RIYADH, 09 February 2022, (TON): Saudi Press Agency reported “Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made a phone call to Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.”

During the call, they discussed relations between the two countries in various fields and ways of developing them.

SPA said “the two sides also reviewed promising opportunities within the work of the Saudi-Singapore Joint Committee.”

LONDON, 09 February 2022, (TON): According to Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen “Yemen is in a state of escalatory military action and the Houthi militia must see that their recent losses indicate “there is no military solution and the only pathway forward is dialogue.”

He said “the Houthi offensive on the Yemeni province of Marib, including repeated attacks on civilian areas and against camps for internally displaced persons, has been the primary obstacle to peace efforts.”

Lenderking was speaking during a virtual discussion organized by the US Institute of Peace, in cooperation with the UN Development Program, to examine the latter’s recent report titled Assessing the Impact of War in Yemen: Pathways for Recovery.

JEDDAH, 09 February 2022, (TON): A revived agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program is in sight, the US said as international talks resumed in Vienna.

Negotiators from Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia returned to the luxury Palais Coburg hotel in the Austrian capital after a break last month for consultations with their governments.

The US is involved in the talks indirectly.

The aim is to restore the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which collapsed in 2018 when the US pulled out.

The JCPOA restricted Iran’s nuclear development in return for the lifting of economic sanctions.

The US State Department said “a deal that addresses all sides’ core concerns is in sight, but if it is not reached in the coming weeks, Iran’s ongoing nuclear advances will make it impossible for us to return to the JCPOA.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that answers that “the US brings to Vienna will determine when we can reach an agreement. We have made significant progress in various areas.”

KYIV, 09 February 2022, (TON): French President Emmanuel Macron said “he had convinced Russia’s Vladimir Putin not to escalate the crisis around Ukraine, ahead of talks in Kyiv aimed at defusing fears Moscow could invade.”

During a five-hour meeting over dinner in the Kremlin, Macron said “he offered Putin concrete security guarantees as the West scrambles to deal with Russia’s massive troop build-up on Ukraine’s border.

“I obtained that there will be no degradation nor escalation,” the French leader told journalists as he arrived in Kyiv for talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Macron said “my aim was to freeze the game, to prevent an escalation and open up new perspectives.”

“This objective for me is fulfilled.”

Putin who has demanded sweeping security guarantees from NATO and the United States told Macron that Moscow would “do everything to find compromises that suit everyone.”

He said “several proposals put forward by Macron could form a basis for further steps on easing the crisis over Ukraine, but did not give any details.”

At the same time as sending its military hardware to Ukraine’s borders, Moscow issued demands the West says are unacceptable, including barring Ukraine from joining NATO and rolling back alliance forces in eastern Europe.

DHAKA, 09 February 2022, (TON): South Sudan has expressed keen interest in leasing their huge fellow land to Bangladesh as the African landlocked country has also sought cooperation in producing different crops.

The proposal came while South Sudanese Deputy Minister for Foreign and International Cooperation Affairs Deng DauDeng Malek held a meeting with Agriculture Minister Dr M Abdur Razzaque at his secretariat office here this afternoon.

Responding to the proposal, Bangladesh will send an expert team comprising of various experts including agricultural researchers, scientist and extension workers to the African country to identify particular sector for extending cooperation.

Agriculture Secretary M Sayedul Islam,Additional secretary M Ruhul Amin Talukder, South Sudanese foreign ministry official Mayom Allian, Bangladesh Ambassador to Ethiopia M Nazrul Islam and Deputy Director General of Sena KalyanSangstha Colonel M Mahbubur Rahman, among others, attended the meeting.

KABUL, 09 February 2022, (TON): Jafar Mahdavi, head of Millat-e-Mutahid Party, has called on the international community to recognize the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) and release Afghanistan’s frozen assets.

Mahdawi, who was among the delegation of Afghan civil activists who visited Norway for a three-day summit last month, stressed that Afghans would suffer more hardships if the West fails to recognize the current government in the country.

Addressing a press conference, he stated “the release of [Afghanistan’s] frozen assets by the US could make the situation better for the people and could resolve [economic] issues among the people.”

Mahdavi added that government will soon hire experts from all Afghan ethnicity “especially Hazaras.”

Mahdavi urged the IEA to create a special court to prosecute former corrupt officials in order to recoup stolen assets.

Mahdavi stated “the criminals should be prosecuted and a court should be formed so that stolen money would be returned. Security and welfare should be maintained for the people of Afghanistan.”

A number of participants at the Norway summit believe that such meetings could provide an opportunity to raise concerns that Afghans have.

KABUL, 09 February 2022, (TON): Iranian media have reported that China to host a gathering of the Foreign Ministers of the neighboring countries of Afghanistan on the country as early as next month.

This will be the third such meeting in Afghanistan in which participate Foreign Ministers of Iran, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.

As per the report of Irna Newsagency, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a telephonic call with Iran’s Foreign Minister Amir Abdulahian said that the meeting on Afghanistan is to take place in March-end in the Chinese capital Peking. The meeting is said to be an in-person one.

The first meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries happened in Pakistan while the second one was hosted by Iran.

NEW DELHI, 09 February 2022, (TON): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has conveyed to his Sri Lankan counterpart GL Peiris that Colombo's interests are best served by ensuring equality, justice and respect for the Tamil people within a united Sri Lanka.

He called for expeditiously taking forward mutually beneficial projects including the ones to enhance air and sea connectivity.

In his talks with Peiris in New Delhi on Monday, Mr Jaishankar also talked about the need for keeping the shared maritime domain safe from various contemporary threats and assured that India would always stand by the island nation in its times of need, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

The MEA said on Tuesday that both sides reiterated the longstanding consensus to handle the fishermen issue through a humanitarian approach and refrain from the use of violence in dealing with incidents along the international maritime boundary line.

It said the Sri Lankan foreign minister expressed gratitude for India's recent assistance and updated the external affairs minister on the steps taken by the government of Sri Lanka on human rights and reconciliation.

In the talks, Mr Jaishankar also said that "devolution of power" is an important aspect of the Tamil reconciliation process.

NEW DELHI, 09 February 2022, (TON): When the students were barred last month from entering their classrooms and told not to wear hijab, a headscarf used by Muslim women, they began camping outside the all-girls high school.

The story cascaded across the internet, drawing news crews to the front of the government-run school in Udupi district, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

Battle lines were swiftly drawn. The students began protesting outside the school gate and sat huddled in a group, reading their lessons.

The school staff, which said the students were defying uniform rules, remained unmoved.

A month on, more schools have begun implementing a similar ban on hijabs, forcing the state’s top court to step in. It will hear petitions filed by the protesting students and rule on whether to overturn the ban.

But the uneasy standoff has raised fears among the state's Muslim students who say they are being deprived of their religious rights.

DHAKA, 09 February 2022, (TON): US diplomatic sources said that Washington expects an expanded security alongside trade ties with Bangladesh, envisioning next 50 years while 2022 marks 50 years of its relations with Dhaka after its 1971 emergence, amid some newer developments.

In an informal opinion exchange interaction with BSS diplomatic correspondent and some other foreign affairs reporters this week, officials based in Dhaka’s US embassy said “Washington actually seeks strong and greater cooperation with Bangladesh.”

They visibly were of the opinion that the existing period created scopes for cementing further a stronger “security and trade ties” while the two countries this year were also celebrating golden jubilee of their diplomatic relations.

An official of US Embassy in course the interactions said “this year is really an opportunity to build on those strong ties that we have in the areas of commerce, trade and also in security cooperation.”

The official, however, said his government wants security cooperation to continue with Bangladesh as it was underway in the passing years but under a newly adopted US policy update of its ‘Leahy Law”.