Jordan to replace Saudi Arabia on UN council: Diplomat
Source: Khaleej Times (Read full story)
Jordan will replace Saudi Arabia on the Security Council for a two-year term starting in January after the Saudis’ unprecedented rejection of the seat hours after they were elected, a UN diplomat said on Thursday. The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deal was made privately, said Jordan’s UN Ambassador Prince Zeid Al Hussein was flying to Amman on Thursday night to discuss Jordan’s new role on the UN’s most powerful body. Earlier this week, Jordan dropped its bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, leaving Saudi Arabia a clear path in the now uncontested election next Tuesday.
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Saudis to train, arm new Syria rebel force
Source: The Peninsula (Read full story)
Saudi Arabia is preparing to spend millions of dollars to arm and train thousands of Syrian fighters in a new national rebel force to help defeat Bashar Al Assad and act as a counterweight to increasingly powerful jihadi organisations. Syrian, Arab and Western sources say the intensifying Saudi effort is focused on Jaysh Al Islam (the Army of Islam), created in September by 43 Syrian groups. It is billed as a significant new player on the fragmented rebel scene.
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Big power ministers in Geneva as Iran deal nears
Source: Gulf News (Read full story)
US Secretary of State John Kerry and fellow big power foreign ministers headed to Geneva on Friday to help clinch an interim nuclear deal with Iran and ease a decade-old standoff, with Israel warning they were making an epic mistake. Diplomats said a breakthrough at this week’s negotiations remained uncertain and would in any case mark only the first step in a long, complex process towards a permanent resolution of Iran’s dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions. But they said the imminent arrival of Kerry, British Foreign Secretary William Hague and French and German foreign ministers Laurent Fabius and Guido Westerwelle hinted that the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany may be closer to an agreement with Iran than ever before. A senior US State Department official said Kerry was committed to doing “anything he can” to narrow differences with the Islamic Republic. The powers aim to cap Iran’s nuclear work to prevent any advance towards a nuclear weapons capability.
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Kingdom committed to sustainable energy management
Source: Arab News (Read full story)
Saudi Arabia has reaffirmed its strong commitment to managing energy for a sustainable future, urging all parties and stakeholders attending the UN Framework Conference for Climate Change/COP-19-CMP9 in Warsaw to work together on common guiding principles and actions that converge on innovation, collaboration and investments. Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi will lead the Kingdom’s delegation at the UNFCCC-COP19-CMP9.
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“To inspire action, we need to catalyze and advance sustainable development plans for all countries with the focus on providing the necessary means for developing countries, taking into account their national priorities and circumstances to enhance climate actions with workable plan and solutions,” Al-Naimi said.
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The Kingdom’s focus areas in sustainable energy management are: Carbon management and energy technologies; Energy efficiency; Energy sustainability; Renewable energy; Gas recovery, flare management and minimization.
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DP World’s London port opens
Source: Khaleej Times (Read full story)
DP World’s £1.5 billion London Gateway deep-sea port opened formally on Thursday by welcoming the first ship to the facility designed to become one of Europe’s busiest container terminals. The new port, which seeks to provide British exporters and importers with a more efficient way to ship globally, at less cost, has been more than 10 years in the planning and construction phase.
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The new port, reportedly built at a cost of £1.5 billion, is located closer to major UK population centres than other ports capable of handling 400 metre-long ships that can carry more than 18,000 containers, said DP World. There are plans to build a further five berths before it reaches its full operational capacity of 3.5 million teus a year, the global container terminal operator said. The Dubai-based company that operates more than 65 marine terminals across six continents, recently said the new port would create 27,700 jobs for London and the South East and contribute £2.4 billion to economy.
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Pakistan ready to give Saudi Arabia nuclear bombs, experts say
Source: Haaretz (Read full story)
Saudi Arabia helped finance the Pakistani nuclear weapons program and is confident Islamabad will give it atomic bombs – which could trigger a Middle Eastern nuclear arms race, the BBC reported on Wednesday. According to a NATO source, Pakistan actually has made bombs for Saudi Arabia and they are ready to go, the report said. Experts say the kingdom has long aspired to achieve nuclear capacity of its own, in order to counter Iran’s atomic ambitions. Getting the bomb merely by tapping Pakistan for it could bring the unnerved kingdom, which is openly anxious about Washington’s warming ties with Iran, into the nuclear age even before its Muslim neighbor, they now suggest. “They [Saudis] already paid for the bomb, they will go to Pakistan and bring what they need to bring,” former Israeli Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said, according to the BBC.
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