Saudi Shoura Council speaker participates in Rome conference
ROME: The Second Parliamentary Conference on Interreligious Dialogue — titled 'Strengthening Trust and Embracing Hope for our Common Future' — has started in Rome, with the participation of the Saudi delegation headed by Shoura Council Speaker Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Asheikh. The event is being attended by heads of parliaments from around the world.
Lorenzo Fontana, the president of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, praised the body's significant and vital role, stressing the importance of the conference in building bridges and promoting mutual understanding.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
France offers to help make Gaza food distribution safer
PARIS: France 'stands ready, Europe as well, to contribute to the safety of food distribution' in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Saturday. His comments came as criticism grew over mounting civilian deaths at Israeli-backed food distribution centers in the territory. Such an initiative, he added, would also deal with Israeli concerns that armed groups such as Hamas were getting hold of the aid. Barrot expressed anger over 'the 500 people who have lost their life in food distribution' in Gaza in recent weeks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyanu on Friday denounced as a 'blood libel' a report in left-leaning daily Haaretz alleging that military commanders had ordered soldiers to fire at Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza Aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday denounced the Israel- and US-backed food distribution effort in Gaza as 'slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid.' And UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that hungry people in Gaza seeking food must not face a 'death sentence.' The health ministry in Gaza, a territory controlled by Hamas, says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Arab News
Senior official says Home Office staff alarmed by ‘absurd' Palestine Action ban
LONDON: A senior British civil servant has described a 'tense atmosphere' inside the Home Office department following Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's recent announcement that the protest group Palestine Action is to be banned under anti-terror laws, it was reported on Saturday. Cooper on Monday confirmed plans to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act, a move that would make membership or support a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. It would mark the first time a non-violent protest movement is classified alongside banned terrorist organizations such as Daesh and Al-Qaeda and some far-right groups. A senior Home Office official, speaking anonymously, said concern over the decision was widespread within the department, The Guardian newspaper reported. 'My colleagues and I were shocked by the announcement,' they said. 'All week, the office has been a very tense atmosphere, charged with concern about treating a non-violent protest group the same as actual terrorist organisations like Isis (Daesh), and the dangerous precedent this sets. 'From desk to desk, colleagues are exchanging concerned and bemused conversations about how absurd this is and how impossible it will be to enforce. Are they really going to prosecute as terrorists everyone who expresses support for Palestine Action's work to disrupt the flow of arms to Israel as it commits war crimes? 'It's ridiculous and it's being widely condemned in anxious conversations internally as a blatant misuse of anti-terror laws for political purposes to clamp down on protests which are affecting the profits of arms companies,' they added. The decision to proscribe comes after four people were arrested following a break-in at RAF Brize Norton airbase, where Palestine Action activists sprayed red paint on two military aircraft. The group said the protest was in response to Britain's role in 'sending military cargo, flying spy planes over Gaza and refuelling US and Israeli fighter jets.' In a statement, Cooper said the protest was part of a 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action.' Palestine Action responded by saying: 'Proscription is not about enabling prosecutions under terrorism laws — it's about cracking down on non-violent protests which disrupt the flow of arms to Israel during its genocide in Palestine.' The move comes amid wider civil service unrest over UK policy on Gaza. Earlier this month, more than 300 Foreign Office officials signed a letter warning the government risked complicity in Israeli war crimes. In response, the department's top civil servants told signatories: 'If your disagreement with any aspect of government policy or action is profound, your ultimate recourse is to resign from the civil service. This is an honourable course.' The proscription order will be laid before Parliament on Monday and could come into effect by the end of the week. When asked for comment by The Guardian, the Home Office referred to Cooper's original statement.
Asharq Al-Awsat
8 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Thousands Protest Bulgaria's Euro Adoption and Call for Referendum
Days before Bulgaria was expected to become the 21st member of the eurozone, opponents of the move geared up Saturday for a final battle to change the schedule. Thousands of protesters gathered on a central square in downtown Sofia to protest government plans to adopt the euro and to demand a referendum on the new currency. The European Union has given the green light for Bulgaria to adopt the euro starting Jan. 1, The Associated Press reported. The protesters, led by civic groups, nationalist and pro-Russian parties known for their opposition to the euro, declared that after the rally they intended to set up a tent camp on the central square, dubbed 'Town of the lev,' after the name of the national currency. On a platform for speakers hung a huge banner that read 'The battle for the Bulgarian lev is the last battle for Bulgaria.' The leader of the pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party Kostadin Kostadinov told the protesters that the country will be stripped of its currency. 'Someone else will decide how we spend our money, the Bulgarian budget will be approved by the European Central Bank," he said. 'This is an anti-state coup, this is treason.' Kostadinov announced that lawmakers from Germany, Lithuania, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary have joined the event to support the protest. Ahead of the demonstration, Vazrazhdane submitted in Parliament a motion for a vote of no confidence in the current government, accusing it of failing to undertake necessary reforms to restore stability to public finances and working for the forceful adoption of the euro. Parliament will vote on the motion next week, but the pro-EU government coalition is expected to survive. The Balkan country joined the European Union in 2007 and is now on the final stretch of its accession to the eurozone. The last institutional hurdle is the approval from both the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Brussels, scheduled for July 8. These steps come after the European Council gave its clear endorsement of Bulgaria joining the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2026. During its almost two decades-long EU membership, Bulgaria has been plagued by political instability and corruption that have fueled euroscepticism among its 6.4 million citizens. Now, scores of false claims by opponents of the eurozone have been published on social networks feeding fears of economic changes that they say could bring more poverty. Economists say joining the euro will not bring massive change to Bulgaria's economy in the short run. That's because the government has pegged the currency to the euro by law, at a fixed rate of 1 lev for every 51 eurocents.
