MALE, 27 August 2021, (TON): The Government of Japan has donated approximately USD 998,000 (110 million Japanese Yen) to the Maldives for further promoting Human Resource Development in the Maldives.

The grant aid will be utilized to continue scholarships opportunities to be offered by the Government of Japan for the year 2022 as part of the Japanese Project for Human Resource Development (JDS). It will cover a total of six scholarships.

The Exchange of Notes pertaining to the grant was signed back on July 15, by the Ambassador of Japan to the Maldives Keiko Yanai and Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.

The Exchange of Notes is the first agreement Japan signs with a country for which they are providing financial aid for. Following this, the drafting up of the official agreement will commence.

Accordingly, the official agreement pertaining grant was signed today during a ceremony held at the Ministry of Higher Education.

Minister of Higher of Education Ibrahim Hassan signed on behalf of Maldives. Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Mitsuyoshi Kawasaki signed on behalf of Japan.

DHAKA, 27 August 2021, (TON): Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed returned to Dhaka yesterday from his official visit to Turkey.

A press release of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said “during his visit, the army chief met Turkey's President of Defense Industries Ismail Demer and Deputy Minister of National Defense Muhsin Dere.”

The two top officials of the Turkish government assured all sorts of cooperation with Bangladesh, including those involving military equipment.

Later, the army chief visited different stalls of the International Defense Fair-2021, said the release.

Upon reaching Ankara from Istanbul, he visited the graveyard and museum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and paid homage at the memorial.

During his stay in Ankara, General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed met with Commander General Musa Avsever, chief of Turkish land forces and General Yasar Guler, chief of Turkish general staff.

They discussed issues of mutual interest between Turkey and the Bangladesh army.

NIAMEY, 26 August 2021, (TON): Defence ministry said that hundreds of Boko Haram fighters have attacked a military post in southern Niger, killing 16 soldiers and wounding nine more.

About 50 attackers from the group were killed in the resulting combat in the West African country’s Diffa region and significant quantities of weapons were recovered, the ministry said in a statement.

The Boko Haram group launched an uprising in northeastern Nigeria in 2009, but violence frequently spills over into neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon in the Lake Chad Basin.

The attack targeted the town of Baroua, where thousands of residents had only just returned after taking refuge elsewhere following rebel massacres in 2015.

More than 6,000 people had returned to Baroua in late June under a programme to encourage roughly 26,000 inhabitants in the region to leave safer villages or UN camps and go back to their homes.

The authorities said “they had beefed up security to provide returnees with greater protection.”

DHAKA, 26 August 2021, (TON): The Canada-Bangladesh Trade Promotion Centre (CBTPC) organized a meeting, marking the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence.

According to a press release “Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Canada Beaches-East York MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, former international cooperation minister of Canada Maria Minna, BGMEA Vice President Moshiul Azam and several others attended the meeting.”

At the meeting, Minna assured that she would extend assistance and cooperation to take forward the friendly relations between Bangladesh and Canada in the future.

Munshi added that I hope trade between the two countries will expand further after the Canadian federal election this year.

In his remarks, lawmaker Erskine-Smith said "if Trudeau forms the government again in this year’s election, the issue of special quotas for Bangladeshi students [in Canada] will be given utmost importance."

He also mentioned the Canadian government's interest in expanding trade between the two countries.

 RIYADH, 26 August 2021, (TON): Saudi Arabia has set up an air bridge to Algeria carrying urgent humanitarian aid to help the north African country “alleviate the effects” of deadly wildfires that swept across several cities.

The move has been directed by King Salman, who spoke to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune over the phone on last week and assured him of his country’s support.

At least 90 people were killed and several injured in multiple forest fires that broke out in the north of Algeria on Aug. 9 amid a blistering heatwave.

The aid, which left on a plane from King Khalid International Airport in the capital, Riyadh, is being sent by the Saudi-based King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) and includes food, shelters and medical supplies bound for Algiers.

KABUL, 26 August 2021, (TON): Western nations rushed to evacuate people from Afghanistan on Wednesday as the Aug. 31 deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops drew closer and fears grew that many could be left behind to an uncertain fate under the country’s new Taliban rulers.

In one of the biggest such airlifts ever, the United States and its allies have evacuated more than 70,000 people, including their citizens, NATO personnel and Afghans at risk, since Aug. 14, the day before the Taliban swept into the capital Kabul to bring to an end the 20-year foreign military presence.

U.S. President Joe Biden said “U.S. troops in Afghanistan faced mounting danger, while aid agencies warned of an impending humanitarian crisis for those left behind.”

Biden has spurned calls from allies to extend the deadline, set under an agreement struck by the previous administration of Donald Trump with the hardline Islamist group last year. But he said on Tuesday the deadline could be met.

“The sooner we can finish, the better,” Biden said. “Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops.”

RIYADH, 26 August 2021, (TON): Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent a written message to his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, regarding the deep-rooted historical relations and ties that bind the two countries and peoples, and ways to strengthen and develop them in all fields.

The message was delivered by Prince Sultan bin Saad, the Saudi ambassador to Kuwait, during a meeting with Sheikh Meshaal at Bayan Palace.

KABUL, 26 August 2021, (TON): The Taliban have told Germany that Afghans with legal documents will be able to travel on commercial flights beyond the Aug. 31 cut-off date after which evacuations from Kabul airport will no longer be allowed.

Ambassador Markus Potzel, who is negotiating with the Taliban in Doha, said on Twitter “Director Stanekzai assured me that Afghans with legal documents will continue to have the opportunity to travel on commercial flights after August 31.”

The former German envoy to Kabul was referring to the head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, whom he met for talks as Western governments scramble to evacuate citizens and Afghan staff from Kabul.

“We talked about the urgent need for a functioning airport in Kabul as a prerequisite for (a) diplomatic & NGO presence” in Afghanistan, Potzel, who has been negotiating with the Taliban extensively in the past, added.

DHAKA, 26 August 2021, (TON): Forty more ambulances being gifted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are on their way to Bangladesh from India.

Indian High Commission said in a statement that the vehicles have arrived in Petrapole, and after clearance at Benapole Land Customs Check Post, they will leave for Dhaka tomorrow.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Bangladesh on 26-27 March 2021 had announced the gift of 109 life-support ambulances to Bangladesh to further enhance healthcare in Bangladesh.

In fulfilment of that commitment, 31 ambulances had arrived earlier and were handed over to Bangladesh government on August 17. 

The remaining 38 ambulances are expected to arrive in Dhaka by mid-September.

BERLIN, 26 August 2021, (TON): German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the development of events in Afghanistan , where the Taliban usurped power with arms in their hands, has become a tragedy for many citizens, the situation in this country is bitter for NATO.

Merkel said, speaking at the Bundestag “the development (of events in Afghanistan) in recent days has been monstrous. For many, it was a tragedy, especially for those who advocated a free society, democracy and education and now have to fear for their safety. This is a bitter development for all allies who, after the 11 September 2001 we fought against terrorism.”

She also noted that the fact that after the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, the local government and army “will be under political and military pressure” was well known.

Merkel added that at the same time, foreign partners of Kabul “underestimated how everywhere and quickly Afghan forces after the withdrawal of troops will stop resisting the Taliban or will not want to provide it at all.

She pointed out that the evacuation from Kabul was “the largest operation of its kind in the history of the Bundeswehr.”

More than 4,600 people were taken out of Afghanistan by the German military, almost half of them are women, the chancellor said.