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US President Donald Trump said yesterday his patience with Iran was running out and that Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed Tehran must reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but China gave no indication it would weigh in. His comments shed no light on whether Beijing might use its influence with Tehran to end a conflict it said should never have started. “I’m not asking for any favours because, when you ask for favours, you have to do favours in return,” Trump said, when asked by a reporter on board his plane whether Xi had made a firm commitment to put pressure on the Iranians to reopen the strait, a key waterway for oil shipments. Xi did not comment on his discussions with Trump about Iran, although China’s foreign ministry issued a blunt statement outlining Beijing’s frustration with the Iran war. “This conflict, which should never have happened, has no reason to continue,” the ministry said. Trump has threatened to attack Iran again if it does not agree to a deal. “We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon, we want the straits open,” Trump had said in Beijing, sitting alongside Xi. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had received messages from the US indicating Washington was willing to continue talks. Related Story Source link
Qatar’s athletes added six more medals on the second day of athletics competition at the 4th GCC Games Doha 2026 yesterday, taking the hosts’ two-day athletics tally to 20 medals after Thursday’s impressive 14-medal haul. The hosts collected three gold, two silver and one bronze at the Qatar Sports Club, with Ammar Ibrahim leading the charge after producing a stunning run to win the men’s 400m title in 45.51secs – a performance that bettered the previous GCC Games mark of 45.76secs set in 2022. Qatar also completed a memorable one-two in the race as Ashraf Osman claimed silver in 45.71secs, underlining the country’s dominance in the event. Samar Mansouri opened the evening with gold in the women’s pole vault after clearing 3.30m ahead of the UAE’s Shahad Mubaker, while Ashraf Elseify added another title in the men’s hammer throw with a winning effort of 70.18m. Fellow Qatari Ahmed Elsify secured bronze in the same event with 65.89m. Oumar Abakar contributed another silver medal after finishing second in the men’s 110m hurdles in 14.08secs behind Kuwait’s Yaqoub Alyouha. The latest success followed Qatar’s remarkable opening day in athletics, when the hosts amassed 14 medals, including five gold, four silver and five bronze. Thursday’s standout performances included Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim sharing the high jump gold after clearing 2.16m, while his father Issa Barshim taking silver in one of the most emotional moments of the Games. Elsewhere yesterday, Bahrain’s Oluwakemi Adekoya stormed to victory in the women’s 400m in 51.87secs, Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Altaruti won the men’s long jump with 7.45m, and Bahrain secured a one-two finish in the men’s 10,000m through Abdikani Hamid and Dawit Admasu. Related Story Source link
India and the United Arab Emirates agreed the framework for a strategic defence partnership the Indian foreign ministry said, as they seek to deepen ties amid the Iran war. The two countries also signed pacts on strategic petroleum reserves and supply of liquefied petroleum gas during a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UAE, it added. “The two sides have agreed on deepening defence industrial collaboration and co-operation on innovation and advanced technology, training, exercises, maritime security, cyber defence, secure communications and information exchange,” the ministry said in a statement. Ahead of the visit, Indian sources told Reuters that Modi was likely to discuss long-term energy supply deals and also seek support to expand New Delhi’s strategic oil reserves. The UAE’s decision last month to leave Opec is expected to boost its output and help importers such as India. The Iran war has roiled global energy markets with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting transportation and business across the region as Iranian strikes hit Gulf states, including the UAE, before a fragile ceasefire last month. The oil pact announced on Friday includes a potential increase of Adnoc’s crude oil storage in India for up to 30 mn barrels, Abu Dhabi’s state oil firm said in a separate statement, adding the deal also explores potential crude storage in the UAE’s Fujairah as part of India’s strategic reserve. Adnoc said that it would explore expanded LPG supply and trading opportunities with Indian Oil Corp. “India’s scale and growth trajectory make it one of the defining energy markets of our time. As demand accelerates alongside a rapidly expanding population, the strength of the UAE India energy partnership becomes ever more critical,” Adnoc managing director and CEO Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber said. EYEING CLOSE SAUDI-PAKISTANI TIESNew Delhi and Abu Dhabi signed a $3bn deal for India to buy LNG from the UAE, its third-largest trading partner, in January, as well as a letter of intent to work towards forming a strategic defence partnership. That followed a mutual defence accord that Pakistan, India’s arch-rival neighbour, signed with Saudi Arabia last year. Pakistan has emerged as the key mediator between Washington and Tehran to end the war which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. It has also moved to shore up Saudi Arabia’s defences after the kingdom came under hundreds of Iranian missile and drone attacks. Riyadh said last month it would provide $3bn in additional support to help Pakistan bridge a multi-billion-dollar financing gap linked to a debt repayment to the UAE. The Indian ministry also announced UAE investments worth $5bn yesterday, pointing to past deals including Emirates NBD’s acquisition of a 60% stake in RBL Bank last year for $3bn, and Abu Dhabi’s IHC $1bn Sammaan investment. Related Story Source link
Wearing traditional Palestinian dresses, the white fabric intricately embroidered in a rainbow of colours, dozens of smiling brides clutched red bouquets as they walked with their grooms past the tents and ruined buildings of Gaza City.To the tune of popular songs played from loudspeakers in a city square, the couples whose marriages had been long-delayed by war and displacement, sat on stage with joy written across their faces.Thousands turned out to watch the mass wedding against the backdrop of buildings gutted by Israeli strikes over the course of the devastating two-year war.Attendees clapped and smiled as a troupe performed the dabke, an Arabic folk dance, while women’s ululations echoed through the crowd.”I can’t quite believe that I’m finally getting married,” Ali Mosbeh told AFP at the start of the ceremony.”I was sitting in the tent when my phone rang… I couldn’t believe it. I’m still in shock,” he said, recounting the moment he received the call informing him that he was among the 50 young men selected.The mass wedding is one of many to have been organised since a ceasefire took effect in Gaza in October.This particular event was organised and funded by the Turkish humanitarian organisation IHH.The smartly-dressed grooms wore traditional Palestinian kaffiyeh scarves adorned with the Turkish organisation’s logo, while the brides’ bouquets were dotted with small Turkish flags.For Mosbeh and his bride Huda al-Kahlout, the high cost of weddings had also posed an obstacle to tying the knot.”I never imagined I’d get married in such circumstances,” he said.Most of Gaza’s population was displaced at least once during the war between Israel and Hamas, with hundreds of thousands still living in tents or makeshift shelters.Mosbeh said he would now share a tent with his wife while hoping to find a job – something that has become near impossible in Gaza.”Our future is uncertain; we depend on aid to survive,” admitted Kahlout, but said that despite “war, loss and death… Marriage remains a beautiful milestone for us young people”.”Most of the buildings around the venue have been destroyed and reduced to rubble, with the martyrs buried beneath them,” said fellow bride, Fayqa Abu Zeid.However, she added: “We are trying, despite everything, to find joy and carry on living.”Before the war, “the newlyweds would move into a flat with new furniture. Today, we move into a tent, if there is one”, she said.Despite the devastation, her husband Mohammed al-Ghossain was smiling.”We are very happy,” he said. “It is the happiest day of our lives.” Related Story Source link
Two-time Olympic pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis is looking to pack more power into his jump with a new 22-step approach, a longer run-up than he previously used to break the world record multiple times since 2020.Sweden's Duplantis, who set the world record for the 15th time when he cleared 6.31 metres in March, used to have a 20-step approach.’Tried 22 steps for the first time in the indoor season, which was really nice,’ the 26-year-old told reporters on Friday, a day before the season's first Diamond League meeting in Shaoxing.’I feel like I hadn't really made a change in basically any part of the jump… since five or six years.’Duplantis said he was looking forward to developing his new technique, with the World Championships set for next year, followed by the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.’We'll probably try 22 steps again tomorrow, see how it feels, because I'm still very new to it,’ he added.Kenya's Faith Kipyegon, who has three Olympic golds and the world record in the 1,500m, is also looking to ease into the season, competing at the 5,000m event on Saturday.Kipyegon took the silver medal in the 5,000m at the Paris Games and was the 2023 world champion at that distance.’It's really to see how the body is, and going towards the final of the Diamond League,’ the 32-year-old said. Source link
France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez on Friday pledged to stamp out drug crime after shooters killed a 15-year-old in the western city of Nantes in a suspected settling of scores linked to dealing.France is battling drug-fuelled violence in several cities, with dealing spots near residential buildings and gangs ensnaring teenagers into the trade.The shooting on Thursday evening, which also wounded a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old, is the latest deadly incident that could be linked to trafficking in France in a week.The 15-year-old was shot dead in the hall of a tower block in the working-class neighbourhood of Port-Boyer, the city’s prosecutor and a police source said.”We will not lose this war” against drugs, Nunez said at the scene on Friday morning.He told the press that the shooting was obviously linked to drug peddling, as it occurred on a “very sought-after” dealing spot.But only the investigation could determine whether the teens hit had any link to the trade, he added.”These dealing spots are set up in places where people live,” he said.”There are young people passing through, who sometimes wait in a building’s hall because it’s raining. And then you have people who show up and open fire to intimidate, to scare, and now to kill. Obviously this is unacceptable,” he said.- ‘Almost lost my son’ -On Thursday night, residents were in shock in the northern neighbourhood of Port-Boyer.”I’m so fed up,” said Paola, presenting herself as an aunt of the teen who was killed, urging the authorities to improve security.”It’s not normal for young people to lose their lives like this. It’s unacceptable, just unacceptable. They’re children,” she said.Stella, a 35-year-old who declined to give her surname, gripped the hand of her three-year-old son, whose trousers were dotted with blood.She said her 14-year-old nephew — who was wounded in the thigh — and young son had been on the way to see their grandmother without her when the shooting broke out.”I’m living a nightmare and furious that I almost lost my son,” she said.Angeline, an 18-year-old nail technician who did not give her surname for fear of reprisal, said she had been coming back from grocery shopping with her mother and dog when the shooting occurred.”We heard gunshots — about 10, twice — and I yanked my mother by the collar to get back into our building,” she said.”I just saw a lot of people — people in balaclavas and dressed all in black — running through the grass.”- Heavier fines for consumers? -The young adult said the neighbourhood felt increasingly insecure.”Things have been constantly getting worse here. People are afraid, shootings are frequent,” she said.”In the afternoons, the children’s playgrounds are deserted because parents are too scared,” she added.Nunez said police would continue to dismantle drug rings, but he would soon urge parliament to help increase fines against drug consumers.”At some point, consumers need to come to their senses,” he said.”When people use narcotics for recreational purposes, the end result is that one day we end up here… with a 15-year-old who has lost his life.”He said the plan would increase the fine for drug consumption from 200 to 500 euros, and even suspend or remove an offender’s driving licence in some cases.bur-ah/ekf/rlp Related Story Source link
A French toy spaniel named Lazare thought to have been “the world’s oldest dog” has died aged 30, his carer said on Friday.AFP contacted the Guinness World Records to find out if Lazare had held the record before he passed away on Thursday, but did not receive an immediate response.Lazare, a Papillon dwarf spaniel with stand-up “butterfly” ears, was born on December 4, 1995, according to animal charity worker Anne-Sophie Moyon.He spent most of his life with the same companion until she died and he ended up at the charity’s shelter.Ophelie Boudol, a 29-year-old single mother, fell in love with the animal one year her senior at the shelter last month.She had initially intended to find a pet for her mother, she told AFP, but instead ended up taking Lazare home to her nine-year-old son and two cats.”He had been found next to the body of his owner,” she said she was told.”I spent half an hour sitting next to him, then I said, ‘Listen, if nobody wants to take him, I don’t mind — as long as he gets on with the cats,” she told AFP.Lazare, who Boudol called “our little grandpa baby”, died just weeks later.”He started slipping away in my arms last night,” she said.”He was off to reunite with his first carer”.At 30 years and five months old, Lazare wore nappies, could no longer hear or see, and slept almost all day.But Boudol said he was delightfully spirited.”He really has such an endearing personality,” she told AFP earlier this week, cradling him at home in the southeastern town of Villy-le-Pelloux.When Moyon and colleagues discovered Lazare’s age, they thought “Lazare might be the world’s oldest dog”, she said.They verified his birth date in two registries, and filled in the paperwork to register him for a possible record as a joke, she added.A Portuguese Rafeiro do Alentejo named Bobi was thought to be the oldest dog when he died reportedly aged 31 in 2023, according to the Guinness World Records website.But a review in 2024 found there was not enough conclusive evidence of his age. Related Story Source link
MoFA describes incident as blatant violation of international lawOIC calls the move a deliberate provocation to Muslims worldwide Qatar condemned the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Israel’s extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir , as well as the provocative actions and violations committed by settlers under the protection of Israeli occupation forces, including restrictions on worshipers’ access to the mosque.In a statement issued yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the incident as a blatant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, and an unacceptable provocation to the sentiments of millions of Muslims around the world.The ministry also warned that such actions represent a dangerous attempt to alter the historical and legal status quo in occupied Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites. The ministry stressed that Al-Aqsa Mosque is a place of worship exclusively for Muslims, affirming that all unilateral measures aimed at changing the historical and legal status of Jerusalem and its holy sites are null and void under international law.It warned that continued violations and provocations would further fuel violence and instability in the region and undermine efforts to restore calm and stability. The ministry renewed Qatar’s call on the international community to take urgent action to compel Israel, as the occupying power, to halt its ongoing violations against the Palestinian people and their holy sites, and to comply with relevant international resolutions.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reiterated Qatar’s firm support for the Palestinian cause and the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, based on ending the occupation and enabling the Palestinian people to exercise their legitimate rights, foremost among them the establishment of an independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.Meanwhile, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has strongly condemned a visit by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.In a statement issued from its headquarters in Makkah, the OIC described the visit, which took place under Israeli police protection, as a “blatant assault” and a deliberate provocation to Muslims worldwide.The organization also criticised the raising of the Israeli flag and what it described as provocative religious practices carried out within the compound’s courtyards. The OIC reiterated its long-standing position that Israel, as an occupying power, holds no sovereignty over the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites. Related Story Source link
Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera in action at the Jordan Rally. Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and his Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera won all six demanding special stages to move into a commanding lead after the first leg of the Jordan Rally.The Autotek Motorsport Skoda Fabia RS driver was in a class of his own on the third round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) and had built up an advantage of 1min 12.8sec at the night halt.Al-Attiyah said: “It was a good feeling all day and we won every stage. We have a good gap now, a good lead. Now we try to keep going like this. We pushed from the morning and we took a good time. We managed the times this afternoon and will try and do the same tomorrow. We sent the data to the engineer just to check everything is okay.”Stages were held in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea areas, but Oman’s Abdullah al-Rawahi and Ata al-Hmoud admitted that their choice of medium tyres was a mistake for the opening loop of three stages in their Oman Rally Team Skoda Fabia RS. The Omani trailed al-Attiyah by 51.4 seconds at the midday regroup and was unable to grab any time back in the afternoon.Saudi Arabia’s Hamza Bakhashab is tackling a first full programme of MERC rallies in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 supported by Jameel Motorsport. He and Irish co-driver Lorcan Moore settled into a comfortable third position.Jordan’s Shaker Jweihan was the dominant force in MERC2 at the first two rounds in the winter and opened his account on home gravel in similar fashion with Mustafa Juma in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. He managed his pace perfectly to conserve the car, avoided rocks thrown on to the racing line by the Rally2 cars running ahead and held fifth place.One of the drives of the day came from Palestine’s Hamadeh Uda. He teamed up with Zeid Abu Zeid in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and climbed to seventh place.Mohammed al-Marri had the bragging rights over Qatari team-mate Rashid al-Muhannadi in the battle between the two Peugeot 208 Rally 4s entered by the QMMF. Al-Marri finished the day eighth ahead of the Jordanian duo of Shadi Shaban and Samer Issa. Al-Muhannadi was 11th.Saturday’s schedule consists of two runs through the Panorama (16.95km), Suwayma (11.12km) and Rawda (26.97km) specials before the ceremonial finish takes place in the HoverUp Park to the north of the Dead Sea. The second pass through Rawda will also act as the Power Stage with additional points available for the fastest crews. Related Story Source link
This picture taken in 2018 shows medical workers leading a girl with suspected Ebola into the unconfirmed Ebola patients ward run by The Alliance for International…