Middle East Experience

Oded Katash the latest yellow-and-blue icon to return, with former star hired for 2nd stint as coach
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Maccabi TA’s golden boy back in the fold

Dubai’s Expo 2020 site will reopen to visitors, with several country pavilions remaining in place and a new museum due to open on October 1.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The site will be renamed “Expo City Dubai,” and will continue to host the pavilions of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Egypt among others, the UAE’s official WAM news agency reported on Monday.It also hopes to attract businesses and will be the home of the new headquarters for logistics firm DP World.“Al Wasl will continue to shine, the waterfall will continue to delight, and the UAE, Alif and Terra pavilions will continue to fascinate visitors of all ages,” said Dubai’ ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in a press statement.“This new city will be home to an extraordinary new museum, a world-class exhibition center, and the headquarters of cutting edge and fast-growing companies,” he added.The Opportunity Pavilion will reopen as the Expo 2020 Dubai Museum, highlighting the history of world expos and looking back on Dubai’s six-month hosting of the event.Several other features including the Al Wasl Plaza, the Garden in the Sky observation tower, and the Surreal water feature, will also remain.Alif, the Mobility Pavilion and Terra, the Sustainability Pavilion, will stay open as interactive educational experiences.Dubai’s Expo 2020, which had to be postponed for one year due to the coronavirus pandemic, was reportedly visited by more than 24 million visitors.World Expos have been held for 170 years, since London’s Great Exhibition in 1851.The site will also feature offices, leisure facilities, food and entertainment venues, sports facilities, and a mall.The site will reportedly be free of single-use plastics and retain 80 percent of infrastructure and buildings that have been constructed, WAM reported.Read more: Dubai’s EXPO 2020 concludes with concerts, fireworks after successful six-month eventExpo 2020 Dubai achieves massive milestone of 20 million visitsExpo 2020 Dubai’s final days wrapping up with events, concerts and closing ceremony
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Expo 2020 to be rebranded ‘Expo City Dubai,’ reopening in October

Over 90 percent of refugees living in camps have little to no access to electricity, the President of Electriciens sans Frontieres Herve Gouyet said, marking World Refugee Day.Designated by the United Nations, World Refugee Day falls on June 20 every year to honor refugees across the world by celebrating their strength and courage and raising awareness on key issues they are being faced with.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“In many ways, humanity has been making tremendous progress over the past decade; people are richer, healthier, living longer, and are more connected and educated. Yet despite this progress, today, there are more refugees in the world than ever before,” the ESF president said.The France-based non-profit organization has been solving electrification issues in emergency situations since 1986, aiming to protect vulnerable people against the inequalities of access to electricity and water.“Currently, more than 90 percent of refugees living in camps have little or no access to electricity. Lack of power poses a challenge for cooking, keeping warm or studying, while women and girls especially face far greater safety risks in camps shrouded in darkness,” Gouyet said.Camps are usually created as a temporary form of accommodation for refugees, aiming to provide them with the necessary aid and protection. However, Gouyet noted that although refugee camps are intended to be temporary, “the average time a refugee spends in a refugee camp has risen to over 20 years.”“Lack of lighting can have dangerous consequences, especially for women and children. We believe that providing refugee camps with reliable and clean electricity is one of the most important ways to improve refugees’ safety and overall wellbeing,” the president said.“Bringing electricity to refugee camps is not only helpful to the people living within the camps but is also good for the planet. Living without power usually means more pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, since people resort to burning firewood or charcoal to meet their household needs. And refugee camps may also use polluting diesel-powered generators to keep the lights on,” he added.In order to satisfy refugees’ energy needs and take climate change into consideration, Gouyet proposes the use of renewable energies.ESF is carrying out projects that are focused on using energy provided by the sun or waterways to better enhance energy safety and security in refugee camps.“We have been involved in the electrification of refugee camps in Somalia, Jordan, Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, and in many other parts of the world.”With a network of over 1,200 volunteers and local partners that seek to promote economic development through renewable energies, ESF coordinates activities with aid organizations and governments across the world to achieve the best outcomes for people affected by crises and to help bolster the camps’ energy infrastructure.“Our humanitarian efforts were recently rewarded by the Zayed Sustainability Prize, a global award that recognizes excellence in sustainability. We won the 2020 Zayed Sustainability Prize in the Energy category. This recognition has helped us further amplify our mission to provide the poorest communities with access to reliable and affordable clean energy,” the ESF president said.“Providing sustainable and reliable power to refugees is an incredibly ambitious, but achievable goal. We believe the solution lies in achieving greater solidarity in addressing the energy needs of the displaced.”According to the UNHCR, there are currently around 100 million people who have been displaced.The global migration crisis has worsened since the onset of the war in Ukraine, when Russia invaded the country on February 24, in what it called a “special military operation,” causing mass displacement and a worsening global hunger and food security crisis.The Ukraine war is not the only factor that has contributed to the rising number of refugees in the world. Aside from conflict, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have played a crucial role in displacing people. “A warming planet increases the risk of natural disasters that force people to flee and can create resource shortages that could spark tensions and even conflict, leading to more displacement,” the ESF president added.This year’s World Refugee Day is being held under the theme ‘Whoever. Wherever. Whenever. Everyone has the right to seek safety.’“Displaced people are among the world’s most vulnerable populations. Thus, they are the most critical group to support to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal: ‘Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.’”Read more:‘It breaks my heart’: Ukrainian expats share despair as Russian invasion rages onFood security was ‘deteriorating’ before Ukraine war, but has worsened since: ExpertSome wounds never heal: Gaza victims of 11-day war recall trauma one year on
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Over 90 pct of refugees living in camps have little or no access to electricity: ESF

The United Arab Emirates will build a new Red Sea port in Sudan, as part of a $6 billion investment package, said DAL group chairman Osama Daoud Abdellatif, a partner in the deal which marks the first major foreign investment since the military took power in an October coup.Abdellatif said the package includes a free trade zone, a large agricultural project and an imminent $300 million deposit to Sudan's central bank.Western donors suspended billions in aid and investment to Sudan after the coup, plunging an economy that was already struggling into further turmoil and depriving the government of much needed foreign currency.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Ibrahim told Reuters on Wednesday that a memorandum of understanding had been signed with the UAE for a port and agricultural project, but the details have not previously been reported.The finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on details of the deal.The $4 billion port, a joint project between DAL group and Abu Dhabi Ports, owned by Abu Dhabi's holding company ADQ, would be able to handle all kinds of commodities and compete with the country's main national port, Port Sudan, Abdellatif said.Located about 200 km (124 miles) north of Port Sudan, it would also include a free trade and industrial zone modelled after Dubai's Jebel Ali, as well as a small international airport, he said. The project is in “advanced stages,” with studies and designs complete, he said.Rumours of Gulf investments in Port Sudan, and in agricultural projects elsewhere in the country, have in the past stirred opposition and sometimes protests.Port Sudan has long been plagued with infrastructure challenges and was shut by a political blockade for six weeks late last year, losing business from major international shippers.The UAE deal also includes the $1.6 billion expansion and development of an agricultural project by Abu Dhabi conglomerate IHC and DAL Agriculture in the town of Abu Hamad in northern Sudan, Abdellatif said.Alfalfa, wheat, cotton, sesame, and other crops would be grown and processed on the 400,000 acres of leased land, he said. A $450 million, 500 km (310 mile) toll road connecting the project to the port would be built as well, financed by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.Under the agreement, the Fund would also make a deposit of $300 million to the Central Bank of Sudan, Abdellatif said.After the military ousted Omar al-Bashir in 2019, the UAE and Saudi Arabia pledged a combined $3 billion in grants and in-kind aid to Sudan, which military and civilian leaders say was not delivered in full.Two high-level Sudanese government sources told Reuters the outlines of the new deal had been agreed between Sudanese leader General Abdelfattah al-Burhan and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed during a recent visit to the Gulf state.A representative for Abu Dhabi Ports said the company had no comment, while representatives for ADQ, the Abu Dhabi Fund, IHC, and the Abu Dhabi and UAE governments did not immediately respond to requests.“Ourselves and our partners in the UAE, we have already invested in a bank, a hotel, mining,” said Abdellatif, whose conglomerate has also bid for control of one of Sudan's largest telecom companies, Zain Sudan.“The UAE wants a stable Sudan so they can do more and more of these investments, but we are not waiting for everything to be perfect,” he added.Read more:Sudan signed MoU with UAE for farm project, port: Finance ministerAbu Dhabi Crown Prince says dialogue important to overcome challenges in Sudan
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: UAE to build Red Sea port in Sudan in billion investment package: Report

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday that Israel and Turkey have already thwarted several attempts by “Iran-backed terrorists” to attack Israelis and arrested suspects.“The operational efforts with the Turkish security forces have borne fruit. In recent days, in a joint Israeli-Turkish effort, we thwarted a number of terrorist attempts and numerous terrorists were arrested on Turkish ground,” Bennett said according to the Jerusalem Post.“We are continuing to work together with the goal of bringing the situation in Turkey and Israeli tourism back to normal. We have to finish the counterterrorism operations,” Bennett added.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“The days in which [Iran] funded terror, equips terrorists, trains and sends them, and is left unscathed is over. Now, the one sending [terrorists] pays. We will go anywhere we need to.”Last week, Israel warned its citizens against traveling to Turkey, citing the danger of possible Iranian “revenge attacks” after the assassination of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Colonel Sayad Khodai.Tensions between the two countries have heightened in recent weeks amid a shadow war where Israel targets Iran’s military personnel and officials and scientists related to the country’s nuclear program, and Iran retaliates by targeting Israelis abroad.Biden’s visit to region US President Joe Biden is set to visit Israel and Saudi Arabia next month.Bennett said: “The central goal of [Biden’s] visit [to Israel next month] is to lock down a clear shared plan of action... to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power.”The West’s negotiations to revive the abandoned 2015 Iran nuclear deal have been stalled for months. Israel has largely opposed any deal with its arch enemy Iran.“In the short term, Israel wants to stop Iran from continuing to enrich uranium and develop a nuclear bomb through diplomatic and other tools,” Bennett said.He added: “Iran will come to understand that at the moment, in the no-deal reality, we won. We had a goal for there not to be an agreement... but at the same time there was to be a stop sign in front of Iran.”Read more:Israel’s PM warns Iran: Those who send ‘terrorists’ to attack Israelis will pay priceIsraelis in Turkey were saved before ‘Iran’s assassins’ could attack at hotel: ReportIsrael says foiled Iran’s attack against Israelis in Turkey as Tehran seeks ‘revenge’
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Israel PM says thwarted Iranian attacks in Turkey, suspects arrested

Israel will be entering its fifth election in 3 and a half years * Earlier in the day, the government defeated two votes of no confidence
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Knesset to disband, Lapid to become prime minister

In response to today’s court ruling in Japan that upheld the government ban on same-sex marriage, Amnesty International’s East Asia Researcher Boram Jang said: “The court’s endorsement of the Japanese government’s discriminatory ban on same-sex marriage is a deeply damaging setback to equal rights in the country. “This ruling highlights the prejudice faced by LGBTI people in Japan, ..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Japan: ‘Discriminatory’ ruling on same-sex marriage a crushing blow to equality

“Given continued regional volatility, steadfast high-level US leadership and engagement to support peace and stability in Israel and the West Bank remain in the national security interest of the US."
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: 32 senators urge the Biden admin. not to downgrade USSC for Israel, PA

Reuters reported earlier this month that some of the other companies include ExxonMobil, Shell and Chinese state energy companies..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: ConocoPhillips gets stake in QatarEnergy gas project

Algeria's decision to unilaterally sever diplomatic ties with Morocco in August 2021 – days after the presidency announced in a statement their relations would be reviewed – was all but surprising. The hostility and rivalry between the two neighbouring countries go back years. By Ilham Rachidi..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Morocco and Algeria: A rivalry stretching back decades