LONDON, 31 August 2022, (TON): The US Navy has prevented an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy support ship from capturing an unmanned surface vessel operated by the US 5th Fleet in the Arabian Gulf.

The US 5th Fleet observed IRGCN support ship Shahid Baziar towing a Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel in an attempt to detain it at 11 p.m. local time on Monday.

US Navy patrol coastal ship USS Thunderbolt (PC 12) was operating nearby and responded to the attempted attack.

The US 5th Fleet also launched an MH-60S Sea Hawk from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26 which is based in Bahrain.

NAIROBI, 31 August 2022, (TON): The first ship carrying grain from Ukraine for people in the hungriest parts of the world has docked at the Horn of Africa port of Djibouti as areas of East Africa are badly affected by deadly drought and conflict.

Food security experts call it a drop in the bucket for the vast needs in the worst-hit Horn countries of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, the nation where this first shipment is going. But the flow of grain from Ukraine for other hungry parts of the world is expected to continue, with another ship departing Tuesday for Yemen.

The UN World Food Program has said it is working on multiple ships.

This first shipment of grain will be shipped overland to northern Ethiopia, where millions of people have been affected by the country’s Tigray conflict, which has now flared up again.

UNITED NATIONS, 31 August 2022, (TON): UN spokesperson said “UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Pakistan next week following historic deadly flooding to see “the areas most impacted by this unprecedented climate catastrophe.”

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said “Guterres is expected to arrive in Islamabad on Sept. 9 and return to New York on Sept. 11.”

Unprecedented flash floods caused by historic monsoon rains have washed away roads, crops, infrastructure and bridges, killing at least 1,100 people in recent weeks and affecting more than 33 million, over 15 percent of Pakistan’s 220 million population.

CAIRO, 31 August 2022, (TON): Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said “he is following with great concern the dangerous developments in Iraq.”

He added “I call for giving priority to the national interest, avoiding bloodshed, and preserving civil peace in the country.”

Meanwhile, during a phone call with Iraqi President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stressed the need for dialogue, and expressed Cairo’s readiness to contribute to any joint effort to avoid escalation.

El-Sisi said “I am saddened by the outcome of the current developments in this brotherly country, which has strong historical ties of brotherhood and Arabism with Egypt.”

“I call on all Iraqi parties to give priority to the supreme interest of their country in order to overcome the political crisis through dialogue and to achieve stability, security and prosperity for the Iraqis.”

LONDON, 31 August 2022, (TON): Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II said on Monday that she is deeply saddened by the severe flooding in Pakistan that has claimed more than 1,150 lives.

The queen wrote in a letter “I am deeply saddened to hear of the tragic loss of life and destruction caused by the floods across Pakistan.”

The queen said “my thoughts are with all those who have been affected, as well as those working in difficult circumstances to support the recovery efforts.”

She added that the UK stands in solidarity with Pakistan as it recovers from these “terrible events.”

LONDON, 31 August 2022, (TON): UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked landlords to house thousands of Afghan refugees stuck in temporary accommodation over a year since fleeing their homeland.

The Home Office says of the 21,450 people evacuated to the UK following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021, 9,667 are still living in hotels at a total cost of over £1 million ($1.17 million) per day to the taxpayer.

In addition to Afghan refugees, there are 30,000 asylum seekers of other nationalities being put up in hotels across the UK, at an additional daily cost of around £4 million.

The UK’s total annual bill for asylum seekers is currently around £2 billion.

TOKYO, 31 August 2022, (TON): Japan Foreign Minister HAYASHI Yoshimasa met with Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Benjamin Gantz and reiterated Japan’s support for a two-state solution to solve the dispute with the Palestinians.

Hayashi expressed his hope that confidence-building measures taken by the respective sides would lead to an easing of tensions in the region.

Gantz shared Israel’s views on the situation in the region, including Iran and the Middle East.

According to the foreign ministry in Tokyo, the pair discussed the need for collaboration by the international community in the wake of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

KABUL, 31 August 2022, (TON): UN aid chief said “countries should restart development aid for Afghanistan that was halted a year ago when the Islamic Emirate seized power, as the US told Russia and China to put your money where your mouth is.

Afghanistan has long relied heavily on development aid, which was cut as the international community demanded the Islamic Emirate respect human rights, particularly for girls and women whose access to work and school has been limited by the interim government.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said "Poverty is deepening, the population is still growing, and the de facto authorities have no budget to invest in their own future. It's clear to us that some development support needs to be restarted.”

Griffiths said “more than half of Afghanistan's 39 million people need humanitarian help and six million are at risk of famine.”

DHAKA, 31 August 2022, (TON): Officials said “the first unit of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant will go into commercial operation early October in a major stride in growing Bangladesh-India power sector cooperation.”

The unit-I of the 1320 (2x660) MW coal-fired power plant was successfully synchronised with the national grid on August 15.

The officials involved in the project said “after completion and ‘successful synchronisation’ of unit-I of the power plant, further synchronisation related activities are currently being undertaken following which Unit-I will be handed over to the government of Bangladesh.”

DHAKA, 31 August 2022, (TON): The office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has regretted the ‘misinformation’ regarding high commissioner’s end-of-mandate statement in Geneva on global issues, noting that it was not a ‘global report’.

He said in a statement “we regret the misinformation. This was not meant to be a global report,’ Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.”

The spokesperson said “as the High Commissioner had already extensively covered the human rights issues in Bangladesh, she chose to focus her 25 August end-of-mandate statement in Geneva on global issues, affecting all countries including Bangladesh as well as the Rohingya anniversary which was on the day itself.”

She said “as you must be aware, the High Commissioner extensively discussed her concerns about a wide range of human rights issues in her meetings with government, civil society and other interlocutors and in her end-of-mission statement in Dhaka.”