Moscow (AFP) - Imprisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny will appeal Tuesday against a nine-year prison sentence handed down in March on charges he and his opponents say are politically motivated.

The session comes at a time when the Russian authorities seek to silence the voices of the remaining opposition and with Moscow continuing its military campaign in its neighbor Ukraine, which has led to the deaths of thousands of people and the displacement of nearly ten million.

In late March, a court increased the prison sentence of a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin to nine years, after convicting him of embezzlement and insulting the court in previous sessions.

Navalny is currently serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence in a prison 100 kilometers east of Moscow for violating the terms of his release in a previous fraud case dating back to 2014.

On Tuesday, he will appeal the harsher prison sentence, and will attend the session in a Moscow court via video call from his prison.

If the court upholds the decision, the 45-year-old dissident will be transferred to a prison complex subject to a stricter regime than in complexes such as the one in which he is currently being held.

The nine-year prison sentence against Navalny cancels the two-and-a-half-year sentence he is serving and replaces it, which means that Navalny will remain behind bars for another eight years.

In the latest case, investigators accuse Navalny of embezzling millions of dollars in donations to his political organizations for personal purposes.

Navalny's name has emerged as an anti-corruption blogger, and before his imprisonment, anti-government demonstrations took place across Russia.
In 2018, he campaigned to run for president but was ultimately barred from running in the race in which Putin secured a fourth term.
In his absence, his team continues to publish investigations into the fortunes of Russian elites. Millions watched these investigations on YouTube.
In August 2020, he survived poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent, which was developed in the Soviet era. Navalny holds the Kremlin responsible for that process.
He was arrested last year upon his return to the country from Germany, where he spent a period of convalescence, which sparked a storm of criticism in the West and caused the imposition of sanctions on Moscow.
In June 2021, the most prominent opposition organizations were classified as "extremist" by the judiciary, in a decision that led to their closure and the launch of judicial prosecutions against a number of their activists. Many of them are now in exile to avoid prosecution. Others have been arrested and face severe prison sentences.
Russia has recently stepped up pressure on independent media and non-governmental organizations, declaring many of them "foreign agents," while other organizations have stopped working for fear of prosecution.
In an effort to strengthen its control over publicly available information at home, the authorities have banned well-known social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and have initiated legal proceedings against the giant technology group Meta, which it accuses of publishing "calls to kill" Russians.

Istanbul - (dpa) - Members of the Turkish opposition said today, Thursday, that they will file charges against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for describing the participants in anti-government protests in 2013 as "idiots."

Politicians from the opposition Republican People's Party and women's rights organizations, among others, have filed criminal charges against Erdogan. They announced the move on Twitter.

CHP leader Kemal Kilicdar on Twitter advised Erdogan to keep his mouth shut in the future, receiving support for this statement from the famous Turkish pianist Fadil Say. The famous writer Elif Shafak also expressed her outrage on Twitter at "this discriminatory language".

Erdogan used the stinger on Wednesday, which coincided with the ninth anniversary of the protests that were brutally dispersed by the government. Many people are serving sentences in Turkish prisons for participating in demonstrations.

Paris - (AFP) - Opposition parties in France coldly received President Emmanuel Macron's speech, which called on them to submit within 48 hours proposals for ways to reach "compromise solutions" to resolve the political crisis that resulted in the legislative elections in the country.

Macron's speech came before he participated in a series of international meetings, from the European summit that will be held Thursday and Friday in Brussels to a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and another of the Group of Seven.

Macron, who lost the absolute majority in the National Assembly after the recent legislative elections, called in a speech on Wednesday evening for the country's political forces to "compromise", but he rejected the idea of a national unity government that he considered "unjustified at present".

Three days after the second round of elections that took place on Sunday, France is witnessing a state of political uncertainty, which forces Macron, who was re-elected in April for a second presidential term, to search for alliances to get out of the crisis resulting from his loss of the absolute majority.

However, Macron did not announce any major step on Wednesday evening, and instead called on the political forces to assume their responsibilities.

The leader of the radical left, Jean-Luc Melenchon, immediately responded to Macron's calls, deeming them "useless", and demanded a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne in the National Assembly, which has greater "legitimacy" than the legitimacy of the president.

He added, "There is no point in dissipating the reality of voting by covering it with considerations and appeals of all kinds," stressing that "the executive authority is now weak, but the National Assembly is strong with all the legitimacy of its recent elections."

Marine Le Pen, who is preparing to take over the leadership of the powerful National Assembly bloc in the National Assembly (89 deputies), said, "By choosing to either conclude an alliance or to search for a majority for each project separately (to be put to a vote in parliament), the president is trying to save what remains of the presidential job."

However, she promised that the deputies of her bloc would study "the texts in the light of the interests of the French and France."

The new leader of the right-wing "Republicans" party, Olivier Marle, refused to grant "a blank check (...) to an unclear project." He also promised that his group would present proposals on purchasing power next week.

Analyzes talked about the possibility of an alliance between Macron, his party "Together" and the Republicans in order to form a majority in Parliament, but this did not crystallize.

Communist Fabien Roussel also rejected Macron's statements, saying that "his talk about the method aims to evade his responsibility and not change anything from his project."

"No, the political formations do not have to answer him how far they are willing to go in giving him a blank check," said the socialist Olivier Four.

In a brief speech addressed to the French on Sunday, the head of state acknowledged the existence of "cracks" revealed by the legislative elections, and called on the political class to "learn to rule and legislate differently."

"We will have to reach compromises," Macron said in his speech, but "we must do it with complete transparency and openly, if I may say so, a desire for unity and work for the nation."

He added, "In order to achieve useful progress, it is now up to the political groups to say with complete transparency how far they are willing to go," noting that "it will be necessary in the coming days for the many formations in the National Assembly to clarify the extent of responsibility and possible cooperation: Do you want to enter into a government coalition?" And work (or) simply oblige to vote on certain texts? Our budget.

He gave these parties 48 hours, indicating that he wants to "start building this method and this new formation" upon his return from the European summit that will be held Thursday and Friday in Brussels.

Macron recalled that the legislative elections "made the presidential majority the first force," stressing that he was determined not to "lose the cohesion of the project that you (the voters) chose last April," referring to his re-election.

"There is no political force today that can make laws on its own," he said, noting that this is "a new reality."

On Wednesday, Macron concluded a broad round table with the opposition forces and his allies, in search of a difficult consensus to end the crisis.

"I hear and I am determined to support the desire for change that the country has clearly expressed," he said in the speech, noting that he "exchanged views with the leaders of all political parties" and "all of them expressed their respect for our institutions and their desire to spare our country any disruption."

His ally and former Prime Minister Edward Philippe, head of the "Orizon" party, called again on Wednesday for the formation of a "big coalition" to give the country a "stable direction".

The liberal centrist coalition, which had the absolute majority in the previous National Assembly and on which President Macron relied throughout his first term of five years, won 245 seats out of 577, knowing that the absolute majority is limited to 289 deputies.

The other seats in the National Assembly were distributed mainly between the coalition of the left (150 seats), the extreme right (89) and the right (61).

Gaza - "Jerusalem" dot com - "Hamas" movement said, on Saturday, that the fierce campaign of incitement led by the Hebrew media against the preacher of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the head of the Supreme Islamic Authority, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri , will not break his resolve, nor will it discourage him from continuing to defend Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa. .

And she added, in a statement to her spokesman for the city of Jerusalem, Muhammad Hamada, that the occupation's desperate attempts to exclude influential national and religious leaders and personalities from Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Square, aims to single them out as part of a comprehensive campaign to complete control over them, and implement the plans of the extremist occupation government to impose temporal and spatial division and prepare for the destruction of Al-Aqsa and the establishment of The alleged "hulk".

Hamada saluted Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, who stood firm and tall in the face of attempts to prevent him from defending Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque over the past years, and he faced a lot of suffering and persecution, despite reaching the age of eighty-four.

The spokesman for "Hamas" held the occupation fully responsible for the repercussions of this barbaric campaign against the sheikh, who will remain an example for the revolutionary generation in clinging to the land and protecting the sanctities.

Doha - (AFP) - The England national team swept its Iranian counterpart 6-2 and achieved its second largest victory in the FIFA World Cup, Monday in the Qatar 2022 World Cup , in a match that "Tim Milli" started with a political message when his players refused to perform the national anthem in solidarity with the protests. bloodshed in the Islamic Republic.

At the opening of the second group competitions, Jude Bellingham (35), Bukayo Saka (43 and 62), Raheem Sterling (45 + 1), Marcus Rashford (71), and Jack Grealish (90) took turns scoring. Mahdi Taremi scored Iran's goals (65 and 90 + 13 from a penalty kick).

With this result, England, fourth in the 2018 World Cup and runner-up in the European Cup, achieved its biggest victory in its opening match in its World Cup history, and it is its second largest victory in the World Cup in general after its victory over Panama (6-1) in the 2018 World Cup.

The match started before the referee's whistle of a political nature, when the 11 players of the Iranian national team refrained from performing the national anthem during its playing, in solidarity with the protests taking place in the Islamic Republic.

Iran has been witnessing protests for nearly two months, following the death of the young woman, Mahsa Amini (22 years), three days after she was arrested by the morality police for not adhering to the strict rules of dress in the Islamic Republic.

With the players' step, the fans cheering for Iran rose in the stadium, while tears appeared on the faces of some.

Four days before the match, the captain of the national team, Ali Reza Jahanbakhsh, had indicated that the issue of whether or not to perform the national anthem was being discussed and that the decision would be taken collectively.

And the Portuguese coach of Iran, Carlos Queiroz, had previously said on Tuesday that his players had the "right to express" their opinions, but with respect for "the spirit of the game and the laws of FIFA... According to these principles and values, everyone has the right to express himself."

From the start, the England national team was the offensive pressure party, and its first opportunity was when captain Harry Kane converted a pass inside the penalty area that posed a great danger, but it passed Sterling without defensive control and Maguire fired it into the outside net (8).

And the Iranian national team received a strong blow when its goalkeeper, Ali Reza Peranand, came out with suspicions of a concussion after colliding with his colleague Majid Hosseini, to ask Queiroz to replace him after he suffered a nosebleed.

Indeed, the Portuguese introduced substitute goalkeeper Hussein Hosseini (20) after the match stopped for about a quarter of an hour.

After two fruitless attempts by Mason Mount (30) and Harry Maguire (32), Bellingham opened the scoring for the English with a beautiful header after a cross from Luke Shaw across the left (35).

With this goal, Bellingham became the second youngest scorer for England in the World Cup (19 years and 145 days), behind Michael Owen in the 1998 World Cup (18 years and 190 days).

And soon England, the 1966 champion, doubled the score with a beautiful goal by Saka, who prepared a header pass from Maguire with his chest and fired it powerfully into the net from the middle of the penalty area (44).

Sterling increased his team's lead with a third goal, after he completed a cross from Kane (45 + 1).

England completed 366 passes in the first half, which is the second highest number of passes in the first half of a World Cup match since 1966, after Spain against Russia in 2018 (395). As for Iran, it completed only 46 passes, which is the lowest since 1966.

Also, thanks to the goals of Bellingham and Saka (21 years old), England recorded two players aged 21 years or younger scoring a goal in one match in the World Cup for the first time in its history.

In the second half, the English yield increased through Saka himself, who fired a ball from inside the penalty area that hit the defense and entered the goal (62).

Tarmi scored a beautiful goal with a powerful shot in the goal after a wonderful pass from Saeed Ezzat Allah (65), but substitute Rashford put out any attempt to rise Iranian a minute after entering by scoring the fifth goal (71).

Substitute Grealish also added a sixth goal in the 90th minute of the match, before the Iranians were able to reduce the score from a penalty kick awarded to them by the match referee after returning to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technique, so Tarmi successfully translated it (90 + 13).

Cairo - (AFP) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued, on Wednesday, a presidential pardon for the prominent Egyptian dissident, Yahya Hussein Al-Hadi, who has been imprisoned for more than three years. A week ago, he was sentenced to four years on charges of spreading false news.

The decision came after the Public Prosecution released, during the last forty-eight hours, 11 political activists, according to the Presidential Pardon Committee, who were in pretrial detention pending cases related to charges of spreading false news and disturbing public peace.

On Twitter, lawyer Tariq Al-Awadi, a member of the Presidential Pardon Committee, which was formed in April to discuss the files of detainees who could be released with an amnesty and includes public figures, announced that "a republican decision was issued to pardon Engineer Yahya Hussein Al-Hadi." Al-Awadi published a picture of Abdul Hadi the moment he was released from prison.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Official Gazette published the amnesty decision for Abd al-Hadi, 67, who was sentenced to 4 years in prison by a misdemeanor court on charges of publishing false news on May 22.

The prominent dissident publicly criticized President Sisi's policies before his arrest, and was previously opposed to the late Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. He was also one of the founders of the "Enough" movement that paved the way during the last five years of Hosni Mubarak's era for the revolution that led to his overthrow in 2011.

His pardon comes in the context of an attempt to ease political tension in light of the major economic crisis that Egypt is going through as a result of the repercussions of the Corona virus, and then the Russian war on Ukraine.

Al-Awadi confirmed in another tweet, after announcing the release of Hussein, that "a number of those held in pretrial detention will be released at ten o'clock tomorrow morning, Thursday."

On April 28, Sisi released, with a presidential pardon, journalist Hossam Moanes, after an exceptional court sentenced him to 4 years in prison last year for publishing false news.

In a statement, Amnesty International said this week, "The fate of thousands of men and women arbitrarily detained should not be in the hands of the Egyptian security services, specifically the National Security Sector and the General Intelligence."

Amna Guellali, Deputy Director of the Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said that she "welcomes" the release of 11 people who had been imprisoned for "political reasons" since 2018.
But she stressed that "previous promises to release prisoners held for political reasons were nothing more than disingenuous attempts to deflect international criticism of Egypt's appalling human rights record."
"To demonstrate the Egyptian authorities' commitment to these promises, they must now immediately and unconditionally release anyone detained solely for exercising their human rights, including politicians, journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders."
She noted that the trials of politicians "continue unabated."
Earlier this week, an Egyptian court sentenced Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, the former Islamist candidate for the presidency in Egypt and a leader in the Brotherhood, Mahmoud Ezzat, to 15 years in prison on charges of spreading false news, a judicial official announced.
The court also issued life sentences to 14 other defendants in the case in which leaders and members of the group were accused in 2018 of "spreading false news and inciting against state institutions."
Human rights organizations estimate the number of political prisoners in Sirr at about sixty thousand, but Al-Sisi constantly denies this.

Mogadishu (AFP) - Two car bombs exploded Saturday in Mogadishu targeting the Ministry of Education, causing "victims" and causing severe damage to surrounding buildings, according to police and witnesses.

"The two simultaneous explosions" occurred on a road parallel to the ministry's headquarters, said Sadiq Dudish, a spokesman for the Somali police, and left "many victims," adding, "We will give more details later."

For his part, the policeman, Ibrahim Muhammad, said that one of the two booby-trapped cars succeeded in entering the ministry's campus, and that was followed by the firing of gunshots.

"A few minutes later, another explosion occurred in the same area," he added.

The witness, Abd al-Rahman Issa, said that a large number of people were present on the road parallel to the ministry building when the first explosion occurred.

Another witness, Aminu Salad, said, "I saw heavy smoke in the vicinity of the ministry and severe damage."

No party has claimed the attack yet, but the Somali authorities usually attribute similar attacks to the extremist Islamic youth movement, which is still carrying out attacks in the capital and major Somali cities.

Moscow (AFP) - Russian woman Marina Ovsyannikova was arrested Wednesday on charges of "defaming" the army, the lawyer of the journalist who became famous after boycotting a news broadcast of a Russian state channel with a poster against the attack in Ukraine announced.

"We are currently with the investigators," lawyer Dmitry Zakvatov told AFP. An investigation has been launched against Ovsyannikova for "disseminating false information" about the Russian army.

He then added that it was "turned off".

Ovsyanikova became famous in mid-March, after appearing during a news broadcast on the pro-Kremlin TV channel where she worked, holding up a banner denouncing the attack on Ukraine and the "propaganda" of the media controlled by the government.

At the end of July, she was fined 50,000 rubles (800 euros).

Ovsyannikova, 44, was convicted at the time because she declared the operation in Ukraine a "crime" while speaking to reporters on July 13 at a hearing regarding imprisoned dissident Ilya Yashin.

Four days later, the journalist was briefly arrested in the Moscow region.

Written by: Walid Al-Hodali

How did the prisoner, Karim Younes, manage to climb these tall mountains? How did he manage its ruggedness and hard rocks? A lonely space of time that thousands of men can bear. Karim carried it alone. How many times did he enter the battle of an open-ended hunger strike? How many of his molars did the prostitution "dentist" remove, how many were left in his mouth, and how much was left under the responsibility of this so-called doctor? How many visits did his family reach the prison gate and then brought them back without his eyes darkening from seeing his loved ones? How many of a loved one received the news of his death, and how much of his grief was he who enabled his jailer to look gloomy? The last death was the death of his mother, who wished to have some time to spend near her, to smell her sweet scent and perfume his soul with her perfume. Now he will leave prison after less than thirty days, so that his first stop will be to visit his mother’s grave, and they will say to him, “This is your father’s grave, and this is the grave of your uncle, your uncle, and your neighbor.” . What a "recreation" that came after the prison separated him from his loved ones.
In less than a month from now, he will end forty years, he will carry his beautiful and bad memories, he will carry on his shoulders the burden of forty years of oppression and pain, he will wake up his first morning away from their braying and their ominous saying: number by number, no enemy will come to him who counts his breath in the morning, noon and evening. After a month from now, he will choose his food and drink, the movement of his feet, his sleep, his clothes, and his speech, and he will open his eyes wide to see the horizon as beautiful, radiant, and wide as it is, without being interrupted by their iron, their misfortune, and their hatred. He feels a pain when he thinks of those he left behind. They are there waiting for the chance to live again, to be resurrected out of these prisons.
How will Karim spend this month that separates him from life, between the burial ground of the living and life above the earth, between three darknesses and an insatiable light? It will be a heavy month, but it will pass as the four hundred and eighty months have passed, he will breathe freedom and enjoy what he was deprived of, he will be born again and he will think carefully about what is to come without ever leaving the depths of prison, half of him will remain outside prison and the other half will be with his brothers whom he left to their fate in prison. It is for him that joy or happiness be complete, as if in this world it is not complete, and its completion may be by demolishing prisons and liberating those in them, and this can only happen with the end of the occupation.
Karim's first problem is the occupation, and his remaining problem is also the occupation. Life will not return to its serenity, and as long as there is someone who controls the joints of our lives, and even all its details, Karim will see, after his return to his country in occupied Palestine in the year 48, the huge size of the urbanization that the occupation established, he will see the settlements that he left small and have become big cities, he will see the big streets And the huge markets, he will see the flourishing of falsehood and how much the obscenity of the occupation has grown after all these years have passed. Karim in his body is a very strong antidote to frustration, in his long “imprisonment” he studied history and studied the fate of the oppressors and learned with certainty that falsehood never lasts.

ترجمة خاصة بــ”القدس” دوت كوم- قال يسرائيل كاتس عضو الكنيست عن حزب الليكود، مساء اليوم السبت، إنه كان بإمكانه تشكيل حكومة قبل أن يتم نقل التفويض إلى يائير لابيد لتشكيلها.

ووجه كاتس خلال مقابلة مع قناة 12 العبرية، انتقادات لزعيم حزبه بنيامين نتنياهو، الذي قال إنه فضل ترشيح رئيس وزراء حزب صغير (بالإشارة لنفتالي بينيت) بدلاً من أحد أعضاء الليكود لتشكيل الحكومة.

واعتبر أن نتنياهو أخطأ في موقفه بعدم تركه بتشكيل حكومة يمينية، مشيراً إلى أنه كان بإمكانه أن ينجح في ذلك وتكون حكومة واسعة النطاق، على أنه بعد عام يمكن تحويلها لحكومة طوارئ وأنه حينها يمكن لنتنياهو أن يقودها لكنه قرر الدخول في المعارضة.

وقال كاتس “نتنياهو جلب 30 مقعدًا لليكود، وهناك دعماً شعبياً واسع واضح لنا، ولكن في لحظات معينة يجب إجراء تحليلاً واقعياً، كان يمكن أن يعرض على شخص من الليكود لتشكيل الحكومة”.

وأكد القطب الكبير في الليكود، أن حزبه لن يستسلم حتى استبدال الحكومة الحالية، قائلًا “سنوصلهم إلى طريق مسدود، لا يملك بينيت عصا التحكم التي يحتاجها كرئيس وزراء”.

وأشار كاتس إلى أنه في حال قرر نتنياهو ترك قيادة الليكود فسينوي الترشح لقيادة الحزب.

Paris, (AFP) - Iran is witnessing a security campaign punctuated by executions in unprecedented numbers for years, mass arrests of opponents of the regime, some of which targeted a number of the most prominent film directors, and trials of foreign citizens that were denounced by their families as sham.

And it seems that none of the segments of society was spared from the grip of the authorities, according to activists, as the campaign affected activists in labor unions and others who oppose forcing women to wear the veil, as well as followers of religious minorities.

This coincides with the passage of a year since President Ibrahim Raisi, the former head of the judiciary, who is considered a hardline conservative, assumed power to succeed Hassan Rouhani, who is considered more moderate.

Raisi and the Islamic Republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are grappling with an economic crisis that has come with a string of disasters, including a fatal building collapse in Abadan in May that sparked infrequent demonstrations.

Most of the economic problems are due to the sanctions imposed on Iran to push it to curb its nuclear program. However, there are no indications so far that the international powers and the Iranian authorities are close to achieving a breakthrough in the negotiations aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

Ali Fathallah Nejad, an Iranian affairs expert at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs and the American University of Beirut, said, "The current security crackdown is closely linked to the escalation of protests in Iran."

He pointed out that the protests that took place across the country in December 2017 and November 2019 left their mark on the Iranian leadership. While it was primarily driven by social and economic conditions, it "soon turned political and targeted the entire (ruling) establishment."

"The popular demonstrations still pose a threat to the regime's stability," he told AFP.

The significant increase in the number of executions was remarkable, as Iran executed twice as many people in the first half of 2022 as it executed in the previous year, according to Iran Human Rights, a non-governmental organization based in Norway. The organization recorded 318 executions by hanging this year.

Amnesty International said that Iran is witnessing an "execution spree", as hangings are now proceeding at a "terrifying pace".

The Organization of Human Rights in Iran stated that the executions included ten women, three of whom were hanged in one day on July 27 after they were convicted of killing their husbands.

Meanwhile, Iran has also resumed cutting off the fingers of prisoners convicted of theft. Since May, at least two people have been subjected to this punishment, carried out with a specially designed guillotine in Evin Prison in Tehran, according to Amnesty.

On July 23, Iran carried out its first public execution in two years.

"The authorities are using large-scale executions to spread fear in society to prevent any new anti-government demonstrations," said Mahmoud Amiri Moghadam, director of Human Rights in Iran.

A growing movement inside and outside Iran uses the hashtag #edam_nakon, meaning "stop the execution", calling for an end to the use of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic, which executes more people annually than any country in the world except China.

Director Muhammad Rasoul Af was among the most prominent figures calling for stopping the executions. His poignant anti-death penalty film "The Devil Does Not Exist" won the Golden Bear at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival.

However, the arrest of Rasoul Af was stopped in early July after he published, with a group of directors and actors, an open letter in late May urging the security forces to lay down their weapons "in the face of the protests."

And then the director, who won several international awards, Jaafar Panahi, who remained for years unable to leave Iran, was arrested when he went two days later to ask about the whereabouts of Rasoul Af and was told that he had to serve a six-year prison sentence previously issued against him.

They join other well-known dissidents behind bars, including human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, who rights groups fear is at risk due to health problems that prison authorities have failed to treat properly.

Likewise, the security campaign witnessed the arrest of a number of relatives of victims of the authorities’ violent repression of the November 2019 demonstrations, who called for justice for their family members.

"There is no reason to believe that the arrests are more than insidious steps to deter public anger at the government's widespread failures," said Tara Sepehrifar, Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch, accusing the government of resorting to its "spontaneous repressive response to arrests." known opponents.

The past two months have also seen arrests of Baha'is, as part of what the international Baha'i community has described as "an escalating crisis in the Iranian government's systematic campaign" against the country's largest non-Muslim minority.

More than 20 foreign nationals or dual nationals remain under house arrest or stuck in Iran, according to the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran, as part of a policy their families describe as hostage-taking aimed at extracting concessions from the West.

In July, Iran allowed German-Iranian citizen Nahid Taqawi to leave prison for treatment and released American-British-Iranian citizen Morad Tahbaz with an electronic ankle bracelet. But they are still not allowed to leave Iran, while a Polish and a Belgian citizen, as well as a Swede and two French nationals, are also imprisoned.

Among those imprisoned is German citizen Jamshid Sharmahd, who, according to his family, was kidnapped in the Gulf in July 2020 and now faces the death penalty in a trial that is expected to conclude in the coming weeks.

"This is a fabricated operation aimed at persecuting dissidents and journalists who use freedom of expression in the free world... Allowing this to happen is outrageous," his daughter, Ghazal Sharmahd, told AFP.

CAIRO - (Xinhua) - The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced today (Monday) the discovery of stone blocks from the era of King Khufu , east of Cairo.

The ministry said, in a statement, that the joint Egyptian-German archaeological mission operating in the Matareya (Heliopolis) area succeeded in uncovering granite stone blocks from the era of King Khufu in the Temple of the Sun, in addition to the foundations of the temple’s courtyard, which dates back to the era of the New Kingdom, and a number of statues and altars. During the completion of its excavations on the western side of the open museum with the obelisk of King Senusret the First in El Matareya.

Dr. Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, stressed the importance of this discovery, as it is the first time that antiquities from the era of King Khufu have been discovered in Ain Shams.

Waziri indicated that they may have been parts of an unknown building, or they may have been transferred from the Giza pyramids area to be used as building materials in the Ramesside era, which is the period when stones from historically older buildings were commonly used.

Dr. Ayman Ashmawy, Head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities and head of the mission from the Egyptian side, added that the mission also succeeded in uncovering some evidence of the early presence of this region, as many archaeological layers dating back to the Zero Dynasty (Naqada III period) were discovered. ), in addition to layers of pottery rubble, which indicates religious and ritual activity in the third millennium BC at the site.

Ashmawy indicated that there is evidence indicating a large presence during the era of the Third and Fourth Dynasties, as the mission found a piece of granite belonging to King Pepi I (2280 BC) with an inscription in relief of the Falcon Horus, pointing out that the mission will continue its excavation work to uncover more.

He noted that the base of a statue of King Amasis (Ahmose II) was also uncovered, in addition to many altars from the late era, on which sacrifices from the late era were offered.

Many parts of the statues in the form of the Sphinx were also revealed, which are evidence of the use and royal presence in the temple, as well as many additions from the era of a number of kings, including Kings Amenemhat II, Senusret III, Amenemhat III, Amenemhat V, Thutmose III, Amenhotep II and III, Horemheb, Ramses II, and King Seti II.

In turn, Dr. Dietrich Rau, head of the mission from the German side, explained that the mission also succeeded in uncovering parts of sarcophagi and altars from the era of kings Amenemhat IV, Sobekhotep IV, Seti I, Osorkon I, Tekelot I, and Psamtik I.

Rao added that a quartz sculptural model in the form of the Sphinx of King Amenhotep II and the base of a huge pink granite monkey statue of a baboon were also uncovered.

Managua (AFP) - A Nicaraguan court on Wednesday sentenced an opposition leader to ten years in prison for organizing protests against Daniel Ortega's government in 2018, his political movement announced.

The Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy said that a court in Managua had sentenced Yobranque Suazo to five years in prison after convicting him of "conspiring to undermine the unity of the country" and an additional five years for "dissemination of false news".

Suazo, 31, is from the southern city of Masaya, which witnessed the strongest anti-government protests in 2018.

The "Civil Alliance for Justice and Democracy," one of the opposition groups that emerged from the demonstrations, said that Suazo "was prosecuted and convicted without having committed any crime and without having any connection with criminal structures."

Suazo was released in 2019 under an amnesty issued by the government for hundreds of dissidents who participated in the protests, after mediation by the Catholic Church.

In May, he was arrested again and brought to justice.

He had stated a few days ago that the police had prevented parishioners from entering a Catholic church in Masaya, whose priest, Harvey Padilla, had spoken of harassment by the police.

On this occasion, the Bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Alvarez, stressed that the government intends to "stifle the voice of the Church" against injustice.

Suazo is one of 190 dissidents detained in Nicaragua, according to human rights groups.

Among those detained - in prison or under house arrest - are seven former presidential candidates who intended to run in the November 2021 elections that led to Ortega's re-election for a fourth consecutive term.

Ortega accused the imprisoned dissidents of "financing or seeking resources and support" from the Americans to destabilize the country in 2018.

The suppression of these demonstrations led to at least 355 deaths, according to figures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Ortega, the 76-year-old former rebel who has been in power since 2007, stated that the opponents, despite the amnesty issued in 2019, "continue to plot and bet on a new wave of terrorism" in order to "cancel" last year's elections.

The opposition trials began last February.

Since then, more than forty of them have been sentenced to prison terms of up to 13 years for conspiracy and other crimes.

Paris - (AFP) - The artificial intelligence program "ChatGBT", which is able to write texts in response to simple questions, has spread widely in the world of education, prompting teachers to question the appropriateness of banning it or benefiting from it.

In mid-December, just weeks after the tool was made available by California startup OpenAI, eight Australian universities announced that they would adjust their exams, classifying students' use of AI as cheating.

In this context, students' exams will be "monitored" in 2023 by "increasing the use of paper and pen," said Vicky Thompson, president of the "Group of Eight (universities)" via a blog affiliated with The Australian newspaper.

Recently, after several media outlets reported on increased use of the tool by students around the world, encouraged especially by videos on TikTok, public schools in New York restricted access to ChatGBT on their networks.

Gina Lyle, a spokeswoman for the city's education department, told AFP that the tool "doesn't help develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are skills necessary for success academically and in life."

ChatGBT is a chatbot that has been "trained" by fumbling huge amounts of data gleaned from the Internet, and can "predict" the likely sequel to a text. However, due to the absence of human reasoning, this bot produces a remarkable mixture of correct answers and factual or logical errors that are somewhat difficult to detect.

It happens, for example, that the robot includes the whale shark among marine mammals, or mistakes the area of the countries of Central America, or “forgets” some historical events such as the Battle of Amiens in France in 1870, or fabricates references that do not exist in the original.

However, in the world of education, there are some voices calling for this innovation to be integrated into the teaching media.

Antonio Caselli, a professor at the Polytechnic Institute in Paris and author of a book entitled "Waiting for the Robots" ("Waiting for the Robots"), told AFP that "ChatGPT" is an innovation "important, but not more important than calculators or text-editing tools" that have found a place for them. Finally at school.

"ChatGPT+ can help with a first draft when you find yourself facing a blank piece of paper, but after that, you have to write and style" the scripts, he added.

The expert also noted that ChatGBT partly reflects the teaching philosophy, based on the teacher asking the questions.

This time, it is the student who is questioning the machine, "and it is an opportunity for us to see how the students are carrying out the tasks assigned to them, to make them work on fact-finding, and to check whether the bibliographic references generated are correct," says Caselli.

According to Olivier Ertscheid, a researcher in information sciences at the University of Nantes (western France), banning the tool is "counterproductive" because it enhances students' desire to benefit from it.

As with the arrival of Wikipedia or search engines, the challenge for teachers, he says, is to "test the limits" of these tools.

Finally, the response required to detect texts generated by AI techniques is regulated. For example, the online service GPTZero is a offering for education professionals, while OpenAI is working on a "statistical watermark" that is applied during text creation, to prevent fraud potential.

Written by: Hamada Pharaoh

More than 150 soldiers specializing in urban warfare from the "Yamam", "Shin Bet" and "Golani" forces of the colonial forces, with directive air surveillance drones, participated in the Nablus operation against the valiant Palestinian resistance fighters, in an unequal battle that lasted for four hours.
The colony is waging a fierce battle, with all its capabilities and superior capabilities, against the Palestinian people, isolating itself city after city, cell after cell, and liquidation after liquidation, and so on, which requires the fighters to realize their enemy’s plans, ferocity and aggression, and to take measures of vigilance, attention and concealment, as valor and courage do not help Alone in resisting the enemy, the human losses of the Palestinian people remain free, when they lack planning and good initiative.
The losses of the youth are a loss for all Palestinians, because the confrontations are unequal, and the loss from one side is harmful and exhausting, and leads to damage to morale.
The Palestinians have responded to the calls to strike and protest, as an expression of the people's appreciation for the sacrifices of its fighters, their valor, and their high willingness to sacrifice, which proves that the people of Palestine are vigilant, know their duties, tasks, and where they stand in the majority and their bias towards the choice of continuous struggle against the colony and its projects, programs and plans.
The difference is fundamental between individual action and collective action, and the results are definitely different. The difference is fundamental between the results of the first intifada in 1987, and the second intifada in 2000, and between intermittent unilateral actions and operations. And emotional, because the enemy, by observing it, reveals the identities of the fighters, their weapons, and their geographical locations.
The Nablus massacre, and before that Jericho, and before that Jenin, successive stations in an open battle. The sacrifices of the youth of Palestine will remain bright candles for the path of freedom and independence. The enemy and its superiority, however, it won because of the justice of its causes and the legitimacy of its demands, and the sacrifices of its best men and women, and the Palestinian people will not be an exception, but will continue the path, with its steadfastness, courage, and the solidarity of the components of its people, its unity and cohesion, which is the first condition for victory, and this is what you must understand, understand and work for. political, rather than division and fragmentation, and space constraints due to the prevailing disease of monopoly, between Ramallah and Gaza.

Written by: Jamal Zaqout It is not enough for your stance to be realistic and rational in order for it to be viable. The failure of the settlement in which the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization invested all the assets of our people does not mean that it was not correct in principle, but rather the abandonment of the elements of power that it had in its hand at the time, and gasping behind begging for the mirage of that settlement, and even insisting on continuing the adventure of searching for a “lost peace.” To the point of risking fragmenting and dissipating any possibility of restoring the building and strengthening of the elements of Palestinian power, this is the abyss that ravages not only the balance of the revolution and the achievements of our people and exposes its sacrifices to squandering, and may even jeopardize the national cause itself. Peace is not just an "ideal moral value", and whoever cannot possess the ability to withstand pressures and fluctuations will not be able to make and impose a balanced, just and viable peace.

Leaving the political labyrinth... a national need

It is true that the political system in Israel was never ready for the minimum requirements of this peace, because it realizes, by its nature escaping from history, that making peace that enshrines the Palestinian truth may carry the seeds of the annihilation of the Zionist thought that carries within it the idea of annihilating the indigenous people and dispelling their existence, but The transformed Israel, under the pressure of conscious resistance and the continuous uprisings, was aware that its existential question lies in the idea of recognizing the reality of Palestine’s present, in order to guarantee its future, and this in itself is the beginning of the transformed Zionism to the point of approaching the defeat of its historical project, which paves the way for a solution that guarantees within the framework of the balance of power the power of the novel and the will of its owners. thus; Thus, only one day may come out of their midst who says, "There is another narration of a people. We have not and will not be able to obliterate its existence or confiscate its narration." Then and at that moment, the door will be opened for that historic settlement in this country, whether with two coexisting states based on the interests of geography, or within the framework of one state free and pure of the ideology of racist thought that denies the other. And our historical mission until entering that moment is to build our society and our strong institutions that are capable of building and strengthening the position of the competing Palestinian who is ready for both options, and the requirements between them for the ability to withstand and resist, whatever the costs, to the plans of obliteration and displacement, and perhaps this is the essence of the vision of former Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. , which was known as the “two-year plan to end the occupation and establish the state.” Building institutions was not an illusion, as some short-sighted people called it, but rather the essence and content of the requirements of the steadfastness process that everyone calls as a slogan without practical and tangible content, while they get confused when they are armed with practical mechanisms whose essence is strengthening confidence People themselves, their future, and the ability to achieve them. Perhaps this is the essential function of leadership, any leadership, and at any stage, whether it is to achieve national liberation or democratic building of inclusive institutions, or both together, as is our Palestinian case. Here, I invite those who did not have the ability or knowledge to understand the content of that plan to reconsider it. It is, in fact, an attempt to complete the stage of the Great Intifada, and to respond to the moment of wandering that could reunite the country under an inclusive tent within the framework of the Liberation Organization, and redefine its political project for national liberation and democratic construction, and whoever has other than this answer should present it to a logical and serious dialogue.

Israel's crisis and the division trap

Israel, which is living its historical crisis regarding its identity and the future of the Palestinian, on the brink of recognition due to its stubbornness clinging to the land of its homeland, possesses the military strength and the looseness of the Arab reality that motivates it to refuse to fully accept the reality of this Palestinian, but at the same time, the fall of the dominant parties on the Palestinian scene In the Israeli trap to the point of risking dissipating the elements of Palestinian power in the inter-conflict, under the illusion of trying to negate each other, is what helps Israel’s continued entrenchment and its impulse towards more adherence to its right-wing, Zionist, racist character, and its rejection of the idea of transformation generated by the steadfastness of the Palestinian and the will of the resistance to its liquidation project for purification ethnic.

This elongation is to describe the state of the components of the internal conflict in the Palestinian case, and to cultivate the illusion, whether in begging for the possibility of making peace by appeasing the enemy, devoid of the elements of strength, the essence of which is the unity of the people and their will to survive, and what it requires to provide the elements of steadfastness, or the illusion of the capabilities of the “missile” resistance. Or martyrdom" capable of removing Israel from existence! Both of them make Israel and its society once again a prey to its ideological Zionist racist character, which absolutely does not want to see the Palestinians and recognize their truth, or to accept their right to stay and self-determination on the land of their homeland. This is the essence of the strategy of the mighty Zionist ideology, that the Palestinian should remain weak and weak, or a "terrorist extremist" who does not deserve and/or cannot be spoken to and recognized and his right to self-determination.

This shows us that getting out of the state of division and disorientation is not just the outcome of the mechanical combination of two forces and the reactivation of their potential. Rather, the return to the principle of unity in the face of the occupation takes us back to the path of hope and the accumulation of growing strength to deepen Israel's dilemma in the question of the future of the Palestinian who is not subject to control, the rejecter, or rather And fiercely resisting the illusion of exclusion from the equation of geography and human heritage in this country.

It seems that Israel, immersed in the "illusion of its victory over demography" through its "strategic success" in diverting Gaza from a single entity towards growing separation, and exploiting the tragedy of the displacement of refugees from Lebanon and Syria, to distant exiles, found what tempted it to be able to break through its essential episode of tearing apart the geography of the West Bank, and transferring the conflict To advanced stages towards “sideways” cantons, it began with a strategy of isolating and annexing Jerusalem in its favour, while it monitors the transformations of the south of the West Bank from its north, at a time when it is tightening its teeth in the West Bank and its countryside.

Weapon chaos and targeting Nasser Al-Shaer

The national impasse, and the drift of the internal conflict to what it has reached, encourages all hostile and/or delusional parties, foremost of which is the Israeli occupation, to ignite the fire of sedition, and perhaps slip into the brink of a civil war that eats everything and everything, whether in the continuous divisive struggle to appease the enemy, and obtain from him a merit. His security agency, or the war of struggle over the “succession,” and what it requires of evoking the tribe in the struggle of the two tribes that dominate the scene. The shooting of the Hamas leader and former deputy prime minister, Nasser al-Din al-Shaer, regardless of whether it was an attempt to assassinate him, or just a message from the party behind this crime, is only evidence of these intentions, which certainly does not rule out the involvement of Israel, which has the supreme and primary interest in this. More auto-fragmentation, this time bloody. However, in any case, the Palestinian Authority, by virtue of its political and security responsibility, and regardless of the extent of the erosion of its prestige and legitimacy, will remain responsible for the necessity of exposing the perpetrators of this national crime, and those behind them, which exceeds the danger of merely injuring one of the national symbols known for its eagerness to restore national unity. Rather, it targets this unit itself for killing, and enters the divisive struggle of its infernal circle with the aim of liquidating what remains of our people of hope and strength that enables it to continue to reject the racist liquidation project, and to submit to its transitional project by submitting to its plans to invent a leadership according to the occupation’s measurements and standards, which helps it in further dismantling The national entity and its political expressions are merely the ties of cities or cantons, until despair does its act of self-displacement, especially in light of the deepening and widening symptoms of chaos, which this time tries to overthrow intellectual pluralism, cultural and religious diversity, and the cohesion of the national fabric that has always served as a solid pillar for the elements of Palestinian strength in their battle. extended since the inception of Zionism on the usurped land of Palestine.

The current battle is a battle of futile defeat of the moment, an urgent and safe exit from the state of political disorientation and chaos of arms, and the restoration of justice and a sense of security, and there is no way for that except to stop wasting time and elements of strength, and return to the moment of awareness that the people of the uprisings store in the compass of history, and the requirements of their unity against The fundamental and main contradiction with the occupation. The battle of regaining consciousness and leaving the moment of wandering is the key to freedom and a sure salvation from the occupation.

اسطنبول - (أ ف ب) -يلتقي الرئيس التركي رجب طيب إردوغان نظيره الروسي فلاديمير بوتين على هامش قمة إقليمية تستضيفها العاصمة الكازاخستانية أستنانا الأربعاء، وفق ما أفاد مسؤول تركي فرانس برس.

التزمت تركيا الحياد على مدى النزاع في أوكرانيا إذ تقيم علاقات ودية مع كل من أوكرانيا وروسيا.

ولم يعلّق إردوغان بعد على القصف الروسي الكثيف الذي استهدف مختلف أنحاء أوكرانيا الاثنين وأسفر عن مقتل 19 شخصا على الأقل وإصابة أكثر من مئة بجروح.

لكن وزير الخارجية مولود تشاوش أوغلو أجرى اتصالا هاتفيا مع نظيره الأوكراني دميترو كوليبا بعد الهجمات، وفق ما ذكر مصدر دبلوماسي تركي، من دون تقديم تفاصيل.

التقى إردوغان الرئيس الروسي على هامش قمة إقليمية عقدت في أوزبكستان الشهر الماضي.

وما زال يأمل بإقناع بوتين والرئيس الأوكراني فولوديمير زيلينسكي بالجلوس حول طاولة المفاوضات، وهو أمر لا يبدي أي من الجانبين اهتماما به بينما يصر مسؤولون أتراك على أنه ضروري وواقعي.

تجنّبت تركيا المنضوية في حلف شمال الأطلسي الانضمام للعقوبات الغربية المفروضة على روسيا.

ويسعى إردوغان لتعزيز التجارة مع موسكو في وقت يحاول إعادة الاستقرار إلى الاقتصاد التركي قبيل الانتخابات المرتقبة في حزيران/يونيو المقبل.
واستجابت أنقرة للضغوط الأميركية وأكدت الشهر الماضي بأن آخر ثلاثة مصارف تركية كانت لا تزال تعالج دفعات بالبطاقات الروسية ستتوقف عن ذلك.
وجاء القرار بعد أسابيع من التحذيرات الأميركية الصريحة لتركيا ودعوتها إما للحد من علاقاتها الاقتصادية مع روسيا أو مواجهة إمكانية تعرّضها لعقوبات هي أيضا.

Moscow (AFP) - A Moscow court on Tuesday sentenced Ilya Yashin to 15 days in prison, one of the last Russian opposition figures still in the country amid a wave of crackdowns since the attack on Ukraine.

Yashin, 38, was sentenced after being convicted of "disobedience to the police," according to the Information Office of the Moscow Courts, a charge he considered fabricated, indicating on Telegram that he was "a critic of President (Vladimir) Putin and an opponent of the war in Ukraine."

Also, he raised the possibility of a long prison sentence.

"My arrest may be a prelude to a future criminal case," he said, recalling that the procedures against him are reminiscent of those taken against his "comrade Vladimir Kara-Murza," one of the few dissidents who remained in the country and was imprisoned in the spring.

Vladimir Kara-Murza was arrested in Moscow in April and sentenced to 15 days in prison for "disobeying the police". He was then charged with "dissemination of false information" about the Russian army, a crime punishable by 15 years in prison. He was then placed in pretrial detention.

For her part, his girlfriend, journalist Irina Pabloyan, who was with him via Telegram, said that Ilya Yashin stopped the two during a walk in a park in Moscow. Pabloyan, a witness to the arrest, confirmed, "They say he insulted (the police) and used obscene language during his arrest. This is not true at all."

The dissident wrote on Telegram, "The story contained in the (police) report about insulting two policemen, which claims that I pushed their arm as a joke. I am not crazy to get into a fight with three policemen."

Yashin has been a prominent opposition figure for years, notably during the massive move against the Kremlin in 2011-2012.

He was close to Vladimir Putin's archrival Alexei Navalny, who is now serving a nine-year prison sentence, and Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015.

He is currently an elected opposition member of a Moscow constituency and has on several occasions denounced Russia's military offensive against Ukraine.

The crackdown on all anti-Kremlin movements and independent media in Russia has increased since this attack.

And the Russian authorities surrounded themselves with a legal arsenal that allows the imposition of penalties of up to 15 years in prison against those who denounce the attack on Ukraine.

Before that, figures critical of the Kremlin and independent media were subject to administrative or judicial harassment.

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - The Palestinian Presidency condemned the new crime committed by the Israeli occupation forces in Aqabat Jaber camp in Jericho, at dawn today, Monday, which resulted in the death of five citizens and the injury of others.

The presidency affirmed that the commission of this crime in Jericho confirms that the new Israeli government is continuing its series of crimes against our Palestinian people.

The presidency considered that the crime of the occupation forces in Jericho is a challenge to all the international efforts that were made during the past days to stop the Israeli aggression.

She pointed out that the international silence on the occupation's violations and crimes encourages it to commit more massacres against Shabna.

It called on the international community, especially the US administration, to intervene and put pressure on the occupation government to stop its dangerous escalation, to spare the region more violence and tension, and to provide international protection for our people.

Kiev - (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in neighboring Belarus, whose territory Moscow used to launch its invasion of Ukraine nearly 10 months ago, on a rare visit aimed at holding talks with his counterpart and ally Alexander Lukashenko.

And his arrival in Minsk came hours after the Russian forces launched a series of attacks with drones on basic infrastructure in Kiev, causing a power outage.

The Kremlin has been seeking for years to consolidate the foundations of integration with Belarus, which relies on Moscow to obtain loans and oil at reduced prices, but Lukashenko has been vehemently opposed to attempts to unify the two countries, even though he is a key ally of Russia in this war.

And ahead of the Russian president's visit, speculation was growing about his intention to pressure Lukashenko to send soldiers to Ukraine to fight alongside the Russian forces, which have suffered a series of setbacks during about ten months of fighting.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Putin had planned to visit Belarus to persuade Minsk to take part in the conflict in Ukraine, saying the allegations were "stupid" and "baseless".

These attacks came with drones, which resulted in the injury of three people in the suburbs of Kiev, at a time when Russia announced that it had shot down several American-made missiles in its airspace near Ukraine.

Natalia Dobrovolska, 68, who lives in Kiev, told AFP, "I heard sirens sounding in the street... and I thought it was going to be a march. For the first time, I felt scared."

She added that she heard several explosions before the power went out in her building in western Kiev. Officials reported that Russia had launched 35 drone attacks on Ukrainian territory, including 23 targeting Kiev.

The air defenses said that they shot down 30 combat air vehicles, including the Iranian-made Shahed drones that targeted the capital in recent weeks.

On Monday, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed "explosions" in the Solomyansky and Shevchenkivsky districts of the capital.
He revealed that "damage" was caused to important infrastructure facilities, but there were no reports of injuries.

Ukraine's energy operator announced the rationing of electricity in the capital following the attack.

For its part, the Russian army announced, on Monday, that it had shot down four American-made missiles over its territory in the skies of the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine. This announcement is the first in about ten months of fighting.

"Four American Harm anti-radar missiles were shot down in the airspace of the Belgorod region," the Russian Ministry of Defense said in its daily report, which was published on Telegram, without giving further details.

Since the start of the Russian invasion in February, Ukraine has been subjected to repeated air attacks, which have killed many people.

After a series of field setbacks and the loss of territory in the summer and fall, Moscow changed its strategies and escalated its air campaign.

But amid freezing temperatures, missile and drone strikes have plunged cities across Ukraine into darkness, cutting off water and heating supplies for millions of people.

After a massive attack on several cities, in which more than 70 rockets were fired on Friday, the national electricity operator was forced to impose rationing until it works to repair the damaged network.

In a video message to the leaders of several NATO countries, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his country's allies to supply more weapons to his military forces.

He told the leaders gathered in Riga, "It is possible and necessary to thwart the Russian aggression. Our task now is to accelerate the pace to achieve this goal."

The Ukrainian president said in a speech late on Sunday that electricity had been restored to nine million people.
Almost 40 million people live in Ukraine.

Ahead of Putin's visit, Zelensky described the situation on the borders with Russia and Belarus as a "steadfast priority".

"We are ready for all possible defense scenarios," he said, adding that he had discussed the situation in the border areas with military officials.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, is an old ally of the Kremlin and allowed Russian soldiers to use his country's territory as a platform to launch their military operations.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Minsk on Monday, accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Before the Russian president arrived in Minsk, Moscow announced that its military forces were conducting military exercises with the Belarusian forces.

And the Russian Ministry of Defense published pictures of military maneuvers with the Belarusian forces, showing soldiers driving armored vehicles and practicing artillery strikes and sniping in a snowy field.

"From morning to evening, there is not a moment of silence on the training grounds in Belarus," the minister said.

In October, Belarus announced the creation of joint regional forces with Moscow, to which thousands of Russian conscripts joined.
It did not clarify where the military maneuvers would be held and how long they would take place.

The deployment of Russian soldiers in Belarus raised fears that Belarusian forces would join military operations in Ukraine.

Moscow - (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused "neo-Nazis" in Ukraine of committing crimes against civilians on Holocaust Remembrance Day, in a speech he has long used to justify his military operation in the neighboring country.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commemorated the anniversary by calling on the world to stand together in the face of "indifference" and "hatred".

"Forgetting the lessons of history leads to the repetition of terrible tragedies," Putin said, adding, "This is confirmed by crimes against civilians, ethnic cleansing and punitive measures organized by neo-Nazis in Ukraine."

"Our soldiers are bravely fighting this evil," he added.

To justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin has repeatedly denounced the "extermination" of the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine and described the regime of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a "neo-Nazi".

"Every attempt to revise our country's contribution to victory (during World War II) is in fact aimed at justifying the crimes of Nazism and opening the way for the revival of its murderous ideology," Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin.

Putin mourned the "millions of innocent dead - Jews and representatives of other nationalities - who were murdered, tortured, died of hunger and disease" during the Holocaust.

Exceptionally this year, and because of the invasion of Ukraine according to Warsaw, Russian representatives were not invited to the ceremonies commemorating the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in southern Poland.

Every year, Russia participates in the commemoration ceremony on January 27.

Russian Rabbi Beryl Lazar told reporters Friday after a ceremony at the Jewish Museum of Tolerance in Moscow that not inviting the Russian representatives was "an insult to us".

"We are fully aware of and remember the Red Army's role in the liberation of Auschwitz and the victory over the Nazis," he added, stressing that "every people should always be able to find the means to be grateful to those who saved them from extinction."

As for Zelensky, who is of Jewish origin and comes from the south of the country, whose population is mostly Russian-speaking, he said, "Today, as always, Ukraine honors the memory of millions of Holocaust victims. We know and remember that indifference kills as does hatred."

Washington - (AFP) - The White House confirmed Friday that US President Joe Biden has "no intention" of holding a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin , now.

"He has no intention of talking to Mr. Putin right now," White House national security adviser John Kirby told reporters. "He also said that Putin has shown no inclination to show any interest in any dialogue of any kind. In fact, the opposite is the case."

Biden said during a joint press conference with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that he would be willing to talk to Putin about finding a solution to the issue of Russia's invasion of Ukraine if the Russian president was "looking for a way to end the war."

And those statements on Sunday were the farthest extent in which Biden expressed his openness to meeting Putin, who ordered his army to invade Ukraine more than nine months ago, which caused a wide diplomatic and economic shock.

The Kremlin did not adopt Biden's offer, as his spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that Biden's terms mean that the offer is available "only after Putin leaves Ukraine."

Meanwhile, Kirby indicated that the West is not pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to enter into talks with Russia while Ukrainian forces are achieving successive victories over Moscow's forces.

"The president was not at all suggesting that now was the time for talks. In fact, he was consistent (in his expression) that only President Zelensky can determine if, when, and under what circumstances a negotiated settlement will be reached," Kirby said.

"The war can end today if Putin does the right thing and leaves Ukraine. There is basically no place for his soldiers there."

Washington - (AFP) - US President Joe Biden said Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not "terrorize" the United States and its allies, warning that NATO will defend "every inch" of its territory.

"America and its allies will not be intimidated," Biden said in an intervention at the White House. "(Putin) will not intimidate us." Then he turned to the Russian president, saying, "America is fully prepared, with our NATO allies, to defend every inch of NATO territory (...) Mr. Putin, don't misunderstand what I'm saying, every inch."

The US President was speaking shortly after Putin officially signed a decision to annex four Ukrainian regions occupied by Russian forces, then promised him to achieve "victory" from Red Square in Moscow.

Biden described Friday's ceremony in the Kremlin as "vulgar" and aimed to show Putin's strength, but in fact proved "that he is in a difficult situation."

And touching on new aid to Ukraine worth $12 billion approved by Congress, Biden promised to "continue to provide military equipment" to this country "so that it can defend itself."

Likewise, he promised to send all the necessary equipment to the site of the explosions that affected the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines to "determine what actually happened," after he described what happened as a "deliberate act of sabotage."

"We will work with our allies to uncover everything that happened. I have begun to help our allies strengthen the protection of these critical infrastructures," he said.

Moscow, (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Thursday in Kaliningrad , as tensions mount over the Russian enclave surrounded by NATO members at the height of the conflict in Ukraine.

Putin began his visit to Kaliningrad by meeting students who have resumed their academic year and answering their questions on various topics such as the economy, space and the Russian attack in Ukraine, according to scenes broadcast live on Russian television.

"Our task and the task of our soldiers (...) is to stop this war that Kiev is waging in Donbass (eastern Ukraine), to protect people and of course to defend Russia itself," he said.

The Russian President stressed that the residents of Donbass, a region in which many Russian speakers live, "consider that they are part of the (...) cultural and linguistic space" of Russia.

Putin's visit to Kaliningrad comes within the framework of intense tension over this Russian enclave located on the shores of the Baltic Sea and between Poland and Lithuania, two NATO members, at the height of the conflict in Ukraine.

Under the sanctions decided by the European Union in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine, Lithuania in June stopped allowing the passage of some goods through its territory in the direction of Kaliningrad.

After protests and threats from Moscow, the European Union ended up asking Vilnius to allow the transit of Russian goods by rail, except for military equipment.

In this context of tension, Moscow announced last month the deployment of the latest hypersonic missiles in Kaliningrad.

Moscow - (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday that Russia will stop shipments of gas and oil to countries that set a price ceiling.

And he considered that setting a possible ceiling for Russian gas prices by the Europeans would be "foolish." "We will not send anything at all if it conflicts with our interests, our (economic) interests in this case. No gas, no oil, no coal, no fuel oil, nothing," he added.

Moscow - (AFP) - Russia's ruling party has proposed holding a referendum in the Ukrainian regions occupied by Russian forces to annex them to Russia, on November 4.

The party, which is led by President Vladimir Putin , said that the Secretary-General of the United Russia Council, Andrei Turchak, confirmed that "Donetsk, Luhansk and many other Russian cities will be able to return to safety. The Russian world, which is currently divided by official borders, will restore its territorial integrity." On the fourth of November, Russia celebrates National Unity Day.

Moscow - (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered his forces to continue their offensive in eastern Ukraine after capturing all of the Lugansk region.

Putin said during a televised meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that the Russian forces "must carry out their mission in accordance with the approved plans."

"I hope that things will happen in its sectors as it happened in Luhansk," he added.

Putin made these statements the day after announcing the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the strategic city of Lysychansk, which enabled Russian forces to control the entire Luhansk region, which together with neighboring Donetsk constitute the Donbass basin, which Moscow intends to fully control in eastern Ukraine.

Putin also mentioned that two of his generals, Alexander Lapin and Asadullah Abatchev, would be awarded the title of "Hero of Russia " for their role in the battles in Ukraine, without giving further details.

Russia, which requires complete secrecy about this type of information, recently revealed the names of two generals, Sergei Surovikin and Alexander Lapin, as leading the attack on Lisichansk.

Putin said on Monday that the two generals had submitted directly to him "a report on the progress of their tasks and their proposals for the next stage of offensive operations."

Jerusalem - Pal Sport Agency / The young cyclist Qusay Al-Qasrawi, the nineteen-year-old from the city of Khalil Al-Rahman, completes a 250-kilometer bicycle journey in one day. His idea began with a challenge with his friends to prove to them that he is capable of achieving it.

Where he said that this tour started at 9 am from Hebron and reached Jenin at 11:30 pm, arriving at the Arab American University, then went to the city of Jericho and Jerusalem, and returned to Hebron.

Al-Qasrawi stressed that the tour was fraught with dangers, the most important of which was the road and its difficulty, the bypass line, the attack of stray dogs, extreme fatigue and exhaustion, and the occupation’s arrest of him at the Container Checkpoint and Beit El.

Al-Qasrawi indicated that his hobby of cycling started a year and a half ago as an amateur, then he became a skilled athlete and goes out on semi-weekly tours with the Khalil Al-Rahman cycling team.

Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) - (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday threatened Western countries to "cut production" of Russian oil "if necessary", days after the European Union, G7 countries and Australia set a ceiling for the price of a barrel of Russian oil at $60. .

"We will consider the possibility of cutting production if necessary," Putin said during a press conference in Bishkek on the sidelines of a regional summit.
He considered that the mechanism put in place by the West and began to be applied at the beginning of the week was a "stupid decision".

He assured reporters that "the imposed ceiling (at $60) is commensurate with the price we are selling based on today. In this direction, this does not affect us at all."

The price of a barrel of Russian oil (crude from the Urals) is currently hovering around $65, just above the European ceiling, which implies very limited impact in the short term.

And the Russian president believed that for the countries importing Russian oil, "pursuing this harmful (non-market) solution will be foolish for everyone."

He pointed out that such a mechanism "means everyone... because if one party accepts once that the consumer sets the price, this will lead to the collapse of the (oil) sector, because the consumer will always insist that the price be the lowest possible."

"We will not be losers under any circumstances," he stressed.

And the 27 member states of the European Union, the Group of Seven and Australia agreed last week to set a ceiling for the price of Russian oil transported by sea at $ 60 a barrel, and this ceiling began to be applied on Monday. The aim of this measure is to reduce Moscow's revenues to finance its military offensive in Ukraine.

Thus, the oil that Moscow sells can continue to be delivered at a price equal to or less than $60. In the event that the price is higher than this ceiling, companies will be prohibited from providing services that allow marine transportation (ships, insurance...).

الجزائر- (أ ف ب) -كرست الانتخابات التشريعية في الجزائر التي قاطعها أكثر من ثلاثة من كل أربعة ناخبين، فوز الأحزاب الحاكمة منذ عقود بعيدا عن التجديد الذي وعد به النظام في ما اعتبره معارضوه “هروبا إلى الأمام”.
بعد ثلاثين شهرا على بدء من الحراك الشعبي المناهض للنظام، وعلى الرغم من وعود ب”جزائر جديدة” روج لها الرئيس عبد المجيد تبون، لن يختلف المجلس الشعبي الوطني المنبثق عن انتخابات 12 حزيران/يونيو، كثيرا عن برلمانات عهد عبد العزيز بوتفليقة، حسب محللين.
فقد أظهرت النتائج الموقتة، فوز حزب جبهة التحرير الوطني، أكبر كتلة نيابية في البرلمان المنتهية ولايته، في انتخابات تميزت بامتناع تاريخي عن التصويت (77%).
وسجلت الجبهة تراجعا حادا، إلا ان الحزب الواحد سابقا استفاد من قاعدته الشعبية القديمة كونه قاد حرب الاستقلال (1962).
ونتيجة لذلك، يتوقع المحلل السياسي منصور قديدير أن يبقى”الوضع على حاله” و”لا أعتقد أن هناك تجديدا” كما قال.
وحلت جبهة التحرير الوطني، الحزب المرتبط بالرئيس السابق عبد العزيز بوتفليقة، في المركز الأول أمام مجموعة متباينة من المستقلين والإسلاميين والتجمع الوطني الديمقراطي حليف السلطة منذ زمن.
وقالت أستاذة العلوم السياسية لويزة دريس أيت حمادوش إن النتائج الموقتة “تظهر أن الرئيس (تبون) فشل في حشد قاعدة اجتماعية مختلفة عن تلك التي كان يتمتع بها الرئيس السابق”.
وبعد غيابه شبه الكامل عن الساحة بسبب إصابته بجلطة دماغية العام 2013، أُطيح بعبد العزيز بوتفليقة من السلطة تحت ضغط الشارع والجيش في نيسان/أبريل 2019، ما وضع حدا لحكمه الذي استمر 20 عاما. ومن رفضه الشعبي، ولد الحراك الذي يدعو إلى تغيير جذري في “النظام” الحاكم منذ الاستقلال.
كذلك، يجد تبون نفسه اليوم أمام “مجلس بعدم شرعية مضاعفة: مشاركة ضعيفة للغاية وأحزاب سياسية فاقدة للمصداقية”، على أوضحت الأكاديمية دريس آيت حمدوش.
وتلقى بوتفليقة خلال فترة حكمه بين 1999 و2019، دعم حزب جبهة التحرير الوطني والتجمع الوطني الديمقراطي والإسلاميين في حركة مجتمع السلم، بالإضافة إلى عدد قليل من المستقلين.
وقد يشهد في المجلس الشعبي الوطني الجديد التحالفات نفسها.
والأربعاء كشفت حركة مجتمع السلم، التي غادرت التحالف الرئاسي الداعم لبوتفليقة في 2012، أنها مستعدة لدراسة أي عرض للانضمام إلى الحكومة.
ورأى المحلل السياسي إسماعيل دبش أن “فوز الأحزاب التقليدية يجد تفسيره في أن المرشحين فضلوا الاعتماد عليها لتحقيق الفوز”.
لكن هذا النجاح شابته نسبة المشاركة (23,03%)الأضعف في تاريخ الجزائر، بحسب أرقام رسمية من السلطة الوطنية المستقلة للانتخابات. حتى أن المحللين وصفوا الامتناع عن التصويت بأنه”أكبر حزب في الجزائر”.
واعتبر الحراك وجزء من المعارضة العلمانية واليسارية اللذان وجها دعوة لمقاطعة الانتخابات، أن ما حصل “مهزلة انتخابية” و”هروب إلى الأمام” من طرف النظام.
وأثبتت نتيجة الاقتراع “صحة” ما يدينه الحراك الذي قمعته السلطة بشدة، على ما أكدت لويزة دريس آيت حمدوش.
وقالت إن “18 مليون جزائري الذين لم يصوتوا أثبتوا أن انعدام الثقة (في السلطة) أقوى من الحراك نفسه”.
وأكد المحلل السياسي منصور قديدير أن الانتخابات التشريعية “أعطت الحراك حجة كبيرة”.
ورأى “هذا يعني أن كل ما تم ترديده في المسيرات كان صائبا والنظام السياسي يرفض التغيير”.
وهذه أول انتخابات تشريعية تشهدها الجزائر منذ اندلعت احتجاجات الحراك في 22 شباط/فبراير 2019، بشكل سلمي وغير مسبوق ومن دون شخصية قيادية.
وإذ أشار محللون إلى أن هذا الاقتراع يمثل الفشل الثالث لتبون بعد انتخابه بنتيجة ضعيفة نهاية العام 2019 والاستفتاء على الدستور في تشرين الثاني/ نوفمبر الذي قاطعه الجزائريون، أعتبر آخرون أن الرئيس بات الآن حر اليدين لتطبيق “خريطة الطريق” الخاصة به.
والسلطة مصممة على “تطبيع” عمل المؤسسات واستعادة السيطرة على الوضع بعد زلزال الحراك، لكنها تتجاهل مطالب الشارع المتمثلة بدولة القانون والانتقال الديمقراطي والسيادة الشعبية والقضاء المستقل.
وعلق الكاتب الصحافي عابد شارف “النتيجة: خسارة كبيرة، مع سلطة تدور حول نفسها، وبلد راكد، ومجتمع غير منظم، ومؤسسات بلا محتوى، وحراك ممزق”.
أما الخطوة التالية فقد تكون بتجديد الثقة في رئيس الوزراء الحالي عبد العزيز جراد لتشكيل حكومة جديدة قبل الانتخابات المحلية المقررة في الخريف.
وحذرت آيت حمادوش من أن “الصعوبة الأولى ستكون تشكيل حكومة متماسكة” في الوقت الذي تواجه فيه البلاد أزمة سياسية واقتصادية واجتماعية خطرة.