DUBAI: Four Emirati astronauts will undergo specialized training at NASA as part of a new agreement with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).
The strategic agreement announced on Monday aims to prepare the astronauts for advanced space missions.
Astronauts Hazzaa AlMansoori and Sultan AlNeyadi are currently taking part in the training of the 2021 NASA Astronaut Candidate Class. Two more will be selected from the second batch of the UAE Astronaut Programme to join the NASA program.
Dubai Media Office said the program will prepare Emirati astronauts physically and psychologically for future space missions.
The training program will be conducted at NASA's Johnson Space Center, one of the world’s largest centers for spaceflight training, research, and mission control.
The UAE has risen to become a major international space exploration force.
Last year, AlMansoori joined a mission to the International Space Station and in July, the UAE launched a probe to Mars.
NASA to train four Emirati astronauts in deal with Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center
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NASA to train four Emirati astronauts in deal with Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center
- Dubai Media Office said the program will prepare Emirati astronauts physically and psychologically
- The UAE has risen to become a major international space exploration force
Iran ex-Guards officer sanctioned by US launches presidential bid
Like other hopefuls, Vahid Haghanian, will have to wait to see if his candidacy is okayed by the Guardian Council, a 12-strong body of jurists dominated by conservatives that vets all candidates for public office.
Little information has been made public about Haghanian’s career in the Guards, the ideological arm of Iran’s armed forces.
Like late president Ebrahim Raisi whom he is seeking to succeed, Haghanian has been under US sanctions since 2019 for his role in supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s “inner circle responsible for advancing the regime’s domestic and foreign oppression.”
Haghanian said his candidacy was a “personal decision” but he was “fully familiar with the issues of the country.”
He said he had forged close ties with key officials in state institutions “during 45 years of service in the presidential administration and the office of the supreme leader.”
The June 28 election was called after Raisi was killed in a May 19 helicopter crash.
Candidate registration opened on Thursday and closes on Monday.
Others who have announced their candidacies include Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani and former lawmaker Zohreh Elahian, the first woman to enter the race.
Moderate ex-parliament speaker Ali Larijani, reformist former central bank governor Abdolnasser Hemmati and ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili have also registered.
The Guardian Council will announce the final list of candidates on June 11 after it has completed its vetting procedures.
The council disqualified several reformist and moderate candidates from the last presidential election in 2021, including former speaker Larijani.
Iran arrests 35 in raid on ‘satanist gathering’: media
- The raid took place after police had “identified the location” of the gathering
- A total of “31 men and four women at the venue” were taken into custody
TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have arrested 35 people in a raid on a “satanist network gathering” in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, local media reported Saturday.
The raid took place after police had “identified the location” of the gathering, which featured “signs and symbols of satanism, alcohol and drugs,” ISNA news agency said.
Raids on so-called “satanist” gatherings are not uncommon in the deeply conservative country, often targeting parties or concerts with alcohol consumption, which is largely banned in Iran.
A total of “31 men and four women at the venue” were taken into custody and referred to judicial authorities, ISNA said quoting Ruhollah Yaarizadeh, police chief in Khuzestan’s Dezful city.
In May, police arrested more than 250 people including three Europeans west of the capital Tehran over similar charges.
A 2007 raid on an unauthorized rock concert near Tehran saw some 230 people arrested.
Authorities in the Shiite Muslim-dominated country have in the past branded rock and heavy metal music concerts as “satanist” gatherings.
Turkish drone strikes in Syria kill 4 US-backed fighters, wound 11 civilians
- There was no immediate comment from Turkiye
- The SDF said drone strikes hit its positions eight times as well as civilian homes and vehicles
QAMISHLI, Syria: Turkish drone strikes in northeastern Syria on Friday evening killed four US-backed fighters and wounded 11 civilians, the Kurdish-led force said.
The strikes on areas held by the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces came a day after Turkiye’s president said his government won’t hesitate to act against Kurdish-led groups in northern Syria if they proceed with plans to hold local elections. It accuses the groups of having links to outlawed Kurdish militants in Turkiye.
The SDF said drone strikes hit its positions eight times as well as civilian homes and vehicles in and near the northern city of Qamishli. Such Turkish strikes are not uncommon in northeastern Syria.
The Kurdish Red Crescent said that as its paramedics were trying to reach the attacked areas, a Turkish strike hit one of its ambulances, putting it out of service. It said the attack occurred near the town of Amouda, west of Qamishli.
There was no immediate comment from Turkiye.
The Kurdish-led autonomous administration that controls northern and eastern parts of Syria has announced plans to hold municipal elections June 11. The vote to choose mayors will be held in the provinces of Hassakeh, Raqqa, Deir Ezzor and the eastern part of Aleppo province.
On Friday, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel posted on X that “we don’t think that the conditions for such elections are in place in NE Syria in present time.”
The comments appeared to be a message to Kurdish-led authorities not to hold the elections.
Turkiye, which has conducted military operations in Syria in the past, considers the move a step by Syrian Kurdish militants toward the creation of an independent Kurdish entity across its border. It has described the planned polls as a threat to the territorial integrity of both Syria and Turkiye.
“We are closely following the aggressive actions by the terrorist organization against the territorial integrity of our country and of Syria under the pretext of an election,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.
Turkiye considers the Kurdish militia group, known as the People’s Protection Units, as a terrorist group linked to an outlawed Kurdish group that has led an insurgency in Turkiye since 1984. That conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party has killed tens of thousands of people.
The People’s Protection Units provide the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is a key US ally in the fight against the Daesh group. American support for the SDF has infuriated Turkiye and remains a major source of friction in their relations.
Egypt to host talks with Israel, US over Rafah crossing
- Cairo was demanding “a total Israeli withdrawal” from the terminal on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt
CAIRO: Egypt will host Israeli and US officials on Sunday to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing, a vital conduit for aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, Egyptian state-linked media said.
Al-Qahera News quoted on Saturday a unidentified senior official as saying Cairo was demanding “a total Israeli withdrawal” from the terminal on Gaza’s southern border with Egypt.
“An Egyptian-American-Israeli meeting is scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday) in Cairo to discuss the reopening of the Rafah crossing,” the official said.
The crossing has been closed since Israeli forces seized its Palestinian side in early May, reducing aid flows into the war-torn territory to a trickle.
Since then, Egypt and Israel have blamed each other for the blocking of aid deliveries through Rafah. The Egyptian authorities have refused to coordinate with the Israelis, preferring to work with international or Palestinian bodies.
After talks with US President Joe Biden last month, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi agreed to temporarily divert UN aid to the Kerem Shalom crossing, near Rafah but on Gaza’s border with Israel.
Biden on Friday revealed a multi-phase plan for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip proposed by Israel, saying it was “time for this war to end.”
The official quoted by Al-Qahera said that Egypt was undertaking “intensive efforts” to “resume negotiations” for a truce “in light of the recent American proposition.”
Hostage families call for a ceasefire deal pushed by Biden, while Israel says conditions must be met
Hostage families call for a ceasefire deal pushed by Biden, while Israel says conditions must be met
- Following Biden’s speech, hostage families said Saturday time was running out with the onus on both Israel and Hamas to accept the deal
- “We want to see people coming back from Gaza alive and soon,” Gili Roman told AP
TEL AVIV: Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas called for all parties to immediately accept a proposal detailed by US President Joe Biden to end the nearly 8-month-long war and bring their relatives home, but Israel’s government said conditions for a ceasefire still must be met.
Biden outlined a three-phase deal Friday proposed by Israel to Hamas, saying the militant group is “no longer capable” of carrying out another large-scale attack on Israel. He urged the Israelis and Hamas to come to an agreement to release some 100 remaining hostages, along with the bodies of around 30 more, for an extended ceasefire in Gaza.
Ceasefire talks ground to a halt last month after a major push by the US and other mediators to secure a deal in hopes of averting a full Israeli invasion of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. Israel says the Rafah operation is vital to uprooting Hamas fighters responsible for the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the war.
Israel on Friday confirmed its troops were operating in central parts of the city. The ground assault has led to an exodus of around 1 million Palestinians out of the city and has thrown UN humanitarian operations based in the area into turmoil.
Following Biden’s speech, hostage families said Saturday time was running out with the onus on both Israel and Hamas to accept the deal.
“We want to see people coming back from Gaza alive and soon,” Gili Roman told The Associated Press. His sister, Yarden Roman-Gat, was taken hostage and freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November, but Yarden’s sister-in-law, Carmel, is still being held.
“This might be the last chance to save lives. Therefore, the current state must be changed and we expect all to adhere to Biden’s call for accepting the deal on the table, immediately. There is no other way toward a better situation for all. Our leadership must not disappoint us. But mostly, all eyes should be on Hamas,” he said.
The proposal came after what hostage families said was an aggressive meeting Thursday with Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, who told them that the government wasn’t ready to sign a deal to bring all of the hostages home and that there was no plan B.
Hanegbi said this week he expects the war to drag on for another seven months, in order to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group.
Netanyahu has promised a “total victory” that would remove Hamas from power, dismantle its military structure and return the hostages, and on Saturday, the government said its conditions for ending the war had not changed. Putting a permanent ceasefire in place before the conditions are fulfilled is a “non-starter,” it said.
Many hostage families blame the government’s lack of will to secure a deal for the deaths of many of the hostages in captivity.
“We know that the government of Israel has done an awful lot to delay reaching a deal and that has cost the lives of many people who survived in captivity for weeks and weeks and months and months. Our hearts are broken by the amount of people we will receive that are no longer alive,” Sharone Lifschitz, told AP. Her mother Yocheved was freed in the November ceasefire, and her father Oded is still in captivity.
The first phase of the deal announced by Biden would last for six weeks and include a “full and complete ceasefire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The second phase would include the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, and Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza. The third phase calls for the start of a major reconstruction of Gaza, which faces decades of rebuilding from devastation caused by the war.
Biden acknowledged that keeping the Israeli proposal on track would be difficult, saying there were a number of “details to negotiate” to move from the first phase to the second. Biden said that if Hamas fails to fulfil its commitment under the deal, Israel can resume military operations.
Hamas said in a statement Friday it viewed the proposal presented by Biden “positively” and called on the Israelis to declare explicit commitment to an agreement that includes a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a prisoner exchange and other conditions.
While the proposal is similar to previous ones, the main difference is the readiness to stop the war for an undefined period, according to analysts. It still leaves Israel the option the renew the war and diminish Hamas’ ability to govern, but over time, said Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum in Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.
Still, experts say Biden’s speech was one of the first times in the war that provided hope that it might end and bring the hostages home.
“It was a very good speech ... it seems that Biden is trying to force it on the Israeli government, he was clearly speaking directly to the Israeli people,” said Gershon Baskin, director for the Middle East at the International Communities Organization. Israelis must take to the streets to demand that the government of Israel accept it, he said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called it an “urgent hope” for lasting peace. She said Saturday it was up to Hamas to show they want to end the conflict.
Meanwhile fighting continued in Gaza.
On Saturday, Israel’s army said it killed a Hamas fighter responsible for directing attacks in Israel and the West Bank and earlier this week, it said its aircraft killed a Hamas fighter in central Gaza who was head of the technology department for its internal security forces.
Also on Saturday, Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News said officials from Egypt, the United States and Israel would meet in Cairo over the weekend for talks about the Rafah crossing, which has been closed since Israel took over the Palestinian side of it in early May. The meeting comes a week after Biden discussed the closure of the crossing in a call with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.
The crossing is one of the main ways for aid to enter Gaza. Egypt has refused to open its side of the border, fearing the Israeli hold will remain permanent. Egypt has demanded that Palestinians be put back in charge of the facility. The White House has been pressing Egypt to resume the flow of trucks.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250. More than 36,170 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel’s campaign of bombardment and offensives, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
