MALE, 06 July 2021, (TON): Maldivian construction magnates Mohamed Ali Janah and Jaufar Easa Adam (Jausa Jaufar) have been appointed as honorary consuls for two foreign countries.

Janah, the president of Maldives National Association for Construction Industry (MACI) and owner of Hotels and Resorts Construction (HRC), was appointed by the Hungarian government as Honorary Consul of Hungary in Maldives.

Mohamed Ali Janah (L) is presented with the exequatur in recognition of his appointment as Honorary Consul of Indonesia in Maldives on July 5, 2021.

Meanwhile, Jaufar, founder of Jaah Maldives, was appointed by the Indonesian government as Honorary Consul of Indonesia in Maldives.

They were presented with exequaturs, which authorizes them to exercise their new roles, by Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid earlier this Monday.

Honorary consuls are private individuals appointed by foreign governments to facilitate consular services in Maldives.

ISLAMABAD, 06 July 2021, (TON): Prime Minister Imran Khan performed the groundbreaking of phase two of the Gwadar Free Zone (GFZ) and launched a number of other development and infrastructure projects including an expo centre, agriculture industrial park and three factories.

During a single-day visit to Gwadar, the premier also inaugurated phase one of the GFZ, reviewed the progress on various development projects, and witnessed the signing of a number of memorandums of understanding (MoUs).

He was given a detailed briefing on the progress of the south Balochistan development package in line with the government’s efforts of focusing on the province.

Projects unveiled:

• Gwadar Fertiliser Plant
• Gwadar Animal Vaccine Plant
• Henan Agricultural Industrial Park
• Hengmei Lubricants Plant
• Gwadar Free Zone Phase Two
• Gwadar Expo Centre

On the occasion, agreements were signed on solar sation and a desalination plant to solve the problems of Gwadar related to water and electricity.

In his address at the launching ceremony for the projects, the prime minister lamented that many areas in Pakistan including Balochistan had been left behind in development.

He said “development plans for Gwadar had been made for some time but the lack of any real implementation was due to common issues such as supply of water, electricity and gas, and connectivity with other areas.”

He added “but in the time we are now seeing ahead, Gwadar is going to become a focal point from which all of Pakistan and especially Balochistan which was left behind [in development] will benefit.”

He said the "future of Gwadar" was being witnessed through the water and energy projects underway as well as the new international airport being constructed there which would connect Gwadar to other areas.

MOSCOW, 06 July 2021, (TON): The diplomatic mission told media “the Russian embassy in Kabul is reliably protected, there are no plans for evacuation due to the difficult situation in Afghanistan, while the Russian consulate general in Mazar-i-Sharif temporarily suspended work.”

Nikita Ishchenko, press attaché of the Russian diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, said “we are talking about a temporary suspension of the work of the consulate general until the situation is clarified. The embassy is reliably protected, there are no plans to evacuate it.”

Earlier, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative , the head of the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) Deborah Lyons said that the Taliban have seized 50 of the 370 regions of Afghanistan since the beginning of May, while US and NATO troops are leaving the country.

PARIS, 06 July 2021, (TON): French presidency said that French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed there is “a window of opportunity” now for talks aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

A French top official said that the three leaders, who spoke via video conference, agreed on the need to move negotiations forward in order to get a deal, as soon as possible and avoid the risk of nuclear proliferation.

During six rounds of talks in Vienna, the six countries that remain parties to the agreement, Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and Iran, have been trying to resolve issues on how the United States can rejoin and how Iran can return to compliance.

Then President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement in 2018, but President Joe Biden repudiated his predecessor and said the U.S. wants to return to the pact.

The last round of talks ended in Vienna on June 20. It’s not yet clear when the talks will resume.

COLOMBO, 06 July 2021, (TON): Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena engaged in a productive interaction with a cross-section of overseas Sri Lankans representing community and business associations as well as the Maha Sangha and other religious leaders in Singapore and Brunei Darussalam in a virtual meeting.

Foreign Minister Gunawardena was joined by State Minister for Regional Cooperation Tharaka Balasuriya and Foreign Secretary Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage at this interactive session.

The newly established Overseas Sri Lankans Division, under the guidance of Foreign Minister Gunawardena, has taken this new initiative to hold a series of discussions for regular interaction with overseas Sri Lankans to reconnect them with the motherland and play their crucial role in promoting transnational ties between Sri Lanka and their host countries.

In his address, Foreign Minister Gunawardena at the outset, thanked the Sri Lankan community in Singapore and in Brunei Darussalam for their substantial contribution in numerous ways for Sri Lanka’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and in particular, for their continued support with urgent medical supplies to the country at this challenging period.

KABUL, 06 July 2021, (TON):  The Council of the Parliamentary Assembly said in a statement that the speaker of Afghanistan's parliament, Mir Rahman Rahmani, this week has participated at the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Organizations on Afghanistan over the security situation in northern provinces.

The statement said “due to the deteriorating security situation near the southern borders of the Republic of Tajikistan, a CSTO Members State, the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, express its concerns regarding the high level of combat activity in Afghanistan, particularly in its northern provinces, amid the withdrawal of foreign military presence.”

It also called on the Afghan government and the Taliban “to cease violence to ensure favorable conditions for advancing the peace processes and establishing Afghanistan as an independent and neutral state.”

The council strongly condemned “terrorist attacks in Afghanistan against civilians and stresses that other international terrorist groups constitute a key instability component in Afghanistan.”

It also expressed concerns regarding “the extremely high level of drug production in Afghanistan, being a major source of income for terrorist groups in Afghanistan, and calls on the authorities of Afghanistan, including the Afghan National Assembly, to increase their efforts to combat this scourge.”

The council called on the international community, including national parliaments and international parliamentary organizations, to increase humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan to prevent Afghan refugees' flow into neighboring countries.

LONDON, 06 July 2021, (TON): A new task force was launched to investigate evidence of human rights violations in Myanmar five months after the military removed elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and plunged the Southeast Asian country into turmoil.

The British-government funded project, Myanmar Witness, said it would be sharing information with the United Nations’ Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, which is probing suspected crimes in Myanmar.

The initiative comes as Western countries seek to increase pressure on Myanmar’s military rulers over accusations of human rights abuses, with the United Nations saying more than 880 people have been killed by security forces since the coup , a figure the military says is exaggerated.

The group said “Myanmar Witness will independently collect, preserve, process, investigate, verify and review incidents of possible interferences with human rights.”

Protesters burn a military uniform as they take part in a flash mob demonstration against the coup in Yangon on July 1.

NEW DELHI, 06 July 2021, (TON): The Delimitation Commission will arrive in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday to meet political parties, district officials and other stakeholders and gather “first-hand information” on the ongoing process of redrawing the boundaries there.

The members will begin the four-day visit from Pahalgam, where they will meet officials of the four districts of South Kashmir: Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian.

Later in the evening, the delegation will travel to Srinagar where they are scheduled to meet local officials and political leaders. The visit will conclude on July 9.

Barring the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), all other major political parties including the National Conference (NC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the CPI(M) and the National Panthers Party (NPP) are indecisive about meeting the commission's members.

On Monday, the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an alliance of six parties including the NC and the PDP, said no joint decision has been taken on taking part in the proceedings of the commission.

The alliance also said that it was up to individual parties to decide whether they want to meet the delegation of the Delimitation Commission or not.

DUBAI, 05 July 2021, (TON): The United Arab Emirates pushed back against a plan by the OPEC oil cartel and allied producing countries to extend the global pact to cut oil production beyond April 2022, a rare statement revealing the country’s frustration with the group.

According to state-run news agency “the Emirati Ministry of Energy called the proposal to extend the agreement for the entirety of 2022 without raising its production quota “unfair to the UAE”.

One of the group’s largest oil producers, the UAE is seeking to increase its output, setting up a contest with ally and OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia, which has led a push to keep a tight lid on production.

The combined OPEC Plus grouping of members led by Saudi Arabia and non-members, chief among them Russia, failed to reach an agreement on oil output. Negotiations over the dispute are set to resume Monday.

The UAE said it supported plans for output increases over the summer, believing the market to be “in dire need of higher production.” The country suggested deferring the whole discussion of the agreement’s extension to a later meeting and appealed for an updated production quota that “reflects our current production capacity.”

ABUJA, 05 July 2021, (TON): Nigerian nutritionist Emiolo Ogunsola stands in front of a dozen new mothers in a Lagos public hospital, listing the basic foods they need to keep their children well nourished: Eggs, vegetables and beans among them.

Her pitch is abruptly interrupted. For the mothers listening, even those essentials are increasingly beyond their reach.

A young mother with a child cradled in her arms, said "Ma, how can you expect us to buy that, everything is so expensive, there is no money to buy all that."

Inflation is rising around the world as the global economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, and while Western central bankers say it is only temporary, the soaring prices are having dramatic consequences in countries like Nigeria.

Africa's most populous nation with 210 million inhabitants, Nigeria competes with India for the largest number of poor in the world.

But battered by the double economic impact of low global oil prices and the pandemic, the World Bank estimates Nigeria's soaring inflation and food prices pushed another seven million people into poverty in 2020.

According to official statistics “food prices have increased more than 22 percent since the start of the coronavirus crisis.”

For many people feeding the family has become a daily challenge.