TAIWAN, 23 December 2022, (TON): Taiwan’s defense ministry said “China’s military sent 39 planes and three ships toward Taiwan in a 24-hour display of force directed at the island.”

China’s military harassment of self-ruled Taiwan, which it claims is its own territory, has intensified in recent years, and the Communist Party’s People’s Liberation Army has sent planes or ships toward the island on a near-daily basis.

Between 6 a.m. Wednesday and 6 a.m. Thursday, 30 of the Chinese planes crossed the median of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary once tacitly accepted by both sides, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense.

Those planes flew to the island’s southwest and then horizontally all the way to the southeastern side before doubling back, according to a diagram of the flight patterns provided by Taiwan.

By Nasriya Naffin

Pakistan and Sri Lanka agreed to strengthen bilateral ties in a variety of domains, including commerce, investment, science and technology, tourism, and culture, via improved connectivity during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Sri Lanka.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said at a joint press conference with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa after a one-on-one meeting and delegation-level discussions.

“My visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral relationship [with Sri Lanka], especially trade and economic ties through enhanced connectivity,”

Sri Lanka could benefit from the Chinese president's Belt and Road Initiative through Pakistan's flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, according to Prime Minister Khan, who, along with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Commerce Adviser Abdul Razzak Dawood, and Special Assistant Syed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, is on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka at the invitation of Prime Minister Rajapaksa.

Approximately forty prominent Pakistani businessmen accompanied the prime minister on his visit. The Pakistan mission in Colombo did not invite Sri Lankan people in business and investors to the trade and investment conference held in Colombo by the commerce ministry and the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan.

In addition, Prime Minister Khan and his counterpart will be in attendance.

The two business communities representing the critical sectors of textile, pharmaceutical, construction, information technology, agro and food, tourism, footwear, hospitality, and tourism will have the opportunity to engage in productive B2B meetings for increased cooperation.

During a joint press conference with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan told the media that he had instructed his delegation to improve trade and economic ties between the two nations through increased connectivity. While emphasizing the significance of resolving disputes through dialogue and promoting the vision of peace, progress, and prosperity in South Asia and beyond, he insisted on the necessity of constructive engagement by all parties to advance a political solution to the Afghanistan conflict.

At the meeting, where the three pillars of Pakistan's vision — peace, development partnerships, and connectivity — were emphasized, Pakistan's shift from a geostrategic to a geoeconomic focus was discussed. The two parties reaffirmed their commitment to the Saarc Charter's principles and objectives and agreed to advance the Saarc process for regional cooperation.

Mr. Khan stated that the two nations shared a common problem: Pakistan had experienced the deadliest form of terrorism, which had claimed over 70,000 lives in a decade, and Sri Lanka had experienced the same menace for 30 years. He also mentioned Pakistan's role in resolving the issue impeding Sri Lanka's progress and development.

During the ten years of Pakistan's escalating terrorism, according to the prime minister, few investments were made. Then the coronavirus struck both economies, he said, emphasizing the need for debt relief from the developed world and international financial institutions and urging the United Nations and other international organizations to assist the developing nations. He explained that Pakistan had provided a stimulus package worth $8 billion compared to the US's $3 trillion.

Returning to bilateral relations, PM Khan stated that Pakistan was home to the ancient civilizations of Gandhara and Buddhism and called for increased tourism cooperation between the two countries.

Mr. Khan, the first head of government to visit Sri Lanka since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa took office last year, stated that he had been there and played cricket, recalling how the Sri Lankan cricket team underwent a revolution and became a world-class team.

According to Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, they discussed regional and international issues of mutual interest, as well as strategies for strengthening bilateral ties.

He stated that during the meeting, Pakistan and Sri Lanka agreed to expand their cooperation in various areas, including commerce, investment, science and technology, education, and culture.

Prime Minister Khan and his Sri Lankan counterpart witnessed the signing of five memorandums of understanding (MOUs) for increased bilateral cooperation in investment, science and technology, and industrial technology.

According to Pakistan's Foreign Office, the reconstitution of the Sri Lanka-Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Association will be announced during the visit to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two nations further.

According to a Sri Lankan foreign ministry statement, the visit would include a business and investment forum and a sports diplomacy initiative.

This was the fourth high-level meeting between Pakistan and Sri Lanka following the Sixth Foreign Secretary Level Bilateral Political Consultations in December 2020 and the Twelfth Session of the Joint Economic Commission.

NEW DELHI, 22 December 2022, (TON): Police on Wednesday recovered six hand-made bombs under a bridge in the Dhekiajuli area in Assam's Sonitpur district.

According to police, based on army intelligence input, the police of Dhekiajuli police station searched and found six hand-made bombs under a bridge in the Sirajuli area.

Dhekiajuli police station Sub-Inspector S Manta said that they had received information from the army intelligence that, some explosives were kept hidden under a bridge in the Sirajuli area.

WASHINGTON, 22 December 2022, (TON): US lawmakers voted Tuesday to make public Donald Trump’s tax returns, ending a years-long battle by the former president to keep the filings private as his cloudy financial past continues to stoke controversy.

The Republican leader who is running for the White House again after losing the 2020 election — broke with presidential tradition by refusing to release the records, triggering feverish speculation about what they might contain.

The Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee voted along party lines, 24-16, to release six years of the billionaire’s filings one of its last actions before the reins are handed to the Republicans in January.

JERUSALEM, 22 December 2022, (TON): Israel’s defense minister said Wednesday that the remains of a Palestinian prisoner who died a day earlier from lung cancer would not be released for burial.

Benny Gantz’s office said the body of Nasser Abu Hamid, one of the founders of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, would be held as a bargaining chip for the return of captive Israelis and the remains of soldiers held by the militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Abu Hamid, 50, was a former leader of the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party. He had been serving multiple life sentences since 2002 after being convicted in the deaths of seven Israelis during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel’s occupation in the early 2000s.

NAIROBI, 22 December 2022, (TON): International pressure is growing on Rwanda as France and Germany are the latest parties to openly accuse the country of supporting armed rebels in neighboring eastern Congo with possible repercussions for foreign aid that Kigali has long enjoyed.

For months, renewed attacks by the M23 rebels have angered Congo’s government and led to talk of war in eastern Congo, a volatile region rich in minerals critical to much of the world’s technology.

A report by United Nations experts earlier this year said they had “solid evidence” that Rwanda’s armed forces were backing the rebels, and the United States has openly asked Rwanda to stop it.

Now other major donors have joined the criticism of Rwanda. On Tuesday, France’s foreign affairs ministry in a statement condemned “Rwanda’s support for M23,” and its junior minister in charge of development during a visit to Congo warned that the M23 “must stop the fighting” and withdraw.

SANAA, 22 December 2022, (TON): The Red Cross said “it had conducted rare visits to thousands of prisoners on both sides of Yemen’s eight-year civil war, a step that could pave the way for an exchange of detainees between the rival parties.”

Fabrizio Carboni, the International Committee of the Red Cross’s director for the Middle East, told The Associated Press that the members of the organization had seen more than 3,400 individuals in a 10-day visit to a facility in Saudi Arabia in December and a separate trip to Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in October.

He said “members of the organization had been allowed access to some of the most “secret and sensitive places in each country, and will be able to inform many detainees’ loved ones of their whereabouts.”

COPENHAGEN, 22 December 2022, (TON): A right-wing Danish lawmaker was acquitted Wednesday of misusing European Union funds worth 98,835 kroner ($14,105) and falsifying documents.

A Copenhagen court found Morten Messerschmidt, who heads the once powerful Danish People’s Party, not guilty of making false statements about holding an EU conference in 2015 in order to receive EU funding. He maintained his innocence throughout his trial.

Messerschmidt said after the verdict “this means a lot. The case has cast long shadows over the Danish People’s Party and me as a politician for seven years and a few months.”

Danish prosecutors have not indicated whether they would appeal.

WASHINGTON, 22 December 2022, (TON): Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet US leader Joe Biden and address Congress in Washington, during a visit the White House said will send Russia a strong message of Western unity.

The secretly arranged trip comes on the same day Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to meet his top military officials to assess the dire results so far of the war on Ukraine and set goals for next year.

It will be Zelensky’s first trip outside Ukraine since Russian forces invaded in February, when they planned for a rapid takeover of Kyiv and much of the country.

Instead, the visit to Washington comes on the 300th day of a war that has seen Russian forces halted by a stubborn Ukrainian army backed by Western arms, forced to retreat from captured territory and struggling to avoid further setbacks.

WASHINGTON, 22 December 2022, (TON): A US official said “the United States plans a meeting early in 2023 between Israel and Arab nations that recognise it as it pushes the incoming right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu to show restraint.”

Netanyahu is set to take office with the most right-wing government in Israel’s history including figures from the extreme fringes who staunchly back expanding settlements in Palestinian areas.

A senior US official said the United States plans a meeting “probably in the first quarter” of 2023 of foreign ministers from the so-called Negev summit in March.