Dubai Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in the UAE on Monday to discuss cooperation on clean hydrogen, ammonia and recycled carbon fuels ahead of this years UN climate talks in Dubai.

Kishidas visit to the United Arab Emirates, which will host COP28 in November-December, is part of the first Gulf tour by a Japanese premier since the late Shinzo Abe in 2020.

Japan relies almost entirely on imports for its crude oil, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar accounting for the bulk of its supplies.

As the Asian country increases the role of renewables in its energy mix, the Gulf states, too, are moving more towards cleaner energy sources.

Kishida flew in from Saudi Arabia, where he met de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday. After talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, he will head to Qatar on Tuesday.

The Japanese PM plans to offer Japans cutting-edge decarbonisation technologies as part of a green energy initiative for the Middle East, he said in an open letter carried by the UAEs official WAM news agency.

Tokyos embassy confirmed the comments.

Under the initiative, the UAE and Japan will be well placed to collaborate in the related fields of hydrogen and ammonia production and utilisation as well as carbon recycling, Kishida added.

As the oil-rich UAE gears up to host the COP28 United Nations climate talks, many countries remain far apart on ways to reduce fossil fuels and the global warming they cause.

Japan will work closely with the UAE towards the success of COP28, Kishida said.

On Monday, Sheikh Mohammed said he held fruitful and constructive discussions with Kishida in Abu Dhabi on developing bilateral relations and advancing the comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries.

Clean energy cooperation

On Sunday, Kishida discussed energy security and decarbonisation with senior Saudi officials including Prince Mohammed in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, official Saudi statements said.

During the meeting with Prince Mohammed, Tokyo and Saudi Arabia agreed to launch the Lighthouse Initiative for Clean Energy Cooperation, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. 

The initiative will support the ongoing efforts that Saudi Arabia is undertaking to become a hub for clean energy, said a joint statement carried by SPA on Monday.

It will focus on areas including hydrogen, ammonia, recycled carbon fuels and carbon capture technology,  the statement said. 

Saudi Arabia is the biggest oil exporter to Japan, fulfilling 40 percent of its total needs, the kingdoms Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Sunday.

The Kingdom, based on its commitment to the strategic...

Aboard Nautica The United Nations on Monday handed over a vessel that will take on board oil from a decaying tanker in the Red Sea, an operation aimed at averting an environmental catastrophe. 

The handover ceremony took place aboard the Nautica, which is being renamed the Yemen, in the presence of Yemens Huthi authorities who control the capital Sanaa. 

In the coming days, an operation is expected to begin pumping 1.14 million barrels of crude oil to the Nautica from the FSO Safer, a rusting 47-year-old ship that the UN describes as a ticking time bomb.

The UN-owned ship arrived off war-torn Yemen on Sunday.

Mondays ceremony highlighted close cooperation between the UN and the Huthis, who since 2015 have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognised government based in the southern Yemeni city of Aden.

The UN had been hoping for a low-key event, but the Huthis invited high-ranking officials from various ministries as well as more than 20 local journalists to board the new ship. 

As high-ranking Huthi officials looked on, David Gressly, the UN resident coordinator for Yemen, signed the handover papers along with Edrees al-Shami, the Huthi-appointed executive general manager of SEPOC, the Yemeni oil and gas company. 

Gressly said the ship transfer had been organized with the participation of all parties to Yemens conflict and that it now belonged to the people of Yemen.

However, Huthi officials have said it will now fall under their control. 

The Nautica, purchased by the UN in March, is smaller than the Safer, with a clean, rust-free red-and-blue hull. 

It is expected to moor alongside the Safer so that pumping can begin by the end of this week.

The post UN hands over boat for oil transfer from rusting Yemen tanker appeared first on Iraqi News.

ABOARD FSO SAFER When an alarm sounded on the decaying oil tanker off Yemens coast, signalling a leak in its engine room, Hussein Nasser quickly sprang into action.

Working around the clock for days, he and the half-dozen other people on board the FSO Safer fashioned makeshift iron strips to patch a burst pipe, before divers arrived to install a permanent steel plate to keep seawater from sinking the ship. 

The incident in 2020 was just one example of how a motley crew of sailors and engineers - numbering no more than seven or eight at any given time - have laboured for years to keep afloat the FSO Safer tanker abandoned off Yemen, and stave off an environmental calamity.

The sinking of the vessel, or an on-board explosion, would have unleashed a thin slick of oil across the Red Sea, imperilling wildlife, coastal fishing villages, lifeline ports and maritime traffic. 

The United Nations hopes anxiety about the 47-year-old Safer - which has been woefully neglected during Yemens ongoing war is about to ease. That depends on the successful transfer of its oil to a replacement ship, the Nautica, that arrived off the countrys coast on Sunday. 

It represents a rare bright spot after more than eight years of fighting between the Huthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa and waters where the Safer is moored, and the internationally recognised government based in the southern city of Aden. 

For members of the Safers skeleton crew, the milestone is a time to reflect on their long stints at sea with little food, no air conditioning and near-constant stress. 

Anxiety accompanies us all the time as a result of the worn-down condition of the ship, Nasser, an engineer with short greying hair and a dark moustache, told AFP. 

Like other crew members interviewed, he works for the Huthis maritime affairs authority.

The Safer is like a front line and we have had to fight on it - no different from a military front line, Nasser said. 

Unsung heroes

The Iran-backed Huthis praise men like Nasser as the unsung heroes of the Safer saga. 

The villains, in their telling, are members and backers of the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in support of the Aden-based government, which they blame for a blockade of the Hodeida port that starved the Safer of needed equipment. 

Yet the Huthis themselves were long accused of courting disaster by using the Safer as a bargaining chip, blocking UN inspection requests and demanding that oil revenue be used to pay the salaries of their employees. 

After more than eight years without maintenance, there is no disputing the ship is in awful condition, with rust and fast-spreading fungus streaking its red-and-grey hull, whose thickness has worn away by four millimetres in places. 

Any oil ship need...

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Director General for Studies and Planning at the Iraqi Oil Ministry, Naseer Aziz Jabbar, explained on Monday that energy projects carried out by TotalEnergies in Iraq will be completed in 2028 and 2029, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

TotalEnergies signed last week a $27 billion energy deal expected to increase oil production and Iraqs capacity to produce energy through four major oil, gas and renewable energy projects, according to Reuters.

Jabbar illustrated that gas projects will help Iraq produce 300 million cubic feet of gas after the completion of the first phase and will reach a production capacity of 600 million cubic feet after the second phase is completed.

The Iraqi official elaborated that the governments share in these projects is $1.4 billion.

The first of these projects involves the use of seawater to support oil extraction operations.

The second project is the Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), which aims to improve Iraqs electricity supply by recovering flared gas at three oilfields and using the gas to supply power plants, helping to reduce the countrys import bill, according to Reuters.

The third project is to develop the Artawi oilfield, which produces one of the best fuels in the region, to increase its production capacity to more than 210,000 barrels per day.

The fourth project is to develop a 1-gigawatt solar power plant to supply southern Iraq with electricity.

The post TotalEnergies to complete energy projects in Iraq by 2029 appeared first on Iraqi News.

Beijing Tens of thousands of people were being evacuated in southern China and Vietnam on Monday, and dozens of flights cancelled as a typhoon barrelled towards land.

Powerful winds, storm surges and lashing rains were forecast to hammer the southern coastline from Guangdong to Hainan provinces when typhoon Talim makes landfall on Monday night, the China Meteorological Administration said.

The forecaster has issued an orange alert, the second-highest warning in a four-tier colour-coded system, saying the storm was expected to increase in intensity to become a severe typhoon.

Authorities in Vietnam said they were preparing to evacuate about 30,000 people from the areas forecast to be hardest hit in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong provinces from Monday afternoon.

The storm might be one of the biggest to hit the Gulf of Tonkin in recent years, Vietnams top disaster response committee said in an online statement.

Tourists have been advised to leave outlying islands and airlines have rescheduled services to avoid the storm.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directed disaster response teams to prepare for immediate rescue and relief works late Sunday, warning of possible floods.

Flights grounded

At least 1,000 people were evacuated in Yunfu city in south Chinas Guangdong province, the state-backed Southern Daily reported.

Around 2:00 pm (0600 GMT), Typhoon Talim was 280 kilometres southwest of Hong Kong, the citys weather observatory said.

Trading on Hong Kongs US$5.2 trillion stock market was cancelled Monday as the Asian financial hub came to a standstill.

The Hong Kong Observatory has warned of possible flooding in low-lying areas due to a storm surge and ferries and most bus services in the city were suspended.

More than 1,000 travellers were affected by flight cancellations and delays, the Hong Kong Airport Authority said.

Authorities in south Chinas Hainan island asked ships in nearby waters to return to port after the local marine forecasting station warned of waves of up to six metres (20 feet), state news agency Xinhua reported.

Ferry services between Hainan and neighbouring Guangdong province were suspended early on Sunday.

Meilan International Airport and Qionghai Boao Airport, both on Hainan island, have cancelled all flights, state media reported.

Zhuhai Jinwan Airport in Guangdong near Macau cancelled more than 80 flights, local media said.

Scientists have warned that typhoons are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer with climate change.

The post Thousands evacuated as typhoon nears southern China, Vietnam appeared first on Iraqi News.

Gandhinagar G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs opened talks on Monday discussing debt restructuring deals, multilateral bank reform and finance to tackle climate change, aiming to bolster a sagging global economy.

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, chair and host of the summit in Gandhinagar, began by telling finance leaders of the responsibility we have to steer the global economy towards strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.

Key on the two-day agenda will be facilitating consensus to intractable issues associated with rising indebtedness, Sitharaman said earlier on Monday, speaking to reporters alongside US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Talks will also focus on critical global issues such as strengthening the multilateral development banks and taking coordinated climate action, Sitharaman added.

Yellen also cited work to tackle debt distress amongst the worlds poorest countries, noting debt restructuring progress in Zambia, which she had discussed when visiting Beijing this month.

China, the worlds second-largest economy and a major lender to several stressed, low-income countries in Asia and Africa, has so far resisted a common multilateral understanding on the issue, officials said.

Yellen on Sunday said the Zambia deal had taken too long to negotiate, and added she hoped debt treatments for Ghana and Sri Lanka could be finalised quickly. 

We should apply the common principles we agreed to in Zambias case in other cases, rather than starting at zero every time, Yellen said. And we must go faster.

More than half of all low-income countries are near or in debt distress, double the case in 2015, Yellen added.

A top official from G20 chair India said there had been a not so encouraging response from Beijing on shared debt understanding.

Several economies have struggled following the double blow of the coronavirus pandemic and fallout from Russias war in Ukraine which hit global fuel and commodity prices.

China is a major creditor in some of these cases and has faced criticism for its stand on nations debt restructuring.

Climate finance

The Group of 20 major economies will also discuss multilateral development banks reform, cryptocurrency regulations, and making access to financing to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change easier.

In the Global North, climate change means emissions reductions, World Bank chief Ajay Banga said in an op-ed ahead of the meeting.

But in the Global South, it is a matter of survival, because hurricanes are stronger, heat-resistant seeds are in short supply, drought is destroying farms and towns, and floods are washing away decades of progress.

Beijing Chinas economy showed further signs of weakness in the second quarter as data Monday showed growth missed expectations and consumers remained cautious, adding pressure on leaders to unveil further stimulus.

The disappointing figures follow a string of below-par readings in recent months indicating the post-Covid recovery was already going off the rails and highlighting the tough work authorities face reviving momentum.

The National Statistics Bureau said the worlds number two economy grew 6.3 percent on-year in April-June, faster than the previous three months but much weaker than the 7.1 percent predicted in an AFP survey of analysts.

That came despite having a very low base of comparison with last year when the country was hit by a series of Covid lockdowns in major cities.

In quarter-on-quarter terms considered a more realistic basis for comparison growth came in at 0.8 percent, well down from the 2.2 percent seen in January-March, the first full period after the removal of zero-Covid restrictions.

NBS spokesman Fu Linghui said in a statement that the economy showed a good momentum of recovery.

Market demand gradually recovered, production supply continued to increase, employment and price were generally stable, and residents income grew steadily, he added.

But Fu admitted at a Monday news conference the Chinese economy faces a complex and difficult international situation, and arduous tasks for reform, development and ensuring stability.

Additional data reinforced the view that the post-pandemic recovery was petering out.

Retail sales, a key gauge of consumption, edged up 3.1 percent in June from a year earlier, according to the NBS, slowing from the 12.7 percent rise in May.

It was in line with expectations of analysts polled by Bloomberg, but signalled shaky consumer confidence.

Serious deterioration

Consumption remains a driving force for the economic recovery, Erin Xin, Greater China Economist at HSBC, told AFP.

In some areas, particularly in services, the revival has been particularly strong, she said, adding that consumption levels had not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

Unemployment among Chinese youth also jumped to a record 21.3 percent in June, up from 20.8 percent in May, the NBS said.

The general unemployment figure stayed at 5.2 percent, but only takes into account the big cities.

The run of poor readings over recent months has ramped up calls for officials to unveil support measures. 

While the Peoples Bank of China last month cut interest rates and authorities pledged to help the troubled property sector, there has been very little concrete action out of Beijing.

Low demand means companies are hesitating to hire, taking a wait-and-see...

Hong Kong Asian markets struggled Monday to build on last weeks rally, with new data showing Chinas economy grew less than expected in the second quarter as its post-Covid recovery runs out of steam.

Equities surged last week as news that US inflation slowed more than forecast fanned hopes that the Federal Reserve would soon end its campaign of interest rate hikes.

The advance was also bolstered by pledges from Beijing to introduce stimulus measures for the struggling economy.

However, the scale of the work facing Chinese officials was laid bare Monday, with data showing gross domestic product expanded 6.3 percent on-year in April-June, much less than forecast in an AFP survey.

Growth was also sharply down on a quarter-on-quarter basis, which is seen as a better guide to the state of the economy owing to the low base of comparison with last years Covid-depressed performance.

The countrys National Bureau of Statistics also said youth unemployment jumped to a record 21.3 percent in June, adding to months of data highlighting weakness in the worlds number-two economy.

The readings will further stoke calls for authorities to announce more measures to fire growth, having cut interest rates last month.

But while officials have pledged to do more, there has been little concrete out of Beijing so far.

Asia investors have been greeted by a dismal Chinese data dump to start the week, said SPI Asset Managements Stephen Innes.

But the data will be viewed through the lens of how it will influence the policy decisions made at the upcoming Politburo meeting in late July. With that in mind expectations should grow that Beijing will do major fiscal soon.

In early trade, Shanghai fell more than one percent, and there were also losses in Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Manila and Wellington. Taipei and Jakarta edged up.

Hong Kong was closed because of a typhoon, while Tokyo was shut for a holiday.

The tepid performance Monday came as investors weighed the outlook for US interest rates after last weeks consumer and wholesale price indexes came in below forecasts.

The readings were seen as giving the Federal Reserve room to wind down its monetary tightening drive, which has lasted more than a year.

While it is expected to hike again this month, there is debate over whether it will then call it a day or announce one more before the end of the year.

We think it is premature to declare victory on inflation and expect volatility to remain elevated over the near term, JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists led by Phoebe White said.

Still, bets that the Fed is close to the end of its cycle have weighed on the dollar in recent weeks, with other central banks still lifting costs owing to stubbornly sticky inflation prints.

The euro last week touched $1.1248,...

Auckland The first 32-team Womens World Cup kicks off in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, with the United States favourites to win an unprecedented third consecutive title in a landmark month for womens football.

It has been a rapid expansion for a tournament that started in 1991 and featured only 16 teams as recently as 2011, then 24 in France four years ago when the USA retained the trophy.

That reflects a dramatic rise in interest in womens football over the last decade beyond its traditional heartland of the United States, and a swarm of European sides will be aiming to snatch their title.

Australia, led by the prolific Chelsea forward Sam Kerr, will hope to make the most of home advantage and go all the way to the final in Sydney on August 20.

This World Cup is not just bigger in terms of the number of competing nations.

FIFA has tripled the prize money compared with 2019 and the total pot, which also covers compensation for clubs releasing players, is up from $50 million four years ago to $152 million.

It is a vast hike on the $15 million offered in 2015, and confirmation that it is a boom time for womens football.

Big crowds at club and international matches, particularly in Europe, are more evidence that the game is at an all-time high.

TV blackout averted

Nevertheless, the prize pot still pales in comparison with the $440 million dished out at the 2022 mens World Cup in Qatar.

Meanwhile, a stand-off over the sale of broadcast rights in the biggest European countries - Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain - was only resolved last month.

The threat of a TV blackout was averted late in the day after FIFA president Gianni Infantino had openly criticised the amount of money being offered by broadcasters.

FIFA is stepping up not just with words but with actions. Unfortunately, this is not the case of everyone across the industry. Broadcasters and sponsors have to do more in this respect, Infantino said in March, adding that world footballs governing body was receiving offers amounting to just one percent of what was being paid for the mens tournament.

In Japan, a deal to avoid a blackout was only reached last week.

It is actually terrible business if you are not tuning in, said Megan Rapinoe, the veteran superstar of the United States team and a cultural icon who transcends the sport.

You are missing out on a large cultural moment. This is the premier womens sporting event in the world bar none and this is a paradigm shift globally, not just in the US.

It will be the 38-year-olds last World Cup after she announced she plans to retire at the end of this season.

Knee-injury plague

Rapinoe was one of the USA stars who led their fight for equal pay, resulting in a la...

Istanbul The clock was ticking down Monday on the deal that allows Ukraine to export its grain via the Black Sea, with the agreement set to expire at midnight Istanbul time (2100 GMT).

In Ukraine, Kyiv reported fierce fighting on its eastern frontline on Sunday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin called Kyivs counteroffensive a failure.

There was no word from talks in Istanbul, where Turkish and UN officials are trying to persuade Russia to agree another extension of the deal first signed there in July 2022.

Over the course of the last year, the Black Sea Grain Initiative has enabled the export in cargo of more than 32 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain.

But that traffic has come to a halt because of Russias refusal so far to renew the deal.

The applications have not been approved by all parties, said a statement from the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) that oversees the agreement. No new ships have been approved to participate since 27 June.  

The last cargo ship cleared by the signatories to the deal Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations Turkish bulk carrier TQ Samsun, was headed across the Black Sea from the Ukrainian port of Odesa towards Istanbul, the Marine Traffic website showed late Sunday.

Russias objections

On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was optimistic about the prospects of the deal being renewed again.

But his claim that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin saw eye to eye on the matter did not find an echo in Moscow, as a Kremlin spokesman quickly said that they had made no such declaration.

Putin has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the agreement, arguing that elements of the deal allowing the export of Russian food and fertilisers had not been honoured.

The main goal of the deal, namely the supply of grain to countries in need, including on the African continent, has not been implemented, he said on Saturday, in a phone conversation with South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa.

According to data from the JCC, China and Turkey are the main beneficiaries of the grain shipments, as well as developed economies.

The deal has helped the World Food Programme bring relief to countries facing critical food shortages such as Afghanistan, Sudan and Yemen.

This helps explain why UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has been working hard to get the deal renewed. He supports removing hurdles to Russia exporting its fertilisers and sent Putin a letter on the subject Tuesday.

He also met senior figures in the European Union last week to discuss the effect of the sanctions they imposed on Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine. But there has been no public statement on their talks.

Fierce fighting

On the ground in Ukraine, Kyiv has admitted that its highly anticipated coun...

Rome Tens of millions of people were battling dangerously high temperatures around the world on Sunday as record heat forecasts hung over parts of the United States, Europe and Asia, in the latest example of the threat from global warming.

A powerful heatwave stretching from California to Texas was expected to peak, according to the US National Weather Service, which warned of an extremely hot and dangerous weekend.

Daytime highs were forecast to range between 10 and 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in the west.

Arizonas state capital Phoenix recorded 16 straight days above 109F (43 degrees Celsius), with residents facing temperatures of 111F on Saturday, en route to an expected 115F.

Californias Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, is also likely to register new peaks on Sunday, with the mercury possibly rising to 130F (54C).

Authorities have been sounding the alarm, advising people to avoid outdoor activities in the daytime and to be wary of dehydration.

At a construction site outside Houston, Texas, a 28-year-old worker who gave his name only as Juan helped complete a wall in the blazing heat.

Just when I take a drink of water, I get dizzy, I want to vomit because of the heat, he told AFP.

The Las Vegas weather service warned that assuming high temperatures naturally come with the areas desert climate was a DANGEROUS mindset! This heatwave is NOT typical desert heat.

Southern California is fighting numerous wildfires, including one in Riverside County that has burned more than 7,500 acres (3,000 hectares) and prompted evacuation orders.

Further north, the Canadian government reported that wildfires had burned a record-breaking 10 million hectares this year, with more damage expected as the summer drags on.

Historic highs forecast

In Europe, Italy faces weekend predictions of historic highs with the health ministry issuing a red alert for 16 cities including Rome, Bologna and Florence.

The weather centre warned Italians to prepare for the most intense heatwave of the summer and also one of the most intense of all time.

The thermometer is likely to hit 40C in Rome by Monday and 43C on Tuesday, smashing the record of 40.5C set in August 2007.

The islands of Sicily and Sardinia could wilt under temperatures as high as 48C, the European Space Agency warned potentially the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe.

The Acropolis in Athens, one of Greeces top tourist attractions, will close during the hottest hours on Sunday, for the third day running.

In France, high temperatures and resulting drought are posing a threat to the farming industry, earning Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau criticism from climatologists for having brushed aside conditions as normal enough for...

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, started on Sunday an official visit to Syria to discuss bilateral ties and issues of common interest, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister Office (PMO).

An official reception ceremony was held in the presidential palace in the Syrian capital, Damascus, where Al-Sudani was received by the Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad, according to the statement.

The statement illustrated that the Iraqi Prime Minister headed the Iraqi delegation during the talks held with the Syrian side, headed by Al-Assad.

The discussions between both sides addressed ways to promote cooperation and partnership between Iraq and Syria in the fields of economy, transport, trade, tourism, water and ways to tackle the effects of climate change.

The discussions also included joint security coordination to combat terrorism and improve the security and stability of the two countries.

Iraqi-Syrian relations are witnessing positive developments and joint economic projects.

The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein, mentioned last May that Iraq had actively contributed to Syrias return to its seat in the Arab League.

Hussein considered that Syrias return to its seat in the Arab League helps achieve security and stability in Syria and its neighboring countries.

The Iraqi Foreign Minister added that meetings with Syrian officials will continue until the reconstruction process is complete.

The post Iraqi PM pays official visit to Syria appeared first on Iraqi News.

Hodeida A rusting tanker containing more than a million barrels of oil has lain abandoned off the coast of war-torn Yemen since 2015, threatening a major environmental disaster if it breaks up or explodes.

On Sunday, a United Nations-owned super-tanker arrived for a delicate operation to pump the oil from the abandoned ship, the FSO Safer.

Here are some key facts:  

Blast risk

The 47-year-old Safer, long used as a floating oil storage platform, is moored off Yemens western port of Hodeida in the Red Sea, a key shipping route. It has not been serviced during Yemens eight-year civil war.

Lying about eight kilometres (five miles) from the coast, the Safer is carrying four times as much oil as was spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska. 

The systems needed to pump inert gas into its tanks stopped working in 2017, raising the risk of an explosion. The UN and Greenpeace have described the vessel as a ticking time bomb.

The UN operation to transfer oil from the Safer and tow the ship to a scrap yard is budgeted at some $143 million.

The UN says it still needs an additional $22 million to tow the Safer to a recycling yard and safely tether the replacement vessel to ensure safe storage of the oil, until its eventual destination is decided.

$20bn spill?

In the event of a spill, the UN estimates clean-up costs could top $20 billion, with potentially catastrophic environmental, humanitarian and economic consequences.

A major spill would devastate fishing communities on Yemens Red Sea coast, instantly wiping out livelihoods for 200,000 people, according to the UN.

It could close desalination plants on the Red Sea, and shut the Hodeidah and Saleef ports - lifelines for bringing food, fuel and other vital supplies into Yemen, where most of the population depends on aid to survive.

The spill could reach Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, and would produce highly polluted air over a large area, exposing whole communities to life-threatening toxins.

Maritime traffic through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to the Suez Canal, the route to the Mediterranean, could be disrupted, costing billions per day, the UN says. 

Disruptions and delays

Attempts to inspect the deteriorating ship have dragged on for years, with UN requests for access repeatedly declined by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels who control much of Yemens north including Hodeida port.

The Huthis, who have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, have demanded guarantees that the value of the Safers oil would be handed over to pay the salaries of their employees.

In March last year, the Huthis signed a memorandum of understanding with the UN, establishing a framework for cooperation to facilitate the project.

Inspections finally kicked off on May 30...

Beirut The Syrian government recently announced it would allow aid to cross into rebel-held areas after a United Nations mechanism expired, sparking concerns from humanitarian groups.

They worry over the fate of residents in Syrias last remaining rebel strongholds, in the north and northwest, after the Security Council failed on Wednesday to extend the mechanism.

Under a 2014 deal, aid had largely passed through the Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey without the authorisation of Damascus.

But expiry of the UN mechanism, as well as Syrias decision to change course on the delivery of aid to those areas, has sparked fears and questions among the humanitarian community.

What did Damascus propose?

Syria said it made a sovereign decision to allow aid to flow through the Bab al-Hawa crossing for six months starting last Thursday.

The crossing is the main entry point for aid to rebel-held areas, though it also occasionally trickles in from areas under the control of Damascus.

Following a February 6 earthquake that struck both northwest Syria and southern Turkey, Syrian authorities agreed to temporarily open two other border crossings with Turkey until August.

Russia on Tuesday vetoed a proposal to extend the UN mechanism at Bab al-Hawa for nine months, then failed to muster enough votes for an alternate proposal to extend it for six months.

The UN expressed concerns over two unacceptable conditions set by Damascus for allowing aid to flow through the crossing, according to a document reviewed Friday by AFP.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it was concerned that Damascus had stressed that the United Nations should not communicate with entities designated as terrorist'.

The second condition it bridled at was that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) should supervise and facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid in northwest Syria.

Roughly half of Idlib province and parts of neighbouring provinces are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), considered a terrorist group by Damascus, as well as by the US and UN.

About three million people, the majority of them displaced, live in areas controlled by HTS, while another 1.1 million are in zones under the control of Turkey-backed groups.

Years of conflict have left much of the rebel-held areas which host overcrowded camps for the displaced in desperate need of aid as poverty and disease run rife.

What are the concerns?

The UN has described Damascuss conditions for reopening the Bab al-Hawa crossing as unacceptable.

The OCHA document seen by AFP called for the need to review and clarify parts of Damascuss letter...

Cheongju Rescuers battled on Sunday to reach people trapped in a flooded tunnel in South Korea, where at least 37 people have died and nine are missing after heavy rains caused flooding and landslides.

South Korea is at the peak of its summer monsoon season, and there has been heavy rainfall for the last four days, causing a major dam to overflow.

The interior ministry reported that 37 people were killed and another nine were missing nationwide in the heavy downpours, mostly buried by landslides or after falling into a flooded reservoir.

Hundreds of rescue workers were still struggling to reach more than 10 cars and an unknown number of people trapped in a 430-metre (1,410-foot) underground tunnel in Cheongju, North Chungcheong province, the ministry said.

When AFP arrived at the site Sunday, rescue workers were trying to drain the tunnel to reach victims, but the water still appeared to be too deep, hampering search efforts.

The tunnel was inundated on Saturday morning after floodwaters swept in too quickly for the vehicles inside to escape, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Five people were rescued from a bus in the tunnel Saturday, and nine bodies have so far been pulled from the site, with divers working around the clock searching for more victims, the interior ministry said.

The police have received missing person reports for 11 people believed to be in the tunnel, but a final official toll has not yet been provided, as it is unclear how many people were in each car, Yonhap reported.

I have no hope but I cant leave, a parent of one of those missing in the tunnel told Yonhap.

My heart wrenches thinking how painful it must have been for my son in the cold water.

Images broadcast on local television showed a torrential stream of water from a nearby river that had burst its banks flooding into the tunnel, as rescue workers struggled to use boats to get to people inside.

More rain

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is currently on an overseas trip, held an emergency meeting with his aides on the governments response, his office said.

Earlier, he ordered Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to mobilise all available resources to minimise casualties.

The majority of the casualties including 19 of the dead and eight of the missing were from North Gyeongsang province, and were largely due to massive landslides in the mountainous area that engulfed houses with people inside.

Some of the people who have been reported missing were swept away when a river overflowed in the province, the interior ministry said, and more than 1,500 people have been unable to return after evacuating from their homes.

The Korea Meteorological Administration forecast more heavy rain through Wednesday, and urged the public to refrain from going outside.

South Ko...

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity announced recently that electric power generation in Iraq reached more than 24,000 megawatts, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Electricity, Ahmed Musa, mentioned that the increasing gas supplies delivered to southern Iraq, which were agreed upon within the Iraqi-Iranian deal to barter oil for gas, helped stabilize electricity production.

Musa explained that other power plants available in Iraq will start operating once gas supplies become sufficient.

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, announced last week that Iraq reached an agreement with Iran regarding gas imports, which Iraq needs to operate power plants.

During a meeting with Iraqi officials in the energy sector earlier on Tuesday, the Iraqi Prime Minister noted that the US sanctions and non-compliance with the gas dues payment mechanism agreed upon in 2018 caused a 50 percent reduction in gas supplies from Iran, which negatively affected electricity production in Iraq.

Since June, Iraq has started benefiting from the electrical interconnection project with the Gulf countries to cover its domestic needs, especially with the increase in energy demand during the summer months, in an attempt to tackle the shortage caused by the recent decline in Iranian gas supplies to Iraq.

Iraq produces about 23,000 megawatts of electricity, while the country needs about 35,000 megawatts to secure electric power around the clock.

The post Iraq starts producing 24,000 megawatts of electric power once again appeared first on Iraqi News.

Gandhinagar Redoubling support for war-stricken Ukraine is the single best way to aid the global economy, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday, along with boosting emerging economies and tackling debt distress.

Yellen also said on the sidelines of a G20 finance ministers summit in India she would push back on criticism there was a tradeoff between aid to Ukraine and developing nations.

Ending this war is first and foremost a moral imperative, she told reporters in Gandhinagar, which is hosting a wider G20 summit. But its also the single best thing we can do for the global economy.

Yellen also pointed to efforts to tackle debt distress faced by struggling economies, bank reform and a global tax deal, and warned it was premature to talk of lifting tariffs on China.

Russias invasion of Ukraine, both global breadbaskets that together exported almost a quarter of the worlds wheat supply, triggered shockwaves in economies worldwide by sending prices for food and fuel shooting up.

G7 leaders promised at a summit in Lithuania on Wednesday to support Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Russias invasion.

Any discussion on Ukraine is awkward for G20 host India, which has not condemned Russias invasion but is also part of the Quad grouping alongside Australia, the United States and Japan.

Deep mistrust  

Yellen also cited debt restructuring progress in Zambia, which she discussed with Chinese officials last week on a visit to Beijing, and said she expected Ghana and Sri Lanka debt treatments would be finalised soon.

She said it was still too soon to lift restrictions placed on China during a trade war launched by former US president Donald Trump.

Tariffs were put in place because we had concerns with unfair trade practices on Chinas side, and our concerns with those practices remain, they really havent been addressed, Yellen said. 

Perhaps over time this is an area where we could make progress but Id say it is premature to use this as an area for de-escalation.

Yellen pointed to other work tackling debt distress and the reform of multilateral development banks, including the World Bank and other regional lenders, in efforts she said could unlock $200 billion over the next decade.

More than half of all low-income countries are near or in debt distress, double the case in 2015, she said.

G20 finance chiefs and central bank heads are due to meet on Monday and Tuesday and World Bank chief Ajay Banga warned of a deep mistrust quietly pulling the Global North and South apart at a time when we need to be uniting.

The climate change crisis, post-pandemic recovery efforts, the war in Ukraine and a lack of progress in the fight against poverty...

Al-Reghila An oppressive heat beats down on the central Iraqi province of Babylon, where drought and rising temperatures are hitting bees and honey production hard.

Beekeeper Mohamed Aliawi knows it all too well as he checks on dozens of hive boxes placed at the feet of tall palm trees in the fields of Al-Reghila village.

There is no water and therefore no (flowering) plants to keep the bees satisfied, Aliawi, the deputy director of a local apiarist association, told AFP.

The earth is cracked, and growing melons and watermelons proves difficult due to a lingering drought and intense July temperatures often reaching around 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) which take their toll on bees too.

A bee needs to constantly forage for the pollen and nectar necessary for honey production. It is in constant movement, usually travelling hundreds of metres (yards) to find its bounty, said Aliawi.

But the drought is forcing bees to travel longer up to five kilometres (three miles) to pollinate.

This impacts the lifespan of the worker bee, the female bee that gathers pollen and nectar, Aliawi explained.

Under optimal circumstances, the worker bee can live up to 60 days, but in this current situation it only lives 20 days.

In addition, bees thrive in temperatures of around 30-35 degrees Celsius, not in searing heat, when the thermometer climbs to 50, said Aliawi, the manager of a private honey producer.

He has moved dozens of bee hive boxes from central Iraq to seven sites scattered across the mountains of the northern autonomous Kurdistan region, where the air is cooler and the land greener.

If we dont move the bees they suffer, he said.

Relocating hives

On a hot July day, Aliawi and his team wore protective headgear before inspecting the bee hive boxes and the honeycombs inside.

They wafted smoke over the hives with a bee smoker, a procedure known to calm the insects.

In the early 2000s, each bee hive yielded about 20 to 25 kilograms (44-55 pounds) of honey per year, whereas now the quantity has plunged to merely five kilograms, Aliawi said.

According to the United Nations, Iraq is one of the five countries in the world most impacted by some effects of climate change.

Authorities say Iraq is going through its fourth-straight year of drought.

The country has been plagued by scorching summers, declining rainfall and frequent sand storms, while upstream dams have reduced the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that run across Iraq.

Despite these woes, the head of the apiarist department at the agriculture ministry, Hashem al-Zeheiri, remains optimistic.

Honey production is increasing year on year, he said.

In 2022, honey produced in parts of Iraq controlled by the Baghdad federal authorities re...

San Francisco A driverless taxi slows down on a dark San Francisco street and is quickly surrounded by a group of masked figures.

One of them places a traffic cone on the hood of the car. Its hazard lights flick on, and the car stops in the middle of the road, disabled.

This bizarre scene has been repeated dozens of times across the US tech capital this past week the work of activists protesting against the proliferation of robot cars, which they consider unsafe.

We believe that all cars are bad, no matter who or what is driving, said the activist, who asked to be referred to by the pseudonym Alex to protect his identity.

His anti-car activist group, Safe Street Rebel, is radically pro-pedestrian and pro-bike, and not impressed by widespread claims that driverless cars are a new revolutionary mode of transportation.

Alex sees their arrival just as another way to entrench car dominance.

Using traffic cones stolen from the streets, the activists have been disabling driverless taxis operated by Waymo and Cruise the only two companies currently authorized in San Francisco.

Their resistance has gone viral online, racking up millions of views on social networks at a time when state authorities are mulling the expansion of driverless taxi operations in the city to a full 24-hour paid service.

The proposal by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which oversees autonomous taxis in the state, would allow Waymo and Cruise to directly compete with ride-sharing apps such as Uber or Lyft but without drivers.

Hasty decision

But the issue has caused friction between state and city officials.

Driverless cars were first introduced in San Francisco in 2014 with a mandatory human safety driver on board.

Four years later, California scrapped its requirement for a human driver to be in the car, meaning it is no longer the stuff of sci-fi to cruise past a Jaguar without a driver on the streets.

But lately, San Francisco officials are worried by an increasing number of incidents involving autonomous cars.

Allowing robots to take the wheel has led to cars getting stuck in the middle of roads, blocking bus lanes or even interfering in a police crime scene.

No fatal accidents involving humans and Cruise or Waymo vehicles have been recorded, though a Waymo taxi was reported in June to have killed a dog that ran into the street.

City supervisor Aaron Peskin condemned the CPUCs hasty decision to allow a massive ramp-up of driverless taxis on San Franciscos streets.

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority sent a letter to the CPUC, detailing 92 incidents involving autonomous taxis last year.

And the mounting controversy seems to be having some effect.

Sidon Among meandering alleyways in the historic market of Lebanons southern city of Sidon, cobblers and menders are doing brisk business, as an economic crisis revives demand for once-fading trades.

At Ahmed al-Bizris shoe repair store, nestled among old stone arches and a crowded warren of shops and stalls, workers are busy adjusting a womans sandals and replacing the worn-out sole of a mans shoe.

Repairs are in high demand, said Bizri, 48, who learned the trade from his father.

People from all walks of life come to us to repair their shoes: rich, poor, average workers, public servants, soldiers, he added.

Since late 2019, Lebanon has been in a state of economic collapse that the World Bank says is one of the worst in modern times.

The Lebanese pound has lost around 98 percent of its value against the US dollar, and most of the population has been plunged into poverty.

Bizri said his work has increased 60 percent since the crisis began, adding that people now prefer to spend up to one million Lebanese pounds (around $11 on parallel markets) to fix old shoes rather than buy new ones.

Even people who had shoes hidden away for 20 years are bringing them out for repair, he said with a smile, boots hanging from rusty hooks and coloured laces on the walls around him.

In a shop nearby in central Sidon, fellow cobbler Walid al-Suri, 58, works with an old manual sewing machine that clicks and clacks as he pumps the pedal with his foot.

He stitches up a hole in the side of a shoe and trims the thread, covering it with black polish to camouflage the repair.

Its true that our work has increased, he said from his workshop, a tiny space with faded green walls filled with shoes of all kinds.

But there are no profits because the price of all the materials has gone up, from glue to needles, thread and nails, he said.

Suffocating

In Lebanon, a country dependent on imports, inflation has soared. 

In 2022, inflation averaged 171 percent, according to the World Bank one of the highest rates worldwide.

We pay for everything in dollars, not in Lebanese pounds, said Suri, who repairs around 20 shoes a day.

For that, he said he earns about $11, hardly enough to cover the basic needs of his family of three.

Some people have asked him to repair shoes that were verging on unfixable because they had no money for new ones, he said.

Elsewhere in the coastal city, Mustafa al-Qadi, 67, is mending duvets under the soft light of a window during one of Lebanons long power cuts.

The bankrupt state provides just a handful of hours of electricity a day.

Qadi uses thick thread and deftly sews stitches into a duvet spread out on the floor, other quilts folded an...

Wad Madani Sudanese army representatives have returned to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for talks with their paramilitary foes, a government source said Saturday as the war between rival generals entered its fourth month.

A delegation of the armed forces has returned to Jeddah to resume negotiations with Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rebels, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to media.

The RSF has made no comment on returning to the talks in Jeddah, which Saudi and US mediators adjourned last month after a series of repeatedly violated ceasefires.

On April 15, a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, burst into all-out war, claiming at least 3,000 lives and displacing more than three million people.

The delegation in Saudi Arabia signals a return to diplomatic efforts by the army, after it boycotted talks last week in Ethiopia hosted by east African regional bloc IGAD.

Khartoums foreign ministry had objected to Kenyan President William Rutos leadership of the IGAD quartet, accusing Nairobi of siding with the RSF.

Before the Jeddah talks were suspended, US mediators had grown increasingly frustrated with both sides reluctance to work towards a sustained truce.

Experts believe that both Burhan and Daglo have opted for a war of attrition instead, hoping to extract more concessions at the negotiating table later.

No respite

For three months, barely a day has passed for residents of the capital Khartoum without their homes shaking from constant air strikes, artillery blasts and gun battles.

To escape the brutal urban warfare and rampant looting, 1.7 million people have fled the capital, according to the United Nations. Millions remain in the city, however, sheltering at home as the violence shows no signs of abating.

Witnesses in the citys northwest reported clashes using various types of weapons on Saturday, after a day of heavy fighting Friday left plumes of black smoke over several parts of the capital.

Others said RSF drones had targeted Khartoums largest military hospital.

The UN has said that most hospitals in combat zones are out of service.

The worst fighting has taken place in Khartoum and in the western region of Darfur, where a quarter of Sudans 48 million people live.

Entire villages and neighbourhoods there have been destroyed, civilians buried in mass graves and officials assassinated for their ethnic background by the RSF and allied Arab militias.

Reports of atrocities including sexual violence and civilians being targeted for their ethnicity have prompted the International Criminal Court to launch a war crimes investigation.

Though most of the fighting has been concentrated in Khartoum and...

New Delhi Top Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi appealed to the countrys highest court on Saturday over his conviction for defamation, days after a lower court refused to intervene, media reports said.

Gandhi was sentenced to two years jail for comments he made in 2019 which a court ruled were insulting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and those sharing his last name. 

That made him ineligible to remain a member of parliament, or to stand in next years election.

Modis government has been widely accused of using the defamation law to silence critics. 

Gandhi filed an appeal asking the Supreme Court to stay his conviction, multiple Indian media reports said, a week after the Gujarat High Court refused to do so.

Officials of Gandhis Congress party did not immediately respond to requests by AFP for comment.

But earlier this month, party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters: We have no doubt that this intersection of arrogance and infallibility shown by this government of the day and ruling party of the day will be dealt with properly in the Supreme Court.

The case one of several lodged against Gandhi in recent years has so far only been heard by courts in Gujarat, Modis home state.

Gandhi is the scion of Indias premier political dynasty and the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru. 

He is the leading face of the Congress party, once the dominant force in Indian politics but now a shadow of its former self.

His conviction stemmed from a remark made during the 2019 election campaign when he asked why all thieves have Modi as (their) common surname.

Members of Modis government said the remark was a slur against all Indians with the surname Modi, which is associated with the lower rungs of Indias traditional caste hierarchy.

The post Rahul Gandhi appeals to Indias top court over conviction appeared first on Iraqi News.

Tunis At a sporting club in Tunis, young girls enthusiastically hit yellow tennis balls across the court in the hope of one day making it to Wimbledon, like their idol Ons Jabeur. 

As the tennis star bids to become the first African or Arab woman to win a Grand Slam singles title on Saturday, a tournament was underway earlier in the day on at the Tennis Club of Tunis in the Alain Savary neighbourhood, near the Tunisian capitals downtown. 

On the dozen sunny courts, surrounded by large trees, Tunisian boys and girls vigorously compete in several matches surrounded by their families. 

Ibtissem Treimech, the mother of one player says, when they see Ons Jabeur succeeding as a finalist, the children and parents are inspired, and the parents encourage their children to play tennis. 

In a country where football reigns supreme, Jabeur has become a national icon and sparked a new found enthusiasm for tennis over the past three years, especially among young girls. Like Jabeur, many of them come from working-class backgrounds. 

I am capable of becoming like Ons Jabeur and participating in Grand Slam tournaments like Wimbledon and Roland Garros, Lina Chedli, a nine-year-old tennis player and Ibtissems daughter, told AFP. 

Yasmine Ben Mabrouk, also nine, has no doubts over her own talent. 

I think I will become a great tennis player like Ons Jabeur, and I will participate in very big matches, she said. 

Not far away, 10-year-old Emna Bartagisse says she will become better than Ons Jabeur. 

Jabeur defines herself as a 100 percent product of Tunisia, and her fans praise her for her dynamic game, which includes drop shots and approaches to the net, and her sense of camaraderie. 

The star continues to push the limits, despite a sometimes difficult period following a series of recent injuries to her wrist and calf. 

Before Saturdays final at the All England Club, in plush south-west London, Jabeur said she had learned to be very patient and to accept everything that has happened to her regarding injuries. 

From the suburbs of Sousse, a seaside resort town in Tunisia, Jabeur is adored by fans and spends time after each match signing autographs and taking selfies. 

Since she came into the spotlight in January 2020 at the Australian Open, becoming the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final, the soon-to-be 29-year-old has become a source of national pride for Tunisia. 

More recently, she was nicknamed the Minister of Happiness for her ability to uplift the country grappling with serious economic and political crises since the power grab by President Kais Saied in the summer of 2021. 

The post Young Tunisian girls dr...

London Declan Rice capped a remarkable rise from the crushing disappointment of being released by boyhood heroes Chelsea as a teenager as he joined Arsenal from West Ham on Saturday for a fee that could rise to 105 million (.

Rice admits to being reduced to tears when the Blues let him go as a promising 14-year-old.

But a decade on, the brave decision to up sticks and move across London to join West Ham has been the making of the England international.

Fresh from leading the Hammers to their first trophy in 43 years by lifting the Europa Conference League in his final game for the club, the 100 million initial fee for Rice matches international colleague Jack Grealishs move from Aston Villa to Manchester City two years ago as the most ever for an English player and the highest between two British clubs.

But it could be surpassed by Jude Bellinghams 88 million move from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid should an extra 25 million worth of add-ons be activated.

Rice has been targeted by the Gunners as the final piece to turn Mikel Artetas men into Premier League champions again.

Arsenal launched an unexpected challenge for the title last season before falling away in the final months of the campaign.

Instead Manchester City stormed towards the finish line to retain their title and secure a treble.

But Arsenal have won the first battle of the new season by winning the race for Rice as City refused to match West Hams 100 million asking price, even if former manager David Moyes wanted more.

He is arguably the best holding midfield player in the country and the best thing about Declan is he will get better, said Moyes previously. I dont agree with the owners that he is a 100m footballer. Far, far more than 100m. Far, far more.

The 24-year-olds statistics for winning back possession and making interceptions were the highest of any midfielder in the Premier League last season.

But Rice is far more than a destroyer. His dynamic surges from the middle of the park and intelligent use of the ball have also made him a vital player for England manager Gareth Southgate.

England turnaround

Rices international career also illustrates his somewhat unexpected rise to stardom.

He made three appearances for the Republic of Ireland in 2018, qualifying due to his grandparents.

However, as he began to catch the eye at West Ham, Southgate convinced Rice to switch his allegiance back to the land of his birth.

Rice was an ever-present as England reached their first major tournament final for 55 years at Euro 2020 and in a quarter-final run at last years World Cup.

By 20 he was already regularly named West Ham captain and took the armband on a permanent basis once Mark Noble retired last year.

Rices impact helped the Hammers enj...

Rome Strikes by airport and airline staff grounded hundreds of flights and left thousands of travellers stranded in Europe on Saturday at the height of the busy summer tourism season. 

In Italy, some 1,000 flights, both domestic and international, were cancelled as a result of the strike by ground crew, according to airport and airline authorities.

Another 120 flights due to depart and arrive from Belgiums Charleroi airport were cancelled Saturday and Sunday, triggered by a walkout of budget carrier Ryanair pilots over working conditions. 

Italys strike alone left some 250,000 travellers stranded in one of the worlds top tourist spots.

It comes amid a record heatwave, billed by the national weather service as one of the most intense of all time, that would bring temperatures of at least 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) to Rome and 48C to the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.

The strike by ground crew, who are demanding a new collective contract six years after the previous one expired, was due to last from 10:00 am (0800 GMT) to 6:00 pm (1600 GMT).

The airport in Rome saw some 200 flights cancelled, authorities said.

Flights by Malta Air, which handles transfers for popular budget carriers Ryanair, Vueling and Ita Airways, were also affected after pilots joined the walkout. 

Milans airports saw some 150 flight cancellations, while dozens of others were grounded in Turin and Palermo.

Transport Minister Matteo Salvini called the strikers to exercise common sense so as not to harm millions of other workers and tourists.

The post Strikes strand thousands of tourists in Italy, Belgium appeared first on Iraqi News.

Bangkok The liberal frontrunner to become Thailands next prime minister said Saturday he would withdraw his candidacy if parliament did not endorse him next week, after military-appointed lawmakers foiled his first attempt.

Pita Limjaroenrats Move Forward Party (MFP) won the most seats in May elections, buoyed by young Thais eager for progressive reforms after nine years of army-backed rule in the kingdom.

But the Harvard-educated millionaires campaign to lead the next government was knocked back Thursday by senators in parliament who consider his pledge to reform strict royal defamation laws a red line.

The legislature holds its second ballot for a new prime minister on Wednesday, and Pita said he would support a candidate from coalition partner Pheu Thai if he again failed to win the needed votes.

Id like to apologise that we havent succeeded, he said in a video address posted to social media. 

Im ready to give a chance to Thailand by letting the party that has the second most votes be the one to form the coalition.

Pita was 51 votes short of the 375 lawmakers he needed to support his candidacy during the first ballot.

Just 13 senators voted for him, with many voicing their opposition to MFPs pledge to soften the kingdoms royal defamation laws.

After the first ballot, the party ruled out compromising on its proposed revisions to the laws, which currently allow convicted critics of the monarchy to be jailed for up to 15 years.  

Help with this mission

All 250 senators were appointed under the junta-drafted constitution, which political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak said was a reliable impediment to MFPs reformist platform.

It is a way for the authority and the regime to stay in power in the long term and to prevent a pro-democracy government that can stand against them, he told AFP on Friday.

Pita urged his supporters on Saturday to get creative in urging senators to throw their support behind him in the next round.

I alone cant change the senators mind. Therefore, I ask everybody to help with this mission, he said. 

Send a message to the senators in every way possible, every way you can think of.

The MFPs largest coalition partner Pheu Thai is seen as a vehicle for the Shinawatra political family, whose members include two former prime ministers displaced by military coups in 2006 and 2014.

Property tycoon Srettha Thavisin, 60, is widely tipped to be Pheu Thais candidate for prime minister if Pitas bid fails again.

Liked by business leaders among Thailands influential elite, he has been touted as a potential compromise candidate.

Wave of support

Pita rode a wave of...

Seoul At least 22 people have died and 14 more are missing after heavy rain caused flooding and landslides in South Korea, officials said Saturday, with thousands more ordered to evacuate their homes.

South Korea is at the peak of its summer monsoon season and there has been heavy rainfall for the last three days, triggering widespread flooding and landslides, and causing a major dam to overflow.

The interior ministry reported that 22 people had been killed and another 14 were missing in the heavy downpours, mostly buried by landslides or after falling into a flooded reservoir.

The majority of the casualties including 16 dead and nine missing come from North Gyeongsang province, largely due to massive landslides in the mountainous area that engulfed houses with people inside.

South Koreas Yonhap News Agency had earlier reported 24 deaths, citing local disaster relief officials.

In the most severely affected areas, entire houses were swept away whole, one emergency responder told Yonhap.

More than 6,400 residents in the central county of Goesan were ordered to evacuate early Saturday as the Goesan Dam began overflowing and submerging low-lying villages nearby, the interior ministry said.

Some of the people who have been reported missing were swept away when a river overflowed in North Gyeongsang province, the ministry said.

Rescue workers were battling to reach some 19 cars which were trapped in an underground tunnel in Cheongju, North Chungcheong province, where one person was found dead, according to Yonhap.

Flash flooding swept through the area too quickly for people to escape, but water levels remain high and it is unclear how many people were trapped inside their vehicles, Yonhap reported.

The number of deaths is expected to rise as local government agencies assess the damage nationwide, the news agency said.

All regular train services nationwide were suspended as of 2 pm (0500 GMT), although KTX high-speed trains remained operational with potential schedule adjustments, according to the Korea Railroad Corporation.

Roads were closed and trails in national parks shut due to the rain and flooding.

The Korea Meteorological Administration issued heavy rain warnings, saying more rain was forecast through to Wednesday next week, saying the weather conditions pose a grave danger.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo urged officials to preempt river overflows and landslides, and requested support for rescue operations from the defence ministry.

The post Heavy rains, flooding leave 22 dead in South Korea appeared first on Iraqi News.

Basra (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi governorate of Basra has began dismantling and removing the nearly 300-year-old Al-Siraji Mosque in order to extend the Abi Al-Khasib road in the governorates south. Many Iraqis have used to social media to express their displeasure and criticism.

According to the governor of Basra, Asaad Al-Eidani: The goal of demolishing the Al-Saraji Mosque is to complete the expansion of the street, in response to the demands of citizens and vehicle owners, due to the severe crowds being in the middle of the street.

Al-Eidani stated that the local government will renovate the mosque and extend the mosque in a way befitting its heritage and compatible with the governorates urbanization, implying that the land will be leveled and the mosque reconstructed.

The occurrence of demolishing the lighthouse was condemned by Iraqs Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Antiquities in a statement, stating its determination to take legal steps to preserve the significant cultural treasure from any administrative or personal misuse.

We reject any building that bears a heritage or archaeological feature, whether religious or civil, as it is not considered the property of an endowment office, ministry, authority, or governorate, but rather the property of history, said Ahmed Al-Badrani, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities.

The mosque, which has a footprint of around 1,900 square meters, is situated in the Abu Al-Khasib districts Al-Siraji neighborhood. Over the course of the 1980s, donations assisted in restoring it.

The post Built in 1727, Basras Al-Siraji Mosque gets demolished appeared first on Iraqi News.

Baghdad With scorching temperatures and power cuts, Wissam Abed cools off from Baghdads brutal summer by swimming in the Tigris river, but as Iraqi rivers dry up, so does the age-old pastime.

Near a bridge linking the east of the city to the west, Abed stood in the middle of the river, but the water only came up to his waist.

I live here in Adhamiya, like my grandfather did before me. Year after year, the water situation gets worse, said the 37-year-old, referring to his neighbourhood nestled along the Tigris in northern Baghdad.

Abed waded through the water to the middle of the ancient river, as temperatures reached near 50 degrees celsius (122 Farenheit) and wind whipped through the city like a hair dryer one July afternoon.

He told AFP he comes to the Tigris to have fun and feel refreshed.

Summer in Iraq is a prime example of the convergences of multiple crises weighing down the lives of the 43-strong population: a dilapidated electricity sector, rising temperatures and severe water shortages.

The United Nations says Iraq is one of the five countries in the world most touched by some effects of climate change.

In parts Baghdad, home to around nine million people, the water is still deep enough for youths to enjoy diving into the water from mounds of bricks. But elsewhere, new islets of earth stick out from the middle of the river.

In the evening when we return to our homes, there is no water or electricity, said Abed, a public employee at the ministry of electricity.

Last night, I came to swim in the river at one oclock in the morning before returning home.

Cyclical electricity shortages

In addition to the declining levels of rainfall, Iraqi authorities say upstream dam construction by Turkey and Iran has impacted the volume of the water that runs in rivers through Iraq.

Ravaged by decades of conflict and international sanctions, oil-rich Iraq relies on Iranian gas imports for a third of its energy needs.

It is also beset by rampant corruption, and suffers from dilapidated infrastructure.

Generally power cuts can last up to 10 hours a day. But every summer when the thermometer climbs, the supply of public electricity worsens.

Families who can afford it hook up their house to neighbourhood generators to make up for the poor supply.

But to do away with power cuts, Iraqi power plants would need to produce more than 32,000 megawatts (MW) daily, according to authorities.

This year, for the first time, Iraq produced 26,000 MW per day on average until the onset of July when production fell due to Iran shutting off the gas taps over 11 billion euros of unpaid bills.

An agreement has been reached and electricity production has improved to exceed 24,000 MW, the ministry of electricity said on Friday.

No waterR...

United Nations The United Nations is concerned about unacceptable conditions set by Damascus for allowing aid to flow through its Bab al-Hawa crossing to rebel-held areas in northwest Syria, according to a document reviewed Friday by AFP.

The delivery of humanitarian aid through the crossing has been stalled since Monday, when a 2014 UN deal expired.

A letter this week from Syrian authorities allowing use of the border crossing between Turkey and Syria contains two unacceptable conditions, according to a document sent to the UN Security Council from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

OCHA said it was concerned that the Syrian government had stressed that the United Nations should not communicate with entities designated as terrorist.'

The second condition it bridled at was that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) should supervise and facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid in northwest Syria.

The UN says more than four million people in northwest Syria are in need of food, water, medicine and other essentials. 

Through an arrangement that began in 2014, the UN largely delivers relief to northwest Syria via neighboring Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing.

Syria announced on Thursday that it would authorize the UN to use Bab al-Hawa to deliver vital humanitarian aid to millions of people in rebel-held areas for six months.

Syrias ambassador to the UN Bassam Sabbagh told reporters on Thursday that his country had taken a sovereign decision on allowing the aid to continue.

Comprehensive and unrestricted  

That announcement followed the expiration on Monday of a mechanism that has allowed UN convoys to use the crossing to rebel areas without authorization from Damascus. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterress spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday that theres been no crossings in Bab al-Hawa with United Nations humanitarian aid, adding that authorities were reviewing Syrias authorization. 

Were taking a look at what exactly was expressed in the letter, he said.

These things need to be studied carefully, he added, reiterating the UNs commitment to delivering humanitarian assistance guided by humanitarian principles of non-interference, of impartiality.

The OCHA document seen by AFP also called for the need to review and clarify parts of Damascus letter, saying the deliveries must not infringe on the impartiality neutrality, and independence of the United Nations humanitarian operations.

Damascus regularly denounces the UN aid deliveries as a violation of its sovereignty,...