Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim responsibility for huge blaze days before F1 race is due to take place
A fire has erupted at an oil depot in Jeddah days ahead of a Formula One race in the Saudi city after what Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed was an attack by the group.
The blaze – not immediately acknowledged by Saudi Arabia or its state-run oil company Saudi Aramco – was centred on the same fuel depot that the Houthis had attacked in recent days.
Continue reading...UN warns up to 18 million could be in need of aid by September as food prices soar due to conflict, poor harvests and economic crisis
The number of people who are severely hungry in Sudan could double by September as a result of poor harvests, economic crisis, internal conflict and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UN has warned.
In a joint statement, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation said more than 18 million people could face extreme hunger over the coming months, up from about 9 million currently in need of aid.
Continue reading...Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi accused of being responsible for the torture of opposition figure in UAE
French anti-terror prosecutors have opened a preliminary inquiry into torture and acts of barbarism allegedly committed by Emirati general Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, according to judicial sources.. Raisi in November became president of Interpol.
The inquiry follows a legal complaint by an NGO that accused Raisi of being responsible in his role as high-ranking official at the United Arab Emirates interior ministry for the torture of an opposition figure.
Continue reading...The human rights group Reprieve has demanded Formula One ends its association with Saudi Arabian sportswashing after the family of a teenager sentenced to death wrote to Lewis Hamilton pleading with him to speak out on their son’s behalf before this weekend’s race.
In documents sent from Abdullah al-Howaiti’s prison cell and seen by the Guardian, he cites the torture and abuse he says he has suffered at the hands of the Saudi authorities as F1 once more prepares to race in the country that recently carried out 81 executions in a single day. In a report issued in January, a group of UN experts classified some of Saudi Arabia’s violations of international law as potentially “crimes against humanity” as the state continues to execute minors.
Continue reading...Al-Shabaab claim responsibility for attacks, including that which killed Amina Mohamed Abdi in run-up to elections this week
A “fearless” Somali female MP was among dozens of people killed in a series of bomb attacks in rural Somalia on Wednesday.
According to a witness quoted by the Associated Press, the bomber ran towards and embraced opposition MP Amina Mohamed Abdi before detonating a bomb as she campaigned in the town of Beledweyne in central Somalia ahead of parliamentary elections this week.
Continue reading...Sheikh Mohammed’s ex-wife Princess Haya granted responsibility for decisions on their children’s medical care and schooling
The ruler of Dubai will have no face-to-face contact with his two children from his marriage to Princess Haya nor any substantive say in their upbringing, after a long-running court battle between the former couple and a series of damning judgments about his “abusive behaviour”.
Concluding more than two and a half years of legal proceedings, which began when Haya fled to the UK with the children in April 2019, the president of the family division of the high court in England and Wales said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum had “consistently displayed coercive and controlling behaviour with respect to those members of his family who he regards as behaving contrary to his will”.
Sheikh Mohammed orchestrated the abductions and confinement of two of his other children, Princess Latifa and Princess Shamsa – in the latter case from the streets of Cambridge – and subjected Haya to a campaign of “harassment and intimidation”.
He hacked the phones of Haya and five of her associates, including two of her lawyers, using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware while the couple were locked in court proceedings.
His agents attempted to buy a £30m estate next door to Haya’s Berkshire home in a “very significant threat to her security”, while publicly denying they were doing so.
Continue reading...Revelation of denial offers new insight into the way Israel’s relationship with Moscow has undermined Ukrainian objectives
Israel blocked Ukraine from buying NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware for fear that Russian officials would be angered by the sale of the sophisticated hacking tool to a regional foe, according to people familiar with the matter.
The revelation, following a joint investigation by the Guardian and Washington Post, offers new insight into the way Israel’s relationship with Russia has at times undermined Ukraine’s offensive capabilities – and contradicted US priorities.
Continue reading...Exclusive: documents seen by the Guardian prove Assad minister’s boast that evading financial sanctions has ‘become a Syrian craft’
The Syrian regime is setting up shell companies in a systematic attempt to avoid sanctions, according to official documents obtained by the Guardian.
The documents, not publicly available, detail at least three companies established in Syria on the same day with the explicit purpose of operating as a shell to buy shares and manage other companies.
Continue reading...Amnesty says Australian-Iranian Shokrollah Jebeli was subjected to ‘more than two years of torture’
An Australian-Iranian man in his eighties jailed over a financial dispute has died in prison in Iran, Amnesty International said, accusing Tehran of subjecting him to torture by denying urgent medical care.
Shokrollah Jebeli,83, who had been incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin prison since January 2020, died on Sunday after being taken from prison to hospital the previous day, Amnesty said.
Continue reading...Commercially sold bread set at 11.50 Egyptian pounds a kilo as Russian invasion sends wheat prices soaring
Egypt has fixed the price of unsubsidised bread amid a global surge in wheat prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The move comes after war shut off access to cheaper wheat from the Black Sea region, particularly affecting exports to the Middle East and north African region. Egypt is the world’s biggest wheat importer, bringing in about 60% of its grain from overseas. Russia and Ukraine accounted for 80% of the country’s imports last year.
Continue reading...Conservationist detained since 2018 left behind when Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori released
Morad Tahbaz, the British-Iranian-American citizen left behind last week when Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori were allowed to return home to the UK, has been taken from Evin prison to a hotel in Tehran after representations by the British and American governments, the Foreign Office has said.
The department added that it was lobbying the Iranian authorities at the highest levels to allow him to return to his Tehran home immediately as the Iranian government had previously committed to do.
Continue reading...Long-term contract will not immediately stop flow of money to Russia, for which German ministers have been criticised
Germany has agreed a contract with Qatar for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) that will help the European country wean itself off its dependency on Russian energy.
But the contract is a long-term solution and will do little to slow the current flow of European money into Russian coffers, estimated to be worth $285m (£217m) a day for oil alone.
Continue reading...Freed 10 years ago after seven months held hostage, Tebbutt watched homecoming of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with joy and trepidation
Ten years ago on Monday, Judith Tebbutt walked onto a plane and out of the hands of the Somali pirates, kidnappers and murderers who had held her captive for almost seven months.
Her husband, David, had been shot dead by Tebbutt’s initial captors when they burst into the couple’s bedroom in their isolated, luxury holiday resort.
Continue reading...A report from the International Energy Agency makes clear that viable alternatives are limited
As Boris Johnson flew to the Gulf this week to ask for more oil to replace supplies from Russia, he was accused by the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, of “going cap in hand from dictator to dictator”.
At the same time, a report produced by the International Energy Agency (IEA) underlined just how limited the options are for any economy seeking to replace Russian crude and other oil products.
Continue reading...Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe are free but other families in the west are waiting anxiously
Dotted across Europe and America are families of as many as 17 dual nationals still held in jail in Iran, watching nervously to find out whether their loved ones will follow Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on a plane to freedom, or be left behind.
Many fear their freedom is not being made a precondition of the west agreeing a nuclear deal with Iran in the talks nearing a climax in Vienna. Without an acknowledged debt to repay like the UK’s, some of their countries may have trouble striking deals, and that worries the families.
Continue reading...Family of freed British-Iranian detainee Anoosheh Ashoori had to pay last-minute fine in cash
The family of the British-Iranian detainee Anoosheh Ashoori had to scramble at the last minute to raise £27,000 to pay a fine to the Iranian government, delivering the money in cash to the authorities in Tehran’s Evin prison for it to be counted and authenticated.
The Iranian government told British Foreign Office negotiators late on Monday that his release would be blocked unless the fine, linked to his 10-year jail sentence, was paid the following day. Ashooori was released along with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on Wednesday after the UK paid Iran a longstanding £400m debt.
Continue reading...Analysis: The economic model of the firm, ultimately owned by Dubai royalty, was under question even before the mass sackings
• Angry protests against P&O Ferries take place at UK ports
When Dubai Ports Ltd first bought up the ports and ships of P&O 16 years ago, the question that preoccupied a country reeling from the 2005 Islamist terrorist attacks was Britain’s physical security.
Now, the questions are focused on the economic security of Britain’s workforce.
Continue reading...Family says he was taken from home in Iranian capital by armed guards only 48 hours after being released
Morad Tahbaz, the British-Iranian given a furlough as part of a deal to release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori has been returned to Evin prison in Tehran under armed guard only 48 hours after being released.
The Foreign Office insisted that the Iranians have told them that Tahbaz is only being returned to the prison to have an ankle tag installed and they expect to see him returned home in the coming hours.
Continue reading...Analysis: Safe in his palace, Syrian leader appears to have given Moscow carte blanche to airlift his army
After 11 years of war, the destruction of towns, cities and much of the Syrian military, Bashar al-Assad’s army has launched a recruitment drive. But the recruits are not fresh from bootcamps and will not fight on the home front. They are the vanguard of what could be the biggest state-backed mercenary force in the world. Within days, Syrian troops could be deployed to reinforce the stalled Russian frontlines in Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin is about to extract a lethal price for Moscow’s rescue of the Syrian leader.
The first Syrian troops to join Putin’s ranks – an advance force of 150 – arrived in Russia on Thursday, European intelligence officials claim. Ukrainian military intelligence, echoing a claim by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, believes 40,000 Syrians have signed up to fight – a figure that would represent a sizeable chunk of the battle-ready capacity of the country’s entire military.
Continue reading...Labour and unions demand immediate action including suspending licences of parent company DP World
Unions and the Labour party have demanded immediate action over the sacking of 800 British crew by P&O Ferries, including suspending the licences of its parent company, DP World, as it emerged the government was made aware of the move the previous night.
Amid public calls for a boycott of P&O and protests at ports, unions demanded the government urge the firm to reverse its decision, and curb DP World’s involvement in planned freeports.
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