Iraq is discussing a “giant” agreement with French oil giant Total SE to build large infrastructure installations, develop oil fields and produce gas, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar told Asharq News in an interview that aired on Saturday.

The minister said he expected the contract to be finalized before July. The relationship with Total will be based on targeting low-carbon industry and capturing all flaring gas, and is set to produce 1GW of solar energy in the first stage. A specialized team from the oil ministry is leading these discussions with Total.

“The agreement is giant, and the volume of the investment exceeds $7 billion,” the minister said.

Abdul Jabbar said conditions, including the political and administrative decisions for the economic model that protects the rights of both parties, had been hammered out already.

In January, Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding with Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne on capturing natural gas, clean energy and infrastructure. Talks between Iraq and Total were first reported in October.

Iraq this year is also expected to ink a deal to build an oil export pipeline from the southern province of Basra to Jordan’s Aqba port on the Red Sea. A framework agreement may be signed before mid-April, Abdul Jabbar said.

The minister said Iraq will lower its gasoline and gasoil imports by 50% in 2021 and by 90% in 2022. Iraq will need a very limited volume of gasoil imports to support power generation, he said.

Iraq’s current gas output stands at 1.5b scf/d and will reach 4b scf/d in 2025. The country in 2010 built gas-fired turbines to generate 20GW, and those plants need 5b scf/d of gas.

Iraq now buys gas from Iran and is trying to diversify imports from Qatar, Kazakhstan and other producers, Abdul Jabbar said./ Bloomberg

Apparently irked over not being invited by longtime ally US to an upcoming meeting on the climate change crisis, Pakistan on Saturday said its commitment to addressing the simmering issue is “well accepted and appreciated around the world.”

US President Joe Biden has invited 40 world leaders to a two-day Leaders Summit on Climate “to galvanize efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis,” the White House announced on Friday.

The virtual summit, which follows Washington’s return to the 2016 Paris agreement, is slated to be held on April 22 and April 23.

Responding to the US snub, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri issued a statement outlining Islamabad’s contributions to the global fight against climate change.

“Pakistan’s landmark initiatives like the Billion Tree Tsunami have won international acclaim, including from the World Economic Forum,” he said, referring to a nationwide tree plantation drive spearheaded by Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government.

“Pakistan is also meaningfully contributing to shape the global climate change discourse, inter alia, as the Vice President of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” read the statement.

“Pakistan also co-chaired the multibillion-dollar Green Climate Fund, established to support climate actions in developing countries, last year.”

The summit, Chaudhri pointed out, would bring together “leaders from countries responsible for approximately 80 percent of global emissions and GDP.”

“Pakistan, despite being among the top ten countries affected by climate change, is one of the lowest emitters – with less than one percent of the global emissions,” he said.

“Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our times that can only be countered through inclusive, cooperative and forward-looking policies. Pakistan remains fully committed to play its due role in this fight.”/aa

Three PKK terrorists were neutralized by Turkish intelligence forces in northern Iraq last month, security sources said on Saturday.

Huseyin Inal, a senior member of the terror group codenamed Karker Kurecik, was neutralized along with two more terrorists in an operation by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization in Iraq’s Metina region on Feb. 22, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The terrorists were neutralized after information was received that they were gathering for a meeting to plan attacks in Turkey, according to the sources.

Turkish intelligence also found out that Inal was trained at a PKK training camp in Laurium, southeastern Greece, before joining the terror group’s ranks in northern Iraq in 2018, the sources added.

Turkish authorities use the word “neutralized” in statements to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.

PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq, across Turkey’s border, to plan attacks in Turkey.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants./aa

In a tit-for-tat move, China announced sanctions on US and Canadian officials over the hot button issue of alleged human rights abuse of the Uyghur minority by Beijing.

“The US and Canada imposed unilateral sanctions on relevant individuals and entities in Xinjiang on March 22 based on rumors and disinformation,” said a statement by China’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday.

“In response, the Chinese side decides to sanction Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom [USCIRF] Gayle Manchin, Vice Chair of the USCIRF Tony Perkins, Member of Parliament of Canada Michael Chong, and the sub-committee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of the House of Commons of Canada,” the statement added.

China has been accused by western capitals and rights groups over alleged human rights violations of Uyghurs who live the country's northwestern Xinjiang region.

The US and its allies have sanctioned many Chinese officials over alleged abuses of Uyghurs. Earlier this week, the US blacklisted two Chinese government officials: Wang Junzheng and Chen Mingguo.

The sanctions were being conducted in tandem with the EU, UK and Canada, which imposed their own sanctions on the designated individuals and other officials, the US Treasury Department said last Monday.

A 2018 Human Rights Watch report detailed a Chinese government campaign of "mass arbitrary detention, torture, forced political indoctrination, and mass surveillance of Xinjiang's Muslims."

China, however, has repeatedly denied allegations that it is operating detention camps in its northwestern autonomous region, claiming instead that they are "re-educating" Uyghurs.

Beijing further said in Saturday's statement that “political manipulation on Xinjiang-related issues must stop” urging “non-interference in China's internal affairs in any form and refrain from going further down the wrong path.”

“Otherwise, they will get their fingers burnt.”

The sanctions bar individuals from entering the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao.

“Chinese citizens and institutions are prohibited from doing business with the relevant individuals and having exchanges with the relevant entity,” the Foreign Ministry said.

It added that previous sanctions on American individuals “who seriously undermined China's sovereignty and interests on Xinjiang-related issues remain effective.”

“The Chinese government is firmly determined to safeguard its national sovereignty, security and development interests, and urges the relevant parties to clearly understand the situation and redress their mistakes,” the statement said./aa

At least 15 people with suspected links to the YPG/PKK terror group were apprehended in southern Turkey on Saturday, a security source said.

The arrests were part of an investigation by the chief public prosecutor of the Ceyhan district in Adana province, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

The suspects nabbed by anti-terror police teams are believed to have been involved in illegal street protests by the YPG/PKK terror group, the source added.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot./aa

Hunger is on the rise in Angola as the country “experiences its worst episode of drought in four decades in the south-western provinces,” the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday.

“As water supply diminishes, severely impacting crops, with losses of up to 40 percent,” it is “increasing the risk for livestock sustenance,” WFP spokesperson Tomson Phiri said in a news conference in Geneva.

“WFP is extremely concerned given the chronic food insecurity and malnutrition rates in the worst affected areas. The situation is also reportedly giving rise to migratory movements from the most affected areas with families moving towards other provinces and across the border to Namibia,” he added.

The WFP warned that the situation is not expected to get better in coming months “in the absence of above average rainfall.”

“Abnormal dryness is hampering the 2020/21 rainy season, which typically runs from November to April. The country has been experiencing episodes of drought since December last year with below average rainfall in the provinces of Cuanza Sul, Benguela, Huambo, Namibe and Huila,” said Phiri.

In a report last month, UNICEF said 390,841 children under the age of 5 are “in humanitarian situations screened for malnutrition in the most drought-affected Provinces of Huila, Cunene, Namibe and Cuando Cubango.”/agency

Former French football star Thierry Henry said on Friday that he would disable his social media platforms Saturday for insufficient measures against racism and cyberbullying.

"Hi, Guys. From tomorrow morning, I will be removing myself from social media until the people in power are able to regulate their platforms with the same vigour and ferocity that they currently do when you infringe copyright," the ex-Arsenal forward said on Twitter.

"The sheer volume of racism, bullying and resulting mental torture to individuals is too toxic to ignore. There has to be some accountability."
Henry stated that it is easy to create a social media account to "bully and harass" people.

"Until this changes, I will be disabling my accounts across all social platforms," he added.

Henry has 2.3 million followers on Twitter and 2.7 million people are following him on Instagram.

One of the greatest football players in history, Henry, 43, won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA EURO 2000 title with his native France.
He was the 2002 and 2004 English champion with Arsenal.

In February, Henry resigned from his post as CF Montreal manager.
CF Montreal is a Canadian football club in Montreal, Quebec, but the team plays in the Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-tier football division in the US and Canada./agencies

Turkey's recent successful anti-terror operations at home and abroad inflicted heavy damage on terror groups, especially in Syria and Iraq, that are seeking to take advantage of a power vacuum in the region, the Turkish parliament speaker said on Friday.

"Terrorist organizations were trying to use the administrative vacuum in Syria and Iraq and settle [there], near Turkish borders. With its cross-border operations, Turkey thwarted this," Mustafa Sentop said in an interview with Anadolu Agency following the Fourth Conference of Speakers of Parliament, which focused on counter-terrorism and strengthening of regional connectivity, held in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya.

According to Sentop, Turkey's counter-terrorism efforts bore fruit and the operational capabilities of terror organizations in Turkey had been almost completely eradicated, with cross-border military campaigns eliminating the possibility of an "artificial terror state" in Syria.

Additionally, operations in northern Iraq severely diminished terror groups there as they no longer roam freely in the region, Sentop said.

The Turkish official went on to say that another major issue related to the terrorism was that "some countries" provided support to terrorist organizations.

Stressing that such connections between terror groups and countries must be cut, Sentop said Turkey has been trying to persuade such states to turn course, while also maintaining efforts to expose their behavior.

The next conference is expected to be held in Russia next year. The participants this year included China, Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey.

Sentop underlined that its participants were in "wide consensus" on the conference declaration, adding that the tally of participant countries might rise in the future as Iraq and Qatar had already been invited to take part and Russia suggested the inclusion of some Turkic countries in Central Asia./aa

Myanmar has seen the most violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters on Saturday when the ruling military regime put on a show of its strength on its annual Armed Forces Day, killing at least 50 people.

The junta, in a televised message on Friday night, warned the protesters of the risk of being shot in the head and back if they continue the anti-coup demonstrations.

As the protesters, however, defy the junta threat and took to the streets in towns and cities across the country on Saturday, they met the violent crackdown by the security forces.

Myanmar NOW, a leading news outlet in the country, reported that it has verified the deaths of 50 civilians in 23 towns and cities in eight out of 15 regions as of noon on Saturday.

At least eight people have also been shot dead in Yangon’s Dala township late Friday night as security forces violently intervened in the crowds demanding police to release two women who were detained for participating in anti-coup protests, according to witnesses and local media reports./aa