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Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Ambassador Masud bin Momen urged SAARC Secretary General Esala Weerakoon to revitalize SAARC by holding consultations with the member states.

During a meeting held at the State Guest House Padma on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary appreciated the Secretary General's active role in coordinating, facilitating, managing SAARC matters especially during the difficult time of COVID 19 pandemic, read a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangladesh.

The Secretary General apprised the Foreign Secretary about various aspects of current status of SAARC Cooperation and challenges the organization has been facing and sought Bangladesh's support in activating various stalled activities and programmes of SAARC to resolve the stalemate.

On the occasion, the Foreign Secretary and the Secretary General exchanged views on how best SAARC process could be revitalized and put to its regular path to exploit the full potentials and benefits of the institutional mechanism and the synergy the organization created over the last 37 years of its existence, the statement read.

The duo discussed different aspects of current activities of SAARC. 

The Foreign Secretary assured the Secretary General of Bangladesh's commitment to SAARC and to extend every possible support to materialize the goals of SAARC to achieve a sustainable and integrated development in the region through cooperation under the SAARC system. The Foreign Secretary urged the Secretary General to play an objective role in transforming SAARC into a meaningful regional organization. The Foreign Secretary advised the Secretary General to explore all possible ways and means to find solutions to the existing difficulties in an innovative way through continuous consultation of member states.

US Army’s Pacific Commanding General Charles Flynn is arriving on a four-day visit to Nepal on Thursday, a Nepal Army source said. 

Flynn is arriving in Nepal prior to Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Prabhu Ram Sharma and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s visit to the USA.

The arrival of US high ranking officials in Nepal has started rising gradually after the endorsement of the Millennium Challenge Corporation from the Parliament. 

Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights and US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Uzra Zeya also visited Nepal in the third week of May.

Earlier on Tuesday, he held talks with Indian Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Pande and discussed aspects of bilateral defence cooperation.

Growing food shortages may represent the same health threat to the world as the Covid-19 pandemic, a leading global health figure has warned, Reuters reported.

Rising food and energy prices, in part sparked by the war in Ukraine, could kill millions both directly and indirectly, Mr Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday (June 7).

"Food shortages work in two ways. One is you have the tragedy of people actually starving to death. But second is you have the fact that often much larger numbers of people are poorly nourished, and that makes them more vulnerable to existing diseases," he said.

He said efforts to improve pandemic preparedness should not make the "classic" mistake of concerning themselves only with crises that resemble the most recent threat the world has faced.

"It's not as well-defined as some brand new pathogen appearing with distinctive new symptoms. But it could well be just as deadly," he said, according to Reuters.

The World Health Organisation estimates that 15 million people may have died as a result of Covid-19.

Mr Sands said investment was needed to strengthen health systems to help prepare for the repercussions of food shortages, which is part of the Global Fund's remit.

The Geneva, Switzerland-based fund is aiming to raise US$18 billion (S$24.7 billion) to boost health systems, fight the three core diseases in its title, and reverse setbacks caused by the pandemic. It has raised just over a third of its target for 2024-26, Reuters reported.

A passenger train partially derailed in eastern Iran early Wednesday, killing at least 10 passengers and injuring 50 more, some critically, state TV said, Associated Press reported.

Four of the seven cars in the train derailed in the early morning darkness near the desert city of Tabas, the report said.

Rescue teams on ambulances and three helicopters were arriving in the remote area where communication is poor.

The derailment happened some 50 kilometers (30 miles) to Tabas, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran, on the rail that links the town to the central city of Yazd.

The report said the crash is under investigation but reports say train crashed into an excavator, according to Associated Press.

Another train crash in 2016 killed dozens and injuries of scores of people. Iran also has some 17,000 annual deaths on its highways, one of the world's worst traffic safety records. The high toll is blamed on wide disregard for traffic laws, unsafe vehicles and inadequate emergency services.

Tibetan refugees in Kathmandu elected their local leaders from Bauddha.

Jorpati is a populated locality and is located in Bagmati Zone, Central Region, while Bauddha is situated nearby to Phubari, and close to Gumba in Nepal.

Although they are living in Nepal as refugees, they have elected Babu Kalsang as their leader by holding local-level elections.

Babu Kalsang was elected as the chief of the Tibetan refugee camps in Kathmandu Metropolitan City-6, Bauddha, and Khampa camps in Jorpati.

In the election, Babu Kalsang got 577 votes and Furbu Tansi got 476 votes. In the election, 1028 votes were cast.

The Nepal government has allowed Tibetan refugees to hold internal elections for the sake of democracy and human rights, reported EPARDAFAS.

Earlier, the government of Nepal had not allowed the election. In this regard, organizations active in the field of refugees were urging the government to hold elections for the Tibetan refugees.

Tibet has been occupied and ruled over by China and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) since 1951 in “a calculated and systematic strategy aimed at the destruction of their national and cultural identities” according to the 14th Dalai Lama.

This has often been described by the Tibetan people as cultural genocide. (ANI)

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) unanimously elected Nepal as one of the Vice Presidents of the 77th UN General Assembly to represent the Asia-Pacific region.

Apple must change the connector on iPhones sold in Europe by 2024 after EU countries and lawmakers agreed on Tuesday to a single charging port for mobile phones, tablets and cameras in a world first, Reuters reported.

The political intervention, which the European Commission said would make life easier for consumers and save them money, came after companies failed to reach a common solution.

Brussels has been pushing for a single mobile charging port for more than a decade, prompted by complaints from iPhone and Android users about having to switch to different chargers for their devices.

iPhones are charged from a Lightning cable, while Android-based devices use USB-C connectors.

The company, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, had earlier warned that the proposal would hurt innovation and create a mountain of electronics waste.

Despite that, its shares were up 0.9% in morning trade in New York, according to Reuters.

The move could become a sales driver for Apple in 2024, analysts said, encouraging more Europeans to buy the latest gadgets instead of ones without USB-C.

It could persuade consumers to upgrade to a new phone sooner, said CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino.

“Existing consumers can still use the Lightning cable, but maybe there would be less purchases of older products on third-party platforms,” he said.

Apple is already working on an iPhone with a USB-C charging port that could debut next year, Bloomberg reported last month.

When Apple releases new iPhones, the older generation phones are usually discounted, leading to millions of customers opting
for the cheaper variants.

If the EU prohibits the sale of older models, it risks upsetting many consumers and the government would be forcing consumers to shell out more, said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager at research firm IDC, Reuters reported.

Half the chargers sold with mobile phones in 2018 had a USB micro-B connector while 29% had a USB-C connector and 21% a Lightning connector, a 2019 Commission study showed.

“By autumn 2024, USB Type-C will become the common charging port for all mobile phones, tablets and cameras in the EU,” the European Parliament said in a statement.

EU industry chief Thierry Breton said the deal would save about 250 million euros ($267 million) for consumers.

“It will also allow new technologies, such as wireless charging, to emerge and to mature without letting innovation become a source of market fragmentation and consumer inconvenience,” he said.

Laptops will have to comply with the legislation within 40 months of it coming into force. The EU executive will have the power in future to harmonise wireless charging systems.

That the deal also covers e-readers, earbuds and other technologies means it will also have an impact on Samsung , Huawei and other device makers, analysts said, according to Reuters.

“We are proud that laptops, e-readers, earbuds, keyboards, computer mice and portable navigation devices are also included,” said lawmaker Alex Agius Saliba, who steered the debate at the European Parliament.

Angela Merkel defended her approach to Ukraine and Russia during her 16 years as Germany’s leader, saying Tuesday that a much criticized 2015 peace deal for eastern Ukraine bought Kyiv precious time and she won’t apologize for her diplomatic efforts, Associated Press reported.

In her first substantial comments since leaving office six months ago, Merkel said there was “no excuse” for Russia’s “brutal” attack on Ukraine and it was “a big mistake on Russia’s part.”

Merkel, who dealt with Russian President Vladimir Putin throughout her chancellorship, rejected a suggestion that she and others engaged in appeasement that ultimately enabled the invasion.

“I tried to work toward calamity being averted, and diplomacy was not wrong if it doesn’t succeed,” she said in an on-stage interview at a Berlin theater that was televised live. “I don’t see that I should say now that it was wrong, and so I won’t apologize.”

“It is a matter of great sorrow that it didn’t succeed, but I don’t blame myself now for trying,” Merkel said. 

She defended the 2015 peace agreement that she and then-French President Francois Hollande brokered in Minsk, Belarus, aimed at easing fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists.

Merkel conceded that it didn’t fulfill all of Ukraine’s interests and that few people stand by it now, with some saying it was badly negotiated, according to Associated Press.

“But at the time it brought calm and, for example, it gave Ukraine a great deal of time — seven years namely — to develop into what it is today,” she said. If there had been no intervention at the time, she added, “Putin could have wrought gigantic damage in Ukraine.”

She said that sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea in 2014 “could have been stronger, as far as I’m concerned,” but added that there was no majority sentiment for doing so at the time. 

“We didn’t do nothing either,” she said, noting that Russia was thrown out of the Group of Eight and that NATO set a target for countries to work toward spending 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.

Merkel also strongly defended a decision in 2008 not to put Ukraine directly on track to join NATO, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in early April blasted as a “miscalculation.”

NATO pledged in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members. But French and German concern over Russia’s reactions dashed their hopes of being granted a “membership action plan” that would bring them into the alliance within five to 10 years.

Merkel said that “Ukraine was not the one we know today,” saying it was a country very divided and dominated by oligarchs. “It wasn’t an internally democratically stable country,” she said, Associated Press reported.

She suggested a stronger NATO green light for Ukraine in 2008 would have led to faster Russian aggression, with Ukraine less able to resist.

“I was very certain that Putin wouldn’t just let it happen,” she said. “For him, from his perspective, that was a declaration of war ... I don’t share any of this, but I knew how he thought.”

Tuning to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, which she long defended against criticism from the US, Ukraine and eastern European allies, Merkel said Putin invaded Ukraine without waiting for it to enter service. 

Current Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government halted the project in February.

His administration also decided to deliver arms to Ukraine. 

Merkel said she had opposed doing that when she was chancellor because Germany and France were trying to lead diplomacy, according to Associated Press.

“That is no longer on the agenda today — this is a different time,” she said.