KABUL, 07 May 2022, (TON): Hundreds of Afghan students staged a protest in front of the Indian Embassy in Kabul and requested the Indian government to issue electronic visas for them to allow them to continue their education.

With the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, Afghan students enrolled in Indian universities still await the issuance of visas so that they can return to India.

 More than 2,500 students from different parts of Afghanistan are unable to join offline classes at Indian colleges and universities.

The students have urged the Indian government to expedite the issuance of visas to those students who are in Afghanistan. Taliban fighters entered the capital Kabul on August 15, 2021, and the Afghan government collapsed.

DHAKA, 07 May 2022, (TON): Bangladesh says it considers continuation of learning under Myanmar curriculum as an effort to keep the children engaged in productive and capacity building activities which would work as incentive for their early voluntary repatriation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press statement said "Prolonged presence of a huge number of persecuted people entails serious ramification on the economy, environment, security, and socio-political stability of Bangladesh and beyond.”

The government says it appreciates the international community's cooperation to facilitate early, sustainable, and voluntary repatriation of the Rohingya to their ancestral land in Rakhine State of Myanmar and it is also the expectation of the Rohingya.

The government of Bangladesh places great importance on ensuring access to education for all especially for girls and in a similar vein.

DHAKA, 07 May 2022, (TON): The US Congress has introduced a bipartisan resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of establishment of Bangladesh-US diplomatic relations.

According to a message received in Dhaka “Democratic Congressman Brian Higgins of New York introduced the resolution in the Congress, which has been co-sponsored by Republican Congresswoman Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa.”

It added “the resolution was referred to the US’s House Committee on Foreign Affairs.”

It highlighted that the United States and Bangladesh shared a rich and multifaceted relationship focused on cooperation on a range of issues, including economic, security, governance, and development to advance a shared vision of a free, open, inclusive, peaceful, and secure Indo-Pacific region.

WASHINGTON, 06 May 2022, (TON): United States president Joe Biden has found his message for the midterm congressional elections: you’re either with him, or you’re with predecessor Donald Trump’s MAGA crowd, the most extreme political group in American history.

The 79-year-old president won the White House in 2020 promising to turn a page on the breathless, for many terrifying, Trump era.

Even as Trump kept fuming and lying about his election loss Biden and his aides ignored him long refusing so much as to mention his name.

But heading into the November midterms, where Democrats face losing control of Congress and even his own re-election in 2024, Biden has changed his tune.

Biden said last month on a trip to Washington state “don’t compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters “they would hear him with that mantra much more out there over the next coming months.”

MOSCOW, 06 May 2022, (TON): Russia said “Western aid to Kyiv had slowed its offensive in Ukraine but would not thwart its victory, as conflicting reports emerged about efforts to rescue civilians from a besieged steel plant in the devastated city of Mariupol.”

Nearly 10 weeks into a war that has left thousands of people dead, flattened Ukrainian cities and uprooted more than 13 million people, the Kremlin conceded that Western countries had prevented a quick end to Russia’s military campaign.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “the United States, Britain, NATO as a whole hand over intelligence... to Ukraine’s armed forces on a permanent basis.”

He told reporters “coupled with the flow of weapons that these countries are sending to Ukraine, these are all actions that do not contribute to the quick completion of the operation.”

ROME, 06 May 2022, (TON): Ita-ly intends to provide Ukr-aine with short-range air d-efense systems, mortars an-d artillery shells, said Def-ense Minister Lorenzo G-uerini.

On Thursday, he delivered an informational message at a joint meeting of the defense commissions of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, which was dedicated to the aggravation of the situation in Ukraine.

According to him “the Italian authorities have developed two interdepartmental decrees signed by the Minister of Defense, the heads of the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Finance, which determined the type and number of military systems and means to support and strengthen the defensive efforts of Ukraine.”

The minister said “Italian assistance, whose technical details are classified, provides for anti-tank weapons, short-range air defense systems, mortars, artillery shells, communication devices and personal protective equipment and survival kits.”

WASHINGTON, 06 May 2022, (TON): According to US State Department “Dr. Cary Fowler, a noted agriculturalist, has joined the Department of State as U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security. Best known as the father of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Dr. Fowler brings decades of commitment and a depth of experience leading multilateral efforts, including at United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Global Crop Diversity Trust.”

He arrives at a time of unprecedented stress on global food systems, driven in part by climate change, the impacts of the pandemic, and conflict, most notably Russia’s brutal and unjustified attack on Ukraine and the resulting disruptions to global grain supplies.

The mission of the Special Envoy for Global Food Security is to advance U.S. food security, global hunger, and nutrition objectives, through diplomatic engagement with allies and partners in bilateral, regional and multilateral fora.

As such, Dr. Fowler will be critical to the Department’s efforts to respond to the current global food security challenges guided by the Administration’s Global Food Security Strategy 2022-2026 and Global Nutrition Coordination Plan 2021-2026.

JEDDAH, 06 May 2022, (TON): The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has condemned the actions of extremist Israeli settlers under the Israeli occupation forces’ protection in storming Al-Aqsa Mosque, performing Talmudic prayers in its courtyards and raising the Israeli flag inside it, considering this a flagrant violation of international law and an infringement on the sanctity of the mosque.

The organization stated that it holds Israel responsible for the continuation of these violations, which constitute a blatant attack on Muslims and fuel the violence and tension that threaten international security and stability.

The OIC called on the international community, namely the UN Security Council, to assume its responsibilities in obligating Israel, the occupying force, to stop its aggression against the Palestinian people and their Islamic and Christian lands and holy sites.

STOCKHOLM, 06 May 2022, (TON): Foreign Minister Ann Linde said in Washington “Sweden has received assurances from the United States that it would receive support during the period a potential application to join NATO is processed by the 30 nations in the alliance.”

Sweden and neighbor Finland stayed out of NATO during the Cold War, but Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its invasion of Ukraine have led the countries to rethink their security policies, with NATO membership looking increasingly likely.

Both countries are concerned they would be vulnerable during an application process, which could take up to a year to be approved by all NATO’s members.

“Naturally, I’m not going to go into any details, but I feel very sure that now we have an American assurance,” Linde told Swedish TV from Washington after meeting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

She added “however, not concrete security guarantees, those you can only get if you are a full member of NATO.”

LONDON, 06 May 2022, (TON): Thank you, Mr Chair. Since Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, week after week we have seen the brutality of Russia’s actions.

The Russian Federation has attempted, in vain, to legitimise its war. This includes in the southern city of Kherson, where Russia has sought to assert its control of the city and surrounding areas through installing a pro-Kremlin administration.

So far this administration has stated a return to Ukrainian control is “impossible” and announced a four-month currency transition to the Russian rouble from 1 May. These statements are likely indicative of Russian intent to exert strong political influence in Kherson over the long term.

We are further appalled by reports that Russia intends to stage a referendum in Kherson oblast, in an attempt to provide a pretext for consolidating its control over the area.

We saw this in 2014, when Russia held an illegitimate referendum on the accession of Crimea into the Russian Federation to retrospectively justify its seizure of the Peninsula.