LONDON: From the founder of a Kuwaiti children’s hospital to a Tunis embassy British diplomat, the New Year’s honors list set its footprint across the Arab world.
Diplomats and embassy staff from around the Middle East figured widely in the list issued by the UK Cabinet Office which features the names of 1,123 people.
More than two thirds are people recognized for work in their communities.
Among those working in the Middle East is Leila Memmi, vice consul at the British Embassy in Tunis, who was awarded an MBE for services to British victims and their families following a terrorist attack at Sousse, Tunisia in 2015.
Some 38 people, 30 of whom were British, lost their lives during the attack after a lone gunman opened fire at a beach resort.
Also in Tunisia, Patricia Coelho, political first secretary at the British Embassy in Tunis, was awarded an MBE for services to British foreign policy.
Angus John Clarkson, lately head of the Foreign Office’s Syria office in Amman, was awarded an OBE for “services to furthering UK interests in Jordan and Syria.”
Marrena Ruby Bradshaw, chief of staff to the director of the Foreign Office’s Middle East and North Africa Directorate, was awarded an MBE for services to British foreign policy.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Chivers, a former stabilization adviser at the British Embassy in Beirut, was awarded an MBE for services to UK/Lebanon relations.
Outside of the diplomatic sector, Alan David Thomson, managing director, Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSSC), was awarded an MBE for services to the UK and global water industry and associated charities. He previously worked in senior roles at Thames Water and West of Scotland Water.
Margaret Therese Al-Sayer, the founding director of the Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital and the Bayt Abdullah Children’s Hospice in Kuwait, received an OBE for services to child health and hospice provision in Kuwait.
Finally, Carol Angela Murray, a volunteer and member of the Bahrain Anglican Church Council, was awarded an MBE for services to charity and the community in Bahrain.
UK new year’s honors list touches Arab world
UK new year’s honors list touches Arab world
Iran says any US attack including limited strikes would be ‘act of aggression’
- Foreign ministry spokesman said any state would react to an act of aggression as part of its inherent right of self-defense
- Trump said Friday he was considering a limited strike if Tehran did not reach a deal with the US
TEHRAN: Iran said Monday that any US attack, including limited strikes, would be an “act of aggression” that would precipitate a response, after President Donald Trump said he was considering a limited strike on Iran.
“And with respect to your first question concerning the limited strike, I think there is no limited strike,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a briefing in Tehran attended by an AFP journalist.
“An act of aggression would be regarded as an act of aggression. Period. And any state would react to an act of aggression as part of its inherent right of self-defense ferociously so that’s what we would do.”
Trump said Friday he was considering a limited strike if Tehran did not reach a deal with the United States.
“I guess I can say I am considering that,” he replied following a question from reporters.
The two countries concluded a second round of indirect talks in Switzerland on Tuesday under Omani mediation, against the backdrop of a major US military build-up in the region.
Further talks, confirmed by Iran and Oman but not by the United States, are scheduled for Thursday.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is leading the negotiations for Iran, while the United States is represented by envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump is wondering why Iran has not “capitulated” in the face of Washington’s military deployment, Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News broadcast on Sunday.
Baqaei responded Monday by saying that Iranians had never capitulated at any point in their history.
