DHAKA, 22 April 2022, (TON): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said “her government is prioritizing the food processing industry to boost the export of food items alongside meeting the growing domestic demand.”

She said “if we can add value to food items by processing these, we will be able to export the items alongside meeting the demand in our country. Now the local market is expanding as the purchasing capacity of people has increased.”

The prime minister said “this while laying the foundation stone of Ghorashal Palash Urea Fertilizer Factory in Narsingdi district, with an annual production capacity of nearly 10 lakh metric tons, the country’s largest.”

She unveiled the foundation stone of the Tk10,461 crore project, joining a function from her official residence Ganabhaban through a videoconference.

Others concerned were connected with the event from Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital and the fertilizer project site in Narsingdi.

KABUL, 22 April 2022, (TON): The former president Hamid Karzai expressed hopes that the new government in Pakistan pursue good relations with Afghanistan.

The former Afghan president who was in power from 2001 to 2014, made the remarks in an interview.

He said “I can tell you that when I was in office the last year of my office, I had excellent relationship with Mia Nawaz Sharif, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, who I found to be very willing to engage very fruitfully with Afghanistan. I hope that Mr. Shahbaz Sharif, the current Prime Minister of Pakistan—his brother would follow the same path.”

“And would find that the Afghan people would respond to them very very positively. We do wish good relationship with Pakistan. Stable relationship, stabilize relationship with Pakistan.”

When asked about the recent airstrikes carried out by the Pakistani forces on Kunar and Khost provinces, Karzai said that such attacks are clear violations of Afghan sovereignty.

KABUL, 22 April 2022, (TON): Dozens of worshipers were killed and wounded in a blast that targeted a mosque in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province.

The Si-Dukan Mosque was hit by a blast while it was being visited by crowds of worshipers.

The head of the provincial department of security, Mohammad Asif Waziri, said “the blast was due to explosives placed inside the mosque.”

He said “I can only say that the blast was due to explosives.”

“Unfortunately, 25 people were martyred and wounded. Around 10 people were martyred, and 15 others were wounded.” 

DHAKA, 22 April 2022, (TON): The Bangladesh government is considering entering into a cross-border exchange of electricity with neighbouring India through Indian Energy Exchange Ltd.

The move would formalize the trade of electricity and increase electricity-exchange opportunities between the two countries.

According to the media outlet “the demand for Indian power is rising in Bangladesh, which purchased 17.31% more electricity from India at Tk4,712.91 in 2020-2021 compared to the year prior.”

At present Nepal and Bhutan buy and sell electricity across borders with India through the IEX.

Bangladesh is not yet a part of it, but it buys Indian power on a contract basis.

Joining the exchange can help each party trade according to their demands and supply position at a given time.

DHAKA, 22 April 2022, (TON): Extending thanks to the US for their continuous assistance to Bangladesh, Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said “ongoing discussions at different levels with the United States have played a role in deepening the relations of the two countries.”

The minister made the remarks in front of his office at the Secretariat after newly-appointed US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas paid a courtesy call on him.

Hasan said “discussions were held on many issues, including Bangladesh's mass media and challenges of social media across the globe.”

He said "I informed the US ambassador that unlike in Bangladesh, the mass media could not work in many developing countries. I gave the example of the United Kingdom.”

He further said “the mass media has to pay a fine if any false news is published against someone or any media assassinates anyone's character. But, there is no such instance in Bangladesh."

CAIRO, 21 April 2022, (TON): Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares discussed boosting bilateral relations in Madrid.

Shoukry affirmed his aspiration to see an increase in trade and Spanish direct investments in sectors such as infrastructure, transport, water, renewable energy and electric mobility.

The ministers discussed “cooperation over climate change, Egypt’s hosting and presidency of COP27, and Spain’s support for strengthening the partnership between Egypt and the EU.”

Ahmed Hafez, spokesman for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, said they also discussed international and regional issues of common concern, including Ukraine, Palestine, Libya, and Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam.

BERLIN (RIA Novosti): The head of the German Bundestag committee on foreign policy said “Michael Roth “heavy weapons can be supplied to Ukraine.”

Roth wrote on Twitter “I assume that weapons can now also be supplied or purchased by Ukraine, which was not previously planned.”

He added that the world will not become safer and calmer if we hold back.

MOSCOW, 21 April 2022, (TON): The Ministry of Defense announced the successful launch of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile at the Plesetsk cosmodrome.

The department noted that at all stages of flights, its design characteristics were confirmed.

Training warheads arrived in a given area in Kamchatka.

KYIV, 21 April 2022, (TON): President Volodymyr Zelensky said “about 1,000 civilians remain trapped at a steel plant where Ukrainian forces are making their last stand in the besieged city of Mariupol.”

Zelensky said “conditions in Mariupol, which has seen the worst fighting of the nearly eight-week long war, continued to worsen, though Reuters witnesses said a few dozen civilians managed to leave the city on Wednesday in a small bus convoy.”

The United Nations said the total number of refugees who have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24 had now topped five million.

More than half are children.

Ukraine said it had so far held off an assault by thousands of Russian troops attempting to advance in what Kyiv calls the Battle of the Donbas, a new campaign to seize two eastern provinces Moscow claims on behalf of separatists.

ABUJA, 21 April 2022, (TON): Local police said “three people were killed and 19 injured after an explosion at a crowded market in Nigeria’s Taraba state in the east of the country.”

Nigeria is plagued by insecurity as armed gangs and an Islamist insurgency carry out attacks against communities and security targets in northern parts of the country.

Usman Abdullahi, police spokesman for Taraba, said the blast in the rural Iware community occurred at a drinking spot in a section of a busy market, leaving three dead and more than a dozen people with injuries.

Abdullahi told Reuters via a phone message “it is suspected to have been caused by improvised explosive device that detonated. Investigations are ongoing.”