BEIRUT, 10 March, 2021 (TON): On Wednesday, the Army of Lebanon started clearing the road barricades eight days after the demonstrations.

“As a result of the tragic accidents and violations that took place units of the army started this morning opening closed roads,” the Lebanese army said in a statement on social media.

The Lebanese protested, burnt tires, blocked roads across the country against the country’s economic and political decline.

After meeting the top diplomats, the President Michel Aoun asked the security forces to clear the hurdles.

Lebanon has been under the financial crisis from 2019, since then the people were wiped out of jobs, were locked out of bank deposits and risk of hunger widespread.

DHAKA, 10 March, 2021 (TON): Former minister of agriculture, Moinuddin Abdullah took the office of new chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission.

On Wednesday, he was joined by Md Jahurull Haque, former chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, will now serve as the national anti-graft agency commissioner.

ACC spokesperson Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya said, "The new chairman and commissioner of the anti-graft agency have joined office today."

Moinuddin is replacing Iqbal Mahmud as the chairman of the ACC, whose term will end on Mar 13, while the tenure of Commissioner (Investigation) AFM Aminul Islam also expires at the same time.

SRINAGAR, 10 March, 2021 (TON): On Wednesday the J&K Police confirmed to bust two terror modules, prevent IED blasts and detention of seven persons.

“In the last few days the Awantipore police have busted two terror modules of terrorists planning to carry out IED blasts,” Vijay Kumar, IG Kashmir Police said.

"One Sahil Nazir, a BA first year student, was being motivated for many days through Telegram and other social media apps by terrorists to manage a second hand car," he said.

"He was paid money and the explosives being brought from North Kashmir were to be fitted on the car for carrying out the vehicle based IED attack."

Kumar said Nazir was arrested by the Awatipore police with the help of technical intelligence. "On his questioning, two of his assistants Qaisar Ahmad from Pampore an Over Ground Worker (OGW) for two years and Mohammad Fayaz were arrested."

"The car was recovered from the residence of Fayaz which was meant to be used for carrying out the IED blast. It is a Maruti car number (JK01 E 0690). A fourth terrorist associate Yasir Wani was also arrested."

He further added that while interrogation, Sahil Nazir gave a confessional statement before the police that he carried out a grenade attack on the CRPF on 25 January, 2021 in Pampore.

The reports stated that all of the four have been arrested and investigations have started against them.

WASHINGTON, 10 March, 2021 (TON): On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department has blacklisted two Iranian officials from Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The names of the two blacklisted officials are, IRGC interrogators Ali Hemmatian and Masoud Safdari.

The department accused the officials for their alleged involvement in the human rights violations during the 2019 and 2020 protests in Iran.

Both of them along with their families are now ineligible to enter the U.S.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, “We will continue to consider all appropriate tools to impose costs on those responsible for human rights violations and abuses in Iran.”

Also known as Bloody November, the 2019–2020 Iranian protests were a series of nationwide civil protests in Iran, initially caused by a 50%–200% increase in fuel prices, leading to calls for the overthrow of the government in Iran and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

As reports state that the protests commenced as peaceful gatherings on the evening of 15 November but spread to 21 cities within hours, eventually becoming the most violent and severe anti government unrest since Iran’s inception.

KATHMANDU, 10 March, 2021 (TON): The meeting for passing the condolence motion for 14 former lawmakers of the reinstated HoR (House of Representatives) has been adjourned till Tuesday next week.

The next meeting will take place at 1 pm on Tuesday, however, the HoR meeting started at the Federal Parliament at 1 pm today.

Following the reinstatement of the HoR on Sunday, the meeting summoned for the first time.

The motion of condolence could not be passed because of the disruption caused by the opposition lawmakers.

The Nepali Court lawmakers started raising slogans soon after the Law Minister Lila Nath Shrestha began to table the ordinance and demanded withdrawal of the ordinance that supposed to be presented by the government.

However, CPN (Maoist Center) lawmakers boycotted the Sunday’s session arguing that the government lost its validity, and hence could not table ordinances.

COPENHAGEN, 10 March, 2021 (TON): On Tuesday, Denmark’s PM Mette Frederiksen announced the appointment of a special envoy delegated to secure a seat at the UNSC in 2025-26.

“Kristian Jensen is the right man to fight for the Danish candidacy. Thank you for taking responsibility," the media reported while citing the PM.

In August 2019, the former FM Jensen 49 resigned as a deputy chair of the liberal Venstre, the largest opposition party.

Jensen told the media on Tuesday, "I will be part of a campaign to ensure that Denmark is elected so that we can sit at the finest table in the UN Security Council. Here we can help influence the decisions of the world around us."

"Denmark has a long tradition of participating in international cooperation forums. We participated in the UN's first peacekeeping mission in 1948 and are among the countries that provide the most to the UN,” PM Mette said.

"We as the Danish government are now ready for an even greater global responsibility," she added.

As it is known that the UN Security Council includes China, France, Russia, the UK and the U.S.as five permanent members, however, five out of ten the non-permanent members are elected each year by the General Assembly for a period of two years.

KABUL, 10 March, 2021 (TON): Afghanistan is considering an offer from Russia to host dialogue on the stalled Afghan peace process, Kabul said on Tuesday.

The comments came two days after the leaked letter that U.S.’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken proposed to the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani over the stalemate.

Blinken’s letter had included an urgent proposal to help restart discussions between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

“We have received an invitation from the government of the Russian Federation addressed to the leadership of the government of Afghanistan for participation in this conference and are aware about their invitation of other national personalities and political leaders,” Gran Hewad, spokesman to Afghan’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

“We will soon begin consultations on what sort of decision we take on it. We appreciate the efforts of the Russian Federation’s government with regards to peace,” he added.

Alongside Taliban and Afghan government Taliban and Afghan government envoys, the 18 March meeting in Russia will also host delegates from the Afghanistan High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), factional and influential leaders, and representatives from the US, China, and Pakistan.

President Ghani’s administration has not confirmed that if any of the officials would attend the meeting.

Russia’s offer to host the conference comes a week after US special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, shared a proposal with key Afghan leaders for the formation of a participatory government.

It is noteworthy that besides Iran and Pakistan, Moscow has been pressing for the pullout of foreign forces from Afghanistan for years. Russia recently hosted two rounds of talks between the Taliban and influential national leaders, besides being a vocal supporter for forming a new government to replace Ghani, whose second term ends after four years. 

ADDIS ABABA, 10 March, 2021 (TON): In Ethiopia considering the 39 accessible locations in the Tigray region and neighboring Afar and Amhara, over 131,000 people are displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) survey.

The survey collected the first official data of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in sites accessible to DTM surveyors on the crisis in Northern Ethiopia that began in November 2020.

This new assessment was conducted from 22 December to 14 January, and the findings from this data collection exercise were released this week.

Almost 70 per cent (91,046) are in Tigray, 26 per cent (34,091) are in Afar and 5 per cent (6,453) are in Amhara.

Many displaced persons including women and children reportedly are in need of emergency shelter, food and access to clean and safe drinking water.

However, ESA (Emergency Site Assessment) that is conducted monthly since the beginning of the crisis, IOM has been monitoring the humanitarian and displacement situation through this data monitoring method that involves the area-based assessment of the number of displaced persons, their locations and needs.

NEW DELHI, 10 March, 2021 (TON): The Red Fort violence advances as the Delhi Police have arrested two more people in connection to the 26 January violence that included a Birmingham-based Dutch national who is of Indian-origin.

On Tuesday night the two men were detained by the police. So far, a total of 14 people have been arrested in connection to the Red Fort violence.

The Dutch national has been identified as Maninderjit Singh (23), and the second arrested person is Delhi resident Khempreet (21) who held a policeman with a spear inside the Red Fort premises reportedly.

"The accused Maninderjit Singh was involved in the Red Fort violence case. There are video footages on record, which shows the presence of the accused alongside the unlawfully assembled unruly riotous mob carrying a 'bhaala' (spear) during the farmers' agitation on January 26," Monika Bhardwaj, DCP Crime, said.

As per the police records, the first arrestee Singh was trying to escape the country and had forged documents, he also posed himself as Jarmanjit Singh Khabbe Rajputan from Gurdaspur, Punjab

Maninderjit Singh was previously involved in a riots case registered with the Rangar Nangal police station in Gurdaspur and also has a case of cheating at Indira Gandhi International Airport Police Station in New Delhi.

"He holds a Netherlands passport. Presently, the accused along with his family is settled in Birmingham, and is employed as a construction labourer. In December 2019, the accused visited India and due to the 2020 lockdown, he could not return to the UK," the officer added.

Meanwhile, the second accused Khempreet was also actively involved in the Red Fort violence, and was seen along with other associates carrying big spears and assaulting police personnel on duty inside the Fort, according to police.

LISBON, 10 March, 2021 (TON): On Tuesday, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of Portugal inaugurated for his second term as the President.

Addressing Parliament, he said that his mission will be to end fear, "restore the confidence of the Portuguese people" and restore the "balance of health services."

In his oath of office, Rebelo de Sousa pledged to "defend, comply and enforce the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic."

"The reasons for the solemn commitment that I have just made are that they need it most the homeless, without decent housing, the retired poor, unemployed or on layoff, the precarious workers and entrepreneurs," he said while stressing on the economic difficulties amid pandemic.

He further said, "May the next five years be more a reason for hope than disappointment, it is our dream and it is our purpose after a year that has brought so much mourning, so much sacrifice, so much loneliness."

On 24 January this year, Rebelo de Sousa was re-elected president of the Republic of Portugal in general elections with 60.67 percent of the vote.