DOHA, 13 March, 2021, (TON): The government intervened and helped 10 Bhutanese women leave for Qatar four days after they were intercepted by airport officials in New Delhi who suspected them of carrying fake visas.

The women had left the country to work in the Middle Eastern country without registering with an authorized agent in the country.

Foreign Minister Dr. Tandi Dorji said that the women were stopped as they were boarding a flight to Qatar on March 1.  The government enquired the employer/company and officials in Qatar and found that the women had obtained work visas.

He said, “So we let them go. But the scenario (questions that have arisen with the incident) is being investigated,” The government, he said, interviewed a suspected agent, who denied the charge.

 He added that the government would not have encouraged them to work in the company had they gone through the prescribed channel.  He reasoned that Bhutanese employees had, in the past, faced issues related to payments and facilities they were entitled to in the company.

 The government, he said, had repeatedly notified jobseekers to go abroad only through registered agents to prevent unfortunate incidents.  He also said that jobseekers were not allowed to go abroad as domestic help.

According to the foreign minister, the women are working as salespersons and coffee baristas. “The women are safe and working.”

Lyonpo Dr. Tandi Dorji said that the processing of documents for overseas employment will now be carried out by the immigration department.  It was previously done by the labor and human resources ministry.

The government has now written to governments of the Middle Eastern countries requesting them to issue work visas to Bhutanese jobseekers only if they produce official documents from the Bhutanese government.

Tehran, 13 March, 2021 (TON): Iranian official confirmed terrorist attack on an Iranian commercial container ship bound for Europe in the Mediterranean Sea.

On Wednesday, the extremists targeted the ship with explosives, Ali Ghiyasiyan, spokesperson for Iran’s state-owned shipping company told the media.

Ghiyasiyan said, the fire on the ship was brought under control, but the hull was damaged,

No casualties were reported, he added.

The official described the attack as a maritime piracy violating the international law of maritime.

However, the reports said that the investigators and officials are up to legal proceedings to determine the perpetrators.

RIYADH, 13 March, 2021 (TON): On Friday, the Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud issued decrees for the appointment of new officials, the media said.

As per the decrees, the King dismissed Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten and appointed Issam bin Saad bin Saeed as the acting minister of Haj and Umrah.

 Issam bin Saad bin Saeed also serves as the Minister of State and a cabinet member, the media stated.

Replacing Abdulhadi bin Ahmed Al-Mansouri, Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Duailej was appointed as the head of the General Authority for Civil Aviation.

A new president of the Supreme Administrative Court, deputy minister of human resources and social development, and assistant transportation minister were also appointed in accordance with the King’s issued decree.

TRIPOLI, 13 March, 2021, (TON): Libya's first woman foreign minister, Najla el-Mangoush, will be confirmed one week from now as a feature of another solidarity government, a rare female voice at the top table whose arrangement numerous Libyan ladies invited on Thursday.

Mangoush, a legal counselor who had a role in the momentary committee that momentarily represented Libya after its 2011 uprising, will be joined by four different women in the bureau, including Halima Abdulrahman as justice minister.

"I think this is a win for all of us women in Libya. I hope it's a first step to going further: a woman reaching the head of government," said Afia Mohammed, 34, a pastry maker in Tripoli, adding it would encourage more women to enter politics.

The 75 Libyan representatives chose by the U.N. to partake in those discussions spread out responsibility for the new government to remember women for 30% of senior government jobs, remembering for top bureau posts.

"This will give an opportunity for other women to join the work in sovereign positions. The five ministers will be role models," said Lamees BenSaad, a women's rights activist and another member of the U.N. talk’s forum. "We have been fighting a long time for this gain."

But Hanan Malouda, selling beauty products in the market, said women in government would be good for Libya. "Hopefully they will have more compassion for us," she said.

LONDON, 13 March, 2021 (TON): It was right and lawful to suspend parts of the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol, said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

On a visit to N. Ireland on Friday, he said, “What we’re doing is taking some lawful, some technical measures to build up confidence in the east-west operation (of the protocol).”

While referring to the April 1998 agreement, he said, “We think it’s lawful, and indeed, we think it is right, in view of the impact on the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement, and the need to have consent from both communities.”

As the Britain unilaterally extended grace periods for the implementation of post-Brexit checks on goods going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the remarks came after that.

The UK will extend the periods till October as first of these periods was to expire at the end of March, that the EU considers is breaching of international law.

NEW YORK, 13 March, 2021 (TON): Soon after the Quad Summit, the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit India to meet his counterpart Rajnath Singh, Pentagon official said.

After the summit, acting Assistant Defense Secretary for Indo-Pacific, David F. Helvey said on Friday, ”In New Delhi, Austin will discuss the major defense partnership that we have with India, including through enhanced information sharing, regional security cooperation, defense trade, and cooperation in new domains”

 He said India is “an important strategic partnership that involves cooperation with like-minded nations committed to protecting the rules-based international order”.

Helvey said that Austin has “signaled a very early interest in focusing the department on China. He has identified China as the pacing threat and the pacing challenge for the Department”.

“His initial steps kind of demonstrate that this is going to be an area of continued focus, and the participation in this trip, follow-on travel to India, will provide an opportunity for exchange of views early on with key allies and partners about how we can work together and expand cooperation to support a rules-based international order.”

Considering both countries’ concern over Indo-Pacific; Washington focuses on China as an emerging threat.

Last year India and China faced border incursions killing several soldiers on both the sides.

India was designated as a major defense partner by the US in 2016 allowing it access to some defense hi-tech that would normally be available to only allies.

KABUL, 13 March, 2021, (TON): A powerful car bomb at almost a police headquarters on 13 March, 2021 night killed at any rate seven individuals and injured in excess of 50 others in Afghanistan's western Herat territory, officials said.

Many homes and shops were likewise harmed in the impact as rescuers hurried to the scene to help a few groups caught under the rubble, Qatali said

Russia intends to hold a meeting on Afghanistan in Moscow on March 18 and has welcomed a few provincial players, including the Afghan government and legislators to kick off the harmonious interaction as discretion by foreign forces including Washington increase.

It comes at a crunch time for the peace process as a May 1 deadline for foreign troops to withdraw from Afghanistan looms and the United States reviews its plans.

WASHINGTON, 13 March, 2021 (TON): On Friday, five Chinese companies were designated as posing threat to the national security under the 2019 law of protecting the U.S. communications networks, Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The companies include Technologies Co, ZTE Corp, Hytera Communications Corp, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co.

“This list provides meaningful guidance that will ensure that as next-generation networks are built across the country, they do not repeat the mistakes of the past or use equipment or services that will pose a threat to U.S. national security or the security and safety of Americans,” acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.

 In August 2020, the U.S. government issued regulations for halting agencies from buying goods or services from any of the five Chinese companies.

As Huawei challenged the declaration in a petition filed in February, it declined to comment on Friday’s move. However, Hikvision said late on Friday it strongly opposed the FCC decision.

ISLAMABAD, 13 March, 2021, (TON): Gurdeep Singh from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party took the oath on Friday as a Senator, becoming the first turban-clad Sikh representative in the upper house of Pakistan's Parliament.

Singh, from the party of Prime Minister Imran Khan, became the first turban-clad Sikh representative from KPK province in Pakistan's Senate on March 3. He defeated rival candidates on a minority seat by a huge margin in the election to the upper chamber of Parliament.

Singh secured 103 votes in the House of 145 whereas Jamiat Ulema-e Islam (Fazlur) candidate Ranjeet Singh secured just 25 votes and Asif Bhatti of the Awami National Party received 12.

Senator Sayed Muzafar Hussain Shah, who has been nominated as the presiding officer, administered the oath to the members-elect. They have been sworn in as Senators for a term of six years. 

BEIJING, 13 March, 2021, (TON): In front of the Quad culmination on Friday, China said trades and participation between nations ought to add to common seeing as opposed to focusing on third party and decline “pursuing exclusive blocs ".

US President Joe Biden, PM Narendra Modi, Australian PM Morrison and Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga will go to the virtual summit, which is the initial meeting of the top heads of the Quadrilateral partnership, on Friday.

Known as the “Quadrilateral Security Dialogue,” representatives for the four-member nations have met periodically since its establishment in 2007.

Asked for China's reaction to the Quad conclave, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing here that “exchanges and cooperation between nations should contribute to the mutual understanding and trust among nations, rather than targeting a third party or damaging the interest of a third party.”

The meeting to be held virtually is expected to last about 90 minutes, during which all the four leaders would also lay out their vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific, amidst China flexing its muscles in the strategically-vital region.

China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. Beijing has also made substantial progress in militarizing its man-made islands in the past few years.

Beijing claims sovereignty over the entirety of the South China Sea. Yet, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims. In the East China Sea, China has regional questions with Japan.

The developing circumstance in the Indo-Pacific locale in the wake of China's expanding military muscle-flexing has become a significant argument among driving worldwide forces. The US has been preferring making Quad a security design to check China's developing confidence.