RIYADH: Yemen’s president left for the United States on Saturday to undergo periodic medical examinations, state news agency SABA reported.

President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has lived in Riyadh since the Iranian-backed Houthi militia captured the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2015.

CAIRO: A national indicator of multidimensional poverty should be formulated that reflects the Egyptian situation, based on realistic data and accurate indicators, according to Egypt’s deputy minister of planning and economic development Ahmed Kamali.

He was speaking during a remote technical session attended by the working group of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), represented by Khaled Abu Ismail, and representatives from UNICEF and Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics to discuss the formulation of the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) in Egypt.

Kamali praised the cooperation between international bodies and efforts made over recent months to eradicate poverty.

The ESCWA team gave a presentation on how to use the MPI Assist Tool (MAT) to present the results in a simplified manner to decision-makers, which would also facilitate the process of measuring the MPI for countries.

This session marked the conclusion of a number of meetings and workshops that started during November 2020 between the Egyptian Ministry of Planning and Economic Development’s task force, ESCWA, and the Oxford University’s Poverty and Development Initiative Humanity’s task force.

The meetings discussed ways to measure the MPI in Egypt and the factors affecting the formulation of this indicator, as well as relying on it in formulating policies related to combating poverty.

CAIRO: A former Egyptian MP said to be the ringleader of an international smuggling gang is facing charges of excavating and trafficking antiquities following his arrest by security agencies.
Alaa Hassanein, a flamboyant former member of President Hosni Mubarak’s now-dissolved National Democratic Party, was among 18 people arrested on Thursday on charges of illegal excavation and smuggling of 201 Pharaonic, Greek and Roman artefacts, the Interior Ministry revealed.
Hassanein has appeared in local media previously claiming to have dabbled in black magic and exorcisms, according to AFP.
Investigations revealed that he personally led a gang that excavated and trafficked antiquities, the ministry said.
A five-minute video accompanying the ministry’s statement listed the looted relics, including “two wooden tablets engraved with hieroglyphics, 36 statues of various lengths, 52 copper coins believed to be from the Greek and Roman periods, and three black basalt plates.”
Three bronze statues, a clown statue, and three surgical needles dating back to the Islamic era were also found.
Hassanein and 17 others were remanded in custody for four days pending investigations.
The prosecution in southern Cairo called for a committee from the Supreme Council of Antiquities to examine the seized pieces.
Smuggling antiquities in Egypt carries a life sentence and hefty fines.
On Wednesday, Egypt’s public prosecutor said in a statement that Cairo recovered about 115 stolen artefacts in Paris after a two-year joint operation with French judicial authorities.
The statement did not reveal the full contents of the trove, but an accompanying 15-minute video showed Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities chief Mostafa Waziri explaining that some of the artefacts date back to “the ancient Egyptian civilization.”
Cairo has announced several major new archaeological discoveries in recent years, hoping to revive a key tourism sector.

GAZA CITY: Following the May 21 cease-fire between Hamas and Israel that ended the 11-day war, another battle is raging between Gaza’s rulers and the Palestinian Authority (PA) amid disagreements over responsibilities for the besieged enclave’s reconstruction.
Hamas has rejected a committee created by the PA in Ramallah, claiming that it did not consult or coordinate with the competent authorities in Gaza.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since it took control of it by force in mid-2007, called for the formation of an independent professional national commission to oversee funds and aid for the reconstruction process, which the PA rejects.
Naji Sarhan, the undersecretary of Hamas’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Gaza, said the PA deals with the reconstruction issue without a national partnership.
PA spokesman Ibrahim Melhem said that after the 2014 war a committee was formed comprising representatives from the government, Hamas and other Palestinian factions to oversee the reconstruction.
“The government is not in competition with any Palestinian party or faction, and is not interested in excluding anyone, but is rather keen on having unity to deal with all situations,” Melhem said.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh has visited several countries, including several Arab states, to discuss Gaza’s reconstruction and, according to Melhem, there is “a consensus among the Arab brothers that the PA is the main address through which reconstruction funds pass.”
However, Sarhan accused the PA of dealing with Gaza arrogantly.
“How does the PA want to supervise the reconstruction and control funds while Shtayyeh made his foreign tour without visiting Gaza and seeing its needs, and without talking to us for the sake of mutual understanding?” he said.
Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’ National Relations Office, said the group supports the formation of a national body that represents everyone and includes in its membership professional national figures and will oversee the funds and the reconstruction process.
He believes that the PA’s supervision would “impede work.” He said the experience of the 2014 war was “bitter” and Hamas would not accept a return to the previous mechanism, which was characterized by slowness and a lack of transparency.
The PA agrees with Hamas in rejecting a return to the UN reconstruction mechanism, which was put into operation after the 2014 war and gave Israel a free hand to control it in terms of oversight and limitations on the quantity and quality of construction materials.
Shtayyeh described this mechanism as “sterile and useless,” and said it “is suitable for monitoring a nuclear reactor and is not suitable for monitoring the reconstruction of Gaza.”
Melhem said the government is ready to discuss the most appropriate mechanism for the reconstruction.
According to Sarhan, 1,700 housing units have not been reconstructed since the 2014 war due to this mechanism, which Israel dealt with temperamentally.
At a conference held in Cairo after the 2014 war, donors pledged more than $5 billion, about half of which was allocated to the reconstruction process, and the other half to support the PA’s budget.
According to Sarhan, what reached Gaza from those funds did not exceed $800 million.
Hamas accuses Israel of procrastination and of blackmail attempts aimed at linking the reconstruction to the issue of the prisoner exchange deal.
After the meeting between Hamas chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and the UN envoy Tor Wennesland last Monday, which Sinwar described as very bad, the mutual threats between Hamas and Israel have worsened.
Hamas accused the UN envoy of adopting the Israeli vision in terms of dealing with humanitarian issues in Gaza related to the siege and Israeli restrictions on crossings and reconstruction.
According to sources in the Palestinian factions, Egyptian mediators have been given an opportunity to resolve issues with the new Israeli government, following the failure of Wennesland’s mission.
Hamas strongly refuses to link the humanitarian issues related to the blockade imposed on Gaza for 15 years or the reconstruction, with other topics, the most important of which is the “prisoner exchange deal.”
Hamas insists on having Palestinians released from Israeli prisons in exchange for four Israelis it is holding, including the dead bodies of two soldiers who Israel says were killed during the 2014 war.
Hamas refuses to disclose their fate, in addition to that of two others who entered Gaza earlier in unclear circumstances.
Naim said that “Hamas is open to developing any new mechanisms that would ensure that funds and aid reach those who deserve it in Gaza.”
He warned: “The blockade is a time bomb,” and the countdown has begun, which means the explosion may occur any moment.

ARBIL: Three explosives-laden drones hit near the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, where the United States has a consulate, Iraqi Kurdish officials said Saturday.
The attack came as the Hashed Al-Shaabi, a pro-Iran paramilitary alliance opposed to the US presence in Iraq, held a military parade near Baghdad attended by senior officials.
The drone attack occurred overnight, the anti-terrorist unit in Kurdistan said, with two striking a house and causing damage while the payload on the third did not explode.
The US consulate condemned the assault in a tweet, saying “this attack represents a clear violation of Iraqi sovereignty”.
US interests in Iraq have come under repeated attack in recent months but the use of drones is a relatively new tactic.
The United States consistently blames Iran-linked Iraqi factions for rocket and other attacks against Iraqi installations housing its personnel.
Since the start of the year there have been 43 attacks against US interests in Iraq, where 2,500 American troops are deployed as part of an international coalition to fight Daesh.
The vast majority have been bombs against logistics convoys, while 14 were rocket attacks, some of them claimed by pro-Iran factions that aim to pressure Washington into withdrawing all their troops.
In April, a drone packed with explosives hit the coalition’s Iraq headquarters in the military part of the airport in Arbil, the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital.
The tactic poses a headache for the coalition, as drones can evade air defences.
In May a drone packed with explosives hit the Ain Al-Asad air base housing US troops.
On June 9 three explosives-laden drones targeted Baghdad airport, where US soldiers are also deployed. One was intercepted by the Iraqi army.
Earlier that day five rockets were fired at Balad air base, where American contractors are based, causing no casualties or damage.
The attacks on the airport and Balad came as Iraqi authorities released Hashed commander Qassem Muslah.
Muslah had been arrested on May 26 by police intelligence on suspicion of ordering the killing of Ihab al-Wazni, a pro-democracy activist shot dead earlier that month by unidentified gunmen on motorbikes.
On Saturday, the Hashed, which analysts say has become the predominant force in Iraqi politics, held a military parade in Diyala province bordering Baghdad.
It was marking the seventh anniversary of the group which was formed in 2014 to battle Daesh that had seized almost one third of Iraq in a lightning offensive.
At the parade, Hashed displayed various weapons including rocket launchers mounted on vehicles, according to footage broadcast on Iraqi state television, to an audience comprising Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi.