Chinese President Xi Jinping met his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on Friday, with the two leaders holding their first face-to-face discussions.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Mr Xi said the two countries had a “long-standing friendship” and that their ties had “stood the test of a changing international landscape”, state news agency Xinhua reported.
The Chinese leader also said Beijing was “ready to increase strategic communication and co-ordination” with Tehran to improve ties.
Mr Xi said he stood with Iran on “non-interference in internal affairs”.
Iran is currently negotiating a return to the 2015 nuclear deal, which it said should not allow “foreign elements” to interfere in its affairs.
“China will continue to take a constructive part in the negotiations on resuming the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and support Iran in safeguarding its legitimate and lawful rights and interests,” Mr Xi said, according to Xinhua.
He also supported Iran's push to become a full member of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation.
Mr Raisi said organisation could help in the fight against US “unilateralism” and called for the expansion of its membership.
The Chinese leader also met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the meeting, state media said.
During the summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on leaders within the organisation, including Russia and China, to address the energy and food crises sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine conflict.
“The pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine have caused many disruptions in global supply chains, leaving the world facing unprecedented energy and food crises,” Mr Modi said on Friday.
“[The] SCO should strive to develop reliable, resilient and diversified supply chains in our region.”
Other than India, China and Russia, other members include Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Iran, one of the organisation's four observer states, applied for full membership in 2008 but its bid was affected by UN and US sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme.
China is one of the key members of the multilateral dialogue — alongside France, Germany, Britain, Russia and the US — that is trying to revive Iran's troubled 2015 nuclear deal.
Xi and Putin meet
Meanwhile, Mr Xi told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday the two countries could “inject stability” into the world as the pair held their first face-to-face talks since Russia invaded Ukraine.
The meeting with Mr Putin was part of Mr Xi's first trip abroad since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“China is willing to make efforts with Russia to assume the role of great powers, and play a guiding role to inject stability and positive energy into a world rocked by social turmoil,” Mr Xi told Mr Putin.
He said China was willing to work with Russia to support “each other's core interests”, CCTV reported.
In a clear swipe at the US, Mr Putin said “attempts to create a unipolar world have recently acquired an absolutely ugly form and are completely unacceptable”.
“We highly appreciate the balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with the Ukrainian crisis,” he told Mr Xi, while repeating Moscow's backing for China on Taiwan.
“We adhere to the principle of one China. We condemn the provocation of the US and their satellites in the Taiwan Strait,” Mr Putin said, after a US Senate committee on Wednesday took the first step aimed at directly providing billions of dollars in American military aid to Taiwan.
It was the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since they met in early February at the Winter Olympic Games, days before the Russia invaded Ukraine.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
Pad Man
Dir: R Balki
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte
Three-and-a-half stars
Brief scores:
England: 290 & 346
Sri Lanka: 336 & 243
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Funchal via Lisbon, with a connecting flight with Air Portugal. Economy class returns cost from Dh3,845 return including taxes.
The trip
The WalkMe app can be downloaded from the usual sources. If you don’t fancy doing the trip yourself, then Explore offers an eight-day levada trails tour from Dh3,050, not including flights.
The hotel
There isn’t another hotel anywhere in Madeira that matches the history and luxury of the Belmond Reid's Palace in Funchal. Doubles from Dh1,400 per night including taxes.
THE%20STRANGERS'%20CASE
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Squads
India (for first three ODIs) Kohli (capt), Rohit, Rahul, Pandey, Jadhav, Rahane, Dhoni, Pandya, Axar, Kuldeep, Chahal, Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Umesh, Shami.
Australia Smith (capt), Warner, Agar, Cartwright, Coulter-Nile, Cummins, Faulkner, Finch, Head, Maxwell, Richardson, Stoinis, Wade, Zampa.
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed dual clutch
Power: 710bhp
Torque: 770Nm
Speed: 0-100km/h 2.9 seconds
Top Speed: 340km/h
Price: Dh1,000,885
On sale: now
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Buy farm-fresh food
The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.
In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others.
In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food.
In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra.
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
