TOKYO, 28 December 2021, (TON): Japan expressed concern to China over the situation around the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands in the East China Sea, which are the subject of a territorial dispute between the two countries.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told reporters on Monday following a telephone conversation with his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe.

“During the talks, I expressed my serious concern about the entry of Chinese ships into the area near Senkaku.

He said “in addition, I noted that Japan will closely monitor the situation in the Taiwan Strait. Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are important for the security of both our country and the entire world.”

According to Kisi, the parties also agreed to make efforts to open a line of communication between the defense ministries of the two countries next year to prevent possible collisions at sea and in the air.

Japan and China agreed to create such a mechanism back in 2018, but since then, its launch has been repeatedly postponed.

BAKU, 28 December 2021, (TON): Azerbaijan plans in the near future to file claims against Armenia with international courts in connection with the damage it has caused to the environment and the illegal exploitation of energy res-ources in the territories in Karabakh that have come under the control of Baku.

This was stated on Monday at a press conference by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the republic Jeyhun Bayramov.

The minister said “in the near future, Azerbaijan will apply to international arbitration with claims against Armenia in accordance with several conventions, primarily in connection with the damage caused to the environment, the environment, and the illegal exploitation of energy resources.”

He added that this is one of the tasks facing the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry in 2022.

On September 16, Armenia initiated a trial with Azerbaijan at the UN International Court of Justice in accordance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

The lawsuit contains accusations against Azerbaijan of racial discrimination that has continued for decades and came to the fore during the armed conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in the fall of 2020.

Azerbaijan on September 23 filed a counterclaim claiming that Armenia has committed and continues to commit a number of discriminatory actions against Azerbaijanis on the basis of their national and ethnic origin.

KABUL, 28 December 2021, (TON): The Afghan government on Monday called for stronger ties and a positive role with the rest of the world, but said no one should violate the rights of Afghans.

The remarks were made in a statement issued by the Afghan government, Monday.

The statement said that Afghans are Muslim and freedom seekers, they cannot tolerate any invasion and aggression, so our brave nation started a great and global jihad against the Soviet invaders which lasted for ten years. The Soviet Union was defeated and all its occupying forces were expelled.

In December 1979 Soviet Union forces invaded Afghanistan to ensure the protection of their puppet regime and its long-term strategic interest in the region.

The people of Afghanistan strongly defended their land in the aftermath of Soviet Union invasion and fought bravely until the red army was forced to leave Afghanistan 41 years back.

Soviet Union forces inflicted heavy material and human losses on Afghans during their 10-year of military occupation.

The statement said “the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, on behalf of its people, condemns the invasion of the former Soviet Union and commends the jihad and struggle of the brave Afghan people against them.”

KABUL, 28 December 2021, (TON): Turkey and Qatar continue to work together to take over the management of the Kabul airport. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced this.

“We continue to cooperate with Qatar on this issue. Turkey and Qatar have identified private companies that have submitted their proposals to the Taliban. The Taliban have also voiced their proposals, which are being analyzed,” the minister said at a press conference in Ankara following the results of 2021.

According to Cavusoglu “if these proposals match the position [of Turkey and Qatar], then Ankara and Doha are ready to take on this role.”

He added “otherwise, the Taliban will discuss this issue with other countries.”

Earlier, the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation of the interim Taliban government said that so far “has not reached an agreement with any company to manage the Kabul airport.”

NEW DELHI, 28 December 2021, (TON): India’s government has frozen the bank accounts of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity (MoC) in West Bengal, says the state’s political leader, dealing a blow to one of the country’s most prominent groups running shelters for the poor.

The move came after several right-wing Hindu groups disrupted Christmas mass in parts of India during the weekend, including in Modi’s parliamentary constituency in the most populous Uttar Pradesh state where local elections are due early next year.

Hardline Hindu outfits affiliated to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have repeatedly accused the MoC of leading religious conversion programmes under the guise of charity by offering poor Hindus and tribal communities money, free education and shelter.

Local media reported that the home ministry said a statement on Monday that the Missionaries of Charity’s application for renewing a licence that allows it to get funds from abroad was rejected on Christmas.

The ministry said it came across “adverse inputs” while considering the charity’s renewal application. It did not elaborate.

NEW DELHI, 28 December 2021, (TON): India's former envoy to China Vikram Misri was appointed Deputy National Security Advisor in the National Security Council Secretariat.

A career diplomat from the 1989 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, Mr Misri was appointed as India's Ambassador to Beijing in 2019. The Ministry of External Affairs had earlier this month appointed Pradeep Kumar Rawat as the next ambassador to China.

Mr Misri has served in various capacities at the Ministry of External Affairs, in the Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi and in various Indian missions abroad in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.

He was Private Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi (May 2014-July 2014) and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (October 2012-May 2014).

DHAKA, 28 December 2021, (TON): A legal notice was served on the government asking it to take steps to secure the foreign reserve of Bangladesh from any future sanctions by the United States.

The notice sent by Supreme Court lawyer Mahmudul Hasan said that for the interest of the people, the government should transfer the country’s foreign reserve to the other countries to secure it from any future US sanctions.

It said “Bangladesh should maintain a minimum amount of foreign reserve in the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, for the sake of continuing regular commercial activities.”

The respondents must take necessary steps within 30 days or else a writ petition will be filed with the High Court against them, read the legal notice.

The finance secretary, the foreign affairs secretary and the Bangladesh Bank governor were made the respondents.

It said “the lawyer served the notice following the direction of Article 21(1) of the constitution.”

DHAKA, 28 December 2021, (TON): Bangladesh strongly condemned the attacks of Houthis targeting civilian facilities in Riyadh city and Khamis Mushayt city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The foreign ministry said in a statement ‘we are concerned that such insensible acts undermine the security of the kingdom and tend to adversely impact the peace and stability in the region.”

Bangladesh ‘expresses its solidarity’ with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against any threat to its security.

RIYADH, 27 December 2021, (TON): Saudi Arabia’s King Salman sent a cable of condolences and sympathy to his Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Sultan Ahmed Shah for the victims of floods that swept across the Southeast Asian nation.

The death toll from Malaysia’s worst floods in years rose to 46, with five people still missing, officials said, as work crews continued a massive clean-up.

The king said in a statement issued by Saudi Press Agency “we received news of the floods that occurred in a number of Malaysian states, the resulting deaths and injuries, and the damage they caused, and we express to Your Majesty and to all the families of the deceased our deepest condolences.”

PARIS, 27 December 2021, (TON): A source said “the French delegation participating in the latest round of talks between Iran and the world powers on removal of sanctions slowed down and even obstructed the process of negotiations.”

An informed source said that the French negotiating team in Vienna talks played an obstructive role, saying that works on Vienna drafts was progressing during the two-day absence of the French delegation.

The source said that the French delegation played no constructive role in the latest round of talks and even slowed down the process of negotiations.

The negotiations process was disturbed “the source added that after the French team returned to the negotiations and showed opposition to the drafts.”

In relevant remarks, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian had said that his country will not accept the western sides’ excessive demands in the Vienna talks, blasting France for unconstructive behavior.

Amir Abdollahian said in a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Tehran “in the last round of the Vienna talks, after two stages of negotiations, we reached a single document and agenda, and there was a significant progress in the previous two rounds of talks. In the negotiations, in general, I did not see the position of certain European countries, specially France, as constructive. We hope that the French side will play a constructive role and the Iranian people’s rights will be restored realistically.”

The second problem with the three European countries is that in practice they did not show any new initiative in the negotiations.