UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a plea for "maximum restraint following" Iran's attacks against Israel. A UN Security Council emergency meeting convened at 4 p.m. local time (2000 GMT/UTC) in New York, after Israel's ambassador to the UN appealed for a rapid condemnation of Iran's attack overnight.  "The Middle East is on the brink. The people of the region are confronting a real danger of a devastating full-scale conflict. Now is the time to defuse and de-escalate," Gutteres said while opening the session.  "Neither the region nor the world can afford more war," Guterres said. He also warned all UN members that any retaliation with force would be illegal under international law. Sunday's Security Council meeting was not considering any draft resolution or motion, it was a first call to discuss the situation, starting roughly 24 hours after Iran's attack was launched. It adjourned once all named speakers had contributed.   Ambassadors from various other UN members — including Russia, China, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Syria, the UK, France, Algeria and more — all contributed to the meeting in New York late on Sunday.  This concludes our weekend updates on Iran's aerial attack against Israel.  Iranian ambassador claims Tehran had 'no choice' Iran's ambassador repeated Tehran's claim that it was responding in "self-defense" after the April 1 explosion at its Damascus consulate in Syria, for which Iran blamed Israel.  "The Security Council... failed in its duty to maintain international peace and security," after that explosion, Amir Saeid Iravani said during Sunday's session.  Therefore, he said the Islamic Republic "had no choice" but to react, and described the reaction as "necessary and proportionate."  He claimed his country did not "seek escalation or war," but also warned it would respond to any "threat or aggression."  "If the US initiates military operations against Iran, its citizens, or its security and interests, Iran will use its inherent right to respond proportionately," he said. Iran must 'pay a heavy price,' Israeli ambassador tells Security Council Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, accused Iran of violating international law with the attack. Erdan called on the 15-member council to condemn Iran, reimpose sanctions and designate Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terror organization. "The snooze button is no longer an option. The only option is to condemn Iran and utilize every means necessary to make them pay a heavy price for their horrible  crimes," Erdan told the council. Erdan also played a video on a tablet that he said showed Israel's interception of Iranian drones above Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, one of Islam's holiest sites. "Here, you can look at it," he gestured with the tablet and told the Iranian ambassador to cast his eyes over the footage. White House says US would not join attack on Iran The White House has ruled out any participation by the US in a possible Israeli retaliation against Iran. "We're not looking for a wider war with Iran," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on NBC's "Meet the Press," adding that the United States does not "want to see this escalate." According to a White House official, US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "think carefully" about his response. Kirby said Netanyahu was "well aware" of Biden's position following a call between the two leaders soon after Iran launched the attack. US forces said they shot down some 70 drones and between four and six ballistic missiles during Iran's overnight attack.      

Russia says thousands of homes have been flooded because of rising river levels in the Urals and surrounding regions. Russia on Monday said more than 10,000 homes had been flooded in the Ural and Volga regions, as well as Western Siberia. Officials said thousands of people have been evacuated, particularly in the Orenburg region near Kazakhstan, after swiftly melting snow caused the Ural River to swell. How serious is the flooding? Moscow declared a federal emergency on Sunday because of flooding in the region, where the overflow of the Ural River left much of Orsk under water.  The Ural River, which has its source in the Ural Mountains and flows into the Caspian Sea, surged by several meters in just an hour. The rising water levels broke through a dam embankment in Orsk, 1,800 km (1,100 miles) east of Moscow. In images published by the Emergencies Ministry, people could be seen wading through neck-high waters.  Russian President Vladimir Putin is being briefed on the regions affected by "nature anomalies" in real-time, the Kremlin said. It added that Putin had ordered Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov to fly to the region. Officials have also warned of "inevitable" floods in the Kurgan and Tyumen regions of western Siberia.     

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said Manila will never abandon its claims in the South China Sea amid heightened tensions with China in the disputed waterway, according to a strongly-worded statement. “As I have said before, and I will say again, the Philippines will not give up a single square inch of our territory to any foreign power,” he told a forum in Honolulu on Sunday, according to his press office, without explicitly naming Beijing. “Supported by the rules-based international order and our growing partnerships, both time-tested and new ones, we will insist on the preservation of the sovereignty and integrity of the country while working closely with international partners.” Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. The Philippine leader’s comments came a day after he met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the Apec summit, where he said disputes over the South China Sea should not define bilateral ties – but he stressed that “problems remain”. In San Francisco, Marcos also held talks with United States Vice-President Kamala Harris where they discussed “some of the ways forward” on the South China Sea situation. A White House statement said they reaffirmed the US-Philippines alliance, discussed efforts to deepen security ties and repeated their pledge to uphold international rules and norms. Manila has appeared to draw closer to Washington and its allies in recent months on the back of clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels in the South China Sea. Other Southeast Asian countries have not been as apparent as Manila in forging warmer ties with Washington but analysts said the region appeared to be piling growing pressure on China – especially when it involves disputes in the resource-rich waterway that Beijing claims in almost its entirety. China, they suggested, had to build deeper trust with the region and soften its aggressive campaign in the sea or risk its influence dwindling and countries gravitating towards the West. According to Carl Thayer, professor emeritus of politics at the University of New South Wales in Australia, the Philippines under the Marcos administration has sought stronger military ties with the US and its allies. That move, he warned, could potentially bring more confrontations with China in the South China Sea. The Philippines is one of several Southeast Asian countries that claims part of the sea. This month, Associated Press reported that at least 38 Chinese ships chased and encircled Philippine vessels near the Second Thomas Shoal in the contested Spratly Islands, or Nansha as they are known in China, the latest in a string of confrontations between the two countries. The Philippine coastguard condemned China’s “unprovoked acts of coercion and dangerous manoeuvres”, labelling them “illegal and irresponsible”. Thayer said Marcos had “moved to reassert Philippine sovereignty” over its waters since taking office, including stepping up patrols and carrying out supply missions while revitalising defence ties with the US and its allies. Manila granted American troops access to four new bases, and held an 11-day joint military exercise with the US, Japan, South Korea and Britain until November 20. In August, the Philippines agreed to conduct joint patrols with Australia in the South China Sea and most recently, Manila signed an agreement with Japan to firm up security cooperation. “The die has already been cast in relations between China and the Philippines,” Thayer said, adding that Beijing showed no signs of backing down as it pinned the blame on Washington and Manila. Don McLain Gill, a lecturer at De La Salle University in Manila, said Manila’s desire to safeguard its sovereign rights “did not sit well for Beijing’s narrowly driven regional ambitions”. While China was not seeking to escalate the situation into a full-blown war, it was trying to provoke and put pressure on the Philippines to possibly “constrain Manila’s political will” to pursue its interests, he said. Prashanth Parameswaran, a fellow with the Wilson Centre’s Asia programme, said China “cannot keep shooting itself in the foot and then blame Manila or Washington for pulling the trigger”. “One would hope that China reflects on how its own actions have once again pushed a Philippine government to move closer to the US and intensified the risk of a conflict erupting in the South China Sea,” he said. “If China is not careful, it will walk into the trap of self-containment by driving more countries like the Philippines away from Beijing and towards Washington, thereby exacerbating US-China competition and increasing the risk of potential conflict.” Most Southeast Asian countries count China as a key trading partner and said they would not take sides in the heightened US-China rivalry but there have been signs some governments are increasingly vocal about their concerns. In August, when China released a new “standard map” with unilateral claims to most of the South China Sea, it prompted a strong reaction from the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei. Manila aside, Thayer pointed out that Vietnam had earlier this year expressed displeasure over China’s maritime presence in its exclusive economic zone while it upgraded ties with the US to a comprehensive strategic partnership. Indonesia, which has had disagreements with China over the exclusive economic zone off the Natuna Islands near the South China Sea, has ramped up military cooperation with the US. “China is definitely facing pressure on three bilateral fronts in Southeast Asia,” Thayer said. He said Southeast Asian countries would be divided over Manila’s strengthened defence ties with the US, with some concerned about the risk of heightened regional tensions if the situation between China and the Philippines worsened. In particular, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore were likely to welcome an enhanced American presence while Malaysia would be less sanguine. Sarah Teo, an assistant professor at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said recent engagement between the Philippines and the US was not likely to cause a shift in the behaviour of other Southeast Asian countries. Rather, she said, any change would be driven by factors including the approaches of China and the US towards the region and domestic sentiments, as well as the state of bilateral ties between individual countries and their external partners. But if China sought closer relations with the region, it must “consider how to better manage its disputes and disagreements” with other countries, she said. Similarly, Gill from De La Salle University said that even as the region understood the threat posed by an assertive China, domestic perceptions within countries varied, resulting in different state responses. He expected Southeast Asian countries to hedge, saying it was unlikely states would address China the same way Manila did. As countries put pressure on China, Thayer said Beijing had attempted to deflect concerns by focusing on a proposed code of conduct in the South China Sea. China and the regional Asean bloc last month agreed to start on the third reading of the document but analysts have long doubted the process would be smooth sailing because differences – such as whether it would be legally binding – remained. Thayer suggested that China had the means to influence Southeast Asian economies including through trade and investment and funding for infrastructure projects under its Belt and Road Initiative. Gill said that given instances where China had “weaponised” its economic clout when it felt countries were “out of line”, Southeast Asian nations would opt for alternative security and development options if the opportunity arose. US to export nuclear technology to Philippines in major deal Parameswaran, the Wilson Centre fellow who is also founder of a newsletter on regional developments called Asean Wonk, said China must stop its “coercive actions” against Southeast Asian states and “find a way to respect their interests in the South China Sea”. If not, Beijing’s successes in other areas, including the economic domain, could be limited. “If China doesn’t address the gap between its words and actions in the South China Sea, its coercive actions will continue to undermine trust in diplomatic initiatives, limit inroads in its ties with Southeast Asian countries and intensify the risk of conflict,” he said. “The South China Sea is a test of what kind of power China is in Southeast Asia, and Beijing will pass that test if it accommodates the interests of smaller countries while advancing its own interests rather than coercing them using its bigger military might.” source: South China Morning Post

Greek authorities said on Tuesday that 18 burned bodies were found in a remote area in northeastern Greece, where wildfires have been raging for days.  Fire department spokesman Yiannis Artopios said in a televised address that they were found near the national park of Dadia. The region bordering Turkey is a frequent entry point for migrants, Greek media reported. What do we know about the fatalities? Greek police activated the country's Disaster Victim Identification Team, in an effort to identify the discovered bodies. They were found near a shack in the Avanta area, Artopios said. Since no reports of missing people had been filed in the area, authorities were investigating the possibility that they were "people who entered our country illegally," possibly from the nearby Turkish border, Artopios said. The discovery pushed the death toll from the latest wildfires to 20. On Monday, another suspected migrant was also found dead, as well as an elderly shepherd who is believed to have suffocated while attempting to save his livestock north of Athens. Fires continued to spread on Tuesday, detected in northeastern Greece as well as the islands of Evia and Kythnos and the region of Viotia. Wildfires scorch Greece Wildfires near Alexandroupolis, close to the Turkish border, have been raging for days. On Tuesday, eight villages and the city's hospital were evacuated after flames raced through the forest toward the northeastern port city overnight. Around 65 of over 100 patients had to be ferried to the port town of Kavala, where they were transferred to another hospital. Others were moved to hospitals in northern Greece. "I've been working for 27 years, I've never seen anything like this," nurse Nikos Gioktsidis at the University Hospital of Alexandroupolis told the Reuters news agency. "Stretchers everywhere, patients here, IV drips there ... it was like a war, like a bomb had exploded." Emergency services also urged residents of various communities around Alexandroupolis to evacuate, issuing a warning which read: "Forest fires in your area." Two villages near the city also witnessed damage to a school, several homes and a cemetery. Fires also continued to rage in the area around the capital, with a new fire breaking out westwards in the Aspropyrgos area. Authorities issued evacuation orders for two villages in the area. Greece suffers destructive wildfires every summer, but officials say they have been exacerbated by climate change, with many other countries in the region also suffering from more fires blamed on warming temperatures.

The Taliban has promised to keep terrorists out of Afghanistan, but the United States has stated that it still has the ability to carry out its own operations against terrorism in the Pak-Afghan region, Dawn reported. Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the US State Department, made these remarks in response to a query regarding recent terrorist assaults carried out within Pakistan from terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan. Nine soldiers were killed last week when terrorists assaulted a military facility in Zhob, Balochistan. The military’s media branch, ISPR, released a statement shortly after the incident, expressing “serious concerns” about the existence of terrorist “safe havens” in Afghanistan and urging Kabul not to allow terrorists to utilise their territory for carrying out strikes inside Pakistan, according to Dawn. Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper that was launched in 1941. The message also served as a reminder to the caretaker Afghan government of their obligations under the Doha Agreement. The US military finally left Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, in compliance with the agreement that the US and Afghan Taliban signed in Doha, Qatar, in February 2020. Asked if the US expects the Taliban rulers to abide by the commitments they made in Doha, Mille said, “I will say that we will hold them to their commitments. But as we have said before, we retain the ability to conduct our own operations in the region to ensure that, regardless of any promises that the Taliban make and regardless of their relative ability or willingness to uphold them.” He added that the United States retains the right to protect American interests. Asked how confident he was that the Taliban would keep their promises, Miller said, “I don’t want to express any amount of confidence or lack of confidence”, reported Dawn. To a question about the Pakistani government’s plan to hold elections in early October, the US official said, “I will make clear that we support the peaceful upholding of fundamental democratic principles such as free media, free speech, freedom of assembly.” The United States, he said, champions the rule of law, not just in Pakistan but around the world. “These principles are the foundations for democratic elections. I have spoken to this both with respect to Pakistan specifically and of course, as it relates to other countries on numerous occasions,” Miller added. Responding to another question about an attack on a 150-year-old temple in Karachi, he said, “We support the free exercise of religion anywhere in the world and oppose any attempts or uses of violence to suppress that right of people to exercise their freedom of religion”, Dawn reported.

The Meteorological Department has predicted storms with a maximum speed of 80 km per hour in six regions of the country. Warning signal number 2 has been issued for the river ports in these areas.  On Sunday, June 18, this information was reported in the weather forecast for the country's river ports until 1:00 p.m. Bangladesh Meteorological Department meteorologist Md. Monowar Hossain said, "There may be temporary rain or thunder with gusty winds at a speed of 60 to 80 km per hour from west or north-west over Rajshahi, Pabna, Dinajpur, Tangail, Mymensingh and Sylhet regions may occur. The river ports in these areas have been asked to show warning signal number 2. Apart from this, there may be temporary rain or thundershower with gusty or wind speed of 45 to 60 km per hour from south or south-east over other parts of the country. The river ports in these areas have been asked to show warning signal number 1. On Sunday, June 18 till 6 pm in the forecast of the Department of Meteorology, Light to moderate rain with gusty winds or thundershowers may occur at many places in Chattogram, Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions, Rangpur, Dhaka and Rajshahi divisions and at a couple of places in Khulna and Barishal divisions. Along with this, there may be heavy rainfall at some places in Mymensingh and Sylhet divisions. According to the Meteorological Department's forecast, mild to moderate heat wave is prevailing over Rajshahi division including Tangail, Jessore, Kushtia and Chuadanga districts and it may subside at some places.  Day temperatures may drop slightly across the country. The weather may change slightly in the next two days. The highest temperature in the country on Saturday was 39.3 degrees Celsius in Rajshahi and the lowest temperature was 22 degrees Celsius in Srimangal.  The highest 129 mm rainfall was recorded in Sylhet on this day.

India’s petroleum product exports to EU countries rose 20.4 per cent year-on-year in April-January to 11.6 million tonnes, with the region climbing two spots from the corresponding period of the previous fiscal to top the table of 20 regions importing refined products from India. As the European Union (EU) weans itself off refined petroleum products from Russia, Indian refiners, particularly private sector companies, are rushing in to fill the gap, making the region the top destination for India’s refined product exports, government data shows. This comes as Indian refiners snap up discounted Russian crude oil shunned by the EU and other Western powers, with analysts pointing to a clear possibility of products refined from Russian barrels reaching the EU’s markets via India. In the run-up to the EU’s ban on Russian petroleum products from February 5 — owing to the Ukraine invasion — India saw its refined product exports to the region rise for five straight months, data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) shows. The exports touched 1.90 million tonnes in January, the highest monthly volume in the first 10 months of the current fiscal. In April-January, the EU accounted for close to 15 per cent of India’s total petroleum product exports of 79 million tonnes, against 12 per cent in the year-ago period when overall refined product exports were marginally higher at 79.9 million tonnes. In the four months leading to the EU’s ban on Russian refined products, the region’s share in India’s petroleum product exports rose from 16 per cent to almost 22 per cent. Commodity-wise export data is released with a lag and the DGCIS is likely to publish the February data only in April. India’s petroleum product exports to EU countries rose 20.4 per cent year-on-year in April-January to 11.6 million tonnes, with the region climbing two spots from the corresponding period of the previous fiscal to top the table of 20 regions importing refined products from India. In case of petroleum product exports, DGCIS classifies the data by 20 international regions. Europe is made up of three regions — EU, European Free Trade Association, and other European countries. Similarly, Asia is divided into six trade regions while five regions constitute Africa. If petroleum product exports to the other two European regions listed in the DGCIS data are added to exports to the EU, supplies from India to Europe total 14.5 million tonnes for April-January, up almost 19 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Industry watchers see the EU’s ban on Russian petroleum products as an opportunity for Indian refiners — particularly export-oriented private sector companies like Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy — to increase purchases of discounted Russian crude. Serena Huang, head of APAC Analysis at energy cargo tracker Vortexa, said that India’s private sector refiners could “edify themselves as key diesel suppliers to Europe”, incentivising them “to slurp up Russian crude, as long as it remains attractively priced”. As per Vortexa data, India imported a record 1.62 million barrels per day of Russian oil in February, up 29 per cent from January’s 1.26 million barrels a day, which was also a record. Russia, which used to be a marginal supplier of oil to India before the war in Ukraine, retained its newfound position as India’s biggest source of crude in January as well. In fact, data from analytics platform Vortexa shows that India’s oil imports from Russia in February were more than the cumulative volumes supplied by heavyweights Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the second and third-largest sources of crude for India. While India — the world’s third-largest consumer of crude oil — depends on imports to meet over 85 per cent of its oil requirement, the country is a net exporter of petroleum products thanks to its refining capacity of 250 million tonnes per annum, which is higher than its domestic demand. As a large refining hub that has ramped up purchases of discounted Russian oil, India now finds itself playing an increasingly prominent role in the global crude oil and refined products supply map. According to a few international media reports, while the West was irked at India’s rising purchases of Russian oil in the aftermath of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, major Western powers like the US are comfortable with the rising supply of Indian refined products to Europe. This is mainly because, in their view, refiners in countries such as India are ensuring that the global oil and refined products market remains balanced and adequately supplied despite Russian oil and products being shunned by numerous countries. In fact, a number of experts see higher purchases of Russian oil and rising exports of petroleum products from countries like India as critical for the success of the price caps on Russian oil and refined products — imposed by G7 countries and their allies — without causing a global supply shock. Source: The indian Express

Southeastern Turkey experienced another serious earthquake on Monday amid continuing clear-up efforts from this month's major tremor. The 5.6 magnitude event toppled several buildings and killed at least one person. Southeastern Turkey was hit by yet another deadly earthquake on Monday, with rescue operations still ongoing to rescue people trapped under buildings. It's the fourth major earthquake to hit the region in three weeks, coming after the February 6 earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria. What happened in the latest quake? Monday's event measured a magnitude of 5.6 according to Turkish authorities, who said the quake took place in the Malatya province. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) put the magnitude at 5.2, and said it occurred at a depth of 6.15 kilometers (3.8 miles). One person has been reported dead and 69 injured, with authorities saying 29 buildings collapsed as a result of Monday's tremor. Malatya province was badly hit in the February 6 catastrophe — losing about 2,300 residents according to Mayor Selahattin Gurkan. On Monday, Yunus Sezer, who runs Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), said rescue teams had been deployed to five buildings in Malatya. AFAD's general director of earthquake and risk reduction, Orhan Tatar, said the region had suffered what AFAD considers four independent earthquakes in the past three weeks, as well as more than 45 aftershocks measuring between 5.0 and 6.0. He called this "very extraordinary activity." AFAD tweeted that Monday's quake had destroyed buildings, and that search and rescue teams had been dispatched to the area. Quake hits region already devastated On February 6, Turkey and neighboring Syria were rocked by 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude quakes that killed more than 50,000 people. Rescue and recovery efforts have been ongoing due to the massive scale of devastation. The death toll has risen every day since as rescue teams continue to recover bodies trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. More than 20 million people have been affected by the geological catastrophe in Turkey and another 8.8 million in Syria. The United Nations said the February 6 quake was the deadliest in Turkish history. Shoddy buildings pose political risk for Erdogan More than 160,000 buildings collapsed or were severely damaged in the February 6 quake. The AFAD has repeatedly warned people to stay away from damaged buildings in earthquake zones. To date, Turkish authorities have arrested 184 individuals for possible complicity in the collapse of numerous buildings in the region. On Saturday, authorities announced they would continue to expand their investigation. The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been quick to blame developers for the massive damage. These are accused of having used substandard materials and workmanship while raking in profits during Turkey's building boom — one of the main drivers of its ailing economy. Erdogan is facing perhaps his largest political challenge yet. He was elected as prime minister in 2003 in the wake of another massive quake that killed over 18,000 people in 1999. Erdogan served as prime minister until 2014, when he ran for president and was elected to the post he still currently holds. The country is now assessing how it can go ahead with elections scheduled for June. Prior to recent elections, Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) made a point of granting amnesty to builders whose structures did not meet Turkish building standards. Erdogan, who has run the country for two decades, has promised to rebuild some 270,000 homes in the region within one year's time. Turkey's High Election Board was set to dispatch a delegation to the quake-hit region Monday in an effort to determine whether the tally could go ahead.

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar represented India at the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting on Tuesday and underlined the need for better connectivity to unlock the economic potential. The 21st Meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) was held on in a virtual format. The SCO CHG meeting focused on the trade and economic agenda of the Organization. "Represented India at the meeting of SCO Council of Heads of Government which has just concluded. Underlined that we need better connectivity in the SCO region built on centrality of interests of Central Asian states," Jaishankar tweeted. The external affairs minister said Chabahar port and the International North-South Transport Corridor could help improve connectivity and fulfilment of economic potential in the region. "Will unlock the economic potential of this region in which Chabahar port and the International North-South Transport Corridor could become enablers. Connectivity projects should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and respect international law," he added. Jaishankar spoke of Mission LiFE launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which envisions replacing the prevelant 'use and dispose' economy, by a circular economy. He highlighted that in 2023, the UN International Year of Millets, India intends to foster greater cooperation with the SCO Member States on countering the food crisis. "Our total trade with SCO Members is only USD 141 billion, which has potential to increase manifold. Fair market access is to our mutual benefit and the only way to move forward," the minister said in another tweet. Jaishankar appreciated the condolences expressed at the loss of lives in the Morbi tragedy. "Look forward to India's ongoing chairship of the SCO," he added. India remains actively engaged in various SCO activities and dialogue mechanisms in the region as well as other multilateral cooperation within the SCO framework. The leaders of the SCO member states met last month for the summit meeting at Samarkand in Uzbekistan on September 16. The meeting, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated, adopted Samarkand Declaration. The member states also called for the improvement of the SCO activities, and the development of efficient transport corridors for interconnectivity. Source: ANI

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Thursday) reiterated that her government is working to ensure people’s overall development, saying southern region of the country wouldn’t remain neglected anymore as the much-awaited Padma Bridge is set to open on June 25. “The people of the southern region or on the Padma River bank were always neglected. Poverty is part of our lives. By the grace of Allah, that situation will not exist anymore as we completed the Padma Bridge facing huge challenge,” she said.  She made the remarks while inaugurating the Palli Janopad, Rangpur and the Bangabandhu Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development Academy (BAPARD), Kotalipara, Gopalganj schemes. The Ministry for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives organised the function at Palli Janopad, Rangpur and BAPARD, Kotalipara in Gopalganj as the premier joined it virtually from her official Ganabhaban residence in the capital. Sheikh Hasina said, “The people of the southern region will not be neglected further as an area is being developed with a better communication system.” She mentioned that the Padma Bridge would contribute to boosting the national economy particularly the southern belt and said she wanted an improved life for the people of the southern region. The Prime Minister said, “We are working for the overall development of the people of Bangladesh. We have got recognition of a developing nation and have to go further. Not a single person in the country will remain homeless and hungry.” She however requested all not to engage in any unhealthy car race competition on the Padma Bridge upon its inauguration. Sheikh Hasina, the architect of the Padma Bridge, said she wanted to make a grand celebration in every district of the country instead of on the bank of the Padma River marking the opening of the Padma Bridge. “I want the celebration of the opening of Padma Bridge to take place in every district because the construction of the bridge was a huge challenge for us,” she stated.    Three Palli Janopad schemes are being materialised in Rangpur, Rajshahi and Dhaka divisions at a cost of Taka 247 crore. Of those, work on the Palli Janopad Rangpur project had already been completed. A total of 272 beneficiaries have got flats having all the modern facilities under the Palli Janopad, Rangpur scheme at lower price on the basis of cooperative society by paying 30 percent of the total cost while the rest of the amount will be given in next 15 years.      Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Md. Tazul Islam spoke as the special guest while its State Minister Swapan  Bhattacharjee chaired the function. Secretary of Rural Development and Cooperative Division Md. Mashiur Rahman gave the address of welcome. The Prime Minister reiterated that the people of the southern region will have no more problem due to Padma Bridge as they will be able to lead a more improved life for the development of their socio-economic condition. She said the World Bank had stopped funding to the Padma Bridge construction bringing corruption allegations and filed cases with Canadian court due to instigation of the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus and his friend Hilary Clinton. The Canadian court later passed an order describing the allegations as false, baseless and fabricated. The Prime Minister said Yunus who got most benefit from the Awami League government had betrayed with the country for the lust of a post of managing director of the Grameen Bank flouting the country’s existing laws. She added that Yunus remained as the MD of the bank till his 70 years of old although law has a provision as of 60 years. She said she had given the Grameen Bank Tk 400 crore in three phases to revive it from ruining in 1997-98 despite the country was facing difficulties due to various adversities that included the 1998 flood.   Mentioning that there are 52 or 53 banks in the country and all of the banks have managing directors (MDs), she questioned: “How many MDs of these banks have given lakhs dollars as donation and made frequent visits to foreign countries like Yunus.” The Prime Minister thanked the countrymen for spontaneous support when she announced to build the Padma Bridge with own finances, saying many had thought that the construction of the bridge would not be possible on the one of the world’s mightiest rivers having second strongest current in the globe.   But, the construction of the Padma Bridge was completed and is set to open on June 25, she stated.        After inaugurating BAPARD, Kotalipara in Gopalganj, one of the southern districts, she said the Padma Bridge would help the organisation gear up its activities relating to poverty alleviation, research and employment generation. The Prime Minister said the Palli Janopad scheme alongside the BAPARD which had been formed based upon the cooperatives, were the brainchild of her which ideas she had got from the “Mandatory Village Cooperative” policy of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Bangabandhu had a plan to provide the people a developed and improved life by generating employment alongside arranging their accommodation under the village cooperative idea, she said.    Sheikh Hasina said she had the draft of the mandatory village cooperative, adding that Bangabandhu thought to bring all the country’s arable lands under cultivation through cooperative, maintaining the ownership of the lands after the name of the real owners.      In accordance with the draft, she said that the lands will be cultivated under the cooperative and the produced food grains will be divided into three portions---one will get the land owner, one for labourer and one for the government or the cooperative. Bangabandhu wanted to make the agriculture mechanised under the cooperative as he used to say that the Ail (boundary) of arable land had increased due to division of the families, she said. Bangabandhu also used to say that if the Ail of the land could be merged, it (land area) would be larger than greater Faridpur district.  The Father of the Nation had dedicated his entire life for the welfare of the nation and the countrymen as he dreamt of giving the people a beautiful and improved life turning Bangladesh into a poverty and hunger free country, Sheikh Hasina said. Keeping that in mind, Bangabandhu had taken a programme which he declared as the second revolution whose main target was economic freedom, she said. The premier said Bangabandhu turned all the mahakumas into districts and appointed district governors to oversee the development activities while the central government will give them all required support and thus power will be decentralised to grassroots people. “A huge change might have been made through it and Bangladesh might have been a developed country within 10 years of its independence,” she said.   But, he couldn’t do so, as Bangabandhu along with most of his family members were killed on August 15, 1975 through which the people of the country were deprived to change their fate, she stated. Sheikh Hasina said her government is working to change the fate of the country’s people since assuming office in 1996 after 21 years following the footsteps of Bangabandhu. The premier said her government had taken Ashrayan-1 project following the Gucchagram scheme in the char area of now Lakhshmipur district (erstwhile Noakhali district) and is now implementing Ashrayan-2 project aimed at bringing all the people under housing scheme free of cost. In line with Bangabandhu’s idea of building small and medium enterprises across the country, she said her government is setting up 100 special economic zones across the country for building industries in a planned way and to protect the arable land.  She added: “No industry will get power and gas connection if those are built indiscriminately destroying the arable land.” The Prime Minister said her government has built community clinics to reach healthcare services to the doorsteps of the people from the ideas of Bangabandhu. She said her government is working tirelessly to ensure five basic rights for the countrymen as per constitution as the Father of the Nation wanted to ensure those.  Source: BSS AH