everything & everything in it's Place".Location of our new House in Ghorpadi was very convenient specially for me, since it was just opposite the AWWA Pre-Primary School.

Next year, HQ Southern Command decided to expand the Army Public School, Pune which conducted classes from Sixth to Twelfth standard only. Hence, there was an urgent need to establish a Primary Wing of APS, for students from First to Fifth standard. I was eager to take up this responsibility and hence applied for the post of Head Mistress of APS, Primary Wing. I was fortunate to be selected for launching this maiden venture. Our very first task was to prepare a Presentation about the utilisation of the existing building & resources of PT School (near Pune Race Course) and the proposed plan for converting it to the Junior Wing of APS. This involved planning and discussion with various agencies, under the able guidance of Mrs Meera Sain, who was the Principal of APS. We sought lot of valuable suggestions from the Management Committee and Major General incharge of Administration of HQ Southern Command. Finally, it was our privilege to give a detailed Presentation to the Army Commander, about the outline plan for this new Project which would benefit large number of students in Pune Cantonment. Consequent to his final approval, the renovation works by MES began on priority. Simultaneously, we were involved for selection of teachers and purchase of the school furniture and sports equipment. The newly appointed teachers were busy preparing the lesson plans for their subjects. It was a race against time in order to complete the Project within next two months. Eventually, the Junior Wing of APS was fully functional in Apr 1998.

The First Academic Year commenced with just one Section each from First to Fifth standard and the total strength was only in double digits. As the strength increased gradually due to new admissions, we created additional classrooms in the adjacent building. The innovative teaching methods adopted by our team of dedicated teachers created an ideal learning environment. We conducted a variety of indoor & outdoor activities, celebrated all the festivals and organised a variety of competitions, which were appreciated by all the children and the parents. My schedule was indeed hectic from 8 AM to 5 PM daily. However, when I returned Home, I had the satisfaction that I managed to find solutions to all the challenges, to the best of my ability and utmost of my capacity, under constant guidance and encouragement by Mrs Meera Sain.

In Dasera vacation, myself along with Ashvini & Aditya went for our first visit to Wellington. Nandini could not accompany in view of her preparations for the Board Exam and the responsibility to take care of my mother-in-law who was staying with us. Our short vacation in Wellington was a refreshing break as we stayed in the DSSC Officers Mess, savoring a variety of meals, without bothering about planning the menu and cooking in our ad-hoc kitchen. We have fond memories of our short trips to Coonoor and Ooty --- the Queen of hill stations in the Nilgiris. As we left Wellington after a rejuvenating vacation in the pristine environment, we looked forward to returning during the summer vacation. We carried with us vivid memories of the aerial view of the Staff College!!

At the end of the year, Vivek was detailed as a part of the Team of Instructors from Wellington, for imparting Tactical training to Technical Staff College Course which was being conducted at Institute of Armament Technology, Pune. This gave us an opportunity to stay together as a family for the next two months. It was a proud achievement when we conducted our first Annual Day, with enthusiastic participation by our talented children. It was so heartening to witness the energy levels and the confidence displayed, in each performance on the big stage in the Auditorium. I treasured these moments with the children, which were possible only due to the dedication of our teachers.

Finally, we bid farewell to the students of the Fifth Standard who moved on to the Senior Wing of APS. In the summer vacation, we had to plan and supervise the expansion of the infrastructure and appoint new teachers, in view of the expected increase in the strength of students. Thus, there was never a dull moment since I believed that there was always a scope for improvement.

We went to Wellington once again during the summer vacation. This time we refreshed previous memories by spending time in the Staff College Library, shopping in Coonoor market and enjoying various sports in Wellington Gymkhana Club. In addition, we visited several other tourist spots nearby before finally visiting Mysore & Bangalore. Consequent to another memorable holiday, we returned from Bangalore, fully recharged to continue our busy schedule in Pune.

My responsibilities expanded consequent to the expansion of the Junior Wing. I was so happy to contribute as the vital link between the Teachers , the Parents and the Management Committee. On the home front, I decided to devote greater attention towards Nandini's final preparations. On completion of her Board Exams, she appeared in various Entrance Exams in order to keep her options open. It was a huge task to obtain & submit various documents such as Admission Forms, Domicile Certificate, Defence Quota Certificate, Dependency Certificate etc. It was possible only due to the assistance provided by our colleagues and friends from the Army family. In case of any problem or any decision making situation, I would often contact Vivek telephonically, seeking his advice before choosing our next course of action. His typical response was ---" You are the best judge. You take the decision. Just don't worry". We felt so assured with his confidence and composure in any crisis. Finally, we were extremely delighted when Nandini secured admission in Cummins College of Engineering, Pune.

Simultaneously, we had to face the challenge of vacating our accommodation in Ghorpadi since the SFA was allotted only till the completion of Board Exams. The search for another house continued till we managed to hire a house in AWHO Colony in Salunke Vihar. It was yet another enjoyable experience of packing,moving & unpacking, as per the Standard Operating Procedure, after which we settled down in our fourth house in Pune, within four years --- without taking the help of "Packers & Movers"!! Obviously, it was possible due to the confidence that I developed over 20 years of Fauji life and valuable experience gained in each of our postings. In Jun 2000, Vivek came to Pune for availing part of Annual Leave. During the leave period, we were really excited to receive the good news about his approval for promotion as a Brigadier.

In view of our anticipated posting, I submitted my resignation to the Management Committee of APS so that my successor could be appointed to take over my responsibilities. I had to take this decision with a heavy heart especially since I had nurtured the Junior Wing for two years, resulting in a strength of 600 students at the time of my departure. Finally, it was a touching moment when I was given an emotional farewell while I bid adieu to my team of teachers & the children of the Junior Wing. I still cherish the fond memories of my challenging tenure, at the helm of affairs in the Junior Wing of Army Public School. I felt blessed that I got this opportunity to achieve my dream as an educationist.

Thereafter, myself and Nandini went for a short trip to Wellington, since she could not come with us on earlier occasions. Ashvini & Aditya held the fort in Pune. It was a coincidence that soon after our arrival in Staff College, Vivek received his Posting Order to take charge in his new appointment, as Commander 27 Mountain Artillery Brigade located at Pathankot. This news certainly enhanced the joy of our well deserved break in the salubrious environment of the Nilgiris. We were privileged to be present for his promotion party, in the traditional style of Staff College. During our return journey from Coimbatore to Pune, we enjoyed discussing about our future plans and preparations for yet another journey across the country. We were aware of the uncertainty that we may not be able to go to Pathankot initially, since it was a temporary location in a Field Area. Yet we looked forward eagerly to our move whenever the Artillery Brigade would move back to it's permanent location in Bagrakot!!

#Indian Army

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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Firefighters battle exhaustion along with wildfire flames (AP) They work 50 hours at a stretch and sleep on gymnasium floors. Exploding trees shower them with embers. They lose track of time when the sun is blotted out by smoke, and they sometimes have to run for their lives from advancing flames. Firefighters trying to contain the massive wildfires in Oregon, California and Washington state are constantly on the verge of exhaustion as they try to save suburban houses, including some in their own neighborhoods. Each home or barn lost is a mental blow for teams trained to protect lives and property. And their own safety is never assured. Oregon firefighter Steve McAdoo’s shift on Sept. 7 seemed mostly normal, until late evening, when the team went to a fire along a highway south of Portland. “Within 10 minutes of being there, it advanced too fast and so quick ... we had to cut and run,” he said. “You can’t breathe, you can’t see.” That happened again and again as he and the rest of the crew worked shifts that lasted two full days with little rest or food. They toiled in an alien environment where the sky turns lurid colors, ash falls like rain and towering trees explode into flames, sending a cascade of embers to the forest floor. “The sky was just orange or black, and so we weren’t sure if was morning or night,” he said. “My crew and I said that to each other many times, ‘What is going on? When is this going to end?’”

Rescuers reach people cut off by Gulf Coast hurricane (AP) Rescuers on the Gulf Coast used boats and high-water vehicles Thursday to reach people cut off by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Sally, even as a second round of flooding took shape along rivers and creeks swollen by the storm’s heavy rains. Across southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, homeowners and businesses began cleaning up, and officials inspected bridges and highways for safety, a day after Sally rolled through with 105 mph (165 kph) winds, a surge of seawater and 1 to 2 1/2 feet (0.3 to 0.8 meters) of rain in many places before it began to break up. Crews carried out at least 400 rescues in Escambia County, Florida, by such means as high-water vehicles, boats and water scooters, authorities said. In Alabama, on both sides of Mobile Bay, National Guard soldiers from high-water evacuation teams used big trucks Thursday to rescue at least 35 people. At least one death, in Alabama, was blamed on the hurricane. Nearly 400,000 homes and businesses were still without power Thursday night, mostly in Alabama and Florida.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87 (AP) Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a towering women’s rights champion who became the court’s second female justice, died Friday at her home in Washington. She was 87. Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, the court said. Her death just over six weeks before Election Day is likely to set off a heated battle over whether President Donald Trump should nominate, and the Republican-led Senate should confirm, her replacement, or if the seat should remain vacant until the outcome of his race against Democrat Joe Biden is known.

Flights to nowhere (Washington Post) With international travel in much of the world still disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, some airlines are resorting to “flights to nowhere” that target passengers who long for air travel—and some are willing to shell out plenty of money for the tickets. Qantas, among the latest to advertise a flight that departs and arrives at the same airport, told Reuters that the trip sold out less than 10 minutes after going on sale on Thursday. “It’s probably the fastest-selling flight in Qantas history,” a spokeswoman for the airline said.

Health-care workers make up 1 in 7 covid-19 cases recorded globally, WHO says (Washington Post) Health-care workers account for 1 in 7 coronavirus cases recorded by the World Health Organization, the U.N. agency said this week. “Globally, around 14 percent of covid-19 cases reported to WHO are among health workers, and in some countries it’s as much as 35 percent,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference in Geneva. The figures are disproportionate: Data collected by the WHO suggests that health workers represent less than 3 percent of the population in the majority of countries and less than 2 percent in almost all low- and middle-income countries. In April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that health-care workers accounted for 11 percent to 16 percent of covid-19 cases during the first surge of infections in the United States. When covid-19 began spreading through Western nations early this year, health-care workers faced critical shortages of personal protective equipment, also known as PPE. Even now, well over half a year into the pandemic, there are shortages of tests.

Bank of England considers negative interest rates (Yahoo Finance) The Bank of England yesterday indicated that it could cut interest rates below zero for the first time in its 326-year history as it tries to shore up a U.K. economic recovery that is facing the dual headwinds of the coronavirus and Brexit. After unanimously deciding to maintain the bank’s main interest rate at the record low of 0.1%, the nine-member rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee said it had discussed its “policy toolkit, and the effectiveness of negative policy rates in particular.”

Why French Politicians Can’t Stop Talking About Crime (NYT) In the Babel Tower of French politics, everyone agrees at least on this: Crime is out of control. The leader of the far right warned recently that France was a “security shipwreck” sinking into “barbarity.” A traditional conservative conjured up the ultraviolent dystopia of “A Clockwork Orange.” On the left, the presumed Green Party candidate in the next presidential contest described the insecurity as “unbearable.” And in the middle, President Emmanuel Macron’s ministers warned of a country “turning savage”—the “ensauvagement” of France—as they vowed to get tough on crime and combat the “separatism” of radical Muslims. The only catch? Crime isn’t going up. The government’s own data show that nearly all major crimes are lower than they were a decade ago or three years ago. But like elsewhere, and mirroring the campaign in the United States, the debate over crime tends to be a proxy—in France’s case, for debates about immigration, Islam, race, national identity and other combustible issues that have roiled the country for years.

India’s coronavirus cases jump by another 96K (AP) India’s coronavirus cases jumped by another 96,424 infections in the past 24 hours, showing little sign of leveling. The Health Ministry on Friday raised the nation’s total past 5.21 million, 0.37% of its nearly 1.4 billion people. India is expected to have the highest national total of confirmed cases within weeks, surpassing the United States, where more than 6.67 million people have been infected. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday on Thursday made a fresh appeal to people to wear masks and maintain social distance as his government chalked out plans to handle big congregations expected during a major Hindu festival season beginning next month.

Russia boosts its military presence near Chinese border (Foreign Policy) Russia is bolstering its troop presence in the country’s east in response to growing geopolitical threats in the region, though the Kremlin did not say what those threats are. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that 500 units of new, advanced equipment were being sent to the region, but he did not specify the destination. The moves are likely a response to China’s growing assertiveness, though some parts of the region have been gripped by protests against the government of President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks. In July, people took to the streets in the city of Khabarovsk, which lies along the border with China, after the arrest of the region’s hugely popular governor, Sergei Furgal, who beat out Putin’s favored candidate in an election in September 2018.

Taiwan scrambles air force as multiple Chinese jets buzz island (Reuters) Taiwan scrambled fighter jets on Friday as multiple Chinese aircraft buzzed the island, including crossing the sensitive mid-line of the Taiwan Strait, in an escalation of tensions the same day a senior U.S. official began meetings in Taipei. Earlier on Friday, China’s Defence Ministry announced the start of combat drills near the Taiwan Strait, denouncing what it called collusion between the Chinese-claimed island and the United States. Beijing has watched with growing alarm the ever-closer relationship between Taipei and Washington, and has stepped up military exercises near the island, including two days of mass air and sea drills last week.

Apprehensive Thais await major political rally in Bangkok (AP) A two-day rally planned this weekend is jangling nerves in Bangkok, with apprehension about how far student demonstrators will go in pushing demands for reform of Thailand’s monarchy and how the authorities might react. In an escalation of tactics, organizers plan to march to Government House, the prime minister’s offices, to hand over petitions. The initial demands of the alliance of groups behind a series of anti-government demonstrations were for a dissolution of Parliament with fresh elections, a new constitution and an end to intimidation of political activists. But the main organizers behind this weekend’s rally have been promoting an additional point. They want restraints on the power of the monarchy, an institution long presented as the nation’s cornerstone and untouchable. This open challenge to the palace has dramatically raised the political temperature.

‘Boiling again’: Lebanon’s old rivalries rear up amid crisis (Reuters) An old rivalry between Christian factions who fought each other in Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war has flared again on the street and in political debate, renewing fears of fresh unrest as the nation grapples with its worst crisis since the conflict. The feud between supporters of Michel Aoun, now Lebanon’s president, and Samir Geagea’s Lebanese Forces (LF) led to a tense standoff this week near Beirut. Gunshots rang out, but no one was hurt. The rivalry today is about more than Christian politics: Aoun is allied with Hezbollah, the heavily armed, Iran-backed Shi’ite party. Geagea spearheads opposition to Hezbollah, saying it should surrender its weapons. The standoff was the latest in a country that has seen sporadic violence intensify as an economic crisis that erupted last year has deepened. It was compounded by a huge blast that ripped through Beirut on Aug. 4. The government has resigned and efforts to form a new one under French pressure are floundering. “The security situation is reaching a breaking point,” said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.

Israelis Prepare to Celebrate the Year’s Holiest Days Under Lockdown (NYT) As Israelis prepare to celebrate the holiest days on the Jewish calendar under a fresh lockdown, organizing prayer services is proving to be more of a mathematical brainteaser than a spiritual exercise. Rabbis are having to arrange worshipers into clusters of 20 to 50, separated by dividers, determining the number and size of the groups based on complex calculations involving local infection rates, and how many entrances and square feet their synagogues have. Masks will be required, and many seats will have to remain empty. The three-week national lockdown was timed to coincide with the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur holy days and the festival of Sukkot, in the hope of causing less economic damage because business slows down in any case around the holidays. It was also aimed at preventing large family meals that could become petri dishes for the virus. Israel successfully limited the spread of the virus in the spring, but recently its infection rate has spiraled into one of the world’s worst. The country has had more than 300 confirmed new cases per 100,000 people over the last week—more than double the rate in Spain, the hardest-hit European country, and quadruple that of the United States.

Violence in Ethiopia (Foreign Policy) More than 30 people were killed in militia attacks in western Ethiopia last week, officials said on Thursday, underscoring the country’s worsening security situation and creating new problems for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The attackers are “groups aimed at overturning the reforms journey,” Abiy said in a tweet. Abiy entered government promising sweeping reforms of the country’s political system, but his efforts have since faced criticism from opponents and former allies. Last week, the country’s Tigray region held parliamentary elections despite the national government’s decision to postpone the vote over coronavirus concerns. The region is home to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the country’s dominant political force before Abiy’s takeover in 2019.

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visakhadefenceacademy-blog1 · 5 years ago

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ebenpink · 6 years ago

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Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- March 1, 2019 https://ift.tt/2HfwSSu

Reuters: Factbox: India and Pakistan - nuclear arsenals and strategies NEW DELHI (Reuters) - This week’s conflict between India and Pakistan, which involved air strikes in each other’s territories for the first time by the two nuclear-armed nations, has sparked fears of a nuclear confrontation. Below is a look at their nuclear capabilities:

COMPARABLE ARSENALS

India has much stronger conventional armed forces than Pakistan, but both countries have comparable nuclear arsenals. Pakistan has 140-150 nuclear warheads compared to India’s 130-140 warheads, according to a 2018 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). They are comparable in the sense that both have the capability to strike each other’s territories and cause immense damage and massive loss of life. Read more ....

Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- March 1, 2019

US Air Force suspends KC-46 tanker deliveries -- Defense News Boeing tanker jets grounded due to tools and debris left during manufacturing -- Seattle Times The US Air Force doesn’t want F-15X. But it needs more fighter jets. -- Defense News Lawmakers stand ready to protect F-35 from F-15X budget threats -- Defense News Melting missiles: just one problem with F-35s stopping N Korea rockets -- Reuters A Legacy Fighter, The F-15 Mission is Complete -- William R. Looney III, RCD Space Force to cost $2 billion, include 15,000 personnel in first five years -- Defense News Pentagon's Space Force Proposal Asks for $2 Billion over Five Years -- DoD Buzz Lockheed Martin awarded $830M for THAAD system development -- UPI U.S. Navy declares F-35C ready for combat -- UPI USS George H.W. Bush heads into shipyard for more than two years of updates -- The Virginia Pilot New Nuclear-Armed Trident II D5LE Missile Improves Navigation, Targeting, Firing -- Warrior Maven General Dynamics awarded $3.37B for Stryker vehicle support -- UPI The US Security Clearance Process Is About to Get Its Biggest Overhaul in 50 Years -- NextGov Why the Military Is Losing the Battle for the Best, Brightest Cybersecurity Talent -- Elias Gavilan and James Di Pane, Daily Signal Report: If the military wants to hold on to special operators, they should do this -- Meghann Myers, Military Times Lockheed awarded $680M for PAC-3 missiles for foreign militaries -- UPI In Yemen war, coalition forces rely on German arms and technology -- DW Thales to build 3 new frigates for Netherlands, Belgium -- UPI NATO steps up naval presence on the Black Sea -- DW Russia Detected 18 Foreign Spy Jets Near Border Over Past Week -- Sputnik Putin Promotes New Hypersonic Weapons Systems -- RCD Russia’s Latest Diesel-Electric Attack Sub -- Franz-Stefan Gady, The Diplomat Russian Air Defence Forces Already Training S-500 System Operators – General -- Sputnik China denies having troops in Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor -- Military Times/AP Chinese navy’s 70th birthday parade set to showcase country’s rising sea power -- SCMP Singapore moves to buy four F-35s, possibly eight more afterward -- DEfense News Quibbling Over the Number of U.S. Forces in Syria Misses the Point -- Robert Moore, RCD Why would a woman want to be a U.S. Marine? -- Amy Ebitz, Brookings from War News Updates https://ift.tt/2UfRDBr via IFTTT

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brajeshupadhyay · 5 years ago

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08:40 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Delhi Latest Updates Delhi records 23,646 COVID-19 cases A day after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that borders of Delhi will be sealed for another week, the National Capital registered a spike in COVID-19 cases. The total number of cases in Delhi is now at 23,646. 08:14 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Punjab Latest Updates Punjab has 300 active COVID-19 cases: CM Of the total 2,376 COVID-19 cases in Punjab, there are 300 active cases as of Wednesday, said chief minister Amarinder Singh. As many as 34 people tested positive for COVID-19 while, 12 patients made recovery from the disease yesterday, said the chief minister. 08:09 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates Nearly 2.1 lakh COVID-19 cases nationwide India registered a total of 2,07,615 confirmed coronavirus cases with the toll rising to 5,815. An increase of 8,909 COVID19 cases was seen between Tuesday and Wednesday. 08:00 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak Latest Updates Malaria drug HCQ fails to prevent COVID-19, reveals study Hydroxychloroquine - the malaria drug promoted by US President Donald Trump as a treatment for COVID-19 was ineffective in preventing infection in people exposed to the coronavirus, according to a widely anticipated clinical trial released on Wednesday. In the first major study comparing hydroxychloroquine to a placebo to gauge its effect against the new coronavirus, University of Minnesota researchers tested 821 people who had recently been exposed to the virus or lived in a high-risk household. It found 11.8% of subjects given hydroxychloroquine developed symptoms compatible with COVID-19, compared with 14.3%who got a placebo. That difference was not statistically significant, meaning the drug was no better than placebo. 07:55 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates Defence Secretary tests positive for COVID-19 Defence secretary Ajay Kumar has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and is under home quarantine, two officials familiar with the development confirmed on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity. Kumar got himself tested for the virus after developing mild fever and was found to be infected, said one of the officials. "He tested positive but continues to work and look into files from home quarantine," said another official said. Necessary contact tracing is being carried out to identify people the defence secretary may have recently come in contact with. Kumar is the first top bureaucrat to test positive for the infectious disease. Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: Defence secretary Ajay Kumar has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and is under home quarantine, two officials familiar with the development confirmed on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity. Kumar got himself tested for the virus after developing mild fever and was found to be infected, said one of the officials. "He tested positive but continues to work and look into files from home quarantine," said another official said. India registered a record jump of 8,909 novel coronavirus cases, pushing the total number of such infections to 2,07,615 on Wednesday, while the toll rose to 5,815 with 217 more deaths, according to the Union health ministry. States like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Delhi, which have a high case load, continued to report more infections, while new cases also emerged in several eastern and north-eastern states including Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim. The health ministry said it has boosted the COVID-19 testing capacity to around 1.4 lakh per day. 8,909 new cases, 217 deaths reported in 24 hours In its morning update, the health ministry said that the country had reported 8,909 new patients and 217 fatalities in the 24 hours since 8 am on Tuesday. With this the total number of cases in the country climbed to 2,07,615 and the toll rose to 5,815. As many as 1,00,302 people have recovered, while one has migrated and the number of active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is now 1,01,497, said the ministry.Around 48.31 percent of the patients have recovered so far, a ministry official said. As many as 7,123 cases ae being reassigned to states, it said. Of the 217 more deaths since Tuesday morning, 103 were in Maharashtra, 33 in Delhi, 29 in Gujarat, 13 in Tamil Nadu and 10 in West Bengal, Six more people died from the pathogen in Madhya Pradesh, followed by five each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and four in Telangana, There were two deaths each in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, and one each in Kerala, Chandigarh, Ladakh, Punjab and Uttarakhand. Of the total 5,815 fatalities, Maharashtra accounts for 2,465 deaths followed by 1,092 in Gujarat and 556 in Delhi. In Madhya Pradesh, 364 people have died so far, followed by 335 in West Bengal, 222 in Uttar Pradesh and 203 in Rajasthan. Tamil Nadu has registered 197 deaths so far, while there have been 92 fatalities in Telangana and 64 in Andhra Pradesh. India registered a record jump of 8,909 novel coronavirus cases, pushing the total number of such infections to 2,07,615 on Wednesday. AP Fifty-two people have succumbed to the infection in Karnataka, followed by 46 in Punjab, 33 in Jammu and Kashmir, and 24 in Bihar. Haryana has registered 23 fatalities, while the toll in Kerala is 11. There have been seven deaths each in Odisha and Uttarakhand. Five COVID-19 fatalities each have been reported from Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Jharkhand, while four have died in Assam. A person each has died due to the pandemic in Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh and Ladakh, according to the data. More than 70 percent of the deaths are due to comorbidities,said the ministry. The health ministry also said that the number of COVID-19 tests across the country has crossed the 40 lakh-mark, while the daily testing capacity has been ramped up to 1.4 lakh through 480 government and 208 private laboratories. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu report most new cases Many states reported an increase in both infections and deaths arising from it through the day and a PTI tally based on figures releases by state and UT governments put the aggregate number of cases in India till 9.30 pm at 2,09,163. According to the news agency, 5, 996 have been reported in the country so far while a total of 1,03,460 persons have recovered from the disease. India is the seventh worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK, Spain and Italy. The infection which first emerged in China in December last year has now affected 62,87,771 people across the world and has claimed 3,79,941 lives, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) COVID-19 tracker. Of the total number of cases reported in India till date, nearly 1 lakh new cases having emerged in a span of 15 days. The first COVID-19 case in India was detected on 30 January. COVID-19 fatalities in worst-affected Maharashtra spiked by 122 on Wednesday, the highest in a single day, including 49 from worst-hit Mumbai, taking the death toll to 2,587, the state health department said. The number of cases shot up by 2,560 to 74,860, it said. "Of the 122 deaths, 60 fatalities were reported from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), including 49 from Mumbai alone," the statement said. Mumbai now accounts for 43,492 COVID-19 cases of the total 74,860 cases in the state with 1,417 deaths. A total of 996 patients were discharged from hospitals in the day, taking the tally of the recovered cases to 32,329 so far, a statement said. The spread of the virus also continued in Tamil Nadu, with the state reporting more than a thousand cases , including an all-time single-day high in the capital city, for the fourth straight day on Wednesday, taking the total infection count to 25,872. The state also reported 11 more COVID-19 deaths, taking the toll to 208. Of the 1,286 new positive cases, which is also a new single-day high for the state, as many as 15 were returnees from abroad and 27 from other states, while Chennai accounted for 1,012 of the fresh infections, its highest in a day so far, a health department bulletin said. In Goa, as many as 40 people from a COVID-19 containment zone in Goa tested positive for the disease on Wednesday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said while attributing the "local transmission" to one family. The family members consulted a private medical practitioner after developing COVID-19 symptoms, instead of going to a testing centre, he said. Kerala reported its highest single-day spike of 86 cases, taking its tally to 1,494. Those having tested positive included a doctor and four health workers. More than 1.6 lakh people are under observation in the state. Among the new cases, 53 people had come from abroad and 19 from other states, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters after a COVID-19 evaluation meeting. In the north, Himachal Pradesh's remote Kinnaur district reported its first two cases after a couple tested positive after returning from Delhi. Barring Lahaul-Spiti, now 11 of the 12 districts in the state have COVID-19 cases. Uttarakhand also saw 23 more people testing positive, taking its tally to 1,066. According to the state government bulletin, the people who tested positive had travelled to Delhi, Aligarh, Mumbai and Hyderabad. As the number of infections among those returning from other states has continued to rise, the state government has extended the quarantine period to 21 days for those returning from the country's 75 worst-hit cities. According to an order issued by Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh, people returning from the 75 highly infected cities will be quarantined at an institutional facility for a week. Thereafter, they will be home quarantined for 14 days. In Nagaland, nine more people tested positive and all of them had returned to the state last month in a migrant special train. In Sikkim, a man who returned from Delhi recently tested positive, becoming the second case of COVID-19 in the hill state. Megalaya and Mizoram also saw new cases among those having returned from other states. Assam recorded 111 new cases, while Odisha reported 143 more cases. Karnataka recorded 367 new cases and 168 new cases emerged in Madhya Pradesh. Gujarat's tally of confirmed cases rose by 485 to reach 18,117, while its death toll increased by 30 to 1,122. AIIMS Nurses' Union continues protest for third day In the National Capital, a five-member committee has been constituted by the Delhi government to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure and look into overall preparedness of hospitals to battle COVID-19. In the meantime, a protest by the AIIMS Nurses' Union over their working conditions entered the third day. The premier medical institution in the National Capital has seen at least 329 staff members having tested positive for COVID-19 so far, of which 47 are nursing staff. In a letter to AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, the nurses body has put forward a number of demands including implementation of a uniform four-hour shift with personal protective equipment in COVID-19 areas of the hospital, a uniform rotation policy between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 areas, and establishment of proper donning and doffing area. With inputs from PTI

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/06/coronavirus-outbreak-live-updates_4.html

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dailykhaleej · 5 years ago

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COVID-19: Lockdown 3.0 poses the great Indian dilemma of life or livelihood

The plight of India’s migrant labourers and every day wagers throughout the extended lockdown to battle coronavirus had been one of the main underlying sub-text in the final two months. Picture Credit score: AP

Dubai: When the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the first of the nationwide lockdowns on March 25, the nation had a reported 400-plus instances of COVID-19. Six weeks down the line, as the ‘world’s largest lockdown’ braces for a 3.0 version for one more two weeks, the complete quantity of instances have soared practically 100 instances extra to round 40,000 – making it a virtually foregone conclusion that India wanted to purchase for some extra time for the pandemic to hit it’s peak in the nation.

The dilemma earlier than India relating to lockdown, in comparison with the likes of Italy, Spain, France of the effected states of the US, had been a monumental one. Closing down the financial system of a rustic, which is so majorly reliant on the unorganised sector, for a interval of shut to 2 months should have been an actual Hobson’s selection in the first place – however India knew it’s limitations properly and determined to chew the bullet.

The primary part of the lockdown offered considerably encouraging outcomes as in the first week of April, India’s Well being Ministry introduced that they might carry down the doubling of an infection price in the nation from about three days to six.2 says. The ministry figures revealed that 19 states and Union territories (Kerala, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Ladakh, Himachal, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Bihar, Odisha, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, UP, Karnataka, J&Okay, Punjab, Assam, Tripura) had proven a decrease price of improve of instances to some extent.

When the second part of the lockdown began, the quantity of energetic instances had inched as much as practically 9000 with greater than 330 deaths.

The Lockdown 2.0 – from April 15 to Might 3 – was a bit of extra diluted one as the authorities opened up the window for a quantity of sectors to set the wheels of the financial system again on a chugging mode. There have been relaxations for the agricultural sector (with the harvesting season attributable to begin in April), small and medium scale indutsries, cargos in addition to the motion of hundreds of migrant labourers again to their very own states.

The relief, coupled with presumably a way of early reduction that India had already proved the Doubting Thomases mistaken – resulted in a surge in the development price of new instances in the second half of April. Whereas the financial system of the nation – which had been on a freefall with a predicted development price between 1.5% and a couple of.8% turned such a significant level of concern that the groundrules of combating the pandemic – constructed on a sequence of social distancing, assessments, contact tracing, isolation and therapy obtained considerably relegated to the background.

The selection of life or livelihood is a extremely acute one for India, and the new tips for Lockdown 3.0 mirror this dilemma. A quantity of the Chief Ministers of totally different states, who had been main the cost from the entrance – have spoken out towards too many ‘grey areas’ and the feasibility of implementing them in such a populous nation with a infamous lack of self self-discipline.

No prizes for guessing, it’s therefore going to be the hardest two weeks for India because it begins the course of of liberating itself from the protracted lockdown.

A primer on India’s lockdown 3.0 (Might 4-17)

What adjustments in lockdown 3.0?

The Indian districts have been recognized into three zones (purple, orange and inexperienced). Curbs will differ from one zone to the different — most in purple and minimal in inexperienced.

RED ZONES: These locations are also referred to as sizzling spots and are areas with most quantity of Covid-19 instances. The federal government takes into consideration complete quantity of energetic instances and case doubling price, amongst others, earlier than declaring an space a purple zone. Quantity of purple zones in the nation: 130

ORANGE ZONES: Locations which might be neither in purple nor in inexperienced class. They might have fewer instances. No: 284

GREEN ZONES: Locations with no instances or the place no case has been reported in 21 days. No: 319

CONTAINMENT ZONES: Locations in purple or orange zones with a cluster of instances. These areas have stricter perimeter management and the motion of solely important providers personnel is allowed. Aarogya Setu app is necessary for folks residing right here.

(States are allowed so as to add districts in purple and orange zones, however not permitted to decrease the classification of any district).

Motion of folks for all non-essential actions is prohibited between 7pm and 7am in all three zones. It’s not relevant to containment zones, that are earmarked pockets inside purple and orange zones, as a result of of stricter tips

Are there some actions banned throughout all three zones?

Home and worldwide air journey of passengers; passenger motion by trains, besides these cleared by the authorities; inter-state buses for public transport; Metro rails; faculties, schools and academic institutes; and hospitality providers aside from these for important staff and people stranded

All cinema halls, purchasing malls, gymnasiums, sports activities complexes, swimming swimming pools might be closed. All social, political, cultural and non secular gatherings aren’t allowed

What’s allowed in inexperienced zones?

All actions besides these banned nationwide. Even buses can function with as much as 50% seating capability; and bus depots with 50% capability

The curbs grow to be stricter right here. Inter- and intra-district buses aren’t allowed, along with actions restricted countrywide. Taxis and cab aggregators (with one driver and two passengers); and inter-district motion of people and autos (for permitted actions) are allowed

What’s banned in purple zones?

Cycle rickshaws and auto-rickshaws, taxis and cab aggregators, inter- and intra-district buses, and barber retailers and salons aren’t permitted

What’s allowed in purple zones?

* The federal government order lists sure actions allowed with restrictions. The motion of autos is allowed in sure instances, however with simply two passengers apart from the driver. Pillion-riding isn’t allowed for two-wheelers.

* Industrial actions in city areas are restricted to Particular Financial Zones, Export Oriented Models, and manufacturing items of important items and prescribed drugs, amongst others. Manufacturing of IT {hardware} and the jute trade are additionally allowed with staggered shifts and social distancing.

* Building actions in city areas are restricted to websites the place staff aren’t wanted to be introduced from outdoors, and to renewable vitality initiatives.

* All malls and market complexes inside metropolis limits might be closed, however these promoting important gadgets are exempt. All standalone retailers and retailers in residential complexes are allowed, however social distancing is a should.

* Industrial and personal institutions, equivalent to print and digital media, and IT and IT-enabled providers are allowed; e-commerce actions are permitted for important items.

* Non-public workplaces can function with as much as 33% power. Authorities workplaces will operate with officers of the degree of deputy secretary and above; the remaining employees can function with 33% power. This rule is not going to apply to defence and safety service, and hearth and emergency providers, amongst others.

* In rural areas, all industrial and development actions, together with MGNREGA work, are permitted. All retailers outdoors metropolis limits, besides these in malls are allowed. All agriculture and animal husbandry works are allowed

What are the actions allowed throughout the nation?

Important providers equivalent to well being care and policing will proceed to operate. Friday’s order additionally says all states and Union territories will permit inter-state motion of items. No contemporary allow is required for actions already permitted. Outpatient departments (OPDs) and medical clinics are permitted, aside from in containment zones.

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aliciabuncle · 5 years ago

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Keep on trucking: Trucks must keep moving across Canada-U.S. border amid coronavirus

The Canada-U.S. border will be closed to most people because of the coronavirus, but trucks will still be able to make the trip over crossings like the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ont. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Canada and the United States have agreed to restrict non-essential trips across their common border, while leaving it open for the movement to freight in trucks. While the justification of banning crossings by “non-essential” people is open to question, the economic arguments for preserving the movement of trucks are clear.

On an average day, about 30,000 trucks roll across the Canada-U.S. border, carrying more than $1 billion in trade. If truck movements were banned, critical supplies of food and medicine would be interrupted and production at some of the largest manufacturing plants in both countries would cease, idling thousands of workers.

The economic damage from interrupting the flow of trucks would be both direct and indirect.

The direct damage would come when needed goods are cut off. For example, pharmaceuticals are a major export from Ontario to the U.S. and thousands of truckloads of agri-food products, from live animals to processed food, are shipped in both directions. The indirect damage would come when supply chains that straddle the border break down, making it impossible for factories and other economic activities to keep operating.

The automotive sector is a good example. Tariff-free trade in cars and parts dates to a Canada-U.S. agreement in the 1960s, long before NAFTA. This industry has more than 50 years of evolution based on cross-border supply chains.

A complicated supply chain

Production of cars and SUVs depends on parts from hundreds of different factories being passed up through several “tiers” of suppliers and gradually combined into larger components before they ultimately arrive at the final assembly plant. Nearly all these factory-to-factory movements are made in trucks, many of which cross the Canada-U.S. border.

As the border constrictions in the wake of the 9/11 attacks demonstrated, when the trucks stop crossing the border, the automotive production system shuts down. A border shutdown during the COVID-19 crisis would be more complete and much longer than the slowdown that followed 9/11.

The movement of trucks and the movement of people are not independent issues. Beyond just the truck drivers, there are many people involved in maintenance, repair, training, marketing and other occupations who regularly move across the border in support of binational production systems. The inclusion of these people in the “essential” category will help ensure the smooth functioning of cross-border supply chains.

Many car and SUV parts cross the Canada-U.S. border several times before finally ending up on the line at factories like Chrysler’s Windsor Assembly Plant. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Since cars and SUVs are not staple commodities, why should we worry if their production pauses during the crisis? For one thing, a similar story of dependence on cross-border supply chains could be told for food processing, medical devices and other things we cannot do without. Plans for the automotive and other industries to re-purpose parts of their production assets to make desperately needed medical devices will also depend on cross-border supply chains.

Deeper crisis than 2008

More generally, it is important that economic activities which can be done safely carry on during the crisis. We are about to experience the deepest global economic contraction of our times — potentially much deeper than the crisis of 2008. How long it will last is still unclear, but it will be months or perhaps years rather than weeks.

At this early stage, public attention is rightly focused on protecting people from infection. This means all work environments and processes must be assessed to ensure that employees are not at risk. For example, the major automotive companies are currently shutting down plants for sanitation and to institute new safety measures.

As the regional effects of the pandemic subside, more attention will be given to speeding up the economic recovery. If the economic contraction during the crisis is any greater than what is required to protect the public, there will be more missed paycheques, more debt and more companies lost to bankruptcy. Keeping the trucks moving across the border now could pay off in a faster return to economic vitality in the aftermath of the crisis.

The COVID-19 crisis is a critical test of the resilience of cross-border supply chains. The outcome of this test will have big implications for the future of the Canadian economy, especially the manufacturing sector.

From our consultation at the Cross Border Institute with private-sector players who use the border intensively, we know that the threat of major delays and interruptions is one of the downsides of linking production facilities on opposite sides of the border. If the risk of interruptions becomes too great, a reasonable strategy is to consolidate the supply chain in one country.

The future of cross-border supply chains?

For some industries, such as food production, there is an argument for a shift to separate domestic supply chains.

But for industries where scale is important — automotive, aerospace, defence and industrial machinery — such consolidation systematically works against Canada. In those industries, supply chains will not be duplicated in each country, but rather concentrated in the country with the largest market — which is generally the United States. Demonstrating that cross-border logistics can function in a crisis would be beneficial for business investment in Canada.

The COVID-19 crisis is a time for bold action. But it’s also a time to resist taking actions that cause economic harm without protecting public health. The co-ordinated decision by the governments of Canada and the United States to keep the border open to trucking makes sense.

William Anderson has led research projects funded by government agencies and crown corporations with responsibilities for freight transportation and infrastructure, including Transport Canada, The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration.

Marta Leardi-Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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yeskraim · 5 years ago

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Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said dies at 79

Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said died on Friday after more than four decades as the country’s ruler, though a murky succession process means that the identity of the next sultan may not be known for days.

The late sultan was born on November 18, 1940, in Salalah, the capital of Oman’s southern province of Dhofar.

Qaboos is a direct descendant of the founder of the Al Bu Said dynasty, which created the sultanate in the 1600s after expelling the Portuguese from Muscat, now Oman’s capital.

Sultan Qaboos was educated in India and at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.

After completing his military training with the British army in Germany, he studied local government and embarked on a global cultural tour. He returned to Oman in 1964, and spent most of his time thereafter studying Islamic law and Omani history.

When Sultan Qaboos seized power from his father in a bloodless coup in 1970, Oman was an isolated and impoverished state.

Throughout Sultan Qaboos’s five-decade rule, he was credited with using Oman’s oil wealth to transform the sparsely populated Gulf nation into a rich country with a vibrant tourism industry and high standards of living.

“Sultan Qaboos will first and foremost be remembered for initiating the ‘Omani Renaissance’, undertaking social, economic, educational and cultural reforms as well as opening Oman up to the world,” Jeffrey Lefebvre, associate professor of political science at the University of Connecticut, told Al Jazeera.

Sultan Qaboos, seen here in London with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, ruled Oman since 1970 following a bloodless coup against his father [File: Bob Dear/AP]

“In a conservative society, he also took the lead in promoting women to positions of influence in the government [like] the Omani ambassador to the United States, and ensuring representation in popularly elected legislative councils,” Lefebvre added.

Successor?

The question of succession will be hotly debated in the next few days, as the house of Al Said moves to find a successor to the sultan, as well as to other top government posts.

When Sultan Qaboos came to power, he not only named himself the country’s ruler but also appointed himself as prime minister, defence minister, finance minister, foreign affairs minister and commander of the armed forces.

Sultan Qaboos was the only child born to the former Sultan Said bin Taimur and Princess Mazoon al-Mashani. He married his cousin in 1976, but the marriage did not last and the couple soon got divorced. The sultan never remarried or had any children.

Oman is a complex mosaic of interests that has been held together by Sultan Qaboos. If there are any internal squabbles over Omani ministries or assets in a post-Qaboos era, then a fractured society may appear.

Theodore Karasik, geopolitical analyst

With the sultan having no children and brothers, there are no clear successors within the royal family.

“There are many different stories about Omani succession, and no one really knows who will be the next sultan,” said Theodore Karasik, a Dubai-based geopolitical analyst.

“As with Saudi Arabia, the adage of ‘those who know don’t speak, and those who don’t know speak’ applies to Oman. So it is safer to allow the Omani defence council to pay attention to the instructions for succession and not base assessments about successors on rumours.”

According to Oman’s Basic Law, promulgated by Sultan Qaboos in 1996, “a successor must come from the royal family and be chosen by a family council within three days of the sultan’s death”.

Under this provision, if the process fails to choose a successor, then a sealed letter written by Sultan Qaboos will be opened in which he lists his preferred successors.

“I have already written down two names, in descending order, and put them in sealed envelopes in two different regions,” Sultan Qaboos told Foreign Affairs magazine in a 1997 interview.

But there are fears, among Omanis and in the broader Gulf region, that a rocky transition process could split the country.

Sultan Qaboos with the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during his visit to Tehran in 2013 [File: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA]

“Oman is a complex mosaic of interests that has been held together by Sultan Qaboos. If there are any internal squabbles over Omani ministries or assets in a post-Qaboos era, then a fractured society may appear. Regional countries may be impacted directly by such a development,” Karasik said.

It is not fear, but minor doubts, that cast some uncertainties regarding Oman’s leadership future, said Omani political commentator Khalid al-Haribi.

“For many Omanis, they grew up knowing only one Sultan and a one-way system of governance. There are some doubts since we don’t have that much information, and experience like other GCC countries, regarding a transition of power,” said Haribi, also a co-founder of Tawasul, Oman’s first independent think tank.

In addition to his domestic policy achievements, Sultan Qaboos has also been credited with transforming Oman into a regional player capable of bridging diplomatic divides, as seen in its role as mediator in nuclear talks between Iran and the United States in recent years.

Throughout 2012 and 2013, Sultan Qaboos mediated secret talks between US and Iranian officials. These culminated in the interim nuclear deal of November 2013, reached in Geneva between Iran and the so-called “P5+1” powers, which comprises the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.

“In [mediating the talks], Oman continued to serve its unique and traditional role as a diplomatic bridge between the West and the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] on one side, and the Islamic Republic [of Iran] on the other,” said Giorgio Cafiero, the co-founder of the think tank Gulf State Analytics.

Cafiero told Al Jazeera that Oman’s unique religious identity – the majority of the population are Ibadi Muslims, who are neither Sunni nor Shia – furthers the country’s interest in developing relations with Iran.

“In light of the Saudi Arabian religious establishment’s intolerant views of Ibadi Muslims, most in Oman believe that maintaining political, economic, social, and religious independence from Riyadh is an important foreign policy priority,” he said. “Oman’s government has viewed closer ties with Iran as a means to achieve this objective.”

Mediation

Under Sultan Qaboos’s leadership, Oman also mediated and oversaw talks between the warring sides of Yemen’s ongoing war. In November 2019, Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels held indirect, behind-the-scenes talks in a bid to end the devastating five-year war in Yemen.

Sultan Qaboos hosted Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in a rare visit to the Omani capital in 2018 [File: Hamid al-Qasmi/EPA]

The rapprochement could pave the way for more high-profile negotiations in the near future, a Houthi official had said.

When fellow GCC nations broke ties with Qatar in 2017, sparking a diplomatic crisis, Oman opted out and avoided the fray instead of following suit with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt – who imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Qatar.

Resistance to Sultan Qaboos’s reign was not immune during the popular Arab uprisings of 2011 when hundreds began protesting at a roundabout in Oman’s Sohar province demanding salary increases and an end to government corruption.

The three-month uprising prompted Sultan Qaboos to reshuffle his government and expand the consultative assembly to ease the unrest.

“The government’s proactive reaction to the people’s demands in 2011 allowed for a much more peaceful uprising in Oman compared to other countries in the Arab world,” said Haribi.

In December 2012, Omanis were allowed to vote in their first municipal elections when 192 were elected from among 1,475 candidates.

“Because of his swift response in allowing for democratic changes, we did not see a repeat of protests and demands from the people. Omanis were appreciative of the efforts put forth in building state institutions post-2011,” Haribi added.

In an unexpected move, Sultan Qaboos extended an invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018. Marking what was the first visit by an Israeli leader to the sultanate in over two decades, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement the visit in October 2018 followed “lengthy contacts between the two countries”.

His office added that it formed part of a policy of “deepening relations with the states of the region”.

A joint statement said the two sides “discussed ways to advance the Middle East peace process” and “a number of issues of mutual interest to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East”.

A day after Netanyahu’s visit, Oman described Israel as a “state” in the Middle East, drawing criticism from Palestinian officials.

Is dialogue still possible to end Gulf dispute? – Inside Story

It was not long after that an Israeli minister visited Oman to attend an international transport conference, which saw him pitch a railway project that aims to link the Gulf to the Mediterranean via Israel, according to media reports.

Rights record

However, Sultan Qaboos’s human rights record has been condemned in recent years when scores of activists were convicted of defamation or of using social media networks to insult the sultan.

Others have been convicted of, or are facing trial for, taking part in demonstrations calling for political reform.

Among the biggest challenges Oman’s next ruler will face is that of weaning the sultanate of its dependency on oil revenues, which account for as much as 75 percent of the government budget.

“The main focus right now is to continue building human capital through education, civil society and the building of state institutions,” said Haribi.

“It’s not panic time yet. While we’re running out of natural resources, we have to wait and see how the coming few years in the post-Sultan Qaboos era will look like for everyday Omanis,” Haribi added.

Despite Oman’s presence in the media throughout 2018, Sultan Qaboos spent much of the past year out of sight.

In early December, he was taken to Belgium for a medical checkup, according to a royal court statement.

The post Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said dies at 79 appeared first on Gadgets To Make Life Easier.

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The US and South Korea announced on Sunday an end to their annual large-scale military exercises in support of diplomatic efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. The decision comes days after the conclusion of US President Donald Trump’s second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, which ended without a formal agreement but with both sides suggesting they would keep talking. There are close to 30,000 US troops stationed in South Korea, and their annual drills with tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers have been a perennial target of North Korean fury – with Pyongyang condemning the manoeuvres as provocative rehearsals for invasion. While Mr Trump has ruled out withdrawing the troops, he has repeatedly complained about the cost of the exercises, describing them at a press conference in Hanoi as "very, very expensive". During a Saturday phone call between South Korean Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and his US counterpart Patrick Shanahan, "both sides decided to conclude the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises", according to a Pentagon statement. Foal Eagle is the biggest of the regular joint exercises held by the allies. In the past, it has involved 200,000 South Korean forces and some 30,000 US soldiers. It is accompanied by Key Resolve, a computer-simulated war game conducted by military commanders which usually begins in March and runs for about 10 days. The two allies will instead carry out "adjusted outside manoeuvre trainings and united command exercises to continue firm military readiness", Seoul’s defence ministry said Sunday. The decision was reached to support ongoing diplomatic efforts for North Korea’s denuclearisation and ease military tensions with the North, it added. South Korea’s foreign ministry said that Lee Do-hoon, Seoul’s chief nuclear envoy, will leave for Washington to hold talks with his US counterpart Stephen Biegun. "Lee will fly sometime this week," ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk told AFP. Lee and Biegun are expected to discuss the Hanoi summit, which failed to build on the vaguely-worded commitment to denuclearise the Korean peninsula signed by Kim and Trump during their meeting in Singapore last year. Opponents of scrapping the drills have warned that it could impact the combat readiness of the combined US and South Korean forces and hand the North a strategic advantage on the divided peninsula, but most analysts said such concerns were exaggerated. "Suspending or downgrading the US-South Korean drills may hurt the readiness of the two militaries, but I don’t think it’s going to be a serious security threat to South Korea," Ahn Chan-il, the president of the World Institute for North Korea Studies in Seoul, told AFP. U.S. Army's Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters fly during a combined arms live-fire exercise during the annual joint military exercise Foal Eagle Credit: AP "The South’s conventional forces outclass the North’s, and given the current situation (with the US and the existing sanctions), it’s highly unlikely that Pyongyang will do anything with its nuclear weapons in the foreseeable future," he added. Retired General Vincent Brooks, a former commander of US forces in South Korea who helped organise Trump’s first meeting with Kim in Singapore, said last year that any end to joint training would not hinder the Pentagon’s combat-readiness on the peninsula. "Perhaps we’ve been told for now to put our sword back into its sheath, but we have not been told to forget how to use it," he said. Washington has sought to end long-running tensions on the peninsula and encourage North Korea to scrap its nuclear programme. Since the Singapore summit, the US and Seoul have scaled back or scrapped several joint military drills, and US bombers are no longer flying over South Korea. "Not downgrading or suspending the drills at this point ... would mean the involved countries are not serious" about reaching a denuclearisation accord, said University of North Korean Studies professor Yang Moo-jin.

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Headlines

With worst to come, 3 in 4 hospitals already facing COVID-19 (AP) Three out of four U.S. hospitals surveyed are already treating patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, according to a federal report that finds hospitals expect to be overwhelmed as cases rocket toward their projected peak. A report due out Monday from a federal watchdog agency warns that different, widely reported problems are feeding off each other in a vicious cycle. Such problems include insufficient tests, slow results, scarcity of protective gear, the shortage of breathing machines for seriously ill patients and burned-out staffs anxious for their own safety. “There’s this sort of domino effect,” said Ann Maxwell, an assistant inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services. “These challenges play off each other and exacerbate the situation. There’s a cascade effect.”

Americans hit by economic shocks as confusion, stumbles undermine Trump’s stimulus effort (Washington Post) The Trump administration has stumbled in its initial push to implement the $2 trillion coronavirus aid package, with confusion and fear mounting among small businesses, workers and the newly unemployed since the bill was signed into law late last month. Small-business owners have reported delays in getting approved for loans without which they will close their doors, while others say they have been denied altogether by their lenders and do not understand why. The law’s provision to boost unemployment benefits has become tangled in dated and overwhelmed state bureaucracies, as an unprecedented avalanche of jobless Americans seeks aid. Officials at the Internal Revenue Service have warned that $1,200 relief checks may not reach many Americans until August or September if they haven’t already given their direct-deposit information to the government. Taxpayers in need of answers from the IRS amid a rapidly changing job market are encountering dysfunctional government websites and unresponsive call centers that have become understaffed as federal workers stay home.

Army temporarily suspends basic training for new recruits (AP) In an effort to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus, the U.S. Army announced Monday that it has temporarily suspended sending recruits to basic combat training. The two-week stop goes into effect immediately.

Texas to quarantine drivers entering from Louisiana (Washington Post) Texas will screen drivers who enter the state from coronavirus-stricken Louisiana, state officials said Sunday, to enforce a mandatory, two-week quarantine. Law enforcement officers will operate screening stations near the Texas-Louisiana state line, along interstate roads and highways. All drivers coming from Louisiana will be required to fill out a form with personal information, including a “designated quarantine location.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) also signed an executive order March 29 mandating a quarantine in his state on travelers coming from California, Washington state and four hard-hit metro areas, adding to a similar order placed on New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Desperate hunt for food by Peru’s poor amid virus quarantine (AP) Pushing a shopping cart with two children, César Alegre emerges from the large, deteriorated house near Peru’s presidential palace that is shared by 45 families to search for food. Sometimes he begs in markets. Sometimes he sells candies. It is a task that was hard at the best of times, but with a month-long quarantine that has forced 32 million Peruvians to stay home and closed restaurants and food kitchens, it has become much harder. The pandemic has spotlighted the wide gap between rich and poor in Peru and elsewhere in Latin America, and economists say a looming recession worse than any since World War II could push the continent’s long-suffering poor into even more dire circumstances. “The economic impact of what is happening is unprecedented,” said Peru’s economy minister, María Alva.

Queen Elizabeth II addresses British people (NYT) Queen Elizabeth II urged the British people in a rare televised speech Sunday to show their self-discipline and quiet resolve during the coronavirus pandemic that has taken nearly 5,000 lives in the country. “I hope in the years to come, everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge,” the queen said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson moved to intensive care (AP) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to the intensive care unit of a London hospital after his coronavirus symptoms worsened Monday, just a day after he was admitted for what were said to be routine tests. Downing St, said Johnson was conscious and does not require ventilation at the moment, but was in the intensive care unit in case he needed it later. It said Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputize for him. The 55-year-old leader had been quarantined in his Downing Street residence since being diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26--the first known head of government to fall ill with the virus.

Finland, ‘Prepper Nation of the Nordics,’ Isn’t Worried About Masks (NYT) As some nations scramble to find protective gear to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Finland is sitting on an enviable stockpile of personal protective equipment like surgical masks, putting it ahead of less-prepared Nordic neighbors. The stockpile, considered one of Europe’s best and built up over years, includes not only medical supplies, but also oil, grains, agricultural tools and raw materials to make ammunition. “Finland is the prepper nation of the Nordics, always ready for a major catastrophe or a World War III,” said Magnus Hakenstad, a scholar at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies. Though year after year Finland has ranked high on the list of happiest nations, its location and historical lessons have taught the nation of 5.5 million to prepare for the worst, Tomi Lounema, the chief executive of Finland’s National Emergency Supply Agency, said on Saturday. “It’s in the Finnish people’s DNA to be prepared,” Mr. Lounema said.

Greece quarantines second refugee camp (Foreign Policy) Greece has quarantined its second mainland refugee camp in the space of a week after an Afghan resident tested positive for the coronavirus in the Malakasa camp, near Athens. Malakasa now joins the Ritsona camp in central Greece, which was quarantined after 20 coronavirus cases were discovered.

Indian state blocking imports (Le Monde) In Goa, one of the richest states in India, famous among tourists for its picturesque beach resorts, finding food has become dangerously hard since a nationwide shutdown began two weeks ago. French daily Le Monde reports that the local governor has shut off any incoming food supply trucks, and stocks have been rapidly vanishing. Locals report that the population of northern Goa has almost nothing left to eat.

Coronavirus Strands China’s Students, in a Dilemma for Beijing (NYT) The coronavirus outbreak has stranded more than one million Chinese students in empty dormitories and fearful towns and cities around the world. Many of those overseas students want to flee back to China, where official numbers suggest that the authorities have made progress in containing the pandemic. But virtually all flights to and from China have been canceled as Beijing tries to keep infected travelers from reigniting the contagion there. Remaining seats are breathtakingly expensive. For students trapped in the United States, their families worry that tense relations between Beijing and Washington will hinder Chinese-run evacuation efforts. The stranded students have put Beijing in a bind. It is anxious to tame the coronavirus outbreak that raged through the country before it spread abroad, putting its economy in free fall. Bringing in people from abroad, the government believes, invites further spread. Yet China’s image is at stake.

Japan’s Abe to declare state of emergency to cover major cities Tokyo, Osaka as infections rise sharply (Washington Post) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he will declare a state of emergency on Tuesday to cover seven prefectures, including Tokyo and the city of Osaka, most severely affected by the coronavirus outbreak, but promised no lockdowns like those implemented elsewhere. “The period will be for one month as a rough estimate, and this declaration is issued in order to ask for more cooperation from the public to reduce as much as possible people-to-people contact that could lead to infections, and to establish the medical system to deal with the situation,” he said. Abe said he would also announce an “unprecedented” economic rescue package on Tuesday equivalent to around 20 percent of the gross domestic product.

With Netanyahu under quarantine, Israeli government negotiations require shouting from his patio (Washington Post) As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and rival political leader Benny Gantz held talks about how to form a new government over recent days, they’ve been forced by the coronavirus to keep their distance and shout their negotiating terms at each other. Gantz, who agreed to a plan to annex parts of the West Bank next summer on Monday as talks for a unity government continued, has been forced to stand outside Netanyahu’s house and shout as the Israeli prime minister is under quarantine, according to reports in local media. Haaretz reported that a lengthy meeting between Gantz and Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem involved Gantz standing at an outdoor patio and yelling his negotiating points to Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister stayed inside the residence in his study, according to the reports.

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