RIYADH, 24 January 2022, (TON): The Kingdom’s foreign ministry said “Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan held talks with the former German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, in the capital Riyadh.”

During the meeting, they “reviewed the historical and distinguished relations between the Kingdom and Germany,” and ways of developing them in different fields.

WASHINGTON, 24 January 2022, (TON): The United States has ordered the families of all American staff at the US Embassy in Ukraine to leave the country amid heightened concern that Russia, which has massed troops on the border, is about to invade.

In a statement on Sunday, the State Department also said that non-essential embassy staff could leave Ukraine at government expense and that all Americans should consider departing immediately.

Russian military activity has fuelled growing concern in Washington and other Western capitals that it is planning to invade Ukraine, after annexing Crimea in 2014. Moscow has insisted it has no plans for an invasion.

The US Embassy in Kyiv warned that “military action by Russia could come at any time and the United States government will not be in a position to evacuate American citizens in such a contingency, so US citizens currently present in Ukraine should plan accordingly.”

Speaking on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken rebuffed calls to immediately impose economic sanctions on Russia, saying that doing so would undercut the West’s ability to deter any potential Russian aggression against Ukraine.

VIENNA, 24 January 2022, (TON): The lead US nuclear negotiator told media “the United States is unlikely to strike an agreement with Iran to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal unless Tehran releases four US citizens Washington says it is holding hostage.”

The official, US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley, repeated the long-held US position that the issue of the four people held in Iran is separate from the nuclear negotiations. He moved a step closer, however, to saying that their release was a precondition for a nuclear agreement.

Malley told media in an interview “they’re separate and we’re pursuing both of them. But I will say it is very hard for us to imagine getting back into the nuclear deal while four innocent Americans are being held hostage by Iran.”

“So even as we’re conducting talks with Iran indirectly on the nuclear file we are conducting, again indirectly, discussions with them to ensure the release of our hostages,” he said in Vienna, where talks are taking place on bringing Washington and Tehran back into full compliance with the deal.

In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on espionage and security-related charges.

Rights groups have accused Iran of taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage, while Western powers have long demanded that Tehran free their citizens, who they say are political prisoners.

WASHINGTON, 24 January 2022, (TON): American officials have been in talks with Qatar over supplying European countries with liquefied natural gas (LNG) in case a Russian invasion of Ukraine leads to shortages on the continent.

Two people close to the issue told Bloomberg that President Joe Biden planned to ask the Gulf state’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to visit the White House, possibly as soon as later this month.

It added the meeting between Biden and Sheikh Tamim had been in the works for some time.

The United States is concerned Russia is preparing for the possibility of a new military assault on the country it partially invaded in 2014, while Moscow denies it plans to attack Ukraine.

The European Union depends on Russia for about one-third of its gas supplies, and US sanctions over any conflict could disrupt that supply.

Any interruptions to Russia’s gas supply to Europe would exacerbate an energy crisis caused by a shortage of the fuel.

The State Department’s discussions with energy companies were led by senior adviser for energy security Amos Hochstein, a senior US State Department official told the Reuters news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity.

MOSCOW, 24 January 2022, (TON): Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday rejected a British claim that Russia was seeking to replace Ukraine’s government with a pro-Moscow administration, and that former Ukrainian lawmaker Yevheniy Murayev was being considered as a potential candidate.

Britain’s Foreign Office also named several other Ukrainian politicians it said had links with Russian intelligence services, along with Murayev who is the leader of a small party that has no seats in the parliament.

Those politicians include Mykola Azarov, a former prime minister under Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian president ousted in a 2014 uprising, and Yanukovych’s former chief of staff, Andriy Kluyev.

The Foreign Office said “some of these have contact with Russian intelligence officers currently involved in the planning for an attack on Ukraine.”

He said in a Facebook post “the time of pro-Western and pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine is gone forever.”

RIYADH, 24 January 2022, (TON): The coalition said “two residents sustained minor injuries after the Houthis fired a ballistic missile that fell in the industrial area of Ahad Al-Masarihah, Jazan.”

The Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen said “the residents, of Sudanese and Bangladeshi origin, were wounded and workshops and civilian vehicles were damaged in the “vicious and brutal attack” that would be dealt with firmly.”

The coalition said “this was the third Houthi attempt to target civilians of different nationalities in the industrial area situated in the Kingdom’s south western region.”

Early Monday statements by the coalition reported they had knocked down a ballistic missile that was launched toward Dhahran Al-Janub in the Kingdom’s Asir province.

Falling debris caused damage to workshops and civilian vehicles in the area.

MOSCOW, 24 January 2022, (TON): Somalia and the African Union (AU) have agreed to reorganize the peacekeeping force (AMISOM) in the country, Garowe reports.

The statement said “over the next 33 months, the forces in Somalia will be reorganized and become partners with the UN.”

It is noted that the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia will be renamed the African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).

ATMIS will be led by a special representative who will be appointed by the Chairman of the AC.

Somalia ceased to exist as a single state more than 30 years ago, when the dictatorial regime of Siad Barre fell in 1991.

DUBAI, 24 January 2022, (TON): The United Arab Emirates has banned the flying of drones in the country for recreation after Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed a fatal drone attack on an oil facility and major airport in the country.

Drone hobbyists and other operators of light electric sports aircraft face “legal liabilities” if caught flying the objects.

It added “it may grant exemptions to businesses seeking to film.”

A rare drone and missile strike on the capital of Abu Dhabi blew up several fuel tankers and killed three people last week.

The Houthis, who hold Yemen’s capital and have fought a bloody, yearslong war with a Saudi-led military coalition that includes the UAE, claimed the assault.

While the UAE has largely withdrawn troops from the stalemated conflict, the country continues to be a major player and support local militias on the ground.

The UAE said the Houthis targeted the country with bomb-laden drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, adding the country had intercepted some of the projectiles. In response to the strike, the Saudi-led coalition has escalated attacks on the rebel-held parts of Yemen in the last week.

BERLIN, 24 January 2022, (TON): Germany's leader has urged Europe and the United States to think carefully when considering sanctions against Russia for any aggression against Ukraine in a crisis pitting Berlin's main gas supplier against its biggest security allies.

Among a range of possible Western sanctions against President Vladmir Putin's government, Germany could halt the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia if it invades Ukraine.

But that would risk exacerbating a gas supply crunch in Europe that has caused energy prices to soar.

"Prudence dictates choosing measures that will have the greatest effect on those who violate the jointly agreed principles," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was quoted as saying by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Scholz added "at the same time, we have to consider the consequences this will have for us."

He said “nobody should think there was a measure available without consequences for Germany.”

KABUL, 24 January 2022, (TON): Taliban delegates, led by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, and Afghan civil society representatives held daylong discussions, focusing on the deepening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, in Oslo.

The participants “listened patiently to each other's opinions” and exchanged views on the current situation in the country, said a brief Taliban statement after the meeting in the Norwegian capital.

It said “a number of Afghan personalities attended the meeting with Muttaqi’s delegation but did not elaborate.”

the Taliban statement noted “they affirmed that Afghanistan is the shared home of all Afghans and stressed that all Afghans need to work together for the political, economic and security prosperity of the country.”

The talks marked the beginning of three days of closed-door meetings the Scandinavian country has arranged among the ruling Islamist group, Western government officials and Afghans from a range of fields within civil society.