MOSCOW, 29 May 2022, (TON): Russian forces Saturday announced a latest successful test of their Zircon hypersonic cruise missile as Moscow steps up its Ukraine offensive.

The defence ministry said “the missile was fired from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate stationed in the Barents Sea and successfully hit a target stationed 1,000 kilometres away in the White Sea in the Arctic.”

The ministry added “the test was undertaken as part of ongoing testing of new weapons.”

The first official Zircon test, which President Vladimir Putin described as a great event, came in October 2020. Other tests followed, from the same frigate and from a submerged submarine.

The latest test of a hypersonic weapon comes as Russia looks to be making ground in its offensive launched in Ukraine in late February.

MOSCOW, 29 May 2022, (TON): MINUSMA reported “nine peacekeepers of the United Nations Multidi-mensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali were injured when a car was blown up in a convoy on an improvised mine in eastern Mali.”

The message says “the vehicle of the logistics convoy of MINUSMA forces was blown up this morning by an improvised mine southwest of the village of Agelok. Nine peacekeepers were injured and were evacuated for medical assistance. MINUSMA condemns this attack and wishes them a full recovery.”

The head of MINUSMA and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General El-Gassim Wane, in turn, wished the victims recovery on his Twitter and welcomed the dedication of the peacekeepers.

MOSCOW, 29 May 2022, (TON): German chancellor's office said “the leaders of France and Germany have urged Russia's Vladimir Putin to hold "direct [and] serious negotiations" with Ukraine's president.”

Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz spoke to Mr Putin by phone for 80 minutes.

The chancellor's office said “the pair insisted on an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian troops.”

According to the Kremlin “Russia's leader said Moscow was open to resuming dialogue with Kyiv.”

It did not mention the possibility of direct talks between Mr Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Ukrainian president earlier said he was not eager for talks, but added they would likely be necessary to end the conflict.

WASHINGTON, 29 May 2022, (TON): The US and the Netherlands support UN efforts to address and avert the economic, environmental, and humanitarian threats posed by Yemen’s Safer oil tanker in the Red Sea region.

Dutch Ambassador to the US André Haspels hosted a meeting joined by US Special Envoy Lenderking, Yemeni Ambassador to the US Mohammed Al-Hadrami and representatives from the diplomatic community in Washington.

An official joint statement said “they stressed the importance of raising $144 million to fund the UN’s operational plan, which includes $80 million for an emergency operation to offload the oil from the decaying tanker to a temporary vessel.

At a pledging event co-hosted by the UN and the Netherlands earlier this month, nearly half the funds required for the emergency operation were raised, but more was urgently needed to move forward.

Safer is a rapidly decaying and the unstable oil tanker that could leak, spill or explode at any time and could severely disrupt shipping routes in the Gulf region and other industries across the Red Sea, unleash an environmental disaster and worsen the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

 By Nishat Shuja

Recently, the Sri Lankan PM is seeking $4bn from the IMF and looking forward to fast-track talks with the International Monetary Fund. As Sri Lanka agreed on a loan by mid-June so that it can then approach other lenders for urgently needed funds.

On Wednesday, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister said in an interview at his office in Colombo that the bankrupt nation will reduce its budget expenditure to “bare bones” and hopes to break even or post a primary surplus of 1% of gross domestic product. Even so, that would be smaller than the 2% surplus the IMF has sought, which could be a sticking point.

PM said that Sri Lanka needs to find the dollars as the IMF will not solve the whole economic failure. However, if we start with the IMF, it will induce others to follow the same. The Secretary to the ministry of finance said Sri Lanka was waiting for an IMF staff-level agreement so that the local authorities can “initiate the work on bridging finance.

The government was also looking at “all the choices to increase revenues”. The new PM is seeking a total of about $4 billion this year, from the multilateral financiers and creditors including China and Japan to aid pay for food and fuel.

Removing the food shortages could be the first step to calming public anger that has stoked inflation to almost 40% and generated protests seeking the ouster of the incumbent President. AS Sri Lanka is placing a priority on talks with the IMF it may on track sooner to recover gradually from its financial fiasco.

On Wednesday, Sri Lankan dollar bonds due fell for a fifth straight session to 37.8 cents, remaining deep in suffering. The extra yield investors demand to hold the sovereign debt over US Treasuries was more than 39 percentage points.

The Prime minister who took also the additional role of finance minister forecasted that the economy will shrink 4% this year. He fears citizens will face hard times till February, including food shortages due to a lack of fertilizer ahead of planting season.

Currently, some of them are missing one meal, and a lot of people who had reached the middle class feel that they are in deep abysmal poverty. Furthermore, People are without employment and farmers are without fertilizer for two seasons. Once an IMF deal is agreed the prime minister is also a seek debt restructuring from Beijing as the Chinese interest rates are higher.

In the meantime, the debt, the Sri Lankan PM is also trying to contain anger against the incumbent president. The prime minister has sent to the cabinet a newly drafted, so-called 21st amendment to the country’s constitution, which is expected to slim the wide-ranging powers of the president’s office.

The PM Said that outcome of the amendments would follow discussions among lawmakers and added that he is expecting “the comprehensive possible support” among the political parties of Sri Lanka.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has already raised questions about the extent to which the amendments will minimize the sweeping powers of President Rajapaksa shortly after he returned to power in 2019.

The new prime minister replaced the president’s older brother, who quit on May 9 after violence exploded across the country. The New PM is leading a multi-party interim government that is hoped to would bring political stability to the country. As Sri Lanka has to start and repay all the foreign debt it is now into a deep debt burden. So Sri Lanka has to change its economic system to steer the country from its monetary crunch.

DHAKA, 29 May 2022, (TON): India's Border Security Force handed over the body of a Bangladeshi man, who was shot dead by Indian Khashias five days ago, to Border Guard Bangladesh.

The deceased was identified as Kabir Hossain, of Champkanagar village under West Jaflong union in Sylhet.

Omar Faruque Moral, officer-in-charge of Goainghat Police Station said “BSF members handed over the body to BGB after a flag meeting at West Jaflong border around 10:30 am.”

According to BGB “Kabir, Selim Mia and Kamil Mia from Champaknagar village went to Mayabati area along the border through the side of Mayabati waterfall at around 5:30 pm.”

When some member of the local Khashia community started firing shots at them, Selim and Kamil managed to flee and returned to Bangladesh but Kabir could not.

DHAKA, 29 May 2022, (TON): Indian northeastern state Assam’s chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma thanked prime minister Sheikh Hasina for her government's ‘zero tolerance policy’ to terrorism and insurgency.

He expressed his thanks while visiting Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen had a meeting with him at Koinadhara State Guest House.

During the meeting, Momen stated “the development of Bangladesh and India were complementing each other.”

He said “many Indians are working in Bangladesh while Bangladesh is the fourth largest remittance sending country to India.”

He noted Bangladesh and India are enjoying the best of their relations under the leadership of prime minister Sheikh Hasina and prime minister Narendra Modi.

DHAKA, 29 May 2022, (TON): The next round of the Joint Consultation Commission meeting between Bangladesh and India, originally scheduled to be held in New Delhi on May 30, has been deferred.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, now attending the third edition of Asian Confluence River Conclave-2022 in Guwahati, confirmed it to reporters.

A new date mutually convenient to both sides for the foreign minister-level talks will be announced later.

A diplomatic source said “the JCC is likely to be held in mid-June as a set of dates are under consideration.”

Momen had a long meeting with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in Guwahati and discussed issues of mutual interest. Later, they decided to defer the meeting of the JCC.

BRUSSELS, 28 May 2022, (TON): Western powers sounded the alarm over leaked plans to dramatically expand China’s security and economic reach in the South Pacific, in what one regional leader called a thinly veiled effort to lock island states into Beijing’s orbit.

If approved by Pacific island nations, the wide-ranging draft agreement and a five-year plan would give China a larger security footprint in a region seen as crucial to the interests of the United States and its allies.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi rejected Western criticism of Beijing’s deepening engagement in the Pacific as he launched an eight-nation tour to present the potentially lucrative offer.

He said “China’s cooperation with Pacific Island countries does not target any country.”

He told journalists “all the Pacific island countries are entitled to make their own choice instead of being just mere followers of others.”

VIENNA, 28 May 2022, (TON): Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, said “the United States appears to be trying to maintain some of the sanctions imposed by Donald Trump on Iran, which is stalling negotiations to restore the nuclear deal, Mikhail Ulyanov.”

Ulyanov wrote on his Telegram channel “the Vienna talks on the JCPOA have been suspended for 2.5 months already. It seems that the United States is trying to maintain some of the sanctions imposed by Donald Trump on Iran.”

According to him “Washington should demonstrate a more constructive and businesslike approach if the US is truly committed to the principles of nuclear non-proliferation.”

Earlier Wednesday, IAE-A Director General Rafael Grossi said “the nuclear aspects in the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian Nuclear Program have been largely resolved, the process is going through serious difficulties of a different kind.”