WASHINGTON, 06 July 2022, (TON): Police arrested a suspect after a mass shooting left six dead at a US Independence Day parade in a wealthy Chicago suburb, casting a dark shadow over the country's most patriotic holiday.

Robert Crimo, 22, was identified as a person of interest and became the target of a massive manhunt across the town of Highland Park in Illinois, where a rooftop gunman with a high-powered rifle turned a family-focused July 4 parade celebration into a scene of death and trauma.

Firing into the holiday crowd, the shooter caused scenes of chaos as panicked onlookers ran for their lives, leaving behind a parade route strewn with chairs, abandoned balloons and personal belongings.

Emergency officials said around two dozen people, including children, were treated for gunshot injuries, with some in critical condition.

BRUSSELS, 06 July 2022, (TON): The military alliance’s head Jens Stoltenberg said “the process to ratify Sweden and Finland as the newest members of NATO was formally launched, marking a historic step brought on by Russia’s war in Ukraine.”

Stoltenberg told reporters in a joint press statement “this is a good day for Finland and Sweden and a good day for NATO.”

He added “with 32 nations around the table, we will be even stronger and our people will be even safer as we face the biggest security crisis in decades.”

SYDNEY, 06 July 2022, (TON): Officials said “hundreds of homes have been inundated in and around Australia’s largest city in a flood emergency that was impacting 50,000 people.”

State Emergency Service manager Ashley Sullivan said “emergency response teams made 100 rescues overnight of people trapped in cars on flooded roads or in inundated homes in the Sydney area.”

Days of torrential rain have caused dams to overflow and waterways to break their banks, bringing a fourth flood emergency in 16 months to parts of the city of 5 million people.

TEL AVIV, 06 July 2022, (TON): Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid departed on his first foreign trip in office to France, where he will ask for backing on a gas dispute with Lebanon that days ago saw Israel shoot down three Hezbollah drones.

Lapid took over the premiership on Friday following the collapse of Israel’s coalition government, which will see the country return to the polls in November for its fifth election in less than four years.

The new leader was confronted with his first test a day later, when Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement launched three drones toward an offshore gas field in the eastern Mediterranean.

Speaking before his departure from Tel Aviv, Lapid said he will raise the matter with French President Emmanuel Macron.

CAIRO, 06 July 2022, (TON): Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is attending the International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief in London.

The event, which is being held on July 5-6, is hosting 500 religious, government and civil society leaders from 60 countries to call for more action to protect freedom of religion or belief around the world.

In the opening speech of the conference, the UK’s Prince Charles said in a recorded message “freedom of conscience, of thought and of belief is central to any truly flourishing society.”

It allows people to contribute to their communities without fear of exclusion, to exchange ideas without fear of prejudice, and to build relationships without fear of rejection. A society where difference is respected, where it is accepted that all need not think alike, will benefit from the talents of all of its members.

LONDON, 06 July 2022, (TON): British Prime Minister Boris Johnson named his Iraqi-born education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, as finance minister after the shock resignation of Rishi Sunak.

Downing Street said Queen Elizabeth II had approved the appointment of Zahawi, who came to Britain as a child with his Kurdish family not speaking any English, before forging a lucrative business career.

The 55-year-old co-founded the prominent polling company YouGov and was active in local Conservative politics in London, before becoming an MP in 2010.

He won widespread praise for overseeing Britain’s pandemic vaccines rollout.

But like Sunak, his private wealth has drawn adverse attention, including when he claimed parliamentary expenses for heating his horse stables in 2013.

ISTANBUL, 06 July 2022, (TON): Ukraine has asked Turkey to help investigate three Russian-flagged ships as part of Kyiv’s efforts to probe what it alleges is the theft of grain from Russian-occupied territory, according to official documents.

In a June 13 letter, which hasn’t previously been reported, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office asked Turkey’s justice ministry to investigate and provide evidence on the three named ships it suspects have been involved in transporting grain allegedly stolen from recently occupied Ukrainian territories, such as Kherson.

The letter, which Reuters reviewed, said “the ships traveled from Crimea’s main grain terminal in Sevastopol in April and May and pressed Ankara to obtain documentation about their cargo and arrival at Turkish ports. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.”

All three large dry bulk carriers Mikhail Nenashev, Matros Pozynich and Matros Koshka are owned by a subsidiary of a Western-sanctioned Russian state-owned company called United Shipbuilding Corporation, according to Equasis, a shipping database.

RIYADH, 06 July 2022, (TON): Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Tuesday received a written message from Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, regarding the strong and solid bilateral relations.

The message was received on behalf of Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Waleed Al-Khuraiji, during a meeting with Sayyid Faisal bin Turki, the sultanate’s ambassador to the Kingdom.

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

DHAKA, 06 July 2022, (TON): US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas has wished the Bangladesh Election Commission all success in its great civic responsibility of conducting free and fair elections.

Ambassador Haas and other heads of diplomatic missions in Dhaka met with Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal.

US embassy said in a Facebook post "democracy is humanity’s most enduring means to advance peace, prosperity, and security, and elections are the cornerstone of democracy.”

DHAKA, 06 July 2022, (TON): Thai ambassador to Bangladesh, Makawadee Sumitmor, has visited the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar and attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the reconstruction of the Teacher Resource Centre, damaged by conflagration in 2021.

Sheldon Yett, UNICEF country representative and delegates, also joined and witnessed the ceremony.

The Thai government contributed Tk 4.3 million to the said project to improve educational quality as well as to promote equality, dignity, and self-reliance for all Rohingya children and youths in the camp.

Thailand worked closely with UNICEF to provide humanitarian aid and human resource development.

Currently, there are over 1.1 million Rohingya displaced persons temporarily living in Bangladesh.