DHAKA, 9 September 2021, (TON): Police detained 19 Rohingyas fleeing from Bhansan Char of Noakhali from Sitakunda upazila of Chattogram.

They were detained from Uttar Salimpur under the upazila, said Abul Kalam Azad, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sitakunda Police Station.

The police official said “the detainees include eight males, four females and seven children.”

OC Azad said that the Rohingyas fled Bhasan Char on a boat and later reached Sitakunda upazila.

Locals spotted the Rohingyas and informed police, our Chattogram staff correspondent reports quoting the OC.

NAYPYITAW, 9 September 2021, (TON): According to a senior party member “the National League for Democracy (NLD) will attend an online meeting organized by the Communist Party of China (CPC).”

Four parties from Myanmar have been invited to the meeting on ‘Political Parties’ Cooperation in Joint Pursuit of Economic Development which will bring together parties from across South and Southeast Asia.

The Union Solidarity and Development Party, the NLD’s main, military-backed rival and the Arakan National Party are also expected to attend. It was not clear at the time of reporting which other Myanmar party would be present.

NLD lawmaker Bo Bo Oo posted on social media that the NLD would be attending the meeting. A senior party member later told Myanmar Now that Bo Bo Oo, who handles the party’s communications with China, would also be taking part.

The NLD was Myanmar’s ruling party until it was ousted by the military on February 1, despite winning a landslide victory in last year’s election.

China is one of the few countries that recognize the coup regime led by Myanmar’s top general, Min Aung Hlaing. But it has also reportedly expressed concern over the military’s plan to dissolve the NLD, according to media reports.

KATHMANDU, 9 September 2021, (TON): Nisha Sunuwar has been elected the chairperson of the Nepali American Artists Association. The fourth convention of the Association unanimously elected a 17-member working committee under the leadership of Sunuwar.

Among others elected are Basanti Rai (senior vice-chair), Bimal Dangi, Bikki Pulami, Etana Karki and Rajendra Rai (vice-chairperson), Sangeeta Thapa (general secretary), Madhu Kumar Giri (secretary), Pushkar Bara (treasurer), Pooja Neupane (joint treasurer) and Dilip Kumar Shrish (youth coordinator), informed Chief Election Officer Somnath Ghimire.

Chiniyalal Shrestha, Buddiman Ghising, Pushpa Basnet, Nabin Shrestha, and Maya Rai were elected unanimously.

At the program, consulate general Bishnu Prasad Gautam expressed his hope that the Association would play a crucial role in spreading the Nepali art sector to the global arena.

PARIS, 9 September 2021, (TON): A spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry said “the Taliban movement, which announced the composition of the interim government of Afghanistan, does not fulfill the requirements previously put forward by the world community.”

The demands of the international community, which France has repeatedly reminded of, are very clear: safe and unhindered departure of people wishing to leave Afghanistan, free access to humanitarian aid, renunciation of all ties with terrorist organizations, respect for human rights, and in particular the rights of women, and the creation of of the transitional government within the framework of negotiations in Doha. We cannot state that these requirements are being fulfilled.

No action follows words “the French Foreign Ministry spokes-man said, answering the question of how the composition of the new government announced by the Taliban is assessed in Paris, and the possibilities dialogue with him.

NAYPYITAW, 9 September 2021, (TON): A rights group called for a halt to Ukraine’s arms deals with the Myanmar junta, urging Western governments to use their influence to cut off the eastern European country’s supply of weapons to the coup regime. 

Justice for Myanmar (JFM), a group of activists that monitors the military’s businesses and its networks, said in a statement that it found evidence that Ukraine had made multiple shipments of parts for aircrafts, ships, and tanks as well as air surveillance radars to the junta or its affiliated private arms dealers from 2015 until late May of this year.

The statement identified a shipment of turbojet engine parts sent by Ukrainian firm Motor Sich to the Myanmar army on May 31 as the most recent deal; it also coincided with the perpetration of military airstrikes on many ethnic areas. 

JFM highlighted a joint production project between Myanmar’s defence industry and two Ukrainian state-owned companies; Ukroboronprom and Ukrspecexport as being particularly alarming.

The plant in question, which produced BTR-4 armoured personnel carriers, MMT-40 light tanks and 2SIU self-propelled howitzers, was identified by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar in 2019 as a recommended target for arms transfer sanctions.

NAYPYITAW, 9 September 2021, (TON): A People’s Defence Force (PDF) unit and the junta’s armed forces engaged in a clash in Sagaing Region’s Myaung Township in which the military reportedly fired heavy artillery near a village, forcing local fighters to withdraw and residents to flee.

The gunfire stopped by noon, and the Myanmar army troops then occupied the village of Myit Son, according to a member of the Myaung PDF who took part in the clash.

Media sources was unable to confirm how many villagers had fled.

The PDF fighter told media “we’ve had to retreat for now as they started firing almost 40 shells. They didn’t have much manpower but they had two heavy weapons. They started firing shells at everything they saw.”

He added that at least two junta troops had been injured in the clash.

Citing eyewitnesses, the PDF member said that while none of his fellow resistance fighters were hurt, a local boy herding cows was wounded when one of the military’s shells exploded near him.

Battles only recently resumed in Myaung Township after an incident on August 21 when hundreds of junta troops surrounded local PDF units on all sides, forcing them to retreat.

KATHMANDU, 9 September 2021, (TON): Prime Minister and Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba has said “the government would be given full shape soon after discussing and consulting with ruling coalition parties.

Deuba said this while responding to the queries put forth by parliament members in a meeting of the parliamentary party of the Nepali Congress today. NC President Deuba, also the parliamentary party leader, directed the parliamentary members of his party to be compulsorily present in the parliament meeting to convene from Wednesday.

The US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) was crucial for Nepal’s development and the project was brought to the country after passing through a rigorous process, NC chief whip Pushpa Bhusal quoted Deuba as saying.

MCC is a grant the Nepal government received on the competition after completing the necessary legal process.

Governments led by different political parties in the past had continually put their efforts into bringing the project to Nepal.

In the meeting, Members of Parliament had put their views on several issues, such as making electricity production of Nepal more productive by constructing transmission lines for the development of the country.

Likewise, chief whip Bhusal said “the meeting also discussed the matters to support the incumbent government to take ahead the previous governments’ move as Nepal can reap benefit from the project. Most of the parliamentary members made their views laying emphasis on the need of coordination, discussion, and dialogue with other political parties to that end.”

PARIS, 08 September 2021, (TON): The home secretary is expected to hold talks with her French counterpart about the number of migrants crossing the English Channel to the UK.

Priti Patel and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin are both due to attend a meeting of G7 ministers in London.

She has warned that Britain could withhold £54.2m it had promised to pay France to help deal with the problem, unless more boats are intercepted.

The Home Office said 785 people crossed the channel in small boats on Monday.

More than 12,600 people have made the dangerous journey so far this year.

The rise in the number of migrants making the crossing in recent days comes after several weeks of unsettled weather.

Back in July the UK agreed to pay France to step up patrols along the French coast in order to deter crossings.

On Tuesday, the prime minister's official spokesman said UK and French officials were "working on the implementation" of the deal and that "significant" funding provided in November had already led to increased patrols and "enhanced intelligence".

PARIS, 08 September 2021, (TON): The home secretary is expected to hold talks with her French counterpart about the number of migrants crossing the English Channel to the UK.

Priti Patel and Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin are both due to attend a meeting of G7 ministers in London.

She has warned that Britain could withhold £54.2m it had promised to pay France to help deal with the problem, unless more boats are intercepted.

The Home Office said 785 people crossed the channel in small boats on Monday.

More than 12,600 people have made the dangerous journey so far this year.

The rise in the number of migrants making the crossing in recent days comes after several weeks of unsettled weather.

Back in July the UK agreed to pay France to step up patrols along the French coast in order to deter crossings.

On Tuesday, the prime minister's official spokesman said UK and French officials were "working on the implementation" of the deal and that "significant" funding provided in November had already led to increased patrols and "enhanced intelligence".

ISLAMABAD, 08 September 2021, (TON): The military's media affairs wing said “two Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in North Waziristan.”

In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that security forces were conducting a clearance operation in the district's Dosalli area when the IED exploded. As a result, 25-year-old Sepoy Zia Akram and 20-year-old Sepoy Musawwar Khan were martyred.

Akram hailed from Muzaffarabad while Khan was a resident of Bajaur, according to the ISPR.

The statement said that Pakistan Army troops immediately cordoned off the area to apprehend the terrorists who had planted the IED.

It added “during intense exchange of fire, one of the terrorists, who were trying to flee, was killed.”