Digest yearender for international stories for month of September, 2020

Sept 22 Washington The US death toll from the coronavirus topped 200,000 on Tuesday, a figure unimaginable eight months ago when the scourge first reached the worlds richest nation with its sparkling laboratories, top-flight scientists and stockpiles of medicines and emergency supplies.Sept 23 Beijing China on Wednesday lifted its ban on valid visas imposed earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and said that foreign nationals holding Chinese residence permits in three categories are allowed to enter the country from September 28 without obtaining new visas.

Sept 1: Al-Dhafra Air Base (UAE): Jared Kushner and US officials visited a major air base in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, speaking to Emirati and American pilots on the tarmac, as Iran's supreme leader called the UAE's recognition of Israel “treason that will not last for long.” Sept 2: Washington: The federal budget deficit is projected to hit a record $3.3 trillion due to COVID-19 costs and the recession, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. Sept 3: Moscow: India and Russia have finalised a major deal for manufacturing AK-47 203 rifles in India during Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s ongoing visit here, the official Russian media reported on Thursday.

Sept 4: Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has gazetted the 20th Constitution Amendment draft, the new proposed legislation that would replace the 19th Amendment introduced in 2015 that curtailed the powers of the President and strengthened the role of Parliament. Sept 5: Dhaka: A gas leak in an underground pipeline caused six air conditioners to explode almost simultaneously in a mosque during Friday evening prayers on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, killing 17 people, including a child, and injuring 20 others.

Sept 6: Dhaka: The death toll from an explosion of air conditioners in a mosque on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka rose to 24, with three more victims succumbing to their injuries on Sunday, doctors said. Sept 7: Dubai: A Saudi court issued final verdicts on Monday in the case of slain Washington Post columnist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi after his son, who still resides in the kingdom, announced pardons that spared five of the convicted individuals from execution.

Sept 8: London: Crunch Brexit talks to thrash out a trade agreement between the UK and European Union (EU) got underway on Tuesday amid a brewing row over the so-called divorce deal struck earlier this year, ahead of Britain’s formal exit from the economic bloc on January 31. Sept 9: Islamabad: A Pakistan anti-corruption court on Wednesday indicted former president Asif Ali Zardari and ex-prime minister Yusuf Raza Gillani, while declared former premier Nawaz Sharif an absconder in the Toshakhana graft case that allegedly caused a heavy loss to the national exchequer. Sept 10:Moscow: The foreign ministers of Russia, India and China (RIC) on Thursday held trilateral talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Moscow.

Sept 11: Washington: US President Donald Trump on Thursday ruled out extending the September 15 deadline for Chinese video-sharing social networking platform TikTok to either change its ownership to an American company or shut it down. Sept 12: Dubai: Afghanistan's warring sides started negotiations for the first time, bringing together the Taliban and delegates appointed by the Afghan government Saturday for historic meetings aimed at ending decades of war.

Sept 13: Washington: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is committing at least USD 100 million to help Joe Biden's presidential campaign in the crucial battleground state of Florida. Sept 14: London: Scientists on Monday announced the discovery of a rare molecule -- phosphine -- in the clouds of Venus, a possible hint of microbial life in the atmosphere of our neighbouring planet.

Sept 15: United Nations: In a significant victory, India got elected as Member of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the principal global body focussed on gender equality and women empowerment, beating China in a hotly-contested election. Sept 16: United Nations: The landmark 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly has commenced amidst the devastating coronavirus pandemic, with the world leaders set to meet virtually for the first time in the UN's 75-year history for the annual high-level session as they confront some of the most serious threats facing humanity. Sept 17: Islamabad: Pakistan has decided to elevate Gilgit-Baltistan's status to that of a full-fledged province, a Pakistani media report on Thursday quoted a senior minister as saying. Sept 18: Washington: The US on Friday issued orders to ban popular Chinese social media apps TikTok and WeChat from Sunday to safeguard national security, weeks after India banned them, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country. Sept 19: Washington: US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the history-making jurist, feminist icon and a champion of women's rights and social justice, has died of cancer at the age of 87. Sept 20: Islamabad: Pakistan’s deposed premier Nawaz Sharif on Sunday staged a political comeback by criticising the powerful Army and said the Opposition was not against Prime Minister Imran Khan but against those who brought an ''inefficient'' man to power. Sept 21: Kathmandu: Ang Rita Sherpa, the legendary Nepalese mountaineer who scaled the world's highest mountain peak, Mt Everest, 10 times without bottled oxygen, died here on Monday at the age of 72, the country's Mountaineering Association said. Sept 22: Washington: The US death toll from the coronavirus topped 200,000 on Tuesday, a figure unimaginable eight months ago when the scourge first reached the world's richest nation with its sparkling laboratories, top-flight scientists and stockpiles of medicines and emergency supplies.

Sept 23: Beijing: China on Wednesday lifted its ban on valid visas imposed earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and said that foreign nationals holding Chinese residence permits in three categories are allowed to enter the country from September 28 without obtaining new visas. Sept 24: New York: Sir Harold Evans, the charismatic publisher, author and muckraker who was a bold-faced name for decades for exposing wrongdoing in 1960s London to publishing such 1990s best-sellers as “Primary Colors,'' has died, his wife said Thursday. He was 92. Sept 25: New York: Google's parent company has reached a $310 million settlement in a shareholder lawsuit over its treatment of allegations of executives' sexual misconduct.

Sept 26: Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia's 7-month-old ruling alliance triumphed Saturday in its first electoral test in eastern Sabah state, a major victory for embattled Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin amid challenges to his leadership. Sept 27: Peshawar: The provincial government in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has decided to purchase the ancestral houses of legendary Bollywood actors Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar to conserve the historic buildings which are in dilapidated condition and facing demolition threat.

Sept 28: Washington: Donald Trump paid just USD 750 in federal income taxes in the year he was elected US president and also in his first year in the White House, according to a media report, which also said that he or his companies paid USD 145,400 taxes in India in 2017. Sept 29: Dubai: Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the ruler of Kuwait who drew on his decades as the oil-rich nation's top diplomat to push for closer ties to Iraq after the 1990 Gulf War and solutions to other regional crises, died Tuesday. He was 91. Sept 30: Beijing: The New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS countries has approved USD 241 million loan for Mumbai Metro and USD 500 million for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) Project.