DHAKA, 10 May 2022, (TON): Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has stressed that the US may influence the Association of Southeast Asian Nations members to persuade the Myanmar government to stop atrocities on its nationals and take the Rohingyas back to their land.

The issue came up during a meeting between the foreign minister and USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration Scott Turner at the Foreign Service Academy yesterday.

The foreign minister appreciated the announcement of the US government to contribute $152 million under the Joint Response Plan 2022 for the Rohingya crisis.

Isobel Coleman appreciated Bangladesh for hosting such a large number of displaced people from Myanmar.

Momen thanked USAID for their continued support for the Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals.

PARIS, 09 May 2022, (TON): A joint statement stated that the leaders of the countries of the Group of Seven (G7) declared their intention to prevent victory of Russia in Ukraine.

The G7 and Ukraine are united at this difficult time and in their desire to secure a democratic, prosperous future for this country. We remain united in our determination to prevent President [Vladimir] Putin from winning his war against Ukraine.

G7 leaders during a virtual meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed their readiness to continue supporting Ukraine.

The statement said “we were honored that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joined us. We assured him of our full solidarity and support for the defense of Ukraine.”

 The G7 leaders indicated that they stand for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, its “prosperous and democratic future within internationally recognized borders.”

WASHINGTON, 09 May 2022, (TON): The United States is introducing a policy of restricting the issuance of entry visas to Russian military personnel and a ban on crossing the American border against another 2.6 thousand Russian and Belarusian officials.

Reads a statement released by Bely home “the US has imposed approximately 2,600 visa restrictions on Russian and Belarusian officials in response to their ongoing efforts to undermine the sovereignty, territorial in-tegrity, or political indep-endence of Ukraine.

The restrictions are listed in the document in the section sanctions against the Russian elites and their families, as well as visa restrictions against Russian and Belarusian officials who undermine the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24 a special military operation in response to the request of the leaders of the Donbass republics for help.

He stressed that Moscow’s plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories, and the goals are the demilitarization and denazification of the country.

TEHRAN, 09 May 2022, (TON): Syrian President Bashar Assad met with Iranian leaders in Tehran, Iranian and Syrian media reported, marking his second trip to major wartime ally Iran since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011.

Nour News, a website close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported that Assad met Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi.

It said “the leaders praised the strong ties between their nations and vowed to boost relations further. Assad was reported to have left Tehran for Damascus.”

“Everybody now looks at Syria as a power,” Khamenei told Assad in the meeting, according to Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to the country’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. “The respect and credibility of Syria is now much more than before.”

Assad, for his part, said that strong relations between Iran and Syria served as a bulwark against American and Israeli influence in the Middle East.

BRUSSELS, 09 May 2022, (TON): Hong Kong’s Election Committee has selected John Lee Kachiu, the sole candidate to the post of Chief Executive on 8 May 2022.

This was the first selection process since the imposition of the National Security Law and the implementation of sweeping changes in Hong Kong’s electoral system.

Preceding his selection, Lee was vetted by the Candidate Eligibility Review Committee, and nominated by 786 of the 1461 members of the revamped Election Committee.

The number of voters to the Election Committee w-as substantially reduced by the electoral overhaul, wea-kening the already limited democratic elements in the governance of Hong Kong, running counter to the commitments to greater representation enshrined in the Basic Law.

RIYADH, 09 May 2022, (TON): Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported “nearly 1,000 mines planted by the Houthi militia in Yemen have been cleared by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) de-mining project Masam so far in May.”

Of the 998 explosive devices the de-mining team removed, 677 were anti-tank devices and 321 were unexploded ordnance.

Since the launch of the Masam project, as many as 336,891 mines have been dismantled across Yemen.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by KSrelief, seeks through the project to clear Yemeni lands of the mines that were randomly planted by the Houthi militia causing death and injury of innocent children, women, and the elderly.

CAIRO, 09 May 2022, (TON): Egypt condemned Israeli authorities’ intentions to demolish a number of Palestinian villages in the Masafer Yatta area in the occupied West Bank, stressing “such practices undermine the chances of reaching a two-state solution and establishing a comprehensive and just peace in the region.”

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry expressed “great concern over the Israeli authorities’ intention to demolish a number of Palestinian villages in the Masafer Yatta area in the occupied West Bank, and the consequent risk of displacing thousands of Palestinians from those villages.”

The ministry also affirmed its rejection of reports about the plan to build around 4,000 new settlement units in the occupied Palestinian territories, stressing it represents “a flagrant violation of the rules of international law and the decisions of international legitimacy.”

Ambassador Ahmed Hafez, spokesperson for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, affirmed “total condemnation of the settlement policy in the Palestinian territories, whether through building new settlements or expanding existing ones, as well as confiscating lands and displacing Palestinians.”

SEOUL, 09 May 2022, (TON): South Korea’s hawkish new president will be sworn in tomorrow, and he looks set to get tough with Pyongyang, departing from what he has called the “subservient” approach of his predecessor.

For the past five years, Seoul has pursued a policy of engagement with North Korea, brokering summits between Kim Jong Un and then-US president Donald Trump while reducing joint US military drills Pyongyang sees as provocative.

But talks collapsed in 2019 and have languished since, while the nuclear-armed North has dramatically ramped up weapons tests, conducting 15 so far this year, including the launch of its largest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile.

Unlike outgoing President Moon Jae-in, who saw North Korea as a negotiating partner, incoming leader Yoon Suk-yeol sees the country as an adversary, said Cheong Seong-chang of the Center for North Korea Studies at the Sejong Institute.

KYIV, 09 May 2022, (TON): The regional governor said “as many as 60 people were feared to have been killed in the Russian bombing of a village school in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.”

Governor Serhiy Gaidai said Russian forces dropped a bomb on Saturday afternoon on the school in Bilohorivka where about 90 people were sheltering, causing a fire that engulfed the building.

Gaidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app “the fire was extinguished after nearly four hours, then the rubble was cleared, and, unfortunately, the bodies of two people were found.”

“Thirty people were evacuated from the rubble, seven of whom were injured. Sixty people were likely to have died under the rubble of buildings.”

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

KYIV, 09 May 2022, (TON): Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said ”Russia has forgotten everything that mattered to the victors of World War II.”

He added “Russia has forgotten everything that was important to the victors of World War II.”

Zelensky said in his nightly address “while normal people associated the anniversary with peace and the slogan “Never again” Russia was continuing its attacks.”

He added “as a result of the Russian air strike on Bilogorivka of the Lugansk region, about 60 people were killed.”

“Civilians who simply hid in the school from the shelling. It was a targeted blow to the school. Another crime of the occupiers.”