The US has finally invited Pakistan to an upcoming climate change summit after initially ignoring the country, leaving government officials puzzled.

Malik Amin Aslam, the prime minister's adviser on climate change, told Anadolu Agency on Monday that he would represent Pakistan at the two-day virtual summit, which is slated to be held on April 22 and 23.

In a letter to Aslam, a copy of which was made available to Anadolu Agency, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said: "On behalf of the President of the United States, it is my pleasure to invite you to be a distinguished speaker at the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate. We would like to ask you to join other ministers and leaders on April 22 in a discussion focused on climate adaptation and resilience."

"It is our hope that you can contribute Pakistan's valuable perspective to a session focused on climate adaptation and resilience to be hosted by the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack," it added.

US President Joe Biden last month invited 40 world leaders to the Leaders Summit on Climate “to galvanize efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis.”

He, however, did not invite Washington's longtime ally Islamabad, prompting Prime Minister Imran Khan to openly express his displeasure over the US snub.

The virtual summit follows Washington’s return to the 2016 Paris agreement on climate change after the Trump administration formally left the accord last year, saying it was in America’s “economic interests” to do so./aa

Turkey sent 40,000 more doses of a coronavirus vaccine early Tuesday to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). 

A Turkish Health Ministry plane carrying the vaccine doses landed at Ercan International Airport in Lefkosa, where officials of the TRNC’s Health Ministry received the shipment.

With the latest delivery, Turkey has provided the TRNC with 140,000 vaccine doses to date.

"We continue our struggle against COVID-19 with our people and the support of Turkey. A total of 40,000 more doses of the Sinovac vaccine will arrive from motherland Turkey tonight. We heartily thank our motherland Turkey," said TRNC Prime Minister Ersan Saner on Twitter.

The number of COVID-19 cases recorded in the TRNC is over 3,900, including 24 deaths and more than 3,000 recoveries.

The island of Cyprus has been divided into the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the north and the Greek Cypriot administration in the south since 1974 when a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island was followed by violence against the island’s Turks and Ankara’s intervention as a guarantor power./aa

The world waits as a Minneapolis jury is deciding the fate of the former police officer accused in the death of George Floyd, which triggered worldwide protests.  

The jury started deliberating on Monday afternoon, sequestered in a hotel, after closing arguments in the trial wrapped up. 

The Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, declared a state of emergency in the Minneapolis area on Monday in anticipation of the verdict and has ordered additional police forces from Ohio and Nebraska to beef up the already thousands of extra law enforcement personnel in the area. 

Prosecutor Steve Schleicher began the day by describing the agonizing final minutes of Floyd's life as he tried to survive under Chauvin's knee for over nine minutes in the May 2020 arrest. 

"He was trapped by the unyielding pavement," said Schleicher, "as unyielding as the men who held him down.” 

Derek Chauvin ignored Floyd's cries for help, said Schleicher, and continued his "intentional, unlawful assault" on Floyd, even after Floyd lost consciousness. 

"There was nothing there," said Schleicher, as Floyd was finally loaded into an ambulance. 

Schleicher acknowledged the obvious: prosecuting a police officer in the line of duty is difficult. 

"It's a noble profession," he said of policing, but added that it isn't police on trial, it's Derek Chauvin, as a photo of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck was shown to the jury. 

Chauvin rarely looked up, scribbling notes while Schleicher ridiculed the defense's contention that Floyd died from heart problems or a drug overdose or even car exhaust fumes. 

"That's not common sense, that's nonsense," said Schleicher. 

Chauvin paid much closer attention as defense attorney Eric Nelson began his closing arguments by imploring the jury to 

"compare the evidence against itself, test it, challenge it." 

Nelson said the 9 minutes and 29 seconds where Chauvin is seen in a video kneeling on Floyd's neck, which the prosecution has made the core of its case, "ignores" the previous 16 minutes in which he said Floyd "struggled, fought, whatever adjective you want to use." 

Someone can be compliant one minute, Nelson said and fighting the next. 

Nelson repeatedly described Chauvin's actions as "reasonable,” given Chauvin's genuine fear that Floyd, and the bystanders around him, were aggressive. 

And Nelson ridiculed the prosecution testimony of a lung specialist who pinpointed the moment Floyd took his last breath underneath Chauvin's knee. 

"Theory, speculation, assumption," Nelson called it. 

Interestingly, both the prosecution and defense played parts of the infamous cellphone video of Floyd's death in their closing arguments, as well as parts of the police body camera video at the scene. 

The prosecution argued the videos showed Floyd was compliant, even polite, before his death; the defense argued the videos showed Floyd was being unpredictable and that Chauvin's actions fit the police department's use-of-force policy. 

Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell wrapped up with a rebuttal, trying to knock down some of the arguments that Nelson made. 

Among them, the much-maligned theory that Floyd might have died from a police car’s exhaust fumes while on the ground. 

Even if that were true, Blackwell said, it proved Chauvin was still being abusive by not moving Floyd away to safety. 

"In your custody is in your care," Blackwell said of the traditional police motto. "It's not, 'in your custody, I DON'T care'." 

Blackwell wrapped up by saying that Floyd's enlarged heart was not the cause of his death as the defense has suggested, but rather how small Chauvin's heart was. 

The jury could acquit Chauvin or find him guilty on one of three different charges or on multiple charges, with punishments ranging from 10 to 40 years in prison. 

Meanwhile, a few miles northwest of the courthouse, protests continue nightly after last week's shooting death of a mixed-race man, Daunte Wright, by a white police officer. Wright's funeral is set for Thursday and the officer has been charged with second-degree manslaughter. 

And a few miles south of the courthouse, hundreds of demonstrators showed up Sunday at the intersection where George Floyd died, now dubbed "George Floyd Square." 

"We're trying to stay calm," on-looker Jordan Edwards told Anadolu Agency, but he said Derek Chauvin "needs to be held accountable. And now we're looking at the next guy, Daunte Wright. We can never be satisfied until [society] meets OUR goals." ​​​​​​​ And while George Floyd Square has been attracting visitors from around the world, one speaker angrily told the crowd: "This isn't a tourist destination! It's a murder scene!"/aa

Canada rang up a deficit of $354 billion Canadian dollars in 2020 but it is expected to decrease this year despite CA$101.4 billion in new spending, according to the federal government budget released Monday. 

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the budget will help Canadians through the pandemic by creating jobs, extending benefits, a new child care program, and green (environmental) investments, all designed to stimulate the economy and foster recovery.

“This budget is a smart, responsive, ambitious plan for jobs and growth that is designed precisely to heal the specific wounds of the COVID-19 recession and to permanently strengthen Canada’s economic muscle,” Freeland told reporters.

The pandemic forced shutdowns of businesses and cost people jobs, particularly women who had to stay home and look after children when schools closed. It also most affected low-wage workers – often women – and younger people, she said.

Federal wage and rent subsidies were extended with a CA$12 billion plan. Unemployment insurance benefits will be increased by CA$3.9 billion and made easier to access.

Measures introduced included CA$3 billion to improve care in nursing homes, CA$2.2 billion for vaccine research, CA$424 million targeted to guarantee that the country's borders are reopened safely, and CA$100 billion to bolster mental health programs.

The budget also addressed child care, with CA$30 billion spendings over a five-year period to create a national plan designed to increase the number of women in the workforce and provide financial help for those with disabled children.

“This is an economic issue as much as it is a social issue,” it says in the budget. “Child care is an essential social infrastructure. It is the care work that is the backbone of our economy. Just as roads and transit support our economic growth, so too does child care.”

To tackle unemployment, 500,000 new work opportunities will be developed over a five-year period.

As for the deficit of CA$354 billion, it is massive but is forecast by the government to gradually decline to CA$30.7 billion in 2026.

In 2019 before the pandemic, Canada’s total deficit was CA$25.3 billion./aa

Spain’s government on Monday condemned the creation of a breakaway football league, seeking a way to defuse a major shakeup in the world of professional sports.

Culture and Sports Minister José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes spent his day in meetings with the presidents of the three Spanish teams backing the new European Super League, as well as the heads of European football authority UEFA, the Royal Spanish Football Federation, and La Liga.

“Through conversations, the government has verified that all parties are interested in dialogue… and hopes it will lead to an agreement that benefits everyone,” said a statement released afterward.

Spain’s Real Madrid, Atletico de Madrid, and Barcelona have all signed up for the new league. Six British teams and three from Italy are also on board.

Florentino Perez, the current president of Real Madrid, has been named the league’s first chairman.

Under the proposal, the league would consist of 20 teams from across Europe that would play matches all season until a finale in May.

The major European football leagues said in a statement: “We remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever.”

The statement also said that the clubs involved in the rebel league will be banned from playing in other domestic or international competitions, while their players could also be denied the chance to represent national teams in tournaments like the World Cup.

Javier Tebas, the head of Spain’s La Liga, slammed the move, tweeting that “gurus of the superleague... are exiting the darkness of the bar at 5 AM, intoxicated with selfishness and a lack of solidarity.”

The major criticism of the new league is that it will leave out less powerful teams and could steal the spotlight from other football leagues.

The 12 clubs that signed up for the super league said in a statement that the move aims to put the game on “a sustainable footing for the long-term future” and “open a new chapter for European football, ensuring world-class competition and facilities.”

“The pandemic has shown that a strategic vision and a sustainable commercial approach are required to enhance value and support for the benefit of the entire European football pyramid.”/aa

Some 20 people lost their lives on both sides in clashes between hunters and suspected "jihadist" groups in central Mali last week, an official statement said on Monday. 

The clashes took place last Tuesday and Wednesday, according to a statement by Mopti's governor.

He said the conflict was the result of a feud between two brothers, one a hunter and the other "involved with alleged jihadist groups."

"Far from being an inter-communal conflict, the friction is consequential," the statement said, citing local sources.

The government authority in the region said "all measures have been taken to manage this situation, which is tending towards a disaster."

It also announced the "diligent deployment" of Malian Armed Forces units in the area to quickly contain the clashes as well as emergency humanitarian aid for about 1,000 displaced people.

A multidisciplinary regional mission led by the governor's economic and financial affairs advisor has also been deployed to "assess the situation on the ground, reassure the population, and hand over various donations," the governor said.

In Mali, Mopti is one of the regions that has suffered the most attacks by terrorist groups./aa

China's crimes against its minority Muslim populations have reached "unprecedented levels" in recent years, a US-based rights group said on Monday.

China has "arbitrarily detained" up to one million people in a network of what it calls "political re-education camps," detention centers and prisons that span 300 to 400 facilities in which forced labor and torture are commonplace, Human Rights Watch said in a report detailing the crackdown.

"The oppression continues outside the detention facilities: the Chinese authorities impose on Turkic Muslims a pervasive system of mass surveillance, controls on movement, arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance, cultural and religious erasure, and family separation," the group said in a blistering 53-page report.

Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz in China, all of whom are ethnically Turkic, comprise the majority of the population in China's Xinjiang Province. It is the only Chinese province with a Muslim majority.

Arrests in Xinjiang have accounted for 21% of all arrests in China even though the province constitutes just 1.5% of the population, the rights group said, citing official statistics.

Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch's China director, said Chinese officials have "systematically persecuted Turkic Muslims – their lives, their religion, their culture."

"Beijing has said it’s providing ‘vocational training’ and ‘deradicalization,’ but that rhetoric can’t obscure a grim reality of crimes against humanity," she added in a statement

It also said Beijing has embarked on a campaign to destroy Muslim places of worship with roughly two-thirds of all mosques in Xinjiang damaged or destroyed since 2017, and about half of those building being completely destroyed. Islamic holy sites have also been demolished "across the region."

The US and the West generally have imposed waves of sanctions on Chinese officials, companies and institutions over the clampdown, which the US has officially labeled genocide.

"Given the gravity of the abuses against Turkic Muslims, there is a pressing need for concerned governments to take strong, coordinated action to advance accountability," the group said, further suggesting the creation of a UN commission to probe the crimes against humanity./aa

The White House sought to defend on Monday a since-backtracked decision to maintain Trump-era refugee admission levels, citing a hollowing-out of key governmental agencies.

That included ex-President Donald Trump's gutting of the asylum processing division at the State Department, and culling the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) "personnel, staffing and financial and funding needs," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

The ORR has since run out of funding, and while Psaki said the administration is not currently considering a new funding request for the office it is looking to shift funding previously allocated by Congress to fund its operations.

"We have every intention to increase the cap and make an announcement of that by May 15 at the latest, and I expect it will be sooner than that," said Psaki.

US President Joe Biden came under searing criticism from key Democratic allies on Friday after the White House announced it would maintain the historically-low refugee admission cap of 15,000 established by his predecessor after committing to raising it to 62,500 by the end of the 2021 fiscal year.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, herself a refugee, was among the chorus of opposition, calling the decision "disgraceful."

"It goes directly against our values and risks the lives of little boys and girls huddled in refugee camps around the world," she said in a statement. “I know, because I was one."

Amid mounting opposition, the White House changed course, announcing Biden would increase the refugee cap by May 15.

Trump worked year after year to draw down the number of refugees allowed into the US annually after he came to office in 2017 on a pledge to curtail migration to the US. The former president sharply curtailed refugee admissions from 110,000 when he assumed office to a maximum of 15,000 in his final year, an all-time low.

Psaki said Biden “remains committed to pursuing the aspirational goal of reaching 125,000 refugees by the end of the next fiscal year,” which ends in September 2022./aa

Taiwan is likely to introduce two homegrown coronavirus vaccines by July as they have entered Phase 2 of clinical trials and have also shown efficacy against the virus’ variants.

Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp. and United Biomedical said their vaccine candidates have entered Phase 2 of clinical trials, daily Taiwan News reported on Monday.

At least 4,000 people are involved in the trials.

The report added that the potential vaccines are likely to secure “emergency use authorization in June and be rolled out in July.”

A Medigen Vaccine Biologics spokesperson said: “Antibody tests for the company’s vaccine indicated equivalent protection against the UK variant while it registered reduced potency against the variant from South Africa.”

It appeared to fare better than Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines in this regard, the spokesperson claimed.

Hwang Kao-pin, leader of the United Biomedical COVID-19 vaccine project, said the vaccine delivered satisfactory results in fighting both the UK and South Africa variants.

Currently, Taiwan is administering AstraZeneca vaccines secured directly from the company and also through COVAX, a global facility that aims to provide equitable access to vaccines worldwide.

The island nation reported three new imported cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the case tally to 1,076, including 960 imported.

According to Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center, a total of 1,034 coronavirus patients have recovered while 11 have died so far./aa