US Condemns Continued Houthi Attacks Against Saudi Arabia
Gulf
Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat file photo of a Houthi projectile that has landed in Najran
The United States on Tuesday condemned the continued Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia, stressing that the Iran-backed group poses a threat to Washington’s partners. “There have been more than 375 cross-border attacks since the beginning of the year. They endanger not only our Saudi partners but the 70,000 US citizens residing there,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a press briefing. He said that Saudi Arabia has been able to knock down some 90 percent of those attacks, and “our goal is to see to it that that number rises to 100 percent.” Price said Washington will continue to work with its Saudi partners to stand up against these “really deplorable Houthi attacks,” and will continue to hold the Houthis accountable for their reprehensible actions. The spokesperson pointed out that his country has taken an approach that is targeting Houthi leaders who are responsible not only for these attacks but also the other malign activities for which the Iranian-backed group is responsible. “We continue to believe that taking this targeted approach, holding accountable individuals for the actions they are taking, is a much more effective approach than potentially jeopardizing the welfare and well-being of millions of Yemeni citizens who reside in what many assessments call the home of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe,” Price said. He added that Washington aims to increase humanitarian access and for supplies to reach the long-suffering people of Yemen. He stressed that the US has a relationship with Saudi Arabia that allowed the two countries to work together, to partner together, to counter the Houthi threat. The Saudi-led Arab coalition revealed on Sunday evidence that proves the involvement of Lebanon’s Hezbollah with the Houthi militias in Yemen. In a press conference, Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki held Hezbollah responsible for targeting civilians in Saudi Arabia and Yemen and of using Sanaa International Airport to attack the Kingdom.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3384216/us-condemns-continued-houthi-attacks-against-saudi-arabia
Denmark’s Hans Christian Andersen Museum Gets Fairytale Makeover
Varieties
Asharq Al-Awsat
Museum-goers can get involved in Andersen's tales, such as searching for the pea that disturbs the princess's sleep Claus Fisker Ritzau Scanpix/AFP
Denmark is honoring its most famous writer, Hans Christian Andersen, with a revamped museum that aims to immerse visitors in the fantasy worlds he created. Visitors have expressed delight with the new museum, which reopened in the summer and saw renovation work completed this month before it was shut as part of Denmark's efforts to fight a Covid resurgence. From "The Little Mermaid" to "The Snow Queen", Andersen's works -- which the author called his "children" -- have inspired countless Disney films, ballets, songs and books. The old Hans Christian Andersen museum in the writer's hometown of Odense in central Denmark was a "traditional biographical museum" filled with "a lot of artefacts and text", said Lone Weidemann, marketing coordinator for Odense museums. But visitors "were looking for his fairytales, because that's what they know". In a magical transformation that any fairy godmother would be proud of, city authorities have overseen a seven-year renovation of the museum into a sprawling complex above and below the cobbled streets of Odense's old town. After entering the redesigned museum, visitors move through the modest cottage where Andersen spent his childhood in the early 1800s, before being swept into a vast underground space devoted to his stories -- filled with animations, interactive exhibits and music. The museum "takes you to a complete other world", said Ara Halici, a tourist from the Netherlands who made the trip to Odense especially for the museum. "How fantastic it is to be taken away from your daily struggles in life," he said, AFP reported. Having arrived just days before Denmark shut down cultural venues to fight a resurgent coronavirus pandemic, his story at least had a happy ending. Andersen's life story is woven through the exhibits, which chart his humble beginnings as the child of an illiterate washerwoman and an impoverished shoemaker. Born in 1805 and losing his father aged 11, Andersen left Odense three years later and headed for the capital, Copenhagen, where he dreamt of becoming an actor. By the time of his death in 1875, Andersen had produced 158 fairytales and 800 poems, enjoying success in later life thanks to the popularity of tales including "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "Thumbelina". Artefacts still have their place in the new exhibition, including the writer's inkwell and a champagne glass given to him by Jenny Lind, a Swedish singer who turned down his marriage proposal. "The rooms, together with the architecture, the sound and music -- it's a whole experience," said Danish teacher Jonna Vind, who was there with a group of her students. "It binds together all the senses." The new museum designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma -- the man behind Tokyo's new Olympic stadium -- opened in the summer but work was only completed in early December. From above, its circular structures and winding outdoor gardens resemble four green buttons supported on wooden stilts. With two-thirds of the exhibition space below ground, the architect was inspired by "The Tinderbox", Andersen's story in which a hollow tree is a gateway to an underground world. "The idea behind the architectural design is similar to Andersen's method, where a small world suddenly transforms into a larger universe," Kuma said. The museum's metamorphosis began in the early 2010s after Odense authorities drew up a plan to keep cars out of the centre of the city of 205,000 inhabitants. Work began in 2014 after the closure of a major road that left the space available for the new complex. The old museum, which stood since 1930 in the house where Andersen was born, closed at the end of 2017. Since the reopening, 40,000 people have passed through its doors. But the new Covid safety measures introduced in December meant it had to close once again, and the numbers had in any case been hit badly by the drop-off in foreign tourists. The previous Hans Christian Andersen museum pulled in 100,000 visitors a year, the vast majority of them from abroad including 20,000 from China, where Andersen is very popular.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3382881/denmark%E2%80%99s-hans-christian-andersen-museum-gets-fairytale-makeover
Bollywood Megastar Salman Khan Survives Snake Bite
Entertainment
Asharq Al-Awsat
Salman Khan enjoys a cult-like status in star-obsessed India and is one of Bollywood's biggest draws Sujit Jaiswal AFP/File
Bollywood "bad boy" Salman Khan has revealed how he starred in his own real-life action drama when he was bitten by a snake and spent six hours in hospital. Khan -- who enjoys a cult-like status in star-obsessed India -- said the serpent bit him twice when he tried to remove it from his countryside home near Mumbai ahead of his 56th birthday on Monday. Using a stick, Khan said he "picked up the snake with a lot of love and brought it out, and the snake wrapped itself on the stick and then it started climbing upwards," he told reporters. After he was bitten, local villagers "screamed 'hospital, hospital, hospital', saying that I should be taken to a hospital quickly. There was so much commotion, the snake was a bit venomous, and it bit me again." The actor was administered with antivenom, kept under observation and then discharged after six hours, AFP reported. Khan is one of Bollywood's biggest draws, despite a host of controversies. He was found guilty of culpable homicide for a 2002 hit-and-run which killed a homeless man sleeping on the pavement in Mumbai. His five-year prison sentence was almost immediately overturned by a higher court. Khan was convicted in 2018 of shooting dead two rare antelopes on a hunting trip two decades earlier but denied killing the animals. The snake that bit him survived the latest encounter, with Khan saying it has now been safely taken back to the jungle. India saw an estimated 58,000 snakebite deaths per year -- or 160 every day -- between 2000 and 2019, according to a study published last year.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3382846/bollywood-megastar-salman-khan-survives-snake-bite
Asharq Al-Awsat
Rio de Janeiro is hoping its famed carnival will return next year - AFP
From the World Cup in Qatar to the midterm elections in the United States, here are six events that are likely to mark the coming year, according to AFP. - Beijing's Winter Olympics - Beijing stages the Winter Olympics from February 4 to 20 under some of the strictest rules for a mass sporting event since the pandemic began. Everybody attending, including athletes, must be fully vaccinated or face a 21-day quarantine and will be kept in a "closed-loop" bubble from the moment they set foot in the Chinese capital. Unlike the Tokyo Olympics, there will be spectators but ticket sales are restricted to people living in China. Activists are calling for a diplomatic boycott over China's rights record, with an outcry over the fate of tennis star Peng Shuai, who accused a top Communist Party politician of sexual assault, causing Beijing more headaches. - Rio Carnival returns... - Rio de Janeiro is hoping its famed carnival will return from February 25 to March 1, after the pandemic scuppered last year's party. Hard-hit Brazil has recently seen a drop in virus deaths, with more than 62 percent of its 213 million people now fully vaccinated. Rio's samba schools are resuming rehearsals for their massive parades and more than 500 groups have registered to hold the epic street festivals known as "blocos". More than two million tourists usually descend on the iconic beach city for the party, a quarter of them foreigners. Mayor Eduardo Paes, a self-declared carnival lover, said he would impose no social distancing rules or face masks. "With everyone vaccinated, who would keep their distance during carnival? It would be ridiculous to even ask," he said. "I'd be the first one to break the rules." But authorities have said the event will depend on the Covid-19 outlook, with far-right President Jair Bolsonaro saying he is against resuming carnivals. - ...As does Glastonbury - The legendary British music festival returns for real in June for the first time since 2019 after its 50th anniversary celebrations in 2020 fell victim to the pandemic. About 135,000 tickets were sold for 2021's five-day extravaganza before a surge in Covid infections in Britain meant it could only be live-streamed, with Coldplay headlining. Billie Eilish, 19, will become the youngest performer to headline the fabled Pyramid Stage on June 24, while Diana Ross takes top billing at the "Legends" slot on June 26. - Five more years for Xi? - China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, President Xi Jinping is expected to secure an unprecedented third term in office when top Communist Party officials convene for their 20th congress in the autumn of 2022. The rubber-stamp meeting in Beijing -- attended by around 2,000 delegates -- will also decide a new line-up for the powerful Politburo Standing Committee which runs the world's second-largest economy. Every Chinese leader since Mao has served no more than two five-year stints, but Xi scrapped term limits in a 2018 constitutional amendment. The 68-year-old has not appointed a clear successor, further hinting that he intends to head the globe's most populous nation until at least 2027. Xi's tenure has been marked by crackdowns on everything from corruption to entertainment, repressive policies in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong and an increasingly aggressive approach to foreign relations. - US Republicans plot comeback - Republicans are bidding to retake both chambers of Congress and vying for 36 governorships in the midterm elections on November 8, 2022. Democrats are still reeling from defeat in Virginia's recent gubernatorial election and a much closer than expected victory in progressive New Jersey, and fear being dragged down by President Joe Biden's sliding approval ratings. They are desperate to avoid Virginia becoming a nationwide trend, although the party in control of the White House often suffers when it comes to the midterms. House of Representatives minority leader Kevin McCarthy has predicted Republicans, who have 213 representatives compared with the Democrats' 221, could flip more than 60 House seats, repeating the Tea Party wave of 2010. - Desert World Cup - Qatar will host the first World Cup in the Middle East. The tournament in November and December will be the first played in the northern hemisphere's winter months, after a switch to avoid Qatar's searing summer. The tournament will be fought out in eight venues from November 21, with the final in the 80,000-seat Lusail Stadium on December 18.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3382611/world-cup-rio-carnival-six-key-events-2022
Saudi Mining Returns Achieve Highest Level on Record
Business
Riyadh - Asharq Al-Awsat
Mining revenues this year went up by 27% between January and October, compared to the same period in 2020, Asharq Al-Awsat
Over the last ten months, the Saudi mining industry has achieved its highest revenues on record, with returns exceeding SR 724 million ($193 million). The Ministry of Industry and Minerals Resources said in a statement carried by Saud Press Agency that revenues of the mining sector exceeded SR724 million ($192.8 million) in the first ten months of the year, with 690 mining licenses issued this year. Mining revenues this year went up by 27% between January and October, compared to the same period in 2020, Saudi Press Agency reported. Under Vision 2030, mining is the third pillar of Saudi Arabia’s economic development, after energy and petrochemicals, as it aims to diversify the country’s economy away from dependency on oil. The mining sector is expected to create thousands of jobs in the Kingdom in the coming years with the goal of 256,000 geologists, engineers, and others by 2030. This year’s issued licenses included 517 building materials quarrying licenses, 143 exploration licenses, and 30 exploration licenses. The total number of valid mining licenses to date was estimated at 1,913. Riyadh peaked with the largest number of valid building materials quarry licenses amounting to 388 licenses, followed by Makkah with 373 licenses, while Al-Madinah had 210 licenses, the report showed. The licenses were given for crushers, gold, associated minerals, sand, gravel materials and granite blocks. Moreover, the ministry, represented by the Mining Supervision Agency, recently carried out 209 field inspections on several mining sites in various regions of the Kingdom during the month of November. It issued 104 penalties for facilities violating the mining investment system. The ministry indicated that violators who work without regular licenses constitute the largest percentage of the number of penalties issued. Also, the ministry reaffirmed that it would continue to hold inspections to ensure that the sector remains protected.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3382561/saudi-mining-returns-achieve-highest-level-record
Israel Will Not Allow Iran to Become a ‘Nuclear Threshold Country’
Iran
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid with Justice Minister Gideon Saar and Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov in the Golan Heights on Sunday (EPA)
Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Monday that “Israel will not allow Iran to become a nuclear threshold country." Lapid said Israel presented its allies with "intelligence that proves Iran is deceiving the world in a completely systematic way." "All Iran cares about is that sanctions are lifted, and billions of dollars are poured into its nuclear program, Hezbollah, Syria, Iraq, the terrorist network they have deployed around the world," Lapid told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, according to a press release. “Stopping Iran’s nuclear program is the primary challenge for Israeli foreign and security policy,” he stressed. “In recent months, we’ve engaged in an intensive dialogue with all the countries involved in these negotiations. Naturally, primarily with the United States, but not only. I’ve traveled to Moscow, Paris, London, and of course, Washington. We have told everyone clearly: Israel will not let Iran become a nuclear threshold state. Certainly, we prefer to act through international cooperation, but if necessary – we will defend ourselves, by ourselves,” he underscored. Lapid warned that Israel is prepared to act alone against Iran if needed as nuclear talks resume. "A good agreement is good. We oppose an agreement that does not allow for real oversight... of the Iranian nuclear program." Vice Admiral Eliezer Marom said in this regard that Israel “has the ability to attack Iran, and will soon have no other choice because the proverbial sword is almost on its neck. It appears this moment is fast approaching.” In an opinion piece published in Israel Hayom newspaper, Marom wrote “We cannot rely on American military intervention, which most likely will not come.” He added that the Israeli Army “must receive a clear directive from the Israeli government, which defines the objective: Significant and devastating damage to Iran's nuclear program; and the target date: fall of 2022.” Marom continued that despite the difficulties, it seems the time has come for the Israeli Army “to prepare a strike plan in conjunction with the country's intelligence services.” He noted that the army “is capable of hitting Iran's nuclear program. The plan should be diverse, include elements that will catch the Iranians off guard, and inflict heavy damage on their nuclear facilities and air defenses.”
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3382481/israel-will-not-allow-iran-become-%E2%80%98nuclear-threshold-country%E2%80%99
Booker Prize-winning Novelist Keri Hulme Dead at 74
Varieties
Asharq Al-Awsat
Novelist Keri Hulme, second from right, poses with Spiral Publishing collective members Miriama Evans, left, Marian Evans and Irihapeti Ramsden, right, in Wellington, New Zealand on July 16, 1984. Hulme, the New Zealander whose 1984 novel The Bone People won the Man Booker Prize died on Monday, Dec. 27, 2021. She was 74. (NZME via AP)
Keri Hulme, the New Zealander whose 1984 novel The Bone People won the Man Booker Prize, has died. She was 74. Family members confirmed Hulme died Monday morning at Waimate on New Zealand´s South Island. They did not specify a cause. Hulme worked as a tobacco picker, dropped out of law school and was a charity worker before becoming an unusual literary star when The Bone People, her first novel, won one of fiction´s greatest prizes. The novel was rejected by several publishers before being picked up by the obscure publisher Spiral, a New Zealand feminist collective. According to The Associated Press, Hulme took almost 20 years to produce The Bone People which drew on her indigenous Maori and Scottish heritage, weaving themes of personal and cultural isolation. She later shunned the spotlight. "There were stories of her being this literary giant," Hulme´s nephew Matthew Salmons told the New Zealand news website Stuff. "It wasn´t really something that she discussed. "It was never about fame for her. She´s always been a storyteller. It was never about the glitz and glam(or), she just had stories to share."
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3382451/booker-prize-winning-novelist-keri-hulme-dead-74
