WASHINGTON, 25 October 2021, (TON): The US envoy for North Korea said “North Korea's recent ballistic missile tests were "concerning and counterproductive" for efforts to reduce tensions, and Pyongyang should instead engage in talks.”

Speaking to reporters after meeting with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul, Special Representative Sung Kim said the United States is committed to exploring "sustained and substantive diplomacy" with North Korea.

"Our goal remains the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Kim said.

"That’s why Pyongyang’s recent ballistic missile test, one of several in the past six weeks, is concerning and counterproductive to making progress toward a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula."

Pyongyang so far has rejected US overtures, accusing Washington and Seoul of talking diplomacy while ratcheting up tensions with their own military activities.

The North said the United States was overreacting to a submarine-launched ballistic missile test that it called self-defensive, and questioned the sincerity of Washington's offers of talks, warning of consequences.

NEW YORK, 25 October 2021, (TON): Council members started a visiting mission to the Sahel on Saturday (23 October). The mission will conclude on Monday (25 October).

On Wednesday (27 October), Council members are scheduled to vote on two draft resolutions, one renewing the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), and another renewing the mandate of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia.

Also on Wednesday, the Council will receive a briefing on the Secretary-General’s report on the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).

Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix and the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, are expected to brief. Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the open briefing.

The Council will hold its monthly meetings on the political and humanitarian tracks in Syria.

Special Envoy Geir O. Pedersen will brief on political developments, while Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths is expected to brief on the humanitarian situation.

LONDON, 25 October 2021, (TON): A fire broke out on containers on a cargo ship carrying mining chemicals off British Columbia, and the Canadian Coast Guard said it is working with the US Coast Guard to assess the situation, including environmental hazards.

Sixteen crew members have been evacuated from the MV Zim Kingston, while five remained on board to fight the fire, the Canadian Coast Guard said in a statement late.

Ten containers were currently burning, it said, adding the fire continued to spread but the ship itself was not on fire.

The agency said “it was working with its U.S. counterpart to track 40 containers that had fallen overboard, saying they pose a significant risk to mariners.”

"Mariners are advised to stay clear of the area. Currently, there is no safety risk to people onshore, however, the situation will continue to be monitored."

KHARTOM, 25 October 2021, (TON): Pro-military protesters briefly blocked major roads and bridges in Sudan’s capital Sunday, amid growing tensions between the generals and the pro-democracy movement that fueled the uprising against autocratic former president Omar Al-Bashir.

The development came a day after US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman met with military and civilian leaders in Khartoum to find a compromise to the dispute.

The souring ties between the military and civilians in the ruling government threaten Sudan’s fragile transition to democracy since the military’s ouster of Al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019 after nearly three decades of autocratic rule.

The current crisis surfaced with a coup attempt last month. Officials blamed Al-Bashir loyalists for the move. But the generals lashed out at the civilian part of the government, accusing politicians of seeking government posts rather than helping ease people’s economic suffering.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the ruling Sovereign Council, said that dissolving the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok could resolve the ongoing political crisis.

That suggestion was rejected by hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters who took to the streets of Khartoum and elsewhere in the country Thursday.

That generals’ accusations, echoed by Burhan and his deputy, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, have aroused fears among civilians that the military may eventually hijack the country’s transition to civilian rule.

TEHRAN, 25 October 2021, (TON): Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said “Arab nations that normalised ties with Israel last year have “sinned” and should reverse such moves.”

The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco agreed to normalise ties with Israel in 2020, as Washington under the administration of then-US President Donald Trump made Arab-Israeli rapprochement a foreign policy priority.

Khamenei said, referring to Israel “some governments have unfortunately made errors – have made big errors and have sinned in normalising [their relations] with the usurping and oppressive Zionist regime.”

“It is an act against Islamic unity, they must return from this path and make up for this big mistake,” Khamenei added, in a speech marking a public holiday honouring the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.

RIYADH, 25 October 2021, (TON): Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir on Sunday met with the US envoy for climate, John Kerry, on the sidelines of the Saudi Green Initiative Forum, which is being held in the capital, Riyadh.

During the meeting, they discussed the Kingdom’s efforts to confront climate change and the qualitative initiatives it has launched to protect the planet and nature.

The Kingdom’s foreign ministry said “the two sides also discussed regional and international developments of common interest.”

ADDIS ABABA, 25 October 2021, (TON): Ethiopia’s military launched an air strike on a rebel-held facility in Tigray’s west, a government official said, the seventh aerial bombardment in the war-hit region in a week.

“Today the western front of (Mai Tsebri) which was serving as a training and military command post for the terrorist group TPLF has been the target of an air strike,” government spokeswoman Selamawit Kassa said, referring to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has been locked in a war against the TPLF since last November, though Tigray itself had seen little combat since late June, when the rebels seized control of much of Ethiopia’s northernmost region and the military largely withdrew.

But on Monday Ethiopia’s air force launched two strikes on Tigray’s capital Mekele that the UN said killed three children and wounded several other people.

Since then there have been three more strikes on Mekele and another targeting what the government described as a weapons cache in the town of Agbe, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the west.

PARIS, 25 October 2021, (TON): France has successfully launched a state-of-the-art satellite into orbit, designed to allow all of France's armed forces across the globe to communicate swiftly and securely.

Paris created a space force command in July 2019, amongst concerns that rival countries were heavily investing in space technology, seen as a new military frontier.

French air and space force spokesman Colonel Stephane Spet told media “the satellite is designed to resist military aggression from the ground and in space, as well as interference.”

The Ariane 5 rocket carrying the Syracuse 4A satellite took off from Kourou, in French Guiana late on Saturday, with the mission accomplished 38 minutes and 41 seconds after takeoff.

The satellite can survey its close surroundings and move itself to escape an attack.

“Thanks to its state-of-the-art equipment (anti-jamming antenna and digital transparent processor on board), Syracuse 4A will guarantee a high resistance to extreme jamming methods,” launch provider Arianespace wrote in its mission description.

Marc Finaud, an expert in weapons proliferation at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, told AFP the satellite was also protected against the electro-magnetic pulses which would result from a nuclear explosion.

He added “this is the final warning scenario, if deterrence fails.”

WASHINGTON, 25 October 2021, (TON): US and Taiwanese officials met virtually on Friday to discuss supporting Taiwan's ability to participate meaningfully at the UN.

Taiwanese and US officials have discussed how Taiwan can "meaningfully" participate at the United Nations just days before Chinese President Xi Jinping will give a speech to mark his country's half decade since accession to the global body.

Taiwan, using its formal name the Republic of China, held the Chinese seat at the United Nations until October 25, 1971, when it was voted out as representative of the country in favour of the People's Republic of China, which had won a civil war in 1949 and forced the republican government to flee to the island.

China says that Taiwan is one of its provinces, and so it has the sole right to represent Taiwan internationally. The democratically-elected government in Taipei says only it has that right.

In a statement late, the US State Department said US and Taiwanese officials had met virtually on Friday for a "discussion focused on supporting Taiwan's ability to participate meaningfully at the UN.”

SANAA, 25 October 2021, (TON): The coalition has for the past two weeks reported almost daily strikes around Marib.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Sunday it had killed more than 260 Houthi rebels in the past three days near the strategic city of Marib.

The deaths are the latest among hundreds that the coalition claims have been killed in recent fighting around the internationally recognised government's last bastion in oil-rich northern Yemen.

But the Iran-backed Houthis rarely comment on losses, and AFP could not independently verify the toll.

"Thirty-six military vehicles were destroyed and more than 264" rebel fighters were killed in strikes in the past 72 hours, the coalition said, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The strikes were carried out in Al-Jawba, some 50 kilometres south of Marib, and Al-Kassara, 30 kilometres to the northwest.

The coalition has for the past two weeks reported almost daily strikes around Marib.