DHAKA, 03 September 2022, (TON): According to a press release “the United States embassy will host the EducationUSA South Asia Fall Virtual Tour between September 3 and 10.”

The tour aims to provide prospective students, teachers, and college counsellors with a unique opportunity to learn about the US higher education application process from admission officers representing over 60 accredited American colleges and universities. 

This free regional fair will be open to participants from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. 

The virtual tour entails two university fairs a graduate admission fair on September 3 and an undergraduate admission fair on September 10. Both fairs will take place from 6:30pm to 9:30pm.

WASHINGTON, 02 Septmeber 2022, (TON): US President Joe Biden called on Iraqis to seek dialogue to resolve a months-long political crisis that erupted into violence in a call with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi.

A White House statement said “Biden and Kadhemi welcomed the return of security to the streets, and called on all Iraqi leaders to engage in a national dialogue to forge a common way forward consistent with Iraq’s constitution and laws.”

GAZA, 02 Septmeber 2022, (TON): Palestinian health ministry said “two Palestinians were killed in separate clashes with the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank.”

The ministry said in a statement “Samer Khaled, 25, from Al-Ain camp in Nablus, suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the neck, and Yazan Afana, 26, from Qalandia camp outside Jerusalem, died after being shot in the heart.”

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Khaled was killed when Israel soldiers stormed Balata refugee camp near Nablus, in the northern West Bank.

The health ministry said “Afana was killed during an operation in Al-Bireh, near Ramallah.”

A Palestinian official said the death of Afana was linked to fire from Palestinian militants, rather than the Israeli army.

TAIPEI, 02 Septmeber 2022, (TON): Taipei’s military said “Taiwanese soldiers on a tiny islet just off China’s mainland shot down an unidentified civilian drone after it entered a restricted zone.”

It is the first time Taiwanese forces have downed a drone and comes at a time when tensions between Beijing and Taipei are at their highest in decades.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said a small civilian drone entered a restricted zone above Shiyu Islet, a small rock that lies between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan’s Kinmen islands.

The defense ministry said “the stationed troops followed procedures to warn off the drone but to no avail. The drone was shot down in defensive fire.”

WASHINGTON, 02 Septmeber 2022, (TON): Former US president Donald Trump’s legal team on Wednesday dismissed the government’s unjustified pursuit of classified documents at his home and said “the raid in which they were seized was legally dubious and unnecessary.”

Responding to a bombshell filing in which the US Department of Justice said top secret documents were likely concealed at Trump’s estate to obstruct an FBI probe, his attorneys insisted that his possession of sensitive information should have come as no surprise.

A court filing by Trump’s team said “the purported justification for the initiation of this criminal probe was the alleged discovery of sensitive information contained within the 15 boxes of presidential records.”

RIYADH, 02 Septmeber 2022, (TON): Saudi Press agency reported “Saudi Arabia’s King Salman sent a cable of condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the death of former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev.”

The king said “we send to Your Excellency, the family of the deceased and the Russian people, our deepest and sincere condolences.”

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also sent a similar cable to the Russian president.

Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire but produced extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, died. He was 91.

CAIRO, 02 Septmeber 2022, (TON): Lt. Gen. Osama Askar, chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, met with his Greek counterpart Lt. Gen. Konstantinos Floros and his accompanying delegation.

The meeting was attended by leaders of both countries’ armed forces and the Greek military attache in Egypt.

They discussed Egyptian-Greek military relations and ways to enhance cooperation between their armed forces.

They also discussed defense and security issues facing the two countries and others in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean.

BISHKEK, 02 Septmeber 2022, (TON): The Saudi Fund for Development has launched a $30 million initiative to improve healthcare and education facilities in Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov looked on as SFD CEO Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad laid the foundation stone for a project to rehabilitate and expand the General Children’s Emergency Hospital in the capital, Bishkek.

SFD will finance the project as part of a $30 million soft development loan.

The ceremony was attended by Saudi Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Ibrahim bin Radi Al-Radi, Acting Health Minister of Kyrgyzstan Gulnara Baatyrova, a delegation from the SFD and several Kyrgyz officials.

SEOUL, 02 Septmeber 2022, (TON): China and Russia’s reluctance to toughen U.N. sanctions on North Korea is the biggest challenge facing efforts to eliminate the North’s nuclear arsenal, a top South Korean official said, as the North remains ready to conduct its first nuclear test in five years.

China and Russia, which both have close ties with North Korea and are locked in confrontations with the United States, already vetoed a U.S.-led attempt to slap fresh sanctions on North Korea over its missile tests this year.

That raises worries North Korea would escape punishment even if it performs a bigger provocation like a nuclear test explosion, which is banned by U.N. resolutions.

South Korea’s vice defense minister, Shin Beomchul, said “even if North Korea conducts an additional nuclear test, there is a possibility no additional sanctions will be adopted at the U.N. Security Council because of the U.S.-China strategic rivalry and U.S.-Russia tension over the Ukraine war.”

LONDON, 02 Septmeber 2022, (TON): Liz Truss gave a statement after the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights report provided new evidence of China’s human rights violations in Xinjiang.

The report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights provides new evidence of the appalling extent of China’s efforts to silence and repress Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang.

It includes harrowing evidence, including first-hand accounts from victims, that shames China in the eyes of the international community, including actions that may amount to crimes against humanity.

This includes credible evidence of arbitrary and discriminatory detention, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, violations of reproductive rights, and the destruction of religious sites. UN member states must now be given the opportunity to consider the report fully.