DOHA: Qatar and France are discussing joint cooperation in humanitarian and development aid for Syria, Qatar News Agency reported on Sunday.

Talks were held between officials from Doha’s Foreign Ministry, Fund for Development, Education Above All Foundation and Qatar Charity, and French Special Envoy for Syria Brigitte Curmi, who is visiting the country.

The meeting was also attended by French Ambassador to Qatar Jean-Baptiste Faivre.

LONDON: The UK must expel Iranian diplomats in response to the execution of a British-Iranian dual national, a relative of the deceased has told the Daily Telegraph.

Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian deputy defense minister, was charged with spying for Britain before his death.

He said he had endured 3,500 hours of brutal torture before confessing to the charges, leading to his hanging on Saturday.

The 61-year-old served in the reformist administration of former President Mohammad Khatami between 1997 and 2005.

ISTANBUL: Turkiye said on Saturday it was “not in a position” to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership, despite a series of steps taken by Stockholm to meet Ankara’s demands.
“We are not in a position to send a (ratification) law to the parliament,” said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s foreign policy adviser Ibrahim Kalin.
Sweden and Finland are unlikely to be able to join NATO before June, said the senior Turkish official.

ABU DHABI: The president of this year’s COP28 climate talks, who heads one of the world’s biggest oil companies, on Saturday urged a focus on lower emissions, warning global energy needs were set to accelerate.
Sultan Al-Jaber, the UAE’s special envoy for climate change and CEO of the ADNOC oil giant, said less-polluting fossil fuels would remain part of the energy mix, along with renewables and other solutions.

IRBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan: Fewer Syrians were killed in 2022 than in any other year since the civil war began in 2011. What is unclear is whether this represents the beginning of the end of this seemingly endless conflict or merely an interlude before another round of grinding violence.

An estimated 3,825 Syrians perished in 2022 — a small decrease from the 3,882 who lost their lives in 2021, but still a continuation of the observable downward trend in the overall deaths caused by the war since 2018.