WASHINGTON: An active member of the US Air Force has died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington over the weekend in protest of the war in Gaza, the Pentagon said Monday.
Emergency responders on Sunday had rushed to the scene just before 1:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) in response to a “call for person on fire outside the Israeli Embassy,” according to a message on X, formerly Twitter, by the capital city’s fire department.
They arrived to find that officers from the Secret Service — the US law enforcement agency tasked with protecting embassies in Washington — had already extinguished the fire.
The man had filmed himself shouting “Free Palestine” as he lit himself on fire, according to footage shared on social media.
He was initially transported to hospital with “critical life-threatening injuries,” the fire department said.
An Air Force spokeswoman told AFP Monday morning that the unnamed “individual involved in yesterday’s incident succumbed to his injuries and passed away last night.”
“We will provide additional details 24 hours after next-of-kin notifications are complete.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy said no staff were injured in the incident, and that the man was “unknown” to them.
In the video shared on social media, the man is seen wearing military fatigues and declaring he will “not be complicit in genocide” before dousing himself in liquid.
He then lights himself on fire while yelling “Free Palestine!” until he falls on the ground.
The video was reportedly first shared in a livestream on the social platform Twitch.
The shocking act came as protests are increasing across the United States against Israel’s actions in Gaza, where it is waging a retaliatory war for an attack on October 7 by Hamas militants.
With the death toll in Gaza nearing 30,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there, international pressure has been increasing on the United States to rein in its ally Israel and call for a ceasefire.
US airman sets himself on fire outside Israeli embassy in Washington
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US airman sets himself on fire outside Israeli embassy in Washington
- The man had filmed himself shouting “Free Palestine” as he lit himself on fire, according to footage shared on social media
- In the video, the man is seen wearing military fatigues and declaring he will “not be complicit in genocide” before dousing himself in liquid
Islamic finance industry projected to grow in 2024-2025
RIYADH: The Islamic finance industry is projected to grow globally in 2024-2025 with total assets likely to witness single-digit growth driven by economic diversification efforts, a report said.
It predicted that sukuk issuance globally would hover between $160 billion and $170 billion in 2024, representing a steady momentum from $168.4 billion in 2023 to $179.4 billion in 2022.
In its latest analysis, credit rating agency S&P Global highlighted that the industry grew by 8 percent and 8.2 percent in 2023 and 2022, respectively, stemming from growth in banking assets and the sukuk industry.
According to the US-based firm, Islamic banking assets grew 56 percent in 2023 compared to 72 percent in 2022.
Financial institutions across the Gulf Cooperation Council region accounted for 86 percent of the reserve increase in 2023, with Saudi Arabia becoming the chief contributor, having generated 56.7 percent of the maturation.
“We expect the implementation of Vision 2030 and growth in corporate and mortgage lending to continue supporting the Islamic finance industry over the next 12-24 months. In addition, the UAE showed a stronger contribution in 2023 thanks to the good performance of the non-oil sector,” the report noted.
It added: “Elsewhere, we observed some growth, particularly in Turkiye and Indonesia. The performance in Malaysia and Turkiye was somewhat tempered by the depreciation of the ringgit and the lira.”
According to the US-based firm, the issuance of this Shariah-compliant debt product began on a strong footing in 2024, with Saudi Arabia becoming a key contributor to the performance.
“The drop in issuance volumes in 2023, which mainly resulted from tighter liquidity conditions in Saudi Arabia’s banking system and Indonesia’s lower fiscal deficit, was somewhat compensated by an increase in foreign currency-denominated sukuk issuance,” S&P Global said in the report.
It added: “The market has started 2024 on a strong footing, with total issuance reaching $46.8 billion at March 31, 2024, compared with $38.2 billion at March 31, 2023.”
The analysis highlighted that the sukuk market will continue its growth momentum in the near term as financing needs in core Islamic finance countries remain high, given ongoing economic transformation programs, especially in countries like Saudi Arabia.
“We expect the sukuk market to fill in some of these needs. Specifically, we see some opportunities in the structured finance space with banks tapping the sukuk market to refinance their sizable mortgage books,” said the agency in the report.
The agency highlighted that the drive for digitalization and sustainability initiatives have yielded mixed results in the Islamic finance industry.
“While opportunities related to sustainable finance are significant as the industry is concentrated in oil exporting countries, progress has been relatively slow and limited in the global context,” according to S&P Global.
However, the report noted that digitalization has helped the banking side of the industry.
S&P Global concluded the study by saying that the future of Islamic finance is sustainable, collaborative, and digital.
“It is sustainable thanks to the alignment between Shariah principles, overarching pillars of sustainability, and the value proposition of Islamic finance that capture more than just financial objectives,” said the report.
According to the analysis, the future of Islamic finance is collaborative because stakeholders do not want to disrupt the industry equilibrium and erase the development achieved over the past 50 years.
The report added that digitalization will also impact Islamic finance in the coming years, as leveraging emerging technologies could help the industry enhance its efficiency and ultimately increase its value proposition for investors and issuers.
Earlier this month, another report released by Fitch Ratings noted that global outstanding sukuk expanded 10 percent year on year to reach $867 million at the end of the first quarter of 2024.
The credit rating agency attributed the growth of this Islamic debt product to funding and refinancing needs, and the development of the debt capital market in the GCC region.
The report, however, added that new Shariah requirements that could alter credit risk, geopolitical uncertainties and high oil prices, could affect the growth of the sukuk market this year.
Only two states for Israel and Palestine can prevent all-out regional conflict: Egypt PM
- Israel risking its future, says Egypt official at World Economic Forum
- Jordan’s PM also accuses Tel Aviv of not wanting ‘a political solution’
RIYADH: Only a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine can prevent the outbreak of an all-out regional and possible global conflict, said Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli at the World Economic Forum here on Monday.
Participating in a panel discussion on Gaza, Madbouli said that if the current situation continues this would also affect the future of Israel.
“It is now or never, the whole world should unite to recognize the rights of Palestinians to have their own state. If you could imagine that postponing this will solve the problem, or will be in Israel’s interest, you are wrong. It will be against the future of Israel itself.”
He added: “We are speaking about a nation that has been under aggression and occupation for the past 75 years. Behind closed doors, everybody recognizes their right to exist, but when it comes to reality, and to have a solid solution, everybody is refraining.”
Madbouli said a two-state solution is the only remedy to achieve regional peace.
“It is today that we all have to push for a two-state solution, along with a serious regional solution. No one can imagine the situation if a regional war had to start. If you imagine that you are far then you are in a very elusive situation, everybody will be affected. We have already seen a sample of a war between Iran and Israel this month.”
Other panelists, including Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh and Sigrid Kaag, the UN humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, expressed their frustration with the situation on the ground.
Al-Khasawneh said: “This is indeed an extremely timely event, challenging and depressing. There are a lot of diplomatic activities underway, along with the continued Israeli aggression on Gaza and the potential for another catastrophic additional aggression on Rafah, which by all standards will be a catastrophe that adds on to a catastrophe that has led to conditions close to famine in Gaza.”
He said the damage caused by Israel’s campaign is estimated to be about $18.7 billion; and that the UN reports that 1.1 million children require psychological counseling.
Al-Khasawneh also called for a two-state solution: “Israel insists on making the same mistakes, and expecting different results, which is not engaging seriously in a political solution.”
He added: “The world seems to be falling into the trap of following the agenda of narrow-minded Israeli politicians, frankly speaking, and it is quite catastrophic. Today it is about the political calculations of some politicians in Israel at the expense of, the safety of Israelis, the safety of Jordanians, Egyptians, and all the Arabs. Today it’s the safety of the whole region and beyond.”
Kaag said a political solution has to be found. “If we look ahead, the reconstruction efforts, from an investment perspective, are all tied to the political parameters, the two-state solution.”
Kaag added: “The paradigm shift is in the now, but it’s also looking towards the future because of the level of destruction and despair, people there tell you that they feel like zombies. The mental health crisis is humongous. So, we need to create hope through investment, rehabilitation, and focus on the political effort. I think we failed the Palestinians countless times, and they deserve more human rights.”
Blinken ‘hopeful’ Hamas will accept ‘extraordinarily generous’ Gaza deal
- Senior US official earlier joined the opening of a US-Gulf Cooperation Council meeting
RIYADH: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday he was hopeful Hamas would accept an “extraordinarily generous” offer to halt Israel’s Gaza offensive in return for the release of hostages.
“Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel,” Blinken said in Riyadh at the World Economic Forum.
“They have to decide — and they have to decide quickly,” Blinken said. “I’m hopeful that they will make the right decision.”
He also renewed US opposition to an Israeli offensive on Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, ahead of his trip to Israel.
“We have not yet seen a plan that gives us confidence that civilians can be effectively protected,” Blinken said.
Blinken earlier joined the opening of a US-Gulf Cooperation Council meeting, where he told the region’s foreign ministers that the best way to ease the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza would be to negotiate a ceasefire agreement that would release hostages held by Hamas.
“The most effective way to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to alleviate the suffering of children, women and men, and to create space for a more just and durable solution is to get a cease-fire and the hostages out,” he said.
“But we’re also not waiting on a ceasefire to take the necessary steps to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza.”
Blinken also told the GCC ministers that Iran’s confrontation with Israel showed the need for greater defense integration.
“This attack highlights the acute and growing threat from Iran but also the imperative that we work together on integrated defense.”
The top US diplomat met separately with Saudi Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, where they reviewed ways to strengthen bilateral relations and joint cooperation in various fields, the Saudi Press Agency said.
Surging street crimes drive fear, misery into hearts of residents of Pakistan’s largest city
- According to media tallies, at least 62 people killed in incidents of street crime in Karachi this year
- Sindh Inspector General says new measures to prosecute criminals have led to higher convictions
KARACHI: With the aroma of Eid dinner still lingering in the air, Syed Turrab Hussain Zahedy left his apartment with a friend earlier this month to withdraw cash from an ATM near his roadside apartment in the teeming city of Karachi.
The muggers hit soon after they stepped out of the building and demanded they hand over their valuables. While his friend complied, Zahedy, 38, resisted and within minutes was shot dead, one among over 60 people who have been killed in attempted muggings and other incidents of street crime this year in Pakistan’s largest city and commercial hub.
Karachi, a metropolis of 20 million that hosts the stock exchange and central bank, has for decades been beset by armed violence. While an armed campaign by the military, with help from police, paramilitary Rangers and intelligence agencies, against armed gangs and suspected militants in the city brought down murder rates after 2013, street crimes have been on the rise again since last year, with shooting deaths in muggings and robberies once again becoming a daily headline.
The government in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, said last week it was intensifying efforts against street crimes but the families of victims remain hopeless, saying their loved ones have become mere statistics.
“My son, in the eyes of this government, was nothing but a moving insect,” Syed Nisar Hussain, Zahedy’s 75-year-old father, told Arab News. “He wasn’t considered a human being.”
Hussain urged Pakistan’s prime minister, chief justice and army chief to step in to tackle the “terrorists” who were killing people on Karachi’s streets and lamented the criminal justice system in Pakistan where the conviction rate is very low, 11 percent, and where the failure of prosecutors to attain convictions in major as well as routine cases has badly eroded public confidence in the state’s ability to govern.
But Ghulam Nabi Memon, the inspector general of Sindh Police, said the force was now working overtime to wipe out crime, while acknowledging past neglect and mistakes.
“We have tasked good investigators to investigate cases of street crimes,” Memon told Arab News. “Additionally, we have requested the government to give us prosecutors who may help investigators in the collection of evidence.”
He said police had announced rewards and incentives for investigation officers who prosecuted cases successfully, saying such measures had already boosted the conviction rate in Karachi from less than 10 percent to 24 percent, the highest in Pakistan.
“While we are working hard to stop these killing ... overall, the incidents of crimes have decreased, which shows that police is doing its job,” Memon added.
But many Karachi residents say the feeling of insecurity has only grown.
Abdul Rahim Gul, 50, who works in the real estate business, said frequent mobile phone and car snatchings near his home and office had forced him to hire guards from a private security company six months ago.
“We have installed CCTV cameras and hired guards,” Gul lamented. “We can’t afford it but we have to do it.”
Sayida Rikshenda Jabeen, Zahedy’s 67-year-old mother, still does not know how to cope with the killing of her son, who is survived by his parents, a wife and three children between the ages of six months and six years.
“Just now, my little granddaughter was asking, ‘Grandma, where is Papa?’ What should I tell her?” Jabeen asked.
The sounds of ambulance sirens outside the Zahedys roadside apartment had also become a daily reminder of the “horrors” that lurked on the streets outside.
Scrolling through photos of her son on a cell phone, Jabeen asked the police, government and criminals:
“How many mothers’ hearts will you break? How many mothers’ laps will you people destroy?”
China to host 2025 Saudi Super Cup, attracting global football stars
- Despite strong bids from Doha and Abu Dhabi, the Chinese proposal emerged as the frontrunner
- Qualification for the upcoming Super Cup has been secured by Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr
Riyadh: In a significant move for Saudi football, China is set to host the Saudi Super Cup 2025 tournament from Aug. 14 -17, according to the sports daily Arriyadiyah, a sister publication of Arab News.
Reports suggest that the decision to award China the hosting rights came after intense competition, particularly from Emirati and Qatari contenders. Despite strong bids from Doha and Abu Dhabi, the Chinese proposal emerged as the frontrunner. Additionally, Saudi officials are keen to relocate the tournament away from the Gulf region, aiming to engage a broader global audience and promote Saudi football.
One of the driving factors behind China’s successful bid is the presence of renowned international football stars in Saudi teams, contributing to their widespread popularity. Leading figures like Cristiano Ronaldo of Al-Nassr, Neymar Jr. representing Al-Hilal, Karim Benzema from Al-Ittihad, and Firmino, captain of Al-Ahli, add considerable allure to the competition.
The previous edition, held in Abu Dhabi, saw Al-Hilal clinch victory over their rivals Al-Nassr with a 2-1 scoreline.
Qualification for the upcoming Super Cup has been secured by Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr, based on their performance in the Saudi Pro League, known as the Roshn Saudi League. However, the participants from the King’s Cup, as well as its runner-up, are yet to be determined.
In recent Roshn League action, the Yellow Team, Al-Nassr, secured their place in the Super Cup by defeating hosts Al-Khaleej with a solitary goal. This victory propelled them to 71 points, firmly securing their second-place standing, a position out of reach for Al-Ahli, currently in third with 52 points and six matches remaining. Even with a perfect score, Al-Ahli would fall short of overtaking Al-Nassr, who, despite potential losses in their remaining fixtures, maintain a comfortable lead.
The Blue Team, Al-Hilal, who still need seven points to conclude their league campaign, have also booked their spot in the Super Cup. The tournament’s semifinals will feature clashes between Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad, as well as Al-Nassr against Al-Khaleej.
Both Al-Khaleej and Al-Ittihad will vie for a spot in the final, eyeing the opportunity to secure one of the two coveted slots in the Super Cup.
In the event that both teams fail to progress and the finalists emerge from the capital’s rivalry — Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr — Super Cup regulations dictate that the available slots will be awarded to the third and fourth-placed teams in the Roshn League standings.
Should only one of the capital’s teams advance to the cup final, they will automatically claim their Super Cup berth, either as champions or runners-up, with the remaining slot going to the third-placed team in the league.
