Algeria’s Tebboune to visit Russia in May: Presidency

Algeria’s Tebboune to visit Russia in May: Presidency
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune plans to visit Russia in May, his office said Tuesday after a phone call with his counterpart in Moscow, Vladimir Putin. (Reuters/File Photo)
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Updated 31 January 2023

Algeria’s Tebboune to visit Russia in May: Presidency

Algeria’s Tebboune to visit Russia in May: Presidency
  • Tebboune and Putin discussed "bilateral relations between the two countries, especially energy cooperation", the Algerian presidency said
  • Algeria is a major buyer of Russian arms

ALGIERS: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune plans to visit Russia in May, his office said Tuesday after he spoke on the phone with his counterpart in Moscow, Vladimir Putin.
Algeria has had warm ties with Moscow for decades, but Africa’s biggest gas exporter has also become crucial for Europe’s energy supplies in the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tebboune and Putin discussed “bilateral relations between the two countries, especially energy cooperation,” the Algerian presidency said in a statement.
Tebboune is also set to pay a state visit to former colonial ruler France in May, but officials have not specified which country he will visit first.
Algeria, which pumps gas directly to Spain and Italy via undersea pipelines, has in recent months hosted a string of top European officials — including French President Emmanuel Macron in August — seeking to find alternatives to Russian energy supplies.
Algeria is a major buyer of Russian arms, and in 2021 bilateral trade was worth three billion dollars, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
The North African country is in a decades-long struggle with its regional rival Morocco, particularly over the disputed Western Sahara territory, and cut off all ties with its neighbor in 2021 over alleged “hostile acts,” which Rabat has denied.
As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, Russia has a direct influence over the Western Sahara file.


Houthi ban on flour imports angers Yemeni traders

Houthi ban on flour imports angers Yemeni traders
Updated 14 sec ago

Houthi ban on flour imports angers Yemeni traders

Houthi ban on flour imports angers Yemeni traders
  • More than 100 lorries carrying flour have been stuck for days at Houthi checkpoints in Sanaa, Taiz and Al-Bayda as a result of militia restrictions
  • Merchants and traders said the flour originated from the Aden mill and silo facilities, and was not imported via Aden port

AL-MUKALLA: Urgently needed flour supplies on lorries trapped outside Houthi checkpoints will be ruined because of delays caused by militia bans on food imports from government-controlled regions, Yemeni businessmen have warned.

More than 100 lorries carrying flour have been stuck for days at Houthi checkpoints in Sanaa, Taiz and Al-Bayda as a result of militia restrictions.

Merchants and traders said the flour originated from the Aden mill and silo facilities, and was not imported via Aden port.

The businessmen said that they had no objection to paying tax or any other Houthi-approved fees on the products.

Dozens of traders said in a letter to the Houthi minister of commerce and industry that employees in Taiz province’s Al-Rahida district had stopped them importing flour into militia-controlled regions in Taiz and other Yemeni provinces.

Employees claimed they were acting under a ministry directive, the merchants said.

Heavy rain this week will destroy the shipments, costing millions of riyals, they added.

Al-Rahida is a commercial center for local merchants in Dimnat Khadir district, one of five districts in Taiz province under Houthi control.

Abdul Basit Al-Baher, a Yemeni military officer in Taiz, told Arab News on Thursday that as many as 170 flour trucks were stuck outside Houthi checkpoints.

The militia are blocking the goods to force traders to pay more levies, even if it means raising prices or stopping desperately needed commodities from reaching the shelves, he said.

“Under different guises, the Houthis extort traders and force extra costs on them. They do not care whether the commodity’s price increases, or if it disappears from the market. They simply worry about increasing their earnings,” Al-Baher said.

The militia banned imports via government-controlled ports from the start of the year in protest against a government decision to increase the customs exchange rate and force businessmen to import goods through Hodeidah port.

Houthi harassment of businesses is expected to exacerbate Yemen’s already dire humanitarian situation, as foreign relief organizations urge donors to support their programs, which feed millions of Yemenis.

Separately, the Saudi-funded Masam demining program said that six Yemeni civilians have been killed by Houthi land mines in the Ad Duraihimi and At Tuhayta areas of the western province of Hodeidah since the start of Ramadan.

Yemeni Landmine Records, which chronicles civilian land mine casualties in the country, said that three people died when their motorcycle struck a mine in Ad Duraihimi, and two more were killed by a land mine explosion in Al-Hami, west of Hodeida.


Israeli army allows settlers to carry out provocative march on April 10

Israeli army allows settlers to carry out provocative march on April 10
Updated 32 min 27 sec ago

Israeli army allows settlers to carry out provocative march on April 10

Israeli army allows settlers to carry out provocative march on April 10
  • Israeli Channel Seven reported that the army agreed to a request by the Nakhla settler organization to hold a massive demonstration that will start from the Za’tara checkpoint
  • The demonstration will take place in conjunction with the Jewish Passover holiday on April 10 and it will see the participation of rabbis, ministers and Knesset members

RAMALLAH: The Israeli army has allowed settlers to organize the largest demonstration in the northern West Bank in years on April 10, in which dozens of settler organizations will participate.

The Israeli Channel Seven reported that the army agreed to a request by the Nakhla settler organization to hold a massive demonstration that would start from the Za’tara checkpoint, south of Nablus, and proceed toward the Avitar settlement outpost built on Mount Sabih, where the army would provide security for the march.

The channel said that the demonstration would take place in conjunction with the Jewish Passover holiday on April 10 and that it would see the participation of rabbis, ministers and Knesset members, among others.

Dozens of Jewish organizations announced their participation in the march, including Yisrael Sheli, Ad Kan, Habitkhonisten, the Sovereign Movement, the Bnei Akiva Youth Movement, Ezra Variel, Beitar Organization, and others.

The participants will demand that the Israeli government fulfill its commitment to allow settlers to return to the Avitar outpost after the Israeli Civil Administration finishes surveying the land.

Ghassan Daglas, an official for settlement issues affiliated with the Palestinian presidency, told Arab News that the settlers were putting pressure on their government to legalize the settlement outpost that they wanted to establish on land owned by Palestinians, benefiting from the presence of extreme right-wing ministers in the government.

“We will not meet them with flowers if they return to Jabal Abu Sbeih, but rather with popular demonstrations and protests. This is the land owned by the Palestinians, and they are trying to seize it by force,” Daglas told Arab News.

Over the past month, extremist settler attacks against Palestinians and their properties have increased.

In a significant development, on Thursday, the Shin Bet security agency announced it arrested two settlers who attacked a Palestinian family on the eve of the Jewish Purim holiday in the town of Huwara while they were in a vehicle outside a retail store.

According to a Shin Bet statement, the detainees threw stones at the vehicle from a short distance, and one of them used an axe to break the vehicle’s windows and attack its passengers.

After interrogating them, the security agency filed against them charges of deliberately committing a terrorist act for racist motives.

Shin Bet accused the two of belonging to a group of violent settlers working to attack Palestinians and disrupt the activities of the Israeli army to thwart Palestinian attacks.

Daglas said these activities would only cause tensions to escalate, threatening people’s lives in the region.

Meanwhile, settler incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque continued on Thursday following calls by the Temple Movements.

Seventy-three settlers stormed the mosque on Thursday, under the protection of the Israeli police. Some of them performed prayers there.

The Har-El youth organization announced their plan to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque next Sunday to celebrate Aliya Day, which symbolizes the Jewish diaspora’s return to Palestine.

Har-El called on its followers to storm the mosque wearing blue shirts bearing the inscriptions of the temple and said that this would be followed by mass incursions by other groups.

These groups called on their supporters to bring sacrificial animals to slaughter them at 10:30 p.m. inside Al-Aqsa Mosque on the evening of next Wednesday.

The organizations referred to their announcement as a declaration of a “state of emergency,” calling on all their supporters to “not miss the Passover Eucharist” at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, 15 rabbis demanded that settlers be allowed to offer the Passover sacrifices in Al-Aqsa Mosque this year. They called on the Israeli government to “exploit Israel’s control over Al-Aqsa Mosque and allow sacrifices inside it.”

In the letter, they claimed that allowing sacrifices inside Al-Aqsa Mosque was “a national interest of the first order for Israel.” They demanded the achievement of this goal “despite all odds.”

Among the rabbis who signed the letter were Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, who heads the so-called Temple Institute, one of the groups calling for the construction of a temple on the ruins of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Rabbi Yehuda Kreuzer, the rabbi of the Mitzvah Yericho settlement, who led the settlers as they stormed the mosque.

Last year, the extremist Minister of Finance and Settlement Bezalel Smotrich expressed his sympathy for Jews trying to offer sacrifices at Al-Aqsa, posting a picture of himself inside his car carrying a goat to show his support.

Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, the mufti of Jerusalem and the Islamic holy land, told Arab News that extremist settlers and their associations had no right to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque or to practice their Jewish religious rituals in it, “as it is a place purely for Muslims.”

He said: “Still, Israel seeks to Judaize the holy place and control Al-Aqsa, which represents a provocation to the feelings of millions of Muslims around the world.

“Our Palestinian people and Muslims across the world do not want Al-Aqsa Mosque to be a scene for the superstitions of Jewish extremists and the desecration of Islamic religious values,” he added, holding the Israeli government responsible for the raids and their dangerous repercussions.

“We cannot submit to the diktats of settlement associations. Settlers feel supported by extremist ministers in the government, so they are escalating their threats against Al-Aqsa Mosque,” he said.


Lebanese public sector pay cut in half

Lebanese public sector pay cut in half
Updated 50 min 42 sec ago

Lebanese public sector pay cut in half

Lebanese public sector pay cut in half
  • The cut will take effect in April when the government calculates salaries using an exchange rate of one US dollar to 90,000 Lebanese pounds
  • According to the protesters, the change means that “the purchasing power of their salaries has been totally eroded”

BEIRUT: Military pensioners and angry public sector workers held demonstrations on Thursday after being told that their already eroded pay had effectively been cut in half overnight.
The cut will take effect in April when the government calculates salaries using an exchange rate of one US dollar to 90,000 Lebanese pounds, double the rate used in February. The black-market rate, which many shops use, is now more than 100,000 pounds to the dollar. Four years ago, it was closer to 2,000.
According to the protesters, the change means that “the purchasing power of their salaries has been totally eroded.”
Bechara Al-Asmar, the head of Lebanon’s General Labor Union, told Arab News that the change hit 280,000 people including military personnel and employees of universities, independent offices, municipalities and public hospitals.
Hundreds of military pensioners and professors protested in the Riad Al-Solh square in central Beirut on Thursday, denouncing Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh’s announcement of the change and demanding that their salaries be paid at 28,500 pounds to the dollar instead.
A retired officer said: “My salary used to amount to $1,700 before the economic crisis in Lebanon, but its value deteriorated with the currency collapse. Last month, I received a salary that amounts to no more than $140 according to the black-market rate.
“This month, I might receive no more than $60. How can my family and I survive? This is how they pay back the military, who spent their lives serving the country?”
Protesters held banners condemning the policy, ongoing corruption and the disregard for public and depositors’ funds.
Security bodies had taken strict measures before the protests began, reinforcing barbed wire fencing to prevent protesters from reaching the headquarters of the prime minister.
The protests coincided with an ongoing strike by telecommunications workers. A Cabinet meeting scheduled on Thursday to look at salaries and assistance was postponed until next week after caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati traveled to Saudi Arabia for Umrah.
Finance Minister Youssef Khalil said that a full Cabinet meeting was a “necessity” to decide on a “sustainable” settlement for public workers.
Khalil warned that the treasury would lose “significant resources due to the disruption of public utilities, at a time when it urgently needs to secure imports and finance minimal public services.”
He said: “Lebanon is at a dangerous juncture today. Either we maintain a state entity and institutions capable of administering the affairs of the state, or we will be facing further deterioration and we will plunge into the unknown.”
Protesters in the Riad Al-Solh square marched to the central bank headquarters in Hamra Street as army and security forces took up positions around them.
Some in the crowd managed to get past barbed wire fencing to climb to a rooftop. One protester was injured when he fell after anti-riot squad police released pepper spray,
Demonstrators also set tires on fire, blocking the road in front of the central bank.
Salameh said that demands for a lower rate required Cabinet discussion. He asked a delegation of retired military officers to wait until after the weekend for further talks.


Arab League calls for serious measures to end Israeli occupation

Arab League calls for serious measures to end Israeli occupation
Updated 30 March 2023

Arab League calls for serious measures to end Israeli occupation

Arab League calls for serious measures to end Israeli occupation
  • AL’s General Secretariat underlined the need to grant Palestinians the right to freedom, stop Israeli violations
  • Statement reaffirmed full support for Palestinians’ right to self-determination, independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital

CAIRO: On the commemoration of the 47th Palestinian Land Day, the Arab League has called on the international community to take serious measures to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
The AL’s General Secretariat underlined the need to grant Palestinians the right to freedom and independence, reported Kuwait News Agency on Thursday.
In a statement issued by the General Secretariat, the league called for an end to the continuous Israeli crimes against Palestinians, adding that over 90 Palestinians were killed, among them 17 children, and over 400 others were injured since the beginning of 2023.
The statement reaffirmed the league’s full support for Palestinians’ right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital. It called on the UN and the international community to “carry out their responsibilities toward the Palestinian people.”
The league further stressed the necessity of “immediate action to stop the continuous daily crimes against the Palestinian people,” calling on the UN Security Council to mount more pressure on Israel “to stop its policies and violations against the Palestinians.”
The statement pointed out that Palestinians, who have been facing organized persecution for over 75 years of occupation, “are suffering today...at the hands of a far-right-fascist extremist government that has been practicing more uprooting, displacements, mass killings and executions over the past days and weeks.”
The Land Day remembers the events of 1976 that followed the Israeli government’s announcement of a plan to expropriate large swathes of Arab land for state purposes. A general strike and marches were organized in Arab towns from Galilee to Negev, resulting in confrontations with the Israeli army and police.palestinians


Deliveroo joins UAE Ramadan campaign to provide sustainable food aid

Deliveroo joins UAE Ramadan campaign to provide sustainable food aid
Updated 30 March 2023

Deliveroo joins UAE Ramadan campaign to provide sustainable food aid

Deliveroo joins UAE Ramadan campaign to provide sustainable food aid
  • App users can donate the value of meals ranging from AED 10-500 toward the campaign
  • Emirati businessman Gheyath Mohammed Gheyath announces a AED 5m donation to the campaign

DUBAI: Food delivery company Deliveroo has announced its participation in the UAE’s “1 Billion Meals Endowment” campaign, Emirates News Agency reported on Thursday. 

The Ramadan campaign, launched by Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, aims to create a sustainable and resilient food aid system to combat hunger and provide a safety net for vulnerable groups

Deliveroo users can donate the value of meals through the app in denominations ranging from AED 10-500 ($2.70-$136).

Anis Harb, general manager at Deliveroo Middle East, said that the company is proud to take part in the initiative, which expands on the company’s corporate social responsibility program addressing food insecurity in 10 countries. 

Meanwhile, Gheyath Mohammad Gheyath, owner of GINCO Group of Companies, recently announced a AED 5 million pledge to the Ramadan campaign.

“The ‘1 Billion Meals Endowment’ campaign is testament to the values of giving and generosity deep rooted in the UAE since its foundation, as it will surely encourage members of its community to compete in virtue to support this humanitarian endeavor,” Gheyath said.