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  While cordial, the comments at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference showed the stark divide between the United States and Gulf Arab countries it supports militarily in the wider Middle East. Already, American politicians have threatened arms deals with the kingdom and described it as siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid his war on Ukraine. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, hinted at that in brief remarks at the event. “We don’t owe it to anybody but us,” the prince said to applause, noting that upcoming U.N. climate change summits will be held in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. “It was done for us, by us, for our future, and we need to commit ourselves to that.”  “I can assure you that we in the United Arab Emirates, as well as our fellow colleagues in OPEC+ are keen on supplying the world with the requirement it needs,” al-Mazrouei said. “But at the same time, we’re not the only producers in the world.” ...

  The United States will next week put the United Nations spotlight on the Islamic Republic of Iran protests, sparked by the death of a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody. According to a note outlining the event and reported by Reuters, the US and Albania will hold an informal U.N. Security Council gathering on Wednesday. Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and Iranian-born actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi will brief about the Iranian government's human rights violations and abuses. According to Reuters, independent U.N. investigator on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, will also attend the meeting to promote independent investigations into Iranian human rights abuses. The Islamic Republic of Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of Amini. The biggest protest in almost three years has turned into a popular revolt by Iranians against the clerical leadership. Many people took to the streets, demanding justice for Am...

  Iranian authorities have not disclosed details about the assailant, who died in a hospital in the southern city of Shiraz from injuries sustained during his arrest, according to Iran’s semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies. Wednesday’s attack on Shah Cheragh in Shiraz , Iran’s second-holiest Shiite shrine, was claimed by the militant Islamic State group. Iran’s government has sought to blame the attack on the largely peaceful protests engulfing the country, without offering evidence. The unrest — sparked by the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police — has rocked the Islamic Republic for over a month. Amini died after being detained for allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code for women.  At the funeral for victims of the shooting in Shiraz, the chief of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, called on Iranians to stop protesting. His threat came as the Guard and other security forces have violently cracked...

  According to human rights NGO Amnesty International, Iranian security forces have killed at least eight people since Wednesday evening as they continued a deadly crackdown against nearly six weeks of women-led anti-hijab and anti-government protests. Amnesty condemned the "reckless and unlawful use of firearms.” The NGO said on Thursday, "Iran's security forces have killed at least eight people since last night as they again opened fire on mourners and protesters.” Iranian security forces reportedly opened fire on protesters who marched on Wednesday in Mahsa Amini's hometown Saqqez to mark 40 days since her death. They reportedly clashed with people taking part in a memorial for Mahsa Amini. Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman from Saqqez, died in a hospital in Tehran on September 16 after being detained by Iranian morality police for allegedly wearing improper hijab. They arrested her on September 13 for allegedly wearing a loose Hijab. They took her ...

  As part of the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia , ace batsman Virat Kohli extended his hot streak on Thursday by recording his second consecutive half-century. In India's second match against the Netherlands at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Kohli, who had a game-winning 82 not out against Pakistan the previous week, smashed 62* off just 44 balls and led his team to a respectable total of 179/2 in 20 overs. In front of a crowded SCG, Kohli came out to bat and was greeted enthusiastically by the crowd.   India decided to bat first, and KL Rahul got out early. However, Kohli and Rohit Sharma had a 73-run partnership, with the Indian captain adding 50 more runs to the total. Despite Rohit's dismissal at position 53, Kohli kept up his heroics. Suryakumar Yadav then joined him in the middle, coming back with a quickfire half-century. Suryakumar, who was out against Pakistan for a cheap dismissal, scored 51 from 25 balls as India pounded over 112 runs in the final 10 overs. ...

    Videos posted online showed that hundreds of men and women defied security forces to gather in Saqqez. They were heard shouting "Woman, life, freedom " and "Death to the dictator". They are two of the signature chants of the anti-government unrest that has swept across Iran since Ms Amini died. The 22-year-old Kurdish woman was detained by the morality police in the capital, Tehran, on 13 September for allegedly wearing her hijab "improperly". She fell into a coma after collapsing at a detention centre and died three days later. There were reports that officers beat her on the head with a baton and banged her head against a vehicle, but the police denied that she was mistreated and said she suffered a heart attack. Many Iranians were enraged and the first protests took place after Ms Amini's funeral in Saqqez, when women ripped off their headscarves in solidarity. The protests spread quickly and evolved into one of the most serious challenges to th...

  A sixth Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops who were attacked with stones in a protest against the raid, Palestinian medical sources say. The operation in the northern city of Nablus targeted the recently formed Lion's Den group. The group killed an Israeli soldier in a shooting earlier this month. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had locked down Nablus for the past two weeks amid an intensive search for the killer of 21-year-old Staff Sergeant Ido Baruch. Sgt Baruch was shot dead in an ambush near an Israeli settlement about five miles (8km) away. There has been an intensification of violence between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank in recent weeks amid an ongoing Israeli operation to root out militants following a wave of deadly attacks against Israelis earlier this year. The Lion's Den group was formed following near daily arrest raids by Israeli forces targeting militants, concentrated in the northern West Bank. It is believed to number a few dozen member...

  For the first time, a settler will serve as chief of staff of Israel’s military, becoming the enforcer of Israel’s open-ended occupation of the West Bank, now in its 56th year. Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi’s nomination was approved on Sunday and he is expected to begin his three-year term on Jan. 17. Halevi’s rise caps the decades-long transformation of the settler movement from a small group of religious ideologues to a diverse and influential force at the heart of the Israeli mainstream whose members have reached the highest ranks of government and other key institutions. Critics say the settlers’ outsized political influence imperils any hope for the creation of an independent Palestinian state and endangers the country’s future as a democracy. They say Halevi’s appointment lays bare just how interconnected settlers and the military truly are.  “It isn’t surprising that we’ve come to a point where the chief of staff is a settler too,” said Shabtay Bendet of the anti-settlement ...

  Vaccine development generally takes 8 to 10 years, whereas Covid-19 was completed in about 9 months. To ensure that capacities are increased in the event of future pandemics, we must ensure that there is a single worldwide pandemic treaty. The Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturing Network (DCVMN), a network of more than 40 vaccine producers dispersed throughout all WHO regions, is led by Rajinder Suri, CEO. Speaking to The Indian Express on the sidelines of the DCVMN's 23rd annual general meeting in Pune, Suri said that they have provided 8 billion doses of the Covid vaccine, or 60% of the world's total vaccine production in 20 months. More than 2 billion doses have been generated in India over the past 20 months, and about 68.8% of the population has received all available protection, he continued. The CEO of DCVMN said that there have been regional disparities and specifically mentioned Africa, where only 1% of the continent's overall demand for vaccines is be...

 Russia's predicament in Ukraine has prompted Moscow to turn to Tehran for stocks of precision-guided weapons . Its own arsenals are fast running out. There have been a number of instances where coastal defence and air defence missiles have been used by the Russians to strike at land targets in Ukraine - a role for which they are not best suited. Transport flights have been monitored heading from Iran to Russia. Reports from US sources suggest that Iranian trainers from the IRGC - the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps - have deployed to a base in Crimea to teach Russian personnel how to operate the systems. Wreckage from drones that have been shot down - both Iranian Shahed-131 loitering munitions (colloquially known as kamikaze drones) and the larger Shahed-136 - has been analysed. There is no doubt that Tehran, despite its denials, is compensating for a significant shortfall in Russia's arsenal.  This is clearly not good news for Ukraine. While a significant number of the Ir...

  In a shocking incident in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a 16-year-old Iranian girl, identified as Asra Panahi, died after she was allegedly beaten up by Iranian security forces in her classroom for not singing the anthem praising the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. According to the BBC, the incident took place last week in northwestern Ardabil city when the Iranian security forces were raiding Shaheed Girls High School. They forced the girls to sing the anthem to praise the supreme leader. When the girls resisted, the security forces beat them. Asra Panahi later succumbed to her injuries in the hospital. However, Iranian security forces have denied responsibility for Asra Panahi’s death. Asra Panahi's death comes at a time when Iran is witnessing anti-government and anti-hijab protests over the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini. Protests first began on September 17 at the funeral of Amini in Saqqez, the capital of Saqqez County, Kurdistan Province, Iran. Su...

   The firm agreed to a $777.8m (£687.2m) penalty for payments it made to keep a factory running in Syria after war broke out in 2011. Prosecutors said it marked the first time a company had pleaded guilty in the US to aiding terrorists. Lafarge said it "deeply regretted" the events and "accepted responsibility for the individual executives involved". The cement manufacturer, which was bought by Switzerland's Holcim in 2015, said their behaviour had been in "flagrant violation" of Lafarge's code of conduct. The firm opened its plant in Jalabiya near the Turkish border in 2010 following a $680m investment. Lafarge eventually evacuated the plant in September 2014, when Islamic State took control of the town and the factory. But before its departure, the deals helped the company do $70.3m in sales, prosecutors said. Lafarge had previously admitted bribes were paid after an internal investigation. But US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said on Tue...

  Iranian athlete Elnaz Rekabi returned home safely on Tuesday amid claims that she went 'missing' after competing without wearing a hijab (headscarf) during the finals of the Asian Climbing Competitions in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. People thought that Rekabi defied the country's diktat for female athletes and ditched the mandatory hijab to extend her support to women protesters amid protests in Iran. However, she said that her veil had fallen by mistake while she was competing in an international event in  Seoul. Her footage of competing without wearing a hijab came amid protests in the country after the death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman in police custody following her arrest by the morality police over her improper Hijab. Amini was arrested by Iranian morality police in Tehran, the capital of Iran, on September 13 for allegedly not complying with the country’s strict dress codes that require women to cover their heads. The police reportedly took Amin...

  The world’s richest man and Tesla CEO (Chief Executive Officer), Elon Musk, recently explained why air turbulence is not a big deal and why people should never be scared during a turbulent flight. He said that one should not be afraid of turbulence because the aeroplane is not going to crash. While responding to a video showing aeroplane wings during turbulence, he explained to Twitter users that commercial airliner wings can withstand powerful forces and can bend to "insane amounts". He reportedly wrote on Twitter , “People should never fear turbulence. Commercial airliner wings can handle insane amounts of bending.” His comment instantly grabbed the eyeballs of netizens. They appreciated Musk in their comments. A Twitter user reportedly wrote, "Musk is absolutely right here. Generally, the aircraft structure and wings can handle much more turbulence and forces than the human body can so those moving wings are not an issue.” Air turbulence generally happens whe...