BAGHDAD, 05 June, 2021 (TON): A massive fire at the Sharya Camp for displaced persons in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in Duhok province on Friday burnt more than 400 tents and wounded seven people, said a local official.

According to director of the camp Hakar Mohammed, a large part of the fire has been put out and the camp, which shelters hundreds of displaced persons of the Yazidi minority, was evacuated by rescue teams, he added that the wounded have been transported to hospitals.

The firefighters are still working to put out the rest of the fire, Mohammed said.

Bewar Abdul-Aziz, head of Duhok's provincial civil defense directorate, told reporters that "the civil defense teams were able to control the fire," noting that investigations had begun to find out the causes of the fire.

Iraq is experiencing ongoing displacement. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix, an estimated 1.3 million persons remained internally displaced in Iraq, with more than 250,000 residing in camps and an additional 44,000 in informal settlements, predominantly in Erbil, Duhok, and Ninewa provinces.

NEW YORK, 05 June, 2021 (TON): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday launched "an unprecedented effort to heal the Earth," on the eve of World Environment Day.

With humanity facing a “triple environmental emergency” of biodiversity loss, climate disruption and escalating pollution, now is the time to act, said UN Secretary-General.

“We are reaching the point of no return for the planet,” he warned.

“We are ravaging the very ecosystems that underpin our societies, and in doing so, we risk depriving ourselves of the food, water and resources we need to survive,” he said.

"Our degradation of the natural world is destroying the very food, water and resources needed to survive, and already undermining the well-being of 3.2 billion people -- or 40 percent of humanity," said the top UN official.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are co-leading this global movement to re-imagine, recreate and restore ecosystems, which is crucial particularly as countries strive to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Inger Andersen, the UNEP Executive Director, said Governments must ensure their stimulus packages contribute to recovery that is sustainable and equitable.

“Businesses and the financial sector must reform operations and financial flows so that they restore and not destroy the natural world”, she added.  

The UN chief described the decade of restoration as "a global call to action" that will draw together "political support, scientific research and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration."

World Environment Day is celebrated annually on June 5 and is the United Nations' principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment.

COLOMBO, 05 June, 2021 (TON): Sri Lanka has barred entry to passengers from South Africa and countries in South America with immediate effect.

Capt. Themiya Abeywickrama, the Director General of Civil Aviation has informed all airlines that passengers with a travel history (including transit) in the past 14 days to Countries in South America and South Africa will not be permitted to disembark in Sri Lanka with immediate effect.

Furthermore, the already imposed bans for incomings passengers with a travel history (including transit) to India and Vietnam in the past 14 days will continue to be in force.

Any passenger who has been to India in the past 14 days will not be permitted to arrive.

KABUL, 5 June, 2021 (TON): Reaffirming continued support the Afghan people and the government, the European Union's new special envoy Tomas Niklasson said on Friday, violence must stop and peace talks should move from procedures to substantial negotiations.

“As the troops are withdrawing, the EU’s intention is to stay in Afghanistan - continuing our support to the people,” he added “The violence must stop and the peace talks must move from discussions on procedures to substantial negotiations. I would be happy the day sanctions on the Taliban could be lifted. For that to happen we need to see significant progress in the peace process and a stop to violence.”

“Our first call is on a comprehensive and immediate ceasefire,” he said while talking to Tolo news.

Niklasson said that he will travel to Pakistan and Qatar to garner support for the Afghan peace process. 

“The EU is ready to continue its engagement with the Afghan people and with the Afghan government, but it is an opportunity for the Afghan people now to come together to leadership, to leave narrow interests behind them and to raise up to the occasion,” he said.

He asked the Afghan government to fight against corruption and deliver on its promises towards human rights and children's rights.

“The EU is ready to continue its cooperation as a reliable partner, but we expect that the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan will respect its international commitments, its commitments to the rights of women, its commitments to the rights of children and to continue to fight corruption,” he said.

Since the Taliban’s fall in 2001, the European Union (EU) has been a major contributor to Afghanistan.

KATHMANDU, 5 June, 2021 (TON): Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli reshuffled his cabinet on Friday evening after offering 10 ministerial posts to a faction of the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP).

PM Oli has inducted five new ministers into his Cabinet. A total of seven ministers resigned from their post earlier this week after Oli took the decision to dissolve the Parliament.

The JSP faction led by Chairman Mahantha Thakur agreed to join the cabinet after the Oli government released its 430 cadres from custody, amended the Citizenship Act and formed a task force to study constitutional amendment, key demands of the group.

With the introduction of the JSP faction, Oli reshuffled his cabinet, keeping only four ministers while promoting Minister for Finance Bishnu Poudel to be a deputy prime minister.

Among the ministerial posts for the JSP figures, senior leader Rajendra Mahato was named deputy prime minister and minister for urban development.

Oli appointed Raghubir Mahaseth, a leader from his own party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), as deputy prime minister and minister for foreign affairs.

The prime minister himself took charge of seven ministries concurrently for the moment, but would allocate the portfolios to members of his own party later.

According to Keshav Prasad Ghimire, deputy spokesperson at the President's Office Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office to the newly appointed ministers on Friday evening.

Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives on May 22 for fresh elections on Nov. 12 and 19.

KATHMANDU, 04 June 2021, (TON): The Ministry of Health and Population refuted the news of emergence of the 'Nepal variant' of corona virus as claimed by a UK tabloid, while declaring that no such variant exists.

British paper Daily Mail had published a story that claimed a new mutant strain of the corona virus that originated in Nepal, one that is resistant to vaccines, has apparently spread to Europe.

It further said that the 'Nepal Variant' is a threat to the UK citizens' holiday plans.

Responding to the same, the Health Ministry issued a press release, categorically denying the existence of any such variant in Nepal.

The Minister said "Among the many variants of concerns as declared by the World Health Organization (WHO), Alfa and Delta are the only known active strains in Nepal."

He further added that "No other variant has been known to be active in the country."

Additionally, it reiterated that there has been no discovery of any new 'Nepal Variant' as coined by some international media reports.

The ministry has also urged all to not spread such disinformation without acquiring adequate information and verification from relevant agencies.

DHAKA, 04 June 2021, (TON): AHM Mustafa Kamal, Finance Minister of Bangladesh, in his budget speech in parliament, proposed imposing a 15% tax on the total income of private educational institutions, a move which may end up becoming a burden for thousands of students.

The effects of the proposed tax on private colleges, private medical colleges, dental and engineering colleges and private universities may ultimately trickle down to the students.

Many students and guardians fear the educational institutions will increase tuition fees and other expenditures if the finance minister’s proposal is eventually implemented.

This will mean double trouble for both students and guardians as they are already facing a financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, they said.

A worried private university student said “We are doing online classes and the university authorities did not reduce our tuition fees at all. In such conditions, if the government imposes a tax on them, then we will be the victims. They will increase our tuition fees to earn more money”.

RAMALLAH, 04 June 2021, (TON): Days after India abstained at the UN Human Rights Council on a resolution proposing to set up a Commission of Inquiry into violations related to Israel’s recent bombardment of Gaza, the foreign minister of the Palestinian National Authority has complained that New Delhi’s abstention, stifles the important work of advancing human rights for all peoples, including those of the Palestinian people.

Riyad al-Maliki has said “India missed an opportunity to join the international community at this turning point, both crucial and long overdue, on the path to accountability, justice and peace”.

India was among 14 countries that abstained on the proposal for an inquiry into the widely condemned human rights violations around the Israeli action in Gaza, and the systematic abuses in the Palestinian territories and inside Israel.

Twenty-four members voted in favor, and nine against the resolution that was adopted in Geneva on May 27.

GENEVA, 04 June 2021, (TON): Forty years on since the first AIDS cases were reported, the United Nations said on Thursday it was cautiously optimistic that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) the virus that causes the disease could be beaten by 2030.

The UNAIDS agency said at least 40 countries were on track to achieve a 90% drop in AIDS-related mortality by 2030, including nine countries in eastern and southern Africa.

In a report, the Joint UN Programme on HIV and AIDS said that 37.6 million people worldwide were living with HIV in 2020.

TEHRAN, 04 June 2021, (TON): Iran slammed the United Nations’ decision to suspend its voting rights for failing to pay its dues as “fundamentally flawed, entirely unacceptable and completely unjustified”.

Tehran argues that the $16.2 million it owes to the UN is the result of Washington’s crippling sanctions, imposed after former president Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the US from a nuclear deal with Iran.

Iran’s voting rights at the UN General Assembly were suspended in January under rules for countries whose arrears are equal to or exceed their contributions due for the past two years.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed his strong dismay at the loss of voting rights, in a letter sent to UN chief Antonio Guterres, “Iran’s inability to fulfil its financial obligation toward the United Nations is directly caused by ‘unlawful unilateral sanctions’ imposed by the United States.”

Zarif further said that Iran rejected the suspension of its voting rights because Tehran’s incapacity to transfer its financial contribution has been entirely beyond its control.