WASHINGTON, 24 December 2021, (TON): US President Joe Biden signed legislation aimed, according to Washington, at preventing forced labor of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

This was reported by the press service of the White House.

H.R. 6256, which bans imports from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) of the People’s Republic of China and imposes sanctions on foreign individuals responsible for forced labor in the region.

Biden said “thank you to Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Representatives McGovern and Chris Smith, and Senators Merkley and Rubio for their leadership.”

DAMASCUS, 24 December 2021, (TON): The heads of the interdepartmental coordination headquarters (MKSH) of Russia and Syria on the return of refugees adopted a joint statement following the meeting of the MSCs.

According to the document signed by the Minister of Local Self-G-overnment and Environment of Syria Hussein Makhlyuf and the head of the National Center for Defense Management of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mizintsev, they call on the United States to end sanctions pressure and withdraw its troops from Syria.

Reads a joint statement “the unprecedented sanctions pressure of the United States and its European allies, as well as the illegitimate presence of foreign military contingents in Syria, have a negative impact on the socio-economic and humanitarian situation in the country. restoration, impede the establishment of a peaceful life in the republic and contradict UN Security Cou-ncil Resolution 2585.”

It added “we are confident that only the consolidation of the efforts of the entire international community in humanitarian assistance to Syria, as well as the lifting of illegal sanctions against the Syrian people, can give a new impetus to the process of internal Syrian political settlement and make it possible to move forward on wa-ys of post-conflict reconstruction of the republic.”

In addition, it notes the desire of other countries to politicize humanitarian iss-ues, in particular, the topic of providing assistance to the Syrian population excl-usively through cross-border humanitarian corridors. At the same time, contrary to the UN Security Council resolution, all attempts to deliver humanitarian suppl-ies by an alternative means (through the contact lines), including to the Idlib de-e-scalation zone, are blocked.

WASHINGTON, 24 December 2021, (TON): The UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted a US resolution, which Pakistan believes opens the door to providing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan without violating UN sanctions on the Taliban.

The resolution allowed the “payment of funds, other financial assets or economic resources, and the provision of goods and services necessary to ensure the timely delivery of such assistance or to support such activities.”

It noted that such assistance “supports basic human needs in Afghanistan” and was “not a violation” of sanctions imposed on entities linked to the Taliban.

In Washington, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued three general licenses on Wednesday to facilitate the continued flow of vital assistance and support for the Afghan people.

The US State Department said “these licenses expand upon existing authorisations for the provision of humanitarian assistance and other activities that support basic human needs and enable broader support for the Afghan people consistent with the resolution adopted by the UN Security Council earlier today.”

The statement added “the UNSC resolution, drafted by the United States and unanimously adopted by the 15 members of the UN Security Council, “establishes a carveout in the UN 1988 sanctions regime to “ensure urgently needed aid can reach the Afghan people.”

WASHINGTON, 24 December 2021, (TON): The United States accused Russia of continuing to escalate its troop buildup on the border with Ukraine, and renewed its warnings against any “aggression” by Moscow.

A US State Department spokesperson told media “Russia continues escalating and has not reversed its troop buildup.”

The spokesperson said “Washington and its allies were closely monitoring the situation, repeating warnings that any further aggression against Ukraine would have massive consequences and would carry a severe price.”

The statement came as Germany also reported “further troop movements on the border” between Russia and Ukraine.

But White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki emphasized “an open line of diplomatic discussion and engagement that is happening and that we expect to continue, that we hope to continue.”

The West accuses Moscow of having massed tens of thousands of soldiers at the border to prepare a possible invasion of Ukraine.

MOSCOW, 24 December 2021, (TON): Russia wants to avoid conflict with Ukraine and the West, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, but needs an immediate response from the United States and its allies to its demands for security guarantees.

Ukraine is at the centre of soaring East-West tensions after the United States and Kyiv accused Russia of weighing a new attack on its southern neighbour, an allegation Moscow denies.

Putin was plied with questions about the risk of conflict with Ukraine during his marathon annual news conference, which lasted over four hours.

He told reporters "this is not our (preferred) choice, we do not want this.”

The United States, European Union and Group of Seven have all warned Putin he will face "massive consequences" including tough economic sanctions in the event of any new Russian aggression.

Putin said “Russia had received a generally positive initial response to security proposals it handed to the United States this month designed to defuse the crisis and that he was hopeful about the prospect for negotiations, which he said would start early next year in Geneva.”

But in a separate reply, Putin grew more heated when recalling how NATO had "brazenly tricked" Russia with successive waves of expansion since the Cold War, and said Moscow needed an answer urgently.

BERLIN, 24 December 2021, (TON): Germany's new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, pledged to work with international partners to help avert in Afghanistan what she called “the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our time”.

Outlining an action plan two weeks after taking office, Baerbock said Berlin sought to assure that outside aid reached the neediest Afghans and step up the evacuation of those most threatened under the Taliban, especially women and girls.

Baerbock told reporters “before our eyes, Afghanistan is heading into the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our time.”

“Major sectors of the economy have collapsed, many people are starving. One can hardly bear it when one reads that families in their desperation are selling their daughters to buy food.”

She said “24 million Afghans were estimated to need assistance to survive this winter.”

Baerbock said “we cannot allow hundreds of thousands of children to die because we don't want to take action.”

TOKYO, 24 December 2021, (TON): According to Japanese government sources “Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military have drawn up a draft joint operation plan that would enable the setup of an attack base along the Nansei island chain in the country’s southwest in the event of a Taiwan contingency.”

The sources told media “Japan and the United States will likely agree to begin work to formalize an operation plan when their foreign and defense chiefs meet in early January under the two-plus-two framework.”

The development will likely draw a backlash from China, which regards the self-ruled island of Taiwan as a renegade province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Under the draft plan, U.S. Marines will set up a temporary attack base at the initial stage of a contingency on the Nansei Islands, a chain stretching southwest from the Japanese prefectures of Kagoshima and Okinawa toward Taiwan. Okinawa hosts the bulk of U.S. military installations in Japan.

The sources said “the U.S. military will get support from the SDF to send troops to the islands if a Taiwan contingency appears imminent.”

The sources said “such a deployment, however, would make the islands the target of attack by China’s military, putting the lives of residents there at risk. Legal changes would be needed in Japan to realize the plan.”

MOSCOW, 24 December 2021, (TON): Large-scale paratrooper exercises will be held in the Crimea and Krasnodar Territory. This was reported on Thursday by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

The exercises will start today at the Opuk Crimean military training ground. As noted in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, combat firing of airborne assault, artillery units and units of radiation, chemical and biological protection troops will be practiced, as well as demining of a section of the terrain and covering troops from air attack weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles. “The servicemen will carry out fire missions and hit targets at various ranges,” the press service said.

In addition, within the framework of the exercises, assault and assault actions on helicopters will be practiced in order to block the captured area and ensure a quick offensive of the main forces of the compound, which will be held with fire support from army aviation (Mi-35 helicopters).

In turn, at the “Raevsky” training ground near Nov-orossiysk, exercises will begin on December 24. The paratroopers will practice the techniques of conducting combat operations at short distances, as well as reconnaissance and shock operations by the artillery battalion 2 C9 “Nona”.

The exercises will be he-ld as part of an operational gathering of the commanding personnel of the troops under the leadership of the Commander of the Airbor-ne Forces, Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov. In total, more than 1,200 servicem-en and over 250 units of m-ilitary and special equipme-nt will be involved in them.

KABUL, 24 December 2021, (TON): Former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai believes it is now time for the international community to work with the Taliban to prevent millions of people from starving to death.

In an exclusive interview with CNN's Becky Anderson, Karzai said the international community needs to prioritize getting much needed aid to Afghans and, for now, put its mistrust of the Taliban aside.

He said "the reality on the ground is that the Taliban are now the de facto authorities in the country.”

The Taliban took control of Afghanistan after a rapid, somewhat unexpected military blitz this summer.

The capital, Kabul, fell shortly after the last US troops left the country, effectively ending the longest war in US history and ceding power to the same group Washington had ousted shortly after the initial invasion in 2001. Karzai became the first democratically elected president after the Taliban's initial collapse.

NEW DELHI, 24 December 2021, (TON): Authorities in India must stop targeting prominent Kashmiri activist Khurram Parvez, a group of independent UN human rights experts said while calling for his immediate release from detention.

Mr Parvez has documented serious human rights violations in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir, including enforced disappearances and unlawful killings and has faced reprisals reportedly for sharing information with the UN.

The Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested him in November on charges related to conspiracy and terrorism.

The rights experts, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, issued the statement after reviewing available information about the case.

A UN news report also quoted the experts as urging Indian authorities to repeal the laws that target Kashmiri civilians and human rights activists.