SEOUL, 18 January 2022, (TON): North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles Monday, Seoul said “its fourth weapons test this month as Pyongyang flexes its military muscle while ignoring offers of talks from the United States.”

Despite biting international sanctions, Pyongyang has conducted a string of weapons tests this year, including of hypersonic missiles, as leader Kim Jong Un pursues his avowed goal of further strengthening the military.

Reeling economically from a self-imposed coronavirus blockade, impoverished North Korea has not responded to Washington’s offers of talks, while doubling down on weapons tests and vowing a “stronger and certain” response to any attempts to rein it in.

The launches come at a delicate time in the region, with North Korea’s sole major ally China set to host the Winter Olympics next month and South Korea gearing up for a presidential election in March.

Two suspected “short-range ballistic missiles” were fired east from an airport in Pyongyang early Monday, the South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, with Japan also confirming the launch.

The JCS added “fired just before 9 am (0000 GMT), they flew 380 kilometers (about 240 miles) at an altitude of 42 km.”

DUBAI, 18 January 2022, (TON): Yemen's Houthi group attacked the United Arab Emirates using drones on Monday, setting off explosions in three fuel trucks and causing a fire near the airport of Abu Dhabi, capital of the region's commercial and tourism hub.

The strike on a leading Gulf Arab ally of the United States takes the war between the Houthi group and a Saudi-led coalition to a new level, and may hinder efforts to contain regional tensions as Washington and Tehran work to rescue a nuclear deal.

The foreign ministry said in a statement "the UAE condemns this terrorist attack by the Houthi militia on areas and civilian facilities on Emirati soil...(It) will not go unpunished.”

"The UAE reserves the right to respond to these terrorist attacks and criminal escalation."

The UAE, a member of the coalition, has armed and trained local Yemeni forces that recently joined fighting against the Houthis in Yemen's energy-producing Shabwa and Marib regions.

The Houthi movement has frequently launched cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, but has claimed few such attacks on the UAE, mostly denied by Emirati authorities.

"With (nuclear) negotiators running out of time, the risk of deterioration in the region’s security climate is rising," said Torbjorn Soltvedt, Principal MENA Analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

LONDON, 18 January 2022, (TON): Senior politicians from across the EU and UK urged the UN to open an investigation into the 1988 massacres of political prisoners by the Iranian regime.

Speaking at an event hosted by the National Council of Resistance of Iran and attended by Arab News, former heads of state and senior parliamentary figures threw their support behind its campaign for accountability over the massacres.

Guy Verhofstadt, Belgium’s prime minister from 1999 to 2008, described the massacres in which Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi played a key role as a prosecutor in Tehran as genocide.

Verhofstadt, now a member of the European Parliament, said “the impunity crisis in Iran reached a peak in June when Raisi was appointed as the regime’s president. He’s one of the main perpetrators of the 1988 mass murder of more than 30,000 political prisoners.

“Instead of being tried for crimes against humanity, he’s occupying the post of presidency. This shows that impunity is rampant in Iran.”

The 1988 killings heavily targeted the Mujahedin el-Khalq, an opposition group that played a key role in the 1979 revolution but was later violently turned upon by Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini as he sought to consolidate power.

KIEV, 18 January 2022, (TON): Ukraine said “it had evidence that Russia was behind a massive cyberattack that knocked out key government websites this past week, while Microsoft warned the hack could be far worse than first thought.”

Tensions are at an all-time high between Ukraine and Russia, which Kiev accuses of having massed troops on its border ahead of a possible invasion.

Some analysts fear the cyberattack could be the prelude to a military attack.

Washington also accused Russia of sending saboteurs trained in explosives to stage an incident that could be the pretext to invade its pro-Western neighbour.

The Ukrainian digital transformation ministry said in a statement “all the evidence points to Russia being behind the cyberattack. Moscow is continuing to wage a hybrid war.”

The ministry urged Ukrainians not to panic, saying their personal information was protected.

The purpose of the attack, it added “is not only to intimidate society. But to also destabilise the situation in Ukraine, halting the work of the public sector and crushing Ukrainians’ trust in the authorities.”

The Kremlin earlier rejected the claims and said there was no evidence Russia was behind the attack.

DUBAI, 18 January 2022, (TON): Three fuel trucks exploded, killing three people, and a fire broke out near Abu Dhabi airport on Monday in what Houthi group said was an attack deep inside the United Arab Emirates.

The Houthi movement, which is battling a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE, has frequently launched cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, but has claimed few such attacks on the UAE, mostly denied by Emirati authorities.

State news agency WAM said “three people were killed and six wounded when three fuel tanker trucks exploded in the industrial Musaffah area near storage facilities of oil firm ADNOC.”

It said “those killed were two Indians and a Pakistani.”

Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar has confirmed the demise of a Pakistani national in today’s attack.

In a statement, he said that the Abu Dhabi Police have informed the Pakistani Embassy in Abu Dhabi about the demise of a Pakistani in the incident. He said “the embassy is in close contact with the UAE authorities for ascertaining more details in this regard.”

BERLIN, 18 January 2022, (TON): Germany's foreign minister said “she hoped tensions with Russia over Ukraine could be solved by diplomacy, but she warned that Moscow would suffer if it does attack its neighbour.”

Minister Annalena Baerbock was speaking in Kyiv on a tour that next takes her to Moscow after talks between Russia and Western states on the Kremlin's deployment of tens of thousands of troops along Ukraine's border ended with no breakthrough last week.

The United States said “last week it feared Russia was preparing a pretext to invade Ukraine, which Moscow denies.”

Baerbock told a joint news conference with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba "each further aggressive act will have a high price for Russia, economically, strategically, politically.”

"Diplomacy is the only way."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, visiting Madrid, said everything must be done to avoid military intervention in Ukraine.

WASHINGTON, 18 January 2022, (TON): Ambassador Lucy Tamlyn, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister Counselor, will serve as Chargé d’Affaires, ad interim, at our Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan following Brian Shukan’s nomination as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Benin.

Ambassador Tamlyn will bring a wealth of experience to the role, having served previously as the Director of the Office of the Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan and as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Benin and then to the Central African Republic.

I am sending Ambassador Tamlyn to Khartoum during this critical juncture in Sudan’s democratic transition with the full confidence of Washington behind her. 

Ambassador Tamlyn will serve in this role pending the nomination and confirmation of a U.S. Ambassador to Sudan.

STOCKHOLM, 18 January 2022, (TON): Sweden’s security agency announced it was investigating incidents over the past w-eek in which drones have been spotted flying above the Forsmark, Ringhals and Oskarshamn nuclear power plants.

SAPO said “with regard to the cases of drone overflights at three nuclear power plants, the assessment is made that they are of such a nature that preliminary investigations have been taken over from the police authority in order to be able to investigate the incidents in more detail.”

TEHRAN, 18 January 2022, (TON): An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said “three Iranian diplomats have arrived in Saudi Arabia to take up posts at the headquarters of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah.”

Regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, which severed diplomatic ties in 2016, launched direct talks last year at a time when global powers are trying to salvage a 2015 nuclear pact with Tehran, and as United Nations-led efforts to end a war in Yemen stall.

Foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told “three Iranian diplomats have arrived in Jeddah to start their work at the OIC.”

In a further sign of a thaw in ruptured ties, Iran said in December that its regional Sunni rival Saudi Arabia had agreed to grant visas to three Iranian diplomats to be based in the kingdom.

Tehran and Riyadh held four rounds of talks in Iraq, with Baghdad hoping its mediation will stop the neighbours seeking to settle scores on its territory.

BRUSSELS, 18 January 2022, (TON): The NATO Communications and Information Agency and Ukraine signed on 17 January 2022 a renewed Memorandum of Agreement to continue their work together on technology-related projects.

NCI Agency General Manager Ludwig Decamps said “we have successfully worked with Ukraine for several years, delivering key capabilities and exchanging knowledge.”

“Under this renewed agreement, we will deepen our collaboration with Ukraine to support them in modernizing their information technology and communications services, while identifying areas where training may be required for their personnel. Our experts stand ready to continue this critical partnership.”

Relations between NA-TO and Ukraine date back to the early 1990s. Coop-eration has deepened over time and is mutually beneficial, with Ukraine actively contributing to NATO-led operations and missions.

Since the Agency’s Supervisory Board approved the first agreement in 2015, the Agency has consistently supported Ukraine on technology matters, primarily through the NATO-Ukraine Comm-and, Control, Communica-tion and Computers (C4) Trust Fund.

Ambassador Nataliia Galibarenko, Head of Mission of Ukraine to NATO said “the Memorandum signed today continues our cooperation established in 2015. With NATO’s support we plan to further introduce modern information technologies and services into the command and control system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

Projects include an effort to deliver secure communications equipment to Ukraine in December 2018, which are still in use.