Algerian President Approves Budget with Gaping Deficit
Business
Asharq Al-Awsat
Tebboune returned to Algeria on Tuesday after a two-month absence in Germany, where he received treatment for Covid-19, just in time to sign off on the 2021 budget. (AFP)
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Thursday approved a 2021 budget which foresees a deficit of around 14 percent of GDP, the presidency said, as the oil-dependent country grapples with economic woes. Algeria's economy has been clobbered by tumbling crude prices, a liquidity crisis, inflation, and the coronavirus pandemic which has brought many economic sectors to a standstill. Africa's third biggest oil producer has also faced negative growth, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting that its economy will shrink 5.2 percent this year and that it will have one of the region's highest budget deficits. Oil and gas represent around 90 percent of Algeria's total exports, and it uses the resulting revenues to subsidise fuel, water, health care, housing and basic goods. Earlier this year Tebboune acknowledged the economy's "vulnerability" due to its failure for decades to diversify its oil dependent economy. The budget Tebboune approved on Thursday, after it was passed by the two chambers of parliament, forecasts a deficit of 2,700 trillion dinars (around $20.4 billion, 17.6 billion euros), or 14 percent of GDP. Furthermore, its hard currency reserves have dropped from more than 162 billion euros in 2014 to less than 57 billion euros late last year. Tebboune has already ruled out seeking loans from the IMF or other international financial agencies, but pledge to launch an economic recovery plan. The president returned to Algeria on Tuesday after a two-month absence in Germany, where he received treatment for Covid-19, just in time to sign off on the 2021 budget. Algeria has recorded just shy of 100,000 cases of the novel coronavirus and 2,756 deaths.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2714006/algerian-president-approves-budget-gaping-deficit
BTS Wraps up Record-Breaking Year with New Year's Eve Online Concert
Entertainment
Asharq Al-Awsat
BTS. (AFP)
Global K-Pop sensation BTS celebrated New Year’s Eve with an online concert on Thursday along with other K-pop groups from its management agency Big Hit Entertainment and fans from around the world. Halsey, Lauv and Steve Aoki, who have all collaborated with BTS in recent years, joined on a special stage by connecting remotely. Seven-member BTS also took part in a short online fan meeting, reading messages and playing a game, which fans could toggle to among multiple screens. “I hope you wrap up the end of the year well, and I’d like to see you in person soon,” Suga said. The concert, at Goyang, northwest of Seoul, was originally scheduled to be held simultaneously online and offline, but in-person attendance was canceled due to a new wave of COVID-19 infections in South Korea. With the concert, BTS wraps up a record-breaking year with three No.1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and becoming the first K-pop group to ever receive a Grammy Award nomination.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2714001/bts-wraps-record-breaking-year-new-years-eve-online-concert
Man United's Cavani Banned for 3 Games for Offensive Post
Sports
Asharq Al-Awsat
Edinson Cavani. (AP)
Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani was banned for three games by the English Football Association on Thursday after using a Spanish term for Black people which he said was intended as an affectionate greeting. Cavani has also been fined 100,000 pounds ($136,500) and ordered to complete face-to-face education after admitting to breaching the FA's rules. The FA said the comment was “insulting, abusive, improper and brought the game into disrepute” and also was an “aggravated breach” because it “included reference, whether express or implied, to color and/or race and/or ethnic origin.” The message was posted by the Uruguayan on Instagram after he scored twice in United’s 3-2 victory at Southampton in October in the Premier League. “While it is clear that context and intent are key factors, we note that the independent regulatory Commission was required to impose a minimum three game suspension," United said in a statement. “The club trusts that the independent Regulatory Commission will make it clear in its written reasons that Edinson Cavani is not a racist, nor was there any racist intent in relation to his post.” The former Paris Saint-Germain player, who joined United as a free agent in October, has already issued an apology. “Edinson Cavani wasn’t aware that his words could have been misconstrued and he sincerely apologized for the post and to anyone who was offended,” United said. “Despite his honest belief that he was simply sending an affectionate thank you in response to a congratulatory message from a close friend, he chose not to contest the charge out of respect for, and solidarity with, The FA and the fight against racism in football.”
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2713996/man-uniteds-cavani-banned-3-games-offensive-post
Yemeni PM Accuses Houthis, Iran of Deadly Aden Airport Blast
Arab World
Asharq Al-Awsat
A security personnel member reacts during an attack on Aden airport moments after a plane landed carrying a newly formed cabinet, in Aden, Yemen December 30, 2020. (Reuters)
Yemen’s prime minister renewed accusations on Thursday that the Houthi militias and Iran were responsible for the deadly explosion at the airport in the southern Yemeni city of Aden the previous day that killed at least 25 people and wounded 110. The explosion took place as Cabinet members were disembarking from a plane that had landed in Aden just minutes earlier on Wednesday. AP footage from the scene showed many ministers rushing back inside the plane or running down the stairs, seeking shelter. None of the Cabinet members were hurt. Hours after the blast, the country's legitimate government said the Iran-backed Houthis had fired four ballistic missiles at the airport. “Preliminary investigations indicate that Houthi militias stand behind this crime,” Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed said as the newly reshuffled Cabinet convened for the first time in Aden. “Intelligence also indicates that some Iranian experts were prepping for such an operation over the last few months,” Saeed said Thursday. Officials later on Wednesday reported a second explosion, close to a palace in the city where the Cabinet members were taken to following the airport attack. The Saudi-led coalition later shot down a bomb-laden drone that attempted to target the palace, according to Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV channel. The newly formed Cabinet was set to meet for the first time since its formation in line with the Riyadh Agreement. “We were supposed to begin by discussing the government program but this is an extraordinary meeting due to yesterday's cowardly and treacherous attack,” Saeed said, and asked his ministers to stand up silently for a moment to mourn the victims of the explosion. Saeed also urged Western powers not to remain content with just condemning the attack but also to hold the perpetrators accountable. “The international community is still debating whether to designate Houthis as a terrorist group," he said. “However, things are clear for us in Yemen. The actions of these militias prove they are a terrorist group.”
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2713991/yemeni-pm-accuses-houthis-iran-deadly-aden-airport-blast
Fireworks Explode over Empty Streets as 2020 Slinks Away into History
World
Asharq Al-Awsat
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge during downsized New Year's Eve celebrations during the COVID-19 pandemic, in Australia. (Reuters)
Blue and gold fireworks soared into the sky above the Sydney Opera House as they do every New Year’s Eve, but the harbor below was a deserted ghost town, a fittingly creepy send-off for a year that will not be missed. No light show was to illuminate Beijing from the top of the TV tower. The lions of London’s Trafalgar Square were barricaded off, as was Red Square in Moscow and Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. In Rome, crowds would not assemble in St Peter’s, the Pope would lead no Mass, and revelers would not make their yearly dive into the Tiber. Good riddance, 2020. Hello, 2021. Some cities planned, like Sydney, to launch fireworks over empty streets. Others, such as London and Singapore, just called their displays off. Paris, Rome and Istanbul were under curfew. The New Year’s Eve countdown ball was set to drop on Broadway. But in place of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers jammed shoulder-to-shoulder in Times Square, the audience would be a pre-selected group of nurses, doctors and other key workers, their families kept six feet apart in socially distanced pens. With more than 1.7 million people dead and 82 million infected around the globe since last New Year’s Eve - yet hope that new vaccines can help tame the pandemic - the year ended unlike any other in memory. Angela Merkel, in her 16th New Year’s Eve address as German chancellor, said as much. “I think I am not exaggerating when I say: never in the last 15 years have we found the old year so heavy. And never have we, despite all the worries and some skepticism, looked forward to the new one with so much hope.” Germany banned the sale of fireworks to discourage crowds. Berlin police would “punish violators consistently”, authorities said. Safety a priority In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic originated a year ago, thousands were expected to gather at landmarks across the city center to count down to 2021. Some said they were being cautious, but not particularly worried. “Safety is the priority,” said Wuhan resident Wang Xuemei, 23, a teacher. In Australia, where Sydney’s fireworks annually serve as the world’s first big visual display of the new year, gatherings were banned and internal borders shut. Most people were barred from Sydney’s downtown. “What a hell of a year it’s been,” said Gladys Berejiklian, premier of New South Wales state, which includes Sydney. “Hopefully 2021 will be easier on all of us.” The virus did not stop North Korea from staging its celebration in Pyongyang. State media showed revelers in face masks filling the main square for a concert and fireworks. But in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, where Spaniards typically count down to midnight by stuffing grapes into their mouths at each clock strike, police dragged barriers to keep people out. Jose Angel Balsa, a 61-year-old retiree, said he would spend the evening “with family, just the four of us at home, holding lots of video calls and hoping for this to end as soon as possible.” In Britain, under ever tighter restrictions to fight a new, more contagious variant of the virus, official billboards instruct the public to “see in the New Year safely at home”. Italy’s bars and restaurants were closed, and a curfew imposed for 10 pm. Pope Francis cancelled plans to lead New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day services because of a flare-up of his sciatica, the Vatican said. At “A la Ville de Rodez”, an upmarket delicatessen in Paris, manager Brice Tapon sent customers home with packages of foie gras, truffles and pate for groups of two or three. Rules forbid more than six adults to gather around the dinner table. One of the customers, Anne Caplin, said she would “stuff myself with foie gras and all this food.” “And I’ll stay home.”
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2713971/fireworks-explode-over-empty-streets-2020-slinks-away-history
Egypt’s Cabinet Allows GASC to Co-Found Shareholding Shipping Company
Business
Asharq Al-Awsat
A woman wearing a protective face mask, amid concerns over the coronavirus, walks next to a wall painted with colors of the Egypt's flag in Cairo, Egypt April 26, 2020. (Reuters)
Egypt’s cabinet said on Thursday it agreed a draft bill to allow the state grains buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) to co-found a shareholding shipping company to transport commodities in and out of the country. The company, to be known as Atlantic Pacific Company for Shipping and Trade, will focus on the marine shipping of commodities within Egypt and abroad, and will own commercial shipping vessels. GASC tenders frequently for vegetable oils and wheat, of which it is the world’s largest buyer. Shipping offers are presented in the tender, and many are often awarded to the state-owned National Navigation Company.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2713961/egypt%E2%80%99s-cabinet-allows-gasc-co-found-shareholding-shipping-company
Iran Execution of Man Convicted of Murder When 16 Draws UN Condemnation
Iran
Asharq Al-Awsat
In this March 31, 2020, file photo, Iran's national flag waves as Milad telecommunications tower and other buildings are seen in Tehran, Iran. (AP)
Iran executed a man on Thursday who had been convicted of murder 12 years ago when he was 16, a Western rights group said, drawing condemnation from the UN rights office which said it was prohibited under international law. There was no report of the execution on Iran’s media and judiciary officials could not be reached for comment on Thursday, the start of the weekend in the country. “This is the fourth confirmed execution of a child offender in Iran in 2020. The execution of child offenders is categorically prohibited under international law and Iran is under the obligation to abide by this prohibition,” the UN human rights office said in a statement. “UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet strongly condemns the killing of Mohammad Hassan Rezaiee. We are also dismayed that this execution took place despite interventions ...with the Government of Iran on this issue,” the statement said. Amnesty International said on Twitter that Rezaiee had been convicted based allegedly on forced confessions and had spent 12 years on death row. Persons convicted of crimes as juveniles have been executed regularly since the establishment of the republic in 1979. Under Iran’s laws, the age for adulthood is determined by puberty, 15 for boys and nine for girls, but a judge is expected to determine the maturity of the defendant in capital punishment cases. When there is a discrepancy between domestic law and international legal obligations, Iranian authorities have turned to domestic law.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2713951/iran-execution-man-convicted-murder-when-16-draws-un-condemnation
