ISLAMABAD, 21 July 2021, (TON): The United States has acknowledged Pakistan's "continued efforts" to meet the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) requirements and said “it recognises and supports the "significant progress" on the first action plan with 26 of 27 action items "largely addressed".

The statement came from US State Department spokesperson Ned Price during the July 19 press briefing. The spokesperson was answering a question regarding Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s statement that India is politicizing the FATF in efforts to ensure that Pakistan remained on the watchdog's increased monitoring list.

Price said "well, you’re referring to Pakistan’s obligations under the Financial Action Task Force, and we do recognise, and we support Pakistan’s continued efforts to satisfy those obligations. Pakistan has made significant progress on its first action plan with 26 of 27 action items largely addressed.”

According to Price, the US would "encourage Pakistan to continue working with the FATF and the international community to swiftly complete the remaining action items by demonstrating that terrorism financing, investigations, and prosecutions target senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated groups."

He added “we do further encourage Pakistan to expeditiously implement its new second action plan.”

The spokesperson’s remarks came a day after Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar admitted that the Narendra Modi government had ensured Pakistan remained on the FATF grey list.

NEW DELHI, 21 July 2021, (TON): Indian opposition parties disrupted parliament, demanding an investigation into reports that the government used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to snoop on scores of journalists, activists and politicians, including the main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi.

Shouting out slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, the opposition members said “they wanted an independent probe into the complaints of spying and the resignation of Interior Minister Amit Shah.”

An investigation published by 17 media organizations, led by the Paris-based non-profit journalism group Forbidden Stories, said “spyware made and licensed by the Israeli company NSO had been used in attempted and successful hacks of 37 smartphones belonging to journalists, government officials and human rights activists.

Indian news portal The Wire reported that smartphones of politicians including Gandhi, a senior leader of the opposition Congress party, and two other lawmakers were among 300 verified Indian numbers listed as potential targets for surveillance during 2017-19 ahead of national elections.

NSO has said its product was intended only for use by vetted government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to fight terrorism and crime.

Opposition leaders said that the Modi administration was spying on journalists, activists and politicians who were opposed to its policies.

DAMASCUS, 20 July 2021 (TON): Syria’s air defences have intercepted an Israeli attack on al-Safirah area of southern Aleppo, Syrian state media reported, a location where Israel has repeatedly hit a growing Iranian presence.

Syrian state news agency stated that at around 23:37 on Monday [20:37 GMT], the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack towards southeast Aleppo, targeting positions in the al-Safira area.

It added “our air defences intercepted the missiles, shooting down most of them.”

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles landed near the Scientific Studies Research Centre in al-Safira, destroying bases and a weapons depot used by pro-Iran groups.

It said that there were no immediate reports of casualties.

A Syrian military spokesman told that the damage was being assessed after air defences shot down most of the missiles that were aimed at a number of unspecified locations.

Syrian opposition forces said “the air attacks were aimed at Iranian Revolutionary Guard bases and a weapons plant, in a continuation of Israeli attacks against Iranian military research and development activities over the past year.”

NAYPYITAW, 20 July 2021 (TON): Anti-coup protesters in Myanmar held demonstrations to coincide with a public holiday to commemorate slain independence heroes, including the father of the country's detained elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Since the military seized power on Feb. 1 and arrested Suu Kyi and other senior members of her party, hundreds of people have been killed as the army quelled street protests and in clashes between soldiers and newly formed people's militias.

Monday also marked a record number of deaths from the coronavirus in Myanmar where the health service has largely collapsed since the coup as many medics joined a Civil Disobedience Movement to oppose the junta.

In Yangon, military authorities held a tightly controlled ceremony for Martyrs' Day at a mausoleum dedicated to Aung San, Suu Kyi's father and a national hero, who was assassinated alongside members of his cabinet on July 19, 1947.

Drivers in Yangon blared their horns at 10:37 a.m., a tradition marking the time the independence leaders were killed.

BRUSSELS, 20 July 2021 (TON): According to the European publication Politico “three women politicians from Eastern European countries could become probable candidates for the post of the next NATO secretary general.”

The mandate of the current NATO Secretary General, Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, expires on September 30, 2022.

As the newspaper notes, discussion of Stoltenberg’s successor at the headquarters of the alliance has already begun.

The candidacy is expected to be presented at the NATO summit in Madrid in late spring or early summer 2022.

Sources of the publication, referring to modern trends, state that a woman should become the new head of the North Atlantic Alliance for the first time in its history. Other observers point out that in the situation of the ongoing confrontation with Russia, a politician from Eastern Europe should become the head of NATO as an important signal for Moscow .

Some observers, by contrast, believe that the appointment of a candidate from the Baltics would look too hostile to Moscow in a situation when US President Joe Biden is trying to build stable relations between Russia and the West. The publication separately deals with the position of the UK on the personnel issue.

ISLAMABAD, 20 July 2021 (TON): The federal government on Friday proposed Rs37.92 billion development outlay for Gilgit-Baltistan in its fiscal year budget 2021-22.

According to the budget document, the government has proposed Rs18 billion in terms of block allocation in G-B’s Annual Development Programme (ADP).

Likewise, Rs19.92 billion funding has been proposed for 10 uplift projects, including seven new ones, in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

It is pertinent to mention that G-B, a mountainous region in the north of the country, is one of the important parts of the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. In addition to that, the region’s economic potential has prompted the government to start planning for giving a provincial status to G-B, a long demand from the region’s people.

The document added that Rs2.50 billion funds for a 20MW hydropower project in Hunza, Rs1.80 billion for a hydropower project in Shagarthang, Skardu, more than Rs980 million for a hydel power project in Thang, Chilas, Rs1.46 billion for 16MW hydropower project in Naltar, and Rs1.52 billion have been suggested for the first phase of regional grid station in Gilgit.

BERLIN, 20 July 2021 (TON): Europe needs the United States to confront the complex challenges of the 21st century, including China and Russia, said Peter Beyer, authorized by the German Cabinet of Ministers for transatlantic cooperation, before the start of talks in Washington.

“For me, one thing is certain, we can weather the complex challenges of the 21st century, China, Russia, digitalization, climate change and, just as important, pandemics, if we work on them in a close, trusting transatlantic alliance.

I consciously always remember about our close partner Canada. In short: Europe needs North America, but North America also needs Europe, quotes the authorized distribution of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.

The ministry added  “trade, security, climate policy and relations with China will be the focus of the current series of political talks, which will take place July 19-23.”

DHAKA, 20 July 2021 (TON): Bangladesh's Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen shared a sorry tale of how the Department of Passport sent a device for activating machine-readable passports to Uzbekistan around one and a half years back but the device is yet to be activated.

When he visited Uzbekistan last time in 2019, Bangladeshi expatriates requested for a device used to activate machine-readable passports to be installed in the Bangladesh embassy in Tashkent.

Without the device, the expats need to contact Bangladesh high commission in Delhi for renewing passports. The expatriate Bangladeshis also made the request to State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam earlier.

Momen told reporters at his residence “after returning home, I asked the officials concerned to immediately send the device to Uzbekistan. We have Bangladeshi citizens for whom this is needed badly."

He added “in a few months after the initial order, the device was sent and a group of eight to ten officials from the Department of Passport also visited the country, Momen said. "But the machine still remains in a box."

The foreign minister also enquired with the Bangladesh Ambassador to Uzbekistan Md Zahangir Alam why the machine was not working and ambassador reply deeply disappointed Momen.

The minister said "he said the machine was not operational as the technician who knew the secret pass code, was not in the group of eight to ten officials of the passport department who had visited Uzbekistan."

The technician has still not visited Uzbekistan for fixing the device in more than one and a half years.

WASHINGTON, 20 July 2021 (TON): The United States welcomes the talks held July 17-18 between senior leaders of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban in Doha and the commitment the two sides have declared to accelerate negotiations towards an inclusive political settlement. Only a negotiated settlement can bring a lasting end to over 40 years of conflict in Afghanistan.

The United States urges the Taliban to uphold the commitment in the Joint Declaration to protect Afghanistan’s infrastructure, protect civilians, and cooperate on humanitarian assistance.

The United States commends the leadership of the State of Qatar in bringing the parties together as well as the United Nations for the essential role it is playing. 

We remain committed to working alongside the international community and Afghanistan’s neighbors in advancing the Afghanistan peace process and supporting the people of Afghanistan in achieving the just and lasting peace they deserve.

COLOMBO, 20 July 2021 (TON): Even though it is seen as a fascinating thing to glide around enjoying the underwater sights, diving entails some risk. Banishing all these risks aside, a diving officer of the Sri Lanka Navy together with his buddy diver set a new deep-sea diving record on 17th July 2021.

Incidentally, Commander Nishantha Balasooriya, the Command Diving Officer at Naval Dockyard Trincomalee, along with his buddy, Able Diver WWNP Sandaruwan set a new record plunging an astonishing depth of 100 meters off the Elephant Island, Trincomalee, while bringing a lot of credit to the Navy.

To accomplish this milestone in the annals of Sri Lanka Navy, both the divers stayed well-prepared with a number of practice dives, a 73 meter (242 feet) dive on 15th March and subsequently another 75 meter (246 feet) dive on 13th July, prior to their record breaking achievement. As such, both of them were in good physical and mental shape before the arduous task to dive as down as 100m.

When the day finally arrived, Commander Nishantha Balasooriya and Able Diver WWNP Sandaruwan were up to the task with some of the most essential pieces of dive equipment which included tri-mix air (Helium, Oxygen and Nitrogen mixture) along with manual depth gauging recorded in decompression charts. Both the divers were accompanied by a support party up to a depth of 40 meters and ultimately their successful achievement wrote a new chapter in Sri Lanka Navy diving.