NIGERIA, 23 February, 2021 (TON): More than 50 abducted people have been released by the kidnappers, but many still missing, local authorizes said.

The released ones include women and children who got seized on a bus in Nigeria, local while dozens of others taken from a school in a separate incident are still missing.

Criminal gangs known locally as "bandits" in northwest and central Nigeria have scaled up attacks in recent years.

A gang last week seized 53 people, including 20 women and nine children, who were travelling on a state-owned bus in Kundu village in Niger State.

"I was delighted to receive the 53... bus passengers who were abducted by armed bandits a week ago," the governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, said late Sunday.

"We went through one week of dialogue, consultations, hard work and sleepless nights because we had to secure their release within the shortest possible time," the governor's spokeswoman, Mary Noel-Berje, said in a statement.

It is unknown if a ransom was paid but state representatives have previously said they would not pay any, however, the people received medical checkup before they joined their families.

QATAR, 23 February, 2021 (TON): From India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka more than 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since it won the right to host the World Cup 10 years ago, the media reported.

Data from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka revealed there were 5,927 deaths of migrant workers in the period 2011–2020. Separately, data from Pakistan’s embassy in Qatar reported a further 824 deaths of Pakistani workers, between 2010 and 2020.

The total death toll is significantly higher, as these figures do not include deaths from a number of countries that send large numbers of workers to Qatar, including the Philippines and Kenya. Deaths that occurred in the final months of 2020 are also not included, the British newspaper reports.

As Qatar has embarked on an unprecedented building program, largely in preparation for the football tournament in 2022, in addition to seven new stadiums, dozens of major projects have been completed or are under way, including a new airport, roads, public transport systems, hotels and a new city, which will host the World Cup final.

It is likely to say that many workers who have died were employed on these World Cup infrastructure projects, as death records are not categorized by occupation or place of work.

NEW YORK, 23 February, 2021 (TON): Naval base incident victims' families are taking the kingdom to court over the attack for three people were killed and 13 others were wounded when a Saudi flight student opened fire at a naval base in Florida in 2019.

The victims’ families argue that Saudi officials knew about the shooter's ties to the militant group in the Kingdom.

On Monday, the families filed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia, arguing the kingdom knew of the gunman's radicalization and could have prevented the killings.

Three US sailors were shot dead and 13 others were injured in the attack at training facilities for foreign military at the Naval Air Station Pensacola on 6 December, 2019.

In the investigations that followed, US officials revealed that the shooter had planned the attack for years, expressing extremist ideology and communicating with the terror group.

In the civil lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Pensacola on Monday, the victims' families argue that the Saudi government overlooked

The suit argues that as the shooter was part of a small group of students sent to study in the US, he would have undergone an extensive screening process by the Saudi security, which is capable of monitoring communications of people seen as a threat to security.

DUBAI, 23 February, 2021 (TON): On Tuesday, an Iranian government newspaper warned that overly radical actions in the nuclear wrangling with the West may lead to the country’s isolation after Tehran ended snap inspections by United Nations inspectors.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday it had ended implementation of the so-called Additional Protocol at midnight (2030 GMT). The agreement allowed the IAEA to carry out short-notice inspections.

It said Iran criticized hard-line lawmakers who protested on Monday at Tehran’s decision to permit “necessary” monitoring by UN inspectors for up to three months, saying this broke a law passed by parliament in an apparent effort to pressure the United States to lift sanctions.
The law requires ending snap inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog from Tuesday if sanctions are not lifted.

Iranian leaders insist Washington must end its punitive campaign first to restore the deal, while Washington says Tehran must first return to full compliance.

KUALA LUMPUR, 23 February, 2021 (TON): On Tuesday, the Malaysian court ordered to stop planned deportation of 1,200 Myanmar migrants to hear an appeal by two human rights groups that say the migrants included refugees, asylum seekers and minors.

Followed by the legal summon by the Amnesty International Malaysia and Asylum Access Malaysia, the order by the court came just after the migrants were transported to a naval base where three Myanmar military ships were waiting to take them home.

Amnesty International Malaysia’s director, Katrina Jorene Maliamauv said, “In light of the court ruling, the government must respect the court order and ensure that not one of the 1,200 individuals is deported today.”

It is said that court will hear their appeal on Wednesday.

However, the rights group has urged the government to reconsider its plans to send the migrants back home, where human rights violations are high following the 1 February military coup.

BAGHDAD, 23 February, 2021 (TON): On Monday, three rockets were fired at Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green zone causing no casualties.

Iraq's army said. Security officials said the U.S. Embassy was the target.

One rocket fell within the perimeter of the vast U.S. Embassy complex and the other fell in the residential neighborhood of Harthiya, outside the Green Zone, two Iraqi security officials said.

The military said in a statement, there were no casualties and an investigation was ongoing. There was minor property damage, including a damaged vehicle. The Green Zone houses foreign embassies and is the seat of Iraq's government.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

In the third attempt to attack the American presence in Iraq last week, a U.S.-led coalition contractor was killed and other civilians were wounded in a rocket attack outside Irbil international airport last Tuesday. A little-known Shiite militant group calling itself the Guardians of Blood Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Saturday, rockets wounded personnel working for a U.S. defense company at Balad airbase in Salahaddin province.

However, it is noticed that the U.S. Embassy was a frequent target of rocket attacks during the Trump administration. The pace of attacks gained momentum in the weeks before Biden took office and have resumed now.

MOSCOW, 23 February, 2021 (TON): It is disappointing that the European Union (EU) foreign ministers had decided to prepare new sanctions against Russian citizens “under a far-fetched pretext,” says Russian Foreign Minister.

On Monday, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borell stated that the foreign ministers of the bloc had agreed to impose restrictive measures against those responsible for the “arrest, sentencing and persecution” of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said, it is “unacceptable” to make “unlawful and absurd” calls for the release of a Russian citizen convicted of economic crimes by a Russian court in accordance with Russian law.

“In international practice, this is called interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state,” it read.

“It is only regrettable that such illegitimate instruments ultimatums, pressure and sanctions are rooted in the EU’s foreign policy arsenal,” the ministry added.

The statement also stressed that it is a myth of EU’s own infallibility in the field of human rights was refuted on a daily basis” by police brutality, the attack on freedom of the media, and the curb on using the Russian language.

DHAKA, 23 February, 2021 (TON): A fugitive detained to life imprisonment by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) for his connection with the 2004 tragic grenade attack on the Awami League rally that left at least 24 people dead.

According to RAB, ‘Iqbal’ was taken into custody during a raid in the Diabari area of the capital, Dhaka.  

The RAB director general will disclose details at a media briefing at the RAB media center in Karwan Bazar at 11:30 am on Wednesday, said Imran Hossain, assistant director of RAB headquarters.

A Dhaka court had sentenced 19 people to death in 2018, including former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar and former deputy minister for education Abdus Salam Pintu, for their involvement in the grenade attack.

Another 19 people were handed life terms, including BNP Chief, Khaleda Zia’s former political secretary Harris Chowdhury and her son Tarique Rahman.

Altogether, 11 government officials have been accused in the case and have received different jail terms.

NEW DELHI, 23 February, 2021 (TON): On Monday, two new judges were appointed by the President as judges in the Delhi High Court.

The President of India has appointed Jasmeet Singh and Amit Bansal in order of seniority.

“A notification in this regard was issued today by the Department of Justice,” the ministry said in a statement.

In the eight month of last year, the Supreme Court collegium had recommended their names.

A notification issued by the Centre said, “The President is pleased to appoint Jasmeet Singh and Amit Bansal, to be Judges of the Delhi High Court, in that order of seniority, with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices.”

Jasmeet Singh has 27 years of experience. He has been practicing in constitutional, civil, labor, service and matrimonial affairs, covering all the branches of law. He has specialization in service and civil law and had been practicing in the Delhi High Court and subordinate courts from 1992 onwards.

Bansal has specialization in education, arbitration, indirect taxes and service laws. He served as a senior standing counsel for the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, standing counsel and legal advisor for the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) from 2004, additional standing counsel for University of Delhi, in the Delhi High Court from 2008 and as additional standing counsel, NDMC, from 1999-2005.

KINHASA, 23 February, 2021 (TON): On Monday, Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Luca Attanasio, his bodyguard, Vittorio Iacovacci and a Congolese driver from the UN World Food Program were killed in the east of the country after their convoy was attacked.

The deaths of the ambassador, Luca Attanasio, 43, Italian military policeman Vittorio Iacovacci, 30, and a Congolese driver, whose name has not been released, were confirmed by the Italian government.

"When we heard gunshots we did not know what had happened we went to the scene they had just kidnapped the ambassador, they took him into the bush and immediately they clashed with the park guards," one witness, who did not give his name, told the media.

"They managed to shoot the ambassador, they shot a driver, and the ambassador's security officer died.

"And then suddenly the FARDC (DRC armed forces) went there and they managed to save the ambassador to take him to Goma for intensive care."

Several others have been reported as wounded and have been taken to hospital.

The government ministers and President have condemned the incident.