GCC Secretary General Jasem Albudaiwi arrives in Aden. Photo: @yemen_mofa / X
GCC Secretary General Jasem Albudaiwi arrives in Aden. Photo: @yemen_mofa / X
GCC Secretary General Jasem Albudaiwi arrives in Aden. Photo: @yemen_mofa / X
GCC Secretary General Jasem Albudaiwi arrives in Aden. Photo: @yemen_mofa / X

GCC secretary general visits Yemen for first time in eight years


Ismaeel Naar
  • English
  • Arabic

GCC Secretary General Jasem Albudaiwi is in Yemen on an official visit to the city of Aden, the first such undertaking by the group's head in eight years.

Photos and a video posted by the Yemeni Foreign Ministry showed Mr Albudaiwi arriving at Aden International Airport on a Saudi coalition C-130 Hercules plane.

In his meeting with Yemen's Foreign Minister Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak, Mr Albudaiwi discussed the latest developments in the country's economy, as the Aden-based central bank continues with reforms following a deposit by the Saudi government of $1billion earlier this year.

The reforms are related to issues of "governance, transparency and enhancing banking supervision", the central bank's Deputy Governor for Banking Supervision, Mansour Rageh, told The National earlier.

The last visit by the head of the GCC to Yemen was made by Mr Albudaiwi’s predecessor, Abdullatif Al Zayani, Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, to the southern city of Aden in February 2015.

The civil war began in September 2014, when Houthi forces took over the capital city Sanaa.

Mr Al Zayani's visit in 2015 came a few days after former Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi managed to reach Aden from Sanaa, breaking the house arrest imposed on him by the Iran-backed Houthi militia following their takeover of the capital.

For years, the GCC, including Oman and Kuwait, has been a mediator between the country's warring sides in an attempt to bring them back on the negotiating table.

In April, Saudi Arabia started peace talks with the Houthis in Sanaa to try to revive a nationwide truce and restart the political process.

Hopes of a breakthrough were raised after the kingdom's rapprochement with Iran in March.

The UN special envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, visited the city of Marib, east of Sanaa, and met a member of the Presidential Leadership Council and the Governor of Marib province.

It was the first visit by the UN envoy to the city of Marib, which is under the control of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

SERIE A FIXTURES

Saturday (UAE kick-off times)

Atalanta v Juventus (6pm)

AC Milan v Napoli (9pm)

Torino v Inter Milan (11.45pm)

Sunday

Bologna v Parma (3.30pm)

Sassuolo v Lazio (6pm)

Roma v Brescia (6pm)

Verona v Fiorentina (6pm)

Sampdoria v Udinese (9pm)

Lecce v Cagliari (11.45pm)

Monday

SPAL v Genoa (11.45pm)

In numbers: China in Dubai

The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000

Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000

Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent

Key findings of Jenkins report
  • Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
  • Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
  • Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
  • Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street

The seven points are:

Shakhbout bin Sultan Street

Dhafeer Street

Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)

Salama bint Butti Street

Al Dhafra Street

Rabdan Street

Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)

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BMW M5 specs

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Power: 727hp

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Lexus LX700h specs

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Tips for entertaining with ease

·         Set the table the night before. It’s a small job but it will make you feel more organised once done.

·         As the host, your mood sets the tone. If people arrive to find you red-faced and harried, they’re not going to relax until you do. Take a deep breath and try to exude calm energy.

·         Guests tend to turn up thirsty. Fill a big jug with iced water and lemon or lime slices and encourage people to help themselves.

·         Have some background music on to help create a bit of ambience and fill any initial lulls in conversations.

·         The meal certainly doesn’t need to be ready the moment your guests step through the door, but if there’s a nibble or two that can be passed around it will ward off hunger pangs and buy you a bit more time in the kitchen.

·         You absolutely don’t have to make every element of the brunch from scratch. Take inspiration from our ideas for ready-made extras and by all means pick up a store-bought dessert.

 

Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions

There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.

1 Going Dark

A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.

2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers

A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.

3. Fake Destinations

Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.

4. Rebranded Barrels

Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.

* Bloomberg

Company profile

Name: Steppi

Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic

Launched: February 2020

Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year

Employees: Five

Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings

Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
 
  • Grade 9 = above an A*
  • Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
  • Grade 7 = grade A
  • Grade 6 = just above a grade B
  • Grade 5 = between grades B and C
  • Grade 4 = grade C
  • Grade 3 = between grades D and E
  • Grade 2 = between grades E and F
  • Grade 1 = between grades F and G
Red flags
  • Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
  • Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
  • Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
  • Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
  • Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.

Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

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Updated: August 31, 2023, 2:17 PM`