NEW YORK, 22 February, 2021 (TON): Iran agrees to extend UN inspectors' access to its nuclear sites for three months, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog states.

However, less access will be given to IAEA officials because of the brokered agreement and also not granted permission to make snap inspections.

For the U.S. has not lifted sanctions Iran is changing its access policy from Tuesday, moreover, both sides now have more time to seek a compromise.

"This law exists. This law is going to be applied, which means that the Additional Protocol, much to my regret, is going to be suspended," said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, after a weekend of talks in Tehran.

"There is less access, let's face it. But still, we were able to retain the necessary degree of monitoring and verification work," he added.

The "additional protocol" allows the IAEA to make unannounced inspections at sites not previously disclosed by a country.

Then-Donald Trump administration re-imposed crippling sanctions on Iran, and Tehran retaliated by resuming nuclear activity barred under the agreement signed with six world powers in 2015.

It is noteworthy that Iran joined the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) in 1970; having previously suspended them in 2006, Iran had agreed to resume the snap inspections under the 2015 deal.

JEDDAH, 22 February, 2021 (TON): On Sunday, secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dr. Youssef Al-Othaimeen received Yemen’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak at its headquarters in Jeddah.

The humanitarian situation in Yemen and OIC’s role in minimizing the suffering of the people was made into focus.

The meeting involved the efforts of the government to pay heed to the citizens and their concerns and aspirations and also, the UN efforts to solve the crisis in Yemen.

Riyadh Agreement was also made into importance, which has been fostering grounds to solve many issues.

Bin Mubarak praised the OIC’s support for the Yemeni people and its important role in promoting a peaceful solution for the country’s crisis.

In order to achieve peace, security, and stability in the region, the OIC chief encouraged its support to Yemen in different areas where it needs assistance.

NEW DELHI, 21 February, 2021, (TON): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made a strong case for repealing archaic laws and making it easier to do business in India, stating that the centre and states need to work closely to boost economic growth. 

Addressing the Governing Council meeting of Niti Aayog, the Indian PM Modi said that the private sector should be given full opportunity to become a part of the government's Aatmanirbhar Bharat programme. 

"Centre and states should work together for the nation's progress... Government has to respect and give due representation to the private sector for economic progress," Modi said. 

He said that the positive response to the Union Budget 2021-22 indicates that the country wants to move forward on the path of development at greater speed. 

Modi said that the initiatives taken by the government would provide an opportunity for everyone to participate in nation-building to its full potential. Referring to the farm sector, the Prime Minister said that efforts should be made to produce agriculture items like edible oil and reduce their imports. 

"This can be done by guiding farmers," he said, adding the money being spend on imports can go to the accounts of farmers.  

The Prime Minister also underlined the need for reducing the compliance burden on people and asked the states to form committees to reduce regulations that are no longer relevant in the wake of technology. 

India needs to increase its rate of employment growth and create 90 million non-farm jobs between 2023 and 2030's, for productivity and economic growth according to McKinsey Global Institute. Net employment rate needs to grow by 1.5% per year from 2023 to 2030 to achieve 8-8.5% GDP growth between 2023 and 2030. 

The coronavirus has already pushed the Indian economy into a deep contraction. An ongoing farmers' protest against new agricultural laws threatens to exacerbate the economic malaise. 

India’s farmers have been protesting since the autumn, with a growing intensity that culminated in a violent breaching of barriers after the government of India gave three new controversial farm laws aimed at liberalizing farming sector.

NEW DELHI, 21 February, 2021, (TON): The number of cybercrime cases reported in New Delhi, India has spiked during last year's lockdown period, from nearly 2,000 in March to over 4,000 in May, as fraudsters adopted new methods to cheat people, the Delhi Police said on Friday. 

According to data shared by the Delhi police, total of 62 per cent of the cybercrimes reported in Delhi were related to online financial fraud, 24 per cent were related to social media and 14 per cent to other cybercrimes. 

The data showed that during COVID-19 restrictions from March to May 2020, there was a rise in cases related to cybercrimes. It went up from around 2,000 such cases in March to more than 4,000 in May. 

Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava while speaking at the annual press conference said cybercrimes peaked during the COVID time and declined later. He added that his force was dedicated towards solving the cases and creating awareness to prevent such incidents in the future. 

"Our CyPad is at the central level in our force which looks after these cases. Each district in Delhi has specific cyber cells. We analysed cybercrimes and the cases reported to us. They had peaked during the COVID time and declined after a few months," Shrivastava said.  

Elaborating on the new modus operandi adopted by cyber criminals, the Delhi Police said fraudsters targeted people by creating fake government websites offering financial assistance, subsidies and government jobs. 

Cybercrime in India has surged amidst the country’s unprecedented coronavirus lockdown. Cybercrimes in India caused Rs 1.25 trillion loss in 2019.  

Cybercrime constitutes a serious problem for India even outside of crisis periods. India was among the top five most targeted countries in the world by cyber criminals in recent years, reflecting the significant amount of work still outstanding in strengthening the country’s cyber defenses.  

LADAKH, 21 February, 2021, (TON): India and China hold talks on expanding the disengagement process in eastern Ladakh at the 10th round of the military talks. The 10th round of Corps Commander-level talks comes two days after the militaries of both the nations completed the withdrawal of forces.  

The Corps Commander-level talks at the Moldo border point on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control began at around 10 am on Saturday and ended at 2 am on Sunday, Indian media reported. 

The focus of the talks was to take forward the disengagement process in friction points like Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang in eastern Ladakh. 

However, there was no official word on the talks so far. 

The talks took place two days after both militaries concluded withdrawal of troops and weapons from North and South banks of Pangong Tso in the high-altitude region. 

Pangong Tso is in the disputed territory while the Line of Actual Control passes through the lake. A section of the lake approximately 20 km east from the LAC is controlled by China but claimed by India. 

On February 11, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh announced in Parliament that India and China agreed on disengaging troops from north and south of the Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh.  

The Indian delegation at Saturday's talks was led by Lt Gen PGK Menon, the Commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps. 

The two sides have held de-escalation talks since hand to and fighting, the latest 10th round of Corps Commander-level talks held on Sunday following  9th round held after the gap of over two-and-half months. 

Tensions on the border are high as both sides claim large areas of territory. 

TRIPOLI, 21 February, 2021, (TON): More than 200 illegal migrants, including women and children, have been rescued off Libyan coast, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Saturday. 

"Over 200 persons were brought to Tripoli by the Libyan Coast Guard, among them 9 women and 3 children," the agency tweeted. 

"UNHCR and partner IRC (International Rescue Committee) are providing relief items and medical aid to all survivors," the commissioner said. 

The Libyan navy said it recovered the body of one undocumented migrant during Saturday's rescue operation, adding that some migrants have escaped after they were rescued and returned to Libya. 

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in 2020, 323 migrants died and 417 others went missing on the Central Mediterranean route, while 11,891 illegal migrants were rescued off the Libyan coast in 2020 compared with 9,225 in 2019.  

Shelters in Libya are crowded with thousands of migrants rescued at sea or arrested by the Libyan security services, despite international calls to close those centers.  

Due to insecurity and chaos in the North African nation, thousands of undocumented migrants chose to cross the Mediterranean from Libya towards Europe. Libya is one of the most important starting points for African migrants to Europe.

SRINAGAR, 21 February 2021, (TON): On a two-day visit, a delegation of 24 ambassadors from the European Union including European Union, Latin America and Africa arrived at Srinagar to assess the situation following the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. They also visited Hazratbal Shrine, Srinagar on 17 February 2021 and were allowed controlled access to certain selected individuals. 

Meanwhile, the visiting EU delegation as well as Special Rapporteur  including Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues and Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief issued statement that made the world know the true face of India with regarding to grave human rights violations occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The statement termed the situation deplorable. New Delhi is highly critical what the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said, “unethical” behavior of EU delegation. The MEA official said, “The delegation did not even wait for our response and instead chose to release their inaccurate statement based on purely assumptions.”   

UN human rights experts issued statement on the conclusion of restricted visit;  “The loss of autonomy and the imposition of direct rule by the Government in New Delhi suggests the people of Jammu and Kashmir no longer have their own government and have lost power to legislate or amend laws in the region to ensure the protection of their rights as minorities,”  The statement said, “concerned about India’s decision to end Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy and enact new laws could curtail the previous level of political participation of Muslim and other minorities in the country, as well as potentially discriminate against them in important matters including employment and land ownership”.

The statement continued, “The number of successful applicants for domicile certificates that appear to be from outside Jammu and Kashmir raises concerns that demographic change on a linguistic, religious and ethnic basis is already underway,” It also said, “These legislative changes may have the potential to pave the way for people from outside the former state of Jammu and Kashmir to settle in the region, alter the demographics of the region and undermine the minorities’ ability to exercise effectively their human rights.”

NEW YORK, 21 February, 2021, (TON): A convergence of factors, including armed conflict, a sinking economy and COVID-19, are contributing to growing needs across Syria, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Friday. 

“As of January, around 13.4 million people are estimated to require some form of humanitarian and protection assistance.  This is an increase of more than 2 million people over the previous year.  Some of the greatest needs are in food insecurity,” said OCHA in a statement released.  

Health, water and sanitation infrastructure are poor or non-existent all around the country.  

Some of the greatest needs are in food insecurity. “The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that at least 12.4 million people, nearly 60 per cent of the population, are now food insecure.  In one year, an additional 4.5 million Syrians have become food insecure,” said OCHA in a release. 

About 2 million Syrians are estimated to be living in extreme poverty, and an estimated 2.4 million children are out of school.   

Last year, an average of 7.6 million people was helped each month with humanitarian assistance which was an increase of 1.9 million people compared to 2019. 

Humanitarian assistance is a lifeline for millions of people in Syria, making the humanitarian response in all its forms, including cross-line and cross-border, critical, said the office. 

Syria's civil war began during the Arab Spring in 2011 as a peaceful uprising against the country's president and has since escalated. The Syrian civil war is not only one of the bloodiest conflicts in the world today, it's also one of the most complex. 

According to estimates by the United Nations, more than 400,000 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the war. The UN reports that, as of January 2019, more than 5.6 million have fled the country, and over 6 million have been internally displaced. 

CAIRO, 21 February, 2021, (TON): Egyptian and Spanish naval forces held joint military drills in the Red Sea's Berenice Military Base, Egypt's armed forces said in a statement on Saturday. 

This training is the second of its kind in a short period of time,  the two navies held similar drills on February 14th also in the Red Sea. 

The exercises included many different training activities, including maritime security procedures, as well as various sailing formations that showed the ability of the joint maritime units to carry out their tasks accurately and proficiently, in addition to carrying out night exercises and helicopter landing exercises on the roofs of marine units, according to the statement. 

The Egyptian military highlighted the importance of the joint drills "in consolidating Egyptian-Spanish bilateral relations and enhancing the horizons of military cooperation between the two countries, which contributes effectively to maintaining maritime security and stability in the region." 

The naval training comes as part of the General Command of the Armed Forces' plan to raise the combat readiness of the naval forces and exchange military expertise with the armed forces of both countries. 

WASHINGTON, 20 February, 2021 (TON): U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken in his first international interview of the G7 richest industrial nations summit commented, "America is back" and is fully engaged in helping resolve issues including the pandemic, climate change and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

He condemned China for its lack of transparency in disclosing how the virus became pandemic.

This is also a breakthrough to former U.S. President Trump’s “America First” policy.  

The Secretary of state also got questioned about the other related issues involving America, and resolving America’s relationship with the world.