ALGIERS: Algerians took to the streets of the capital despite a spate of arrests Friday to push for further change two months after the resignation of leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
A thousand demonstrators in central Algiers chanted slogans decrying a push to hold presidential elections in July and rejecting calls by the armed forces chief for dialogue.
“No elections with this gang in power,” the crowd shouted.
Protesters are looking to keep up the pressure on the North African state’s ruling elite with weekly rallies despite the end of Bouteflika’s two-decade rule.
Police had earlier rounded some 50 people, mainly young men, in the heart of Algiers ahead of the planned protest.
Those detained had their IDs and mobile phones confiscated and were loaded into vans, an AFP journalist reported.
Demonstrators taking to the streets are demanding the resignation of all those tainted by ties to the former regime.
Armed forces chief Ahmed Gaid Salah has become the main powerbroker in the country after he turned on his boss Bouteflika and helped ease him from office in the face of the mass protests.
He is pushing for elections on July 4 but demonstrators insist there must be a wholesale change at the top of the country before a new vote can be held.
Only two little-known figures have submitted their candidacies on time for the disputed poll, raising doubts about plans to stage it.
The rallies that erupted across the country in February after Bouteflika announced plans to seek a new term have largely been tolerated by security officials overwhelmed by the vast crowds.
Last Friday the police made numerous arrests in central Algiers of protesters carrying placards and the national flag.

VIENNA: Iran’s stockpiles of low-enriched uranium and heavy water have increased since the start of the year, the UN atomic watchdog said Friday.

The confidential quarterly report by the International Atomic Energy Agency is the first since Tehran announced it had increased low-enriched uranium production.

While the report said Iran is still within the limitations set by the nuclear deal reached in 2015 with major powers, it detailed significant increases in key nuclear materials.

As of May 26, Iran had 125.2 metric tonnes of heavy water, an increase of 0.4 tonnes on February but still under the 130-tonne limit.

As of May 20, Iran had 174.1 kg of enriched uranium, up from 163.8kg in February but within the relevant of limit 300kg.

The report does say that “technical discussions… are ongoing” with Iran in relation to its installation of up to 33 advanced IR-6 centrifuges, but does not specify the content of these discussions.

Earlier this month Iran announced it was suspending some of its commitments under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and gave the remaining signatories 60 days to come up with new economic incentives to compensate for the unilateral withdrawal of the United States last year.

*With AP and AFP

MAKKAH: The Houthis are an arm of Iran and aim to threaten the existence of Yemen and neighboring countries, the Arab coalition said on Friday.
Speaking at a joint press conference organized on the sidelines of the Gulf, Arab and Islamic summits in Makkah, coalition spokesman Col. Turki Al-Maliki said that Iran was seeking to find a foothold in the Bab Al-Mandab Strait through Yemen.
He added that Iranian intervention was a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions, and that the “stability of the region” depended on the stability of Yemen.
Al-Maliki added that Houthi missiles were supplied by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and Iranian experts were training the militias.
“Houthi militias planned a coup against Yemen and planned to threaten the Kingdom and the Gulf nations’ security, and our military operations are recognized by the international community,” he said.
“The current situation and the international and regional political events prove the interrelationship between regimes practicing terrorism and the terrorist groups and militias, especially in the Middle East.”
About the military objectives, Al-Maliki said they were to protect Yemeni citizens in cities and villages, as well as to destroy the militia’s capabilities and return legitimacy to the Yemeni state.
He added that a comprehensive plan for humanitarian operations in Yemen was being prepared, in addition to financial support worth $1.5 billion.

The Facts in Minutes
An exhibition held on the premises of Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz International Airport showcased missiles, unarmed aerial vehicles (UAVs), boats and other equipment used by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen to target Saudi Arabia. Leaders of delegations from 56 different states participating in the Gulf, Arab and Islamic summits have had a look at models of the Iranian ballistic missiles, equipment and weapons used by the Iranian-backed Houthis militias to target Saudi Arabia, where the number of missiles that targeted the Kingdom has reached more than 225 ballistic missiles, including one that targeted Makkah.
The two ballistic missiles featured at the exhibition were intercepted in an attempt targeting Makkah in 2017 and another one targeting Riyadh in 2018.
The “Facts in Minutes” exhibition also features models of ballistic Qiyam missiles, remote-controlled boats, Iranian-made optical binoculars and Iranian Dahlawi anti-armor weaponry used by Houthi militiamen.
The exhibition included a TV screen showing physical evidence of the Iranian regime’s involvement in providing these arms to the Houthis.
The exhibition was organized by the Saudi defense and foreign ministries, as well as the Yemen Development and Reconstruction Center.
Al-Maliki briefed the leaders participating in the three summits on the details of the Iranian regime’s involvement with and support to the terrorist Houthi militias.

BASRA: Exxon Mobil employees will start returning to Iraq’s West Qurna 1 oilfield on Sunday after the government agreed to provide extra security, two senior Iraqi oil officials told Reuters on Friday.
Senior company management and essential engineers would be among the first employees to return, the Iraqi officials said, two weeks after Exxon pulled its 60 or so foreign staff from the oilfield and flew them to Dubai.
The evacuation came just days after the United States withdrew non-essential staff from its embassy in Baghdad, citing a threat from neighboring Iran.
Exxon asked for extra security from the police and army at work sites and residences and Iraq agreed, the officials said. The company has received letters of assurance from the Iraqi oil ministry and Basra Oil Company.
Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban at the time called the evacuation “unacceptable and unjustified,” saying it was a political move, rather than borne out of genuine security concerns. He said he had sent a letter to Exxon Mobil after the staff left asking for the company to immediately return to work at the southern oilfield.
Exxon Mobil is the lead contractor in a long-term deal with Iraq’s South Oil Company to develop and rehabilitate the oil field and increase production.
Production was not affected by the evacuation and work continued normally, overseen by Iraqi engineers, Iraqi officials said at the time. Production remained at 440,000 barrels per day (bpd) and Iraqi officials later said they would increase it to 490,000 bpd shortly.

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday blamed Iran for attacks this month on oil tankers in the Gulf, saying it was an effort by Tehran to raise the global price of oil.
“These were efforts by the Iranians to raise the price of crude oil throughout the world,” Pompeo told reporters shortly before leaving for a trip to Europe.

Earlier, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton said evidence that Iran was behind the attacks would be presented to the United Nations Security Council next week.