Colombo - (Xinhua) - Sri Lankan Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Friday announced the official resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as Sri Lankan President, and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be sworn in as acting president.

In a press conference, the Speaker of Parliament said that he had received the President's letter of resignation, and since then the President has legally resigned from his legal duties and responsibilities.

"Under these circumstances, the constitutional procedure for appointing a new president will now be activated. Until this constitutional procedure ends, in accordance with the constitution, the prime minister will exercise his duties as president and oversee the functions, duties and powers of the office of the president," the parliament speaker stated.

The speaker added that the parliament will convene on July 16, and asked all deputies to attend the parliament sessions on that day.

He called on all party leaders, state officials and security forces to show maximum cooperation for the democratic process of electing a new President and Government, and made a special appeal to the people of Sri Lanka to create a peaceful environment that allows all legislators to attend parliament freely.

In this environment, with the help of all the officials, the Speaker said he intended to complete the process of electing a new Speaker within a short period of seven days.

Sri Lanka has been experiencing severe economic turmoil for months, leading to shortages of basic supplies such as food, petrol and fuel.

London, (AFP) - The pace of inflation accelerated in the United Kingdom in June, reaching 9.4 percent at an annual rate, the highest level in forty years, fueled by fuel and food prices, against the backdrop of a crisis in the cost of living.

The inflation rate in May was 9.1 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics in its monthly report released on Wednesday.

"The countries of the world are facing a rise in prices, and I am well aware of the difficulty that people in the United Kingdom are experiencing, so we are working alongside the Bank of England to reduce them," said Minister of Economy and Finance Nazim Al-Zahawi.

The Bank of England believes that inflation may exceed 11% at the end of this year due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the large rise in gas prices as a result of that and tensions in the labor market.

Bank Governor Andrew Bailey warned on Tuesday that the British central bank may accelerate the pace of raising interest rates by increasing them by 50 basis points during its scheduled meeting in August in an attempt to curb the huge rise in prices.

“Inflation hit a level not seen in several decades in June,” said Anna Leech, economist at CBI, the UK’s largest employers’ organisation. “The labor market remains tense, global price pressures are strong and we expect a further hike in tariffs.” electricity".

"As a result, inflation is likely to remain high for the rest of the year, further eroding household income," he added.

CHICAGO (Xinhua) -- A shooting in a shopping mall in the US Midwestern state of Indiana on Sunday evening left four people dead, including the shooter, and two injured.

The shooting took place at the dining corner of the Greenwood Park Mall, south of Indianapolis, the Indiana capital, at around 6 p.m. local time (2200 GMT).

A man with a rifle and several magazines entered the dining area and started shooting.

Greenwood Police Chief James Eason told a news conference that three people were killed and two wounded.

Police believe an armed bystander killed the gunman at the scene.

The gunman's motive remains unknown.

Indianapolis Police Department Assistant Chief Christopher Bailey said there were "no immediate public safety concerns" for people in the area, according to local media.

Built in 1965, Greenwood Park Mall is the second largest indoor mall in Indiana with about 150 tenants.

Shootings occur frequently in the United States. The Armed Violence Archive's database indicates that there have been 320 mass shootings across the country since the beginning of this year, with nearly 22,500 gun violence deaths recorded.

Written by: Dr. Nagy Sadeq Sharab

The recent statement of the Prime Minister of Israel in the interim transitional government, Yair Lapid, about

His support for the two-state solution and that the establishment of a peaceful Palestinian state is in the interest of the two peoples and the security of Israel. This statement was made by Netanyahu before that. The irony is also that Naftali Bennett, in his speech before the General Assembly at its previous “seventy-sixth” session, did not mention the Palestinian issue at all, as if it was not It exists in Zionist thought, but it really does not exist.

Lapid's statement does not mean first of all his belief in the Palestinian state, but rather his goal was to achieve some electoral goals, including his support first of the administration of President Biden, who really praised him, and to win the support of internal Arabs in the upcoming elections and absorb the escalating state of violence in the Palestinian territories. This state is not what some believe, as it is subject to Israeli and Zionist standards. It is not subject to the criteria of the state in the traditional concept in the political literature about the state with its three or four pillars: the continuous geographical territory known for its borders, and defining the borders is an important matter for the availability of the second pillar of sovereignty, without these borders there is no meaning of sovereignty. The third element is the people with their national and national identities, and the fourth is the government and authority.

The two important elements are territory and sovereignty in the Hobbesian sense: absolute, complete, indivisible, and universal. These two elements are not available in Zionist thought, nor in the vision of Lapid himself. As for the element of the people, which imposed and imposes on the leaders of Israel the approach of the state or the talk of a two-state solution in a solution to deal with the element that constitutes a great force, we have the equivalent of the same population with Israel from the river to the sea. Today, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are nearly six million. Israel, for its part, does not want to return to the option of taking responsibility for them. As for the choice of power, it did not achieve its goal, and therefore Israel has no choice but to hint at the option and the two-state solution from time to time.

There are many questions about the Palestinian state, the most important of which is why a state was not established historically and according to the mandate system? Returning to the first Zionist conference, which stipulated the establishment of a national home for the Jews and the Balfour Declaration, does that mean preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state? What is the purpose of the Jewish National Law? What does land mean in Zionist thought? Answering all the questions together makes it clear to us historically that the goal is to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state that was intended and planned, since the Balfour Declaration, as neither Britain nor its foreign minister has the right to grant Zionism land that is not theirs and under occupation, and the most dangerous thing in the promise is the explicit text on the establishment of the Jewish homeland. And the homeland carries the meaning of a state, and this country was not specified. The Palestinian people, who are historically rooted and did not come from abroad, were dealt with as mere minorities with some rights. And Palestine was deliberately placed under the British Mandate to implement the promise and translate it on the land at times by encouraging Jewish immigration, at another time by facilitating the transfer of land and its ownership to the Jews, and at a third time by encouraging the arming of Jewish groups and building institutions, leading to the UN resolution presented by Britain after it confirmed its issuance. And do not forget that the United Nations was European in composition and influence. The borders of this state, which Ben-Gurion considered as a step in occupying all the land, were not defined, and this was achieved in the 1948 war, in which Israel added more than 25 percent of its area, according to Resolution 181, and to complete this area with the 1967 war, to begin the process of settlement, Judaization, and all This is under the auspices of the United Nations, the sponsorship of the United States, and the use of the "veto" in the Security Council to prevent the imposition of any sanctions on Israel, so that legitimacy remains without force and the concept of the Palestinian state remains empty of all its sovereign implications, and the most we have reached is an observer state without the right to vote or membership. The important point in this Zionist thinking is the association of Palestine with Zionist narratives such as a land without a people for a people without a land. The promised land is all linked to the right of the Jew to settle all of Palestine. This is confirmed by the settlement map today, which swallowed all the land allocated to the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, which is considered a historic concession that did not convince Israel that it is an occupying state, and this is the major problem of refusing to recognize that it is an occupying state.

The problem that faced this thought was the Palestinian people’s preservation of their existence on their land, even inside Israel, their preservation of their identity, their success in building their national institutions, national values and symbols, and their success in extracting the recognition of the Palestinian state by more than 120 countries.

These facts on the ground imposed on Lapid and before him Netanyahu and others that there is no alternative to the establishment of the state, but it is a state by the standards of Israel, a state without borders and without an army and without land, sea and air windows and a state without sovereignty, it is a protocol state that is higher than the authority of self-rule and less than a state And a country whose citizens do not have the right to return to it, and a country without a capital and without the return of refugees... a country that bears the name only, a country in the heart of a country that has full control over the land and security. This is what Lapid and others mean
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Kiev ( Ukraine ) - (AFP) - A Ukrainian official told AFP on Friday that the country's grain harvest had fallen by about 40 percent year-on-year due to the Russian invasion.

"We expect a grain harvest of 65-66 million tons" by the end of the year, after a record harvest of 106 million tons last year, said Sergei Ivashchenko, head of the Ukrainian Grain Association.

He added that "the main reason is the war," which led to a shortage of fuel and impeded sowing.

Ukraine is a major grain exporter, but the Russian invasion that began on February 24 disrupted exports, with 20 million tons of grain stuck in the country's ports.

"The ports were closed ... that cycle was broken," Ivashchenko said, by cutting off farmers' source of income.

"That, and the war of course, means that farmers did not have enough money to buy fertilizers as their yields decreased," he explained.

A landmark agreement in July brokered by the United Nations and Turkey created a safe passage for cargo ships, allowing exports to resume.

The head of the Ukrainian Grain Association confirmed that "the occupation of several regions, the battles in the fields and the destruction of the infrastructure" are all factors that are still hindering production.

And he added, "We usually grow grain in more than 25 million hectares. This year we harvested only 18 to 19 million hectares."

The historic agreement was extended for 120 days in November after intense negotiations with Russia, which temporarily withdrew from the agreement.

In total, 580 ships carrying about 15 million tons of grain have left Ukrainian ports since the deal was concluded, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Washington (AFP) - The Libyan accused of making the bomb used to blow up a US airliner over Scotland in 1988, in an operation that killed 270 people, has arrived in the United States and will appear in court on Monday, Justice Department officials said.

The United States brought charges against Abu Ageila Muhammad Masoud two years ago in connection with the Lockerbie bombing, in which most of the victims were Americans.

After his arrival in the United States, he was transferred to a Department of Justice facility in Alexandria, Virginia, to complete the initial stages of processing his case.

On Monday afternoon at 13:00 (18:00 GMT), he will appear in federal court in Washington for a first hearing.
And on Sunday, Scottish prosecutors announced that he was being held by the US authorities, but without giving details of how he was transferred from Libya.

Massoud was previously detained in Libya on suspicion of his involvement in the 1986 attack on a Berlin nightclub.

One person has so far been convicted of the bombing of Pan American Flight 103 on December 21, 1988, in the bloodiest terrorist attack on British soil.

The plane, which was bound for New York, exploded 38 minutes after taking off from London, causing its structure to fall in the town of Lockerbie, while the wreckage was scattered over a wide area.

The bombing killed 259 people, including 190 Americans on board the flight, in addition to 11 people on the ground.
Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset al-Megrahi spent seven years in a Scottish prison after being convicted in this case in 2001, and died in Libya in 2012. Al-Megrahi has always pleaded not guilty.

Moscow - (AFP) - Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary group "Wagner", praised the effectiveness of his forces in Ukraine, where they are often active in competition with the Russian army, stressing their "independence" and their submission to "fierce discipline".

Prigozhin explained in a video released by his media on Saturday evening the reasons that allowed his fighters to take control of the city of Solidar in eastern Ukraine, which Kiev still denies its fall.

Prigozhin confirmed that his fighters are experienced in combat and "achieve all their goals independently" because they have their own planes, artillery and armored vehicles.

"The most important thing is the leadership system, which has been fully developed," he said, stressing that " the Wagner Group listens to everyone, and everyone can express his opinion."

But "after a decision is made, all missions are carried out, no one can turn back. What gives us this possibility is the fiercest discipline," he explained in the video, in which he appears in a spotted suit with a man identified as Wagner's commander in the Battle of Solidar. .

Prigozhin's comments appear to be a new veiled criticism of Russia's top military leadership at a time when it faces accusations, including from some supporters of President Vladimir Putin, of a lack of coordination and detachment from the reality on the ground.

Prigozhin repeatedly criticized the leaders of the Russian forces over the past months, especially when Ukraine achieved military victories in the regions of Kharkiv (east) and Kherson (south).

On Friday, the Russian army announced the control of the city of Solidar, without mentioning the Wagner fighters in the first stage, which prompted Prigozhin to denounce, through his media, the "continuous attempts to rob the victories" of his group.

In a rare gesture, the Russian Ministry of Defense later published a statement praising the "courage" of Wagner's operatives in Solidar.

The Wagner Group, founded in 2014, has recruited thousands of prisoners to fight in Russia in exchange for reduced sentences.

In an indication of his escalating influence, Prigozhin, 61, admitted in September that he is the founder of Wagner, after he had denied it for years. He regularly visits the Ukrainian Front and makes statements actively through his media.

Johannesburg - (AFP) - The death toll from a liquefied gas tanker explosion in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, has risen to 15, South Africa's health minister said Sunday morning.

Joe Bala said in an interview with reporters at a hospital near the scene of the explosion, "The death toll was 10 dead yesterday, and this morning (Sunday) it has become 15."

William Ntlady, a spokesman for the emergency department in this region, told AFP on Saturday night that the death toll rose on Saturday evening to ten dead and about forty wounded.

He explained that half of the wounded were in serious condition, and 15 others were seriously injured, but in stable condition, while six firefighters sustained minor injuries.

Early Sunday, the truck was stuck under a bridge near a hospital and homes in a residential neighborhood.

"We got a call around 07:50 and the firefighters went out to put out the start of a fire, but then the truck exploded unfortunately," said Ntlady.

In amateur videos posted on social media, a huge fireball is seen exploding under the bridge. It seems that the height of the tanker truck did not allow it to cross the place.

The spokesman added that the tank was filled with 60,000 liters of liquefied gas, used mainly in stoves, and arrived from the southeast of the country, explaining that the truck driver was injured and taken to hospital.

Jean-Marie Boysen heard an explosion early Sunday morning, shortly after 06:30. "It's a very sad day for our little suburb," she told AFP, about 40 kilometers east of Johannesburg.

The 60-year-old blonde woman, who was a few steps away from the scientific police combing the site of the disaster, added that "a huge tremor occurred," explaining that "I grew up here and immediately said to myself: 'This has nothing to do with mining activity'." It is more like a 6.5-magnitude tremor. degrees on the Richter scale.

"I went upstairs and saw flames and thought the house was on fire. I called the fire department and they assured me they were on their way," she said.

Then came the bad news in the morning.

She noted that "on the other side of the road were two children, a teenager and a young man of about 25 who came to mow the lawn in my garden" regularly. "There is not one of them left, they are all dead," she added.

William, who did not want to reveal his last name, was hundreds of meters away from the explosion. He said that "a large number of us were injured by burns on our backs and by stones" that were thrown from a train station close to the site of the explosion.

"You can see it there on the ground," said the black man in his forties, pointing to the road covered in debris.

Johannesburg (AFP) - Nine people were killed and about 40 injured when a fuel tanker exploded in Boksburg, about 40 km east of Johannesburg, fire services said Saturday.

The truck carrying liquefied petroleum gas got stuck under a bridge near a hospital and homes on Saturday morning.

"We received a call around 7:50 am. Our personnel intervened to put out the fire, but unfortunately the truck exploded," said William Ntlady, a spokesman for the fire services in the area.

Videos circulating on social media show a huge fireball erupting from the truck under the bridge. It is possible that the truck is too high to cross this bridge.

The spokesman added that the tank was transporting 60,000 liters of liquefied petroleum gas, which is used mainly in ovens and stoves, and that the truck came from the southeast of the country, explaining that its injured driver was taken to hospital.

Ntlady said that of the 40 injured, 19 are in serious condition, 15 others are seriously injured but are in stable condition, while six firefighters sustained minor injuries.

Sydney (AFP) - A "shocking" government report revealed Tuesday that Australia 's unique flora and fauna are at greater risk than ever from bushfires, drought, human activity and global warming.

The scientific report presented a grim picture of the great damage to the country's wildlife. Since the turn of the 20th century, the average global temperature in Australia has increased by 1.4°C due to warming, which has accelerated the decline of flora and fauna.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersk described the report's findings as "shocking". "It tells a story of crisis and deterioration in the Australian environment," she said.

The 2019-2020 fires destroyed more than eight million hectares of vegetation and killed or displaced between one and three billion animals in the country, according to the report's main findings.

Also, ocean heat waves led to severe coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, 2017 and 2020. Since then, a government report released in March concluded that the coral reefs had again suffered massive bleaching.

Millions of hectares of virgin forests have been destroyed since 1990.

The same fate befell more than seven million hectares of habitat for endangered species between 2000 and 2017, according to the report.

In five years, more than 200 plant and animal species of national importance have been added to the list of threatened species under Australian environmental laws.

The report pointed out that "Australia has lost more species of mammals than any other continent," as the number of new species classified as threatened increased by 8% in five years.

Likewise, Australian cities are growing rapidly, according to the report, which leads to increased heat, pollution and urban waste, with pressure on water and energy resources.

The report stated that "Sydney has lost more than 70% of its original vegetation due to" urban development.

"The findings of this report are heartbreaking, and the management failure that led to losses of this magnitude is devastating," said Rachel Lowry, Acting Director-General of WWF Australia.

And she warned that "if we ignore the warnings contained in this report, famous species such as koalas in eastern Australia (...) will disappear forever."

According to the WWF, the report should mark a "turning point" that leads to greater investment and tougher laws to protect wildlife in Australia.

The country is particularly affected by climate change, as it is regularly exposed to droughts and devastating forest fires, in addition to frequent and increasingly dangerous floods.

Translation by "Jerusalem" dot com - The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz reported today, Tuesday, that the family of journalist Sherine Abu Aqleh opposed the move of the Palestinian Authority , the bullet that killed Sherine, to the American side .

According to the newspaper, the family believed that an action plan should be adopted according to which only the International Court of Justice could be approached to investigate the incident and not any US administration, whether Democratic or Republican.

The family believes that when it comes to the treatment of Palestinians, the White House is the same regardless of who lives in it.

According to the newspaper, there is an erosion in the Palestinian public's confidence in the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, noting that the residents expressed their anger on social networks at the step of handing over the bullet and the subsequent biased American report to Israel, especially after it became clear that the bullet was originally examined by Israeli officers.

The newspaper said: The Palestinian public views the cooperation and agreement to hand over the bullet to Israel as surrender to American and Israeli dictates and a naive belief that the Biden administration will do justice to Abu Aqel.

Algiers - (AFP) - Algerian security forces arrested journalist Ihsane El-Kady, director of "Radio M" and the news site "Maghreb Emargon", which were closed, according to the radio's website on Saturday evening, while an AFP reporter verified the matter.

Radio M's website wrote, "This evening, security services in civilian clothes raided the headquarters of Interfas Media, publisher of Radio M and Magrab Imagjon, in the presence of the director of the two sites and their founder, journalist Ihsan al-Qadi, who was handcuffed."

An AFP correspondent went to the headquarters of the two media outlets in the center of the Algerian capital, where the doors were closed while some journalists gathered.

Radio M published on its Facebook page that "the headquarters was waxed and the equipment" in it was seized.

According to the radio, Ihsan Al-Qadi was arrested at midnight on Friday-Saturday at his home in Boumerdes, east of the Algerian capital, and no news was known about him until he was taken to his workplace to attend the execution of a search warrant.

The director of "Radio M" and the "Morocco Imargon" news website is awaiting the decision of the Court of Appeal in the sentence issued against him in June to six months in prison with enforcement and a fine of 50,000 dinars (322 euros).

The case relates to a complaint filed by the Ministry of Communication against Ihsan al-Qadi after he published an article in March 2021 on the website of the online radio station Radio M, in which he defended Rashad's "right to participate in the popular movement" to demand democracy.

The Rashad movement is an Islamic organization that operates from outside Algeria, and the authorities classified it as a terrorist organization in May 2021.

Chicago (AFP) - The United States celebrates Christmas under a "historic" storm that has left 1.5 million homes without power and, this travel season, has led to more than 5,000 flight cancellations, highway closures and fatal crashes.

This storm, which the US meteorological agencies described as "historic", was punctuated by heavy snowfall, polar winds and a drop in temperatures to 48 degrees below zero in some places.

As of Friday morning, warnings and advisories have been issued to more than 240 million people, or 70 percent of Americans in the United States.

This phenomenon led to chaos in the transportation sector, while millions of Americans invaded roads and airports to travel in the end-of-year holiday season.

In New York State, movement is prohibited in Erie County. "We stay at home (...) I can't see the other side of the street" because of the snow, Jennifer Orlando, who resides in the city of Hamburg in the same district, told AFP.

She added that she was deprived of electricity for about four hours due to a car crashing into an electricity pole.

About 1.5 million homes were deprived of electricity on Friday, especially in North Carolina, Maine and Virginia, according to the specialized website "Power-Autig.us". As of Friday evening, about a million of these homes were without electricity.

The storm hit a wide area extending from the Canadian border in the north to the Mexican border in the south.

And in El Paso, Texas, shelters have been opened so that immigrants from Mexico can protect themselves from the danger of the cold as temperatures drop. Volunteer Rosa Falcone, 56, told AFP that many are reluctant to accept the offer and some of them "simply sleep wrapped in blankets."

On Friday evening, the specialized site "Flight-Aware" reported the cancellation of 5,500 flights in the United States, explaining that the most affected airports are those in Seattle, New York, Chicago and Detroit.

To get to Los Angeles, Christine LeRouzin was unable to fly from Vancouver, Canada, and had to convince her brother to drive to Seattle and catch another flight, with a stopover in Denver. "My flight from Seattle was delayed, my flight from Denver was delayed, and now they've lost my luggage," she told ABC 7 on Friday night.

Several states declared states of emergency, including New York, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Georgia and North Carolina. Visibility was almost non-existent, while the roads became very dangerous due to frost and ice.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear told CNN, warning that "we must stay at home and not take risks on the roads." "Your family wants to see you home for Christmas, but most of all they want to see you alive," he added.
He confirmed that three people died on the roads of Kentucky.

In Oklahoma, at least two people have died on a road, according to the agency responsible for emergency management in that state.
In Ohio, a massive collision of about fifty vehicles on a highway killed at least one person, according to local media.

In Michigan, traffic was cut off on a highway Friday morning due to an accident involving nine locomotives.
This storm, rare in its intensity, was caused by the collision of two air masses, one very cold from the Arctic and the other tropical from the Gulf of Mexico, exacerbated by a very rapid decrease in atmospheric pressure in less than 24 hours.

The Buffalo Department of Meteorology said this type of storm occurs "only once in a generation."

In Chicago, where the temperature dropped to around minus 20 degrees Celsius during the day on Friday, the "Night Ministry" organization to help the homeless was concerned about the number of beds the city provided, saying that it was not enough.

"Some of the people we're taking in have become homeless this year," Major Caleb Senn, an official with the Salvation Army in Chicago, told AFP. "Some are afraid because this is the first time they are at the mercy of nature with nowhere to go," he added.

Canada also faces this phenomenon with warnings of hail, storms and even snow storms in most of the country's territory.

But the freezing temperatures didn't stop Jennifer Campbell from doing her last-minute Christmas shopping in downtown Toronto.

"We have big storms regularly and we adapt," said the tourist from Ontario. "We're Canadian, it's our way of doing it."

Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - The Student Loan Fund for Higher Education Institutions in Palestine announced today, Wednesday, the end of screening applications submitted by students in higher education institutions to obtain study loans for the first semester of the year 2022-2023.

The fund stated that students can apply for loans; Log in to their accounts on the Fund’s electronic services website (https://eservices.iqrad.edu.ps) to check the value of the loans they obtained and confirm their desire for them, and then go to the designated place in their educational institutions to sign the financial documents to complete obtaining the loans.

He pointed out that the signing of the promissory notes starts from Sunday 01/08/2023, until the amount allocated to each educational institution runs out, and no later than Sunday 5/2/2023.

Istanbul - "Jerusalem" dot com - Musa Abu Marzouk, a member of the political bureau of Hamas , said today, Sunday, that his movement is keen to communicate with the regimes in the region and with the nation with all its currents, sects, races and components of parties, bodies and institutions.

In statements distributed by Hamas, Abu Marzouk confirmed his movement's keenness to deepen its relations with its Arab and Islamic incubators, stressing that it is not hostile to any of the countries and components.

He referred to the visit made by the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, to Lebanon and Algeria, describing it as fruitful, and that it had direct repercussions on the Palestinian people and their sacred cause, and came as a continuation of our continuous and permanent communication with various Arab countries, and many Islamic countries. like he said.

He added, "It is important to note that what happened in the past decade in the various countries of the region had a great impact on the positioning of the movement among these countries, because we are considered part of the Islamic resistance movements in the region, which left its impact on us directly and significantly."

The Hamas leader continued: "We are trying hard to restore the relations we have lost, and we will continue to try, and we will try not to lose anyone."

Abu Marzouk pointed out that the rule through which Hamas operates is for each to work according to his ability, not to interfere in the affairs of others, not to line up with blocs against another, and not to be hostile to any of the parties in the region.

He said: "Our central enemy is the Zionist occupation, the liberation of our land, the return of our people is our goal, and the nation is our main incubator. We are confronting the fiercest project the region has ever known, and we need everyone's help, and everyone who has been occupied looks forward to someone who supports his struggle and supports his jihad."

Regarding Hamas's policy towards alliances and axes, the member of Hamas's political bureau said: "It lies in the fact that it refuses to be part of any alliance or axis due to a number of reasons, the most important of which is that it seeks support from all parties for the rights of our Palestinian people and their just cause from various countries in the region." And its peoples, including printing countries, but in different forms, forms, and degrees, which makes joining the movement to any party turns the other party into an opponent, and makes our Palestinian people pay the price, and the second Gulf War of 1991 constituted an unforgettable example.

Abu Marzouk considered that the movement's participation in any alliance or cooperation that does not address Jerusalem, Palestine and the resistance, will constitute a factor of tearing the nation apart and a disagreement over dealing with the Palestinian issue.

He said: Iran is the most supportive of our resistance, and coincides with our policy towards Palestine, noting that the movement cooperates with it in all vital areas of resistance.

(AFP) - Republican Representative Nikki Haley announced her candidacy for the US presidential elections in 2024, becoming the first prominent candidate to compete with Donald Trump.

"I am a presidential candidate," said the former US ambassador to the United Nations, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, in a video clip in which she addressed her supporters.

It had been expected for weeks that Nikki Haley, 51, would announce her candidacy for the 2024 presidential election.

"Even in our darkest days, we are so blessed to live in America," Hayley said in the video. But she considered that Democratic President Joe Biden and the “administration” in Washington had a “terrible” record.

On Wednesday, she promised her supporters a "special announcement" in Charleston, South Carolina, the state where she was governor.

In her letter, Haley called for a "new generation of leaders," criticizing Republicans in the recent election in which Donald Trump, 76, interfered.

Trump did not immediately respond to Haley's announcement.

Hayley is the daughter of an Indian immigrant couple, who grew up in a small town in South Carolina, before becoming governor of this state.

Jerusalem - "Al-Quds" dot com - Dozens of settlers stormed today, Tuesday, the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque , under the strict protection of the occupation police.

The settlers made provocative tours inside the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and performed Talmudic rituals.

Settler groups storm Al-Aqsa on a daily basis, except for Friday and Saturday.

Governorates - "Jerusalem" dot com - The Israeli occupation forces arrested a young man from Tubas at the Hamra military checkpoint in the Jordan Valley, while they arrested two young men from the town of Al-Tur, east of occupied Jerusalem, this evening, Wednesday.

According to press sources, the occupation forces arrested Obeida Muhammad Hussein Daraghmeh (32 years old) at the Hamra checkpoint while he was returning from work in the Jordan Valley.

The forces also stormed the town of Al-Tur, and arrested the two young men, Ali Orabi and Adam Sami Abu Al-Hawa, from their relatives' homes.

Skopje (Republic of North Macedonia) - (AFP) - North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski announced Saturday that a settlement has been reached with Bulgaria over their dispute over common history and language, allowing Skopje to begin negotiations to join the European Union .

"Finally, after 17 years, we will start the process of negotiations to join the European Union," Kovaczewski told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Bulgaria, a member of the bloc, has until recently blocked any progress in such negotiations due to the long-standing dispute between the two countries over linguistic and historical issues.

But last month, the Bulgarian parliament agreed to lift the objection in return for guarantees from the European Union that North Macedonia would meet certain demands on the issues in question.

Translation by "Jerusalem" dot com - The Hebrew newspaper "Haaretz" revealed, on Friday, the existence of documents officially confirming the implementation of an operation aimed at poisoning Palestinian water wells in Acre and Gaza in 1948.

The newspaper pointed out that there were undocumented reports indicating such an operation, but during a recent research, official documents were obtained in the archives of the Israeli army, indicating the fact that the operation that was intended to poison those wells was carried out.

According to the newspaper, it was used to inject germs into drinking water to lead to infection with typhus and dysentery, or what is known as dysentery, noting that the operation began in April 1948, and the focus was more on targeting the wells that supply abandoned Palestinian villages to prevent the return of the population to them. .

The documents of the new research reveal that the operations involved large Israeli figures, including David Ben-Gurion, Yigal Yadin, Moshe Dayan and Ephraim Katzir, and began in the axis between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and then expanded to Acre in the north and to Gaza in the south, and included other areas such as Jericho and Beer Al-Saba’ and Eilabun in the Galilee, Bedouin, Beit Syria, and Beit Mahsir near Jerusalem. Later, it also included targets abroad such as Cairo and Beirut, but it remained on paper without implementation.

It was going to use a biological material in what appears to be a powder or liquid.

According to the research, it is believed that the operation was intended to distort the Arab armies, but it did not change the face of the war, and the operation caused dozens of Palestinians and Arabs to fall ill, especially in Acre.

Haaretz points out that the operation has not yet been officially disclosed, and is expected to remain secret, especially since there are more details about it.

CAIRO - (Xinhua) - Seven Egyptians were killed and 13 others injured today (Wednesday) in a traffic accident in Ismailia Governorate, east of Cairo.

The Egyptian Middle East News Agency reported that the accident occurred after a microbus taxi overturned near Abu Sultan village road in Fayed, Ismailia Governorate.

She indicated that a number of ambulances were sent to transport the injured to the hospital to receive treatment, transfer the deceased to the hospital morgue, and notify the Public Prosecution, which investigated the accident.

According to local media, all the deceased were from one family in Sharkia Governorate and were on their way to a beach for the resort.

Translation by "Jerusalem" dot com - It was revealed today, Friday, that Israeli President Isaac Herzog asked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin , during a phone conversation that took place between them a few days ago regarding the issue of the Jewish Agency in Moscow, to work to prevent arms smuggling from Russia to the factions . Palestinians through a smuggling route through Syria and Lebanon.

According to what the Hebrew newspaper Maariv reported on Russian media, Herzog told Putin that the Palestinian organizations had received shipments of arms smuggled from Russia unofficially, while Putin replied that these weapons were being smuggled from Ukraine.

According to the same sources, Herzog assured Putin that Israel has intelligence indicating the source and the route that the smuggled weapons take to reach the Palestinian organizations, and demanded that he take steps to close the arms smuggling routes.

She indicated that Putin later held a security discussion with senior officials related to the war on Ukraine, raised the issue of arms smuggling and ordered an investigation into the Israeli allegations, and that if they were true, he requested action to prevent them.

The Israeli President's office denied that the issue had been raised during any contacts.

Washington - (AFP) - British singer Elton John performed a concert at the White House on Friday, following an invitation he received from US President Joe Biden, while the singer had previously rejected several invitations sent to him by Donald Trump.

The 75-year-old British pop legend played the piano on the South Lawn of the White House, wearing a shiny black suit and orange glasses, as the US presidential residence lit up in the background.

"I don't know what to say, what a humble place," John joked as he took the stage to perform "Your Song" (1970).

"I've done previous concerts in beautiful places, but this place is probably the best among them," he added.

About 2,000 people were invited to the party, including gay rights activists, nurses, teachers and others.

The White House said in a statement that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai and former tennis champion and activist Billie Jean King were also among those present.

"Elton John's music has definitely changed our lives," Biden said.
Elton John, in turn, spoke about the importance of combating HIV/AIDS and thanked the United States for its role in fighting it.

The White House said the purpose of Friday's concert was to celebrate the unifying power of music.

However, the songs "Tiny Dancer" and "Rocket Man", which were used in Donald Trump's rallies, were when Elton Elgon performed them on Friday as a reminder of the deep divisions within American political life.

The singer thanked Biden for the invitation and also praised former US President George W. Bush.

"I hope the United States will be able to overcome political divisions," he said.

At the end of the party, US President Elton John surprised him by awarding him the National Humanities Medal to enable people to fight for justice.

"I've never been so surprised, but I'm surprised today," said John, who seemed moved.

Hassan Salihamidzic, sports director of Bayern Munich, revealed the scenes of his meeting with Polish Robert Lewandowski , Barcelona striker, while he was at the Bavarian club’s headquarters, on Tuesday morning.

The Polish international returned to bid farewell to his former colleagues and the management of the Bavarian club, despite his statements in which he attacked the latter's officials in the past days.

During an interview with the "Sky" network, Hamidic indicated that he sat in his office with Lewandowski for 15 minutes, adding, "It was a very nice conversation, during which we clarified everything."

And he added, "I think he is happy with this farewell, and in the end what matters to us is that he did a great job with Bayern Munich, and for this we wish him success in his career."

Hamidic refused to indulge in talking about the crisis of the 33-year-old before and after his departure, stressing that "the fans are waiting for the new team after the recent deals, and I will do the same."

Gaza - "Jerusalem" dot com - Ahmed Al-Masharawi - The Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and the Nusseirat Municipality signed an agreement to complete the construction of the sports city wall in the city of Nusseirat in the central Gaza Strip, which serves the city's clubs and the neighboring camps.

The Council was signed by Assistant Secretary-General Abdel Salam Haniyeh, and Dr. Nusseirat signed on behalf of the council. Iyad Al-Maghari, Mayor of the Municipality, in the presence of the President of the Azzun Youth Club, who is visiting the Gaza Strip, Jamal Abu Youssef, President of the Palestinian Handball Federation, Iyad Kullab, President of the Nuseirat Services Club, Mahmoud Musleh, President of Al-Aqsa Club, and sports figures.

Al-Maghari said that the municipality will help and support all Nuseirat clubs in providing their sports needs and training and preparation supplies, especially as we approach the launch of the new football season 2023. He thanked Haniyeh and described him as the leader of sports and youth achievements.

In turn, Haniyeh expressed his pride in the great role played by the sports system, especially the municipality of Nuseirat, which oversees this great renaissance in the infrastructure, and praised the holding of the Palestine Cup matches, Azzun, the champion of the West Bank, and Nuseirat Services, to emphasize the unity of the country, and the efforts made by Abu Yusef, the president union on this side.

Haniyeh expressed his happiness with the sportsmanship and the spirit of one team enjoyed by the city's clubs and the entire system, stressing the unity of the message to work for the land and the homeland, then he announced the start of completing the city's project.

Moscow - (AFP) - The Russian authorities announced that at least 22 people were killed Friday night in a fire in a nursing home in Kemerovo, Siberia, in central eastern Russia .

The Russian Investigative Committee said, "According to the latest information, two additional bodies were found during the search of the site. The death toll rose to 22."

According to the investigators, "six people were wounded, including two who suffered burns, and were taken to hospital in serious condition."

In a previous report published by the emergency services via the Telegram application, it was stated that the rescue work ended at 05:25 (02:25 GMT).

In a video clip published by the emergency services, several fire trucks stationed near the small facility appear, while the facility was destroyed by fire.

The Tass news agency reported that the fire spread throughout the night over an area of 180 square meters in the two-storey wooden building.

The agency quoted a source within the police as saying that this private home is "illegal".

And the Russian Investigative Committee had announced earlier, Saturday, the opening of an investigation, focusing in particular on the charge of “negligence causing the death” of people.

The commission added in a separate statement that investigators accused a 31-year-old man of "renting a private house and making it a temporary residence" for the elderly.

Investigators released a short video of a man being interrogated without showing his face.

The commission said the supposed source of the fire was a "damaged stove".

"The day before the accident, the tenants reported (the landlord) that the heater was broken, but he did not take any action to fix it," she added.

And she added, "The inspection continues, and the necessary items for the continuation of the investigation are confiscated. Witnesses are being questioned."

According to the emergency services, the authorities took note of the institution at the end of 2021 and it was scheduled to undergo an unannounced inspection in 2023.

The emergency services added, "On December 7, an inspector from the National Fire Service arrived at the facility for an inspection visit. The institution's management refused him entry."

For his part, the region's governor, Sergei Tsvelev, ordered "immediate" meetings to be held between the various mayors of the Kemerovo region and its "emergency committees."

He also requested, according to the "Tass" news agency, "to examine all homes for the elderly, especially the private ones."

In March 2018, the city of Kemerovo witnessed a fire in a shopping center that claimed the lives of 60 people, including 40 children and adolescents, in a tragedy that shook Russia.

Fire safety rules are not always respected in Russia, in part because of corruption, with many real estate developers obtaining building permits in exchange for bribes.

In early November, a fire in a tavern in Kostroma, 300 kilometers northeast of Moscow, killed 13 people.

In 2009, 156 people were killed in a major fire in a nightclub in Perm, a town in the Ural Mountains in eastern Russia.

بدأ نادي مؤسسة البيرة، التحضير لدوري المحترفين، على ملعب ماجد أسعد بالبيرة.

ويخوض البيرة الموسم الجديد بتغييرات كبيرة، سواء على صعيد الجهاز الفني أو الإداري، أو حتى اللاعبين.

فعلى الصعيد الفني يقود البيرة هذا الموسم المدرب فراس أبو رضوان، والذي يخلف وليد فارس، بعد اعتذار الأخير.

وأبرمت إدارة البيرة تعاقدات جديدة، ولعل الأمر الأبرز هو إبقاء النادي على الحارس المميز معاذ سماحة، والذي كان سببا مباشرا في بقاء الفريق في دوري المحترفين في الموسم الماضي، رغم أنه شارك بعدد كبير من المباريات وهو مصاب.

كما تم التجديد للاعب المخضرم حسين جوهر، الذي تعاقد معه النادي في الانتقالات الشتوية الماضية، وأعاد لاعبه السابق حسام ولويل من إسلامي قلقيلية، فيما تعاقد مع لاعب الأمعري محمد عصفور، ولاعب بيت حنينا محمود أبو وهدان، وحارس منتخب الشباب الذي شارك مؤخرا في كأس العرب مهدي عاصي.

فضلا عن تواجد لاعب منتخب الشباب المتألق محمد شلطف مهاجم منتخب الشباب الحالي الذي تألق في بطولة كاس العرب وقاد الفدائي الشاب للدور نصف النهائي، وزميله عبد الحميد أبو قبيطة الذي حرمته الإصابة من التواجد مع المنتخب، لكن كان عنصرا مهما من العناصر الشابة التي اعتمد عليها البيرة في الدوري الماضي.

Istanbul - (AFP) - A senior adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Sunday for the clashes in Paris after three Kurds were killed in a shooting.

"This is the PKK in France (...) the same terrorist organization you support in Syria," Ibrahim Kalin, the Turkish president's foreign affairs advisor, said in a tweet, which he attached with pictures of burning cars.

MASAFER YATA , Hebron - (Xinhua) A delegation of Western diplomatic mission heads in the West Bank and Jerusalem visited today, Thursday, the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron , where 8 residential communities are threatened with displacement from their lands.

The delegation's visit of solidarity with the residents in the gatherings came in the wake of the Israeli Supreme Court's approval last May of the army's recommendation to forcibly transfer 8 villages in Masafer Yatta, justifying that their residents "failed to prove" their claim that they were permanent residents there before declaring it a military training area for Saleh. Army.

Residents of Masafer Yatta say that the Israeli occupation authorities want to "evacuate and completely close the area and turn it into military training areas under the name of Shooting Range 918, not caring about the forced displacement of the population."

The diplomatic delegation included a number of representatives from Belgium, Denmark, the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The delegation toured several places in the threatened communities and met with Bedouin Palestinian families who live in them, in addition to seeing the damage that affected some homes as a result of the military exercises of the Israeli army.

The representative of the European Union in Palestine, Sven Kun von Burgsdorff, said during a press conference that the delegation's presence came in solidarity with the residents of Masafer Yatta who are threatened with displacement and forced transfer, and this demonstrates "our desire to direct international focus to what is happening here."

Burgsdorff stated that the Israeli Supreme Court made the decision ignoring that the Israeli occupying power has duties under international law, expressing his concern about this decision, which is a violation of international law.

Burgsdorf added that the occupying power, according to international law, has no right to expel and displace people for military reasons, stressing that there is no reason to displace people from the region and threaten economic life.

The representative of the European Union in Palestine called on the international community to take action to stop the expulsion of the population, build solar energy facilities and shelter for people, protect their basic rights, and provide education, food and water.

Burgsdorff explained that if the Israeli authorities displace the residents of Masafer Yatta, this will be "the largest forced transfer since 1999, and this is our great fear as we stand and fight to protect your basic human rights."

The visit of the European delegation was welcomed by officials and local residents.

Fouad Al-Amor, coordinator of the "Protection and Resilience Committees" in southern Hebron, told Xinhua that the presence of the European delegation strengthens the elements of resilience among the residents of Masafer Yatta, and it is a strong message to Israel that its procedures and practices are illegal.

Al-Amor stressed that the residents of Al-Musafer are determined to stay in their lands and homes, whatever the cost, and they will not leave them despite being shot at by the Israeli military exercises taking place in the area.

Al-Amor expressed his hope that the visit would constitute a safety valve for the Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta and prevent their displacement from their lands at any moment, calling on the diplomatic delegation that is currently visiting Masafer Yatta to transfer the suffering of the residents to the decision-makers in their countries and pressure Israel to stop its military exercises.

The area witnesses protests almost daily by local residents and Israeli and foreign peace activists.

The area of the villages threatened with eviction is estimated at 30,000 dunums (1,000 square meters) and is inhabited by more than 2,000 people, including women and children.

Israel has classified approximately 38 population centers inhabited by more than 5,000 Palestinians as “firing” areas, which constitute 18% of the area of the West Bank, according to the United Nations Coordination Office in Palestine.

CAIRO - (Xinhua) - Three people were killed today (Saturday) in a fire that broke out in a natural gas pipeline in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Cairo Governorate stated in a statement on its official page on the meeting website (Facebook) that the central operations room in the governorate had received a report of a fire in the gas line at the intersection of Al-Nasr Road with Ahmed Fakhry Street in the Nasr City neighborhood.

The statement indicated that Major General Khaled Abdel-Al, Governor of Cairo, Major General Ashraf El-Gendy, Director of Cairo Security, Civil Protection Forces, and officials of the gas company and utility companies immediately moved to the site of the accident, which “resulted in 3 deaths.”

The civil protection forces were able to extinguish the fire and carry out cooling operations, and the line is being repaired by the gas company.
The forensic laboratory experts were also notified to remove the traces of the fire and find out its causes, according to the statement.