Middle East Experience

QUOTE Responding to the crackdown and violent dispersal by police on Tuesday morning against protestors demonstrating against 14-hour long power cuts in Lyari in the city of Karachi, Rimmel Mohydin, Pakistan campaigner at Amnesty International said, “The authorities in Pakistan must not use unnecessary or excessive force to disperse protesters who take to the streets ..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Pakistan: Authorities must respect and facilitate people’s right to protest

Unemployment is at a two-year low of 3.6%, about the same as in the United States but less than the 6.8% average in the European Union countries and the 5% rate in the OECD.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Israel’s problem: lots of jobs, not enough workers to fill them - analysis

We owe it to Sayed and Mengistu, and to our national collective consciousness that takes responsibility for the well-being of fellow Israelis.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: We must take responsibility for captured Israelis - editorial

A United Arab Emirates-funded global police operation targeting stolen vehicle trafficking has led to the recovery of hundreds of cars, trucks and motorbikes and almost half a million stolen cigarettes in just two weeks, Interpol announced on Wednesday.Operation Carback saw frontline police at seaports and land border crossings in 77 countries use Interpol’s secure global police communications network – I-24/7 – to check vehicles and their owners against Interpol’s databases and instantaneously detect potential criminals or criminal activity.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. Interpol launched its ‘Reducing Vehicle Crime and Theft’ Program in 2016 with funding from the United Arab Emirates via Interpol’s ‘Foundation for a Safer World’, which financed Operation Carback 2022.Since May 2016, the foundation has been supporting seven key Interpol initiatives by donating $52 million over a period of five years, as part of a contribution agreement between the Foundation and the UAE government.In just over two weeks, Operation Carback led to the identification of 1,121 stolen cars and 64 motorcycles, the arrest or detention of 222 suspected stolen vehicle traffickers, the detention of eight suspected people smugglers, the detection of 26 fraudulent vehicle documents and the seizure of 480,000 stolen cigarettes.Officers raided chop shops – places where stolen vehicles are dismantled into parts that are smuggled or sold online - with confiscations triggering further investigations into car crime gangs globally.Interpol supported the operation by crosschecking information collected in the field against its international databases, with Frontex also supporting the European leg of frontline operations.Experts from Interpol’s Stolen Motor Vehicles Unit were deployed to key locations to assist national law enforcement with database checks in the field as well as in exchanging, analyzing and acting on operational data.With the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) typically removed from stolen cars, on-the-ground assistance from Interpol enabled national law enforcement to connect with car manufacturers to identify vehicle origin.Because stolen vehicles are frequently trafficked to finance and carry out crime ranging from drug trafficking, arms dealing and people smuggling to corruption and international terrorism, the Interpol General Secretariat headquarters is analyzing intelligence gathered during Operation Carback to identify links with other crime areas.“With vehicles usually smuggled beyond borders and ending up thousands of miles away from where they were stolen, an international operation like Carback is crucial to enabling police to tackle the networks behind global car trafficking,” said Ilana de Wild, Interpol’s director of organized and emerging Crime.“The main key to the success of Operation Carback is the wealth of information contained in Interpol’s Stolen Motor Vehicle database, and the fact that throughout the operation police in the field were able to access this crucial data.”Last year, Interpol identified some 248,000 stolen vehicles thanks to the SMV database. More than 130 countries shared their national data with Interpol, and carried out more than 280 million searches.The UAE has close links with Interpol and in November it was announced that the country’s Major General Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, of the UAE’s interior ministry, had been elected as the new President of Interpol.The senior police official will serve the four-year term in Lyon, France.The new appointment makes him the first candidate from the Middle Eastern region to be elected into the position since the global crime fighting agency was founded in the 1920s.Read more:UAE Major General Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi elected as new Interpol PresidentUAE joins Interpol operation to crack down on human trafficking gangsDubai Police arrest international drug lord known as ‘The Ghost’
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Hundreds of stolen cars recovered in global Interpol operation funded by the UAE

Iran is among the most corrupt countries in the world, ranking 150th out of 180 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2021..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Khamenei admits corruption is pervasive in Iranian government

Hundreds of people have died in Afghanistan’s most recent natural disaster. Afghan and US officials are set to meet in the Qatari capital in efforts to respond to a deadly…..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Taliban, US officials head to Qatar as world scrambles for earthquake relief: reports

Indirect talks between Iran and the United States to revive a 2015 nuclear deal have not yet ended, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.Earlier today, the semi-official Tasnim news agency cited informed sources saying that indirect talks between Tehran and Washington ended in Doha without results.“The two-days talks are not over yet and this afternoon another meeting will take place between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani and the EU’s Envoy Enrique Mora,” Nasser Kanani said.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The nuclear deal has been hanging by a thread since 2018, when then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord and began imposing crippling economic sanctions on America’s arch enemy.The deal reached with six major powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US - gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for guarantees it could not develop an atomic weapon.Iran has always denied wanting a nuclear arsenal.Read more:US must abandon ‘Trump method’ in nuclear talks, says IranIsraeli govt tamps down dissent in its ranks over possible Iran nuclear dealFormer US VP Pence blasts nuclear talks with Iran
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Tehran says indirect talks between Iran, US continue in Qatar 

Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested a Syrian national with an Umrah visa, four Saudi citizens and three Turkish residents for attempting to smuggle amphetamine tablets, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.The Kingdom’s narcotics control seized 3,510,000 pills of the illicit drug in coordination with the tax and customs authority at the Jeddah Islamic Port.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.General Directorate of Narcotics Control, Major Muhammad al-Nujaidi said that the drugs were hidden inside a shipment of stones and garden supplies, according to the SPA report.All initial legal measures were reportedly taken against the group which has been referred to Public Prosecution.Authorities in the Kingdom have been cracking down on drug and drug smuggling in the Kingdom.Earlier, SPA reported that border authorities will continue to tighten custom control over imports into Saudi Arabia.In a major stance against drug use, the Kingdom placed a ban on the import of fruit and vegetables from Lebanon in 2021 after Saudi Arabia’s Customs foiled an attempt to smuggle over five million pills of Captagon stuffed inside the goods.According to the Ministry of Interior (MOI), the severest punishment dealt to an individual involved in smuggling illicit narcotics is death.Meanwhile, individuals who deal the substance face imprisonment, lashing, and/or a financial fine. Repeat offenders may receive a death sentence, according to the MOI.Read more:Syria seizes record 2.3 tonnes of illicit drug captagon: MinistryBelgium busts drug lab on air base housing US nukesAbu Dhabi to focus on rehabilitation, treatment under new anti-drugs initiative
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi authorities arrest eight attempting to smuggle 3.5 million amphetamine pills

Danish FA remains cautious on backing rights organisations' call for a $440m Qatar worker compensation package..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Danish footballing body wants to 'work with locals' for migrant centre in Qatar

Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt for the first time in its history, as the country battles with its worst financial crisis in more than 70 years..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Sri Lanka eyes loan from Qatar for oil import amid central bank crisis