Saudi Arabia terms Aleppo massacre a ‘war crime’

January 3, 2017

Riyadh, Jan 3: The Cabinet, chaired by King Salman at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh on Monday, expressed appreciation for his order to organize a Kingdom-wide fundraising campaign to provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people.

king salman

The Cabinet praised the king’s directive to allocate SR100 million ($26.7 million) for the campaign, his donation of SR20 million ($5.3 million), Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif’s donation of SR10 million ($2.7 million), and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s donation of SR8 million ($2.1 million).

The Cabinet said the donations embodied the keenness of the Saudi leadership to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people, notably those displaced from Aleppo and other areas.

The Cabinet also renewed the Kingdom’s position, taken at the emergency meeting of the executive committee of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), that the massacres committed in Aleppo are “a war crime against humanity,” SPA reported.

It recalled the Kingdom’s welcoming of UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2328 on the deployment of international observers in Aleppo to supervise the evacuation of civilians.

The Cabinet expressed the Kingdom’s support for the Syrian people in the face of genocide by the Syrian regime throughout the country.

It stressed the Kingdom’s welcoming of proposals by US Secretary of State John Kerry on a final solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the UNSC’s adoption of resolution 2334 condemning Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

The Cabinet strongly condemned the assassination of the Russian envoy in Turkey, and other terrorist acts in Berlin, Baghdad, and the latest one in Istanbul.

The Cabinet congratulated King Salman on the second anniversary of his accession to the throne, and achievements made during the past two years in various fields, including the Kingdom’s international status.

The Cabinet praised the general budget for the fiscal year 2017, for its sufficient strength to cope with economic and financial challenges.

It also praised the government’s prudent fiscal policies, and its determination to move forward to enhance elements of the national economy via Vision 2030.

The Cabinet said the Saudi leadership sought through the budget to improve the efficiency of capital and operational expenditures and strengthen public finances.

It also praised the king’s directives on implementing the budget carefully to achieve the aspirations of the leadership and improve services provided to citizens.

The Cabinet assessed the outcome of the meeting of oil ministers of the Organization of Arab Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OAPEC) at its 97th session in Cairo, and the cooperation and commitment among OAPEC member states to apply the agreement on production cuts reached in November.

It approved several decisions, including a security cooperation agreement with Djibouti; a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India on cooperation in exchanging investigations related to money-laundering, terrorism and related crimes; an MoU for cooperation in renewable energy between King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE) and China’s National Energy Administration (NEA); and arrangements by the General Authority of Sports to streamline the sports sector, expand the base of sports practitioners, realize excellence in Saudi sports locally and internationally, and encourage investment in the sector.

The Cabinet assigned the General Authority of Statistics to implement a general census of the population and houses in 2020, and start preparations from 2017.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Dubai, Jan 4: Three UAE airlines have made it to lists of the safest carriers in 2020, reinforcing the value these companies provide passengers in the increasingly competitive aviation scene.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways and Dubai's Emirates are in the list of the top 20 safest airlines, while Sharjah-based Air Arabia is in the list of the top 10 low-cost carriers, safety and product rating website AirlineRatings.com reported on Thursday.

It named Qantas as the safest airline for 2020 out of the 405 carriers it monitors.

The top 20, in order, are Qantas, Air New Zealand, EVA Air, Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Alaska Airlines, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Virgin Australia, Hawaiian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, TAP Portugal, SAS, Royal Jordanian, Swiss, Finnair, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus and KLM.

"These airlines are clear standouts in the airline industry and are at the forefront of safety," said AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas.

"For instance, Australia's Qantas has been recognised by the British Advertising Standards Association in a test case in 2008 as the world's most experienced airline."

"Qantas has been the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years and has not had a fatality in the pure-jet era," said Thomas.

AirlineRatings.com editors also identified their top 10 safest low-cost airlines; they are, in alphabetical order, Air Arabia, Flybe, Frontier, HK Express, IndiGo, Jetblue, Volaris, Vueling, Westjet and Wizz.

Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research in London, says that it isn't a surprise that UAE carriers are on those lists.

"UAE airlines almost always feature in the top rankings for safety because they value the equipment that they fly their passengers on each and every day," he told Khaleej Times on Thursday.

"All airlines do; but for the UAE, where airlines have expanded rapidly in the last couple of decades, it's an amazing feat that they rank so highly while inducting so many new aeroplanes."

There's little benefit to adding luxurious cabins if maintenance, security and safety protocols as well as routine engineering schedules are not adhered to, he stressed.

"And with the UAE itself sporting MRO activities as well as through companies like Strata, which supply components to Airbus and Boeing directly, airlines here have harnessed that tech-change to ensure that their fleets have the highest redundancy and safety checks at every possible chance," Ahmad added. "That translates into passenger confidence - and we can see the brand and loyalty strength across Emirates, flydubai, Air Arabia and Etihad; it's no surprise that each year, they all fly more and more passengers across their network."

In making its selections, AirlineRatings.com editors and its industry advisors take into account numerous critical factors that include: Audits from aviation's governing bodies and lead associations, government audits, airline's crash and serious incident record, fleet age, financial position and pilot training and culture.

"All airlines have incidents every day and many are aircraft or engine manufacture issues instead of airline operational problems. And it is the way the flight crew handles incidents that determines a good airline from an unsafe one. So just lumping all incidents together is very misleading," said Thomas.

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January 15,2020

Asia, Jan 15: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Wednesday said that killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani showed the ignorance and arrogance of the United States and asserted that Washington looks at things from their perspective and not keeping the interests of the region in mind."The US looks at things from their perspective, not from the perspective of this region. The killing of Qassem Soleimani shows ignorance and arrogance. 430 Indian cities saw protests against killing of Soleimani," Zarif said at an event.

Hitting out at US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Zarif said that they were the only ones, along with the Islamic State (ISIS) who celebrated the death of Soleimani.

"Who is celebrating Soleimani's killing? President Trump, Pompeo and Daesh (Arabic name of ISIS). You wonder about strange bedfellows?" he said.

Tensions between the US and Iran soared dramatically earlier this month after Washington launched airstrikes at Baghdad International Airport, which killed Soleimani. Tehran retaliated by firing a volley of ballistic missiles at two military bases of US-led coalition forces in Iraq, leading to a strife in the region.

However, Zarif regretted the shooting down of the Ukrainian airline and said it happened because of "tension".

"Nine million people were out in the streets of Iran commemorating Soleimani. You cannot bring out so many people to protest. The shooting down of a plane was a mistake. 180 families are mourning the loss of their dear ones. It happened because of tension," he said.

Asked whether there a chance of a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis, Zarif ruled out negotiating with the US.

"Iran is interested in diplomacy. We are not interested in negotiating with the US. US did not keep its commitments under nuclear deal. We had a US deal and the US broke it. If we have a Trump deal, how long will it last?" he said.

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News Network
January 7,2020

Tehran, Jan 7: Iranian state television says 35 people have been killed and 50 others injured in a stampede that erupted at a funeral procession for a general slain in a US airstrike.

The TV says the stampede erupted in Kerman, the hometown of Gen. Qassem Soleimani where the procession was underway on Tuesday.

A procession in Tehran on Monday drew over 1 million people in the Iranian capital, crowding both main thoroughfares and side streets in Tehran.

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