Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he spoke on Sunday with Israel's President Herzog in Paris, where both are attending the Olympic Games. (Reuters)
Starmer met Herzog in Paris where both were attending the Olympic Games
Updated 29 July 2024
Reuters
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Israel’s President Isaac Herzog there needed to be “immediate steps” toward a ceasefire in Israel’s conflict with Hamas militants in Gaza.
“The Prime Minister said there must be immediate steps toward a ceasefire, so that hostages can be released and more humanitarian aid can get in for those in desperate need,” Starmer’s office said in a statement released on Sunday.
“The Prime Minister reiterated his ongoing support for Israel’s right to self-defense in accordance with international law,” the statement said.
Starmer met Herzog in Paris where both were attending the Olympics.
In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 7 shortly after Starmer took office, he “set out the clear and urgent need for a ceasefire,” according to a previous British government statement.
Starmer on Sunday said there was no moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas and expressed his condolences for the deaths of five hostages kidnapped during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 whose bodies had recently been recovered.
About 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.
Iraq’s Kurdish authorities extradite activist to Iran: group
Khosrawi “asked to return to the Islamic Republic of Iran” and signed a document stating this, the Asayesh added in a statement
Updated 5 sec ago
AFP
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq: An Iranian Kurdish activist was extradited from Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region back to Iran, the opposition group he belongs to said on Saturday, an account disputed by local authorities.
Behzad Khosrawi was arrested last week by security forces in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah and handed over to “Iranian intelligence,” said the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), one of several Iranian Kurdish groups exiled for decades in northern Iraq.
“He is a member of an opposition political party... and enjoys the right to asylum as a political refugee,” said the group, condemning his extradition.
Local security forces, called Asayesh, said Khosrawi was arrested “because he did not have residency” in the Kurdish region, denying he had any connection to “political activism.”
Khosrawi “asked to return to the Islamic Republic of Iran” and signed a document stating this, the Asayesh added in a statement.
The KDPI said Khosrawi, a member of their party, “had been living with his mother and sister in Sulaimaniyah for more than 10 years... and their residency was in order.”
He had been given refugee status by the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the KDPI said.
Iran considers the KDPI a “terrorist” organization.
Iranian Kurdish groups, whose members are made up of Iran’s long-marginalized Kurdish minority, have trained to use weapons from their outposts in northern Iraq for decades.
After several Iranian strikes on the groups, Iraqi authorities in late 2023 pledged to disarm these factions and move them from bases near the Iranian border to camps.
Tehran has accused the Kurdish opposition groups of inciting mass protest in Iran in 2022, after the death of Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police.
No spying took place by employees of Iraqi prime minister’s office, adviser says
The reports have caused a stir in Iraq, which has seen a period of relative stability since Sudani was brought to power in late 2022 as part of an agreement between ruling factions ending a year-long political stalemate
Updated 15 min 44 sec ago
Reuters
BAGHDAD: A political adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has rejected recent allegations that employees at the premier’s office have been spying on and wire-tapping senior officials and politicians.
Since late August, Iraqi local media outlets and lawmakers have alleged that employees at Sudani’s office had been arrested on charges of spying on senior officials.
“This is an inflated lie,” said Fadi Al-Shammari in an interview with an Iraqi broadcaster published late on Friday, the most explicit denial by a senior member of the prime minister’s team.
He said the allegations were aimed at undermining Sudani ahead of parliamentary polls expected to be held next year.
“Everything that has happened in the last two weeks consists of media exaggeration contrary to reality and the truth.”
The reports have caused a stir in Iraq, which has seen a period of relative stability since Sudani was brought to power in late 2022 as part of an agreement between ruling factions ending a year-long political stalemate.
While there had been one arrest at the prime minister’s office in August, it had nothing to do with spying or wire-tapping, Shammari said. The employee in question was detained after contacting lawmakers and other politicians while posing as a different person, he said.
“(He) talked to lawmakers using different numbers and fake names and asked them for a number of different files,” he added, without providing details.
“There was no spying, no wiretapping.”
Israeli raids strike border villages amid fears of fresh escalation
Army chief of staff threatens further ‘offensive measures’ inside Lebanon
Updated 07 September 2024
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: Escalating hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in recent days have raised fears of a wider conflict, with a senior Israeli army official warning that his forces are preparing to take “offensive steps” inside Lebanon.
Israeli media reported on Saturday that several rockets fell in the Meron area in the north of the country.
Hezbollah also targeted a strategic military base near Safed, according to reports.
Lebanon’s caretaker Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib. (AFP)
Signs of military escalation emerged on Friday as the Israeli army used concussion missiles in intensive raids centered on an area south of the Litani River.
Israel is demanding Hezbollah halt its military action in the area, particularly the launching of rockets, so that settlers in the north can return to their homes.
FASTFACT
Hezbollah has exchanged near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Lebanon’s caretaker Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib said that Israel had conveyed a message throuh intermediaries “that it is not interested in a ceasefire in Lebanon, even after reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.”
On Saturday, Israeli army Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said that his forces are preparing to take “offensive steps inside Lebanon.”
During an inspection tour in the Golan Heights, Halevi said the Israeli army is focused on confronting Hezbollah, and that a significant number of militants had been killed in attacks during the past month.
The Israeli army was “working to reduce threats to residents of the northern region and the Golan Heights, while also preparing for an offensive at a later stage,” he said.
Israeli media confirmed that several rockets fell in the Meron area after sirens sounded in the city of Safed.
The Israeli army said that it “detected the launch of 30 shells from Lebanese territory toward the north.”
Israeli mortar shells and incendiary flares struck the Labouneh area in the western sector, causing fires on the Khiam plain for the second consecutive day.
Israeli media reported that a building in Shlomi was hit, and a fire broke out in Liman in Western Galilee after eight rockets were fired in a single salvo from southern Lebanon.
On Saturday, Israeli airstrikes were directed at areas around the towns of Qabrikha and Bani Hayyan, and the Kunin forests.
Israeli surveillance aircraft maintained a continuous presence over the western and central sectors of the south.
Hezbollah said in a statement that it retaliated against Israeli attacks on Friday by targeting a command post occupied by forces from the Golani Brigade with volleys of Katyusha rockets.
The group also targeted other Israeli military sites, including Hadab Yaron and Al-Raheb, with artillery fire.
Hezbollah said it targeted a deployment of Israeli soldiers around the settlement of Manot with rockets in response to attacks on the town of Kunin.
The Israeli air force said that raids on southern border villages on Friday night targeted rocket launch sites in towns including Beit Lif, Aitaroun, Dahra and Kfar Kila.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said that more than 15 missile platforms had been hit, in addition to several platforms that were ready for immediate launch.
Adraee said that “after targeting the platforms, several of which were prepared for immediate launch toward Israeli territory, multiple shells were seen being fired from the platforms and landing within Lebanese territory.”
Hijab-wearing singer Ghaliaa Chaker looks to inspire
Chaker, a keen motorbike rider who is part of an all-hijabi biker squad in Dubai, began composing and writing lyrics at 16
Updated 07 September 2024
AFP
DUBAI: In a Dubai recording studio, hijab-clad Ghaliaa Chaker tunes her guitar and belts out original songs as she builds a career that is turning heads for more than just her music.
The 26-year-old Syrian, raised in the UAE, has become a social media sensation, with 437,000 followers on Instagram and millions of views on her YouTube channel.
She offers not only a unique sound but also an unusual look in a region where artists who wear the hijab, the head covering characteristic of Muslim women, are few and far between.
“I hope that I have paved the way for other” hijabi singers, Chaker said at the studio.
“It is a very beautiful thing to know that you have ... given a push to a girl who has many dreams and is unable to achieve them because she has never seen another girl do the same thing.”
Chaker, a keen motorbike rider who is part of an all-hijabi biker squad in Dubai, began composing and writing lyrics at 16.
She drew inspiration from Nedaa Shrara, a veiled Jordanian singer who won “The Voice,” the Arabic version of the popular TV talent show, in 2015.
Shrara had stirred controversy among Arab fans who were not accustomed to seeing a singer wearing the head covering.
But for Chaker, who says she often receives criticism online, Shrara was a symbol of “self-confidence.”
After seeing her, “I said to myself that I can do it too,” Chaker said.
Chaker’s first song, composed in English, was picked up by Dubai radio stations in 2018, marking the start of her musical career.
She now sings mainly in Arabic, at a time when the regional music scene is witnessing the rise of young talents with innovative sounds.
The green-eyed singer said the headscarf has never been an obstacle. “There is nothing I have wanted to do and not done because I wear the veil,” Chaker said.
However, the issue of women singing has always been controversial in conservative Islamic societies.
Although the Qur’an does not explicitly prohibit singing, or ban women from performing music, some religious scholars frown upon the idea, viewing it as immodest.
Chaker said her immediate family has always supported her, but relatives in Syria were “very surprised at first,” mainly because they feared how people would react.
She said she receives a lot of “negative comments” on social media, including from family and friends.
“It bothers me of course, but I try to remember the positive comments and how much people love my music,” she said.
Chaker traces her artistic influences to her early upbringing in Al-Ain, a former desert oasis and now a city in Abu Dhabi, one of the UAE’s seven sheikhdoms.
At home, her father blasted Arab singers such as Fairouz, an iconic Lebanese singer, and Egyptian diva Umm Kalthoum. Chaker’s mother preferred Western music, including Elvis Presley.
“The music mixture in the house was always rich,” she said, influencing her sound, which she describes as a mix of R&B, hip-hop, electro-pop, indie and jazz.
A multi-instrumentalist, Chaker credits her father with her love of the drums, guitar, and piano, all of which she plays.
She said that instead of gifting her toys as a child, he would buy her new instruments.
The Middle Eastern darbuka drum is “the closest to my heart because I often played it with my father, who loves it very much, and it is the basis of oriental rhythm,” she said.
In addition to Arabic and English, Chaker sometimes sings in Turkish, Armenian, and Persian.
The singer, who performed in the Lebanese capital Beirut in August, said she wants to take her music beyond the Middle East.
“It is vital to me that my music is heard in Europe, in America, in Australia, in the whole world, maybe even in Latin America,” she said, adding that she aspires to “collaborate with many artists from different countries.”
“It is time for the Western world to know how beautiful our music is.”
Algerians vote as Tebboune eyes re-election with higher turnout
More than 24 million Algerians are registered to vote, and both of Tebboune’s challengers have urged a large turnout
Updated 23 min 45 sec ago
AFP
ALGIERS: Voting was extended Saturday in an Algerian presidential election widely expected to bring a second term for incumbent Abdelmadjid Tebboune whose main hope is for a high turnout.
Tebboune, 78, is heavily favored to see off moderate Islamist Abdelaali Hassani, 57, and socialist candidate Youcef Aouchiche, 41.
Algeria’s electoral authority, ANIE, said Saturday evening it was extending voting nationwide by one hour, with polling stations now due to close at 8:00 p.m. (1900 GMT)
The announcement came shortly before it announced a turnout of 26 percent nationwide as of 5:00 p.m. — compared to 33 percent during the 2019 elections at the same time.
That year, ANIE recorded the country’s lowest turnout rate of more than 60 percent, and Tebboune’s main challenge has been to boost that number.
ANIE said it would announce the final turnout at 9:30 pm.
More than 24 million Algerians are registered to vote, and both of Tebboune’s challengers have urged a large turnout.
“Today we start building our future by voting for our project and leaving boycott and despair behind us,” Aouchiche said on national television after voting.
Hassani told journalists he hoped “the Algerian people will vote in force” because “a high turnout gives greater credibility to these elections.”
Algerians abroad have been able to vote since Monday, and ANIE on Saturday put that turnout at 18 percent.
“I came early to exercise my duty and choose the president of my country in a democratic manner,” Sidali Mahmoudi, a 65-year-old early voter, told AFP.
Seghir Derouiche, 72, told AFP that not voting was “ignoring one’s right,” while two women, Taous Zaiedi, 66, and Leila Belgaremi, 42, said they were voting to “improve the country.”
After voting in Algiers, Tebboune did not mention voter numbers, saying only that he hoped “Algeria will win in any case.”
He said that whoever wins “will continue the project” of what he often calls the New Algeria — the country that emerged following mass pro-democracy protests.
Preliminary results could come as early as Saturday night, with ANIE announcing the official results on Sunday at the latest.
“The winner is known in advance,” political commentator Mohamed Hennad posted on Facebook before voting began, referring to Tebboune.
Tebboune’s opponents stood little chance because of low support and the “conditions in which the electoral campaign took place, which is nothing more than a farce,” Hennad wrote.
The low turnout in 2019 followed the Hirak pro-democracy protests, which toppled former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika before they were quashed with ramped-up policing and the jailing of hundreds of people.
“The president is keen to have a significant turnout,” Hasni Abidi, an analyst at the Geneva-based CERMAM Study Center. “It’s his main issue.”
Campaign rallies have struggled to generate enthusiasm in the nation of 45 million, partly because of the summer heat.
With young people more than half the population, all three candidates have courted their votes with promises to improve living standards and reduce dependence on hydrocarbons.
Tebboune has touted economic successes during his first term, including more jobs and higher wages in Africa’s largest exporter of natural gas.
His challengers have vowed to grant the people more freedoms.
Aouchiche says he is committed “to release prisoners of conscience through an amnesty and to review unjust laws,” including on media and terrorism.
Hassani has advocated “freedoms that have been reduced to nothing in recent years.”
Political analyst Abidi said Tebboune should address the major deficit in political and media freedoms as politics is “absent from the scene,” with Algerians having “divorced from current politics” after the Hirak protests ended.
Five years later, rights group Amnesty International said Algerian authorities were “committed to maintaining a zero-tolerance approach toward dissenting opinions.”