WASHINGTON, 18 March 2020, TON: The United States of America has cancelled annual joint military exercise with African nations due to coronavirus pandemic. US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said, exercise was set to begin on 23 March and run through 4 April 2020. Partner nations included Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal, with Spain. It was to be the largest African Lion exercise held by AFRICOM to date.

Officials at Pentagon informed that US personnel have suffered a lot due to corona virus and its services personnel not ready to deploy abroad and cancellation was but natural.  

CAIRO, 19 March 2020, TON: The Egyptian government has approved collaboration between space agencies of Egypt and China. Egyptian space agency would Chinese institution for using its satellite launching stations.

The Egypt's official news agency MENA  reported that Egyptian Space Agency has been authorized to sign a contact with the China Great Wall Industry Corporation to use its stations to launch Egyptian satellites.

Egypt and China signed an agreement in September 2019, to commence the construction of satellite assembly, integrating and testing facilities in Egypt with the development of the China-funded Egyptian satellite MisrSat-II.

Egypt launched TIBA-1, a state-owned civil communication satellite in November 2019. 

Beijing and Cairo signed a USD 72 million grant for Egypt's space programme for EgyptSat-2 Earth observation satellite programme on 21 January 2019, In this year more meetings between the two space agencies are taking place and in the coming months important breakthroughs are expected. .

NEW DELHI, 17 March 2020, TON: The Indian Supreme Court held that officers of both genders had to be treated equally in granting permanent commission in the Navy. The Court said, noting that women officers can sail with same efficiency as male counterparts. A Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud said, “There could not be gender discrimination in granting permanent commission to women officers citing psychological conditions, once the statutory bar for inducting women in the navy had been lifted. The bench highlighted, “Once the statutory bar was lifted to allow entry of women officers then male and female officers are to be treated equally in granting permanent commission. A Naval officer at Vizag said, “We will enable women navy officers to get permanent commission in ATC and Logistics and Education only.

The top court asked the Centre to comply with its order in three months. The navy had allowed females permanent commission from 2008 but they were inducted under short service commission (SSC) for only 10 years extendable upto four years. But after the Courts order, grant of permanent commission would entitles an officer to serve in the navy till he/she retires. Recently, the top court had delivered a similar judgment with regard to women officers in the Army.

NEW DELHI, 17 March 2020, TON: The India Government has imposed a ban on the entry of passengers from Afghanistan to India with immediate effect, according to an travel advisory issued by Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

In continuation of the travel advisory issued on 11 March and 16 March 2020, the additional advisory has been issued that says that travel of passengers from Afghanistan to India is prohibited with immediate effect. The statement said,

no flight shall take off from Afghanistan to India after 1500 hours Indian Standard Time (IST) till 31 March. The airline shall enforce this at the port of initial departure, according to the advisory. The ban shall remain imposed till further reviewed.

An official at New Delhi who introduced himself as Pardhan Dass disclosed on the condition of anonymity that New Delhi intend to impose tougher rules for the Afghans who had been in India for over a decade. It is worth mentioning that after the peace deal between the US and Taliban, New Delhi feel threatened as it is against the interests of the US and India to allow Taliban to control Afghanistan or live in peace there. He added, names of the Philippines and Malaysia have also been added to balance the equation.

CHANDIGARH, 17 March 2020, TON: In a latest development, Chandigarh High Court Bar Association had asked its members to prefer addressing judges as "sir" or "your honour" and not "My Lord".

As per the details , Justice S Muralidhar, who has been recently transferred from the Delhi High Court to Haryana High Court has guided the lawyers to avoid using terms such as "My Lord" or "Your Lordship" for the judges while addressing  them.

It is important to mention here that Justice S Muralidhar was transferred to the Haryana High Court as a punishment for calling spade a spade. He was heading a bench of Delhi High Court which expressed displeasure over the Delhi Police's failure to register FIRs against three BJP leaders for their alleged hate speeches.

17^th March, 1920 was the birth date of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Hischildhood spent in the ever greenand peaceful nature of village which was full of beauty and purity. The seed of great leadership was planted in the early stage of his student life. The combination of excellence of leadership and purity of soul is the key what made Sheikh Mujib our ‘Bangabandhu’ and our father of nation. That was his liberalism and love which was convinced Fidel Castro to declare that he had never seen Himalayan but Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He taught the world how to love a nation and country people, how to remain at the core position of peoples’ heart. He became the power of the gravity for Bangali nation but never misused the power to achieve political power.

Every successful teacher has successful students. Bangabandhu’s home-tutor, Kazi Abdul Hamid was the real inspiration and enlightener for him. From his school life, he became a great lover politics and country people. And Hossain Shohid Shohorawardy was Sheikh Mujib’s political idol for the entire life. He was incomplete without his family’s support. His father advised him that if he could work with sincerity of purpose and honesty of purpose, he would never be defeated in life. His wife Sheikh Fazilatunnesa was the mental support for him who played both the role of father and mother for their children, as Mujibur Rahman had to spend almost his entire life in imprisonment. Sometimes he had to face hardline situations financially also but he never stopped working for our nation.

Of course that was not the era of globalization and information but voiced against famine and political deprivation. So it is surprising that it is the issue of our present day masses but how every people from every class knew Sheikh Mujib. The rickshaw pullers, fishermen and boatmen, for everyone he was ‘Mujib Bhai’ all over the country. That was nothing but his love made it possible not any technology. And our people in return loved, love and will love him forever.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman son of Sheikh Lutfar Rahman was born at village Tungipara, Gopalganj, Bengal (presently District Faridpur, Bangladesh) on 17 March 1920. He graduated from Islamia College, Calcutta in 1947. He was also elected as General Secretary of the Islamia College Students Union. He active worker of Bengal Provincial Muslim League from his college-hood and later in 1943 became member of the All-India Muslim League Council. Later in after the creation of Pakistan, he was top Muslim League leader and close aid of Quiad-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. He was so much inspired by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam that during pre-partition he used to sell pro-Pakistan weekly newspaper Millat on the streets of Dhaka along with other workers. In 1948, he was one of the leading founding member of East Pakistan Muslim Students League.

After the tragic death of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, in 1949 Awami Muslim League was formed and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was one of the founding Joint Secretaries. On the ground that the ideology of Pakistan was being sidelined and a secular vision was being applied on the instigation of India and the West. In early January 1950, under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Muslim League took out an anti-famine procession in Dhaka on the occasion of the visit of Pakistan's Prime Minister Liaqaut Ali Khan to East Pakistan. Sheikh Mujib was arrested and he was expelled from Muslim League for two years. In January 1952, he joined Maulana Bhashani in the formation of Awami Muslim League. Maulana Bhashani was great friend of Quaid-e-Azam Assam branch Muslim League Party in 1934 and ever since he devoted his whole life for Pakistan movement.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman remained General Secretary of the Awami Muslim League from 1953 to 1966 and its President from 1966 to 1974. As an activist he had been a supporter of the Suhrawardhy-Hashim faction of the Muslim League. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman entered parliamentary politics first in 1954 through his election as a member of the East Bengal Legislative Assembly. He was also a member of the Pakistan Second Constituent Assembly (1955-1958). During the elections of 1965, he joined hands with Fatima Jinnah and opposed dictatorial rule of General Ayub Khan. He and his party launched the campaign of Fatima Jinnah in East Bengal during her elections and because of him and other Bengali leaders Fatima gained more votes from East Bengal as compared to West Pakistan. He himself was elected as the Member of the National Assembly and always opposed the activities of the Pakistani establishment in the house.

During the War of 1965, he being a loyal Pakistan did everything which could be done for Pakistani forces against India; from campaigning to collection of devotions and supporting Pakistan cause through speeches. Many amongst the Pakistani politicians were anti Quaid-e-Azam and anti-Fatima and did not allow her to win the elections, however, Mujibur Rahman stood side by side with Fatima Jinnah as solid rock. Fatima Jinnah died in July 1967 and afterwards there was no one to protect the rights of the people of West Pakistan.

In the 1970 national elections, despite leading his party to a major victory in the elections, Mujibur Rahman was not invited to form the government. On 25 March 1971, he was arrested by the Pakistan Army in an Operation Searchlight. During his nine-month detention, insurgency erupted and an attempt was made by Pakistan Army to crush Bengali nationalists and bring peace. An all-out civi-war between the Pakistan Army and East Pakistani nationalists started in which USA played a major role in the disintegration of Pakistan. In the meantime, India forces intervened and it led to the liberation of East Pakistan as an independent nation and emergence of Bangladesh in 1971.

President of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed in a military coup d'état on 15 August 1975. His body was transported to his native village and orders were issued to bury him along with the wooden coffin but being a staunch Muslim and a Momin, no one allwed to do that  burial was done according to Islamic rituals. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's funeral was held on August 16, 1975 in Tungipara and he was laid to rest beside the graves of his father, Sheikh Lutfor Rahman and mother, Sheikh Sayera Khatun. Keeping aside the conspiracy theories, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a great leader of Pakistan movement; when was being buried his body was bleeding and it will bleed for ever as he is a true Shaheed who sacrificed his life for his country.

TEHRAN, 17 March 2020, TON: A statement was issued by the office Ayatollah, Nasser Makarem Shirazi in which he reiterated that he was never asked about an anti-coronavirus vaccine produced by Israel.

Following reports on Israeli scientists' progress toward producing an anti-novel coronavirus vaccine, a daily in Iran, Hamdeli (Empathy), published the opinions of Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi and parliament’s Legal Committee Chairman Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi.

Affiliated with the so-called pragmatic conservative camp in the clergy-dominated Iran, Hamdeli cited Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi as approving the purchase of a vaccine from Israel, if it is the only vaccine on the market.

"Is it permissible to use a coronavirus vaccine discovered and manufactured by Israel?" Hamdeli claimed to have asked the Ayatollah on March 11.

Makarem Shirazi responded, "It is forbidden to purchase or sell the vaccine if we know for certain that the profit made by the companies [producing it] will go to the Zionists and Israel unless this is the only medicine [available] and there is no other alternative."

A few days after the article, the ayatollah’s office issued the denial.

Nonetheless, the statement has stopped short of reflecting Makarem Shirazi's opinion on the initial case, whether it is permissible for the Islamic Republic of Iran to buy vaccines manufactured by Israelis or not.

Meanwhile, Hamdeli also published the response of Rahimi Jahanabadi, to the same question.

"Not only we but everyone, will be delighted when some country manages to [develop a vaccine] and save human lives. If some country, including America, with whom we have no relations, and the 'Zionist' regime, which we do not [even] recognize as a state, discovers the vaccine, it will surely [place it] on the global market, and we too will be able to purchase it via go-betweens or other countries", the parliamentarian said.

Rahimi Jahanabadi has not denied his comments, so far.

During the deadly and destructive eight-year war between Iran and Iraq (1980-88), the Islamic Republic, on several occasions, managed to clandestinely by Israeli manufactured weaponry.

The Jerusalem Post (JP) reported on February 28 that scientists at the Galilee Research Institute, known as MIGAL, were adapting its vaccine against the avian coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus, or IBV, to work for the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19.

WEST BENGAL, 17 March 2020, TON: Indian West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee  announced the state government will create a Rs 200 crore fund to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, and extended the closure of all educational institutions till 15 April and cinema theatres shutdown  till 31 March 2020. .

The government Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken all precautionary measures to prevent spread of coronavirus disease.

ZIMBABWE, 15 March 2020, TON: Zimbabwe’s Defense Minister says the coronavirus pandemic is God’s way of exacting revenge for countries that have imposed economic sanctions on the country.

Minister Oppah Muchinguri singled out the United States going as far as saying President Trump should know that “he is not God.” Trump renewed sanctions on the country recently.

She was speaking on Saturday at an event in Chinoyi, capital of the West Mashonaland Province. Her address was in a local language, a translation of which was as follows.

They are now stuck in their homes. There is nothing else for them to do. Their economies are now screaming. Isn't it they are making ours scream too? Trump must know that he is not God. They are suffocating us, where do they want us to go? Now it is your turn to be suffocated by coronavirus. So that you will feel how p

“This coronavirus that has come, these are sanctions, isn’t it? These are sanctions that have been imposed on countries that imposed sanctions on us. God has punished them.

“They are now stuck in their homes. There is nothing else for them to do. Their economies are now screaming. Isn’t it they are making ours scream too? Trump must know that he is not God.

“They are suffocating us, where do they want us to go? Now it is your turn to be suffocated by coronavirus. So that you will feel how painful it is.”

Zimbabweans on social media have been reacting to the pronouncements. A section calling for her to be fired, others making jest of the comment whiles for others the fact that China, an ally of the country, was the epicenter of the outbreak, has caused them to brand the Minister as ignorant.

“On behalf of the people of Zimbabwe, I would like to apologise to those countries that have been affected by the coronavirus; the provocative and ignorant comments by the Defence Minister do not reflect the thinking of the generality of Zimbabweans who wish you a speedy recovery,” a former deputy ministerGodfrey Gandawa  tweeted on Sunday.

The Zimbabwe government continues to insist that economic sanctions was all but worsening the struggling economy of the southern African nation.