NEW DELHI, 24 February, 2021 (TON): The leader of the BKU (Bharatiya Kisan Union) Rakesh Tikait said that the farmers would march to the Parliament if the three agricultural laws are not taken back.

He said in a media statement, "A call would be made for taking farm protests to the Parliament."

The movement would spread to other states such as Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, Tikait said.

He claimed that farmers would do farming on the lawns located near Parliament and when the crop would mature, the government could analyze the financial yield of the crop.

He stressed that a Parliamentary Standing Committee should be formed that should monitor this for then the government would get to know about the gains and losses related to it.

NIAMEY, 24 February, 2021 (TON): After the country's monumental election result named ruling party candidate Mohamed Bazoum the winner, protests erupted in Niger on Tuesday with tyres set alight and reported clashes with police.

Bazoum, a 61-year-old former interior minister, won just over 55% of the vote in Sunday’s election run-off, according to the electoral commission. He beat Mahamane Ousmane, 71, a former president who was toppled by a coup in 1996, who took 44% of the vote.

The provisional results must still be confirmed by the constitutional court.

According to reports, Ousmane supporters took to the streets of the capital Niamey and gathered at the headquarters of the ruling party but were quickly dispersed by police who fired teargas.

Ousmane's campaign alleged fraud before the results were declared and said there had been theft, ballot-box stuffing and threats against voters, without providing evidence.

It is seen as the vote is supposed to usher in Niger's first transition from one democratically elected leader to another after President Mahamadou Issoufou announced he was stepping down after two five-year terms.

ROME, 24 February, 2021 (TON): On Wednesday, the foreign minister of Italy Luigi Di Maio has asked the United Nations to investigate the ambush killing of its ambassador to DR Congo.

The morning after the bodies of the two Italians returned by military plane to Rome,
Foreign Minister Maio told parliament, “We have formally asked WFP (World Food Programme) and the UN to open an investigation to clarify what happened, the reasons behind the security arrangements used and who was responsible for these decisions,” “We expect, in the briefest possible time, clear and exhaustive answers.”

The Italian envoy Luca Attanasio along with his bodyguard and a Congolese driver were killed on Monday after a World Food Program (WFP) convoy was ambushed in a dangerous part of the eastern DRC near the border with Rwanda.

An Italian team of investigators has already been displaced for the probe.

On Monday, the DRC’s interior ministry blamed the killings on the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu rebel group but it rejected the allegation instead threw the ball in Rwandan Army’s court.

NEW DELHI, 24 February, 2021 (TON): On Wednesday, the Indian PM Modi remembered six-time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa on her 73rd birth anniversary, praising her efforts to empower 'Nari Shakti' (woman power).

"Remembering Jayalalithaa Ji on her birth anniversary. She is widely admired for her pro-people policies and efforts to empower the downtrodden. She also made noteworthy efforts to empower our Nari Shakti. I will always cherish my several interactions with her," the Prime Minister said on social media.

Modi mentioned that he will always cherish his several interactions with the late Indian politician and film actress Jayalalithaa, Jayalalithaa was born on 24 February, 1948 at Melukote, Mandya district, then in Mysore State (now Karnataka) in a Tamil Brahmin Iyengar family. She passed away in Chennai on 5 December, 2016 after suffering a massive cardiac arrest. She was one of the key pillars of Tamil Nadu politics till her death.

Known as "Amma" (mother) and "Puratchi Thalaivi" (Revolutionary leader), Jayalalithaa was serving a consecutive term when she took ill and, subsequently, passed away.

Despite major differences within the AIADMK following Jayalalithaa's death, the party came around to present an image of unity and has successfully ruled the state under Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswamy. With the state polls now expected in April or May, the opposition DMK is keen on displacing her party.

BEIJING, 24 February, 2021 (TON): Chinese new commerce minister, Wang Wentao on Wednesday stated to readily enhance exchanges with the U.S. on trade and economic fronts.

“China looks forward to working with US colleagues to focus on cooperation and manage differences,” he said.

“Foreign Ministry’s outlook remains grim and complex this year due to uncertainties from COVID-19 and supply and industrial chains,” he added.

He further added, “We will reinforce policy support for foreign trade. We will ensure smooth operations of supply chains.”

However, AUD/USD pays a little heed to the encouraging comments from China, posting small gains around 0.7920, having hit three-year highs at 0.7945 in early Asia.

NEW DELHI, 24 February, 2021 (TON): On Tuesday, ICRA (formerly Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India Limited) said that India's economic recovery has entered into a consolidation phase in January 2021.

The agency said after the broad-based improvement seen in December 2020, the year-on-year (YoY) performance of a majority of the early available economic indicators recorded a loss of momentum in January 2021, relative to the previous month.

"A majority of this lost steam in January 2021, relative to December 2020, partly because of an unfavorable base effect, supply-side issues and price hikes, marking a contrast to the improvement in sentiment brought on by the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccines," ICRA's Principal Economist Aditi Nayar said.

"We do not construe the dip in volume performance of a majority of the lead indicators in January 2021 as a sign of alarm regarding the sustainability of the growth recovery. However, we do caution that the pace of underlying growth in the Indian economy remains subdued, and do not foresee a sharp ramp-up in the pace of GDP expansion in Q4 FY2021."

"This sub-set includes the output of the passenger vehicles (PVs), motorcycles and Coal India Ltd (CIL), vehicle registrations, petrol consumption, and ports cargo traffic, generation of GST e-way bills, bank credit, and deposits."

The agency was of the view that this was led by a combination of factors such as the fading of the favorable base effect, supply-side issues, and price hikes.

HOUSTON, 24 February, 2021 (TON): On Tuesday, the federal judge banned President Joe Biden’s administration for good and all from enforcing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations as it violated the federal law.

Sought by Texas, the U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued a preliminary injunction that argued the moratorium violated federal law and risked imposing additional costs on the state.
Biden has proposed a sweeping immigration bill that would allow the legalization of an estimated 11 million people living in the US illegally. He has also instituted other guidelines on which immigration and border agents should target for enforcement.
Tipton, a Trump appointee, initially ruled on 26 January that the moratorium violated federal law on administrative procedure and that the US failed to show why a deportation pause was justified. A temporary restraining order the judge issued was set to expire Tuesday.
However, the legal fight over the deportation ban is an early sign of Republican opposition to Biden’s immigration priorities, just as Democrats and pro-immigrant legal groups fought Trump’s proposals.

WASHINGTON, 24 February, 2021 (TON): In the first bilateral meeting on Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Mutual policy surrounding climate change and China, including the release of two Canadians held captive there were discussed during the meeting.

The nations also pledged to align climate goals to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

The leaders did not take questions from journalists, which is unusual in Washington for a bilateral event such as this.

One major issue for both leaders is the Chinese detention of two Canadians, who have been accused of spying and held in jail since 2018.

Calling for their release in remarks following the meeting, Mr. Biden said, "Human beings are not bartering chips. We're going to work together until we get their safe return."

The relationship between the U.S. and Canada seemed to be rocky during the former U.S. administration however, Mr. Biden, a Democrat is hoping to hit the reset button with Mr. Trudeau, a Liberal.

CAIRO, 24 February, 2021 (TON): In an attempt to escape the ethnic violence in western Ethiopia at least 7,000 people fled sought asylum in Sudan, the neighboring country on Tuesday.

Amid heightened tensions between the two Eastern African nations, the statement released by UNHCR on Tuesday.

Violence in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz region is separate from the deadly conflict in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. That’s where Ethiopian and allied regional forces began fighting Tigray regional forces in early November.

The Tigray war sent more than 61,000 Ethiopians into Sudan’s provinces of Al-Qadarif and Kassala.

The UN agency said tensions escalated in the past three months in Metekel Zone, prompting Ethiopia’s government to declare a state of emergency in the area on 21 January.

Amharas are the second most populous ethnic group in Ethiopia and they have been targeted repeatedly over the last year.

It is likely to consider that it a major challenge to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as he tries to promote national unity in a country with more than 80 ethnic groups.

RIYADH, 24 February, 2021 (TON): In the weekly meeting of the cabinet, Kingdom’s cabinet said that Saudi Arabia is committed to supporting the stability of the oil markets and the sustainability of global supplies.

The ministers discussed the Kingdom’s statements at the World Energy Forum, the International Energy Agency, and OPEC, on the importance of cooperation to face the challenges of the pandemic and limit its impact on global economic growth, said the Minister of Information Majid Al-Qasabi.

“Saudi Arabia stressed the need to work to overcome the challenges through collective action, dialogue, and data transparency in the energy field,” Al-Qasabi said.

It was iterated in the cabinet about the country’s condemnation of cross-border attacks by the Houthi militia in Yemen as over the past week, the conflict escalated as the Iran-backed group launched missiles and drones toward Saudi Arabia that were intercepted by Arab coalition forces.