KATHMANDU, 3 April, 2021 (TON): On Friday, Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari inaugurated the distribution of water from the country's largest water supply project.

The long wait of Nepalis in the capital Kathmandu to get drinking water from the Melamchi River has become a reality.

President Bhandari inaugurated the distribution of water by opening a tap in Kathmandu.

Water was released into the tunnel completely dig for this project by the Chinese contractor Sinohydro Corporation Limited.

The water was released to tunnel to test if there is any leakage.

Official said, the Melamchi project aims to supply 170 million liters of fresh water per day, largely relieving the water shortage in the valley.

He said the President congratulated the residents and said, "It is one of recent success stories in our development efforts."

However, the Nepali government also plans to launch a second phase of the Melamchi project adding an additional 170 million liters of water per day. The prime minister has instructed government officials to complete the project in three years.

HAVANA, 2 April, 2021 (TON): According to the media the European Union (EU) has agreed to mediate in Cuba-U.S. ties.

Joseph Borell accepted request made by the Group of Friendship and Solidarity with the People of Cuba in the European Parliament to mediate before the US government, in order to remove Cuba from the unilateral list of countries that encourage terrorism.

Borell’s letter to European Parliament was made public on Wednesday.

He said in the letter, "In our contacts with the new U.S. administration, we will address this issue and call on the U.S. to lift this designation."

In response, Ana Mari Machado, deputy president of Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power, said that EU's decision was highly appreciated.

Ana said, "Cuba does not sponsor nor promote terrorism. We support peace, solidarity and collaboration between peoples."

As Cuba was first designated by the US as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1982, it was removed from the list in 2015 under the administration of then resident Barack Obama as the two countries re-established diplomatic ties.

However, on January 11, 2020, just a few days before then US President Donald Trump left office, then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Washington had restored Cuba to the list.

DHAKA, 2 April, 2021 (TON): On Friday, fighter fighters said that three Rohingya men died after a blaze gutted shops at a makeshift market near a refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district.

Near Kutupalong refugee camp, the bodies found in one of the 20 shops where fire broke out, fire brigade official Khisha Khoi Marma told the media.

The accident occurred near the sprawling Rohingya refugee camps in the district, nearly 325 km south-east of the capital Dhaka

According to Emdadul Haq, head of the local Fire Service and Civil Defence department, an electrical fault could have caused the blaze.

However, the official confirmed that an investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the fire.

THIMPHU, 2 April, 2021 (TON): A 36-year old man from Wangchu drowned on Thursday morning.

Police fished out the body yesterday.

Sources said, the body was found in the river 530m from the bridge between Taba and Pamtsho.

People walking along the bridge saw the body floating in the river and informed police at 9am. Police then deployed its rescue team.

However, the forensic and investigating team ruled out foul play, as they did not find anything suspicious on the body.

Police handed over the body to his family after investigation.

ISLAMABAD, 2 April, 2021 (TON): After a political backlash against Pakistan’s move on lifting the ban on sugar, wheat, and cotton import from India, the country has made a swift u-turn in its plan.

The politicians criticized Wednesday’s move in compliance with the apparent thaw in relations with India.

After Finance Minister Hammad Azhar said that the government made the decision in the interest of the people, the Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters the decision had been "deferred" until India restored Kashmir's special status on Thursday.

Islamabad suspended trade and diplomatic ties with India in 2019 when Jammu and Kashmir were made into a Union Territory.

Both countries withdrew their top diplomats, and the consular staff was expelled or withdrawn.

However, there has been a frosty stand-off since, but signs of rapprochement recently have included Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan exchanging letters, as well as a resumption of talks last week on the use of resources from their shared Indus River.

LONDON, 2 April, 2021 (TON): Amidst intense debate over Downing Street’s controversial report on racial discriminations in Britain, a senior adviser to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will resign, media reported.

The sources said on Thursday that Samuel Kasumu, Johnson's special adviser for civil society and communities informed the colleagues of his decision on Wednesday that he will leave his role in May.

News of his departure emerged the day after the government released a report which concluded that there was no evidence of institutional racism in Britain.

According to the report, "The report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities faced heavy criticism, with claims that it is culturally deaf, out of step with public opinion, and steeped in denial."

However, the reports from the sources state that Kasumu is expected to stay in post until May to continue work on improving vaccine uptake in minority groups.

KABUL, 2 April, 2021 (TON): Oana Lungescu, NATO’s spokesperson announced that Turkish Brigadier General Selçuk Yurtsizoğlu has assumed command of the NATO-led Train, Advise, and Assistant Command-Capital in Kabul.

She tweeted, “With its 600-strong contingent, Turkey is a vital contributor to the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan.”

Turkey joined the military alliance of 29 North American and European countries in 1952.

Afghanistan also became the second country to recognize the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TRNC) during Turkey’s independence war.

In 2020, Turkey pledged to provide $75 million in aid to Afghanistan and it has also acted as a mediator between Afghanistan and Pakistan on terrorism-related issues.

However, the diplomatic ties between Turkey and Afghanistan can be traced back to Afghanistan’s year of independence, 1919.

As Turkey-Afghanistan Alliance Agreement on 1 March, 1921 was signed, Turkey became the first diplomatic representation to be inaugurated in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, thus strengthening relations.

KABUL, 2 April, 2021 (TON): On Thursday, Afghanistan signed a protocol for a three-month extension of the Afghanistan–Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement 2010 (APTTA) to facilitate the movement of goods between the two countries.

Both the countries signed the protocol virtually, simultaneously at Kabul and Islamabad, between Pakistan’s Commerce and Investment Advisor Abdul Razaq Dawood and Afghanistan’s Industry and Commerce Minister Nisar Ahmad Ghoriyani.

The Afghan embassy said in a statement, “Both sides expressed satisfaction with the extension of the agreement and decided that the technical teams of the two countries will conclude the revised agreement soon.”

“Our trade must be based on the secure, open, consistent, reliable, and legal movement of goods at the Afghan border along with enhanced connectivity with Afghanistan & CARs,” he added.

However, the trade and economic relations between the two countries and with the other Central Asian Republics is making Afghanistan a hub for trade, transit, and transshipment with the rest of the world, although the violence in the country is increasing, however in a hope to halt discomfort.

DHARAMSALA, 2 April, 2021 (TON): The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) called the U.S. State Department’s annual report “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices," a victory for Tibetans as it has described Tibet as an "inalienable part of China."

On Thursday, reacting to the crucial development, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) headquartered in this northern India hill station marked it as a departure from the past reports.

This symbolic yet important gesture has been repeatedly campaigned by the CTA, and this change is welcomed by the Office of Tibet-DC, it said.

This year's report includes over 50,000 words detailing the US's assessment of the deteriorating human rights in China was organized by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,

Reminiscent of past briefings, by the CTA and others, the report details the ongoing human rights issues in Tibet, such as torture, arbitrary detentions, corruption of the judiciary and elections, lack of freedom of association, assembly, movement, religion, censorship, forced sterilization, and violence against indigenous peoples.

The China section details how the Chinese government installed surveillance cameras in monasteries in the Tibetan Autonomous Region and Tibetan areas, which would allow the Chinese government to cut communication systems during "major security incidents",

The report cites Human Right Watch's findings that the Ministry of Public Security has been partnering with technology companies to create a "mass automated voice recognition and monitoring system" that was created to help the Chinese government more easily understand Tibetan and Uyghur languages.

However, further the fingerprints and DNA profiles, and other biometric data were also being stored by the Ministry of Public Security, this practice is implemented for all Uighurs applying for passports and addressed the racist discriminatory practices that deprive Tibetans, Mongolians, Uighur, and other ethnic minority groups of their rights.

COLOMBO, 2 April, 2021 (TON): Mahinda Rajapaksa, the PM, and Finance Minister of Sri Lanka is set to propose to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to identify shortcomings in the current election laws and electoral system.

The proposal will be tabled in Parliament on Monday, 5 April, 2021.

Dhammika Dsanayake, Secretary-General of Parliament said, “The motion for the appointment of the Select Committee of Parliament to identify appropriate reforms of the election laws and the electoral system and to recommend necessary amendments will be moved by the Leader of the House and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the time of adjournment that afternoon.

Fifteen members are included in the relevant Parliamentary Select Committee, said SG.

The Committee should submit its recommendations within six months after its appointment by the Speaker, according to the motion.

However, it is likely that it will be the responsibility of this Committee to identify shortcomings of the existing electoral system and its structure and to make recommendations with regard to the amendments.