DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates has shortened Friday sermons at mosques to protect worshippers from severe heat, amid rising summer temperatures linked to climate change.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs, in a statement on Thursday, ordered preachers to limit Friday sermons to 10 minutes from June to October, when temperatures cool.
The sermons usually last for 20 minutes for the main weekly prayers on Fridays but can run even longer, with large crowds gathering outside mosques at midday.
The decision was aimed at ensuring “the safety of worshippers... especially during the summer months,” the statement said.
It coincides with UAE authorities’ efforts to avoid heat strokes and other complications as temperatures approach 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in parts of the country.
From June until September, the UAE prohibits work under direct sunlight and in open-air areas between noon and 3:00 p.m. as part of a longstanding “midday break” policy widely adopted across the Gulf.
The desert region, already one of the world’s hottest, faces rising threats from high temperatures attributed to climate change.
Earlier this month, more than 1,300 people died while performing the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia during intense heat, according to Saudi authorities.
Most where unauthorized pilgrims who had to walk long distances under direct sunlight, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
“Rising temperatures in the region, combined with high humidity, create dangerous conditions,” said Karim Elgendy, as associate fellow at the Chatham House think-tank.
“This presents a serious threat to human health in outdoor environments,” the climate expert told AFP.
UAE cuts Friday sermons at mosques over sizzling heat
https://arab.news/pydnf
UAE cuts Friday sermons at mosques over sizzling heat
- The desert region, already one of the world’s hottest, faces rising threats from high temperatures attributed to climate change
French insurance company AXA IM Alts expands global presence with opening first Middle East office
LONDON: French multinational insurance company AXA IM Alts has expanded its global network to the Middle East and opened its first regional office in the UAE on Monday, appointing a Saudi national to lead the local bureau as part of their strong ambitions in the region, the company said.
Specialized in alternative investments, AXA IM Alts has established its new office in Abu Dhabi’s international financial center, making it the 16th globally and will be primarily focused on capital raising across the company’s private and alternative assets range, it told Arab News.
AXA IM Alts has appointed Saudi Ammar Bukhamsin as the senior executive officer of AXA IM Middle East and co-head of the MENA Client Group to head the new office, alongside Francois Boissin, who will be based in Paris, with the aim of capital raising and client servicing capabilities in the region.
Isabelle Scemama, the global head of AXA IM Alts, said: “The opening of our new office in Abu Dhabi marks a significant milestone in our expansion strategy and underscores the strategic importance of the Middle East in our international growth plans.
“This move marks a natural progression for our business in the region and paves the way for further successful partnerships with local investors to meet their rapidly evolving investment requirements, across AXA IM Alts’ expertise,” she added.
She told Arab News that the division was created in 2020 and gathered all the private assets under one umbrella, managing a total of €185 billion ($200 billion) on behalf of 600 clients from around the world, with their biggest franchise being real estate, alongside alternative credit, infrastructure, impact investment, and natural capital, which includes reforestation projects, carbon credit trading, green transportation, climate change and energy transition.
“If I look at the capital rate over the past few years, 40 percent have been raised outside Europe, and the Middle East has always been an important area...so the idea is it’s more of a natural evolution, and we think, to serve our clients, we have to be established in the region,” she noted.
“We see we see a lot of appetite” in the region and regard the Middle East as a key partner for European investment,” she said, adding that they will be coordinating the entire region from their new office with “the idea of being closer to our clients” through a dedicated local presence.
On real estate development, Scemama said the opening of the new office comes “at a time where there are more and more regulations to reduce the energy intensity of building, so this capability to asset manage and to do development by ourselves in the different sectors, we see as an opportunity in front of us and we think that it is something that is also appealing for Middle Eastern investors.”
The current plan is to work closely with the local players, big institutions and individuals that have a local presence from there that can help AXA IM Alts get closer to the market and invest alongside them, she said.
“The idea for the moment is really to be closer to our clients, (but) we have not made the decision for the moment to invest in the region — so to deploy capital there, it may happen at some point.
“But we always assist carefully our capability to deploy at scale, scale matters a lot in our market — being able to deploy a lot of capital, but also to diversify portfolio you need a significant size and we know that each time you go in a new jurisdiction it’s a lot of local understanding of the regulation, being able to deploy capital and also to establish a team,” Scemama explained.
She added: “We are very strong on alignment of interest, whether it’s on infrastructure or real estate, (and) we always organize co-investments and guarantee investors that they will not be treated in parallel, but they will have access to our pipeline and they will benefit from the co-investment capabilities we can offer, so that’s something also that is quite appealing for the institutions in the region.”
On Bukhamsin’s appointment, Scemama said he has a long, impressive track record and is very well established in the region as someone who can bring knowledge of the group and its products, which will allow them to be able to speed very rapidly and help open up new opportunities for the company in the long term.
Florence Dard, global head of Client Group at AXA IM Alts, said: “Having built strong relationships in the Middle East over a number of years, the opening of an office in Abu Dhabi is a natural step forward in our strategy to both grow our presence and accelerate our business development in the region.
“As a global leading alternative player, we have actively engaged with a large number of sophisticated Middle Eastern investors who seek attractive alternative investment opportunities, especially in Europe where we have a unique sourcing, access and breadth of offering.”
Arvind Ramamurthy, the chief of market development at ADGM said: “Abu Dhabi, also known as the ‘Capital of Capital,’ has become a premier destination due to its sophisticated regulatory regimes and abundant investment opportunities. As an anchored asset management firm, we look forward to the various expertise and innovative capabilities that AXA IM Alts will bring to ADGM’s vibrant ecosystem and to the region.”
Before joining AXA IM Alts, Bukhamsin previously spent over eight years at the French-based Investment banking company Natixis, including three years as the firm’s CEO for Saudi Arabia, during a 20-year career encompassing senior sales roles at Goldman Sachs, UBS and Citi, the company said.
Boissin has spent the past nine years within AXA, first as vice president of investor relations for the AXA Group and then in capital raising at AXA IM Alts for the past two years, as part of a 20-year career in finance and sales, the company added.
Iran election shows declining voter support amid calls for change
- Of the 61 million eligible voters, only about 40 percent cast ballots, marking a record-low turnout in the country where some people have lost faith in the process. More than 1 million ballots were spoiled
TEHRAN: The first round of Iran’s presidential election revealed shrinking support for reformists and conservatives even though some voters are pushing for change by backing the sole reformist candidate, analysts say.
Masoud Pezeshkian, the reformist contender and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili, led the polls held on Friday to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month.
Friday’s vote, marked by a historically low turnout, “clearly shows that both reformists’ and conservatives’ bases have considerably shrunk,” said Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group think tank.
In the lead-up to the election, Iran’s main reformist coalition supported Pezeshkian, with endorsements by former presidents Mohammed Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, a moderate.
FASTFACT
The combined votes of Saeed Jalili and Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf totaled 12.8 million.
“The reformists brought out the big guns and tried their best to mobilize their base,” Vaez said on social media platform X, but “it was simply insufficient.”
Likewise, the conservatives failed to garner sufficient votes “despite the tremendous resources they deployed,” he added.
Vaez pointed out that the combined votes of Jalili and conservative parliamentary speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, who came in third, totaled 12.8 million.
That figure was well below Raisi’s nearly 18 million votes in the 2021 election.
Of the 61 million eligible voters, only about 40 percent cast ballots, marking a record-low turnout in the country where some people have lost faith in the process. More than 1 million ballots were spoiled.
For Vaez, the decline in turnout, from around 49 percent in 2021, was “a real embarrassment for the leadership” in Iran, where ultimate political power lies with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Political commentator Mohammed Reza Manafi said Pezeshkian’s lead reflected a push for “fundamental changes” regarding the economy and relations with the rest of the world.
However, those favoring Pezeshkian “do not expect a miracle or a quick solution but hope he can gradually prevent conditions from worsening,” Manafi added.
Iran has been reeling from the economic impact of international sanctions, contributing to soaring inflation, high unemployment, and a record low for the Iranian rial against the US dollar.
The vote also came amid heightened regional tensions over the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas and diplomatic tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.
Pezeshkian, an outspoken heart surgeon who has represented the northwestern city of Tabriz in parliament since 2008, came out on top thanks to his “clean record without any accusations of financial corruption,” said Manafi.
Official figures showed Pezeshkian had 42.4 percent of the vote, against 38.6 percent for Jalili.
The reformists have urged “constructive relations” with Washington and European capitals to “get Iran out of its isolation.”
In contrast, Jalili is widely recognized for his uncompromising anti-West stance.
He is a former nuclear negotiator and a representative of Khamenei on the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s highest security body.
During his campaign, he rallied a substantial base of hard-line supporters under the slogan “no compromise, no surrender” to the West.
He staunchly opposed the 2015 nuclear deal with the US and other world powers, which imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear activity in return for sanctions relief.
At the time, Jalili argued that the pact violated Iran’s “red lines” by accepting inspections of nuclear sites.
The deal collapsed in 2018.
In a Sunday column in the ultraconservative Javan daily, political expert Ali Alavi hailed Jalili’s “honesty and truthfulness, unlike the others.”
The candidate also received support from Ghalibaf, who, after Saturday’s result, urged his support base to back Jalili in next Friday’s runoff.
Two ultraconservatives who dropped out a day before the election have also endorsed Jalili.
But on Sunday, the reformist newspaper Etemad quoted former vice president Isa Kalantari as warning against a continued conservative grip on the government.
“The country will be in peril and face numerous problems and challenges,” he said.
Vaez said the “Jalili fear factor can’t be overlooked.”
“Many who didn’t vote in this round might vote in the next one: not because they hope for better, but because they fear the worst.”
Political analyst Mohammad Marandi, however, said Jalili may not be “the sort of radical that is depicted by his opponents.”
Marandi believes that under either of the two candidates, Iran will “continue to pursue strong ties with the Global South” countries.
He added that they “will still attempt to see what can be done with the nuclear deal,” though Jalili “will just approach it with more skepticism.”
Israel says 18 soldiers hurt in Golan Heights
- IDF said in a statement the strike happened earlier on Sunday
- It said since then, it had struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon with air strikes and artillery fire
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said on Sunday 18 of its soldiers were injured, one of them seriously, when a drone struck their position in the occupied Golan Heights, which border Lebanon.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said in a statement the strike happened earlier on Sunday. It said since then, it had struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon with air strikes and artillery fire.
Fighting between the IDF and Lebanon’s Hezbollah has been escalating, after it was triggered by the Gaza war.
Propane tank explosion in western Turkiye kills 5 people, injures 63 others
- Security cameras recorded the explosion, which devastated the street and caused minor damage to surrounding buildings
- Izmir Gov. Suleyman Elban visited the injured at the hospital and announced that 40 of them had already been released
ISTANBUL: A propane tank explosion at a restaurant in the western Turkish city of Izmir on Sunday left five people dead and 63 others injured, authorities said.
Security cameras recorded the explosion, which devastated the street and caused minor damage to surrounding buildings.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on social media that dozens of rescue personnel were immediately dispatched to the scene.
Izmir Gov. Suleyman Elban visited the injured at the hospital and announced that 40 of them had already been released.
Authorities have detained one suspect who might be responsible. The man had replaced the propane tank with a new one on Saturday.
Ultra-Orthodox protest against order to enlist in Israeli military turns violent in Jerusalem
- Tens of thousands of men rallied in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood to protest the order
- Israeli police said protesters threw rocks and attacked the car of an ultra-Orthodox Cabinet minister, pelting it with stones
JERUSALEM: Thousands of Jewish ultra-Orthodox men clashed with Israeli police in central Jerusalem on Sunday during a protest against a Supreme Court order for them to begin enlisting for military service.
The landmark decision last week ordering the government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition as Israel wages war in Gaza.
Tens of thousands of men rallied in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood to protest the order. But after nightfall, the crowd made its way toward central Jerusalem and turned violent.
Israeli police said protesters threw rocks and attacked the car of an ultra-Orthodox Cabinet minister, pelting it with stones. Water cannons filled with skunk-scented water and police mounted on horses were used to disperse the crowd. But the demonstration was still not under control late Sunday.
Military service is compulsory for most Jewish men and women in Israel. But politically powerful ultra-Orthodox parties have won exemptions for their followers to skip military service and instead study in religious seminaries.
The long-standing arrangement has bred resentment among the broader public, a sentiment that has grown stronger during the eight-month war against Hamas. Over 600 soldiers have been killed in fighting, and tens of thousands of reservists have been activated, upending careers, businesses and lives.
Ultra-Orthodox parties and their followers say forcing their men to serve in the army will destroy their generations-old way of life. Earlier Sunday, thousands of men crowded a square and joined in mass prayers. Many held signs criticizing the government, with one saying “not even one male” should be drafted.
The ultra-Orthodox parties are key members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition and could potentially force new elections if they decide to leave the government in protest.
Party leaders have not said whether they will leave the government. Doing so could be risky, with Netanyahu’s coalition’s popularity lagging since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war.
