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US envoy Tom Barrack on Monday called on Israel to honour commitments under a ceasefire that ended its war with Hezbollah, after the Lebanese government launched a process to disarm the militant group.Under the November truce, which ended more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group was to withdraw its fighters from near the Israeli border and weapons were to come under the control of the Lebanese state.Israel was to withdraw its troops from the country but has kept them at five border points it deems strategic and has continued to strike Lebanon, threatening to do so until Hezbollah has been disarmed.”There’s always a step-by-step approach but I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They’ve taken the first step. Now what we need is Israel to comply,” Barrack said following a meeting in Beirut with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.”We’re all moving in the right direction,” he said after meeting parliament speaker Nabih Berri.Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said Israel’s commitment to the ceasefire and its troop withdrawal was “the gateway to stability in Lebanon”, a statement said.- ‘Progress’ -Asked by reporters whether he expected to see Israel fully withdraw from Lebanese territory and stop its violations, Barrack said that “that’s exactly the next step” needed.”We need participation on the part of Israel, and we need an economic plan for prosperity, restoration and renovation,” the US diplomat added, with Lebanon weighed down by an economic crisis.Barrack said Washington was “in the process of now discussing with Israel what their position is”, adding that “in the next few weeks you’re going to see progress on all sides.””It means a better life for the people… and at least the beginning of a roadway to a different kind of dialogue” in the region, he said.The visit comes after Lebanon’s cabinet tasked the army with developing a plan to disarm Hezbollah by year end — an unprecedented step since civil war factions gave up their weapons decades ago.The cabinet has also tackled a US proposal that includes a timetable for Hezbollah’s disarmament, with Washington pressing Lebanon to take action.The cabinet endorsed the introduction of the US text, which lists 11 objectives including to “ensure the sustainability” of the ceasefire, and to phase out “the armed presence of all non-state actors, including Hezbollah” across all Lebanese territory.It also provides for demarcating Lebanon’s land borders with Israel and neighbouring Syria, and a process involving the international community to support reconstruction.- ‘Lebanese process’ -Aoun told Barrack that what was needed was for “other parties to adhere to the contents” of the joint declaration, “more support for the Lebanese army”, and expedited steps towards reconstruction, the presidency said.Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Washington needed to “fulfil its responsibility in pressuring Israel halt hostilities”, withdraw troops and release Lebanese prisoners it holds.Hezbollah, the only faction that kept its weapons after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, emerged badly weakened from last year’s war with Israel.On Friday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem vowed to fight plans to disarm, saying that “the resistance will not surrender its weapons while… occupation persists”.On Sunday, Aoun told the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya channel authorities would do “everything possible… to spare Lebanon any internal or external shock”. If Lebanon rejected the US plan, “then Israel will intensify its attacks, Lebanon will be economically isolated, and none of us will be able to respond to the aggression”, he said.Barrack on Monday stressed that “dealing with Hezbollah, as we’ve always said, is a Lebanese process”.

Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports slipped 4.6 percent in July from a year earlier, government data showed Monday, as shipments to the United States plunged by more than 40 percent.Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is heavily reliant on international trade and is vulnerable to any global slowdown induced by the tariffs — even if Singapore only faces …

Singapore key exports slip in July as US shipments tumble 42.7 pct Read More »

In Egypt’s Wadi al-Gemal, where swimmers share a glistening bay with sea turtles, a shadowy tourism deal is threatening one of the Red Sea’s last wild shores.Off Ras Hankorab, the endangered green turtles weave between coral gardens that marine biologists call among the most resilient to climate change in the world.By night in nesting season, they crawl ashore under the Milky Way’s glow, undisturbed by artificial lights.So when excavators rolled onto the sand in March, reserve staff and conservationists sounded the alarm.Thousands signed a petition to “Save Hankorab” after discovering a contract between an unnamed government entity and an investment company to build a resort.The environment ministry — which has jurisdiction over the park — protested, construction was halted and the machinery quietly removed.But months later, parliamentary requests for details have gone unanswered, and insiders say the plans remain alive.”Only certain kinds of tourism development work for a beach like this,” said Mahmoud Hanafy, a marine biology professor and scientific adviser to the Red Sea governorate.”Noise, lights, heavy human activity — they could destroy the ecosystem.”Hankorab sits inside Wadi al-Gemal National Park, declared a protected area in 2003.- Coastal expansion -The UN Development Programme (UNDP) describes it as home to “some of the last undisturbed natural beaches on the Southern Red Sea coast” — an area now caught between environmental protection and Egypt’s urgent push for investment.Egypt, mired in its worst economic crisis in decades, is betting big on its 3,000 kilometres of coastline as a revenue source.A $35-billion deal with the United Arab Emirates to develop Ras al-Hekma on the Mediterranean set the tone, and similar proposals for the Red Sea have followed.In June, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi allocated 174,400 square kilometres (67,300 square miles)of Red Sea land to the finance ministry to help cut public debt.The Red Sea — where tourism is the main employer — is key to Cairo’s plan to attract 30 million visitors by 2028, double today’s numbers.Yet the UNDP warned as early as 2019 that Egyptian tourism growth had “largely been at the expense of the environment”.Since then, luxury resorts and gated compounds have spread along hundreds of kilometres, displacing communities and damaging fragile habitats.”The goal is to make as much money as possible from developing these reserves, which means destroying them,” said environmental lawyer Ahmed al-Seidi.”It also violates the legal obligations of the nature reserves law.”- Legal limbo -At Hankorab, Hanafy says the core problem is legal.”The company signed a contract with a government entity other than the one managing the reserve,” he said.If true, Seidi says, the deal is “null and void”.When construction was reported in March, MP Maha Abdel Nasser sought answers from the environment ministry and the prime minister -— but got none.At a subsequent meeting, officials could not identify the company behind the project, and no environmental impact report was produced.Construction is still halted, “which is reassuring, at least for now”, Abdel Nasser said. “But there are no guarantees about the future.”For now, the most visible change is a newly built gate marked “Ras Hankorab” in Latin letters.Entry now costs 300 Egyptian pounds ($6) — five times more than before — with tickets that do not name the issuing authority.An employee who started in March recalls that before the project there were “only a few umbrellas and unusable bathrooms”.Today, there are new toilets, towels and sun loungers, with a cafe and restaurant promised soon.The legal and environmental uncertainty remains, leaving Hankorab’s future — and the management of one of Egypt’s last undisturbed Red Sea beaches — unresolved.