House voted 247-175 to send the resolution to Trump’s desk, where it is likely to be met with a veto
Congress has given final approval on a resolution to end American military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, in an unprecedented attempt to curtail the president’s power to go to war and a sweeping rebuke to Donald Trump’s foreign policy.
Related: War has broken Yemen. A new route to peace is needed, now | Hisham Al-Omeisy
Continue reading...The scenes of jubilation on the streets of Algeria on Tuesday night had vivid, almost uncanny echoes of events in the region eight years ago. A wave of protest in a youthful country has ousted an ageing, authoritarian leader who clung to power for years, at the head of a regime perpetuating a clientelist and unequal economy. The ailing 82-year-old president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, finally succumbed after weeks of protests, sparked by the announcement of his candidacy for a fifth term despite reports that he struggled even to speak.
The country’s oil wealth is drying up, reducing the government’s ability to temper popular discontent via state spending; over a quarter of its youth are unemployed; corruption is endemic. But it was the regime’s sheer contempt for its citizens in nominating a man who has barely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke, and the sense of national humiliation, which brought hundreds of thousands on to the streets. Those behind him hope that his departure will allow them to continue as before. Their opponents, now emboldened by victory, demand real change.
Continue reading...Protesters hail president’s downfall but oligarchic, elitist governmental system remains
The reluctant resignation of Algeria’s veteran president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, was greeted with noisy celebrations by street protesters who spent weeks demanding his departure. But his premature downfall after 20 years in power does not signify the end of the Algerian revolt. It may be just the beginning.
Now the next phase begins – a struggle to overthrow the country’s oligarchic, elitist governmental system and not merely its elderly figurehead. Under current rules, Algeria faces a 90-day transition period until a new president is elected. There is already confusion over what should happen next.
Continue reading...Ailing 82-year-old exits following mass protests against his rule
Algeria’s president Abdelaziz Bouteflika has bowed to weeks of mass protests against his rule and resigned, abruptly putting an end to two decades in power.
The 82-year-old leader announced his resignation on Tuesday night via a brief message from the presidency saying he had “notified the president of the constitutional council of his decision to end his mandate”.
Continue reading...As an actor and storyteller, I always felt that I was an extremely sympathetic person. That was a source of pride. But a couple of years ago I realised my sympathy was, in fact, pointless. It was devoid of any value whatsoever. My sympathy allowed me to merely sit as a spectator in the arena of human struggles. It achieved little for others. What I needed was to re-engage with something I had forgotten how to do: empathise.
In 2014 I found myself travelling along the West Bank on a coach with about 30 young Palestinians. This journey was full of music and dance. Darbukas and dabkes. And I was involved. It was impossible not to be. That is what empathy is. Feeling with others and not for them. But along this journey, that empathy turned quite suddenly to sympathy. Our bus had to pass a roadblock guarded by Israel Defence Forces soldiers. Guns were pointed at our driver and he was forced to halt the bus, throwing the younger members of the group 10 feet down the aisle. As we all scrambled to our seats, I immediately sat next to a young Palestinian boy of 13.
Continue reading...Four children of murdered journalist have also been given houses to ensure they ‘continue to show restraint in their public statements’
The children of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi have received multimillion-dollar homes and are being paid thousands of dollars per month by the kingdom’s authorities, the Washington Post has reported.
Khashoggi – a contributor to the Post and a critic of the Saudi government – was killed and dismembered in October at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul by a team of 15 agents sent from Riyadh. His body has not been recovered.
Continue reading...State-owned Saudi Aramco makes profits of £84.7bn last year, beating Apple and Exxon
Saudi Arabia’s state oil company has emerged as the most profitable business in the world, racking up profits of $111.1bn (£84.7bn) in 2018 to overtake Apple.
According to a rare glimpse into its finances contained in a bond-offering document, Saudi Aramco made the profit on revenues of $355.9bn last year, as it produced 10.3m barrels per day of crude oil.
Continue reading...Bouteflika, 82, has faced protests and pressure from army demanding end to his 20-year rule
After two decades in office, Algeria’s president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has announced that he will step down before his current term ends on 28 April, after a succession of loyalists deserted the ailing leader.
Hundreds of thousands of Algerians have taken to the streets in weekly protests which began in late February when Bouteflika launched his bid for a fifth term in office.
Continue reading...Officials say Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings reopened for first time after days of hostilities
Israeli authorities have reopened the two crossings with the Gaza Strip after days of hostilities in a sign that ceasefire talks may be advancing.
Israeli and Hamas officials who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed on Sunday that the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings were opened for the first time since Monday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: cuts, burns and bruising documented, despite government denials of torture
Political prisoners in Saudi Arabia are said to be suffering from malnutrition, cuts, bruises and burns, according to leaked medical reports that are understood to have been prepared for the country’s ruler, King Salman.
The reports seem to provide the first documented evidence from within the heart of the royal court that political prisoners are facing severe physical abuse, despite the government’s denials that men and women in custody are being tortured.
Continue reading...Chief executive allegedly targeted because he owns Washington Post, where Jamal Khashoggi was columnist
The security chief for Jeff Bezos, chief executive of Amazon, says the Saudi government had access to Bezos’s phone and gained private information from it.
Gavin de Becker, Bezos’s longtime security consultant, said he had concluded his investigation into the publication in January of leaked text messages between Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, a former television anchor whom the US National Enquirer tabloid newspaper said Bezos was dating.
Continue reading...An unidentified man ran towards a car carrying the king of Morocco shortly after the arrival of Pope Francis in the north African nation on Saturday, but was swiftly seized by security guards. Live TV footage from the state broadcaster showed King Mohammed VI standing up in his open-topped car and waving at crowds lining a street in Rabat, in a motorcade alongside the pope’s vehicle. The king’s car sped up slightly, but there was no other sign of disruption. It was not immediately clear what the man was trying to do
Continue reading...Gaza health ministry says 10 other people have been shot as up to 30,000 people stage protests along Israeli border
Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian man and a teenage boy and shot 10 others at the Gaza frontier, at gatherings marking the anniversary of the demonstration movement, the enclave’s ministry of health said.
In an attempt to limit the huge numbers of casualties at previous rallies, Egypt has sought to broker an unofficial agreement between Hamas, the strip’s rulers who have backed the rallies, and Israel.
Continue reading...Journalist Osama Gaweesh, who took part in Arab spring, still waiting for Home Office decision
Sitting in a cafe in Ipswich, Osama Gaweesh recalls how he took part in the Arab spring that saw Hosni Mubarak deposed as president of Egypt.
“The revolution’s demands were for human dignity, social justice and a democratic state. We achieved that,” he says.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Yemen rebel chief says foreign secretary ‘cannot be a peace broker and arms salesman’
The leader of the Houthi movement in Yemen has condemned the British foreign secretary for pressing Germany to relax its arms sales ban on Saudi Arabia, saying it was not possible for the UK to be a peace-broker in the country and an arms seller.
“Britain sending aid does not change the tragic reality of its arms sales. Jeremy Hunt cannot promote peace while at the same time acting as an arms salesman,” said Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the supreme revolutionary committee, in an interview with the Guardian.
Continue reading...Israeli fire on demonstrations at the frontier has devastated the lives of thousands.
Continue reading...UN says 194 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire and close to 29,000 wounded in past 12 months
Gaza is on edge before a planned Saturday protest to mark the anniversary of mass rallies along its frontier, after a year in which Israeli soldiers have shot thousands of people.
Related: A year of bloodshed at Gaza border protests
Continue reading...Three Franco-Israelis allegedly built replica of Jean-Yves Le Drian’s Paris office to aid scam
Israeli police have arrested three men accused of swindling a businessman out of €8m (£6.9m) by impersonating the French foreign minister and building a replica of his office.
The three Franco-Israelis are accused of passing themselves off as cabinet minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in emails and video calls to extract the money, claiming it was for cover operations and ransom money to release hostages held by Islamic extremists.
Continue reading...Decision comes one day after 11 women appeared in court on charges relating to activism
Three Saudi women on trial with eight others for charges relating to human rights activism have been released on bail.
Foreign observers welcomed the move to temporarily release Aziza al-Yousef, Dr Rokaya Mohareb and Eman al-Nafjan. The rest of the women are expected to be bailed on Sunday.
Continue reading...It took 18 years to build, with nearly a mile of galleries, and is inspired by a desert rose. But is Jean Nouvel’s eye-popping creation for the world’s wealthiest nation too extravagant to fill?
Hundreds of huge white plates lie scattered along the roadside in the centre of Doha, Qatar, as if someone has had a spectacular accident with a gigantic crockery cupboard. The creamy discs tilt this way and that, colliding with each other in a random muddle along the edge of the highway, forming an otherworldly landscape of canopies, terraces and enigmatic slit windows.
This pile-up of flying saucers is the new National Museum of Qatar, an astonishing creation by French architect Jean Nouvel, and the latest supercharged volley in the Gulf states’ cultural arms race. Two years ago, Nouvel unveiled the glistening upturned colander of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Now he’s back with another gargantuan palace for the Emirates’ arch rival. In its sprawling nearly mile-long loop of galleries, the museum tells the story of how this tiny nation of nomadic bedouins and pearl divers became, with the discovery of natural gas, the most wealthy country per capita on Earth in just 50 years.
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