Saudi Arabia deposits $1.4 billion into Yemen’s central bank

Saudi Arabia has deposited $US1 billion ($1.4 billion) into the central bank of Yemen’s internationally recognised government in a bid to bolster the country’s ailing economy.

In a brief statement, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said the $1.4 billion will help the Riyadh-backed administration implement economic reforms.

Yemen’s ruinous civil war, now entering its ninth year, has wrecked the country’s economy and pushed half of the population to the brink of famine.

Over 150,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

The war began in 2014 when Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa, along with much of the north of the country, forcing the government into exile.

A Saudi coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, intervened the next year to try to restore the internationally recognised government.

The country’s central bank has since been divided between the warring sides, with the Houthis operating its monetary authority from Sanaa

Rashad al-Alimi, head of the internationally recognised presidential council, thanked the Saudi government for the economic aid in a series of posts on Twitter.

Al-Alimi said the money would go toward funding new projects and stabilising the currency.

No further details were given.

Yemen has been hit hard by the fallout of the Ukraine war, with the country having imported 40 per cent of its grain from Ukraine until supply channels were cut following Russia’s invasion.

Food prices in Yemen have since surged.

Over past years, the Aden branch of Yemen's central bank has driven inflation by printing new banknotes to finance debts and cover the cost of public sector salaries.

Houthi-controlled areas do not accept notes printed by Aden's central bank.

Two officials from the internationally recognised government told The Associated Press that the $US1 billion ($1.4 billion) aid package will help compensate for the sharp decline in oil revenues in recent months.

Oil exports have slowed drastically following several Houthi drone attacks on tankers and other facilities late last year.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not briefed to speak with the media.

The Arab Monetary Fund, an Abu Dhabi-based group and sub-organisation of the 22-member Arab League, will help oversee the use of the $US1 billion ($1.4 billion).

In April 2022, Saudi Arabia and the UAE promised $US3 billion ($4.3 billion) worth of aid to the internationally recognised president.

It remains unclear whether today's deposit is part of that pledge.

Yemen has seen a lull in front-line fighting in recent months, despite the country’s six-month-long formal cease-fire agreement expiring last October.

During this period, Houthi and Saudi officials have been engaged in talks seeking to reach a negotiated end to the civil war.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/saudi-arabia-deposits-1-billion-into-yemen-central-bank-as-civil-war-rages-on/35dd105a-c03c-4096-a8c1-dc511de25c72

‘At least 36,000’ cameras across Australia possibly linked to Chinese Communist Party

Liberal Senator James Patterson has used software to find there are “at least 36,000” Chinese security cameras across Australia despite being removed from government buildings.

“The cheap camera they bought from a retail store and put out in their driveway or in their small business, could be leaking that data back to the Chinese government,” Mr Paterson told Sky News host Sharri Markson

https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/sharri-markson/at-least-36000-cameras-across-australia-possibly-linked-to-chinese-communist-party/video/2a95e47eb80f7a50915877038566f3f5

Santos’ wins fracking approval for Towrie gas development from Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek

At 4:55 pm yesterday afternoon, Tanya Plibersek approved another Santos fracking project to go ahead in Queensland’s Surat Basin. No announcement or fanfare, and only a single researcher keeping a close eye picked it up

Roderick Campbell, The Australia Institute’s (TIA) research director, just so happened to be taking a look at the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act’s notices website late yesterday afternoon, when he saw the announcement that the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water had issued Santos a 54-year approval to develop a 116-well coal seam gas project in Queensland’s Surat Basin.

“Having been a long-time researcher of fossil fuel projects, and having a background as an economist in major project assessments I do sometimes just happen to look as the EPBC notices” Campbell said.

This time, Campbell found an approval for a project that he had never heard of before “It’s not that big, but it’s a discrete new approval that would feed into Santos’ LNG export terminal at Gladstone”

The project is located within the Surat Basin, approximately 50km north of Injune and 350m southwest of Gladstone. It will be located within the Comet River catchment which forms part of the larger Fitzroy Basin.

The development is operated by Santos and has been undertaken through a joint venture with Australia Pacific LNG, PAPL (Upstream) Pty Ltd, Total E&P Australia III and KGLNG E&P Pty Ltd.

The development of the 116 wells, each requiring up to 2.5 hectares of land cleared, will be in a 8,678 hectare area and have an operational life of approximately 30 years.

While almost everyone was in the dark, someone has clearly been interested in the project, filing an FOI request showing the federal Department of Agriculture, water and the environment’s July 2021 assessment of the project.

Environmental concerns

The assessment details significant environmental concerns by the department:

The department considers that the proposed action is likely to have significant impacts on listed threatened species and communities and water resources”

It was recommended that the project be subject to environmental assessment before approval by the minister.

Public comments as part of the assessment noted impacts on water resources, threatened listed species and communities, and underestimated risk to migratory species. The department noted further that “without appropriate management the proposed action is likely to result in significant impact to water resources. The department notes that there are existing management frameworks that may be suitable to apply to the proposed action.”

While the environmental assessment opened the project up to public submissions, Plibersek has appeared to let Santos change the wording of their assessment after submissions were closed. According to Campbell:

What I noticed was that they’ve let Santos change the wording from just vertical wells to just wells.

For people who are interested in ground water quality, vertical drilling is less of a problem from a disturbance perspective. However “after public submissions had closed, the department was happy for them to change it from we’re drilling vertical wells to we’re drilling wells and we might do a whole lot of horizontal drillings as well,” said Campbell.

This recent federal approval comes as grassroots activists in Queensland are petitioning the state government to halt further fracking near vital water habitats.

https://michaelwest.com.au/santos-wins-fracking-approval-for-towrie-gas-development-from-environment-minister-tanya-plibersek/

>>18390963

Now this is getting weird

U.S. Attorney's Office for Eastern District of New York Joins Department of Homeland Security, Department of State and Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art for the Largest Repatriation of Stolen Cultural Property to Yemen

Repatriation Results from EDNY Civil Forfeiture Action

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/us-attorneys-office-eastern-district-new-york-joins-department-homeland-security