Month: May 2023

Slovak parliament member, Vice-President of parliament for the left-wing SMER-SD party, Luboš Blaha, said that Syria’s participation in the meetings of the Arab League represents a positive step for the whole Middle East.

“This participation represents a victory over the ideology of hatred that some Western powers are trying to spread in the region,” Blaha said in a statement to SANA correspondent in Prague on Wednesday.

He stressed that only peaceful regional cooperation can achieve stability and prosperity.

Blaha went on saying that the politics of conflicts and wars do not lead to any good results, adding the future can prosper through cooperation and diplomacy to achieve development and progress.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

National Earthquake Center (NEC) announced that eight tremors were recorded over the past 24 hours.

The center said in a statement on Wednesday, that the stations of the National Seismological Monitoring Network recorded, from Tuesday evening until 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning, eight weak tremors, including six in Turkey, with a magnitude ranging between 2.5 and 3.6 and two tremors in Liwa Iskenderun, the highest of which was with a magnitude of 2.5.

On Tuesday, the NEC registered seven weak tremors, ranging between 1.9 and 3.4 magnitudes on the Richter Scale.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

Representative office of Lugansk Republic of Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) announced that four people were killed and 16 others were injured Tuesday night, as Kiev regime forces shelled Karpaty village, Perevalsky district.

“The shelling targeted a farm that was under construction, killing four workers and injuring 16 other civilians, in addition to causing severe damage to the farm,” Sputnik quoted the representative office as saying in a statement.

The attack comes as a part of shelling residential neighborhoods and infrastructure in the regions and cities of Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, Zaporozhe and Kherson regions.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

Governor of the Northern Borders Region, Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, received in his office today the President of the Arab Tourism Organisation Dr. Bandar bin Fahd Al Fuhaid and his accompanying delegation.

The Prince explored means of enhancing cooperation with the organisation to support regional tourism development programs. He was also briefed on the organisation’s efforts and its role in supporting regional tourism programs to achieve desired goals and aspirations

Source: Saudi Press Agency

The State of Qatar, represented by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, is participating in the second meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee “INC-2” to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including the marine environment, which is being held in Paris from May 29 to June 3.

During the meeting, Eng. Samira Mohammed Al Dossari, from the department of chemicals and hazardous waste at the ministry, highlighted the efforts made within the framework of its targeted strategy, which resulted in important achievements the most prominent of which was the recycling of all plastic waste during the recent period resulting from holding the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, where the country succeeded in achieving a sustainable solution for sorting, recycling, and energy conversion by 100 percent.

It is the first time in the history of the World Cup tournaments that this percentage has been achieved, which reflects Qatar’s commitment to strengthening its national capabilities, implementing its international commitments in addressing global challenges and enhancing cooperation and interaction between countries in areas of common interest, she added.

This instrument is considered one of the solutions aimed at mitigating the potential damage resulting from the mismanagement of plastic waste, as this type of pollution is a global challenge that crosses borders and requires concerted efforts and joint action to protect human health and the environment.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Qatar Airways has signed a deal with Shell to source 3,000 metric tonnes of neat Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) at Amsterdam Schiphol airport. It encompasses the existing jet fuel contract with Shell at Amsterdam which will now see Qatar Airways using at least a 5 per cent SAF blend over the contract period for the fiscal year 2023-2024.

The Qatar Airways bilateral agreement with Shell is part of a wider effort initiated by the oneworld alliance, which has a set target of using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for 10 percent of combined fuel volumes by 2030.

Qatar Airways is the first carrier in the Middle East and Africa to procure a large SAF amount in Europe beyond government SAF mandates.

SAF offers significant potential for decarbonisation as neat SAF can reduce full lifecycle emissions by up to 80 percent compared to conventional jet fuel. This means that Qatar Airways will be reducing its emissions on flights from Amsterdam by approximately 7,500 tonnes of CO2 for the fiscal year.

HE Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “At Qatar Airways, we are strongly committed to supporting the industrys effort to ramp-up the use of sustainable aviation fuel, as one of the key pillars to decarbonise the aviation industry. Last year, we signed our first offtake agreement in the US, and now we are placing a multi-million US dollar SAF deal in Amsterdam to illustrate our SAF commitment and reiterate our calls for a more robust SAF supply chain across our global network”.

“We remain steadfast in our ambitious target of 10 per cent SAF use by 2030 and this announcement, establishes another landmark for Qatar Airways that underlines the positive outcome of the industrys collaboration which is critical to accelerating the SAF supply and achieving our target.

“SAF is still 3 to 5 times more expensive than fossil-based jet fuel. This is why it is essential for all stakeholders to play their part in facilitating research and development of SAF facilities, enhancing economies of scale, providing financing and placing supportive policies”.

Source: Qatar News Agency

The overall population of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has reached 32,175,224, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) announced the number of inhabitants, based on the first results of the Kingdom’s 2022 census.

Of the total number, Saudis make up 18.8 million (58.4%), while non-Saudis, 13.4 million, constitute 41.6% of the population.

The census also shows that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a young population, with the median age of 29 and a population of Saudis under 30 making up 63% of the total.

GASTAT will make the census results available on a dedicated website featuring interactive dashboards, easy-to-use interactive maps, reports, tables and charts.

The 2022 census was conducted in May 2022 and is the fifth census in the history of Saudi Arabia. It was originally due to be carried out in 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Bahrain News Agency