WASHINGTON, 04 March 2022, (TON): Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Costa Rican Foreign Minister Rodolfo Solano Quirós, Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez, and Panamanian Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes on March 2 in Washington, DC.

Secretary Blinken expressed strong appreciation for the leadership role the three governments took in forming the Alliance for Development in Democracy, a model for how leaders in the Western Hemisphere can collaborate to make progress on issues of common concern.

Secretary Blinken thanked the Foreign Ministers for their nations’ efforts to strengthen democratic institutions and norms, including supporting the Nicaraguan people as they strive to re-establish democracy and protect their human rights from Ortega-Murillo regime abuses.

They also advanced ongoing joint efforts to improve safe, orderly, and humane migration throughout the region.

On regional issues, the group further noted Honduras’ progress in carrying out a democratic transition, and the Xiomara Castro administration’s efforts to combat corruption.

TEL AVIV, 04 March 2022, (TON): Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Gen.

Kenneth McKenzie, the outgoing commander of US Central Command, which oversees American military forces in the region.

According to Bennett’s office “the two discussed common security challenges facing Israel and the United States, and above all Iran’s aggression in the region.”

A statement said “the Prime Minister also stressed the real danger of world powers signing the nuclear agreement, if and when it occurs.”

There have been some reports that a deal is imminent.

The negotiations to revive the accord, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, involve Iran as well as France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China directly, and the United States indirectly.

France said on Monday it was “critical” that negotiators trying to restore the deal reach an agreement this week.

OTTAWA, 04 March 2022, (TON): The Canadian authorities have decided to send an additional batch of lethal wea-pons to Ukraine. This was announced to journalists by the head of the Canadian Ministry of Defense Anita Anand.

She said “we intend to supply Ukraine with additional assistance in the form of lethal weapons.”

According to her “these deliveries will include 4.5 thousand M-72 anti-tank grenade launchers and about 7.5 thousand hand grenades.”

The minister did not reveal details of how the weapons would be delivered to Ukraine, but said it would be done as quickly as possible.

In addition, Anand said that Canada will give Ukraine 1 million Canadian dollars ($790,000) for the purchase of high-precision satellite images.

She explained “this will provide the Ukrainian military with greater opportunities to monitor the movement of Russian troops in and around their territory.”

Earlier, the Canadian authorities announced that they had decided to supply Ukraine with body armor, helmets, gas masks and night vision devices, as well as anti-tank weapons.

KYIV, 04 March 2022, (TON): Ukraine asks the International Atomic Energy Agency to apply to NATO with a demand to close access to the airspace over nuclear facilities in the country.

This was announced on Thursday by the press service of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine.

The message on the official website said “in order to return the situation related to the safety of nuclear installations, facilities at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and in the exclusion zone, to the legal field, we insist on taking urgent decisive actions to apply to the IAEA to NATO with a demand to introduce, the closure of space over the territory of Ukraine taking into account the risks and the geography of the nuclear power plants of NNEGC Energoatom.”

In the appeal, the Ukrainian side insists on actions by the IAEA for an immediate ceasefire and to prevent troops from approaching closer than 30 km from the nuclear power plant.

Ukraine also stated that it expects specific actions from the IAEA in the form of ‘peer pressure’, which is usually used by member countries of the organization against parties that evade respect for the priority of security.

TAIPEI, 04 March 2022, (TON): Taiwan President Tsai Ingwen bestowed a presidential honor on former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for his contribution to boosting relations with the island, as China’s top newspaper lambasted him again as a liar.

China placed sanctions on Pompeo when he left office at the end of the Trump presidency last year, angered by his repeated criticism of the country, especially its ruling Communist Party, and support for Chinese-claimed Taiwan.

Meeting Pompeo at the presidential office in Taipei, Tsai thanked him for his long-time support of Taiwan.

She said “a visit from such a good friend as Secretary Pompeo attests to the strong Taiwan-US friendship.”

Tsai bestowed on him the Order of the Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon, one of Taiwan’s top honors. Former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is another previous honoree.

MANILA, 04 March 2022, (TON): The Philippines announced that it will develop a nuclear power program to include atomic power in its energy mix, as it prepares for a phaseout of coal-fired power plants.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed an executive order approving the program on Feb. 28. Released, the policy aims to ensure affordable electricity in a country that regularly suffers power outages and where tariffs are high.

The order said "the national government commits to the introduction of nuclear power energy into the State’s energy mix for power generation.”

"The State envisions nuclear power as a viable alternative baseload power source along with alternative energy resources, to address the projected decline of coal-fired power plants."

Coal is the main source of electricity in the Philippines, accounting for more than half of the country’s power generation.

NEW DELHI, 04 March 2022, (TON): Russian President Vladimir Putin has held talks with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the urgent evacuation of Indian students trapped in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

According to a Kremlin statement “during their video call, Putin said he had ordered Russian soldiers “to ensure the safe exit of Indian nationals from the armed conflict zone and their return to their homeland.”

It added Russia was trying to organise the emergency evacuation of a group of Indian students from Kharkiv via a humanitarian corridor.”

The Ukrainian authorities said Russian paratroopers had landed in the eastern city, and that there was fighting in the streets.

NEW DELHI, 04 March 2022, (TON): It would be difficult for India to continue buying military hardware from Russia after US financial sanctions on that country in response to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a senior official of the US State department told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a hearing on US-India relations.

The official appeared to imply that the US would not need to invoke sanctions against “an important security partner” for the purchase of the Russian S-400 air defence system.

said Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu “it’s my view that it’s going to be very hard for anyone to buy major weapon systems from Moscow in the coming months and years, given the sweeping financial sanctions that the administration with the support of Congress has levelled on Russia, the Russian banking system.”

He said that the US Secretary of State had been in the frontline of a pitched battle to get India on the same page as the US on the Ukraine issue, and that there had been an “evolution” in India’s position, and in addition we are asking India to do more.

US Senator Chris Murphy, Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism, held the sub-committee hearing with Senator Todd Young, Ranking Member of the subcommittee, on US policy towards India.

KABUL, 04 March 2022, (TON): The participants of the UN Security Council at Wednesday's meeting on Afghanistan expressed concerns over the collapse of the Afghan economy. 

The UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, said that the reconstitution of the Afghan economy needs international community engagement with the current Afghan government.

Lyons said “but other challenges to reviving the economy still remain. These include the collapse of demand due to cessation of all development assistance, restrictions on international payments, lack of access to hard currency reserves, lack of liquidity, and constraints on the Central Bank to carry out some of its core functions.”

The envoys of China and the US have engaged in a verbal dispute with the Chinese envoy accusing the US of stealing Afghan assets. 

The Chinese envoy at the meeting expressed criticism over US President Joe Biden’s decision to divert $3.5 billion of Afghan assets to be available to the victims of 9/11. He also called for the removal of financial sanctions on Afghanistan. 

WASHINGTON, 04 March 2022, (TON): a senior administration official has told lawmakers “US President Joe Biden will decide whether to apply or waive sanctions on India, one of America's key partners, under the CAATSA law for its purchase of the S-400 missile defence system from Russia.”

The US administration is required under a domestic law, Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act to impose sanctions on any country that has significant transactions with Iran, North Korea or Russia.

CAATSA is a tough US law which authorises the administration to impose sanctions on countries that purchase major defence hardware from Russia in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections.

Responding to a question on possible CAATSA sanctions on India, Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism that it was for the President Biden to decide whether to apply or waive sanctions on India.

he said "I can assure you that the administration will follow the CAATSA law and fully implement that law and will consult with Congress as we move forward with any of them.”

What unfortunately I am not able to say is to prejudge the decisions of the President or the (Secretary of State) on the waiver issue or on the sanctions issue, or whether Russia's invasion of Ukraine will bear on that decision.

The Biden administration is yet to decide on applying sanctions on India under CAATSA” Lu said.