SANAA // Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh on Friday urged his rebel allies to implement UN security council decisions in return for a halt in Saudi-led coalition air strikes.
“I call on Ansarullah (the Shiite Huthi rebels) to accept all UN security council decisions and to implement them in return for a halt in the coalition forces’ aggression,” Mr Saleh said in a statement read out on his behalf on his private television channel Yemen Today.
“I urge them and everyone — militias and Al Qaeda as well as militias loyal to (president Abdrabu Mansur) Hadi, to withdraw from all provinces, especially Aden,” the main southern city where fighting has raged between rival forces.
A UN security council resolution this month imposed an arms embargo on the rebel leaders, including Mr Saleh’s own son Ahmed, and demanded that the Houthis withdraw from government institutions they had seized since they overran Sanaa in September.
Mr Saleh, who still holds sway over army units allied with the Houthis, had welcomed the resolution as a way to “stop bloodshed” in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has led an air war targeting the rebels and their allies since March 26.
The former president, who still heads the influential General People’s Congress party, called for UN-brokered Saudi-Yemeni talks to be held in Geneva.
Mr Saleh also called for a resumption of inter-Yemeni dialogue, urging “reconciliation” and the release of “all prisoners and those kidnapped”.
He proposed that all provinces to be handed over to “the army and security apparatus under the control of local authorities in each province”.
Mr Saleh ruled Yemen for 33 years before being forced to stand down following a year-long Arab Spring-inspired uprising in 2011.
* Agence France-Presse
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
The Specs
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ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
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Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Almouneer
Started: 2017
Founders: Dr Noha Khater and Rania Kadry
Based: Egypt
Number of staff: 120
Investment: Bootstrapped, with support from Insead and Egyptian government, seed round of
$3.6 million led by Global Ventures
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
UAE athletes heading to Paris 2024
Equestrian
Abdullah Humaid Al Muhairi, Abdullah Al Marri, Omar Al Marzooqi, Salem Al Suwaidi, and Ali Al Karbi (four to be selected).
Judo
Men: Narmandakh Bayanmunkh (66kg), Nugzari Tatalashvili (81kg), Aram Grigorian (90kg), Dzhafar Kostoev (100kg), Magomedomar Magomedomarov (+100kg); women's Khorloodoi Bishrelt (52kg).
Cycling
Safia Al Sayegh (women's road race).
Swimming
Men: Yousef Rashid Al Matroushi (100m freestyle); women: Maha Abdullah Al Shehi (200m freestyle).
Athletics
Maryam Mohammed Al Farsi (women's 100 metres).
Sui Dhaaga: Made in India
Director: Sharat Katariya
Starring: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav
3.5/5
SPEC SHEET: APPLE IPAD (2022)
Display: 10.9-inch Liquid Retina IPS LCD, 2,360 x 1,640, 264ppi, wide colour, True Tone, Apple Pencil 1 support
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In the box: iPad, USB-C-to-USB-C cable, 20W power adapter
Price: Wi-Fi — Dh1,849 (64GB) / Dh2,449 (256GB); cellular — Dh2,449 (64GB) / Dh3,049 (256GB)
THE DETAILS
Deadpool 2
Dir: David Leitch
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Justin Dennison, Zazie Beetz
Four stars
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
Illegal shipments intercepted in Gulf region
The Royal Navy raid is the latest in a series of successful interceptions of drugs and arms in the Gulf
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May 8: US coastguard vessel USCGC Glen Harris seizes heroin and meth worth more than $30 million from a fishing boat
March 2: Anti-tank guided missiles and missile components seized by HMS Lancaster from a small boat travelling from Iran
October 9, 2022: Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose recovers drugs worth $17.8 million from a dhow in Arabian Sea
September 27, 2022: US Naval Forces Central Command reports a find of 2.4 tonnes of heroin on board fishing boat in Gulf of Oman
Company Profile
Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
