ISTANBUL, 24 January, 2021, (TON): Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday has launched indigenous frigate Istanbul (F-515) as part of the MILGEM project, a national warship program.

Istanbul F-515 Frigate was designed with national resources, and over 75 percent of its systems are of indigenous manufacture, according to the Turkish Presidency of Defense Industries.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of Istanbul (F-515) Frigate Erdogan Turkey is among the 10 countries that can design, build, and maintain its own warship, and the country's navy will be in a "very strong position" with five major projects in the coming five years.

The 113-meter-long frigate would perform advanced air defense and surface warfare, antisubmarine warfare, and patrol activities, the presidency said.

"Turkey meets needs of friendly and allied countries as well as itself in terms of land and sea vehicles," Erdogan said, adding Ankara can overcome challenges and embargoes posed by global suppliers through its own strength.

It is expected to be delivered to Turkey's Naval Forces Command in 2023.

Within the scope of the project, which consists of building eight ships in total, Turkey had launched four frigates in recent years.

The MİLGEM project is a Turkish national warship program, the purpose of which is to build a modern littoral combat warship with indigenous anti-submarine warfare and high-seas patrol capabilities, extensively using the principles of stealth technology in its design including reconnaissance, surveillance, early warning, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air warfare, and amphibious operations.

SANAA, 24 January, 2021, (TON): Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday announced the arrival of its delegation in Jordan's capital Amman for UN-sponsored talks with the Yemeni government on exchange of prisoners.

The new round of talks is due to begin within days, as reported by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

The office of UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths and Ymeni government has made no comment yet.

Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels released about 1,056 prisoners from both sides in October 2020, which was the largest UN-sponsored exchange deal between them since the outbreak of a civil war.

The conflict in Yemen broke out in late 2014, when the Houthi rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north. Months later, the Saudi-UAE-led coalition launched a military intervention in a bid to restore Hadi’s government.

The UN had verified the deaths of at least 7,700 civilians by March 2020. The war has created the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world and threatens to turn into the largest famine in decades.

TEHRAN, 24 January, 2021, (TON): Iran's top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif, is set for a tour of five nations.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh announced on Saturday that Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif will visit five nations for talks on bilateral as well as regional issues.

Zarif's tour will start on 25^th January, Monday and cover Azerbaijan, Russia, Armenia, Georgia and Turkey, said Khatibzadeh, according to the Ministry's website.

According to spokesman Khatibzadeh, during his tour, Zarif will meet with his counterparts and other senior officials to discuss bilateral issues, latest developments in the Caucasus region, joint projects as well as peace and stability in the region.

TAIPEI, 24 January, 2021, (TON): Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Saturday that eight Chinese bomber planes and four fighter jets entered the southwestern corner of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, Taiwan’s air force deployed missiles to “monitor” the incursion.

Taiwan’s air force warned away the Chinese aircraft, the defence ministry said.

In a statement issued by the Ministry said “Airborne alert sorties had been tasked, radio warnings issued, and air defence missile systems deployed to monitor the activity.”

The presence of so many Chinese combat aircraft on this mission - Taiwan said it was made up of eight nuclear-capable H-6K bombers and four J-16 fighter jets - was unusual.

A map provided by Taiwan’s defense ministry showed that the Chinese aircraft, including a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, flew over the same waters where the most recent Chinese missions have been taking place near the Pratas Islands, though still well away from mainland Taiwan.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department urged China to stop pressuring Taiwan and reaffirmed its commitment to the island and desire to deepen ties.

The US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, “We will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defence capability.”

There were no immediate comments from China. However, China in past says that it has been carrying out exercises to defend its sovereignty and security.

In recent months China conducted almost daily flights over the waters between the southern part of Taiwan and the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the South China Sea.

China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be part of the country again but Taiwan's leaders say it is clearly much more than a province, arguing that it is a sovereign state. The dispute with China has left relations frayed with a constant threat of a violent flare up.

MOSCOW, 24 January, 2021, (TON): The Russian Foreign Ministry blamed the U.S. Embassy in Moscow for interference in opposition rallies in Russia, saying these are the country's domestic affairs.

The U.S. Embassy has shown disregard for diplomatic rules and regulations by actively posting messages on social media in support of unsanctioned protests in Russian cities, the ministry said in a statement.

"We are talking about encouraging violent actions, hypocritically declared as peaceful protests, in which the organizers cynically involved even minors," the statement said.

Attempts by U.S. diplomats to incite radical actions are doomed to failure and will have negative consequences for Moscow-Washington relations, it added.

The ministry made the remarks after activists staged protests in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a number of Russian cities earlier in the day.

According to the Moscow branch of the Russian Interior Ministry about 4,000 people participated in the rally at Pushkin Square near the Kremlin. Police detained several protestors and warned to immediately suppress the demonstrations.

TRIPOLI, 24 January, 2021, (TON): The co-chairs of the International Follow-Up Committee for Libya Security Working Group (SWG), reiterated on Saturday their full and continued commitment to the implementation of the Libyan ceasefire agreement.

SWG was represented by the African Union, France, Italy, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

"They reiterated their commitment to facilitating the work of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission (JMC), through enhanced cooperation and their continued support to the political process," the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) who represents the working group said in a statement.

According to UNMSMIL the participants reiterated their full and continued commitment to the implementation of the 23 October 2020 ceasefire agreement as the deadline set draws near for the departure of all foreign fighters and mercenaries from Libya.

The Libyan Civil War is an ongoing multi-sided civil war from 2014 in the North African country of Libya fought between different armed groups, since then Libya has been shaken by violence. The country has been dominated by armed groups, divided by local conflicts between two sides: the UN-run Tripoli Government of National Accord (GNA) and a rival administration in the east of the Haftar-affiliated nation.

Permanent ceasefire agreement was signed by the Libyan 5+5 joint commission on 23 October, 2020, in Geneva which includes the implementation of the withdrawal of foreign troops from contact lines, exchanging all prisoners between the rival parties, remove landmines in cooperation with the UN teams and the General Intelligence Service, combat hate speech.

MOSCOW, 23 January, 2021 (TON): Police detained several protestors and warned to immediately suppress the demonstrations in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Protests in support of the jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny kicked off in Khabarovsk, the southeastern Russian city on Saturday.

After the rallies got underway, several dozen demonstrators were detained shortly, Navalny’s Headquarters reported.

The protests began first at Khabarovsk, but marches are planned in more than 90 cities throughout Russia on Saturday.

The rallies are going ahead despite police warning to be suppressed.

The protestors are demanding the release of Navalny, who got arrested on his return to Russia from Germany following a near fatal poisoning with a nerve agent and handed a 30 day jail sentence for violating the terms of suspended sentence in 2014 on fraud charges.

The 44 year old says the charges are politically motivated.

The US, the European Union, France and Canada have urged his release. EU has also imposed sanctions.

The protests in Khabarovsk are also focused on the arrest of the city's popular former governor, Sergei Furgal.

MOGADISHU, 23 January, 2021 (TON): Working as a part of peacekeeping force, the Somalia soldiers killed 189 armed group fighters in an attack on one of their camps.

In Somalia, the Ugandan troops are part of the African Union peacekeeping mission, whose aim is to support the central government and stop the efforts of toppling the government.

In Sigaale, Adimole and Kayitoy, the soldiers have raided the hideouts in the villages just over 100km (62 miles) southwest of the capital Mogadishu, said the Ugandan People’s Defense Force (UPDF) in a statement.

He added, the forces put out of action 189 fighters and destroyed a number of military hardware and items used in the attacks.

In response to the raid by the UPDF, no comment was reported from the other party.

Until 2011, the group aimed to topple Somalia’s government and impose its own interpretation of laws and controlled most of south-central Somalia when it was driven out of Mogadishu by African Union troops. Major gun and bomb attacks are still carried out by rebels in the region despite the loss of territory.

Uganda was the first country to send peacekeeping forces to Somalia.

NEW YORK, 23 January, 2021 (TON): A recent update on Friday was issued by the New York State Department of Health, Andrew Cuomo on high risk high school winter sports.

The decision will allow athletes to begin practicing basketball, hockey and wrestling beginning February 1, 2021 provided there is approval from county health officials.

The guidelines read, “Effective February 1, 2021, participants in higher risk sports and recreation activities may partake in individual or distanced group training and organized no/low-contact group training and, further, may partake in other types of play, including competitions and tournaments, only as permitted by the respective local health authorities, (i.e., county health departments).

Since March 2020, the famous pandemic has hindered the ability for high school athletes to compete.

The winter state championship tournaments in such sports bowling, basketball and hockey were not completed. There was no spring season in 2020 and no high-risk sports allowed during the fall.

This season, the start of the winter sports was pushed back to January 2, 2021, and did not guarantee permission to high risk sports to be practiced.

Section II Executive Director, Ed Dopp did not comment until he received more information from the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, but did add that the schedules will be provided to the schools willing to compete if the news is indeed true, and the section would begin counting practices.

Barring any changes to the length of the winter season, high-risk sports would need a week to gain the necessary practices required to begin and then would have three weeks to complete seasons prior to the Feb. 28 end date. There are no sectional and state tournaments to be contested, but there could potentially be allowances made to extend the length of time to compete.

LONDON, 23 January, 2021 (TON): Progress in the 2019 death case of 39 Vietnamese migrants in London, took place when the ringleaders of a human smuggling group have been imprisoned for their involvement in the scene.

On Friday the court in the U.K. sentenced seven men to prison when their roles were assured for being involved in the case.

The men were given prison terms ranging from 13 to 27 years for involvement in a people-smuggling plot that led to their deaths.

In October 2019, the case sparked a global outrage when the victims of ages ranging from 14 to 44 slowly suffocated inside a container in the back of a truck discovered at an industrial port near London.

The court ruled two defendants who were identified as the ringleaders of the smuggling group, Gheorghe Nica, 43 and haulier boss Ronan Hughes, 41.

Nica was sentenced to 27 years in prison while Hughes was handed 20 years.

Two truck drivers also caught and received prison sentences, one 23 year old Eamonn Harrison given an 18 year sentence, 13 years and 4 months sentence given to 26 years old driver, Maurice Robinson.

The judge also ordered that the men serve two-thirds of their sentences in custody, rather than the more customary 50%.

Three other men involved in the group were also handed prison terms from three to seven years.

They' had been previously found guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.