COLOMBO, 26 June, 2021 (TON): The newly appointed representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) to SL Dr. Alaka Singh has been received by the Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

Minister Gunawardena recalled the close cooperation between Sri Lanka and the WHO, while greeted Singh.

He appreciated the WHO’s assistance to Sri Lanka during the COVID- 19 pandemic.

While appreciating Sri Lanka’s solidarity with the organization, representative of WHO Dr. Singh assured the continued collaboration of the WHO in both addressing the COVID–19 pandemic as well as in ensuring the sustainable delivery of other health care services during this period.

However, besides, she commended Sri Lanka’s excellent health care system producing impressive health care indicators and the country’s standing as an example for the other countries in the region.

DHAKA, 26 June, 2021 (TON): Amidst the pandemic crisis, Bangladesh has crossed $45 billion on its foreign currency reserves with inward remittances continuing to boost.

On Thursday, the reserves at Bangladesh Bank were at an all-time high of $45.59 billion, a nearly 30 percent rise from the amount a year ago.

On 24 February, the reserves topped the $44 billion milestone.

In the 11 months of the outgoing fiscal year, the money sent by Bangladeshi workers abroad rose year-on-year by around 39.5 percent to $22.84 billion.

Exports increased in this period by 13.64 percent to $35.18 billion, which also helped boost the reserves.

It is likely that with the money it will be possible to pay import costs for 11 months

BERN, 26 June, 2021 (TON): In Bern, the Swiss President Guy Parmelin met Saudi Ambassador Dr. Adel Siraj Mirdad and presented his credentials to the chief of state at the Federal Palace.

On behalf of King Salman and the Crown Prince, Mirdad conveyed the greetings and wishes of good health, development and prosperity to Parmelin and citizens of Switzerland..

The Swiss president also expressed his appreciation to the king and the crown prince.

Besides, the Swiss President also greeted the Saudi people and wished them good health and further development and prosperity.

KABUL, 25 June 2021, (TON): US officials said “the United States is planning to evacuate vulnerable Afghan interpreters before the US military completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan so they can wrap up their visa applications from safety.”

The evacuation will include their family members for a total of as many as 50,000 people, a senior Republican congressman told media.

Representative Mike McCaul, who discussed the evacuation plan with officials of US President Joe Biden's administration, said countries to which the evacuees could be flown include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait.

The decision by Biden's administration risks creating a sense of crisis in Afghanistan, just a day before Biden meets Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for talks aimed at projecting a sense of partnership despite the US military exit.

Pentagon said that the evacuation of interpreters from Afghanistan may not require the use of US military aircraft.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters "it doesn't always have to entail US military aircraft to accommodate".

The White House meeting comes as Taliban insurgents press a major offensive in Afghanistan, triggering growing concern in Congress for Afghan interpreters who worked for the US military during its two-decade-long engagement and fear Taliban reprisals after American troops depart.

Fighting between US-backed Afghan forces and the Taliban has surged in recent weeks, with the insurgents gaining control of territory.

The Pentagon now estimates the Taliban control 81 of the country's 419 district centres.

ABUJA, 25 June 2021, (TON): A 12-year-old conflict in northeast Nigeria has caused, directly and indirectly, the deaths of some 350,000 people, the vast majority of which are children below the age of five.

The death toll, given by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in a new study on the war and its effect on livelihoods published on Thursday, is 10 times higher than previous estimates of about 35,000 based only on those killed in fighting in Nigeria since violence broke out.

The armed group Boko Haram launched an uprising in 2009 displacing more than two million from their homes and spawning one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with millions of people dependent on aid. The conflict shows little sign of ending.

UNDP said “children younger than five account for some 324,000 deaths, more than nine out of 10 of those killed, with 170 dying every day.

Of nearly 350,000 deaths from the conflict, it estimated 314,000 to have resulted from indirect causes.

Insecurity has led to declines in agricultural production and trade, reducing access to food and threatening the many households that depend on agriculture for their livelihood, the UN said.

Thousands of displaced people lack access to food, health facilities, shelter and clean water, with children more vulnerable, the report added.

ISLAMABAD, 25 June 2021, (TON): Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed concern over growing violence in Afghanistan, saying unrest in the war-torn country affects Pakistan and Iran.

Talking to visiting Iranian special envoy for Afghanistan Muhammad Ebrahim Taherian Fard, who called on him in Islamabad, Qureshi said that rising violence in Afghanistan could strengthen anti-peace forces.

The minister said in a statement “only a negotiated political settlement, through an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned political process, would help achieve the desired objective of sustainable peace and stability in Afghanistan."

He urged all the Afghan parties to seize this opportunity and leverage international support for the peace process.

FM Qureshi termed the rising violence a matter of great concern and emphasised the need for reduction in the violence leading to a ceasefire.

Qureshi said “continuation of violence would strengthen the hands of spoilers who did not wish to see the return of peace in the region."

WASHINGTON, 25 June 2021, (TON): According to Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine-Cava “the number of people who have been located now stands at 102, while 99 are still unaccounted for,.

It is unclear how many people were in the building at the time.

The cause of the collapse - affecting about half of the 130 units in the complex - remains unclear.

The block in the town of Surfside was built in 1980.

A number of Latin American migrants have been reported missing by their consulates.

Paraguayan officials said “relatives of the first lady of Paraguay are also among the missing. Rescuers were unable to contact the sister and brother-in-law of first lady Silvana López Moreira, along with their three children and a domestic worker.”

Officials said “rescuers pulled 35 people from the wreckage. Ten were assessed and treated, of whom two were sent to hospital.”

Search and rescue teams are working from a parking garage underneath the wreckage as they explore the rubble for survivors.

KABUL, 25 June 2021, (TON): US officials said “the United States is planning to evacuate vulnerable Afghan interpreters before the US military completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan so they can wrap up their visa applications from safety.”

The evacuation will include their family members for a total of as many as 50,000 people, a senior Republican congressman told media.

Representative Mike McCaul, who discussed the evacuation plan with officials of US President Joe Biden's administration, said countries to which the evacuees could be flown include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait.

The decision by Biden's administration risks creating a sense of crisis in Afghanistan, just a day before Biden meets Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for talks aimed at projecting a sense of partnership despite the US military exit.

Pentagon said that the evacuation of interpreters from Afghanistan may not require the use of US military aircraft.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters "it doesn't always have to entail US military aircraft to accommodate".

The White House meeting comes as Taliban insurgents press a major offensive in Afghanistan, triggering growing concern in Congress for Afghan interpreters who worked for the US military during its two-decade-long engagement and fear Taliban reprisals after American troops depart.

Fighting between US-backed Afghan forces and the Taliban has surged in recent weeks, with the insurgents gaining control of territory.

The Pentagon now estimates the Taliban control 81 of the country's 419 district centres.

DHAKA, 25 June 2021, (TON): Human Rights Watch says the UN improperly collected and shared data from more than 800,000 Rohingya refugees with their host country Bangladesh, which passed it on to Myanmar, the country they fled, and is calling for an investigation.

Over the past three years, the UN refugee agency has registered hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladeshi camps, enabling Dhaka to provide them with identity cards needed to access essential aid and services.

But according to a new HRW report, the refugees were generally not made aware that the data they were providing would also be used by the Bangladeshi government to submit details about them to authorities in neighbouring Myanmar, with a view to possible repatriation.

“The UN refugee agency’s data collection practices with Rohingya in Bangladesh were contrary to the agency’s own policies and exposed refugees to further risk,” Lama Fakih, HRW’s crisis and conflict director, said in a statement.

The UNHCR refuted this, with spokesman Andrej Mahecic telling AFP news agency that the refugee agency has “clear policies in place to ensure the safeguarding of the data we collect when registering refugees all over the world”.

Rohingya not asked for ‘informed consent’

The HRW, however, said the refugees often likely did not understand that the data being collected, including photographs, fingerprints and biographic data, could be shared with Myanmar.

NEW YORK, 25 June 2021, (TON): The United Nations accused Israel of flagrantly violating international law by expanding settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, saying settlements are illegal and urging the country’s new government to halt their enlargement immediately.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland reported on implementation of a 2016 Security Council resolution that declared settlements have no legal validity. It demanded a halt to their expansion in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, lands the Palestinians want to include in a future state.

Wennesland said that in a briefing to the council on Guterres’ 12-page report that he was deeply troubled by Israel’s approval of a plan to add 540 housing units to the Har Homa settlement in east Jerusalem as well as the establishment of settlement outposts. He said that is “illegal also under Israeli law.”