WASHINGTON, 18 August 2022, (TON): The National Council of Resistance of Iran in the US urged American authorities and the wider international community to stand firm against the regime in Iran and its efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

The call came during a conference in Washington organized by the council.

The speakers included a number of American former political and military leaders who called for support for regime change spearheaded by the Iranian people.

The US, under President Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from the JCPoA in 2018.

JACKSON, 18 August 2022, (TON): Republican rebel Liz Cheney lost her seat in Congress to an election conspiracy theorist, but vowed to fight on and do whatever it takes to ensure that former president Donald Trump is never returned to power.

Once considered Republican royalty, the lawmaker from Wyoming has become a pariah in the party over her membership on the congressional panel investigating the January 6 assault on the US Capitol and Trump’s role in fanning the flames.

The Wyoming congresswoman said “I have said since January 6 that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office, and I mean it.”

BERLIN, 18 August 2022, (TON): German government said “German soldiers in Mali spotted several dozen suspected Russian security forces in the city of Gao just as the last French soldiers left the country.”

A foreign ministry spokesman said “the German ambassador in Bamako has contacted Mali’s foreign minister about “the suspected presence of Russian uniformed forces in Gao.”

Gao is home to a contingent of German soldiers, not far from the former base occupied by the French.

The spokesman said “a Russian presence in the city would be a development that changes the mission environment.”

He added that the government was also discussing the matter with the United Nations.

KYIV, 18 August 2022, (TON): Russia has replaced the commander of its Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet, a state news agency reported.

This comes after a series of explosions rocked the peninsula it annexed in 2014 and had previously seen as a secure rear base for its war in Ukraine.

Russia’s Kommersant newspaper said “Moscow blamed saboteurs for blasts that engulfed an ammunition depot in northern Crimea. Plumes of smoke were later seen rising at a second Russian military base in central Crimea.”

Ukraine has not officially taken responsibility but has hinted at it.

The apparent Ukrainian capability to strike deeper into Russian-occupied territory, either with some form of weapon or with sabotage, indicates a shift in the conflict. Blasts destroyed warplanes at a Russian naval air base in Crimea last week.

RIYADH, 18 August 2022, (TON): Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Jeddah.

The Saudi Press Agency reported “the pair held a meeting and discussed bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields, in addition to reviewing a number of issues of common interest.”

The crown prince and Uzbek president then attended the exchange of various agreements between the two countries.

The two nations inked a number a deals worth over SR45 billion ($12 billion), including a wind project in Uzbekistan by ACWA Power. We want to make this relationship one of the most important for Saudi Arabia.

By Ermeya Afshain

This day was assigned in memory of the 19 August 2003 bomb assault on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, killing 22 individuals, remembering the main compassionate for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly formalized the day as World Humanitarian Day (WHD).

Every year, WHD centers around a subject, uniting accomplices from across the philanthropic framework to advocate for the endurance, prosperity and nobility of individuals impacted by emergencies, and for the wellbeing and security of help laborers.

World Humanitarian Day 2022 happens on Friday,19th August. In 2022, the subject for World Humanitarian Day will be #RealLifeHeroes. The mission will share motivating individual accounts of the philanthropic people that have been legends during the Covid-19 pandemic This year, we feature the quick human expense of the environment emergency by compelling world pioneers to make a significant environment move for the world's most weak individuals.

The environment crisis is unleashing ruin across the world at a scale that individuals on the bleeding edges and in the helpful local area can't make due. There's simply no time left for the world's most weak individuals — the people who have contributed least to the worldwide environment crisis yet are stirred things up around town — and a huge number of others that are as of now losing their homes, their vocations, and their lives.

With most environment crusades zeroed in on easing back environmental change and getting the planet's future, World Humanitarian Day 2021, will feature the quick results of the environment crisis for the world's most weak individuals and guarantee that their voices are heard, and their necessities top the plan at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November.

Thusly, everybody is welcome to join #TheHumanRace, which is the worldwide test for environment activity in fortitude with individuals who need it the most; and to put the requirements of environment weak individuals up front at the UN environment culmination (COP26).

Stand in fortitude with the world's most weak individuals by utilizing these hashtags in your web-based entertainment exercises #TheHumanRace #WorldHumanitarianDay

By TON Sri Lanka

The geo-political disagreements over Sri Lanka’s granting permission to the Chinese survey and tracking vessel Yuan Wag 5 at the Hambantota port from August 11 to 17, has blown over with India and the US finally taking an accommodative stance. The vessel, which was in the vicinity of the Hambantota port in South Sri Lanka, is finally docked now.

India had delivered a demarche to the Sri Lankan government expressing its objections to the docking of the vessel on the grounds that it could spy on vital Indian installations in South India. However, on Friday, India’s External Affairs Ministry categorically rejected that it had mounted pressure on Sri Lanka concerning the said vessel.

The Sri Lankan government had sought from the Indian High Commission and the US embassy, “solid causes” for opposing to the docking of the vessel. When they could not give such reasons, the Lankan government decided to grant permission to the vessel to berth at the harbor.

Earlier, due to the concerns raised by the Indian and US embassies, the Lankan Foreign Ministry had asked the Chinese Ambassador to “defer” the arrival of the vessel to give time for “consultations”.

The Chinese came back to say that the demand for postponement was intolerable as the vessel was on a flawlessly genuine scientific mission and was wanted to port only for replenishment. China suggested that Sri Lanka was being pressured to deny permission by a “third party” in violation of Sri Lankan dominion. The objection was “absurd”, China said in a communique released in Beijing.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs thinks that Sri Lanka is a conveyance hub in the Indian Ocean. Many scientific exploration ships including those from China have stopped at the ports of Sri Lanka for resupplies. China has always exercised freedom of navigation in the high seas and fully respects the jurisdiction of coastal states in respect of scientific exploration activities within their jurisdictional waters.”

Sri Lanka is a sovereign state. It can develop relations with other countries, in light of its own growth interest. Collaboration between Sri Lanka and China are independently chosen by the two countries based on mutual interests. Mentioning security concerns is ridiculous, to pressure Sri Lanka. China urges the relevant parties to see China’s scientific exploration in a reasonable and sensible way and stop disturbing usual exchange of cooperation between China and Sri Lanka is not acceptable.

India’s criticism was that Sri Lanka had not kept it informed about the coming of the vessel. India and Sri Lanka are part of an institution called “Security and Growth for All in the Region” or SAGAR, that is intended to shape an inclusive and helpful approach to regional security. India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are part of a scheme to keep track of activities in the Indian Ocean Region under the rubric of “Maritime Domain Awareness.

Sri Lanka should have informed India about the consent given to the vessel to dock in Hambantota, but it did not. Sri Lanka’s reasoning that the vessel is on a harmless scientific mission and not on an intelligence-gathering mission did not convince New Delhi and Washington. Colombo was felt constrained to ask China to defer the arrival of the vessel to allow time for consultations.

China’s subsequent rejection of the objections put Colombo in a fixed. It needed India’s financial support to control over the economic crisis. India had already loaned US$ 3.8 billion. On the other hand, Colombo could also not leave China, which had to collaborate to enable Sri Lanka to get an IMF bailout. In other words, Sri Lanka could not also alienate china to help clear the Sri Lankan mess.

However, none of the parties wanted Sri Lanka to sink. Therefore, a cooperation was worked out so that the vessel could dock. Since the Sri Lanka navy is in charge of security in Hambantota port though a Chinese company had taken it on a lease, that’s why Lankan naval officers boarded the ship.

DHAKA, 18 August 2022, (TON): The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Dhaka celebrated the 77th Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia.

The event started with a flag hoisting ceremony in the morning in the premises of the embassy.

There were more than 150 participants including diplomats and staff of the embassy, Indonesian citizens and diaspora living around Dhaka.

The ceremony was held with limited participants as part of strict health protocols regarding.

The embassy also hosted several other activities, among others fun games and competitions participated by the Indonesian communities, as well as cultural performances called Panggung Gembira and also food stalls festivals, soon after the flag ceremony was held.

DHAKA, 18 August 2022, (TON): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reiterated her call to Myanmar to take back home Bangladesh's more than one million Rohingya nationals from their temporary shelter in Bangladesh.

The prime minister told "the Rohingyas are the nationals of Myanmar and they have to be taken back.”

PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed the media after the meeting.

He quoted the PM as telling the UN rights chief that Myanmar neither refuses that Rohingyas are not their nationals nor is taking them back to their homeland.

NEW DELHI, 18 August 2022, (TON): Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said “as the region gains prominence many countries getting active in the Indian Ocean trying to expand their influence.”

He was responding to a question on the Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship ‘Yuan Wang 5,’ that was granted access to the Hambantota Port.

However, he said “the Indian Ocean will not become another flash point between India and China.”

The External Affairs Minister said “India needs to take care of its national interests but can’t claim exclusivity in the region.”