Friend of the Arab world: King Charles III officially announced as Britain’s monarch

Wearing traditional Arab robes, the former Prince Charles takes part in a Saudi sword dance known as ardah at the Janadriyah cultural festival near Riyadh in February 2014. (REUTERS/File)
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Updated 10 September 2022
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Friend of the Arab world: King Charles III officially announced as Britain’s monarch

  • New monarch’s engagement with the Middle East ensures continuity of friendship forged by the late queen
  • As Prince of Wales, Charles showed a lifelong commitment to building bridges between faiths and cultures

LONDON: In November, the Prince of Wales and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, embarked on the first overseas tour by any member of the British royal family since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which had brought a temporary halt to such trips two years earlier.

To those familiar with the interests closest to the prince’s heart, the choice of the Middle East as the destination came as no surprise.

Visiting Jordan and Egypt, the prince was honoring his lifelong commitment to the building of bridges between different faiths and cultures, and exercising his fascination with, and love of, a region with which he has always been deeply engaged.

On his visit to Jordan, the prince was keen to express his admiration for the work being done in the country on behalf of refugees, many of whom had been displaced by the war in Syria.




Prince Charles plays with children during his visit to the King Abdullah Park for Syrian Refugees at Ramtha city, north of Amman, on March 13, 2013. (AFP)

He has been particularly concerned with the plight of refugees throughout the region. In January 2020 he was announced as the first UK patron of the International Rescue Committee, the organization working in 40 countries “to help people to survive, recover, and gain control of their futures.”

In Jordan, he met and spoke to some of the 750,000 people being hosted by the country, many of whom rely on support from donor countries, including the UK and Saudi Arabia.

The prince’s sense of the history of the region, which in many cases is linked inextricably with that of his own country, is keen. While in Jordan, he planted a tree to symbolize the UK-Jordanian partnership, and to mark the centenary of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan — a product of the allied defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, and which was finally granted independence from the British mandate in 1946.

In Cairo, the prince and the duchess were welcomed by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. It was the prince’s second trip to Egypt. He had visited previously in 2006, as part of a tour that also included Saudi Arabia and which had been carried out to promote better understanding and tolerance between religions, and in support of environmental initiatives and the promotion of sustainable job opportunities and training for young people.




Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb (C-L), Grand Imam of al-Azhar, receives Prince Charles and his wife Camilla upon their arrival at the mosque in Cairo on Nov.18, 2021. (AFP)

After visiting Cairo’s Al-Azhar mosque, the prince underlined his commitment to interfaith harmony in a speech at Al-Azhar University.

He said: “I believe with all my heart, that responsible men and women should work to restore mutual respect between religions, and we must do everything in our power to overcome the mistrust that poisons the lives of many people.”

Similar to his mother, who passed away on Thursday, Charles has always been devoted to ecumenism and the promotion of harmony between faiths.

As King Charles III, he now inherits Queen Elizabeth II’s role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and the title Defender of the Faith — and, like her before him, he has always made clear that he sees this role as being better defined as defender of all faiths.

During a BBC interview in 2015, he said: “It has always seemed to me that, while at the same time being Defender of the Faith, you can also be protector of faiths.

“The Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.”

With more than 3 million Muslims in the UK, Islam is the second-largest religion in the country, and Charles’ interest in the religion is well known.




Prince Charles starts a basketball training match at the Saudi Sports Federation for Special Needs complex on the outskirts of Riyadh on February 10, 2004. (AFP)

In 2015, during a Middle East tour that took him to Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, it emerged that the prince had spent the previous six months learning Arabic with a private tutor, in order to be able to read the Qur’an in its original language, and to be better able to decipher inscriptions in museums and other institutions during his many trips to the region.

A royal aide revealed that the prince was “enormously interested in the region.”

Known for his passion for Islamic history, art, and culture — at the University of Cambridge in the 1960s, the prince read archaeology, anthropology, and history at Trinity College — Charles has always taken a close interest in the heritage of the Middle East.

In particular, he has followed closely and several times has visited the extensive archaeological work taking place in and around AlUla and the ancient Nabataean city of Hegra, inscribed in 2008 as a UNESCO World Heritage site.




Prince Charles, accompanied by then Saudi tourism chief Prince Sultan bin Salman, tour the historical town of AlUla in Madinah province on Feb. 11, 2015. (AFP)

On a visit to Saudi Arabia in 2013, he enjoyed a tour of the Wadi Hanifa and watched with great interest a presentation on the Diriyah project, which is transforming the historic Wadi into a destination for global cultural tourism, with the preserved ruins of Diriyah, capital of the First Saudi State and birthplace of Saudi Arabia, at its heart.

Charles is a keen artist, and that interest is reflected on his personal website, princeofwales.gov.uk — in the throes of being updated to reflect his new standing — on which four watercolors he painted in the Middle East are showcased.




A combination of pictures from Prince Charles's personal website shows his paintings of the Middle East. Clockwise, from top left: Gulf of Aqaba, Jordan (1993); Port of Suez, 1986; overlooking Wadi Arkam, Asir Province, 1999; and Ad Diriyah, KSA, 2001. 

The earliest, dated 1986, is of a ship in Port Suez, Egypt. Two others are landscapes painted in Saudi Arabia — a view of Wadi Arkam in the remote southwest Asir province in 1999, and a study of a historic palace in Diriyah, painted in 2001.

Since his investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969, Charles has made innumerable visits to countries in the region, formally and informally. Private visits aside, as Prince of Wales Charles made five official visits to Jordan, six to Qatar, seven to both Kuwait and the UAE, and 12 to Saudi Arabia.

It was a tradition that began in 1986 when he embarked on a nine-day tour of the Middle East, during which he visited Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia with his then wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, from whom he would separate in 1992.




Prince Charles and Princess Diana in Jeddah in the late 80s. (Getty Images)

Just how seriously Charles takes his and Britain’s links with the region is underlined by the number of meetings he has had at home and abroad, with members of Middle Eastern royal families — more than 200 in the past decade, including with those of Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE.

As Prince of Wales, it was part of Charles’ job to promote the mutual interests of Britain and its allies, and in pursuit of that duty he paid many formal and informal visits to Saudi Arabia, the UK’s most influential ally in the region.

The prince’s role as a bridge between his country and all the nations of the Gulf, in particular, has always been mutually beneficial. For example, the day after a visit to Riyadh in February 2014, during which the prince gamely accepted an invitation to don traditional Arab dress and take part in a sword dance, it was announced that British aerospace company BAE had completed a deal for the sale to the Kingdom of 72 Typhoon fighter jets.




Wearing traditional Arab robes, then Prince Charles takes part in a Saudi sword dance known as ardah at the Janadriyah cultural festival near Riyadh in February 2014. (Reuters)

As the Prince of Wales, Charles has had many charitable interests, but perhaps none has been as global in its outlook as The Prince’s Foundation, dedicated to “realizing the Prince of Wales’ vision of creating communities for a more sustainable world.”

Focused on education, appreciation of heritage, and the creation of equal opportunities for young people, at home and abroad, the foundation has run satellite programs in more than 20 countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where it operates permanent centers.

In Saudi Arabia, the foundation established a building arts and crafts vocational training program in Jeddah’s old city, Al-Balad, giving students the opportunity to become involved in the Ministry of Culture’s restoration projects in the city.

During the Winter at Tantora festival, held in AlUla from Jan. 10 to March 21, 2020, the foundation staged an exhibition titled “Cosmos, Color and Craft: The Art of the Order of Nature in AlUla,” and ran a series of hands-on workshops in conjunction with the Royal Commission for AlUla.

In the UAE, since 2009 the foundation has been working with the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation to deliver traditional arts workshops in the capital.

On his visit to Egypt last year, the prince met young craftspeople from the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation and The Jameel School. Supported by The Prince’s Foundation, the school teaches young Egyptians classes in traditional Islamic geometry, drawing, color harmony, and arabesque studies.




Prince Charles and his wife Camilla are greeted by officials and a children's quartet as they arrive to visit the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt on Nov. 19, 2021. (AFP)

Unsurprisingly, the foundation has attracted donations from many influential friends in the region. As the Prince of Wales, Charles’ bonds with the royal families of the region have always been deeper than the necessary ties demanded by wise diplomacy.

For example, he considered King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia as a personal friend and, after the monarch passed away in January 2015, flew to Riyadh to pay his final respects and express his condolences to his successor, King Salman, in person.

In Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday, the Middle East and its peoples had a lifelong friend, close to its leaders and committed to building and maintaining bridges between faiths and cultures.

In King Charles III, that precious friendship clearly is destined to continue unbroken.

 


UK PM’s office retracts FM’s comments accusing Israel of breaching international law

Britain’s Foreign Minister David Lammy told the House of Commons on Monday that Israel had breached international law. (AFP)
Updated 5 sec ago
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UK PM’s office retracts FM’s comments accusing Israel of breaching international law

  • Israel only ‘at risk’ of violations, says spokesperson for Keir Starmer
  • Reversal described as ‘disgraceful’ by Council for Arab-British Understanding

LONDON: The office of the UK prime minister has retracted a statement by Foreign Secretary David Lammy accusing Israel of breaking international law by blocking aid to Gaza.

Lammy told the House of Commons on Monday that Israel had breached international law, while a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday said the country was only “at risk” of doing so. It follows a series of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that killed more than 400 Palestinians.

“Our position remains that Israel’s actions in Gaza are at clear risk of breaching international humanitarian law, and we continue to call the government of Israel to abide by its international obligations,” the spokesperson said.

“The government is not an international court, and, therefore, it is up to courts to make judgments.”

The Council for Arab-British Understanding described the reversal as a “disgraceful move” that “undermines the government’s claims that it respects international law.” It also exposes a sharp divide between Starmer and his foreign secretary, CAABU added.

Lammy’s comments concerned Israel’s blocking of food, fuel and medicine from entering Gaza.

He said on Monday: “This is a breach of international law. Israel quite rightly must defend its own security. But we find the lack of aid — it’s now been 15 days since aid got into Gaza — unacceptable, hugely alarming and very worrying.”

His acknowledgment of Israel’s violation of international law was a “welcome if belated admission” of the country’s criminal conduct, CAABU said, adding that after Lammy’s comments, the UK government should have announced measures to demonstrate consequences for Israel’s actions.

CAABU’s director, Chris Doyle, said: “Downing Street has serious questions to answer about the government’s continued complicity with Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

“We have raised the illegal blockade with David Lammy and other ministers repeatedly since October 2023 and most recently directly with a Foreign Office minister last week.

“We cannot have a business-as-usual relationship, which is why it is welcome that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will not be coming to the UK this week.”


Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in Finland, will meet defense industry

Updated 37 min 7 sec ago
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Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in Finland, will meet defense industry

  • The two presidents will discuss Finland’s support for Ukraine
  • Finland’s finance, defense and foreign ministers will participate in Wednesday’s meeting

HELSINKI: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Helsinki ahead of an official visit to Finland on Wednesday, the office of Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on Tuesday.
The two presidents will discuss Finland’s support for Ukraine, including steps to end Russia’s war, and meet with defense industry companies, it added.
The announcement comes as US President Donald Trump started a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bid to secure a ceasefire in Russia’s war with Ukraine and move toward a more permanent end to the three-year conflict.
Finland’s finance, defense and foreign ministers will participate in Wednesday’s presidential palace meeting, and Zelensky will also meet with Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and parliament speaker Jussi Halla-aho, Finland said.
During his second visit to Finland since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky is accompanied by his wife Olena Zelenska who will visit local schools with Stubb’s wife Suzanne Innes-Stubb, the Finnish statement said.


AI ‘reshaping’ organized crime, warns Europol

Updated 52 min 24 sec ago
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AI ‘reshaping’ organized crime, warns Europol

  • Europol Executive Director Catherine De Bolle described the report as a “wake-up call” for law enforcement
  • “We will not let organized crime dictate the rules of the game,” she said

THE HAGUE: Artificial intelligence is turbocharging organized crime, from creating child sexual abuse images to money laundering via cryptocurrency, Europol warned Tuesday, with advances like quantum computing only poised to make things worse.
Europol Executive Director Catherine De Bolle described the report as a “wake-up call” for law enforcement, telling top officers from around Europe that “the future of European security is in our hands.”
“This is a fight of the rule of law, for our communities, for our businesses, and for the future of our children. We will not let organized crime dictate the rules of the game,” she said.
In its report laying out the threats posed by organized crime, the European police organization said criminals had seized on the opportunities offered by AI as a “catalyst” to accelerate their activities.
“Rapid technological advancements — especially in artificial intelligence (AI) — are reshaping how crime is organized, executed, and concealed,” Europol said in a detailed 80-page “threat assessment” report.
“These shifts are making organized crime more dangerous, posing an unprecedented challenge to security across the EU and its member states,” the police added.
The use of AI and other technologies are helping criminals across the whole of their portfolio — from drug and human trafficking, to cybercrime and identity theft.
Generative AI enables criminal gangs to hit their targets more globally across multiple languages and even generate child sexual abuse images, the police report warned.
“Explicit pictures of adults can be manipulated to make the individual look younger or applications can ‘nudify’ non-explicit images,” the report said.
“The very qualities that make AI revolutionary — accessibility, versatility, and sophistication — have made it an attractive tool for criminals,” noted Europol.
Technology is also making it harder for authorities to recover ill-gotten gains.
Confiscation of proceeds from crime has stagnated at around two percent, the police said, with the challenge “further exacerbated by the increasing criminal exploitation of digital assets.”
Criminal groups are using cryptocurrency to launder money and move funds around, making it hard to track and eventually confiscate.
“The criminal exploitation of cryptocurrency as a payment method now has moved beyond the scope of cybercrime, and is encountered increasingly in more traditional crime areas such as drug trafficking or migrant smuggling.”
As technology improves, the boost to criminal activity is only likely to increase, according to Europol, noting the rapid developments in quantum computing, the metaverse, 6G, unmanned systems and brain-computer interfaces.
“The high levels of anonymity, speed, and sophistication currently demonstrated by criminal networks will only likely increase over the coming years,” cautioned the report.
Quantum computing in particular will enable criminals to crack current encryption technology with ease.
Finally, the police raised the dystopian prospect of criminal gangs run entirely by AI.
“The emergence of fully autonomous AI could pave the way for entirely AI-controlled criminal networks, marking a new era in organized crime,” said the report.


Trump administration reinstating 24,500 fired workers after court order

Updated 18 March 2025
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Trump administration reinstating 24,500 fired workers after court order

  • The mass firings, part of President Donald Trump’s broader purge of the federal workforce, were widely reported
  • The court filings are the first full accounting of the terminations by the administration

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration in court filings has for the first time acknowledged that it fired nearly 25,000 recently hired workers, and said agencies were working to bring all of them back after a judge ruled that their terminations were likely illegal.
The filings made in Baltimore, Maryland, federal court late Monday include statements from officials at 18 agencies, all of whom said the reinstated probationary workers were being placed on administrative leave at least temporarily.
The mass firings, part of President Donald Trump’s broader purge of the federal workforce, were widely reported, but the court filings are the first full accounting of the terminations by the administration.
Most of the agencies said they had fired a few hundred workers. The Treasury Department terminated about 7,600 people, the Department of Agriculture about 5,700 and the Department of Health and Human Services more than 3,200, according to the filings.
US District Judge James Bredar on March 13 said the mass firings of probationary workers that began last month violated regulations governing the mass layoffs of federal employees, and ordered them to be reinstated pending further litigation.
Probationary workers typically have less than one year of service in their current roles, though some are longtime federal employees.
Bredar’s ruling came in a lawsuit by 19 Democrat-led states and Washington, D.C., who said the mass firings would trigger a spike in unemployment claims and greater demand for social services provided by states.
The office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, which is spearheading the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The Trump administration has appealed Bredar’s decision and on Monday asked a Richmond, Virginia-based appeals court to pause the ruling pending the outcome of the case.
Hours before Bredar issued his ruling, a federal judge in San Francisco had ordered that probationary workers be reinstated at six agencies, including five also covered by Bredar’s order and the US Department of Defense. The administration has also appealed that decision.
In the filings late Monday, agency officials said they had either reinstated all of the fired employees or were working to do so, but warned that bringing back large numbers of workers had imposed significant burdens and caused confusion and turmoil.
The officials also noted that an appeals court ruling reversing Bredar’s order would allow agencies to again fire the workers, subjecting them to multiple changes in their employment status in a matter of weeks.
“The tremendous uncertainty associated with this confusion and these administrative burdens impede supervisors from appropriately managing their workforce,” Mark Green, deputy assistant secretary at the US Department of the Interior, wrote in one of the filings. “Work schedules and assignments are effectively being tied to hearing and briefing schedules set by the courts.”
Bredar has scheduled a hearing for March 26 on whether to keep his ruling in place pending the outcome of the lawsuit, which could take months or longer to resolve.


At least 18 killed in airstrike on market in northern Mali, separatist group says

Updated 18 March 2025
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At least 18 killed in airstrike on market in northern Mali, separatist group says

  • The army said it had mounted an attack targeting armed militants.
  • Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups

BAMAKO: At least 18 people have been killed in an airstrike in northern Mali, a separatist group said. The army said it had mounted an attack targeting armed militants.
The Collective for the Defense of the Rights of the Azawad People, which is part of a Tuareg separatist coalition, said Monday the Malian army bombed a market 50 km (30 miles) north of Lerneb, in the Timbuktu region.
Seven people were also injured in the strike on Sunday, the group said in a statement, denouncing a “barbaric act from another age” and a “flagrant human rights violation.”
Mali’s army said Monday in a statement on X it carried out air strikes on a “refuge” in the same area cited by the separatist group, killing 11 “terrorists.”
Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group.
Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units for security assistance instead.
Since seizing power in 2021, Col. Assimi Goita has struggled to curb violence in central and northern Mali, while the army has been accused of targeting civilians.
Last month, the Front for the Liberation of Azawad, the coalition of Tuareg separatist groups, accused the Malian army and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group of “coldly executing” at least 24 people in northern Mali.
Last year, the rights group Human Rights Watch said in a report the army and Russian mercenaries killed at least 32 civilians, including seven in a drone strike, kidnapped four others, and burned at least 100 homes in towns and villages in central and northern Mali between May and December.