بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Headline News 04/08/2021
Headlines:
US Step Up Airstrikes Against Taliban
Egypt to Increase Bread Prices
UK is on your side, Boris Johnson tells Belarus Opposition Leader
Details:
US Step Up Airstrikes Against Taliban
Faced with recent Taliban gains in the big cities around Afghanistan, the US has launched a series of airstrikes, seemingly hoping to slow the progress of these offensives and give the Afghan government time to counter-attack. The Taliban have been making gains in densely populated areas around provincial capitals. The US strikes are hitting those areas, focusing on Herat, Kandahar, and Lashkar Gah, each of which officials described as “endangered” cities. So far, the strikes have done little to prevent the Taliban from getting into the cities, or contesting control of them. All of this comes after the agreement by the Taliban and the US back in April.
Egypt to Increase Bread Prices
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said it was "necessary" to increase the price of the country's subsidised bread on Tuesday. Sixty million Egyptians are part of the bread subsidy programme and allocated five loaves of bread a day, with each loaf costing 0.05 Egyptian pounds ($0.0032). During the opening of a food production facility, Sisi did not specify how much the bread would increase but complained of the price. "It is time for the five piaster loaf to increase in price... it's incredible to sell 20 loaves for the price of a cigarette," said Sisi. Egypt is the world's largest wheat importer, and bread is a highly sensitive issue for the country. Nearly five years ago, angry demonstrations erupted across Egypt after the government cut bread subsidies amid an economic crisis. The IMF has made subsidy removal a condition for Egypt to receive any more financing. Ever since Sisi and the army took the reins of power in 2013 the military regime has run the country into the ground and like its predecessors its having to use its iron grip to maintain any order.
UK is on your side, Boris Johnson tells Belarus Opposition Leader
The UK is on the side of Belarusian opposition leaders trying to bring down the tyrannical regime led by Alexander Lukashenko, Boris Johnson has said. The prime minister gave his full support to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is at the forefront of efforts to restore democracy in the face of a crackdown on civil society in the east European country. Hosting Tsikhanouskaya in Downing Street hours after the head of a group that helps Belarusians fleeing persecution was found dead in a park in Kyiv, the Ukraine capital, Johnson said the UK backed Tsikhanouskaya’s struggle against severe human rights violations and the persecution of pro-democracy activists. “We are very much on your side, very much in support of what you are doing. We are committed to supporting human rights and civil society in Belarus,” he told her on Tuesday. Tsikhanouskaya underlined the power of Johnson’s declaration of support, saying it was “very important to understand that one of the most powerful countries in the world are supporting Belarus”. Since the 2020 election which many within Belarus have questioned, the opposition have sleeked foreign help to being down the pro-Russia president. Belarus is one of few nations that are oriented towards Russia.