DHAKA, 26 August 2022, (TON): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said “Myanmar should let the international organizations work in the Rakhine state to create a proper environment for the dignified return of the forcibly displaced Rohingya people.”

She said when UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer met her “Myanmar should allow international organizations to work in Rakhine state.”

The premier was quoted as saying “we are pursuing this with Myanmar and also discussed it with them. But no response has yet come. We want to solve it. How long can we host so many people?”

She said “some Rohingya people are involved in drug, human trafficking and other social problems.”

DHAKA, 26 August 2022, (TON): US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken has said “his country is working to increase resettlement of Rohingya refugees from the region, including from Bangladesh, so that they can rebuild their lives in the United States.”

While mentioning the resettlement issue, he referred to an essential component of an international and comprehensive humanitarian response.

Blinken said “the US remains committed to advancing justice and accountability for Rohingya refugees and the people of Myanmar in solidarity with the victims and survivors.”

He said “we continue to support the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, the case under the Genocide Convention that The Gambia has brought against Burma before the International Court of Justice.”

DHAKA, 26 August 2022, (TON): Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed has received US visa to join a two-day United Nations Chiefs of Police Summit scheduled to be held from August 31 to September 1.

The IGP is included in a six-member delegation slated to participate at the meeting.

Sharif Mahmud Apu, public relations officer of the home ministry said “led by Home Minister Asaduzzam Khan the delegation will leave Dhaka for USA on August 28 night.”

An official of the home ministry said “the IGP had been granted visa only for the purpose to join the summit.”

Other member of the delegation are Joint secretary of public security division of the home ministry Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal, home minister's personal secretary Mohammad Asaduzzaman.

KABUL, 26 August 2022, (TON): Flooding in Afghanistan this month has killed more than 180 people as torrential rains wrought widespread devastation in central and eastern Afghan provinces.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said “182 people had been killed and 250 injured. More than 3,100 houses were destroyed and thousands of livestock were killed, exacerbating the country’s economic and humanitarian crisis.”

Mujahid said “the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan can’t manage the floods alone, we ask the world, international organisations and Islamic countries to help us.”

Afghanistan has been reeling from natural disasters this year, including drought and an earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people in June. The nation has been largely cut off from the international financial system since the Taliban took more than a year ago.

DHAKA, 26 August 2022, (TON): Bangladesh and India finalized the text of a memorandum of understanding on interim water sharing of Kushiyara river.

Both sides welcomed finalization of the design and location of water intake point on the Feni river to meet the drinking water needs of Sabroom town in Tripura as per the October 2019 Bangladesh-India MoU on this subject.

At the 38th ministerial-level Joint Rivers Commission meeting held in New Delhi, two countries discussed several issues related to water-sharing treaties of various rivers, including Teesta and Ganga.

The meeting was held after a gap of twelve years as the last meeting was held in 2010.

WASHINGTON, 25 August 2022, (TON): The US military said it carried out air strikes in Syria’s Deir Ezzor against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The strikes came even as the United States aimed to respond to a draft agreement proposed by the European Union that would bring back the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that former President Donald Trump abandoned and current President Joe Biden has sought to revive.

The military’s Central Command said in a statement that such strikes were aimed at protecting US forces from attack by Iran-backed groups.

GENEVA, 25 August 2022, (TON): The WHO said “there have been 473 verified attacks on health care in Ukraine since Russia invaded six months ago, which have killed nearly 100 people.”

The World Health Organization’s Europe chief Hans Kluge branded the attacks unconscionable.

As well as the 98 people known to have been killed in verified attacks on health care, at least 134 others were wounded, the WHO’s figures showed.

Nearly 400 of the attacks hit health facilities. Dozens of attacks struck transport, including ambulances, while warehouses, supplies, personnel and patients were also damaged.

UNITED NATIONS, 25 August 2022, (TON): UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for an end to the war in Ukraine as the country marks the 31st anniversary of independence from the collapsed Soviet Union and six months since Russian forces invaded.

Guterres told the UN Security Council “the consequences of this senseless war are being felt far beyond Ukraine.”

He said “on the 31st anniversary I wish to congratulate the Ukrainian people.”

He added “they need peace, and they need peace now”.

The United Nations chief took the floor ahead of a special meeting to discuss the conflict and briefed the council on his mission to Ukraine’s port of Odesa and Turkey earlier this month. During that trip, he witnessed the progress of a grain export deal between Kyiv and Moscow.

KHARTOUM, 25 August 2022, (TON): The first US ambassador to Sudan in 25 years took up his post Wednesday in the latest easing of ties since Washington removed Khartoum from it state sponsors of terrorism list.

Ties between the United States and Sudan were severely strained under the three-decade rule of ousted president Omar Al-Bashir, with Washington slapping crippling economic sanctions on Khartoum.

In 1993, the US blacklisted Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism as Bashir’s regime hosted Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, who resided in the country between 1992-1996.

ISTANBUL, 25 August 2022, (TON): The United States promised to expand its visa processing capacity in Turkey, moving to defuse a dispute that has threatened to further strain already difficult relations between the NATO allies.

US visa applicants in Turkey have been facing enormous delays, with wait times for an appointment extending up to 15 months.

 It is part of a global bottleneck in US visa services after Washington halted almost all visa processing worldwide in March 2020 due to the pandemic.

But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday accused the United States and also some European nations of intentionally drawing out their visa application process, calling it an effort to embarrass President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party ahead of elections in Turkey next year.