Month: November 2016

In a Saudi economy where restraint is the buzzword, this week’s small-scale Riyadh Motor Show is a sign of the times. “There was not much interest from different companies to participate” in the intervening years, said Alaa Aboumerhi, general manager of marketing for Hyundai Wallan, Saudi distributors for the South Korean brand. Hyundai sedans are on display alongside rivals including Japan’s Toyota, China’s Chery and US brands Chevrolet and GMC at the four-day event which began on Tuesday night.

By Emma Batha LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – European countries should offer a “welcome package” to refugees and migrants rather than build fences to keep them out, according to the head of a global medical charity who described the current response as “totally shameful”. Around 1.3 million refugees and migrants, mainly from the Middle East and Asia, arrived in Europe last year, triggering bitter disputes between countries over how to handle the influx and prompting some to erect barriers along their borders. Joanne Liu, president of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), said a “callous and hypocritical” deal between the European Union and Turkey to stem the flow had set a dangerous precedent.

Trust Women, an annual women’s right and trafficking conference organized by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, will discuss solutions for tackling the crisis on Wednesday. – More than 173,000 have arrived in Greece and more than 167,000 in Italy.

Norway’s public prosecutor ordered on Wednesday the release of an Iraqi Kurdish imam after Italian authorities withdrew a year-old extradition request linked to suspicions he had plotted attacks. Mullah Krekar, the one-time leader of the Ansar al-Islam militant group, was arrested in Norway in November 2015 as part of a series of arrests across Europe.

By Maayan Lubell AMONA, West Bank (Reuters) – On a hilltop in the occupied West Bank, Israeli teenagers are hammering stakes into the earth and erecting tent frames, preparing the ground for a confrontation with Israeli security forces. The devoutly religious young men see themselves as a last line of defence for Amona, a collection of pre-fabricated homes perched in the highlands of the West Bank. It is considered an illegal “outpost” under Israeli law and the Supreme Court has ruled it must be demolished by Dec. 25.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The capital of Muslim-majority Indonesia is on edge ahead of what is expected to be a second massive protest by conservative Muslims against its Christian governor and no group more so than its Chinese minority.