DHAKA, 31 October 2021, (TON): Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will leave home today for two weeks to attend the 26th session of the UN climate conference (COP26) in the United Kingdom and a state visit to the UK and France.

The Bangladesh premier will address on Monday the COP26, which is set to begin in Glasgow in Scotland.

She will hold meetings with British prime minister Boris Johnson, Prince Charles and Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the sideline of the global climate conference.

Top US businessman and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, among other foreign dignitaries, are likely to call on the Bangladesh premier during her three-day presence in Glasgow.

Hasina will be in London for six days from November 3 on an official visit. She will join a businessmen summit organised for attracting British investment to Bangladesh and increasing export to the UK among other engagements.

She will reach Paris for about five days starting from November 9 as a state guest.

Hasina will return home on November 13. 

DHAKA, 31 October 2021, (TON): Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen said “Bangladesh will play a very significant role at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties that is set to begin in Glasgow.”

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will leave for the United Kingdom on Sunday to attend the COP26 and other bilateral meetings.

She will address the key segment of the COP26 on November 1 hosted by the UK.

Momen briefed the media at the ministry of foreign affairs.

Environment, forest and climate change minister Md Shahab Uddin, state minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam and foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen were also present.

The FM said “the prime minister will hold a bilateral meeting with her British counterpart Boris Johnson during her visit there.”

After Glasgow, she will visit London from November 3 to 8 before heading towards Paris, France.

The PMr will have bilateral meetings with the French president and the French prime minister during her Paris visit.

NAYPYITAW, 31 October 2021, (TON): Amid an escalation of both armed resistance to military rule and reprisals from the junta forces, Myanmar army troops shelled the largely deserted western Chin State town of Thantlang, causing fires that destroyed more than 160 of the town’s 2,000 homes. 

The attack came after a junta soldier was shot dead by the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) which has been monitoring the situation in Thantlang after members of the local resistance group said they saw him looting a shop.

a CDF spokesperson said “In retaliation for the killing, the junta’s armed forces occupying the area shot at least 10 rounds of artillery into the town, which started fires upon exploding. Within an hour, several troops had arrived at the location at which the soldier was killed and also began torching houses for no reason.”

The spokesperson from the CDF’s Thantlang chapter told media “they walked into the town at around 10:30am and torched the houses at random.”

He said that by 5pm, at least 40 houses had burnt down, with the fires continuing to burn throughout the night.

Nearly all of Thantlang’s 8,000 residents fled following military assaults that destroyed 18 homes and a government building in September. This too was seen as a retaliation against the public and the resistance after an attack by the CDF and the Chin National Army on a junta base reportedly killed some 30 soldiers.

ISLAMABAD, 30 October 2021, (TON): Prime Minister Imran Khan felicitated Turkey on its 98th Republic Day, saying the "brotherly countries Pakistan and Turkey continue to transform long-standing ties into a strategic partnership".

On October 29, 1923, Ataturk officially declared the name of the nation and proclaimed the country's status as a republic.

A vote then took place in the Grand National Assembly, and Ataturk, a revolutionary statesman, was elected the first president of the Republic of Turkey by unanimous vote.

Since then, Turkey celebrates Republic Day on October 29 annually.

"Warm felicitations to brotherly gov[ernmen]t & ppl (people) of Turkey on 98th Republic Day," the premier wrote on his official Twitter handle.

He added that the prime minister said that the bonds between the two peoples were forged centuries ago. Firmly anchored in common faith, shared history & culture, we continue to transform our long-standing ties into [a] strategic partnership.”

In Turkey, celebrations in marking the occasion started on Friday with state officials' visit to Anitkabir, the mausoleum of the country's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in the capital Ankara.

KABUL, 30 October 2021, (TON): Officials said that a Taliban envoy has been sent to neighbouring Pakistan to take charge of the Afghan embassy, two months after the hardline Islamist group seized power.

Sardar Ahmad Khan Shokaib was appointed as first secretary in Islamabad, while Taliban officials are also now in place at consulates in Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta.

The new Taliban rulers have yet to be formally recognised by any foreign government, including Pakistan, meaning Shokaib cannot assume the title of ambassador.

A Taliban source told media "these diplomats will take care of the affairs in the embassy and in the three consulates.”

A source close to the Peshawar consulate added "they will formally take charge on Monday."

The last ambassador of the Afghan embassy was withdrawn by the former US-backed government several months ago following the alleged kidnapping of his daughter in leafy Islamabad.

A spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the move would allow the embassy to perform consular functions, with the country hosting millions of Afghan refugees.

RIYADH, 30 October 2021, (TON): Riyadh is the third-smartest city among the capitals of G20 states, jumping 23 ranks from last year on the Institute for Management Development Smart Cities Index for 2021.

It was the 30th smartest city at global level.

The Saudi capital outperformed major cities such as Los Angeles, Madrid, Hong Kong and Paris. The progress by Riyadh makes it the second of its kind among the G20 countries after the South Korean capital, Seoul, and the third largest in the world.

It is a result of improvements by the Kingdom’s capital according to 34 indicators.

Madinah has been included on the index as the second Saudi city after Riyadh, ranked 73rd in the world and fourth in the Arab world.

The joint efforts of all sectors in providing advanced infrastructure and smart applications and implementing development projects have allowed the two cities to outrank others to become places that offer a high degree of luxury and quality of life.

The IMD index focuses on how residents perceive the scope and impact of efforts to make their cities smart, the balance between economic and technical aspects, taking into account human elements and the extent to which they contribute to bridging the gap between the population’s aspirations and needs, as well as political trends in how smart cities are built.

Smart cities improve many vital sectors such as the transport sector, through trip-planning software and public transport reservations. Innovative economies are based on advanced software that contributes to upgrading sections such as logistics, delivery and joint support services, building interactive platforms with the public to identify their needs and aspirations, and developing and facilitating access services.

IMD is one of the most prestigious business administration institutes globally, measuring the impact of national strategies in enhancing levels of well-being, achieving progress and improving quality of life for citizens.

WASHINGTON, 30 October 2021, (TON): US President Joe Biden admitted to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron Friday that his country had been "clumsy" by securing a submarines deal with Australia behind France's back.

Biden said in the first meeting with Macron since the row erupted last month "we have no better ally than France.”

Biden added that what happened was, to use an English phrase, what we did was clumsy, it was not done with a lot of grace.

It was the clearest sign of contrition from the US since the start of a diplomatic row that saw France recall its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra.

The US president said "I was under the impression that France had been informed long before, that the (French) deal was not going through.”

Biden called France an "extremely, extremely valued partner and a power in itself" with the "same values" as the United States.

Macron welcomed the efforts put in place by the US to defuse the crisis, noting that a series of consultations between Paris and Washington had taken place in recent weeks.

KINSHASA, 30 October 2021, (TON): Monitors said “at least 14 civilians were killed in northeastern DR Congo early on Friday when their village was attacked by two armed groups.”

The Kivu Security Tracker (KST) said on Twitter “the deaths occurred in the village of Gina in Ituri province, during an incursion by the #CODECO-UDPC and ALC" groups.”

It said "they also attacked #Nizi, in the same territory.”

The assault began at 4:00 am and lasted for seven hours until the armed forces regained control of the area, one of its specialists told AFP, asking not to be identified.

Ituri is one of three eastern provinces in the vast Democratic Republic of Congo battling armed groups.

The gold-rich province has a long history of ethnic feuds, some of which are rooted in long-standing herder-farmer disputes over cattle.

Fighting between the Hema and Lendu communities flared between 1999 and 2003, claiming tens of thousands of lives.

It was quelled by the intervention of a European Union peacekeeping force, Artemis.

SANAA, 30 October 2021, (TON): Military and medical sources said “a child was among 13 people killed when a missile fired by Yemeni rebels struck a tribal leader’s home south of the strategic city of Marib.”

A government military official said “a Houthi ballistic missile hit the house of Sheikh Abdul Latif Al-Qibli in Al-Jawba on Thursday evening during a meeting with tribal leaders fighting on the government’s side.”

He added “thirteen people, including a child, were killed.”

The death toll was confirmed by a medical source in the area.

The military official said “as well as the child, missile strike also killed four tribal leaders.”

At least 11 houses were damaged and 16 civilians were wounded in the attack, according to the officials.

Yemen’s Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani said on Twitter that at least 12 people were killed, including two sons of Al-Qibli, whose fate was unknown.

The Houthi “militia continues to systematically and deliberately bombard villages and homes, in order to inflict max casualties among civilians” forcing hundreds of families and displaced to flee, he wrote.

WASHINGTON, 30 October 2021, (TON): The US Treasury hit Iran's drone program with sanctions on Friday, boosting pressure on Tehran ahead of the reopening of negotiations on the country's nuclear program.

The Treasury said lethal unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been used to attack US forces and international shipping in the Gulf region.

The drones have also been supplied to Hezbollah, Hamas, and Yemen's Houthis, and have also been seen in Ethiopia, "where the escalating crisis threatens to destabilize the broader region.”

The sanctions singled out Brigadier General Saeed Aghajani, who leads the Revolutionary Guards' UAV Command.

The Treasury said that Aghajani was behind a 2019 drone attack on an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia as well as the July 29, 2021 attack on a commercial ship off the coast of Oman that saw two crewman killed.

Also named to the sanctions blacklist were two companies, Kimia Part Sivan and Oje Parvaz Mado Nafar, which provide components for and help develop the armed UAVs of the Revolutionary Guards.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement “Iran’s proliferation of UAVs across the region threatens international peace and stability.”

He said “treasury will continue to hold Iran accountable for its irresponsible and violent acts.”