BAGHDAD: Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis heeded the call of an influential Shiite cleric to gather in a show of strength for a mass prayer in the heart of Baghdad’s heavily fortified government zone on Friday. The gathering took place amid an escalating political crisis that has put the country’s capital on edge.
The powerful cleric, Muqtada Al-Sadr, had called on his followers from across Iraq to come to pray inside Baghdad’s Green Zone — a heavily fortified area in the heart of the city that houses government buildings and foreign embassies. They arrived and stood outside in the scorching summer-time heat, with temperatures reaching 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit).
Friday’s mass prayer was the latest display of strength by the cleric, whose political power derives from his strong grassroots support base.
Al-Sadr has used his large grassroots following as a pressure tactic against his rivals, after his party was not able to form a government despite having won the largest number of seats in federal elections held last October. He exited the political process to form the next government in June.
His followers gathered facing the Victory Arch, a monument erected during Saddam Hussein’s regime to commemorate the Iran-Iraq war. It was built for the purpose of holding military parades.
Farid Jaafar, 16, arrived from Babylon province to show his support for Al-Sadr. His transport was paid by Al-Sadr’s party he said. “I love Muqtada,” he said.
Holding the prayer within the highly restrictive zone that is closed off to most Iraqis points to the cleric’s power and influence.
Last Saturday, thousands of his followers stormed parliament in a bid to derail attempts by Al-Sadr’s Shiite rivals to form a government. Around 125 people were injured in the violence, most of them protesters and 25 members of the security forces.
Al-Sadr’s followers camped out inside the parliament until he ordered them, after four days to withdraw from the assembly building, but maintain a sit-in outside. He’s calling for the dissolution of parliament and early elections.
His Shiite rivals in the Iran-backed Coordination Framework have said they would consider holding early elections in the event of a national consensus.
Hundreds of thousands gather for mass prayer in Baghdad
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Hundreds of thousands gather for mass prayer in Baghdad
- Powerful cleric, Muqtada Al-Sadr, had called on followers from across Iraq to pray inside Baghdad’s Green Zone
- The mass-prayer call follows Al-Sadr’s demand for early elections
KSrelief carries out cardiac surgery, catheterization in Yemen
- Medical workers performed 166 catheterization procedures and 25 open-heart operations
RIYADH: Volunteer medical staffers of Saudi Arabia’s aid agency KSrelief have been carrying out cardiac surgery and catheterization for children and adults at Prince Mohammed bin Salman Hospital in Aden, Yemen.
The project began on May 4 and ends May 15, with 25 volunteers working with the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen.
The medical workers performed 166 catheterization procedures and 25 open-heart operations.
The assistance is a part of KSrelief’s worldwide relief and humanitarian projects.
Army whistleblower who exposed alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan is sentenced to prison
- Former army lawyer David McBride sentenced to five years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to three charges
- Rights advocates argue that McBride’s conviction and sentencing reflected a lack of whistleblower protections in Australia
MELBOURNE: An Australian judge sentenced a former army lawyer to almost six years in prison on Tuesday for leaking to the media classified information that exposed allegations of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.
David McBride, 60, was sentenced in a court in the capital, Canberra, to five years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to three charges including theft and sharing with members of the press documents classified as secret. He had faced a potential life sentence.
Justice David Mossop ordered McBride to serve 27 months in prison before he can be considered for release on parole.
Rights advocates argue that McBride’s conviction and sentencing before any alleged war criminal he helped expose reflected a lack of whistleblower protections in Australia.
McBride’s lawyer Mark Davis said he planned to file an appeal against the severity of the sentence.
McBride’s documents formed the basis of an Australian Broadcasting Corp. seven-part television series in 2017 that contained war crime allegations including Australian Special Air Service Regiment soldiers killing unarmed Afghan men and children in 2013.
Police raided the ABC’s Sydney headquarters in 2019 in search of evidence of a leak, but decided against charging the two reporters responsible for the investigation.
In sentencing, Mossop said he did not accept McBride’s explanation that he thought a court would vindicate him for acting in the public interest.
McBride’s argument that his suspicions that the higher echelons of the Australian Defense Force were engaged in criminal activity obliged him to disclose classified papers “didn’t reflect reality,” Mossop said.
An Australian military report released in 2020 found evidence that Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and civilians. The report recommended 19 current and former soldiers face criminal investigation.
Police are working with the Office of the Special Investigator, an Australian investigation agency established in 2021, to build cases against elite SAS and Commando Regiments troops who served in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.
Former SAS trooper Oliver Schulz last year became the first of these veterans to be charged with a war crime. He is accused of shooting dead a noncombatant man in a wheat field in Uruzgan province in 2012
Also last year, a civil court found Australia’s most decorated living war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith had likely unlawfully killed four Afghans. He has not been criminally charged.
Human Rights Watch’s Australia director Daniela Gavshon said McBride’s sentencing was evidence an Australia’s whistleblowing laws needed exemptions in the public interest.
“It is a stain on Australia’s reputation that some of its soldiers have been accused of war crimes in Afghanistan, and yet the first person convicted in relation to these crimes is a whistleblower not the abusers,” Gavshon said in a statement.
“David McBride’s jail sentence reinforces that whistleblowers are not protected by Australian law. It will create a chilling effect on those taking risks to push for transparency and accountability – cornerstones of democracy,” she added.
Oil Updates – prices steady as investors eye US inflation, OPEC report
SINGAPORE: Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday as investors eyed fresh drivers, including upcoming US inflation indicators and a monthly report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries this week, according to Reuters.
Brent crude futures inched 4 cents higher to $83.40 a barrel at 6:15 a.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 5 cents to $79.17 a barrel.
The benchmark contracts settled higher on Monday on signs of improving demand in the US and China, world’s top two oil consumers.
“Oil prices were slightly higher overnight but remain in a broad holding pattern over the past week, with the lead-up to the upcoming US inflation data keeping some reservations in place,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG.
Investors are watching the US Consumer Price Index data due on Wednesday for clues to when the Federal Reserve will consider cutting interest rates.
“Ahead, the OPEC monthly oil report will be in focus to provide any updates on global oil demand, with some eyes on whether the previous optimistic guidance around the summer travel season will continue to hold,” said Yeap.
The latest OPEC monthly oil market report is due to come later Tuesday, based on the organization’s website.
Meanwhile, the market is also watching wildfires in remote western Canada that could disrupt the country’s oil supply.
Firefighters on Monday were racing to contain one blaze in British Columbia and two in Alberta near the heart of the country’s oil sands industry.
No operational disruptions had been reported. But Alex Hodes, analyst at energy brokerage StoneX, said Canada’s 3.3 million barrel per day production capacity is “very likely to be affected.”
The market also continued to react to bullish comments from Iraq’s oil minister, Hayyan Abdul Ghani, over the weekend, according to a note from ANZ analysts.
Ghani said on Sunday that Iraq would honor voluntary output cuts made by OPEC+, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other non-OPEC producers, at its upcoming meeting on June 1.
That reversed course from his Saturday comments that Iraq had made enough voluntary reductions and would not agree to any new output cuts.
Pakistan to privatize all state-owned entities except ‘strategically important’ ones— PM Sharif
- Finance Minister Aurangzeb last week said there is “no such thing as strategic” public entities
- PM Sharif urges privatization process of state-owned enterprises to be broadcast live for transparency
KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Tuesday that his government would privatize all state-owned enterprises (SOEs) except for those deemed “strategically important” or essential ones, state-owned media reported, as Islamabad looks to overhaul its public entities to improve their performance.
The announcement is in direct conflict with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s statement from Sunday in which he said that all public entities would be handed over to the private sector. The minister had said he and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar were on the same page that “there is no such thing as a strategic SOE.”
Former finance minister Dar had chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization on May 10 in which he had said the government’s business would only be limited to essential or strategic SOEs. Dar said while priority would be accorded to loss-making entities, even SOEs who were earning profits would be considered for privatization.
PM Sharif chaired a high-level meeting on matters related to the Ministry of Privatization and Privatization Commission on Tuesday, the state-run Radio Pakistan reported.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced to privatize all government-owned enterprises with the exception of strategically important state-owned enterprises,” Radio Pakistan said. “The Prime Minister directed all federal ministries to take necessary action in this regard and cooperate with the Privatization Commission.”
The report did not specify which SOEs he deemed strategically important ones.
Pakistan agreed to overhaul its public entities under a $3 billion financial bailout agreement it signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last year, a deal that helped it avert a sovereign debt default in 2023. The IMF has said Pakistan’s SOEs whose losses are burning a hole in government finances would need stronger governance. Pakistan is currently negotiating with the international lender for a larger, longer program for which it must implement an ambitious reforms agenda, including the privatization of debt-ridden SOEs.
Among the main entities Pakistan is pushing to privatize is its national flag carrier, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The government is putting on the block a stake ranging from 51 percent to 100 percent.
Sharif instructed authorities to ensure transparency in the privatization process of all state-owned entities, including the PIA.
“He directed to televise live Pakistan International Airlines Company Limited’s privatization including bidding and other important steps,” Radio Pakistan said. “The process of privatization of other institutions will also be broadcast live.”
The prime minister was informed that the pre-qualification process for PIA’s privatization would be completed by the end of May. He was told loss-making SOEs would be privatized on priority and that a “pre-qualified panel of experts” is being appointed in Pakistan’s Privatization Commission to speed up the process.
Separately, Aurangzeb chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises on Monday which was attended by ministers of maritime affairs, economic affairs, housing and works, the governor of Pakistan’s central bank and other officials. The meeting was held to evaluate the performance of the country’s public entities and review the progress of the government’s privatization agenda.
Aurangzeb directed concerned ministries and divisions to submit proposals for the categorization of their respective public entities by May 20. The step is aimed at reviewing the rationale for retaining any commercial functions within the public sector, the finance ministry said.
“The objective is to retain only the essential functions within the public sector & to assign the remaining functions to the private sector,” it said. “At the same time the entities which remain in public sector have to be more competitive, accountable, and responsive to the needs of citizens.”
Participants agreed to foster transparency, efficiency, and sustainable growth within the SOEs, reflecting the government’s dedication to ensuring the optimal utilization of public resources, the ministry said.
Nakba: Palestinians mark 76 years of dispossession as a potentially even larger catastrophe unfolds in Gaza
- In Gaza, the refugees and their descendants make up around three-quarters of the population
- Now, many Palestinians fear a repeat of their painful history on an even more cataclysmic scale
JERUSALEM: Palestinians on Wednesday will mark the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their national struggle. But in many ways, that experience pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza.
Palestinians refer to it as the “Nakba,” Arabic for “catastrophe.” Some 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment.
After the war, Israel refused to allow them to return because it would have resulted in a Palestinian majority within its borders. Instead, they became a seemingly permanent refugee community that now numbers some 6 million, with most living in slum-like urban refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In Gaza, the refugees and their descendants make up around three-quarters of the population.
Israel’s rejection of what Palestinians say is their right of return has been a core grievance in the conflict and was one of the thorniest issues in peace talks that last collapsed 15 years ago. The refugee camps have always been the main bastions of Palestinian militancy.
Now, many Palestinians fear a repeat of their painful history on an even more cataclysmic scale.
All across Gaza, Palestinians in recent days have been loading up cars and donkey carts or setting out on foot to already overcrowded tent camps as Israel expands its offensive. The images from several rounds of mass evacuations throughout the seven-month war are strikingly similar to black-and-white photographs from 1948.
Mustafa Al-Gazzar, now 81, still recalls his family’s monthslong flight from their village in what is now central Israel to the southern city of Rafah, when he was 5. At one point they were bombed from the air, at another, they dug holes under a tree to sleep in for warmth.
Al-Gazzar, now a great-grandfather, was forced to flee again over the weekend, this time to a tent in Muwasi, a barren coastal area where some 450,000 Palestinians live in a squalid camp. He says the conditions are worse than in 1948, when the UN agency for Palestinian refugees was able to regularly provide food and other essentials.
“My hope in 1948 was to return, but my hope today is to survive,” he said. “I live in such fear,” he added, breaking into tears. “I cannot provide for my children and grandchildren.”
The war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, has killed over 35,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, making it by far the deadliest round of fighting in the history of the conflict. The initial Hamas attack killed some 1,200 Israelis.
The war has forced some 1.7 million Palestinians — around three quarters of the territory’s population — to flee their homes, often multiple times. That is well over twice the number that fled before and during the 1948 war.
Israel has sealed its border. Egypt has only allowed a small number of Palestinians to leave, in part because it fears a mass influx of Palestinians could generate another long-term refugee crisis.
The international community is strongly opposed to any mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza — an idea embraced by far-right members of the Israeli government, who refer to it as “voluntary emigration.”
Israel has long called for the refugees of 1948 to be absorbed into host countries, saying that calls for their return are unrealistic and would endanger its existence as a Jewish-majority state. It points to the hundreds of thousands of Jews who came to Israel from Arab countries during the turmoil following its establishment, though few of them want to return.
Even if Palestinians are not expelled from Gaza en masse, many fear that they will never be able to return to their homes or that the destruction wreaked on the territory will make it impossible to live there. A recent UN estimate said it would take until 2040 to rebuild destroyed homes.
The Jewish militias in the 1948 war with the armies of neighboring Arab nations were mainly armed with lighter weapons like rifles, machine guns and mortars. Hundreds of depopulated Palestinian villages were demolished after the war, while Israelis moved into Palestinian homes in Jerusalem, Jaffa and other cities.
In Gaza, Israel has unleashed one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history, at times dropping 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs on dense, residential areas. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to wastelands of rubble and plowed-up roads, many littered with unexploded bombs.
The World Bank estimates that $18.5 billion in damage has been inflicted on Gaza, roughly equivalent to the gross domestic product of the entire Palestinian territories in 2022. And that was in January, in the early days of Israel’s devastating ground operations in Khan Younis and before it went into Rafah.
Even before the war, many Palestinians spoke of an ongoing Nakba, in which Israel gradually forces them out of Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories it captured during the 1967 war that the Palestinians want for a future state. They point to home demolitions, settlement construction and other discriminatory policies that long predate the war, and which major rights groups say amount to apartheid, allegations Israel denies.
