UAE official visits Israel

A senior UAE official in the field of economics secretly visited Israel last August, according to a government source quoted by the Arabi21 website.

According to the anonymous source, the chairman and CEO of the Dubai-based DP World, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, visited Tel Aviv with the aim of strengthening trade relations between DP World and Israel. DP World is owned by the government of Dubai in the UAE.

The source confirmed that the UAE official entrusted the chief economist at the American multinational investment bank JP Morgan, Michael Vaknin, to arrange meetings with important people in Israel, including the Israeli customs chief.

DP World has strong ties with several major Israeli companies, including Zim Integrated Shipping Services, the leading shipping company in Israel, according to Arabi21.

Arab NATO being formed in Kuwait

A meeting of the heads of staff of the Gulf states, Egypt, and Jordan with the commander of the US Central Command in Kuwait might be a prelude to the formation of an "Arab NATO," sources close to the US Department of Defense have told Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai.

"This meeting aims to strengthen military cooperation between the military leaders in the aforementioned countries, including the agreement on plans to face any urgent or emerging situations or any regional wars that could break out," the sources are reported as saying.

They added that officers have been appointed to "follow up these joint military plans, and update them periodically, which forms the nucleus of a joint military command that can cope with any military developments in the future".

According to Al Rai, the coordination has reached advanced stages and is limited to military leaders.

The US sources said that "it does not matter if we call it the Arab NATO or otherwise, names are part of the politicians’ task while the military are tasked with being prepared for any urgent situation to defend their countries".

Bearded men dismissed from Egypt's interior ministry

The Cairo Court of Cessation ordered the Interior Minister on Wednesday to dismiss bearded officers from their duties, cancelling a previous ruling issued by the Supreme Administrative Court allowing them to return to duty, according to the London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

Lawyer Mohamed Hamid Salem claimed that "the fact that bearded officers remain and return to the Interior Ministry is against the constitution and the civil state, and poses a danger to Egyptian society and a threat to national unity, peace, and social security. Bearded Egyptian Mohamed Salah does not, fortunately, work for the interior ministry (AFP) "These officers have declared disobedience to the regime’s orders, revealed their religious affiliations, grew their beards after the Muslim Brotherhood’s control, and threw themselves in their arms," said the government lawyer.

The crisis of the bearded officers started after the January 2011 revolution when a group of bearded officers joined the "I'm a Bearded Officer" page that was created by Captain Hani Shakri.

5,000 Algerians rode 'boats of death' in 2018

Illegal emigration has spiked in Algeria in 2018, with statistics showing that in just nine months, at least 5,000 Algerians rode “boats of death” trying to illegally emigrate to Italy and Spain, according to the Algerian newspaper Echorouk El Yawmi.

According to information provided by the Algerian International Diaspora Association, difficult economic and social conditions are driving young Algerians to look to build a better life in Europe, at whatever cost.

The head of the Algerian International Diaspora Association, Said Ben Rqaya, revealed to Echorouk El Yawmi that the increasing rate of illegal immigration to Spain and Italy are made on what he called "boats of death", or across the eastern and western borders to Morocco, then to the Spanish islands.