Region

DUBAI — A band of Muppets, both old favourites and new friends, will star in an Arabic retooling of "Sesame Street" with a regional twist.

In its Western iterations, the long-running franchise addresses issues including family breakdown. The new Middle East version instead seeks to help children, especially young refugees, cope with emotions.

New characters will join Cookie Monster (Kaa'ki), Grover (Gargur), Elmo and others in the new show in Arabic, called "Ahlan Simsim!" (Welcome Sesame).

"We always play and sing and try new things and have many adventures," new puppet Basma, a five-year-old purple girl with a twin twist hairstyle, told AFP on a publicity tour in Dubai.

"We have a lot of friends in the neighbourhood, but Jad is my best friend," she added of her new co-star, a yellow boy with a tuft of canary-coloured hair.

Basma, Jad and their gluttonous goat friend Ma'zooza, will take to the airwaves six days a week on Middle East satellite channel MBC 3 from Sunday February 2.

The show is a partnership between the International Rescue Committee and Sesame Workshop, which is responsible for the programme worldwide.

The aim is to offer "nurturing care to children and caregivers affected by the Syrian conflict", according to a statement.

Since erupting in 2011, the war has displaced over 5.1 million Syrian children, with 2.5 million of them now living in regional host countries including Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan.

 'Emotional ABCs' 

"Jad and I are not that similar. He is an artist and a painter. I love to sing and dance and he likes things in order. He thinks and plans while I get bored," said Basma.

"Sesame Street" mainstay Grover, meanwhile, sets out to interview children from across the Arab world, tackling myriad issues including jealousy and how to care for loved ones.

"We are all different from each other," Grover told AFP.

"Some of us like to sing and some of us like to dance and some like to exercise," added the gangly blue character, beloved of children and grownups since his 1970 "Sesame Street" debut.

"But I discovered we are all alike because we love each other."

"We have the emotional 'ABCs' and at the same time we present coping mechanisms to deal with these emotions. In every episode, we have a coping mechanism," said Executive Producer Khaled Haddad.

He said Arab children had difficulty expressing their emotions.

"They don't know what their emotion is, the child does not know he is terrified or angry or even jealous. Through our episodes we talk about these emotions and how to deal with them," he added.

'Inhale and exhale' 

In one episode, Basma and Jad learn from big brother figure Hadi how to handle fear.

"You put your hand on your tummy then you take a breath through your nose — inhale and exhale. It calms you down," Basma said, demonstrating the technique.

Jad's character, who did nott join the trip to Dubai, is portrayed as new to the community.

But "we don't label him as a refugee in the show", Haddad stressed. "He is new to the neighbourhood, meets all the kids and becomes friends with them."

He noted that across the region, "you have kids going from one place to another".

"Our show speaks to all the children of the Arab world,” he added. "This is not for a certain group.”

The first Arabic version of "Sesame Street", known as "Iftah ya Simsim" (Open Sesame), aired in the region from 1979 until 1990 and enjoyed immense popularity.

Filming for a second season of the new series will begin in March.

"We hope children will become smarter, kinder and better at expressing their emotions after watching this show," Haddad said.

TEHRAN — Iranians must have the "right to choose" between different political movements, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday, as controversy grows over the disqualification of thousands of candidates in upcoming polls.

Speaking at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during annual celebrations of the 1979 revolution, Rouhani, a moderate conservative, praised the political heritage of the Islamic republic's founder.

"The imam [Khomeini] insisted on the fact that people must participate in all elections and have the right to choose,” Rouhani said during the address, broadcast on state television.

"Whoever prevents people from choosing... and whoever discourages people from going to the polls, is certainly far from the approach of the imam,” he added, surrounded by members of the government.

Controversy has been raging for the past fortnight, pitting the coalition that supports Rouhani's government against the guardian council, which oversees Iran's elections and is dominated by ultra-conservatives.

The council says it has barred some 9,500 potential candidates from standing in the February 21 legislative polls — almost two thirds of the 14,500 hopefuls — including 92 sitting MPs from of all political stripes.

Those who are barred are allowed to appeal before the election.

 Tough situation 

Rouhani, paying homage the "father of republicanism in Iran", said Khomeini had refused to establish a "caliphate" and instead "chose the Islamic republic" after the victory of the revolution against the shah's rule.

The US-backed government of the shah fell on February 11, 1979, 10 days after Khomeini's triumphant return from exile.

Rouhani made reference to the failed constitutional revolution in 1905 — the first attempt to establish democracy in Iran — with the restoration of an absolute monarchy some years later.

He warned that the same could happen to the Islamic republic if elections became a mere "formality", with weak turnout.

Since mid-January, the president has repeatedly sought to mobilise the electorate, as some analysts predict his alliance of moderates and reformers will take a beating.

Last week, Rouhani warned of threats to the Islamic republic's "democracy and national sovereignty" after the disqualification of the candidates.

He said on Sunday that the nation had held up well against unprecedented US pressure because Iranians "are convinced that the oppression and aggression comes from [foreign] tyrants".

He was referring to tough economic sanctions that the US has imposed on Iran since 2018 as part of President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign.

"If we follow the path of the imam [Khomeini]... we will overcome the current situation, which is the toughest in the economic and political history" of the Islamic republic, Rouhani added.

BAGHDAD — Iraq's president named former communications minister Mohammad Allawi as the country's new prime minister on Saturday after an 11th-hour consensus among political blocs, but the streets seemed divided on his nomination.

Baghdad and the mainly Shiite south have been gripped by four months of anti-government rallies demanding snap elections, a politically independent prime minister and accountability for corruption and protest-related violence.

Faced with pressure from the street and the Shiite religious leadership, Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi resigned in December and political life came to a standstill.

In a bid to end the paralysis, President Barham Saleh gave political blocs until Saturday to name a replacement to Abdel Mahdi or else he would appoint his own candidate.

On Saturday evening, Allawi posted a video to Twitter saying Saleh had nominated him as the new premier.

"After the president appointed me to form a new government a short while ago, I wanted to talk to you first," he said, addressing the camera in colloquial Iraqi dialect.

"I will ask you to keep up the protests, because if you are not with me, I won't be able to do anything," Allawi said.

There was no formal announcement from Saleh or other government bodies, and the main protest camp in Tahrir Square seemed split on his nomination.

"Allawi is rejected, Allawi is rejected!" some protesters chanted, but others appeared to rally in support of him.

Allawi sets conditions 

According to the constitution, Allawi now has one month to form his cabinet, which would need a vote of confidence from parliament.

In Iraq, the Cabinet is typically formed by consensus among political rivals after intense horsetrading over influential posts.

“If the [political] blocs try to impose their candidates on me, I’ll come out and talk to you and leave this nomination,” Allawi said.

Allawi served as communications minister twice under former PM Nuri Al Maliki but resigned both times, alleging corruption.

Shortly before Allawi’s announcement, protesters in Tahrir expressed reservations about anyone with previous government experience assuming the premiership and frustration with the slow pace of reforms.

“Anyone who hasn’t been involved in politics before is acceptable,” said Abu Amir Al Rubaye, 50.

“But if Saleh does not find a way to form a government backed by the people, we’ll hang his picture in Tahrir with an ‘X’ across it,” he added.

Protests in Tahrir swelled on Saturday as supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr returned to the streets.

Sadr controls parliament’s largest bloc and many ministerial posts, but he backed the protests when they erupted in October and his supporters were widely recognised as the best organised demonstrators.

Sadrists in the streets 

A week ago, he appeared to rethink his support for the protest movement and his hard-core backers dismantled their tents in protest camps across the country.

Within hours of the Sadrists withdrawing, riot police moved in to burn or tear down protest camps and around a dozen demonstrators were killed, medics and police said.

But on Friday he seemed to flip again, calling for his backers “to renew the peaceful, reformist revolution”.

They flooded in the streets on Saturday afternoon, setting up tents in Tahrir with portraits of Sadr and blaring music praising him.

The violence dropped markedly, too.

“Since the Sadrists came back, we’ve implemented a sort of ceasefire and haven’t fired tear gas at protesters,” a member of the security forces told AFP near Tahrir Square, the main protest camp in the capital.

More than 480 people have died in protest-related violence since October, the great majority of them demonstrators killed by live rounds or military-grade tear gas canisters.

Protesters in Tahrir Square have already publicly rejected a number of names floated for prime minister, including former communications minister Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi and current intelligence chief Mustafa Kazemi.

Their portraits, marked with large “X”s over their faces, were hanging in the square along with a big blue poster calling for the United Nations to intervene in the crisis.

The top UN official in Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert has pushed throughout the week for progress, tweeting on Friday that solutions were “urgently needed” to “break the political deadlock”.

And the country’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani piled on the pressure on Friday, saying Iraq must “accelerate the formation of a new government”.

“It is imperative to speed up holding early elections so that the people will have their say,” he said.

BAGHDAD — Anti-government demonstrations that erupted in Iraq on October 1 have escalated into its deadliest protest movement in decades, with more than 480 dead.

Protests erupt 

On October 1, hundreds of people gather in Baghdad and cities in the Shiite south in leaderless protests against corruption, unemployment and poor public services.

Riot police disperse about 1,000 protesters in the capital's Tahrir (Liberation) Square, including with live fire.

The first two demonstrators are killed, one in Baghdad and another in the south.

Protests continue into October 2, getting the backing of influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, who leads the biggest bloc in parliament.

Unrest spreads 

On October 3, thousands defy a curfew in several cities, blockading streets and burning tyres.

Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi defends his year-old government on television, asking for more time to implement reforms.

On October 4, clashes intensify and Sadr calls on the government to resign. Two days later the Cabinet announces reforms including in land distribution, social welfare and anti-corruption.

Deadly second wave 

Protests resume on October 24, a day before the anniversary of Abdel Mahdi taking office.

Protesters in the south torch dozens of provincial government buildings and offices linked to the powerful Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitary force.

At least 63 people are killed over two days, according to the Iraqi Human Rights Commission.

On October 28, students, professors and schoolchildren join rallies in Baghdad and southern cities.

Death toll mounts

On November 3, demonstrators in the central city of Karbala attack the Iranian consulate amid charges that Iran is propping up the government. Four are shot dead.

After a major strike and continuing demonstrations, on November 27 protesters torch the Iranian consulate in the holy city of Najaf.

The following day is one of the bloodiest in the uprising, with 46 protesters killed and about 1,000 wounded across the country, including around two dozen in the southern city of Nasiriyah.

PM resigns 

On November 29, top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani calls for a new government. Hours later Abdel Mahdi offers to resign.

Parliament accepts his departure on December 1.

Talks to find a new prime minister intensify and include the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Major General Qassem Soleimani, a key ally of Iraq's main Shiite parties.

Washington denounces Tehran's "meddling".

Violence escalates 

On December 6, at least 20 protesters and four police officers are killed when armed men attack a Baghdad building where anti-government protesters had been camped out for weeks.

After several weeks of calm, protests intensify from December 22.

Parliament votes through electoral reform, which fails to address most of the protesters' specific demands.

Protests resume 

On January 10, 2020, thousands of Iraqis rally across the country, reviving the protest movement, which has been overshadowed by tensions between Washington and Tehran after the assassination of Soleimani in a US drone strike.

Thousands of demonstrators seek to shut streets across the country on January 20, clashing with security forces who use live fire.

On January 29, President Barham Saleh threatens to unilaterally name a successor to the premier, if parliament does not nominate a candidate within three days.

Sistani urges free and fair elections "as soon as possible" on January 31. Sadr calls for a "massive" demonstration in Baghdad.

UNITED NATIONS, United States — Yemen's Houthi rebels are in possession of new weapons similar to those produced in Iran, according to a UN report obtained by AFP on Friday, in potential violation of a UN arms embargo.

The crisis in Yemen pits the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels against government forces supported by a Saudi-led military coalition.

Some of the new weapons, which the rebels have possessed since 2019, "have technical characteristics similar to arms manufactured in the Islamic Republic of Iran", said the report, which was compiled by a panel of UN experts tasked with monitoring the embargo.

The panel didn't say whether the weapons were delivered to the Houthis directly by the Iranian government, which has repeatedly denied sending them arms.

"In addition to the previously known weapon systems, they used a new type of Delta-design uncrewed aerial vehicle and a new model of land attack cruise missile," the document said.

The weapons, as well as commercially available parts constituting some of the weapons, potentially violated the embargo, according to the document.

The experts separately added that the Houthi rebels' claim that they carried out the attacks against two key Saudi oil installations on September 14 was "unlikely".

Several countries, including the United States, have ruled out the Houthis' ability to conduct such an attack, and instead accused Iran, which has denied involvement.

The panel additionally said that it had identified a "Houthi network involved in the repression of women who oppose the Houthis, including through the use of sexual violence".

"Violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law continued to be widely committed by all parties in Yemen with impunity," the report said.

The war in Yemen has claimed tens of thousands of lives, most of them civilians, according to non-governmental groups.

BAGHDAD — Iraq's political factions were in high-stake talks Thursday to name a new prime minister, after the president set a February 1 deadline to replace Adel Abdel Mahdi.

Months of mass anti-government protests led Abdel Mahdi to resign in December, but he has stayed on since in a caretaker role while political factions have struggled to find a successor.

Any contender would need the approval not only of the political class but also of Iraq's Shiite religious authority, neighbouring Iran, its rival the United States and the protest movement.

Two days ahead of the Saturday deadline, "President Barham Saleh is hosting the various political blocs to try to find a consensus candidate," a source from his office told AFP.

Saleh had sent a letter to Iraq's deeply-divided parliament, giving it until Saturday to nominate a new premier after months of paralysis. Otherwise, he said, he would name someone unilaterally.

As the clock was ticking, the United Nations' top official in Iraq ramped up pressure, too.

"It is high time to restore confidence by setting aside partisanship, acting in the interest of the country and its people," said Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert in a statement.

"Iraq cannot afford the ongoing violent oppression nor the political and economic paralysis."

Uncharted waters 

According to Iraq's constitution, parliament's largest bloc must nominate a prime minister within 15 days of legislative elections.

The candidate is then tasked by the president with forming a government within one month.

But Iraq is in uncharted waters, as the constitution makes no provisions for the PM's resignation and the 15-day period since Abdel Mahdi stepped down has long expired

It is also unclear if the constitution allows the president to name his own candidate in this situation.

Saleh’s letter sent factions into last-minute crisis talks, with one political figure saying they were “tense”.

“They are divided over the old names that have been circulating in recent months and are even coming up with new names now,” said the politician.

Possible successors that have been floated include an adviser to the president, an intelligence chief, political operatives and former top officials, among others.

One reason for the continued stalemate, a top government official told AFP, is the absence of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis, who were both killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3.

The two influential figures had often taken the lead in brokering political agreements among parties.

UNITED NATIONS, United States — A UN envoy accused foreign actors on Thursday of continuing to meddle in Libya's conflict, in violation of commitments made at an international summit in Berlin this month.

Speaking before the UN Security Council, Ghassan Salame warned that "these manoeuvres to resupply the two parties threaten to precipitate a new and much more dangerous conflagration."

"They violate the spirit and the letter of the Berlin Conference," Salame said in an impassioned briefing in front of the 15-member council.

"I urge the parties and their foreign sponsors to desist from reckless actions and instead renew their expressed commitment to work towards a ceasefire," he added.

His comments came as a French military source said France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier this week spotted a Turkish frigate escorting a cargo ship delivering armored vehicles to the Libyan capital Tripoli in defiance of a UN embargo.

The cargo ship Bana docked in Tripoli port on Wednesday, said the source, who asked not to be named.

World leaders committed to ending all foreign interference and to uphold a weapons embargo to help end Libya’s long-running civil war during a summit in the German capital on January 19.

Salame said he was “deeply worried” by military reinforcements to both sides in the conflict despite the pledge to halt arms shipments to the belligerents.

He said they raised “the specter of a broader conflict engulfing the wider region”.

Libya has been torn by fighting between rival armed factions since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising killed Muammar Qadhafi.

The warring parties are led by strongman Khalifa Haftar and the head of Tripoli’s UN-recognised government, Fayez Al Sarraj.

“[They] have continued to receive a sizable amount of advanced equipment, fighters and advisors from foreign sponsors,” Salame said.

He cited in particular the reinforcement of Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces in Tripoli, including arms, equipment and soldiers, including foreign fighters.

Haftar has the support of Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Sarraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) is backed by Turkey and Qatar.

Salame said foreign fighters supportive of the GNA have been flown to Tripoli “by the thousands and deployed in forward locations, alongside Libyan forces”.

“As recently as Tuesday, the presence of foreign naval assets including warships, was witnessed off the coast of Tripoli, in addition to cargo ships,” he added.

Salame said his mission had recorded more than 110 reported violations of a fragile ceasefire backed by both Ankara and Moscow that was put in place on January 12.