DHAKA, 06 July 2022, (TON): The Palestine Embassy in Dhaka provided flood-affected people in Sylhet with essential food items.

Politician Faraaz Karim Chowdhury distributed the relief of 23 tons of essential food items upon receiving direction from President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestine Embassy.

In a video message on Faraaz Karim’s Facebook page on July 4, he along with a few Palestinian students in Sylhet distributed the goods and said “we will be giving a packet worth of food to one family so that we can reach out to most families.”

DHAKA, 06 July 2022, (TON): On the basis of the Prime Minister's 'Integrated Development' policy, emergency humanitarian assistance was sent to the people of Afghanistan in response to the catastrophic earthquake.

A Bangladesh Air Force aircraft C-130J, under the supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and overall management of the Armed Forces, left here for Kabul at 6 am with food, clothing and emergency relief supplies.

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sheikh Abdul Hannan bid farewell to the pilot and crew of the aircraft, said a press release.

A powerful 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck a remote border region of Afghanistan killing at least 1,000 people and injuring hundreds of people on June 22.

KABUL, 06 July 2022, (TON): China says that the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is critical and noted that the United States has not released the frozen assets of Afghanistan.

Wang Yu, China's ambassador to Kabul, expressed concerns over the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan at an event which was held to hand over Chinese aid to needy people in Afghanistan, making remarks that held the US responsible for this situation.

According to Yu, the withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan was irresponsible.

Wang Yu, China's ambassador to Kabul said “the US military intervention in Afghanistan has brought deep disaster to Afghan people, and their irresponsible withdrawal has created more problems for Afghanistan which is the culprit of the current plight of Afghanistan.”

However the US not only ignored the disaster faced by the Afghan people, but also refused to return the assets of the Afghan people.

DHAKA, 06 July 2022, (TON): Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has sent mangoes to her Pakistani Counterpart Shahbaz Sharif as a special goodwill gesture.

According to a press release “officials of the Bangladesh High Commission handed over a consignment of 1,000 kilograms of Amrapali, a special variety of mango in Bangladesh, to an official of the Pakistan Prime Minister's Office in Islamabad.”

It said “the complementary gift of the Bangladesh prime minister was received by Pakistan with much appreciation.”

According to the media release “this goodwill gesture of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is considered a special instance in the relationships between the two countries.”

DHAKA, 06 July 2022, (TON): Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has sent 900 kilograms of mangoes as a gift to Brunei Darussalam’s Hassanal Bolkiah  Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul  Khairi Waddien.

A press release said “the special type of mango called ‘Amrapali’ was handed over to the representative of Brunei Darussalam’s foreign ministry at the Bangladesh High Commission in Brunei.”

The release added “Bangladesh and Brunei Darussalam enjoy cordial relations based on shared culture, mutual respect and friendship as this bodes well for the bright future of the bilateral relations between these two friendly Asian nations.”

This special consignment arrives from prime minister Sheikh Hasina at a critical juncture when she inaugurated the long cherished dream of Bangladesh people ‘Padma Bridge’ on June 25 and on the other side.

DHAKA, 06 July 2022, (TON): Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen has urged Indonesia and the ASEAN to play a proactive role to facilitate an early repatriation of the displaced Rohingya people currently sheltered in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds.

He reiterated “the problem was created by Myanmar and it has to be solved by Myanmar as well, and the only possible solution in this regard is the repatriation of the displaced people to their homeland, the Rakhine State of Myanmar.”

Momen also sought Indonesia’s support in favour of Bangladesh’s candidacy as a Sectoral Dialogue Partner of Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The foreign minister discussed the issues when Ambassador of Indonesia to Bangladesh Heru Hartanto Subolo met him at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

By Nasriya Naffin 

Sri Lanka had a booming economy with plenty of jobs and financial security a few years ago. The island nation was a center of attraction to many tourists. Today the country's economy has collapsed and relies on aid from India and other countries. Sri Lanka’s leaders are trying hard to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary Fund. 

Sri Lanka is facing the worst financial crisis and it is way too complicated than the financial crises that developed countries face. People are struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other necessities, which has led to political unrest and violence.  

The economy started plunging with the Easter bomb attack in 2019, then it was hit hard by the pandemic and COVID-19 had a negative effect on tourism, which is one of the largest foreign income generators. It also decreased the flow of foreign currency from the Sri Lankans working abroad. Despite the heavy debts the country possessed the government cut down on taxes which negatively affected the reserves in the treasury. At this point many experts pointed out that the country should start discussions with the International Monetary Fund to ease the situation but the government denied the idea and stayed away from the IMF. Later the country ran out of money to pay for its imports and the depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee became uncontrollable.  

The decision taken by the government on using 100 percent organic fertilizers for agriculture turned out to be a disaster, and left many farmers stranded as they couldn’t cultivate their regular crops. Scarcity of food led to a spike in the price of vegetables, fruits, poultry, dairy and rice.  

Inflation is skyrocketing in this island nation at present hitting nearly 60 percent on food, and over 30 percent on consumer prices.  

According to the U.N. Humanitarian Office (OCHA), Sri Lanka is at a risk of heading into a full-blown humanitarian crisis as the country is suffering from its worst economic crisis in decades.  

A population of 22 million Sri Lankans are paying the price right now by standing in queues for days for cooking gas and fuel for their vehicles. Queues of vehicles near fuel stations have become a common site and these queues go beyond 2km. People stay overnight in their vehicles until a fuel load arrives at these fuel stations. In the outskirts the situation is worst where the people stay over for more than three days in these queues.  Few deaths also have been reported in these queues due to the stress and dehydration. Although people stand in queues there is no assurance that people will definitely get fuel and gas. There were many instances where while standing in queues the supplies ran out and people returned home empty handed.

The middle class is the worst hit, roughly 15-20 percent of the country’s population. They enjoyed financial security and a standard of life until all this chaos began.  

The government has closed down schools and has declared Friday a holiday for government workers due to the fuel shortage. Many Sri Lankans have switched to wood fire or charcoal stoves for cooking and have started riding bicycles. Food price hike has cut down the food consumption which is leading to malnutrition especially among the children. Many families cannot afford to use electric induction or infrared cookers with the increasing electricity charges. Even if one could afford it, they cannot totally depend on these stoves with the daily blackouts.   

Constant stress over the fuel and energy shortage in the country and a higher cost of living have led the frustrated civilians to protest blocking roads and they are in a constant conflict with the police. Some have even started fighting over jumping queues as well. 

To survive the price hikes of essentials people have started borrowing or lending money, withdrawing savings, pawning belongings and selling properties. Poor or the day workers, fishermen and migrant workers are highly affected. Most of them have a reduced income or no income at present.

According to a recent report by the World Food Program food insecurity in households has increased among the poor. The health industry has been hit hard as the country imports 80 percent of its essential medicine. With the present dollar crisis many government hospitals have run out of essential medicines and people's lives are at greater risk.  

Many Sri Lankans believe that this is a man-made disaster and whoever is responsible for this catastrophe should be punished. The situation has become a humanitarian disaster and needs proper solutions to balance economic, political, social, geopolitical dimensions and dynamics. The solutions should be tailor made and should improve the lives of the most vulnerable and restore the living standards of Sri Lankans. If the government does not act fast very soon the country will fall into political unrest and the standard of the country will further deteriorate.

JEDDAH, 05 July 2022, (TON): The US Navy is offering cash rewards of up to $100,000 for information leading to the interception of smuggled weapons and narcotics in the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea.

The initiative by the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet does not directly name Iran but analysts said it was clearly aimed at curbing the flow of Iranian arms to the Houthi militia in Yemen and restricting the lucrative regional drugs trade operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Timothy Hawkins said “any destabilizing activity has our attention 5th Fleet spokesman Cmdr.”

Definitely we have seen in the last year skyrocketing success in seizing both illegal narcotics and illicit weapons. This represents another step in our effort to enhance regional maritime security.

Operators fluent in Arabic, English and Farsi will staff a phone hotline, and the Navy will also take tips online in Dari and Pashto. Payouts can be as high as $100,000 or the equivalent in vehicles, boats or food for tips that include information on planned attacks targeting Americans.

BEIRUT, 05 July 2022, (TON): A maritime border dispute between Lebanon and Israel has returned to the fore following a security development.

Israel’s army spokesman Avichay Adraee said warplanes and an Israeli missile ship had intercepted three drones that approached from Lebanon’s side toward the airspace over Israel’s economic waters.

Hezbollah’s military wing, the Islamic Resistance, confirmed the incident in a statement “a group affiliated with martyrs Jamil Skaff and Mahdi Yaghi launched three drones of different sizes toward the disputed area, over the Karish gas field, to carry out reconnaissance missions.”

The mission was accomplished and the message was conveyed.

CAIRO, 05 July 2022, (TON): Egypt’s Interior Minister Mahmoud Tawfiq met with his Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner to discuss ways to enhance cooperation between their countries, and the latest developments in security issues of common interest.

Karner, heading a delegation of Austrian officials, said “his visit to Egypt comes within the framework of close relations and continuous consultation between officials from the two countries.”

He affirmed Austria’s interest in exchanging experiences with Egyptian security services, and his aspiration to strengthen channels of communication between the two sides in light of regional and international political and security challenges.

Tawfiq stressed his ministry’s keenness to build bridges of communication with Austrian security services in light of the friendly relations between the two countries, indicating his interest in strengthening cooperation mechanisms and exchanging experiences.