Opened in 1993 with hopes of rejuvenating one of Tel Aviv’s poorest neighbourhoods, the central bus station is now an eclectic mix of commerce and culture
Continue reading...Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa
‘Scores’ killed in Yemen as UAE-backed fighters seize parts of Aden
Clashes between forces backed by former Gulf allies UAE and Saudi threaten ‘new civil war within a civil war’, says thinktank
“Scores” of people were killed and hundreds wounded during recent fighting in Yemen’s key port of Aden when southern separatists – trained by the UAE – seized key locations of the city from Saudi-backed government forces.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Aden told the Guardian that large parts of the city were also left without electricity and water during the fighting after services were targeted. Humanitarian staff warned that any further fighting between forces allied with the two coalition partners would be “devastating”.
Continue reading...Freedom of expression on Palestine is being suppressed | Letter
Kamel Hawwash of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and 22 other signatories say that a council’s refusal to host a charity event has vindicated concerns raised about the IHRA working definition of antisemitism
Tower Hamlets council in London last month prevented a bike ride raising awareness of the plight of the Palestinian people from using space in one of its parks. We now know that the council feared that this advocacy for Palestine would violate the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism (UK council refused to host Palestinian event over antisemitism fears, 3 August). This use of the IHRA definition demonstrates the real threat to freedom of expression that it represents, ignoring its protection in our national rights legislation.
Palestinian groups, eminent lawyers, academic experts on antisemitism, prominent British Jews and bodies such as the Institute for Race Relations previously raised these concerns publicly. The rights of all British citizens to accurately describe, inform and convey the reality of ongoing Palestinian dispossession, and to call for action to resist these illegalities, belongs in the public space. All public bodies have an obligation to protect and defend these rights, to maintain democracy.
Continue reading...Maryam Shojaei helps Iran’s female football fans carry fight for admission | Suzanne Wrack
Gianni Infantino’s efforts have not had much impact and, with World Cup qualifiers soon, the wait to attend games continues
“They think that, if they give up on this, it’s a noose for them,” says Maryam Shojaei. “People will ask for more. If they give in in one area, they fear they will have to give in in others.”
“They” are the Iranian authorities and Iranian Football Association, who have thus far resisted calls for the removal of the 40-year ban on women in football stadiums. And Shojaei, who is the sister of the Iran national team captain, Masoud Shojaei, is one of an increasing number of women campaigning for entry: some have attempted to sneak into matches disguised as men, female sports photographers have had to scale buildings nearby just to do their jobs, and others have suffered brutal arrests and detention.
Continue reading...Saudi Aramco ready for record $2tn IPO after first-half results
Profits fell 12% but company still ahead of world’s six biggest listed oil producers combined
Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil group is ready to move ahead with a record $2tn (£1.7tn) market float after revealing profits of $46.9bn for the first half of this year.
Saudi Aramco’s profits for the six months ending in June were down from $53.2bn in the first half of last year owing to lower oil prices, but were still well ahead of the world’s six biggest listed oil companies combined.
Continue reading...US security adviser in Britain to discuss Iran, Huawei – and Brexit
John Bolton expected to urge tougher UK stance towards Tehran and Chinese firm
John Bolton, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, has arrived in London for talks at which he is expected to urge Britain to toughen its stance on Iran and Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei.
As the United Kingdom prepares to leave the European Union on 31 October, many diplomats expect London to become increasingly reliant on the United States.
Continue reading...Libya drone strike heightens fears of air war and risk of civilian deaths
Strike in Murzuq last week, blamed on Haftar forces, killed at least 45 people
An air war in Libya is intensifying as rival forces in the divided country try to break a military stalemate, heightening significantly the risk of civilian casualties.
At least 45 people were killed and dozens wounded in an airstrike last Sunday that targeted a town hall meeting in south-western Libya. The forces of Khalifa Haftar, the 75-year-old military strongman who controls much of the east of the country, have been blamed.
Continue reading...Five, including UN staff, killed in Benghazi car bombing
Explosion shattered Libyan conflict ceasefire agreed during Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha
A car bomb explosion in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed three UN staff members and two other mission members on Saturday, the United Nations said.
The UN is trying to broker a truce in the capital Tripoli, where the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) launched a surprise attack in April. A Reuters reporter at a Benghazi hospital where casualties of the blast were taken saw a list of names of those killed identifying them as part of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).
Continue reading...Begum lawyer says legal ploy could stop her return to Britain
Citizenship appeal for UK Isis teenager being ‘deliberately delayed’
Shamima Begum’s attempt to overturn the decision to revoke her UK citizenship is being deliberately delayed, according to her lawyers, to give police time to charge the former Islamic State member with a terrorism offence.
Almost six months have passed since Begum lodged an appeal against the decision, by the former home secretary, Sajid Javid. Yet the 19-year-old, who joined Isis aged 15 and remains in Syria, is still waiting for a date to be set with the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), which adjudicates on cases where the home secretary has revoked someone’s nationality on grounds of national security.
Continue reading...Palestinian militants killed on Gaza border, Israeli military says
Soldiers opened fire after one of four armed men crossed into Israel, defence forces say
Israeli forces have shot dead four Palestinian militants near the border with Gaza, the Israeli military said.
In a post on Twitter, the Israel Defense Forces said the men were armed with assault rifles, anti-tank missiles and hand grenades, one of which was hurled at their troops. “Once one of the terrorists crossed into Israel, our troops opened fire.”
Continue reading...Ex-French spy chief admits 1980s pact with Palestinian terrorists
Families of victims of 1982 Paris attack demand parliamentary inquiry over claims
Families of the victims of a 1982 terrorist attack in Paris are demanding a parliamentary inquiry after reports that the former chief of French intelligence made a secret pact with the perpetrators.
They have called on President Emmanuel Macron to declassify the top-secret file of the attack, which killed six and injured 22 others.
Continue reading...Syria: new Idlib clashes sow ‘total panic’ among civilians, UN says
Senior official says government offensive would be ‘playing with fire’ after truce collapses
Fresh fighting around Syria’s jihadi-controlled enclave of Idlib has triggered “total panic” among civilians in recent days, according to a senior UN official who warned that a feared government offensive in the area was “playing with fire”.
The renewed violence, which followed the breakdown of a brief ceasefire, came as international concern about Syria mounts. The British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said on Thursday that he was appalled by the deteriorating situation in the enclave, which is home to about 3 million people.
Continue reading...Gaza review – heartfelt chronicle of life under political siege
This sombre, angry documentary captures a sense of ordinary life in the strip bordered by Egypt, Israel and the sea
Garry Keane and Andrew McConnell’s heartfelt film about the unending misery of Gaza – now effectively a blockaded strip of land bounded by the Egyptian and Israeli borders and the Mediterranean Sea – has had a complex reception in some quarters since it premiered at Sundance earlier this year. Some have found it manipulative and politically reticent, in that it only fleetingly mentions Hamas, and includes footage of an Israeli bombardment but shows only stone-throwing as the response. There may be something in this. For instance, eyebrows have to be raised at the moment when an immobile child is shown with her eyes closed, we are encouraged to think she is dead but in a later scene she opens her eyes.
Yet the film has real value as a compassionate human document, in showing ordinary people who courageously have to keep going somehow, in the grimmest of conditions, in a world where, as someone puts it, there is a “wall between the people of Gaza and life itself”. A young woman practises the cello, a young man records rap tracks, a theatre director rehearses a performance piece, a fisherman broods over the oppression of his industry – they are not allowed to fish more than three miles out, and the amount of fish that can be caught so close to shore is pitifully meagre. The sea is what the people of Gaza face: the one boundary that does not seem so brutal, something that should conceivably be a source of comfort, but is almost as unforgiving as the land barriers. A sombre, angry film about a people under political siege.
Continue reading...Syria safe zone plan may just be wishful thinking
Lack of detail and strong opposition from Kurds means plan is unlikely to provide solution to region’s problems
The announcement by Turkey and the US that they will set up a safe zone in Kurdish-run north-eastern Syria allays fears of an imminent Turkish incursion into the country, but will strain Washington’s ties with a force that helped defeat Islamic State.
The announcement came as Ankara was finalising a troop buildup along its southern border, which it shares with Syrian Kurds. On Sunday, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had threatened to invade within the next fortnight, creating a conundrum for Washington, which views both the Turks and the Kurds as allies and has increasingly struggled to keep them from conflict.
Continue reading...Bahraini dissident feared being thrown off London embassy roof
Embassy denies staff used violence to halt rooftop protest against executions in Bahrain
A Bahraini dissident has said he was beaten and threatened with being thrown from the roof of the country’s embassy in London last month by staff trying to halt his rooftop protest against the execution of two men in the Gulf nation.
Moosa Mohammed said he feared for his life in the struggle atop the five-storey Belgravia building. He said it began when an embassy staffer pushed him, then hit him with a metre-long plank of wood while he was perched precariously on the edge.
Continue reading...Terrawatch: why salt crystals ‘snow’ down on Dead Sea floor
Scientists have observed up to 10cm of salt falling to sea floor every year since 1979
Try swimming in the Dead Sea and you can’t help but float. This salt lake, bordered by Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, is nearly 10 times as salty as the oceans. In recent decades diversion of freshwater streams has made it even saltier, and since 1979 scientists have observed salt crystals “snowing” down, depositing up to 10cm on the sea floor every year. It’s the only place in the world where this happens and now scientists think they know why.
During summer the Dead Sea separates into two layers: a warm super-salty layer sitting above a cooler less-salty layer. The research, published in Water Resources Research , shows that when small waves break this boundary they encourage salty fingers to penetrate into the lower layer. Warm water holds more salt than cool water, so as the fingers cool they produce salt crystals which then rain down on the sea floor.
Continue reading...The cat man of Aleppo: rescuing battle-weary Syrian strays
Mohammad Aljaleel looked after homeless cats during the aerial bombardment of Aleppo. He has since set up a dedicated sanctuary and veterinary clinic for stray felines
Continue reading...Oil built Saudi Arabia – will a lack of water destroy it?
As Riyadh continues to build skyscrapers at a dizzying rate, an invisible emergency threatens the desert kingdom’s existence
Bottles of water twirl on the conveyor belts of the Berain water factory in Riyadh, as a puddle of water collects on the concrete floor. In a second warehouse, tanks emit a low hum as water brought in from precious underground aquifers passes through a six-stage purification process before bottling.
“In Saudi Arabia there are only two sources of water: the sea and deep wells,” says Ahmed Safar Al Asmari, who manages one of Berain’s two factories in Riyadh. “We’re in the central region, so there are only deep wells here.”
Continue reading...It’s oppressive not strict in Saudi Arabia | Letter
The controls against women in the kingdom are not ‘strict’, as they were described in a Guardian article. Much more accurate to describe them as ‘oppressive’, writes Emma Laughton
Your article “Saudi women ‘no longer need male approval to go abroad’” (2 August) struck the wrong note for me. It referred to the “strictest controls” over women, which seems to rather understate the nature of the situation and existential impact on the suffering of women there. Could I suggest that it would be more appropriate to describe the controls as “oppressive”? Perhaps this is a silly quibble, but the words do give a different flavour. For example, a “strict” diet might even be a good thing in certain circumstances. Using a word like oppressive makes the point that the situation has no redeeming features and can’t be justified in any circumstances. Of course, I’m glad if the article is correct in suggesting that some of the worst features of the system there are being changed.
Emma Laughton
Colyton, Devon
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Continue reading...UK joins US in mission to protect oil tankers in Gulf
No other European countries have signed up to US-led mission to ‘uphold international navigation’
Britain is to join a mission with the US to protect oil tankers in the Gulf from seizure by Iran, but London has said no other European countries have so far been persuaded to sign up.
The UK will supply two Royal Navy ships in the Gulf alongside two US warships while British ministers urge other countries to join in as the operation is finalised.
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