NEW DELHI, 24 February, 2021 (TON): President-appointed judges of the Delhi high court take oath under Chief Justice D.N. Patel on Wednesday.

The oath-taking ceremony took place in the Chief Justice's Court in the presence of the other judges and the family members of Justices Singh and Bansal. With this, the working strength of the court has mounted to 32.

The President of India appointed Justices Singh and Bansal as the Judges of the Delhi High Court on 22 February, a notification in this regard was issued by the Department of Justice of the Law Ministry.

However, last year the Supreme Court collegium had recommended their names in August. Jasmeet Singh has 27 years of experience, practicing Delhi High Court and Subordinate Courts from 1992 onwards, whereas, Amit Bansal has specialization in Education Laws, Arbitration Laws, Indirect Taxes Law, Service Law.

KUALA LUMPUR, 24 February, 2021 (TON): On Wednesday, the military-appointed FM Wunna Maung Lwin traveled to Thailand for talks.

It is reported that the Thai government said, as Myanmar's neighbors intensified efforts to resolve a crisis that began when its army seized power in a 1 February coup.

As opponents of the coup took to the streets again in Myanmar, the minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, arrived for talks on diplomatic efforts by the Association of southeast Asian Nations.

This week saw huge rallies and a general strike on Monday to denounce the coup and demand the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, despite a warning from authorities that confrontation could get people killed.

With the protest and a civil disobedience movement paralyzing life in Myanmar, Indonesia has been trying to find a way out. Indonesia has taken the lead in efforts to steer a path out of the crisis with the help of other Southeast Asian countries but its plans appeared to falter earlier on Wednesday with the scrapping of a proposed trip to Myanmar by its foreign minister.

KABUL, 24 February, 2021 (TON): Amid doubt over the Taliban’s commitment to cut their ties with the militant groups, the Taliban has asked its members to avoid harboring foreign nationals and not allow them to join their ranks.

The Taliban said in a statement, "All heads and Mujahedeen are directed to avoid the arbitrary move to bring in foreign nationals into their ranks or harbor them."

The group has warned its members to cut off from any such attempt otherwise will be removed from their assignments and their group will be dissolved, while "it will be referred to the military affairs commission for further punishment."

The Taliban has been under criticism by the Afghan and US officials for keeping their ties with the terrorist groups, although the group has denied its ties after the Doha agreement and has vowed to reduce violence.

DHAKA, 24 February, 2021 (TON): Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, Vikram Doraiswami emphasized the importance of people-to-people relationships, saying they need to leave behind suspicion and doubt for the sake of prosperity.

At a seminar titled ‘Bangabandhu: Bangladesh-India relation’ organized by Indian Media Correspondents Association, Bangladesh or IMCAB at the National Press Club in Dhaka on Tuesday, he said, "What we should do is destroy the suspicions and doubt, because there is no room for suspicion and doubt.”

“The world is moving fast today. The faster we can cooperate with each other, the more we could be able to prosper together,” Doraiswami added.

Stressing on working together in culture, film, media, business, travel, and transport, and finding ways to prosper together’ based on principles of sustainable relationships set during the time of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“Because I have seen how prosperity grows as cooperation grows. So there is no good for me that should not be good for you, and there is no good for you that should not be good for me. If we take this principle, we will be following the spirit of Bangabandhu’s leadership,” the high commissioner said.

He pointed out the signing of the protocols and agreements on water sharing, land boundaries, trade, transport, and other areas of cooperation.

Referring to the Ganges water-sharing treaty, the high commissioner said, “Again it took us over 35 years to be able to restart the work what Bangabandhu richly envisioned.”

 “So essentially we don’t need a new rulebook or new guidebook to figure out how we to improve our relationship. Bangabandhu’s writings and Bangabandhu’s words give us the very good guidelines on what we should be doing,” he added.

Doraiswami said there is no difference between the aspirations of the Indian and the Bangladeshi people.

“And our aspirations are best satisfied when we can cooperate as closely as possible. Prosperity, security and safety and indeed the happiness of our people are all inter-connected."

“As we have seen today, Bangladesh is our largest trading partner in South Asia; Bangladesh is our largest partner for travel and movement of people in the world today. Bangladesh is our most important market for travel.”

It has been observed that the relationship between Bangladesh and India is at the highest peak since after 1975, therefore the official underlines that now it essentially involves increasing partnerships in education, increasing partnerships in business, and ensuring that every step of the way India and Bangladesh try and see what they can do together.

LUMUT, 24 February, 2021 (TON): On Tuesday, despite a court order halting the repatriation more than 1,000 Myanmar detainees deported back to their homeland just weeks after a coup,

The migrants, whom activists say include vulnerable asylum seekers, departed on three Myanmar navy ships from a Malaysian military base after arriving on packed trucks and buses under police escort.

The plan was being criticized by the United States, the United Nations and rights groups while hours before the deportation a Kuala Lumpur court ordered it be temporarily halted to allow a legal challenge.

The vessels later set sail carrying 1,086 detainees, with authorities giving no explanation as to why the court order had been ignored. However, the activists were set to argue it should not go ahead as Malaysia would breach its international duties by deporting vulnerable people, and the Myanmar military's seizure of power put them at even greater risk.

NEW DELHI, 24 February, 2021 (TON): On Tuesday while going harsh on the former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, BJP national President J.P. Nadda said that “the Congress leader has a habit of dividing people”.

Taking a dig at the comments made by Rahul Gandhi in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, Nadda tweeted, “A few days back he (Rahul Gandhi) was in the Northeast, spewing venom against the Western part of India. Today in the South he is spewing venom against the North. Divide and rule politics won’t work Rahul Gandhiji. People have rejected this policy and see what happened in Gujarat today,” referring to BJP’s massive victory in the Gujarat municipal polls.”

Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi said in Thiruvananthapuram, “For the first 15 years, I was an MP in the north. I had got used to a different type of politics. For me, coming to Kerala was very refreshing as suddenly I found that people are interested in issues and not just superficially but going into detail in issues.”

However, as it is sensed that the Congress leaders’ comment triggered a north vs. south debate as he described his stint as a Lok Sabha member from Wayanand in Kerala as ‘refreshing’ after 15 years of representing Amethi in the Lok Sabha.

CAIRO, 24 February, 2021 (TON): On Monday, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and visiting Commander of U.S. Central Command Kenneth McKenzie explored ways to strengthen military, security, and counterterrorism cooperation.

Mohamed Farid, chief of staff of Egypt’s Armed Forces, also met McKenzie and his accompanying delegation.

Egypt looks forward to developing bilateral cooperation in all areas in the face of common challenges in the region, El-Sisi said.

Stressing on the regional issues, McKenzie said the US will continue to coordinate with Egypt on regional issues, and praised Cairo’s efforts against terrorism and extremism.
Tamer Al-Rifai, spokesman for Egypt’s Armed Forces said, “The meeting dealt with the exchange of visions on a number of regional and international issues to achieve common interests in establishing security and stability.”

He added, “The delegation confirmed the depth of Egyptian-American relations, and expressed its pride with partnerships that link the armed forces of both countries.”

New regional developments were reviewed particularly in the Middle East, Africa, and the eastern Mediterranean. 

NIAMEY, 24 February, 2021 (TON): According to the provisional results by the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), Mohamed Bazoum, a candidate for the presidential election in Niger has taken the presidential run-off elections.

He polled 55.75% of the votes against the opposition candidate Mahamane Ousmane who had 44.25%, the commission announced.

Prior to the gathering of diplomatic corps and Nigerien authorities at the Palais des Congrès in the capital Niamey, Issaka Souna President of CENI said these results are provisional and must be submitted to the analysis of the Constitutional Court."

Voter turnout was pegged at 62.91%, according to the commission. It said that Bazoum received 2,501,459 votes against 1,985,736 for Ousmane out of a total of 7.4 million voters.

In the first round of polls, Bazoum received 39.3% of votes, while Ousmane managed almost 17%.

Earlier, the opposition criticized the electoral hold up saying, "I ask all Nigeriens to mobilize as one to defeat this electoral hold-up," Falké Bacharou, Campaign manager for Mahamane Ousmane said.

Opposition supporters and demonstrators took to the streets in Niamey to protest near the headquarters of the ruling party where Mohamed Bazoum is due to speak where they were chased by police officers and fired tear gas at them.

DHAKA, 24 February, 2021 (TON): The High court irked by the Bangladesh Bank’s role in recovering defaulted loans from People’s Leasing and Financial Services Ltd or PLFSL, a firm undergoing liquidation.

A judge says the central bank officials responsible for overseeing the financial institutions “took benefits” from the scam centering businessman Proshanto Kumar Halder, former managing director of the International Leasing and Financial Services Limited or ILFSL and NRB Global Bank.

On Tuesday, while hearing statements of some of those who defaulted on more than Tk 500,000 loans from PLFSL, Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar made the comments.

“The Bangladesh Bank officials in charge of overseeing the financial institutions sat there and took (benefits). These corrupt officials took facilities from PK Halder and the loan defaulters,” the judge said.

Bank account details of Shitangshu Kumar Sur Chowdhury, a former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, and Md Shah Alam, an incumbent executive director of the central bank, after their names emerged in the PK Halder scam have been sought by the National Board of Revenue.

Mr. Haider is accused of embezzling Tk 3.5 billion funds and purchasing large shares while taking control of four financial institutions, in which he placed his close associates in positions of power.

Uzzal Kumar Nandi, chairman of PLFSL, and Rashedul Haque, former managing director of ILFSL, have been arrested by Anti-Corruption Commission on charges of abetting the crimes allegedly committed by PK Halder.

Nandi and Haque named SK Sur and Shah Alam, among others, in their statements to the court.

However, some of the loan defaulters who appeared in court sought time to repay, while some others denied taking loans from the firm.

NEW DELHI, 23 February, 2021 (TON): On Monday, India signs a trade pact, CECPA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement) with Mauritius marking its first trade agreement with an African country.

On 17 February, the Indian Cabinet had approved the CECPA that is expected to come into effect from March.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Mauritius’ Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth and India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar.

Under the agreement, India will have preferential access to the Mauritius market for 310 products, while Mauritius will get access for 615 products.

 New Delhi will also have access to about 115 sub-sectors cross 11 broad services sectors including software, financial services and telecommunications. The agreement also has provisions for the unrestricted movement of skilled professionals.

Bilateral trade between India and Mauritius grew 233% from $207 million in 2005-06 to $690 million in FY20. India’s exports to Mauritius jumped 232% from $199 million to $662 million during this period, while imports rose from just over $7 million to almost $28 million.

This good trade agreement seems to be India’s initiative of launching the government’s Atmanirbhar. It is also expected to set the stage for similar agreements with other African nations, where China already has a strong foothold.