BEIJING, 25 November 2021, (TON): The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy dispatched ships and aircraft to monitor the operations of the US Navy destroyer Milius (Arleigh Burke class) as it passed through the narrow strait separating the mainland and Taiwan.

It was the first such crossing of the Taiwan Strait since President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Joe Biden held a video summit earlier this month, at which the Chinese President warned Biden that supporting Taiwan’s independence would be “playing with fire.”

We remind you that the destroyer Milius is equipped with two launchers of the Aegis missile defense system, as well as the launchers of the Harpoon or Tomahawk anti-ship cru-ise missiles.

The US Seventh Fleet said the destroyer’s passage through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday was a routine transit.

PLA spokesman Zhao said “US warships have repeatedly demonstrated their strength and carried out provocations in the Taiwan Strait under the guise of freedom of navigation. This is not a promise of freedom and openness, but a deliberate action aimed at destroying regional peace and stability. The US must immediately correct its mistakes, stop playing with fire.”

ADDIS ABABA, 25 November 2021, (TON): International alarm mounted over the escalating war in Ethiopia as Tigrayan rebels claimed to be edging closer to the capital Addis Ababa and more foreign citizens were told to leave.

US envoy Jeffrey Feltman spoke of some progress in efforts to reach a diplomatic settlement to end the brutal year-long conflict but warned it risked being jeopardized by “alarming developments” on the ground.

The United Nations said it had ordered the immediate evacuation of family members of international staff while France became the latest Western government to tell its citizens to leave Ethiopia.

The rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) claimed this week it had taken a town just 220 kilometers (135 miles) from the capital, although battlefield claims are hard to verify because of a communications blackout.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed vowed he would head to the battlefront to lead his soldiers in what the government has described as an “existential war” in Africa’s second most populous nation.

Abiy, who only two years ago was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for securing a peace deal with neighboring Eritrea, said “we are now in the final stages of saving Ethiopia.”

Thousands of people have been killed since fighting erupted in November 2020, triggering a desperate humanitarian crisis that the UN says has left hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine and displaced more than two million.

The latest developments cast doubt on hopes of an end to the conflict, which has stoked fears it could sow wider instability in the Horn of Africa region.

STOCKHOLM, 25 November 2021, (TON): Sweden's first female prime minister resigned after less than 12 hours in the top job after the Green Party quit her coalition, plunging the country into political uncertainty.

But Magdalena Andersson, leader of the Social Democrats, said “she had told the speaker of parliament she hoped to be appointed prime minster again as the head of a single-party government.”

The Green Party quit after parliament rejected the coalition's budget bill.

Andersson told a news conference "I have asked the speaker to be relieved of my duties as prime minister."

He further said "I am ready to be prime minister in a single-party, Social Democrat government."

Andersson's chances of being reappointed are good. The Green Party said it would support her in any new confirmation vote in parliament, while the Centre Party has promised to abstain, which in practice amounts to the same as backing her candidacy.

The Left Party has already said it would back her.

While these parties were unable to agree a budget, they are united in the goal of keeping the Sweden Democrats, a populist, anti-immigration party, from having a role in government.

WASHINGTON, 25 November 2021, (TON): The United States said “it will release millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves in coordination with China, India, South Korea, Japan and Britain, to try to cool prices after Opec+ producers repeatedly ignored calls for more crude.”

US President Joe Biden, facing low approval ratings amid rising inflation ahead of next year’s congressional elections, has grown frustrated at repeatedly asking the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as Opec+, to pump more oil without getting any response.

Crude oil prices recently touched seven-year highs and although they are still some way short of levels reached between 2011 and 2014, when they broke through $100 a barrel, many consumers are feeling the pain of a dramatic increase from a year ago.

The US announcement was for a release of 50 million barrels, the equivalent of about two and a half days of US demand.

India, meanwhile, said it would release 5 million barrels, while Britain said it would allow the voluntary release of 1.5 million barrels of oil from privately held reserves.

Details on the amount and timing of the release of oil from South Korea, Japan and China were not announced.

Seoul said “it would decide after discussions with the United States and other allies. And Japanese media said Tokyo would detail its plans.”

Officials said “it was the first time that the United States had coordinated such a move with some of the world’s largest oil consumers.”

WASHINGTON, 25 November 2021, (TON): According to a list posted on the State Department website “United States President Joe Biden has invited around 110 countries to a virtual summit on democracy in December, including major Western allies but also Iraq, India and Pakistan.”

China, the United States' principal rival, is not invited, while Taiwan is, a move that risks angering Beijing.

Turkey, which like America is a member of Nato, is also missing from the list of participants.

Among the countries of the Middle East, only Israel and Iraq will take place in the online conference.

Traditional Arab allies of the US, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, are not invited.

Biden invited Brazil even though its far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro has been criticised as having an authoritarian bent and was a firm supporter of Donald Trump.

In Europe, Poland was invited to the summit despite persistent tension with the European Union over its human rights record. Hungary, led by hardline nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, was not invited.

In Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Nigeria and Niger are among the countries on the list.

The conference was a campaign pledge by the US president, who has placed the struggle between democracies and “autocratic governments” at the heart of his foreign policy.

The “Summit for Democracy” will take place online on December 9 and 10 ahead of an in-person meeting at its second edition next year.

KABUL, 25 November 2021, (TON): According to four sources with knowledge of the matter “the United Arab Emirates has held talks with the Taliban to run Kabul airport, going up against Gulf rival Qatar in a diplomatic tussle for influence with Afghanistan’s new rulers.”

UAE officials have held a series of discussions with the Islamic Emirate in recent weeks to discuss operating the airport that serves as landlocked Afghanistan’s main air link to the world, the foreign diplomats based in the Gulf region told Reuters.

The talks demonstrate how countries are seeking to assert their influence in the Islamic Emirate-run Afghanistan even as the government is not formally recognized by any country.

The Emiratis are keen to counter diplomatic clout enjoyed there by Qatar, according to the sources who declined to be name due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The Qataris have been helping run the Hamid Karzai International Airport along with Turkey after playing a major role in evacuation efforts following the chaotic US withdrawal in August, and have said they are willing to take over the operations.

The four diplomats said “yet the Taliban has not yet formalized an arrangement with Qatar.”

A senior Emirati foreign ministry official said the UAE, which previously ran Kabul airport during the US-backed Afghan republic, “remains committed to continuing to assist in operating” it to ensure humanitarian access and safe passage. Abu Dhabi also aided recent evacuation efforts.

The Taliban and Qatari authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

KABUL, 25 November 2021, (TON): The Taliban movement that came to power in Afghanistan will hold talks with representatives of the United States and the European Union in the capital of Qatar on November 27-29.

This is stated in a message published on the official page of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” on Twitter.

The message said “IEA Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mottaki will meet with representatives of the US, EU and other parties in the capital of Qatar on November 27-29.”

It states that during the meetings in Doha “political issues, the release of Afghanistan’s bank reserves, humanitarian aid, issues related to education and the health sector, and other related topics will be discussed.”

The Foreign Minister of the interim Taliban government “will be accompanied by representatives of the ministries of education and health, finance, the Central Bank of Afghanistan and [the Taliban-formed] security structures.”

Also, Taliban spokesman Suheil Shahin told “media Novosti that the Taliban wants to discuss with the United States in Doha the recognition of the interim government of Afghanistan formed by it, the participation of the United States in the reconstruction of the country and the unfreezing of accounts.

ISLAMABAD, 25 November 2021, (TON): The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said “two Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred during an operation to stop externally sponsored terrorists after they opened fire onto a check-post of security forces in Tump, Balochistan.”

The military’s media wing, in a statement, said that security forces responded with all available weapons, in which the terrorists suffered “heavy losses”.

The ISPR statement read “during the engagement, however, two soldiers, sepoy Naseeb Ullah, a resident of Kharan, and sepoy Insha Allah, a resident of Lakki Marwat, sacrificed their lives fighting valiantly.”

ISLAMABAD, 25 November 2021, (TON): The government of Pakistan granted permission to India to use its land route to ship wheat aid to neighbouring Afghanistan, where millions of people face hunger as a harsh winter sets in.

Islamabad will also send aid, the prime minister's office said in a statement, including 50,000 metric tons of wheat, matching the level sent by India.

The Foreign Office said in a statement “as a goodwill gesture towards the brotherly Afghan people, the government of Pakistan has decided to allow the transportation of 50,000 Metric Tonnes of wheat and life-saving medicines from India to Afghanistan via Wagah Border on an exceptional basis for humanitarian purposes.”

The FO said the decision of the government of Pakistan was formally conveyed to the Charge d’ Affaires of India, here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told a news conference "we have approved to give passage to this 50,000 tons of wheat that India wants to send to Afghanistan.”

He said "we think the people in Afghanistan should be helped in any way on humanitarian grounds.”

DHAKA, 25 November 2021, (TON): He says “restrictions on free movement and a shortage of job opportunities and healthcare would deter people from choosing to go in large numbers to the island.”

A senior Red Cross official warned that "serious problems" remain with Bhsan Char, a remote island off southern Bangladesh, housing Rohingya refugees, as officials prepared to ship thousands more people there this week.

Since last December, the country has moved about 19,000 Rohingya refugees, members of a persecuted mostly Muslim minority from Myanmar, to the island from mainland border camps.

Rights groups have likened it to an island jail and said some relocations were involuntary.

Alexander Matheou, Asia-Pacific director for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said restrictions on free movement and a shortage of job opportunities and healthcare would "deter people from choosing to go in large numbers" to the island, several hours' from the mainland.

Matheou, who visited, told media by phone the site was "well-designed and organized in terms of housing" and had access to clean water, but the health services were "too basic to cope with a large population" and there was no established system of referrals to the mainland.

He said “the main issue among refugees he spoke to was that they could not move back and forth to the mainland to see their families.”