NEW DELHI, 26 February 2022, (TON): The head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos has said that the new sanctions announced by the United States have the potential to destroy our cooperation on the International Space Station.

The harsh new sanctions were announced by US President Joe Biden on Thursday, to punish Russia for launching a full-scale attack on Ukraine.

Currently, the ISS is home to four American, two Russian and a German astronaut working side-by-side in microgravity.

Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin's said in a Twitter "if you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled deorbit and fall into the United States or Europe?”

"There is also the option of dropping a 500-tonne structure to India or China. Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect? The ISS does not fly over Russia, so all the risks are yours. Are you ready for them?" he said in subsequent tweet.

He then offered a "friendly advice", asking the US not to behave "irresponsibly".

NEW DELHI, 26 February 2022, (TON): India is under enormous pressure from both Washington and Moscow to vote with them on a UN Security Council resolution to censure Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Both sides have reached out to New Delhi to make their case and openly expressed hope that they will have India's support for a vote that is expected in the early hours of Saturday IST.

Barring a dramatic shift in India's traditionalist and independent-minded geo-political thinking, it is expected to abstain or vote nay on the resolution, which in any case will be largely symbolic because Russia, as a permanent member of the UNSC will veto it.

A former Indian diplomat who has served in the UN said India's vote will be a nay or an abstention depending on the language of the resolution, but he could not see it being a yes.

US analysts already seem reconciled to India not supporting Washington.

DHAKA, 26 February 2022, (TON): A six-day combined exercise titled 'exercise Cope South-2022' with the participation of Bangladesh Air Force and Pacific Air Force, USA, under the direction of the Armed Forces Division and management of Bangladesh Air Force ended at Bangladesh Air Force Base Bangabandhu.

Air Officer Commanding of BAF Base Bangabandhu Air-Vice Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan delivered the closing speech and participated in the photo session with the participants.

In the closing ceremony, Charge d'Affaires of the US Embassy Helen LaFaveb and senior military and civilian officials of US Pacific Air Force, including BAF participants and high officials of all three services, were present.

The exercise started on February 20 last at Bangladesh Air Force Base Bangabandhu, an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release.

Pacific Air Force, USA, conducts various training exercises in response to natural disasters in different parts of the world every year.

As Bangladesh is a coastal and low-lying riverine country, it is prone to various natural disasters every year.

Transport aircrafts of Bangladesh Air Force are extensively used to distribute relief items in the disaster affected areas during natural disaster.

DHAKA, 26 February 2022, (TON): Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Australian company Starning to recruit Bangladeshi workers in the ICT sector of Australia.

An official release said “BOESL Managing Director Md Billal Hossain and Starning Operation Director Paul Egan signed the documents virtually for their respective companies.”

Under the agreement, Starning would arrange employment for skilled Bangladeshis in different client companies in Australia.

BOESL would supply the eligible candidates from Bangladesh against the demand of Starning and Bangladeshi ICT professionals would get the opportunity to work in Australia for next three years.

DHAKA, 26 February 2022, (TON): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said “Bangladeshis stranded in Ukraine can seek safe shelters through the other bordering countries - Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova along with Poland as per their convenience.”

the ministry suggested evacuation to stranded Bangladeshis to Poland as Ukraine shares its western border with Poland while Russian troops entered its breakaway republics through the eastern side.

However, this morning, the ministry suggested Bangladeshis that they could also be evacuated from the troubled Eastern European country to its western and south western bordering countries - Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova apart from Poland.

The foreign ministry requested Bangladeshis in Ukraine to contact the following numbers of the Bangladesh Embassies for necessary assistance, for Slovakia and Hungary: Bangladesh Embassy in Austria, Vienna: (i)Rahat Bin Zaman, Deputy Chief of Mission.

However, unofficial estimates suggest the number could be higher than 500.

Alam said “the Bangladesh government would evacuate its nationals by chartered flights while Bangladesh's Warsaw mission was equipped with extra manpower, mobilizing officials from Bangladeshi embassies to Germany and Italy.”

DAMASCUS, 25 February 2022, (TON): According to Syria’s state media “three Syrian soldiers were killed Thursday in an Israeli airstrike near the capital Damascus.”

It was the fourth reported time this month Israel has launched strikes inside Syria, keeping up a campaign against pro-Iranian forces supporting the Damascus government in the more than decade-old civil war.

State news agency reported “the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault with several missiles.”

It added that three soldiers were killed.

It said “Syrian air defences intercepted most of the missiles in the attack.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which has an extensive network of sources across the country, reported that explosions were heard in Damascus and its suburbs “after the interception of Israeli missiles by the Syrian regime’s anti-aircraft defence”.

It follows strikes in recent days on a town near the Golan Heights, a Syrian military post on February 17, and an assault against anti-aircraft batteries at the start of the month.

SANAA, 25 February 2022, (TON): According to a lawyer in the city “the Iran-backed Houthis have abducted two more Yemeni employees of the US embassy in Sanaa.”

Meanwhile the militia has ordered the seizure of more properties belonging to its opponents.

Abdul Majeed Sabra, a Yemeni lawyer who defends abductees held in Houthi prisons, told Arab News on Thursday that two press officers at the shuttered US embassy in Sanaa have been detained. They were identified as Abdul Rahman Al-Sharabi and Nabiel Sultan.

The latest detentions come almost four months after the Houthis stormed the embassy compound, seized the property and detained about two dozen local workers.

When Arab News contacted the US Department of State, a spokesperson refused to confirm or deny the latest reports of abductions, citing concerns about the safety of embassy staff, but said that efforts are being made to secure the release of all detained workers.

He said “we condemn the Houthis’ continued detention of US and UN local Yemeni staff in Sanaa in the strongest possible terms.”

This action sends worrying signals about the Houthi commitment to peace and intentions toward the international community.

BEIJING, 25 February 2022, (TON): China repeated calls for talks to resolve the crisis in Ukraine while refusing to criticize Russia’s attack, and in a move that could help reduce the impact of Western sanctions against Moscow, approved imports of Russian wheat.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters at a daily briefing “the Ukraine issue is complex in its historical background, what we are seeing today is the interplay of complex factors.”

Hua said “China is closely following the latest developments.”

“We still hope that the parties concerned will not shut the door to peace and engage instead in dialogue and consultation and prevent the situation from further escalating.”

Although China has not endorsed President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of independence of eastern Ukraine’s separatist areas or Putin’s decision to send Russian forces there, Hua said China “called on parties to respect others’ legitimate security concerns.”

“All parties should work for peace instead of escalating the tension or hyping up the possibility of war,” Hua said, repeating the language China has consistently used to criticize the West during the crisis.

MOSCOW, 25 February 2022, (TON): Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, during a telephone conversation, informed his Qatari counterpart Mohammed bin Abdel Rahman Al Thani about the progress of the Russian special operation to protect Donbass.

Lavrov informed in detail about the implementation of the decision of the President of the Russian Putin, in the context of Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in response to the appeal of their heads and with the sanction of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on a special military operation to protect people, including hundreds thousands of Russian citizens, from a real threat to their lives and security posed by the current Ukrainian regime, which does not abandon attempts to solve the “Donbass problem” by force.

JEDDAH, 25 February 2022, (TON): Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port city of Jeddah will soon undergo a major face-lift, thanks to an eagerly awaited redevelopment plan.

It aims to transform this coastal jewel into one of the world’s most livable cities by the end of the decade.

Unveiled in December by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the $20 billion Jeddah Central project will revamp and revitalize about 5.7 million square meters of picturesque waterfront, stretching north from Al-Salam Palace to the city’s water-treatment plant.

The development will include a state-of-the-art oceanarium, an opera house and a sports stadium, alongside more than 17,000 residential units, 2,700 hotel rooms, a marina, a beach and several green spaces covering about 40 percent of the project area.

Phase one will include the creation of one of the largest public beaches in Jeddah, with a pier, marina, park and playground alongside the promenade, all of which are scheduled for completion by 2027.