NEPAL, 2 February, 2021 (TON): Amid the conspicuous silence maintained by the international community on Nepal’s political situation, on Monday, US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry said that America’s engagement in Nepal “consistently has been in support of democracy”.

The closest neighbor, India took notice of the incident, calling it an internal affair of Nepal.

The United States of America, the European Union, and other democratic countries have maintained silence over Oli’s move that has been condemned by the political parties and civil society of his own country as “undemocratic and unconstitutional”.

At least 13 petitions have been filed at the Supreme Court against House dissolution while political parties, civil society, and citizens’ groups are holding protest rallies in the streets.

But he did not make any comment on the matter of House dissolution, saying the case was under court’s consideration.

Asked about the US view on Nepal’s political development, the US ambassador said it would be presumptuous to make any statement when the Supreme Court is there to look after the constitutional principle.

“And that is the part of a process,” said Berry about the case being heard by the country’s top court.

“America’s engagement has consistently been in support of democracy, in support of those institutions. And sometimes these processes take some time to play,” he said.

The US diplomat also said that his country has no view or position regarding the rift in the Nepal Communist Party.

He reiterated that political divisions and conflicts were part of the democratic process.

Soon after the new administration took the office, U.S. ambassador Berry had held meetings with Nepali leaders and appraised them of the new policy under the Biden-Harris administration.

On the bilateral front, Nepal hopes the U.S. to be a strong ally and provide full support, cooperation, and partnership and will engage in the region to facilitate in the field of human rights and lots more.

RAMALLAH, 2 February, 2021 (TON): After a three- year pause, the Palestinian Authority resumes contacts with the U.S. government.

The hiatus was followed by the former U.S. President Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel that led the ties to sever.

In a statement issued here on Monday, Hussein al-Sheikh, the Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs, said: “Today, I had a telephone conversation with Hadya Amr, a US official, who is in charge of the Palestinian and Israeli affairs in the American State Department.”

He added that the conversation with Amr “was positive, and we discussed the bilateral relationships, the latest developments, and the political situation”.

“At the end of the conversation, we agreed to keep in contact,” al-Sheikh said, adding that it was the first official contact between a Palestinian official and an official from the new US administration since Joe Biden took office on January 20.

The administration is all intending o abolish the Trump policies towards Palestine, told Richard Mills, the new U.S. ambassador to the UN.

On January 26, the Biden administration had announced restoring relations with Palestine, a move welcomed by the latter.

The ties between the two countries are going towards betterment as the new U.S. President’s Middle East policy will likely support a mutually agreed solution and intend to restore the diplomatic missions.

DOHA, 2 February, 2021 (TON): The tennis player, Roger Federer all set to come back to ATP Tour action in Doha in March with Halle, Wimbledon and Olympics on his priorities.  

The player is hoping to make his comeback at a smaller tournament after double knee surgery in 2020.

He skipped the Australian Open; the 39-year-old is currently tied with Rafael Nadal on 20 Grand Slam titles.

The tournament scheduled for the week of 8 March, 2021 in Doha.

Federer made his last appearance at the end of January 2020, when he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

He underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in February and then required another procedure in June after suffering a setback while rehabilitating. That kept him out of action for the remainder of the season.

He was forced to miss this year's Australian Open for the first time in 22 years despite the tournament being pushed back three weeks.

Finally, Roger can return at the ATP 250 tournament, an event he has won three times.

"I've been thinking for a long time about when and where to come back. Australia was a touch too early because of my knee," Federer told the media.

"That hurts. It's one of the places where I love to play the most, he added.

"I want to celebrate great victories again. And for that, I'm ready to go the long, hard road.

"I've been thinking about when and where to come back for a long time. I wanted to make my comeback at a smaller tournament so that I wasn't fully in focus and where the stress is also a little less.

"After Doha, I would like to play another tournament and then I plan to prepare for clay, with a focus later on Halle, Wimbledon, and the Olympics."

The player had continued to keep track of the results of the event as he came back to fitness.

GENEVA, 2 February, 2021 (TON): The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum’s convention commenced on Monday in Geneva, in the presence of the UN Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General Stephanie Williams.

There are expectations that the meeting will last till 5 February, 2021.

It is supposed to vote on the positions of a three-member Presidency Council and the Prime Minister of Libya, in accordance with the roadmap adopted by the Forum in Tunis in mid-November.

Altogether, 21 candidates have been nominated to be prime minister, and 24 to sit on the presidency council.

"You have put an indelible mark on the calendar for the holding of national elections on December 24th of this year. This decision was greeted with the overwhelming approval by your compatriots, and it is a commitment which must be honored at all costs," Stephanie Williams, acting UN Envoy for Libya said.

In response to militias’ rejection of the political process initiated by the UN, tensions have been high since Sunday in Tripoli,  

Hundreds of military vehicles filled with armed men from several locations in Western Libya convened in the capital.

It is suspected that the ones picked by the UN-selected Libyan Political Dialogue Forum will be accepted by rival regimes in the east and west of the country.

Libya has been mired in violence since the 2011 fall of longtime ruler Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising, with an array of armed groups and two administrations vying for power.

The UN-recognized Government of National Accord dominates Tripoli and the west, while an eastern administration is backed by part of the HoR, elected in 2014 -- along with military chief Khalifa Haftar.

The conditions in the region have been disturbed for so long when the two sides signed a formal peace deal in October that paved the way for the well-wishers and pumped new life into the efforts of the United Nations for resolving the political conflict.  

NEW YORK, 2 February, 2021 (TON): The United Nations is afraid that the Myanmar coup will worsen the plight of around 600,000 Rohingya Muslims in the country, a UN spokesman stated on Monday.

Considering the recent scenario, the Security Council planned to meet on the latest developments on Tuesday.

The military in Myanmar seized the power on Monday in a coup against Aung San Suu Kyi.

A 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state sent more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing into Bangladesh, where they are still stranded in refugee camps. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Western states accused the Myanmar military of ethnic cleansing, which it denied.

"There are about 600,000 Rohingya those that remain in Rakhine State, including 120,000 people who are effectively confined to camps, they cannot move freely and have extremely limited access to basic health and education services," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

"So our fear is that the events may make the situation worse for them," he said.

The 15-member UN Security Council plans to discuss Myanmar in a closed meeting on Tuesday, diplomats said.

"We want to address the long-term threats to peace and security, of course working closely with Myanmar's Asia and ASEAN neighbors," Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward, president of the council for February, told reporters.

After the 2017 military crackdown, China, backed by Russia covered Myanmar from any council action.

"It's also our hope that any move of the Council would be conducive to the stability of Myanmar rather than making the situation more complicated," a spokesperson for the Chinese UN mission said.

UN spokesperson, Dujarric said that the UN called for the release of all those arrested. He said, Guterres's special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, "remains actively engaged" and is likely to brief the Security Council.

Myanmar has always been the focus of the United Nations. UN has long had a presence in the region.

In April 2018, the UN envoys traveled to Myanmar to meet Aung San Suu Kyi and Min Aung Hlaing, after the Rohingya crisis.  

SOUTH AFRICA, 2 February, 2021 (TON): On Monday, Jacob Zuma, former president of SA denied appearing before the judicial panel that will probe him on corruption during his nine-year administration.  

South Africa's former president, Zuma continues to play cat and mouse with the courts.

His move defied the last Thursday’s order by the court to appear before and testify the state capture inquiry.

The commission "can expect no further cooperation from me in any of their processes going forward," Zuma said in a statement.

"The wrath visited upon me as an individual knows no bounds," said Zuma, adding that his children and associates had also been "targeted and harassed" as their bank accounts were closed.

In allegations against the commission for the bias, he says that the decision has left him defenseless.

"It is clear that the laws of this country are politicized even at the highest court in the land," Zuma said.

For being involved in Guptas, the Indian family who won lucrative contracts with state companies and were allegedly even able to choose cabinet ministers, Zuma was forced in 2018. He set up the commission shortly before his ouster and only testified before it once in July 2019, but staged a walkout days later.

From 2019 till now, the former president has not come before the court to testify again. The reasons were mainly concerns regarding health or preparations for another corruption case related to a 1990s arms deal which will resume this month.

BORNO, 2 February, 2021 (TON): The Nigerian military high command, Major General Lucky E. O Irabor met security forces in the northeast town of Maiduguri on Sunday.

The visit was conducted in an effort to lift the spirits in a decade-long crackdown on the insurgency.

During the past few months, militants of the insurgent groups have certainly increased the attacks in the Northern regions of the country, Nigeria.

Considering the ongoing conditions, the newly appointed chief of defense staff, L.E.O. Irabor will have to prove he can handle the insurgency that has killed over 36 000 people

Borno State, where the defense chiefs have gathered is known for being a stronghold for militants

Despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s vow to crush the enemies and control the situation, the rebels still hold the vast rural areas and strategic roads, where attacks and kidnappings are increasing recently.

The military has to look up and decide to act on some new strategy for the previous strategy of the ex-high command had been criticized by many, therefore, to prove his mettle; the new chief has to look far beyond the uncertainties.

DHAKA, 2 February, 2021 (TON): An official petition has been moved in the High Court to seek directions in taking the appropriate steps to recover the huge amount of the laundered money in the offshore accounts.

Supreme Court lawyers Abdul Qayyum Khan and Subir Nandi Das filed the plea on Monday.

The petition ordered directing the respondents to apply to Switzerland’s central bank to freeze all the assets of the controversial overseas businessman, Moosa Bin Shamser.

 It also calls for the formation of a special investigation unit to monitor and regulate money laundering or financing of terrorist activities by any citizen or organization.

Speaking to reporters afterward, lawyer Subir Nandi said the virtual bench of Justice Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim's may hear the petition.

The copy of the writ petition had been received, AKM Amin Uddin Manik, the deputy attorney general of the bench, said on Monday.

The writ petition requested an order for the disclosure by the respondents of any information about money laundering and funds secretly parked in foreign banks, especially Swiss banks.

It also looked for the appropriate laws and legal frameworks to be enacted In order to curb money laundering, financing of terrorist activities, and tax evasion.

According to the sources, the news reports have been attached with the petition that further looks for the rule that would ask the respondents’ failure to recover the money smuggled by the Bangladesh nationals to foreign banks should not be declared beyond the authority legal authority of the officials, as many as 15 government authorities, including the secretaries to the finance, home, foreign and law ministries along with the Anti-Corruption Commission and governor of Bangladesh Bank.

The decision is awaited for the case is highly observed by the world's eyes.

SWEDEN, 2 February, 2021 (TON): Helsingborg, the southern coastal city on Monday night met an altercation. Police reported 5 injured in the violence.

Three were taken to hospital and at least two more remained hurt at the scene, according to the Police.

Several people were injured after a suspected shooting in Helsingborg, Sweden, on Monday night.

Several callers reported an ongoing argument with a possible shooting but the background to the altercation was not immediately clear.

The case was later classified as an attempt to murder as per the police. Officers had brought in several people for questioning and seized various shreds of evidence but made no arrests. 

Of the injured, "all five have stab or cut injuries," while one of them might also have been shot. the press report said.  

It is well known that gang and street crimes are observed everywhere but Sweden, however, holds very common incidences of such kind that need to be taken into consideration.  

WASHINGTON, 2 February, 2021 (TON): Aftermath of Myanmar’s generals’ power seize and detention of the elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the U.S. has threatened to re-impose sanctions on the generals.

The diplomats said, that the U.N. Security Council was due to meet later on Tuesday, amid calls for an immense global response to the military arrest of the Nobel Peace Icon and several of her political allies on dawn raids on Monday.

The military refused to accept the results of the November 2020 elections citing allegations of fraud.

The army handed power to General Min Aung Hlaing and imposed a state of emergency for a year, crushing hopes the poverty-stricken country is also known as Burma was on the path to stable democracy after decades of military meddling in politics.

U.S. President Joe Biden called the crisis a direct assault on Myanmar’s transition to democracy and the rule of law and said his administration would be watching how other countries responded.

“We will work with our partners throughout the region and the world to support the restoration of democracy and the rule of law, as well as to hold accountable those responsible for overturning Burma’s democratic transition,” Biden said in a statement.

For the first time in the presidential office, it is a tough challenge for Biden to ally with the countries internationally especially after the Myanmar crisis, however, it falls in contrast with former President Trump’s approach, “often go it alone.

The U.S. condemned the act and called for the release of the detainees and recovery of democracy, in comments largely echoed by Australia, the European Union, India, Japan, and the United States.

China, on the other hand, did not condemn but called on all sides to respect the constitution. Other countries in the region including neighboring Thailand refused to comment on Myanmar’s “internal affairs”.