MALE, 31 August 2021, (TON): The Parliament has approved Uz. Ahmed Ahid Rasheed for appointment as the new Information Commissioner, and Mohamed Asif for appointment as a member of the Elections Commission.

The voting took place on Monday afternoon.

Ahid secured the backing of the Parliament for appointment as the new Information Commissioner with the unanimous consensus of 49 parliamentarians who took part in the voting.

The position of Information Commissioner fell vacant following the resignation of Hussain Fiyaz Moosa in March, less than two years into his term.  

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih nominated four candidates for the vacancy; Ahid, former Deputy Economic Minister Uz. Shiham Mohamed Waheed, Azleema Ahmed, and Mariyam Aleem.

The candidates were vetted by Parliament’s Independent Institutions Committee, which voted in favor of Ahid last week.

Asif, meanwhile, secured the backing of the Parliament for appointment as a member of the Elections Commission with the unanimous consensus of 50 parliamentarians who took part in the voting.  

DHAKA, 31 August 2021, (TON): The government has permitted 428 business people and firms to import 1,720,000 tons of rice at a lower duty rate, aiming to keep the rice market stable in Bangladesh.

An official said “the Food Ministry gave the permission from August 17 to 30 and informed the Commerce Ministry about it.”

On Monday, another 79 business firms got permission to import 101,000 tons of boiled and atap (non-boiled) rice. With this, the Food Ministry has permitted a total of 428 firms to import some 1,720,000 tons of rice.

However, the importers will have to market the imported rice by September 25 next.

The other conditions imposed by the ministry include ensuring a maximum of 5% broken grains among the imported rice, opening LC (Letter of Credit) within 15 days and informing the Food Ministry about the LC-related information through emails instantly.

Besides, the imported rice cannot be repackaged using the name of importers and the rice will have to be sold in plastic sacks. 

BERLIN, 31 August 2021, (TON): German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas says Uzbekistan is willing to open its borders to people fleeing from Taliban rule in Afghanistan who are on a German list of those in need of being evacuated from the war-torn country.

Speaking during a four-day trip to Central Asia, Pakistan, and the Middle East, Maas said on August 30 that the situation surrounding further evacuations of German citizens, local Afghan staff, and at-risk groups such as human rights activists and journalists in Afghanistan was the focus of his agenda.

Germany has said it plans to take in 40,000 people from Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover more than two weeks ago, either by plane if Kabul airport can be kept open after the U.S. pullout planned for August 31 or overland to neighboring countries.

“Uzbekistan is prepared to help us with this group of people,” Maas told journalists in the Uzbek capital.

EAST JERUSALEM, 31 August 2021, (TON): Israel's defence minister met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for a rare high-level meeting, but a source close to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett insisted on Monday his government had no plans to reboot peace talks.

Defence Minister Benny Gantz met Abbas in Ramallah for what were reportedly the first direct talks between an Israeli cabinet member and the 86-year-old Palestinian leader in several years.

The meeting, which Gantz's office said focused on security policy, civilian and economic issues, came just hours after Bennett returned from Washington where he met US President Joe Biden.

Biden said “he would urge Bennett to find ways to advance peace and security and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians”.

According to a defence ministry statement, Gantz told Abbas that Israel “seeks to take measures that will strengthen the PA's (Palestinian Authority) economy”.

 It added “they also discussed shaping the security and economic situations in the West Bank and in Gaza,” and agreed to “continue communicating further.”

A source close to Bennett said that the meeting focused on “issues between the defence establishment and the Palestinian Authority”.

“There is no peace process with the Palestinians nor will there be,” under Bennett's leadership, said the source who requested anonymity.

NAYPYITAW, 31 August 2021, (TON): Locals told media that the entire population of a village in Chin State has fled after junta soldiers ransacked homes, killed animals, and destroyed valuables during two separate raids in July and August.

About 90 soldiers entered Taal, which is about 12 miles from the town of Falam, on July 20. They stole or destroyed valuables in 21 of the village’s 36 houses and tossed people’s belongings, including religious books, out of windows and onto floors.

Taal’s population of around 160 people fled and hid in the surrounding forests and hills and returned later when the troops had left.

They were among around 800 in Falam Township who fled from four villages that day after fighting broke out between junta soldiers and the Chin National Defence Force.

In a second raid on August 9, about 150 junta troops entered Taal and ransacked the remaining houses. A priest from Taal said that soldiers beat two villagers, destroyed more property, and killed pets and livestock during the second raid.

DHAKA, 31 August 2021, (TON): Flooding in the northeast of Bangladesh is likely to deteriorate further with heavy rainfall predicted in the next week, Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) Executive Engineer Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan told Dhaka Tribune.

He added “the water level of six rivers in the north of the country, including the Padma and Jamuna, was flowing over the danger line at nine points.”

According to FFWC sources “the flooding deteriorated in Tangail, Sirajganj, Rajbari, Pabnà and Manikganj districts as water continued to flow down from the north. However, water levels appeared to be stabilizing in Faridpur and Shariatpur districts.

In Tangail, lowlands in Sadar Upazila, Kalihati, Nagarpur, Bhunapur, Basail and Mirzapur Upazilas were inundated with water as dams overflowed. Fields of various crops, including Aman paddy, were submerged.

Sources at the Water Development Board (WDB) said “the Jamuna River had been flowing 8cm over the danger line at Raksha Dam point under Sirajganj district on Sunday, and it had risen to 33cm over the danger line in the space of 24 hours.”

The water level of the Padma River dropped from 55cm over the danger line to 45cm at Golanda point on Monday, but it rose from 30cm to 36cm at Sureshwar point over the same period.

Several thousand people in the northern districts have already been affected by the flooding, and little respite from the rain in the next seven days could lead to flooding in other districts as well, according to the FFWC.

KATHMANDU, 31 August 2021, (TON): Flood and landslide caused by incessant rainfall has claimed as many as three lives in Darchula.

Residents of Banspalika, Duhun Rural Municipality-1, Narsingh Mahar and his wife Kaushaa Mahar lost their lives as their house was buried in landslide debris, Chief of District Police Office Darchula, Manohar Prasad Bhatta informed.

Similarly, Manuwa Dadal of Dulla, Duhun RM-5 lost his life in flood that swept away his house at around 10 pm yesterday.

Flood and landslide has disrupted lives in Darchula as it swept away infrastructures and houses, killed three with two other missing, August 30, 2021. Photo: Tekendra Deuba/THT

Flood and landslide has disrupted lives in Darchula as it swept away infrastructures and houses, killed three with two other missing.

According to the Chief District Officer Siddharaj Joshi, the flood has swept away five shops, two small hydropower plants, four suspension bridges and one concrete bridge.

NAYPYITAW, 31 August 2021, (TON): At least 110 political prisoners in Myanmar have died in regime custody since the military seized power from the elected civilian government on February 1, according to a list compiled by activists from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The group said that Dozens among them died within 24 hours of their arrests after apparently being tortured, while many others died due to lack of medical care in prisons.

According to the AAPP’s data “they include seven National League for Democracy (NLD) party members, two doctors and three school teachers.”

Khin Maung Latt, a 58-year-old local NLD office chair for Yangon’s Pabedan Township, was arrested at his home by the military regime on March 6 and his family was notified that he had died the following day.

Relatives said “he was in good health when regime authorities took him into custody.”

NAYPYITAW, 31 August 2021, (TON): According to local media and statements from the groups “the Myanmar military suffered casualties during several clashes with ethnic armed groups in three different regions over the weekend.”

According to local media reports “the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Army (MNDAA) ambushed over 100 junta soldiers marching toward an MNDAA post near Monekoe in northern Shan State.

Five junta soldiers were killed, including a battalion commander and his deputy, and about 20 others were injured in the clash, according to The Kokang media outlet, which published photos of weapons and ammunition seized from junta forces on its Facebook page.

The Kachinwaves media outlet published a video that showed the bodies of junta soldiers as well as grenades and ammunition.

Colonel Naw Bu, a KIA spokesperson, told media that he had not been able to confirm how many junta soldiers died in the fighting.

He said “there were indeed clashes but there has been no accurate news about casualties yet.”

Kachinnet Burmese, a KIA-controlled outlet, said the KIA’s Battalion 36 under Brigade 6 retaliated against the junta’s 99th Light Infantry Division after it trespassed on KIA territory in Monekoe.

About 2,000 people living near the Chinese border in Pang Hseng and Monekoe fled their homes because of the fighting, said a volunteer who is trying to reach them to offer assistance.

WASHINGTON, 30 August 2021, (TON): US President Joe Biden arrived at Dover Air Force Base on Sunday to honor members of the military killed in a suicide bomb attack during the evacuation of civilians from Afghanistan last week.

A suicide bombing carried out by Daesh-K on Thursday killed scores of Afghans and 13 American troops who were guarding Kabul’s airport amid an airlift that has evacuated about 114,400 people in the past two weeks.

US officials said “American forces launched a military strike in the Afghan capital on Sunday targeting a possible suicide car bomb.”

“We are in a period of serious danger given what we are seeing in the intelligence,” Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN’s “State of the Union” program in an interview broadcast on Sunday, before the latest strike was reported.

“We are taking every possible measure at the direction of the president to ensure that our forces are protected on the ground even as they complete their mission of bringing in the remaining American citizens and Afghan allies.”

Biden, a Democrat, faced criticism from Republican lawmakers, who accused his administration of bungling the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

After arriving at the base in Delaware, Biden and his wife, Jill, met with the families of service members killed in the attack.