DUBAI: The UAE has agreed to host 5,000 Afghan nationals evacuated from Afghanistan on their way to other countries.
Following a request from the US, the UAE will host the evacuees temporarily after which they will travel to other nations, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said on Friday.
The evacuees will travel to the UAE from Kabul on US aircraft in the coming days, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
The UAE has so far facilitated the evacuation of 8,500 people from Afghanistan on its aircraft and through its airports, WAM added.
The initiative is evidence of the UAE’s commitment to strengthening international cooperation, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for International Development Affairs Sultan Mohammed Al-Shamsi said.
“The UAE is always seeking peaceful, multilateral solutions, and is keen to continue its work alongside its international partners to advance efforts to assist the Afghan people during this time of uncertainty,” Al-Shamsi said.

DUBAI: New COVID-19 safety rules came into force in Abu Dhabi on Friday, limiting the places unvaccinated people can enter.

Citizens, residents and tourists will have to show proof of vaccination, or exemption, to gain entry to a number of venues, including  shopping malls, restaurants and cafes.

Other venues closed to the unvaccinated include sporting activities, museums, gyms, schools and universities.

Theme parks are also closed to the unvaccinated.

People will be required to use the Al Hosn testing and vaccination app to prove they are either vaccinated or exempt.

The ban does not apply to those who exempt from vaccination, or to children aged 15 and below.

The unvaccinated are effectively barred from entering any business in the UAE capital except for supermarkets and pharmacies.

The neighboring travel hub of Dubai has previously introduced some vaccination restrictions on mass entertainment and sporting events.

But malls and other businesses remain open to the unvaccinated.

The UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) announced that it conducted 311,295 additional COVID-19 tests in the past 24 hours, state news agency WAM reported.

The MoHAP announced 1,070 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the UAE to 707,236 since the start of the pandemic.

The Ministry said the infected individuals were from various nationalities, and were in a stable condition, receiving the necessary care – the report added.

There were two deaths in the past 24 hours due to COVID-19 complications, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 2,014.

The MoHAP said an additional 1,619 people had fully recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries to 687,644.

DAMASCUS: Loud explosions shook the Syrian capital late on Thursday as state media reported Israeli airstrikes around Damascus.

The state-news agency SANA said Syrian air defenses confronted the Israeli planes, while the pro-Syrian government Cham FM Radio reported airstrikes in the Damascus countryside and in the central province of Homs.

Damascus residents reported hearing at least five loud explosions that shook apartment buildings over a 15 minute time span. The missiles appeared to have been fired from over Lebanon, jolting residents who heard them streak across the sky before striking targets in Syria.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which rarely comments on its military operations in Syria. There were also no immediate reports of any casualties.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes inside Syria in the course of Syria’s civil war, against what it says are suspected arms shipments believed to be bound for Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces. It rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.

Earlier this week, Syrian state media reported that Israel carried out a missile attack on southern Syria late on Tuesday, targeting an unspecified military position.

ALEXANDRIA: Houthi rebels in Yemen have been holding a young journalist abducted in Sanaa for more than a week, as the militia’s clampdown on outspoken academics, journalists and social media activists intensifies.

After detaining Younis Abdul Sallam, the Iran-backed Houthis waited more than 10 days before informing a local lawyer of his whereabouts, his family told Arab News on Thursday.

“Younis is being held in the intelligence service office,” said a relative who asked to remain anonymous. “We do not know why they detained him and they refuse to answer our calls.”

Abdel Majeed Sabra, a lawyer who defends abductees in Houthi jails, said abducted journalists face mistreatment at the hands of the notorious intelligence agency. He called on local rights groups and activists, including the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, to put pressure on the Houthis to release Abdul Sallam immediately.

“The journalists’ union should use all means to secure his release,” he said in a message posted on Facebook.

Abdul Sallam, who is from the southern city of Taiz but has lived in Sanaa for several years, graduated from Sanaa University’s College of Media in 2017. He is not a particularly high-profile journalist but has posted messages critical of the Houthis on social media.

“The moment one of their preachers shouts from a nearby mosque, warning of the dangers from America and Israel, the group begins targeting populated areas in Marib,” he said in a message posted on Facebook on June 10, in which he criticizing the Houthis for launching a deadly offensive on the central city of Marib and targeting residential areas in the city. “How can normal human beings coexist with them?” he asked.

Based on his own horrific jail experience, Haytham Al-Shihab, one of five Yemeni journalists released from Houthi prisons during a prisoner swap in October last year, said Abdul Sallam will have been put in solitary confinement, had his name replaced on documents with a number, and been subjected to intense interrogations.

“During the evenings of the first month of his detention, he will be exhausted and tired from many long interrogations, accusations and fabrications that will deprive him of sleep,” Al-Shihab said.

The Houthis are not only targeting journalists. Residents in Houthi-held Sanaa said the militia abducted academic and businessman Osama Al-Shibami weeks ago and refuse to say where he is being held. His friends and students condemned the Houthis for targeting a man they described as a good, apolitical person with no enemies, and called for his immediate release.

On Aug. 4, unidentified assailants shot and killed Mohammed Ali Naeem, a professor at Sanaa University, as he left a friend’s house in the city. It happened shortly after he posted a message on social media demanding the Houthis and the Yemeni government increase the salaries of employees. The Houthis denied they were responsible and said they had captured a man who allegedly confessed to killing the professor over an old feud.

Residents in other Houthi–controlled areas, including Amran and Dhamar, said the militia has abducted several journalists and social-media activists who had criticized the rebels’ crackdown on singing and weddings, and exposed corruption among the movement’s officials.

According to analysts and authorities, Yemen has experienced the biggest displacement of journalists and activists in its history since the Houthis seized power in the country in 2014.

Najeeb Ghallab, an undersecretary at Yemen’s Information Ministry and a political analyst, told Arab News that more than 1,000 journalists were forced to flee the country after the Houthis raided and looted media offices and suppressed their work.

“Due to problems, corruption, sabotage, systematic robberies and mismanagement by the Houthis in Sanaa, opposition began to grow, not only among journalists but intellectuals and academics,” he added.

LONDON: The UAE announced that it will host an international humanitarian summit in Dubai next year as part of its Expo 2020.
The summit, to be held on March 30, aims to find appropriate solutions to some of the ongoing issues around the world, including the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other issues related to racism, gender equality, women empowerment, intolerance and discrimination.
It will bring together governmental, charitable, religious, and human rights institutions, intellectuals, artists, media professionals, cultural associations and the private sector to hold dialogues and shed light on current concerns that the world needs to address at Expo 2020 Dubai.
The announcement was made to coincide with World Humanitarian Day and comes a day after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, UAE vice president and prime minister, and ruler of Dubai, said the Emirates would offer Golden Visas to charity and humanitarian aid workers in recognition of their efforts and sacrifices. A further announcement to provide long-term residence visas was also made on Thursday.
The summit will provide a platform to discuss the challenges of providing humanitarian assistance in crises, “in order to lead, coordinate, and put efforts toward assistance overseas responding to humanitarian crises, natural disasters and manmade disasters,” the announcement on state-run WAM news agency said.
“The International Humanitarian Summit will play a major role in promoting and assisting international humanitarian organizations that can better people’s lives and save more lives,” it added.
“The UAE’s policies put humanitarian and development work at the center, which is evident by the establishment of hundreds of humanitarian projects and institutions,” said Dawood Al-Shezawi, secretary-general of the summit’s board of trustees, said. “Globally, the UAE plays a leading humanitarian role, dedicating resources and efforts to empowering communities and removing barriers to sustainable development,” he added.
The summit will feature a Global Leaders Debate to discuss “the increased fragmentation around the world due to extremism and intolerance, which play a destructive role in achieving global happiness and prosperity,” and find “policies to counter these problems and propose initiatives to further boost human fraternity and tolerance,” the statement said.
The International Humanitarian Summit will also feature an art and photography gallery showcasing works from around the world that promote humanitarian values, and anecdotal segments providing encouraging stories about life-changing initiatives to help improve society. The event will also host a digital exhibition where local governments, private institutions and international organizations will unveil their humanitarian efforts.