DHAKA, 06 August 2021, (TON): The lot is the first out of 109 ambulances the Indian prime minister offered to donate to Bangladesh.

A total of 30 ambulances gifted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at India’s Petrapole check post on Thursday awaiting necessary clearance before entering Bangladesh.  

Authorities said that the ambulances will soon set out for Dhaka after getting clearance of relevant papers at Bangladesh’s Benapole customs check post.

The lot is out 109 ambulances the Indian Prime minister offered to donate to Bangladesh.  Modi made the offer during his visit to Bangladesh in last March to attend the country’s celebrations of the golden jubilee of independence and birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The remaining ambulances are expected to reach Bangladesh by the end of September said the authorities.

ABUJA, 06 August 2021, (TON): The Federal Government has explained its decision to cease all negotiations with bandits and kidnappers, saying that ransoms are used to procure arms.

The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, revealed this while addressing the press at the close Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

When asked for government’s reaction to the viral footage showing some kidnapped students in Kaduna State being tortured by kidnappers, Nwajiuba said the government was doing its part to rescue the students as soon as possible.

He said “truly speaking, it is disheartening anytime any of our students are taken at any point, I can assure you that the Federal Government is doing all that it can.

“Insecurity at the school level, you may understand, stems from insecurity around the area. Before we had Chibok, there was Boko Haram in the area. It is the success of the military in more or less incapacitating Boko Haram in the North-East that led to some level of insurgents in the North-West.”

Nwajiuba said that since the military cannot go into the forest and start shooting at everyone they find, bandits had taken advantage to use some citizens as human shields.

He added that the government would no longer negotiate with bandits, saying ransoms were being re-channeled into the procurement of arms.

He said “we are constrained to stop negotiations with bandits because we’ve seen that every time they get any payment, it leads to further escalation, because they rearm and they go back.”

NAYPAITAW, 06 August 2021, (TON): A militia member and Myanmar's U.N. envoy said that a Myanmar militia force fighting the army in a central part of the country and residents have found at least 40 bodies in jungle areas in recent weeks, including some showing signs of torture.

Since the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, hundreds of people have been killed as the army violently quelled protests, and in clashes between soldiers and often hastily assembled, lightly armed local militias.

The bodies were found in several different locations around Kani, a town in the Sagaing area, which has seen fierce fighting in recent months between the army and the militia groups set up by opponents of military rule.

Media groups could not independently verify the claims and a spokesman for the military did not answer calls seeking comment.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Myanmar's U.N. envoy Kyaw Moe Tun - who represents the elected civilian government, said “a total of 40 bodies were found and described three different incidents during July in Kani.”

Kyaw Moe Tun described the incidents as "clearly amounting to crimes against humanity," calling on the U.N. Security Council and international community to impose a global arms embargo on Myanmar's military.

JERUSALEM, 06 August 2021, (TON): Israel’s defense minister Benny Gantz has said that his country is ready to attack Iran and that there must be a global response to the threat that the Islamic republic poses.

His comments come amid growing tensions following a deadly drone strike on an Israeli-operated tanker off the coast of Oman.

Israel, along with the U.S. and the U.K. have blamed Tehran for the attack on the Mercer Street last week that killed two people. Iran has denied involvement.

He added “we are at a point where we need to take military action against Iran. The world needs to take action against Iran now.”

Gantz had said that Iran has violated all of the guidelines in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which President Joe Biden wants to restore.

DHAKA, 06 August 2021, (TON): Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain has decided to run virtual court functions across the country on a limited scale in order to deal with urgent cases till August 12 due to ongoing lockdown enforced by the government.

The chief justice took the decision while presiding over a full court meeting virtually attended by the judges of the Appellate and High Court Divisions of the Supreme Court this afternoon.

The full court meeting decided that a full bench of the Appellate Division and around 10 benches the High Court Division will hear and dispose urgent pending cases except for anticipatory bail petitions, from August 8 to August 12.

NEW DELHI, 06 August 2021, (TON): Mauritius has denied a report that it has allowed India to build a military base on the remote island of Agalega, with a government official telling AFP that no such agreement exists between the two nations. Earlier this week, media sources reported on the construction of an airstrip and two jetties to house an Indian military base on Agalega, located about 1,000 kilometres north of the archipelago's main island. But on Wednesday, Ken Arian, a communications adviser to Mauritius PM Pravind Jugnauth, denied any plans to allow a military installation on Agalega, home to about 300 people.

Arian told media that although work was under way on two projects agreed during Indian PM Narendra Modi's 2015 visit to Mauritius, a three-kilometre (1.8-mile) air strip and a jetty, they would not be used for military purposes.

NEW DELHI, 06 August 2021, (TON): India has called for quick implementation of the memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of disaster management resilience and mitigation.

The MoU was signed during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangladesh in March.

The request, which was made by Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in a letter to Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, comes weeks after the Indian state of Maharashtra saw heavy rainfall that caused flooding and landslide, leaving nearly 150 people dead and scores missing.

Jaishankar said in the letter “Bangladesh rightly pointed out that the entire world, in particular the South Asian region, is witnessing frequent climate-related disasters.”

He added "Capacity building, learning from each other's best practices, as well as extending support to each other is the need of the hour."

The two countries will enhance cooperation in the field of relief, response and reconstruction upon request from either party in the event of a major natural or man-made disaster in their respective territories, as per the letter of intent.

KATHMANDU, 06 August 2021, (TON): After widespread criticism for its sheer apathy towards people living in the flood-ravaged river side area, Melamchi Municipality has finally shown some concern for them and urged them to move to a safer place.

The floods since June 15 have caused unprecedented loss and damage to human settlements in the downstream area.

In an appeal issued yesterday, the municipality has said that it has put all-out efforts in mobilising entire mechanisms to control floods and protect the settlements at high risk.

The municipality, however, has expressed happiness over the functioning of early warning system that helped prevent the loss of human lives. The municipality had arranged temporary accommodation to the flood-affected people in Indreswori Secondary School for 15 days, it claimed.

Municipality Mayor Dambar Aryal said that the municipality played a key role in shifting the affected people to a safer place and arranging cooking gas, stove, bed-set and food items.

He further informed that coupons were also arranged for food for a month. The municipality is continuously engaging efforts to check river erosion in the downstream area and mitigate risks as per the thematic experts' advice and recommendations, reads the appeal.So far, the municipality has placed 1,278 gabions and mobilised seven excavators and dozers continuously on the river side for a month.

GENEVA, 06 August 2021, (TON):  Great Britain intends to raise the issue of the situation around the tanker Mercer Street in the UN Security Council, but its discussion will be non-public, and the adoption of any documents on this matter is not planned. A diplomatic source told media.

The source said “the UK really intends to raise this issue in a closed format.”

The next meeting of the UN Security Council will be held, August 6, at 17.00 Moscow time. Its main topic is expected to be the situation in Afghanistan amid the withdrawal of US troops.

Traditionally, in the closed part of the meeting, time is allotted for discussion of issues not previously put on the agenda. Any member of the UN Security Council can take the initiative to consider a specific situation that may threaten international peace and security.

The discussion in this format does not entail any obligations and is not accompanied by the adoption of common documents, although the initiator of the discussion and the countries that have joined it can make a separate statement.

Dmitry Polyansky, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, said earlier that the situation around the Mercer Street tanker needs more careful study and opposed hasty conclusions.

British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said that the United Kingdom, along with Romania and Liberia, has approached UN Security Council President TS Tirumurti, raising the issue of the attack on Mercer Street.

London says the Security Council must respond to Iran’s “destabilizing actions and its disregard for international law.”

KATHMANDU, 06 August 2021, (TON): The Embassy of Pakistan organized a talk programme on “Kashmiris’ Youm-eIstehsal” today. The programme was attended by around fifteen distinguished writers, media men and analysts, as well as representatives of human rights organizations.

Speaking at the Talk Programme, Pakistan's Ambassador to Nepal, Syed Haider Shah recollected important developments and international global reactions to India’s illegal action of 5 August 2019 and alarming intensification of the human rights violations in that disputed territory.

Highlighting the centrality of the right of self-determination and the UNSC resolutions, Ambassador Shah referred to the discussions at the UNSC in August 2019 and then in January 2020. He also referred to the statements of the UN Secretary-General urging not to take any steps that could affect the status of Jammu & Kashmir and underlining the importance of UN Security Council resolutions.

The participants at the Seminar underlined the grave human rights violations being committed by the Indian forces in Kashmir.

Ambassador Shah highlighted the gravity and scale of human rights violations by the Indian forces and referred to their widespread international condemnation especially by the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, EU, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.