Middle East Experience

German soccer CEO Watzke focuses his visit to Holy Land on the club's campaign to combat antisemitism.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Dortmund’s statement of Israeli friendship

Lebanon’s packed political calendar now sets the stage for protracted deadlocks at best or violence at worst..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Tough road ahead for Lebanon after elections

The decision to agree to not practice Israel's multi-front war simulation drill in Umm al-Fahm is understandable but shortsighted and could have been avoided with some forethought.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: IDF drill practice is a microcosm for Israel's challenges - analysis

A sandstorm engulfed Saudi Arabia’s capital and other regions of the Kingdom Tuesday, hampering visibility and slowing road traffic.A thick grey haze made iconic Riyadh buildings such as Kingdom Centre nearly impossible to see from more than a few hundred meters away, though there were no announced flight delays or cancelations.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The Kingdom’s meteorology center forecast “surface dusty winds” in the country’s east and in Riyadh, “reducing horizontal sight,” according to the official Saudi Press Agency.Dusty conditions were also expected farther west in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, according to the forecast.Electronic signs along Riyadh’s highways warned drivers to reduce their speed because of the lower visibility.In central Riyadh, sand layered cars and buildings, and residents fought to keep it out of their homes.Saudi office worker Abdullah al-Otaibi said he was grateful he works indoors.“Dust storms are part of our culture and we are used to it, but some of them are severe,” said al-Otaibi, 39, rubbing his eyes as he hurried into his office building.Parts of Saudi Arabia typically see sandstorms between March and May, with varying intensity.Neighboring Iraq has experienced eight sandstorms since mid-April, a phenomenon fueled by soil degradation, intense droughts and low rainfall linked to climate change.Read more:Iraq sandstorm forces closure of airports, schools, public administrationsCalifornia warns of possible summer blackouts as power runs lowUS President declares disaster in New Mexico wildfire zone
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Sandstorm blankets Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh

Realtors across Dubai have said football fans are snapping up short-term rentals in the emirate as a base to travel to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, with some boasting a price tag of more than $410,000 (AED1.5million) for the month-long football tournament.Though Doha has invested heavily in hotel accommodation and infrastructure for the world’s largest sporting event, a shortfall remains, meaning many will stay in neighbouring Gulf countries for the tournament, due to kick-off on November 21, and travel to and from Qatar for the games.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.It will mean a bumper tourism season for the GCC, especially the UAE.In Dubai, estate agents are already seeing a surge in demand.Harry Tregoning, of Tregoning Property, began fielding enquiring for rentals in Dubai for the duration of the World Cup back in November 2021.“Firstly, I hope they have booked their air tickets as one-day returns during the tournament on Qatar Air start around $1,200 (AED4,500 return). If that is booked, then staying in Dubai is going to prove to be a very popular destination for fans to stay in.“To rent a normal five-bed villa on Palm Jumeirah they were looking at rates of nothing below $61,000 (AED225,000) a month and in Jumeirah Islands nothing less than $34,000 (AED125,000) a month.“These rates seemed high but when you think you are dealing with a high-end clientele four double rooms in a five-star beach hotel would see you being lucky to get change from ($2,720) AED10,000 a night and this would add up to $81,690 (AED300,000) so there will be good value in a villa.“For four bedrooms with two adults in each, Raffles The Palm is around $68,000 (AED250,000) for 27 nights (their max stay is 28) in November and the cheapest for 27 nights at present is The Retreat Palm MGallery by Sofitel for $34,000 (AED125,000).“They also have a five-bedroom villa for rent on Frond K for $410,000 (AED1,512,000) for 27 nights and four rooms in the Burj Al Arab is marginally cheaper.“For agents, there will be big business.”Vinayak Mahtani, CEO of bnbme, a leading holiday homes management company in Dubai, is witnessing a similar surge of enquiries.“The short-term rental business has been doing very well over the past 24 months as COVID-19 saw a lot of clients wanting staycations or tourists wanting a property with privacy and a little less crowded as the traditional hotels. I believe the World Cup in Qatar will also attract large numbers because simply Dubai is the place everyone is going to want to be.“It has everything a perfect holiday destination needs to offer, as well as proximity to the World Cup.”Qatar currently has only 130,000 or so rooms provided by hotels, cruise liners anchored off Doha and desert campsites, the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will be attractive alternative destinations for fans.Raheesh Babu, COO, Musafir.com, one of the authorised referral agents for selling hospitality tickets to the FIFA World Cup, agreed, saying: “The initial pickup has started and we are expecting to see great demand in bookings in the coming months from the UAE.“The FIFA 2022 world cup is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity for many. We are expecting roughly around five to seven per cent (of the UAE population alone) in bookings - for people to go see their favourite teams and players live in action.“We are currently waiting for flight inventory from our airline partners but we’re sure that people will use other modes of transport also like charters and cruises.”The 2022 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to take place in Qatar from 21 November to 18 December 2022.Read more:UAE private jet companies see bookings surge for day trips to Qatar’s FIFA World CupFIFA Qatar phase one ticket applications end, marks 17 million requests in 20 daysQatar 2022 FIFA World Cup launches match ball ‘al-Rihla’
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Football fans snap up Dubai’s luxury short-term lets for Qatar World Cup

Karim Aïnouz’s essay on his own family history takes him from Brazil to north Africa to discover his father’s country..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Mariner of the Mountains review – dreamily wonderful Algerian family odyssey

The emir, who is accompanied by Qatar's foreign and energy ministers, is scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Qatar's emir visits Spain as EU eyes diversifying gas sources

Dozens of children have received life-saving medical assistance free of charge thanks to the charity's latest support..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Qatar to help dozens of children with critical heart cases in Bangladesh

His conviction was based solely on the allegation that, as a director of Rustavi 2, Nika Gvaramia used the TV station’s company car for personal reasons..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Georgia: Sentencing of pro-opposition media owner Nika Gvaramia a political motivated silencing of dissenting voice

Dozens of Ukrainian fighters, some apparently unwounded, surrendered on Tuesday after weeks of being holed up in the bunkers and tunnels below Mariupol’s Azovstal steel works as the most devastating siege of Russia’s war in Ukraine drew to a close.Russian forces pummeled Mariupol, a major city on the Sea of Azov between Russia and Crimea, with artillery for weeks while some of the fiercest urban warfare of the conflict left much of the city a wasteland.Civilians and hundreds of Ukrainian fighters, many of them from the Azov Regiment, sought refuge in the Azovstal works, a vast Soviet-era plant founded under Josef Stalin and designed with a maze of bunkers and tunnels to withstand nuclear attack.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Russia’s defense ministry said 265 Ukrainian fighters had surrendered, including 51 who were seriously wounded and would be treated at Novoazovsk in the Russian-backed breakaway Donetsk region.At least seven buses carrying surrendered Ukrainian fighters left the Azovstal steel works escorted by pro-Russian armed forces on Tuesday, a Reuters witness said.Some of the Ukrainian fighters being transported did not appear to be wounded, the witness said. One of the Ukrainian fighters, with a prominent tattoo on his neck, was seen staring directly ahead.Ukraine’s military command had said in the early hours of Tuesday that the mission to defend the steel plant was over.It was unclear what would happen to the fighters who were cast by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as heroic defenders but who Russian lawmakers said were “Nazi criminals.”One said they should be given the death penalty.Moscow has depicted the Azov Regiment as one of the main perpetrators of the alleged radical anti-Russian nationalism or even Nazism from which it says it needs to protect Ukraine’s Russian-speakers.The Kremlin said the combatants would be treated in line with international norms, while Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar posted a video in which she said: “An exchange procedure will take place for their return home.”SiegeMost civilians in the plant had been rescued in the last few weeks after the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross brokered a deal with Russia and Ukraine.Civilians had spoken of desperate conditions in the bunkers, and some of the fighters had endured horrific battle injuries with minimal medical assistance.The Azov Regiment was formed in 2014 as an extreme right-wing volunteer militia to fight Russian-backed separatists who had taken control of parts of the Donbas - the largely Russian-speaking industrial heartland of eastern Ukraine where Russia says it wants to end Ukrainian rule.The regiment denies being fascist, racist or neo-Nazi, and Ukraine says it has been reformed away from its radical nationalist origins to be integrated into the National Guard. Ukraine’s military command cast all the defenders as “heroes of our time.”Kyiv also denies that Russian speakers have been persecuted in Ukraine, and says the allegation that it has a fascist agenda, repeated daily on Russian media, is a baseless pretext for a Russian war of aggression.Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed that the fighters who surrendered would be treated “in accordance with international standards.”Zelenskyy said in his address that “the work of bringing the boys home continues, and this work needs delicacy - and time.”But Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house, said: “Nazi criminals should not be exchanged.”Lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, one of Russia’s negotiators in talks with Ukraine, called the evacuated combatants “animals in human form” and said they should receive the death penalty.“They do not deserve to live after the monstrous crimes against humanity that they have committed and that are committed continuously against our prisoners,” he said.Russia’s Prosecutor General’s office asked the Supreme Court to recognize the Azov Regiment as a “terrorist organization,” Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, citing the Ministry of Justice website.Read more:Last defenders of Mariupol: What is Ukraine’s Azov Regiment?Small wins buoy Ukraine, West says Russians losing momentumPro-Russia authorities in Ukraine’s Kherson say will seek annexation
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Azovstal siege ends as hundreds of Ukrainian fighters surrender