COLOMBO, 21 May, 2021 (TON): The Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill was passed with amendments in Srilanka’s Parliament with a majority of 91 votes.

Minister Ali Sabry moved the Port City Bill for the Third Reading and MP Vijitha Herath called for a Division for the Third Reading of the Bill.

The Third Reading of the Bill was passed in Parliament with amendments with 149 votes in favor and 58 voting against it.

Second Reading of the Bill received in favor was 148 and the number of votes against the Bills was 59.

During the Second Reading, the Government presented the Bill with amendments at the Committee of the Whole Parliament. Amendments proposed by the Opposition were rejected by the Government.

The development comes after the Supreme Court suggested certain amendments, following over a dozen petitions challenging the Bill that political opposition and civil society groups said “directly affected” Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.

NEW DELHI, 21 May, 2021 (TON): An Indian Air force MiG-21 B fighter jet crashed on Thursday night near Punjab, Moga.

According to IAF’s officials, the aircraft was on routine training sortie when the accident happened. The pilot was returning to Suratgarh in Rajasthan after the training sorties near Jagraon in Ludhiana, said Gurdeep Singh, SP (H), Moga.

“A court of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of incident”, said officials.

The pilot has been identified as IAF MCC Squadron leader Abhinav Chaudhary.

Another IAF's MiG-21 Bison fighter jet was crashed on Wednesday during takeoff. India has long been criticized for its fleet of outdated MiG-21 Bison aircrafts.

ISLAMABAD, 21 May, 2021 (TON): Speaking at UN General Assembly special meeting on Palestine Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Thursday Gaza has plunged in darkness, literally and metaphorically, while the only light is that of Israeli explosions.

"The General Assembly should call for concrete steps to protect the Palestinians. We should deploy an international protection force, as was called for in General Assembly Resolution ES-10/20 and as demanded by the Islamic Summit Conference on 18 May 2018," Qureshi said.

​"If the Security Council cannot agree to send a protection force, a ‘coalition of the willing’ can be formed to provide at least civilian observers to monitor a cessation of the hostilities and supervise the provision of humanitarian help to the Palestinians," he suggested.

Qureshi said the failure of the United Nations Security Council to maintain peace and security in Gaza is "appalling."

The foreign minister stressed that the United Nations General Assembly, must then, assume its own responsibility and help the people of Palestine.

"We must not fail the Palestinian people at this critical juncture," he said.

"Those preventing the Council from doing so bear a heavy responsibility," the foreign minister said in reference to the repeated blocking by the United States of a statement calling for an end to the hostilities on the ground that such a move would interfere with the Biden administration's attempts to stop the fighting.

Qureshi also urged Israel be held accountable for its war crimes and asked the UN to activate the Human Rights Council, International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice, and other avenues to ensure this.

"Death echoes in every home in Gaza," he added in his speech.

"Israel’s crimes against humanity should not escape accountability. There should be no impunity for violation of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention and other human rights conventions," he said.

The 67^th plenary meeting in New York was chaired by Volkan Bazakir, the Turkish diplomat who heads the UN General Assembly, was also attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and foreign ministers from such countries as Palestine, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, Algeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kuwait, Maldives, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia.

Israel continued to impose institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians living under its rule in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). It displaced hundreds of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The new wave of violence started on 6 May by Israel, when Palestinian protests began in Jerusalem over an anticipated decision of the Supreme Court of Israel on the eviction of six Palestinian families from Sheikh Jarrah.

NEW DELHI, 21 May 2021, (TON): Spokesman for the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Stephane Dujarric has confirmed that an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 refugees from Myanmar have sought safety in India.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that in Myanmar, as of last week, approximately 60,700 women, children and men have been internally displaced.

Sources in New Delhi reported that India Army is facilitating the Rohingya refugees as dead bodies of Rohingyas recovered from different districts and river has earned a lot of embarrassment for India.

More than 1,700 refugees have crossed into Thailand in March and April, most of whom subsequently returned to Myanmar, and an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 have sought safety in India. Earlier India did not allow Bangladeshi Rohingyas to enter its territories and killed may of them who refused to return. Bank may years, New Delhi settled a bulk of refugees from Myanmar in disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The UN team in Myanmar has called on all countries across the region to offer refuge and protection to all people seeking safety, while humanitarian workers should be granted access to help them.

Myanmar shares an over 1,600 km long un-fenced land border with India as well as a maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal. Four North-Eastern states – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram share the international boundary with Myanmar.

SRINAGAR, 21 May 2021, (TON): Kashmiri leaders and Pakistanis around the world as well as Azad Jammu and Kashmir Hurriyat leaders are observing on the martyrdom anniversaries of prominent martyred Hurriyat leaders, Mirwaiz Molvi Muhammad Farooq and Khawaja Abdul Ghani Lone as well as the martyrs of Hawal on Friday. All peace loving people have been appealed to observe the martyrdom anniversaries on Friday, 21 May 2021.
Addressing a press conference at National Press Club, Islamabad, they urged the UN Secretary General to impress upon India to stop demographic changes in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), repeal black laws in the territory, release all Kashmiri detainees and settle the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN resolutions.

The AJK Hurriyat leaders said that India had deployed around nine hundred thousand troops in the occupied territory to suppress the Kashmiris' just struggle for securing their inalienable right to self-determination.

They said that Indian troops had martyred over 95,000 innocent Kashmiris including women and children and caused destruction to property worth billions of rupees to punish the Kashmiri people for demanding freedom from its illegal occupation.

They pointed out that India has imposed black laws in occupied Jammu and Kashmir that grant impunity to the Indian forces' personnel for their brutal actions in the territory.

The Hurriyat leaders condemned the Narendra Modi-led fascist Indian government's moves to change the demographic composition of the occupied territory to convert the Muslim majority into a minority.

They called upon the international community to play its role in the release of Hurriyat leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Gilani from house arrest and release of other leaders including Shabbir Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Yasin Malik, Masarrat Aalam Butt, Alltaf Ahmed Shah, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Shahid-ul-Islam, Dr Abdul Hameed Fayyaz, Sarjan Barkati and thousands of other Kashmiris languishing in different jails.

They deplored that India had deprived the people of occupied Kashmir of medical facilities and demanded of the World Health Organization to force India to allow the supply of medicines to the occupied territory.

The Hurriyat leaders said that the Kashmiris would continue their freedom struggle despite Indian atrocities till complete success.

It worth mention here that it was on 21 May in 1990 when Mirwaiz Molvi Muhammad Farooq was shot dead by the agents of Indian agencies at his residence in Srinagar. Seventy mourners were killed when Indian troops opened indiscriminate fire on his funeral procession in Hawal area of Srinagar. Twelve years later on the same day, Khawaja Abdul Ghani Lone was also martyred by the agents of Indian agencies when he was returning from addressing a gathering at Mazar-e-Shuhada in Srinagar on the anniversary of Mirwaiz Molvi Farooq.

UNITED NATIONS, 21 May 2021 (TON): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Palestine and called on all parties to observe it.

"I welcome the ceasefire between Gaza and Israel after 11 days of deadly hostilities," Guterres said on Thursday. "I call on all sides to observe the ceasefire."

Israeli security Cabinet unanimously adopted Egypt's initiative for a bilateral unconditional ceasefire on 20 May, which would take effect on 23:00 GMT on Thursday. Hamas has also confirmed its plans to abide by the truce.

TEL AVIV, 21 May 2021,(TON): Israeli security Cabinet unanimously adopted Egypt's initiative for a bilateral unconditional ceasefire on 20 May, which would take effect on 23:00 GMT on Thursday. Hamas has also confirmed its plans to abide by the truce.

Hamas' military wing's spokesman, Abu Obeida, said."We say clearly: we have prepared for the strike that would affect whole Palestine - from Haifa to Ramon - but we have suspended this massive rocket strike on the enemy as we have agreed on the ceasefire to watch the enemy's behavior," He added that Hamas could launch this attack in case of the ceasefire's collapse.

Earlier, on Wednesday, the United States said it opposes a proposed UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers, reiterating that it could interfere with the Biden administration's efforts to end the hostilities.

BEIRUT, 20 May, 2021 (TON): Lebanon foreign minister Charbel Wehbe stepped down on Wednesday and was swiftly replaced after his remarks he made irked Saudi Arabia.

Wehbe said in a televised debate on Monday that the Islamic State (IS) group’s rise in the region had been engineered by Gulf states, prompting Lebanese ambassadors in several countries to be summoned.

Saudi Arabia also summoned the Lebanese ambassador to protest against “insulting” remarks by Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe, who made critical comments about the Gulf states.

Lebanon’s leaders have since tried to put out the fire and the 67-year-old announced in a brief statement after meeting President Michel Aoun that he had asked “to be relieved of his duties”.

In a statement by presidency, hours later Aoun appointed defence minister Zeina Akar as Wehbe’s replacement.

The Gulf relations with Lebanon have become frostier due to the increasing influence of Shia group Hezbollah but as cash-strapped Beirut scrambles to avoid a diplomatic fallout with the wealthy Gulf state.

NEW DELHI, 20 May, 2021 (TON): 37 dead bodies have been recovered by Indian Navy from the coast of India's Mumbai city where a barge P305 with 261 people on board sank in Arabian Sea on Monday during a severe cyclone.

The death toll is expected to rise as rescue operations continue. At least 53 people are still missing.

A navy warship returned to the city's harbour on Wednesday with some of the 186 survivors rescued so far.

Thirty-five people have also been rescued from another of the three other barges stranded due to cyclone Tauktae.

The cyclone weakened after it made landfall on Monday, but at least 19 people are confirmed as having died on land in the storm.

The barge was working on a project for India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). It was carrying personnel deployed for offshore drilling. When the storm struck, the barge's anchors gave way and it began drifting.

"We're still looking out for people in the area. We should be optimistic. Right now the conditions have improved. Hopefully, the worst is behind us," Captain Sachin Sequeira, commanding officer of the INS Kochi warship, said while talking to a news agency.

After receiving distress calls from the barge also called Papaa-305 (P305), the navy's ship sailed under difficult weather conditions.

The Indian military is continuing search and rescue operations for a third day after a deadly cyclone left scores missing and stranded at sea.

The navy had mounted a massive air and sea rescue mission for the missing oil workers, which has been hampered by huge waves.

About 200,000 people were evacuated across several states as the cyclone approached, bringing with it heavy rains and gusty winds.

Tropical Cyclone Tauktae made landfall as a category 3 cyclone on the southern coast of Gujarat on the night of 17 May. Before making landfall, Tauktae brushed India’s west coast over the weekend, causing damage in the states of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, and Maharashtra.

ISLAMABAD, 20 May, 2021 (TON): Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi left for New York on Wednesday to bring the international community's attention towards Israeli atrocities in Palestine.

According to a statement by the Foreign Office, Qureshi is accompanied by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Palestine and Sudan.

Earlier, FM Qureshi visited Turkey, where he had a two-day stop.

Qureshi will participate in the emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to be held on May 20 in which he will represent Pakistan's stance on the Palestine issue and "raise [his] voice forcefully to call for an end to atrocities being committed against innocent Palestinians".

Foreign minister will also meet UNGA President Volkan Bozkir and other dignitaries.

He will meet media representatives to brief them regarding Pakistan's stance on local and international matters, the FO said.

Israel continued to impose institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians living under its rule in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

Pakistan remains a staunch supporter of the proposal for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, and does not recognize the State of Israel.