Los Angeles,  06 July 2019 (Xinhua)

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake on Friday hit southern California at 8:19 p.m. local time (0319 GMT Saturday), according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The epicenter is near Ridgercrest, a city in Kern County which is located 272 km north of Los Angeles downtown. A nearby area was hit by a magnitude 6.4 earthquake Thursday.

According to Kern County officials, the county has activated the emergency operations center. There are roughly 1,800 people without power following the 7.1-magnitude earthquake, but there are currently no reports of major gas leaks, major building collapse and no fatalities immediately reported.

David Witt, chief of Kern County Fire Department, said the department received many phone calls for help, and is responding to them for service and ordering additional resources.

Authorities are concerned about dam damage, building collapse and people trapped, he said, adding currently they are going all out to gather information.

The Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles was concerned about the earthquake in a release on Friday night, and expressed condolences to families affected by the earthquake.

The Consulate General has not received reports of Chinese citizens seeking help after the disaster, said the release.

The Consulate General also urged Chinese citizens to pay attention to official information and media reports, respond appropriately during the earthquake, ensure personal safety, and contact the Consulate General when necessary.

Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti said there are no reports of serious damage in Los Angeles related to the earthquake Friday night.

"We are sending an Urban Search and Rescue Task Force Team to Kern County to help with the damage closer to the epicenter," he tweeted.

The Los Angeles Fire Department has been dispatching vehicles and helicopters around the city to identify any damage or emergency needs, said Brian Humphrey of the department.

"This is part of the same sequence," said Lucy Jones, a seismologist from California Institute of Technology, referring to the quake and the other one in Searles Valley on Thursday, at a press conference which was held 45 minutes after Friday's quake.

She explained that usually, the aftershock would not be stronger, but about 5 percent of the major quakes might be followed by something even bigger.

"Smaller quakes - M5s are likely and a M6 is quite possible," she tweeted after the quake.

According to USGS forecast, over the next week, there is a 9-percent chance of one or more aftershocks that could be larger than magnitude 7.1. It is likely that there will be smaller earthquakes over the next week.

The number of aftershocks will decrease over time, but a large aftershock can increase the numbers again, temporarily, said the USGS.

The last time southern California saw a major quake was in 1999, when a magnitude 7.1 quake jolted the state in the Hector Mines area of the Mojave Desert. No major damage or injuries occurred because of its distance from Los Angeles.

Ankara, 05 July 2019 (Anadolu)

Turkey removed Murat Cetinkaya as Central Bank governor early Saturday and replaced him with the bank’s deputy governor, Murat Uysal, according to a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette.

According to a Central Bank statement, Uysal said in his first remarks as governor that he will continue to "independently apply monetary policy tools to maintain price stability."

He also said that communication channels will be used in line with the bank's targets.

The statement added that Uysal will hold a press conference in the coming days.

Ankara, 05 July 2019 (Anadolu)

In a phone call, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres discussed the UN's signing of "an action plan" with the PKK/YPG terror group, diplomatic sources said on Friday.

The two top politicians touched on the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gambia’s meeting with PKK terrorist "Ferhat Abdi Sahin", who commands the so-called "Syrian Democratic Forces" dominated by the terrorist organization and signing an "Action Plan" at the UN Office in Geneva.

The UN over the weekend signed a scandalous agreement with a terrorist group without the knowledge of UN member states.

The UN signing an “action plan” with the PKK/YPG terrorists, supposedly to stop the recruitment of child soldiers, is actually a sinister subterfuge meant to legitimize a bloody terrorist organization that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Proving the point, the terror group’s propaganda outlets hailed the UN agreement, while it fittingly drew strong condemnation from Turkey, a sovereign member state of the international body.

The PKK has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years and has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children.

In 2017, the U.S., which considers the PKK a terrorist group, helped change the YPG’s name to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in order to dissociate it with the PKK. A terrorist using the SDF label signed the UN pact.

04 July 2019

On the sidelines of preparation for the MSC Arab Business Delegation to Philippines from 09 to 16 July 2019, Management Solutions Consultancy (MSC) being the Qatar-based proponent of this trade mission has partnered with the Association of Chief of Police of the Philippines Inc. (ACPPI) through it’s Global Police Community Relations (GPCR) program under the Philippine National Police (PNP) during simple LOI signing ceremonies held last 25 June 2019 at the Radisson Blue Hotel, Doha, Qatar.

Signifying their intent & commitment was MSC Managing Partner Abdulrahman Hassan and ACPPI National President & GPCR Program Director PNP General Rhodel Sermonia witnessed by Col. Renante Pinuela of the PNP and Joseph Timothy Rivera, PEZA Investment Promotions Partner for the Middle East.

In the outset  MSC will collaborate with ACPPI through the GPCR program in jointly promoting the Philippines as a premier investment & tourist destination by co-hosting promotional and business missions to the Philippines organized by MSC. MSC shall also adhere to all ACPPI and GPCR standards, rules and regulations and will diligently support the ACPPI through the GPCR program with it’s resources in boosting the capacity of the PNP to address transnational crimes.

A salient feature of this endeavour includes ACPPI through the GPCR program in providing investor security confidence briefings and  assistance in securing the necessary police protection to MSC’s visiting investors to the Philippines particularly to the MSC Arab Business Delegation to the Philippines this 2019 and to MSC’s subsequent business missions of MSC in the future.

Abdulrahman Hassan, MSC Managing Director said that MSC is truly honoured to be the organizer of this business delegation as a result of more than 2 years of planning and solicitation of investment interest towards the Philippines from the region’s business community.

Gen. Sermonia expressed optimism to the signing of an official Memorandum of Understanding  (MOU) between the PNP and MSC in Camp Crame in the Philippines during the opening days of this upcoming business mission.

Joseph Rivera, who is also the concurrent coordinator for this trade mission has assured that most preparations in the Philippines have already been arranged and is confident with the business & leisure itinerary and B2B presentations awaiting the delegates there.

The forthcoming visit to Philippines is arranged with the cooperation with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), the Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines (CFIP), Megaworld International and the local government units of Iloilo City and the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Guimaras & Bataan.

The visit will cover 8 days of intensive trade & tourism tours to 5 prosperous regions, 9 progressive provinces and 10 cosmopolitan cities. Delegates so far include businessmen from Qatar, Jordan, the U.A.E., Pakistan & India while some will be accompanied by their Filipino business partners.

A few slots are still available to those interested to join the delegation. Inquiries could be sent to info@ms-consultancy.com or call +97477776990.

04 July 2019                                                                                                                                                                        By Aurang Zaib Alamgir

On 21 April series of bombing ripped through different churches on Easter day. More than 300 people were killed and nearly 500 were injured including foreigners. Indian media outlets have associated the bombing with a local extremist group National Tawheed Jamath (NIJ), which is an arm of Indian Tamil Nadu Tawheed Jamath and is equally active in USA, UK, Qatar, France and Australia.  Although the organization did not involve in terror activities in past but it held demonstration and protest across Tamil Nadu against demolition of Babri Masjid, load shedding and for removal of liquor shops.

Along with it, according to various reports which were later confirmed by Sri Lankan authorities, the series of bombing was planned in India. Tracing the history of terrorism in south Asia, the evidences prove that, it started from Sri lanka in the decade of 1980s, once the Tamil insurgency against the Sri Lankan Govt was at its peak. The Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist Organization were considered to be the pioneers of the terrorism in South Asia. The conflict between the Sri Lankan govt and LTTE has lasted nearly three decades. It is on the record that LTTE was directly linked with RAW, and RAW was supporting LTTE under the large Indira doctrine which had aim to destabilize India’s neighborhood in order to maximize Indian sphere of Influence.

If we analyze the facts about Sri Lanka, as per 2011 census 70% population is Sinhala Buddhist while in minority 12.6% are Hindus, 9.7% are Muslim and 7.4% are Christians. Buddhism is the state religion but according to Sri Lankan constitution followers of other religions are free to live according to their religious norms.

Economically, Srilanka is declared among fast growing markets in coming decade while Sri Lanka is an important part of Chinese 21^st century Maritime Silk road, because of Sri Lanka’s prime location on main Indo-Pacific Sea Lane of Communication (SLOC), most of the energy and goods travel  near Sri Lankan coastal lines.

Sri Lanka’s status of emerging market and its prime geo-political and geo-strategic location makes it a matter of concern for India. Chinese involvement in Indian Ocean is prioritized as a threat to Indian national security. The maritime domain remained one of the key focuses of Prime Minister Modi’s government. Modi regime not only reinvigorated India’s look east policy, but also gave a new outlook to decades long Indian aspirations of dominating the Indian Ocean. Dream of dominating the Indian Ocean has continued to shape Indian maritime thinking that, as argued by David Scott, now India sees the Indian Ocean as India’s Ocean. Since the Ocean is named after the Indian Subcontinent, India has lately begun considering it as its own backyard. Under the new naval doctrine of India, India has planned to add up around 160 ships, 40 major combatants, 400 aircrafts and 8 conventional and nuclear its naval muscle. If India executes this plan, it will be defiantly dreadful for regional balance of power generally and for small states like Sri Lanka and Maldives especially. Indian Nuclear submarines with the concept of “Sea Nuclear detrence” will create the security dilemma for all the states which share the coastal line with Indian Ocean.

The policies of Modi Govt are quite unsafe for regional peace and stability. India is doing all  the doable covert and overt acts of terrorism and sabotage to maximize its sphere of influence in its neighborhood.

On one side, India is increasing its conventional and non-conventional arsenals while on the other hand it is sponsoring terrorism in the region. Perhaps stability in the region is not favorable for India because  so far India has not welcomed the regional connectivity projects like Belt and road initiative.  Rather, it is involved to fail these kinds of activities and the evidence is in front of international community in the form of Kulbhushan Jadhav, who is in custody of Pakistan and other operators.

As per some of the earlier analysis last year, Washington based RFA published 'on the diplomatic front, India has been deepening ties with Southeast Asian nations, many of which have been looking to India to counterbalance China’s growing power and influence.

In order to protect sea lanes, India has bolstered its ties with Australia and Japan while looking to them for assistance. As the Financial Times noted recently, the idea of an “Indo-Pacific” region with India playing a more active strategic role has been endorsed by Australia, Japan, and U.S. President Donald Trump.

But India now faces a crisis in the Maldives islands, located near the southwestern tip of the Indian subcontinent, that should test how forcefully India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is prepared to respond to growing Chinese influence.

The former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, has appealed to India to intervene in the Maldives to deal with the ongoing political crisis there.

It’s no secret that Prime Minister Modi was distressed at the ouster of Nasheed in a coup in 2012. After being jailed, Nasheed was allowed to go into exile for medical treatment and now lives in Sri Lanka.'

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