LONDON, 06 February 2022, (TON): Migrants who cross the English Channel in boats are being held in inadequate processing centers upon arrival, UK Border Force staff have warned.

The Immigration Services Union, which represents immigration officers, said a temporary facility in Kent used to process asylum seekers is not fit for purpose.

Lucy Moreton, professional officer at the ISU, said “you’ve got folk coming through who have gone through a very hard journey. They’re wet, they need to be warm, they need to be safeguarded. We’ve got no hot food or hot water we can’t feed or wash them.”

Another facility, Tug Haven, which closed last month, was labeled “inadequate” by UK prison authorities last year.

Moreton said “the new facility in Kent, Western Jet Foil, a former hangar, is “made up of several containers and it is lined like an Eastern European train station, with wooden benches screwed to the floor.”

“We don’t want to be keeping migrants in these conditions, but we just don’t have a choice. We can’t kick them out on the street.”

MANILA, 06 February 2022, (TON): Authorities said “the Russian Embassy in the Philippine capital has been severely damaged after a blaze raged through its premises.”

The fire began on the second floor of the building on Acacia Street in Makati City in metropolitan Manila.

Eighteen fire trucks scrambled for hours to put out the flames in the 1,000-square-meter area in the upscale Dasmarinas village, where embassies and diplomatic residences are located.

The crisis center of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said no one was injured and the mission’s employees and their families were evacuated, as firefighters quickly arrived at the scene.

The fire was extinguished on Saturday morning.

Makati City fire chief Col. Anthony Arroyo told Arab News the second floor of the embassy building “is totally damaged” and said they “would relocate for now.” 

BEIJING, 06 February 2022, (TON): Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss ways of developing ties and opportunities for increasing joint cooperation, especially in investment and economy.

The two leaders also discussed the latest regional and global issues of common concern, Emirates state news agency WAM reported.

Sheikh Mohammed arrived in China on Friday to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, following an invitation from Xi.

Sheikh Mohammed congratulated the president on the Chinese New Year, and thanked him for the invitation to attend the Olympic games.

Meanwhile, Xi also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to discuss strengthening communication and political consultation between the two countries on regional and international issues.

El-Sisi’s spokesman Bassam Rady said “the Chinese leader said his country attaches special importance to its relations with Egypt in view of its pivotal role in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Mediterranean.”

“In the context of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, the (Egyptian) president affirmed Egypt’s keenness to build on the momentum reached in bilateral meetings.”

LONDON, 06 February 2022, (TON): Asylum seekers in Britain being housed in hotels have been told by the UK Home Office to pay for non-basic toiletries themselves, a letter has revealed.

People fleeing the Taliban, some of whom worked for the British military or authorities, say the latest move from the British government shows that it “does not care” about them anymore.

It was revealed that the Home Office is spending £4.7 million ($6.36 million) per day housing asylum seekers in hotels and providing for them an estimated £127 per person.

Faiz Mohammad Seddeqi, 30, a former guard at the British Embassy in Kabul, is one such evacuee from Afghanistan and has been staying at one of the hotels for almost six months.

He was evacuated with his wife and son during the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan in August last year.

He said “when we see this kind of reaction and decision from the Home Office, it means ‘from onward we don’t care about you and we are not concerned about you — you need to manage everything by yourself.”

KUWAIT CITY, 06 February 2022, (TON): Kuwaiti state news agency reported “Kuwait Airways is resuming commercial flights to Iraq’s Najaf city starting from Saturday.”

The Gulf state’s flag carrier suspended its flights to Iraq last month after several rockets landed in Iraq's Baghdad International Airport compound, damaging at least one disused civilian airplane.

BEIJING, 06 February 2022, (TON): China and Egypt “share similar visions and strategies in defending their own interests,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping said in a meeting with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

The Egyptian leader was one of at least four heads of state who met Xi after attending the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, seeking closer ties with China.

Xi “hailed enhanced political trust” between the countries, citing cooperation in fighting the pandemic. Their comprehensive strategic partnership is a model of “China-Arab, China-Africa and China-developing world solidarity.”

Xi said “China and Egypt share similar visions and strategies in defending their own interests, pursuing common development, enhancing their people’s well-being and promoting fairness and justice in the world, as the world is undergoing changes unseen in a century.”

He said “the sides will “continue to support each other on issues related to core interests and major concerns.”

RIYADH, 06 February 2022, (TON): Saudi Ambassador to Senegal Saad bin Abdullah Al-Nafiei met the president of the National Assembly of Senegal, Moustapha Niasse, in Dakar.

The meeting focused on mutual cooperation between the two friendly countries.

Last year, Senegal President Macky Sall expressed his aspiration to develop relationships between Saudi Arabia and Senegal, and move them to broader horizons to achieve the interests of the two countries.

It came during a meeting with the former Saudi minister of state for African affairs, Ahmad bin Abdulaziz Kattan, who visited the West African country in November 2021.

TEHRAN, 06 February 2022, (TON): Iran is ready for more talks with Saudi Arabia if Riyadh is willing to hold the talks in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect, the semi-official news agency Fars quoted Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as saying.

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

Read more: US restores sanctions waiver to Iran with nuclear talks in final phase

Fars quoted Raisi as saying in a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi "Iran is ready to continue these negotiations until reaching an outcome, provided that the Saudis are willing to continue the negotiations in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect.”

In another sign of a thaw in relations, Iran said last month that three Iranian diplomats had arrived in Saudi Arabia to take up posts at the headquarters of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah.

Tehran and Riyadh have held four rounds of talks in Iraq, with Baghdad hoping its mediation would stop the neighbours seeking to settle scores on its territory. Saudi Arabia has described the talks as cordial but exploratory, while Tehran says they had gone a "good distance".

WASHINGTON, 06 February 2022, (TON): According to a government document published “American authorities have recommended releasing a mentally ill inmate from Guantanamo Bay and repatriating him to Saudi Arabia.”

Suspected of being Al Qaeda’s intended 20th hijacker for the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States, Mohammed al-Qahtani was tortured by interrogators at the US military base in Cuba where he has been detained for nearly two decades.

The government dropped its case against him in 2008 due to the abuse he experienced at the prison.

The detention of  al-Qahtani is “no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States,” the Periodic Review Board, a panel composed of several US national security agencies, said in a summary of its decision.

In its final determination dated February 4, the board said al-Qahtani was “eligible for transfer” and recommended that he be repatriated to Saudi Arabia where he could receive comprehensive mental health care and be enrolled in a rehabilitation center for extremists.

The body noted his “significantly compromised mental health condition and available family support.”

Security measures, including surveillance and travel restrictions, were also recommended.

ADDIS ABABA, 06 February 2022, (TON): African leaders are meeting at a summit that is expected to discuss the continent’s most pressing challenges, including a new wave of coups in West Africa.

The summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, is also expected to gather support for Africa’s push toward permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in his opening remarks called for cooperation among African nations in demanding two permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council.

Abiy said “today, more than seven decades after the creation of the United Nations, Africa remains a junior partner, without a meaningful input or role within the system of international governance.”

“We should collectively insist that Africa’s reasonable request for no less than two permanent seats and five non-permanent seats in the U.N. Security Council be adopted.”

Speaking via video link, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said cooperation between the the U.N. and the African Union “is stronger than ever.”

Guterres noted that “injustice is deeply embedded in global systems,” with Africans “paying the heaviest price.”