DHAKA, 24 December 2020, (TON): Bangladesh has uplifted from 73rd to the 65th position compiled by the UK-based National Cyber Security Index (NCSI), which is belonged to the global cybersecurity index.

The NCSI has compiled the index under the assessment of the countries' preparedness for basic cyber-attacks and their efforts in managing cybercrimes and major crises.

The ranks are given based on the five-step indicators such as National Cyber Threat Identification, National Cyber Security System and Capability Identification, Selection of Important and Measurable Issues, Cyber Security Indicators, and Development of Cyber Security Indicators.

Bangladesh's score is 44.16 in the index, and it has made 2nd place among South Asia after India with a score of 59.78 in the 35th position.

In this region, Pakistan is ranked 66th with a score of 42.86, and China is ranked 80th with a score of 35.06.

Greece is in the first position with a score of 96.10 in the index. The Czech Republic and Estonia are in the Second and Third places with a score of 92.21 and 90.91 respectively.

LONDON, 24 December, 2020, (TON): Britain and the European Union were at the point of striking a narrow trade deal on Thursday, raising hopes a chaotic economic break between the two sides on New Year’s Day could be averted, officials said.

After resolving a few remaining fair-competition issues, negotiators tussled over EU fishing rights in U.K. waters as they worked right into Christmas Eve to secure a provisional deal for a post-Brexit relationship after nine months of talks.

Sources in London and Brussels said a deal was close as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a late-night conference call with his senior ministers, and negotiators in Brussels pored over reams of legal texts.

“Certainly the momentum and the expectation is that we will get a Christmas Eve Brexit deal and I can tell you that will be an enormous relief,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said while  talking to RTE radio.

Haggling over just how much fish such as sole, sand eels and herring EU boats should be able to catch in British waters was delaying the announcement of one of the most important trade deals in recent European history.

“There is some sort of last-minute hitch” related to “small text” of the fisheries agreement, Coveney said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a Cabinet conference call to brief his senior ministers on the outlines of the deal, ahead of an announcement widely expected later Thursday.

There was no official confirmation of a deal but Johnson was expected to hold a news conference - just seven days before the UK turns its back on the EU’s single market and customs union on  31^st December.

Over the past few days, Johnson and von der Leyen have been drawn more and more into the talks and have been in contact by phone seeking to unblock negotiations.

On Wednesday, brokering on quotas and transition times for EU vessels to continue fishing in U.K. waters was in full swing, with progress reported from several sides.

The United Kingdom formally left the EU on 31^st January but has since been in a transition period under which rules on trade, travel and business remained unchanged. But from the end of this year, it will be treated by Brussels as a third country. UK is heading for a much more distant relationship with its biggest trade partner.

ADDIS ABABA, 24 December, 2020, (TON): Ethiopian troops clashed with armed men involved in a deadly attack in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region, killing 42 of them and seizing bows and arrows and other weapons, state-affiliated Fana TV reported on Thursday.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he was sending more soldiers to secure the region bordering Sudan, the day after unidentified gunmen killed more than 100 people in a village there.

The state-run Ethiopian Human Rights Commission on Wednesday said, gunmen had killed over 100 people in a dawn attack in the village of Bekoji in Bulen country in the Metekel zone, an area where numerous ethnic groups live.

"The massacre of civilians in Benishangul-Gumuz region is very tragic," Abiy said on Twitter. "The government, to solve the root causes of the problem, has deployed a necessary force."

The standoff in the northern Tigray region that has been wrestling with outbreaks of deadly violence began almost as soon as Abiy took office in 2018.

Long-simmering tensions between Ethiopia’s federal government and defiant authorities in its northern Tigray region have erupted into a military confrontation. Hundreds of civilians have died, while tens of thousands have sought refuge in Sudan from airstrikes, as the conflict threatens to further destabilize the strategic Horn of Africa region.

Ethiopia's military has been fighting rebels for more than six weeks in a conflict that has displaced close to 950,000 people.

MOSCOW, 24 December 2020, (TON): Moscow on Wednesday put allegation on the incoming US administration of "Russophobia" after the president-elect promised to punish Russia for a major cyber-attack.

Biden is expected to take a tougher stance against Russia than Donald Trump, whose ascent to the US presidency in 2016 was plagued by accusations of Russian interference to boost his campaign.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said the Kremlin was expecting "nothing positive" in ties with Washington.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov struck a similar note, speaking about Moscow’s expectations from the future US administration.

"We are definitely not expecting anything good," Ryabkov said in an interview with Interfax news agency. "And it would be strange to expect good things from people, many of whom made their careers on Russophobia and throwing mud at my country," he added.

Washington has recently accused Russia of a major cyber-attack on government agencies -- a claim Moscow has denied. Biden on Tuesday said the attack cannot go "unanswered", promising to retaliate once he steps into office on January 20.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the last leaders to congratulate Biden on his election victory, sending his congratulatory message six weeks after the November 3 vote and saying he was ready for "collaboration".

U.S.-Russia relations are at their worst since the Cold War and will remain dynamic in the coming years, with a lingering risk of escalation. Washington and Moscow diverge on a growing list of challenges yet there are opportunities for selective engagement.

GENEVA, 24 December, 2020, (TON): The UN human rights office on Wednesday said it is deeply concerned by the recent U.S. presidential pardons for four security guards from the private military firm Blackwater who were convicted of killing 14 Iraqi civilians.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, commented that pardoning them contributes to impunity and has the effect of emboldening others to commit such crimes in the future.

The statement stressed that these four individuals were given sentences ranging from 12 years to life imprisonment, including on charges of first-degree murder.

"By investigating these crimes and completing legal proceedings, the U.S. complied with its obligations under international law," the statement said, adding that victims of gross human rights violations have the right to see perpetrators receive punishments proportionate to the severity of their conduct.

The UN human rights office calls on the United States to renew its commitment to fighting impunity for gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law, as well as to uphold its obligations to ensure accountability for such crimes.

US President Donald Trump caused outrage on Tuesday night by pardoning four mercenaries from the Blackwater security company who were jailed for a massacre known as Iraq’s “Bloody Sunday.”

Blackwater was a private security contractor company hired to protect US personnel in Iraq. Iraqis has reacted with outrage to Donald Trump’s move to pardon four security guards.

GENEVA, 24 December, 2020, (TON): The UN Human Rights Office has warned of "escalating violence" in the Central African Republic (CAR) ahead of general elections in the country.

With a week to go until elections in the war-torn country are scheduled to take place in the Central African Republic (CAR) on December 27, the UN is concerned about an escalation of armed attacks.

In a statement late on Wednesday, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said ongoing armed violence presented serious risks to the safety of civilians and their right to vote.

"We are deeply alarmed by reports of escalating violence stoked by political grievances and hate speech, resulting in the forced displacement of civilians, including to neighboring countries," said the office.

"There have been numerous reports in recent days of attacks against security forces, political candidates and election officials. Reportedly, clashes between armed groups and security forces have taken place across a wide area, including neighbourhoods close to the capital, Bangui," it added.

Earlier this week, Russia said it has sent 300 military instructors to the CAR upon its request. Rwanda has also deployed force protection troops to the CAR under an existing bilateral agreement on defense.

Mr. Guterres called for an urgent end to all hostile actions, and for Central Africans to work together, to ensure favourable conditions for the holding of credible, inclusive and peaceful elections on 27 December, and to "refrain from disinformation, hate speech and incitement to violence".

Voters in the CAR will cast their ballots on 30 December in presidential and parliamentary elections aimed at re-establishing an elected administration after three years of turmoil.

A transitional government was formed in January 2014 and elections have been postponed four times since February 2015 because of insecurity and logistical challenges, in spite of the presence of international peacekeepers. CAR has witnessed continuous fighting of varying intensity for decades and has been in a protracted crisis since 2013.

RAMALLAH, 24 December, 2020, (TON): Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said that resolving the conflict with Israel must be within an international framework and based on international law.

Ishtaye made the remarks on Wednesday who met in Ramallah with the outgoing United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov. The Prime Minister said that resolving the conflict with Israel should be within the Quartet on the Middle East.

The Quartet was was established in Madrid 2002 to facilitate the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians which comprises the US, the UN, Russia, and the EU.

"The United Nations is the international body that ensures the implementation of the international law and the international resolutions related to the conflict with Israel," Ishtaye said.

He told Mladenov that "we are living together with the world in difficult circumstances, which we must unite to face."

Ishtaye thanked the coordinator for the efforts he has made over the past few years to achieve justice and peace in Palestine and for helping the Palestinian people end their suffering from the Israeli occupation's practices.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the world’s longest-running and most controversial conflicts. Israeli Occupation seems to be a system of military rule under which Palestinians are denied civil, political and economic rights and subjected to systematic discrimination and denial of basic freedom and dignity over their own territory.

MOSCOW, 24 December 2020, (TON): Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow is planning to respond to the recently imposed US sanctions, which he saw as a strategic move of Washington to weaken competition.

The response from Moscow will not only be symmetrical, but will also take steps considering every aspect of Russian-US relations, Lavrov said.

"The United States has long been pursuing a hostile policy towards our country," he said, calling Washington a "completely unreliable" business partner.

The United States aimed to constrain its competitors on international markets with unfair practices, which grossly violated the norms of the World Trade Organization, Lavrov said.

He said that the sanctions were a "blatant disregard for international law," proving that the United States plans to continue to promote and impose its own rules on others.

Earlier, on Monday Washington published a list of Chinese and Russian companies with alleged military ties that restrict them from buying a wide range of US goods and technology.

The US has frequently used sanctions against the Russian state, Russian individuals, and Russian companies since the Boris Yeltsin era, many of them in connection with Russian activities. Sanctions have been a central element of U.S. Russia policy following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the undeclared war in eastern Ukraine. The impact of sanctions on Russia seems partial.

ADDIS ABABA, 24 December, 2020, (TON): Gunmen killed more than 100 people in a dawn attack in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia on Wednesday, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said, as residents described fleeing the latest deadly assault in an area bedevilled by ethnic violence.

Wednesday's attack in the Benishangul-Gumuz region came a day after a visit by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

In a statement, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said the attack took place in the village of Bekoji, which lies in an area home to multiple ethnic groups.

"More than 100 people have been killed in fires and shooting perpetrated by armed men" during the pre-dawn attack, the commission said.

Beyene Melese, a spokesperson for the state government, blamed what he called "anti-peace elements" for the attack.

Africa’s second-most populous nation has been grappling with regular outbreaks of deadly violence since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was appointed in 2018 and accelerated democratic reforms that loosened the state’s iron grip on regional rivalries.

Elections due next year have further inflamed simmering tensions over land, power and resources.

The violence in the area is not thought to be related to a ground and air offensive launched by the government in the northern Tigray region last month.

Hundreds, or even thousands, of people are thought to have been killed in that conflict, while about 50,000 have fled to neighbouring Sudan.

BAGHDAD, 24 December, 2020, (TON): The Iraqi government has urged the US to reconsider its decision of granting pardons to four former contractors of private security company Blackwater who were convicted over the 2007 killing of 14 civilians in Baghdad.

US President Donald Trump caused outrage on Tuesday night by pardoning four mercenaries from the Blackwater security company who were jailed for a massacre known as Iraq’s “Bloody Sunday.”

In an official statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was following up on US President Donald Trump's decision to pardon the contractors who carried out the massacre September 16, 2007, in Baghdad's al-Nisour Square, which caused international denouncement.

"The Ministry believes that this decision did not take into account the seriousness of the crime committed, and unfortunately ignores the dignity of the victims as well as the feelings and rights of their families," the statement said.

Blackwater was a private security contractor company hired to protect US personnel in Iraq.

The four guards Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard and Nicholas Slatten were part of an armoured convoy that opened fire indiscriminately with machine-guns, grenade launchers and a sniper on a crowd of unarmed people in a square in the Iraqi capital.

The Nisour Square massacre was one of the lowest episodes of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.

It was accused by the Iraqi government of using excessive force in Baghdad.

An initial prosecution was thrown out by a federal judge – sparking outrage in Iraq – but the then vice-president, Joe Biden, promised to pursue a fresh prosecution, which succeeded in 2015.

According to the US Justice Department, at about noon that day several of the contractors opened fire in and around Nisoor Square, a busy roundabout that was immediately adjacent to the heavily-fortified Green Zone.

When they stopped shooting, at least 14 Iraqi civilians were dead - 10 men, two women and two boys, aged nine and 11.

Latten was found guilty of committing first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2019. Following a retrial, Slough, Liberty and Heard subsequently had their sentences reduced to 15, 14 and 12 years, respectively.

Iraqis have reacted with outrage to Donald Trump’s move to pardon four security guards from the security firm Blackwater who were jailed for a 2007 massacre that sparked an outcry over the use of mercenaries in war.