DHAKA, 21 April 2022, (TON): Visiting US ambassador-at-large for international Religious Freedom Rashed Hussain highly lauded religious harmony and freedom in Bangladesh while he called on state minister for foreign affairs Md Shahriar Alam.

He told media "we are very encouraged to see people from different faith groups who are living together peacefully in Bangladesh.”

The envoy said “the quarters who are trying to divide and create complication among people of different religions must be stopped.”

He added "we must continue to live together peacefully.”

Hussain said Washington wants to see religious freedom everywhere across the world.

Later, Alam told reporters that he briefed the visiting US ambassador about the true picture of religious harmony in the country and the Bangladesh government's commitment to uphold it.

WASHINGTON, 20 April 2022, (TON): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to end the cycle of violence after a sharp escalation in tensions between the two sides in recent days.

The State Department said “in separate calls with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Blinken stressed the importance of Israelis and Palestinians working to end the cycle of violence in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza by exercising restraint and refraining from actions that escalate tensions.”

Lapid said “he updated the top US diplomat on Tuesday about Israel’s efforts to ensure freedom of worship in Jerusalem, after clashes with Israeli riot police inside the Al Aqsa mosque compound in which at least 152 Palestinians were wounded.”

Lapid blamed “hundreds of Islamic extremists” for rioting and spreading disinformation that inflame tensions.

WASHINGTON, 20 April 2022, (TON): China under Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has ramped up political, economic, and military pressure on Taiwan.

The roots of Beijing’s pressure campaign, including Xi’s personal interactions with Taiwan policy, go back decades.

But recent events have deepened and intensified China’s efforts, which include seeking to block Taiwan from engaging the rest of the world as part of a comprehensive strategy to force Taipei to move toward unification with the mainland on Beijing’s terms.

The report explores trends related to Taiwan’s international participation and offers a framework for how Washington, Taipei, and interested allies and partners can respond to growing pressure from Beijing.

The authors make three general recommendations for policymakers from the United States, Taiwan, and like-minded partners for sustaining Taiwan’s international participation and detail specific steps to advance them.

MOSCOW, 20 April 2022, (TON): Russia’s foreign ministry said “Moscow is expelling 15 Dutch diplomats after the Netherlands last month told 18 Russian diplomats to leave.”

The ministry said in a separate statement “Russia was also expelling some Belgian diplomats in a retaliatory move.”

European countries have kicked out more than 300 Russian embassy staff since Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

MOSCOW, 20 April 2022, (TON): Russia’s foreign ministry said “Moscow is expelling 15 Dutch diplomats after the Netherlands last month told 18 Russian diplomats to leave.”

The ministry said in a separate statement “Russia was also expelling some Belgian diplomats in a retaliatory move.”

European countries have kicked out more than 300 Russian embassy staff since Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

LONDON, 20 April 2022, (TON): State news agency WAM reported “UAE summoned Israel’s ambassador to inform him of the emirates’ “strong protest and denunciation of the incidents taking place in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Palestinian protesters continued to clash with troops from the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank, four days after at least 152 Palestinians were injured by Israeli riot police inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the latest outbreak in an upsurge of violence that has raised fears of a slide back to wider conflict.

Reem bint Ibrahim Al-Hashemy, minister of state for international cooperation, summoned Amir Hayek, Israel’s ambassador to the UAE, and also informed him of the country’s strong protest against attacks on civilians and incursions into holy places that resulted in the injury of a number of civilians.

WAM statement said “Al-Hashemy stressed the need to immediately stop these events, provide full protection for worshipers, respect the right of Palestinians to practice their religious rites, and halt any practices that violate the sanctity of Al Aqsa Mosque.”

JERUSALEM, 20 April 2022, (TON): Israel carried out its first air strikes on the Gaza Strip in months in response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave as tensions soar after a weekend of violence around a Jerusalem holy site.

Warning sirens sounded in southern Israel night after the rocket was fired from the enclave controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, the first such incident since early January.

The projectile crashed into the sea off Tel Aviv.

The Israeli military said in a statement “one rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory. The rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome Air Defense System.”

Hours later the Israeli air force said it had hit a Hamas weapons manufacturing site in retaliation.

According to witnesses and security sources in Gaza “Hamas claimed to have used its anti-aircraft defence to counter the air raids, which caused no casualties.”

PANAMA CITY, 20 April 2022, (TON): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought greater cooperation in Latin America on migration, taking up a cause of rising political headaches amid the global focus on Ukraine.

The top US diplomat was paying a two-day trip to Panama, his first to Latin America this year, weeks before President Joe Biden’s administration ends pandemic restrictions that allowed swift expulsions to Mexico.

Blinken and US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will discuss migration measures Wednesday in Panama City with counterparts from more than 20 countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Nearly 100 million people have fled their homes worldwide amid startlingly fast displacement in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February.

Blinken said “there are now more people on the move around the world, displaced from their homes, than at any time since World War II. And we’re feeling that here in our hemisphere.”

WASHINGTON, 20 April 2022, (TON): The Pentagon said “Ukraine has received fighter planes and aircraft parts to bolster its air force in the face of Russia’s invasion, declining to specify the number of aircraft or their origin.”

The announcement comes a week after US President Joe Biden unveiled an $800 million military aid package for Kyiv, including heavier equipment such as howitzers, as fighting escalates in eastern Ukraine.

The moves indicate a change in attitude in the West, which had initially refused to provide Ukraine with heavy armaments to avoid action Russia could consider direct involvement in the conflict.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters “Ukrainian forces right now have available to them more fixed-wing fighter aircraft than they did two weeks ago.”

He said “without getting into what other nations are providing, they have received additional platforms and parts to be able to increase their fleet size.”

WELLINGTON, 20 April 2022, (TON): The U.S. is sending two top officials to the Solomon Islands following a visit last week by an Australian senator over concerns that China could establish a military presence in the South Pacific island nation.

The White House said “later this week, Kurt Campbell, the National Security Council Indo-Pacific coordinator, and Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, will lead a delegation of U.S. government officials to the Solomon Islands, and will also visit Fiji and Papua New Guinea.”

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said “Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Solomon Islands counterpart, Jeremiah Manele, officially signed a security agreement the other day.”

A draft of the pact, which was leaked online, said Chinese warships could stop in the Solomon Islands and China could send police and armed forces there to assist in maintaining social order.