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DUBAI: A large fire was reported within the area of Qaem hospital in Iran’s northeastern city of Mashhad, the Telegram channel of Hamshahri newspaper said on Thursday, without giving further details.
اولین ویدیو ی دریافتی از آتش سوزی بیمارستان قائم در
— چرکنویس مدیا(CMO) (@Rfrenss)
SILOPI, Turkiye: A choking heatwave left astonished locals in southeastern Turkiye calling for state help to pay their air conditioning bills after the temperature surged past 50C.
“We cannot cope with the heat,” ice-cream maker Recep Esiyok, 59, told AFP in Silopi, where meteorologists measured 50.5C on Friday — a national record.
“I’ve been living in Silopi for about 30 years. I’ve never seen such heat... I’ve never seen such heat anywhere.”
He is getting through the heatwave thanks to the air conditioner in his shop, but is now worried about paying for the electricity.
“My bill last month was 59,000 lira (1,450 dollars). We are asking for state support on this issue.”
Before Friday’s record, the previous peak in Turkiye had been 49.5C in August 2023.
Scientists agree that climate change caused by humans burning fossil fuels is increasing the likelihood, length and intensity of heatwaves.
“The heat has reached a point where it’s incomparable to previous years,” said Halil Coskun, 52, a local reporter.
The country is still in the grip of the heatwave and since Sunday temperatures overall have surged from six to 12 degrees above seasonal norms, according to the state meteorology directorate.
Turkiye has fought fires in several regions since the start of the summer.
Last week, 10 people perished while fighting a fire in Eskisehir province.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday the country has experienced drier conditions than normal over the past five years as a result of global warming.
“Extreme heat, low humidity, and strong winds are unfortunately increasing the risk of fire,” he said.
He said the state was using drones to monitor and protect forests.
The streets were relatively empty and the atmosphere tense in Silopi, a Kurdish city whose main income is trade with Iraq across the border 10 kilometers (six miles) away.
“When it’s hot, there’s no one outside during the day,” said Esiyok.
Other locals complained at the lack of vegetation to provide relief around the town, which lies at the foot of a mountain.
“Unfortunately, the forests here were burned in the past for security reasons,” said Coskun.
He said the Turkish army cleared them in the search for fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a rebel group that recently disarmed.
Turkiye’s parliament this month also passed a bill that opens certain agricultural lands including olive groves to mining activities, despite widespread opposition.
“We could at least minimize the heat by planting trees, not by felling them,” Coskun said.
Sweating in his kebab shop, another local, Cemil Seher, said that summers in Silopi last not three months, but five.
For Seher, 51, air conditioning is no longer a luxury but a necessity.
“AC is essential here as much as bread and water,” he said.
“When the air conditioners are running, the electricity bills are very high,” he said, demanding authorities offer discounts for businesses.
“I want a discount not only for Silopi but for the entire region from here to Sanliurfa” in the east, he said.
“I am not making a profit because I’ve been working... to pay my electricity bill.”
LONDON: A government minister in the UK has rejected claims that plans to recognize Palestine breach international law.
It came after an influential group of House of Lords peers wrote to the attorney general warning against the move by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who had earlier this week pledged to recognize a Palestinian state in September if Israel fails to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, among other conditions.
The group of 38 peers wrote to Lord Hermer in a letter that said Starmer’s pledge may be unlawful under the 1933 Montevideo Convention.
The treaty mandates certain conditions for statehood, which the peers warned a Palestinian state may not fulfill.
Business Minister Gareth Thomas, however, told Sky News on Thursday that the UK is not signed up to the Montevideo Convention.
“I respect the views of those lawyers, but in the end, recognition of a state is a political judgment, and we’ve been very clear that our judgment is that the Palestinians have an inalienable right to statehood,” he said.
“I don’t think we are in breach of international law. We’re not signed up to the Montevideo Convention. We’re clear what needs to happen,” he added.
“The fact that so many other countries have either already recognized the state of Palestine, or are joining our efforts to recognize the state of Palestine, I think is very significant.”
Among other conditions demanded by Starmer from Israel are the entry of more aid into Gaza, an end to land grabs in the West Bank, and a commitment to a long-term peace process.
The peers’ letter claimed that Palestine “does not meet the international law criteria for recognition of a state, namely, defined territory, a permanent population, an effective government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states.” There is no certainty over Palestine’s borders and no single government, they added.
WASHINGTON: The United States said Thursday it would deny visas to Palestinian Authority officials, accusing the governing body in Israeli-occupied areas of the West Bank of seeking to “internationalize” the situation.
The organization is “taking actions to internationalize its conflict with Israel such as through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ),” the State Department said, also accusing the Palestinian Authority of “continuing to support terrorism.”
HERAT: When Mohammad Hanif heard Qatar was opening jobs to Afghans, he joined thousands of others to put his name down for a shot to make a living in the gas-rich emirate, his own country wracked by unemployment.
The Taliban authorities announced a deal with Gulf state this month to recruit 3,100 workers from Afghanistan, who started applying on Tuesday at centers across the country.
By Wednesday, more than 8,500 people had put their names down from the capital Kabul and surrounding provinces, labor ministry spokesman Samiullah Ibrahimi told AFP, and more than 15,500 people are expected to register nationwide.
The Taliban government says the jobs will help fight steep unemployment and poverty in the country of around 48 million people, facing what the United Nations says is one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
“Our country has many problems, most people are poor and work odd jobs,” said Hanif, who traveled to western Herat from neighboring Badghis to register.
“I have skills in car mechanics and cooking, and I have certificates to prove it,” said the 35-year-old, adding he was grateful to Qatar for employing Afghans.
Competition is steep, however, with centers swarmed by hopeful applicants ready to present the required passports, identification cards and professional certificates to nab roles ranging from bus driver to cleaner, cook, mechanic and electrician.
More than 1,000 people have applied in southern Kandahar for around 375 positions allocated to the region, and in Herat, around 2,000 people lined up on Wednesday to try for one of a few hundred jobs, AFP journalists said.
Qatar, where the Taliban opened an office during the two-decade war with US-led forces, is one of the handful of countries to have strong diplomatic ties with Afghanistan’s rulers after they swept to power in 2021. Only Russia has so far officially recognized the Taliban government.
Discussions are also underway with Ƶ, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Turkiye and Russia to set up similar deals, labor minister Abdul Manan Omari said in a statement on Tuesday.
The process “will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the country’s economic situation and reduce unemployment,” said Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs.
Nearly half of Afghanistan’s population lives in poverty, and the unemployment rate (over 13 percent) affects nearly a quarter of young people aged 15 to 29, according to the World Bank. Those who do have work often support large, extended families on stretched salaries.
High unemployment has been driven by infrastructure hamstrung by 40 years of conflict, drought impacting the crucial agriculture sector and the recent mass removals of Afghans from neighboring countries, said Noorullah Fadwi, head of an association of job search companies.
This year, nearly two million Afghans have returned to their country after being driven out or deported from Iran and Pakistan, where many had lived for decades.
“We are grateful to Qatar and ask other (Arab) countries to hire Afghan workers too, because the situation in Iran and Pakistan is very bad,” said 39-year-old Noor Mohammad, who registered in Herat, hoping for a hotel job.
The Taliban authorities have not yet detailed how the Afghan recruits will be housed or their potential working conditions, while pledging to safeguard their rights.
Qatar, where foreigners make up nearly 90 percent of the three million-strong population, has faced heavy criticism over the treatment of migrant laborers, particularly during construction leading up to hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Qatar has since introduced major reforms to improve workers’ safety and punish employers who violate the rules.
It has dismantled its “kafala” labor system, which gave employers powerful rights over whether workers could leave their jobs or even the country.
Mohammad Qasim, 37, said he would not go to Qatar if he could find a job in Afghanistan, but he earned a university degree in education four years ago and has been unemployed ever since.
“I tried very hard to find work but there is nothing,” he told AFP, saying he applied to be a cleaner at a center in Kandahar.
At least in Qatar, he said, “I will earn something.”
