Interpol says no red notice for Donald Trump after Iran request
Interpol will not comply with an Iranian request to issue a global red notice to arrest US President Donald Trump, it told The National on Monday.
Tehran's top prosecutor, Ali Alqasimehr, on Monday announced murder and terrorism charges against Mr Trump over the January 3 killing of Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani, Iraqi militia head Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis, and others near Bagdhad airport.
After a meeting of the country's Supreme Judicial Council, Mr Alqasimehr said that 35 others would also face charges in Iran.
But Interpol said its constitution prevented it from "undertaking any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character".
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Daily update
France arrests six over stolen Banksy artwork of Bataclan terror attack
Six people have been arrested in France over the theft of an artwork by British street artist Banksy commemorating victims of the 2015 Paris attacks.
The piece was stolen from the Bataclan concert hall where 90 people died in an ISIS terror attack.
The suspects were arrested across France after the artwork – an image of a girl in mourning painted on one of the Paris venue's emergency doors – was found in Italy earlier in the month.
On Friday, two people were charged with theft and four others with concealing theft.
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Arab Coalition seizes new Iranian missile shipment off Yemen coast
A shipment of Iranian missiles destined for the Houthi rebels was seized by the Arab Coalition off the Yemeni coast, officials said on Monday.
Saudi representatives of the Coalition revealed new details about the shipment in a conference hosted by broadcaster Al Arabiya, in which they displayed footage and images of the operation.
They said a vessel carrying Iranian weapons was intercepted 12 days ago off the coast of Yemen.
Al Arabiya English showed images of the weapons and quoted a Coalition official as saying the wooden vessel was found off the coast of the Yemeni city of Mocha.
The find suggests Iran is contravening a UN resolution that prohibits arms transfers to the Houthi rebels, who overran the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
Calls intensified this week for the UN to renew an arms embargo, which is to expire in October, on Iran.
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Beyond the Headlines
Israeli defence chief Gantz says West Bank annexation 'will wait'
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Palestinian protesters wave flags as Israeli troops take position during a protest against Jewish settlements in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah. Reuters -
Now that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secured a new term in office, there’s little to prevent him from annexing large parts of the West Bank as early as this summer. AP -
An Israeli soldier stands guard during a tour made by Israeli parliament members in the Jordan Valley near the Jewish settlement of Maale Efrayim. Reuters -
Israeli soldiers take position as Palestinian demonstrators gather during a protest against expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. AP -
King Abdullah (r) of Transjordan on May 13, 1948 in Amman with Abed Al Rahman Azzam, the secretary general of the Arab League and Abd Al Elah Ibn Ali, the Prince Regent of Iraq, the day before the beginning of the first Arab-Israeli War. AFP -
Palestinians surrender to Israeli soldiers in June 1967 in the occupied territory of the West Bank after Israel launched a pre-emptive attack on Egypt and Syria and seized the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights in Syria as well as the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. AFP -
A Palestinian child plays in a refugee camp in Jordan on June 23, 1967. AFP -
PLO chairman Yasser Arafat delivers a speech to the Palestine National Council meeting to make the historic proclamation of a Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied territories and to recognize Israel in the Palace of Nations conference hall on November 12, 1988, in Algiers. AFP -
US President Bill Clinton stands between PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzahk Rabin as they shake hands for the first time on September 13, 1993 at the White House. AFP -
Hussein Ibn Talal, King of Jordan and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin shake hands after they exchanged the documents of the Peace Treaty at Beit Gabriel conference centre on November 10, 1994 on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. AFP -
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during the Palestinian leadership meeting and threatened to end security coordination with Israel and the United States, saying Israeli annexation would ruin chances for peace. AFP -
Houses in the Israeli settlement of settlement of Kedumim are seen in the foreground as part of the Palestinian city of Nablus is seen in the background (far left) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Reuters -
Israel's controversial concrete barrier (C) separating the Jewish settlement of Neve Yaakov (foreground) in the northern part of east Jerusalem and the Palestinian area of al-Ram (background) in the occupied West Bank. AFP -
An Israeli activist holds a banner during a protest against the US peace plan for the Middle East, in front of the US ambassador's residence in Jerusalem, on May 15, 2020, as Palestinians commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the 1948 Nakba or "catastrophe". AFP -
A Palestinian shepherd tends to his camels on arid land considered to be in "Area C" (under Israeli security and administrative control), southeast of Yatta town in the southern West Bank district of Hebron. AFP -
A general view of the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh, as seen from the Palestinian village of Azmout near the West Bank City of Nablus. EPA -
The West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Michmash. AP
Israeli Defence Minister, Benny Gantz, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to begin annexing occupied West Bank territory will have to wait because of the coronavirus crisis.
Mr Gantz, who is also alternative prime minister, told his Blue and White Party on Monday that his top priority was helping the country through the health and economic crisis from the coronavirus.
"Anything unrelated to the battle against the coronavirus will wait," he said.
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Waste clear-up on the 'Titanic of the Gulf'
Rocket lands near motorcade of Lebanon’s Saad Hariri
A missile exploded near the convoy of former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri as he visited the eastern Bekaa Valley earlier this month, he said on Monday.
Mr Hariri said reports by Saudi-owned Al Hadath TV were generally correct.
But he wanted to refrain from public statements about the incident until police had concluded their investigation, he said.
The missile reportedly landed 500 metres from his motorcade on June 17 as his 30-vehicle convoy drove back from a meeting with Khalil Al Mais, the Bekaa Valley’s top Sunni cleric, in the eastern village of Makseh.
The attack came days after clashes in Beirut sparked by Lebanon’s continuing economic and financial crisis, and amid sectarian tensions.
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