KABUL, 23 July 2021, (TON): At least 19 security force members, including three public uprising force members, were killed in a new spate of fighting between Afghan security forces and the Taliban in the past 24 hours, security sources said on Thursday. This follows a relative calm reported across the country during the first and second day of Eid.

The sources said that there are reports that the security forces have left Marjah and Garmsir districts in southern Helmand province. The Taliban are now controlling these districts.

Karim Ata, a member of Parliament from Helmand said “this is a tactical move, the security forces were relocated to Lashkargah city due to some problems in restarting operations there.”

According to the sources, there is heavy fighting taking place between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban in the Ghazi Abad district of Kunar province.

Afghan security authorities have said that security forces during this period killed “60 Taliban fighters” in various parts of the country.

Battles have been reported in Helmand, Kapisa, Kunduz, Takhar, Badakhshan, Logar, Kandahar and Jawzjan provinces.

Mir Haidar Afzali, the head of Parliament’s defense commission said “fighting occurred between the local commanders and the Taliban in the Dara-e-Farakhsha area in Nejrab district of Kapisa, the Taliban sustained heavy casualties as a result, we also had three martyrs from the local forces.”

KATHMANDU, 23 July 2021, (TON): Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, Kikuta Yutaka, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, at the prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar.

During the meeting, Ambassador Kikuta congratulated Prime Minister Deuba for his appointment and the successful vote of confidence at the Parliament.

The ambassador handed the congratulatory letter from Suga Yoshihide, Prime Minister of Japan to PM Deuba on the occasion. Prime Minister Deuba expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Suga for his wishes.

Prime Minister Deuba and Ambassador Kikuta shared their views on bilateral relations between the two countries as the year 2022 commemorates the 120th anniversary of student-exchanges, and also on the post-COVID social and economic development of Nepal.

MALE, 23 July 2021, (TON): A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between India and Maldives for cooperation in exchange of pre-arrival information for the facilitation of trade and customs control on goods.

Chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) of India M. Ajit Kumar signed the MoU on behalf of India. Commissioner General of Maldives Customs Service Abdulla Shareef signed on behalf of Maldives.

This MoU will provide a framework for the exchange of pre-arrival information contained in customs documents submitted at the time of export  to effectively reduce the time consumed by Customs in their procedures and optimize forms and methods of customs control on goods.

The data exchange will also enhance the overall efficiency of customs administrations on both sides and deliver significant benefits in terms of better facilitation of trade, security of the supply chain and revenue collection.

In a statement, Maldives Customs detailed that the healthy bilateral ties maintained between India and Maldives under the leadership of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have significantly paved the way to strengthen trade and commercial ties between the two countries.

In this regard, they highlight the commencement of direct cargo services between the countries in September 2020, that led India to become the second-largest trade partner of the Maldives in last year. This is a three-rank improvement compared to its rank as the fifth in 2019.

KHARTOUM, 22 July 2021, (TON): Two years after the Sudanese revolution, hundreds of thousands of people have been internally displaced as violence in Darfur continues. Many hoped a hard-earned peace agreement would put an end to the decades-old conflict, but the region's bloody legacy continues.

Thirty-five-year-old Khamisa Juma Ishag Abaker is perched on a pile of rubble that was once her home.

Dressed in a floral print fabric that covers her from head to toe, she sifts through the dust to uncover an old bottle of perfume and dinnerware gifted to her but now broken - remnants of her old life.

"My house had a garden and a door. I could lie down in the shade. I could cook for my children."

It's her first time returning to Krinding - a settlement for displaced people - after clashes in January left tens of thousands of people homeless and hundreds dead.

They burnt all the houses. We tried to flee into the street, but they shot my brother. He fell and when he tried to stand up, they shot him again - they killed him in front of me. I've cried so much, my eyes can barely see now."

Now living in cramped conditions in a school classroom in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, she is struggling to take care of her ailing parents and her children.

"We don't have money. We don't even have beds, pillows, or blankets… I don't have anything. I just stare and do nothing."

COLOMBO, 22 July 2021, (TON): Newly appointed Ambassador of Viet Nam to Sri Lanka Ho Thi Thanh Truc called on Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Foreign Ministry, on 15 July, 2021.

Welcoming the Viet Nam Ambassador to Sri Lanka Truc, Minister Gunawardena thanked the continuous support extended to Sri Lanka by Viet Nam in all multilateral fora.

The Minister Gunawardena took note of projects that contribute to further strengthening of Sri Lanka – Viet Nam bilateral relations, in particular, areas of agriculture, fisheries and defence. Minister Gunawardena further said that both countries have much potential to enhance and promote collaboration, through the available mechanism, in the latter- mentioned areas, including politics, economy, investment, trade, science-technology, culture and education.

Ambassador Truc, taking note of the important milestone of the 51st Sri Lanka - Viet Nam relations this year took note of the importance of rejuvenating the political relations through the established parliamentary friendship group.

Foreign Minister Gunawardena emphasized the strong bonds of friendship that exist between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Gunawardena, making a special reference to the support that Sri Lanka has extended to Viet Nam in the post-independence era that based on the fundamentals of the non-aligned principals expressed that he hopes to build excellent cooperation between the two countries in potential areas.

LONDON, 22 July 2021, (TON): Muslim teachers at a school in southeast England are excited to celebrate Eid Al-Adha but because of a school policy, it is going to cost them.

Staff at Arbour Vale School in Slough were forced to take unpaid leave to observe the second most important festival in the Islamic calendar this week, British newspaper Metro reported.

The teachers are allowed only one paid day off to celebrate non-Christian religious festivals as most use it for Eid Al-Fitr, the celebration that comes after Ramadan.

The teachers are fighting against the rule, but have to do it carefully as the school has also introduced a strict new policy forbidding teachers from speaking to the media.

One teacher told media “I feel very strongly about this and I am going to speak up.”

It is not about the pay; it is about the principle. But they do not want to understand and they do not want to know. If anybody puts anything on social media then it is either a disciplinary or they are sacked.

Anthony Bardos, the GMB union branch secretary for Slough, said being forced to work on Eid was comparable to being made to work on Christmas Day. Bardos said he has represented some workers who were denied leave completely.

Not allowing teachers to speak to the media has only agitated the situation.

“They are trying to gag the staff so they cannot talk about this issue or any other issue and it is really disgusting,” Bardos said. “This is something we are really going to be pushing strongly for.”

KATHMANDU, 22 July 2021, (TON): Nepali job-seekers aspiring to work in Israel will soon be able to file their applications as the two countries are in the final leg of preparations for hiring Nepali migrants.

Nepal and Israel had signed an understanding in September last year to export Nepali workers to Israel. After inking the deal, both countries also signed the Implementation Protocol in January to put the agreement into action.

Now, nearly ten months after signing the agreement, Israel is likely to start taking in workers soon as the Nepali authorities have been waiting to receive demands for Nepali workers, possibly this week.

According to Krishna Prasad Dawadi, director-general of the Department of Foreign Employment, the government agency mandated to manage labour migration including Nepali workers’ departure to Israel under the new pact, Israel is likely to send demand letters very soon.

Dawadi told “we have completed the preparations on our part for implementing the deal and requested the Israeli authorities to start sending demand letters.”

According to Dawadi, as soon as a demand letter is received, the department will issue a public notice asking aspirant candidates to submit their applications.

DAMASCUS, 22 July 2021, (TON): Russian military said that Syria’s air defense forces shot down seven out of eight missiles launched by Israeli warplanes during a raid that targeted the Syrian province of Aleppo.

Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit, the head of the Russian military’s Reconciliation Center in Syria, said that four Israeli F-16 fighter jets targeted facilities southeast of Aleppo in Monday’s strike.

Kulit said “seven of eight missiles launched by the Israeli fighter jets were downed by Syrian air defense units that used Russia-supplied air defense systems Pantsyr-S and Buk-M2.”

One missile damaged the building of a scientific research center in Safira, he said. A Syrian military official previously said in remarks carried by the state news agency SANA that Israel carried out an aerial attack in the Aleppo province late.

He said that Syrian air defenses shot down most of the missiles in the attack that occurred just before midnight.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor that has activists on the ground in Syria, said the Israeli strikes targeted weapons depots that belong to Iranian-backed militia operating in Aleppo’s Safira region.

The group said “the strikes were followed by loud explosions. The weapons depots were located inside Syrian military posts.”

KATHMANDU, 22 July 2021, (TON): As Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba begins consultations to expand his five-member Cabinet, he faces an uphill task with demands and complexities of the constituencies that supported him during the confidence vote in Parliament.

The 165 lawmakers that voted for him belong to a disparate group.

Besides the Nepali Congress, lawmakers from the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), the two factions of the Janata Samajbadi Party that has more or less split, a section of the main opposition CPN-UML, and Rastriya Janamorcha supported Deuba.

According to leaders close to Deuba, he wants representation of all parties that stood by him.

Discussions are going on with all the parties who supported us, Purna Bahadur Khadka, a Congress general secretary.

But all the parties have their own complexities including Deuba's own Nepali Congress.

The rival faction of the party, led by Ram Chandra Poudel, has demanded at least one deputy prime minister with the other General Secretary Shashanka Koirala, former vice-president Prakash Man Singh and senior leader Sujata Koirala vying for the post.

It has also demanded three additional ministerial portfolios.

But Deuba has made it clear that it is not possible and the Poudel faction will get just two portfolios in the Cabinet. One of the major reasons behind the delay in Cabinet formation is dynamics inside the Nepali Congress.

BERLIN, 22 July 2021, (TON): A relief official dampened hopes of finding more survivors in the rubble of villages devastated by floods in western Germany, as a poll showed many Germans felt policymakers had not done enough to protect them.

At least 170 people died in last week’s flooding, Germany’s worst natural disaster in more than half a century, and thousands went missing.

Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland told “we are still looking for missing persons as we clear roads and pump water out of basements,” Sabine Lackner, deputy chief of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW).

She said “any victims that are found now are likely to be dead.”

For immediate relief, the federal government will initially provide up to 200 million euros ($235.5 million) in emergency aid, and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said more funds can be made available if needed.

That will come on top of at least 250 million euros to be provided from the affected states to repair buildings and damaged local infrastructure and to help people in crisis situations.