MALE, 24 April, 2021 (TON): Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) announced the date for national council elections to be 29 May.

In a press conference on Saturday morning, MDP spokesperson, North Maafannu MP Imthiyaz Fahmy (Inthi) said that the party will be electing 455 representatives to districts, provinces and cities.

He said, “Presidents will be elected to districts. Vice presidents will be elected to districts, as will secretaries, deputy secretaries and media secretaries. Presidents and vice presidents will be elected to provinces.”

Inthi said that polling will take place from 09:00 am to 05:00 pm on May 29 in all residential islands.

He said that the eligibility of voters will not be based on the registry of Elections Commission, but the registry managed by MDP.

However, all members registered to MDP by April 18 will be eligible to vote in the elections.

KHARTOUM, 24 April, 2021 (TON): If Ethiopia plan to fill dam on the Nile without a deal with Sudan and Egypt, Sudan will take legal action against Ethiopia; Khartoum warned.

“Ethiopia has objected to the invitation of Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok for a three-way summit and we see that there is no justification for that,” Water Minister Yasser Abbas tweeted.

If Ethiopia goes ahead with the filling, Sudan “would file lawsuits against the Italian company constructing the dam and the Ethiopian government,” Abbas warned.

The tensions over the dam come as Sudan’s relations with Egypt warm while its relations with Ethiopia have been hit by a dispute over the use of the Fashaga farmland near their common border.

However, there had been a tripartite dispute between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia over a decade over the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) which broke ground in 2011.

KABUL, 24 April, 2021 (TON): Amidst a new surge in the insurgent attacks, over the past 12 hours, at least six people, including two civilians and four security force members, were killed in different security incidents in Kabul.

On Friday, a government employee, Baryalai Tokhi, was killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen in the Rishkhor area in Kabul’s District 7, sources said.

Police confirmed the incident and said it is under investigation. 

Meanwhile, early on Saturday morning, Rafi Osmani, a lecturer at Peshgam Higher Education Institute, was killed in an attack by gunmen when he was on the way to the university in Kabul’s District 4, police said.

However, Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said all the incidents are under investigation.

KINHASA, 24 April, 2021 (TON): The Democratic Republic of Congo claimed for billions as it accused Uganda of barbarity over a brutal war 20 years ago.

The accusation was made at the UN’s top court with Kampala telling the International Court of Justice that the suffering of the 1998-2003 war was disproportionate.

On Tuesday, at the hearing at the Hague-based court, Uganda’s Attorney General William Byaruhanga rejected the staggering demands by Kinshasa.

Byaruhanga said, "As a matter of international law, and state practice Uganda considered the DRC's unbending demands to be both unfounded and excessive in the extreme. So the parties again stand before this court. What has changed after the DRC revived the case? Nothing except that that the DRC reduced its demand from roughly US dollars 23.5 to almost US dollars 13.5 billion. This significant drop only confirms that the DRC's claims are rooted in tactics, not reality.''

However, previously, the International Court of Justice had ruled in 2005 that Uganda had to pay Kinshasa reparations for invading its territory during the war leaving 3 million people dead.

But now, the court must make its final ruling on the amount of compensation after both countries failed to strike a deal via negotiations.

JAKARTA, 24 April, 2021 (TON): On Saturday, the Southeast Asian leaders met Myanmar’s top general and coup leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in an emergency summit in Indonesia.

It is expected that the leaders would press call for an end to violence by security forces that has left hundreds of protesters dead as well as the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees.

There is little hope for an immediate breakthrough in the two-hour gathering in Jakarta between Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and the six heads of state and three foreign ministers representing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on the eve of the summit, “The unfolding tragedy has serious consequences for Myanmar, ASEAN and the region.”

However, one proposal that has been discussed in preliminary meetings is to travel to Myanmar to meet the military leadership and Suu Kyi’s camp to encourage dialogue.

COX’S BAZAR, 24 April, 2021 (TON): On Friday, three dead bodies found with their throats slashed in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar's Ukhia.

The Armed Police Action Battalion (APBN) recovered the bodies from the Kutupalong Rohingya Camp 2 East in Rajapalong Union.

Among the dead were a married couple and a sister-in-law, said SP Naimul.

SP Naimul Haque, captain of APBn's Cox's Bazar-14 unit said while citing locals, the relationship between Nurul Islam and his wife had been rocky for some time and the two had an altercation on Friday evening.

He said, “At one point, they attacked each other with sharp weapons, which led to the deaths.”

Informed of the matter, the APBn recovered the bodies of three people from the house. Meanwhile, the bodies were subsequently handed over to Ukhia police, and for autopsy the bodies were sent to Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital's morgue.

THIMPHU, 24 April, 2021 (TON): In Bumthang this week, the Royal Civil Service Commission and the Ministry of Finance jointly launched the piloting of Cluster Finance Services.

The objective of the initiative is based on the concept of sharing of services by leveraging the use of ICT.

It will bring together all finance personnel working in various regional/autonomous/branch offices under one cluster office in each region or dzongkhag.

All finance services would be catered from the office of Cluster Finance Services irrespective of the location of the agencies.

The initiative will optimize and rationalize the deployment of finance personnel and eliminate the current practice of their placement in individual agencies and achieve the objective of doing more with less.

However, this initiative does not include the finance sections of the dzongkhag administration.

QUETTA, 24 April, 2021 (TON): Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, the Parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in the Baluchistan Assembly has been threatened to resign from the post of special assistant to the PM if he fails to resolve electricity and gas supply issues.

Rind is the special on water, power and natural resources for the province.

Rind, also an education minister in the Baluchistan cabinet, said that over the last three years he was never invited to any meeting by the federal power minister or taken into confidence on any issue related to water and power.

Rind said that he was special assistant to the PM only to the extent of a notification issued in this regard, “but in practice I am nothing.”

The official criticized the Sui Southern Gas Company and Wapda for committing atrocities against the people of Baluchistan by depriving them of proper gas and power supply.

However, according to Rind, he made efforts to find out a solution to gas and electricity supply problem, but the former federal minister for energy and the federal government had given no importance to his efforts.

NANJING, 24 April, 2021 (TON): A call for the international community has been made to cooperate in the moon station project has been by Chinese and Russian aerospace authorities.

On Friday, at a conference for the international moon station in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, the announcement was made by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos.

In a joint statement issued at the conference, the CNSA and Roscosmos said the moon station will be open to all interested countries, international organizations and partners in terms of planning, design, research, development, implementation and operation at all stages and levels of the project.

CNSA deputy director Wu Yanhua said China and Russia will build the moon station with other international partners.

Importantly, the station will be another important contribution by China and Russia to promote the long-term and sustainable development of United Nations (UN) outer space activities.

MALE, 24 April, 2021 (TON): A special package for Qatari nationals and residents to vacation in the Maldives has been introduced by the Qatar Airways.

Under the package, Qatari nationals and residents are not required to undergo quarantine if they have completed both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine after spending their holidays in the Maldives.

Travelers under this package are also eligible for a three-night all-inclusive package at Diamonds Thundufushi Resort or Sandies Bathala Resort.

Qatar Airlines was the first airline to commence operations to the Maldives since the nation reopened its borders back in July 2020.

However, the airline connects the Maldives with some of the biggest tourist source markets such as the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The airline has also previously introduced similar packages to this one.