NEW DELHI, 18 March, 2021 (TON): As the elections are approaching the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while campaigning in Bengal today targeted the CM over corruption and lack of development, used the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s “Khela Hobe (Game on)” phrase saying,  Didi, O Didi you played for 10 years. Now the game will end and development will begin".

Often switching to the native language Bengali, the PM said, "Didi says khela hobe, BJP says jobs; Didi says khela hobe, BJP says education; Didi says khela hobe, BJP says development; Didi says khela hobe, BJP says the rise of women; Didi says khela hobe, BJP says jobs; Didi says khela hobe, BJP says you will get a pucca house, clean water, and taps in every home."

The PM spoke in Purulia ahead of the 27 March Bengal elections, for which the BJP has increased campaigning to topple the two-time CM and her Congress from power.  

SEOUL, 18 March, 2021 (TON):  On Thursday, the Defense and Foreign Ministers of South Korea and the U.S. held bilateral talks about the Korean Peninsula and regional issues.

The joint statement issued later the meeting said the two sides reaffirmed that the S. Korea-U.S. alliance serves as the linchpin of peace, security, and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and the Indo-Pacific region.

The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Chung Eui-Yong and Defense Minister Suh Wook of South Korea, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

The two sides also reaffirmed a mutual commitment to the defense of South Korea; the chief negotiators from the two allies inked a tentative deal on the 11th Special Measures Agreement (SMA).

SMA is a South Korea-US pact to share the upkeep cost for about 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea, with the observation of the four ministers.

Reports said, they also affirmed the importance of South Korea-US-Japan trilateral cooperation, pledging to continue promoting mutually-beneficial, forward-looking cooperation to promote peace, security, and prosperity in the region.

KABUL, 18 March, 2021, (TON): Three individuals have been killed and 11 others injured when a side of the road bomb hit a transport conveying Afghan government workers in Kabul on Thursday, authorities said.

The bombarding went ahead the day the Afghan government, Taliban, and key nations, including the US and Russia, accumulate in Moscow to push for a decrease in viciousness to impel the Afghan harmony measure forward.

A spokesman for the Kabul police confirmed the casualty figures but gave no further details. Another official said the vehicle was carrying Afghan government employees.

The blast hit a bus which was rented by the Afghan ministry of information and technology to transport employees, said Abdul Samad Hamid Poya, a ministry adviser.

He added that it was unclear at the moment who the victims are.

NEW YORK, 18 March, 2021 (TON): The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres appoints a personal envoy to Afghanistan and regional issues Jean Arnault, his press office said on Wednesday.

In the statement, the SG asked Arnault to assist in achieving a political solution to the conflict, working closely with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and regional partners.

Arnault brings over 30 years of diplomatic experience in peace settlements and mediation, with an extensive background in UN missions in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, including Afghanistan, the media reported citing the statement.

The responsibility of the envoy will be to liaison with the regional countries to support the negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban, as well as the implementation of any agreements that are reached, the UN spokesman Dujarric confirmed.

However, the appointment of the envoy came ahead of the multilateral peace talks on the country in Moscow and Turkey’s the U.S. proposed conference.  

BEIJING, 18 March, 2021, (TON): Chinese regulators recently summoned 11 domestic technology companies including Alibaba Group, Tencent and ByteDance for talks on use of ‘deepfake’ technologies on their content platforms, stepping up scrutiny of the sector.

China’s cyberspace administrator said in a statement on Thursday that it and the public security ministry met with the companies to talk about “security assessments” and potential problems with deepfakes and audio social apps. Kuaishou Technology and Xiaomi Corp also attended the meeting, it said.

Deepfakes use artificial intelligence to create hyper-realistic but fake videos or audios where a person appears to say or do something they did not.

China has increased scrutiny of its internet giants in recent months, citing concerns over monopolistic behavior and potential infringement of consumer rights. “Conduct security assessments on their own” and submit reports to the government when they plan to add new functions or new information services that “have the ability to mobilize society”, the statement said.

The clubhouse was briefly accessible in China, attracting many users who participated in discussions on sensitive topics such as Xinjiang detention camps and Hong Kong independence, before it was shut down by authorities.

KATHMANDU, 18 March, 2021, (TON):  Nepal PM, KP Sharma Oli has called for a parliamentary party meeting of the ruling CPN-UML on Thursday as the rift between the two warring factions of the party widened with the rival group convening the national gathering of cadres despite the warning of disciplinary action against those attending it, according to media reports.

The meeting will take place at Baluwatar, the official residence of the Prime Minister, who is also the Chairperson of the party, Bishal Bhattarai, party’s chief.

“All the party leaders who won elections with the symbol ‘Sun’ have been invited to the meeting,” Bhattarai said.

The call for the meeting came as the Communist Party of Nepal-UML’s rival faction led by Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal went ahead with the two-day national gathering of the party’s leaders and cadres that began on Wednesday.

Party’s senior leader Madhav Nepal is expected to present a political report on the widening rift in the party and his faction’s strategy for the coming days, it said.

The Oli-led faction had threatened to take disciplinary action against those who will attend the event organized by the Nepal-Khanal faction on Wednesday and Thursday.

CPN-UML General Secretary Ishwar Pokharel, in a statement, directed the party leaders and cadres not to attend the factional gathering, arguing that the UML had not organized any such event.

He warned of disciplinary action against those attending the “unauthorized” gathering.

DHAKA, 18 March, 2021 (TON): Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Bangladesh PM Hasina holds talks at the PM’s office.

Mr. Solih reached the PM office at 11 am Thursday, where the two held a private discussion before the bilateral meeting.

However, it is expected that a number of MoUs would be signed as the result of bilateral talks in order to enhance the ties, Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam said.

On his two-day visit to Bangladesh, the President of Maldives will also meet Bangladeshi his counterpart Abdul Hamid in the evening on Thursday, later will attend a state banquet following a cultural program and at night the 27-member delegation from the Maldives along with its President will fly back to the Maldives.

TEL AVIV, 18 March, 2021 (TON): Considering extensive damage to the aviation industry due to pandemic, the Finance Ministry of Israel has announced an economic support program for the country’s airlines.

On Wednesday, the Ministry said in a statement, "The plan will allow an immediate flow to facilitate the airline's operations during this period."

As part of the plan, the state will purchase in advance, for 20 years, flight tickets for the governmental flight security guards.

However, as the Ministry agreed with Israel's leading airline El Al on the purchase of flight tickets in the amount of $210 million, under the condition that the company will raise $105 million through a public offering, the plan would be offered to other airlines as well.

NEW YORK, 18 March, 2021 (TON): A UN Spokesman, Stephane Dujarric confirmed the UN’s readiness to facilitate agreement over the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile river between Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt.

On Wednesday, while addressing the media, Stephanie Dujarric asserted that the UN received a letter from the Sudanese PM Abdalla Hamdok on the very issue.

He said in a statement, "We reiterate our readiness to support all efforts toward reaching an agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.”

"Guterres welcomes initiatives to move the negotiations forward and awaits agreement from all the parties as to how the UN can best support the process," he added.

He further added that the three parties should agree on mediation before the UN gets involved.

Ethiopia, however, an upstream Nile basin country, started building the $4 billion GERD in 2011, while Egypt is concerned that the dam might affect its 55.5-billion-cubic-meter annual share of the Nile water, while, Sudan has recently been raising similar concerns over the dam.

COLOMBO, 18 March, 2021 (TON): On Wednesday, the island country Sri Lanka faced criticism over its new “de-radicalization” law that according to the human rights groups is another weapon to target minorities and dissidents in the country.

New regulations expanded the draconian and abusive Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which a previous government promised to scrap but never did, said Human Rights Watch.

However, on Friday, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced that new rules under the PTA allowing the detention of anyone suspected of causing "acts of violence or religious, racial or communal disharmony".

In reaction to this, the HRW said to immediately withdraw these rules that the government said aimed at de-radicalization of religious extremists.

The Rights group also urged the global community to persuade the island country to protect its religious and ethnic minorities, ensuring accountability for previous abuses.