DUSHANBE (Dispatches) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko believes that Western states are taking advantage of the human rights issue to exert pressure on sovereign states in order to pursue their own economic interests. “The West is exerting pressure on sovereign nations through restrictions, asymmetric actions, and hybrid influence in the name of the struggle for one’s rights. However, we are fully aware that the real reason for such measures is lobbying for their economic and other interests,” the news agency BelTA reported citing the president’s statement at the meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Dushanbe on Thursday.

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PARIS (Dispatches) -Hundreds of aid trucks have not returned from Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region, and their disappearance is “the primary impediment” to ramping up the humanitarian response, the United Nations said Friday. The disclosure from the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) comes amid rising fears of starvation deaths in Tigray, where the UN has previously estimated that 400,000 people faced famine-like conditions. Since July 12, 445 contracted non-WFP trucks have entered Tigray, but only 38 have returned, WFP spokeswoman Gemma Snowdon said in a statement.

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AMSTERDAM (Dispatches) - Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag resigned on Thursday following a vote of no confidence in parliament. A parliamentary majority decided that she had mishandled the evacuation of refugees from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control, The Associated Press reported. Following the vote, Kaag immediately tendered her resignation. “Your chamber has decided the Cabinet acted irresponsibly,” Kaag said. “I can only accept the consequences of this judgment as the minister with ultimate responsibility,’’ she added. MPs backed the censure motion against Kaag with a majority of 78 votes in favour to 72 against.

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BEIJING (Dispatches) -Three Chinese astronauts returned to earth on Friday after a 90-day visit to an unfinished space station in the country’s first crewed mission since 2016. In a small return capsule, the three men - Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo - landed safely in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia in the north of China at 1:34 p.m., state media reported. The Shenzhou-12 mission was the first of four crewed missions planned for 2021-2022 as China assembles its first permanent space station. The process requires 11 missions, including the launches of the station’s three modules.

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DUSHANBE (Dispatches) - India has told China their bilateral relations will develop only when both countries pull their troops back from a confrontation on their disputed Himalayan border, the Indian foreign minister said. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar shared India’s position when he met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of a regional conference in Dushanbe on Thursday. “Discussed disengagement in our border areas. Underlined that progress in this regard is essential for restoration of peace and tranquillity, which is the basis for development of bilateral ties,” Jaishankar posted on Twitter.