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Delegation from Yemen’s Houthi rebels flies into Saudi Arabia for peace talks with kingdom

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A delegation from Yemen’s Houthi rebels have flown into Saudi Arabia for talks with the kingdom on potentially ending the years long war

Published Date – 12:00 PM, Fri – 15 September 23


Delegation from Yemen’s Houthi rebels flies into Saudi Arabia for peace talks with kingdom

A delegation from Yemen’s Houthi rebels have flown into Saudi Arabia for talks with the kingdom on potentially ending the years long war

Dubai: A delegation from Yemen’s Houthi rebels have flown into Saudi Arabia for talks with the kingdom on potentially ending the years long war tearing at the Arab world’s poorest nation, officials say.

It remains unclear what terms now are being discussed between Riyadh and the Iranian-backed Houthis, who have held Yemen’s capital of Sanaa since September 2014. But the trip comes after regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran reached a Chinese-mediated détente earlier this year and as there’s been a flurry of diplomatic activity between the different parties in the proxy war.

This latest effort appears to have begun with a visit Monday to Oman by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the assertive son of King Salman who launched the kingdom-led war back in March 2015. Oman has long served as an interlocutor between both Iran and the Houthis during the war.

On Thursday, King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed reportedly received letters from Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, who is a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The substance of the letters was not publicly acknowledged by either country, but it came as an Omani delegation visited Houthi officials in Sanaa.

Field Marshal Mahdi al-Mashat, the head of the Houthis’ supreme political council, issued a statement via the Houthi-controlled SABA news agency praising the peace efforts.

“Peace was and remains our first choice, which must be worked on by everyone,” al-Mashat said. “In response to the mediation of Oman, the national delegation will go, accompanied by the Omani delegation, to Riyadh to complete consultations with the Saudi side.” Early Friday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency acknowledged that a Houthi delegation had been invited to the kingdom, without elaborating. The English-language newspaper Arab News, which is owned by a company long tied to the kingdom’s royal family, reported that 10-member Houthi delegation had flown into Riyadh on Thursday night.

Yemen’s conflict began in 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of the country’s north. The internationally recognized government fled to the south and then into exile in Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi takeover prompted a Saudi-led coalition to intervene months later and the conflict turned into a regional proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with the United States long involved on the periphery, providing intelligence assistance to the kingdom.

However, international criticism over Saudi airstrikes killing civilians saw the US pull back its support. But the US is suspected of still carrying out drone strikes targeting suspected members of Yemen’s local al-Qaida branch.

The war has killed more than 1,50,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters. A cease-fire that expired last October largely has held in the time since, however. Saudi Arabia, its local allies and the Houthis conducted a prisoner exchange in April as part of peace talk efforts

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‘UAE will destabilize region with claims on Persian Gulf islands’

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A top advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has cautioned that the United Arab Emirates’ claims of ownership over the three islands of Abu Musa, the Greater Tunb, and the Lesser Tunb in the Persian Gulf will “destabilize the region’s security.”

Ali Akbar Velayati made the remarks in an interview with Qatar’s Al Jazeera on Thursday, emphasizing that the three islands have historically been part of Iran, and are an integral part of the Iranian territory.

“The UAE’s claims regarding the three islands have created problems between two neighboring countries,” Velayati said. “We will not allow any false claims regarding the Persian Gulf to become a reality.”

“Repeated claims by the UAE about the three islands will destabilize the region’s security,” he added.

The veteran Iranian diplomat also pointed out that Tehran does not want conflict with neighboring countries, and “is keen on peace without compromising on the integrity of its lands.”

He said countries in the region have “no alternative” other than to strengthen relations and settle differences.

“We’re convinced of the need to establish regional security and are ready to implement this with neighboring states,” Velayati noted.

The three Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa, the Greater and Lesser Tunbs have historically been part of Iran, proof of which can be found and corroborated by countless historical, legal, and geographical documents in Iran and other parts of the world. However, the United Arab Emirates has repeatedly laid claim to the islands.

The islands fell under British control in 1921 but on November 30, 1971, a day after British forces left the region and just two days before the UAE was to become an official federation, Iran’s sovereignty over the islands was restored.

Iran has also responded to joint statements that some Arab organizations issue to support UAE’s claim. Tehran summoned the Russian ambassador in July over a joint statement by Moscow and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) about the three islands. 

One of the latest reactions was on September 7 as the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry roundly dismissed a joint statement from the ministerial meeting of Arab-Japan Political Dialogue about the islands, stressing that the trio are an eternal part of the Iranian territory.

Nasser Kan’ani said at the time that the statement lacked any political or legal value, and violated the principle of non-interference in domestic affairs of countries and respect for their territorial integrity.

 

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US using Ukraine as electronic warfare testing ground

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US Military Commander Josh Kozlov was quoted as saying such during the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in Maryland by a military-focused US media outlet, Sputnik reports.

The leader of the US Army 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing, which was established two years ago to catch the US military up with its rivals in electronic warfare, said that both sides of the conflict in Ukraine have shown impressive abilities in the field.

“The agility being displayed by both parties, in the way that they’re executing operations in the spectrum, is awesome,” Kozlov said. “Both sides are doing the cat-and-mouse game very, very well.

“In the future, for us, if we do confront a peer, being agile and being rapid is the key to success in the spectrum,” he added.

Russia’s EW tactics have prevented drones from attacking inside of Russia, affected Western targeting systems, and disrupted communications between Ukrainian forces.

Ukrainian leadership has attempted to entice Western countries to supply more weapons by pointing out that it can act as a testing range for weapons.

In June, then-Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that “for the military industry of the world, you can’t invent a better testing ground,” than the battlefield in Ukraine. Who the lab rats are in this experiment was left unsaid.

If Ukraine is viewed as an experiment, it seems that Western weapons are failing the test. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Tuesday that 71,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or injured since the start of Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive, along with 18,000 armored vehicles and 543 tanks, including German-made Leopard-2 and UK-produced Challenger-2 tanks.

MNA/PR

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50% of world’s glaciers will vanish with 1.5 degrees of warming: Study

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The study by Rounce and team marks the first modelling study that uses satellite-derived mass change data describing all the world’s 215,000 glaciers.

Published Date – 09:55 PM, Sat – 9 September 23


50% of world’s glaciers will vanish with 1.5 degrees of warming: Study



New York: If the world reaches 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, 50 per cent of the glaciers would disappear and contribute 9 cm to sea level rise by 2100, finds an alarming study.

The study, published in the journal Science, projects that the world’s glaciers could lose as much as 40 per cent of their mass by 2100. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, US, modelled glaciers around the world — not counting the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets — to predict how they will be affected by global temperature increases of 1.5 to 4 degrees Celsius (2.7 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

The study found that with 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, half the world’s glaciers would disappear and contribute 3.5 inches to sea level rise by 2100.

If the world reaches 2.7 degrees of warming — the estimated temperature increase based on climate pledges made at the Conference of Parties (COP26) of the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change — nearly all glaciers in Central Europe, western Canada, and the US (including Alaska) will have melted.

If warming reaches 4 degrees Celsius, 80 per cent of the world’s glaciers will disappear and contribute 15 centimetres of sea level rise. “Regardless of temperature increase, the glaciers are going to experience a lot of loss. That’s inevitable,” said David Rounce, assistant professor at Carnegie.

The study by Rounce and team marks the first modelling study that uses satellite-derived mass change data describing all the world’s 215,000 glaciers.

The team’s sophisticated model used “new satellite derived datasets that were not available on a global level before”, said Regine Hock, a glaciology professor at the University of Alaska and the University of Oslo. It included data from Japan’s Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite, as well as the USGS-NASA Landsat 8 and ESA’s Sentinel satellites.

The model accounted for glacial debris cover, which includes rocks, sediment, soot, dust and volcanic ash found on the glacier surface. Glacial debris is typically difficult to measure due to its varying thickness, but it plays an important role because it can influence glacial melting: a thin layer of debris can enhance melting, while a thick layer can insulate and reduce it. Glaciers in remote regions — far from human activities — are particularly powerful indicators of climate change. Rapidly melting glaciers impact freshwater availability, landscapes, tourism, ecosystems, the frequency and severity of hazards, and sea level rise.

“Sea level rise is not just a problem for a few specific locations,” said Ben Hamlington, leader of NASA’s Sea Level Change Team. “It’s increasing almost everywhere on Earth.” “We are not trying to frame this as a negative look at the loss of these glaciers, but instead how we have the ability to make a difference,” Rounce said. “I think it’s a very important message — a message of hope.”

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Tehran reacts to E3's decision to retain sanctions

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The sanctions were due to expire next month under the agreement, which is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The European trio, aka the E3, which is part of the deal, however, announced on Thursday that they intended to keep the bans beyond the deadline.

Reacting to the decision shortly afterward, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it considered it to be “an illegal measure,” and contrary to the trio’s commitments under the JCPOA and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 — that has endorsed the JCPOA.

“The decision amounts to a tension-building measure, which is taken in bad faith,” read a statement by the ministry.

The European countries had cited three reasons for their decision, including their allegations that Iran has transferred drones to Russia, which is engaged in a war against Ukraine, as well as, what they call, the likelihood that Tehran might provide Moscow with ballistic missiles.

The Islamic Republic has roundly rejected both the allegations, citing its categorical rejection of the war.

The threesome European countries have also accused Iran of violating the JCPOA, referring to a number of legal nuclear countermeasures that the Islamic Republic began to take after the United States illegally left the JCPOA in 2018 and the three states failed to offer any compensation for the US’s withdrawal.

The Foreign Ministry reminded that Iran began the countermeasures in line with the JCPOA’s Articles 26 and 36 allowing the deal’s participants to scale back their commitments should the other parties do the same.

It also noted that Iran launched the retaliatory steps after giving Washington and the E3 a year to make up for their violation of the JCPOA.

The statement, therefore, called the trio’s decision “completely void of legal logic.”

It called it “unacceptable” for the E3 to base their decision on “actions on the part of Iran that are completely legal and [were taken] in reaction to the US’s withdrawal and the European trio’s inaction.”

“The European parties’ measure will definitely be counterproductive for the efforts that are aimed at management of [existing] tensions…,” the statement said.

The decision, it added, “is irreconcilable with the European parties’ claim that they would try to create the necessary atmosphere for the revival of the JCPOA.”

MNA/Press TV

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Death toll hits 11,300 in Libyan city destroyed by floods

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Marie el-Drese, secretary general of the Libyan Red Crescent, told The Associated Press by phone that a further 10,100 had been reported missing in the ruined city of Derna. Earlier, city officials said the death toll could reach 20,000.

A precise tally of the rising number of people killed is incredibly difficult to compile given the level of destruction and the chaotic political situation in the region, with bodies still washing up on the shore and burials being held in mass graves.

As rescuers searched underwater and under rubble, fears grew that rotting bodies could lead to a deadly outbreak of disease.

A deluge of rainfall from Mediterranean storm Daniel caused two dams to collapse, sending waves more than 20 feet high through the heart of Derna, a port city in the country’s east.

More than 7,000 residents were wounded, ambulance service spokesman Osama Ali told NBC News.

Numbers have varied depending on which official has provided them, though all put the toll well into the thousands and Derna’s mayor has said that it could more than triple as search teams and survivors find more bodies in the ruins.

“The situation is very large and surprising for the city of Derna. We were not able to confront it with our capabilities that preceded the storm and the torrent,” Mayor Abdel Moneim al-Ghaithi told Sky News Arabia on Wednesday night.

His office said that the number of those killed could hit 20,000 — around a fifth of the city’s population — based on estimates of those living in areas that were swept away.

MNA/PR

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Kim arrives in Russia’s Far East, set to visit aircraft plant

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un headed straight to an aircraft plant that builds fighter jets after arriving in Russia’s Far Eastern city

Published Date – 11:00 AM, Fri – 15 September 23


Kim arrives in Russia’s Far East, set to visit aircraft plant

IANS Photo

Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un headed straight to an aircraft plant that builds fighter jets after arriving in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur on Friday, following his rare summit with President Vladimir Putin earlier this week, according to media reports.

Kim arrived at a railway station in the city earlier in the day and was welcomed in accordance with traditions for a special guest, Yonhap News Agency quoted local Russian media outlets as saying.

The Russian city has two aircraft plants, the Yuri Gagarin Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant, which is named after the first person in space, and the Yakovlev plant, which had been known as Irkut. Russia’s state-run news agency Tass said the Yuri Gagarin plant produces advanced warplanes, including Su-35 and Su-57 fighter jets.

The Yakovlev plant builds short-haul passenger airliners. Kim is expected to visit more cities in Russia after Wednesday’s summit at the Vostochny spaceport has raised concerns over the expansion of military cooperation between the increasingly isolated countries, including the prospects of Pyongyang sending more ammunition to Moscow for use in the war in Ukraine. Putin earlier said Kim will also travel to Vladivostok to view Russia’s Pacific Fleet.

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Fatal incident in Australia: Police deploy taser and bean bag rounds

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At approximately 9:45 p.m., authorities successfully accessed the premises. Following the deployment of various tactical measures, including the use of a Taser and impact munitions, the 47-year-old woman was apprehended and taken into custody.

Updated On – 10:41 AM, Fri – 15 September 23


Fatal incident in Australia: Police deploy taser and bean bag rounds



Sydney: Police in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) on Friday said that a woman died in hospital after she was tasered and shot with a bean bag round during a standoff with officers.

In a statement, the NSW Police Force said that at around 12.30 p.m.on Thursday, officers were called to a unit complex on Mitchell Street in Stockton, following reports of a woman threatening people with an axe, reports Xinhua news agency.

Police were able to gain entry to the property at about 9.45 p.m.and the 47-year-old woman was taken into custody after a number of tactical options were implemented, including the use of a Taser and impact munitions.

She was then escorted from the scene to an ambulance.

But her condition worsened and later died in a hospital.

NSW Police Force has launched a critical incident investigation over the woman’s death.

At a press conference held on Friday, NSW Police Force Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said that officers were threatened by the woman with her axe before she retreated back into the unit.

“During the arrest, the woman sustained an injury to her right shoulder,” McKenna noted.

He explained to reporters that the woman was hit by a bean bag round, which is a “less than lethal option” used by law enforcement agencies.

“Local police attended shortly after 12.30. As I understand it, they attempted to negotiate with the woman themselves for quite some time. And when that wasn’t able to be achieved, then the technical police were brought in,” said McKenna.

According to the assistant commissioner, the critical incident investigation would cover multiple issues, including mental health and other options that could have been utilised to disarm people.

Earlier in May, a 95-year-old woman died in hospital after being tasered by a senior constable from the NSW Police Force during an incident at a Cooma nursing home.

On May 17, dementia patient Clare Nowland was tasered when she was approaching police at a slow pace and holding a steak knife in her hand.

She was transported to hospital in a critical condition and died on May 24.

The senior constable was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault.

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US Congressman Sherman raises enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings in Pakistan

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US Congressman Brad Sherman on Friday raised the issue of kidnappings by criminals, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and imprisonment of women by authorities

Published Date – 10:10 AM, Fri – 15 September 23


US Congressman Sherman raises enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings in Pakistan

ANI Photo

Washington: US Congressman Brad Sherman on Friday raised the issue of kidnappings by criminals, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and imprisonment of women by authorities without due process in Pakistan, particularly in Sindh.

Sherman also highlighted the case of Priya Kumari, who he said disappeared two years ago. He said the US House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee will speak about child trafficking this week.

In a post on X, Sherman stated, “In #Pakistan, kidnappings by criminals & enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings & imprisonment of women without due process by authorities continue unabated, particularly in #Sindh, as highlighted by protests this month.”

In another post, he stated, “It’s been two years since then-seven-year-old Priya Kumari disappeared and on September 10 Afzal Lund was murdered. As the @HouseForeign’s Human Rights Subcommittee is shining a light on child trafficking this week, let us reaffirm that these tactics will not go unanswered.”

On August 30, a protest rally was held to commemorate the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances to highlight the increase in the cases of enforced disappearances across Balochistan and Sindh.

The rally, held at Jhaz Chowk Sehwan Press Club, was led by central leaders Amar Azadi, Pireeh Sindhu, Sodho Sindhi, Shoban Lashari, Shan Sindhi, Mubasher, Sajjad Burdi on the call for Jeay Sindh Freedom Moment (JSFM).

According to an official release, the JSFM leaders told the media that they might consider the issue of missing persons of the National Movement of Sindh and Balochistan as a violation of human rights.

The JSFM leaders demanded that Faqir Ijaz Gaho, Sohail Raza Bhatti, Allah Wadhayo Mahar, Naveed Mirani, Aqib Chandio, Naeem Malukani, Waheed Ghangharu and other National Workers should be immediately rescued. If the National Workers are involved in any case, they should be produced before the country’s courts, they demanded.

Meanwhile, Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement (JSFM) chairman Sohail Abro, vice chairman Zubair Sindhi, and leaders Amar Azadi, Sodho Sindhi, Hafeez Deshi and Pireeh Sindhu, in their joint statement, said enforced disappearances are not only a serious violation of human rights but also a direct form of state terrorism, according to the release.

“They kill political and national activists extrajudicially. This proves that the judicial system here has failed, so we have no hope for them,” the release stated further.

They requested the Human Rights, Amnesty International, the United Nations, and International Human Rights Watch to take action by putting pressure on Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.

“Notice should be taken of this violation of international norms so that the national workers who were forcibly abducted from Sindh can be released and reunited with their loved ones, otherwise, the scope of the protest will be widened,” the release read further.

On August 30, Amnesty International called on Pakistani authorities to end the practice of enforced disappearance and secret and arbitrary detentions.

In a post on X, Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office stated, “Pakistan must end the practice of enforced disappearance and secret and arbitrary detentions. Authorities must immediately and unconditionally disclose the whereabouts of the forcibly disappeared, to their families.”

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India deeply disappointed by absence of Xi, Putin at G20: US

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Their absence has not deterred President Joe Biden from making the long journey to India (despite testing vigorously for Covid 19) for the gathering as the U.S has not lost its gusto to seize the opportunity.

Updated On – 10:01 PM, Sat – 9 September 23


India deeply disappointed by absence of Xi, Putin at G20: US

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Washington: India is disappointed that Chinese President Xi Jingping and Russian President Vladimir Putin could not personally attend the G20 meeting hosted in New Delhi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but was happy that US and India clinched a lot of agreements on high technology, a top US government official said.

Kurt Campbell, President Joe Biden’s Deputy Assistant and Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Region on US foreign policy, said the White House views the absence of Putin and Xi as a great disappointment to India when world leaders were attending.

“There is substantial disappointment that the’re not here and gratitude that we are,” Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell told reporters shortly after Biden’s meeting with Modi as reported in the US media here. Biden’s top agenda on arrival was the one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Modi at his residence as he sought to embrace India as one of the most critical partnerships for the US in the 21st century and a trusted regional ally to counter China.

“The leaders re-emphasised that the shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights, inclusion, pluralism, and equal opportunities for all citizens are critical to the success our countries enjoy and that these values strengthen our relationship,” a joint statement released after the meeting read.

The leaders clinched a series of agreements on technology and trade and were happy on agreements on high-tech trade, including on semiconductors, telecom and computing. Of particular significance were the leader’s statements that they had settled the seventh and last outstanding World Trade Organisation dispute between them. India said that a lot of duty restrictions being freed for more than a dozen commodities imported from the US. Modi also looked forward to welcoming President Biden to the next Quad Leaders’ Summit to be hosted by India in 2024, Campbell said. Biden proposed to use the absence of Xi Jingping and Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Delhi towards countering China by papering the fractures and to convince a splintered world that the United States remains a committed and valuable partner for all.

Biden’s presence in Delhi shows strong headwinds in his bid for re-election; a poll conducted by the CNN said. Released on the day of his departure showed two-thirds of Democrat-leaning voters don’t want Biden as the 2024 nominee. Europe is concerned if Biden’s robust pledges of a US role in the world could be sustained in view of his own shaky political standing within the party and the US voters, report said.

G20 in India provides him the opportunity that the United States can act as a better partner for developing countries than China. US said that at the summit, the changing dynamics of the G20 will be in sharp relief as two of the biggest players, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, skip the previously unmissable event.

Their absence has not deterred President Joe Biden from making the long journey to India (despite testing vigorously for Covid 19) for the gathering as the U.S has not lost its gusto to seize the opportunity.

Biden has never lost an opportunity to make the G20 and the smaller, more U.S.-aligned Group of Seven, a cornerstone for his foreign policy initiatives. Biden actually met Chinese leader Xi Jingping for the first time since he became President only at last year’s G20 gathering, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

They have had no direct communication since but high-ranking members of their respective governments have travelled between the nations’ capitals.

Biden hinted at a meeting this fall with Xi, possibly at a conference for Pacific Rim countries the U.S. is hosting in November, “It would be nice to have him here, but now the summit is going well,” Biden commented on Saturday but equally he was disappointed just as India was over Xi Jingpings absence.