TEHRAN, 15 February, 2021 (TON): On Sunday, Iran’s Army test-fired a short-range missile, the media reported.  

The missile’s range was 300km/186miles, the chief of the army’s ground forces, General Kioumars Heidari said.

Deputy chief of the army Adm. Habibollah Sayyari told IRNA that Iran and Russia will hold a joint naval drill in the northern part of the Indian Ocean in the “near future.”

Adm. Sayyari said the drill has aimed at “reinforcing security” in the region. This is the second such drill since 2019 when the two nations held a four-day exercise alongside China’s navy.

Recently, for the past couple of months, it is likely to observe that Iran has increased its military drills as the country is in an attempt to put pressure on U.S. President Biden to reenter the previous nuclear accord that the former President abandoned from.

DHAKA, 15 February, 2021 (TON): From the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps, dozens of buses carrying the Rohingya families left the Ukhiya Degree College ground on Sunday afternoon for Chattogram, from where they will be shipped to the island.

Around 1500 Rohingya refugees had relocated by the Bangladesh government to the Bhasan Char Island.

Officials of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner confirmed the development but declined to be named or give an exact number of refugees being moved in the fourth batch.

One of the officials said, at least 3,000 Rohingya refugees were interested in shifting to Bhasan Char in this phase.

Since 4 December last year, the government relocated more than 6,600 refugees to the island in three phases.

The numerous challenges associated with the temporary hosting of the persecuted Rohingya from Myanmar have “compelled” it to plan the relocation said, the government who has built homes for around 100,000 refugees.

Utmost transparency is maintained in the relocation process and it is being ensured that the migrants are repatriated to their homelands as soon as possible; hence, making the arrangements for the Rohingya is solely temporary in nature. Moreover, the UN and international groups expressed concern over the voluntary relocation of the refugees and their safety in the remote island.

ADDIS ABABA, 15 February, 2021 (TON): For the Ethiopian refugees, only 7 percent of the $323.1 million required to meet the ends of the IDPs and refugees are received, says UNHCR.

Despite the funding gap and the armed conflicts happening in the area it operates, UNHCR is working effortlessly to achieve the goal.

The UN body said It is engaged in the training of health personnel and the distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) and essential medicines and materials to strengthen health services in refugee camps in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is the third-largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, sheltering 801,349 registered refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan, as of 31 January, 2021.

Alongside this, the country has several million IDPs, including 2.2 million who were forced to flee the conflict that broke out last November in the northern Tigray regional state.

LONDON, 15 February, 2021 (TON): A virtual meeting will be hosted by the British PM on 19 February, 2021 to discuss the deadlock of the ongoing pandemic and immunization.   

Friday's meeting will be the first hosted by Johnson as part of Britain's G7 Presidency this year and the first gathering of G7 leaders since April 2020.

The G7 leaders' meeting will be attended by the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States, and the presidents of the European Council and the EU Commission said the statement.

Britain will host the first in-person G7 summit in almost two years in June in Carbis Bay, Cornwall in southwestern Britain, according to a previous statement released by the British Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.

It is likely that Boris will argue that no country is safe from the present conditions while each seems to be safe and the UK is going through a lot.

PORT LOUIS, 15 February, 2021 (TON): "Democracy does not work in the island nation”, said the opposition leader Arvin Boolell and Labor MP while the thousands of demonstrators descended on the Mauritian capital demanding the government to resign.

Protesters came from all political beliefs and included various opposition parties, all demanding change.

Thousands of Mauritians responded to the call of opposition parties alleging corruption and fraud by the government, although the protest was not much as the last Augusts’ one when 25,000 people descended against the handling and lack of transparency after a  massive oil spill on the capital Port Louis.

He said, “Corruption and drugs are thorny issues, which the government is unfortunately unable to resolve,"

"Democracy does not work as it should, there is a problem with what is called the tyranny of numbers in parliament, and there is the dimension of politics which has become the tool of the executive.

"So there are a lot of things wrong and people are fed up."

When the Minister of Foreign Affairs resigned on 6 February, the opposition leader criticized the dysfunction of the country’s institutions.

Boolell said, "If I take the words of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, who has just submitted his resignation and who was also the general secretary of the Prime Minister's party, he said that the situation is extremely serious, that there is a dysfunction, that the institutions are padlocked and that the Prime Minister lives in an ivory tower, he is not accessible."

"The wish of the electorate is for Mauritius to return to what it has always been a model of development, of peaceful co-existence, a model of ecology where life is good," the opposition leader said.

French-owned state has been going through disappointment because of the Prime Minister and the government that has failed miserably.

GHAZIPUR, 15 February, 2021 (TON): On Sunday, the farmers agitated on the farm laws held a candlelight march to express solidarity with the families of the CRPF soldiers killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

The march included children to ex-servicemen and also the same day, about 13 ex-servicemen held a hunger strike in support to the farmers on Sunday.

Flowers were offered, rangoli map of India was designed, and “Jai Jawan, Jai Kissan” slogans were raised.  

Farmers’ organizations held candle marches, torch processions, and other programs across the country in memory of the martyrs

The youngest to pay tribute to the martyrs was Gurmeet Singh, a Delhi resident’s daughter.

Around 40 were killed in the Pulwama attack in J&K on 14 February, 2019 when a terrorist drove an explosive-laden SUV into a convoy of CRPF personnel.

However, the incidents of such kind have seemingly increased which are sponsored by Indian agencies themselves but UNO, EU, and organizations like Amnesty are silent.  

DUBAI, 15 February, 2021 (TON): Mohammad Mahmoud Al-Khaja has taken the oath in front of the UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashed, as he has been sworn in as the country’s first Ambassador to Israel, the media reported on Sunday.

For the first time UAE and Israel signed U.S. arranged deal on 15 September, 2020 called as Abraham Accords that established diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Last month Israel officially inaugurated its embassy in the capital of UAE, Abu Dhabi to which Eitan Na’eh serves as an acting ambassador.

While Israel announced its embassy in UAE, UAE, in turn, approved the establishment of the embassy last month.

On his oath, Al-Khaja swore to be loyal to the country, respect the constitution; state’s laws, and its president, and to place its interest above all else.

It is seen that after the first deal between the two countries, several bilateral meetings and visits have been held between both sides, however, other Gulf States might condemn the recent move by UAE.

WASHINGTON, 14 February 2021, (TON): The United States of America’s Senate voted on Saturday to acquit former President Donald J. Trump in his second impeachment trial but Democrats failed to impeach former President Trump falling 10 votes short of the two-thirds necessary for his conviction.  Mr. Trump is cleared from charge that he incited the 6^th January attack.

Voting 57-43, the Senate fell 10 votes short of the two-thirds necessary for conviction. Seven Republicans voted to find the former president guilty of “incitement of insurrection.”  

Soon after the verdict was announced, former President Trump sent out a statement thanking his legal team to fail the war waged upon him by his enemies.

The statement said, “It is a sad commentary on our times that one political party in America is given a free pass to denigrate the rule of law, defame law enforcement, cheer mobs, excuse rioters, and transform justice into a tool of political vengeance, and persecute, blacklist, cancel and suppress all people and viewpoints with whom or which they disagree. ”  

“I always have, and always will, be a champion for the unwavering rule of law, the heroes of law enforcement, and the right of Americans to peacefully and honorably debate the issues of the day without malice and without hate.”

Addressing the Democrats he said, they attempt to end his political career had also failed and that historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun. The supporters resolved to carryon Mr. Trump political struggle to make American great and strong. 

ISTANBUL, 13 February, 2021 (TON): An Iranian official got detained for being suspected of instigating the killing of an Iranian dissident in Istanbul 15 months ago.

The media report said, Mohammad Reza Naserzadeh was detained earlier this week on suspicion of planning the shooting of Masoud Molavi Vardanjani, a critic of Iran’s political and military leadership.

However, the Iran’s Foreign Minister said that the newspaper was baseless.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh denied that any consulate staff member was involved in Vardanjani’s killing and said Iran was in talks with Turkish officials to shed light on the issue.

This move could influence the ties between the two countries, Turkey and Iran as the regional powers have grown closer under President Erdogan despite some differences

KOCHI, 13 February, 2021 (TON): On Sunday, PM Modi will pay a flying visit to Kochi to launch some new projects of central public sector organizations.

The PM will arrive from Tamil Nadu in the afternoon and leave for Delhi around 6 p.m.

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Mansukh L Mandaviya, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan will share the stage with Modi.

BPCL's Rs 6,000-crore Propylene Derivatives Petrochemicals Project, launch of Sagarika, the Rs 25 crore Cochin Port's international cruise terminal,  laying foundation stone for Cochin Port's reconstruction of the south coal berth and a new knowledge centre of Cochin Shipyard Ltd's Vigyana Sagar will be dedicated in the program.

It is likely that PM Narendra Modi will a party leaders' meet in the state as the assembly polls are around the corner, where he is expected to give a pep talk to the leaders.