RIYADH, 17 March, 2021(TON): On Wednesday, the SG- Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Nayef Al-Hajraf said, the organization supports all the efforts and measures taken by Saudi Arabia to preserve its security.       

The former GCC-Secretary General and FM of Bahrain Abdullatif Al-Zayani second Hajraf’s statement and expressed Gulf countries’ support for Saudi Arabia.

During a meeting held by his member states’ counterparts, Al-Zayani said, “The GCC stands united with Saudi Arabia in the face of the ongoing threats it faces.”

While condemning the Houthi militia’s attacks on the Saudi civilians, he said, “We have witnessed widespread international solidarity with Saudi Arabia against the Houthi terrorist attacks.”

Stressing on the AlUla Declaration and the current regional issue to require a united front, Al-Zayani explained that the decisions of the Al-Ula statement stressed the need for the unity of the GCC countries.

DHAKA, 17 March, 2021, (TON): The dead body of the politician and lawyer Barrister Moudud Ahmed will be brought back home on Thursday evening (today).  He will be buried in the family graveyard at Manikpur village in Noakhali’s Companiganj on Friday. 

Moudud Ahmed, a standing committee member of the BNP, he also former prime minister and vice-president of the country. He had been suffering from lung congestion and heart and kidney complications for a long time.

He passed away while undergoing treatment of heart, lung, and kidney diseases in Singapore at the age of 81. He left Dhaka for Singapore for better treatment on February 1. He was accompanied by his wife Hasna Jasimuddin Moudud.

ANKARA, 17 March, 2021, (TON): Turkish President Erdogan said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia needs to purchase military drones from Turkey. The occurrence is relied upon to divulge another measurement to the relationship between the two adversary territorial forces.

Relations between Ankara and Riyadh have been strained since the 2016 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia's call for an unofficial boycott of Turkish goods has already strained bilateral trade, although both countries have said they will work to improve relations.

Speaking on Tuesday, Erdogan expressed dissatisfaction with Saudi Arabia's decision to conduct joint air drills with Turkey's long-time rival Greece.

"Saudi Arabia is conducting joint exercises with Greece and at the same time wants to buy military drones from us," he said. Our hope is a peaceful solution to this issue. "

Turkey has arisen as one of the world's driving makers of military drones. These drones assisted Turkey with unifying Azerbaijan in a six-week battle with Armenia over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh locale a year ago.

DHAKA, 17 March, 2021 (TON): India announced to donate 109 ambulances to Bangladesh on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami informed Foreign Minister Ak Abdul Momen about the goodwill gesture in a meeting on Tuesday.

Modi will arrive in Dhaka on a two-day trip on 26 March, and the vehicles will be handed over during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trip to Dhaka. Of the 109 ambulances, four will be used in Sylhet, the foreign ministry said.

The golden jubilee independence and Bangabandhu's birth centenary celebrations will be marked in Bangladesh as a 10-day event scheduled, that will be attended by four neighboring state heads.

LAMU COUNTY, 17 March, 2021 (TON): Amid increasing tensions between the Kenyan and Somalia authorities over the long-running maritime border dispute, the fishermen of the Lamu County, on the Northern coast of Kenya, took to the sea with their dhows in protest.

The disputed waters rich in fish, are crucial to the people of Lamu County, but with the ongoing dispute, the livelihood of many is threatened.

Is’Haq Abubakar, of the Save Lamu movement, said, "It is not too late for both countries, Somali and Kenya, to explore other obvious channels including the IGAD, the African Union or even our Elders, who have settled such differences for centuries."

"The people of Lamu and our brothers in Somali have coexisted for centuries and continue to consider the current boundaries simply as colonial lines drawn neither to the interest of Kenya or Somali people," he added.

Somalia has been asking the UN’s International Court of Justice to rule over the contested waters of the Indian Ocean since 2014, however, days earlier Kenyan representatives refused to participate in the hearings that seemed to stalemate the negotiations.

KATHMANDU, 17 March, 2021, (TON): The Federal Parliament Parliamentary Hearing Committee has proceeded towards the hearing of the Supreme Court’s proposed justice Kumar Chudal and Nahakul Subedi.

A meeting of the Committee today decided to issue a 10-day notice to inform the public about the commencement of the hearing. The Committee seeks to be informed if there are any grievances or complaints against the proposed candidates, according to Committee President Laxman Lal Karna.

Chudal presently serves as the chief judge of High Court Patan while Subedi is the chief judge of High Court Surkhet. The March 12 meeting of the Judicial Council recommended the two to be appointed the SC judges and send the proposal to the Committee for further proceedings.

The Committee is the final body to decide whether to endorse or not the recommendations after going through certain procedures.

PHNOM PENH, 17 March, 2021 (TON): On Wednesday, Cambodia’s National Assembly raised a voice of utter dismay over the European Parliament’s recent resolution on the mass trials against 9 November 2019 perpetrators.

It said, "We do not tolerate any intentions and activities that aim to disrupt the fabrics of the country's hard-earned peace and stability."

"Any attempt to plot an insurrection through the use of defamatory languages, incitement to violence and a call upon the armed forces to overthrow a legitimate government is unlawful and must be denounced," it said.

"We, therefore, urge the European Parliament to have an objective assessment on the political development in Cambodia and continue to constructively engage with diverse political groups in Cambodia based on the principles of mutual trust, mutual respect, and mutual interest," it added.

The statement came as the European Parliament adopted the resolution on Cambodia's mass trials against perpetrators linked to the "9 November 2019 plot".

The plot included that the particular former leaders of the Supreme Court-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) with its president Sam Rainsy sentenced to 25 years in prison and eight others from 20 to 22 years in jail over a failed coup attempt.

Despite the backdrop of 9 November, many believe that as an independent and sovereign state, Cambodia is entitled to pursue its policy of self-determination in order to protect its national interests, including peace, stability, and prosperity,

COLOMBO, 17 March, 2021, (TON): There are just 15 Judges for every 1,000,000 individuals in Sri Lanka and the entire nation has just 378 Judges to deal with continuous legal disputes, tending to a workshop on the significance of securing casualties and witness today, Justice Minister Ali Sabry said.

He further said in created nations there are 200 Judges for every 1,000,000 individuals and in the center income nations, it is 65-70 Judges for every 1,000,000 individuals.

"This is a serious matter in our current legal system and during my tenure, I am hoping to double the number of Judges in the judicial system," he said. 

Justice Minister Ali Sabry said there were nearly 5000 cases at District Courts which have been covering for over 20 years without any conclusion. 

He additionally said that in the current overall set of laws, it takes a more extended period to finish up a case and at first to end a preliminary at High Court, it requires 10 years.

BEIJING, 17 March, 2021 (TON): China has lodged strict representations with the U.S. and Japan over the statement that the senior officials of both countries made while at the meeting on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry of China commented as it considers foreign countries interfering in its issue.

U.S.’s Blinken and Japan’s Motegi raised concerns about Beijing’s coercion and destabilizing behavior in a range of issues.

In the response to their comments, FM’s spokesman Zhao Lijian told the media that China is strongly urging the U.S. and Japan to stop interfering in China’s internal affairs. To that the world supported China.

NEW DELHI, 17 March, 2021 (TON): As Bangladesh celebrates its founder Bangladesh founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth anniversary, on Wednesday, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi honored the leader calling him a “hero for all Indians.”

Modi tweeted, “My heartfelt homage to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a champion of human rights and freedom, on his birth anniversary.”

"He is a hero for all Indians too. It will be my honor to visit Bangladesh later this month for the historic #MujibBorsho celebrations," he said.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh, was born on 17 March, 1920.

However, on receiving an invitation from the Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, India’s Ministry of External Affairs made an announcement on Modi's visit to the neighboring country on Tuesday, scheduled on 26-27 March.