Latest news with #AlKhatib
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Three family-run Middle Eastern restaurants with soul in spades
Whether it's because of trouble elsewhere in the world or a desire for homely hangouts when times are tough, Melbourne's seeing a fresh wave of family-run establishments opening their doors. There's the homely cafe honouring a grandmother's legacy with cafe riffs on Palestinian dishes, a trio of co-joined Syrian eateries now bigger and better after a fire, and the friends who have teamed up to share little-seen dishes from their homeland, Egypt. Beit Siti Rahaf Al Khatib channels Palestinian recipes from her mother and grandmother at Beit Siti ('grandmother's home'), her new venue in Coburg. Following on from her Falastini food truck, this cafe and cultural centre exudes home-style warmth with family photos and Al Khatib's own house plants. Fresh baked goods with Palestinian twists include musakhan focaccia with confit onion, almonds, sumac and cauliflower; a Danish filled with strawberry, pomegranate and dill jam, and house-made labneh; and a zaatar croissant with pickled chilli and baladiyeh, a firm 'village cheese'. There are also grab-and-go sandwiches such as chicken mortadella with smoked pepper spread, spinach and labneh.
The Age
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Three family-run Middle Eastern restaurants with soul in spades
Whether it's because of trouble elsewhere in the world or a desire for homely hangouts when times are tough, Melbourne's seeing a fresh wave of family-run establishments opening their doors. There's the homely cafe honouring a grandmother's legacy with cafe riffs on Palestinian dishes, a trio of co-joined Syrian eateries now bigger and better after a fire, and the friends who have teamed up to share little-seen dishes from their homeland, Egypt. Beit Siti Rahaf Al Khatib channels Palestinian recipes from her mother and grandmother at Beit Siti ('grandmother's home'), her new venue in Coburg. Following on from her Falastini food truck, this cafe and cultural centre exudes home-style warmth with family photos and Al Khatib's own house plants. Fresh baked goods with Palestinian twists include musakhan focaccia with confit onion, almonds, sumac and cauliflower; a Danish filled with strawberry, pomegranate and dill jam, and house-made labneh; and a zaatar croissant with pickled chilli and baladiyeh, a firm 'village cheese'. There are also grab-and-go sandwiches such as chicken mortadella with smoked pepper spread, spinach and labneh.
Asharq Al-Awsat
27-05-2025
- General
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Germany Arrests Syrian Accused of Crimes Under Assad
An alleged former Syrian prison guard has been arrested in Germany on suspicion of committing crimes against humanity under former president Bashar al-Assad, prosecutors said Tuesday. The man, identified only as Fahad A., is accused of "acts of killing, torture and deprivation of liberty" while he worked in a Damascus facility run by Syrian intelligence in 2011 and 2012. German authorities have pursued several suspects for crimes committed in Syria's civil war under the principle of universal jurisdiction, even after Assad's ouster last December. Prosecutors declined to give Fahad's age or the year he came to Germany but said he was arrested in the town of Pirmasens in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate. During his time at the Al-Khatib detention center, also known as Branch 251, Fahad A. allegedly "took part in well over 100 interrogations where prisoners were subjected to severe physical abuse, for instance electrocution or beatings with cables", they said. "Following his superiors' orders, the suspect also harassed prisoners at night by, for example, hanging them from the ceiling, pouring cold water over them or forcing them to remain in uncomfortable positions," prosecutors allege. At least 70 prisoners are thought to have died due to such abuse and the "catastrophic" prison conditions. The alleged offenses occurred in the years of the bloody repression of anti-Assad protests during their uprising against his regime. "The objective was to suppress the protest movement from early on and to intimidate the population," prosecutors said. In 2022 former Syrian colonel Anwar Raslan was found guilty of overseeing the murders of 27 people and the torture of 4,000 others at the Al-Khatib center in 2011 and 2012. That was the first international trial over state-sponsored torture in Syrian prisons and was hailed as "historic" by human rights activists. Europe's biggest economy, then ruled by chancellor Angela Merkel, granted safe haven to hundreds of thousands of Syrians during the 2015-16 refugee influx. NGOs warned at the time of the danger that people accused of atrocities against civilians for Assad's government were arriving incognito in Europe and obtaining asylum. Opposition factions toppled Assad in December after five decades of his family's iron-fisted rule and nearly 14 years of brutal war that killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more.
Gulf Business
16-04-2025
- Business
- Gulf Business
Kuwait unites oil giants: Merger of KNPC, KIPIC begins
Image credit: KUNA The Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) has announced the commencement of the merger process with the Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC). Read- KNPC Chief Executive Officer and Acting CEO, Engineer Wadha Al Khatib, stated that the merger is based on well-studied legal and professional foundations aimed at strengthening Kuwait's oil sector companies under KPC. She emphasized that the initiative seeks to unite efforts based on each company's specialization, expanding their capabilities and enabling greater achievements. Impact of the m erger Al Khatib highlighted that the merger will ultimately result in a successful model for transitioning into a larger economic entity aligned with the strategic ambitions of both sectors and the achievement of Kuwait's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She also noted that the rapidly evolving global oil and gas industries place a significant responsibility on Kuwait's energy sector to adapt and respond effectively to these changes. Furthermore, she reaffirmed the sector's commitment—through KPC and its subsidiaries—to continue meeting its obligations to clients while sustaining growth in line with Kuwait's leadership in the international energy industry. Strategic p lans of the s ector Al Khatib pointed out that the sector continually reviews its strategic plans and reassesses its goals to ensure the success of the merger, with a strong focus on measuring operational performance as part of its long-term objectives. Addressing employees, Al Khatib reaffirmed her commitment to keeping them fully informed about the upcoming steps, underlining that staff remain a top priority for KNPC's leadership and are vital to the success of its future goals.
The National
30-03-2025
- The National
Eight Red Crescent workers among 14 bodies found after Israeli attack in Gaza
Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza The Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Sunday it had recovered the bodies of 14 rescuer workers, including eight of its own staff, who went missing in southern Gaza more than a week ago after being attacked by Israeli forces. Five of the bodies were members of Gaza's civil defence and one was a UN worker, PRCS spokeswoman Nebal Farsakh said on the agency's WhatsApp channel. The search was conducted by the PRCS, along with Gaza's civil defence, the Red Cross and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Ms Farsakh said. One PRCS member remains unaccounted for and "is believed to have been arrested", the agency added. "The bodies were recovered with difficulty as they were buried in the sand, with some showing signs of decomposition," Ms Farsakh said. The PRCS said its workers went missing on the morning of March 23, when an ambulance was sent into Rafah after overnight Israeli attacks. When the ambulance crew reported being injured in Israeli fire, the agency said it sent three more ambulances to assist them. Contact with all of the crews was lost. The discovery of the bodies came hours after PRCS president Dr Younis Al Khatib held a press conference to plead for the international community to put pressure on Israel to allow the agency to look for its missing personnel. 'There was a contact between the crews and Israeli soldiers,' Dr Al Khatib said at the PRCS headquarters in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. "We know there was then a dialogue in Hebrew.' Some members of the team, who he said were travelling in clearly marked vehicles, were 'injured but alive' after the attack, he added. A team from Gaza's civil defence that was in the Tel Al Sultan area of Rafah at the time of the violence also went missing. The body of one member, head of the Rafah civil defence Anwar Al Attar, was recovered on Friday. 'Obstructing our teams from reaching the scene has one explanation: what happened there is beyond just attacking missions, there is a clear massacre that took place on civilians in the area,' Dr Al Khatib said. Israel's military admitted on Saturday that it fired at ambulances after identifying them as "suspicious vehicles'. Israeli troops "opened fire towards Hamas vehicles and eliminated several Hamas terrorists", it said in a statement. "A few minutes afterwards, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously towards the troops," it added. "The troops responded by firing towards the suspicious vehicles, eliminating a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.' The military did not say whether there was gunfire coming from the vehicles. "After an initial inquiry, it was determined that some of the suspicious vehicles ... were ambulances and fire trucks," it said. It criticised militants in Gaza for "the repeated use" of ambulances "for terrorist purposes". Israel has increased its military operations in Gaza after it broke a ceasefire agreed to with Hamas in January. More than 50,520 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, health authorities in the enclave said.
