According to a WHO official, India's G-20 presidency strengthened the voice of the global south.

India's G20 Presidency is an exciting moment in history, because India is going to decide the global health architecture for the next many decades to come, a WHO official said.

Terming India's presidency at the G-20 as 'an exciting moment in history', a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said it has bolstered the voice of the global south. Ayoade Alakija, Special Envoy, ACT-Accelerator, WHO, said India is going to decide the global health architecture for the next many decades to come.

G20

"So, I think, that is the foundation of a place where I would like to see India shining as a beacon to other countries to learn from," he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Alakija said she is keen to watch the global south collaborations which can be put together in the new world order and expressed hope that this process will surely help it.

"India's G20 Presidency is an exciting moment in history, because India is going to decide the global health architecture for the next many decades to come. Because it is going to be decided in the next few months," she said.

The official stated that the ongoing meeting would be a platform for how we can learn from each other in this global south- in Africa, India, Latin America and so on, she said.

"How can we share our experiences and innovate together and how can we co-create the world we want...the world that is going to be truly the world that delivers for us...the people," Alakija further said.

The official also said it has been incredible to be in the "God's own country", Kerala, and see the amazing culture and the wonderful warm welcome they had in the south Indian state.

Another official, Dr Alain Labrique, Director, Digital Health & Innovation, WHO, said he would like to see India shining as a beacon to other countries to learn from. He opined that India five years ago is different to India today.

The same can be said for countries across the globe and in the global south, he said.

"So, we have to think about where we are today but also build solutions for tomorrow and keep in mind that everyone should benefit from this technology revolution," he added.

Stating that success is built upon trust, Labrique said trust means there is a background of policy, of legislation that protects privacy and security and builds the trust of individuals to use the systems.

"So, I think, that is the foundation of a place where I would like to see India shining as a beacon to other countries to learn from," he said. Read More On..

Texas police waited an hour to tackle school shooter

 

Salvador Ramos shot his grandmother in the face before he left the home they shared, but she survived and called police

Police in the Texas town of Uvalde are facing mounting criticism after it surfaced on Thursday that it took about an hour for officers to shoot the gunman who attacked a primary school, killing 19 children and two teachers.

America’s deadliest school shooting in a decade ended when a tactical team from the US Border Patrol, which has a base close to Robb Elementary School, entered and killed the attacker, Salvador Ramos, 18.

But local police agencies had already been at the scene for about an hour, Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Victor Escalon said. They did not enter the school because they had received gunfire from Ramos and were awaiting backup and body armour.

“They don’t make entry initially because of the gunfire they’re receiving,” Mr Escalon told a news conference.

Shocked community members have told US media that frustrated onlookers outside the school on Tuesday had urged police to charge in.

“Go in there! Go in there!” people shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who watched the scene from outside a house across the street.

Jacinto Cazares, whose daughter, Jacklyn, died in the massacre, said he raced to the school when he heard about the shooting.

“There was at least 40 lawmen armed to the teeth but didn’t do a darn thing [until] it was far too late,” Mr Cazares told ABC News on Wednesday night, joining other grief-stricken parents quoted in US media as saying they urged police to act more forcefully.

“The situation could’ve been over quick if they had better tactical training, and we as a community witnessed it first-hand,” said Mr Cazares.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday had praised the police response and said the shooting “could have been worse”.

“The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do. They showed amazing courage, running towards gunfire for the singular purpose of trying to save lives,” Mr Abbott said.

Daniel Myers and his wifex, Matilda — both local pastors — told AFP they were at the scene and saw parents growing frantic as police appeared to wait on reinforcements before entering the school.

“Parents were desperate,” said Mr Myers, 72. “They were ready to go in. One family member, he says: ‘I was in the military, just give me a gun, I’ll go in. I’m not going to hesitate. I’ll go in.’

“So there was desperation there, there was time lapse,” he told AFP at a makeshift memorial outside the school, where wooden crosses have been erected with victims’ names.

Tuesday’s attack at the school in Uvalde, located about 100 kilometres from the Mexican border, unfolded when Ramos shot his grandmother in the face, authorities said.

Readmore:https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/us-news/2022/05/26/texas-gunman-sent-chilling-online-warning-minutes-before-school-attack/

War games: how generals used dice to change history - from Second World War to Ukraine

 On February 3, US General Mark Milley — the highest-ranking officer in the US military — issued a warning that Ukraine would be over-run in 72 hours in the event of a Russian invasion.

The US had strong intelligence on Russia’s intentions, but some of Gen Milley’s prediction was informed by Pentagon-sponsored war games, many of which he had been involved in during the run-up to war.

Some of these ‘games’ are expensive computer simulations. However, others are literally games, played with dice, playing boards and counters, sometimes augmented by computers and expert adjudicators, to identify weaknesses in future conflicts and train officers.

In the past 200 years, some of these war games have helped change the fate of nations, from the fall of France in the Second World War to the 1991 Gulf War and quite possibly, the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The origins of war games

The practice goes back to the early 19th century and the work of a Prussian officer, Lieutenant Georg von Reiswitz, who convinced his seniors that war could be re-created on a map, using red and blue counters for opposing forces, rules and dice.

“War games are well-understood models that integrate terrain, forces, weapons, space and time, and they are invaluable to turn knowledge into understanding,” says John Curry, a senior lecturer at Bath University, specialising in games development, who has worked with the UK Ministry of Defence and the Pentagon on war-gaming.

“Operational analysis gives us clear guidelines on rates of advance, daily casualties, the effectiveness of armour in towns,” he says, referring to analysis that models these aspects of war using historical and contemporary data.

That data can then become the basis of a game.

Cheaper than holding full-scale military exercises, war-gaming soon became commonplace by the turn of the 20th century in officer-training schools across Europe, the US and Japan, where the practice was introduced by German advisers.

War games have sometimes been spookily accurate in predicting outcomes but for many, their main role is not prediction, but training.

“There is a strong interest from the military to use war-gaming as part of their curriculum due to both cost and flexibility,” says David Freer, chief executive of commercial war-gaming company, Wargame Design Studio.

Readmore:https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/05/04/war-games-how-generals-used-dice-and-counters-to-change-history-from-ww2-to-ukraine/

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi jailed for five years for corruption

 

Deposed Myanmar leader denies allegations she accepted gold and hundreds of thousands of dollars from senior official

A court in military-ruled Myanmar sentenced deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail on Wednesday after finding her guilty in the first of 11 corruption cases against her.

The latest case centred on allegations that she accepted 11.4 kilograms of gold and cash payments totalling $600,000 from Phyo Min Thein, the former chief minister of the city of Yangon.

Ms Suu Kyi, the figurehead of Myanmar’s struggle against military dictatorship, was ousted by the military last year.

She denied accepting the gold and money, calling the allegations absurd.

It was not immediately clear if Ms Suu Kyi, 76, would be transferred to a prison to serve the sentence.

The Nobel laureate, who led Myanmar for five years, has been charged with at least 18 offences.

She has already been sentenced to six years in jail in other cases and the maximum punishment under the Anti-Corruption Act is 15 years in prison and a fine.

Convictions in the other cases could bring sentences of more than 100 years in prison for Ms Suu Kyi, who previously spent years in detention for defying military rule.

Her trial in the capital Naypyidaw was closed to the media, diplomats and spectators, and her lawyers were barred from speaking to the press.

Since her arrest, Ms Suu Kyi has been held at an undisclosed location. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing previously said she could remain there after convictions in December and January for comparatively minor offences.

Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2019.

A spokesman for the junta was not immediately available for comment and the miltary has refused to allow her visits, including by a special South-East Asian envoy trying to end the crisis.

Nay Phone Latt, a former official in Ms Suu Kyi’s ousted party, told Reuters any court decisions were temporary, because military rule would not last long.

“We do not recognise the terrorist junta’s rulings, legislation, or the judiciary … the people do not acknowledge them either. I don’t care how long they want to sentence, whether it’s one year, two years, or whatever they want. This won’t last.”

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the coup and the international community has dismissed the trials as farcical and demanded Ms Suu Kyi’s release.

The coup led to mass protests and a bloody crackdown on dissent, with more than 1,400 civilians killed, a local monitoring group has said.

Readmore:https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2022/04/27/myanmars-aung-san-suu-kyi-jailed-for-five-years-for-corruption/