GAZA, 13 July 2021, (TON): Palestinian activists and rights groups have called on Israeli authorities to release Khalida Jarrar, a Palestinian legislator serving a prison term, so that she can attend her daughter’s funeral.

According to Palestinian activists and Israeli media “Israeli prison services reportedly denied the request for Jarrar, a political prisoner, to attend the funeral.”

Suha Jarrar, 31, was found dead on Sunday evening at her home in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, reported Palestinian media. According to the reports, Jarrar died of a heart attack.

The young Jarrar was working as a legal researcher and advocacy officer at the Ramallah-based Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organisation. Some of her most prominent work focused on the environmental effects of Israeli occupation.

In a 2019 report, she argued that discriminatory Israeli policies impede Palestinians in the occupied West Bank from being able to adapt to climate change.

COLOMBO, 13 July 2021, (TON): Sri Lanka Navy deployed 08 relief teams in several areas in the Kalutara, Rathnapura and Galle districts (10th July 2021) to provide relief to the people, in preparation for possible flood risk in above areas with heavy rains brought by inclement weather.

Responding to the developing situation, the Western Naval Command sent 01 flood relief team to Paragoda area in the Kalutara district and 05 Navy relief teams to Rathnapura New Town, Delgoda, Kukulegama, and Ayagama areas in the Rathnapura district.

Similarly, the Southern Naval Command deployed 02 Navy relief teams in Hiniduma and Eppala areas as well.

Besides, 25 Navy flood relief teams in the Western Naval Command and 12 teams in the Southern Naval Command are being kept on standby for prompt deployment, with a view to provide relief to the people in the event of adverse weather conditions.

NAYPYITAW, 13 July 2021, (TON): Lawyer Min Min Soe told media that Myanmar’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi is facing four additional criminal charges, filed in a court in the country’s second biggest city Mandalay.

The legal team has little information about what Suu Kyi was accused of but the charges included corruption and that two were also leveled at Min Thu, a former minister in her government.

She said “there are corruption charges. We do not know why do they sue? Or for what reasons? We will find out about it.”

The new cases could see Suu Kyi, 76, tied up in legal proceedings in three different cities.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been held since a Feb. 1 coup and is on trial in the capital Naypyitaw over charges that include illegal importation and possession of walkie-talkie radios and violating coronavirus protocols under a disaster management law.

She is charged also in a Yangon court, accused of unspecified breaches of the Official Secrets Act, punishable by a maximum of 14 years in jail.

Her legal team rejects all of the charges.

Chief lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said cross-examination of a prosecution witness revealed a raid on Suu Kyi’s home had been carried out illegally without a warrant.

BERLIN, 13 July 2021, (TON): Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for Germany to do more to help Ukraine protect itself against Russia. But with Merkel’s retirement imminent, grand commitments are looking increasingly unlikely.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting with top German officials in Berlin.

Since Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, Germany has been extensively involved in dealing with Ukraine. But relations between Ukraine and Germany have soured more recently.

Zelenskyy first met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Bellevue Palace.

He will then meet with Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, before heading to an evening dinner with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

It is expected to be Merkel’s final meeting with Zelenskyy before her retirement, following German national elections in September.

WASHINGTON, 13 July 2021, (TON): US defence contractors are working on at least eight separate hypersonic missile programmes for the Air Force, Army and Navy. Despite committing billions of dollars, the Pentagon’s projects have yet to produce an operational weapon. Russia and China began putting hypersonic systems into operation in the late 2010s.

The House Armed Services defence appropriations subcommittee has requested a $44 million cut in funding to the Air Force’s flagship hypersonic boost-glide weapon, the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) project, Inside Defense reports.

The subcommittee did not provide a reason for the proposed cut in funding, said to be the equivalent of about four production ARRW missiles, with the cuts alluded to in a report accompanying a review of the proposed defence budget bill for fiscal year 2022. Congress is requesting a total of $705.9 billion in spending (equivalent to over a third of global arms spending in 2020) in the next fiscal year.

Developed by Lockheed Martin, the ARRW is a boost glide weapon that’s expected to be able to accelerate to speeds of over Mach 7 (over 8,575 km per hour) and strike targets up to 1,600 km away from the aircraft carrying it, which may include the B-52 and B-1 Lancer bombers, as well as the F-15 tactical fighter.

MALE, 13 July 2021, (TON): President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has appointed Hassan Nashid of M. Meyga as the new Deputy Minister of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture.

Nashid has most recently been employed as a Principal under the Ministry of Education. He has also served as a Protocol Officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an Attaché, Consular Affairs, at the High Commission of Maldives in Sri Lanka.

Additionally, he has also served as the General Manager of Horizon Fisheries Private Limited.

Nashid holds a Bachelor of Education in English Language Teaching from Moray House College of Education in Edinburgh, Scotland. At present, he is completing a post-graduate program at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

NEW DELHI, 13 July 2021, (TON): According to a district official “about a dozen vehicles were swept away while many buildings were damaged in flashfloods in various parts of Kangra district as bad weather also led to the closure of the Gaggal airport.”

Officials in both districts said “a woman was killed and about 10 people were reported missing in landslides triggered by heavy rain in Boh village (45km from Dharamshala) of Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district, while 11 people were rescued following flashfloods in Kathua district of Jammu region.”

About a dozen vehicles were swept away while many buildings were damaged in flashfloods in various parts of Kangra district as bad weather also led to the closure of the Gaggal airport, according to a district official. A drain near Bhagsunag in upper Dharamshala changed its course after heavy rain, sweeping away about 10 cars and bikes, with video clips of the flashfloods being shared on social media.

Confirming the death of a woman, Kangra senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vimukt Ranjan said “we don’t have exact information of causalities. Exact figures regarding loss of life and property will be known in the coming days.”

KIEV, 13 July 2021, (TON): The Ukrainian-British military exercises Cossack Mace, 2021 (Cossack Bulava) began in Ukraine , about 2 thousand troops from five countries will take part in them, the press service of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.

“On the basis of the inter-service training center for military units and subunits, the international Ukrainian-British military exercises” Cossack Bulava “will begin on July 12.

About 2 thousand servicemen and more than 300 units of military equipment from five partner countries will take part in the exercises.

Ukraine, Great Britain , Canada, USA , Kingdom of Sweden, “the General Staff said in a Facebook post.

According to the press service, the exercises will come until July 24 in the Nikolaev region.

DHAKA, 13 July 2021, (TON): The foreign minister also says the acting British envoy in Dhaka has acknowledged that their report should be objective.

Pointing at the United Kingdom, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said “they should see their own face in the mirror before giving advice to Bangladesh with inaccurate information.”

“This is not acceptable. They should stop this practice,” he told a small group of journalists while reacting to the UK report’s some parts and US issues.

Momen said “BNP chief Khaleda Zia is not under house arrest and their information in the report is not correct.”

The Human Rights and Democracy Report 2020 was released by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Referring to rape cases, the foreign minister said highest 9,000 rape cases in Bangladesh may take place annually while 733,000 rape cases were recorded in the UK last year even though the UK’s population is less than half of Bangladesh’s population.

ISLAMABAD, 13 July 2021, (TON): Describing mausoleums across the country as historical heritage, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that their rehabilitation and preservation was vital for the religious tourism.

The PM’s statement came as he presided over a meeting on the comprehensive development and management of the mausoleum of Hazrat Data Ganj Bukhsh and the preservation, rehabilitation, and beautification of Lahore’s historic Badshahi Mosque and other mausoleums in Punjab.

He called for the formation of a comprehensive plan for the proper use of state lands around the mausoleums so that those could be utilised for hospitals and educational institutions.

Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar, Provincial Minister for Aauqaf Pir Syed Saeedul Hassan, Provincial Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht, Special Assistant to CM Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Chief Secretary Punjab and other senior officials attended the meeting through video-link.

Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib was also present during the meeting.

The prime minister was briefed in detail about the project for preservation, rehabilitation and beautification of Lahore’s historic and religious places including the mausoleum of Hazrat Data Ganj Bukhsh Ali Hijweri, and Badshahi Mosque.