Belarus arrests two opposition figures after mass demonstrations

The authorities in Belarus arrested two of the leading opposition figures still at large on Monday, a day after tens of thousands of people defied the army to march demanding the downfall of president Alexander Lukashenko.

Two weeks after an election which his opponents say he rigged, Lukashenko has shown little sign of bringing a halt to the demonstrations, the biggest threat to his 26-year rule.

The president, who has called the protesters “rats”, said last week he had given an order to police to put down any demonstrations in Minsk. But tens of thousands took to the streets on Sunday in one of the biggest demonstrations since the election, and dispersed peacefully.

In a sign of the peril to an already shaky economy, several banking sources told Reuters most banks had effectively run out of foreign currency to meet surging demand from residents trying to sell the local Belarusian rouble. Queues have become common at exchange points.

A board member at the Belarus central bank told Reuters the issue was a technical one involving the physical availability of banknotes, and did not signal liquidity problems.

A spokesman for the Coordination Council, an opposition body set up last week, told Reuters two of its highest profile members, Olga Kovalkova and Sarhei Dyleuski, had been detained on Monday near a factory entrance.

Many of the leading figures in the Belarus opposition are in jail or have fled the country. The Coordination Council was set up with the stated aim of promoting a peaceful handover of authority, and comprise dozens of public figures including a Nobel Prize-winning author and the former head of the main state drama theatre. The government has launched a criminal investigation, calling it an illegal attempt to seize power.

“Belarus has changed and authorities will have to talk to us,” one of the council members, Maria Kolesnikova, told reporters.

Dmitry Murin, a member of the board of the Belarus central bank, told Reuters any shortage of foreign currency at exchange points “has a technical nature - there is an issue with physical availability of the banknotes. Banks do not have forex liquidity shortages as of now.”

Banking sources described what appears to be a serious shortage of hard currency despite an infusion of cash last week.

“There is panic now, demand for foreign currency cash is very high,” one currency dealer in Minsk told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The only bank that has (foreign) cash is Raiffeisen Bank, which sold it very actively last week. But the last plane carrying cash arrived in Belarus last Friday. Our bank and others wanted to buy foreign cash today but Raiffeisen said they have none.”

A spokesperson for Priorbank, Raiffeisen’s subsidiary in Minsk, declined to comment.

A source at a state-run Belarusian bank told Reuters his bank had received requests from customers to withdraw $2.5 million but had just $100,000 in its coffers.

Another person at a unit of a Russian bank said withdrawals had to be requested several days in advance and there was no guarantee they would be granted.

On the official market, the Belarus rouble fell around 1% against the both the euro and the dollar on Monday. Against the euro it was at a record low.

The currency weakness would make it costlier to service $2.5 billion in debt payments due by end-2020. The central bank had less than three months import cover as of end-2019, World Bank estimates show.

“It is very clear that there is a massive shortage of foreign exchange, and of course it is one of the countries that definitely already has low FX reserves,” said David Hauner, head of emerging markets cross-asset strategy for EMEA at Bank of America Global Research. “....The country does not have a lot of cushion to weather that sort of turmoil for a prolonged period.”

The CEO of Viber Rakuten, which runs the Viber messaging service, was quoted by Interfax as saying the firm was considering halting investments into Belarus. Djamel Agaoua said employees had been moved out of Minsk to remote locations.

Belarus is the former Soviet state with the closest political, economic and cultural ties to Russia, and its territory is seen as crucial to Russia’s European defence strategy. That has left the Kremlin with a choice of whether to continue to back Lukashenko as his authority ebbs.

Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday Belarus protesters were seeking a Venezuela-style crisis and ‘bloodshed’ rather than peaceful resolution.

Western countries have had to balance their sympathy for a nascent pro-democracy movement with concern about provoking Moscow. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biedun met Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in Lithuania on Monday, and is due to discuss Belarus during a trip to Russia.

“She’s a very impressive person and I can see why she is so popular in her country,” Biedun said. “The purpose of the meeting was to listen, to hear what the thinking is by the Belarusian people, and to see what they are doing to obtain rights of self-determination.”

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Putin critic Navalny under guard after likely poisoning, says Germany

Germany said on Monday it had placed Alexei Navalny under guard in hospital after determining that the long-time critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin had most likely been poisoned while campaigning in Siberia.

Navalny collapsed on a plane on Thursday last week after drinking tea that his allies said they believe was laced with poison. He was flown to Germany for treatment on Saturday.

“The suspicion is that Mr. Navalny was poisoned given that unfortunately recent Russian history has had several such suspected cases,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told journalists.

“Because one can say with near certainty that it was a poisoning attack, protection is necessary,” Seibert added.

Russia’s government made no immediate comment on the German statement. The Kremlin said on Friday it was still unclear what caused Navalny to fall ill and that initial tests did not show he was poisoned.

The incident could further strain Russia’s fraught relations with its European and NATO neighbours, who have accused it of mounting attacks on dissidents in Europe in the past - accusations that Russia has dismissed.

Doctors at the Siberian hospital that first treated Navalny said earlier on Monday they had saved his life but that they had not found traces of poison in his system.

“If we had found some kind of poison that was somehow confirmed then it would have been a lot easier for us. It would have been a clear diagnosis, a clear condition and a well-known course of treatment,” senior doctor Anatoly Kalinichenko told reporters in the Siberian city of Omsk.

The Russian doctors did not say what they had treated him for. Last week they said they had diagnosed him with metabolic disease possibly brought on by low blood sugar.

The doctors said they had not come under pressure from authorities while treating Navalny.

Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, said on Monday supporters had reported what they described as a suspected poisoning to the Russian police and Investigative Committee as soon as Navalny fell ill.

The police and Investigative Committee were not immediately available for comment.

Navalny has been a thorn in the Kremlin’s side for more than a decade, exposing what he says is high-level graft and mobilising crowds of young protesters.

He has been repeatedly detained for organising public meetings and rallies and sued over his investigations into corruption. He was barred from running in a presidential election in 2018.

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Closely watched 'Tenet' earns critical praise as U.S. cinemas reopen

Director Christopher Nolan’s new thriller “Tenet” received warm reviews on Friday as U.S. cinema chains reopened with industry-wide safety measures aimed at reassuring audiences during a pandemic.

“Tenet” is the first big-budget movie from a major Hollywood studio to head to theaters since the coronavirus outbreak shuttered theaters around the world in March.

Ticket sales for the film from AT&T Inc’s Warner Bros will be closely watched as a gauge of how many people will leave their homes to go to the movies. The film opens in 70 countries starting on Aug. 26 and in the United States on Sept. 3.

“Tenet” got an 87% approval rate on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, although critics said its time-bending plot was so contorted, it was hard to follow at times.

Star John David Washington plays a CIA operative recruited to help the shadowy Tenet organization that is trying to stop an apocalyptic event.

The Times of London called the 2.5-hour film a “globetrotting, jaw-dropping and delightfully convoluted big-screen blockbuster” and added “Cinema, finally, has returned.”

The New York Times said the movie was enjoyable and “reassuringly massive in every way as a piece of movie-making shot across multiple global locations.”

IndieWire was less impressed, calling the movie a “humorless disappointment.”

The Hollywood Reporter said “Tenet” has a lot riding on it. “There will be viewers scrutinizing every tweet, review and opinion aggregator as they weigh whether to leave their quarantine bubbles to see it,” it said.

Theaters have been gradually opening around the world. In the United States, major chains including AMC Theatres and Cineworld Plc’s Regal Cinemas opened their doors for this weekend with limited attendance, mask requirements and other measures to reduce the chances of catching the disease.

The National Association of Theatre Owners announced on Friday that operators of more than 30,000 screens had agreed a standard set of procedures.

“Moviegoers need to know that there is a consistent, science and experience-based set of health and safety protocols in place no matter what theater they visit,” said John Fithian, president of the industry group.

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WHO says 172 countries engaging with global COVID-19 vaccine plan

Some 172 countries are engaging with the COVAX facility designed to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization said on Monday, but more funding is needed and countries need now to make binding commitments.

Countries wishing to be part of the global COVAX plan have until Aug. 31 to submit expressions of interest, WHO officials said, with confirmation of intention to join due by Sept. 18, and initial payments due by Oct. 9.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the facility was critical to ending the COVID-19 pandemic, and would not only pool risk for countries developing and buying vaccines, but also ensure prices are kept “as low as possible”.

“Vaccine nationalism only helps the virus,” he told a media briefing. “The success of the COVAX facility hinges not only on countries signing up to it, but also filling key funding gaps.”

COVAX is co-led by the GAVI vaccines alliance, the WHO and the CEPI Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and is designed to guarantee equitable access globally to COVID-19 vaccines once they are developed and authorised for use.

It currently covers 9 candidate COVID-19 vaccines and its aim is to secure supplies of and deliver 2 billion doses across countries that sign up by the end of 2021.

“Initially, when there will be limited supply (of COVID-19 vaccines), it’s important to provide the vaccine to those at highest risk around the globe,” Tedros said.

He said this included health workers on the front lines of the pandemic, who were “critical to saving lives and stabilising the overall health system”.

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Oliveira leaves it late to snatch win at Styrian MotoGP

KTM Tech3’s Miguel Oliveira became the first Portuguese rider to claim a MotoGP victory in the Styrian Grand Prix on Sunday in a race that was restarted after a horror crash involving Championship contender Maverick Vinales produced a red flag.

Oliveira edged Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller and pole-sitter Pol Espargaro of KTM in a three-way battle on the final lap, sealing a first-ever premier class victory for the KTM Tech3 team.

Suzuki’s Joan Mir made a solid start to open up a lead of over two seconds by the end of lap 16 before the race was brought to a halt after Yamaha’s Vinales suffered a horrific crash.

As Vinales approached turn one, the Yamaha rider realised his brakes had failed and he jumped off his bike at around 215 km per hour before it crashed into the air wall and burst into flames.

The Spaniard walked away without any serious injuries and the race was restarted with 12 laps remaining.

Miller and Espargaro produced a string of blistering laps to take control of the race.

“It’s history today for me and my country. I couldn’t be happier to have done it here at the home of [of my team] at the Red Bull Circuit.”

In an intense final lap, Spaniard Espargaro on a KTM entered the last lap ahead. Miller overtook but entering the last corner Espargaro was half a wheel ahead.

As the two forced each other wide, Oliveira dived through on the inside to win.

“I’m very emotional right now,” the 25-year-old Oliveira said. “I’m thankful to all the people who believed in me, including my family, the team and the sponsors.

Mir finished fourth, ahead of last weekend’s winner Andrea Dovizioso, who slipped out of podium contention after running his Ducati wide in the closing stages of the race.

Petronas Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo struggled for pace for a second consecutive race in Austria as he finished 13th, retaining a slender three-point lead over Dovizioso in the Championship standings.

The opening five rounds of MotoGP season have produced four different winners, with Quartararo winning the first two races in Jerez.

The Championship will head to Italy for a double-header at the Misano World Circuit, with the first race scheduled for September 13.

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Saudi Arabia has neither asked Pakistan to return loan nor suspended oil supply: Qureshi

Rejecting speculation that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia's ties have deteriorated over the past few weeks, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Monday that the Kingdom has neither asked Islamabad to return its loan nor has it suspended oil supply to Pakistan.

“Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have the same stance on [normalising relations with] Israel,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s stance has not wavered.

He said that Saudi Arabia has also not changed its stance on occupied Kashmir.

The foreign minister spoke about Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Pakistan, describing it as one of "utmost importance", adding that China is also supporting the peace process in Afghanistan.

The foreign minister said that a discussion will be held with the Taliban on Tuesday which will focus on the intra-Afghan peace discussions.

Referring to the possible instability in Afghanistan, the foreign minister said that “there is a group in Afghanistan that is causing a rift [to develop and hinder peace talks]".

Speaking on Pakistan-China ties, the foreign minister said that Islamabad and Beijing will collectively act to safeguard integrity and peace in the region.

Qureshi said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will benefit the entire region and despite India’s statements, the project will go ahead.

"India can keep on saying whatever it wants to say. The project will continue," he said.

The foreign minister revealed that during his recent visit to China, the issue of Indian occupied Kashmir also came up, where Beijing dismissed Indian claims over the valley.

FM Qureshi said that China had rejected India's August 5 move and termed it 'unilateral', thanking Beijing for its clear stance on the Kashmir issue.

Speaking on Indian atrocities, the minister said that India has failed to project the impression that things are improving in occupied Kashmir.

"The International Crisis Group called the situation in the valley a resistance movement, and has demanded that India rescind its August 5 decision," he said.

FM Qureshi said that Prime Minister Imran Khan raised the matter of IoK before the United Nations, adding that India is running away from the matter and lying to the global community.

The Kashmiri struggle of the right to self-determination which had started since 1989 has now gained new political momentum and the joint-declaration was the first testimony to this fact, he said.

Qureshi said that New Delhi's August 5 move had made matters worse for the people of the occupied territory. He said that anger and frustration are on the rise in the region due to restrictions and a communications blackout imposed by authorities.

The foreign minister said that India's move had crippled occupied Kashmir's economy, wondering how investment could thrive with so many armed personnel holding the local population hostage.

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Shehbaz Sharif lambastes PTI govt over 'unparalleled propaganda' against PML-N

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif on Monday lambasted the PTI-led government over its "unparalleled propaganda against the PML-N" as well as a failure to prove corruption against the former ruling party.

In a press conference here in the provincial capital, Shehbaz expressed his condolences over the passing of National Party President Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, saying the late senator always stood strong with democracy and the Constitution of Pakistan.

"Mir Hasil Bizenjo made innumerable sacrifices," the PML-N leader said.

Shehbaz was accompanied by senior party leaders, including former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail, and former foreign minister Khawaja Asif.

Referring to Prime Minister Imran Khan's administration, he said it was a government that is the "worst in the history, incompetent, and one that neither knows governance nor is concerned about the problems the public faces".

"In two years, the [rising] inflation has brought people to the brink of disaster. First, sugar was exported and the gains from depreciation in the rupee were availed. Farmers were punished and the exporters made billions.

"The price of sugar has gone above Rs100 [a kilo]. Now, sugar is being imported!"

"For the first time in history, there was a shortage of wheat even before the harvest season ended. A member of the government asked on the floor of the House where the wheat had gone!

Shehbaz said oil prices were jacked up in one shocking move. "Electricity prices skyrocketed but the circular debt is still out of control," he added.

"The [government's] worst incompetence and incompetence has led to load-shedding of electricity as well. Projects using oil should have been shut down but there was a conflict of interest," he stated.

He noted how exports did not rise despite the rupee depreciating 40%.

"For the second time in the country's history, GDP growth was negative," he mentioned, saying the first one was in 1952. "There is nothing but misery and hardship under the Tabdeeli Sarkaar!"

The PML-N president said "unparalleled propaganda was spread against" his party. "There was historic development work in Pakistan under Nawaz Sharif," he noted.

"In Pakistan's 72-year history, there is no parallel to these projects. Those traveling on the Sukkur-Islamabad motorway said it was a better journey than on an airplane.

"During the Nawaz Sharif era, four LNG projects worth 5,000 megawatts (MW) were implemented and per-unit cost does not exceed Rs12-13. In Nawaz Sharif's third term, no corruption took place in any of the projects.

"To date, not a single penny's worth of corruption has been proven," he said, adding that PM Imran and his followers "turned upside down but no corruption was ever found".

The PML-N leader said his party was not against impartial accountability. The entire country, he added, watched the spectacle of pinning the Opposition against the wall.

"Despite being cornered, we extended our hand for cooperation but they rejected it," he explained.

Those in the Cabinet were not saints either and no one questioned them, he said, adding that the government had stopped giving free medicines to cancer patients in Punjab.

"People are longing for the old Pakistan today because this tabdeeli [change] has their lives," he added. "Was that Pakistan better or is this Pakistan better?"

Shehbaz underlined that even before the coronavirus pandemic hit the country, the incumbent government's "incompetence and incapability" had left millions without jobs and yet more people would soon be unemployed.

"This nexus has frightened the investors," he said. "Despite the unprecedented support this elected government has, every sector is on a downward trend.

"This is what they have done to the country. Earlier, they would accuse the prime minister of being a thief whenever electricity became expensive," Shehbaz added. "Where are all those comments now?

"Telling people not to worry or be concerned — 'ghabrao nahi' — does not get them roti [bread]. They claim they will not give NRO but would that give people roti?

"These people used to say earlier they would rather die than approach the IMF [International Monetary Fund]!"

Former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi spoke of how the incumbent government was "ignorant and forced to lie" to the nation.

"The electricity bills for domestic consumers have been increased 30%," Abbasi said, adding that ministers had explained earlier that power tariffs had been bumped up to control the circular debt.

"In our tenure, the circular debt rose by Rs462 billion and by the time we left the government, it was Rs1,026 billion," he noted. "Today, it is Rs2,200 billion, meaning that it shot up by Rs1,200 billion in two years!"

The power plants owned by the ministers run on diesel and provide costlier electricity, he added, noting that the government's incompetence in the energy sector had caused a loss of thousands of billions of rupees.

Former foreign minister Khawaja Asif, on the other hand, spoke of the Kashmir issue, saying the massacre taking place in the Muslim-majority region was "the biggest failure of foreign policy".

"We have fought wars with India over Kashmir but they [the government] has betrayed the blood of Kashmiris," he underlined.

Asif also touched upon Pakistan's relations with other nations, saying the issue in Malaysia angered both Kuala Lumpur and Saudi Arabia. "Millions of [Pakistani] people were working in these two countries," he said, adding that the conflict "put them all in danger".

The PTI-led government "spoiled relations with China", with which the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was underway, he said. "What benefit did we gain out of relations with the United States?"

Shehbaz, the PML-N president, also lambasted Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, asking how a "seasoned person" could make such comments against Saudi Arabia — Pakistan's friend of 72 years.

"Whatever is happening on the foreign policy front is in front of everyone. The comments aimed at Saudi Arabia were inappropriate," he added. "This is not the language the chief diplomat should use."

Asif, the former FM, noted how the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was made inactive. He said Pakistan could have improved relations with Iran and Afghanistan but the PTI government did not do so.

"All the foreign policy successes Pakistan achieved [in the PML-N tenure] have been ruined," he lamented. "Despite the Yemen war issue, we did not allow relations with Saudi Arabia to deteriorate.

"The foreign minister does not know if he has slapped or been slapped. What will the foreign policy be when such is the state of affairs? The foreign policy has completely and miserably failed.

"They are not ashamed, they are defending the historical failures," Asif added. "They lose billions and list down gain worth pennies."

Shehbaz, the PML-N president, underscored that 2.7 million and 1.65 million Pakistanis work in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He said the PTI government made comments against the CPEC immediately after coming into power.

"Our biggest foreign policy success is the CPEC," he stressed. "Strategic relations with China are our lifeline."

Shehbaz echoed Asif's comments as well, saying the government should bolster relations with Iran and Afghanistan so that our borders are secure.

"We, too, support having good relations with the US. But Pakistan stands alone in the world today," he added.

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