SANAA, 9 March, 2021 (TON): On Tuesday at an immigrant holding facility fire broke out that killed around 60 people, a Houthi official said.

The media reported that Sunday ablaze also injured more than 100 people.

 The officials said that a commission has been formed by the Houthi group to probe the incident.

According to the official, the facility is for holding migrants who entered the country "illegally" before the procedure of deportation starts.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed that the fire and called for "urgent humanitarian access to migrants injured," in a statement issued on Monday evening.

"We are facing challenges accessing the injured due to an increased security presence in the hospitals. Humanitarians and health workers must be given access to support the treatment of those affected by the fire," it added.

Despite the war, Yemen has remained a transit place for several thousands of migrants traveling between Africa and Saudi Arabia. However, the IOM claimed that migrants arriving in Yemen fell from more than 138,000 in 2019 to just more than 37,500 in 2020.

CANBERRA, 9 March, 2021 (TON): In an attempt to stop unemployment of the young workers in Australia, the government tends to fund apprenticeships.

On Tuesday, the Australian PM Scott Morrison announced that the government would spend at least 1.2 billion Australian dollars over the next year subsidizing part of the wages for 70,000 new apprentices.

Morrison said, "Creating jobs, generating economic opportunities, and boosting the skills of workers right across Australia are at the heart of our National Economic Recovery Plan, as we build back from the COVID-19 recession."

"Last week's National Accounts showed the comeback of the Australian economy is underway, however many businesses still need support and it's important our apprentices and trainees get opportunities to boost their skills and stay employed," he added.

The number of employed Australians in their 20s was down 2.5 percent in February compared to February 2020, as per ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics).

However, powerful business groups have called on the federal government to increase incentives for employing young Australians.

6TH OF OCTOBER CITY, 9 March, 2021 (TON): As the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday reduced Ahmad Ahmad's five-year ban to two years, Patrice Motsepe will become the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) later this week.

The sports court found the leader guilty of a cascade of ethical violations, including the distribution of gifts, embezzlement, and misappropriation of funds; therefore, Ahmad cannot stand for re-election this week.

Ahmad was notably accused of having used the money of the African Football Confederation (CAF) to invite certain presidents of national federations to a pilgrimage to Mecca, without direct connection with football, sources said.

DHAKA, 9 March, 2021 (TON): The bus driver and his assistant who pushed a speech-impaired woman off the bus have been detained by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

The incident took place when the speech impaired woman did not pay the fare for the bus and prompted the human-chain protests in front of the Central Shaheed Minar at Upazila Saddar on Monday.  

The bus driver, N Mallick Paribhan’s bus has been seized, RAB captain Mahfuzur Rahman.

He added that the details would be revealed later.  

However, OC Kazi Mainul Islam of Keraniganj Model Police Station said the victim could not be located immediately after the incident. Police found her on Tuesday and are now proceeding with legal action.

DHAKA, 9 March, 2021 (TON): A bridge Maitree Shetu has been opened over the river Feni by Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, a step to strengthen the link and association with India’s northeastern region.

PM Hasina said in a virtual interview on Tuesday that the bridge Maitree Shetu is evidence that Bangladesh is keeping by its word to support neighboring India.

“We considered the request positively. Since then, the government of Bangladesh has extended all necessary support to the Indian side for the construction of the bridge. Ten years later, today, the bridge is a reality,” Hasina said. 

A proposal was placed before PM Hasina by the then (2010) CM of Tripura, to build a bridge over the river Feni.

He stressed that the bridge is important to the business community of India’s northeastern region for using the Chattogram seaport.

However, with that the opening of the bridge, Bangladesh has opened the path that it will serve to be a trading lifeline for the northeastern states of India.

RAMALLAH, 9 March, 2021 (TON): Preparations for holding the 22 May legislative elections is afoot, Mahmoud Abbas President of Palestine announced on Monday.

The announcement was made during the meeting of the central committee of his Fatah ruling party in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Egypt’s invitation to the 14 Palestinian factions’ leaders to join the second round of the intra-Palestinian national dialogue in Cairo was also welcomed by Abbas in the meeting.  

The central committee said it will take part in the legislative elections under one unified list, a press statement said.

The last Palestinian presidential elections were held in March 2005, and the legislative elections in January 2006.

In January, Abbas announced that the 2021 general elections will include legislative elections on 22 May, presidential elections on 31 July, and the Palestinian National Council elections on 31 August of this year.

KATHMANDU, 9 March, 2021 (TON): As Nepal’s Supreme Court invalidated the 2018 party merger between CPN-UML (Nepal Communist Party-UML and Communist Party of Nepal Maoist Centre); a day after the ruling party has fallen apart politically and technically.

On3 March, Nepal’s Supreme Court quashed the unification of the erstwhile Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) led by Prime Minister K  Sharma Oli and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda.

On Sunday, the Supreme Court affected the split along the CPN-UML and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) and took them to the pre-unification stage which will ultimately make Prime Minister Oli a bit stronger because he was elected to the post from CPN-UML.

But Monday's party split came to a setback to Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda who used to be the Chairman of CPN-Maoist Center.

"We have decided to honor the Supreme Court's decision and are going to return the UML," Nepal said, adding "but our struggle will continue for democracy and communism".

Oli now had been sharing very rough ties with Prachanda, Nepal, and Khanal, as they were raising voices against Oli's way of ruling the government and leading the party.

Then those dissatisfied with Oli inside the ruling party that had 64 percent support, started organizing under Prachanda's leadership but Oli kept on sidelining them.

Prachanda and his faction demanded Oli's resignation but Oli kept on denying and affirmed that he was mandated to rule the country and party both.

With new political situations emerging, parties are in talks to form a new government by removing Oli but the roadmap is yet to be decided upon.

However, reports said that with the Supreme Court's ruling, top UML leaders who used to side with Prachanda against Oli started returning to the mother party from Monday evening itself.

CAIRO, 9 March, 2021 (TON): In order to discuss regional and international issues of both, SG-Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit met FM of Greece Nikos Dendias in Cairo.

Reports said the Arab League tried creating a cooperation mechanism with Greece to foster ties between the Arab world and Greece.

Arab is keen to maintain periodic political coordination with Greece and also the league supports Libya for its new executive authority, Gheit said.

On his visit to Cairo, Greek Dendias also met Egypt’s FM Sameh Shoukry to discuss mutual cooperation in different fields concerning regional issues.

ISLAMABAD, 9 March, 2021 (TON): On Monday, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and the commander of NATO forces Zalmay Khalilzad met Pakistan's army chief  General Qamar Javed Bajwa to discuss the war-torn nation's peace process to help ease the stalled negotiations.

The U.S. envoy and the Army Chief met at Army headquarters in Rawalpindi.

"Matters of mutual interest, regional security, and ongoing Afghanistan Reconciliation Process were discussed during the meeting," a statement said. "The visiting dignitary greatly appreciated Pakistan's role in the ongoing peace process."

As Washington shared a letter with Afghan President Ghani, the State Department denied its truthfulness.

The letter said, “Washington would ask the United Nations to convene foreign ministers and envoys from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, and the United States to discuss a unified approach to supporting peace in Afghanistan."

Meanwhile, it is noticed that Pakistan is the third country that US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has visited in the last week as Washington. And it is seen as a key player in Afghan peacemaking and has been acknowledged by Washington for helping to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.

TRIPOLI, 9 March, 2021 (TON): The House of Representatives has been called on by the newly elected Libyan PM Abdul Hamid Dbeibah to approve the new government.

He said in a speech on Monday, "I call on the members of the House of Representatives to give priority to the country's interests above all narrow and personal considerations, and enable the government to take on its difficult tasks immediately."

"Obstruction, postponement, and extension increased the suffering of our people," he added.

Recently, the UN-sponsored Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) selected a new executive authority for Libya that was welcomed by all parties.

However, as agreed by the LPDF, the major task for the new authority is to prepare the country for December elections, i.e. general elections on 24 December, 2021.

On Sunday, the UN envoy to Libya Jan Kubis stressed the importance of holding a session of the House of Representatives to grant confidence to the new Government of National Unity.

However, it is not wrong to say that for the first time after so many years, the members of the House gathered to grant confidence to the new government.