TUNIS: Tunisia’s president said late on Thursday he would not hold elections within three months after he dissolved parliament this week, the latest step in a march to one-man rule after brushing aside most of the democratic constitution. Parties from across Tunisia’s political spectrum and the powerful labor union have cited the constitution to demand that the president hold quick elections after announcing on Wednesday that he was dissolving parliament. “I don’t know how they get this interpretation,” Kais Saied said in the video of a meeting with Prime Minister Najla Bouden that was posted at midnight on the presidency’s Facebook page. Later on Thursday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington was deeply concerned at Saied’s dissolution of parliament and reports that he would prosecute lawmakers who joined a session in defiance of the president on Wednesday. “A swift return to constitutional government, including an elected parliament, is critical to democratic governance,” Price said in an online video. The United States has been a major donor to Tunisia since its 2011 revolution that introduced democracy and Saied’s government is seeking international funding to avert a rapidly looming crisis in public finances. Tunisia’s political crisis escalated sharply on Wednesday when more than half the members of the parliament, which Saied suspended in July in a move his foes call a coup, held an online session to revoke his decrees. The UGTT labor union, the most powerful political body in the country with more than a million members, had previously urged Saied to dissolve parliament and quickly call new elections. The Islamist Ennahda, which was the biggest party in parliament and is the only one with a strong national organization, has rejected Saied’s dissolution of the chamber but said he should still hold elections within three months. The Free Constitutional Party, whose leader, Abir Moussi, is a supporter of the late autocratic president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and a bitter foe of Ennahda, applauded Saied’s move but also called for quick elections. Moussi, whose party is ahead in opinion polls, said that according to the constitution Saied should call elections within three months. Saied has previously said he will form a committee to rewrite the constitution, put it to a referendum in July and then hold parliamentary elections in December. Ennahda head Rached Ghannouchi told Reuters on Thursday the party would boycott any referendum he called to restructure the political system unilaterally.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Filling & Packing Materials MFG. Co., FIPCO, has turned into a profitable company after reporting a net profit of SR400,000 ($106,662) in the first quarter of 2022.
This first-quarter net profit improved from a loss of SR1.5 million during the same quarter of the previous year following growth in gross profit of 4.8 percent, according to a bourse filing.
Results were also attributed to lower general and administrative expenses, a reduction in credit loss provisions, and higher gains on the company investments.
Incorporated in 1991, FIPCO is one of the largest producers of Woven Polypropylene packaging products for industrial and agricultural uses in the Middle East.
KYIV, Ukraine: Russian forces attacked along a broad front in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday as part of a full-scale ground offensive to take control of the country’s eastern industrial heartland in what Ukrainian officials called a “new phase of the war.” Ukraine’s General Staff said early Tuesday that Russian forces are focusing their efforts on taking full control of the Donbas region. “The occupiers made an attempt to break through our defenses along nearly the entire frontline,” the General Staff said in a statement. The stepped-up assaults began Monday along a front of more than 300 miles (480 kilometers), focused on the Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, with the Russian forces trying to advance in several sections, including from neighboring Kharkiv. In southern Donetsk, the General Staff said the Russian military has continued to blockade and shell the strategic port city of Mariupol and fire missiles at other cities. On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address that a “significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive.” Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years in the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas and have declared two independent republics that have been recognized by Russia. Russia has declared the capture of the Donbas to be its main goal in the war since its attempt to seize the capital, Kyiv, failed. “No matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight,” Zelensky vowed. “We will defend ourselves.” Before the offensive got underway, Russia bombarded the western city of Lviv and other targets in what appeared to be an intensified bid to grind down Ukraine’s defenses. On Monday morning, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security council, told Ukrainian media that the defensive line had not been broken. “Fortunately, our military is holding out,” Danilov said. “They passed through only two cities. This is Kreminna and another small town.” There were street battles in Kreminna, and Russian forces took control of the city, according to Luhansk regional military administrator Serhiy Haidai. He told Ukrainian TV that heavy artillery fire set seven residential buildings on fire and targeted a sports complex where the nation’s Olympic team trains. Haidai said that before advancing, Russian forces “just started leveling everything to the ground.” He said his forces retreated to regroup and keep fighting. In Mariupol, Denys Prokopenko, commander of the Azov Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard, said in a video message that Russia had begun dropping bunker-buster bombs on the Azovstal steel plant where the regiment was holding out. The sprawling plant contains a warren of tunnels where both fighters and civilians are sheltering. It is believed to be the last major pocket of resistance in the shattered city. Russia has Mariupol surrounded and has been fighting a bloody battle to seize it. If Russia takes Mariupol, it would free up troops for use elsewhere in the Donbas, deprive Ukraine of a vital port, and complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, seized from Ukraine from 2014. In western Ukraine near the Polish border, at least seven people were reported killed Monday in missile strikes. Lviv has been a haven for civilians fleeing the fighting elsewhere. And to the Kremlin’s increasing anger, the city has also become a major gateway for NATO-supplied weapons. The attack hit three military infrastructure facilities and an auto shop, according to the region’s governor, Maksym Kozytskyy. A hotel sheltering Ukrainians who had fled the fighting in other parts of the country was also badly damaged, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said. “The nightmare of war has caught up with us even in Lviv,” said Lyudmila Turchak, who fled with two children from Kharkiv in the east. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was hit by shelling that killed at least three people, according to Associated Press journalists on the scene. One of the dead was a woman who appeared to be going out to collect water in the rain. She was found with a water canister and an umbrella by her side. Moscow said its missiles struck military targets in eastern and central Ukraine including ammunition depots, command headquarters, and groups of troops and vehicles. It reported that its artillery hit hundreds of Ukrainian targets, and that warplanes conducted 108 strikes on troops and military equipment. The claims could not be independently verified. Gen. Richard Dannatt, a former head of the British Army, told Sky News that Russia was waging a “softening-up” campaign ahead of the Donbas offensive. A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the Pentagon’s assessments of the war, said there are now 76 Russian combat units, known as battalion tactical groups, in eastern and southern Ukraine, up from 65 last week. That could translate to around 50,000 to 60,000 troops, based on what the Pentagon said at the start of the war was the typical unit strength of 700 to 800 soldiers.
RIYADH: Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency internationally, traded higher on Tuesday, up 4.53 percent to $40,687 as of 09.00 a.m. Riyadh time.
Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, was priced at $3,038, down 4.24 percent, according to data from Coindesk.
Gaming platforms FlickPlay, The Sandbox take steps toward metaverse
Gaming companies FlickPlay and The Sandbox announced a new partnership on Monday that will allow players to use a blockchain asset on both platforms, representing a key step in the building of the metaverse. The idea of the metaverse involves people moving freely between virtual worlds on different platforms and taking their virtual clothing and other belongings with them, a concept called interoperability. Such an idea is some years away and will require collaboration between tech companies and metaverse developers.
FlickPlay is an app where players can unlock digital collectibles by using an interactive map of their actual surroundings, and then use their phone’s camera to overlay the collectibles onto the real world and interact with the objects to make videos and other content.
On Monday, the app announced its first collection of NFTs called Flicky, which will feature designs of an anthropomorphic chameleon wearing different clothes.
A portion of people who acquire a Flicky will be able to use the NFT as their avatar on The Sandbox, a web and mobile game where players can build a three-dimensional virtual world.
India says cryptos behind money laundering
Meanwhile, Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has warned that the biggest risk of cryptocurrency could be money laundering and its use for financing terror.
“I think the biggest risk for all countries across the board will be the money laundering aspect and also the aspect of currency being used for financing terror,” said Sitharaman at a seminar during the ongoing spring meet of the International Monetary Fund.
She also added that regulation using technology is the only solution to address the threats posed by cryptocurrencies in matters of national security.
(With inputs from Reuters)
China’s yuan weakened on Tuesday as expectations of steep rate rises by the US Federal Reserve lifted the dollar, but moderating expectations for aggressive loosening by China’s central bank kept losses in check. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of its peers, touched new two-year highs on Tuesday, and was last at 100.935, as benchmark US Treasury yields hovered near their highest since late 2018. Despite the dollar’s strength, the People’s Bank of China set the yuan’s daily midpoint rate slightly firmer at 6.372 per dollar before the market opened, from 6.3763 on Monday.
Spot yuan opened at 6.3700 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.3719 at midday, 53 pips weaker than Monday’s late close.
Shanghai stocks rise, Bluechip falls
China’s blue chips fell on Tuesday, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained after the authorities vowed to support the economy hit by the country’s worst domestic COVID-19 outbreak in two years. The CSI300 index fell 0.4 percent to 4,150.28 by the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai index gained 0.1 percent to 3,199.30. The Hang Seng index dropped 1.9 percent to 21,111.61.
The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 2.4 percent to 7,208.93.
China urges policies to support catering, retail sectors
China’s state planner called on Tuesday for the implementation of policies to support the country’s catering and retail sectors. Spending on new energy vehicles should also be supported, said Meng Wei, spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission. Data on Monday showed March retail sales contracted the most on an annual basis since April 2020 due to widespread COVID-19 curbs across the country.
Ant Group set for majority stake of payments platform 2C2P
Ant Group, the fintech unit of China’s Alibaba Group, is set to become the majority investor in Singapore-based payments platform 2C2P as part of a partnership, the companies said on Monday. The deal will lead to the integration of Ant’s Alipay+ payment service with 2C2P’s platform used by merchants in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. Ant has over the years deepened its presence in Southeast Asia by investing in and partnering with fintechs, and recently appointed a general manager for the region to ramp up growth outside of China. “Through this complementary partnership with Ant Group, 2C2P will be connected to a much larger merchant base and be well-positioned to advance our international expansion strategy,” Aung Kyaw Moe, founder and chief executive officer of 2C2P, said in a statement.
Shanghai regulator summons e-commerce platforms
Shanghai’s market regulator said on Monday it had summoned 12 e-commerce platforms including Meituan and eleme.me over topics including price gouging during the epidemic. Platforms were told to improve their management of delivery riders, and stop behaviors such as improper price increases by riders, the regulator said on its WeChat account.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Parents in Oman have called for tougher measures against school bus drivers after a string of road crashes led to the deaths of multiple students and teachers in the last 22 months, national daily Times of Oman reported.
The latest incident on Thursday saw three children killed when the driver of the bus they were in lost control and hit a truck coming from the opposite direction in Saham in the country’s Batinah region.
One parent told Times of Oman that there were drivers with a lack of experience.
“There should be a minimum experience of at least five years for them to be eligible to be a school bus driver,” Oman-based parent Shamsa Al-Hosni, told Times of Oman.
“Most of these drivers are in their early 20s and they don’t have much experience,” Al-Hosni added.
The number of road collisions has declined by 33 percent, in 2021 compared to 2020, as Oman’s police continue to campaign for safer driving conditions, but parents say more still needs to be done, the report added.
But on April 4, three teachers died when a school bus veered off the road in Al Wusta.
Now parents have urged the Royal Oman Police (ROP) to introduce a minimum age requirement for school drivers.
They also called on schools to install cameras in buses to monitor the drivers’ behavior, according to the newspaper.
“We need cameras in the bus to monitor drivers,” Salim Al-Jashmi was quoted as saying.
“My son says their driver sometimes is on his mobile phone while he is driving the bus. If there are cameras on board, the drivers will be caught by providing evidence,” Al-Jashmi added.