Houthi missile hits Saudi civilian area in Najran

Najran (OIC-UNA) � A ballistic missile was fired from Yemen toward the Kingdom’s southern border in the early hours of Friday, spokesman of the Arab Coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen, Col. Turki Al-Maliki said.

The missile, he said, was directed at the southern border village of Najran targeting a civilian populated area. The missile landed on a residential complex inhabited by resident workers. A fire at the site was put out leaving extensive property damage and only one minor injury to a worker was registered. Col. Al-Maliki said that this hostile act by the Houthi armed militias is the result of the continuous arms and missile smuggling from a regional party supporting them to threaten the security of Saudi Arabia. He added that the launch of ballistic missiles toward populated cities and villages violates international law.

UAE soldier killed: An Emirati soldier has been killed in southern Saudi Arabia while taking part in the Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels, the United Arab Emirates military said. The body of corporal Saeed Matar Al-Kaabi was repatriated on Friday, the official WAM news agency reported. The military said Kaabi was killed while “performing his national duty” in Najran province bordering Yemen, without elaborating. Some 100 Emiratis have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi-led intervention there began in March 2015.

Source: International Islamic News Agency

Saudi Arabia to establish factory turning palm, date waste into new products

Riyadh (OIC-UNA) � Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, the National Center for Palms and Dates, and the Saudi Technology Development and Investment Company (TAQNIA), studied plans to establish the biggest regional factory to benefit from palm, date and agriculture waste.

This came during a meeting presided over by Ahmed bin Saleh Ayada, undersecretary for the ministry; Sulaiman Al-Khateeb, chairman of vegetable resources at the ministry; and Mohammed Al-Nueiran, president of the center, to study the establishment of the first regional factory to turn waste from palms and dates into products of economic value. According to Nueiran, it is planned to establish the factory near the Qassim region, the second largest main region producing palm and date waste in the Kingdom.

The factory’s productive capacity is estimated at 300,000 tons per year of the transformed products that require 500,000 tons of palms, dates and agriculture product waste. He said that based on the study, the project is expected to create 2,000 direct and indirect new job opportunities across other production regions in Riyadh, Madinah, Al-Ahsa and other cities. The agriculture sector in the Kingdom produces over 1.7 million tons per year of palm, date and agricultural waste.

Source: International Islamic News Agency

Saudi Crown Prince’s key announcements push oil prices to two-year high

Riyadh (OIC-UNA) � The recent statements by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, have sent oil prices to over $60, the highest in more than two years, agencies said.

The Crown Prince’s statements have cleared the fogginess shrouding the markets, hence restoring confidence. The restoration of a balance in the oil market has raised the status of the Kingdom’s leadership, proving its success despite the challenges. During the recently held investment conference here, the Crown Prince confirmed that the demand for petroleum is set to increase. Crown Prince Muhammad also provided reassurance on the future of energy, both conventional and renewables. In a statement to Reuters, he said the Kingdom was committed to working with all OPEC and non-OPEC countries.

He said that they have achieved a great and historic agreement and the Kingdom would support all that would realize stability of supply and demand. He stressed that they have restored control over all matters. He confirmed the Kingdom’s readiness to extend the deal on cutting oil production, which has restored balance between supply and demand. The Crown Prince added that the high demand for oil has offset the high production of shale oil. Comments made by the Crown Prince have sent Brent crude to its highest in two years ($59.3 a barrel), Reuters said.

Crown Prince Muhammad reassured that the Aramco initial public offering is still on track for its scheduled takeoff in the second half of 2018. Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih said earlier this week that AEuros œWhen we get closer to that (five-year average) we will decide how we smoothly exit the current arrangement, maybe go to a different arrangement to keep supply and demand closely balanced so we don’t have a return to higher inventories. These comments suggest that the lower production could become something of a norm as long as everyone in OPEC and its external partners agrees.

THE $500 billion mega-city, called ‘NEOM’ planned by Saudi Arabia will be floated on financial markets alongside oil giant Saudi Aramco as part of the Kingdom’s drive to diversify away from oil, the Crown Prince told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. The Crown Prince also said Aramco’s initial public offering is on track for next year and the national oil giant could be valued at more than $2 trillion.

The surprise announcement about the listing of NEOM, a 26,500-sq. km zone that will extend into Jordan and Egypt, is the latest and most extraordinary in a slate of privatization programs led by the floating of Aramco. The futuristic high tech hub looks set to become a flagship of reforms championed by Prince Muhammad to create jobs, encourage entrepreneurs and permit new freedoms among Saudis steeped in puritanism and dependence on the state.

The first capitalist city in the world … this is the unique thing that will be revolutionary,� said Prince Muhammad, heir to the throne of the largest Arab economy. The Crown Prince spoke on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative conference, which ended on Thursday, has attracted nearly 4,000 delegates from around the world to Riyadh this week.

Source: International Islamic News Agency

Catalan government sacked after independence declaration

Madrid (OIC-UNA) � Spain on Friday sacked Catalonia’s regional government, dissolved the Catalan parliament and called a snap election in the region for Dec. 21, in a bid to draw a line under Spain’s worst political crisis in 40 years.

“We believe it is urgent to listen to Catalan citizens, to all of them, so that they can decide their future and nobody can act outside the law on their behalf,” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in a televised speech. On Friday Catalonia’s regional parliament declared independence. Germany, France the UK and the United States were quick to express support to the Spanish government and refuse to recognize the declaration. The independence motion was passed in the 135-strong assembly with 70 votes in favor, 10 against and 2 blank ballots, the assembly’s speaker said. The upper house of Spain’s parliament on Friday authorized the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to rule Catalonia directly from Madrid, minutes after the restive region declared independence from Spain, news agencies reported.

Rajoy said he had formally removed Catalonia’s separatist leader Carles Puigdemont and his executive from office as part of measures to restore normality after the Catalan parliament voted to declare independence earlier on Friday. We Spaniards are living through a sad day in which a lack of reason prevailed upon the law and demolished democracy in Catalonia, the prime minister added in a televised address. The situation is heartbreaking, sad and distressing, Rajoy said. Other measures adopted by the government include the dismissal of the director of the Catalan regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, as well as Catalan government representatives in Madrid and Brussels.

Spain’s central government will also close Catalan government representations around the world, except the one in Brussels. These are the first steps we are taking to prevent those who up until now were in charge of the Catalan government from continuing their escalation of disobedience, Rajoy said. The Spanish Senate earlier gave Rajoy’s government sweeping powers to impose direct rule on the wealthy, semi-autonomous region to quash its independence drive. This followed a vote by 70 lawmakers out of 135 in the regional parliament to declare Catalonia a republic in the form of an independent and sovereign state.

EU President Donald Tusk said Friday that Madrid remains our only interlocutor after Catalan lawmakers voted to declare independence from Spain in a crisis threatening the stability of a key member of the bloc. The European Union and its member states have stood firmly behind Madrid in the escalating standoff triggered by Catalonia’s hotly contested October 1 referendum on splitting from Spain. As the situation escalated sharply, with Catalonia’s regional parliament voting to declare independence and Madrid vowing in turn to quash the bid for secession, Tusk appealed for calm. For EU nothing changes. Spain remains our only interlocutor. I hope the Spanish government favors force of argument, not argument of force, he tweeted.

Earlier a top EU official said resolving the crisis in Catalonia was crucial to the whole of Europe, while reiterating the bloc’s staunch support for the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. We have to respect the constitution and that’s extremely important for Europe — so it’s not a question of Spain, it’s a question of Europe, Carlos Moedas, the European Commissioner for research, science and innovation, told reporters. We, as a European Union, have to be on the defense of the constitutional order of Spain.

Brussels has for weeks insisted the standoff in Catalonia is an internal matter for key EU member Spain, resisting Catalan efforts to internationalize the issue and backing Madrid’s position that the referendum was illegal. US considers Catalonia ‘integral part of Spain’ The United States considers Catalonia an integral part of Spain and supports Madrid’s measures to keep Spain strong and united, the State Department said Friday after Catalan lawmakers voted to declare independence. The United States enjoys a great friendship and an enduring partnership with our NATO ally Spain, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. Catalonia is an integral part of Spain, and the United States supports the Spanish government’s constitutional measures to keep Spain strong and united.

Nauert added that the United States and Spain cooperate closely to advance our shared security and economic priorities. Catalan lawmakers voted earlier to declare independence, as Madrid vowed in turn to restore legality and quash the region’s secessionist bid. The Catalan regional parliament in Barcelona passed a resolution to declare Catalonia an independent state in the form of a republic.

Britain “does not and will not” recognize the unilateral declaration of independence made by the Catalan regional parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesperson said in a statement on Friday. “It is based on a vote that was declared illegal by the Spanish courts. We continue to want to see the rule of law upheld, the Spanish Constitution respected, and Spanish unity preserved,” the spokesperson said. French president Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he was fully supportive of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, regarding the crisis taking place in Catalonia. The Spanish government moved to impose direct rule over Catalonia, stripping the region of its autonomy less than an hour after its parliament declared independence in a stunning show of defiance. I have always said that I have one interlocutor in Spain, it is Prime Minister Rajoy, Macron told journalists on the sidelines of a visit to French Guiana. There is a rule of law in Spain with constitutional rules. Mariano Rajoy wants these rules to be respected and he has my full support, Macron added.

Mexico will not recognize Catalonia’s declaration of independence from Spain, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote in a post on Twitter on Friday evening. The political turmoil in Spain intensified on Friday as the Madrid government dismissed Catalonia’s president and parliament hours after the region declared independence. Pena Nieto made it clear he will stand beside Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as he confronts the nation’s most acute political crisis since it embraced democracy in 1978. Mexico will not recognize the unilateral declaration of independence of Catalonia, Pena Nieto wrote. We hope for a political and peaceful solution.

Nations including France, Germany and the United States have also voiced their support for Spanish unity. Spain was plunged into uncertainty on Oct. 1 when Catalonia, a prosperous northeastern state that accounts for 20 percent of Spain’s gross domestic product, held an independence referendum, though courts had declared the proceedings illegal. Separatists declared victory despite a participation of only 43 percent. Shortly after the referendum, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said in a statement that the country favored a unified Spain.

Source: International Islamic News Agency