OTTAWA, 21 February 2022, (TON): Canadian police secured the downtown core of the capital with fencing as city workers cleaned up trash and snow plows cleared streets after two days of tense standoffs and 191 arrests ended a three-week occupation of Ottawa.

Police said “demonstrators had used hundreds of trucks and vehicles to block the city center since Jan. 28, prompting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invoke rarely used emergency powers. Seventy-six vehicles had been towed.”

Stragglers packed up a logistics depot the so-called “Freedom Convoy” had set up in a parking lot near the highway to supply the protesters camped several kilometers away in front of parliament, as police handed out flyers warning them to leave soon or risk arrest and a fine.

Winton Marchant, a retired firefighter from Windsor, Ontario said “we were running support for the convoy and the people in the downtown core — food, fuel, basic necessities.”

“This was the base camp and we are cleaning up.”

Police used pepper spray and stun grenades on the die-hard protesters who remained, clearing most of the area in front of parliament. Other demonstrators abandoned their positions in other parts of the downtown area during the night.

CAIRO, 21 February 2022, (TON): Egypt, France, Germany and Jordan have announced their support for peace efforts between Palestine and Israel based on the two-state solution.

A statement issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs following a meeting of foreign ministers on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference said that the four countries support all efforts to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace that fulfills the legitimate rights of all parties on the basis of the two-state solution, in accordance with international law, relevant UN resolutions and agreed parameters, including the Arab Peace Initiative.

The group of ministers previously met in in Amman on Sept. 24, 2020, in Cairo on Jan. 11, 2021, and in Paris on March 11, 2021.

The statement added that the newest meeting addressed increasing tensions on the ground.

“Against this backdrop, we recall the urgency of the resumption of serious, meaningful and effective talks and negotiations directly between the parties or under a UN umbrella, including under the Middle East Quartet.”

THE HAGUE, 21 February 2022, (TON): An international case accusing Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority returns to the United Nations’ highest court amid questions over whether the country’s military rulers should even be allowed to represent the Southeast Asian nation.

Four days of public hearings at the International Court of Justice start Monday into Myanmar’s preliminary objections to the case that was brought by Gambia, an African nation acting on behalf of an organization of Muslim nations that accuses Myanmar of genocide in its crackdown on the Rohingya.

In August 2017, Myanmar’s military launched what it called a clearance campaign in Rakhine state in the country’s west in response to an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group.

The campaign forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh and led to accusations that security forces committed mass rapes and killings and burned thousands of homes.

Gambia argues that the campaign amounted to a breach of the genocide convention and wants the court to hold the country responsible.

The figurehead who led Myanmar’s legal team in court last time there were public hearings in the case the nation’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in prison after being convicted on what supporters call trumped up charges.

Opponents of Myanmar’s military rulers say they have appointed two officials to the country’s legal team at the UN top court who are the subject of international sanctions.

SANAA, 21 February 2022, (TON): The Iran-backed Houthi militia launched seven missiles at the central Yemeni city of Marib, local officials said, as fighters also intensified ground attacks to seize control of new territory across Yemen.

A military official told Arab News that seven missiles fired by the Houthis ripped through different neighborhoods in Marib, killing and wounding many civilians and triggering explosions that shook the city.

Residents reported hearing more than 10 explosions across the city as local authorities announced that five Houthi missiles had hit the city.

Hours later, the Houthi launched two more missiles, causing further destruction.

Dozens of civilians have been killed in densely populated Marib since early last year when the Houthis scaled up missile, drone and ground attacks on the city as part of a renewed major offensive to control the government’s last major urban bastion in the northern half of the country.

Similarly, three students were wounded when an explosive-laden drone fired by the Houthis hit a school in Marib’s Hareb district, local authorities said.

Added that the students were leaving the building when the drone exploded.

KYIV, 21 February 2022, (TON): Russia extended military drills near Ukraine’s northern borders amid increased fears that two days of sustained shelling along the contact line between soldiers and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine could spark an invasion. Ukraine’s president appealed for a cease-fire.

The exercises were originally set to end Sunday and brought a sizable contingent of Russian forces to Belarus.

The presence of the Russian troops raised concern that they could be used to sweep down on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, a city of about 3 million people less than a three-hour drive away.

Western leaders warned that Russia was poised to attack its neighbor, which is surrounded on three sides by about 150,000 Russian soldiers, warplanes and equipment.

Russia held nuclear drills Saturday as well as the conventional exercises in Belarus, and has ongoing naval drills off the coast in the Black Sea.

The United States and many European countries have alleged for months that Russia is trying to create pretexts to invade. They have threatened massive, immediate sanctions if it does.

LONDON, 21 February 2022, (TON): Iran’s top diplomat has said “Iran is prepared to organize a major prison swap with Washington if the US delivers a significant gesture of goodwill, such as by releasing $8 billion of overseas Iranian assets that are unavailable to the regime.”

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that the US and Iran had never been so close to reaching a deal as we are, regarding the nuclear deal that was dislodged under former US president Donald Trump’s administration.

European nations have been engaging with Tehran with hopes of restarting the deal since February.

While addressing the Munich Security Conference, Iran’s foreign minister said the country required the US to display some flexibility in providing political, legal and economic guarantees that Washington will honor the nuclear deal.

He said that prisoner swaps were a completely humanitarian issue.

He added “there was a kind of agreement that was formed last year that all the prisoners at once will be exchanged.”

JEDDAH, 21 February 2022, (TON): Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said “the Kingdom was looking to schedule a fifth round of direct talks with Iran despite a lack of substantive progress in previous rounds.”

Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, said if the 2015 nuclear pact was revived that should be a starting point, not an end point in order to address regional concerns, and that Riyadh remained interested in talks with Iran.

He said “that will indeed require from our neighbors in Iran a serious desire to address the underlying issues that exist ... We hope that there is a serious desire to find a new modus operandi.”

He told the conference “if we see substantive progress on those files, then yes rapprochement is possible. So far we have not seen that.”

Experts believe Iran is only a few weeks away from having enough fissile material to build a nuclear weapon, even if it would take several more complicated steps to create an actual bomb.

SANTO DOMINGO, 21 February 2022, (TON): The Dominican government began building a wall that will cover more than half of the 392-kilometer (244 miles) border with Haiti, its only land neighbor, to stop irregular migration and the smuggling of goods, weapons and drugs.

While the two countries share the island of Hispaniola, they are worlds apart in terms of development. Crime-plagued Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the Americas while the Dominican Republic, a popular Caribbean tourist destination, has prospered in recent decades amid marked political stability.

Many Haitians cross the border clandestinely in search of work in the fields or in the construction industry in the Dominican Republic.

About 500,000 Haitians and tens of thousands of their descendents live in the Dominican Republic, a Spanish-speaking nation of about 11 million people, according to the most recent immigration survey conducted in 2018.

Abinader estimated the border wall will reduce the smuggling of commercial goods, weapons and help fight organized crime in both nations.

GUBA, 21 February 2022, (TON): Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially inaugurated electricity production from the country’s mega-dam on the Blue Nile, a milestone in the controversial multi-billion dollar project.

Abiy, accompanied by high-ranking officials, toured the power generation station and pressed a series of buttons on an electronic screen, a move that officials said initiated production.

An official presiding at the launch ceremony said “this great dam was built by Ethiopians but not only for Ethiopians, rather for all our African brothers and sisters to benefit from.”

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is set to be the largest hydroelectric scheme in Africa but has been at the centre of a regional dispute ever since Ethiopia broke ground there in 2011.

Ethiopia’s downstream neighbours Egypt and Sudan view the dam as a threat because of their dependence on Nile waters, while Addis Ababa deems it essential for its electrification and development.

The $4.2-billion (3.7-billion-euro) project is ultimately expected to produce more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity, more than doubling Ethiopia’s electricity output.

RIYADH, 21 February 2022, (TON): Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister met with the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy.

Saudi Press Agency reported “during the meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Josep Borrell exchanged views on Iran’s nuclear program and ongoing negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.”

The two officials also discussed ways to enhance joint efforts to stop Houthi violations in Yemen that are obstructing a political solution in the country.