Jordanian king, French president discuss war on Gaza

Jordanian king, French president discuss war on Gaza
Jordan’s King Abdullah and French President Emmanuel Macron met on Monday in Paris. (Petra)
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Updated 24 June 2024
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Jordanian king, French president discuss war on Gaza

Jordanian king, French president discuss war on Gaza
  • Leaders urged the international community to intensify efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza

AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah and French President Emmanuel Macron met on Monday in Paris to discuss the dangerous developments in Gaza and the severe humanitarian plight resulting from Israel’s war on the Strip, Jordan News Agency reported.

During their meeting at the Elysee Palace, the leaders urged the international community to intensify efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza by all available means.

They reiterated their commitment to providing continued assistance to the region.

More than 37,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, the majority of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

King Abdullah and Macron underscored the urgent need for a ceasefire and emphasized the protection of civilians. The discussions, attended by Queen Rania and Brigitte Macron, also touched upon broader regional issues.

The king expressed concern about the potential spillover of the conflict, which poses a threat to international security. He reiterated that the two-state solution remains the sole pathway to achieving a just and comprehensive peace.

The two leaders highlighted the importance of maintaining Lebanon’s stability and security while King Abdullah cautioned against the persistent targeting of relief organizations in Gaza and praised France’s support for UNRWA, which plays a crucial role in delivering essential services to nearly 2 million Palestinians in the region.

Addressing the situation in the West Bank, King Abdullah condemned the violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians and warned against any unilateral actions that violate the historical and legal status of Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy sites.

The meeting was also attended by Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and the Jordanian ambassador to France, Leena Al-Hadid.


 


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
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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

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.


Gaza health officials say baby dies from ‘severe cold’

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

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.


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
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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

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.


Sudan government rejects UN-backed famine declaration

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

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.


Egypt tests new extension of the Suez Canal

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

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.