BERLIN, 19 July 2021, (TON): Flash floods hit southern Germany, killing at least one person and adding to the devastation after flooding in the country this week that killed more than 150 people.

The Berchtesgadener Land district in Bavaria, which borders Austria, became the latest region to be hit by record rainfall and ensuing floods.

Sunday’s death brought the death toll to 156 in the country’s worst natural disaster in almost six decades.

According to police “some 110 people were killed in the worst-hit Ahrweiler district south of Cologne. More bodies are expected to be found as the flood waters recede.”

Over the past several days the floods, which have mostly hit the states of Rhineland Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, have cut off entire communities from power and communications. In North Rhine-Westphalia at least 45 were killed.

DHAKA, 19 July 2021, (TON): Foreign Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Dr Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah has proposed a foreign minister-level joint committee to further bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Kuwait.

He also sought Bangladesh's assistance and cooperation in strengthening health institutions, food security, education, IT, and cybersecurity.

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, in a meeting with the Kuwait Foreign Minister at the sidelines of "Central and South Asia: Regional connectivity, Challenges, and Opportunities" held in Uzbekistan recently, discussed the issues.

Dr Momen expressed his gratitude to the Kuwait Government for supporting the resolution in Human Rights Commission to repatriate Rohingyas to Myanmar.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that he also proposed assisting Bangladesh under Kuwait Development Fund.

Both the ministers expressed their happiness at the level of existing bilateral cooperation between Bangladesh and Kuwait.

DHAKA, 19 July 2021, (TON): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said that the aim of her government is to develop a fully service-oriented administration to ensure the welfare of people.

she said at a function marking the signing of the Annual Performance Agreement that our aim is to build an administration that will serve people and ensure its accountability to people.

The programme was arranged at Osmani Memorial Auditorium. The prime minister joined the event from her official residence Gono Bhaban.

Hasina said "we have our responsibilities to the people. Our responsibilities are to ensure their welfare and their interests, and to change their fate."

She mentioned that the government, from the beginning of the pandemic, initiated stimulus packages, announced 28 packages worth Tk 131,641 crore and implemented those.

The PM thanked all for their sincere efforts which resulted in keeping the national economy moving since March 2020.

JOHANNESBURG, 19 July 2021, (TON): South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was due to join post-riot clean-up efforts on Sunday as his government warned against vigilantism and sought to avert racial conflict following the unrest.

The country was gripped by more than a week of chaos that claimed more than 200 lives as looters ransacked shopping centres and unidentified groups torched key industrial infrastructure and blocked trade routes.

The violence was the worst in post-apartheid South Africa and erupted after former president Jacob Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in jail for snubbing a corruption inquiry.

His trial for graft in a separate case is due to resume on Monday.

Ramaphosa is under mounting pressure as only one of the suspected masterminds of what officials have called an attempted “insurrection”, which caused an estimated $1 billion of damage, has been arrested.

Access to basic necessities like food has become a pressing issue in the areas affected by looting, arson and violence as many stores were destroyed while others remain closed.

Many in the worst-hit KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province are now going hungry.

MALE, 19 July 2021, (TON): President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said that the ownership and management of the airport being built in HDh. Hanimaadhoo will reside solely with the Maldivian government, and provided assurance foreign soldiers will not be allowed to station at the airport.

He made the statement during a meeting with residents of Hanimaadhoo to discuss public opinion on the airport development project afternoon.

At the meeting, President Solih said “his government will not allow any action that may hinder Maldives’ sovereignty in any way, and that he does not believe any succeeding government would allow for it either.”

He said that the loan to build Hanimaadhoo Airport is taken by the government. The management and ownership of the airport will reside with the government. Soldiers from a foreign nation will not be stationed there. And my government will not take any action that may hinder Maldives’ sovereignty in any way.

President Solih spoke of the benefits of having an international airport on the island; not just for the local community in Hanimaadhoo, but for the entire region.

Some of the Hanimaadhoo residents who took part in the meeting said “they welcomed the airport development project, and thanked the President for discussing the project with them.”

COLOMBO, 19 July 2021, (TON): Sri Lanka Navy managed to seize about 103kg and 750g of Kerala cannabis, during a special operation conducted in northern waters off Kankesanthurai, Jaffna in the dark hours on 15th July 2021. The operation also led to the apprehension of 03 suspects and a dinghy in connection to the racket.

Sri Lanka Navy has been conducting regular operations in island-waters to curb wide-ranging illegal activities, including the smuggling of drugs, taking place via sea routeConsequently, the Fast Attack Craft P 415 of 04th Fast Attack Craft Flotilla (4 FAF) attached to the Northern Naval Command with the Inshore Patrol Craft P 166 and P 015 conducted a special operation off Kankesanthurai, where they spotted several packages being thrown overboard from a dinghy heading landward, as it was about to be searched.

Incidentally, P 015 intercepted the suspicious dinghy and held 03 suspects aboard. In the meantime, P 166 and P 415 carried out further search in the sea area and recovered 03 packages containing about 103kg and 750g of Kerala cannabis cast away by the smugglers.

It is suspected that the smugglers might have retrieved the stock of Kerala cannabis to the dinghy at the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) to smuggle it into the island. Meanwhile, the street value of the seized stock of Kerala cannabis is believed to be over Rs. 31 million.

DAMASCUS, 19 July 2021, (TON): Syrian regime artillery fire killed at least five civilians including two children in the country’s last major rebel bastion of Idlib.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “the shelling took place in the village of Ehsim, in the south of Idlib region.”

A family member told Media that visitors had gathered to congratulate a male relative on getting married when the shelling hit their home.

Earlier in the day, rockets fired by pro-government forces killed six people in the village of Sarja, including three children and a rescue worker, meaning at least 11 were killed in total in Idlib.

The shelling at Ehsim came hours after President Bashar al-Assad took the oath of office for a fourth term, pledging to “liberate” areas still beyond government control.

The deaths are the latest violations of a ceasefire deal agreed by Turkey and Russia in March 2020 to stem a regime offensive on the jihadist-dominated stronghold.

Rescue workers under floodlights cut through a collapsed ceiling to retrieve the body of a woman.

Bundling her body up in a blanket, they then gently lowered it down a ladder and carried it into an ambulance.

Bordering Turkey, the northwestern Idlib region is home to around three million people, more than half displaced by fighting in other parts of war-torn Syria. Many rely on humanitarian aid to survive.

KATHMANDU, 19 July 2021, (TON): Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba won the vote of confidence in the House of Representatives.

Deuba received 165 votes in the 271-member strong lower house. He needed 136 votes to win the House confidence, as four lawmakers remain suspended.

Only 249 lawmakers, however, were present during Sunday’s House.

As many as 83 lawmakers voted against and one remained neutral.

Speaker Agni Sapkota said “I hereby declare that the motion of the vote of confidence tabled by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been endorsed with a majority.”

The proposal for the vote of trust was registered in the Parliament Secretariat, the very first day of the session of the House after it was reinstated by the Supreme Court on July 12.

With Deuba winning the vote of confidence, he is set to remain prime minister for a year and a half, until periodic elections are held.

The Nepali Congress president was appointed prime minister on July 13 as per the Supreme Court order a day before to that effect to the Office of the President.

The Supreme Court on July 12 overturned then prime minister KP Sharma Oli’s May 21 House dissolution and ordered Deuba’s appointment as prime minister under Article 76 (5) of the Constitution of Nepal.

KATHMANDU, 19 July 2021, (TON): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended a congratulatory message to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Modi forwarded his best wishes to Deuba minutes after the latter emerged victorious in his parliamentary floor test.

In his tweet that followed reports of Deuba's trust vote win, the Indian PM wished his Nepali counterpart a successful tenure "I look forward to working with you to further enhance our unique partnership in all sectors, and strengthen our deep-rooted people-to-people ties."

JOHANNESBURG, 19 July 2021, (TON): The dragging corruption trial of South Africa’s jailed ex-president Jacob Zuma resumes on Monday despite deadly violence that swept the nation after his imprisonment in an unrelated case.

Zuma faces 16 charges of fraud, graft and racketeering related to a 1999 purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and military gear from five European arms firms when he was South Africa’s deputy president.

He is accused of pocketing four million rand ($277,000) in bribes from one of the firms, French defence giant Thales, which has been charged with corruption and money laundering. The trial started in May after numerous postponements and delays, as Zuma’s legal team worked fervently to have the charges dropped.

The 79-year-old Zuma appeared in person for the opening and said he was innocent. Thales also pleaded not guilty, and the next hearing was set for July 19. But things took a nasty turn when on June 29, Zuma was found guilty of contempt of South Africa’s top court for snubbing graft investigators probing his tenure as president. He was jailed a week later.

The incarceration sparked protests in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), which snowballed into a week of deadly outbreak of looting and arson that spread to the economic hub Johannesburg, claiming over 200 lives.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who came to office promising to curb graft, said “the riots were a coordinated and well-planned attack on the country’s young democracy.