MOSCOW, 28 December 2021, (TON): Russian diplomats and military officials will take part in talks with the United States in January on a list of security guarantees Moscow wants from Washington amid simmering tension between the pair over Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview live-streamed on his ministry’s website “the talks will take place immediately after the country’s New Year holidays.”

There was no immediate comment on Lavrov’s remarks from Washington.

Russia has unnerved Ukraine and Kyiv’s Western allies with a recent buildup of tens of thousands of troops along the two countries’ shared border, the second such move this year, raising concerns Moscow may be plotting an imminent invasion of its neighbour.

But the Kremlin has denied that it plans to make an incursion into Ukraine.

KABUL, 28 December 2021, (TON): A contract for importing electricity from Tajikistan has been signed between Da Afghanistan BreshnaShirkat (DABS) and Barqi Tojik company.

DABS announced on its Facebook page that Hafiz Mohammad Amin, DABS general manager signed the contract with Tajik officials for year 2022.

The source wrote that the agreement was signed as a result of two days of negotiations between the two sides, as well under an agreement that was postponed from July this year to December due to political developments in Afghanistan.

During the trip, regional and development projects such as CASA-1000 and the construction of 500KV line in the energy sector were also discussed in detail between the two sides, which would bring positive outcome in the near future.

CAPE TOWN, 28 December 2021, (TON): Many Africans escaping violence and poverty come to South Africa in search of a better life. But they often find themselves in danger in their new home, accused of taking jobs away from South Africans.

Photographer Shiraaz Mohamed caught up with some who live in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township and Hillbrow, an inner city neighbourhood, about what it is like to deal with xenophobia and crime on a daily basis.

Supermarket owner Getachew Desta above fled Ethiopia in 2010 after he was suspected of supporting an opposition party and now lives behind a steel cage and burglar gates in Alexandra.

He says “he finds life better here, but complains about the crime. I am OK being locked behind the cage as we don’t know when the criminals will strike. At any given time they can they pop up, point a gun at you and rob you of your money. They can also kill you.”

He was a victim of xenophobia in 2016, when a mob ransacked his shop and he was left with nothing.

And again in July this year in the unrest that erupted after the imprisonment of ex-President Jacob Zuma for contempt of court. The violence hit two provinces and killed at least 340 people, with damages exceeding 50bn rand ($3.2bn, £2.4bn). “It happened at night. I was not there. I called the police to alert them but they did nothing.

I lost everything and had to borrow money from my family to restart, but it was not enough and I ended up buying my supplies on credit.”

MOSCOW, 28 December 2021, (TON): Russia begins construction of a modern border outpost in Tajikistan on the border with Afghanistan. This was announced by the Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan Igor Lyakin-Frolov, answering a question from a media correspondent during a press conference.

“Security issues were considered both in a bilateral and multilateral context, in particular, within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a decision was made to strengthen the Tajik-Afghan border.

The Russian diplomat said “another contribution of Russia is the construction of a border post in the Shamsiddin Shokhin region in the Khatlon region of Tajikistan on the border with Afghanistan, money has been allocated, an agreement has been signed, this project is entering a practical phase, a modern frontier post will be built.”

He also clarified that within the framework of these decisions, the Russian side carried out several deliveries of weapons for the Armed Forces of Tajikistan.

According to him “modernization is actively underway in the 201st Russian military base stationed in Tajikistan, it is equipped with the most modern equipment, a number of exercises, maneuvers are being conducted, about 40 exercises were conducted during the year.”

SANAA, 28 December 2021, (TON): Local officials and media reports said “at least 100 Houthis were killed in heavy fighting with government forces outside Yemen’s central city of Marib in the past day as the Iran-backed rebels pressed ahead with assaults to recapture the strategic city.”

Backed by massive air support from Arab coalition warplanes, Yemeni government troops and tribal fighters on Sunday mounted counterattacks on Houthi positions south of Marib in a bid to push back the militia from strategic locations outside the city and seize control of new areas.

Fierce fighting raged between the two sides from Sunday to Monday near Al-Balaq Al-Sharqi mountain range and surrounding areas, claiming the lives of at least 100 Houthi fighters, including a field military leader.

A military official told media “the national army seized control of three strategic hilly locations near Al-Balaq Al-Sharqi and cut off supply lines to pockets of Houthis.”

“What I can say is that we managed to count the bodies of at least 100 Houthis killed during the last 24 hours.”

WASHINGTON, 28 December 2021, (TON): President Joe Biden has signed into law a $777.7bn US annual military budget, his first in office, weeks after Congress overwhelmingly passed the bill amid protests from progressives and anti-war groups who had advocated for cutting military spending.

The White House announced that Biden signed the piece of legislation, formally known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), on Monday, noting that the bill includes a pay increase for the US armed forces.

The US Senate passed the bill in an 89-10 vote on December 15, days after the House of Representatives had approved it in a vote of 363-70.

On Monday, the White House expressed gratitude for the leading members of the armed services panels in the House and the Senate from both major parties. Congress allocated about $24bn more than the Biden administration had requested for the military.

Biden’s approval of the bill was expected; the White House had not voiced any reservations about the increased spending, which took the military budget above its most recent peak of $740bn reached in former President Donald Trump’s final year in office.

MINSK, 28 December 2021, (TON): The goal of maintaining neutrality and nuclear-free status, fixed in the Constitution of Belarus, has been replaced in the draft of the new basic law of the country with a clause on the exclusion of military aggression from its territory.

In the current constitution, the article on foreign policy says that the Republic of Belarus aims to make its territory a nuclear-free zone, and the state neutral.

Instead, the draft document, published on Monday on the portal of the National Center for Legal Information, notes that the country “excludes military aggression from its territory against other states.”

Also, according to the draft constitution, the All-Belarusian Assembly “at the suggestion of the president makes a decision on the possibility of sending military personnel, employees of paramilitary organizations, and other persons outside the Republic of Belarus to participate in ensuring collective security and activities to maintain international peace and security.”

Earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Vladimir Makei said that the republic is ready to deploy nuclear weapons in the event of a threat from NATO.

The country’s President Alexander Lukashenko had previously noted that Minsk would offer Moscow to take such measures if the North Atlantic Alliance deployed nuclear weapons in Poland.

CAIRO, 28 December 2021, (TON): A meeting in Cairo between Egyptian, Jordanian and Palestinian officials on Monday discussed ways to enhance relations, developments related to the peace process, and efforts to strengthen Palestinian unity.

The participants were the country’s intelligence chiefs, the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, and Hussein Al-Sheikh, a member of the central committee of the Palestinian faction Fatah.

During the meeting, which comes within the framework of existing tripartite coordination, Al-Sheikh reviewed Israeli escalation and violations against the Palestinian people, and the crimes carried out by settlers under the protection of Israel’s military.

He said “these practices show Israel’s deliberate disregard for the decisions of the international community.”

MOSCOW, 28 December 2021, (TON): Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad discussed the situation in Syria with an emphasis on the need to promote a comprehensive political settlement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement “the ministers discussed the development of the situation in the SAR and around it with an emphasis on the need to promote a comprehensive political settlement.”

In addition, a number of current issues of Russian-Syrian cooperation were considered, including the preparation of Mikdad’s planned visit to Moscow.

WASHINGTON, 28 December 2021, (TON): Oil rose in tandem with equity markets as investors weighed the rapid spread of omicron against signs it may be milder than previous variants.

West Texas Intermediate futures closed 2.4% higher on Monday, trading above $75 a barrel for the first time in a month amid a light volume session.

Daily omicron infections in the U.S. surpassed those in the delta wave, while China posted the highest number of cases since January.

Despite the omicron spread and airline cancellations, mobility numbers were strong over the holiday, said John Kilduff, founding partner at Again Capital LLC.

The strong economic activity has played into a “rebound in petroleum demand, which we saw this morning.”

Oil is heading for a yearly gain after a robust rebound from the pandemic, but the rally has wavered in recent weeks, in part due to concerns about omicron. There are some signs of softening consumption in Asia and crude market’s structure has weakened significantly, indicating over-supply in the near term.