Yemen children's hospital faces closure due to shortages: NGO

SANAA: A major hospital in Yemen's rebel-held capital is on the verge of shutting down due to a supply shortage caused by a pro-government coalition blockade, Save the Children has warned.

"Critical fuel shortages and a lack of medical supplies could force the Al-Sabeen Hospital to shut its doors within 48 hours," the humanitarian organisation said late Sunday.

The hospital supported by Save the Children is the main facility for children and pregnant women in the area, and serves an estimated three million people, the organisation said in a statement.

The Saudi-led coalition, which mounted an air campaign against Iran-backed rebels late March in support of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, has imposed a blockade on areas controlled by insurgents.

The hospital was reliant on the Red Sea port of Hodeida for 90 percent of its imports, Save the Children said.

"The hospital has entirely run out of IV fluid, anaesthetic, blood transfusion tests, Valium to treat seizures and ready-prepared therapeutic food for severely malnourished children," the statement said citing the hospital's deputy manager Halel al-Bahri.

Fuel that the hospital acquired from the black market was enough to run power generators for two more days, he said.

Across Yemen, 15.2 million people are lacking access to basic healthcare, an increase of 40 percent since March, the organisation warned.

More than half a million children are expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition this year, and there has been a 150 percent increase in hospital admissions for malnutrition since March, it said.

"It is crucial that enough medicines, supplies and fuel are able to get in to the country, otherwise the number of children dying from treatable illnesses is only going to get bigger," said Edward Santiago, Save the Children's Yemen director. 

Alleged mention of Facebook in prayer sparks outcry in Egypt 

Egyptians in a Nile Delta province are outraged after a cleric allegedly changed a line in the traditional Islamic call to dawn prayers to mention Facebook.

Instead of saying “prayer is better than sleep” twice, as he was supposed to, Shiekh Mahmoud Maghazi of Beheira province allegedly said, “Prayer is better than Facebook.” The issue drew nationwide attention when he defended himself against shouted accusations on one of Egypt’s most-watched television talk shows, called 10 PM, on Sunday.

The country’s Religious Endowments Ministry suspended Maghazi after locals complained last week, prompting him to launch a hunger strike and deny that he made the reference.

With over a quarter of the population plagued by illiteracy, Egypt’s talk show hosts play a major role in leading public opinion.

 

ISIS claims start of new currency by minting of coins

WASHINGTON: The Islamic State militant group has claimed to have started its own currency by minting coins and described the move as a "second blow" to the US after 9/11, according to a newly released video.

In the documentary-style video, the radical group presented its new currency, claiming to have started minting and circulating its own gold coins.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), in the video, described the step as a "second blow to the United States and its capitalist financial system of enslavement", after the 9/11 attacks, according to SITE intelligence group.

In the video entitled "The Rise of the Khilafah and the Return of the Gold Dinar" released on Saturday, the ISIS shows the smelting of gold, silver and copper coins.

The new ISIS currency comes in several denominations of gold, silver and copper, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The coins are imprinted with Islamic symbols and "are completely void of human and animal images in accordance with Shariah law," according to the narrator in the propaganda video.

The reverse side of one coin shows seven wheat stalks, "representing the blessing of spending in the path of Allah," says the narrator.

The video, narrated in English with Arabic subtitles, begins with an extensive analysis on "the capitalist financial system of enslavement, underpinned by a piece of paper called the Federal Reserve dollar note," and the corruption that allowed for the American destruction of the monetary system.

Last year in November, ISIS had announced its plans to mint its own currency in gold, silver and copper.

It had stated back then that the aim of the currency was to stay away from the "tyrant's financial system".

ISIS is considered to be one of the richest terror groups in history. Theft, oil smuggling, extortion and human trafficking are considered some of the sources of income for the extremist group that has taken over large territories in Syria and Iraq.

US officials say that ISIS has become a self-sustaining financial force, as the group earns more than three million USD a day.

Crack down on terror havens, U.S. tells Pak. 

National Security Advisor calls attacks in Afghanistan ‘unacceptable’.

In a blunt message, the U.S. has asked Pakistan to intensify efforts to counter terrorist sanctuaries inside its borders and take concrete steps against the dreaded Haqqani network responsible for major attacks on American installations in Afghanistan.

The tough message was conveyed by U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice to the top Pakistani leadership including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief General Raheel Sharif during her day-long visit to the country on Sunday.

Rice during her meetings, “urged Pakistan to intensify its efforts to counter terrorist sanctuaries inside its borders in order to promote regional peace and stability,” said Ned Price, Spokesman of the National Security Council of the White House.

She also urged Pakistan to improve ties with Kabul. Rice told top civilian and military leaders that attacks in Afghanistan by Pakistan-based militants were “absolutely unacceptable.”

 

ISIS blows up ‘one of greatest sites’ of ancient world in Syria

BEIRUT: Islamic State jihadists in Syria severely damaged the Bel temple, considered one of the greatest sites of the ancient world, in a massive explosion on Sunday, activists said.

The 2,000-year-old temple was part of the remains of the ancient caravan city of Palmyra in central Syria, seized by ISIS in May.

The news of the latest destruction at Palmyra came just days after ISIS released propaganda images purportedly showing militants blowing up another Palmyra temple, the 2,000-year-old Baalshamin dedicated to the Phoenician god of storms and fertilizing rains.

The UN cultural agency Unesco, which has designated Palmyra as a world heritage site, called the destruction of the Baalshamin temple a war crime.
 

‘Indira Gandhi planned strike on Pak. nuclear sites’ 

Such a consideration by the then Indian Prime Minister was being made when the U.S. was in an advanced stage of providing its fighter jets F-16 to Pakistan.

Returning to power in 1980, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had considered a military strike on Pakistan’s nuclear installations to prevent it from acquiring weapons capabilities, a declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) document has claimed.

Such a consideration by the then Indian Prime Minister was being made when the U.S. was in an advanced stage of providing its fighter jets F-16 to Pakistan, says the September 8, 1981, document titled ‘India’s Reaction to Nuclear Developments in Pakistan’, which was prepared by the CIA.

A redacted version of the 12-page document was posted on the CIA website in June this year, according to which the then Indian government led by Gandhi in 1981 was concerned about the progress made by Pakistan on its nuclear weapons programme and Ms. Gandhi believed that Islamabad was steps away from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The U.S. had the same assessment.

‘Crack down on terror’

In a blunt message, the U.S. has asked Pakistan to intensify efforts to counter terrorist havens and take steps against the Haqqani network responsible for attacks on American installations in Afghanistan.

The message was conveyed by U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

 

Satellite images confirm destruction of famed temple in Syria's Palmyra: UN

GENEVA: Satellite images confirm the destruction of another famed temple in Syria's Palmyra, the United Nations said late Monday. "We can confirm destruction of the main building of the Temple of Bel as well as a row of columns in its immediate vicinity," the UN training and research agency UNITAR said, providing satellite images from before and after a powerful blast in the ruins of the ancient city earlier Monday.