DHAKA, 13 August 2022, (TON): Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen “Bangladesh sought information on the deposits of Bangladeshi money in the Swiss banks, but the Swiss side did not respond to the query.”

Momen said this after his conversation on the issue with Bangladesh Bank governor Abdur Rouf Talukder and finance secretary Fatima Yasmin.

The foreign minister said that he advised the governor and the finance ministry to come up with the statements as confusion arose following some media reports quoting  the ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh, Nathalie Chuard.

he said “Let’s know first from the statements from the governor and the finance ministry.”

Momen said “it was not true that Bangladesh did not seek information from Switzerland.”

DHAKA, 13 August 2022, (TON): Bangladesh and India have expressed commitment to elevating engagements between their armed forces and reviewed the progress of bilateral defence cooperation initiatives.

At the 4th Bangladesh-India Annual Defence Dialogue held in New Delhi, both the sides emphasised the need to work closely to implement the $500 million line of credit extended from India for defence items.

Principal Staff Officer of Armed Forces Division of Bangladesh Lieutenant General Waker-Uz-Zaman and Indian Defence secretary Ajay Kumar co-chaired the dialogue.

Different aspects of defence industrial and capability-building cooperation came up for detailed discussions.

Ajay also invited the Bangladeshi delegation to the upcoming DefExpo 2022.

COPENHAGEN, 12 August 2022, (TON): Britain and Denmark will provide more financial and military aid to Ukraine, they said on Thursday as European defense ministers met in Copenhagen to discuss long-term support for the country’s defense against Russia’s invasion.

Britain, which has already donated advanced weapons systems to Ukraine and given thousands of its troops military training, said “it would send more multiple-launch rocket systems.”

It would also donate a significant number of precision guided M31A1 missiles that can strike targets up to 80km away.

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said “this latest tranche of military support will enable the armed forces of Ukraine to continue to defend against Russian aggression and the indiscriminate use of long-range artillery.”

DR Congo, 12 August 2022, (TON): Sources said “more than 800 inmates have escaped from a prison in eastern DR Congo after gunmen staged a jailbreak in which two policemen were killed.”

Captain Antony Mualushayi, the military spokesman in the Beni region, said “armed men “attacked Kakwangura central prison in the town of Butembo.”

He said “the initial toll, which is still provisional, is two policemen killed.”

He added that an assailant had also died.

A source in the prison service, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that out of the 872 inmates, all but 49 had escaped.

Mualushayi said an unidentified Mai-Mai group carried out the attack. The term Mai-Mai refers to an ethnic self-defence organisation, which are legion in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s troubled east.

HOSTENS, 12 August 2022, (TON): Firefighting teams and equipment from six EU nations started to arrive in France to help battle a spate of wildfires, including a fierce blaze in the parched southwest that has forced thousands to evacuate.

Most of the country is sweltering under a summer heatwave compounded by a record drought conditions most experts say will occur more often as a result of rapid climate change.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said “we must continue, more than ever, our fight against climate disruption and... adapt to this climate disruption."

The European Commission said “four firefighting planes would be sent to France from Greece and Sweden, as well as teams from Austria, Germany, Poland and Romania.”

BAGHDAD, 12 August 2022, (TON): Powerful Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr called on the country’s judiciary to dissolve parliament by end of next week, threatening unspecific consequences if it does not do what he says.

The populist leader has helped inflame tensions in Iraq over the last two weeks by commanding thousands of followers to storm and occupy parliament, preventing the formation of a government nearly 10 months after elections.

His political opponents, mostly fellow Shiites backed by Iran, have refused to accede to Sadr’s demands, raising fears of fresh unrest and violence in a conflict-weary Iraq.

Sadr said in a statement “the judiciary must dissolve parliament by the end of next week… if not, the revolutionaries will take another stance.”

SEOUL, 12 August 2022, (TON): North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared victory over and ordered preventive measures eased just three months after acknowledging an outbreak, claiming the country’s widely disputed success would be recognized as a global health miracle.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency also reported “Kim’s sister said her brother had suffered a fever and blamed the North Korean outbreak on leaflets flown from across the border from South Korea, while warning of deadly retaliation.”

Some experts believe North Korea has manipulated the scale of the outbreak to help Kim maintain absolute control of the country amid mounting economic difficulties.

They believe the victory statement signals Kim’s aim to move to other priorities but are concerned his sister’s remarks portend a provocation.

KIGALI, 12 August 2022, (TON): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on a visit to Kigali less than a week after it emerged United Nations experts had found solid evidence Rwanda has been interfering militarily in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Regional analysts expect Blinken, who arrived on Wednesday evening, to privately exert pressure to stop Rwanda’s alleged support for the M23 rebel group without immediately implementing sanctions or blocking military aid, as the United States did in similar circumstances in 2013.

A confidential report sent to the United Nations Security Council last week said Rwandan troops have been fighting alongside the M23 rebels in Congo, and that Kigali has been providing the group with weapons and support since November.

Rwanda’s government has said the UN findings, based on evidence including witness testimony and drone images, were false, and that the M23 was Congo’s responsibility.

SEOUL, 12 August 2022, (TON): China and South Korea clashed over a US missile defense shield, threatening to undermine efforts by the new government in Seoul to overcome longstanding security differences.

The disagreement over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system emerged after an apparently smooth first visit to China by South Korea’s foreign minister this week.

China, contending THAAD’s powerful radar could peer into its airspace, curbed trade and cultural imports after Seoul announced its deployment in 2016, dealing a major blow to relations.

South Korea’s presidential office said on Thursday the system stationed in the country is a means of self-defense, according to a briefing transcript, after Beijing demanded Seoul not deploy additional batteries and limit the use of existing ones.

KYIV, 12 August 2022, (TON): The prisoners at the penal colony in St. Petersburg were expecting a visit by officials, thinking it would be some sort of inspection. Instead, men in uniform arrived and offered them amnesty, if they agreed to fight alongside the Russian army in Ukraine.

Over the following days, about a dozen or so left the prison, according to a woman whose boyfriend is serving a sentence there.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because she feared reprisals, she said her boyfriend wasn’t among the volunteers, although with years left on his sentence, he couldn’t not think about it.

As Russia continues to suffer losses in its invasion of Ukraine, now nearing its sixth month, the Kremlin has refused to announce a full-blown mobilization, a move that could be very unpopular for President Vladimir Putin.

That has led instead to a covert recruitment effort that includes using prisoners to make up the manpower shortage.