KATHMANDU, 01 September 2021, (TON): As many as seven persons have been killed and nine others injured in the monsoon-induced disaster across the country in two days.
A total of 32 houses were completely destroyed in floods, landslides, and inundation triggered by incessant rain across the country.
Landslides occurred in seven districts: Kavre, Rupandehi, Nawalpur, Surkhet, Syangja, Myagdi, and Darchula due to incessant rain.
Likewise, floods occurred in Chitwan, Darchula, and Kanchanpur on Monday. Similarly, incessant rain has affected lives in Udayapur, Palpa, Jhapa, Dang, Rupandehi, Sarlahi, and Bara districts. Human settlements in Parasi and Udayapur have been inundated due to incessant rain.
Eleven houses on the bank Shreebagar Khola have been completely destroyed by torrential rain in Mahakali Municipality-1 of Darchula district.
Meanwhile, security personnel dispatched for the rescue shifted 40 to 45 households to safety.
Moreover, 700 households in Dhauri, Sisauli, Bhagalpur among others in Belaka Municipality's wards 2, 3, 8, and 9 are at the risk of inundation as the Saptakoshi Barrage at Dumribote, Belaka-8 may break anytime as the water level has not subsided yet.

ROME, 31 August 2021, (TON): The rescue delivered one of the largest numbers of migrants to the Italian island in a single day.

Women and children were among those on board. Some of the migrants, who had been travelling across the Mediterranean Sea from Libya, reportedly displayed signs of violence.

Italian prosecutors have opened an inquiry into what may have happened.

A doctor from the humanitarian group MSF (Doctors Without Borders), Alida Serrachieri, said “a number of the migrants appeared to have been physically assaulted in Libya while waiting for a boat to transport them to Europe.”

Investigators are looking at the possibility that the migrants may have been falsely imprisoned in Libya, local media report.

Two coastguard vessels and a customs boat from Italy's financial crimes police, the Guardia di Finanza, helped transport the migrants to Lampedusa.

The island's Mayor Toto Martello described the rescue as "one of the biggest landings in recent times".

KABUL, 31 August 2021, (TON): Several children were among at least six civilians who were killed in a US drone strike targeting a suspected suicide bomber in Kabul, international media reported. The US has said it is "investigating" reports of civilian deaths.

Witnesses told media that the airstrike launched to destroy a car said to be laden with explosives killed six civilians, including at least three children.

Meanwhile, reporters told that nine members of a family, including six children, were killed in attack in the crowded Afghan capital, where thousands of Afghans are still trying to flee the Taliban.

A resident of the area where the strike took place said neighbours estimated "up to 20 people" might have been killed, according to the report.

Local media also reported that civilians were killed in the strike.

TEHRAN, 31 August 2021, (TON): Zambia’s new Finance Minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane, has said in an interview that it was critical to agree to a lending programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) because it would give creditors confidence and the government cheaper and longer financing.

Musokotwane, appointed by recently elected President Hakainde Hichilema, faces the daunting task of trying to pull the southern African country out of a protracted debt crisis and has pledged to prioritise talks with the IMF.

Finance minister said “Zambia to default on foreign debt.”

In an interview, he told public broadcaster ZNBC he was confident Zambia would get an IMF programme before the end of the year and thereafter restructure its debt.

The government has a $750m Eurobond due next year but says it cannot repay it.

He said “we don’t have the money to pay back. This is why it is important that we get on (an) IMF (programme) so that we can re-arrange not to pay next year. I am 100 percent confident that it will be done.”

WASHINGTON, 31 August 2021, (TON): White House said that president Joe Biden will meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House on Wednesday in a show of solidarity between the two countries.

The meeting is taking place two days later than originally scheduled, as Biden oversees the response to Hurricane Ida and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

A White House statement said “this visit will affirm the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression,”.

Kyiv and Moscow have been at odds since Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and backed separatists in a conflict in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region, which Ukraine says has killed 14,000 people.

The statement added that the leaders will also discuss energy security as well as the White House’s “backing for President Zelenskiy’s efforts to tackle corruption and implement a reform agenda based on our shared democratic values.”

The meeting comes after the Biden administration announced a deal last month with Germany intended partly to allay Ukrainian concerns about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline being built under the Baltic Sea to carry gas from Russia’s Arctic region to Germany.

KABUL, 31 August 2021, (TON): Militants fired a volley of rockets at Kabul's rapidly emptying international airport on Monday, with just hours left before a deadline for US forces to withdraw at the end of America's longest war.

The Pentagon is tight-lipped about final operations and has not specified when the withdrawal will be completed ahead of Tuesday's deadline. But spokesman John Kirby told reporters "there is still time" for Americans to join a massive airlift that has allowed more than 116,000 people to leave since the Taliban swept back into power two weeks ago.

All day Monday, US military cargo jets came and went despite the rocket attack, which did not hurt anyone.

The Taliban released a video shot from the airport's grounds, saying the Americans had removed or destroyed most of their equipment and that troop numbers were far lower.

One of the unidentified fighters said "It looks like today will be the last day."

With the departure of the last of its troops, the US is ending its 20-year war with the Taliban back in power. Many Afghans remain fearful of them or further instability, and there have been sporadic reports of killings and other abuses in areas under Taliban control despite pledges to restore peace and security.

In the last 24 hours, the American military evacuated about 1,200 people on 26 C-17 flights, while two coalition flights flew out 50 others, the White House said.

NEW DELHI, 31 August 2021, (TON): Flood waters rose across northeastern India yesterday, where hundreds of thousands of people are stranded on the roofs of their homes or have fled to higher ground as more torrential rain fell.

Incessant downpours for more than a week forced the Brahmaputra and other major rivers to burst their banks across Assam and Bihar states.

Up to two metres (6.6 feet) of water has submerged many villages. Experts say annual floods which hit the region are getting worse because of climate change.

At one dam, authorities released water fearing the walls would collapse.

The floods have also threatened a Unesco World Heritage-listed reserve that is home to the largest concentration of one-horned rhinos.

Tens of thousands of people are stuck in villages cut off by the floods and the state governments said more than 400,000 had been moved to higher ground.

TEHRAN, 31 August 2021, (TON): Iran’s hard-liner dominated Parliament voted to approve most of the ministers proposed by newly elected President Ibrahim Raisi, state TV reported.

Lawmakers voted in favor of 18 of 19 ministers proposed by Raisi after five days of hearings and discussions.

They did not approve Hossein Baghgoli, nominated for education minister, whose experience was disputed during hearings. He received 76 votes out of 286 present lawmakers. The chamber has 290 seats.

Raisi had appealed to lawmakers to vote quickly to approve his nominees so the government can get to work dealing with the pandemic and economic situation in the country suffering from years of sanctions by the US.

Raisi has said “his foreign policy will focus on engagement with all nations and the removal of sanctions. New Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who received 270 votes from lawmakers, said his ministry “would not run away from the negotiating table” and will do its best to remove all sanctions against the country.

Amirabollahian, 56, has served in a range of administrations over the decades. He was deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs under former populist hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, known in the West for his Holocaust denial and disputed re-election in 2009.

When relative moderate President Hassan Rouhani entered office in 2013, Amirabollahian kept his job before leaving to become an international affairs adviser to the former Parliament speaker. Rouhani struck the nuclear deal with world powers that granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

WASHINGTON, 31 August 2021, (TON): The US Department of Defense believes that US military personnel need to prepare for potential new threats to the Kabul airport. This was announced by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby at a regular press briefing.

Kirby said “we are working with the assumption that we must be prepared for future potential threats in Kabul.” The missiles, Kirby continued, were fired at Kabul airport on Monday, several of which were intercepted by US air defense systems.

“This is a particularly dangerous moment of time” added a US Department of Defense spokesman. “The threats are still real, relevant and often specific. We take this very seriously and will continue to do so until the evacuation is completed.”

COLOMBO, 31 August 2021, (TON): United States Congresswoman Dina Titus, also a member of America’s vital House Foreign Affairs Committee, advocates strong bonds between the U.S. and Sri Lanka through a vigorous democratic process.

An active member of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Sub-Committee on Asia-Pacific, under whose purview Sri Lanka falls, encourages critical reforms to rule of law and democracy in this South Asian nation.

Reminding the Biden administration’s broader foreign policy goal is centered on safeguarding and strengthening of human rights, Congresswoman Professor Dina Titus said that she was proud to work with Sri Lankan expatriate community with whom she has closer working relationship and the other Members of the Congress to strengthen the relationship between the two nations.

Dina Tutus throughout her professional life, previously professor of political science at the University of Nevada and currently in the American legislature, has been a strong Sri Lanka friend and advocate of Sri Lankan progress through America’s socio-economic engagement.

Congresswoman Dina Titus was one of the signatories to that communication. The Sri Lankan expatriates were aiming at getting the involvement of the Indo-Pacific Military Command to set-up the medical units.