Yemeni PM Stresses Need for Competency in New Government

Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik meets with leaders of the Islah Party. (Saba)
Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik meets with leaders of the Islah Party. (Saba)
TT

Yemeni PM Stresses Need for Competency in New Government

Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik meets with leaders of the Islah Party. (Saba)
Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik meets with leaders of the Islah Party. (Saba)

Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik, who is negotiating the formation of a new government, stressed the need for the next cabinet to be a technocratic one whereby competent experts are appointed in office, official sources reported.

Sources informed on the consultations and negotiations carried out by the PM in Riyadh affirmed that there is consensus on the need to expedite the formation of a government.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, they said Abdulmalik underscored the need to appoint competent ministers to cabinet portfolios so that they can lead the upcoming period in harmony and in a way that ensures uniting the national front and dealing with the economic, military and political situation in the country.

On Sunday, the PM discussed with leaders of the Islah Party the formation of the new government and coordinating efforts to make its work successful.

He stressed the great need to exert all efforts to complete the implementation of the mechanism that would accelerate the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement.

The PM had kicked off his consultations on Friday by meeting with the Southern Transitional Council. He met with the General People’s Congress officials on Saturday.



Trump’s Middle East Envoy Says Progress Being Made on Israeli Hostages in Gaza

Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
TT

Trump’s Middle East Envoy Says Progress Being Made on Israeli Hostages in Gaza

Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 7, 2025. (Reuters)

President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said on Tuesday he hopes to have good things to report about Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza by the time Trump is sworn in as president on Jan. 20.

Witkoff, at a press conference held by Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, said: "I'm really hopeful that by the inaugural we'll have some good things to announce on behalf of the President."

Republican Trump said of the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas in the Oct. 7 2024 attack on Israel: "If the hostages are not back by the time I'm in office, all hell will break out in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone."