Day: 12 July 2023

Ireland condemned today Israel’s forcible eviction of the Sub Laban family from its home in Jerusalem’s Old City and turning it over to Jewish settlers. ‘We condemn the forcible eviction at dawn yesterday of Nora and Mustafa Sub Laban from their family home of 70 years in Jerusalem’s Old City,’ said the Irish Representative Office in Ramallah in a tweet. ‘We reiterate that Israel, as occupying power, must abide by international law and cease the practice of forcible evictions in occupied Palestinian territory,’ it added. Nora, 68, and her husband, Mustafa, 72, were forced to leave their home, which was immediately turned over to Jewish settlers.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

The aggression forces committed 40 violations of the ceasefire agreement in Hodeida province over the past 24 hours, an official at the operations room to monitor the violations said on Wednesday.

The official in the operations room told the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) that among the aggression forces violations five spy airstrikes on al-Jabaliya and Hays, and the creation of combat fortifications in al-Jabaliya.

The source indicates that the violations also involved the flying of 10 espionage aircraft in the airspace of Maqbana, Hays and al-Jabaliyah, six violations by artillery bombardment and 18 violations by different gunshots.

Source: Yemen News Agency

The Palestinian Bedouin community of al-Baqa’a of 36 people, including 20 children, has left its area, where a settlement outpost was established inside the community on June 21, after settlers set one of their tents on fire with two Palestinians inside on Monday and have intimidated the community from accessing their land and moving freely, according to Lynn Hastings, United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Palestine. She said that this relocation from al Baqa’a is not an isolated one. Before that, 132 Palestinians left Ein Samiya community in May after settler attacks and other coercive measures. In 2022-2023, 134 Palestinians, including 83 children, left Wadi al-Seeq and Ras al-Tin communities under similar circumstances.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA

A recent study revealed a significant relationship between chewing function and blood glucose levels, noting that Type 2 diabetes patients with full chewing function have significantly lower blood glucose levels than those with impaired chewing ability.

According to SciTech Daily, researchers found that chewing stimulates processes contributing to reduced blood glucose levels. They observed that patients with full chewing function have significantly lower blood glucose levels than those with impaired chewing ability.

The study participants were divided into two groups: the first group included patients who had good occlusal function, and its blood glucose level was 7.48. The second group could not chew well, if at all, and their blood glucose level was almost 2 percentage points higher.

According to the study, when you sit down at a picnic table with family and friends, chewing may be the last thing on your mind. However, it is the first step of digestion, the process by which your body extracts nutrients from food, as it stimulates the production of saliva. Nutrients that are important to reduce blood glucose levels include fiber, which is obtained in large part through chewing appropriate foods.

Chewing also has been reported to stimulate reactions in the intestine that lead to increased insulin secretion and promote a feeling of satiety, resulting in less food intake. Eating less decreases the likelihood of becoming overweight, which is a major risk factor for developing Type 2 Diabetes.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has paid his first visit in over a decade to Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

It comes a week after a massive Israeli military assault on the city’s refugee camp.

The visit was a bid to reassert control by the Palestinian Authority (PA) leader amid the worst security and political crisis in the territory in two decades.

He pledged to rebuild the camp, which he called “an icon of struggle”.

At the camp gates, where flags of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad flew next to those of the internationally recognised PA, Mr Abbas arrived amid chaotic scenes.

He had flown to Jenin in a Jordanian military helicopter from his headquarters, 100km (62 miles) to the south in the city of Ramallah.

There was a huge armed deployment. PA security forces joined a thousand-strong unit of Mr Abbas’ elite presidential guard to clear a path for the 87-year-old to enter the camp, parts of which remain devastated from Israel’s air and ground assault.

Using a stuttering microphone that repeatedly stopped working and made it hard for the crowd to hear, the Palestinian president spoke of defiance, calling Jenin camp “heroic” and saying that it “stood against the aggression and sacrificed its people for the homeland”.

He also appealed for unity. “We came to say we are one authority, one state, one law, one security and one stability”.

But, in a further sign of the collapse in public support for the PA, there were only a few hundred people in the crowd from among the urban refugee camp’s 24,000 residents.

The PA was created during the Oslo peace accords of the 1990s, giving Palestinians limited self-governance ahead of a hoped-for transition to an independent state.

Now, many Palestinians view it as a security sub-contractor for Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank, which is into its 57th year. Polls suggest most Palestinians now back armed resistance, believing the PA fails to protect them.

In the crowd for the speech by Mr Abbas – also known by his nickname Abu Mazen – was Jenin resident Mohammed al-Ghoul. He appealed for unity among all the Palestinian factions but complained that the PA forces stand aside when Israeli forces enter.

“Abu Mazen has brought the [Palestinian] military with him – there are snipers and troops,” he said.

“If they were here like this when the occupation [Israeli] army raids, then [the Israelis] wouldn’t dare to enter.”

As Israel’s military raids have intensified in the West Bank, Mr Abbas has vowed to end security co-ordination with Israel – a pledge he has made many times before but which is rarely acted on.

Further inside the camp, militant gunmen still patrolled as Mr Abbas spoke and his forces did not venture further.

Palestinian sources told the BBC that the militant groups co-ordinated the president’s visit with PA security forces. They said the militants on Tuesday allowed the PA forces to defuse improved explosive devices (IEDS) under streets, which had previously been laid to try to repel Israeli military raids.

The recent use of such IEDS against Israeli troops had been a key factor leading up to last week’s Israeli operation.

In exchange for the co-ordination, the PA released around a dozen Palestinian militants from its prisons, according to the sources.

Mr Abbas also paid a short visit to lay a wreath at the nearby cemetery where nine of the 12 Palestinians killed last week are buried. Ten of the dead have been claimed by militant groups as members. One Israeli soldier was also killed.

The camp is largely in the control of militants calling themselves the Jenin Brigade. It is a loose alliance of armed organisations including the more established groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They are all listed by Israel and the West as terrorist organisations.

The past year has seen rising numbers of Palestinian armed attacks targeting Israelis, while Israel has intensified its deadly military raids in the West Bank. At least 160 Palestinians and more than 30 Israelis have been killed since January.

Israel’s government said its two-day military operation last week was to stop Jenin camp being a “refuge for terrorism”. It said it seized hundreds of guns and other weapons, including “advanced” improvised explosives.

It was Israel’s biggest assault in the West Bank in two decades, involving drone strikes and armoured diggers causing massive destruction.

The United Nations accused Israel of using excessive force, while the Palestinian leadership called it a “war crime”.

Source: BBC

The Kuwaiti National Assembly, yesterday urged Islamic countries, to take legal actions to criminalise any kind of violation of the holy Quran.

The Kuwaiti parliament held a three-hour meeting to discuss the recent burning of the Quran in Sweden and its impact.

The recommendations, released after the meeting include playing a role in international forums, establishing international law, allowing for litigation in the International Court of Justice, against anyone who insults or violates the Quran, and taking maximum diplomatic deterrence measures against countries that support the insulters.

The parliament urged the Kuwaiti Ministry of Information to take action against the websites that spread insults to Islam, while calling on the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to ban trade with countries that violate the fundamental principles of Islam.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, said, his ministry has taken all necessary measures to respond to the burning of the Quran in Sweden.

He called the order by Kuwaiti Prime Minister, Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, to print 100,000 copies of the Quran, translated into Swedish and distribute them in Sweden as a “very positive step

Source: Nam News Network

China on Wednesday successfully launched a new carrier rocket into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

The Zhuque-2 carrier rocket blasted off at 9:00 a.m. (Beijing Time) and completed the flight mission according to the procedure.

This was the second flight mission of the Zhuque-2 carrier rocket.

Source: Qatar News Agency

The “Luna-25” automatic lunar lander arrived at the Vostochny spaceport in eastern Russia.

Russian space agency Roscosmos’ spokesperson said that the “Luna-25” has been airlifted to Vostochny spaceport.

Before traveling there, it completed acceptance and predelivery tests. At the spaceport, the lander will undergo final preflight and ground checks and be mated with a Fregat booster before lifting off atop the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle.

The lunar lander’s mission is to study the Moon’s south pole, specifically the north of Boguslavsky crater.

However, the “Luna-25” probe was first scheduled to launch to the Moon in 2022, yet it was postponed to 2023.

According to Roscosmos last February, the lunar lander will launch on July 13th of 2023, but has been postponed to August.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Turkish and Saudi companies signed 16 cooperation agreements in several fields, including industry and real estate.

The agreements signed between the two countries during the Turkish-Saudi Business Forum, which was held today in Istanbul, in the presence of the Turkish Minister of Trade Omer Bolat and the Saudi Minister of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing Majid Al-Hagail, included several fields, primarily industry, real estate and infrastructure.

In a speech during the signing of the agreements, the Saudi minister affirmed his country’s desire to invest the opportunities available in the Turkish business world as much as possible, especially in the fields of infrastructure, technical engineering and construction development, in projects located inside the Kingdom.

He explained that the trade and economy between Turkey and Saudi Arabia are developing continuously, stressing the continuation of efforts in the future to achieve common goals between the two countries.

With regard to the opportunities offered by Saudi Arabia to foreign investors, the Saudi minister announced that the process related to this matter has become easier than before after the issuance of laws encouraging foreign investment.

The Saudi minister expressed his desire to benefit from the Turkish business sector, pointing to the readiness of the Saudi leadership to provide many opportunities to encourage this matter, whether by providing financial facilities, granting bank loans, or issuing new laws to support investments.

According to the Saudi minister, relations can be further strengthened and all obstacles overcome by maintaining bridges of communication between the two sides, with the aim of establishing stronger business partnerships.

On the other hand, Turkish Trade Minister Omar Bolat announced that the volume of foreign trade between Turkey and Saudi Arabia amounted to 3.4 billion dollars during the first half of this year.

The Turkish minister affirmed his country’s endeavor to boost the volume of trade to 10 billion dollars in the near future, and 30 billion dollars in the distant future.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that attacking people’s sanctities is not freedom of thought, but rather barbarism and a type of terrorist act / referring to the recent burning of a copy of the Holy Quran in Sweden /.

Erdogan said in a press conference held today, Wednesday, at the conclusion of the summit of NATO leaders in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius: that the countries that rejected the UN Human Rights Council’s resolution regarding the burning of the Holy Quran should reconsider their freedom and human rights.

On the other hand, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his country’s readiness to play a mediating role between Russia and Ukraine if this was presented to Ankara.

Erdogan said, “If the Russian and Ukrainian parties offer us the role of mediator, we will gladly carry out this mediation.”

The Turkish president reiterated that “there is no winner in war or loser in peace, and that Ankara wants to revive peace again in the region.”

On the grain shipment agreement, Erdogan said: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky supports the extension of the grain agreement, and Russian President Vladimir Putin had some proposals regarding it, and we are making efforts to reach a solution, taking into account these proposals.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency