KABUL, 6 March, 2021 (TON): On Saturday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that his government was ready to discuss holding elections, in the wake of a new democratic government.

“Transfer of power through elections is a non-negotiable principle for us,” Ghani told lawmakers at the opening of parliament session in Kabul.

“We stand ready to discuss holding free, fair and inclusive elections under the auspices of international community. We can also talk about the date of the elections and reach a conclusion,” he added.

“I advise those who go to this or that gate to gain power is that political power in Afghanistan has a gate, and the key is the vote of the Afghan people,” he said.

“Any institution can write a fantasy on a piece of paper and suggest a solution for Afghanistan. These papers have been written in the past and will be written in the future. Our guarantee is our constitution.”

In order to resume the peace negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar, President Ghani met the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad past year.

It is likely that the U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has begun a review of its strategy for Afghanistan, including an agreement reached with the Taliban in early 2020 that paved the way for talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government.

DHAKA, 6 March, 2021 (TON): A menacing force within the government is responsible for the persecution of any dissenting voices, says Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

In the wake of leftist student organizations call for the repeal of the Digital Security Act, Alamgir made the remarks.

The meeting was organized at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium by Bangladesh Chhatra Forum and Uttar Chhatra Forum to mark the 14 anniversary of the jailing of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman.

The senior BNP leader said Mushtaq was imprisoned ‘simply because of writing something’ while cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore was in jail ‘just because of drawing cartoons.’

While referring to the Awami League’s governance, he stressed that such tyrants have come in power repeatedly in this country. Whenever bandits, burglars, the British from the West arrived to take over, the young people of the country took a stand against them and took up arms to remove them if necessary.

ANKARA, 6 March, 2021 (TON): As Turkey’s potential deal with the Egypt on the maritime zones in the Eastern Mediterranean, the agreement on the energy transit routes and the political concessions will impact Turkey to come in the limelight.

On Wednesday, Turk FM Mevlut Cavusoglu said that the country wanted to sign a deal over maritime boundaries.

However, this is still on the Turkish side with no response from the Egypt.  

This move by the Turkey signals its will to minimize the escalatory policies in the region to

Reports have stated that the potential sanctions against Turkey’s controversial activities in the E. Mediterranean would be discussed at the European Summit on 25-26 March.

Even so, the experts regard the deal to be unlikely for the Egypt has had an EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) agreement with Greece since last year that angered Turkey for its disagreements with Greece over the mutual continental shelves.

PRETORIA, 6 March, 2021 (TON): On Thursday, South Africa’s Constitutional Court called on the president to apologize and withdraw pro-Israeli statements made in June.

South Africa's Constitutional Court on Thursday called on the president to apologize and withdraw pro-Israeli statements made in June, which had caused an outcry in a country strongly committed to the Palestinian cause.

"We are (thus) denying ourselves a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict", he had argued.

The Judicial Council, which had been seized by the NGO #Africa4Palestine, considered the remarks as "offensive" and "particularly provocative".

It called on the judge to "withdraw them without reservation and to restore the image of justice," publishing the apology text that it wants to hear within 10 days.

The Radical Left Party (EFF) demanded that he immediately withdraw his remarks, accusing Israel of pursuing a policy of "illegal, criminal and genocidal" occupation in the Palestinian Territories.

However, Israel has long been accused of having privileged links with the 'racist' white South African regime prior to 1994, in particular by supplying it with arms despite an international embargo.

NEW DELHI, 6 March, 2021 (TON): On Saturday, the Indian farmers began gathering to block the expressway outside New Delhi, marking 100^th day of the farmers’ protests against the farm laws.

"The Modi government has turned this protest movement into an ego issue. They are unable to see the pain of the farmers," said Amarjeet Singh, a 68-year-old farmer from Punjab state. "They have left us no option but to protest,” he added.

Farmers young and old headed in cars, trucks and tractors to the highway for a five-hour roadblock to oppose three farm laws enacted in September 2020 they say hurt them by opening up the agriculture sector to private players.

While the protests have been mostly peaceful, a brief spate of violence on Jan. 26 led to the death of a protestor, and the police have filed criminal charges against eight journalists over alleged misreporting on the events of the day.

Modi has called the laws much-needed reforms for the country's vast and antiquated agriculture sector, and painted the protests as politically motivated.

NEW DELHI, 6 March, 2021 (TON): Myanmar authorities asked India to return the police officers who crossed the Indo-Myanmar border in an attempt to escape from the orders of the military junta, an official in northeast India said on Saturday.

As a consequence of the 1 February military coup violence and suppression, around 30 Myanmar police officers and their families entered the Indian Territory.

 The senior most official in Champhai, a district of Indian state Mizoram told the media that a letter was received from her Myanmar’s counterpart demanding the return of their 8 police officers in the wake of fostering friendly relations.

Deputy Commissioner Maria C.T. Zuali said on Saturday that she was “waiting for the direction” from the India’s Ministry for Home Affairs in New Delhi.

“In order to uphold friendly relations between the two neighbor countries, you are kindly requested to detain 8 Myanmar police personnel who had arrived to Indian territories and hand-over to Myanmar,” the letter said.

However, considering the request made by the Myanmar authorities the Indian foreign ministry said it was still ascertaining the facts.

MOGADISHU, 6 March, 2021 (TON): On Friday, in suicide car bombing more than 20 people killed in Somalia in the capital Mogadishu, outside a restaurant.

The reports said, 30 others injured as well.

"The explosion was very strong and caused significant destruction and caused civilian casualties," official Mohamed Osma told the media.

Certainly, the no extremist group took the responsibility; however, the country faces several frequent extremist attacks by the rebel groups.

As the country faced insurgent attacks, with the help of welfare organizations the rebels were driven out of the country although some persist their presence in the region.

TEHRAN, 6 March, 2021 (TON): The Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif took a dig at the U.S. for continued sanctions against Iran.

Zarif tweeted on the social media on Friday, “Even amid Covid-19, the U.S. continues to exert Trump's failed 'maximum pressure' on Iranians. Isn't it time to try something that may actually work?"

As it is known that the Iranian Rial has been under value loss since May 2018 as a result of the U.S.’s withdrawal from nuclear deal 2015.

The Iranian government has already made it clear that the U.S. sanctions have caused massive problems in the country, including Tehran’s financial sector that has caused difficulty for the Iranians to find payments for the global trade.

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NEW YORK, 6 March, 2021 (TON): Seeking to break the stalemate between Ethiopia, Ethiopia and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance (GRD) on the Nile River Dam, the UN-SG Antonio Guterres has offered to assist the cause.

On Friday, the Egyptian FM Sameh Shoukry on a phone call was assured by the UN to be available to support and participate in the African Union-led negotiation process on the dam, said UN-SG’s spokesman.  

The process depends on the engagement of the parties in serious talks, the spokesman said.

The dam was built by Ethiopia in 2011 and it was concerned about its share of the Nile, while, Sudan also raised similar concerns over the dam.

BEIRUT, 6 March, 2021 (TON): The media reports on U.S. to intend sanction the Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh have been dismissed by the U.S. embassy in Lebanon.

The embassy spokesperson, Casey Bonfield said in a statement on Friday, "We have seen reports about possible sanctions on Riad Salameh. They are untrue."

This emerged a day after as the American based TV network said that the U.S. was considering to impose sanction Salameh in regard of its probe into the alleged pilfering of the funds of the public.

While the Central Bank said on Friday, “The Salameh will file a series of lawsuits inside and outside Lebanon against Bloomberg News and all those who stand behind them over crimes of fabricating news, insulting and attempting to discredit the Governor".

Earlier this year, Riad was alleged of transferring million dollars abroad, and the Lebanese Justice Minister Marie-Claude was requested by the Swiss authorities to inquire into the embezzlement. While, the official denied of the allegations.

This led to a huge criticism over the shortage in the U.S. dollars that shook the economy, reducing the reserves of Lebanese currency.