AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s leader has promised to liberate his country from the Houthis, pay public wages and restore deteriorating public services in his new year message.

“Your armed and security forces, popular resistance, and patriotic alignment will remain our exemplar for restoring the state, putting a stop to the coup, and defending the republican system,” said Rashad Al-Alimi, the chairman of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, in a message on Twitter.

ANKARA: Turkiye, Russia and Syria are to hold a meeting of foreign ministers later this month following landmark talks between the three countries’ defense ministers in Moscow that signaled a warming of relations between Ankara and Damascus.

TRT, the Turkish state broadcaster, announced on Saturday that Russian and Turkish foreign ministers discussed preparations for the new meeting, most likely in the second half of this month. The location has yet to be determined.

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Authority is facing critical challenges and existential threats that could endanger its existence, Palestinian officials and experts have claimed to Arab News.

They pointed to the most worrying threat as the new Israeli government, which includes extreme right-wing ministers and a prime minister whose policies deny Palestinian rights and weaken an already fragile PA.

CAIRO: The floating library MV Logos Hope — the world’s largest ocean-going book fair —  will dock in the Port Said tourist port this week on only its second visit to Egypt in more than 12 years.

The ship will open its floating exhibition to thousands of daily visitors in what the Suez Canal Economic Zone media office described as a major cultural event.

More than 350 passengers on board will also disembark to make tourist visits to Cairo.

CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Sunday urged Israel’s new hard-line government to refrain from “any measures” that could inflame regional tensions, in a phone call congratulating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his return to office.
The leaders spoke days after Netanyahu’s new Cabinet was sworn in, promising in its coalition guidelines to make settlement construction in the occupied West Bank a top priority.