
Saudi Minister of Energy Meets China's Special Envoy for Climate Change
Talks focused on bilateral cooperation between Saudi Arabia and China on climate action, including efforts to strengthen joint action on climate policy at the regional and international levels to address global climate challenges and support sustainable development.
The two sides discussed coordination ahead of the COP30 climate summit and stressed the importance of constructive dialogue and collective efforts to ensure a successful outcome.
The meeting also reviewed national and regional climate initiatives, including Saudi Arabia's 'Saudi Green Initiative' and 'Middle East Green Initiative,' as well as related Chinese initiatives.
Both parties highlighted the need to expand cooperation in clean energy, low-emission technologies, and innovation to support global climate goals.
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Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Israel to allow gradual and controlled entry of goods to Gaza through local merchants
Israel will allow gradual and controlled entry of goods to Gaza through local merchants, COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said on Tuesday.'This aims to increase the volume of aid entering the Gaza Strip, while reducing reliance on aid collection by the UN and international organizations,' the agency Sunday, Hamas said it was prepared to coordinate with the Red Cross to deliver aid to hostages it holds in Gaza, if Israel meets certain conditions, after a video it released showing an emaciated captive drew sharp criticism from Western and UN officials said Gaza needs around 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements — the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the Gaza war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli offensive has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials who do not distinguish between fighters and to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Hamas, thus far, has barred humanitarian organizations from having any kind of access to the hostages and families have little or no details of their conditions.


Asharq Al-Awsat
3 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
US Objection Forces Iraq to Delay Approval of New PMF Law to New Parliament
Opposition from the United States has led to the delay of the ratification of a law related to Iraq's pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The Iraqi parliament was supposed to convene to ratify the law, which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month said would 'institutionalize Iranian influence and armed terrorist groups undermining Iraq's sovereignty.' Informed political sources said the American objections mean it is unlikely for the current parliament to ratify the law and the issue will be delayed until a new parliament is elected. Parliamentary elections are expected to be held in November. Armed factions and some Shiite parties were pushing for the ratification of the law. The sources added, however, that there are doubts that even the new parliament would be able to approve the legislation given 'regional changes that may arise and with the possibility that the influence of the armed factions may diminish in wake of the elections results.' The US has for months expressed its opposition to the law during meetings with various Iraqi officials. On Saturday, US Chargé d'Affaires Steven Fagin explicitly expressed Washington's concern about the law after meeting with Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, First Deputy Speaker of parliament, reiterating Rubio's statement. Despite the firm American opposition, the political sources said Iran remains determined to ratify the law, a stance that was expressed during a secret visit to Baghdad by its Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani. Conflicts within the Coordination Framework American opposition is not the only reason for the delay in the ratification. Media reports have pointed to 'political conflicts' within the pro-Iran Coordination Framework over the leadership of the PMF, as well as top positions within the organization. MP Raed al-Maliki told the media that disputes within the Framework over 'minor details' prompted the delay. The Asaib Ahl al-Haq faction, meanwhile, has repeatedly called for referring head of the PMF Falih Al-Fayyadh to retirement given that he has reached the age, reflecting its desire to take over his position. Beyond Shiite circles, Kurdish and Sunni officials have also objected to the law given their existing reservations over the armed factions that are loyal to the PMF, most notably in wake of the recent attacks on oil and gas fields in the Kurdistan Region that have been blamed on them. Fayyadh had on Sunday urged parliament to ratify the law, saying it was not only a legislation, 'but a consolidation of the rights of those who have shed blood for the glory of the nation.' 'It is an embodiment of the people's gratitude to those who carried arms in defense of Iraq and its unity,' he added. His message fell on deaf ears at parliament as it was not included on its Monday agenda.

Al Arabiya
6 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Gaza war deepens Israel's internal divisions
As it drags on into its twenty-second month, Israel's war in Gaza has increasingly set friends and families against one another and sharpened existing political and cultural divides. Hostage families and peace activists are urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to secure a ceasefire with Hamas and free the remaining captives abducted during the October 2023 attacks. Right-wing members of Netanyahu's cabinet, meanwhile, see the war as an opportunity to occupy and annex more Palestinian territory, despite mounting international criticism. The debate has fractured Israeli society, strained personal relationships, and eroded national unity at what many consider the country's moment of greatest need during its longest-ever war. 'As the war continues, we become more and more divided,' said Emanuel Yitzchak Levi, a 29-year-old poet, schoolteacher, and peace activist from Israel's religious left who attended a peace meeting in Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Square. 'It's really hard to keep being a friend, or family, a good son, a good brother to someone that's—from your point of view—supporting crimes against humanity,' he told AFP. 'And I think it's also hard for them to support me if they think I betrayed my own country.' As if to underscore the tension, a cyclist stopped to shout 'traitors' at the gathering, accusing activists of playing into Hamas's hands. No flowers Dvir Berko, a 36-year-old IT worker, paused his scooter journey through downtown Tel Aviv to offer a more measured critique of the peace activists' call for a ceasefire. Berko and others accused international bodies of exaggerating the threat of starvation in Gaza. He argued that Israel should withhold aid until the remaining 49 hostages are released. 'The Palestinian people, they're controlled by Hamas. Hamas takes their food. Hamas starts this war, and in every war that happens, bad things are going to happen. You're not going to send the other side flowers,' he said. 'So, if they open a war, they should realize and understand what's going to happen after they open the war.' Voices like Berko's reflect the deepening polarization in Israeli society since Hamas's October 2023 attacks, which left 1,219 people dead, according to Israeli authorities. Independent journalist Meron Rapoport, a former senior editor at the liberal daily Haaretz, told AFP that the divisions had been building long before the war. Hamas's attack initially triggered a wave of unity, but as the war dragged on and Israel's conduct came under international scrutiny, attitudes on the political right and left have hardened. Political motives 'The moment Hamas acted there was a coming together,' Rapoport said. 'Nearly everyone saw it as a just war. 'As the war went on, it has made people come to the conclusion that the central motivations are not military reasons but political ones.' According to a survey conducted between July 24 and 28 by the Institute for National Security Studies, involving 803 Jewish and 151 Arab respondents, Israelis narrowly blamed Hamas for delays in reaching a hostage release deal. Only 24 percent of Israeli Jews said they were distressed or 'very distressed' by the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where, according to UN-mandated reports, 'a famine is unfolding' and civilians are often killed while seeking food. Still, there is public support for the families of hostages. Many of them have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war to protect his political standing. 'In Israel there's mandatory army service,' said Mika Almog, 50, an author and peace activist with the It's Time Coalition. 'So these soldiers are our children, and they are being sent to die in a false criminal war that is still going on for nothing other than political reasons.' In an open letter published Monday, 550 former top diplomats, military officers, and intelligence chiefs urged US President Donald Trump to tell Netanyahu that the military phase of the war is over and that a hostage deal must now be the priority. 'At first this war was a just war, a defensive war. But when we achieved all military objectives, this war ceased to be a just war,' said Ami Ayalon, former director of the Shin Bet internal security service. The conflict, he warned in an accompanying video, 'is leading the State of Israel to lose its security and identity.' His declaration, shared by the very figures who once prosecuted Israel's wars, echoed the message long carried by peace activists who have often protested against them. 'Awful period' Avi Ofer, a 70-year-old biblical archaeologist and peace campaigner from a kibbutz, wore a yellow ribbon marked with the war's duration—'667' days—at a Tel Aviv rally. 'This is the most awful period in my life,' he said, visibly emotional. 'Yes, Hamas are war criminals. We know what they do. The war was justified at first. At the beginning it was not a genocide.' Few Israelis use the word 'genocide,' but many are aware that the International Court of Justice is considering whether Israel has breached the Genocide Convention in Gaza. While only a minority voice concern over the humanitarian toll, many Israelis worry the war could turn their country into an international pariah—and that their conscripted children may one day be treated as war crimes suspects abroad. Israel and Netanyahu, with US support, have firmly rejected the ICJ case in The Hague.