WASHINGTON, 05 September 2021, (TON): U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the Department of Justice to review documents from the FBI’s probe into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for declassification and release.

Biden said in a statement “when I ran for president, I made a commitment to ensuring transparency regarding the declassification of documents on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America,”

He said “as we approach the 20th anniversary of that tragic day, I am honoring that commitment.”

The order requires U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to make the declassified documents public over the next six months as it oversees “a declassification review of documents” related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation probe.

Family members of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks asked a U.S. government watchdog to investigate their suspicions that the FBI lied about or destroyed evidence linking Saudi Arabia to the hijackers.

The request in a letter to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz said “circumstances make it likely that one or more FBI officials committed willful misconduct with intent to destroy or secrete evidence to avoid its disclosure.”

Saudi Arabia has said it had no role in the hijacked plane attacks.

DHAKA, 05 September 2021, (TON): The Hungarian government has decided to increase the number of scholarships for Bangladeshi students to pursue their higher studies at different educational institutions of Hungary in the next academic year.

A Foreign Ministry press release said on Saturday “this was revealed while Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen held a bilateral meeting with Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto in Geneva.”

Both of them were in Geneva for participating in the Asia-Pacific Regional Review Meeting in preparation for the Fifth UN Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC5), which is to be held in Qatar in January 2022.

During the meeting, both the foreign ministers discussed issues of bilateral interest as well as multilateral issues.

DHAKA, 05 September 2021, (TON): Chief of Army Staff Gen SM Shafiuddin Ahmed went to India yesterday on a three-day official visit. He left Dhaka in an aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force in the morning.

During the visit, the army chief, who is leading an eight-member delegation, will meet the Indian national defence adviser, Indian chief of defence staff, chief of army staff, chief of naval staff, chief of air staff, Indian defence secretary and other senior military officials, said a press statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The visit comes more than a week after his eight-day state visit to Turkey.

The statement said “during the visit in India, Gen Shafiuddin will discuss bilateral relations and cooperation between the armies of the two countries.”

He is also expected to visit various Indian military institutions and national defence colleges.

Gen Shafiuddin will also pay a courtesy call on the Bangladesh High Commissioner to India, Mohammad Imran.

He will return to Bangladesh on September 8.

KATHMANDU, 05 September 2021, (TON): Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand inspected the monsoon-induced floods areas in Belaka Municipality-8, Udayapur district.

After the on-site visit, Minister Khand said “the government would implement new plans and programme to curb land erosion at Belaka Municipality.”

Belaka Municipality Mayor Durga Kumar Thapa and Udayapur’s Chief District Officer Tulsiram Sedhai briefed the Khand that land erosion was a recurring problem facing the locals at Belaka Municipality and over 2,000 households residing along some 5-kilometres stretch in the Municipality were at risk of displacement due to erosion.

Similarly, Subash Bohara, Chief of the District Police Office, Udayapur said that the locals were hopeful that Minister Khand’s visit would help address their issues relating to land sweeping at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Minister Khand also inspected monsoon-induced disaster-hit places in Sindhupalchowk and Dhanusha district today itself.

NAYPYITAW, 05 September 2021, (TON): The Brunei diplomat appointed by a Southeast Asian regional bloc as its special envoy to Myanmar said that he is still negotiating with the military on the terms of a visit to the country and he has sought access to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has been trying to end the violence that erupted in Myanmar after the military overthrew Suu Kyi and took power in February, and has sought to open a dialogue between the military rulers and their opponents.

Asean tasked Erywan Yusof, Brunei's second foreign affairs minister, last month with leading these efforts.

KATHMANDU, 05 September 2021, (TON): Nepali Army (NA) has stated that the invitation extended to eight former Chief of Army Staffs (CoAS) of the NA to India could be acknowledged as an opportunity to further strengthen military ties between Nepal and India.

NA Spokesperson Santosh Ballav Poudel, responding to the query regarding invitation from the Indian Army to eight former CoAS in Nepal, said that the invite was a part of routine practice and past tradition to organise such exchange visits between the two military institutions to further consolidate the military diplomacy.

Poudel further said “the former chiefs of the Indian Army had also attended the events organized by the NA on the occasion of the Army Day in the past. Such has been the practice and tradition. The invitation from Indian Army to former CoAS of the NA was an extension of such practice and programme.”

The former CoAS of NA who were honorary Generals have been invited by the Indian Army for the Army Chiefs Conclave to be held in New Delhi, India, he clarified, adding that all the former living CoAS will visit India at a personal level.

Invitation was extended to Dharmapal Bar Singh Thapa, Prajwal Shumsher Rana, Pyara Jung Thapa, Rukmangud Katuwal, Chhatraman Gurung, Gaurav Shumsher JBR, Rajendra Chhetri and Purna Chandra Thapa.

NAYPYITAW, 05 September 2021, (TON): Hsaw Reh, a young Karenni man, said, who has joined the armed resistance against Myanmar’s military regime “we’re happy when we’re at war, but it’s not because we enjoy killing people.”

As a member of the Karenni Generation Z Army (KGZA), 22-year-old Hsaw Reh (not his real name) is part of a new movement that has emerged since the February 1 coup.

The KGZA, which operates as a unit of the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF), consists mostly of younger people who had never even considered engaging in armed conflict before this year, despite growing up under military rule.

Before the army seized power, Hsaw Reh was happily pursuing a career as a teacher. He was studying at a college of education and working as a tutor when the tanks rolled into the capital Naypyitaw, crushing his generation’s hopes of a more democratic future.

I am fighting now with the intention of preventing this from happening again to the kids to come – Hsaw Reh, a Karenni resistance fighter

As much as that event changed everything for him and others who came of age during Myanmar’s decade-long era of relative freedom, his goal remains the same: to ensure that today’s children have better lives than those who came before them.

 RIYADH, 04 September 2021, (TON): State TV reported “an armed drone launched by Houthis was shot down by Saudi air defenses over the southern region of Asir.”

The UAV was directed toward the highland city of Khamis Mushayt, Al-Ekhbariya TV said, quoting the Arab Coalition supporting Yemen's legitimate government.

Khamis Mushayt had been a frequent target of drone attacks by the Houthi terrorist group in Yemen.

"We take operational measures to protect civilians and civilian objects from hostile attempts," the Coalition command said in a statement posted on Twitter by the TV channel.

ISLAMABAD, 04 September 2021, (TON): Pakistan on Friday summoned the Indian charge d'affaires to the Foreign Office to condemn India's "shameless snatching" of veteran Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's body from his family and disallowing his burial to be held in accordance with his will.

The Foreign Office said in a statement "the Indian charge d'affaires was summoned to the Foreign Office today and conveyed Pakistan's strong demarche on Indian occupation forces' callous and inhuman handling of the mortal remains of the iconic Kashmiri leader and freedom fighter Syed Ali Shah Geelani."

The FO added “it was also conveyed to the envoy that India's actions were a "blatant violation" of international humanitarian laws and all tenets of civil and human rights.”

Geelani, who passed away on Wednesday, was buried in a tightly controlled pre-dawn ceremony on Thursday morning as Indian authorities imposed a lockdown across Indian-occupied Kashmir.

The source added “he was buried at a cemetery near his home in the main city of Srinagar, a police source told AFP. Only a small number of his relatives were present, including two of his sons.”

The police source said “Geelani, the most outspoken critic of India who spent several years in jail or under house arrest, had wanted to be buried at the Martyrs Cemetery in Srinagar. But authorities rejected that request.”

The official said "we basically took control of the arrangements."

LONDON, 04 September 2021, (TON): Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said “Britain will not recognize the Taliban as the new government in Kabul, but must deal with new realities in Afghanistan and does not want to see its social and economic fabric broken.”

Speaking during a visit to Pakistan, Raab said “it would not have been possible to evacuate about 15,000 people from Kabul without cooperation with the Taliban, who seized the capital on Aug. 15.”

“The approach we’re taking is that we don’t recognize the Taliban as a government.”

He said “we do see the importance of being able to engage and having a direct line of communication.”

He added that Britain normally recognized states rather than governments.

Raab’s comments reflect the balance countries such as Britain and the United States are seeking to strike in the aftermath of the Taliban’s lightning victory and the collapse of the Western-backed government in Kabul.

Western countries fear that a looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and an economic collapse could create hundreds of thousands of refugees.

But they are wary of Taliban promises that Afghanistan will not go back to the harsh fundamentalist rule exercised during their last period in power before 2001.

Raab added “the Taliban has made a series of undertakings some of them are positive at the level of words. We need to test them and see if this translates into deeds.”

“It is important at this stage to set or to judge the Taliban by these early, initial and probably, quite modest, tests and see whether they deliver.”