DHAKA, 04 August 2022, (TON): The International Monetary Fund has reassured Bangladesh of support, saying “the Resilience and Sustainability Trust, from which the country sought a loan, will be operationalised in the coming months.”

An IMF spokesperson said in an emailed statement “IMF staff will work with the Bangladesh authorities during this period to design a programme most relevant to its economic and social dynamics.”

The spokesperson added “the amount of support has not yet been discussed and it will be part of the programme design discussions.”

Media reports suggested Bangladesh wants $4.5 billion from the global lender.

MOSCOW, 03 August 2022, (TON): Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will travel to Myanmar on Wednesday for meetings with the conflict-wracked country’s junta leaders.

As Moscow’s ties with the West unravel over the intervention in Ukraine, the Kremlin is seeking to pivot the country toward the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters “talks are planned with the foreign minister and with the Myanmar leadership.”

She added “defense and security cooperation would be on the agenda among other topics.”

Russia and its ally China have been accused of arming Myanmar’s junta with weapons used to attack civilians since last year’s coup.

More than 1,500 civilians have been killed in a military crackdown since the coup on February 1, 2021.

 BEIJING, 03 August 2022, (TON): State media reported “China summoned the US ambassador in Beijing Tuesday to rebuke him over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s egregious trip to Taiwan.”

Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng voiced strong protests over Pelosi’s visit to the democratic self-governing island, which China considers part of its territory, during his talk with Ambassador Nicholas Burns.

“The move is extremely egregious in nature and the consequences are extremely serious,” Xie was quoted as saying by China’s state news agency Xinhua.

“China will not sit idly by.”

The trip by Pelosi, the highest-profile elected US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, sent tensions soaring between the world’s two largest economies, with Beijing regarding it as a major provocation.

RIYADH, 03 August 2022, (TON): The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, or KSrelief, recently signed an agreement to improve learning conditions for school-going children and youth in Yemen.

The Saudi Press Agency reported “the agreement was signed by Ahmed bin Ali Al-Baiz, the center’s assistant supervisor general for operations and programs.”

The aim of the project is to ensure access to basic and secondary education for Yemeni students, reduce drop-out rates, and provide a supportive and safe learning environment.

The agreement includes school uniforms and bags for 11,586 Yemeni children. A total of 23 schools will be renovated in the Hadhramaut, Al-Mahra, Aden and Hajjah governorates.

KYIV, 03 August 2022, (TON): The first shipment of Ukrainian grain to leave Odessa since Russia’s invasion reached Turkey on Wednesday under a landmark deal to lift Moscow’s naval blockade in the Black Sea.

The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni arrived at the edge of the Bosphorus Strait shortly after Kyiv announced the start of mandatory evacuations from the war-scarred Donetsk region now bearing the brunt of Russia’s five-month assault.

In Moscow, Russia’s supreme court labelled Ukraine’s Azov regiment a terrorist organization a decision that could pave the way for fighters captured by the Kremlin to face lengthy jail terms.

The Razoni set sail under a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations aimed at getting millions of tons of trapped produce to world markets and curb a global food crisis.

GENEVA, 03 August 2022, (TON): UN experts on Tuesday condemned Israel’s harassment of human rights defenders and humanitarian workers in the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta villages, where Israel has a military zone.

The special rapporteurs insisted such harassment must stop, and said residents continue to be threatened by the risk of forcible transfer, including mass forced evictions and arbitrary displacement.

The four experts said in a joint statement “Israeli authorities’ hubris is proving without limits. They are even harassing human rights defenders and humanitarian workers seeking to support and protect people facing grave human rights violations in Masafer Yatta.”

“This is a direct assault on the core of human rights and international humanitarian law... this also confirms that impunity over abuse of power fosters power to abuse.”

By Osman Khan

On Friday China defended its military ship’s scheduled visit to Sri Lanka and said that it hoped the “concerned parties” would desist from meddling with its genuine maritime actions after New Delhi raised serious concern over a Chinese military ship’s planned visit to a port in India’s southern neighbor Sri Lanka.

India fears that the Chinese-built and leased port of Hambantota will be used by China as a military base in India’s backyard. The $1.5 billion port is near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe.

Shipping data from Refinitiv Eikon showed Chinese research and survey vessel Yuan Wang 5 was en route to Hambantota and due to arrive on Aug. 11, at a time when Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades. India has provided Sri Lanka with nearly $4 billion in support this year alone.

On Thursday during a weekly briefing late, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman said the government was monitoring the planned visit of the Chinese ship, adding that New Delhi would protect its security and economic interests.

India has already lodged an oral protest and compliant with the Sri Lankan government against the ship’s plan to visit. In response, China’s foreign ministry said Beijing had always exercised freedom of the high seas lawfully. China hopes that the relevant parties will view and report on China’s marine scientific research activities correctly and refrain from interfering with normal and legitimate maritime activities.

Relations between India and China have been strained since armed clashes on their border two years ago killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers and led to a massive build-up of troops on both sides.

Foreign security analysts describe the Yuan Wang 5 as one of China’s latest generation space-tracking ships, used to monitor satellite, rocket, and intercontinental ballistic missile launches. The Pentagon’s annual report on China’s military modernization says the Yuan Wang ships are operated by the Strategic Support Force of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The Yuan Wang 5 would be in Hambantota for a week and “conduct space tracking, satellite control, and research tracking in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean region through August and September”.

According to reliable sources, the Yuan Wang 5 would be in Hambantota for a week and "conduct space tracking, satellite control and research tracking in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean region through August and September".

Sri Lanka formally handed over commercial activities at its main southern port to a Chinese company in 2017 on the lease after struggling to repay its debt.

Sri Lanka formally handed over marketable activities at its key southern port to a Chinese company in 2017 on the lease after struggling to reimburse its debt. China is one of Sri Lanka’s biggest lenders and has also funded airports, roads, and railways. This frightened India, which is now desperately trying to back lose ground. Sri Lanka infuriated India in 2014 when it permitted a Chinese submarine and a warship to dock in Colombo.

Beijing is Sri Lanka’s lone main creditor, accounting for some 10 percent of the country’s foreign debt. Between 2000 and 2020, it stretched close to $12 billion in loans to the Sri Lankan government, chiefly for a slate of significant infrastructure projects that were for no use.

It includes a costly port facility in the hometown of Hambantota, which was effectively surrendered to Chinese control half a decade ago after Sri Lankan authorities acknowledged they could no longer pay off the loans. Sri Lanka has become a warning saga of misgovernment and misfortune in South Asia. The outcome of the extravagances of the former president along with a mistaken economic plan changed Sri Lanka into financial bankruptcy.

DHAKA, 03 August 2022, (TON): Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury highlighted the visionary action plan of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in tackling climate changes during her bilateral meeting with Sir Lindsay Hoyle, speaker of the House of commons of the United Kingdom.”

The Speaker said "Bangladesh is one of the most likely countries to be affected by the adverse effects of climate change. However, we are facing the crisis successfully due to the government's timely initiatives.”

The speaker also mentioned that in addition to the five-year plan, Bangladesh has adopted a long-term perspective plan and a delta plan under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The Speaker of the British Parliament congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the climate leadership at the COP26 and mentioned her as one of the strongest voices that has risen to combat global warming and climate change till now.

DHAKA, 03 August 2022, (TON): State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, MP, has expressed hope that the US investment and technology will improve waterways management of Bangladesh.

The State Minister said “this while speaking at a reception hosted in his honor at Bangabandhu Auditorium of Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC.”

He is leading a Bangladesh Waterways Management Reverse Trade Mission Team to the United States at the invitation of the US Trade and Development Agency.

Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury put emphasis on further expanding collaboration between Bangladesh and United States in the inland waterways and shipping sector, an eco-friendly and less expensive alternative suitable for a riverine country like Bangladesh .

TEHRAN, 03 August 2022, (TON): The government’s spokesman said “Iran’s ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi plans to travel to New York for the UN General Assembly next month despite US sanctions against him.”

Ali Bahadori-Jahromi told a weekly press briefing “the preliminary planning has been done for the president’s attendance at the UN General Assembly session.”

Raisi, who has been under US sanctions since November 2019 for “complicity in serious human rights violations, missed last year’s General Assembly because of the pandemic. A pre-recorded video of his address was played to the meeting instead.”

When Washington added his name to its blacklist of Iranian officials, Raisi was still judiciary chief. He became president in June 2021.

Washington accuses him of playing a leading role in mass executions of detained leftists in 1988 while he was chief prosecutor of the Tehran revolutionary court.