ECONOMY

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

117.9 million euros grant from the European Union for the water and energy sectors in Egypt

CAIRO, (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation announced today (Thursday) that the European Union will provide 117.9 million euros in grants to support the budget of the water and energy sectors.


The Minister of International Cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat, said in a statement that the grant comes within the framework of strategic relations and continuous cooperation between Egypt and the European Union, with the aim of supporting the country's development plans and priorities through effective development cooperation, strengthening efforts to transition to a green economy and implementing environmentally friendly projects, especially as Egypt is preparing to host a conference. UN Climate COP27 next November.


Al-Mashat added that the new grant comes within the framework of Egypt's commitment to consolidating international cooperation and development financing mechanisms, enabling it to achieve national visions and goals to reach comprehensive and sustainable economic growth, accelerate the transition towards a green economy, enhance competitiveness, increase growth rates, and stimulate the role of the private sector in development. .


She explained that the water and energy sectors in Egypt are given a high priority by the government because of their importance in maintaining economic growth rates and promoting sustainable development, noting that international partnerships have contributed to financing many vital projects in this field.


She noted that the energy sector has been witnessing a great development for eight years, as Egypt has succeeded through the major national projects that have been implemented from turning into an energy deficit into a surplus that is exported to other countries, and that it is moving forward in expanding renewable energy projects from its various sources, whether wind energy. Or solar energy, and also expanding green hydrogen generation.


The current cooperation portfolio between Egypt and the European Union amounts to about 1.35 billion euros in grants to support several sectors, including transport, water, agriculture, small and medium enterprises, sustainable energy, the environment, social protection, strengthening stability and governance, capacity building and civil society, in addition to Egypt benefiting from many European initiatives and cooperation programs. regional.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

Burma condemns the Court of Justice's insistence on hearing the issue of the Rohingya genocide

Rangoon (AFP) - Burma 's ruling military junta on Saturday expressed its disappointment over the decision of the United Nations' highest court to give the go-ahead to proceed with a case linked to allegations of genocide against members of the Rohingya Muslim minority.


On Friday, the International Court of Justice in The Hague rejected all Burma's objections to a case brought by the West African Republic of The Gambia in 2019.


The decision paves the way for full court hearings on charges related to the bloody 2017 security crackdown carried out by Buddhist-majority Burma's authorities against the Rohingya.


"Burma is disappointed that its initial protests were rejected," said a statement on the Foreign Ministry's Facebook page.


He added that the military council saw that its objections were legally strong, noting that a judge had expressed an opposing opinion on one issue.


In its protest, Burma insisted that the court does not have jurisdiction that gives it the right to hear the case, and that it should dismiss the case in the early stages of the case.


Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled the Southeast Asian country five years ago, amid horrific reports of killings, rape and burnings.


Gambia, which is predominantly Muslim, has filed a lawsuit arguing that Burma's treatment of the Rohingya is in breach of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.


About 850,000 Rohingya remain in refugee camps in Bangladesh.


US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared in March that the Burmese army's violence against the Rohingya amounted to genocide.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

Trump paid $1 million in taxes while in office and paid nothing in 2020

Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump paid $1.1 million in federal taxes over two of his four years as president, according to a report reviewed by lawmakers Wednesday.


The Republican paid $750 in 2017 and $1 million in 2018 and 2019, and nothing in 2020, the year in which his losses increased and he lost the presidential election in the face of Democrat Joe Biden.


The figures, published late Tuesday in a report by a parliamentary committee, show that the 76-year-old billionaire suffered significant losses from 2015 to 2020.


However, his revenues rose dramatically in 2018 and 2019, prompting more speculation about the size of his wealth as Congress prepares to release his tax records.


The former reality TV star recorded capital gains from asset sales of $22 billion in 2018 and nine billion the following year.


But he lost about $65 million during his presidential campaign in 2015 and 2016 and about $13 million during his first year in office.


In the year 2020, his profits were estimated at only about five billion dollars.


Lawmakers voted Tuesday to release the tax records of the former president, who led a multi-year legal battle to keep them secret.


"Trump reported tens of millions of dollars in losses and credits without (providing) any kind of justification that the average taxpayer would provide," Democratic Representative Lloyd Doggett said in a statement.


And a separate parliamentary report on the US Tax Agency showed that the latter did not do what it should have done for almost all of Donald Trump's term.


According to the text of the report, "the IRS only conducted one mandatory review from 2017 to 2020, regarding records submitted while the former president was in office."


The IRS began auditing Trump on the same day that the Democrats on the committee asked for information about his 2019 taxes.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

Myanmar.. Detention of a former British ambassador in Rangoon

Rangoon - (AFP) - The Burmese authorities are detaining the former British ambassador to Burma, Vicki Bowman, a diplomatic source told AFP Thursday.


Vicki Bowman, who was her country's ambassador to Burma between 2002 and 2006, was arrested on Wednesday in Rangoon, the country's economic capital, which has been witnessing violent conflict since the February 1, 2021 coup, according to this source, who asked not to be identified.


Prior to assuming this position, Bowman was a Diplomat with the rank of Second Secretary at the British Embassy from 1990 to 1993.


"We are concerned about the detention of a British woman in Myanmar ," a British embassy spokesman told AFP. "We are in contact with the local authorities and providing consular assistance," he added.


The diplomatic source said that Boman's husband, the well-known artist Htin Lin, was also detained. Local media reported that Bowman and her husband have been transferred to Insein Prison in Rangoon and will be charged with immigration violations.


The law stipulates a five-year prison sentence for each such charge.


A spokesman for the military group did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.


Bowman is a manager at the Myanmar Center for Responsible Business and is fluent in Burmese.


Htin Lin was arrested in 1998 and imprisoned on charges of opposing the ruling military council at the time. After his release in 2004, he caught the attention of then-Ambassador Bowman through a series of paintings he made while in prison using contraband.



She persuaded him to let her take the paintings for his own safety, and they married in 2006.


Relations between the UK and Burma have been tense since the 2021 coup.


Earlier this year, the military council criticized Britain's recent downgrade of its mission level in the country, describing the decision as "unacceptable".


The British government imposed sanctions on many companies and individuals associated with the military in the aftermath of the military takeover.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

Aleppo International Airport returns to service after an Israeli strike

Aleppo International Airport returned to service on Friday morning, three days after an Israeli strike hit the runway, according to an official in the Syrian Ministry of Transport, told AFP.


Since the devastating earthquake that struck Syria and neighboring Turkey on February 6, Aleppo International Airport has been used as a major station for planes transporting humanitarian aid that flowed into Syria from several countries to provide relief to the affected areas.


Following the Israeli strike at midnight Monday-Tuesday, which affected the landing strip, relief aid planes and other flights were diverted to Damascus and Latakia airports in the west of the country.


"The airport has been operating since eight o'clock in the morning and is ready for any landing after we have repaired all the damage," Suleiman Khalil, official of readiness at the Ministry of Transport, told AFP.


A source at the airport, in turn, stated that there are no flights on the airport's schedule on Friday, despite its return to service, indicating that the first flight is supposed to arrive on Saturday.


The Syrian Ministry of Defense had reported that the airport had been hit by an Israeli strike that put it out of service, but without announcing any deaths.


The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that three people, including a Syrian officer, were killed in an Israeli missile that landed near the airport.


Suleiman Khalil told AFP on Tuesday that Aleppo airport had received more than 80 aid planes after the earthquake.
The UN Resident and Acting Humanitarian Coordinator, Sura Al-Mustafa Benmelh, said in a statement that the airport's closure as a result of the raid "caused an impediment to the arrival of humanitarian aid and could have dire humanitarian consequences for the people affected by the earthquake."


Over the past years, Israeli strikes targeted Aleppo International Airport several times, putting it out of service last September for several days.


This is the second time that Israeli strikes targeted areas in Syria after the earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in Syria and Turkey, including about 6,000 in Syria.


On February 19, 15 people were killed in an Israeli bombing that targeted a residential neighborhood in Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.


Over the past years, Israel launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria, targeting Syrian army sites and Iranian and Hezbollah targets, including weapons and ammunition depots in separate areas.


Israel rarely confirms the implementation of strikes in Syria, but it repeats that it will continue to confront what it describes as Iran's attempts to consolidate its military presence in Syria.


Syria has been witnessing a bloody conflict since 2011, which has killed about half a million people, caused massive damage to infrastructure, and led to the displacement of millions of people inside and outside the country.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

Agenda for Biden's visit to "Israel" and the region

Translation by "Jerusalem" dot com - Today, Sunday, the Hebrew website Ynet published the agenda for US President Joe Biden's visit to Israel , which is scheduled to begin next Wednesday.


And the American presidential plane will land at Lod Airport, "Ben Gurion" at 3:30 in the afternoon, occupied Jerusalem time, as this will be his tenth visit to Israel, and his first as president, after he visited it for the first time in 50 years as a young senator, during which he met Golda Meir, and since At that time he met every Israeli prime minister.


This will be the twelfth visit of an American president to Israel.


Biden will arrive without his wife, but accompanied by a large entourage, and hundreds of hotel rooms have been rented in Jerusalem, and a separate plane with 120 journalists on board will arrive with him to cover the visit. and Prime Minister Yair Lapid, and an Israeli honor guard, as mentioned by the Hebrew site.


A senior Israeli official said that Biden is coming to Israel to coordinate positions with officials because there is a clear belief that the nuclear agreement has collapsed, and his arrival will be accompanied by a strategic dialogue of a kind that has not been the case and has not happened for many years.


After the ceremony at Lod airport, Biden will go with his accompanying delegation to the Palmachim military air base, accompanied by Lapid, and he will be received by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, where he will give him an overview of air defense systems, including the world's first new "laser" interception system. Drones and missiles.


He will later go to Jerusalem, to attend a ceremony at the "Yad Vashem" museum and meet two survivors of the so-called "Holocaust". Then he will meet Thursday morning with Lapid in a hotel in Jerusalem, then meet with the Israeli government, and later go to the Israeli presidential house with an official reception.


It is not yet known whether he will meet Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu at the presidential residence, or at the hotel where he will stay after the reception. He will also meet with Israeli and American athletes.


The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the visit plan is still in preparation and the best short timetable is being drafted due to the hot weather, in light of the American fear that the hot weather will harm US President Joe Biden.


On Friday morning, Biden will go to a Palestinian hospital east of Jerusalem, then to Bethlehem to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and later he will leave for Saudi Arabia .

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

1,500 Palestinian security personnel were deployed to Bethlehem during Biden's visit

Bethlehem - "Jerusalem" dot com - Najeeb Farraj - The spokesman for the Palestinian police, Colonel Louay Ireziqat, stated that 1,500 Palestinian security men will participate in securing the visit of US President Joe Biden to the city of Bethlehem, including 600 Palestinian policemen.


Erziqat stressed that police and security measures will be taken, such as closing some streets through which the convoy passes, preventing parking in these streets, and preventing tourist movement in the Nativity Square and Church throughout the visit and limiting it to visiting tourist places in the city of Beit Sahour.


Palestinian activists published in the streets of the city of Bethlehem pictures of the late colleague Sherine Abu Aqelah, screens and banners confirming the racism of Israel.


For his part, Muhammad al-Masri, secretary of the Fatah movement in Bethlehem, who participated in the reception of President Mahmoud Abbas upon his arrival in the city this Thursday evening, said that all the personalities in the governorate who received the president put before him and Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh the same vision, to the effect that the visit was sidelined. The Palestinian side is clearly a visit in favor of Israel, and Badin dealt with the Israeli side as a bridge, nothing more, nothing less.


Al-Masri added, in an interview with Al-Quds correspondent, "Many issues need to be discussed with the American side, including the issue of the martyr Sherine Abu Aqelah, and the issue of those deported from the Church of the Nativity."


Al-Masri added, "Despite the great rejection of the American position, the Palestinian side does not have the right to receive it in order to preserve international protocols, and this does not prevent us from presenting our position clearly to it."




PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

Arab Journalists: The American report on the assassination of Abu Aqleh is biased towards Israel

Cairo - "Al Quds" dot com - The General Federation of Arab Journalists rejected the report of the American experts regarding the examination of the bullet that killed the martyred journalist , Sherine Abu Aqelah .

The union said in a statement today, Wednesday, that it is an unprofessional report, and it is a political and security report that is biased towards Israel.


Union President Moayad Al-Lami said that this biased report towards Israel aims to evade holding Israel responsible for targeting Abu Aqelah and her deliberate assassination. by the Israeli occupation.



Al-Lami expressed the solidarity of the General Federation of Arab Journalists with full force with Palestinian journalists in taking all measures to bring the perpetrators to the International Criminal Court, especially against the leadership of the Israeli occupation army, calling on all Arab and international media institutions to continue their efforts in order to achieve justice for the martyr Abu Aqelah and not to impunity for the perpetrators. He stressed that the Federation renews its demand for an impartial and transparent international investigation.


In the context, the Kuwaiti Journalists Association affirmed its absolute support for the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, regarding the report issued by the Palestinian Attorney General in the case of the assassination of the martyr Sherine Abu Aqelah, the United Nations report, reports issued by prominent American media institutions, and eyewitnesses who confirmed the killing of the martyr Abu Aqelah at the hands of the occupation soldiers. Israeli.


In a statement, the association called on the international community to continue its efforts to achieve justice, stop impunity for criminals, and protect fellow Palestinian journalists to play their role and perform their work in covering events in the occupied territories.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

During his visit by the lawyer, the striking prisoner, Raed Rayan, recounts the details of his health condition and that of Awadeh

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - The striking prisoner, Raed Rayan , told the lawyer of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Prisoners' Affairs, Fawaz Al-Shaludi, after visiting him in the so-called "Ramle Prison" clinic, the details of his health after 103 days of his open hunger strike, indicating that he was suffering From blurred vision, severe pain in the head and joints, constant emaciation and fatigue, he can only sleep for very short periods and feels that he wants to vomit.


Rayan added that he had recently been suffering from heat in his body, especially in the hands and stomach, and the doctor supervising his condition informed him that his body had begun to erode as a result of the long period of his strike.


The prisoner, Rayan, explained to Shalodi the tragic details that his fellow hunger striker, Khalil Awadeh , is also going through. He continues his strike for the 16th day, and had previously suspended it after 111 days based on promises of his release, but the occupation reneged on the promises and issued a new administrative detention order for a period of 6 months, which prompted him. To resume his strike, pointing out that Awadeh's health condition is deteriorating rapidly and he suffers from a severe drop in blood sugar, and he is frequently transferred to Assaf Harofeh Hospital.


It is noteworthy that the prisoner, Rayan (28 years), from the town of Beit Duqqu / Jerusalem, has been detained since 11/3/2021, and an administrative detention order was issued against him for a period of six months, and the order was renewed for him for the second time for a period of 6 months, and he is a former detainee who spent nearly 21 months in captivity. Administrative detention, and the prisoner Awawda (40 years) from the town of Ithna / Hebron has been detained since 12/27/2021, and the occupation issued an administrative detention order against him for a period of six months, and his detention order was renewed for the second time for a period of four months, and he is married and the father of four children, and a former prisoner He spent years in occupation prisons.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

Two Syrian soldiers were killed in an Israeli bombing of Damascus

Damascus - "Al Quds" dot com - Two Syrian soldiers were killed, after midnight, as a result of an Israeli bombardment targeting Damascus International Airport and its surroundings.


According to an official Syrian military source - as reported by the official Syrian news agency SANA - the Israeli army carried out an air aggression at dawn with bursts of missiles launched from the northeastern direction of Lake Kinneret, targeting Damascus International Airport and its surroundings.


The source pointed out that the bombing killed two soldiers and wounded others, pointing to material damage and the failure of Damascus International Airport.

ECONOMY

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

As part of its campaign "Your next step is bigger".. The Housing Bank announces the winners of the savings account prizes for the month of September

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - The Housing Bank in Palestine announced the results of the draw on the "monthly prizes" for the savings account prizes for the month of September, with a value of 100,000 shekels for one winner, which was won by Dawood Mahmoud Daoud Mahajneh from the Jenin branch, in addition to Weekly prizes of 10,000 shekels each were won in the first week by Rama Abdel Rahim Mahmoud Jouri for the benefit of Raafat Ghaleb Salim Jouri from the Nablus branch, in the second week by Nabil Jeries Suleiman Musleh from the Bethlehem branch, and in the third week by Nadia Rajeh Muhammad Khalaf for the benefit of Jad Shahlan Al-Asmar from Jenin branch.


The monthly savings account prize campaigns launched by the Housing Bank come in order to ensure continuous communication with its customers, who chose it to be their first and preferred bank and put their trust in it due to the comprehensive and distinguished banking services it provides to them.


These awards also express the extent of the bank’s appreciation for its saving customers, despite the difficult financial and health conditions and the economic slowdown globally and locally. New savings accounts at any of the bank's branches and give them great chances to win one or more of the many prizes offered by the bank to the holders of these accounts.


On this occasion, it is mentioned that the total cash prizes offered by the Housing Bank in Palestine for savings accounts for the year 2022 amount to 2,320,000 shekels for 56 winners, noting that the campaign is based on providing 100,000 shekels per month to one winner, and the value of the prize increases in the month of June to reach 250,000 shekels for one winner. One, then the prize will be doubled at the end of the year to one million shekels for one winner.


During the campaign, the bank will also present additional prizes of 30,000 shekels per week distributed to three winners of 10,000 shekels for each winner, in addition to distributing 50,000 shekels to ten winners in the month of June, at the rate of 5,000 shekels for each winner, and 50,000 shekels to ten winners in the month of December, at the rate of 5,000 shekels for each. winner.


During this campaign, which continues throughout the year, the Housing Bank will announce through various advertising means, its website and social media platforms the winners of its distinguished prizes.


The Housing Bank allows existing and new customers wishing to participate in this campaign to open savings accounts in any of the bank's branches spread across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and allows customers who have existing accounts with the bank to transfer from their other accounts to their own savings account through the "ISKAN" mobile application. Mobile" or "Iskan Online".

OPINIONS

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

Jerusalem declares its disobedience...


Written by: Younis Al-Amouri


It is the city of sorrows, the mother of cities, and the gate of ascension towards the sky since it was, and it was obsessed with its history, and it had to gather in its folds the contradictions of man and the struggle of the poles of evil with the humanity of action for life. Humanity and quarantine through a scheme to erase its history and existence Al-Qahtani, as it has been an Adnan affiliation since it was.


In Jerusalem, and those in Jerusalem today get lost in a sea of questions about fate in light of the intensification of the Hebrew onslaught, and tents multiply on the margins of its hillocks, and the question remains unanswered about fate in light of wandering and loss. The apostate from the walls of the times of apostasy gets lost in the noise of speech….


Between condemnation and condemnation, denunciation and denunciation, and everyone competes with eloquent words to act out the threat, and everyone sings about his night, and the night of Jerusalem is black this time, and a child tries to roar in my old dialogues to practice his self-act in the sheen of wandering and confusion... As is the carnival of death, Al-Maqdisi dances sarcastically over scenes of rape Mother of cities….


And the cities of Canaan respond to the call as much as they can, the way of the masters of the tribes and the princes of determination, linkage and dissolution at the defining moment of issuing the decision issued by the Sublime Porte, in an attempt to thwart the huge noise around, which will inevitably be subject to detailed calculations and measures of profit and loss accounts between the princes of the current reality, as it is All things are subject to the logic of satisfaction and compromise between the players and the Joker, the game has become known and exposed.


In Jerusalem there is another story whose heroes are different and the action in it is different, and the master of the situation in it is heavily armed and in the fiercest forms of hatred against its Arabism, its people and its stone. With all expressions of affirmation and emphasis on the absolute right to the capital of Palestine.


Jerusalem is undoubtedly outside the context, and outside the action programmed by everyone who claims to sit on the throne of the national movement in all its aspects, and to preserve the Jerusalemite identity requires Jerusalemites to work with determination to remain Jerusalemites despite everything that would create impossible conditions for living, so what was The occupation authorities turned a blind eye to the cancerous growth of a neighborhood theoretically called Jerusalem in the form of cement forests that formed random enclaves out of control. It is absurd and random. Jerusalemites live in its dialogues, trying to live if that was possible. Shuafat, Anata and the neighborhood camps, and those names have become Ras Shehadeh and Ras Khamis and Kufr after the temporary safe haven, so that Al-Maqdisi will remain Al-Maqdisi, even for a while.


Jerusalem has speech, and the practice of speech has its origins and has its perceptions and starting points, and every word or point and even the cessation of permissible speech is literal and committed, serving those who want to cross to other places, or achieve a desire to prevail and become a vocal phenomenon and a contractor among the contractors of rhetorical festivals, and from He does not know, let him know that there are many who know where the shoulder is eaten from and how to eat it...


Killings, beatings, demolitions, and fear infiltrate against our will the streets of Jerusalem, which have become a hotbed of ghosts, arrests and raids on institutions that try to speak the language of antiquity, besieging homes and terrorizing the safe house in the Al-Bustan neighborhood next to the temples of God. And the loudspeaker and Beit Hanina... And arrests at dawn, and chasing those who pray at the demolition stones, and the temple has become empty of shepherds, and infidelity has become dominant in the public scene...


And the heavily armed has become the one who controls the state of love today in all places, and we no longer distinguish much between Judas in the streets of Jerusalem and that infiltrating the dreams of virgins in the house... Everything became permissible and there were no longer taboos, so after the scene became natural, the blood spilled is one, and the demolished house is also one. The state of displacement is the same, and betrayal has become a point of view, and it contains a lot of rhetoric. It is possible to resist the resister, and it is possible to meet the murderer. What is the difference then..??


Meeting and begging from the poor of the country to return to reason, practice dialogue and resolve differences, and there is no life for whom you call if you call alive, and madness has become an adjective adjacent to the practice of good governance, and intimidation and threat have become the act accompanying the masters of the new era who are now sitting in the capital of a million martyrs in an attempt by them as they claim to be They will reconcile, and reconciliation here is related to buying and selling trade....


And in Jerusalem, those in Jerusalem are trying to exercise their steadfastness on a land that is said to be holy and sanctified, and its sanctity has affected all other aspects, and there is no sanctity today for anything. The occupation, and the master of the resistance, proves that it is the most capable of establishing a truce and appeasement with the other through the equation of conflict, and it cannot accept to practice the art of truce with those who are supposed to be the partner in the homeland, if we accept the formula of the homeland and the citizen, the plurality of understanding, the eloquent speech, the practice of thought and freedom of expression….


Jerusalem was on a date, and every day it has many appointments with the agenda of the silent, soft, rolling aggression to impose a fait accompli, and the camera is the master of positions, the maker of paper heroes.


They came at night and screamed and unleashed dogs that knew the language of verbal speech and the practice of the same act, and they proceeded with the actual contracting process for the real demolition of a house that housed those who house beauties and men who could have been in the arms of those they love, and of a child who might be dreaming of a butterfly landing on the window of his room and flaunting its colors... and what was there Distinguished gentlemen, however, they expressed their deep regret and anger at the demolition of the house in the heart of Jerusalem, considering that the demolition and settlement operations in Jerusalem destroy peace, and may destroy the calm and truce that we are keen on with eyelashes, and constitute a violation of the settlement and peace-making conferences, and they called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop this Condemned provocative policies, which impede reaching any peaceful settlement agreement and may impede the extension of the armistice and calm, and God spares the believers the evil of fighting, and the demolition, gentlemen and honorable ones, continues in all parts of the city, and the sit-in tents have become normal in the Jerusalemite scene, one in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and the other in Silwan And the third is in Shuafat, and the fourth is in the Mount of Olives.

In these tents, the lovers of the house gather and sit in them to express their rejection of these policies... The sit-in may move to all the neighborhoods of Jerusalem, so that the scene becomes normal.... Victims know each other and act in broad daylight...


There is no doubt that Jerusalem, in my opinion, has a lot of words, and the word Jerusalem has become a necessity these days, and its saying cannot be correct without a loud cry that shakes the corners of the globe through the actions of the people of Jerusalem themselves... Do not count on the leaders of the regime and the regimes, as support will not come to you, as the roads are closed and only you will speak your name, and it will not be You have a platform other than your sit-in tents... and the bulldozers will not stop demolishing.... Declare your disobedience and begin to protect your sleeping quarters. Declare your revolution against the injustice of your relatives first…. Speak the words of Jerusalem, openly and clearly, and begin an act of disobedience that would stop the massacre of expulsion and transfer from Jerusalem, and let the year be a year of civil disobedience in Jerusalem and in all directions.

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

The call to prayer in Turkey... a religious aspect that combines art and politics

Edirne - (AFP) - On a summer day, five muezzins compete inside the old mosque, whose construction was completed in 1414, in the Turkish city of Edirne, to reach the finals of a competition for the best muezzin, in a country where the call to prayer sometimes takes on a political dimension.


One of the competitors, dressed in black and wearing a white turban, approaches the radio and slowly pronounces the takbeer while placing his hands on his ears while fixing his elbows to perform the prayer in the historic mosque.


The jury members take notes while sitting in front of the nominees. From the center of the mosque, Mufti Altin Bozkurt, who represents the highest religious authority in the region, announces after about an hour the name of the muezzin who performed the best.


The winner, Abdullah Omar Erdogan, 25, told AFP, "I started performing the call to prayer when I was ten years old, during summer lessons that were offered by the mosque," indicating that he paid attention to the health of his vocal cords by not exposure to cold, drinking lukewarm water, and avoiding some sleeping positions. .


And if he manages to win the next stage of the competition to be organized at the end of July, the young muezzin who wears an orthodontic device and enjoys a trimmed beard will participate in the awaited national competition on August 17, which dedicates the most beautiful voice of a muezzin among the hundreds who participated in the competitions. Across the country it has been launched since the beginning of June.


In April, two Turkish muezzins, one of whom was praying in the ancient city of Edirne, won the first and second places in a similar competition broadcast on television and organized in Saudi Arabia with the participation of muezzins from 80 countries.


In a video clip posted by the winner the day after the announcement of the results of the competition, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears congratulating the winner, telling him, "May God protect you."


Since he came to power in 2003, initially as prime minister, some 15,000 new mosques have been built across Turkey, one of which is in Istanbul's famous Taksim Square, a symbol of secular Turkey and where unprecedented anti-government protests took place in 2013.


Erdogan, who also built the largest mosque in Turkey on the Chamliga hill in Istanbul, and converted the former Hagia Sophia church into a mosque in 2020, gave prayer a prominent political dimension.


On the night of July 16, 2016, in which an attempted coup against power took place, imams and muezzins from about 90,000 mosques in Turkey, through the minarets' loudspeakers, urged faithful Muslims to repel the putschists, in a move that followed an appearance by the Turkish president via the "FaceTime" application.

And the Mufti of Edirne says, "We realized that night the power of the call to prayer. Thanks to it, we called the people to take to the streets and saved the country" from the coup attempt.


Erdogan, who will seek re-election as president in June 2023, accuses his opponents of wanting to silence the mosques . He said on several occasions, "They will not be able to silence the call to prayer!", although this step did not appear in any of the political parties' programs.


In Turkey, which has an overwhelmingly Muslim population and a secular regime, the politicization of the call to prayer has made it irritating to some.


Erol Koemen, a postdoctoral student in folk musicology at the University of Chicago, points to "a widespread feeling among secularists that the volume of the call to prayer has increased since the coup attempt, as part of the current authority's attempts to change public spaces."


The researcher, who prepared a study on the role of the call to prayer in repelling the failed coup attempt in 2016, adds that these attempts "led to an increasing rejection of the call to prayer (among secular circles)."


Since 2017, the powerful Directorate of Religious Affairs has required mosques “not to exceed the level of eighty decibels” during the broadcast of the call to prayer, a number that some Turks consider too high, while others assert that mosques do not respect it.


And after the order directed by the Saudi government last year to mosques to reduce the size of the loudspeakers in them to a third of their maximum capacity, under the pretext of their impact on the health of children and the elderly, voices were raised in Turkey calling for their country to follow the example of the Kingdom.


Inside the old Edirne Mosque, Mufti Altyn Bozkurt expresses his dissatisfaction with the will of some to silence the mosques and stresses that "the call to prayer is a legal right!"


"Muslims should be able to hear the call to prayer, just as Christians can easily hear the sound of their church bells," he added.

ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

Four people were killed in a helicopter crash in Kazakhstan

(AFP) Four employees of Kazakhstan 's Ministry of Emergency Situations died Thursday in a helicopter crash, authorities said in the Central Asian country.


A spokesman for the Ministry of Emergency Situations told AFP that the crash of the "Mi8" helicopter, which dates back to the Soviet era, occurred not far from the village of Chapurino in the western (northwest) Kazakhstan region, ten kilometers from the Russian border.


The same source added, "There were six people in the helicopter, five of whom were crew members and a representative of Kaztransoil," which is an official oil transport company, pointing out that the four dead were employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.


The Mi8 helicopter is usually used to transport passengers and equipment to isolated places or to remote, sparsely populated areas.


The accident occurred while the helicopter was flying over an oil pipeline, according to the source.


Kazakhstan is the first economy in Central Asia, with an area five times the size of France and rich in hydrocarbons.


Helicopter and small plane accidents are common in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

Jaffa: a protest against eviction and displacement

Jaffa - "Jerusalem" dot com - Today, Friday, our people in the city of Jaffa, within the 48 territories, organized a protest stand against the decision to displace 1,400 people from Palestinian families in the city.


The participants in the vigil, which was called for by the Palestinian political and civil forces in Jaffa, raised slogans denouncing the Israeli decision to "absentee property" to expel the Palestinian residents, stressing that uprooting and Judaization is nothing but a time bomb to evacuate the city from the Palestinians.


And I call on all our people within the 48 lands to show solidarity with them, and to participate in vigils, to confront displacement and deportation.


Our correspondent reported that the people of Jaffa organize a weekly stand to mobilize and win public opinion against the Israeli decision.


The demonstrators, who own homes threatened with eviction, expressed their fear of a recurrence of the 1948 catastrophe.


One of the house owners told "Wafa": "We will stay in our homes, and we will not submit to anyone, because they will fail to displace us."


Source: Wafa Agency

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

18 women were killed when a river boat sank during a wedding in Pakistan

Siddiqabad ( Pakistan ) - (AFP) - The Pakistani authorities announced that a boat carrying 100 people from the same family who were heading to a wedding party sank in the Sindh River on Monday, killing at least 18 women, while dozens of people are still missing. the missing.


Authorities said the boat sank while it was transporting family members as part of a wedding procession from Machka to Kharoor, two villages in Sadiqabad district of Punjab province.


Rana Kashif Mahmood, a spokesman for the Sadiqabad district administration, said that the accident resulted in the drowning of 18 women who were "confirmed dead", while between 25 and 30 people survived after "rescued by residents living on the banks of the river or managed to reach the land by swimming."
He added that rescue teams are continuing to search for the missing.


For his part, policeman Mohamed Hammad told AFP that "the majority of the drowned are women," because "most of the men can swim."


He added, "The death toll is likely to rise."


Rural people in Pakistan often use boats for transportation, especially since they are cheaper than land transportation.
However, the nature of conservative society in Pakistan discourages women from learning to swim.

ECONOMY

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

The closing of Silicon Valley Bank... the largest American bankruptcy

The crisis that hit Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which was shut down by US authorities on Friday, caused panic across the banking sector, with markets questioning the consequences of the biggest bank failure in the US since the 2008 financial crisis.


The bank is no longer able to meet the huge withdrawals made by its customers for their money, and they are especially active in the field of technology, and its attempts to increase capital quickly did not succeed.


On Friday, the US authorities announced that they had closed the “Silicon Valley Bank”, which is close to the technology community, and that it suddenly found itself in a state of insolvency, and that it entrusted the management of deposits to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the United States (FDIC).


On Friday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called several regulators responsible for the financial sector to discuss the situation, stressing that she had "full confidence" in their ability to "take appropriate measures" and that the banking system was "strong and resilient."


The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the United States plans to reopen the bank's 17 branches, which are based in California and Massachusetts, on Monday, and allow customers to withdraw up to $ 250,000 in the short term, which is the amount that is usually guaranteed by the institution.


The Fed stated that the California Financial Protection and Innovation Authority (DFPI) officially took over the bank, citing "insufficient liquidity and insolvency."


At the end of 2022, the bank had assets of $209 billion and deposits of $175.4 billion.


Although little known to the public, Silicon Valley Bank was the 16th largest US bank by assets.
The closure of SVB not only represents the largest bank failure since the closure of Washington Mutual Savings Bank in 2008, but also the second largest retail bank failure in the United States.


In front of the bank's headquarters in Santa Clara on Friday, several customers stood asking how they could withdraw their money. A paper from the DFPI hung on the door stating that they could consider the two of them withdrawing the $250,000.


In the markets, the wave of panic began Thursday after SVB announced that it was seeking to raise capital quickly to cope with the massive withdrawals made by its clients of their funds, in addition to the loss of $ 1.8 billion from the sale of securities.


The announcement surprised investors and revived concerns about the strength of the banking sector as a whole, especially with the rapid rise in interest rates leading to a decline in the value of bonds in their portfolios.


The four largest US banks lost $52 billion on stock exchanges on Thursday, followed by Asian and then European banks.
In Paris, Societe Generale lost 4.49%, BNP Paribas 3.82% and Credit Agricole 2.48%. Elsewhere in Europe, Germany's Deutsche Bank lost 7.35%, Britain's Barclays 4.09% and Swiss UBS 4.53%.


On Wall Street, major banks rebounded on Friday after falling the previous day. Shares of JP Morgan Chase rose 2.3 percent in the middle of trading, while Bank of America and Citigroup approached balance.


On the other hand, local banks such as First Republic and Signature Bank witnessed more strikes, with their shares declining 23% each.


In a note, Christian Parisot of the Oriel BGC brokerage group confirmed that investors "also saw in the bank's difficulties the effect of an inversion of the interest rate curve", that is, when short-term rates are higher than long-term rates.
Banks usually borrow at short-term rates to offer loans at medium or long-term rates.


Another American group faces challenges. The parent company of Silvergate Bank, which operates in cryptocurrencies, announced Wednesday that the institution will be liquidated.


Stephen Innes, an analyst at the "SBI Management" group, said in a note that he wanted to be reassured that the possibility of a "capital or liquidity incident between major banks" is "minimal".


Since the financial crisis of 2008-2009 and the bankruptcy of the American "Lehman Brothers" bank, banks have to provide strong guarantees of the authority to control the national and European markets.


The European Banking Authority is subjecting fifty major banks on the continent to solvency tests.


The results of the last such test at the end of July 2021 revealed that financial institutions are able to withstand a serious economic crisis without serious damage.


For analysts at Morgan Stanley, the “funding pressures facing SVB+ are very special and should not be taken as the norm for other domestic banks”.


"We do not believe that the banking sector is facing a liquidity shortage," they added in a note.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:30 pm - Jerusalem Time

Popular National Congress for Jerusalem: Shuafat camp is a victim of an occupying ideology

Jerusalem - "Jerusalem" dot com - The General Secretariat of the National People's Congress of Jerusalem said that the Israeli siege targeting the residents of Shuafat camp and its neighbourhoods, "Anata, Dahiyat al-Salam, Ras Khamis and Ras Shehadeh", reflects the terrible racist ideological thought of the occupying state, which still sees the Palestinians after 74 years From the Nakba, as a human surplus that must be disposed of, using a false and misleading narration of the world that is complicit with it in the gradual liquidation of the Palestinian people or imposing forced immigration on them under the weight of the harshness of life, so that their choice becomes limited, "either life or death."


The General Secretariat added, in a statement issued yesterday, that when death becomes better than life for the Palestinians as a result of the presence of the military occupation that sheds blood daily, seizes the land and desecrates everything that is sacred, the latter will go to the first option, because life is when dignity and freedom are robbed of it. become untenable.


The General Secretariat confirmed that what is happening in Shuafat camp and targeting more than 130,000 people crowded into a very narrow geographical area of about two square kilometers, is a collective punishment for all societal groups and difficult humanitarian cases, especially the elderly, the sick and infants who need intensive care. What confirms the bloodiness of this occupation, which is devoid of everything that is human and does not understand anything but the language of blood and violence, and that what does not come by force comes with more force, stressing that the occupying state would be mistaken if it believed that the people of the camp would raise the white flag and accept the fait accompli.


The General Secretariat of the National People's Congress of Jerusalem affirmed that the people of Shuafat camp are not alone in the field, as all Jerusalemites stand by their side shoulder to shoulder in this unequal battle. His free will to express his rejection of arbitrariness, violence, persecution and injustice that targets the innocent, the sick, school students and the infirm elderly.


The General Secretariat said that the world is required to take immediate action to save tens of thousands of human lives threatened in the Shuafat camp, which has been under strict siege for several days, under the pretext of searching for the perpetrator of the shooting at the military checkpoint established at the northern entrance to the camp, which is completely illegal. As is the occupation, which has no legitimacy and no coexistence with it, just as "there is no peace or dialogue between the sword and the neck."


The General Secretariat considered that the direct reason for what happened in the Shuafat camp, Nablus, and other Palestinian governorates, is the occupation's persistence in attacking Palestinian blood and national dignity, which would explode the volcano of anger latent in the hearts of people who have been suffering at all levels for decades, despite the "deception." The peace "that Israel is talking about," so what kind of peace is this that allows the killing of children in cold blood, and gives Israel the right to detain more than five thousand Palestinians in its prisons, and in exchange for the blockade and starvation of the people of the Gaza Strip, while Jerusalem is violated daily and without any deterrence or respect for religion or sanctity At a time when a state was established for settlers deep in the West Bank, which confirms that the lie of establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital has been exposed in public.


The General Secretariat concluded its statement by stressing that the Shuafat camp brings back to the Palestinian memory the state of siege that was imposed on all cities, villages and camps in the midst of the Al-Aqsa Intifada and before that at the height of the Great Intifada in 1987. However, on the other hand, there is a very advanced state of solidarity in the Palestinian street, whose message is to the world. She says: "There is no coexistence with the occupation, and our struggle is a legitimate right until we achieve our freedom and independence."

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

Thai police rescue a woman who was stuck in the bathroom for three days

BANGKOK - (AFP) - Thai police have rescued a woman residing in the capital, Bangkok, who was stuck for three days in the bathroom of her home, by removing the door, the authorities announced Friday.


The 54-year-old woman survived by drinking tap water.


Police said the woman feared for her life so much that she wrote her will on the walls of the cramped bathroom using cosmetics.


The victim was trapped on Monday evening in the bathroom of her home, where she lives alone, and it is possible that a panic attack contributed to the broken doorknob.


On Thursday, her sister reported to the police station in Bangkok's Phra Khanong district that she had lost contact with her.


"Her sister could not contact her for three days, so she asked the police for help to go see (the victim) as the front doors were locked from the inside," Phra Khanong Police Captain Chanchai Sunsiang told AFP.


The police captain pointed out that the victim is in fairly good condition and did not have to go to the hospital for check-ups.

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

16 million birds have been killed in France due to bird flu

Paris - (AFP) - The French Ministry of Agriculture said Monday that since the start of the bird flu epidemic in November, 16 million domestic birds have been slaughtered in France, a record number.


However, the ministry indicated that "the peak of the epidemic at the end of March has been passed, and the speed of its spread has slowed down."


Since the first case was recorded in northern France at the end of November, more than 1,300 farms have been infected with the virus, especially in the Vendée, western France, and in the neighboring departments, where the authorities emptied farms by slaughtering large numbers of infected, but also uninfected birds as a precautionary measure. .


The crises associated with avian influenza remain generally confined to southwestern France, particularly to duck farms dedicated to the production of foie gras.
Last year, nearly 500 outbreaks were recorded on farms and 3.5 million birds, mostly ducks, were slaughtered.


Avian influenza is a seasonal disease transmitted by migratory birds from Asia. It usually appears in October in Europe and lasts until April.
But for the first time, wild birds brought the disease to farms this year as they migrated from countries in the south, leading to a second wave coming to an end.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

Pictures || "The Hunter and the Dragon"... a graduate despite his captivity!

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - Today, Friday, the prisoner Zakaria Al-Zubaidi became a university graduate with a master's degree from Birzeit University , after he had participated in the Contemporary Arab Studies Program.


Al-Zubaidi applied on September 17, 2018, to register himself for the program, but he was arrested on February 28, 2019, and at that time he submitted his letter, which he called "The Hunter and the Dragon."


Al-Zubaidi's letter talks about persecution in the Palestinian experience from 1968-2018, and he finished the letter before his arrest, but he was unable to discuss it.



Today, Friday, Al-Zubaidi was announced as a new university graduate, during a ceremony at Birzeit University, where his family attended the ceremony, uploaded his photos, and obtained a graduation certificate.



Tomorrow, Saturday morning, a discussion of Zubaidi's master's thesis project will be held in the Nassib Aziz Shaheen Theater, which is the main theater of Birzeit University and its largest hall.


He did not announce the details of the discussion of the letter, and its method in light of the arrest of the prisoner Al-Zubaidi, but it is likely that it will be presented by the supervisors of the university professors and given to him officially with the continuation of his detention.



Al-Zubaidi, a resident of the Jenin camp. He is one of the fighters who have been persecuted for years by the occupation and escaped assassination several times. He is a member of the Revolutionary Council of the "Fatah" movement. His brother Taha was martyred during the invasion of Jenin camp in 2002, and his mother was martyred later in the same invasion. His brother Dawood recently joined the convoy of martyrs, and his brother "Yahya" was arrested for 17 years before he was released.


Al-Zubaidi is one of the heroes of the "Freedom Tunnel", through which 6 prisoners were deprived of their freedom from inside Gilboa prison in September 2021.

SPORT

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

Professional League: “Al-Ammari” surprises “Al-Dhahiriya” and “Al-Ahly Al-Khalil” imposes a tie on “Balata”

“Shabab Al-Amari” achieved a surprising victory over “Shabab Al-Dhahiriya” with a goal without a response, in the match that brought them together, on Saturday evening, at the Martyr Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium in the town of Al-Ram, north of occupied Jerusalem, at the end of the matches of the nineteenth week of the Professional Football League .

With this loss, Al-Dhaheriya's chances of competing for the title diminished, after its score froze at 39 points in fourth place, 7 points ahead of the top poles, "Jabal Al-Mukaber" and "Hilal Al-Quds", three rounds before the end of the league. On the other hand, “Al-Amari” raised its score to 14 points, in tenth place.

The winning goal came to Al-Amari in the first minute of calculated time, instead of lost from Omar in the first half, through Yahya Selim.

And at the Houari Boumediene Stadium in the town of Dora, south of Hebron, “Ahly Al-Khalil” imposed a tie on “Balata Center” 3-3, after it was late in the score 1-3.

Muhammad Al-Badawi opened the scoring for Al-Ahly in the sixth minute, and Adel Kamel Qaraan equalized the score for Balata in the 19th minute, and Abdel Rahman Weshah added the second goal for Balata in the 32nd minute, before Ahmed Al-Issawi scored the third goal in the 34th minute, to end the first half with Balata advancing by three goals against. Goal.

In the second half, Kamel Agrab scored for Al-Ahly in the 66th minute, and Ali Youssef Issa succeeded in equalizing from a penalty kick in the 79th minute.

The “Balata Center” raised its score to 32 points in fifth place, and “Al-Ahly Al-Khalil” raised its score to 14 points, dropping it to eleventh place, with a goal difference from “Al-Amari”.

And at Al-Khader Stadium, south of Bethlehem, “Taraji Wadi Al-Nuss” tied with “Tulkarem Cultural” with two goals for the same.

Al-Thaqafi advanced with a goal that Ashraf Noman scored by mistake against his team in the eighth minute, before Noman equalized in the 26th minute from a penalty kick, and Abdul Karim Abu Shanab restored the lead for Al-Thaqafi by scoring the second goal in the 47th minute. A penalty kick in the 72nd minute, and the match ended in a positive draw. The match witnessed the expulsion of the "Tulkarem Cultural" player, Alaa Badran, in the first minute of stoppage time.

"Tulkarem Cultural" raised its score to 24 points in sixth place, and "Taraji Wadi Al-Niss" raised its score to 23 points in seventh place.

Three rounds before the end of the league, the competition for the title was limited to "Jabal Al-Mukabber" and "Hilal Al-Quds", who share the lead with 46 points, with Al-Makbar having the advantage in direct confrontations, as it defeated Al-Hilal back and forth.

In the remaining rounds, "Jabal Al-Mukaber" will meet "Al-Bireh Foundation", "Tarji Wadi Al-Niss" and "Shabab Al-Am'ari", while "Hilal Al-Quds" will face each of "Shabab Al-Dhahiriya", "Tulkarem Thaqafi" and "Shabab Al-Samou'". .

The competition is also raging to escape from the relegation zone between “Al-Ahly Al-Khalil”, “Shabab Al-Amari” and “Shabab Al-Samou’” after it was confirmed that “Islamic Qalqilya” was relegated to the First Division.

The "Hilal Al-Quds" striker is unique in the top scorer ranking with 17 goals, seven goals ahead of his closest competitors, "Al-Samou" striker Laith Kharroub and "Shabab Al-Dhahiriya" striker Ali Adawi.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

Injuries among the players and the public as a result of the occupation targeting Al-Khader stadium with gas bombs

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - A number of players from the Shabab Al-Khader and Islamic Bethlehem teams, born in 2007, and the audience, suffocated, as the occupation forces fired tear gas canisters towards Al-Khader Stadium , south of Bethlehem.


Local sources said that the occupation forces stormed the stadium, which is located in the vicinity of schools in the Old City, and fired gas bombs at the stands and the stadium floor during an age-group league match that brought together Al-Khader youth and Islamic Bethlehem, which led to the suffocation of a number of players and the audience.


It is noteworthy that this attack is not the first of its kind, but was repeated previously during matches and training for different teams.



ARAB AND WORLD

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

Moscow condemns "Ukrainian nationalism" in a row over borscht

Moscow - (AFP) - The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned the announcement by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that the cultural heritage associated with Ukrainian borscht is in danger, and mocked this position, which was seen as a victory for Kiev at the height of its armed conflict with Moscow.


On Friday, UNESCO included the culture associated with Ukrainian borsch soup on its list of intangible cultural heritage at risk, in the context of the consequences of the war in Ukraine that threatens the "continuation" of the traditions surrounding this famous dish.


"The existence of this soup ... is not in danger in itself, but the human and living heritage associated with borscht is in direct danger due to the serious disruption of the population's ability to practice and transmit their intangible cultural heritage," said Pier Luigi Petrillo, Rapporteur of the Committee for the Evaluation of the Ukrainian File in the organization. armed conflict, in particular due to the forced displacement of communities.


It decided that "for all these factors, it is necessary to take urgent action to protect this element within the framework of the very urgent procedure."


Ukraine submitted a request in mid-April to have the culture of this soup included in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Danger, arguing that the February 24 invasion of the country by Russia and the resulting months of bombing threatened the "viability" of this dish and all the traditions surrounding it. .


Ukraine's Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko welcomed UNESCO's declaration, saying that "victory is ours in the Porsche War". He wrote on his Telegram account that Ukraine "will win the Porsche war and this war," referring to the conflict with Russia.


He noted that Ukraine will share the recipe for this beetroot soup with all civilized countries, "and even with uncivilized countries too, so that they have at least something light, tasty and Ukrainian."


The Ukrainian initiative caused inconvenience in Russia, where this dish is also prepared, despite Kiev's objection that Moscow attribute the dish to it.


"If there is a need to explain to the world from the point of view of gastronomic dishes what modern nationalism is in Kiev's eyes, I would like to mention this fact: chickpeas and peppered rice are recognized as national dishes in several countries. But as I understand it," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram. Ukrainianization seems to apply to everything. "What next? Will pigs be recognized as a national product of Ukraine?" she asked.


It is noteworthy that borscht is an old recipe for soup made from beetroot and meat, and is usually served with cream or garlic bread.

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

Hospitals in northern Germany are facing an acute shortage of workers due to Corona injuries among their staff

Kiel (dpa) - Hospitals in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein are facing an acute shortage of workers due to coronavirus infections among their staff, the head of a local hospital told the dpa news agency today, Monday.


The northernmost state in Germany hosted the Kiel Week, which has been described as one of the world's largest sailing regattas, in late June.


Patrik Raymond, managing director of the Schleswig-Holstein Hospital Association, said the numbers of patients across the state could be assessed as "attractive or catastrophic", noting that emergency rooms in particular were disproportionately overburdened.


Raymond stated that one of the main factors for the spread of Corona in the state was most likely the "Kale Week", which took place from 18 to 26 June.


Last week, the state's University Medical Center announced that it would temporarily close some wards with its 479 employees in quarantine, starting last Friday.


"The situation has of course worsened since then...we had a very stressful weekend," said center spokesman Oliver Griffe, adding that the center will seek compensation for lost income after having to postpone or suspend scheduled treatments.

OPINIONS

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

The moons of Palestine are offerings on the road to freedom and liberation

بقلم:الأسير قتيبه مسلم
عميد أسرى حركة فتح - محافظة نابلس
في صراع مستمر منذ حوالي خمسة وسبعين عاماً ما بين ذاكرة إستعمارية كولونيالية صهيونية تفريغية إحلاليه استيطانية مارست التهويد التدريجي للزمان والمكان الفلسطيني عبر مشروعها العنصري الذي انطلق منذ مؤتمر بازل عام 1897 ووضع البرنامج الصهيوني المعروف ببرنامج (بازل) وأسس المنظمة الصهيونية العالمية لتنفيذ هذا المشروع الصهيوني والذي يركز على أن هدف الصهيونية هو إقامة وطن قومي لليهود في فلسطين ومروراً بوعد بلفور المشؤوم عام 1917 وقرار صك الانتداب على فلسطين الذي أعطى شرعية قانونية إضافية لوعد بلفور وصولاً إلى قرار التقسيم عام 1947 الذي قسم أرض فلسطين الصادر عن هيئة الأمم المتحدة والذي قسم أرضنا دون أي وجه حق ليثبت ميدانياً حقاً لا شرعياً لحركة إستعمارية استيطانية صهيونية فرضت لاحقاً بالقوة والعنف والمجازر والتطهير العرقي جزء من خطتها التهويدية لإقامة دولة إسرائيل على حساب الحق الفلسطيني الأصلاني إنسانياً وتاريخياً وجغرافياً.
ووقفت الذاكرة الأصلانية الفلسطينية رغم النتائج المأساوية لنكبة عام 1948 والتي تجسد التتويج السياسي العسكري الميداني لقرار التقسيم بكل بسالة ووعي و رسوخ أمام كل محاولات الهيمنة والشطب والالغاء والسيطرة والاقتلاع لأي مظهر فلسطيني.
وفي اليوم العالمي للتضامن مع الشعب الفلسطيني الذي وُضع رداً على قرار التقسيم بعد هذه السنوات الطوال النازفة دماً ومعاناة وشهداء ومنافي وشتات لا زالت الذاكرة الوطنية الفلسطينية تقاتل ببسالة على كل الجبهات رغم الانحياز العالمي للغة المصالح والتحالفات ومدرسة الاستعمار والهيمنة الكولونيالية ورفض رؤية الواقع الكارثي للشعب الفلسطيني وحجم التجاوزات الاستعمارية الإسرائيلية ضد وجود شعبنا وحقوقنا وهويتنا ومطالبنا العادلة.
ومع تكرار المشهد السنوي للتضامن مع الشعب الفلسطيني في موسمية المناشدات للآذان العالمية التي لا تسمع ولن تسمع صدى معاناتنا ونزيف دمنا وجراحنا ومأساتنا المتكررة بالمجازر والطرد والتهجير والعنف والإعدامات الميدانية وكأننا نعيش كشعب فلسطيني في كوكب آخر وعالم مختلف لا يخضع سوى لقانون الفاشية الاستعمارية الصهيونية يعتلي هذا المشهد أقمار عظماء كواكب طلابية تنير عتمة ليلنا وصمتنا وعجزنا وبياناتنا الهزيلة ترتفع إلى عنان الشمس يفظة تنيروجه وطننا فلسطين مكتوب عليها أقمار فلسطين جواد وظافر الريماوي ومحمد إخليل ويلحق بهم رائد غازي النعسان .
سلام إلى وطن عشقناه حد الشهادة ..سلام إلى أرضك يا فلسطين ها قد صدقنا الوعد وعهد الحضور الحاشد ويسطع النور وتزداد الأقمار علواً لكن صورة جواد وظافر الريماوي تستصرخ حركتنا الطلابية وشبيبتنا في الجامعات أن هبوا أن هبوا أن تحركوا لا تقفوا صامتين الجواد لا يكبوا ويصر أن يبقى فوق مساحات التشرذم والانقسام والظافر حامل لواء الظافر بيبرس يعيد لفعل الأخوة معنى البطولة والتضحية ومن قلعة المغير يأتي حجر الذين ما تركوا بيدر الثورة يوماً رائد غازي النعسان ليقدموا لكل التائهين في نفق الضعف والصمت واللاقرار الانبعاث والتوحد وإعادة التكوين والانطلاق والثورة.
فسياسة القتل والاعدام التي ستزداد وحشية وإتساعاً وتعبر عن مشروع يميني قومي ديني متطرف وتبدأ بأقمار عظماء مثل جواد وظافر الريماوي ومحمد إخليل ورائد غازي النعسان وفي يوم يشهد منذ خمسة وسبعين عاماً على عجز العالم وخذلانه لنا وعدم تضامنه الحقيقي مع قضيتنا وجرحنا ونزيف دمنا علينا أن نخرج من قبورنا وأكفان خطاباتنا التي لا تصل إلى أي آذان لنعانق بحرارة ووفاء وكفاح الصاعدون إلى درب الخلاص ونلفظ حزبيتنا المريضة وخيمنا العاجزة عن صد الهجوم باسم التنظيمات ولنعيد التألق بفعل ضوء الأقمار للحجر الفلسطيني والمظاهرة الفلسطينية والاشتباك الفلسطيني الوطني الموحد مع هذا التوجه العنصري الصهيوني تحت إطار عنوان شرعيتنا الفلسطيني الواحد الموحد الذي يجب أن يتحرك بعجلاتٍ جديدة لا تمس جوهره الكفاحي م. منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية.
صلاة الأقمار لم تنته بعد وقد سكنتم يا أقمارنا الأعزاء كل شريان من دمنا ونحن خلف ألف حصار وحصار لكننا لا نموت فنحن شعبٌ لا نموت لا نموت إلا واقفين وصاعدين نحو الشهادة ويا أخي ونصفي المتوهج دماً وحزناً و جرحاً هناك في النقب الصحراوي ظافر الكبير الريماوي لن يكون هذا آخر الرحيل لن تكون هذه آخر الأحزان ولن تكون هذه آخر نقطة دم ولن يكون هذا آخر الوداع لكن روح جواد وظافر الريماوي وكل الشهداء الأحرار ستصنع ميلاداً جديداً وبدايةً جديدة لمواجهةٍ جديدة وصعودٍ من جديد لأقمار لا يستسلمون.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

Al-Nakhala meets with the Iranian Foreign Minister in Beirut

Beirut - "Al Quds" dot com - Secretary General of the Islamic Jihad Movement, Ziyad al-Nakhala , met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Abdallahian in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.


Al-Nakhala gave the Iranian minister an explanation of the latest developments in the Palestinian arena, stressing that resistance is the only option for the Palestinian people to achieve their rights and expel the occupiers. It also came from the Jihad movement.


While Allahian stressed that Tehran will continue its support for the Palestinian cause.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

Suffocation injuries during clashes west of Bethlehem

Bethlehem - "Jerusalem" dot com - On Sunday evening, a number of citizens suffocated during clashes with the Israeli occupation forces, west of Bethlehem.


According to local sources, the clashes broke out in the "Al-Matina" area at the eastern entrance to the village of Husan, during which the occupation forces fired rubber-coated metal bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas, which led to the suffocation of a number of citizens, who were treated in the field.

PALESTINE

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

"Education" opens the door for registration to license new university service offices

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - The Ministry of Higher Education announced today, Tuesday, the start of receiving applications for registration and licensing of new university services offices and branches of existing offices, in order to provide the service to students wishing to study in institutes and institutions of higher education abroad.


In a statement, the Ministry called on those wishing to open new offices or branches to go to the General Administration for Scholarships and Student Services in the Ministry "Al-Masyoun", or the offices of higher education in the Nablus and Hebron governorates, to obtain the application and the required papers, provided that it is submitted to the General Administration supported by all documents on time. no later than Thursday 1/31/2023, noting that submitting the application does not mean acceptance and approval of the license.


And it warned all owners of closed offices and unlicensed persons and entities against engaging in any activity related to providing the service or obtaining admissions or study seats for students, explaining that it would have to refer the violators to the competent authorities to take the necessary legal measures against them.


The Ministry directed parents and students wishing to study abroad at their own expense to beware of dealing with unlicensed university services offices and people working in this field through illegal means, so that they are not exposed to fraud.


She pointed out that it is possible to view the list of offices approved by the Ministry through the link www.mohe.pna.ps/services/licensedoffices or contact the General Administration for Grants and Student Services through the number 02-2982603.

Wed 15 Mar 2023 9:29 pm - Jerusalem Time

Iran arrests two film directors for "disturbing public order"

Tehran (AFP) - Iranian authorities arrested two film directors on Friday for "disturbing public order" for encouraging protests after a building collapse in the southwest of the country killed dozens in May, according to the Iranian news agency (IRNA).


The agency stated that award-winning director Muhammad Rasoulof and his colleague Mustafa al-Ahmad "encouraged the demonstrations and disturbed public order and public safety, while the city of Abadan was witnessing a terrible tragedy," after a building collapse on May 23, which killed 43 people.


The Metropole building, which was under construction in Abadan, one of the main cities in Khuzestan province in the southwest of the country, partially collapsed into a busy street.


The disaster, one of the deadliest in years in Iran, sparked a series of demonstrations across the country in solidarity with the families of the victims and against authorities accused of corruption and incompetence.


The demonstrators demanded the trial and punishment of the "incompetent officials" who caused the tragedy. During the protests, Iranian police used tear gas, fired warning shots and made a series of arrests.


A group of Iranian filmmakers led by Rasoulof published an open letter in late May calling on security forces to "lay down their arms" in the face of anger at "corruption, theft, incompetence, and oppression."


Muhammad Rasoulof, 50, won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2020 for his movie “The Devil Does Not Exist”, but he was unable to go to Germany after Tehran confiscated his passport following his previous feature film in 2017 entitled “An Honest Man”, which was shown in Cannes Film Festival and won a prize in the "What Look" category.