Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 17 January 2018

Yemen asks Saudis for $1B to save currency, prevent ‘famine’

By AHMED AL-HAJ In an emotional letter, went to war against Ye- against the Houthis, rebels A senior Yemeni official told
Associated Press Ahmed Obeid bin Daghir men’s Houthi rebels in 2015. allied with Iran who control The Associated Press that
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Ye- called on the coalition to Food and fuel prices have much of northern Yemen, the coalition hasn’t moved
men’s prime minister on act “now, not tomorrow,” soared, pushing many to including the capital, Sa- to shore up the central
Tuesday called on the Sau- and said saving the rial the brink of famine. The naa. The war, which has bank because of mistrust
di-led coalition allied with means “saving Yemenis U.N. has called Yemen the been locked in a bloody between the United Arab
his government to deposit from inevitable famine.” world’s worst humanitarian stalemate for most of the Emirates, a key member of
$1 billion in the central bank The rial, now trading at 500 crisis. The war pits the coali- last three years, has killed the alliance, and Yemen’s
to save the local currency to the dollar, has lost half tion and an internationally an estimated 10,000 peo- President Abed Rabbo
from “complete collapse.” its value since the coalition recognized government ple and displaced 2 million. Mansour Hadi.q

Iran adds to criticism of US-trained Kurdish force in Syria

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran was killed and five civilians
added its voice to criti- were wounded by two pro-
cism of a U.S. plan to form jectiles that fell on the town
a new border security force of al-Saan in central Syria.
in Syria, saying Tuesday that The media office of the op-
it will cause more instability position Syrian Negotiations
and “add flames” to the Commission said Tuesday
war-torn country. that the next round of Syria
Iranian Foreign Minis- peace talks will take place
try spokesman Bahram in Vienna later this month.
Ghasemi said the planned A Vienna venue for the in-
Kurdish-led force will further direct talks between the
complicate the conflict in Syrian government and the
Syria and is a “blatant inter- opposition would be a first
vention” in that country’s under the mediation of U.N.
internal affairs. Ghasemi’s special envoy for Syria Staf-
comments were carried fan de Mistura.
by Iran’s official IRNA news His office declined to com-
agency. ment. De Mistura’s team
Iranian President Hassan has hosted eight rounds of
Rouhani later told the vis- largely unproductive talks
iting Syrian parliament over the past two years in
speaker that the U.S. plan is Geneva.
a “plot” against Syria’s terri- A man rides his bicycle in a devastated part of the Bab Dreib neighborhood in the old city of Homs, The U.N. said Tuesday that
torial integrity and security, Syria, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Elsewhere in Syria Tuesday, several civilians were killed and others fighting between govern-
according to comments were wounded by insurgent shelling of Aleppo city, the state-run news agency SANA reported. ment forces and insur-
posted on the president’s (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) gents in northwestern Syria
website. Turkey has threatened to cooperates with it is a “trai- the new border force, ac- has displaced more than
The new force announced launch a new military op- tor” who would meet de- cording to the coalition. 200,000 people since mid-
by the U.S.-led coalition eration against the main feat and death. Russia has Elsewhere in Syria, two civil- December, including some
against the Islamic State Syrian Kurdish militia, known criticized the plan as well, ians were killed and three who had already fled fight-
group also is exacerbating as the People’s Defense saying it could fuel tensions others were wounded by ing elsewhere. Most are
tensions between NATO Units, or YPG, in the Kurd- around Afrin. insurgent shelling of Alep- heading for safer areas
member Turkey and the ish-held Afrin enclave in The U.S.-led coalition says po city, the state-run news near the Turkish border.
United States. Turkish Presi- northern Syria. The YPG is the force, expected to agency SANA reported. Government forces
dent Recep Tayyip Erdo- the backbone of a Syrian reach 30,000 in the next It quoted the Aleppo Po- launched an offensive last
gan on Monday vowed force that drove the Islamic several years, is a key ele- lice Command as saying month on the southern
to “drown this army of ter- State group from much of ment of its strategy to pre- that “terrorists” in the west- edge of the northwest-
ror before it is born.” He northern and eastern Syria vent the resurgence of the ern outskirts of Aleppo fired ern Idlib province, which
warned U.S. troops against with the help of U.S.-led air- Islamic State group in Syria a number of shells, one of is dominated by al-Qaida-
coming between Turkish strikes. and would be deployed which fell on a kindergarten linked militants and home
troops and the Kurdish forc- Syria’s deputy foreign min- along Syria’s borders with bus, killing the driver and to more than 2.6 million Syr-
es in Syria that Ankara views ister, Faysal Mekdad, de- Turkey and Iraq. a two-year-old child and ians, including more than a
as an extension of Turkey’s nounced the nascent U.S. Some 230 cadets have al- wounding three teachers. million displaced from oth-
own Kurdish insurgency. force and said anyone who ready been recruited to SANA also said a woman er areas.q

Bahrain radar shows Qatar jets near UAE planes; Doha denies

By JON GAMBRELL new dispute pitting Qatar world’s busiest international officials deny their jets inter- 3,170 meters (10,400 feet).
Associated Press against the Gulf nations airport. They also could af- cepted the aircraft and on Two other radar signals de-
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- that have been boycotting fect long-haul airline travel, Tuesday dismissed the foot- scribed as Qatari fighter jets
ates (AP) — Bahrain re- it since last summer. as the region’s carriers are age as “unauthenticated flew at around 2,590 meters
leased radar tracks on The two alleged fly-bys on a crucial link between the videos.” Bahrain state tele- (8,500 feet) and crossed
Tuesday it said showed Qa- Monday morning could East and West. Emirati offi- vision aired radar footage it briefly in front of the Emir-
tari fighter jets passing by further escalate tensions cials on Monday described described as showing Emir- ates plane’s flight path. The
Emirati commercial airliners between Qatar and the the fly-bys as though the ates flight No. EK837 from screen briefly flashes or-
bound for the island nation, four Arab nations, among fighter jets “intercepted” Dubai flying toward Bah- ange text, likely a collision
encounters which set off a them the UAE, home to the their civilian aircraft. Qatari rain International Airport at warning.q