KATHMANDU, 13 September 2021 (TON): Landslide has damaged a section of the Pokhara-Baglung road on the Mid-Hill Pushpalal Highway, which is at the final stage of blacktopping. The eight-kilometer road in the section was blocked at 20 places on the night of August 3.

The worst hit was Dobilla in Kushma municipality. Even though the road was brought into operation after a week using explosives in Vaplekhola, the road is jammed for hours every day.

Although the 24-kilometer road construction of the section has reached the final stage of blacktop work, the landslide has affected it.

According to the Mid-Hill Pushpalal Highway Project Office Parbat, about 50 million rupees worth of physical infrastructure was destroyed on the road due to the landslide.

Head of the project office Parbat Meghraj Marasini said that only two kilometers of the road in 24 kilometers of the section was left to be blacktopped but now few more kilometers need to be repaired. Even though the blocked highway has been reopened after a week, it has taken hours for passengers to cross the section due to the debris and traffic jam.

NAYPYITAW, 13 September 2021 (TON): Mizoram and Myanmar share a 510 km border. Most of the refugees who have entered Mizoram are from the Chin state of Myanmar, which borders six districts of the state, Champhai, Hnahthial, Serchhip, Saitual, Siaha and Lawngtlai

The state government said “over 100 Myanmar nationals have entered two districts of Mizoram in the past few days following a military offensive across the border.”

Mizoram home minister Lalchamliana said “I have heard that hundreds of people from Myanmar have entered Mizoram in the past few days. But I don’t have the exact figure of how many as I am under quarantine at present.”

According to news reports “intense fighting” has broken out between armed civilians opposed to the military rule in Myanmar and the neighbouring nation’s army in the past few days near the border with Mizoram. The fresh influx is believed to comprise Myanmarese nationals trying to flee the violence.

Since March this year, thousands of Myanmar nationals, especially those residing close to the border with India, have entered Mizoram. According to official figures, over 10,000 of them are residing in the northeastern state at present.

DHAKA, 13 September 2021 (TON): Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said the World Bank is delaying its decision to finance Bangladesh's road safety project, despite repeatedly expressing interest in it.

He said while inaugurating nine bridges under the Dhaka zone virtually "the World Bank has made delays after expressing interest in financing the road safety project several times. If they don't come, Bangladesh will implement the project with its own funding."

Bangladesh needs to invest about US $7.8 billion over the next decade to halve its road accident fatalities, according to a new World Bank report.

DHAKA, 13 September 2021 (TON): Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday sought Russian support in early repatriation of forcibly displaced persecuted Rohingya from Bangladesh to their land of origin in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

A press release said “he made the urge while newly appointed Russian ambassador to Bangladesh Alexander Vikentyevich Mantytskiy called on him at the foreign ministry in Dhaka.”

Welcoming the new envoy, Momen expected that the Russian foreign minister would visit Bangladesh to attend the inauguration of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in 2023.

As the Russian ambassador proposed to celebrate 50-year diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and Russia together, Momen said that the two countries could chalk out the joint program marking the milestone.      

The foreign minister termed Bangladesh-Russia ties a special one and said the countrymen recalled the Russian support during the country's great liberation war as well as its rebuilding efforts after the war.

KATHMANDU, 13 September 2021 (TON): Vice President of MCC, Fatema Z. Sumar said that Nepal should not delay in ratifying the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

She added “the country needs to ratify it.”

By saying so, she made it a point to emphasize endorsing the MCC Compact without any delay for Nepal’s economic growth.

She told a press conference on Sunday before returning to the United States “I am optimistic that the political leaders of Nepal understood the urgency of the agreement.”

With ratification now more than two years past the agreed-upon timeline, there is no better time to act than now, Fatema said, adding that she has shared the message of urgency to political leaders and others during her meetings with them.

She said “why should Nepal wait to generate employment opportunities, and create jobs?”

“It’s high time Nepal ratified the Compact,” she told the conference, asking, “How long can we afford to wait to be endorsed?”

She, however, said that a ratification stalemate cannot continue indefinitely, and that the Government of Nepal must choose to go forward; or decide that this grant is no longer needed.

KABUL, 12 September 2021, (TON): Around 100 passengers including Americans arrived in Doha after flying from Kabul airport Thursday, AFP correspondents said, the first flight ferrying out foreigners since a US-led evacuation ended.

Doha, a major transit point for Afghan refugees, has said it worked with Turkey to swiftly resume operations at Kabul’s airport to allow the flow of people and aid.

AFP correspondents said “they saw passengers begin to disembark at Qatar’s Hamad International Airport, marking the first successful flight of its type since the chaotic airlift of more than 120,000 people concluded last month. The Qatar Airways Boeing 777 had “around 113” passengers including Americans, Canadians, Germans and Ukrainians, with all passengers due to be received at a compound for Afghan refugees in Doha, a source with knowledge of the operation told AFP. Sources had earlier said that as many as 200 people were aboard.”

Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani praised the Taliban for allowing the flight. “We managed to fly the first plane with passengers we thank (the Taliban) for their cooperation,” Sheikh Mohammed said in televised remarks.

Sheikh Mohammed said “this is actually what we are expecting from the Taliban, to see these positive statements translated into action.”

“I think this is a positive message, that we are supporting.”

DAMASCUS, 12 September 2021, (TON): Turkish Defense Ministry reported that two Turkish soldiers were killed and three were injured in an attack by unknown assailants on Saturday in northern Syria in the province of Idlib.

“In the de-escalation zone” Idlib “on September 11, 2021, during the search and investigation activities as a result of an attack on our units, two of our servicemen were killed.

TUNIS, 12 September 2021, (TON): Tunisian President Kais Saied said the country would not tolerate any foreign interference as he faces rising pressure from Western governments to restore constitutional order after seizing power in July.

“The sovereignty of the Tunisian state and the choices of its people were not discussed with international partners and will not be the subject of negotiations with any party,” the president said in statement.

Saied, who was elected in 2019, on July 25 froze parliament, dismissed the prime minister and assumed executive authority. His Islamist opponents have labeled the sudden intervention a coup, but he has said the moves were necessary to save the country from collapse.

Visiting Tunis, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he conveyed European concerns about preserving democratic gains in Tunisia to Saied.

Ambassadors from the Group of Seven major economies this week also urged Saied to appoint a new head of government as a matter of urgency and return to a constitutional order in which an elected parliament plays a significant role.

More than six weeks after Saied’s move, he has still not appointed a new government or made any broader declaration of his long-term intentions.

ISLAMABAD, 12 September 2021, (TON): Sources said that General Faiz Hameed, (Director General) DG ISI, organized a meeting with intelligence chiefs of China, Russia, Iran and Tajikistan in Islamabad to thrash out underway progress in Afghanistan.

Apart from discussing the security situation in Afghanistan, all the chiefs agreed to share intelligence to ensure stability and peace. Earlier, on September 4, DG ISI visited Afghanistan with a delegation of senior Pakistan officials where he met members of the Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami Chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and others to talk over various issues after the Taliban take over the country.

During the meeting, the two sides talked about issues related to travelling along with Pak-Afghan border and requests related to evacuation of foreigners from Afghanistan from various countries.

The sources further said that the regional security issues were also discussed during the meeting and a joint method would be planned to stop the warmongers who deliberately want to destroy the peace on both sides of the border.

NEW DELHI, 12 September 2021, (TON): The forecourt of the Delhi airport was water-logged for a "short period" on Saturday morning due to sudden heavy rains, its operator Delhi International Airport Limited said.

As per reports, the Safdarjung observatory has now recorded a total of 1,100 mm of rainfall this monsoon season in the National Capital. Breaking the record of a seasonal rainfall of 2003 when 1050 mm rainfall was recorded, this is now the highest record of rainfall in the city in the last 46 years after 1975, when the season had a total of 1150 mm rainfall.

Sources said “five flights were diverted from the airport in the morning due to the bad weather conditions.”

The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said on Twitter that due to sudden heavy rain, for a short period, there was waterlogging at the forecourt.

It added "our team was immediately aligned to look into it and the issue has been resolved."

An official of the meteorological department said the national capital received 97 mm rainfall since Friday morning.