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Islamabad
17 June 2017
(APP)

Chief Minister of largest province PUNJAB and younger brother of Pakistan Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday that he responded to all the questions posed by joint investigation team (JIT), as the Sharif family was undergoing the accountability process for fifth time.

“I appeared before the JIT constituted by the Supreme Court to probe the Panama Papers issue and got recorded my statement,” he said while talking to media persons after appearing before the JIT.

He said accountability was not anything naive for the Sharif family as it had already gone through the process four times in 1972, 1988, 1993 and 1999 during Zulfikar Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Musharraf regimes respectively.

He said the prime minister did make history by appearing before the JIT and a new chapter was added to the country’s 70-year history that a sitting prime minister and chief minister of any province appeared before the JIT, recorded their statements and upheld the rule of law.

It showed that constitutional institutions were given full and due respect by democratic regimes and not by dictators, he added.

Shehbaz Sharif said neither he made any excuse of backache nor got hospitalized to avoid the JIT investigation.

He said it was the fifth time when the Sharif family was facing accountability. Ironically it was not blamed
for corruption or misappropriation of public funds, but was being made accountable for its personal businesses, he added.

He said the projects of billions of dollars, including Metro Train, Orange Line Train, construction of roads and other infrastructure and energy projects, were executed but not even a single corruption case was reported.

He said the government also ensured saving of Rs 200 billion from the Orange Line and power plants projects.

He said it seemed that the accountability was aimed at damaging the personal businesses of the Sharif family, which, however, was always ready for accountability.

He said Mian Sharif was arrested in 1993 and Jonathan Ship remained struck at the Karachi port same year for not off-loading shipments.

Shehbaz Sharif said victimization was not new for the family as it was January 2, 1972 when the Ittefaq Foundry was nationalized that had rendered about 10,000 workers jobless.

He recalled that seven brothers of the same family had started journey back in 1930s and succeeded in setting up the biggest iron factory by 1960s, whose products were also used for the country’s defence during wars of 1965 and 1971.

He said they had paid back bank loans of Rs 5.75 billion with interest instead of getting them written off.

Enumerating corruption scandals of the previous government, he said that NICL, Rental power projects, Rs 30 billion EOBI scam and Rs 50 billion loss due to non-functioning of the Nandipur Power Plant were a few that inflicted losses of billions to the national exchequer.

In addition, he said, the cost of Neelum-Jhelum hydro-power project had increased manifold due to delay in work.

Earlier, talking to reporters, Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said nothing could be proved against Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif during the last 11 years.

The minister said Nawaz Sharif did face tough accountability during the Musharraf’s regime, but nothing was
proved.

He said by appearing before the JIT, both the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister demonstrated that no one was above law and everybody was equal.

He said even Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan, who had been championing about the supremacy and sanctity of institutions, did not know the real meaning of the words.

Doha, Qatar
17 June 2017

Qatargas, the World’s Premier Liquefied Natural Gas Company, today announced the signing of a new Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Shell. Under the terms of the agreement, Qatargas will deliver up to 1.1 million tonnes of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) per annum to Shell for five years.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Petroleum, and Chairman of the Qatargas Board of Directors, said “We are pleased with the conclusion of this agreement, which further strengthens our relationship with Shell - one of the largest energy traders in the world.”

Al-Kaabi said “Qatargas continues to win new business in an evolving market, and this SPA demonstrates Qatargas’ ability and flexibility to capture new opportunities.”

Commenting on the new SPA, Khalid Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Chief Executive Officer, Qatargas, said “Qatargas is delighted to conclude this new SPA with a valued partner and we look forward to working even closer with Shell in the years ahead. This deal provides Qatargas with access to Shell’s gas sales portfolio in the United Kingdom and continental Europe, as well as the flexibility to manage LNG deliveries to our global client portfolio.”

Maarten Wetselaar, Director of Integrated Gas at Shell said “We are pleased to have signed this agreement, strengthening our relationship with Qatargas. Agreements like this support our ability to provide reliable, flexible LNG supply to our customers. We strongly believe natural gas has a vital role to play in providing secure and cleaner energy for decades to come.”

Commencing in January 2019, the SPA provides for the supply of LNG from Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited (4) (“Qatargas 4”), a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum (70%) and Shell (30%). It is expected that the LNG will be delivered to either the Dragon LNG Terminal in the United Kingdom or the Gate LNG Terminal in the Netherlands.

Doha
17 June 2017
(QNA)

The Qatar Charity (QC) has revealed that the number of cooperation and partnership agreements it has signed with United Nations organizations, agencies, humanitarian organizations and international and regional donors reached 93 agreements , with cooperation amounting to more than US $ 126.3 million.

A report issued by the QC said that these figures reveal its keenness on partnership and cooperation and show the scale of programs and projects implemented across the world through partnerships with United Nations agencies and other international organizations.

The reported said this cooperation is concentrated on the main bodies, the most important of which are 8 of the United Nations agencies and organizations with 70 agreements at a total value of $28.2 million , the Islamic Development Bank with $ 82.8 million and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) with $7.38 million .

The report also showed QC cooperation with other international organizations, such as the International Medical Corps, at a total value of $ 2.74 million for the health sector in Syria, Central Africa, Sierra Leone and Somalia in 2014-2015 and with the British Orbis organization in the field of Fighting Blindness in Bangladesh 2015.

More than half a million dollars in cooperation with the US Office for the Coordination of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID) in Pakistan's Water, Sanitation and Economic Empowerment Project 2010 and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2013 and Care International Care In the area of livelihoods in Sudan and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) of $ 4 million in 2009 as well as an agreement focused on cooperation in livelihoods and the Kanoute Foundation through a memorandum of understanding in the field of health sector in 2016.

The report also referred to the cooperation with the UAE Red Crescent through a memorandum of understanding for the relief of Iraq in 2009 and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) through the MoH and Mosaic UK, where an agreement was signed in the field of social welfare.

The cooperation between Qatar Charity and the Islamic Development Bank included countries such as Syria in the field of education for displaced children and refugees and the provision of educational curricula for them and Palestine, especially the reconstruction efforts of the Gaza Strip in the areas of health, education, infrastructure and social housing for poor families.

In 2014 and 2015, Qatar Charity cooperated with ISESCO, covering several areas such as education, culture and economic empowerment in a number of African countries.

The report said that memoranda and agreements of cooperation with UN agencies and organizations included the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Program (WFP), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) , and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),.

Regarding the cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Qatar Charity, it amounted to $ 5.49 million from 2000 to 2017. It included water and sanitation agreements in Kosovo, relief, water and sanitation in Pakistan, relief to Yemen, relief to Myanmar, repatriation of displaced Somalis, Malaysia relief and Iraq relief .

The total value of Qatar Charity agreements with the World Food Program reached $ 4.83 million during the period from 2007 to 2015, covering areas of global logistics cooperation, provision of food for Sudan, provision of food for Palestine, the Gaza Strip, provision of food to Pakistan (two agreements) and mobilization of resources at the global level, the reported said.

QC cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) focused on the relief of Lebanon in 2007 which at a cost of $ 0.3 million as well as the signing of a global cooperation agreement in 2016.

QC cooperation with FAO amounted to $ 7.8 million from 2009 to 2017, and included the agriculture sector in Somalia, Pakistan and food security in Niger.

The cooperation between Qatar Charity (QC) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reached more than $ 5.2 million between 2009 and 2016 in areas of social welfare in Somalia, water and sanitation in Pakistan (more than one agreement), according to the report.

Qatar Charity (QC) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) signed an international cooperation agreement on exchange of expertize in 2009. QC also collaborated with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on economic empowerment in Palestine and Indonesia from 2009 to 2012 and livelihoods in Sudan in 2017 with a total value of $ 2.35 million.

QC cooperation with the United Nations agencies included the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), with two agreements for the health sector signed in 2013 at the level of the Gaza Strip worth $ 2 million.

Qatar Charity operates in 48 countries across the world and has 26 field and regional offices outside Qatar.

Antalya, Turkey
17 June 2017
(QNA)

Turkish exports of fresh fruits and vegetables to the State of Qatar have increased significantly in recent times, according to a statement issued by the West Mediterranean Exporters Association on Saturday.

Turkey's exports of fruits and vegetables to Qatar in particular increased significantly, the Association's Chairman of the Board, Mustafa Satici, said, pointing out that the value of Turkish exports to Qatar amounted to USD 379,861,000 during that period registering an increase of 724% in the period from May 1 to June 15, Compared to the same period last year.

The value of tomatoes exported to Qatar during the same period amounted to USD 246,070,000.

CNBC News
15 June 2017

President Donald Trump will unveil a new Cuba policy on Friday that will both seek to empower the Cuban people and severely limit travel to the communist nation, according to senior White House officials.

Officials offered few insights about policy specifics, saying: "This is really the president's policy to announce."

While Americans will still be able to go to Cuba through one of the authorized types of travel, one common method of visiting the island will be prohibited.

Tourism is technically banned under the embargo, but under the Obama administration, relaxed regulations allowed Americans to visit Cuba under people-to-people travel. The new policy will restrict this kind of travel for individuals. Americans pursuing this type of travel would have to go in groups, the official said.

While the policy goes into effect when the president announces it on Friday, officials said that nothing will be implemented until new regulations are in place. People with imminent plans to travel to Cuba may continue to do so under existing law until then.

The policy will direct related departments to start working on these rules within 30 days, but one official said, however, that once the legislating process begins, the process will "take as long as it takes."

Meanwhile, there will be no changes to "wet foot, dry foot" policy, which allows Cubans who arrive in the U.S. without visas to stay, an official said. The official said that there also won't be any changes to regulations on what Americans can bring back from Cuba.

Human rights concerns a key factor

The officials argued that the new policy will fulfill a campaign promise and reverse Obama-era policies that the Trump administration argues have appeased and "enriched" the Cuban military regime.

The main focus of the policy will attempt to shift money away from the military and intelligence services "that contribute to oppression on the island," one official said. For example, payments to hotels owned by the military will be prohibited.

In a Thursday briefing call, reporters pressed officials on why the Trump administration is emphasizing Cuba's human rights issues when the White House has previously demonstrated interest in working with other problematic regimes.

A senior White House official responded that the president's September 2016 comments on the campaign trail still stand. In Miami, then-candidate Trump called for a reversal of Obama's normalization of Cuba policy, saying he would demand religious and political freedom for the Cuban people as well as the release of political prisoners.

But the White House's crackdown on Cuba's human rights record is puzzling, considering Trump has previously praised other countries and leaders with similarly checkered histories, such as Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte. Trump has previously praised Duterte for his drug crackdown, saying he has done an "unbelievable job" even though the campaign has led to the death of thousands of his own people.

The official said that the administration "will continue to take an aggressive stance" on human rights, but declined to comment on foreign policy related to other nations.

Hindustan Times
07 June 2017

At least five farmers were killed and several injured in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district on Tuesday when police fired on protesters demanding better prices in the drought-ravaged region that recorded a farm suicide every five hours in 2016-17.

Angry farmers ransacked and set ablaze a police outpost after the firing as the administration clamped curfew on Pipalia town, the epicentre of violence, rushed extra forces and withdrew internet services to tamp down on social media rumours fanning violence.

Throughout the day, the BJP government denied any police firing and confirmed the five deaths only in the evening.

“There were two incidents at Pipalia. In one of the incidents police had to fire in self-defence when a mob gheraoed the police station. In the other incident, the police fired when there was firing from the mob,” home minister Bhupendra Singh said.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced a judicial inquiry into the firing and compensation of Rs 1 crore each to the kin of the dead and Rs 5 lakh each to the injured. One member of the dead farmers’ families will also be given a government job.

The discontent in the foodbowl states of Madhya Pradesh and neighbouring Maharashtra, where too farmers have launched an agitation over similar demands, has come as a fresh challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has made farm sector reforms a priority for his government.

“This govt is at war with the farmers of our country,” Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

From last February to mid-February this year, at least 1,982 farmers and farm labourers committed suicide in MP, an average of one suicide every five hours, data from the National Crime Records Bureau show.

The incident can also impact assembly elections in neighbouring Gujarat, Modi’s home state, as four of the five killed farmers were Patidars, an influential community that has backed the BJP for decades but has in recent years shifted support.

“The BJP came to power with the promise of welfare of farmers and poor...All that the farmers were demanding was help from the government and in return they received bullets,” said Hardik Patel, a Patidar leader who led a weeks-long agitation seeking reservation in Gujarat last year.

Hundreds of farmers had gathered at Pipalia town in Mandsaur, 350 kilometres from state capital, Bhopal, as part of a 10-day-long demonstration for higher crop prices that cover their input costs, a loan waiver and a farm package to tide over losses incurred by drought.

Sources said many farmers were angry at the lack of government response and torched several vehicles forcing security personnel to fire at the crowd. Bullet injuries killed one on the spot and the wounded were taken to a local hospital. The rest died on way to hospital.

The state Patidar Samaj president Mahendra Patidar said the bodies will not be cremated till the chief minister Chouhan visits Mandsaur.

“The Mandsaur incident is very sad and unfortunate and has greatly distressed me. The administration was always given instructions to hold discussions with farmers and talk to the farmers participating in the agitation with understanding and in good faith. But anti-social elements entered the scene,” Chouhan said.

Congress parliamentarian Jyotiraditya Scindia also condemned the incident, saying it took place on the watch of a chief minister who “boasts of being a farmer’s son”.

Several farmers organisations called a stateside shutdown on Wednesday. Congress said it will support the strike.

Madhya Pradesh is considered a BJP bastion where the saffron party is in power for 14 years. But the government is facing snowballing protests by farmers, who say they cannot afford to sell produce at below-par prices for a third straight season and want the administration to create a safety net.

Doha
17 June 2017
(QNA)

Qatar has rejected accusations of attempting to undermine security in the neighboring Arab Gulf state of Bahrain.

On Friday, Bahrain's official news agency BNA broadcast the recording of a 2011 phone call alleged to have taken place between Hamad bin Khalifa Al Attiyah, an adviser to Qatar's emir, and Hassan Ali Joma, a leader of Bahrain's opposition Shia al-Wefaq group.

The news agency accused Qatar of meddling with Bahrain's internal affairs with the aim of "overthrowing" the government.

In response, the Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement the phone call was part of Qatari efforts to mediate between the Bahraini authorities and opposition in the wake of the 2011 unrest in Bahrain.

The statement said the contacts had been made "with the approval and knowledge of the authorities in Bahrain".

"The Qatari mediation has stopped after the decision of military intervention to disperse the protests and sit-ins," the statement said, referring to the decision to send Saudi-led forces to quell the protests.

The ministry described the broadcast of the phone call as "an exposed naive attempt to twist the facts and take them out of context".

On June 5, five Arab countries - Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, Bahrain and Yemen - abruptly cut diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing Qatar of “supporting terrorism".

Qatar, for its part, denied the accusations, calling the moves to isolate it diplomatically "unjustified".

Nazareth, Palestine
16 June 2017
(AlJazeera News/
Jonathan Cook)

Israel is seeking to exploit the rift between a Saudi-led bloc of Arab states and Qatar to advance its strategic interests in the region both against the Palestinian movement Hamas and against Iran, according to Israeli analysts.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed ties with Qatar more than a week ago, accusing it of supporting "terrorism" and being too close to Iran. US President Donald Trump's visit to the region last month appears to have spurred the campaign against Doha.

This week Israel added fuel to the fire by issuing its own threats against Qatar.

Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman vowed to close down Al Jazeera's bureau in Jerusalem, in what would amount to shuttering its coverage of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reported to be consulting with the Israeli security services about how to justify the decision.

Analysts said Israel had been emboldened in its hardline stance by the recent decisions of Saudi Arabia and Jordan to close their own bureaus of the Qatar-based network.

According to Lieberman, Israeli interests "overlap" with those of Arab states on the issue of Al Jazeera. The channel, he said, was "an incitement machine. It's pure propaganda, of the worst variety, in the style of Nazi Germany."

But Lieberman and Netanyahu have also seized the moment to make explicit other shared interests between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel has joined Riyadh in accusing Qatar of siding with "terror" primarily as a way to weaken Iran and Hamas, Israel's most troublesome regional opponents, the analysts observed.

Qatar has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into infrastructure projects in Hamas-ruled Gaza to alleviate a mounting humanitarian crisis there, provoked by a decade-long Israeli blockade and a series of military attacks.

Until now, the aid had been channelled to Gaza with Israel's tacit consent, said Yossi Alpher, an Israeli analyst and an aide to Ehud Barak when he served as Israel's prime minister at the start of the Second Intifada.

But since Trump entered the White House, the Israeli government had appeared readier to turn the screws on Hamas, Alpher told Al Jazeera. “Israel senses that Hamas is now too weak and isolated to strike back.”

Doha has also maintained diplomatic relations with Iran, with which it shares a large gas field.

Israel accuses Tehran of sponsoring "terror" against it, including by arming Hezbollah, a Lebanese movement on its northern border. Hezbollah operations forced Israel to pull its occupying forces out of south Lebanon in 2000.

Riyadh, meanwhile, opposes the Muslim Brotherhood's role in the region, of which Hamas is a part.

As the rift with Qatar broke last week, Lieberman told the Israeli parliament: "Even Arab states understand that the risk to this region is not Israel, but rather terrorism. This is an opportunity to collaborate."

Netanyahu echoed his defence minister, saying the Arab states "see us as a partner and not an enemy".

In particular, Netanyahu is eager to capitalise on the crisis as a way to avoid being dragged into new peace talks by the Trump administration. Highlighting Palestinian "terror" - and Iranian meddling - is a tried-and-tested way to deflect diplomatic pressure.

"Israel's strategy is to marginalise the Palestinian issue," Jeff Halper, an Israeli foreign policy analyst, told Al Jazeera. "The signals from Saudi Arabia are that they are willing to normalise relations with Israel, even while the Palestinian problem remains unaddressed."

He said Israel hoped the emerging alliance with Riyadh would sideline the 2002 Saudi peace initiative, which embarrassed Israel by offering a regional solution to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Israel will now try to redirect attention to other issues, from Iran to energy and weapons. Anything to make the Palestinian issue disappear," said Halper.

READ MORE: Will the GCC crisis undermine the Palestinian cause?

The emerging ties between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States were indicated by an Al Jazeera investigation this week. It revealed that 10 US legislators, financed by Israel lobby groups, had recently introduced a bill in Congress threatening US sanctions against Qatar if it supported Palestinian "terror".

The bill demands that Doha end its "financial and military support" for Hamas-ruled Gaza. The US legislators' position aligns closely with the interests of Israel and Egypt, both of which have blockaded Gaza.

Israel wishes to keep the Hamas rule in Gaza weak, as well as isolated from the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. Cairo, meanwhile, wants Hamas isolated from its sister organisation the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt's military rulers removed from power in a military coup in 2013.

Noticeably, Saud Arabia has begun making the same demand of Qatar, calling on it to stop financing Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. It is the first time the Saudis have publicly adopted the US and Israeli definition of Hamas as a "terror organisation" rather than a resistance movement.

At stake is Doha's continuing investment in rebuilding homes and roads devastated by Israel's repeated attacks. Such support has proved a lifeline for the tiny enclave.

READ MORE: Arab world tweets - Hamas is resistance, not terrorism

In recent years Qatar has also served as a base for Hamas' exiled leadership, with few other countries willing to host it.

Alpher said Israel's leadership hoped that the Gulf rift would intensify Hamas' isolation. "Israel will be happy if this crisis leaves Hamas even more friendless in the region," he said. In addition to trying to limit Qatar's humanitarian activities in Gaza, Israel is helping the Palestinian Authority further damage its Hamas rivals.

Electricity to the enclave is down to a few hours a day after the PA's president, Mahmoud Abbas, refused to pay Israel's bill to supply power to Gaza. Abbas has also stopped paying salaries to many thousands of PA workers.

Ofer Zalzberg, an Israeli analyst with the International Crisis Group, a conflict resolution think-tank based in Washington and Brussels, said both Netanyahu and Abbas were taking advantage of the new political climate in Washington. He told Al Jazeera: "The stark message from Trump and Riyadh is, 'Now you must choose. Are you with the bad guys or the good guys?' Netanyahu understands that Trump has set himself up as judge and jury."

By balancing relations with a variety of states in the region, including Iran, Qatar's policy was considered "too grey" for Trump and Riyadh's liking, observed Zalzberg.

Alpher said Israel had conflicting impulses towards Gaza. It wanted the humanitarian situation under control to avoid triggering another round of fighting with Hamas. But it also feared that Hamas might misuse any aid to replenish arms and build what Israel terms "terror tunnels".

The tunnels proved a major problem for Israel when its troops invaded Gaza during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, allowing Hamas fighters to launch surprise attacks.

Neve Gordon, a politics professor at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva, said the efforts to break Qatar's ties with Hamas would most likely force Hamas into the arms of Tehran.

"Without Qatar's help, Hamas has to turn to Iran," he told Al Jazeera. "From Israel's point of view, that creates a clearer picture, painting Hamas and Iran as different faces of the same 'terror'."

Ben Caspit, an Israeli journalist, recently quoted Israeli security sources saying that Trump had adopted Netanyahu's approach on Iran, viewing it as "the head of the serpent and the source of regional terrorism".

Netanyahu's ultimate goal, said Gordon, was pressuring the Americans to overturn an Iran nuclear deal signed by Barack Obama in 2015. Both the Israeli government and Saudi Arabia vigorously opposed that agreement. Netanyahu fears that, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, it would rival Israel's nuclear arsenal and severely reduce Israel's regional influence.

Saudi Arabia similarly fears a nuclear-armed Iran would undermine its influence.

Instead, Netanyahu and the Saudis prefer that Iran be kept under severe sanctions, with an ever-present threat of military attack hanging over it.

London
16 June 2017
(AlJazeera News) 1030 PM

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Friday that a list of "grievances" involving Qatar was being drawn up and would be presented to Doha shortly.

Speaking to journalists in Britain's capital, London, on Friday, Adel al-Jubeir called on Qatar to respond to what he claimed were international and regional calls for it to halt its support for "extremism and terrorism."

"I would not call them demands. I would say it is a list of grievances that need to be addressed and that the Qataris need to fix," he said.

Jubeir did not detail what complaints could be made, but added that they will be presented "very soon".

Four Arab states - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt - severed diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting "extremism" and their regional rival Iran.

They later issued a list of 59 people and 12 groups with links to Qatar, alleging that they have ties to "terrorism".

The list included several high-profile Qatari charities that carry out life-saving work across the Middle East and elsewhere, including in Syria, Yemen, Sudan and Palestine.

The Qatari government has repeatedly rejected the allegations of supporting individuals and groups blacklisted as "terrorists" as "baseless".

It said that it has been leading the region in attacking what it called the roots of "terrorism" by giving young people hope through jobs, educating hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and funding community programmes to challenge the agendas of armed groups.

'Venture against Qatar'

The Saudi-led bloc of nations also cut off sea and air links with Qatar, and ordered Qatari nationals to leave their countries with 14 days. They also urged their citizens to return to their respective nations, disrupting the lives of thousands in the region and restricting their freedom of movement.

In his remarks from London, Jubeir said there was no intention of harming the Qatari people and called Doha an "ally" in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

READ MORE: Qatari human rights body - Blockade is worse than Berlin Wall

Saad Djebbar, an international lawyer based in London, told Al Jazeera that Jubeir's comments exposed the regional ambitions of the four countries leading the blockade against Qatar.

"If there were any underlying grievances - that's when you start the embargo. What this shows is that the Saudis, Emiratis, Bahrainis and Egyptians ... they have no list - they just wanted to engage in a venture against Qatar," he said.

"This embargo eclipses the one against Libya's [ex-ruler Muamar] Gaddafi following the Pan-Am airlines bombing - that embargo only afflicted air flights, not the seas and vessels or territorial borders," he added.

"In fact, Qatar should provide a list of the material, financial and commercial damage caused by the embargo on them."

Qatar imported the vast majority of its food from its Arab Gulf neighbours before the diplomatic shutdown, but has been talking with Iran and Turkey to secure food and water supplies since the crisis broke out.

14 June 2017 – Expressing solidarity with Afghan people, in the wake of recent violence in the country, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today underscored the Organization's full commitment to work with the Government and people of the country to build a sustainable and prosperous future for them.

“Peace is the solution […] the international community, the neighbouring countries [and] all those related to the Afghan crisis need to come together and understand that this is a war that has no military solution,” said the Secretary-General, at a press conference in Kabul, where he arrived earlier today.

“We need to have peace,” he added, underscoring that at the same time, the level of humanitarian assistance to the country had to be increased and conditions needed to be created for Afghanis to be able to live in dignity.

Since his time as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (2005-2015), Mr. Guterres has been paying a solidarity visit to Muslim communities during the holy month of Ramadan, and his visit to Afghanistan was a continuation of his expression of solidarity with them.

While in Kabul, the UN chief met with displaced men and women from the Kapisa province, now living in a settlement on the outskirts of Kabul.

In their interaction, the displaced persons underscored that security remained the prerequisite for their return to their homes and that education, including for women and girls was critical for supporting themselves and their families. They also stressed their need for medical care.

“I have an enormous admiration for the courage and the resilience of the Afghan people, and they were very eloquently demonstrated in my meeting this morning,” noted the UN chief.

The Secretary-General also held bilateral meetings with Ashraf Ghani, the President of Afghanistan, as well as the country's Chief Executive Officer, Abdullah Abdullah, where they discussed cooperation between the Organization and the Government of Afghanistan as well as the security situation in the country and the need to better mobilize the international community to counter terrorism.

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