Middle East Experience

The United Arab Emirates has condemned an attempted attack by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen to target Saudi Arabia’s Khamis Mushait, according to the country’s official news agency (WAM).An Arab Coalition Statement on Tuesday confirmed it had intercepted and destroyed a drone heading towards Khamis Mushait, a southwestern city home to the King Khalid Air Base.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“The UAE has expressed its strong condemnation of the attempts by the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia to target civilians and civilian objects in a systematic and deliberate manner in Khamis Mushait, Saudi Arabia, with a booby-trapped plane, which was intercepted by Coalition forces,” said a statement from the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation“The continuation of these terrorist attacks by the Houthi group reflects its blatant disregard for the international community and all international laws and norms,” it added.“The security of the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is indivisible, and any threat facing the Kingdom is considered a threat to the UAE’s security and stability,” the ministry concluded.The Coalition said in a statement carried by SPA on Tuesday that the Houthi militia continues to target civilians.“We are taking the necessary operational measures to protect civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law,” the Coalition said.Yemen’s Houthis regularly launch drones and missiles into Saudi Arabia, many of which Riyadh says it intercepts.Read more:Houthi explosive drone targeting Saudi Arabia’s Khamis Mushait intercepted: CoalitionHouthis target Saudi Arabia’s Khamis Mushait with explosive droneArab Coalition intercepts Houthi drone launched towards Saudi Arabia’s Jazan
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: UAE condemns Houthi attempt to attack Saudi Arabia’s Khamis Mushait

Close UAE-Ethiopian relations remain a source of concern for Egypt, especially after tension escalated between Cairo and Addis Ababa over the GERD crisis.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: UAE balances ties with Egypt, Ethiopia in Nile Dam Crisis

The Biden administration on Thursday pledged to slash US greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent to 52 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, a new target it hopes will spur other big emitter countries to raise their ambition to combat climate change.The goal, unveiled at the start of a two-day climate summit hosted by Democratic President Joe Biden, comes as the United States seeks to reclaim global leadership in the fight against global warming after former President Donald Trump withdrew the country from international efforts to cut emissions.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.President Biden opened the summit saying that the United States “isn’t waiting” to lead on an issue of “moral and economic imperative.”“The cost of inaction keeps mounting. The United States isn’t waiting,” he said in the opening address of the two-day summit being hosted virtually by the White House.It also marks an important milestone in Biden’s broader plan to decarbonize the US economy entirely by 2050 -- an agenda he says can create millions of good-paying jobs but which many Republicans say they fear will damage the economy.The emissions cuts are expected to come from power plants, automobiles, and other sectors across the economy, but the White House did not set individual targets for those industries.“This is the decade we must make decisions that will avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis,” Biden said at the White House.Just before the summit opened, Japan raised its target for cutting emissions to 46 percent by 2030, responding to US diplomacy and domestic companies and environmentalists, who wanted even higher goals.The new US target nearly doubles former President Barack Obama’s pledge of an emissions cut of 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. Sector-specific goals will be laid out later this year.How the United States intends to reach its climate goals will be crucial to cementing US credibility on global warming, amid international concerns that America’s commitment to a clean energy economy can shift drastically from one administration to the next.Biden’s recently introduced $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan contains numerous measures that could deliver some of the emissions cuts needed this decade, including a clean energy standard to achieve net zero emissions in the power sector by 2035 and moves to electrify the vehicle fleet.But the measures need to be passed by Congress before becoming reality.Biden focused on restoring US climate leadership during his campaign and in the first days of his presidency after Republican Trump, a climate change skeptic, removed the United States from the Paris agreement on global warming.‘The US is back’The new administration has come under heavy pressure from environmental groups, some corporate leaders, the UN secretarygeneral and foreign governments to set a target to cut emissionsby at least 50 percent this decade to encourage other countries to settheir own ambitious emissions goals.Biden announced the number at the start of a climate summit on Thursday that is being attended by leaders from the world’s biggest emitters, including China.World leaders aim to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a threshold scientists say can prevent the worst impacts of climate change.One of the administration officials said with the new US target, enhanced commitments from Japan and Canada, and prior targets from the European Union and Britain, countries accounting for more than half the world’s economy were now committed to reductions to achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal.“When we close this summit on Friday, we will unmistakably communicate ... the US is back,” he said.Read more: King Salman heads Saudi Arabia’s delegation at the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: President Biden opens climate summit pledging to halve US emissions by 2030

Saudi Arabia recorded 1,055 new COVID-19 cases, 1,086 recoveries and 11 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Kingdom’s health ministry announced.Thursday’s numbers brought the Kingdom’s active cases up to 9,776 of which 1,182 were critical.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.The majority of the cases were detected in Riyadh and Makkah, amount to 468 and 206 respectively.The total coronavirus-related deaths recorded in the country mounted to 6,869, total recoveries to 392,448 and total recorded cases since the beginning of the outbreak to 409,093.In an effort to curb the rising COVID-19 cases in the country, Saudi airline on Thursday announced that the previously imposed temporary travel ban on individuals travelling from or through 20 ‘red-list’ countries would still be in effect once international flights resumed.Read more:Saudi Arabia records over 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for second day in recent spikeSaudi Arabia travel ban on 20 countries to remain when flights resume in mid-MaySaudi Arabia completes mills privatization in line with Vision 2030
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia reports 1,055 new COVID-19 cases, 11 deaths

Despite Israel's extensive missile defense systems, a missile from Syria managed to reach the south of the country.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Israel fails to intercept missile from Syria

Iranians launched a hashtag on Twitter on Wednesday to raise awareness about the state of a prominent dissident in prison whose life they say is in danger due to alleged torture.Journalist and filmmaker Mohammad Nourizad was arrested in 2019 for signing an open letter along with 13 other dissidents inside Iran calling on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to resign.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Nourizad was sentenced to 15 years in prison and banned from leaving Iran for three years.Earlier this week, his wife, Fatemeh Maleki, said that her husband had recently lost consciousness in prison, after which he was taken to a hospital in Tehran, where she said he was injected with unknown substances in multiple areas, including his genitals.“When he woke up [in hospital], he noticed a man sitting on his chest who was injecting a needle into his genitals,” Maleki told Radio Farda, the Iranian branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, on Monday.The 68-year-old, who has been on hunger strike for over a month, has since been moved back to prison, she added.Iranians, including rights activists and dissdients in exile and former political prisoners currently inside Iran have since taken to Twitter to raise awareness about and protest Nourizad’s treatment by Iran’s authorities using the hashtag “#SaveNourizad.”Last year, Nourizad attempted suicide in prison to protest the treatment of political prisoners in Iran, his wife said at the time.Prior to that, a court sentenced Nourizad’s son, Ali Nourizad, to three-and-a-half years in prison for taking part in the street protests that followed the Revolutionary Guards’ admission to shooting down a Ukranian passenger plane over Tehran in January 2020.Read more:Iran’s IRGC releases drone footage of US aircraft carrier and ‘suicide drone test’Iran adds advanced machines at Natanz uranium enrichment plant: IAEAUS, Iran ‘not near’ conclusion of talks over nuclear deal: Official
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: ‘Save Nourizad’: Iranians launch hashtag to protest ‘torture’ of prominent dissident

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez has been a longtime supporter of recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Senator praises report that Biden will recognize Armenian Genocide

A three-year reconstruction plan will target key cities in Libya including Benghazi and Tripoli..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Libya reconstruction fund needs billion: officials

The two-day virtual summit, hosted by US President Joe Biden, is being attended by 40 world leaders..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Sheikh Mohammed joins world leaders in climate summit

The death toll from the Houthi offensive on Marib, east of the Yemeni capital Sana’a, is on a constant rise, with neither side apparently able to achieve a military advantage..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Houthis turn to ‘human waves’ to pressure Yemen’ loyalist forces