DHAKA, 26 April, 2021 (TON): Bangladesh to host Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe for a day on Tuesday.

On Sunday, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that a meeting will be held between the Chinese diplomat and the Bangladeshi officials on Tuesday.  

Foreign ministry officials said they will discuss issues including cooperation to tackle the pandemic.

However, as Bangladesh is short of the COVID immunization, it is expected that Fenghe's visit follows Bangladesh's decision to join China’s Emergency Vaccine Storage Facility for COVID for South Asia.

KOLKATA, 26 April, 2021 (TON): To control the Australia-type bushfire raging for two days in Mizoram's Lunglei district, the Indian Air Force helicopters with Bambi Buckets have been pressed into service.

Late on Sunday night, the fire had spread to Lunglei town and villages in the adjoining district of Lawngtlai.

The officials said that the Mizoram fire fighters, assisted by Assam Rifles and Border Security Force troops and local volunteer groups have so far failed to put out the fire.

Late on Sunday evening, the Indian Air Force, receiving a SOS from Mizoram government, pressed into service two Mi-17V5 helicopters, equipped with specialized Bambi Buckets, to control the raging bushfire.

On Saturday, at around 7 in the morning, the fire was sparked possibly by some villagers who were trying to clear the hills near Lunglei town, possibly for shifting cultivation common in the hills of Northeast India.

However, the fire snowballed into a raging bushfire spreading to ten village council areas in and around Lunglei town.

By Sunday night, it had spread to three rural development blocks of Lawngtlai district.

Meanwhile, the officials affirmed that the helicopters somehow helped in controlling the raging fire.

COLOMBO, 26 April, 2021 (TON): HSBC today announced the rollout of sustainable payment cards made from 85% recycled plastic in Sri Lanka.

The new cards, with a vertical design, will be initially issued to HSBC’s Premier customers in April and subsequently to all other credit/debit card customers, later this year.

The rollout is part of a new program launched by the bank to introduce sustainable payment cards across all its global locations.

By the end of 2026 HSBC will eliminate single-use PVC plastic, in favor of recycled PVC plastic (rPVC).

However, the program includes HSBC’s debit, credit and commercial cards and is part of the bank’s strategy to reduce its carbon emissions and achieve net zero in its operations and supply chain by 2030 or sooner.

YEREVAN, 26 April, 2021 (TON): In order to pave the way for the June snap parliamentary elections, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced his resignation on Sunday.

In a televised address to the nation, Pashinyan said, "In order to implement the decision on holding snap parliamentary elections on June 20, today I resign from the position of the Prime Minister of Armenia.”

"I am resigning on Citizens' Day, and this is a symbol of the fact that we are returning to the people the power that we received from the people," he said.

According to the Constitution of Armenia, snap parliamentary elections are possible only when the prime minister resigns and no new prime minister is nominated.

Pashinyan’s party will participate in the elections and that he would be its candidate for prime minister, he stated.

Meanwhile, he stressed that he will continue to perform the duties of caretaker prime minister before the elections.

However, following the statement, the presidential administration of Armenia announced that the country's president has approved Pashinyan's resignation.

JAKARTA, 26 April, 2021 (TON): On Sunday, the Indonesian military confirmed to have hands on the missing submarine in Bali.

The authorities said, it has been found cracked apart on the seabed in waters off Bali, as it confirmed that all 53 crew perished in the disaster.

Authorities said that they received signals from the location more than 800 meters deep early Sunday morning.

They had used an underwater submarine rescue vehicle supplied by Singapore to get a visual confirmation of the KRI Nanggala 402.

More parts from the vessel were also retrieved, including an anchor and safety suits worn by crew members, they said.

"There were parts of KRI Nanggala 402, it was broken into three pieces," said Navy Chief of Staff ADM Yudo Margono.

The discovery comes a day after the navy had first confirmed the retrieval of fragments from the submarine, including items from inside the vessel.

However, they had also declared that it had sunk, effectively ending any chance of finding survivors.

KABUL, 25 April, 2021 (TON): Pakistan’s envoy Mohammad Sadiq, leading a delegation from Islamabad, arrived in Kabul for discussions with Afghan leaders on peace, security and related matters.   

Before the arrival of the delegation, National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib confirmed that a Pakistani delegation would visit Kabul to discuss relations between the two countries and current issues. 

Earlier on Friday, the foreign ministers from Afghanistan, Turkey and Pakistan held a meeting in Istanbul in an effort to revive the Afghan peace process days after a key UN-led conference was postponed due to non-participation by the Taliban.  

Turkey's foreign ministry in a statement said that in their meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar, and Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi reiterated their commitment to support a peaceful, sovereign, independent, democratic and unified Afghanistan.   

The joint statement by the three ministers recognized that sustainable peace could be achieved only through an "inclusive Afghan-led and Afghan-owned political process" that aims for a permanent and comprehensive cease-fire along with an inclusive political settlement to end the conflict in Afghanistan. 

They diplomats also recognized the efforts of Turkey, Qatar and the UN to hold a high-level meeting in Istanbul aimed at "giving momentum" to the ongoing Afghanistan peace negotiations. 

Pakistan has played a crucial role in courting the Afghan Taliban for long-awaited intra-Afghan peace talks, aiming at political reconciliation and an end to decades of violence in the war-stricken country. 

NEW DELHI, 25 April, 2021 (TON): Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana was on Saturday sworn as the 48th Chief Justice of India.  President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of office to Justice Ramana at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He will hold the post for about 16 months, until August 26, 2022. 

The swearing-in ceremony of Justice Ramana was attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and his predecessor CJI Sharad A. Bobde. 

He was appointed as a permanent judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on June 27, 2000, and functioned as acting Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court from March 10, 2013 to May 20, 2013. 
Justice Ramana was elevated as the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court on September 2, 2013 and was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court on February 17, 2014. 
He will demit office on August 26, 2022. 

NEW DELHI, 25 April, 2021 (TON): At least eight people were killed and 384 others rescued after a glacier broke and triggered an avalanche close to the Indo-China border in the Indian state of Uttarakhand on Friday. 

“Eight bodies have been recovered. Rescue operations are in progress,” a defence ministry official said on Saturday, adding that six of those rescued were in critical condition. 

According to the army India’s Border Roads Organization (BRO) personnel and General Reserve Engineer Force were rescued after a BRO camp came under avalanche during snowfall near the Sumna area in the Chamoli district of the Himalayan Uttarakhand state on Friday. 

The rescue operation was temporarily halted at night due to weather conditions, the army said, however, it is currently underway in the area located near the India-China border. 

According to experts the glacier burst at Uttarakhand is an outcome of climate change in the Himalayan region which is warming up faster than the other mountain regions.

COLOMBO, 25 April, 2021 (TON): Sri Lanka’s police arrested a top Muslim legislator on Saturday in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks because pressure was mounted to speed up the investigation. 
Detectives took Rishad Bathiudeen, leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Party (ACMP) and a former minister, into custody under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), police spokesman Ajith Rohana said. 
Bathiudeen and his brother Riyaaj were arrested in pre-dawn raids on their homes in Colombo. 
“They were arrested under the PTA based on circumstantial and scientific evidence that they had connections with the suicide bombers who carried out the attacks,” Rohana said in a statement. 
According to a lawyer representing the brothers a presidential inquiry had found no evidence linking them to the bombers and the arrests were a political vendetta. 
“The arrests are politically motivated,” lawyer Rushdhie Habeeb said in a statement, which highlighted how the ACMP had opposed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2019 elections. 
The arrests came three days after the head of Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, accused the government of allowing investigations to stall. 

Nearly 200 people were arrested within days of the suicide attacks on hotels and churches by local Muslims.  

On April 21, 2019, an Easter Sunday, eight explosions targeted different locations in and outside Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, killing at least 250 people.  

SANA’A, 25 April, 2021 (TON): Yemen's Houthi movement said on Sunday it had attacked and hit a military air base in southern Saudi Arabia with a drone but the Saudi-led coalition fighting the group said it had intercepted and destroyed an armed drone fired into the kingdom. 

A Houthi military spokesman said on Twitter the group had targeted the King Khalid air base in Khamis Mushait with a drone. 

There was no Saudi confirmation of any hit. 

The military coalition led by Saudi Arabia said it intercepts the majority of Houthi missile and drone attacks. 

The Houthis took over the Yemeni capital Sanaa and most other cities in 2014 after ousting the Saudi-backed internationally-recognized government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The Western-backed coalition that Saudi Arabia leads intervened to try to restore Hadi to power. 

Riyadh has proposed a truce, but the Houthis reject the offer, saying they want the full lifting of a sea and air blockade which allows the Saudi-led coalition to restrict imports into Yemen. 

The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels since March 2015. 

The conflict has killed 100,000 people and led to what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The UN estimates that twenty-two million Yemenis remain in need of assistance, eight million are at risk of famine, and a cholera outbreak has affected over one million people. All sides of the conflict are reported to have violated human rights and international humanitarian law.