BERLIN: Germany and Egypt have agreed to cooperate on building out the hydrogen economy as part of Europe’s efforts to diversify away from its current dependence on Russian gas, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after meeting with the Egyptian President.
“For the transformation of industry in countries like Germany, electricity and hydrogen will be crucial,” Scholz said at a news conference with Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. “Much of that hydrogen will be imported,” he added, describing Germany’s need for gas imports as a “very big opportunity” for other countries.

ANKARA: Turkey can still “freeze” Sweden and Finland’s membership in NATO unless the two countries take steps that meet Ankara’s security demands, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.
Last month, Turkey lifted its objection to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance but warned that it would block the process if they fail to extradite suspects with links to outlawed Kurdish groups or the network of an exiled cleric accused of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016.

LONDON: The countries of the Middle East are “backward-looking,” unfriendly, or even hostile to Western nations, and fail to share their values or aspirations.

These are the worrying and outdated perceptions of people in four Western nations — the UK, US, France and Germany — surveyed in a new poll conducted for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

The same poll, however, reveals that, in fact, Arabs in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Tunisia “deeply respect the US and its values of freedom, innovation, and opportunity.”

KARBALA, Iraq: Thousands of young date palms, Iraq’s national symbol, form lines that extend from the edge of the desert near the central city of Karbala and into the horizon.

Iraq’s prized trees are central to a push aimed to preserve a long-threatened ancestral culture, whose fruit historically presented prosperity across the Arab world.

“The date palm is the symbol and pride of Iraq,” says Mohamed Abul-Maali, commercial director at the Fadak date plantation.

KHARTOUM: Sudanese police fired tear gas in the capital Khartoum on Saturday in an attempt to disperse hundreds of pro-democracy protesters demonstrating against coup leader Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, AFP correspondents reported.

Security forces had set up road blocks on bridges crossing the Nile river linking Khartoum to its suburbs, AFP reporters said, to deter protesters who had vowed to take to the streets in large numbers.