LONDON, 14 January 2022, (TON): A landmark agreement setting out how the UK and devolved governments will work closely together to deliver for people across the whole of the United Kingdom has been published 13 January 2022.

The Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Review sets out new structures as to how the UK government, Northern Ireland Executive, Scottish Government and Welsh Government will work to deliver for people across the UK based upon on the existing values of mutual respect, maintaining trust and positive working.

The new system will be a three-tiered structure and will formalise a new council, chaired by the Prime Minister, made up of Heads of the Devolved Governments.

The Prime Minister-led council and Ministerial groups will oversee and strengthen relations between all of the UK’s governments. They will discuss issues that affect people across the UK, particularly where they cut across reserved and devolved policy – or are of shared responsibility.

Strong working and close co-operation has been vital in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including coordinating the response to new variants and the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Other examples of joined-up work include investment through Growth Deals and the Afghanistan resettlement programme.

SEOUL, 14 January 2022, (TON): North Korea launched ballistic missiles on two different occasions this past week, in a stark reminder that the threat posed by the rogue regime continues to destabilize Northeast Asia.

Even as the population suffers, Kim Jong Un is primarily focused on weapons technology and modernizing the country’s military.

Experts assess that North Korea is working to develop a hypersonic missile that demonstrates speed and maneuverability and provides Pyongyang with significant attack capabilities.

Diplomatic overtures between the Trump administration and Kim Jong Un in 2018 and 2019 failed to produce any agreement, and the Biden administration’s strategy for dealing with North Korea remains unclear.

Led by the mercurial dictator Kim Jong Un, North Korea (also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK) has mostly disappeared from the headlines, at least in Western newspapers. Yet, the danger it presents to regional and global stability remains.

LONDON, 14 January 2022, (TON): Thursday 13 January the UK has become the first country in the world to demonstrate how it returns proceeds of corruption to foreign countries with the publication of a new framework.

The UK is the first country to publish its policy and principles on international asset returns, in an unprecedented effort to provide transparent insight into government decision making on returning proceeds of crime. This applies across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The government places great importance on the recovery and return of the proceeds of corruption. We recognise that assets must be returned in a transparent and accountable manner, in line with the UN Convention Against Corruption provisions.

The publication of this framework demonstrates the UK’s commitment to the fight against corruption. The document represents a key transparency indicator and forms part of the UK’s 2021 commitments under the G7, the UK’s National Action Plan, and the upcoming 2022 US Summit for Democracy.

RIYADH, 14 January 2022, (TON): Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met Singapore President Halimah Yacob on Thursday during his official visit to the country.

During the meeting, the Saudi minister conveyed the greetings of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the president, government and people of Singapore.

Yacob conveyed her greetings to the king, the crown prince and people of the Kingdom.

The meeting reviewed the relations between the Kingdom and Singapore and ways to strengthen cooperation between the two countries at all levels.

They also discussed a number of topics of common interest and the most important regional and international developments.

The two sides discussed opportunities for economic cooperation and ways to develop them to wider horizons in light of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 reform plans.

They also discussed the environmental efforts of the two countries, including the Saudi Green and Middle East Green initiatives.

WASHINGTON DC, 14 January 2022, (TON): The launch of the European Security Dialogue was the main outcome of the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna, no one expected an agreement to be reached.

This was stated by Michael Carpenter, US Permanent Representative to the OSCE, at an online briefing for journalists.

“Today was the first meeting of the Permanent Council in 2022. Usually such meetings are dedicated to the fact that the chairman presents the priorities for this year. This is what Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau has done. on launching or intensifying a dialogue on European security.

He said “we are going to launch a new process, within the framework of which issues of European security will be discussed. The main concerns of all countries at the negotiating table.”

He added “this [discussion of such issues] a lengthy process. These are [usually] complex, technical negotiations that take time.”

RIYADH, 14 January 2022, (TON): King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center’s mobile medical clinics provided treatment to 328 patients in Yemen’s Hajjah governorate last week.

Meanwhile, the center’s artificial limbs center in Taiz governorate provided 1,339 services to 612 patients last month.

Those services included manufacturing and repairing artificial limbs for 371 patients, as well as providing physical therapy and specialist consultation to 241 people.

BAGHDAD, 14 January 2022, (TON): Security sources said “three people were wounded in rocket attacks on the Iraqi capital Baghdad’s Green Zone Thursday, with one hitting a school and two smashing into the US embassy grounds.”

A high-ranking Iraqi official told “three rockets were fired toward the Green Zone”

He added that two of the wounded were children.

“Two of those fell on the grounds of the American embassy, and the other on a school nearby, injuring a woman, a girl and a young boy.”

Another security source who did not wish to be identified said there were no injuries or damages inside the US embassy compound, which is in the Green Zone, an ultra-secure area that houses foreign embassies and Iraqi government offices.

The US Embassy in Baghdad said in a statement that its compound had been attacked by “terrorists groups attempting to undermine Iraq’s security, sovereignty, and international relations.”

LONDON, 14 January 2022, (TON): The speaker of the House of Commons said in a letter to lawmakers “a woman suspected of working on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party has been attempting to improperly influence members of parliament.”

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service had found that the woman “has been engaged in political interference activities on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, engaging with Members here at Parliament.”

The letter added “she has facilitated financial donations to serving and aspiring Parliamentarians on behalf of foreign nationals based in Hong Kong and China.”

Britain’s relations with China have deteriorated in recent years over issues including Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

Last year MI5 urged British citizens to treat the threat of spying from Russia, China and Iran with as much vigilance as terrorism.

British spies say China and Russia have each sought to steal commercially sensitive data and intellectual property as well as to interfere in domestic politics and sow misinformation.

WASHINGTON, 14 January 2022, (TON): The US has brandished the threat of sanctions if troubled Somalia misses its latest deadline for elections.

Somali leaders on Sunday announced that elections that were due to be concluded last year will take place by Feb. 25.

The State Department’s Africa bureau said in a Twitter post “Somalia’s elections are more than a year behind schedule. The US is prepared to take measures against spoilers if the new National Consultative Council timeline is not met.”

The mandate of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohammed, better known as Farmajo, expired in February 2021 and was controversially extended in April, triggering deadly gunbattles in the streets of Mogadishu.

World powers have voiced fear that election delays, as well as the ongoing feud between Farmajo and Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble, could set off new troubles for a country that has lacked stable governance for three decades.

According to UN estimates “Somalia is battling a deadly insurgency by Al-Shabab extremists and is in the grip of a drought that has left one in four people facing acute hunger.”

KABUL, 14 January 2022, (TON): Afghanistan’s envoy to Pakistan has praised the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for working to connect the country to the outside world and lauded Saudi Arabia for its crucial humanitarian assistance.

Afghanistan has been facing a looming humanitarian disaster since the Taliban took control in mid-August, a situation that prompted the US and other donor states to cut off financial assistance and isolate the country from the global financial system.

According to UN agencies “the sudden suspension of aid and access to banking has left nearly 23 million Afghans facing extreme levels of hunger and 9 million at risk of famine.”

The OIC held the 17th extraordinary session of its Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad.

The meeting, called by Saudi Arabia, focused on the economic crisis in Afghanistan and was also attended by delegations from the EU, and the P5+1 group of the UN Security Council, comprising the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany.

At the summit’s conclusion, OIC member states agreed to establish a humanitarian trust fund to channel assistance, appoint a special envoy, and work together with the UN in the war-ravaged country.