NEW YORK, 30 April, 2021 (TON): On Thursday, the United Nations and the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) launched a unique artificial intelligence (AI) tool to easily measure the contributions of nature to their economic prosperity and well-being.

Developed by the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and BC3, the newly launched tool can vastly accelerate implementation of the new ground-breaking standard for valuing the contributions of nature that was adopted by the UN Statistical Commission last month.

The new open-source and user-friendly digital tool, called the ARIES for SEEA Explorer, enables, for the first time, rapid and standardized yet customizable ecosystem accounting anywhere on the earth.

However, the tool makes use of AI technology using the Artificial Intelligence for Environment and Sustainability (ARIES) platform to support countries as they apply the new international standard for natural capital accounting, the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) Ecosystem Accounting.

Whereas, a number of countries have already started using the ARIES for SEEA Explorer; however, the explorer will continue to be expanded in the near future.

MALE, 30 April, 2021 (TON): President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih could reshuffle his cabinet soon as the Fisheries Minister Zaha Waheed fired from her post, said media sources.

Fisheries Minister Zaha Waheed has been often at the receiving end of criticism from the governing MDP lawmakers.

Speaking on the topic, President's Office spokesperson Mabrouq Azeez told the media that the President was even now working on it. 

However, according to the sources, the President plans on re-designating some cabinet members to other posts as well as letting go of some ministers in the next few days. 

BISHKEK/ DUSHANBE, 30 April, 2021 (TON): On Thursday, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan blamed each other for cross-border shelling and clashes that left at least four people dead and dozens injured in a conflict over water.

A large part of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border has remained unmarked, fueling fierce disputes over water, land and pastures. Kyrgyz and Tajik delegations have held several rounds of talks in recent years but have failed to end the border controversy.

Along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border, the troops from the two countries exchanged gunfire for most of the day around a water supply facility near the village of Kok-Tash in western Kyrgyzstan.

More than 800 Kyrgyz residents were evacuated from several villages engulfed by the clashes.

On late Thursday, officials from the two countries declared a cease-fire and agreed to pull back troops from the area.

But a Kyrgyz police spokeswoman in Batken, Damira Yusupova, said heavy firing broke out again before dawn on Friday.

However, amid the clashes, Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Zhaparov met with top officials to discuss the situation.

JERUSALEM, 30 April, 2021 (TON): On Friday, at least 44 people and about 150 injured in a sudden rush at a religious festival attended by tens of thousands of Jews in northern Israel.

Medical officials said, it was one of the country’s deadliest civilian disasters.

The stampede occurred during the celebrations of Lag BaOmer at Mount Meron, the first mass religious gathering to be held legally since Israel lifted nearly all restrictions related to the pandemic.

Lag BaOmer draws tens of thousands of people, mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews, each year to honor Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a 2nd century sage and mystic who is buried there. Large crowds traditionally light bonfires, pray and dance as part of the celebrations.

The panic began when large numbers of people trying to exit the site thronged a narrow tunnel-like passage, according to witnesses and video footage.

People began falling on top of each other near the end of the walkway, as they descended slippery metal stairs, witnesses said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the stampede a “great tragedy” and said everyone was praying for the victims.

However, the death toll was on par with the number of people killed in a 2010 forest fire, which is believed to be the deadliest civilian tragedy in the country’s history.

THIMPHU, 30 April, 2021 (TON): The Bhutanese engineers will complete building a prototype of Bhutan’s second satellite by end of this year, Department of Information Technology and Telecom (DITT) officials said.

The joint satellite project was announced in 2019 and a memorandum of understanding was signed between the two governments on the cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space on November 19, 2020.

A team of four engineers DITT, three from DITT and one from College of Science and Technology, attended a two months course in the first phase of a joint satellite project with Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in Bangalore.

The type, design of satellite, and its payload of the satellite were decided by these four.

The team also received technical training from ISRO. The design of the satellite is based on previously launched ISRO Nano-satellite.

The satellite would be much bigger than Bhutan-1, which was a CubeSat with dimension 10*10*10, and much more complicated, said DITT Deputy Executive Engineer Kiran Kumar Pradhan.

Kiran Kumar Pradhan said, “A different handset is required to use the free frequency bands.”

For the second phase of the project, ISRO and DITT teams will work on primary and secondary payloads respectively.

However, the two teams will meet again when their prototypes complete to jointly work on the assembly and integration of the whole satellite. The satellite will be launched in one of the rockets of ISRO.

COLOMBO, 30 April, 2021 (TON): Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said, the first group of Sri Lankans held at the ‘Tarheel’ deportation center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, will be returning to Sri Lanka on Friday.

On 3 and 5 May, the second and third group of the detainees will also be returning to Sri Lanka.

At least 41 Sri Lankan women, the majority of whom are migrant domestic workers have been held at a Deportation Detention (Tarheel) Centre in Riyadh for periods ranging from eight to 18 months, said an Amnesty International report.

However, this repatriation process of deportation is because of the ongoing collaboration between the Saudi authorities and the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh.

NEW YORK, 30 April, 2021 (TON): Bangladesh’s historic resolution on Global Drowning Prevention has been unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly.

On 28 April, Bangladesh's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Rabab Fatima, introduced the resolution, which was co-led by Ireland and co-sponsored by 81 UN member states.

According to the resolution, drowning affects all countries and provides a framework for action for an effective response to the unacceptably high number of drowning deaths.

Accordingly, the UN declared 25 July a new UN Day for drowning prevention to promote awareness and encourage national action, and to share best practices and key solutions to drowning.

According to the WHO's latest estimates, drowning is the cause of 235,000 deaths each year. The number of deaths from drowning in Bangladesh is around 18000 every year.

Also, many countries report that drowning as a leading cause of childhood mortality, particularly in children under the age of five.

The resolution says drowning is a preventable cause of mortality that disproportionately affects children and adolescents within and among nations, says a statement.

Rabab Fatima said, “We have reduced child mortality rates globally, however, if we cannot bring death from drowning to 'zero', our success in primary healthcare, and therefore, achievement of SDG-3 will remain unaccomplished."

However, the resolution encourages the UN member states to prevent drowning by developing national prevention plan and programs, enact national laws, and create awareness.

NEW DELHI, 30 April, 2021 (TON): The party would form the next government in West Bengal by winning more than 200 seats, claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"The BJP is going to win more than 200 seats regardless of whatever the figures of the exit polls suggest. During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections nobody said that the BJP may win 18 seats. However, the party stunned everyone. Let's wait for the results on May 2, everything will become clear,” said BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya, the West Bengal co-in charge.

Meanwhile, BJP national spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal, "Exit polls cannot be treated as exit polls. West Bengal is amid the air of change. The way Mamata Banerjee has created a confrontation with the central government, kept the people deprived of the Central benefits, indulged in appeasement politics, she is going to lose elections badly. In West Bengal, BJP government is going to be formed with an absolute majority."

Despite, the Axis My India-India Today and the Republic-CNX exit polls gave the BJP an edge in the region, according to the other surveys, the CVoter Exit Poll for Times Now/ABP News, predict a third time victory for the Trinamool, however, putting it ahead in the 294-member Assembly.

TEHRAN, 30 April, 2021 (TON): On Thursday, Iran's Foreign Ministry said, it welcomed signs of reconciliation coming from Saudi Arabia.

Hope to put a quick end to their political differences, it added.

The Ministry spokesman said, Iran and Saudi Arabia are both important states in the Islamic world whose cooperation can lead to peace and stability in the region.

The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated, "In the end, Iran is a neighboring country. All we hope for is to have a good and special relationship with Iran."

"We want it to prosper and grow as we have Saudi interests in Iran, and they have Iranian interests in Saudi Arabia," he added.

However, after Saudi Iranian talks in Baghdad, the crown prince's remarked politely.

BEIJING, 29 April, 2021 (TON): A recent report said, New Zealand has decided to distant itself from Australia to blacken China on its human-rights record.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said, "It's not necessary, all the time on every issue, to invoke Five Eyes as your first port of call in terms of creating a coalition of support around particular issues in the human-rights space.”

The NZ FM made the remarks at a news conference with her Australian counterpart Marise Payne in Wellington, according to the report released on 22 April.

"We also have to acknowledge that China's outlook the nature of China's external engagement both in our region and globally has changed in recent years," said Payne.

Clive Hamilton, a professor at the Charles Sturt University said, "New Zealand is adopting an extremely Beijing-friendly stance on these questions and breaking away from a much stronger position adopted by" the other Five Eyes partners.”

However, Australia had barred Chinese enterprises from participating in its 5G network construction on trumped-up charges.

Meanwhile, Australia frequently denied investment of Chinese companies in the country under the pretext of national security.