Cleveland police investigating report of missing Saudi citizen

Omar Al-Anazi. (Police photo)
Abdulrahman Al-Anazi. (Police photo)
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Updated 30 January 2023

Cleveland police investigating report of missing Saudi citizen

Omar Al-Anazi. (Police photo)
  • The police have categorized the disappearance as “endangered” because of his circumstances as a visitor to the city with limited English language skills

CHICAGO: Police in Cleveland, Ohio released a statement Sunday saying they are actively investigating the Jan. 27 reported disappearance of a visiting Saudi citizen, Abdulrahman Al-Anazi.

Al-Anazi, 30, was last seen around 10 a.m. by friends after spending time in the city’s tourist area along the Lake Erie waterfront.

According to witnesses, he was socializing with friends in the downtown area when he was reported missing, the Cleveland Division of Police officials said.

“He went with a group to the East 9th Street Pier at approximately 2:30 a.m. to look at the water and was reportedly intoxicated,” officials of the Cleveland Division of Police Department said in a statement.

When the group went to leave, the statement added, “Al-Anazi reportedly walked away.”

Cleveland Police said that Al-Anazi’s friends searched for him but were unable to locate him. The police have categorized the disappearance as “endangered” because of his circumstances as a visitor to the city with limited English language skills.

Al-Anazi, police said, is visiting from Saudi Arabia and reportedly does not speak English.

He was last seen wearing a beige jacket and pants.

Cleveland Police are asking anyone with information to contact them immediately by calling 1-216-621-1234.


Kyiv says Russian UN Security Council presidency is 'symbolic blow'

Kyiv says Russian UN Security Council presidency is 'symbolic blow'
Updated 43 sec ago

Kyiv says Russian UN Security Council presidency is 'symbolic blow'

Kyiv says Russian UN Security Council presidency is 'symbolic blow'
  • On Saturday Russia took over the presidency of the UN's top security body, which rotates every month
KYIV: A top Ukrainian official on Saturday criticised the 'symbolic blow' of Russia assuming the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council.
"It's not just a shame. It is another symbolic blow to the rules-based system of international relations," Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, wrote in English on Twitter.
On Saturday Russia took over the presidency of the UN's top security body, which rotates every month. The last time Moscow held the post was in February 2022, when its troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin said on Friday it planned to "exercise all its rights" in the role.
The United States on Thursday urged Russia to "conduct itself professionally" when it assumes the role, saying there was no means to block Moscow from the post.
Ukrainian official Yermak also hit out at Iran, who Kyiv and its allies accuse of supplying Russia with arms, including hundreds of assault drones which have menaced Ukrainian infrastructure facilities. Tehran denies supplying Russia with weapons.
"It is very telling that on the holiday of one terror state – Iran - another terror state – Russia – begins to preside over the UN Security Council," Yermak wrote, referring to Iran's Islamic Republic Day holiday

Pope Francis leaves hospital, saying ‘I’m still alive’

Pope Francis leaves hospital, saying ‘I’m still alive’
Updated 01 April 2023

Pope Francis leaves hospital, saying ‘I’m still alive’

Pope Francis leaves hospital, saying ‘I’m still alive’

ROME: Pope Francis left hospital to return to the Vatican on Saturday after being treated for bronchitis, making light of his illness by saying : “I wasn’t frightened, I’m still alive.”
The pope, 86, was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Wednesday after complaining of breathing difficulties, but responded rapidly to an infusion of antibiotics, his medical team has said.
The media was kept far from the pope when he last left hospital in 2021 following surgery on his colon.
This time, looking to show the world that he was fully recovered, Francis got out of his car on his way out, greeting well wishers and talking to waiting reporters. He used a walking stick to support himself.
He embraced a couple whose daughter had died overnight in the hospital and prayed with them, and also signed the plaster cast of a young boy with a broken arm. He waved from the window of his car as he was driven back to the Vatican.
The pope, who marked the 10th anniversary of his pontificate in March, has suffered a number of ailments in recent years.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed on Friday that Francis would take part in this weekend’s service for Palm Sunday — a major event in the Church calendar that kicks off Easter week celebrations.
Holy Week, as it is known, includes a busy schedule of rituals and ceremonies that can be physically exhausting, including a Good Friday nighttime procession by Rome’s Colosseum.
The dean of the college of cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, has said a cardinal would help the pope during the week’s celebrations and take care of altar duties.
A similar arrangement was put in place last year, when the pope sat to one side during some Easter events due to persistent knee pain, leaving it to senior cardinals to lead the Masses.


US to open embassy in Vanuatu to counter China’s Pacific expansion

US to open embassy in Vanuatu to counter China’s Pacific expansion
Updated 01 April 2023

US to open embassy in Vanuatu to counter China’s Pacific expansion

US to open embassy in Vanuatu to counter China’s Pacific expansion
  • The US and its regional allies have held concerns that China has ambitions to build a naval base in the region since the Solomon Islands struck a security pact with Beijing last year

WASHINGTON: The United States plans to open an embassy in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, the State Department said on Friday, in Washington’s latest move to boost its diplomatic presence in the Pacific to counter China’s growing influence.
“Consistent with the US Indo-Pacific strategy, a permanent diplomatic presence in Vanuatu would allow the US Government to deepen relationships with Ni-Vanuatu officials and society,” the department said in a statement.
“Establishing US Embassy Port Vila would facilitate areas of potential bilateral cooperation and development assistance, including efforts to tackle the climate crisis,” it said.
The US has diplomatic relations with Vanuatu, which has a population of 319,000 spread across 80 islands, but is currently represented by diplomats based in New Guinea.
The US reopened its embassy in the Solomon Islands this year after a 30-year absence and the latest State Department announcement follows a visit this month to the region, including Vanuatu, by US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell.
Other US embassies are planned in the Pacific island nations of Kiribati and Tonga.
Despite the diplomatic push, the Solomon Islands announced this month it had awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to a Chinese state company to upgrade an international port in Honiara.
The United States and its regional allies have held concerns that China has ambitions to build a naval base in the region since the Solomon Islands struck a security pact with Beijing last year.
Washington has also been working to renew agreements with the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) under which it retains responsibility for the islands’ defense and gains exclusive access to huge swaths of the Pacific.
The Biden administration is seeking more than $7 billion over the next two decades for economic assistance to the three countries, the State Department said last week, funds seen as key to insulating them from growing Chinese influence.


South Africa’s Pistorius denied parole decade after killing girlfriend

South Africa’s Pistorius denied parole decade after killing girlfriend
Updated 01 April 2023

South Africa’s Pistorius denied parole decade after killing girlfriend

South Africa’s Pistorius denied parole decade after killing girlfriend
  • Steenkamp’s parents, who opposed an early release, saying they do not believe the ex-athlete told the truth about what happened and has not shown remorse, welcomed the decision

PRETORIA: South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius was refused parole on Friday after seeking early release from prison, a decade after he shot and killed his girlfriend, lawyers and authorities said.
The Department of Correctional Services said a parole board found Pistorius had not completed the minimum detention period required to be let out.
“We were... advised at this point in time that it has been denied” and it will be considered again in one year’s time, Tania Koen, a lawyer for the victim’s family, told AFP.
The motivation came as a surprise and was described as “extraordinary” by legal experts, as the correctional services had previously said Pistorius was eligible for early release having served more than half his sentence.
Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp, a model, in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013, firing four times through the bathroom door of his ultra-secure Pretoria house, in a killing that shocked the world.
A parole hearing opened Friday morning at the jail on the outskirts of the capital where the 36-year-old is detained.
Steenkamp’s parents, who opposed an early release, saying they do not believe the ex-athlete told the truth about what happened and has not shown remorse, welcomed the decision.
“While we welcome today’s decision, today is not a cause for celebration. We miss Reeva terribly and will do so for the rest of our lives. We believe in justice and hope that it continues to prevail,” they said in a statement via their lawyer.
Earlier, Steenkamp’s mother, June, had made the couple’s position known to the board addressing the hearing in person.
“I don’t believe his story,” she told journalists from the back of a car as she arrived at the correctional facility.
She did not meet face to face with her daughter’s killer on Friday, as the parole board decided to hear the two separately, Koen later told reporters outside the prison.

“It was very unpleasant for her... but she knew that she had to do it for Reeva,” Koen said.
Steenkamp’s father Barry was unable to travel because of ill health but submitted a statement, she added.
“Before he dies he has one wish and that’s Oscar would just tell us exactly what happened that night,” Carmen Dodd, who read the statement to the board, told journalists.
Comprising at least three people, including prison services and community members, the board was to determine whether the purpose of imprisonment had been served, according to the Department of Correctional Services.
“The (board) granted inmate Pistorius a further profile for August 2024,” correctional services spokesman Singabakho Nxumalo said in a statement.
“The reason provided is that the inmate did not complete the minimum Detention Period as ruled by the Supreme Court of Appeal.”
In a short memo dated Tuesday and seen by AFP on Friday, the court explained that the prison term it imposed started on the day of the last judgment in 2017 and not when Pistorius was first sentenced in 2014.

“It’s an extraordinary decision, in fact, it seems completely implausible,” said Kelly Phelps, a law professor at the University of Cape Town, adding the court’s memo backtracked on previous interpretations of its own ruling.
As a consequence, the parole hearing went ahead when it should not have, she said.
“The whole process put so much unnecessary trauma for both sides. But at the same time, justice prevails,” added Koen.
Known worldwide as the “Blade Runner” for his carbon-fiber prosthetics, Pistorius was found guilty of murder and given a 13-year jail sentence in 2017 after a lengthy trial and several appeals.
He had pleaded not guilty and denied killing Steenkamp in a rage, saying he mistook her for a burglar.
Pistorius met with Steenkamp’s parents last year, part of a process that authorities say aims to ensure inmates “acknowledge the harm they have caused to their victims and the society at large.”
Koen described the meeting as “very emotional” and “traumatic.”
A year before killing Steenkamp, Pistorius became the first double-amputee to race in the Olympics, competing at the 2012 London Games.
He became a household name worldwide and courted by sponsors, but it all came crashing down after the killing.
Inmates have the right to approach the courts for review when parole is denied.

 


UN food chief: Billions needed to stave of unrest, mass migration and starvation

UN food chief: Billions needed to stave of unrest, mass migration and starvation
Updated 01 April 2023

UN food chief: Billions needed to stave of unrest, mass migration and starvation

UN food chief: Billions needed to stave of unrest, mass migration and starvation
  • David Beasley says an estimated 350 million people in 49 countries desperately need food
  • Urges China, Gulf nations, billionaires and other countries “to step up big time”

UNITED NATIONS: Without billions of dollars more to feed millions of hungry people, the world will see mass migration, destabilized countries, and starving children and adults in the next 12 to 18 months, the head of the  UN World Food Program warned Friday.
David Beasley praised increased funding from the United States and Germany last year, and urged China, Gulf nations, billionaires and other countries “to step up big time.”
In an interview before he hands the reins of the world’s largest humanitarian organization to US ambassador Cindy McCain next week, the former South Carolina governor said he’s “extremely worried” that WFP won’t raise about $23 billion it needs this year to help an estimated 350 million people in 49 countries who desperately need food.
“Right at this stage, I’ll be surprised if we get 40 percent of it, quite frankly,” he said.
WFP was in a similar crisis last year, he said, but fortunately he was able to convince the United States to increase its funding from about $3.5 billion to $7.4 billion and Germany to raise its contribution from $350 million a few years ago to $1.7 billion, but he doesn’t think they’ll do it again this year.
Other countries need to step up now, he said, starting with China, the world’s second-largest economy which gave WFP just $11 million last year.

With $400 trillion worth of wealth on the planet, there’s no reason for any child to die of starvation.

David Beasley, WFP chief

Beasley applauded China for its success in substantially reducing hunger and poverty at home, but said it gave less than one cent per person last year compared to the United States, the world’s leading economy, which gave about $22 per person.
China needs “to engage in the multilateral world” and be willing to provide help that is critical, he said. “They have a moral obligation to do so.”
Beasley said they’ve done “an incredible job of feeding their people,” and “now we need their help in other parts of the world” on how they did it, particularly in poorer countries including in Africa.
With high oil prices Gulf countries can also do more, especially Muslim nations that have relations with countries in east Africa, the Sahara and elsewhere in the Middle East, he said, expressing hope they will increase contributions.
Beasley said the wealthiest billionaires made unprecedented profits during the COVID-19 pandemic, and “it’s not too much to ask some of the multibillionaires to step up and help us in the short-term crisis,” even though charity isn’t a long-term solution to the food crisis.
In the long-term, he said what he’d really like to see is billionaires using their experience and success to engage “in the world’s greatest need – and that is food on the planet to feed 8 billion people.”
“The world has to understand that the next 12 to 18 months is critical, and if we back off the funding, you will have mass migration, and you will have destabilization nations and that will all be on top of starvation among children and people around the world,” he warned.
Beasley said WFP was just forced to cut rations by 50 percent to 4 million people in Afghanistan, and “these are people who are knocking on famine’s door now.”
“We don’t have enough money just to reach the most vulnerable people now,” he said. “So we are in a crisis over the cliff stage right now, where we literally could have hell on earth if we’re not very careful.”
Beasley said he’s been telling leaders in the West and Europe that while they’re focusing everything on Ukraine and Russia, “you better well not forget about what’s south and southeast of you because I can assure you it is coming your way if you don’t pay attention and get on top of it.”
With $400 trillion worth of wealth on the planet, he said, there’s no reason for any child to die of starvation.
The WFP executive director said leaders have to prioritize the humanitarian needs that are going to have the greatest impact on stability in societies around the world.
He singled out several priority places — Africa’s Sahel region as well as the east including Somalia, northern Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia; Syria which is having an impact on Jordan and Lebanon; and Central and South America where the number of people migrating to the United States is now five times what it was a year-and-a-half ago.