AFP Asia Business

The Israeli army raided the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, leaving 14 people wounded as troops fanned out across the city centre, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.Tensions have remained high in the occupied West Bank since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel which sparked the Gaza war, with repeated raids by the Israeli army on Palestinian population centres, particularly in the north. The Red Crescent said at least 14 people were wounded in the latest raid. Seven were hit by live rounds, while the rest were injured by rubber bullets or tear-gas inhalation. It added that Israeli forces were “preventing our teams from reaching the injured in a besieged area”.An AFP journalist saw soldiers on the ground around Al-Manara Square in the city centre and on balconies overlooking it. The Israeli army confirmed it had launched an operation in the area but did not provide more details.Although the army has carried out frequent operations in the cities and refugee camps of the northern West Bank, it has done so relatively rarely in Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority.Palestinians were seen throwing stones at troops as they began the operation, which appeared to target currency exchange offices in particular.Witnesses told AFP that the army withdrew in early afternoon.Violence in the West Bank has intensified since the October 2023 attack. At least 972 Palestinians  — including both militants and civilians — have been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian Authority figures. In the same period, at least 36 Israelis, both civilians and soldiers, have been killed in attacks or military operations in the territory, according to Israeli figures.Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to about three million Palestinians and 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.vid-lam-crb-ds/kir

When Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodriguez announced their engagement this month, two things stood out: the outsized diamond ring, and their unmarried cohabitation in conservative Saudi Arabia.The celebrity couple and their blended brood of five children have been living in the birthplace of Islam for more than two years, untroubled by laws against extra-marital relationships.Their situation highlights the fact that while authorities now turn a blind eye for foreigners, such privileges remain off-limits for Saudis, who must still get married before living together.Foreign couples, including Muslims, can now move in together or stay at hotels without being married, an arrangement that has only been tolerated in recent times.It’s “part of a broader social transformation in Saudi Arabia”, said Sebastian Sons of the German think tank CARPO.”While conservative rules and regulations remain in place, they are less dominant than in previous years. As a result, these strict rules are now applied with greater flexibility and pragmatism,” he told AFP.In major cities, after decades of gender separation, young Saudis can now mingle freely in public spaces, another sign of the country’s loosening-up. However, living together before marriage remains a rarity, reserved mainly for the well-heeled who quietly share accommodation in expensive residential compounds.- ‘Children of sin’ – Ronaldo, 40, and model Rodriguez, 31, are an incongruous feature of Saudi life, continually posting about their luxurious lifestyle, often with sultry poses in revealing clothing.They have been generally embraced by the youthful Saudi population, two-thirds of it under 35, who reacted to their engagement with well-wishes, memes and jokes.However, buried among the good-humoured responses — and comments about the multimillion-dollar ring — were pockets of disapproval.”How could the land of the two holy mosques accept such impurity for two years?” posted Raad Mohammed on X, referring to Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiest sites.”Their children are children of sin,” wrote another social media user called Asma.It is hard to imagine Ronaldo and Rodriguez in the Saudi Arabia of just a few years ago, when religious police would harangue women for violating the strict dress code, and cinemas and live music were banned.Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler, much has changed, as he attempts to open up the country and end its economic reliance on oil.Many women now forgo veils and head-coverings in urban centres, non-Muslim tourists are allowed, and since 2018, women can legally drive.Saudi petrodollars have attracted a steady stream of international stars and sports events, and lavish resorts and entertainment districts have sprung up.”In the past we were strictly checking the marital status” of guests, said a Riyadh-based hotel reservations manager who gave his name as Al Waleed. “Now we don’t care about who stays with whom.”- ‘Role model’ -Ronaldo, signed by Al Nassr for a hefty fee in early 2023, has been central to this strategy. Since his arrival to enormous fanfare, a stream of top players have joined him in the Saudi Pro League, and Saudi has won a giant prize: hosting the 2034 World Cup.”Ronaldo has gained significant prominence within the Saudi football community, where he is seen as both a role model and an ideal ambassador for the government’s ambitious goal of placing Saudi Arabia firmly on the global football map,” said Sons.Ronaldo and Rodriguez, soon to be respectably married, will remain a fixture in Riyadh for some time.In June, after much speculation, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner extended his contract with Al-Nassr to 2027.

Shares in a South Korean penmaker surged on Tuesday, an unexpected outcome from the first summit between US President Donald Trump and his counterpart Lee Jae Myung in Washington.Lee signed a guest book before entering the Oval Office for talks with Trump and the handcrafted wooden fountain pen he used caught the US leader’s eye.”Is …

Shares surge after US and S. Korean leaders become Oval Office pen pals Read More »

Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador on Tuesday, accusing the country of being behind antisemitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.It marks the first time Australia has expelled an ambassador since World War II.Intelligence services reached the “deeply disturbing conclusion” that Iran directed at least two antisemitic attacks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.Tehran was behind the torching of a kosher cafe in Sydney’s Bondi suburb in October 2024, the prime minister told a news conference.It also directed a major arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024, he said, citing the intelligence findings.No injuries were reported in the two attacks.”These were extraordinary and dangerous acts of aggression orchestrated by a foreign nation on Australian soil,” Albanese said.”They were attempts to undermine social cohesion and sow discord in our community.”Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman denied the accusations and vowed “reciprocal reaction” to any unjustified diplomatic measures by Australia.Australia declared Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi “persona non grata” and ordered him and three other officials to leave the country within seven days.- ‘Web of proxies’ -Australia also withdrew its own ambassador to Iran and suspended operations at its embassy in Tehran, which opened in 1968.The Australian diplomats were all “safe in a third country”, the prime minister said.  Australia will also legislate to list Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation, Albanese said.Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it was the first time in the post-war period that Australia had expelled an ambassador.Canberra will maintain diplomatic lines with Iran to advance the interests of Australians, Wong said.Though Australians have been advised not to travel through Iran since 2020, Wong said Canberra’s ability to provide consular assistance was now “extremely limited”.”I do know that many Australians have family connections in Iran, but I urge any Australian who might be considering travelling to Iran, please do not do so,” she said.”Our message is, if you are an Australian in Iran, leave now if it is safe to do so.”Australian spy chief Michael Burgess said a “painstaking” intelligence service investigation had uncovered links between the antisemitic attacks and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.The probe found that the Guard directed at least two and “likely” more attacks on Jewish interests in Australia, said Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.- ‘Fanned the flames’ -The Revolutionary Guard, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement in the attacks, he said.Iran’s embassy in Australia and its diplomats were not involved, however, the spy chief said.The Australian intelligence service was still investigating possible Iranian involvement in a number of other attacks, Burgess said.The Jewish community may find some solace in the investigation breakthrough, said Daniel Aghion, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.”Yet there will be great anxiety that we have been targeted in such a callous and calculated way, by a ruthless and violent foreign force, because of who we are,” he said.Last year’s fire at the cafe in Bondi gutted the outlet, although police initially said there was nothing to suggest it was a targeted attack.The blaze at the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne was one of the most destructive in a string of antisemitic incidents following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.The fire destroyed much of the synagogue, shocked Australians and was tagged by police as a “likely terrorist incident”.- ‘Important move’ -Any fallout from Australia’s actions against Iran was likely to be constrained by the two countries’ limited ties, said Australian National University counter terrorism expert Levi West.”We don’t have any defence arrangements like we do with other Middle East countries or intelligence relationships,” he told AFP.Israel’s embassy in Australia welcomed the government’s decision to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.”This is a step we have long advocated for,” it said in a statement posted on social media.