Category: General

A passenger train slammed into a construction crane and derailed near The Hague in the early hours of this morning sending two carriages into a field next to the tracks. One person died and 19 were hospitalized, Dutch emergency services said.

Police opened an investigation to establish if any crime was committed. Another independent probe was opened into the cause of the crash.

Two of the bright yellow and blue train carriages came to rest perpendicular to the tracks across the small canal and partially in a field. What appeared to be the front of the train was badly damaged. Other parts of the train were partially derailed.

Source: Oman News Agency

In the Sau reservoir, teams in small boats are hard at work hauling out fish with nets. The idea is to remove them before they die and rot in the water, making it unusable for human consumption.

The water level has dropped so low here – to below 10% of the reservoir’s capacity – that there is already a risk the water will be contaminated by silt. Therefore, while the fish are removed, Sau’s remaining water is being emptied downstream to another reservoir.

The Sau reservoir, 100km (about 62 miles) inland from Barcelona, has been supplying water to the city and other towns in the north-eastern region of Catalonia for half a century. But in recent months it has become the most visible symbol of the worst drought this area has seen in living memory, BBC news reported.

That is because of the now-notorious sight of the 11th Century church of Sant Romà de Sau, which was submerged when the reservoir was created in 1962.

In times of abundant rain, the building – situated in the reservoir – sat below the water level, but it now stands several metres above the waterline, surrounded by parched earth.

This part of Catalonia has not seen sustained rain in two-and-a-half years. In early March, the reservoir’s water level had dropped to 8% of its capacity, down from 55% a year earlier.

Although Catalonia’s situation is particularly worrying much of the country is facing similar challenges, particularly in southern and eastern areas. In mid-March, reservoirs in the Guadalquivir basin of Andalusia averaged 26% of their capacity, one point below the Catalan interior, and in the south-eastern Segura basin they were at 36%. That compared with 83% capacity in parts of the northwest.

In March, Spain’s meteorological agency AEMET declared that the country as a whole “continues in a situation of meteorological drought which began over a year ago”.

Not all droughts are caused by climate change, but increased heat in the atmosphere takes more moisture out of the earth, making dry spells worse. The world has warmed by about 1.1C since the beginning of the industrial era and temperatures are expected to keep increasing unless there are drastic cuts to emissions.

Source: Oman News Agency

Speaker of the Council of Representatives, Ahmed bin Salman Al Musallam, extended most sincere congratulations to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, on the International Day of Conscience, which was approved by the United Nations, in response to the initiative of late His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. It is celebrated on April 5 every year.

The Speaker of the Council of Representatives took pride in Bahrain’s unflinching keenness on fostering tolerance, peace and coexistence in the world, which turned it into a model to emulate in this regard. He stressed keenness of the Representatives Council to invest the legislative work and parliamentary diplomacy in realizing the goals of the International Day of Conscience and rapprochement between peoples. He noted that the world’s celebration of the occasion adds to the kingdom’s numerous initiatives to support the efforts of promoting tolerance and rapprochement.

The Speaker affirmed Bahrain’s continuous comprehensive development march under the leadership of HM the King, stressing commitment to the values and principles emanating from the civilizational heritage, the Islamic religion, the inherent Arab culture, the National Action Charter and the constitution. He pointed out the programmes and conferences hosted by the kingdom to foster dialogue and rapprochement, noting the efforts and achievements of the Royal Humanitarian Foundation, the King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Coexistence, the King Hamad Chair in Inter-Faith Dialogue and Peaceful Coexistence at the Italian University of Sapienza in Rome, and the Declaration of Bahrain to promote religious freedom.

The Speaker of the Council of Representatives called on the legislative bodies to promote humanitarian cooperation and adopt more programmes to back the efforts of governments and the international community in boosting human welfare.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Caretaker Minister of Finance, Dr. Yousef Al-Khalil, on Tuesday received the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka.

Discussions between the pair reportedly touched on the country’s economic situation.

Wronecka expressed satisfaction with the call for municipal and mayoral elections next May.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

The head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s parliamentary bloc, Vian Sabri, confirmed: The meeting of the head of the regional government, Masrour Barzani, with Prime Minister Muhammad Al-Sudani aims to agree on oil and the budget.

She told the National Iraqi News Agency / NINA /: The final agreement on the issue of oil and gas is a priority for the regional government and the federal government, until the oil and gas law is legislated.

Sabri added: The visit of the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Government and direct negotiation with the Prime Minister of the Federal Government is one of the agreed points to find solutions and an agreement on oil and the budget.

The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Government, Masrour Barzani, arrived today in Baghdad and met upon his arrival with the Federal Prime Minister, Muhammad Al-Sudani.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Detachments of the Iraqi National Security Service arrested (3) accused of smuggling and counterfeiting currency in Kirkuk and Baghdad.

The INSS stated in a statement that the Iraqi national security service detachments in Kirkuk governorate, based on accurate intelligence information, and after obtaining judicial approvals, managed to arrest a person (400) thousand dollars in his possession and he was intending to smuggle them.

It added: After the availability of confirmed information about two people carrying out different currency counterfeiting activities,

In Baghdad, the detachments east of the capital were able to arrest them in a tight ambush and red-handed, as they were seized with large amounts of counterfeit money.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) distributed on Sunday 32.5 tons of food baskets in Wadi Khaled in Akkar Governorate and Iqlim El Kharroub and Naameh in Mount Lebanon Governorate, benefiting 2,575 Syrian and Palestinian refugees. This distribution is part of the project to support food security in Lebanon during the holy month of Ramadan for 1444-2023.

The project is one of the many humanitarian and relief efforts by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through KSrelief to support refugees and the neediest groups in Lebanon.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

OQ, the global integrated energy group, today signed an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources (MAFWR) to plant 250,000 seedlings of wild trees.

This agreement aims to enhance efforts to expand the green area by planting 10 million wild trees as part of OQ’s Green Initiative. The Agricultural Development Fund will oversee and follow up on the implementation of this agreement.

The agreement was signed by Dr. Saud Hamoud Al Habsi, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources; and TalalHamidAlAwfi,OQ Group CEO.

On this occasion, Dr. Saud expressed his appreciation for OQ’s efforts to enhance the pursuits of governmental entities in expanding the green area in the Sultanate of Oman through its green initiative.

The initiative aims to promote public awareness about the importance of vegetation and effectively contribute to supporting these efforts to achieve their desired objectives, the minister added.

He highlighted the effective cooperation between the Ministry and OQ in many initiatives including the projects of propagating economic types and varieties of fruits and combating pesticides using drones.

This agreement will contribute to planting a quarter of a million wild seedlings as part of the project to plant ten million trees in Oman.

The project aims to strike a balance between environmental components and reduce carbon emissions. The concerted efforts of the government and the private sector would result in achieving this objective.

OQ seeks to enhance efforts to expand the green area through the social investment programme, in which the environment is the main pillar.

The agreement embodies the social investment pillar and seeks to implement OQ’s green initiative launched by the Group in an attempt to contribute to the environmental sustainability efforts by supporting many qualitative agricultural and environmental projects.

OQ moves forward to enhance the effective community partnership and support efforts made to add high value to developmental projects. These efforts will play a great role in achieving Oman’s strategic objective to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Source: Oman News Agency

Represented by the Government Communication Centre, the Ministry of Information today organized its 19th meeting titled “Government Media Agenda—the Planning and the Outcome”.

Held in the presence of Dr. Abdullah Nasser Al Harrasi, Minister of Information, and representatives of communication and media departments, the gathering discussed the extent to which the government media agenda improves government communication.

During the meeting, Dr. Abdullah stressed the importance of propagating information through accounts, platforms and other media, the impact of this on the recipient and the need to highlight the role and efforts of government institutions.

The gathering included a visual presentation on a draft agenda launched in 2017 by the Government Communication Centre in conjunction with government institutions.

The discussions covered the mechanism of espousing the draft agenda project, its significance and the gains that government institutions and the Government Communication Centre can achieve through commitment to the government media agenda.

The project of the draft agenda lists media activities and events that are organized or hosted by government institutions in Oman.

The main objective is to help achieve appropriate communication planning through coordination with other institutions, so that media plans and joint projects and important activities could be promoted through different means of media, including digital media.

This is in addition to ensuring that key events do not coincide, to bring about an organized government action and to realize high-quality media appearance.

The meeting envisaged the dissemination of the government agenda through government communication platforms and social media, so that members of the public could get informed about government activities and events that take place during each month.

This agenda will constitute a reference for the media to explore and publish related details. This approach will facilitate the archiving and documentation of the most prominent government activities.

The meeting also reviewed the main projects and events that the Government Communication Centre dealt with in cooperation with government institutions from November 2022 to March 2023. It also took note of the Centre’s participation in international events and the communication plans that the Centre supervised during the same period.

The Government Communication Centre organizes such meetings in a regular manner with the prime aim of exchanging experiences, addressing challenges in the field of government communication and enhancing media practices.

Source: Oman News Agency

Discussions between the delegations of Syria and Iran began in Moscow today in preparation for the quadripartite meeting between Turkey, Russia, Syria and Iran, which will start in Russia tomorrow (Tuesday).

Ayman Sousan, Assistant Foreign and Expatriates Minister and head of the Syrian delegation said, “The delegation will hold bilateral consultations with the Russian and Iranian sides today, before participating in the quadripartite meeting tomorrow”.

In mid-March 2023, Turkish media reported that delegations from the foreign ministries of Turkey, Russia, Iran and Syria will meet in the Russian capital, Moscow.

Turkish media said that the Turkish delegation will be represented by Burak Akçapar, Turkish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the presence of Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Ali Asghar Khaji, Iranian Foreign Minister’s Senior Advisor for Special Political Affairs and Ayman Sousan, Syrian Assistant Foreign and Expatriates Minister.

In December 2022, Russia hosted a meeting that included the defense ministers of Russia, Syria and Turkey, during which a session of talks was held. The session explored ways to solve the Syrian crisis and the joint efforts to combat terrorism.

The quadripartite meeting is the first official talks to be held at a ministerial level between Turkey and Syria since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2011, and the resulting tension between the two neighbours.

Source: Oman News Agency

The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology began to implement the dualization of the road link of Al Khabourah carriageway in the Governorate of North Al Batinah .

The 14.5 km link starts at Al Batinah Expressway intersection and ends at the Wilayat of Al Khabourah roundabout along Al Batinah Highway.

The project stems from a plan to establish a link between Al Batinah Highway and Al Batinah Expressway. This is being realized by raising the efficiency of existing road links or constructing new links, in accordance with traffic studies on the overall road network that is supervised by the Ministry.

Source: Oman News Agency

The South Korean, United States (US) and Japanese navies today began their first anti-submarine drills in six months to boost their coordination against increasing North Korean missile threats, South Korea’s military said.

The two-day drills come as North Korea’s recent unveiling of a type of battlefield nuclear warhead prompted worries the country may conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.

The maritime exercises in international waters off South Korea’s southern island of Jeju involved the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and naval destroyers from South Korea, the US and Japan, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The training was arranged to improve the three countries’ capacities to respond to underwater security threats posed by North Korea’s advancing submarine-launched ballistic missiles and other assets, the statement said.

South Korean defense officials said the three countries were to detect and track unmanned South Korean and US underwater vehicles posing as enemy submarines and other assets.

Source: Oman News Agency