NEW DELHI, 3 April, 2021 (TON):  In a first multi-nation venture, joint exercise including Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India will be held from 4 April to 12 April.

To commemorate Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur’s birth anniversary, the exercise called `Shantir Ogroshena (front runner of peace) will be held in Bangladesh.

An officer said, “The Indian Army contingent of 30 personnel including officers, junior commissioned officers and jawans from the Dogra Regiment will participate in the exercise along with contingents from the Royal Bhutan Army, Sri Lankan Army and Bangladesh Army.”

It was added, “The theme of the exercise is robust peacekeeping operations.”

However, the exercise will also be attended by the military observers from the U.S., UK, Turkey, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore.

KABUL, 3 April. 2021 (TON): Afghan Defense Ministry stated on Saturday that at least 35 Taliban members were killed and 33 others injured in Afghan Army offensives in Faryab and Baghlan provinces.

In Faryab, 26 militants were killed and 33 wounded after the Afghan Air Force conducted airstrikes on a Taliban position in Sarchakan village of Gurziwan district.

In Baghlan, nine Taliban militants died after the Afghan National Army launched a special operation in Dand-e-Shahabuddin locality.

According to the statement of the ministry, the victims included six Taliban divisional commanders.

However as per the reports, a handful of weapons, ammunition and several vehicles were also destroyed during the offensives.

CONAKRY, 3 April, 2021 (TON): An initiative to improve environmental safety, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) is working with donor agencies to help the Lives & Livelihoods Fund for waste disposal in Guinea’s capital, Conakry.

The measures were taken through sustainable waste management and aid the sanitation systems of 33 member countries of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Asia and Africa.

56 waste trucks to help major parts of the capital have been granted to the National Agency of Public Health and Sanitation, sponsored by the regional representative of IDB Dr. Alpha Diallo, Guinean President Alpha Conde.

MALE, 3 April, 2021 (TON): The Finance Ministry affirmed that the government employees will be given this year’s Ramadan allowance on Thursday, 8 April.

Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer signed a circular that said each employee will receive MVR 3,000 as Ramadan allowance in accordance to the Employment Act.

The allowance for employees who work multiple paid jobs will receive their allowance from their place of basic employment.

If an employee given the Ramadan allowance resigns before one third of Ramadan is over, the amount remaining after counting out the days they were employed must be recovered.

Meanwhile, those who are hired during the month of Ramadan must be given the Ramadan allowance within seven working says after they are hired.

However, the government offices have been instructed prepare the paperwork and apply for Ramadan allowance from Finance Ministry.

COLOMBO, 3 April, 2021 (TON):  On Saturday, the Sri Lanka Customs Narcotics Unit at the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake arrested a sanitary worker of the airport with 17 kilograms of gold worth over Rs. 200 million.

A 37-year-old sanitary worker from the Negombo area was working at the Katunayake Airport.

He has been arrested with the stock of gold consisted of nearly 160 biscuits, the Customs Department said.

Investigations are been carried out by the Customs Department.

However, the arrested person had claimed that he obtained the stock of gold in a toilet in the airport and he did not know the person who had given it to him.

ISLAMABAD, 3 April, 2021 (TON): On Friday, the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan confirmed that the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to pay a visit to Pakistan from 6 April to 7.

The broad agenda of discussions will include bilateral ties with particular focus on economic cooperation between the two countries, said the Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri.

He said, "The two sides will also share their respective perspectives on regional and international issues of mutual interest."

Russo-Pakistani relations refer to the bilateral relations have been continued since decades. The Soviet Union and Pakistan first established the diplomatic and bilateral relations on 1 May 1948. Moreover, on 1May, 2018, Pakistan celebrated the 70th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations with Russia.

KIDAL, 3 April, 2021 (TON): In an insurgent attack on the camp in Aguelhok (Northern Mali), four United Nations peacekeepers were killed, the U.N. mission in Mali said on Friday.

Helicopters were dispatched to the scene to evacuate the wounded from camp, the mission said.

The camps in that region houses mostly Chadian peacekeepers.

The U.N. mission said that the attackers suffered heavy losses and had abandoned several of their dead at the site of the attack.

However, it is not wrong to say that Mali has been trying to contain an extremist insurgency since 2012. As the extremist rebels were forced from power in Mali's northern cities with the help of a 2013 French-led military operation, however, the insurgents quickly regrouped in the desert and began launching frequent attacks on the Malian army and its allies fighting the insurgency.

DHAKA, 3 April, 2021 (TON):  A Saudi Arabia returned woman abandoned her eight-month-old baby girl at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

On Friday, at 8 in the morning, the members of the Armed Police Battalion found the child crying inside a trolley at the airport, Alamgir Hossain, additional superintendent of APBn.

The CCTV camera footage revealed that the Saudi returnee landed at the airport at night, left the airport after abandoning the child.

However, for now a female APBn member is providing the child with food from the security agency’s canteen and taking care of her. Meanwhile, the security officials are trying to identify the woman.

GURUGRAM, 3 April, 2021 (TON): In the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, massive blaze broke out in Gurugram's Nathupur village that engulfed about 700 huts.

Of the 700 huts, 500 were completely gutted. Fire personnel evacuated residents from the huts and it took about five hours to control the fire.

No casualties or injuries have been reported.

The officials suspected that the fire incident took place due to illegal electric supply which caused short-circuit in the area and it spread rapidly to other huts. And soon the entire area was engulfed in flames.

ISLAMABAD, 3 April, 2021 (TON): Fresh anti-government protest rallies to be held after Eid-ul-Fitr, the opposition party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) announced.

It was reported that the decision was made in a three-hour long virtual meeting that was held in Islamabad on Thursday.

The meeting was presided over by PML-N founder and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, media reported.

A senior prty leader said, "On the instructions Sharif, it has been decided that the PML-N will start a fresh round of protest rallies after Eidul Fitr."  

He added that the same would be communicated to the 11-party opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in its next meeting.

However, the plan would be executed that with or without the PDM parties, the party decided, he stated.