GENEVA

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Thursday reported a devastating shipwreck that took the lives of at least 74 migrants off the coast of Al-Khums, Libya.

The IOM said Thursday’s sinking was the latest in a series of tragedies involving at least eight other shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean since Oct. 1

The vessel was reported to be carrying over 120 people, including women and children.

Forty-seven survivors have been brought to shore by the coast guard and fishermen, and 31 bodies have been retrieved while search for victims continues.

“The mounting loss of life in the Mediterranean is a manifestation of the inability of States to take decisive action to redeploy much needed, dedicated Search and Rescue capacity in the deadliest sea-crossing in the world,” the IOM quoted its chief of mission in Libya Federico Soda as saying.

In the past two days, at least 19 people, including two children, drowned after two boats capsized in the Central Mediterranean.

The IOM also said that the vessel Open Arms – the only NGO ship currently operating on this route – rescued more than 200 people in three operations.

“We have long called for a change in the evidently unworkable approach to Libya and the Mediterranean, including ending returns to the country and establishing a clear disembarkation mechanism followed by solidarity from other states,” said Soda.

He also said thousands of vulnerable people continue to pay the price for inaction both at sea and on land.

This year, at least 900 people have drowned in the Mediterranean trying to reach European shores, some due to delays in rescue.

More than 11,000 others have been returned to Libya, putting them at risk of facing human rights violations, detention, abuse, trafficking, and exploitation, as documented by the UN.

The IOM has recorded a recent upsurge in departures from the country with some 1,900 being intercepted and returned and over 780 arrivals in Italy from Libya since the beginning of October alone.

The IOM said worsening humanitarian conditions of migrants detained in overcrowded centers, widespread arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, and the extortion and abuse are alarming.

“In the absence of any safeguards for migrants returned to the country, the Libyan Search and Rescue zone must be redefined to allow for international actors to conduct life-saving operations,” said the IOM.

It asserted that Libya is not a safe port for return and reiterated its call on the international community and the EU to take urgent and concrete action to end the cycle of return and exploitation.

Alibaba Group said on Thursday goods worth $74.1 billion were sold through its platforms during an 11-day campaign specially organized for Singles’ Day.

That figure nearly doubled last year’s $38.4 billion. The figures were $30.8, $25.3 and $18.1 billion on the same days of 2018, 2017 and 2016 respectively, according to the company's statement

Their online order taking program recorded over 2.3 billion transactions for 11 days, while 583,000 orders were received per second when the order density was at its peak.

Alibaba started offering Singles' Day discounts in 2009 and the event has become a bonanza of online shopping. The value of the shopping was only $8 million in its first year.

More than 80% of online shopping in China occurs on the Alibaba website. Singles' Day celebrations began as a special day celebrated among university students in China in the 1990s.

There is a consumption frenzy in China thanks to the discounts and campaigns held on some special days, including Singles' Day, every year.

Singles' Day regularly overcomes bigger sales than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

LONDON

Health officials in the UK on Thursday reported more than 30,000 new cases in the past 24 hours in a record single-day rise since the start of the pandemic months ago.

The data released by the authorities also show that the number of new daily cases on Thursday was 33,470.

The number of new daily infections rose by more than 10,000 as the same number was 22,950 on Wednesday.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the weekly average number of COVID-19 cases per day is now 22,524, compared to 22,398 a week ago.

He said 14,196 patients are in hospitals, compared to 12,406 a week ago and the weekly average for deaths is at 378, compared to 295 a week ago.

Sharma also said that the UK purchased 350 million doses of the most promising vaccine candidates.

A national lockdown has been in place in England for a week and is set to end for now on Dec. 2, when it will be reviewed.

The total number of deaths passed on Wednesday the grim milestone of 50,000 as 595 more deaths were recorded on Wednesday./aa

The EU's industrial output saw a 5.8% decline in September versus the same month of 2019, the bloc's statistical office reported on Thursday.

Eurostat stressed that the figure was also down 6.8% in the eurozone over the same period.

On a monthly basis, it was unchanged in the EU and dropped by 0.4% in the eurozone.

The eurozone/euro area or EA19 represents member states that use the single currency -- euro -- while the EU27 includes all member countries of the bloc.

In the EU, among the main industrial groups, the production of capital goods fell the most, down 11.9% year-on-year in September.

It was followed by energy (minus 4.8%), intermediate goods (minus 2.8%), durable consumer goods (minus 1.7%), while non-durable consumer goods rose by 0.7%.

Among member states, the highest annual drops were posted by Ireland (13.6%), Germany (8.7%), France, and the Netherlands (both 6.1%).

"The only increases were observed in Poland (3.3%) and Portugal (2.5%)," it added.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed around 1.3 lives in 191 countries and regions since it originated in China last December.

More than 52.2 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries totaling almost 34 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

Due to the pandemic, several sectors, including factories, have been facing problems related to measures, such as lockdowns.

In Turkey, the industrial production rose by 10.4% year-on-year in August, and 3.4% on a monthly basis. It is also expected to go up by 8.7% year-on-year in September./aa

PARIS

The annual Paris Forum kicked off on Thursday via videoconference, with its participants focusing on various global issues including the novel coronavirus pandemic, inequality, digitalization and reforming the current international system.

French President Emmanuel Macron is to host the event which he first launched in 2018 in the hopes of presenting "solutions for a better organization of the planet."

According to a statement released by the Elysee Palace, the event seeks to "define the main principles that should guide our collective response to these challenges." Its agenda includes tackling COVID-19 and other serious health issues, repairing inequality, reviewing the fundamentals of the digital age and how to initiate a general overhaul of international multilateralism.

More particularly, the leaders at the forum will discuss the ACT-Accelerator, an initiative brought forth by the World Health Organization in April to battle the pandemic and accelerate the production and dissemination of new diagnostics, therapies and vaccines.

Heads of state including German Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend the event, as well as representatives of European and global organizations such as European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Local governments, foundations, civil organizations, journalists, labor unions, religious groups, companies and select individuals will also participate in discussing the issues at hand.

Various countries, along with private foundations, have planned to donate €500 million ($590 million) to the ACT-Accelerator, a collaborative project. France alone plans to donate €100 million and Spain €50 million. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will announce a donation during the conference./aa

Some 142,000 to 160,000 children under the age of five die of pneumonia in Nigeria every year, according to figures released by the country’s Health Ministry.

Low immunization, especially in hard-to-reach areas, urbanization, malnutrition, and pollution due to burning of woods were cited as the causes for pneumonia deaths in Nigeria, local newspaper The Guardian reported on Thursday.

The figures were released a day before World Pneumonia Day, marked globally on Nov. 12.

“Everybody can be affected by pneumonia, but the mortality is higher when children are malnourished,” said Oluseyi Omokore, an official at Nigeria’s Health Ministry.

He said more children under the age of five contract malaria but deaths due to pneumonia are still higher.

“Everybody can treat malaria but the situation is not the same with pneumonia. It affects the lungs and most people do not know about it,” he told The Guardian.

“It is the highest killer of children under five in Nigeria and constitutes 16% of total number of under-five mortality.”

Severe pneumonia affects over 22 million young children in low- and middle-income countries each year and kills more than malaria, measles, and diarrhea combined, said a new analysis cited in the report.

The disease leaves “an estimated 4.2 million children under the age of five in Nigeria and 123 other low- and middle-income countries with critically low oxygen levels each year,” according to the report by UNICEF, Clinton Health Access Initiative, Save the Children, and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

“The COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions to health services threaten to be a further blow in the battle against the world’s biggest infectious killer of children, which already claims the lives of over 800,000 children under the age of five each year,” read the report.

According to the Stop Pneumonia Initiative, the disease remains the “biggest infectious killer of adults and children – claiming the lives of 2.5 million, including 672,000 children, in 2019.”

“COVID-19 could add 1.9 million to the death toll this year. This could increase ‘all-cause’ pneumonia deaths by more than 75 per cent,” the group said in a statement included in The Guardian report./aa

A terrorist surrendered on Thursday following persuasion efforts by police and gendarmerie forces, the Turkish Interior Ministry said.

The terrorist, who joined a terror organization in 2015, laid down arms in the southeastern Sirnak province, according to the statement.

With the latest addition, the number of terrorists who gave up fighting through persuasion in 2020 has risen to 197, it said./aa

Turkey has sent positive messages to foreign investors and signaled a shift toward a more balanced economy through some significant changes.

The country recently replaced the head of the Central Bank and appointed a new treasury and finance minister.

On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will be holding a series of meetings with international investors to discuss opportunities, potential, and the support the country will extend to them.

Erdogan also said the country is set to make structural reforms to improve the investment environment, increase the depth of the financial markets and the quality of public revenues and expenditures, and to prevent informal economy.

Experts see these new developments in the economy as positive steps for giving the green light to foreign investors.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Enver Erkan, an economist at Istanbul-based private investment firm Tera Yatirim, underlined the importance of Erdogan's statement in restoring the market confidence.

Recent changes in the management of the economy point to a radical shift in policies to be implemented, Erkan said.

"In this period, taking more hawkish and sharper steps in monetary policy and keeping communication strong with an emphasis on coordination between fiscal discipline and financial policies are welcomed by markets," he said.

Erkan stressed that reducing inflation should be the government’s top priority.

"To achieve this goal, it's vital to adopt a market-friendly [approach] and prioritize structural reforms in the long run along with taking short-term actions," he said.

According to the latest data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, the country's annual inflation rate in October was 11.89%. As laid out in Turkey’s new economic program for 2021-2023, the country’s inflation rate target for this year is 10.5%. The Turkish Central Bank forecast that year-end inflation for 2020 will be at 12.1%.

Turkish assets gained ground following Erdogan's speech, Erkan said, noting that decision-makers should support the goodwill messages with actions in the shortest time.

"The first important test will be the Central Bank’s interest rate decision on Nov. 19. The market is waiting for more precise and orthodox monetary policy steps," he noted.

Interest rates should be at a point that will create an additional tightening effect and strengthen the real returns, he said.

Ferhat Yukselturk, the managing partner of Istanbul-based eCons Consulting, said that today, once again, we see how communication and managing the expectations in the investment environment has been successful.

Economic parameters recovered, thanks to the announcement of targets through a transparent approach, Yukselturk said, and added: "An appreciation in the Turkish lira despite no interest rate hike being made yet showed the strength of communication."

"The most important pillar of the economy is to give the right messages to the market."

The Treasury and Finance Ministry and Central Bank should also use communication effectively, he suggested.

Yukselturk underlined that the president's emphasis on prioritizing the fight against inflation will reflect positively on investments, production, and unemployment.

Pointing out that the uncertainty created by inflation adversely affected investment preferences and investment decisions, Yukselturk said: “The more successful we are in reducing inflation, the more we attract foreign investors."

He stressed that Erdogan's statement included expressions that give a green light to foreign investors.

"The president's speech created a perception that investors would be encouraged," Yukselturk said, adding that there will be a normalized economic policy as the Turkish banking watchdog on Wednesday also eased swap limits that lenders execute with non-residents.

"We expect to see a boom in foreign investor interest in Turkey," he added./aa