Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed&nbsp;grief on Thursday after former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel passed&nbsp;away.

Expressing his anguish over the demise of former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled his 45 year-long association with the leader and said his death is an irreparable loss for him.

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हम सभी के प्रिय, श्रद्धेय केशुभाई पटेल जी के निधन से मैं दुखी हूं, स्तब्ध हूं। <a href="https://t.co/kWCDdWmyOR">https://t.co/kWCDdWmyOR</a>
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1321734536930058246?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2020</a></blockquote>
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"I am sad and numb after hearing the news of Keshubhai Patel`s demise. He was like a father figure to me. It is an irreparable loss for me. He had given six decades to public life. He was a patriot and always used to think in the national interest," he said in an emotional video message.

"I had a long discussion with him during a recently virtual meeting of Somnath Trust. I spoke to him over the phone to know about his health condition. I have known him for 45 years. Today every BJP worker like me is sad. I express my condolences to his family. I am in touch with them," he added.

Calling the former Gujarat Chief Minister a great personality, the Prime Minister said that he was known for kind behaviour and a firm will power to take the decision.

"Her work was for the development of Gujarat and empowerment of Gujaratis. He understood the pain of farmers and the poor. As an MLA, MP, minister and Chief Minister, Keshubhai gave priority to the interest of farmers," he said.

The Prime Minister said that Keshubhai Patel strengthened Jan Sangh and BJP in every region of Gujarat. "During the emergency, he struggled for democracy. He taught a lot to many ordinary workers like me. He guided them. Even after taking over as the Prime Minister, I was in touch with him," he said.

Keshubhai Patel passed away on Thursday at the age of 92. As per Dr. Akshay Kiledar, representative of the Sterling Hospital in Ahmedabad, he had earlier been admitted to the hospital in an unconscious state.

"We tried to revive him but couldn`t after he was brought to the hospital in an unconscious state, following sudden cardiac arrest. He was declared dead at 11:55 am. He didn`t die due to COVID-19," Dr Kiledar said.

Patel had earlier tested positive for COVID-19 but had later tested negative. Dr. Kiledar confirmed that the coronavirus infection was not the cause of his death.

Keshubhai Savdasbhai Patel served as the Chief Minister of the state for a few months in 1995 and then from March 1998 to October of 2001. He was a six-time member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly and was a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party till 2012.&nbsp;

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief on Thursday after former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel passed away. Expressing his anguish over the demise of former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled his 45 year-long association with the leader and said his death is an irreparable loss for him.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief on Thursday after former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel passed away. Expressing his anguish over the demise of former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recalled his 45 year-long association with the leader and said his death is an irreparable loss for him. हम सभी के प्रिय, श्रद्धेय केशुभाई पटेल जी के निधन से मैं दुखी हूं, स्तब्ध हूं। https://t.co/kWCDdWmyOR — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 29, 2020 × "I am sad and numb after hearing the news of Keshubhai Patel`s demise. He was like a father figure to me. It is an irreparable loss for me. He had given six decades to public life. He was a patriot and always used to think in the national interest," he said in an emotional video message. "I had a long discussion with him during a recently virtual meeting of Somnath Trust. I spoke to him over the phone to know about his health condition. I have known him for 45 years. Today every BJP worker like me is sad. I express my condolences to his family. I am in touch with them," he added. Calling the former Gujarat Chief Minister a great personality, the Prime Minister said that he was known for kind behaviour and a firm will power to take the decision. "Her work was for the development of Gujarat and empowerment of Gujaratis. He understood the pain of farmers and the poor. As an MLA, MP, minister and Chief Minister, Keshubhai gave priority to the interest of farmers," he said. The Prime Minister said that Keshubhai Patel strengthened Jan Sangh and BJP in every region of Gujarat. "During the emergency, he struggled for democracy. He taught a lot to many ordinary workers like me. He guided them. Even after taking over as the Prime Minister, I was in touch with him," he said. Keshubhai Patel passed away on Thursday at the age of 92. As per Dr. Akshay Kiledar, representative of the Sterling Hospital in Ahmedabad, he had earlier been admitted to the hospital in an unconscious state. "We tried to revive him but couldn`t after he was brought to the hospital in an unconscious state, following sudden cardiac arrest. He was declared dead at 11:55 am. He didn`t die due to COVID-19," Dr Kiledar said. Patel had earlier tested positive for COVID-19 but had later tested negative. Dr. Kiledar confirmed that the coronavirus infection was not the cause of his death. Keshubhai Savdasbhai Patel served as the Chief Minister of the state for a few months in 1995 and then from March 1998 to October of 2001. He was a six-time member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly and was a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party till 2012.

PM Modi expresses grief after former Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel passes away

Lebanon and Israel, still technically at war, wrapped up a second round of maritime border talks Thursday under UN and US auspices to allow for offshore energy exploration.

The delegations met for around four hours for a second day straight at a base of the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL in the Lebanese border town of Naqura, Lebanon's National News Agency and Israel's energy ministry said.

The talks have been shrouded in secrecy, with little information emerging about any progress being made.

"At the end it was determined that another round of talks will take place during the coming month," the Israeli energy ministry said.

A Lebanese source close to the negotiations said they would resume on November 11.

A first round of talks had been held on October 14, and the second had started on Wednesday.

After years of quiet US shuttle diplomacy, Lebanon and Israel this month said they had agreed to begin the negotiations in what Washington hailed as a "historic" agreement.

The announcement came weeks after Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab nations to establish relations with Israel since Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

But Lebanon has insisted the negotiations are purely technical and do not involve any political normalisation with Israel.

Lebanon, reeling from its worst economic crisis in decades, is hoping to settle the maritime border dispute so it can continue exploring for hydrocarbon reserves in the Mediterranean.

Exploration is on hold in an area off its coast named Block 9, as a section of it is located in an 860-square-kilometre (330-square-mile) area claimed by both Israel and Lebanon.

NNA said the Lebanese delegation carried with it "maps and documents showing the points of contention and the Israeli enemy infringing on the Lebanese right to include part of Block 9".

In February 2018, Lebanon signed its first contract for offshore drilling for oil and gas in Block 9 and Block 4 with a consortium comprising energy giants Total, ENI and Novatek.

Lebanon in April said initial drilling in Block 4 had shown traces of gas but no commercially viable reserves.

While the US-brokered talks look at the maritime border, a UNIFIL-sponsored track is also due to address outstanding land border disputes.

UNIFIL head Major General Stefano Del Col welcomed Tuesday what he called "a unique opportunity to make substantial progress on contentious issues along" the land frontier.

Lebanon and Israel, still technically at war, wrapped up a second round of maritime border talks Thursday under UN and US auspices to allow for offshore energy exploration.

Lebanon and Israel, still technically at war, wrapped up a second round of maritime border talks Thursday under UN and US auspices to allow for offshore energy exploration. The delegations met for around four hours for a second day straight at a base of the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL in the Lebanese border town of Naqura, Lebanon's National News Agency and Israel's energy ministry said. The talks have been shrouded in secrecy, with little information emerging about any progress being made. "At the end it was determined that another round of talks will take place during the coming month," the Israeli energy ministry said. A Lebanese source close to the negotiations said they would resume on November 11. A first round of talks had been held on October 14, and the second had started on Wednesday. After years of quiet US shuttle diplomacy, Lebanon and Israel this month said they had agreed to begin the negotiations in what Washington hailed as a "historic" agreement. The announcement came weeks after Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab nations to establish relations with Israel since Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. But Lebanon has insisted the negotiations are purely technical and do not involve any political normalisation with Israel. Lebanon, reeling from its worst economic crisis in decades, is hoping to settle the maritime border dispute so it can continue exploring for hydrocarbon reserves in the Mediterranean. Exploration is on hold in an area off its coast named Block 9, as a section of it is located in an 860-square-kilometre (330-square-mile) area claimed by both Israel and Lebanon. NNA said the Lebanese delegation carried with it "maps and documents showing the points of contention and the Israeli enemy infringing on the Lebanese right to include part of Block 9". In February 2018, Lebanon signed its first contract for offshore drilling for oil and gas in Block 9 and Block 4 with a consortium comprising energy giants Total, ENI and Novatek. Lebanon in April said initial drilling in Block 4 had shown traces of gas but no commercially viable reserves. While the US-brokered talks look at the maritime border, a UNIFIL-sponsored track is also due to address outstanding land border disputes. UNIFIL head Major General Stefano Del Col welcomed Tuesday what he called "a unique opportunity to make substantial progress on contentious issues along" the land frontier.

Lebanon, Israel end second round of maritime border talks

China is the "gravest threat" to the future of religious freedom, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday, in his latest verbal assault on Beijing during a whirlwind Asian tour.

Pompeo has made attacks against China the focus of his trip this week which kicked off in India and included visits to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Indonesia, and, later Friday, Vietnam.

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Pompeo&nbsp;said China had brutalised its Uighur minority in Xinjiang province, corralling them in huge detention centres and forcing some to eat pork during the Islamic holy month.

In his address to the youth wing of Indonesia's largest Muslim group, he also accused China of separating Uighur children from their parents and imposing sterilisations.

China denies mistreating Uighurs and says the camps are vocational training centres that are needed to tackle extremism and promote development.

"The gravest threat to the future of religious freedom is the Chinese Communist Party's war against people of all faiths: Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, and Falun Gong practitioners alike," Pompeo said in a speech Thursday to major Muslim organisation the Nahdlatul Ulama.

"The atheist Chinese communist party has tried to convince the world that its brutalisation of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang is necessary as counter-terrorism or poverty alleviation," he added.

Rights groups say that more than one million Uighurs languish in camps in the northwest Xinjiang region as Beijing attempts to forcibly integrate the community and root out its Islamic heritage.

China has denied the numbers and describes the camps as vocational centres that teach skills to prevent the allure of Islamic radicalism following a series of attacks.

"But we know that there is no counter-terrorism justification in forcing Uighur Muslims to eat pork during Ramadan, or destroying a Muslim cemetery," Pompeo said.

"There is no poverty-alleviation justification for forced sterilisations, or taking children away from their parents to be re-educated in state-run boarding schools."

Pompeo rejected what he called Beijing's "fantastic tales of happy Uighurs".

"The Chinese Communist Party has tried to convince Indonesians to look away from the torments your fellow Muslims are suffering... Search your hearts. Look at the facts," he said.

"Think about what you know of how an authoritarian government treats those who resist its rule."

China is Indonesia's biggest trading partner and criticism in the Southeast Asian country of Beijing's treatment of Uighurs has been muted.

China is the "gravest threat" to the future of religious freedom, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday, in his latest verbal assault on Beijing during a whirlwind Asian tour.

China is the "gravest threat" to the future of religious freedom, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday, in his latest verbal assault on Beijing during a whirlwind Asian tour. Pompeo has made attacks against China the focus of his trip this week which kicked off in India and included visits to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Indonesia, and, later Friday, Vietnam. Pompeo said China had brutalised its Uighur minority in Xinjiang province, corralling them in huge detention centres and forcing some to eat pork during the Islamic holy month. In his address to the youth wing of Indonesia's largest Muslim group, he also accused China of separating Uighur children from their parents and imposing sterilisations. China denies mistreating Uighurs and says the camps are vocational training centres that are needed to tackle extremism and promote development. "The gravest threat to the future of religious freedom is the Chinese Communist Party's war against people of all faiths: Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, and Falun Gong practitioners alike," Pompeo said in a speech Thursday to major Muslim organisation the Nahdlatul Ulama. "The atheist Chinese communist party has tried to convince the world that its brutalisation of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang is necessary as counter-terrorism or poverty alleviation," he added. Rights groups say that more than one million Uighurs languish in camps in the northwest Xinjiang region as Beijing attempts to forcibly integrate the community and root out its Islamic heritage. China has denied the numbers and describes the camps as vocational centres that teach skills to prevent the allure of Islamic radicalism following a series of attacks. "But we know that there is no counter-terrorism justification in forcing Uighur Muslims to eat pork during Ramadan, or destroying a Muslim cemetery," Pompeo said. "There is no poverty-alleviation justification for forced sterilisations, or taking children away from their parents to be re-educated in state-run boarding schools." Pompeo rejected what he called Beijing's "fantastic tales of happy Uighurs". "The Chinese Communist Party has tried to convince Indonesians to look away from the torments your fellow Muslims are suffering... Search your hearts. Look at the facts," he said. "Think about what you know of how an authoritarian government treats those who resist its rule." China is Indonesia's biggest trading partner and criticism in the Southeast Asian country of Beijing's treatment of Uighurs has been muted.

Pompeo says China treatment of Uighurs 'gravest threat' to religious freedom

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko replaced his interior minister and named three security hawks to new roles on Thursday in an attempt to tighten his grip on the country after nearly 12 weeks of mass protests.

Ivan Kubrakov, who as head of police in the capital Minsk has led the crackdown on the biggest demonstrations, was appointed interior minister.

His predecessor, Yuri Karayev, was one of three men named to new roles as presidential aides and "inspectors" responsible for key regions of the country.

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Lukashenko's position appears more secure after a national strike call by the opposition failed to bring the economy to a halt this week. Security forces have arrested more than 16,000 people since a presidential election on Aug. 9 which the opposition and Western government say was rigged.

But protests continue, especially at universities, and the reshuffle suggests the veteran leader is concerned at the time it is taking to stamp out opposition and feels the need to do more.

"Lukashenko is nervous and in a flap, because he can't quell the protests. He thinks if he shuffles the deck of security personnel, it will have an effect. Lukashenko is still betting on stifling the protests," said political analyst Alexander Klaskovsky.

Lukashenko also ordered the strengthening of armed volunteer militia units, which in theory already exist but in practice have not played a role in the crisis till now.

"NOT YET OVER"

The two other two new presidential aides are Valery Vakulchik, who spent eight years as head of the KGB security police, and former deputy interior minister Alexander Barsukov.

Barsukov will be responsible for Minsk, Vakulchik for Brest on the Polish border, and Karayev for Grodno, near the borders with Poland and Lithuania.

The emphasis on security in regions bordering NATO countries is consistent with repeated allegations by Lukashenko that NATO and the West are whipping up unrest in Belarus. In September he staged a high-profile series of military exercises with his key ally, Russia.

Addressing the three new aides, Lukashenko said they were heading to very important areas of the country "in connection with the events that have occurred and are not yet over - we still don't know what this may result in".

"Why you? You are military people, you're knowledgeable, you don't need to be brought up to speed and taught."

Karayev, Barsukov, Vakulchik, and Kubrakov were all hit with European Union travel bans and asset freezes earlier this month for their role in the repression, intimidation, and arbitrary arrest of protesters since the election. The first three were also accused of responsibility for torture.

The United States has also imposed sanctions on Karayev, Barsukov, and Kubrakov.

Belarus denies torturing prisoners and Karayev, the outgoing interior minister, has described its police force as one of the most humane in the world.

US&nbsp;Democratic candidate Joe Biden has said he will expand sanctions on Lukashenko's "henchmen" if he wins next week's presidential election.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko replaced his interior minister and named three security hawks to new roles on Thursday in an attempt to tighten his grip on the country after nearly 12 weeks of mass protests.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko replaced his interior minister and named three security hawks to new roles on Thursday in an attempt to tighten his grip on the country after nearly 12 weeks of mass protests. Ivan Kubrakov, who as head of police in the capital Minsk has led the crackdown on the biggest demonstrations, was appointed interior minister. His predecessor, Yuri Karayev, was one of three men named to new roles as presidential aides and "inspectors" responsible for key regions of the country. Lukashenko's position appears more secure after a national strike call by the opposition failed to bring the economy to a halt this week. Security forces have arrested more than 16,000 people since a presidential election on Aug. 9 which the opposition and Western government say was rigged. But protests continue, especially at universities, and the reshuffle suggests the veteran leader is concerned at the time it is taking to stamp out opposition and feels the need to do more. "Lukashenko is nervous and in a flap, because he can't quell the protests. He thinks if he shuffles the deck of security personnel, it will have an effect. Lukashenko is still betting on stifling the protests," said political analyst Alexander Klaskovsky. Lukashenko also ordered the strengthening of armed volunteer militia units, which in theory already exist but in practice have not played a role in the crisis till now. "NOT YET OVER" The two other two new presidential aides are Valery Vakulchik, who spent eight years as head of the KGB security police, and former deputy interior minister Alexander Barsukov. Barsukov will be responsible for Minsk, Vakulchik for Brest on the Polish border, and Karayev for Grodno, near the borders with Poland and Lithuania. The emphasis on security in regions bordering NATO countries is consistent with repeated allegations by Lukashenko that NATO and the West are whipping up unrest in Belarus. In September he staged a high-profile series of military exercises with his key ally, Russia. Addressing the three new aides, Lukashenko said they were heading to very important areas of the country "in connection with the events that have occurred and are not yet over - we still don't know what this may result in". "Why you? You are military people, you're knowledgeable, you don't need to be brought up to speed and taught." Karayev, Barsukov, Vakulchik, and Kubrakov were all hit with European Union travel bans and asset freezes earlier this month for their role in the repression, intimidation, and arbitrary arrest of protesters since the election. The first three were also accused of responsibility for torture. The United States has also imposed sanctions on Karayev, Barsukov, and Kubrakov. Belarus denies torturing prisoners and Karayev, the outgoing interior minister, has described its police force as one of the most humane in the world. US Democratic candidate Joe Biden has said he will expand sanctions on Lukashenko's "henchmen" if he wins next week's presidential election.

Lukashenko shakes up security team to stamp out Belarus protests

The Palestinians are counting on a Trump defeat on Tuesday. They don’t even want to think about Plan B.

An end to the Trump administration would give the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, a face-saving chance to reverse a self-inflicted economic hardship that has been punishing his people for months.

Fearing Israeli annexation of West Bank land the Palestinians have counted on for a future state, Abbas, in a bitter protest, stopped accepting transfers of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes that Israel collects on the Palestinian Authority’s behalf. That forced painful salary cuts for tens of thousands of civil servants.

But former Vice President Joe Biden has made clear that he opposes Israeli annexation of land Palestinians want for a future state, and Israel has said it would not proceed without U.S. support. So a Biden victory would provide Abbas with “a ladder to climb down from the tree,” said Jehad Harb, a Palestinian political analyst in Ramallah. He could declare annexation dead and go back to accepting the tax transfers.

Isolated diplomatically and running out of money, plagued by old internal ideological divisions and by new threats like the coronavirus, the Palestinians are looking to Tuesday’s election more desperate than ever for a change in Washington. At the same time, senior members of Abbas’ Fatah party are increasingly looking ahead to his eventual exit from the stage and positioning themselves to try to succeed him.

Above all, Abbas, 84, and his lieutenants are counting on a President Biden to shelve the Trump administration’s lopsidedly pro-Israel plan for resolving the conflict. They are expecting a return to U.S. support for a two-state solution that Palestinians would consider viable. They are hoping for a thaw with the White House and wishing for the reinstatement of at least some financial aid.

Rolling back other moves by Trump, however, would be more complicated, like reopening a Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington. And Biden has already ruled out undoing Trump’s move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Should Trump win a second term, the Palestinians see no good options.

In a second term, Trump administration officials have vowed to press to make their Mideast plan, which contemplates Israeli annexation of much of the West Bank, a basis for resolving the decades-old conflict.

And they have promised to complete more normalization deals for Israel with Arab countries like those with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, which shredded the decades-old Arab solidarity that had underpinned the Palestinian national strategy: No recognition of Israel before the creation of a Palestinian state.

But if Abbas is anxiously waiting to see whether Trump leaves office, nearly everyone around him is looking ahead to the day after Abbas makes his own exit. Senior members of his party are throwing elbows at one another while courting publicity for their own efforts at diplomacy, technocratic governance or popular protest.

“The ship is sinking, and everyone is fighting over the first-class cabin,” said Ghaith al-Omari, a former adviser to Abbas.

People around Abbas say he has even become fearful that the United States, Israel and their newly emboldened allies in the Arab world might plot to engineer his replacement — a concern rekindled by a recent interview with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi spy chief and diplomat, on Saudi state television.

“With those people,” Bandar said, referring to the Palestinian leadership, “it’s hard to trust them or to think you can do something to serve Palestine in their presence.”

Ultimately, many analysts say, Abbas may have to eat crow and reengage the Trump administration, ideally with some sort of face-saving diplomatic cover like the intervention of a multilateral institution.

For now, though, he has tried to create at least the appearance of other options.

Suddenly something of an outcast among his traditional Arab allies in Egypt and the Gulf, he sought to send them a message — albeit one that few have accepted at face value — by flirting with Turkey and Qatar, bitter regional and ideological rivals of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

Abbas revived the idea of reconciling with Hamas, the militant Islamic group that rules the Gaza Strip. And he promised to call new elections in both the West Bank and Gaza as a way to reunify the Palestinians, renew his legitimacy and hamper any effort to oust him.

But few see these as serious options. Abbas is deeply mistrustful of Hamas, which is allied with Turkey and Qatar, and fearful that it could win control of the West Bank in new elections.

“Hot air,” said Mouin Rabbani, an expert on Palestinian politics, describing what he thought the end result of Abbas’ unity and elections bid would be.

Difficult as it may be to believe now, Abbas was quite optimistic about the Trump administration in its first few months, when the new president surprised many in the region by expressing interest in settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all.

But those hopes were quickly dashed, and the administration’s treatment of the Palestinians became a growing nightmare of aid cuts, affronts and insults.

Upending long-standing U.S. positions on Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, settlements and other highly contentious aspects of the conflict, the administration seemed to go out of its way to take Israel’s side and undercut the Palestinians — infuriating Abbas, weakening his authority and isolating him diplomatically.

But even if Biden is elected, it will be difficult to undo much of what Trump has done.

Allowing the reopening of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s diplomatic mission in Washington or restoring much of the aid to projects that directly benefited the Palestinian Authority would require Biden to overcome a number of legal obstacles, some of which might require congressional approval.

And reestablishing the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which until 2019 functioned as the U.S. diplomatic mission to the Palestinians, would require Israel’s permission — something it may not be too quick to grant in a city that Trump himself formally recognized as Israel’s capital.

“These are all possible, but they would require heavy political lifting,” said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace and an expert on the role of Congress in the region.

What Abbas may wish for most — that Biden would prioritize the Palestinian cause, pressure Israel to make concessions and even move the U.S. Embassy back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem — seems highly unlikely at best.

Biden has made clear he has many higher priorities, beginning with the coronavirus pandemic. He has signaled that he does not want to clash with the Israeli government.

“The idea that everything will go back to the way it was before is somewhat of a fairy tale,” Rabbani said.

None of Abbas’ would-be successors are articulating a bold change in strategy either. But such ideas do exist outside of the Palestinian leadership.

Some Palestinians support renewed efforts to revive negotiations with Israel. Others want the Palestinian Authority to dissolve itself, forcing Israel to take responsibility for their lives and absorb the heavy financial and societal costs of a full-blown, direct military occupation, even in densely populated West Bank cities where Palestinians now generally govern themselves.

And fully 26% of Palestinians in the West Bank, according to a new poll, favor a return to an armed struggle against Israel.

A smaller but growing number of activists have tried to build interest in a peaceful protest movement.

Still, with Israeli politics moving rightward, many on the West Bank see little reason for optimism.

Khalil al-Arda, 52, a member of the municipal council in the village of Arraba, near Jenin, said he feared the status quo would never improve.

“I feel like we’re in a very dark tunnel with no light at the end,” he said.

The Palestinians are counting on a Trump defeat on Tuesday. They don’t even want to think about Plan B. An end to the Trump administration would give the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, a face-saving chance to reverse a self-inflicted economic hardship that has been punishing his people for months.

The Palestinians are counting on a Trump defeat on Tuesday. They don’t even want to think about Plan B. An end to the Trump administration would give the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, a face-saving chance to reverse a self-inflicted economic hardship that has been punishing his people for months. Fearing Israeli annexation of West Bank land the Palestinians have counted on for a future state, Abbas, in a bitter protest, stopped accepting transfers of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes that Israel collects on the Palestinian Authority’s behalf. That forced painful salary cuts for tens of thousands of civil servants. But former Vice President Joe Biden has made clear that he opposes Israeli annexation of land Palestinians want for a future state, and Israel has said it would not proceed without U.S. support. So a Biden victory would provide Abbas with “a ladder to climb down from the tree,” said Jehad Harb, a Palestinian political analyst in Ramallah. He could declare annexation dead and go back to accepting the tax transfers. Isolated diplomatically and running out of money, plagued by old internal ideological divisions and by new threats like the coronavirus, the Palestinians are looking to Tuesday’s election more desperate than ever for a change in Washington. At the same time, senior members of Abbas’ Fatah party are increasingly looking ahead to his eventual exit from the stage and positioning themselves to try to succeed him. Above all, Abbas, 84, and his lieutenants are counting on a President Biden to shelve the Trump administration’s lopsidedly pro-Israel plan for resolving the conflict. They are expecting a return to U.S. support for a two-state solution that Palestinians would consider viable. They are hoping for a thaw with the White House and wishing for the reinstatement of at least some financial aid. Rolling back other moves by Trump, however, would be more complicated, like reopening a Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington. And Biden has already ruled out undoing Trump’s move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. Should Trump win a second term, the Palestinians see no good options. In a second term, Trump administration officials have vowed to press to make their Mideast plan, which contemplates Israeli annexation of much of the West Bank, a basis for resolving the decades-old conflict. And they have promised to complete more normalization deals for Israel with Arab countries like those with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, which shredded the decades-old Arab solidarity that had underpinned the Palestinian national strategy: No recognition of Israel before the creation of a Palestinian state. But if Abbas is anxiously waiting to see whether Trump leaves office, nearly everyone around him is looking ahead to the day after Abbas makes his own exit. Senior members of his party are throwing elbows at one another while courting publicity for their own efforts at diplomacy, technocratic governance or popular protest. “The ship is sinking, and everyone is fighting over the first-class cabin,” said Ghaith al-Omari, a former adviser to Abbas. People around Abbas say he has even become fearful that the United States, Israel and their newly emboldened allies in the Arab world might plot to engineer his replacement — a concern rekindled by a recent interview with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi spy chief and diplomat, on Saudi state television. “With those people,” Bandar said, referring to the Palestinian leadership, “it’s hard to trust them or to think you can do something to serve Palestine in their presence.” Ultimately, many analysts say, Abbas may have to eat crow and reengage the Trump administration, ideally with some sort of face-saving diplomatic cover like the intervention of a multilateral institution. For now, though, he has tried to create at least the appearance of other options. Suddenly something of an outcast among his traditional Arab allies in Egypt and the Gulf, he sought to send them a message — albeit one that few have accepted at face value — by flirting with Turkey and Qatar, bitter regional and ideological rivals of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Abbas revived the idea of reconciling with Hamas, the militant Islamic group that rules the Gaza Strip. And he promised to call new elections in both the West Bank and Gaza as a way to reunify the Palestinians, renew his legitimacy and hamper any effort to oust him. But few see these as serious options. Abbas is deeply mistrustful of Hamas, which is allied with Turkey and Qatar, and fearful that it could win control of the West Bank in new elections. “Hot air,” said Mouin Rabbani, an expert on Palestinian politics, describing what he thought the end result of Abbas’ unity and elections bid would be. Difficult as it may be to believe now, Abbas was quite optimistic about the Trump administration in its first few months, when the new president surprised many in the region by expressing interest in settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all. But those hopes were quickly dashed, and the administration’s treatment of the Palestinians became a growing nightmare of aid cuts, affronts and insults. Upending long-standing U.S. positions on Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, settlements and other highly contentious aspects of the conflict, the administration seemed to go out of its way to take Israel’s side and undercut the Palestinians — infuriating Abbas, weakening his authority and isolating him diplomatically. But even if Biden is elected, it will be difficult to undo much of what Trump has done. Allowing the reopening of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s diplomatic mission in Washington or restoring much of the aid to projects that directly benefited the Palestinian Authority would require Biden to overcome a number of legal obstacles, some of which might require congressional approval. And reestablishing the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which until 2019 functioned as the U.S. diplomatic mission to the Palestinians, would require Israel’s permission — something it may not be too quick to grant in a city that Trump himself formally recognized as Israel’s capital. “These are all possible, but they would require heavy political lifting,” said Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace and an expert on the role of Congress in the region. What Abbas may wish for most — that Biden would prioritize the Palestinian cause, pressure Israel to make concessions and even move the U.S. Embassy back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem — seems highly unlikely at best. Biden has made clear he has many higher priorities, beginning with the coronavirus pandemic. He has signaled that he does not want to clash with the Israeli government. “The idea that everything will go back to the way it was before is somewhat of a fairy tale,” Rabbani said. None of Abbas’ would-be successors are articulating a bold change in strategy either. But such ideas do exist outside of the Palestinian leadership. Some Palestinians support renewed efforts to revive negotiations with Israel. Others want the Palestinian Authority to dissolve itself, forcing Israel to take responsibility for their lives and absorb the heavy financial and societal costs of a full-blown, direct military occupation, even in densely populated West Bank cities where Palestinians now generally govern themselves. And fully 26% of Palestinians in the West Bank, according to a new poll, favor a return to an armed struggle against Israel. A smaller but growing number of activists have tried to build interest in a peaceful protest movement. Still, with Israeli politics moving rightward, many on the West Bank see little reason for optimism. Khalil al-Arda, 52, a member of the municipal council in the village of Arraba, near Jenin, said he feared the status quo would never improve. “I feel like we’re in a very dark tunnel with no light at the end,” he said.

Palestinian leaders are banking on Biden win next week

Deforestation in Brazil's&nbsp;Amazon&nbsp;rainforest&nbsp;fell in September for the third straight month compared to a year ago, government data showed on Friday, but destruction remains far higher than before President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019.

Forest&nbsp;clearances in the world's largest rainforest&nbsp;are down 10 per cent&nbsp;in the first nine months of 2020, compared to the same period a year ago, according to data released by government space research agency INPE.

September was the 7th highest month for deforestation on record, outstripping any month in the two years preceding Bolsonaro's inauguration.

A heartwrenching video posted by a YouTube channel Planet posted the rate of&nbsp;deforestation at the&nbsp;rainforest from May 2017 to September 2020.

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Cyok7sHSHIQ" width="560"></iframe>

"The deforestation numbers continue to be terrible and unacceptable," said Marcio Astrini of the Climate Observatory NGO, who said deforestation alerts used to be measured in hundreds of square kilometers and now they are reported in the thousands.

"Everything that brought us to this scenario of environmental chaos, of uncontrolled deforestation and crime taking hold in the&nbsp;Amazon&nbsp;continues to exist," he said.

Environmental advocates blame right-wing Bolsonaro, who has rolled back environmental enforcement and called for mining and farming protected areas of the&nbsp;Amazon, for emboldening illegal loggers, ranchers and miners to destroy the&nbsp;forest.

Bolsonaro says he aims to lift the region out of poverty and that the amount of&nbsp;forest&nbsp;still standing shows Brazil is a model for conservation.

Last week, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called for a world effort to offer $20 billion to end&nbsp;Amazon&nbsp;deforestation and threatened Brazil with unspecified "economic consequences" if it did not "stop tearing down the&nbsp;forest."

In response, Bolsonaro blasted Biden as making cowardly threats to Brazil's sovereignty.

Despite the consecutive months of falling deforestation, Brazil's official deforestation measure for 2020 is expected to show a rise.

Deforestation is measured annually by how much&nbsp;forest&nbsp;has been cleared as of the end of July, as compared to the previous August. Those months have less cloud cover that interferes with the satellite images. For that period, deforestation rose 34.6% to 9.216 square kilometers, the preliminary data show.

The final data is generally far higher than the preliminary figures. Brazil's&nbsp;Amazon&nbsp;Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) estimates the final deforestation figure will be above 14,000 square kilometers. That's an area larger than the U.S. state of Connecticut.

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest fell in September for the third straight month compared to a year ago, government data showed on Friday, but destruction remains far higher than before President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019.

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest fell in September for the third straight month compared to a year ago, government data showed on Friday, but destruction remains far higher than before President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019. Forest clearances in the world's largest rainforest are down 10 per cent in the first nine months of 2020, compared to the same period a year ago, according to data released by government space research agency INPE. September was the 7th highest month for deforestation on record, outstripping any month in the two years preceding Bolsonaro's inauguration. A heartwrenching video posted by a YouTube channel Planet posted the rate of deforestation at the rainforest from May 2017 to September 2020. "The deforestation numbers continue to be terrible and unacceptable," said Marcio Astrini of the Climate Observatory NGO, who said deforestation alerts used to be measured in hundreds of square kilometers and now they are reported in the thousands. "Everything that brought us to this scenario of environmental chaos, of uncontrolled deforestation and crime taking hold in the Amazon continues to exist," he said. Environmental advocates blame right-wing Bolsonaro, who has rolled back environmental enforcement and called for mining and farming protected areas of the Amazon, for emboldening illegal loggers, ranchers and miners to destroy the forest. Bolsonaro says he aims to lift the region out of poverty and that the amount of forest still standing shows Brazil is a model for conservation. Last week, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called for a world effort to offer $20 billion to end Amazon deforestation and threatened Brazil with unspecified "economic consequences" if it did not "stop tearing down the forest." In response, Bolsonaro blasted Biden as making cowardly threats to Brazil's sovereignty. Despite the consecutive months of falling deforestation, Brazil's official deforestation measure for 2020 is expected to show a rise. Deforestation is measured annually by how much forest has been cleared as of the end of July, as compared to the previous August. Those months have less cloud cover that interferes with the satellite images. For that period, deforestation rose 34.6% to 9.216 square kilometers, the preliminary data show. The final data is generally far higher than the preliminary figures. Brazil's Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) estimates the final deforestation figure will be above 14,000 square kilometers. That's an area larger than the U.S. state of Connecticut.

Watch: Timelapse video of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned of an impending wave of cyberattacks&nbsp;on&nbsp;hospitals&nbsp;and healthcare providers in the United States,&nbsp;urging them to increase their protection.

An advisory released by the FBI and two other government agencies said they had "credible information" that hackers were&nbsp;targeting the healthcare sector&nbsp;using malware, "often leading to ransomware attacks, data theft, and the disruption of healthcare services."

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The threat comes as US&nbsp;hospitals&nbsp;grapple with rising numbers of coronavirus cases, during a pandemic that has so far&nbsp;killed more than 226,000 people in the country.

Ransomware is a type of malicious software used by cybercriminals to encrypt users' files until a ransom is paid.

Healthcare institutions have been frequent victims of ransomware for several years in the US and globally.

Last month, a suspected ransomware attack disrupted patient care at a large chain of&nbsp;hospitals&nbsp;and clinics&nbsp;operating in the United States and Britain.

In 2017, the UK's national healthcare system was one of the victims of a wave of global ransomware attacks, prompting some of its&nbsp;hospitals&nbsp;to divert ambulances and scrap operations.

The federal agencies urged US healthcare providers to take "timely and reasonable precautions" to protect their networks.

They encouraged healthcare providers to patch their operating systems, software, and firmware as soon as possible, and to conduct antivirus and anti-malware scans regularly.

The agencies also recommended changing passwords regularly and using multi-factor authentication.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned of an impending wave of cyberattacks on hospitals and healthcare providers in the United States, urging them to increase their protection.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned of an impending wave of cyberattacks on hospitals and healthcare providers in the United States, urging them to increase their protection. An advisory released by the FBI and two other government agencies said they had "credible information" that hackers were targeting the healthcare sector using malware, "often leading to ransomware attacks, data theft, and the disruption of healthcare services." The threat comes as US hospitals grapple with rising numbers of coronavirus cases, during a pandemic that has so far killed more than 226,000 people in the country. Ransomware is a type of malicious software used by cybercriminals to encrypt users' files until a ransom is paid. Healthcare institutions have been frequent victims of ransomware for several years in the US and globally. Last month, a suspected ransomware attack disrupted patient care at a large chain of hospitals and clinics operating in the United States and Britain. In 2017, the UK's national healthcare system was one of the victims of a wave of global ransomware attacks, prompting some of its hospitals to divert ambulances and scrap operations. The federal agencies urged US healthcare providers to take "timely and reasonable precautions" to protect their networks. They encouraged healthcare providers to patch their operating systems, software, and firmware as soon as possible, and to conduct antivirus and anti-malware scans regularly. The agencies also recommended changing passwords regularly and using multi-factor authentication.

FBI warns of 'imminent' cyber crime threat to hospitals in US

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced his&nbsp;support for banning a&nbsp;comparison between&nbsp;the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) with Hitler's Germany.

The announcement comes after the publication of two foreign books in Russia that were comparing the leadership of both the USSR and Nazi Germany.

Elena Yampolskaya, the&nbsp;head of the Russian Parliament's committee on culture and a member of the governing United Russia party had put forward the suggestion on Tuesday saying ''the Soviets were worse than the Nazis."

Without naming the two books she added ''Unfortunately, we translate and publish such impudent, unsubstantiated books in our country. The first book had 45,000 copies published, and the second 80,000. Both are popular with young people.''

In response, Putin said, ''I agree with your suggestions. We need to be careful, but of course, do it.''

We will be exposing any attempts to distort history and to let the spirit of alliance and of combat brotherhood be consigned to oblivion,” he added.

Earlier this year, the official Twitter account of the White House in Washington DC had stirred a debate in the wake of guaranteeing that the US and England won World War 2, totally precluding the commitment of the Soviet Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced his support for banning a comparison between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) with Hitler's Germany.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced his support for banning a comparison between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) with Hitler's Germany. The announcement comes after the publication of two foreign books in Russia that were comparing the leadership of both the USSR and Nazi Germany. Elena Yampolskaya, the head of the Russian Parliament's committee on culture and a member of the governing United Russia party had put forward the suggestion on Tuesday saying ''the Soviets were worse than the Nazis." Without naming the two books she added ''Unfortunately, we translate and publish such impudent, unsubstantiated books in our country. The first book had 45,000 copies published, and the second 80,000. Both are popular with young people.'' In response, Putin said, ''I agree with your suggestions. We need to be careful, but of course, do it.'' We will be exposing any attempts to distort history and to let the spirit of alliance and of combat brotherhood be consigned to oblivion,” he added. Earlier this year, the official Twitter account of the White House in Washington DC had stirred a debate in the wake of guaranteeing that the US and England won World War 2, totally precluding the commitment of the Soviet Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announces support for ban on comparing USSR with Hitler's Germany

China has eased its two-child limit policy over concerns of the aging population and a decline in the birth rate.

In the event that current patterns proceed, China's population&nbsp;will top at 1.44 billion out of 2029 preceding entering "relentless" decrease, as indicated by a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences study released in January.&nbsp;

The nation will enter a "time of negative populace development," the report says, cautioning that by 2065 numbers will re-visitation the degrees of the mid-1990s.&nbsp;

<img alt="China " data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a2c4d766-cbdf-46b2-a650-6ab26c5836fa" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/Untitled%20design%20%2872%29_4.jpg" />

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

The proportion of youth to old will be drastically imbalanced by the rising positions of the old, putting a remarkable load on the ties that hold society together.&nbsp;

The size of the issue is incomplete because of the tradition of the one-kid strategy: history's greatest social-designing examination.

However,&nbsp;China's quickly maturing populace could require the deserting of the nation's two-youngster strategy as retired people will require more kids to take care of them, specialists have cautioned.&nbsp;

It has been anticipated that the nation might have 300 million individuals matured at least 60 of every five years, up from 254 million a year ago.&nbsp;

"We will end up being a decently maturing society from a softly maturing society," Li Banghua, agent head of senior administrations at the service of common issues, said.

"Guardians of the nation's original of just kids will turn out to be older in five to ten years, and we will see a rush of requests for senior consideration."&nbsp;

The service has spread out designs to prepare 10,000 consideration home chiefs and 100,000 social laborers for the older.

China has eased its two-child limit policy over concerns of the aging population and a decline in the birth rate. In the event that current patterns proceed, China's population will top at 1.

China has eased its two-child limit policy over concerns of the aging population and a decline in the birth rate. In the event that current patterns proceed, China's population will top at 1.44 billion out of 2029 preceding entering "relentless" decrease, as indicated by a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences study released in January. The nation will enter a "time of negative populace development," the report says, cautioning that by 2065 numbers will re-visitation the degrees of the mid-1990s. Source: National Bureau of Statistics The proportion of youth to old will be drastically imbalanced by the rising positions of the old, putting a remarkable load on the ties that hold society together. The size of the issue is incomplete because of the tradition of the one-kid strategy: history's greatest social-designing examination. However, China's quickly maturing populace could require the deserting of the nation's two-youngster strategy as retired people will require more kids to take care of them, specialists have cautioned. It has been anticipated that the nation might have 300 million individuals matured at least 60 of every five years, up from 254 million a year ago. "We will end up being a decently maturing society from a softly maturing society," Li Banghua, agent head of senior administrations at the service of common issues, said. "Guardians of the nation's original of just kids will turn out to be older in five to ten years, and we will see a rush of requests for senior consideration." The service has spread out designs to prepare 10,000 consideration home chiefs and 100,000 social laborers for the older.

China relaxes two-child limit policy over concerns of aging population and decline in birth rate

The financial crisis was in full swing when Donald Trump traveled to Chicago in late September 2008 to mark the near-completion of his 92-floor skyscraper.

The fortunes of big companies, small businesses, and millions of Americans — including the Trumps — were in peril. But the family patriarch was jubilant as he stood on the terrace of his gleaming glass tower.

“We’re in love with the building,” Trump gushed. “We’re very, very happy with what’s happened with respect to this building and how fast we put it up.”

He and his family hoped the Trump International Hotel &amp;amp; Tower would cement their company’s reputation as one of the world’s marquee developers of luxury real estate.

Instead, the skyscraper became another disappointment in a portfolio filled with them. Construction lagged. Condos proved hard to sell. Retail space sat vacantly.

Yet for Trump and his company, the Chicago experience also turned out to be something else: the latest example of his ability to strong-arm major financial institutions and exploit the tax code to cushion the blow of his repeated business failures.

The president’s federal income tax records, obtained by The New York Times, show for the first time that, since 2010, his lenders have forgiven about $287 million in debt that he failed to repay. The vast majority was related to the Chicago project.

How Trump found trouble in Chicago and maneuvered his way out of it, is a case study in doing business the Trump way.

When the project encountered problems, he tried to walk away from his huge debts. For most individuals or businesses, that would have been a recipe for ruin. But tax-return data, other records and interviews show that rather than warring with a notoriously litigious and headline-seeking client, lenders cut Trump slack — exactly what he seemed to have been counting on.

Big banks and hedge funds gave him years of extra time to repay his debts. Even after Trump sued his largest lender, accusing it of preying on him, the bank agreed to lend him another $99 million — more than twice as much as was previously known — so that he could pay back what he still owed the bank on the defaulted Chicago loan, records show.

Ultimately, Trump’s lenders forgave much of what he owed.

Those forgiven debts are now part of a broader investigation of Trump’s business by the New York attorney general. They normally would have generated a big tax bill, since the Internal Revenue Service treats canceled debts as income. Yet as has often happened in his long career, Trump appears to have paid almost no federal income tax on that money, in part because of large losses in his other businesses, The Times’ analysis of his tax records found.

Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, said the company and Trump appropriately accounted for and paid all taxes due on the forgiven debts.

“These were all arm’s-length transactions that were voluntarily entered into between sophisticated parties many years ago in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis and the resulting collapse of the real estate markets,” Garten said.

On television back in those heady Chicago days, the future president was playing a wildly successful real estate developer, and the shimmering new skyscraper became part of that mystique.

It was the biggest thing Trump ever built. It was also the last.

The Money Behind the Project

Since at least the 1990s, Trump had dreamed of erecting a skyscraper in the Windy City. “I had hoped to build something fantastic in Chicago for some time,” Trump would later write in the Chicago Tribune.

He selected a riverside plot that was home to the squat, seven-floor Sun-Times building. In 2001, he unveiled plans for what would be the tallest high-rise built in the United States since the 110-story Sears Tower was completed in Chicago in 1973.

The Trump International Hotel &amp;amp; Tower would include 486 condominium units, 339 hotel rooms, restaurants, a bar, two parking garages, a health club, a spa, and tens of thousands of square feet in retail space and conference facilities.

The condos, some priced at more than $4 million, would have sweeping views of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Rooms in the hotel, occupying lower floors of the building, would be for sale, too. Trump’s company would make money from selling the units (and parking spaces) and operating the building.

To pay for the construction, Trump arranged for two of his LLCs, 401 North Wabash Venture — named for the project’s address — and its parent company, 401 Mezz Venture, to borrow more than $700 million.

Trump went to his longtime lender, Deutsche Bank, for the bulk of the money. Since 1998, he had borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from the German bank. It had been so eager to establish a foothold in the United States that it had overlooked his history of defaults.

This time, Trump assured Deutsche Bank officials, including Justin Kennedy, the son of now-retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, that the Chicago development was a guaranteed moneymaker. In a sign of the Trump family’s commitment to the project, Trump told his bankers that his daughter Ivanka would be in charge. (Trump also appointed the 2004 winner of “The Apprentice” as the development’s “president.”)

Deutsche Bank agreed to lend $640 million to 401 North Wabash Venture. Trump agreed to personally guarantee $40 million of the loan. If his LLC were to default, Deutsche Bank could collect that money directly from Trump.

Trump also went to Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund and private equity company, for $130 million. This was a so-called mezzanine loan, which meant that it would be repaid only after the Deutsche Bank debt had been satisfied. Because of the greater risk, the Fortress loan came with a double-digit interest rate. The agreement with Fortress also required Trump’s 401 Mezz Venture to pay a $49 million “exit fee” when it repaid the loan.

If Trump defaulted, his lenders could seize the building.

Deutsche Bank and Fortress both planned to chop up the loans and sell at least some of the pieces. Deutsche Bank sold them mostly to American, European and Asian banks, Fortress mostly to private equity and hedge funds, including Dune Capital Management, which had recently been co-founded by Steven Mnuchin, the future Treasury secretary.

The loans were due in May 2008. By then, the proceeds from selling condos, hotel units and parking spaces were projected to generate enough cash for Trump to repay what he owed.

Using a thick black pen, Trump signed the loan agreements Feb. 4, 2005. A month later, construction began.

Lenders Come Calling

Work on the project went more slowly than planned, and the residential portion was still under construction as the loans came due.

With the financial crisis enveloping the world, finding buyers for multimillion-dollar apartments suddenly became much harder. In the spring of 2008, Trump asked Deutsche Bank to delay the loan’s due date. The bank gave him an extra six months.

In mid-September, the crisis crescendoed with the bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. Financial markets went haywire. The economy was on the precipice of depression.

About a week later, Trump showed up in Chicago for the ceremony to mark the skyscraper’s near-completion.

After addressing the small crowd, Trump and three of his adult children — Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric — placed their hands in wet cement rectangles to commemorate the day. “I don’t want to tell you what that feels like,” Donald Trump cracked before waving his cement-caked hands for the cameras.

At that point, at least 159 units in the building were still unsold, and many more were under contract but hadn’t closed, according to New York court records. That meant hundreds of millions of dollars that Trump and his family had counted on to repay Deutsche Bank and Fortress hadn’t yet materialized. And the loans were due in barely six weeks.

Trump sought another extension. This time, Deutsche Bank said no.

Trump’s company still owed Deutsche Bank about $334 million in principal and interest, and Fortress $130 million, not including interest and fees.

Trump went on the offensive. In a letter to Deutsche Bank on Nov. 4, he accused it of helping ignite the financial crisis. This was important, because Trump went on to claim that the crisis constituted a “force majeure” — an act of God, like a natural disaster — that entitled him to extra time to repay the loans.

A few days later, Trump and his companies sued Deutsche Bank and Fortress, along with the other banks and hedge funds that had purchased pieces of the loans.

The suit accused Deutsche Bank of engaging in “predatory lending practices” against Trump. He sought $3 billion in damages.

Deutsche Bank soon filed its own lawsuit, accusing its longtime client of being a habitual deadbeat and demanding immediate repayment of the now-defaulted loans.

Inside Deutsche Bank, angry executives and lawyers vowed to never again do business with Trump, according to senior executives.

With the litigation pending (the parties soon entered into a series of “standstill agreements” that paused hostilities), the Trump family kept trying to find buyers for the condos.

“As it nears completion, it’s time for you to take your place in the one-of-a-kind Trump lifestyle this building offers,” Ivanka Trump said in an April 2009 sales video. “And you can be living it, right here, very soon.”

Turning Unpaid Debt Into Canceled Debt

Why didn’t the lenders seize the building?

Going to court to take over the unfinished skyscraper promised to be a costly, yearlong process, especially given Trump’s reputation for using the legal system to drag out fights and grind down opponents. It seemed simpler to resolve the dispute.

On July 28, 2010, lawyers for Trump, Deutsche Bank and Fortress notified the court that they had reached a private settlement. The terms weren’t disclosed.

But Trump’s federal tax returns, as well as loan documents filed in Cook County, Illinois, provide clues to what happened: Trump was let off the hook for about $270 million. It was the type of generous financial break that few American companies or individuals could ever expect to receive, especially without filing for bankruptcy protection.

Before Trump defaulted, Fortress had expected to receive more than $300 million from his company: the $130 million in principal and roughly $185 million in anticipated interest and fees.

But Fortress and its partners — including Mnuchin’s Dune Capital, as well as Cerberus Capital Management, whose co-chief executive, Stephen Feinberg, would become a major Trump fundraiser and go on to lead a White House advisory panel — quickly realized they wouldn’t ever collect that full amount.

Ultimately, Fortress settled for $48 million, which Trump wired to the firm in March 2012, according to people familiar with the deal.

The forgiven debts showed up in Trump’s tax returns. For 2010, Trump’s 401 Mezz Venture reported about $181 million in canceled debts. Two years later, DJT Holdings, an umbrella company that the Chicago project had been folded into, reported that another $105 million of debt had been forgiven. Most of that appears to reflect the unpaid Fortress sum.

In many ways, it repeated a pattern that had played out more than a decade earlier at Trump’s Atlantic City casinos: a cycle of defaulting on debts and then persuading already-burned lenders to cut him a break.

The Last $99 Million

Trump’s companies got a pass on the money they owed on the Deutsche Bank loan, too.

The 2010 settlement gave Trump a couple of years to sell hotel units, condos and parking spaces to repay that loan, according to Steven Schlesinger, a lawyer who represented the Trump Organization in the Chicago litigation.

By 2012, the Trump Organization had drummed up about $235 million to repay the financial institutions to whom Deutsche Bank had sold pieces of the original loan. They included banks and asset managers in the United States, Germany, Ireland, and China, according to court records.

But Trump still owed $99 million, according to people familiar with the debt. Where would he come up with that money?

Although Deutsche Bank had vowed to do no more business with Trump, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, introduced him to his personal wealth manager at the bank, Rosemary Vrablic. Vrablic, with the support of her superiors, soon agreed to restart the relationship with Trump.

In 2012, Vrablic’s division made two loans secured by the Chicago skyscraper: one for nearly $54 million, another for $45 million, according to loan documents filed with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. Trump agreed to personally guarantee the new loans, according to several people familiar with the deal.

The funds were used to immediately repay the $99 million that Trump still owed on the original Chicago loan, the people said. In other words, one wing of Deutsche Bank was providing Trump the money to repay another division of the same bank.

The following spring, the Trump Organization repaid $54 million, according to a person briefed on the matter and Cook County records. That left $45 million outstanding. But in 2014, Deutsche Bank agreed to lend another $24 million on the property and to extend the due date until 2024, records show. Trump now owed the bank $69 million. By May 2016, he had repaid the $24 million.

At that time, the Chicago loans were only one element of the relationship between Deutsche Bank and Trump. Vrablic’s team also lent Trump’s company $125 million for work on his Doral golf resort in Florida and up to $170 million to transform the Old Post Office building in Washington into a luxury hotel. Trump personally guaranteed those loans, too.

The guarantees were advantageous for him. Because they counted as investments in his business for tax purposes, the guarantees increased the amount of losses he could use to avoid income taxes in the future. Trump’s federal tax returns show that he has personally guaranteed the repayment of $421 million in debts.

Most of that is on loans from Deutsche Bank. At the end of 2018, Trump and his companies owed the bank $330 million.

Whittling Down Tax Bills

The IRS requires taxpayers to treat forgiven debts as income when calculating what they owe in federal taxes. The New York attorney general, Letitia James, is investigating whether Trump followed the law.

The tax records reviewed by The Times show that while Trump accounted for $287 million of income from his canceled debts, he managed to avoid paying income taxes on nearly all of it.

Trump reported $40 million of forgiven debt as income in 2010. But losses from his businesses — including $30.8 million in red ink on the Chicago project — meant he had no taxable income that year.

Trump avoided immediate income taxes on another $104.8 million of the forgiven loans in a way that could increase his taxes later. He would generally have been entitled to write off the total amount he spent on a building over a number of years, a process known as depreciation. Instead, he agreed to reduce those eventual write-offs by $104.8 million, an alternative allowed in tax law.

For the other $141 million, Trump took advantage of a law, passed after the 2008 financial crisis, that allowed income from canceled debts to be deferred for five years and then spread out over the next five. Each year from 2014 through 2018, Trump declared $28.2 million of canceled debt income.

As it turned out, though, losses in other parts of his business wiped out most of his federal tax bill on that income. He paid nothing for 2014; $641,931 for 2015; and, after credits, only $750 a year for 2016 and 2017. It isn’t clear how much he paid for 2018.

Loans Coming Due

Like Trump’s other properties, the Trump International Hotel &amp;amp; Tower in Chicago has benefited in some ways from its connection to the president.

Last year, for example, an aviation company that was lobbying the Trump administration for contracting work held an event there. Trump attended an October 2019 lunch fundraiser at the hotel, which generated about $100,000 in revenue for his company, The Washington Post reported.

But the skyscraper’s fortunes have withered. Most of its retail space has never been occupied, The Real Deal reported last year. Its revenue declined from $67 million in 2014 to $50 million in 2018, while profits plunged from $16.3 million to $1.8 million over the same period.

The problems intensified in 2020, as the coronavirus forced restaurants, including Trump’s in Chicago, to close. The Trump family sought financial relief from Deutsche Bank among others.

The bank offered to let Trump’s companies pause interest payments on their loans. The Trump Organization decided the bank’s proposal was insufficiently generous and turned it down.

The loans come due in 2023 and 2024.

The financial crisis was in full swing when Donald Trump traveled to Chicago in late September 2008 to mark the near-completion of his 92-floor skyscraper. The fortunes of big companies, small businesses, and millions of Americans — including the Trumps — were in peril.

The financial crisis was in full swing when Donald Trump traveled to Chicago in late September 2008 to mark the near-completion of his 92-floor skyscraper. The fortunes of big companies, small businesses, and millions of Americans — including the Trumps — were in peril. But the family patriarch was jubilant as he stood on the terrace of his gleaming glass tower. “We’re in love with the building,” Trump gushed. “We’re very, very happy with what’s happened with respect to this building and how fast we put it up.” He and his family hoped the Trump International Hotel &amp; Tower would cement their company’s reputation as one of the world’s marquee developers of luxury real estate. Instead, the skyscraper became another disappointment in a portfolio filled with them. Construction lagged. Condos proved hard to sell. Retail space sat vacantly. Yet for Trump and his company, the Chicago experience also turned out to be something else: the latest example of his ability to strong-arm major financial institutions and exploit the tax code to cushion the blow of his repeated business failures. The president’s federal income tax records, obtained by The New York Times, show for the first time that, since 2010, his lenders have forgiven about $287 million in debt that he failed to repay. The vast majority was related to the Chicago project. How Trump found trouble in Chicago and maneuvered his way out of it, is a case study in doing business the Trump way. When the project encountered problems, he tried to walk away from his huge debts. For most individuals or businesses, that would have been a recipe for ruin. But tax-return data, other records and interviews show that rather than warring with a notoriously litigious and headline-seeking client, lenders cut Trump slack — exactly what he seemed to have been counting on. Big banks and hedge funds gave him years of extra time to repay his debts. Even after Trump sued his largest lender, accusing it of preying on him, the bank agreed to lend him another $99 million — more than twice as much as was previously known — so that he could pay back what he still owed the bank on the defaulted Chicago loan, records show. Ultimately, Trump’s lenders forgave much of what he owed. Those forgiven debts are now part of a broader investigation of Trump’s business by the New York attorney general. They normally would have generated a big tax bill, since the Internal Revenue Service treats canceled debts as income. Yet as has often happened in his long career, Trump appears to have paid almost no federal income tax on that money, in part because of large losses in his other businesses, The Times’ analysis of his tax records found. Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, said the company and Trump appropriately accounted for and paid all taxes due on the forgiven debts. “These were all arm’s-length transactions that were voluntarily entered into between sophisticated parties many years ago in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis and the resulting collapse of the real estate markets,” Garten said. On television back in those heady Chicago days, the future president was playing a wildly successful real estate developer, and the shimmering new skyscraper became part of that mystique. It was the biggest thing Trump ever built. It was also the last. The Money Behind the Project Since at least the 1990s, Trump had dreamed of erecting a skyscraper in the Windy City. “I had hoped to build something fantastic in Chicago for some time,” Trump would later write in the Chicago Tribune. He selected a riverside plot that was home to the squat, seven-floor Sun-Times building. In 2001, he unveiled plans for what would be the tallest high-rise built in the United States since the 110-story Sears Tower was completed in Chicago in 1973. The Trump International Hotel &amp; Tower would include 486 condominium units, 339 hotel rooms, restaurants, a bar, two parking garages, a health club, a spa, and tens of thousands of square feet in retail space and conference facilities. The condos, some priced at more than $4 million, would have sweeping views of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Rooms in the hotel, occupying lower floors of the building, would be for sale, too. Trump’s company would make money from selling the units (and parking spaces) and operating the building. To pay for the construction, Trump arranged for two of his LLCs, 401 North Wabash Venture — named for the project’s address — and its parent company, 401 Mezz Venture, to borrow more than $700 million. Trump went to his longtime lender, Deutsche Bank, for the bulk of the money. Since 1998, he had borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from the German bank. It had been so eager to establish a foothold in the United States that it had overlooked his history of defaults. This time, Trump assured Deutsche Bank officials, including Justin Kennedy, the son of now-retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, that the Chicago development was a guaranteed moneymaker. In a sign of the Trump family’s commitment to the project, Trump told his bankers that his daughter Ivanka would be in charge. (Trump also appointed the 2004 winner of “The Apprentice” as the development’s “president.”) Deutsche Bank agreed to lend $640 million to 401 North Wabash Venture. Trump agreed to personally guarantee $40 million of the loan. If his LLC were to default, Deutsche Bank could collect that money directly from Trump. Trump also went to Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund and private equity company, for $130 million. This was a so-called mezzanine loan, which meant that it would be repaid only after the Deutsche Bank debt had been satisfied. Because of the greater risk, the Fortress loan came with a double-digit interest rate. The agreement with Fortress also required Trump’s 401 Mezz Venture to pay a $49 million “exit fee” when it repaid the loan. If Trump defaulted, his lenders could seize the building. Deutsche Bank and Fortress both planned to chop up the loans and sell at least some of the pieces. Deutsche Bank sold them mostly to American, European and Asian banks, Fortress mostly to private equity and hedge funds, including Dune Capital Management, which had recently been co-founded by Steven Mnuchin, the future Treasury secretary. The loans were due in May 2008. By then, the proceeds from selling condos, hotel units and parking spaces were projected to generate enough cash for Trump to repay what he owed. Using a thick black pen, Trump signed the loan agreements Feb. 4, 2005. A month later, construction began. Lenders Come Calling Work on the project went more slowly than planned, and the residential portion was still under construction as the loans came due. With the financial crisis enveloping the world, finding buyers for multimillion-dollar apartments suddenly became much harder. In the spring of 2008, Trump asked Deutsche Bank to delay the loan’s due date. The bank gave him an extra six months. In mid-September, the crisis crescendoed with the bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. Financial markets went haywire. The economy was on the precipice of depression. About a week later, Trump showed up in Chicago for the ceremony to mark the skyscraper’s near-completion. After addressing the small crowd, Trump and three of his adult children — Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric — placed their hands in wet cement rectangles to commemorate the day. “I don’t want to tell you what that feels like,” Donald Trump cracked before waving his cement-caked hands for the cameras. At that point, at least 159 units in the building were still unsold, and many more were under contract but hadn’t closed, according to New York court records. That meant hundreds of millions of dollars that Trump and his family had counted on to repay Deutsche Bank and Fortress hadn’t yet materialized. And the loans were due in barely six weeks. Trump sought another extension. This time, Deutsche Bank said no. Trump’s company still owed Deutsche Bank about $334 million in principal and interest, and Fortress $130 million, not including interest and fees. Trump went on the offensive. In a letter to Deutsche Bank on Nov. 4, he accused it of helping ignite the financial crisis. This was important, because Trump went on to claim that the crisis constituted a “force majeure” — an act of God, like a natural disaster — that entitled him to extra time to repay the loans. A few days later, Trump and his companies sued Deutsche Bank and Fortress, along with the other banks and hedge funds that had purchased pieces of the loans. The suit accused Deutsche Bank of engaging in “predatory lending practices” against Trump. He sought $3 billion in damages. Deutsche Bank soon filed its own lawsuit, accusing its longtime client of being a habitual deadbeat and demanding immediate repayment of the now-defaulted loans. Inside Deutsche Bank, angry executives and lawyers vowed to never again do business with Trump, according to senior executives. With the litigation pending (the parties soon entered into a series of “standstill agreements” that paused hostilities), the Trump family kept trying to find buyers for the condos. “As it nears completion, it’s time for you to take your place in the one-of-a-kind Trump lifestyle this building offers,” Ivanka Trump said in an April 2009 sales video. “And you can be living it, right here, very soon.” Turning Unpaid Debt Into Canceled Debt Why didn’t the lenders seize the building? Going to court to take over the unfinished skyscraper promised to be a costly, yearlong process, especially given Trump’s reputation for using the legal system to drag out fights and grind down opponents. It seemed simpler to resolve the dispute. On July 28, 2010, lawyers for Trump, Deutsche Bank and Fortress notified the court that they had reached a private settlement. The terms weren’t disclosed. But Trump’s federal tax returns, as well as loan documents filed in Cook County, Illinois, provide clues to what happened: Trump was let off the hook for about $270 million. It was the type of generous financial break that few American companies or individuals could ever expect to receive, especially without filing for bankruptcy protection. Before Trump defaulted, Fortress had expected to receive more than $300 million from his company: the $130 million in principal and roughly $185 million in anticipated interest and fees. But Fortress and its partners — including Mnuchin’s Dune Capital, as well as Cerberus Capital Management, whose co-chief executive, Stephen Feinberg, would become a major Trump fundraiser and go on to lead a White House advisory panel — quickly realized they wouldn’t ever collect that full amount. Ultimately, Fortress settled for $48 million, which Trump wired to the firm in March 2012, according to people familiar with the deal. The forgiven debts showed up in Trump’s tax returns. For 2010, Trump’s 401 Mezz Venture reported about $181 million in canceled debts. Two years later, DJT Holdings, an umbrella company that the Chicago project had been folded into, reported that another $105 million of debt had been forgiven. Most of that appears to reflect the unpaid Fortress sum. In many ways, it repeated a pattern that had played out more than a decade earlier at Trump’s Atlantic City casinos: a cycle of defaulting on debts and then persuading already-burned lenders to cut him a break. The Last $99 Million Trump’s companies got a pass on the money they owed on the Deutsche Bank loan, too. The 2010 settlement gave Trump a couple of years to sell hotel units, condos and parking spaces to repay that loan, according to Steven Schlesinger, a lawyer who represented the Trump Organization in the Chicago litigation. By 2012, the Trump Organization had drummed up about $235 million to repay the financial institutions to whom Deutsche Bank had sold pieces of the original loan. They included banks and asset managers in the United States, Germany, Ireland, and China, according to court records. But Trump still owed $99 million, according to people familiar with the debt. Where would he come up with that money? Although Deutsche Bank had vowed to do no more business with Trump, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, introduced him to his personal wealth manager at the bank, Rosemary Vrablic. Vrablic, with the support of her superiors, soon agreed to restart the relationship with Trump. In 2012, Vrablic’s division made two loans secured by the Chicago skyscraper: one for nearly $54 million, another for $45 million, according to loan documents filed with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. Trump agreed to personally guarantee the new loans, according to several people familiar with the deal. The funds were used to immediately repay the $99 million that Trump still owed on the original Chicago loan, the people said. In other words, one wing of Deutsche Bank was providing Trump the money to repay another division of the same bank. The following spring, the Trump Organization repaid $54 million, according to a person briefed on the matter and Cook County records. That left $45 million outstanding. But in 2014, Deutsche Bank agreed to lend another $24 million on the property and to extend the due date until 2024, records show. Trump now owed the bank $69 million. By May 2016, he had repaid the $24 million. At that time, the Chicago loans were only one element of the relationship between Deutsche Bank and Trump. Vrablic’s team also lent Trump’s company $125 million for work on his Doral golf resort in Florida and up to $170 million to transform the Old Post Office building in Washington into a luxury hotel. Trump personally guaranteed those loans, too. The guarantees were advantageous for him. Because they counted as investments in his business for tax purposes, the guarantees increased the amount of losses he could use to avoid income taxes in the future. Trump’s federal tax returns show that he has personally guaranteed the repayment of $421 million in debts. Most of that is on loans from Deutsche Bank. At the end of 2018, Trump and his companies owed the bank $330 million. Whittling Down Tax Bills The IRS requires taxpayers to treat forgiven debts as income when calculating what they owe in federal taxes. The New York attorney general, Letitia James, is investigating whether Trump followed the law. The tax records reviewed by The Times show that while Trump accounted for $287 million of income from his canceled debts, he managed to avoid paying income taxes on nearly all of it. Trump reported $40 million of forgiven debt as income in 2010. But losses from his businesses — including $30.8 million in red ink on the Chicago project — meant he had no taxable income that year. Trump avoided immediate income taxes on another $104.8 million of the forgiven loans in a way that could increase his taxes later. He would generally have been entitled to write off the total amount he spent on a building over a number of years, a process known as depreciation. Instead, he agreed to reduce those eventual write-offs by $104.8 million, an alternative allowed in tax law. For the other $141 million, Trump took advantage of a law, passed after the 2008 financial crisis, that allowed income from canceled debts to be deferred for five years and then spread out over the next five. Each year from 2014 through 2018, Trump declared $28.2 million of canceled debt income. As it turned out, though, losses in other parts of his business wiped out most of his federal tax bill on that income. He paid nothing for 2014; $641,931 for 2015; and, after credits, only $750 a year for 2016 and 2017. It isn’t clear how much he paid for 2018. Loans Coming Due Like Trump’s other properties, the Trump International Hotel &amp; Tower in Chicago has benefited in some ways from its connection to the president. Last year, for example, an aviation company that was lobbying the Trump administration for contracting work held an event there. Trump attended an October 2019 lunch fundraiser at the hotel, which generated about $100,000 in revenue for his company, The Washington Post reported. But the skyscraper’s fortunes have withered. Most of its retail space has never been occupied, The Real Deal reported last year. Its revenue declined from $67 million in 2014 to $50 million in 2018, while profits plunged from $16.3 million to $1.8 million over the same period. The problems intensified in 2020, as the coronavirus forced restaurants, including Trump’s in Chicago, to close. The Trump family sought financial relief from Deutsche Bank among others. The bank offered to let Trump’s companies pause interest payments on their loans. The Trump Organization decided the bank’s proposal was insufficiently generous and turned it down. The loans come due in 2023 and 2024.

How Trump maneuvered his way out of trouble in Chicago

Millions of old and used cars exported from the European Union, Japan, and the United States to developing countries is&nbsp;fuelling air pollution,&nbsp;a UN report warns.

Around three million&nbsp;used&nbsp;vehicles are&nbsp;exported each year between 2015 and 2018 from these places&nbsp;with most going to low- and middle-income countries and more than half ending up in Africa, according to a report released Monday by the UN Environment Programme.

With the expansion of car ownership in developing countries expected to be a major source of emissions in the coming decades, the UNEP called for tightening the rules for exporting and importing old, polluting vehicles.&nbsp;

"Developed countries must stop exporting vehicles that fail environment and safety inspections and are no longer considered roadworthy in their own countries while importing countries should introduce stronger quality standards," said UNEP's executive director, Inger Andersen.&nbsp;

The agency cited an investigation by Dutch authorities in 2019 that found the average age of vehicles waiting to be exported was 18 years.

They also had more than 200,000 km (125,000 miles) on their odometers on average, and many were missing catalytic converters that reduce toxic gases from the exhaust.

UNEP said that two-thirds of the 146 countries it looked at had weak rules regarding the import of&nbsp;used&nbsp;vehicles, and some had no pollution standards.&nbsp;

Millions of old and used cars exported from the European Union, Japan, and the United States to developing countries is fuelling air pollution, a UN report warns.

Millions of old and used cars exported from the European Union, Japan, and the United States to developing countries is fuelling air pollution, a UN report warns. Around three million used vehicles are exported each year between 2015 and 2018 from these places with most going to low- and middle-income countries and more than half ending up in Africa, according to a report released Monday by the UN Environment Programme. With the expansion of car ownership in developing countries expected to be a major source of emissions in the coming decades, the UNEP called for tightening the rules for exporting and importing old, polluting vehicles. "Developed countries must stop exporting vehicles that fail environment and safety inspections and are no longer considered roadworthy in their own countries while importing countries should introduce stronger quality standards," said UNEP's executive director, Inger Andersen. The agency cited an investigation by Dutch authorities in 2019 that found the average age of vehicles waiting to be exported was 18 years. They also had more than 200,000 km (125,000 miles) on their odometers on average, and many were missing catalytic converters that reduce toxic gases from the exhaust. UNEP said that two-thirds of the 146 countries it looked at had weak rules regarding the import of used vehicles, and some had no pollution standards.

'Old and unsafe' cars fuelling air pollution in developing countries, report finds

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Tuesday said&nbsp;dismissed calls from opposition parties to resign at a parliament session he had called to discuss months of protests demanding his departure and reforms to the powerful monarchy.

"I will not run away from problems. I will not leave my duty by resigning at a time when the country has problems," the former army ruler told the assembly, whose entire upper house was picked by his old junta.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/thai-protesters-march-on-german-embassy-to-seek-probe-of-king-338241/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Prayut, the former military chief who staged the 2014 coup, has faced increasing pressure in recent weeks from tens of thousands of protesters demanding he step down.

The student-led rallies are also calling for a rewrite of the military-scripted constitution and an end to alleged government harassment of political opponents, as well as reform of the once-unassailable monarchy.

&nbsp;

Protests that have brought tens of thousands of people to the streets since mid-July are the biggest challenge in years to an establishment that has long been dominated by military men close to the Royal Palace.

Such an overt challenge is unprecedented in&nbsp;Thailand, where the royal family is protected under harsh anti-defamation laws and criticism of them is taboo.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn's Palace has made no comment since the start of protests that have smashed a taboo on criticising the monarchy.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/thailands-billionaire-king-vajiralongkorn-his-colourful-life-337129">Thailand's billionaire King Vajiralongkorn &amp; his colourful life</a>

Opposition members of parliament told Prayuth to stop hiding behind proclamations of loyalty to the monarchy and step down. His critics say he engineered last year's elections to keep power he seized in 2014. He says the ballot was fair.

One of the protest leaders, Tattep “Ford” Ruangprapaikitseree, dismissed the parliament session as "useless".

Prayuth said he had agreed to set up committees to study the problems, but referring to the protesters, he said: "I don’t know whom I should talk to as there are no leaders. They are all leaders."

Some of the highest profile leaders are among dozens of people arrested this month in a crackdown under a week of emergency measures that were called off after they sparked much bigger protests.

Shows of support by royalists have so far been far smaller than those of anti-government protesters.

More than 1,000 gathered in yellow shirts in a central Bangkok park on Tuesday.

"We want to show support and encouragement to his majesty," said Thatchapan Boriphet, 57. "I am neutral politically but I cannot stand it when there is a violation of the monarchy."

The prime minister's office shared an image of the demonstration on Twitter.

Protesters have accused the king of political involvement and marched to the German embassy on Monday to seek an inquiry into whether he exercised his powers during long stays in Germany, something Berlin has said would be unacceptable.

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Tuesday said dismissed calls from opposition parties to resign at a parliament session he had called to discuss months of protests demanding his departure and reforms to the powerful monarchy.

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Tuesday said dismissed calls from opposition parties to resign at a parliament session he had called to discuss months of protests demanding his departure and reforms to the powerful monarchy. "I will not run away from problems. I will not leave my duty by resigning at a time when the country has problems," the former army ruler told the assembly, whose entire upper house was picked by his old junta. Prayut, the former military chief who staged the 2014 coup, has faced increasing pressure in recent weeks from tens of thousands of protesters demanding he step down. The student-led rallies are also calling for a rewrite of the military-scripted constitution and an end to alleged government harassment of political opponents, as well as reform of the once-unassailable monarchy. Protests that have brought tens of thousands of people to the streets since mid-July are the biggest challenge in years to an establishment that has long been dominated by military men close to the Royal Palace. Such an overt challenge is unprecedented in Thailand, where the royal family is protected under harsh anti-defamation laws and criticism of them is taboo. King Maha Vajiralongkorn's Palace has made no comment since the start of protests that have smashed a taboo on criticising the monarchy. Also read: Thailand's billionaire King Vajiralongkorn & his colourful life Opposition members of parliament told Prayuth to stop hiding behind proclamations of loyalty to the monarchy and step down. His critics say he engineered last year's elections to keep power he seized in 2014. He says the ballot was fair. One of the protest leaders, Tattep “Ford” Ruangprapaikitseree, dismissed the parliament session as "useless". Prayuth said he had agreed to set up committees to study the problems, but referring to the protesters, he said: "I don’t know whom I should talk to as there are no leaders. They are all leaders." Some of the highest profile leaders are among dozens of people arrested this month in a crackdown under a week of emergency measures that were called off after they sparked much bigger protests. Shows of support by royalists have so far been far smaller than those of anti-government protesters. More than 1,000 gathered in yellow shirts in a central Bangkok park on Tuesday. "We want to show support and encouragement to his majesty," said Thatchapan Boriphet, 57. "I am neutral politically but I cannot stand it when there is a violation of the monarchy." The prime minister's office shared an image of the demonstration on Twitter. Protesters have accused the king of political involvement and marched to the German embassy on Monday to seek an inquiry into whether he exercised his powers during long stays in Germany, something Berlin has said would be unacceptable.

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha refuses to resign despite protests

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