Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, has helped arrange medical treatment for Muhammad Aamir Dawood, a three-year-old Afghan boy who is suffering from cancer.
Currently residing at the Emirates Humanitarian City in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed ordered to transfer Muhammad to the US to get the necessary treatment, state news agency WAM reported on Monday.
Under the directives of Sheikh Mohamed, Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court, visited the Afghan child at his residence in the Emirates Humanitarian City.
Sheikh Theyab also met with a number of Afghan families who are temporarily hosted by the Emirates Humanitarian City and talked to them about their stay in the city and the services provided to them.
The families expressed their great happiness and gratitude to the United Arab Emirates for the hospitality extended to them during their stay, WAM reported.
Sheikh Theyab added that the UAE would remain a symbol of help and support in times of trouble and a source of inspiration when it comes to humanitarian work.
Emirates Humanitarian City was established in 2020 and designed to ensure privacy and meet the best standards of security and safety. Its external squares include a number of playgrounds and entertainment facilities for children and adults, in addition to a preventive health center and provisions of medicine, food and other necessities.
The UAE helped tens of thousands people who led Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban regaining control of their country and facilitated the evacuation to countries around the world.
High activity spotted at N. Korea nuclear complex after Kim’s bomb-fuel order: Report
Satellite images show a high level of activity at North Korea’s main nuclear site, a US think tank reported on Saturday after the North Korean leader ordered an increase in production of bomb fuel to expand the country’s nuclear arsenal.
The Washington-based 38 North Korea monitoring project said the activity it had spotted, based on images from March 3 and 17, could indicate that an Experimental Light Water Reactor (ELWR) at the Yongbyon site was nearing completion and transition to operational status.
The report said the images showed that a 5 megawatt reactor at Yongbyon continued to operate and that construction had started on a support building around the ELWR. Further, water discharges had been detected from that reactor’s cooling system. New construction had also started around Yongbyon’s uranium enrichment plant, likely to expand its capabilities.
“These developments seem to reflect Kim Jong Un’s recent directive to increase the country’s fissile material production to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal,” the report added, referring to the North Korean leader.
On Tuesday, North Korea unveiled new, smaller nuclear warheads and vowed to produce more weapons-grade nuclear material to expand its arsenal, while denouncing stepped up military exercises by South Korea and the United States.
Its state media said Kim had ordered the production of weapons-grade materials in a “far-sighted way” to boost the country’s nuclear arsenal “exponentially.”
It is unclear whether North Korea has fully developed miniaturized nuclear warheads needed to fit on smaller weapons it has displayed and analysts say perfecting such warheads would most likely be a key goal if it resumes nuclear testing for the first time since 2017.
South Korea and the United States have warned since early 2022 that North Korea may resume nuclear testing at any time.
In a report last year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimated North Korea had assembled up to 20 nuclear warheads, and probably possessed sufficient fissile material for approximately 45–55 nuclear devices.
UK water companies to face unlimited fines for sewage pollution
Water companies will incur unlimited fines for polluting rivers and the sea under new UK legislation to protect the environment, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Therese Coffrey, the environment secretary, will announce plans next week to remove the £250,000 maximum fine on civil penalties for companies that break the rules. The environment agency is also seeking to strengthen its ability to impose sanctions on water companies without going through the courts.
Fines will be reinvested into a new Water Restoration Fund which will work with local communities and groups to improve water quality and support projects to improve management of waters and restore protected sites. Penalties and fines will be taken from water company profits, not customers.
Last year, 10 water and sewage companies within England released sewage into rivers and the sea on 301,091 occasions, with United Utilities and Yorkshire Water responsible for 40 percent of the spills.
“I want to make sure that regulators have the powers and tools to take tough action against companies that are breaking the rules and to do so more quickly, Therese Coffrey said in a statement.
The government’s ‘Plan for Water’ will also include measures against other forms of pollution, such as storm overflows, agriculture, plastics, road run-off and chemicals and pesticides.
The proposals will be published within a consultation on Tuesday.
Iraq, KRG close to deal to resume northern oil exports
Iraq’s federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are close to striking a deal aimed at resuming northern oil exports, four sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters on Saturday.
Turkey stopped pipeline flows from the Kirkuk fields in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to its port of Ceyhan on March 25, after it lost an arbitration case brought by Baghdad.
In the case, Iraq accused Turkey of violating their 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing the Kurdish government to export oil without Baghdad’s consent between 2014 and 2018.
The halted flows of around 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) only accounted for about 0.5 percent of global oil supply, but the stoppage, which forced oil firms operating in the region to halt output or move production into rapidly-filling storage tanks, still helped boost oil prices last week back to near $80/bbl.
An initial agreement between the two sides states that Iraq’s northern oil exports will be jointly exported by Iraq’s state-owned marketing company SOMO and the KRG’s ministry of natural resources (MNR), according to two of the sources – a senior Iraqi oil official and a KRG official.
Revenues will be deposited in an account managed by the MNR and supervised by Baghdad, the KRG official said.
The preliminary agreement has been sent to Iraq’s prime minister for final approval, according to two of the sources. The KRG source expects the deal to be confirmed by Monday.
The KRG declined to comment. Iraq’s oil ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached outside regular business hours.