WASHINGTON, 01 January 2022, (TON): President Joe Biden warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of a tough US response to any invasion of Ukraine, while the Kremlin leader said anti-Moscow sanctions would be a “colossal mistake.”

After a 50 minute phone call their second in just over three weeks both presidents indicated support for further diplomacy on the tense standoff between Russia and Western-backed Ukraine.

Putin was “pleased” overall with the talks, foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov told reporters. A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the tone “was serious and substantive.”

But there was no disguising the depth of disagreement or the dangerously high stakes on the fringes of eastern Europe ahead of in-person negotiations between high-ranking Russian and US officials on January 10.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement “Biden made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.”

Ushakov, referring to Washington’s repeated threats of economic sanctions as a response to a Ukraine attack, said this would be “a colossal mistake. We hope this will not happen.”

KABUL, 01 January 2022, (TON): A statement from Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS) said “Afghanistan and Uzbekistan have signed electricity contract for 2022.”

The statement said “electricity import contract for 2022 signed between DABS Executive Director Hafiz Mohammad Amin and Uzbekistan National Grid Company Head Dadajon Isakulov after three days of negotiation.”

On the bases of agreement two billion kilowatt electricity will be supplied to Afghanistan from Uzbekistan against $100 million.

KABUL, 01 January 2022, (TON): Russian special envoy for Afghanistan said in an interview “the Islamic Emirate government is being recognized in practice, if not formally.”

Referring to the Islamic Emirate officials’ visits to regional countries and their participation in various summits, Zamir Kabulov said that the recognition process is continuing step by step.

“I believe political recognition will be more like a symbolic act. As you see, the recognition is happening in practice. A delegation of the Taliban attended a summit within the Moscow structure here with us and they had the opportunity to talk face-to-face with the (envoys) of ten countries,” Kabulov told the Russian news outlet when asked whether Russia will recognize the “Taliban.”

RIYADH, 01 January 2022, (TON): Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, India’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, highlighted some of the most important partnerships between the two countries in fields such as medicine, trade, defense, tourism and education, along with the high level of mutual trust that exists.

Sayeed told media "there is a need for international collaboration. There is a commitment by India, globally, to supply vaccines for those countries who don’t have the facilities to manufacture them.”

He also discussed ways in which Saudi Arabia and India have worked together during the pandemic, giving as an example the fact that India is now sending vaccines to the Saudi market, but that when India was having a difficult time during the second wave of the pandemic, the Kingdom sent vaccine supplies to India.

He added “Indian pharmaceutical companies setting up facilities in the Kingdom is in line with the localization aims of Saudi Vision 2030, and will create many job opportunities.”

Turning his attention to trade and commerce, Sayeed said that India remained Saudi Arabia’s second-largest trading partner, after China, during the first nine months of 2021.

KIEV, 01 January 2022, (TON): The Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov signed an order approving the training plan for military personnel, which provides for advanced training in educational institutions of 13 foreign countries.

This was announced on Friday by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Said in a message on the website of the department “the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov signed an order by which he approved a plan for staffing international training programs for military personnel and workers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in military educational institutions of foreign states in 2022. The document stipulates that 167 servicemen will be sent for training next year and workers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 13 countries.”

RIYADH, 01 January 2022, (TON): Yemeni military officials said “an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition has mistakenly hit a camp of allied Yemeni pro-government forces, killing at least 12 troops.”

The strike, which took place in the province of Shabwa, also wounded at least eight Yemeni troops, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi-led coalition, an ally of the forces of Yemen's internationally recognised government. Turki al-Maliki, a coalition spokesman, did not respond to numerous calls and messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

NEW DELHI, 01 January 2022, (TON): India hit out at China for giving "invented" names to several places in a disputed Himalayan region on their border as Beijing looks to assert sovereignty over the territory.

Several stretches of the lengthy frontier are disputed and relations have soured dramatically since 20 Indian soldiers died in a brawl in June 2020 on one section between Ladakh and Tibet.

Since then, both sides have reinforced the region with thousands of extra soldiers and military hardware as multiple rounds of talks have failed to de-escalate tensions.

This week the Ministry of Civil Affairs said it had "standardised" the names of 15 places in Zangnan ("South Tibet") — Beijing's title for the region India calls Arunachal Pradesh — and gave them all formal Chinese names.

The renaming of residential areas, rivers and mountains followed a similar move in 2017 involving six other locations in the same area.

India's foreign ministry said "Arunachal Pradesh has always been, and will always be an integral part of India.”

Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement "Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact.”

SRINAGAR, 01 January 2022, (TON): According to All Parties Hurriyet Conference’s (APHC) report  “Indian forces killed 355 people, injured 484, arrested 1,686 and burnt 135 properties to ashes in occupied, besides conducting 467 search operations in Kashmir during the year 2021.”

APHC representatives also held a protest outside the Indian High Commission against their atrocities and chanted anti-India slogans, while calling on the international community to intervene.

The protesters said that another year was coming to an end, but Indian atrocities could not be stopped. They said that the Indian forces started massacre of Kashmiris after August 2019, turning the Muslim-majority population into a minority, adding that domiciles were being issued for the same purpose as well.

It is pertinent to mention here that so far, 4.5 million non-indigenous people have been issued Kashmiri domiciles.

The protesters said that in the past 48 hours, nine Kashmiris were martyred in fake encounters.

DHAKA, 01 January 2022, (TON): Saudi Arabian ambassador to Bangladesh Essa Yousef Essa Alduhailan said that Saudi business people and companies were ‘keen to invest’ in the megaprojects of Bangladesh, which had become an attractive destination for investors and companies.

He said so at a reception at the Saudi embassy in Dhaka night commemorating the 45th year of establishing bilateral relations between the two countries.

He also expressed hope that the strong ties between the two countries would ‘continue to play a notable role in the Muslim world’ despite the changing global environment and international political framework.

The ambassador also acknowledged, in his statement, the contribution of about 2.5 million Bangladeshi workers to the kingdom’s development assisting to fulfil Saudi Vision 2030 and their vital role to boost the economy of Bangladesh through sending $ 3.5 billion as remittance.

DHAKA, 01 January 2022, (TON): The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has appointed actress, producer, and social activist Jaya Ahsan as its Goodwill Ambassador in Bangladesh, effective from January 1, 2022, for a year.

The voluntary service and support of the acclaimed artist Jaya Ahsan as the Goodwill Ambassador will spotlight important issues like Sustainable Development Goals to mobilise support and raise awareness in achieving the goals by 2030.

Jaya said "I am honoured to be named the Goodwill Ambassador of UNDP and extremely privileged to join the team in working towards these goals.”

She further added "I will advocate and mobilise action to work on SDGs through online and offline media and all other platforms I have access to.”

We all share a responsibility to making our planet a better place, and that means that each of us both individually and as citizens of the planet needs to play our part to help achieve the SDGs.

We are fortunate to have Jaya Ahsan, who is not only a very celebrated artist but also a person committed to social good, to be our Goodwill Ambassador.