ISLAMABAD, 23 October 2021, (TON): The military said “two soldiers of the Pakistan Army embraced martyrdom during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's North Waziristan district on Friday.

The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement "security forces conducted an IBO in Miranshah, North Waziristan on the reported presence of terrorists."

During intense exchange of fire, it added, a terrorist named Ahmedullah was killed. "Weapon and ammunition were also recovered from the killed terrorist."

The ISPR added “during the fire exchange, 34-year-old Naik Khalil, resident of Kohat, and 21-year-old Sepoy Shakirullah, resident of Lakki Marwat embraced martyrdom.”

On Monday, a soldier was martyred when terrorists fired on a security forces' post in Spinwam, North Waziristan district.

It added “according to ISPR, the troops initiated a prompt response and effectively engaged the terrorists' location. "During intense exchange of fire, Sepoy Saifullah (age 25 years, resident of Karak) embraced shahadat.”

WASHINGTON, 23 October 2021, (TON): Pakistan, India and Afghanistan were among 11 countries singled out by US intelligence agencies on Thursday as being “highly vulnerable” in terms of their ability to prepare for and respond to environmental and societal crises caused by climate change.

In a new National Intelligence Estimate, the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) predicted that global warming would increase geopolitical tensions and risks to US security in the period up to 2040. Such estimates are broad US intelligence community assessments.

Thursday’s report identifies as particular “countries of concern” Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Iraq, North Korea, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Colombia.

Heat, drought, water availability and ineffective government make Afghanistan specifically worrying. The report identifies two additional regions of concern to US intelligence agencies. Climate change is “likely to increase the risk of instability in countries in central Africa and small island states in the Pacific, which clustered together form two of the most vulnerable areas in the world”.

The report notes disparities around global approaches to tackling climate change, saying countries that rely on fossil fuel exports to support their economies “will continue to resist a quick transition to a zero-carbon world because they fear the economic, political, and geopolitical costs of doing so”.

ROME, 23 October 2021, (TON): Cooperation between Italy and Saudi Arabia in the fight against international terrorism has been praised by one of Italy’s key political figures who also called for the two countries to work closely together to deal with the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean as well as conflicts throughout the Middle East.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News ahead of the G20 Rome Summit, the Speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Roberto Fico appealed for a “commonly agreed strategy” to manage the migrant and refugee issue, adding that Europe has an important role to play and “must provide a collective response.”

Fico, 46, has presided over the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Italy’s bicameral Parliament, since 2018 and is one of the most powerful figures in the country’s political hierarchy.

He is a leading voice in the Five Star Movement, the populist party founded by comedian Beppe Grillo that has played a central role in Italian coalition governments since 2018.

During his time in office Fico has been a powerful advocate for human rights worldwide, economic sustainability, environmentally friendly policies, and common access to essentials such as clean drinking water.

Fico told media that he has high expectations of the G20 Rome Summit on Oct. 30-31, with Italy hosting the event after the 2020 forum was staged in Riyadh.

TRIPOLI, 23 October 2021, (TON): The United Nations said that it has resumed humanitarian evacuation flights for migrants stranded in Libya after authorities suspended them for several months. The announcement comes after a massive crackdown on migrants by Libyan security forces.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said “in a statement that it had evacuated 127 people to Gambia from the Libyan city of Misrata on Thursday. It said the Gambian migrants were among thousands more who are waiting to go home through the organization’s voluntary return program.”

According to the IOM “evacuation flights for migrants have operated sporadically amid Libya’s conflict, and been periodically suspended because of fighting. The latest suspension came from the country’s ministry of interior on Aug. 8.”

Libya was plunged into turmoil by the NATO-backed 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi. The North African nation has since emerged as a popular, if extremely dangerous, route to Europe for those fleeing poverty and civil war in Africa and the Middle East. Many set out for Italy, packed by traffickers into unseaworthy boats.

Earlier this month, Libyan authorities started a massive crackdown against migrants in the western coastal town of Gargaresh, detaining more than 5,000 people over the course of a few days. In response, many turned to a community center operated by the UN’s refugee agency’s office in nearby Tripoli, camping outside and asking to be evacuated.

JEDDAH, 23 October 2021, (TON): The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it had killed at least 92 Houthi rebels in airstrikes on two districts near the strategic city of Marib.

The deaths are the latest among hundreds that the coalition says have been killed in recent fighting around Marib, and come during a second week of reported intense bombing.

“Operations targeted 16 military vehicles and killed more than 92 terrorist elements” in the past 24 hours, the coalition said in a statement, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. The coalition has for the past two weeks reported almost daily strikes around Marib.

Most of the previously announced strikes were in Abedia, about 100 km from Marib — the internationally recognized government’s last bastion in northern Yemen.

The latest airstrikes reported were in the districts of Al-Jubah, some 50 km south of Marib, and Al-Kassarah, 30 km northwest.

MOSCOW, 23 October 2021, (TON): President Joe Biden said “the United States would come to the defence of Taiwan if the island were attacked by China, which considers it part of its territory.”

“Yes,” he responded when asked in a CNN town hall about defending Taiwan.

“We have a commitment to that.” Biden's statement was at odds with the long-held US policy known as “strategic ambiguity,” where Washington helps build Taiwan's defences but does not explicitly promise to come to the island's help.

He made a similar pledge in August during an interview with ABC, insisting that the United States would always defend key allies, including Taiwan, despite the withdrawal from Afghanistan in the face of the victorious Taliban.

MOSCOW, 23 October 2021, (TON): President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the Western-backed military development of Ukraine posed a serious threat to Russia, two days after the U.S. defense secretary staged a show of support for Kyiv and encouraged its aspiration to join NATO.

Putin told a group of journalists and Russia experts that Tuesday’s visit to Ukraine by Lloyd Austin, in which he said no third country had the right to veto its hoped-for NATO membership, had effectively paved the way for Kyiv to join.

Whether it did or not, Putin said, Russia’s interests were targeted.

“Formal membership (of Ukraine) in NATO may not take place, but military development of the territory is already under way,” Putin told the Valdai Discussion Club. “And this really poses a threat to Russia. We are aware of that.”

The United States has been Ukraine’s most powerful backer since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of a war the same year between Russian separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine, which Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people.

The Kremlin chief has consistently made clear that NATO membership for Ukraine – which shares close ties with Russia going back to ancient times – would be a red line for Moscow.

BEIJING, 23 October 2021, (TON): Forty-three countries called on China at the UN to “ensure full respect for the rule of law” with regard to the Muslim Uyghur community in Xinjiang, where respect for human rights remains “particularly” worrying.

“We call on China to allow immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and her office,” the countries said in a joint statement, read at the United Nations by France.

“We are particularly concerned about the situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” the statement said, citing “credible” reports that “indicate the existence of a large network of ‘political reeducation’ camps where over a million people have been arbitrarily detained.”

The declaration, signed by the United States, European countries, Asian states and other spoke of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, forced sterilization, sexual and gender-based violence and forced separation of children, which it said  “disproportionately continues to target Uyghurs and members of other minorities.”

China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun denounced what he termed the “lies” and “a plot to hurt China.” He quickly stepped in to reject “unfounded accusations.”

He said “Xinjiang enjoys development and the people are emancipating themselves every day and are proud of the progress made.”

BRUSSELS, 23 October 2021, (TON): The European Union Military Committee (EUMC) will meet at the level of EU Chiefs of Defence (CHODs). General Claudio Graziano will chair the meeting.

EU Chiefs of Defence will discuss the Strategic Compass, the revision of EU Battlegroup and the Common Security and Defence (CSDP) military missions and operations.

The EU Chiefs of Defence, along with representative of NATO Military Committee, will discuss the state of play of EU-NATO cooperation.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the EUMC, defence chiefs will also meet the former chairmen of EUMC.

WASHINGTON, 23 October 2021, (TON): White House officials are gearing up for a virtual meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping they hope will show the world Washington can responsibly manage relations between the rival superpowers, people familiar with the matter say.

Combative diplomatic exchanges with China early in the Biden administration unnerved allies and US officials believe direct engagement with Xi, who has consolidated power in Beijing to a degree not seen since Mao Zedong, is the best way to prevent the relationship between the world's two biggest economies spiraling toward conflict.

An agenda will likely not be set until after consultations with allies, they said, including during next week's summit of the Group of 20 countries in Rome and a subsequent UN climate conference in Glasgow.

Biden will attend both forums. Xi, who hasn't left China since early in the pandemic, is not expected to travel.

While the stakes for the Biden-Xi meeting are high – Washington and Beijing have been sparring on issues from the origins of the pandemic to China's expanding nuclear arsenal – Biden's team is so far setting low expectations for specific outcomes and has declined to say what the agenda might include.