SLOVENIAN DOCUMENT ON DISMEMBERMENT OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA CONFIRMS THE NECESSITY OF CONTINUATION OF PIC-OHR-BONN POWERS

In our recent AVIM analysis titled "Why Should the Role of the Peace Implementation Council and OHR Continue in Bosnia And Herzegovina?", we asserted the view that the continuation of the powers of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), including the Bonn Powers, is essential for the preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) within the framework of its constitution.Before the ink of our analysis dries up, we came across an irritating press report claiming that Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa has sent a document to Charles Michel, President of the European Council, proposing the redrawing BiH's borders. The EU has not denied the existence of the report to date. However, the US has rejected this Slovenia-linked plan to break up Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is worrisome that such a malicious plan has been prepared and studied in the EU. It is also alarming that the name of a NATO member country that will assume the EU presidency is associated with this plan.There is no doubt that Turkey will continue to defend in every platform, including the PIC Steering Board, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Bosnia-Herzegovina.It is believed that it would be useful that Turkey opens this issue up in the PIC Steering Board meetings and ask for clarification from the EU representatives.

Intermittent opioid use and ischemic placental disease: Study quantifies risks, raises questions

Discomfort and, to a lesser extent, pain are common complaints during pregnancy, and some patients may turn to opioids for pain relief. Esposito and colleagues (Am J Epidemiol. 2021, in press) report associations between intermittent exposure to opioids during pregnancy and the risk of ischemic placental disease (IPD) – a syndrome that includes preeclampsia, placental abruption, small for gestational age (SGA) births, and preterm delivery. They found that early opioid exposure in pregnancy was associated with a modestly increased risk for abruption, SGA births, and preterm delivery, and both early and late exposure was associated with the greatest risk for these outcomes. Surprisingly, preeclampsia was not associated with opioid use. Through quantitative bias analysis, the authors cleverly tackle a number of biases to assess their roles in explaining the associations, including unmeasured confounding, outcome misclassification, and residual confounding; none exerted strong influences on the associations. Although the findings appear fairly robust on the surface, the lack of association between intermittent opioid use and preeclampsia, and important differences in characteristics of patients in the opioid exposed group compared to the unexposed group, suggest that further study is needed to clarify the relationship between intermittent opioid use, lifestyle factors, and IPD risk.

Iraqi premier’s post-poll chances depend on Sadrists

Significance This comes as local press report that powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr might be prepared to lift his election boycott, on certain conditions. Sadrist backing was crucial to the appointment of incumbent Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Impacts Kadhimi will try to reinforce his image as a statesman through high-profile international engagement and investment deals. Sadr’s indecision or desire for a longer campaign period could potentially lead to a delay of the polls from October. Developments in Iran-US nuclear deal return talks in Vienna will be important to the security situation in Iraq.

Press Report on Development of Youth Clubs and Associations in Perak before the Second World War

Activities of youth clubs and associations in Perak were reported in newspapers prior to the Second World War. Based on library research, the primary sources examined, were newspapers such as Taiping Weekly, The Times of Malaya and Planters & Miners Gazette. Other documents and previous studies related to this study contributed to the discussions presented in this paper. This paper focused on details relating to the foundation of clubs and associations in Perak since the British set foot in Malaya. The establishment of these youth clubs and associations opened new avenues for youths from different ethnic backgrounds to participate in activities within their communities which garnered encouragement from the British for youth activities in Perak. Such support from the British reflected their eagerness in developing clubs and associations in Perak. This then served as a catalyst for youths to be involved in organising and establishing clubs and societies. While these clubs and associations developed and expanded, so did the leadership skills among their youths in Perak. There has not been much discussions about youth development and issues related to youth clubs and associations prior to the Second World War. As such, this study attempts to demonstrate the importance and role of youth clubs and associations in Perak that served as a vehicle in shaping peoples’ perception prior to the Second World War.

SUICIDE RELATED RISK FACTORS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

In India, media and press report frequent suicidal death in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Apart from known sociodemographic, psychological and mental health disorder related risk factors of suicide, a unique, different set of reasons seem to be noted among suicides during this pandemic. Notably, fear of being infected and infecting dear ones, lack of understanding about the disease, fear of isolation, distress from lockdown, boredom from excess time with self, uncertainty of cure, despair of being locked at home and socially isolated, all together compound emergence of preexisting new onset depression, panic, post-traumatic stress, psychoses and substance use. Complicated economic, social, and political instability due lockdown has worsened vulnerability to suicidal behaviours among general population and healthcare workers. Although the long-term evolution of the course of suicide and covid-19 disease is unpredictable, the first few months have identified few unique risk factors and research must work on specific tailored strategies that address these novel risk factors are needed to mitigate suicide now.

SUICIDE RELATED RISK FACTORS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

In India, media and press report frequent suicidal death in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Apart from known sociodemographic, psychological and mental health disorder related risk factors of suicide, a unique, different set of reasons seem to be noted among suicides during this pandemic. Notably, fear of being infected and infecting dear ones, lack of understanding about the disease, fear of isolation, distress from lockdown, boredom from excess time with self, uncertainty of cure, despair of being locked at home and socially isolated, all together compound emergence of preexisting new onset depression, panic, post-traumatic stress, psychoses and substance use. Complicated economic, social, and political instability due lockdown has worsened vulnerability to suicidal behaviours among general population and healthcare workers. Although the long-term evolution of the course of suicide and covid-19 disease is unpredictable, the first few months have identified few unique risk factors and research must work on specific tailored strategies that address these novel risk factors are needed to mitigate suicide now.

“I hope you can let this go”/ “Ich hoffe, Sie können das fallen lassen”—Focus on the Perlocutionary in Contrastive Pragmatics

Pragmatics has focused predominantly on the locutionary form and illocutionary force of utterances but largely ignored their perlocutionary effects. A shift toward the perlocutionary would require much greater attention being given to the historical and political context in the production and reception of utterances, as well as to interpretation as a performative process. This paper takes as empirical data a press report on the performance of a particular speech act by Donald Trump and its perlocutionary effect both on his addressee and on the readers of the incident as reported in the online versions of the New York Times and Die Zeit. It shows the value of focusing on perlocution for the study of political discourse in these global times. It also shows what pedagogical purchase can be gained by discussing perlocutionary acts and effects in communicative language teaching, rather than focusing exclusively on illocutionary acts.