WASHINGTON, 11 November 2021, (TON): The Sixth Fleet said in a statement “the flagship of the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet Mount Whitney and the destroyer Porter have left the Georgian port of Batumi and will continue operations in the Black Sea.”

The Sixth Fleet said on Twitter “thank you Batumi for the warm welcome and wonderful visit to the port. Now it is time for Mount Whitney and Porter to continue their planned operations in the Black Sea together with NATO allies and partners.”

Earlier, the US Navy’s 6th Fleet announced that the flagship command ship Mount Whitney was heading to the Black Sea for joint operations with NATO forces. Mount Whitney and Porter entered the Georgian port of Batumi.

BEIJING, 11 November 2021, (TON): Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said “China’s Special Envoy for Afghan Affairs Yue Xiaoyong will lead a delegation to attend the Pakistan-hosted meeting on the Afghan situation.”

He said during his regular press briefing “China supports Pakistan in hosting the extended Troika meeting. We support all efforts conducive for stability in Afghanistan to building up consensus in the world.”

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf will chair the Troika Plus meeting.

The US State Department’s Special Representative and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Afghanistan Thomas West and Russia’s Special Afghanistan Envoy Zamir Kabulov will also participate in the meeting.

This is the first full-fledged meeting of the Troika Plus after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. The last meeting was held in Doha on August 11 while another meeting was convened by Russia in Moscow on October 19.

Last month, FM Qureshi visited Kabul and announced a raft of measures to help Afghanistan’s faltering economy as well as extend humanitarian assistance.

Since the fall of Kabul on August 15, Pakistan has been at the forefront urging the international community to remain engaged with the new dispensation in Afghanistan.

ADDIS ABABA, 11 November 2021, (TON): An internal UN email seen by Reuters said “Ethiopian authorities have detained more than 70 drivers working with the United Nations.”

The ethnicity of the drivers was not clear. The state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said on Sunday it had received many reports of arrests of Tigrayans in the capital.

Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu and foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Dina Mufti did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

RIYADH, 11 November 2021, (TON): The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) signed a long-term strategic partnership with the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization to develop AlUla’s cultural landscape and promote understanding of the global importance of heritage.

The agreement was signed by Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan and UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. Princess Haifa bint Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, the Kingdom’s permanent representative to UNESCO, and Amr Al-Madani, CEO of RCU, also attended the meeting at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris.

The agreement aims to achieve mutual benefits and promote the cultural, social, and economic development of AlUla by strengthening efforts to protect AlUla’s cultural, natural, and historical sites.

To achieve these goals, efforts will focus on promoting capacity building and knowledge transfer with experts from all around the world. They will join RCU efforts to turn the area into a benchmark destination for heritage, nature, arts, and culture.

Prince Badr said the agreement will help the vision of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in transforming AlUla into a global destination for heritage, nature, arts, and culture.

The five-year agreement focuses on 10 programs that include the listing of new natural and cultural sites under UNESCO’s taxonomy to protect and promote the local heritage and natural landscapes and ecosystems.

KABUL, 11 November 2021, (TON): Officials at the Islamic Emirate in Herat have announced the arrest of dozens of people in connection with their involvement in criminal offenses in the province.

These individuals were identified and detained during the last month of inspections and operations by Herat intelligence agents from the city and a number of districts.

Sabet Heravi, a senior member of the Islamic Emirate’s intelligence service in Herat, told reporters that the detainees were accused of kidnapping, armed robbery, and misuse of the Islamic Emirate’s name.

He said that the cases of these forty people have been sent to the judiciary.

Meanwhile, the citizens of Herat are worried about the increase in criminal incidents.

ISLAMABAD, 11 November 2021, (TON): A spokesperson for the PAF said in a statement “director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed on Wednesday called on Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu in his office.”

He said that various matters pertaining to national security and synergy amongst tri-services and intelligence organisations were discussed during the meeting.

The statement said that the DG ISI expressed his appreciation for the thorough professionalism of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) personnel, and their resolve to safeguard the country’s aerial frontiers.

The PAF chief lauded the diligent efforts of Inter-Services Intelligence for the maintenance of regional peace and stability.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on October 26 notified the appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem as the new ISI chief.

ISLAMABAD, 11 November 2021, (TON): Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi arrived in Islamabad on a three-day visit to Pakistan for wide-ranging talks on bilateral matters, the first visit to Pakistan by an Afghan minister since the Taliban seized control of Kabul on August 15.

Muttaqi is leading a 20-member high-level delegation comprising Minister for Finance Hidayatullah Badri, Minister for Industries and Trade Nooruddin Aziz and senior officials from the aviation ministry, according to a list of delegates available with media.

Pakistan's Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan Ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Khan, Commerce Adviser Abdul Razak Dawood and senior officials welcomed the delegation upon their arrival at Nur Khan Airbase.

The Taliban's representative at the Afghan embassy in Islamabad, Shakaib Ahmad, was also present on the occasion.

During his visit, the Afghan minister will hold formal talks with Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Muttaqi will also meet special representatives from China, Russia and the US, who are participating in the Troika Plus meeting scheduled for November 11 (tomorrow).

In a statement, the FO said that Muttaqi's visit was taking place as a follow-up to Qureshi's visit to Kabul on Oct 21.

The FO statement said “the exchanges will centre on Pakistan-Afghanistan relations with a particular focus on enhanced trade, facilitation of transit trade, cross-border movement, land and aviation links, people-to-people contacts and regional connectivity.”

NEW DELHI, 11 November 2021, (TON): Officials said “India has sent thousands of more paramilitary troops into Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), already one of the world's most militarised zones, after a string of targeted killings in recent weeks.”

Abhiram Pankaj, a spokesman for the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), told media “New Delhi has for decades stationed at least 500,000 soldiers in the occupied Himalayan territory.”

"Around 2,500 troops have arrived and they were deployed all over the valley."

He added “more were on their way to the occupied territory.”

According to a police officer speaking to media on condition of anonymity “around 5,000 extra paramilitaries in all were being deployed from this week, including from India's Border Security Force (BSF).”

Some of the troops are housed in civilian community halls that have been fortified with new sandbag bunkers, reminiscent of the early 1990s when the freedom movement against Indian rule was at its peak.

Since then tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been martyred by the Indian security forces.

A dozen people have been gunned down since last month in what appeared to be targeted assassinations, including police, migrant workers from northern Indian states and local members of the Sikh and Hindu communities.

NAYPYITAW, 11 November 2021, (TON): Some 20 young people living in a hostel in Yangon’s Mayangone Township were reportedly arrested on the evening of November 4, the same day that Thein Aung, former military officer and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mytel, was shot and killed near his home in the same area.

Thein Aung was shot four times on Tay Nu Yin St in Ward 7(c), situated next to the Yangon Region military command, at around 7am that day.

Some 150 troops began a search of the township in the hours after the executive’s death, culminating in the arrests at the Daw Kyi Nyunt hostel in Mayangone’s Ward 6, according to a local source.

The local said “we still don’t know the names of the victims,”

He added that both women and men were taken into junta custody, but the hostel owner was not among those arrested.

He further said that no one in the area had been able to contact the families of the detainees, and he did not know where they were being held.

NAYPYITAW, 11 November 2021, (TON): A rebel spokesman said “Myanmar junta troops have clashed with fighters from a major militant group in Rakhine state, breaking a ceasefire that kept the peace in the western region since the coup.”

The Southeast Asian country has been in chaos since the February putsch, with a brutal crackdown on dissent and increased fighting in borderlands involving ethnic armed organisations.

Days after the coup, the junta reaffirmed a commitment to a ceasefire with the Arakan Army (AA), which has fought a bloody war for autonomy for Rakhine state's ethnic Rakhine population.

The ceasefire freed up military troops to battle local "self-defence forces" that have sprung up across the country in opposition to the military.

An AA spokesman told AFP "Around 11:00am yesterday, there was a clash for a few minutes in the north of Maungdaw.”

"It was because the Myanmar military entered the area. Casualty details are not known yet."

Clashes between the AA and the military in 2019 displaced over 200,000 people across the state, one of Myanmar's poorest.