Hamas officials say Israel delaying aid delivery to Gaza, may affect hostages' release
Hamas officials say Israel delaying aid delivery to Gaza, may affect hostages' release/node/2588262/middle-east
Hamas officials say Israel delaying aid delivery to Gaza, may affect hostages' release
Displaced Palestinians cross a checkpoint manned by Hamas security at the Nezarim corridor as people make their way from the south to the northern parts of the Gaza Strip, on Salah al-Din road, in Mughraqa in central Gaza, on January 29, 2025. (AFP)
Hamas officials say Israel delaying aid delivery to Gaza, may affect hostages' release
Updated 29 January 2025
AFP
CAIRO: Two Hamas officials on Wednesday accused Israel of delaying the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to Gaza, as agreed in the ceasefire deal, and warned that it could impact the release of hostages.
"We warn that continued delays and failure to address these points (delivery of key aid) will affect the natural progression of the agreement, including the prisoner exchange," a senior Hamas official told AFP, while another offical said the group had asked mediators to intervene in the issue. Both spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Monsha’at, Saudi Arabia’s Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority, has released its latest quarterly SME Monitor, providing a detailed overview of the latest trends and developments shaping the Kingdom’s dynamic SME ecosystem.
This edition highlights a 48 percent y-o-y increase in new commercial registrations in Q1, key trends in the local and global handicrafts sector, and the many ways in which Saudi Arabia is empowering its next generation of artisanal SMEs.
The report sheds light on the rich heritage of Saudi handicrafts, several of which have been listed in UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
In addition to well-known mainstays such as Al-Sadu weaving, Al-Qatt Al-Asiri wall decoration, Bisht tailoring, Jambiya daggers, and Madinah pottery, the report also features insights into the cultural and economic significance of Saudi handicrafts. For these reasons and others, 2025 has been designated the “Year of Handicrafts.”
Thanks to a steady increase in tourism, e-commerce, and consumer interest in authentic Saudi arts and crafts, the report shows, rural female entrepreneurs in particular also stand to gain from a sector expected to be worth $1.3 trillion by 2028. The recent launch of the Saudi Artisanal Company is an example of the sector’s promise.
In addition to aiming to create 9,000 new handicrafts jobs by 2030, SAC hopes to serve 15 percent of the domestic handicrafts market by then, the report shows. Thanks to a raft of recent government initiatives to empower handicrafts SMEs, from the Heritage Commission to the Royal Institute of Traditional Arts, opportunities for artisanal entrepreneurs are rife.
In addition to its coverage of handicrafts trends and developments in Saudi Arabia, the latest SME Monitor also has a special section on global developments in the sector. Chief among these are a greater emphasis on sustainability and eco-friendliness, e-commerce expansion, new technology, and a desire for cultural preservation.
Artisans in Uganda, the report shows, have transformed banana waste into valuable handicrafts such as rugs and lampshades, while designers elsewhere have found ways to use 3D printing with biodegradable materials to create customized garments.
In its survey of broader SME developments across Saudi Arabia, the report also reveals a remarkable increase in commercial registrations in Q1 2025, a key indicator of the country’s booming entrepreneurial landscape. In addition to 154,638 new registrations, sectors like e-commerce reached 41,322 active registrations in that quarter, with an impressive six percent y-o-y increase.
In a show of technological advancement, the number of active cloud-computing registrations shot up by 33 percent.
Thanks to a wide variety of enablement, financing, and business development programs offered by Monsha’at, more than 22,000 SMEs benefited from Saudi Arabia’s leading SME enabler in Q1 2025, the report shows.
Bali drug trial of three Brits facing death penalty begins
Updated 1 min 28 sec ago
AFP
DENPASAR: The trial of three British nationals accused of smuggling cocaine or taking part in a drug deal on Indonesia’s popular island of Bali began Tuesday, with all facing the death penalty in a nation with some of the world’s toughest narcotics laws. Indonesia hands out severe punishments for drug smuggling and has previously executed foreigners, but has upheld a moratorium on the death sentence since 2017. Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 38, and Lisa Ellen Stocker, 39, were arrested on February 1 after being stopped at Bali’s international airport with 17 packages of cocaine that weighed nearly a kilogramme, according to public court records. They appeared in court alongside Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, who was allegedly due to receive the packages and arrested a few days later. The heaviest punishment for taking part in a drug transaction is also the death penalty under Indonesian law. An AFP journalist at the court said the hearing began Tuesday. A verdict was not expected until a later date. The British embassy in Jakarta did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s administration has moved in recent months to repatriate several high-profile inmates, all sentenced for drug offenses, back to their home countries. Frenchman Serge Atlaoui returned to France in February after Jakarta and Paris agreed a deal to repatriate him on “humanitarian grounds” because he was ill. In December, Indonesia took Mary Jane Veloso off death row and returned her to the Philippines. It also sent the five remaining members of the “Bali Nine” drug ring, who were serving heavy prison sentences, back to Australia. According to Indonesia’s Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, 96 foreigners were on death row, all on drug charges, before Veloso’s release.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG combines vision with victory on World Bicycle Day
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG Academy has already reached over 700 schoolchildren through more than 80 hours of in-school coaching
Updated 1 min 51 sec ago
Arab News
ABU DHABI: UAE Team Emirates-XRG celebrated more than just race wins on World Bicycle Day on Tuesday.
The Emirati squad, a dominant force in the professional peloton, continues to make waves away from competitive events with major strides in community engagement and sustainability — efforts which are earning global recognition.
This week, the team received two prestigious nominations from the Union Cycliste Internationale — the Cycling for All Award for their youth-focused UAE Team Emirates-XRG Academy and the Climate Action Award for their ongoing “Road to Net-Zero” initiative. Both will be presented later this month at the UCI Mobility & Bike City Forum in Copenhagen.
“As we celebrate World Bicycle Day, we’re incredibly proud to see our work recognized on the global stage with nominations for both the UCI Cycling for All Award and the UCI Climate Action Award,” said Mauro Gianetti, team principal and CEO.
“These honors reflect our deep commitment to growing the sport at a grassroots level and ensuring sustainability remains at the heart of everything we do.”
Launched in 2025, the UAE Team Emirates-XRG Academy has already reached over 700 schoolchildren through more than 80 hours of in-school coaching. The program is set to expand to an additional 1,300 students by the end of the year, underlining the team’s aim of nurturing cycling talent across Abu Dhabi and beyond.
“The UAE Team Emirates-XRG Academy, Powered by ADNOC, is central to this vision, helping us inspire the next generation of cyclists and create meaningful change in our communities,” Gianetti added. “I’d like to sincerely thank ADNOC for their unwavering support. Without them, this wouldn’t be possible. The opportunities ahead are endless — for our team, for young riders and for the continued development of cycling across the region.”
While their community work garners headlines, the team’s racing form in 2025 has been just as impressive. UAE Team Emirates-XRG has already captured landmark victories at the Tour of Flanders and Liege–Bastogne–Liege, alongside podium finishes at Milano-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix, and the Giro d’Italia. The run continues a dominant stretch that began last season, reinforcing their status as one of the sport’s elite outfits.
“The growth of the team over the past eight years has been extraordinary,” Gianetti said. “Our success is driven by the talent and dedication of our riders, the expertise of our staff, and the incredible support from the leadership of the country, our partners, and fans. Cycling is continuing to grow rapidly in the UAE, and that momentum is something we are proud to contribute to every day.”
Abbaspur, POONCH: Blackened from the explosion, shards of a tin roof loosely hang from the branches of a wild apricot tree in the border village of Chaffar in Azad Kashmir’s Poonch district. What once used to be a modest kitchen is now littered with shattered stone, twisted metal and rubble.
It was here that a mortar shell struck hours before a ceasefire was announced between Pakistan and India. The Indian mortar shell instantly killed three generations of women, a mother, her daughter-in-law and two-year-old granddaughter, on the morning of May 10.
India and Pakistan engaged in a four-day military conflict that killed around 70 people on both sides last month, with the two nations attacking each other with fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery until the United States (US) brokered a ceasefire.
Wajid Kayani, a Pakistani army soldier posted in Lahore at the time of the strikes, took heavy, reluctant steps as he led Arab News to a heap of rubble where his wife, mother and infant daughter had breathed their last in the wake of the cross-border skirmishes.
“[Just a night before], I had spoken to my mother and wife over the phone. They were both worried about the shelling,” he said.
“My mother told me and my younger brother [also a soldier], ‘May God protect you both. If someone has to go [die], let it be me.’ That’s what she said… and I can’t forget it. It’s unbearable,” Kayani said as he broke down.
The photograph taken on May 23, 2025, shows a broken window of Wajid Khan’s house in the border village of Chaffar in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir. (AN photo)
The deceased women were identified as Qaisra Bibi, Kayani’s mother, his wife Areesha Qayyum and their daughter Hadiya Wajid, who would have turned two on May 27.
All three of them were inside the kitchen for morning tea when the first shell struck the house, according to the family. Another shell landed just meters away, striking a tree and punching holes into the surrounding walls.
The kitchen, once used to prepare meals for a large joint family, now wears the look of a charred, cratered space. Broken plates, half-melted pots and a ruined gas cylinder are scattered around.
Faiz Muhammad Kayani, the 70-year-old head of the family, struggled to speak as he entered the drawing room of the house with the help of a walking stick. Dozens of mourners have been visiting the family since the attack, but the elderly man, father to three sons and four daughters, is unable to come to terms with the horror he witnessed.
That morning, Faiz was at his younger son’s adjacent house and was coming to feed the livestock when he heard the shell strike his elder son’s house.
“I ran… I ran fast. But what was left to see? There was nothing left… just mud and stones,” he said in a shallow voice.
“They were buried underneath.”
A picture taken on May 23, 2025, shows the destruction at the house of Wajid Kayani caused by an Indian artillery strike in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. (AN Photo)
The 70-year-old fell silent before excusing himself from further conversation.
Faiz Muhammad Kayani, father of Wajid Kayani, is pictured at his house in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. (AN Photo)
Bitter rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars, including two over the disputed region of Kashmir, since gaining independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety but rule it in part.
The latest conflict was sparked by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam town that killed 26 tourists on April 22. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which Islamabad denied and called for a credible, international probe.
‘SCATTERED ACROSS BUSHES’
Kayani’s younger brother, Muhammad Sajid Kayani, also a soldier posted in Azad Kashmir’s Kotli sector, reached the house around 2 p.m. on the day of the tragedy.
“Despite the shock, [our] father pulled out the first body. Her [sister-in-law Qayyum] legs had been blown off,” Sajid said.
Their neighbors were unable to help as the shelling continued for hours. Sajid’s sister, who lived nearby, arrived shortly afterward and began searching for their mother.
“She found only our mother’s face. The rest of her body was scattered across the bushes. We had to collect the limbs piece by piece,” Sajid said.
“She found my little niece Hadiya under the rubble. Her left arm was missing. Her stomach was ripped open, and her intestines were outside.”
A picture taken on May 23, 2025, shows the destruction at the house of Wajid Kayani caused by an Indian artillery strike in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. (AN Photo)
But Hadiya was not the only child hit by the artillery fire.
“One of our nieces was just stepping inside through the kitchen door into the main house when the shell hit,” Sajid said.
“She was badly injured, shrapnel tore through her legs. She’s still recovering.”
The family held the funeral by 2:30 p.m. on May 10, hours before their eldest son, Kayani, could return home from Lahore.
“I couldn’t even attend the burial of my wife, daughter, and mother,” Kayani said, citing heavy shelling and road closures as the reasons.
Wajid Kayani (right) shows a picture of his two-year-old daughter, Hadiya Wajid, on his mobile in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir on May 23, 2025, who was killed by an Indian mortar shell on May 10. (AN photo)
The two brothers returned to the wreckage the following day to search for anything left.
“We started clearing mud and lifting stones. That’s when we found more of our mother’s remains, her abdomen, and other parts. It must’ve weighed around 20 kgs. We buried them in a separate grave,” Wajid said.
“On the third day, we found even more, collected in a [huge metal] plate, and buried again in the same cemetery.”
Kayani’s daughter, Hadiya, was laid to rest in the same grave as her mother, Areesha. Her small body was torn apart by the attack and the family had no choice but to bury them together, given the intense shelling and chaos at the time.
His older daughter, just four years old, survived the attack. Her trauma, however, continues to run deep.
“She flinches at every little thing,” Kayani said. “She barely speaks anymore… just sits there, quiet. Too quiet.”
US to eventually reduce military bases in Syria to one: US envoy
Updated 39 min 28 sec ago
AFP
ISTANBUL: The United States has begun reducing its military presence in Syria with a view to eventually closing all but one of its bases there, the US envoy for the country has said in an interview.
Six months after the ouster of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad, the United States is steadily drawing down its presence as part of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), a military task force launched in 2014 to fight the Daesh group (IS).
“The reduction of our OIR engagement on a military basis is happening,” the US envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, said in an interview with Turkiye’s NTV late on Monday.
“We’ve gone from eight bases to five to three. We’ll eventually go to one.”
But he admitted Syria still faced major security challenges under interim leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, whose Islamist-led coalition toppled Assad in December.
Assad’s ouster brought an end to Syria’s bloody 14-year civil war, but the new authorities have struggled to contain recent bouts of sectarian violence.
Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkiye, called for the “integration” of the country’s ethnic and religious groups.
“It’s very tribal still. It’s very difficult to bring it together,” he said.
But “I think that will happen,” he added.
The Pentagon announced in April that the United States would halve its troops in Syria to less than 1,000 in the coming months, saying the IS presence had been reduced to “remnants.”
