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Jordan, UAE officials repeat demands for Gaza ceasefire

Jordan, UAE officials repeat demands for Gaza ceasefire
Ahmed Safadi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Jordanian parliament, and Saqr Ghobash, speaker of the UAE Federal National Council. (WAM)
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Updated 18 February 2024
Arab News
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Jordan, UAE officials repeat demands for Gaza ceasefire

Jordan, UAE officials repeat demands for Gaza ceasefire
  • Speakers highlighted the importance of Hashemite custodianship over sacred sites in Jerusalem
Updated 18 February 2024
Arab News
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AMMAN: Jordanian and Emirati officials on Sunday repeated calls for an end to the Gaza war and the creation of an independent Palestinian state, Jordan News Agency (Petra) reported.

Ahmed Safadi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Jordanian parliament, met Saqr Ghobash, speaker of the UAE Federal National Council.

During the meeting, the two officials praised the longstanding relationship between Jordan and the UAE — a legacy of the late King Hussein bin Talal of Jordan and Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan of the UAE.

They also highlighted the importance of Hashemite custodianship over sacred Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem.

Safadi reiterated King Abdullah’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and lauded the shared efforts of the UAE and Jordan in the fight against terrorism.

He also called for strengthening parliamentary collaboration with the UAE, activating joint committees and harnessing strategic relations for the benefit of both countries.

Ghobash praised Safadi’s statements, backing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid delivery to the enclave.
 

Topics: Jordan UAE

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Asma Assad barred from UK to seek cancer treatment

Asma Assad’s British passport expired in 2020. (File/AFP)
Asma Assad’s British passport expired in 2020. (File/AFP)
Updated 29 December 2024
Arab News
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Asma Assad barred from UK to seek cancer treatment

Asma Assad’s British passport expired in 2020. (File/AFP)
  • UK foreign secretary says she is ‘not welcome’ in Britain
  • Former Syrian first lady’s passport expired in 2020
Updated 29 December 2024
Arab News

LONDON: Asma Al-Assad is effectively barred from returning to the UK after her British passport expired, The Times newspaper reported.

The wife of former Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad will not be able to return to her birthplace, London, despite reports that she is critically ill with leukemia.

The 49-year-old has been given a 50-50 chance of surviving the illness, according to sources.

The news comes as her father, Fawaz Akhras, a renowned cardiologist, left his work at the privately run Cromwell Hospital in Kensington, west London, to care for his daughter in Moscow, where the Assad family was granted asylum this month.

Asma Assad’s British passport expired in September 2020, and it is unclear whether UK ministers have blocked renewal or if the former first lady simply allowed the document’s validity to lapse.

Yvette Cooper, the UK home secretary, said that Assad will be prevented from entering the UK to seek treatment.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that the former investment banker is “not welcome” in Britain.

Asma Assad became Syria’s first lady in 2000 after marrying the country’s new president.

Leaked emails show that she ordered luxury goods in London and Paris during the civil war in her country, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

She played a key role in supporting her husband’s brutal crackdown on opposition protests during the Arab Spring in 2011.

Asma Assad reportedly fled to Moscow weeks before her husband this month during a lighting offensive by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.

Her three children, Hafez, 23, Zein, 21, and Karim, 19, are also in Moscow, where the family own luxury properties.

Sources told The Telegraph last week that the former first lady was being kept in isolation during medical treatment.

“Asma is dying. She can’t be in the same room as anyone,” one source said.

Her father and his wife, Sahar, 75, were placed under US sanctions along with Asma’s younger brothers in 2020, although none of her family has been blacklisted by the UK.

Topics: Fall of Assad Syria Asma Assad

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Gaza health officials say baby dies from ‘severe cold’

Gaza health officials say baby dies from ‘severe cold’
Updated 29 December 2024
AFP
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Gaza health officials say baby dies from ‘severe cold’

Gaza health officials say baby dies from ‘severe cold’
  • Jumaa Al-Batran died from the cold, while his twin brother remains in the intensive care unit at a local hospital
  • The vast majority of the territory’s residents have been displaced since the Israeli offensive
Updated 29 December 2024
AFP

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Gaza health officials said that a 20-day-old baby died on Sunday from “severe cold” as the war-ravaged Palestinian territory grapples with winter weather.
Jumaa Al-Batran died from the cold, while his twin brother remains in the intensive care unit at a local hospital, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said in a statement.
Marwan Al-Hamas, head of field hospitals in Gaza, confirmed the death. He said it brought to five the total number of children “who have died due to severe cold” in recent weeks.
“There is no electricity. The water is cold and there is no gas, heating or food,” said Yahya Al-Batran, the father of the child.
“My children are dying in front of my eyes and nobody cares. Jumaa has died and I fear that his brother Ali may follow.”
Yahya Al-Batran said he and his wife were living in a tattered tent in the city of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are crammed into unsuitable tents, most of which were hastily set up in Deir el-Balah and in the southern areas of Khan Yunis and Rafah.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October last year, Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have endured severe shortages of electricity, drinkable water, food and medical services.
The vast majority of the territory’s residents have been displaced at least once since the war broke out with Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Topics: War on Gaza Gaza Israel

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Tourist killed in shark attack in Egypt’s Marsa Alam resort

Tourist killed in shark attack in Egypt’s Marsa Alam resort
Updated 3 min 52 sec ago
Reuters
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Tourist killed in shark attack in Egypt’s Marsa Alam resort

Tourist killed in shark attack in Egypt’s Marsa Alam resort
  • There are sharks in the Red Sea but encounters with them are relatively rare
  • Ministry said the attack occurred in deep water outside the designated swimming zone near the jetties in northern Marsa Alam
Updated 3 min 52 sec ago
Reuters

CAIRO: One tourist was killed and another was injured in a shark attack in Egypt’s Marsa Alam resort, the environment ministry said in a statement on Sunday without giving the nationalities of those involved.
There are sharks in the Red Sea but encounters with them are relatively rare.
The ministry said the attack occurred in deep water outside the designated swimming zone near the jetties in northern Marsa Alam, adding that swimming out from the jetties was prohibited and the jetties would be closed for two days from Monday.
Marsa Alam is an Egyptian coastal town known for its coral reefs, marine life and beaches.
The last similar incident was in June 2023 when a tiger shark killed a Russian national in Hurghada, another coastal city on the Red Sea north of Marsa Alam.
Last month a tourist boat capsized in the same area, leaving four dead and seven missing.

Topics: Egypt Red Sea shark attack

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Sudan government rejects UN-backed famine declaration

Sudan government rejects UN-backed famine declaration
Updated 29 December 2024
AFP
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Sudan government rejects UN-backed famine declaration

Sudan government rejects UN-backed famine declaration
  • War between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces had created famine conditions
  • Both the Sudanese army and the RSF have been accused of using starvation as a weapon of war
Updated 29 December 2024
AFP

CAIRO: The Sudanese government rejected on Sunday a report backed by the United Nations which determined that famine had spread to five areas of the war-torn country.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) review, which UN agencies use, said last week that the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces had created famine conditions for 638,000 people, with a further 8.1 million on the brink of mass starvation.
The army-aligned government “categorically rejects the IPC’s description of the situation in Sudan as a famine,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The statement called the report “essentially speculative” and accused the IPC of procedural and transparency failings.
They said the team did not have access to updated field data and had not consulted with the government’s technical team on the final version before publication.
The IPC did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
The Sudanese government, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, has been based in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan since the capital Khartoum became a warzone in April 2023.
It has repeatedly been accused of stonewalling international efforts to assess the food security situation in the war-torn country.
The authorities have also been accused of creating bureaucratic hurdles to humanitarian work and blocking visas for foreign teams.
The International Rescue Committee said the army was “leveraging its status as the internationally recognized government (and blocking) the UN and other agencies from reaching RSF-controlled areas.”
Both the army and the RSF have been accused of using starvation as a weapon of war.
The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted over 12 million people, including millions who face dire food insecurity in army-controlled areas.
Across the country, more than 24.6 million people — around half the population — face high levels of acute food insecurity.

Topics: Clashes in Sudan Sudan UN Famine

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Egypt tests new extension of the Suez Canal

Egypt tests new extension of the Suez Canal
Updated 29 December 2024
AFP
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Egypt tests new extension of the Suez Canal

Egypt tests new extension of the Suez Canal
  • Two ships used the new extension on Saturday, a statement from the Suez Canal Authority said
  • The new extension is set to boost the canal’s capacity by six to eight vessels a day
Updated 29 December 2024
AFP

CAIRO: Egypt has tested a new 10-kilometer extension to the Suez Canal as it tries to minimize the impact of currents on shipping and increase the key waterway’s capacity.
Two ships used the new extension on Saturday, a statement from the Suez Canal Authority said.
Authority chief Osama Rabie said the development in the canal’s southern region will “enhance navigational safety and reduce the effects of water and air currents on passing ships.”
Vessels navigating the waterway have at times run aground, mostly because of strong winds and sandstorms.
In 2021, giant container ship Ever Given became wedged diagonally in the canal, blocking trade for nearly a week and resulting in delays that cost billions of dollars.
The new extension is set to boost the canal’s capacity by six to eight vessels a day, Rabie said, and it will open after new navigational maps are issued.
In 2015, Egypt undertook an $8-billion expansion to the waterway, followed by several smaller development projects.
The Suez Canal has long been a vital source of foreign currency for Egypt that has been undergoing its worst ever economic crisis.
According to the International Monetary Fund, revenue from the canal has been slashed by up to 70 percent since last year because of attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea.
Before the attacks pushed companies to change routes, the vital passage accounted for around 10 percent of global maritime trade.

Topics: suez canal Egypt

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