PESHAWAR, 07 May 2021 (TON): Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Sanaullah Abbasi said on Thursday that former Levies and Khassadar personnel would be imparted professional training to enable them to face challenges in a befitting manner.

This he said while addressing the participants of passing out parade of second batch of 541 former Levies and Khassadars declared successful.

A total of 997 trainees of newly merged tribal districts had passed out in the first batch from different police training centres, while in the second batch 2,922 trainees passed out including 457 from Police Training School Swat, 541 from Swabi, 886 from Kohat, 693 from Mansehra, 150 from Sub-Campus Buner and 195 from Sub-Campus Kohat. In total, 3,919 former Levies and Khassadar personnel completed their basic training in two batches.

The review of induction of former Levies and Khassadars and their training at Police schools is likely to be considered by authorities at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to streamline the process.

COLOMBO, 07 May 2021 (TON): Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa Friday will inaugurate construction work on the first phase of the Ruwanpura Expressway, the seventh expressway to be constructed in Sri Lanka, from Kahatuduwa to Ingiriya.

The proposed Ruwanpura Expressway will start from the Kahatuduwa Interchange on the Southern Expressway and proceed to Pelmadulla via Ingiriya and Ratnapura. In this regard all arrangement have been done for the Prime Minister to inaugurate the project from Temple Trees. The project is part of the Mahinda Chinthana Vision for the Future.

The three-phase project has total distance of the proposed Ruwanpura Expressway is 73.9 kilometers. The first phase will be 24.3 kilometers segment from Kahatuduwa to Ingiriya. Maga Engineering Company is constructing this segment at a cost Rs. 54.70 billion.

JERUSALEM, 06 May 2021 (TON): At least 31 Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli police in Israeli occupied East Jerusalem. The clashes erupted over a land rights, which occupying Isreaeli forces were corrosively trying to snatch from Palestinians.
Meanwhile, since midnight 43 arrests have been made to support Jewish settlers in Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood near Jerusalem's old city.
Twenty two Palestinians were wounded in overnight clashes with Israeli police in annexed east Jerusalem, the Red Crescent said on Thursday, as tensions flare over a controversial land rights case. Israeli troops also shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian teenager during a raid on a village south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.
Palestinian protests, which began late on Wednesday, continued. Legally the land belongs to Palestinians but a Jerusalem district court ruled the homes legally belonged to the Jewish families, citing purchases decades ago.
The fact cannot be denied that the Palestinian families were displaced and their homes were acquired in possession of Jordanian authorities who controlled east Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967. Hence, Palestinian are still the owners as Israeli could not purchase from the Jordanians

KHARTOUM, 6 May, 2021 (TON): According to states news agency, Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok has stressed the importance of reaching a binding agreement regarding the Renaissance Dam, which would allow better planning for agricultural development and production.

Sudan will always be at the mercy of Ethiopia for water without an agreement, Hamdok said, as he demanded for a binding accord within the framework of international law.

The Prime Minister indicated that Sudan proposed to transform the role of observers into mediators to help reach a binding agreement on the dam.

The tensions among Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile have escalated, particularly after Ethiopia announced that it had started filling the GERD’s reservoir, an action contrary to Egypt’s mandate that the dam not be filled without a legally binding agreement over the equitable allocation of the Nile’s waters.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project is expected to be completed by July 2017. The people and Government of Ethiopia are funding the project. The latter two countries depend on the Nile River for their water although 85% of the river flows in Ethiopia.

KABUL, 6 May, 2021 (TON): On Wednesday night at least five policemen were killed in an attack on a security outpost in Logar province of Afghanistan.

The security outpost is located at about 500 meters from Pul-e-Alam, capital of the province. No one claimed the responsibility.

Fighting has escalated sharply in recent weeks.

Under a deal signed last year between the Taliban and then-President Donald Trump, the withdrawal, which runs until 11 September, comes amid escalating violence, with Afghan security forces on high alert.

SANA’A, 6 May, 2021 (TON): On Wednesday Yemen’s prime minister visited the battleground city of Marib in a show of strength amid growing signs that an Iran-backed Houthi militia offensive to capture the province is faltering.

Maeen Abdul Malik Saeed chaired a meeting of senior government and military officials in the city and said that President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi had ordered increased military support to government troops fighting the Houthis.

The prime minister said, “History is being written now in Marib. All of Yemen is following Marib and we came to Marib to be part of this important moment … the state and its capabilities are with you.”

“We are not begging for peace that establishes a fragile and racist state on Iran’s model and its militias in the region,” he said.

Saeed further added that the government wanted a sustainable peace agreement that established a strong division between Yemen and Iran.

Marib Governor Marib Sultan Al-Arada said the Houthi offensive had triggered “huge” displacement as thousands of people fled the fighting. “Yemenis can never enjoy peace as long as the state’s weapons are in the militia’s hands,” the governor said.

On the front lines to the west of Marib, the last major city under complete government control in Yemen’s north, the battles are still fierce. Marib has extensive oil and gas reserves. The Houthis are desperate to capture it as leverage in UN-brokered peace talks, but the government is equally determined to defend it.

The Houthi rebels, despite six years of Saudi-led military intervention to counter their attempted takeover of the Yemeni state, are on the offensive.

ISLAMABAD, 6 May, 2021 (TON): The Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir on Wednesday urged the United Nations, World Health Organisation and International Committee of the Red Cross to set up an international humanitarian medical corridor to help provide medical support to the people of India-held Kashmir (IHK).

The call was made during an emergent session of the committee held in view of the fast deteriorating Covid-19 situation in IHK.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi while addressing the meeting said that the primary concern was humanity and a global answer was required to deal with the pandemic.

“Situation in India is delicate and being a neighbour, Pakistan is concerned. Pakistan offered assistance due to the challenging situation. We have not received any response from India yet. Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) is also suffering and we feel very strongly as we are connected to them historically and religiously,” he added.

Kashmir has witnessed a deadly silence. Indian security forces on the ground are strictly enforcing curfews and even sometimes not allowing ambulances with patients to pass.

RIYADH, 6 May, 2021 (TON): Saudi Arabia on Wednesday assured Pakistan of its support in its initiatives for regional peace and stability.

During a meeting the assurance was extended by Chief of General Staff (CGS), Saudi Armed Forces, Gen Fayiadh Bin Hamed Al Rowaily with Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Bajwa.

Pakistan’s Chief of General Staff Bajwa is currently on a four-day visit to the Saudi Kingdom. His trip is taking place ahead of Prime Minis­ter Imran Khan’s visit scheduled to start from Friday.

The Saudi CGS thanked Gen Bajwa for his sentiments and assured the Pakistani army chief of Riyadh's "full cooperation and support in all initiatives aimed at improving regional cooperation, peace and stability," the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement on the meeting.

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday called for more "military to military cooperation" between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement.

The army chief would be meeting with Saudi civil and military leadership during the visit.

The visit of the army chief and upcoming trip by the PM of Pakistan is seen as significant as these developments suggest a thaw in ties between the two countries.

BEIJING, 6 May, 2021 (TON): On Thursday China "indefinitely" suspended all activity under a China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, its state economic planner said, the latest setback for strained relations between the two countries.

"Recently, some Australian Commonwealth Government officials launched a series of measures to disrupt the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Australia out of Cold War mindset and ideological discrimination," China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on the decision.

The commission did not say in the statement what specific measures prompted the action.

The Australian dollar fell sharply on the news, and was as low as 0.7701 to the U.S. dollar from Wednesday's $0.7747.

The last meeting was in Beijing in 2017, when Australia's trade minister signed an agreement on cooperation on Belt and Road projects in third-party countries.

Australia-China relations plummeted to new lows, making the “deep freeze” of recent years seem almost balmy.

Relations worsened last year when Australia called for an independent investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus, prompting trade reprisals from China. Australian economy is also highly dependent on China.

NEW DELHI, 6 May, 2021 (TON): India has refused top Chinese telecom companies from conducting 5G trials in the country even as it gave permission to over a dozen Indian and Foreign Service providers.

The move by the Indian authorities has earned applause from counterparts in the United States, while officials from China expressed concern over the decision.

India's Department of Telecommunications on Tuesday granted permission to mobile service operators and South Korea's Samsung to conduct 5G trials across India for a period of six months. But top Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE were not allowed.

Lawmakers in the United States have applauded India's move.

China Task Force Chairman Michael McCaul said, "India's decision to exclude Huawei and ZTE from its 5G trials is good news for the people of India and the world."

The Indian government in 2019 allowed Huawei to participate in 5G trials in the country.

The Chinese giant is already banned in the US since an order by former President Donald Trump.