COPENHAGEN: Sweden on Wednesday offered to host talks between Yemen’s warring parties as Washington called for an urgent halt to hostilities and the UN special envoy ramped up efforts to revive discussions that failed nearly two months ago.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said the United Nations has asked her country if it “could be a place for the UN envoy to gather the parties in this conflict” — the internationally recognized government, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, and Yemen’s Iran-backed Shiite rebels known as Houthis.
Wallstrom told Swedish news agency TT that her country would be “happy about it,” but that nothing is definite.
The possible venue comes as UN envoy Martin Griffiths called on the opposing sides in the 3 1/2-year conflict to heed “recent calls” for a quick resumption of the political process and efforts to win a halt to fighting in Yemen.
The Trump administration late Tuesday called for an urgent halt to the war and a start to negotiations aimed at a political settlement. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked all parties to support Griffiths in what Pompeo said must be “substantive consultations” in November in a third country.
In separate remarks, also Tuesday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called for a cease-fire within 30 days.
Nigel Tricks of the Norwegian Refugee Council welcomed the cease-fire call, saying it could be “the political breakthrough that we have long requested from parties to this brutal war” that has been “four years of hell for Yemeni women, men and children.”
Griffiths urged the concerned parties to “seize this opportunity” and singled out support for “confidence-building measures” such as Yemen’s central bank, a prisoner exchange and the re-opening of the airport in the rebel-held Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
“Dialogue remains the only path to reach an inclusive agreement,” Griffiths said in a statement.
Wallstrom reiterated Sweden’s support for Griffiths, whose efforts to host talks between the government and rebels in Geneva in September ran aground when Houthi representatives didn’t show up, insisting they had not been guaranteed safe return after the discussions.
The conflict in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, began with the 2014 takeover of Sanaa by the Houthis who toppled the internationally recognized government. A Saudi-led coalition allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.
The war has killed over 10,000 people and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine. The UN says Yemen is facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
At the beginning of 2017, the UN and its partners provided aid to 3 million hungry Yemenis. Since then, assistance has been scaled up, reaching 8 million people last month because of generous funding from donors, but far below the 14 million people — or half Yemen’s population — who may need it.
Earlier this month, Mark Lowcock, the UN humanitarian chief, warned of “an imminent and great big famine engulfing Yemen.”
Sweden says it could host Yemen’s warring sides for talks
Sweden says it could host Yemen’s warring sides for talks
- Wallstrom said the United Nations has asked her country if it “could be a place for the UN envoy to gather the parties in this conflict”
- She told Swedish news agency TT that her country would be “happy about it,” but that nothing is definite
Death toll from heavy rains in northwest Pakistan rises to 39
- The rains that began last Friday have damaged 2,391 houses across the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
- In southwestern Balochistan province, heavy rains have killed 15 people, triggered flash floods in several areas
PESHAWAR/QUETTA: The death toll from continuing rains in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has risen to 39, while another 54 people have been injured in various incidents, the KP Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said on Friday.
The rains that began last Friday have caused damages to 2,391 houses in several districts across the province, according to the PDMA.
Khyber, Dir Lower and Upper, Chitral Upper and Lower, Swat, Shangla, Bajaur, Malakand, Karak and Tank districts have been declared the most affected by the downpours.
“As many as 23 children, eight men and eight women are among those died in rain related incidents during the last eight days,” the PDMA said in a statement on Friday.
The current spell of showers, which began on April 17, was likely to continue till April 21, the PDMA said this week.
The provincial government has released Rs110 million to be distributed among the affected families and dispatched aid, including tents, kitchen kits, blankets, hygiene kits, mosquito nets and mattresses, to the affected areas, according to the authority.
As the rains were expected to continue intermittently until April 21, the PDMA said it had already a letter to administration of all districts to remain alert and take precautionary measures.
In the southwestern Balochistan province, heavy rains have killed 15 people since Friday and triggered flash floods in several areas, according to provincial authorities.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said climate change had become a “challenge” for the provincial government.
“Current rains are unusual which were never reported in a thousand years,” he told reporters on Friday. “The government has been helping the masses with available resources and our teams have reached all districts to help the people affected by rains and floods.”
Pakistan has received heavy rains in the last three weeks that have triggered landslides and flash floods in several parts of the South Asian country.
The eastern province of Punjab has reported 21 lighting- and roof collapse-related deaths, while Balochistan, in the country’s southwest, reported 10 deaths as authorities declared a state of emergency following flash floods.
In 2022, downpours swelled rivers and at one point flooded a third of Pakistan, killing 1,739 people. The floods also caused $30 billion in damages, from which Pakistan is still trying to rebuild.
Court orders release of prominent Palestinian professor suspected of incitement
- Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian was under investigation after questioning Hamas atrocities, criticizing Israel
- Insufficient justification for arrest, says court
- Detention part of a broader campaign, says lawyer
LONDON: The prominent Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, was released on Friday after a court order rejected police findings.
The criminologist and law professor was arrested the previous day on suspicion of incitement. She had been under investigation for remarks regarding the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and for saying Israelis were committing “genocidal crimes” in the Gaza Strip and should fear the consequences.
On Friday, the court dismissed a police request to extend her remand, citing insufficient justification for the arrest, according to Hebrew media reports.
Protesters gathered outside the courthouse to demonstrate against Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s arrest.
Israeli Channel 12, which first reported the news, did not specify where Shalhoub was arrested but her lawyer later confirmed she was apprehended at her home in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem.
“She’s not been in good health recently and was arrested in her home,” Alaa Mahajna said. “Police searched the house and seized her computer and cellphone, [Palestinian] poetry books and work-related papers.”
Mahajna described Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s arrest as part of a broader campaign against her, which has included numerous threats to her life and of violence.
The professor was suspended by her university last month after calling for the abolition of Zionism and suggesting that accounts of sexual assault during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel were fabricated.
The suspension was initially criticized by the university community as a blow to academic freedom in Israel. However, the decision was later reversed following an apology from Shalhoub-Kevorkian and an admission that sexual assaults took place.
Since hostilities began last year, numerous dissenting voices in Israel have faced arrest for expressing solidarity with victims of the bombardment in Gaza.
In October, well-known ultra-Orthodox Israeli journalist Israel Frey was forced into hiding following a violent attack on his home.
Bayan Khateeb, a student at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, was arrested last year for incitement after posting an Instagram story showing the preparation of a popular spicy egg dish with the caption: “We will soon be eating the victory shakshuka.”
CM Bugti promises ‘good governance’ as 14-member cabinet takes oath in Pakistan’s Balochistan
- Development came more than two months after Balochistan elected its representatives in Feb. 8 national polls
- CM Sarfraz Bugti says the formation of the cabinet took time due to consultation with all coalition partners
ISLAMABAD: Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti on Friday promised “good governance” and provision of maximum relief to public as his 14-member cabinet took oath in the southwestern Pakistani province, Pakistani state media reported.
The cabinet members were sworn in at a ceremony held at the Governor House in the provincial capital of Quetta, where Governor Malik Abdul Wali Kakar administered the oath to them.
The development came more than two months after Balochistan elected its representatives in the national election that was held on February 8, this year.
Bugti said the formation of the cabinet took time due to consultation with all coalition partners, the state-run APP news agency reported.
“Balochistan was facing many challenges, including terrorism,” he was quoted as saying in the report. “Providing maximum relief to the public and strengthening good governance were key priorities for the provincial government.”
Balochistan is the site of a long-running insurgency by separatist and religiously motivated militants, who have recently carried out a number of attacks in the region.
Gunmen this month killed nine people, who hailed from the eastern Punjab province, after abducting them from a bus on a highway near the Noshki district. The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.
Although the government says it has quelled the insurgency, violence by groups demanding independence from the central government has persisted in the province.
Polish flag carrier LOT cancels Friday flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut, PAP reports
- Decisions about future flights would be made on an ongoing basis
WARSAW: Polish national airline LOT canceled flights on Friday to Tel Aviv and Beirut due to the unstable situation in the region, a spokesperson was quoted as saying by state news agency PAP.
“Today’s flight 151/152 to Israel from Warsaw and to Beirut 143/144 have been canceled,” Krzysztof Moczulski told PAP. He said decisions about future flights would be made on an ongoing basis.
French police arrest man who threatened to blow himself up at Iran’s Paris consulate
PARIS: A man who had threatened to blow himself up at Iran’s consulate in Paris was arrested by police, a police source said.
French police earlier cordoned off the Iranian consulate, Reuters reporters saw.
A police source told Reuters the man was seen at about 11 am (0900 GMT) entering the consulate, carrying what appeared to be a grenade and explosive vest.
Police earlier said they were at the scene and asked the public to avoid the area but provided no further details.
Service was interrupted on a nearby metro line for security reasons, the RATP metro company said.
A person at the Iranian embassy who responded to a call from Reuters declined to provide any information on the situation.
It was unclear whether the incident had any link to the escalating tensions between Iran and Israel.
Earlier on Friday, explosions echoed over the Iranian city of Isfahan in what sources described as an Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for retaliation — a response that appeared gauged toward averting region-wide war.
