SANA'A, 05 July 2021, (TON): Government and military officials said that government troops and local tribesmen liberated several villages and hilly locations in the central province of Al-Bayda during the second day of a military offensive to push Houthis from the area.

Yemen’s Information Minister Mu’amar Al-Eryani said that government troops scored major victories in Al-Bayda after liberating mountains, villages and other military locations, mainly in the Humaiqan area in Al-Zaher district, west of Al-Bayda, adding that loyalists cut off supply lines to pockets of Houthis in Al-Zaher, Al-Jamajem and Al-Nasefa and government forces were still fighting their way into new areas.

The Yemeni minister said “we commend the great role of the tribal leaders and tribesmen and all the honorable people who supported the heroes of the national army and the popular resistance in the major military operation (in the province).”

Yemen’s army started a new offensive to liberate Al-Bayda from the Houthis and relieve pressure on the government forces battling the Houthis in the neighboring Marib province.

 DHAKA, 05 July 2021, (TON): The Company has almost completed the construction of the first unit of Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant in Rampal, around 14 kilometres from the Sundarbans.

Kazi Absar Uddin Ahmed, managing director of the company said "hopefully, we will start generating electricity in December and add it to the national grid."

He told media that we are supposed to get back-feed power through a 230-KV line in the second week of this month to test different types of machinery such as generator and boiler in phases."

He claimed that they have completed more than 80 percent work of the unit and are almost ready to commission the test run.

In 2016, the World Heritage Committee (WHC) of Unesco slapped a set of conditions on Bangladesh government, saying it should not proceed with any "large-scale industrial or infrastructure developments" in the country's southwest region before completion of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the zone.

It also cautioned that the World Heritage status of the Sundarbans could be cancelled if the government did not comply with the conditions. The WHC is going to review the overall situation at a meeting slated for July 20.

MANILA, 05 July 2021, (TON): At least 29 people were killed on Sunday when a Philippines Air Force plane carrying troops crashed on landing and broke up in flames, the country’s worst military air disaster in nearly 30 years.

Pictures from the scene showed flames and smoke pouring from wreckage strewn among trees as men in combat uniform milled around, while a column of thick black smoke rose from the coconut palms into the sky.

The Lockheed C-130 transport aircraft carrying troops bound for counter-insurgency operations crashed with 96 aboard at Patikul in the far southern province of Sulu.

The army in the sprawling Philippine archipelago has been fighting a long war against Islamist militants from Abu Sayyaf and other factions.

Twenty-nine bodies were retrieved and 50 people had been taken to hospital, leaving 17 unaccounted for, the military said in a statement, adding there was still hope for survivors.

The unit, the Joint Task Force Sulu, said in the statement “a number of soldiers were seen jumping out of the aircraft before it hit the ground, sparing them from the explosion caused by the crash.”

Military chief Cirilito Sobejana said the plane had “missed the runway trying to regain power”.

KATHMANDU, 05 July 2021, (TON): Over 300 homes have been inundated in two eastern Tarai districts of Province 1.

According to Nepal Police Province No 1 Office Biratnagar's spokesperson SP Navin Raj Rai, the monsoon induced flood is severe in Sunsari district where around 204 homes are recorded to have been inundated. In Itahari 100 homes are deluged in wards 10 and 11.

Meanwhile, 54 homes were submerged in Inaruwa while Koshi Rural Municipality has witnessed 40 flooded homes.In Sunsari, the inundation is mainly caused by heavy rainfall, said the Information Section of the provincial police headquarters. Meanwhile 138 homes are submerged in the floodwater from the Kesaliya river in Morang.

SP Rai said that all affected families have been relocated to public buildings, said police. There are no reports of inundation of settlements in Jhapa.In the 14 districts of the Province, there are no reports of landslides, and human casualties so far.

Rai said “the flood in Sunsari district has been mitigated with the decreasing level of rains. The water level of Nepal's biggest transnational river Saptakoshi has seen 229,470 cusecs of water.”

According to the Control Room at the Koshi Barrage. Koshi Barrage is designed to withstand 954,000 cusecs of water.

MALE, 05 July 2021, (TON): Maldives Police Service has announced administrative changes in line with its standard procedure. Changes were brought to high ranks within three divisions of the institute; Training and Development, Professional Standard Command and Central Policing Command.

The first change brought in this regard is the appointment of Assistant Commissioner of Police Ismail Naveen as the new Head of Training and Development.

Following this, Assistant Commissioner of Police Ali Shujau has been appointed as the Head of Central Policing Command.

Lastly, Assistant Commissioner of Police Ahmed Abdul Rahman has been appointed as the Head of Professional Standard Command.

NEW DELHI, 05 July 2021, (TON): Asserting that the DNA of all Indians is the same, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat urged muslims not to get “trapped in the cycle of fear” that Islam is in danger in India.

Addressing an event organised by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch on the theme ‘Hindustani First, Hindustan First’, he said “people can’t be differentiated on how they worship.”

He also took on those indulging in lynching, saying “they are against Hindutava”. Though at times, some false cases of lynching have been registered against people.

Underlining that development is not possible without unity in the country, the RSS chief stressed that the basis of unity should be nationalism and the glory of ancestors.

He said “he only solution to Hindu-Muslim conflict is dialogue, not discord.”

Bhagwat said “Hindu-Muslim unity is misleading as they’re not different, but one. DNA of all Indians are same, irrespective of religion.”

MOSCOW, 05 July 2021, (TON): The office of the President of Ukraine is discussing with the US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland the possibility of the United States participating in the negotiations on the Donbass.

As the press secretary of the Ukrainian delegation to the contact group on Donbass Oleksiy Arestovich clarified, the United States is a member of the OSCE, and therefore has the right to enter this format.

According to him, the question is whether an agreement in principle on this participation will be reached.

Arestovich said “Now between the political adviser to President Zelensky, Andriy Yermak, who also heads the presidential office, there are intensive consultations with Victoria Nuland, who has been appointed in the United States as the chief official for Ukraine and the settlement of the conflict with the Russian Federation.”

He stressed that the results of the dialogue will become known after the visit of Zelensky to Washington at the end of July.

KABUL, 05 July 2021, (TON): Almost 100 Afghan soldiers left for Tajikistan after the Taliban seized Hohon district of the Afghan province of Badakhshan.

The Tajik border service informed that over 300 Afghan border guards crossed the state border with Tajikistan after the Taliban seized the Khokhon border commandant’s office.

an armed group of the Taliban movement captured the Hohon district in the Afghan province of Badakhshan without a fight, 94 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Afghanistan retreated and, in order to preserve their personnel, crossed the state border at the Shohon sector of Tajikistan.”

According to him, the Tajik border guards, guided by the principles of humanism and good neighborliness, allowed the retreating military of the Afghan government forces to move to their territory.

TEHRAN, 05 July 2021, (TON): Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement holding the Israeli Zionist regime accountable for a 1982 kidnaping of four Iranian diplomats in Lebanon. The statement was issued on the 39th anniversary of this act.

The statement said “As Lebanon was under occupation of the Zionist regime in 1982, the regime is both politically and legally responsible for the kidnaping of the Iranian diplomats.”

The statement added that the families of these diplomats are still waiting for the release and return of their beloved ones.

It said that the Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly announced that it has clues and documents which prove that the Iranian diplomats have been handed over to the Zionist forces and then transferred to the prisons of the regime.

Referring to a report by a former UN secretary general and a letter to him by the then Lebanese prime minister in 2008, the statement called on the incumbent UN secretary general and other international organizations and human rights agencies to probe into the case which is related to international conventions and is accepted by the international community.

The statement also thanked Lebanon for its good cooperation, urging combined efforts of Tehran and Beirut to uncover the hidden dimensions of this incident.

ISLAMABAD, 05 July 2021, (TON): National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf said “evidence gathered during the investigation of the blast in Lahore's Johar Town last month clearly points to "Indian-sponsored terrorism.”

Addressing a press conference alongside the Punjab police chief and Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, he said “the mastermind of the attack which killed three people and left 24 others injured, is an Indian citizen and he is associated with [Indian intelligence agency] RAW.

Moeed said “IG said we have intelligence of foreign intelligence agency, so today without a doubt I want to say, [the circumstances] of this entire attack lead to Indian-sponsored terrorism.”

He said the government had the fakes names, real identities and location of the suspects because of efficient coordination between different agencies.

On June 23, a powerful blast near the residence of Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed in Johar Town had killed three people and injured 24 others, including a police constable.