AFP Asia Business

Francis’s popemobile converted into clinic for Gazan children

Before his death, Pope Francis donated one of his popemobiles to be converted into a children’s clinic in war-torn Gaza, Catholic charity Caritas said on Monday.The iconic open-sided vehicle, designed to allow the pontiff to greet crowds of well-wishers, has been transferred to Caritas Jerusalem and will head to Gaza if and when Israel opens a humanitarian corridor.The car, a converted Mitsubishi, was used by the pope during a 2014 visit to Bethlehem and had since been on display, gathering dust and rust. It has now been repaired and refurbished as a mobile clinic.  “With the vehicle, we will be able to reach children who today have no access to healthcare — children who are injured and malnourished,” said Peter Brune, secretary general of Caritas Sweden.Brune told AFP that Sweden’s Cardinal Anders Arborelius had asked the late pope, who died on April 21 aged 88, that the spare vehicle be put to use providing essential frontline healthcare to Palestinian children.It will be fitted with medical equipment and a fridge for medicines and be assigned a driver and a team of doctors.”This vehicle represents the love, care and closeness shown by His Holiness for the most vulnerable, which he expressed throughout the crisis,” said Anton Asfar, secretary general of Caritas Jerusalem.It was not clear, however, if or when the aid agency’s hoped-for humanitarian corridor would open.Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid political deadlock over how to build on a two-month ceasefire in its war against Hamas, which was sparked by the militants’ October 2023 attack.On Monday, Israel’s security cabinet approved an expansion of military operations that would lead to what an official described as the “conquest” of the Palestinian territory. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday that at least 2,436 people had been killed since Israel resumed its campaign on March 18, bringing the overall death toll from the war to 52,535.Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Crisis-hit Maldives secures $8.8bn Qatar investment

Cash-strapped Maldives has signed a deal with a Dubai-based company to establish an $8.8 billion investment zone aimed at diversifying the tourism hotspot into a “financial freezone”, the government said Monday.Three residential and office towers, a convention centre and hotels will form part of the Maldives International Financial Centre (MIFC), President Mohamed Muizzu’s office said …

Crisis-hit Maldives secures $8.8bn Qatar investment Read More »

Huthis report US strikes after Israel vows revenge for airport attack

Yemen’s Huthi rebels on Monday blamed Washington for around 10 strikes in and around the capital Sanaa after a missile fired by the Iran-backed group struck the area of Israel’s main airport.The Huthi-run Saba news agency said the strikes included two targeting Arbaeen street in the capital as well as one on the airport road, blaming them on “American aggression”.The rebels’ health ministry said 14 people were wounded in the Sawan neighbourhood, according to Saba.The Huthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians.The missile fired from Yemen by the Huthis landed near the main terminal of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, wounding six people.The military confirmed that the attack, which gouged a large crater in the perimeter of the airport, had struck despite “several attempts… to intercept the missile”.In a video published on Telegram, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had in the past “acted against” the Iran-backed rebels and “will act in the future”.”It will not happen in one bang, but there will be many bangs,” he added, without elaborating. Later on X, Netanyahu said Israel would also respond to Iran at “a time and place of our choosing”.Several international airlines suspended flights to Israel following the attack, and hours later the Huthis promised more such strikes and warned airlines to cancel their flights to Israeli airports.A police video showed officers standing on the edge of a deep hole in the ground with a control tower visible behind them. No damage was reported to airport infrastructure.An AFP photographer said the missile hit near the parking lots of Terminal 3, the airport’s largest. – ‘Hit them’ -“You can see the area just behind us: a crater was formed here, several dozen metres wide and several dozen metres deep,” central Israel’s police chief, Yair Hezroni, said in the video.”This is the first time” that a missile has directly struck inside the airport perimeter, an Israeli military spokesperson told AFP.The Huthis claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their forces “carried out a military operation targeting Ben Gurion airport” with a “hypersonic ballistic missile”.In a later statement, the group’s military spokesperson Yayha Saree said they would target Israeli airports, “particularly the one in Lod, called Ben Gurion”, near Tel Aviv. He called on airlines to cancel flights to Israeli airports.Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it had treated at least six people with light to moderate injuries.An AFP journalist inside the airport during the attack said he heard a “loud bang” at around 9:35 am (0635 GMT), adding that the “reverberation was very strong”.”Security staff immediately asked hundreds of passengers to take shelter, some in bunkers,” the AFP journalist said.- ‘Panic’ -One passenger said the attack, which came shortly after air raid sirens sounded across parts of Israel, caused “panic”.”It is crazy to say but since October 7 we are used to this,” said the 50-year-old, who did not want to be named, referring to the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.Flights resumed after being halted briefly, with the aviation authority saying Ben Gurion was now “open and operational”.Soon after a government official said Israel’s security cabinet was to meet on Sunday, army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir confirmed media reports of a planned expansion of the Gaza war.”This week we are issuing tens of thousands of orders to our reservists to intensify and expand our operation in Gaza,” Zamir said in a statement.The army would destroy all Hamas infrastructure, “both on the surface and underground”, he added.The Huthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war.US strikes on the rebels began under former president Joe Biden, but have intensified under his successor Donald Trump.Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid a deadlock over how to proceed with a two-month ceasefire that had largely stopped the war.