YEREVAN, 29 March, 2021 (TON): On Sunday, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan announced to step down for the upcoming snap elections.

During his visit to the Armavir region, the PM said, "I will resign in April. I will resign in order to let early elections take place."

He noted that he would continue serving as acting prime minister until the parliamentary elections slated for 20 June.

Earlier last week, Pashinyan announced Armenia would hold early parliamentary elections on 20 June.

However, the announcements came amid mounting tensions between Pashinyan and the Armenian army's general staff and opposition parties on the government's resignation.

ISLAMABAD, 29 March, 2021, (TON): Two men, including an Afghan national, were arrested on charges of looting a rice truck in Peshawar, the police said on Monday.

As indicated by DSP Qazi Asmat, the truck was carrying rice from Afghanistan to Peshawar. "They worth billions of rupees," he said.

The perpetrators looted the truck on the night of March 25. There were more than 2,000 rice bags in it, the DSP added.

The police have started questioning the suspects and have seized their weapons.

COLOMBO, 29 March, 2021 (TON): The coconut oil containing carcinogens has been halted to reach the markets, said the Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekara.

Meanwhile, a test conducted by the Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) has confirmed that unrefined coconut oil containing the carcinogenic aflatoxin, imported by one company has failed its second quality test saying, the carcinogen aflatoxin in the stock of coconut oil is in excess of the prescribed level.

According to Nushad Perera, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Standards Institute, usually, two samples are taken from a consignment of coconut oil and both samples from one company failed the quality test due to the presence of aflatoxin above the maximum allowed level.

However, now as per the reports, the company will have to re-export the stock of coconut oil accordingly for the Customs is responsible for re-exporting the consignment.

NEW DEHLI, 29 March, 2021, (TON): The death of a 43-year-old Nigerian national at DDU hospital on Sunday sparked violent protest in west Delhi's Tilak Nagar by his compatriots who alleged that he was assaulted by a cop. Police have denied the allegation.

According to police, the agitated African nationals created ruckus following the death of Leo hand Lyeanyi. They broke glasses at Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital. Initially, they were around 20 to 30, but their numbers increased to 100.

A senior police officer said they received information about Lyeanyi's death at around 3.30 am on Sunday from the DDU hospital. He said the post-mortem report of the victim is awaited.

Police also said that they have found CCTV footage wherein the victim could be seen stepping out of an auto-rickshaw and sitting near a shop. He then collapsed, hitting his head on the ground. There was nobody around him, they said. 

PARIS, 29 March, 2021 (TON): On Sunday, French President Emanuel Macron applauded Egypt’s role in resolving the Libyan crisis on a phone call with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Wl-Sisi.

The Egyptian Presidency said citing Macron that Paris would continue cooperating with Cairo in Libya.

Bassam Rady, spokesman for the Egyptian president said the French president appreciated the prominent political weight Egypt holds in the Arab world, Africa, and the Mediterranean, and that this had positive repercussions on joint cooperation between the two countries to reach political settlements to existing crises.

The two presidents also agreed on the importance of intensifying joint efforts to combat terrorism in the Sahel region.

However, El-Sisi affirmed Egypt’s efforts to support the new temporary executive authority in Libya in various bilateral, regional and international forums, calling the mercenaries to leave Libya and also dealt with developments over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

NEW DEHLI, 29 March, 2021, (TON): In a significant advancement in the twin SUV recovery-businessman murder cases, the NIA on Sunday recuperated a few bits of proof, including two CPUs of PC’s, two number plates of a vehicle with the same registration number, two DVRs and a laptop, from the bed of Mithi River in north-central Mumbai, which allegedly link the arrested police officer to the two sensational crimes.

After cross-examining him for days on end, the NIA took Sachin Vaze, who is a key accused in both the explosive laden SUV planting and subsequent alleged murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran to the bank of the Mithi River that flows off the Bandra-Kurla Complex, where the divers recovered various pieces of evidence from its bed.

The NIA, which had been investigating the sources of info it had received that Vaze had destroyed several pieces of evidence in the twin cases it is investigating, deployed a team of swimmers and divers to recover two CPUs of computers, two number plates of a vehicle with the same registration number that read MH-20FP 1539, two DVRs and a PC from the Mithi stream bed, within the sight of Vaze.

MALE, 29 Marc, 2021 (TON): A total of 273,182 people are eligible to cast vote for the upcoming local council elections, according to the Elections Commission of the Maldives (EC).

The voters' list for the elections was updated and would include individuals turning 18 by 10 April as well, said the EC Chairman Ahmed Shareef.

The local council elections were originally scheduled to be held in April last year but got postponed due to the pandemic. 

EC has announced that the election will be contested by 3,34 candidates which include 2,264 candidates for the LCE and 1,670 candidates for the Women's Development Committee of islands.

However, EC has estimated that the election would need about 735 polling stations, including additional stations in Male City as well as to the HPA guidelines affecting resorts.

COLOMBO, 29 March, 2021, (TON): The Police arrested 1,120 suspects in a special operation conducted yesterday covering the Western Province.

Among the suspects arrested, 47 were involved in crimes, 418 were evading arrest warrant,s and 549 suspects for their involvement in corrupt activities.

The operation was carried out on the instructions of Senior DIG in charge of the Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon from 7.00 am to 5.00 pm yesterday 28 March.

The arrested suspects are to be produced before the Court.

DHAKA, 29 March, 2021 (TON): New Delhi will donate military equipment used in the 1971 Liberation War to be displayed in the museums in Bangladesh, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced.

The PM made the announcement on his last day of visit to Dhaka on Saturday.

Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina signed five MoUs, inaugurated eight projects, and made 10 announcements when they held one-to-one talks on Saturday evening.

During his visit, he also laid the foundation stone for the first memorial to be built at Ashuganj, near Dhaka, honoring martyrs from the Indian Armed Forces who were killed during the Liberation War.

He announced a Bangabandhu Chair at the Delhi University to facilitate Bangladesh studies aimed at increasing mutual understanding.

Most importantly, he announced that to commemorate the 50th year of the Liberation of Bangladesh and the 75th year of India's Independence, 'Best of India, Best of Bangladesh Exhibition' and a business meeting will be held.

PM Modi left Dhaka for New Delhi on Saturday night after his successful visit.

KABUL, 29 March, 2021 (TON): As a result of two separate roadside bomb blasts, three police officers were killed and two civilians injured, authorities confirmed.

On Sunday, in eastern Laghman province, the three belonging to the Afghan National Police were killed when an armored vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Omarzai, a locality on the outskirts of provincial capital Mehtarlam city in the afternoon.

A provincial government spokesman, Esmatullah Muradi told the media, in northern Kunduz province, two civilians were seriously wounded after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the Qalay-i-Zal district on Sunday morning.

According to the reports, the militants in Afghanistan have been using home-made Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to target security forces, however, these lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians.