A top US diplomat on Wednesday denied a claim by Yemen's Houthis that the Biden administration had offered to recognise the Iran-backed rebels in Sanaa if they stopped attacks in the Red Sea and beyond.
Special envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking also said he had seen “very worrying” evidence that Russia is seeking to arm the Houthis.
A senior Houthi official this week said the US had offered to recognise the Houthis and other unspecified “temptations” for the group to stop attacking shipping in the Red Sea and launching strikes against Israel.
“There is no truth to the story,” Mr Lenderking told The National at an event hosted by the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington on Wednesday. “It is not the case that the US is offering any inducements to recognise the Houthis is a legitimate government.”
Speaking alongside Yemen's ambassador to Washington, Mohammed Al Hadhrami, he said the US is “working very closely with the legitimate government in Yemen”, which has moved to Aden since the Houthis seized control of the capital Sanaa in a 2014 coup that led to the current civil war.
Mr Al Hadhrami said the Houthis want to turn Yemen into a theocratic state and warned that diplomacy “will not work” with the rebels. He listed a moves short of a full-scale military intervention to increase pressure on the group, including redesignating them as a foreign terrorist organisation, securing Yemen's borders and cutting supply lines for weapons.
Outside Yemen's decade-long civil war, the Houthis have unleashed a campaign against Red Sea shipping, saying say they are attacking ships linked to Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. The group has also fired at least one ballistic missile into Israel and steered at least one attack drone into the country.
The US delisted the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation and as specially designated global terrorists in February 2021, as President Joe Biden's administration sought to make it easier to get aid into Yemen, where a humanitarian crisis has pushed millions to the brink of starvation.
But the administration partially backtracked this year, redesignating the Houthis as a specially designated global terrorist group, but not calling them a foreign terrorist organisation, which carries more serious implications. Mr Lenderking said that designation was under consideration.
“We're in very active conversation with the Yemen government, within our own leadership here about the prospect of doing that, whether that's helpful, whether that achieves objectives that we want to see,” he said.
Mr Lenderking said the Houthis' relationship with Russia is growing stronger and has become “extremely troubling”.
“The Russians are very irritated with our strong policy on Ukraine. They're finding other outlets to take it out on us. Yemen is another venue where they have been seeking to arm the Houthis, which would be a game changer.”
Mr Al Hadhrami said, however, that Russia had assured Yemen's Foreign Minister on a recent Moscow visit they were not supplying weapons to the Houthis.
“If we see evidence that this is not the case, I think our position will change,” the ambassador said.
The Houthis on Sunday claimed responsibility for a “hypersonic” ballistic missile attack on central Israel, praising it for causing “fear and panic” throughout the country. They called the missile Palestine 2, which the Pentagon on Tuesday denied had hypersonic capabilities.
Mr Al Hadhrami and Mr Lenderking both said they want to see a ceasefire in Gaza and regard it as key to ending attacks in the Red Sea.
Mr Lenderking said countries and groups with inside knowledge of the issue assure him the Houthis would stop their attacks in the event of a ceasefire.
“Even if they do that, though, they've still demonstrated the capability to menace shipping, and they have the willingness to do it. So the United States is not going to say, OK, game over,” he said.
The Houthis last month struck the MV Sounion oil tanker, threatening the worst oil spill in history. The vessel is now under tow for salvage but Mr Lenderking said it is still on fire.
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
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Schedule
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
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Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
More coverage from the Future Forum
US PGA Championship in numbers
1 Joost Luiten produced a memorable hole in one at the par-three fourth in the first round.
2 To date, the only two players to win the PGA Championship after winning the week before are Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and Tiger Woods (2007, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational). Hideki Matsuyama or Chris Stroud could have made it three.
3 Number of seasons without a major for McIlroy, who finished in a tie for 22nd.
4 Louis Oosthuizen has now finished second in all four of the game's major championships.
5 In the fifth hole of the final round, McIlroy holed his longest putt of the week - from 16ft 8in - for birdie.
6 For the sixth successive year, play was disrupted by bad weather with a delay of one hour and 43 minutes on Friday.
7 Seven under par (64) was the best round of the week, shot by Matsuyama and Francesco Molinari on Day 2.
8 Number of shots taken by Jason Day on the 18th hole in round three after a risky recovery shot backfired.
9 Jon Rahm's age in months the last time Phil Mickelson missed the cut in the US PGA, in 1995.
10 Jimmy Walker's opening round as defending champion was a 10-over-par 81.
11 The par-four 11th coincidentally ranked as the 11th hardest hole overall with a scoring average of 4.192.
12 Paul Casey was a combined 12 under par for his first round in this year's majors.
13 The average world ranking of the last 13 PGA winners before this week was 25. Kevin Kisner began the week ranked 25th.
14 The world ranking of Justin Thomas before his victory.
15 Of the top 15 players after 54 holes, only Oosthuizen had previously won a major.
16 The par-four 16th marks the start of Quail Hollow's so-called "Green Mile" of finishing holes, some of the toughest in golf.
17 The first round scoring average of the last 17 major champions was 67.2. Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen shot 67 on day one at Quail Hollow.
18 For the first time in 18 majors, the eventual winner was over par after round one (Thomas shot 73).
Greatest Royal Rumble results
John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match
Cedric Alexander retained the WWE Cruiserweight title against Kalisto
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt win the Raw Tag Team titles against Cesaro and Sheamus
Jeff Hardy retained the United States title against Jinder Mahal
Bludgeon Brothers retain the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos
Seth Rollins retains the Intercontinental title against The Miz, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
AJ Styles remains WWE World Heavyweight champion after he and Shinsuke Nakamura are both counted out
The Undertaker beats Rusev in a casket match
Brock Lesnar retains the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Braun Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble by eliminating Big Cass last
The specs: 2018 BMW X2 and X3
Price, as tested: Dh255,150 (X2); Dh383,250 (X3)
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged inline four-cylinder (X2); 3.0-litre twin-turbo inline six-cylinder (X3)
Power 192hp @ 5,000rpm (X2); 355hp @ 5,500rpm (X3)
Torque: 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (X2); 500Nm @ 1,520rpm (X3)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic (X2); Eight-speed automatic (X3)
Fuel consumption, combined: 5.7L / 100km (X2); 8.3L / 100km (X3)
Roll of honour: Who won what in 2018/19?
West Asia Premiership: Winners – Bahrain; Runners-up – Dubai Exiles
UAE Premiership: Winners – Abu Dhabi Harlequins; Runners-up – Jebel Ali Dragons
Dubai Rugby Sevens: Winners – Dubai Hurricanes; Runners-up – Abu Dhabi Harlequins
UAE Conference: Winners – Dubai Tigers; Runners-up – Al Ain Amblers
Plan to boost public schools
A major shake-up of government-run schools was rolled out across the country in 2017. Known as the Emirati School Model, it placed more emphasis on maths and science while also adding practical skills to the curriculum.
It was accompanied by the promise of a Dh5 billion investment, over six years, to pay for state-of-the-art infrastructure improvements.
Aspects of the school model will be extended to international private schools, the education minister has previously suggested.
Recent developments have also included the introduction of moral education - which public and private schools both must teach - along with reform of the exams system and tougher teacher licensing requirements.
Result
2.15pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,950m; Winner: Majestic Thunder, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
2.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,800m; Winner: Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
3.15pm: Handicap Dh85,000 1,600m; Winner: Native Appeal, Adam McLean, Doug Watson.
3.45pm: Handicap Dh115,000 1,950m; Winner: Conclusion, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
4.15pm: Handicap Dh100,000 1,400m; Winner: Pilgrim’s Treasure, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
4.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,400m; Winner: Sanad Libya, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
5.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,000m; Winner: Midlander, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
Company%20profile
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Company%20profile
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