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Syrian Opposition Coalition Arrives in Riyadh

Syria's High Negotiations Committee attends a meeting with the UN Syria envoy during Syria peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 27, 2017. (Reuters)
Syria's High Negotiations Committee attends a meeting with the UN Syria envoy during Syria peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 27, 2017. (Reuters)
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Syrian Opposition Coalition Arrives in Riyadh

Syria's High Negotiations Committee attends a meeting with the UN Syria envoy during Syria peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 27, 2017. (Reuters)
Syria's High Negotiations Committee attends a meeting with the UN Syria envoy during Syria peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, February 27, 2017. (Reuters)

The Syrian National Coalition for Opposition (SNC), chaired by Riad Seif, arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for talks with Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on various issues related to the Syrian crisis.

A few days earlier, Saudi Arabia reiterated its position on the Syrian war and its commitment to the Geneva 1 outcomes as a basis for a solution that ensures regime head Bashar al-Assad does not remain in power.

Member of the political committee of the SNC Hadi al-Bahra said that the meeting with Jubeir was scheduled a while ago, hinting that it had nothing to do with the minister’s recent statements, which were later denied by the Saudi Foreign Ministry.

Bahra told Asharq Al-Awsat that the agenda of the meeting will cover recent political developments in Syria, including the issue of the de-escalation zones.

He added that the meeting with Jubeir is not linked to the expanded meeting scheduled in mid-August between Syria’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Moscow and Cairo and hosted by Riyadh.

So far, it has not been confirmed whether representatives of the Syrian opposition who participated in Cairo and Moscow conferences will attend the Riyadh talks.

Bahra said that HNC sent separate invitations to Cairo and Moscow, but he did not confirm if they received official responses.

The HNC hopes that the anticipated Riyadh meeting will unite positions on Assad leaving power.

Bahra admitted that Syrian opposition has a lot to achieve, especially regarding the Geneva talks, adding that there are serious attempts to come out with united positions.

“The foundation of the cause is to have united positions on all issues that ensure the success of the Geneva conference,” he added.

Bahra reiterated that the HNC intends to continue with the political negotiations dealing with the core of the Syrian crisis, which is the political transition. He stressed that it does not want to repeat the mistakes committed in Yemen and other areas.

“Everyone knows the foundations of a successful political transition and how to proceed. So, we must deal with all international changes, while making sure no more time is wasted,” he explained.

Bahra stressed that Assad’s departure is one of the main conditions of the political transition.

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World

Italian PM Calls Threatened US Tariffs Over Greenland a ‘Mistake’

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during a press conference with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on January 16, 2026. (AFP)
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during a press conference with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on January 16, 2026. (AFP)
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Italian PM Calls Threatened US Tariffs Over Greenland a ‘Mistake’

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during a press conference with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on January 16, 2026. (AFP)
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks during a press conference with Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on January 16, 2026. (AFP)

Italy's prime minister called US President Donald Trump's threat to slap tariffs on opponents of his plan to seize Greenland a "mistake" on Sunday, adding she had told him her views.

"I believe that imposing new sanctions today would be a mistake," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told journalists during a trip to Seoul.

"I spoke to Donald Trump a few hours ago and told him what I think, and I spoke to the NATO secretary general, who confirmed that NATO is beginning to work on this issue."

However, the far-right prime minister -- a Trump ally in Europe -- sought to downplay the conflict, telling journalists "there has been a problem of understanding and communication" between Europe and the United States related to the Arctic island, an autonomous territory of Denmark.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on all goods sent to the United States from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland over their objections to his moves.

Meloni said it was up to NATO to take an active role in the growing crisis.

"NATO is the place where we must try to organize together deterrents against interference that may be hostile in a territory that is clearly strategic, and I believe that the fact that NATO has begun to work on this is a good initiative," she told reporters.

Meloni said that "from the American point of view, the message that had come from this side of the Atlantic was not clear".

"It seems to me that the risk is that the initiatives of some European countries were interpreted as anti-American, which was clearly not the intention."

Meloni did not specify to what exactly she was referring.

Trump claims the United States needs Greenland for its national security.

World

Drone Strike Cuts Power Supply in Russia-Held Parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Region

This photo, provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, shows a regional border stele decorated with national flags and military unit emblems in Orikhiv district in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
This photo, provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, shows a regional border stele decorated with national flags and military unit emblems in Orikhiv district in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
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Drone Strike Cuts Power Supply in Russia-Held Parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Region

This photo, provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, shows a regional border stele decorated with national flags and military unit emblems in Orikhiv district in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
This photo, provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, shows a regional border stele decorated with national flags and military unit emblems in Orikhiv district in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

More than 200,000 consumers in the Russian-held part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region were left without electricity on Sunday, the ‌Moscow-installed regional governor ‌said, after a ‌Ukrainian ⁠drone strike ‌on Saturday.

In a statement posted on Telegram, Yevgeny Balitsky said that work was ongoing to restore the power supply, but that almost 400 settlements remain without electricity.

Temperatures are well below freezing ⁠throughout the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, around 75% of ‌which is controlled by Russia.

Russia ‍has frequently bombarded ‍Ukraine's power infrastructure throughout its nearly ‍four-year war, causing rolling daily blackouts, and has also targeted heating systems this winter.

Separately, the governor of the Russian border region of Belgorod, which has come under regular Ukrainian attack since 2022, ⁠said that one person had been killed and another wounded by a drone strike on the border village of Nechaevka.

Further south, in the Caucasus mountains region of North Ossetia, two children and one adult were injured when a Ukrainian drone struck a residential building in the town ‌of Beslan, the region's governor said.

Varieties

Shark Mauls Boy in Sydney Harbor

This photo shows an aerial view of Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbor as seen from a plane flying over Sydney on January 14, 2026. (AFP)
This photo shows an aerial view of Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbor as seen from a plane flying over Sydney on January 14, 2026. (AFP)
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Shark Mauls Boy in Sydney Harbor

This photo shows an aerial view of Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbor as seen from a plane flying over Sydney on January 14, 2026. (AFP)
This photo shows an aerial view of Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbor as seen from a plane flying over Sydney on January 14, 2026. (AFP)

A shark mauled a boy swimming in Sydney Harbor on Sunday, leaving him in critical condition with serious leg injuries, authorities said.

The predator bit the boy, believed to be about 13 years old, during the late afternoon off Shark Beach, New South Wales state police said.

"The injuries are consistent with what is believed to have been a large shark," police said in a statement.

Officers pulled the boy from the water off the harbor beach within minutes of being alerted to the incident, police said.

They gave the boy first aid for "serious" leg injuries while he was aboard a police boat, applying two medical tourniquets.

Paramedics transported him to Sydney Children's Hospital, where he was said to be in critical condition.

"Swimmers are advised to avoid entering nearby waters at this time," police said.

Shark Beach, in Sydney's eastern suburb of Vaucluse, was closed and police evacuated nearby beaches in the harbor, the state government said.

Wildlife experts were working to identify the shark species involved, it said in a statement.

"This is a tragic shark attack on a young boy having a swim on a Sunday afternoon near a harbor beach in Sydney's east," New South Wales Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said.

"Our thoughts are with the young boy and his family. I understand there were also other young people with him at the time of the attack, our thoughts are also with them."

There have been more than 1,280 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which more than 250 resulted in death, according to a database of the predators' encounters with humans.

Increasingly crowded waters and rising ocean temperatures that appear to be swaying sharks' migratory patterns may be contributing to a rise in attacks despite overfishing depleting some species, scientists say.

A great white shark mauled surfer Mercury Psillakis to death at a popular northern Sydney ocean beach in September.

Two months later, a bull shark killed a woman swimming off a remote beach north of Sydney.