KABUL, 15 March 2022, (TON): Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, at the closing of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum said “the Islamic Emirate needs to take practical steps, mainly toward an inclusive government, in order to be recognized.”

The three-day Antalya Diplomacy Forum ended on Sunday. The forum was held from March 11 to 13 and the theme was recoding diplomacy.

Cavusoglu said the Islamic Emirate’s recognition was also a topic at the forum.

He said “we focused on the importance of recognition for the Afghan people. Without recognition many of the problems will not be resolved. There are lots of different types of humanitarian assistance and help initiatives, but without recognition they will not be able to overcome the obstacles.”

He added that so far, the Islamic Emirate has made positive messages and announcements, but those have not been put into practice.

He said ”the current government authorities in Kabul should take practical steps to be recognized. Cavusoglu said his country has been engaging with the Islamic Emirate, but it is in no rush to recognize it.

He further said that we are not in a rush to recognize them, because just like the rest of the world, we need to see the steps tangibly being taken.

NEW DELHI, 15 March 2022, (TON): India called for direct contacts and negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to cease the hostilities between the two countries.

India's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador R Ravindra said “India continues to underline the need to respect the UN Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States.”

He said “India has been consistent in calling for an immediate end to all hostilities in Ukraine. Our Prime Minister has repeatedly called for an urgent ceasefire and that there is no other path left but of dialogue and diplomacy.”

Speaking at the UN Security Council briefing by Foreign Minister of Poland Zbigniew Rau, Chairperson-in-Office of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Ravindra said India calls for direct contacts and negotiations with a view to cease hostilities.

DHAKA, 15 March 2022, (TON): Bangladesh Awami League and Bharatiya Janata Party of India discussed ways to improve relations between the ruling parties of the two close neighbours.

The talks were held at a hotel in Dhaka between a high-level delegation of the Awami League, led by its General Secretary Obaidul Quader, and a visiting BJP delegation by Dr Vijay Chauthaitwale, in-charge of the party’s foreign affairs department in Dhaka.

The leaders highlighted the importance of further improving the friendly relations between India and Bangladesh.

DHAKA, 15 March 2022, (TON): Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud will arrive in Dhaka on a brief visit today afternoon.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen is scheduled to receive his Saudi counterpart at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

Minister Momen will host a dinner in honour of the Saudi foreign minister at a city hotel the same day.

According to his program schedule “in his less than 24-hour visit at the invitation of Foreign Minister Momen, the Saudi foreign minister will also meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday.”

Bangladesh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are looking for stronger political and investment relations as Dhaka is ready to welcome the Saudi foreign minister.

An official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told media “Foreign Minister Momen will hold a “tete-a-tete” with his Saudi counterpart, followed by bilateral political consultation between the two countries at the same venue.”

KYIV, 14 March 2022, (TON): A US journalist working in Ukraine has been shot dead in the town of Irpin, outside Kyiv.

Brent Renaud, 50, was a journalist and filmmaker who was working in the region for Time.

Kyiv's police chief Andriy Nebytov said “he had been targeted by Russian soldiers. Two other journalists were injured and taken to hospital.”

It is the first reported death of a foreign journalist covering the war in Ukraine.

One of the injured journalists, Juan Arredondo, told an Italian reporter he had been with Renaud when they came under fire.

He said "we were across one of the first bridges in Irpin, going to film other refugees leaving, and we got into a car.”

Somebody offered to take us to the other bridge and we crossed a checkpoint, and they start shooting at us.

So the driver turned around, and they kept shooting; there's two of us. My friend is Brent Renaud, and he's been shot and left behind, I saw him being shot in the neck.

ROME, 14 March 2022, (TON): Pope Francis on Sunday issued his toughest condemnation yet of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying the unacceptable armed aggression and massacre must stop.

He told 25,000 people in St. Peter’s Square during his Sunday blessing “faced with the barbarity of killing of children, of innocents and unarmed civilians, no strategic reasons can hold up.”

Moscow says its action is designed not to occupy territory but to demilitarize its neighbor. It has also denied targeting civilian areas.

Pope Francis said “the only thing to do is stop this unacceptable armed aggression before it reduces cities into cemeteries.”

RIYADH, 14 March 2022, (TON): The Kingdom’s Human Capability Development Program has announced details of the strategy of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program, which aspires to send 70,000 students abroad by 2030.

The press conference, held in Riyadh by HCDP, one of the programs to achieve the Saudi Vision 2030, discussed the strategy, its pillars, aims and expected outcomes, and its role in improving human capital efficiency in new and promising sectors.

Minister of Education Hamad Al-Sheikh said that the scholarship strategy would begin with an analysis of 90 scholarship programs globally.

The program would then send 70,000 students to 200 educational and training bodies worldwide until 2030.

The strategy comes with four paths, and each of these paths has clear and specific objectives. The Pioneers path, the Research & Development path, the Provider path, and the Promising path.

WASHINGTON, 14 March 2022, (TON): Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said that China will have to make some tough decisions regarding its relationship with Russia amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Sherman said “it remains to be seen how Russia’s invasion has impacted its relationship with China, one of the country’s closest allies.”

Sherman said “we saw Russia and China come closer together, certainly before the Olympics, putting out a long manifesto about their partnership and how they were going to move forward together. And at the same time, we’d seen China pretty uncomfortable with an invasion of a sovereign country.”

“I think the PRC watching very closely, has to make some tough decisions.”

RIYADH, 14 March 2022, (TON): Saudi Arabia has strongly condemned a missile attack that struck Iraq’s Kurdish regional capital Irbil.

Iraqi state TV quoted “the Kurdistan region's counter-terrorism force as saying 12 missiles launched from outside Iraq hit Irbil.”

The Kurdish interior ministry said “the missiles caused only material damage and one civilian was injured.”

Iran's Revolutionary Guards later released a statement taking responsibility for the missile attacks against Israeli strategic centres in Irbil, Iran's state media reported.

The Kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed the solidarity of the Saudi government with Iraq and support for any measures that the country takes to protect its security and stability.

CAIRO, 14 March 2022, (TON): President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi affirmed Egypt’s “absolute support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees to continue to play its role in providing basic and necessary services to Palestinian refugees.”

During his meeting with UNRWA Commissioner General Philip Lazzarini, El-Sisi said “the agency is the only mechanism that carries out the important humanitarian responsibility of improving the conditions of Palestinians in the Palestinian territories, especially in the areas of education and health.”

He added “Egypt stresses during its contacts with all regional and international parties the importance of providing the necessary support to UNRWA, especially with the conditions it faces and the negative repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, with the aim of maintaining the continuation of its work in the required manner.”

He alluded to Egypt’s readiness to support some of the agency’s relief projects, especially through the Egyptian Initiative for the Reconstruction of Gaza.

El-Sisi and Lazzarini reviewed UNRWA’s role and the challenges it faces.