TEHRAN: Iran announced Thursday the closure of a Tehran-based French research institute in protest against cartoons of the Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
“The ministry is ending the activities of the French Institute for Research in Iran as a first step,” the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement, a day after Tehran had warned Paris of consequences.
Iran has been shaken by over three months of protests triggered by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, an Iranian Kurd who was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.
Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday published the caricatures of Khamenei in support of the protests, in a special edition to mark the anniversary of the deadly 2015 attack on its Paris office which left 12 people dead.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeted in response that “the insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response.”
Iran’s foreign ministry also summoned French ambassador Nicolas Roche.
IFRI, affiliated to the French foreign ministry, is a historical and archaeological institute founded in 1983 after the merger of the French Archaeological Delegation in Iran and the French Institute of Iranology in Tehran.
Located in the center of Tehran, it had been closed for many years but was reopened under the 2013-2021 presidency of the moderate president Hassan Rouhani as a sign of warming bilateral relations.
Iran closes French institute to protest Khamenei cartoons
https://arab.news/4pa9q
Iran closes French institute to protest Khamenei cartoons
- Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday published the caricatures of Khamenei in support of the protests
- Iran’s foreign ministry also summoned French ambassador Nicolas Roche
Saudi Arabia condemns new Israeli agency for displacing Palestinians from Gaza Strip
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically rejects Israeli violations of international and humanitarian laws in the Gaza Strip
- Israel’s new agency will be tasked with relocating Palestinians to unspecified third countries
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Israel’s recognition of illegal settlements in the Occupied West Bank and the establishment of an agency aimed at displacing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip on Monday.
The ministry said it categorically rejects Israeli violations of international and humanitarian laws in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
“(Saudi Arabia condemns) Israeli occupation authorities’ announcement of the establishment of an agency aimed at displacing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip,” the ministry said in a statement.
Israel said it is creating a government agency to oversee the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip following approval from the Israeli security cabinet over the weekend.
Since late 2023, at least 50,000 people have been killed during the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip, and almost 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza are now internally displaced.
Israel’s new agency will be tasked with relocating Palestinians to unspecified third countries under the supervision of the Ministry of Defence.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia also condemned the approval of 13 illegal settler outposts in the West Bank over the weekend. The Saudi ministry said that the decision was made “in preparation for their legalization as colonial settlements.”
It added that lasting peace can only be achieved if the Palestinian people obtain their legitimate rights and establish an independent state on pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
UN to reduce staff in Gaza and blames Israel for a strike that killed its employee
- An Israeli tank strike hit the UN guesthouse in central Gaza last week, killing one staffer and wounding five others
- UN was cutting back about a third of its approximately 100 international staffers in Gaza
DEIR AL-BALAH: The United Nations said Monday it will “reduce its footprint” in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli tank strike hit one of its compounds last week, killing one staffer and wounding five others.
Israel has denied it was behind the March 19 explosion at the UN guesthouse in central Gaza. In a statement Monday, UN Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said that “based on the information currently available,” the strikes on the site “were caused by an Israeli tank.”
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Dujarric said the UN “has made taken the difficult decision to reduce the Organization’s footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar.”
He said the world body was cutting back about a third of its approximately 100 international staffers in Gaza. He said the UN “is not leaving Gaza,” pointing out that it still has about 13,000 national staff in Gaza, mainly working for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
The move comes as Israel has cut off all food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza’s around 2 million people for more than three weeks. Last week, it relaunched its military campaign in Gaza, with bombardments that have since killed hundreds of Palestinians, breaking a ceasefire in place since mid-January.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas to force it to accept new terms for the ceasefire and release more hostages.
Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN’s humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said the UN and its partners have already suspended a number of activities, many in education, protection and water and sanitation services. The reason, she was, was safety concerns and the impact of Israeli evacuation orders.
“A lot things are constrained right now because of the security situation,” she told AP before Dujarric’s announcement. “The challenges are massive. We have had a lot of our activities affected by the situation and a lot of our partners have had to suspend operations because it is just not safe.”
Movement of trucks, including those distributing water, have been affected, she said. Only 29 out of 237 temporary learning spaces have resumed their activities since the ceasefire collapse, she said.
The United Nations previously didn’t say who was behind the strike on its compound. The Bulgarian staffer who was killed, Marin Valev Marinov, 51, was a member of the UN Office for Project Services, which carries out infrastructure and development projects around the world.
A strike exploded near the compound, then hit it directly in the days before the deadly strike, UNOPS chief Jorge Moreira da Silva said earlier. He said the agency had contacted the Israeli military after the first strike and confirmed that the military was aware of the facility’s location.
Two journalists killed in separate Israeli strikes in Gaza
- Al Jazeera Mubasher’s Hossam Shabat and Palestine Today’s Mohammad Mansour were killed in first fatalities since renewed violence
LONDON: Two journalists were killed in separate Israeli strikes in Gaza on Monday, marking the first such fatalities since clashes resumed last week.
Al Jazeera confirmed that Hossam Shabat, a journalist for the Al Jazeera Mubasher channel, was killed in eastern Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza. The Qatari network reported that witnesses claimed his car was directly targeted by the Israeli army, though no further details were provided.
In a separate incident, Palestine Today correspondent Mohammad Mansour was killed in an airstrike north of Khan Younis, along with his wife and son, after their home was hit without warning.
The Government Media Office in Gaza condemned the attacks, describing them as “systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals.” In a statement, it called on the International Federation of Journalists, the Arab Journalists Union, and other global media organizations to denounce the killings.
Mohammed Mansour, a reporter for Palestine Today, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis.
— Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza) March 24, 2025
Israel continues to kill Palestinian journalists pic.twitter.com/yo52t1xW9p
“We hold the Israeli occupation, the US administration, and the countries participating in the genocide, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, fully responsible for committing this heinous crime,” the statement added.
The deaths of Shabat and Mansour bring the total number of media workers killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, to at least 160, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The Government Media Office, however, claims the number is as high as 208.
CPJ’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg condemned Shabat’s killing, noting that he was one of six Al Jazeera journalists accused by the Israeli military of being “militants.”
She said: “That’s a pattern that we have seen repeatedly both in the current war and in previous ones as well. And now he appears to have been deliberately targeted on a direct hit on his vehicle.”
#Gaza: CPJ condemns Monday’s killing in Gaza of Palestinian reporters Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour by the IDF and calls for an independent international investigation into whether they were deliberately targeted.
— CPJ MENA (@CPJMENA) March 24, 2025
More: https://t.co/Z0JOOtlclW pic.twitter.com/GfTZJAnbsu
Ginsberg stressed that the deliberate targeting and killing of a journalist or civilian constitutes a war crime. “Journalists and civilians must never be targeted,” she said, adding that CPJ is investigating several incidents in which Israel appears to have deliberately targeted journalists.
“That would amount to a war crime. Journalists and civilians must never be targeted,” she said adding that her organization had spoken to Shabat for its own reports on the news void developing in northern Gaza because of Israel’s war.
Oman to to take part in London Design Biennale for first time
- Omani architect Haitham Al-Bousafi will showcase a work titled ‘Memory Network’ at the event in June
LONDON: Oman will participate in the London Design Biennale, one of the most prestigious events of its kind in the world, for the first time this year.
Omani architect Haitham Al-Bousafi will showcase a work titled “Memory Network” at event venue Somerset House in central London, overlooking the River Thames, the Oman News Agency reported.
The country is participating at the biennale as part of its efforts to showcase Omani culture and heritage on a global stage as part of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth initiatives, officials said.
Oman’s cultural strategy for 2021-2040 aims to foster innovation and cultural diversity through the promotion of the arts and design as pathways to sustainable development and creative communication, the news agency added.
The 5th London Design Biennale will run from June 5 to 29.
Pakistan, South Korea partner up to produce high-quality seed potatoes using aeroponics
- Aeroponics is a method of cultivation in which plants are grown in an air or mist environment without the use of soil
- Sustainable method is gaining popularity globally for its ability to maximize plant growth with minimal water use
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has partnered up with South Korea to produce high-quality seed potatoes using aeroponics, a method of cultivation in which plants are grown in an air or mist environment without the use of soil, state media reported on Monday.
This novel method is gaining popularity around the world for its ability to maximize plant growth with minimal water use, making it a sustainable option for urban farming and vertical agriculture.
Pakistan’s agriculture sector is a significant contributor to the economy, accounting for about 23 percent of the GDP and employing around 37.4 percent of the national labor force. According to 2024 data, Pakistan ranks ninth in the world in potato output and has seen its production jump by more than 35 percent in the last three years, from 5.87 million tones in 2020-21 to an estimated 8.01 million tones in 2022-23.
“The best potato seeds will now be produced in Pakistan with the cooperation of South Korea,” Pakistan’s APP news agency reported, after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed the inauguration ceremony of modern aeroponic cultivation during his visit to the National Agricultural and Research Center on Monday.
Pakistan has been actively promoting corporate farming, with the government offering farmland to foreign investors to boost agricultural productivity and attract investment.
The latest partnership, the Seed Potato Production and Aeroponics Complex, is a joint project between the Korea Partnership for Innovation in Agriculture (COPIA) and the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) for the production of certified potato seeds through advanced aeroponics technology. Seed potatoes are tubers that you can use to grow new potatoes that will be genetically identical to the parent potato.
The infrastructure of the project includes the construction of four aeroponic greenhouses and 35 screen houses, as well as a cold storage facility and a 100-kW solar power system.
According to PARC Chairman Dr. Ghulam Muhammad Ali, traditional potato cultivation produces only five tubers per plant, while the aeroponic system can produce between 50 to 60 tubers per plant.
“These modern technologies will not only help in meeting the local consumption of seed potatoes but will also reduce the heavy import bill,” APP quoted Ali as saying.
“Despite cultivating potatoes on an area of about 850,000 acres, Pakistan depends on importing 6,000 to 12,000 tones of potato seeds annually due to the poor quality of locally produced seeds.”
The aim of the joint initiative is to significantly improve the quality and availability of potato seeds in Pakistan, reduce the cost of potato production and improve production by ensuring the availability of quality seed potatoes at reasonable prices.
“The Prime Minister said that with the establishment of this modern center, the best potato seeds will be provided to the farmers and they will not have to be ordered from outside,” APP reported. “It is expected that this seed will be of the highest quality and this will boost potato production and Pakistan will also be able to export potatoes.”
Addressing the ceremony, RDA Korea Administrator Kwan Jae-han said the goal of the partnership project was to increase the productivity of Pakistan’s agricultural sector, adding that the collaboration with NARC in potato seeds was an “important milestone.”
Earlier on Monday, Sharif also inaugurated the National Institute for Genomics and Advanced Biotechnology, a specialized national institution dedicated to agricultural research in the three domains of plants, animals and microbes, with 28 state-of-the-art labs.
