KABUL, 11 March 2022, (TON): Renowned development expert Sultan Masood Dakik has said “he would make efforts to produce gas and energy from Kabul City’s garbage dump in the Gazak locality of Khakh-e-Jabbar district.”

Dakik arrived in Kabul on March 6 and so far he had held several meetings with government high-ups on development and political issues.

He visited Gazak locality where according to Kabul Municipality 2,500 tons of garbage collected from Kabul City was stored.

Dakik said “he had read a Pajhwok Afghan News report on problems generated by garbage storage in Gazak and that forced him to visit the area.”

According to media reports on February 16, former government had decided to stop the supply of garbage to Gazak, a decision that could not be implemented and the delivery of garbage is still ongoing.

The residents of Gazak locality have been complaining regarding the side-effects and some disease spread due to the storage of massive garbage heap.

KABUL, 11 March 2022, (TON): The Islamic Emirate said “it would soon resume the TAPI pipeline project, saying that the suspension of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) activities will not halt the project.”

Earlier, a Pakistan news agency quoted a top Pakistani official of the Energy Ministry saying that the Asian Development Bank has paused all due diligence and processing activities of TAPI pending the official recognition of the Islamic Emirate by the United Nations and major global economies.

The Ministry of Finance denied the report, saying that the ADB was active in a consultative capacity, and that the project is mainly being supported by Turkmenistan. 

The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline is planned to span 1,680km and connect Herat and Kandahar in Afghanistan with Pakistan and India.

NEW DELHI, 11 March 2022, (TON): According to the count of a state assembly vote “Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party won the country's most populous state with a big majority.”

According to the Election Commission of India “the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party had won or was leading in 251 of the 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh, which it currently rules.”

Final results are expected to be out in a few hours but unlikely to change much.

Party workers in the state staged impromptu rallies to celebrate and smeared each other in the BJP's saffron colours.

Party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said "the BJP will form a government in Uttar Pradesh with a thumping majority."

"The people of the state have rejected the opposition that was building a castle in the air."

DHAKA, 11 March 2022, (TON): The government has appointed Md Nazmul Islam, as the ambassador of Bangladesh to Oman, currently serving as the ambassador of Bangladesh to Sweden.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said “ambassador-designate Nazmul Islam is a career diplomat belonging to the 15th batch of BCS (Foreign Affairs) cadre.”

In his diplomatic career, he served at Bangladesh missions in Jeddah, Beijing, Jakarta and London in various capacities.

DHAKA, 11 March 2022, (TON): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the United Arab Emirates business community to invest largely in Bangladesh Social Economic Zones and high-tech parks.

She said "our financial markets are now ready to support advanced private equity and fin-tech solutions. The Digital Bangladesh that we had aspired for almost twelve years ago is now a reality. I, therefore, invite you to come and partner with us.”

The prime minister was addressing the Joint Business Council organized by the business communities of Bangladesh and UAE at the Virtual Meeting Room at her residence.

Spelling out various measures taken by her government to create a conducive environment for foreign investments, she said "I assure you all that Bangladesh is now a land of lucrative opportunities."

The premier said Bangladesh is moving fast in urbanization, industrialization, and in increasing tele-density to connect individuals to governance, innovation and markets.

RIYADH, 10 March 2022, (TON): The Coalition to Restore Legitimacy said “Saudi air defenses destroyed a Houthi drone targeting Jazan.”

The coalition said “shrapnel from the drone, launched from Yemen’s Hodeidah province, scattered over civilian objects but did not cause damage.”

ROME, 10 March 2022, (TON): Italy’s ambassador in Abu Dhabi has praised the UAE for its outstanding commitment in the reduction of CO2 emissions.

Speaking at a debate on the global need to save energy organized by the Italian Trade Commission at the Italian pavilion of Expo 2020 Dubai, Nicola Lener said “huge investments are planned in the UAE to reduce polluting emissions and increase production of clean energy.”

He added “this “positive and consolidated attitude opens the way to many opportunities for greater cooperation with international investors and partners, including Italian firms, which can provide state-of-the-art and innovative technologies.”

Lener explained to the audience the UAE’s goal of achieving 50 percent clean energy supply and reducing its carbon footprint by 70 percent by 2050.

WASHINGTON, 10 March 2022, (TON): The Pentagon said “Russia is recruiting Syrians and other foreign fighters as it ramps up its assault on Ukraine.”

Moscow entered the Syrian civil war in 2015 on the side of President Bashar Assad’s regime, and the country has been mired in a conflict marked by urban combat for more than a decade.

Now, US Department of Defense officials said “Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was on a recruiting mission seeking to bring some of those fighters into the fray in Ukraine.”

According to the Wall Street Journal “US officials said that Russia, which launched an invasion into its Eastern European neighbor on February 24, has in recent days recruited fighters from Syria, hoping they can help take the capital Kyiv and other cities.”

One official told the daily that some fighters are already in Russia readying to join the fight in Ukraine, though it was not immediately clear how many combatants have been recruited.

Details were slight: officials would not speculate on how many mercenaries have joined the fight, or on the quality of the fighters, but the Pentagon said there was no reason to doubt the accuracy of the reports.

ANKARA, 10 March 2022, (TON): The world’s attention will be focused on a meeting due to take place in Turkey’s southern resort town of Antalya at which the Turkish, Ukrainian, and Russian foreign ministers will discuss the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe.

Sharing a maritime border with Russia and Ukraine, Turkey has long tried to act as a neutral and balanced mediator between the two countries by upgrading its importance to NATO and at the same time not antagonizing Russia.

Ankara also closed the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits under the 1936 Montreux pact, allowing it to stop some Russian ships from crossing the Black Sea but also limiting Western forces’ access to the zone.

The meeting, to be held on the sidelines of the Istanbul Mediation Conference, will be the first high-level, face-to-face talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba since Feb. 24 when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

WASHINGTON, 10 March 2022, (TON): The proposal of the Polish authorities to transfer MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine is a matter of serious concern for the entire North Atlantic Alliance.

This was announced by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at the State Department at a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

Commenting on this proposal, the chief of American diplomacy noted “the flight from the American NATO base in Germany to the airspace over Ukraine, where the Russian Armed Forces operate, is a matter of serious concern to the entire NATO alliance.

Therefore, we must work out specific issues. Now we are continuing very close consultations with Poland and other NATO Allies on this issue and the logistical challenges it presents.