Saudi aid agency chief meets Swedish envoy for Yemen

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Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah meets Swedish special envoy for Yemen Peter Semneby in Riyadh. (SPA)
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Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah meets Swedish special envoy for Yemen Peter Semneby in Riyadh. (SPA)
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Updated 19 April 2021
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Saudi aid agency chief meets Swedish envoy for Yemen

  • KSrelief distributed more than 27 tons of food baskets to displaced families in Yemen’s Marib governorate, benefiting 1,554 individuals

RIYADH: Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, general supervisor of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), met the Swedish special envoy for Yemen, Peter Semneby, at the headquarters of KSrelief in Riyadh on Sunday.
During the meeting, Al-Rabeeah reviewed the 590 projects that the Kingdom has implemented through KSrelief in Yemen so far.
They discussed matters of common interest related to humanitarian and relief affairs in Yemen, and the efforts made to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people.
Semneby praised the pioneering role provided by the Kingdom through KSrelief in support of countries in need, and the special attention given to the Yemeni people.
Meanwhile, KSrelief distributed more than 27 tons of food baskets to displaced families in Yemen’s Marib governorate, benefiting 1,554 individuals. The center also continued distributing Ramadan food baskets to Syrian and Palestinian refugees and Lebanese families in Lebanon. 


Russian defense minister visits North Korea for talks with military and political leaders

Updated 36 sec ago
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Russian defense minister visits North Korea for talks with military and political leaders

  • Andrei Belousov noted after his arrival that military cooperation between the countries is expanding
  • North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent months has prioritized relations with Russia
SEOUL: Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrived in North Korea on Friday for talks with North Korean military and political leaders as the countries deepen their cooperation over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In announcing the visit, Russia’s Defense Ministry didn’t say whom Belousov would meet or the purpose of the talks. North Korean state media didn’t immediately confirm the visit.
Belousov, a former economist, replaced Sergei Shoigu as defense minister in May after Russian President Vladimir Putin started a fifth term in power.
Photos released by the Defense Ministry showed Belousov walking alongside North Korean Defense Minister No Kwang Chol on a red carpet at a Pyongyang airport. North Korean military officials were seen clapping under a banner that read, “Complete support and solidarity with the fighting Russian army and people.”
Belousov noted after his arrival that military cooperation between the countries is expanding. He applauded a strategic partnership agreement signed by Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following their June meeting in Pyongyang, which he said is aimed at reducing tensions by maintaining a “balance of power” in the region and lowering the risk of war, including with nuclear weapons.
The June meeting demonstrated the “highest level of mutual trust” between the leaders, Belousov said, and “also the mutual desire of our countries to further expand mutually beneficial cooperation in a complex international environment.”
North Korean Defense Minister No also praised the expanding cooperation between the countries’ militaries and reiterated North Korea’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, describing it as a “just struggle to protect the country’s sovereign rights and security interests.”
The visit comes days after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met with a Ukrainian delegation led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in the South Korean capital, Seoul, and called for the two countries to formulate countermeasures in response to North Korea’s dispatch of thousands of troops to Russia to help its fight against Ukraine.
Kim in recent months has prioritized relations with Russia as he tries to break out of isolation and strengthen his international footing, embracing the idea of a “new Cold War.”
The United States and its allies have said North Korea has sent more than 10,000 soldiers to Russia in recent weeks and that some of those troops were engaging in combat.
North Korea has also been accused of supplying artillery systems, missiles and other military equipment to Russia that may help Putin further extend an almost three-year war. There are also concerns in Seoul that North Korea, in exchange for its troops and arms supplies, could receive Russian technology transfers that could improve its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
“The Russian defense minister doesn’t visit North Korea just to celebrate bilateral ties,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “This visit indicates Putin and Kim’s military cooperation in violation of international law is about to increase further.”
Yoon’s national security adviser, Shin Wonsik, said in a TV interview last week that Seoul believes that Russia has provided air defense missile systems to North Korea in exchange for sending its troops.
Shin said Russia also appears to have given economic assistance to North Korea and various military technologies, including those needed for the North’s efforts to build a reliable space-based surveillance system, which Kim has stressed is crucial for enhancing the threat of nuclear-capable missiles targeting South Korea. Shin didn’t say whether Russia has already transferred sensitive nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technologies to North Korea.
Yoon’s office hasn’t said whether the two governments discussed the possibility of South Korea supplying weapons to Ukraine in his talks with Umerov.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, South Korea has joined US-led sanctions against Moscow and provided humanitarian and financial support to Kyiv. But it has avoided directly supplying arms, citing a longstanding policy of not giving lethal weapons to countries actively engaged in conflicts.
Yoon has said his government will take phased countermeasures, linking the level of its response to the degree of Russian-North Korean cooperation.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Belousov will meet with Kim, the North Korean leader. Last year, Kim hosted a Russian delegation led by then-Defense Minister Shoigu and gave him a personal tour of a North Korean arms exhibition, in what outside critics likened to a sales pitch.
That event came weeks before Kim traveled to Russia for talks with Putin which sped up military cooperation between the countries. During another meeting in Pyongyang in June this year, Kim and Putin signed a pact stipulating mutual military assistance if either country is attacked, in what was considered the two countries’ biggest defense deal since the end of the Cold War.
The Russian report about Belousov’s visit came as South Korea scrambled fighter jets to repel six Russian and five Chinese warplanes that temporarily entered the country’s air defense identification zone around its eastern and southern seas, according to the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It said the Russian and Chinese planes did not breach South Korea’s territorial airspace.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it held telephone calls with Chinese and Russian defense attaches based in Seoul to protest the flights and urge the countries to prevent recurrences.

Singapore hangs 4th person in 3 weeks

Updated 45 min 36 sec ago
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Singapore hangs 4th person in 3 weeks

  • The United Nations and rights groups say capital punishment has no proven deterrent effect
  • Masoud Rahimi Mehrzad, a Singaporean citizen born in the city-state to a Singaporean mother and an Iranian father, was convicted in 2013 for drug trafficking

Singapore: Singapore hanged a 35-year-old Singaporean-Iranian man for drug trafficking on Friday, its fourth in less than a month, despite appeals from Tehran to "reconsider" his execution.
The United Nations and rights groups say capital punishment has no proven deterrent effect and have called for it to be abolished, but Singaporean officials insist it has helped make the country one of Asia's safest.
Masoud Rahimi Mehrzad, a Singaporean citizen born in the city-state to a Singaporean mother and an Iranian father, was convicted in 2013 for drug trafficking.
Appeals against his conviction and sentence, as well as petitions for clemency from the president, had been dismissed. After he was informed of his impending hanging, Masoud filed an 11th-hour appeal to stay his execution, which was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on Thursday.
Calling him "an Iranian citizen", Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi also appealed to his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan on Thursday to halt the execution.
"Araghchi expressed Iran's respect for Singapore's legal framework but appealed to Singaporean authorities to reconsider the execution of Masoud Rahimi, emphasizing humanitarian considerations," Iran's foreign ministry said on X.
However, Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) announced "the capital sentence of death imposed on Masoud Rahimi bin Mehrzad... was carried out on 29 November 2024".
"Masoud... was convicted of having in his possession for the purpose of trafficking, not less than 31.14 grams (1.1 ounces) of diamorphine, or pure heroin," CNB said.
Under the country's tough drug laws, the death penalty applies for any amount above a 15-gram threshold for heroin.
It added that "capital punishment is imposed only for the most serious crimes, such as the trafficking of significant quantities of drugs which cause very serious harm".
His execution was the fourth in three weeks in Singapore.
Rosman Abdullah, 55, was hanged on November 22 and two men -- a 39-year-old Malaysian and a 53-year-old Singaporean -- were hanged on November 15 all for drug offences.
So far this year, there have been nine executions by the Singaporean government -- eight for drug trafficking and one for murder.
According to an AFP tally, Singapore has hanged 25 people since it resumed carrying out the death penalty in March 2022 after a two-year halt during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UN this month reiterated its call on Singapore to review its position on capital punishment.


Macron offers first glimpse of post-fire Notre Dame

Updated 47 min 1 sec ago
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Macron offers first glimpse of post-fire Notre Dame

  • France is to offer the world a first look inside the restored Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Friday

PARIS: France is to offer the world a first look inside the restored Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Friday, over five years after the fire that ravaged the interior of the heritage landmark and toppled its spire.
Eight days ahead of the December 7 reopening of the cathedral, President Emmanuel Macron will conduct an inspection, broadcast live on television, which will provide the first official insight into how the 850-year-old edifice now looks inside.
Notre Dame will welcome back visitors and worshippers over the December 7-8 weekend after a sometimes challenging restoration to return to its former glory the great Paris cathedral badly damaged by the April 19, 2019 fire.
Macron at the time set the ambitious goal to rebuild Notre Dame within five years and make it “even more beautiful” than before, a target that the French authorities say has been met.
Some 250 companies and hundreds of experts were mobilized for a restoration costing hundreds of millions of euros in what was dubbed the “building site of the century.”
All 2,000 people who contributed to the work have been invited to Friday’s event, of whom at least 1,300 are expected to attend.
“This final site visit is an opportunity to thank them in particular — from wood craftsmen to those of metal and stone, from scaffolders to roofers, from bell makers to art restorers, from gilders to masons and sculptors, from carpenters to organ builders, from architects, archaeologists, engineers and planners to logistical or administrative functions,” stated Macron ahead of the visit.
Accompanied by his wife Brigitte, Macron is expected from 0930 GMT to inspect the key areas of the cathedral including the nave, choir and chapel and discuss the restoration in person with the workers.
The restoration cost a total of nearly 700 million euros (more than $750 million at today’s rate).
It was financed from the 846 million euros in donations that poured in from 150 countries in an unprecedented surge of solidarity.



The 19th-century gothic spire has now been resurrected with an exact copy of the original, the stained windows have regained their color, the walls shining after fire stains cleaned and a restored organ ready to thunder out again.
Unseen to visitors is a new mechanism to protect against any future fires, a discreet system of pipes ready to release millions of water droplets in case of a new disaster.
Notre Dame, which welcomed 12 million visitors in 2017, expects to receive an even higher figure of “14 to 15 million” after the reopening, according to the church authorities.
French ministers have also floated the idea of charging tourists an entrance fee to the site but the Paris diocese has said free admission was an important principle to maintain.
Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich told AFP last month that Macron will on Saturday, December 7 give an address inside Notre Dame to mark the reopening.
It is extremely unusual for a political leader to be allowed to address the faithful inside a Catholic religious building. France is by its constitution a secular country with a strict division between church and state.
World leaders are expected to join but the guest list has yet to be unveiled.
The next day, Sunday December 8, will see the first mass and consecration of the new altar, he added.
Macron in December said he had invited Pope Francis to the reopening of the cathedral but the head of the Catholic church announced in September, to the surprise of some observers, that he would not be coming.
Instead, the pontiff is on the subsequent weekend making a landmark visit to the French island of Corsica.
The French Catholic church has in recent years been rocked by a succession of sexual abuse allegations against clerics, including most recently the monk known as Abbe Pierre who became a household name for his aid to the destitute.
Over five years on, the investigation into what caused the fire is ongoing, with initial findings backing an accidental cause such as a short circuit, a welder’s torch or a cigarette.


Four killed in Syria in attack on Aleppo university dorms, state news agency says

Updated 32 min 7 sec ago
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Four killed in Syria in attack on Aleppo university dorms, state news agency says

  • Islamist militants launched an incursion on Wednesday into a dozen towns and villages in the northwestern province of Aleppo
  • The attack was the biggest since March 2020 when Russia agreed to a ceasefire to end years of fighting

DUBAI: Four civilians including two students were killed on Friday in the Syrian city of Aleppo in insurgent shelling of university student dormitories, the state news agency SANA reported.

More than 240 people, mostly combatants, were killed as intense fighting approached Syria’s northern Aleppo city after militants launched a major offensive on government-held areas this week, a monitor said Friday.

Rebels led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham launched an incursion on Wednesday into a dozen towns and villages in the northwestern province of Aleppo, which is controlled by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government forces.

“The combatants’ death toll in the ongoing... operation in the Idlib and Aleppo countrysides has risen to 218,” since Wednesday, said the British-based monitor with a network of sources inside Syria.

In addition to the fighters, it said 24 civilians were killed.

Syrian ally Russia launched air strikes that killed 19 civilians on Thursday, while another civilian had been killed in Syrian army shelling a day earlier, said the Observatory which on Thursday had reported an overall toll of about 200 dead, including the civilians.

The attack was the biggest since March 2020 when Russia, which backs Assad, and Turkiye, which supports the rebels, agreed to a ceasefire to end years of fighting that had uprooted millions of Syrians opposed to Assad’s rule.


Dakota Ditcheva poised for ‘massive statement’ at PFL World Championship in Riyadh

Updated 52 min 50 sec ago
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Dakota Ditcheva poised for ‘massive statement’ at PFL World Championship in Riyadh

  • Loughnane takes on Khizriev for men’s featherweight title in the headline bout
  • Ditcheva faces Santos for the women’s flyweight championship in co-main event

RIYADH: Dakota Ditcheva said she is ready to make a “massive statement” on Friday night when she faces Taila Santos for the PFL Women’s Flyweight Championship in Riyadh and hopes an impressive performance can help inspire more women to pursue mixed martial arts.

Ditcheva, one of the most exciting talents in global mixed martial arts, puts her 13-0 unbeaten record on the line against the experienced Santos (22-3) when they meet in the co-main event of an extraordinary PFL World Championship event at King Saud University.

Six world title fights will take place on Friday to conclude a thrilling 2024 PFL season, headlined by the featherweight championship bout between 2022 champion Brendan Loughnane (30-5) and unbeaten Timur Khizriev (17-0). Each winner will walk away with the belts and $1 million in prize money.

Ditcheva has been making major waves since swapping a world championship-winning Muay Thai career for MMA in 2021. Her enormous potential was spotted by the Professional Fighters League and she was signed in 2022 after five victorious MMA bouts.

Since clinching the PFL Europe women’s flyweight title in 2023, the English-Bulgarian fighter has made the step up to world level look easy, claiming two regular season wins and a semi-final victory in 2024 — all by first-round stoppage.

Now she faces the toughest challenge of her career against experienced Brazilian Santos, who has also impressed since joining the PFL with three straight wins this season.

On what a win over Santos would mean, Ditcheva said: “A massive statement, I feel like. I don’t know whether it will still gain the respect of the people on the internet, but that’s not something I’m worried about.

“Beating Taila would be massive; she’s someone I used to watch in the UFC and someone I have a lot of respect for so I’m just excited to put on an amazing fight. It seems to be a fight that’s got everyone excited, so I’m hoping we can both bring it on the night and put on a great performance.”

Ditcheva’s bout against Santos is another significant moment for women’s MMA as the second professional bout to be staged in Saudi Arabia. It comes nine months after boxing superstar Claressa Shields fought Kelsey DeSantis in the PFL vs Bellator event in Riyadh in the first professional women’s MMA fight in the Kingdom.

“Being a female over here in Riyadh, it can motivate a lot of other women probably and being one of the first ones to come over and show you can still fight, you can perform in such an amazing country, it’s just nice and hopefully motivating for other women,” Ditcheva said.

Among the bouts on the night is one featuring Hattan Alsaif, a rising MMA talent from Saudi Arabia who aspires to follow in Ditcheva’s footsteps and become a global PFL fighter. Alsaif’s inclusion in the event highlights the growing opportunities for women in the region to compete at the highest levels of the sport.

Ahead of the fight, Ditcheva took in the many sights of Riyadh, which included attending a Saudi Pro League match to watch Al-Nassr and their superstar captain Cristiano Ronaldo.

“Everyone knows I’m a big football fan and my brother is a massive Ronaldo fan, as I’m sure everyone is. It was just amazing that I was able to go and experience that,” she said.

“That’s what I love about this sport; it takes you all over the world, you get to experience different sports, meet different people. It’s probably not something I would have had without this sport, so I feel very lucky that I get to do that.”

The 26-year-old will be well supported on Friday night and will have her family by her side, including her mother Lisa Howarth, who was a world champion kickboxer and is a lifelong inspiration for the MMA star.