Washington- The US Department of Defence on Sunday announced they will send an additional 3,750 soldiers to the border with Mexico for three months, during which time they will build some 240 meters of fence and provide logistical support to the US Border Patrol agents. With this new deployment, the total number of soldiers on the border with Mexico will rise to 4,350, a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement, reports Efe. According to the spokesman, the military will have two main missions: to operate surveillance cameras in the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas until September 30, as well as raise 240 additional kilometres of concertina fences, a type of fence that may include barbed or razor wire. For now, the soldiers will be deployed for three months, but the Pentagon “will continue to evaluate the composition of the force required to meet the mission of protecting and securing the southern border,” the spokesman said. A US law from 1878 prohibits the use of soldiers for national security and public order tasks. Therefore, according to US authorities, the military cannot detain immigrants who cross the border illegally and its work is limited to assisting border agents in air operations and surveillance, as well as in mechanical work, such as repairing vehicles. The deployment of the new troops was approved on January 11 by acting Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan, although the number of troops was not known until now. The Pentagon approved the deployment of soldiers to the border with Mexico in late October, just before the November legislative elections, in which US President Donald Trump campaigned with the harshness of his immigration policies to win votes for the Republicans. However, in the elections the Democrats regained the House of Representatives, while the Republicans increased their lead in the Senate, where they already had the majority. Trump justifies his decision to send troops to the border because of what he himself has called an “invasion,” that is, groups of migrants from Central America who have begun travelling in “caravans” to cross more safely into Mexico and heading towards the US....

Moscow- President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said Russia was suspending its participation in a key Cold War-era missile treaty in a mirror response to a US move the day before. Moscow and Washington have long accused the other of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces agreement, which was signed in 1987 and resolved a crisis over Soviet missiles. President Donald Trump last year announced plans to withdraw unless Russia fulfilled its obligations. “Our American partners have announced they are suspending their participation in the deal, and we are also suspending our participation,” Putin said of the agreement, following a US deadline for cooperation. Putin said during a televised meeting with foreign and defence ministers Sergei Lavrov and Sergei Shoigu that Russia would no longer initiate talks with the US on disarmament. “We will wait until our partners have matured enough to conduct an equal, meaningful dialogue with us on this important topic,” the president said. Brokered by US president Ronald Reagan with last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the treaty ended a superpower buildup of warheads that had frightened Europeans. It banned ground-launched missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 km. The deal addressed Soviet nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals, but put no restrictions on other major military actors such as China. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington was starting a process to withdraw from the agreement in six months....

Beijing- China’s ruling Communist Party is cracking down on its officials who are taking part in religious activities violating party’s ideology of adhering to atheism and secretly maintaining contacts with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who has been branded as “separatist” by Beijing. A video produced by the Tibetan provincial government has revealed cases in the region where local Communist Party of China (CPC) members violated the CPC regulations on religion, anti-separatism and anti-corruption, state-run Global Times reported on Saturday. So far, three officials have been expelled from the party and 10 others received warning, the report said. The Tibetan authority attaches great importance to the party discipline consistent with a nationwide campaign to strengthen the party management. It regulated 46 violations by local CPC members, including religious beliefs, according to the video produced by the publicity department of the regional commission for discipline inspection of Tibet and Tibet television. The video, part of a four-episode series featuring the region’s efforts on anti-corruption and regulating the party members, was aired from January 28 to 31 on Tibet television, the report said. Buddhism is a widely popular religion in Tibet, which is governed by the CPC ever since China took control of it in 1950. Despite his exile in India since 1959, the Dalai Lama remains the most revered religious figure in the Himalayan region. The CPC remains an atheist organisation. Thus, CPC members are banned from religious beliefs, because they can only believe in Marxism and believing in other religions means betrayal of their chosen belief and it will shake their belief in Marxism and separate them from the party, Xiong Kunxin, an ethnic studies professor at Tibet University in Lhasa, told the Global Times.

Islamabad- China will provide USD 2.5 billion in loans to Pakistan to boost the foreign exchange reserves of its “all-weather ally”, a media report said on Saturday. Pakistan is nearly broke with the drying up of foreign cash reserves and mounting external debt. The country’s USD 8.12 billion reserves, which are below the minimum level that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) prescribe, are sufficient to cover only seven weeks of imports. Due to this, the WB and the Asian Development Bank are not providing loans for budget financing. “Beijing will place the USD 2.5 billion in deposits with the central bank,” a top Finance Ministry official here told The Express Tribune. With the anticipated USD 2.5 billion deposits, China’s contribution in this fiscal year alone would surge to USD 4.5 billion, the paper said. Pakistan has struggled to maintain reserves that are not currently sufficient to provide cover to even two months of imports despite receiving USD 4 billion in loans from two Middle-Eastern countries. In July, China deposited USD 2 billion with the State Bank of Pakistan. In the past five years, China has emerged as Pakistan’s single largest saviour in times of economic crisis. The money is coming as part of the government’s strategy to secure breathing space till the time its macroeconomic stabilisation measures take effect. After coming into power, Prime Minister Imran Khan visited China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to arrange emergency loans to avoid a looming default. Pakistan has secured USD 14.5 billion worth of commitments from these three countries that have helped largely bridged the external financing gap of the ongoing fiscal year. Before coming into power, Khan was critical of taking loans to run the country but due to extremely low level of foreign currency reserves and financing requirements standing above USD 25 billion, he sought loans from other countries. Saudi Arabia will provide a USD 6 billion financial assistance package, which included USD 3 billion in short term loans at an interest rate of 3.18 per cent. Riyadh has already disbursed USD 3 billion. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Tariq Bajwa on Thursday said the modalities for USD 3 billion oil on deferred payments were finalised this week and an agreement would be signed on February 16 during the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The UAE has agreed to provide USD 3 billion in loans at an interest rate of around 3 per cent and has already disbursed USD 1 billion. A USD 3.2 billion worth of oil facility on deferred payment is being awaited. Pakistan has arranged these deposits for a term of one to three years but these are likely to be rolled over, in case Islamabad faces difficulties to return them, said the sources in the Finance Ministry. But despite USD 4 billion inflows from Riyadh and the UAE during the past two months, the gross official foreign currency reserves stayed at only USD 8.12 billion as of December 25, according the SBP governor. However, the SBP governor on Thursday said despite these measures, the current account deficit remained high, standing at USD 8 billion in six months. The overall foreign loans disbursements also remained low during first half of the fiscal year, standing at only USD 2.2 billion from July through December. The government on Thursday also launched Diaspora bonds at interest rates of 6.25 per cent for three years and 6.75 per cent for five years to arrange funds for balance of payments support. Finance Minister Asad Umar said he also gave a go ahead to launch two more financial instruments to meet external sector financing requirements. One instrument, likely to be Sukuk bonds (Islamic bonds), could be launched before June, according to the Finance Ministry officials.

  Moscow- Russian President Vladimir Putin told a meeting with foreign and defence ministers on Saturday that Russia has suspended the Cold War-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty following a similar decision by the United States, the Kremlin said. Putin also said that Russia will start working on creating new missiles, including supersonic ones, and told ministers not to initiate disarmament talks with Washington.