Jordan Hosts Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership on Tuesday

General view showing empty streets in Amman, Jordan October 9, 2020. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed/File Photo
General view showing empty streets in Amman, Jordan October 9, 2020. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed/File Photo
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Jordan Hosts Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership on Tuesday

General view showing empty streets in Amman, Jordan October 9, 2020. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed/File Photo
General view showing empty streets in Amman, Jordan October 9, 2020. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed/File Photo

Jordan will host the second session of the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership on Tuesday.

The event's first session was held in Baghdad in August last year upon the invitation of King Abdullah II, in coordination with French President Emmanuel Macron and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who both attended the session, according to Petra news agency.

The conference will feature the participation of a number of leaders and representatives of countries and regional organizations.

Participating countries include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Turkey, and Iran.

The Secretary-General of the Arab League, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, representatives from the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the EU will also take part in the conference.

The opening session of the conference will witness the participation of Arab and EU ambassadors, the 20G, and the permanent members of the Security Council accredited to the Kingdom.

The conference, meant to reiterate support for Iraq's sovereignty, security, and stability, aims to set cooperation mechanisms to enhance regional security and stability and push forward the development process.

Sudani held a press conference in Baghdad during which he spoke about his participation at the conference.

He also confirmed the increase in the exchange rates of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar.

He pointed out that “the government was and is still monitoring the central bank’s policy to ensure market stability,” revealing that “the Iraqi Central Bank’s reserves of foreign currency amounted to 96 billion dollars.”

Al-Sudani said: “The financial situation in Iraq is at its best.”

Regarding the smuggling of oil derivatives, the PM announced the confiscation of more than 1,781,000 liters of oil derivatives, the dismantling of a large number of smuggling networks, and the arrest of 18 members of these networks.



Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes 'Cruelty'

A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Pope Calls Gaza Airstrikes 'Cruelty'

A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian mourns as he carries the shrouded body of a child, killed in an Israeli strike the previous night, during a funeral in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on December 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Hamas militants continues. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Pope Francis on Saturday again condemned Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, a day after an Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff for suggesting the global community should study whether the military offensive there constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.

Francis opened his annual Christmas address to the Catholic cardinals who lead the Vatican's various departments with what appeared to be a reference to Israeli airstrikes on Friday that killed at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza, Reuters reported.

"Yesterday, children were bombed," said the pope. "This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart."

The pope, as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts, but he has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In book excerpts published last month, the pontiff said some international experts said that "what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.”

Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli sharply criticized those comments in an unusual open letter published by Italian newspaper Il Foglio on Friday. Chikli said the pope's remarks amounted to a "trivialization" of the term genocide.

Francis also said on Saturday that the Catholic bishop of Jerusalem, known as a patriarch, had tried to enter the Gaza Strip on Friday to visit Catholics there, but was denied entry.

The patriarch's office told Reuters it was not able to comment on the pope's remarks about the patriarch being denied entry.