DUBAI, 22 August 2022, (TON): The United Arab Emirates said “its ambassador to Iran, Saif Mohammed Al Zaabi, would return to Tehran in coming days, more than six years after the Gulf Arab state downgraded ties with the Islamic Republic.”

The foreign ministry said in a statement “the move is in line with UAE efforts to strengthen relations with Iran “to achieve the common interests of the two countries and the wider region.”

The UAE downgraded its ties with Iran after Saudi Arabia severed its own relations with Tehran in January 2016. The move followed the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran by Iranian protesters after Riyadh executed a prominent cleric.

KHARTOUM, 22 August 2022, (TON): The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan has arrived in Sudan, state media reported in the country still wracked by unrest since the 2019 ouster of its leader accused of genocide.

The state news agency SUNA said “the ICC prosecutor and a court delegation will hold a number of meetings with senior officials and he will be visiting the Darfur region.”

Khan’s visit will continue until Aug. 25, SUNA said, a year after he visited the country for talks on outstanding arrest warrants over crimes committed during the 2003 Darfur war under ousted President Omar Bashir.

His visit this year is the third by an ICC prosecutor to Sudan since Bashir’s ouster in April 2019.

BERLIN, 22 August 2022, (TON): Nine European countries, including France and Germany, said “they were deeply concerned by the Israeli government’s forced closure of several Palestinian NGOs operating in the occupied West Bank.”

The Israeli military on Thursday said it had conducted overnight raids of seven organizations in Ramallah, the West Bank city where the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters are located.

The foreign ministries of the nine countries said “we are deeply concerned by the raids which took place in the morning of 18 August, as part of a worrying reduction of space for civil society.”

“These actions are not acceptable,” Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden said in a statement.

CHICAGO, 22 August 2022, (TON): Republican members of the US House Committee on Foreign Relations issued a scathing rebuke of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, citing worrisome trends including the oppression of Afghan women and abandonment of allies.

The 151-page report titled “A Strategic Failure: Assessing the Administrations Afghanistan Withdrawal” released Aug. 18, supplements similar conclusions in a February 2022 report by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee titled “Left Behind: A Brief Assessment of the Biden Administration’s Strategic Failures during Afghanistan Evacuation.”

The new report begins citing the Taliban’s “rule of terror” and continued oppression of women. The old Taliban government gave Al-Qaeda sanctuary, allowing it to plan terrorist attacks culminating in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

RIYADH, 22 August 2022, (TON): Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, Royal Court adviser and supervisor general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, met the ambassador of Belgium to Saudi Arabia, Pascal Gregoire, at the center's headquarters in Riyadh.

They discussed issues of common interest related to the humanitarian field and ways to strengthen them that would serve all groups in need.

The ambassador praised Saudi Arabia's efforts in humanitarian work and developing its mechanisms internationally.

CAIRO, 22 August 2022, (TON): Egypt has expressed its strong condemnation of the terrorist attack that targeted a hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, which killed at least 21 people.

The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said “Egypt affirms its full solidarity with Somalia in this painful affliction, stressing its total rejection of all forms of violence, extremism and terrorism.”

Police and the military in Mogadishu announced “Somali forces had concluded a siege at the Hayat and had freed 106 people, including women and children.”

Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab militants launched the attack on the hotel, in an operation lasting 30 hours.

DUBAI, 22 August 2022, (TON): The UAE’s President Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan ordered the provision of AED25 million ($6.8 million) worth of humanitarian aid to those affected and displaced by torrential rains and floods in Sudan.

The aid will help alleviate the suffering of those affected by the floods, improve their living conditions, and is an expression of the UAE’s solidarity with the people of Sudan, Emirates News Agency reported.

WAM said “it also aims to support Sudan’s efforts to contain the effects of torrential rains that have flooded vast areas across the country.”

The gesture highlights the deep-rooted relations that the two countries share, and is in line with the UAE’s policy to help underprivileged communities around the world through relief and humanitarian programmes.

PARIS, 22 August 2022, (TON): The French presidency said “French President Emmanuel Macron will visit former colony Algeria next week in a bid to improve strained ties between Paris and Algiers.”

French-Algerian ties hit a low late last year after Macron reportedly questioned whether Algeria had existed as a nation before the French invasion and accused its political-military system of rewriting history and fomenting hatred towards France.

Algeria withdrew its ambassador in response, but the two sides appear to have mended ties since.

The presidency said in a statement “this trip will contribute to deepening the bilateral relationship looking to the future to reinforce Franco-Algerian cooperation in the face of regional challenges and to continue the work of addressing the past.”

NEW DELHI, 22 August 2022, (TON): Officials said “Floods and landslides triggered by intense monsoon rains killed at least 50 people in northern and eastern India over the last three days.”

The rains overwhelmed hundreds of villages, sweeping away houses and leaving residents stranded as rescue crews have been racing to evacuate survivors.

Earlier this month, the federal weather office had predicted that India was likely to receive an average amount of rain in August and September, pointing to overall good crop yields in Asia’s third-biggest economy that relies on farming to boost growth and generate jobs.

Farming contributes around 15 per cent to India’s $2.7 trillion economy while sustaining more than half the population of 1.3 billion.

DHAKA, 22 August 2022, (TON): Naval Police said “over 250 fishermen of Patuakhali remained missing as 16 fishing trawlers capsized in the Bay of Bengal amid inclement weather.”

Akhtar Morshed, officer-in-charge of Kuakata Naval Police Outpost said “about 150 fishermen of 18 trawlers that sank in the Bay near Kuakata in Patuakhali have been rescued so far.”

OC added “locals along with a rescue trawler of the fish wholesalers’ association reached the fish landing centre with the rescued fishermen from Saturday evening.”

Kuakata-Alipur Fish Depot Owners Association President Ansar Uddin Mollah said 13 fishermen were rescued from the Bay while 11 fishermen were rescued by the fishermen of Rayadighi of India.