Saudi Arabia opens its first liquor store in over 70 years as kingdom further liberalizes

JERUSALEM (AP) — A liquor store has opened in Saudi Arabia for the first time in over 70 years, a diplomat reported Wednesday, a further socially liberalizing step in the once-ultraconservative kingdom that is home to the holiest sites in Islam.

While restricted to non-Muslim diplomats, the store in Riyadh comes as Saudi Arabia's assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to make the kingdom a tourism and business destination as part of ambitious plans to slowly wean its economy away from crude oil.

SAUDI ARABIA RAMPS UP PRESSURE ON ISRAEL TO AGREE TO PALESTINIAN STATE WITH FRESH DEMAND

However, challenges remain both from the prince's international reputation after the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi as well as internally with the conservative Islamic mores that have governed its sandy expanses for decades.

The store sits next to a supermarket in Riyadh's Diplomatic Quarter, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a socially sensitive topic in Saudi Arabia. The diplomat walked through the store Wednesday, describing it as similar to an upscale duty free shop at a major international airport.

The store stocks liquor, wine and only two types of beer for the time being, the diplomat said. Workers at the store asked customers for their diplomatic identifications and for them to place their mobile phones inside of pouches while inside. A mobile phone app allows purchases on an allotment system, the diplomat said.

Saudi officials did not respond to a request for comment regarding the store.

However, the opening of the store coincides with a story run by the English-language newspaper Arab News, owned by the state-aligned Saudi Research and Media Group, on new rules governing alcohol sales to diplomats in the kingdom.

It described the rules as meant "to curb the uncontrolled importing of these special goods and liquors within the diplomatic consignments." The rules took effect Monday, the newspaper reported.

For years, diplomats have been able to import liquor through a specialty service into the kingdom, for consumption on diplomatic grounds.

Those without access in the past have purchased liquor from bootleggers or brewed their own inside their homes. However, the U.S. State Department warns that those arrested and convicted for consuming alcohol can face "long jail sentences, heavy fines, public floggings and deportation."

Drinking alcohol is considered haram, or forbidden, in Islam. Saudi Arabia remains one of the few nations in the world with a ban on alcohol, alongside its neighbor Kuwait and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

Saudi Arabia has banned alcohol since the early 1950s. Then-King Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia's founding monarch, stopped its sale following a 1951 incident in which one of his sons, Prince Mishari, became intoxicated and used a shotgun to kill British vice consul Cyril Ousman in Jeddah.

Following Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and a militant attack on the Grand Mosque at Mecca, Saudi Arabia’s rulers soon further embraced Wahhabism, an ultraconservative Islamic doctrine born in the kingdom. That saw strict gender separation, a women's driving ban and other measures put in place.

Under Prince Mohammed and his father, King Salman, the kingdom has opened movie theaters, allowed women to drive and hosted major music festivals. But political speech and dissent remains strictly criminalized, potentially at the penalty of death.

As Saudi Arabia prepares for a $500 billion futuristic city project called Neom, reports have circulated that alcohol could be served at a beach resort there.

Sensitivities, however, remain. After an official suggested that "alcohol was not off the table" at Neom in 2022, within days he soon no longer was working at the project.

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Italian Jewish leader slams use of Holocaust survivor quote by group planning anti-Israel protest

MILAN (AP) — An Italian Jewish leader on Tuesday protested a citation of Holocaust survivor Primo Levi on flyers for a planned pro-Palestinian demonstration in the Italian capital on Saturday, coinciding with International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"Leave Primo Levi to our memory,’’ Noemi Di Segni, head of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, was quoted by the news agency ANSA as saying. "Have the dignity to show your thoughts without offending the memory of a survivor, and find other citations."

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A poster for the pro-Palestinian demonstration includes a reference to a Levi quote about the need to remember "because what happened could happen again," but used to implicitly refer to Gaza, not the Holocaust as Levi wrote.

The incident exemplified Di Segni’s concerns, expressed at a news conference in Rome earlier in the day, that the memory of the Holocaust was being used "out of context, abused, turned against Israel or the Jews." She noted that "we have heard distorted words from rectors, teachers, politicians and institutional figures."

Given the rise in anti-Semitic sentiment around the Israel-Hamas war, Di Segni acknowledged a temptation for Italy’s Jewish communities to observe Remembrance Day privately, but said that a schedule of hundreds of events would go ahead mostly as planned out of duty.

"We don’t celebrate the memory to ask to cry over the Jews, and for the Jews or with the Jews or with the survivors, but to be aware of the responsibilities also of Italy and of fascism for what happened to them," she told the press conference at Palazzo Chigi with Premier Giorgia Meloni’s undersecretary of state Alfredo Mantovano.

Despite the Italian government’s assurances that it would provide maximum security, plans to hold traditional marathon foot races in several Italian cities to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day on Saturday were canceled.

"Of course security was organized, but for this year it seems impossible to think of running in the streets of Italy,’’ she said, noting with irony that "those who raise their arms in a fascist salute … are almost protected by constitutional freedoms."

She cited fascist salutes at a recent far-right rally in Rome, as well as a high-court ruling last week that the fascist salute is not a crime unless it risks sparking violence or is aimed at reviving the fascist party.

In another example, Italian media have reported that a partisan’s association in a Tuscan town was planning a demonstration for Remembrance Day on Saturday using the "Never Again," phrase associated with the lessons of the Holocaust, to demonstrate against "the genocide against the Palestinian people by the Israeli state."

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Belarus arrests at least 64 in Lukashenko regime's latest anti-dissident crackdown

Belarusian authorities on Tuesday arrested several dozen people in raids marking the latest in a relentless crackdown on dissent, a local human rights center said.

The Viasna center said that at least 64 people were detained across Belarus on charges of "involvement in extremist groups" and "financing extremist activities," accusations that are routinely used to target dissenters.

Viasna said that some political prisoners who had been released after serving their sentences were among those arrested.

BELARUS POLITICAL PRISONER DIES DUE TO INADEQUATE MEDICAL CARE, HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP SAYS

It said that some of those detained had cooperated with a humanitarian project providing food for political prisoners and others who have found themselves in a desperate situation amid official reprisals. On Tuesday, the authorities branded the project, INeedHelpBY, as extremist, a designation that could trigger seven-year prison sentences for those who cooperate with it.

According to Viasna, the detainees included Maryna Adamovich, the wife of opposition activist Mikola Statkevich, who is serving a 14-year prison sentence. The 76-year-old Barys Khamaida, a veteran human rights activist, was detained as well, the group said.

Belarusian authorities have cracked down on opponents of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko after huge protests triggered by the August 2020 election that gave him a sixth term in office. The balloting was viewed by the opposition and the West as fraudulent.

Protests swept the country for months, bringing hundreds of thousands into the streets. More than 35,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten in police custody and hundreds of independent media outlets and nongovernmental organizations were shut down and outlawed.

More than 1,400 political prisoners remain behind bars, including leaders of opposition parties and renowned human rights advocate and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski.

Belarusian opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to leave the country after challenging Lukashenko in the 2020 vote, denounced Tuesday's arrests, saying that "the regime’s thugs have targeted former political prisoners and the families of those currently held."

She added: "It’s a sad reality that no one in our country can feel safe today."

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Dueling political factions demonstrate in Venezuela's capital as presidential election race heats up

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Dueling political factions took to the streets of Venezuela's capital on Tuesday for the first competing rallies of the presidential election year, showcasing their ability to draw people en masse, as voters grapple with political disappointments and uncertainty over the candidate who ultimately will challenge President Nicolás Maduro.

Supporters of Maduro’s ruling party and opposition leader María Corina Machado demonstrated in Caracas a day after Venezuela’s top prosecutor announced the detention of more than 30 people and arrest warrants for a dozen others who allegedly plotted efforts to destabilize the South American country’s government.

US SWAPS MADURO ALLY WITH VENEZUELA FOR 10 AMERICANS, INCLUDING 'FAT LEONARD'

But if either camp had hoped to scare the other in numbers, neither gathered the tens of thousands each were capable of last decade.

Maduro supporters — overwhelmingly a mix of state workers, ruling-party community leaders and loyalists of the late President Hugo Chávez — walked across the city, with dozens of them also concentrating in the same plaza where Machado, the winner of an October presidential primary election, was expected to address her own followers.

More than an hour after Machado was supposed to show up, her supporters left the plaza and stopped traffic, allowing her to address them from a makeshift stage as they waved Venezuelan flags.

"They talk about elections, but they are terrified of elections," Machado said, referring to Maduro and his allies. "But because they know that they do not have votes, they hide... behind threats, persecution, lies, a fabricated sentence, to try to end us. Let them know clearly, no one takes us out of this electoral route."

Maduro and the opposition faction behind the primary agreed last year to hold a presidential election in the second half of 2024. Maduro will seek to add six more years to his decade-long, crisis-ridden presidency. His challenger's participation in the election remains in doubt even though she won the primary with more than 90% of support.

The government has banned the former lawmaker from running for office, and Attorney General Tarek William Saab has opened criminal investigations against organizers of the primary, which was carried out with no support from Venezuela’s electoral authorities. Authorities have not shown any evidence supporting the ban against Machado, who has continued to campaign, insisting that voters, not ruling-party loyalists, are the rightful decision makers of her candidacy.

The uncertainty is sowing doubts among her supporters.

Digital marketing manager Yeickson Ramos considers Machado "the most serious and credible option" that the opposition has "to challenge the government." But at Tuesday's rally, Ramos, 33, acknowledged the urgent need for the opposition to determine the steps to follow if the government does not lift Machado’s ban.

"Will she choose (her substitute)?" said Ramos, who has witnessed the apathy that previous opposition failures have created among voters. "Or will there be an internal negotiation that concludes it can’t be any of the primary candidates who received minimal support, but we are going to look for an option that is attractive to the population."

The U.S.-backed opposition stunned its allies and adversaries when more than 2.4 million people, included in neighborhoods long considered strongholds of the ruling party, voted in the primary. The high turnout happened despite numerous setbacks and government efforts to discredit and discourage participation in the contest.

In December, Maduro’s government was stunned again when it held a referendum on claiming part of Guyana and voting centers appeared virtually deserted throughout Election Day. Maduro and his allies insist more than 10 million people voted. Still, the absence of long lines typical of elections called for by the ruling party displayed its growing inability to mobilize supporters, even when some are required to submit proof of participation to keep their jobs or maintain certain government benefits.

Chavistas — supporters of Chávez and his self-described socialist policies — have long been cautious when expressing criticism of Maduro, who was handpicked by Chávez to lead Venezuela shortly before he died in 2013. A complex ten-year crisis that pushed millions into poverty coupled with recent corruption scandals is loosening lips.

Leonard Suarez, a Caracas lawyer, voted for Chávez and Maduro in previous elections. This year, he says he wants to see on the ballot someone other than Maduro representing Chávez's ideals after concluding that "keeping only one person in power breeds corruption." In the name of democracy, Suarez said, Machado better make it to the ballot.

"She should participate because it would be an example of the democracy that exists in our country," he said near the ruling party's demonstration. "And not only her, any other candidate who has expressed their intention to participate in a presidential election must participate."

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US conducts strikes on Iraq facilities used by Iran-backed militia group, Defense Secretary Austin says

The U.S. has carried out "necessary and proportionate" strikes in Iraq, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday.

U.S. forces targeted three facilities used by the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group and other Iran-linked groups, Austin said in a statement. 

The Kataib Hezbollah headquarters was targeted, along with storage, and training locations for rocket, missile, and one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicle capabilities, U.S. Central Command said. 

"These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against U.S. and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias," said Austin. 

U.S. MILITARY BASES IN IRAQ, SYRIA ATTACKED AGAIN, BRINGING TOTAL TO AT LEAST 90 SINCE OCT. 17

The strikes were in response to the Iran proxy group Kataib Hezbollah's massive ballistic missile attack on al-Asad air base on Saturday, and an attack on al-Asad on Tuesday, a U.S. defense official told Fox News. The group fired 17 ballistic missiles and rockets at the base, where the majority of the 2,500 troops in Iraq are stationed.

On Saturday, the U.S. Army's Patriot missile defense system fired 15 missiles to intercept the ballistic missiles and rockets, but two got through, damaging the base and resulting in four U.S. service members being diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. 

All have returned to duty. 

The attack on al-Asad on Tuesday resulted in only minor injuries. U.S. forces in Iraq have been repeatedly targeted by Iran-linked groups in multiple attacks in recent months. 

"The President and I will not hesitate to take necessary action to defend them and our interests. We do not seek to escalate conflict in the region," Austin said. "We are fully prepared to take further measures to protect our people and our facilities. We call on these groups and their Iranian sponsors to immediately cease these attacks."

U.S. forces have also conducted airstrikes in the region on Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis and have been targeted in Iraq by Iran-linked groups. 

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Netanyahu immediately vows retribution after Hamas kills 21 Israeli soldiers in central Gaza

An attack on Israel's forces in the Gaza Strip on Monday left 21 soldiers dead, its military said Tuesday. The attack was the deadliest for Israeli troops since the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7 that triggered the war.

According to the Israeli military, reservists were preparing explosives to demolish two buildings in central Gaza when a militant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank nearby. The blast from the rocket outside the buildings triggered the explosives inside them, causing both two-story buildings to collapse on the soldiers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the loss of the soldiers, saying Monday was "one of the hardest days" since the war began.

At least 217 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive began in late October, including three in a separate event on Monday, according to the military.

ISRAEL RESPONDS AFTER UN OVERWHELMINGLY VOTES FOR HUMANITARIAN CEASE-FIRE: 'A GIFT TO HAMAS'

Monday’s attack could become a major setback to renewed calls for a cease-fire as Netanyahu vowed the IDF will continue its war with Hamas until "absolute victory."

"In the name of our heroes, and for our own lives, we will not stop fighting until absolute victory," he wrote on the social media website X, formerly Twitter.

Hours after Israel announced the attack, its military said ground forces had encircled the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israel claims Hamas’ leaders are in hiding.

SAUDI ARABIA RAMPS UP PRESSURE ON ISRAEL TO AGREE TO PALESTINIAN STATE WITH FRESH DEMAND

Heavy fighting has persisted in and around the city – Gaza's second largest – in recent days. The fighting continues amid efforts for a second cease-fire.

A cease-fire in November resulted in Hamas releasing more than 100 of its hostages – of some 250 hostages it took during its surprise attack on Israeli border communities on Oct. 7 – in exchange for a weeklong cease-fire and the release of 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

International pressure and pressure from within Israel’s Knesset have urged Israeli leaders to negotiate another cease-fire for the remaining captives.

According to the Associated Press, a senior Egyptian official said Israel has proposed a two-month cease-fire to free the remaining hostages. In exchange, Israel would release additional Palestinians from its prisons and Israel would allow top Hamas leaders in Gaza to relocate to other countries.

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The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hamas rejected the proposal. Instead, Hamas said it would not release any more hostages until Israel ends its offensive and withdraws from Gaza.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Israel rejects UN, aid agencies criticism that Gaza is on brink of starvation: 'no shortage of food'

JERUSALEM – The head of the Israeli army unit, tasked with coordinating the massive international humanitarian aid operation for millions of Gazan civilians caught in the midst of a raging war in their tiny enclave, rejected recent claims that the territory was on the brink of starvation or facing the imminent threat of infectious and noxious diseases. 

Col. Moshe Tetro, head of the Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) for Gaza, a division of the military body that in peace times facilitates entry permits for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians civilians and laborers and oversees Palestinian imports and exports to Israel and beyond, told Fox News Digital that while he was familiar with reports claiming the territory was on the brink of starvation, at the moment, "there are no restrictions on food going into Gaza."

Speaking on Friday for the first time in nearly a month, President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu discussed the ongoing situation in Gaza. According to a readout of the call provided by the White House, "The President and the Prime Minister reviewed the situation in Gaza and the shift to targeted operations that will enable the flow of increasing amounts of humanitarian assistance while keeping the military pressure on Hamas and its leaders."

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Tetro, whose team of soldiers works around the clock to ensure that hundreds of aid trucks, drinking water and fuel enter the Palestinian enclave daily – and work to facilitate the hazardous journey through the Strip – said it was essential to look at the data. Before the war, he said, only 70 trucks of food entered Gaza each day. He said that number has now more than doubled to 220 trucks of food entering daily over the past week.

"If you open Telegram and other social media pages, take a look at the marketplace in Rafah last Friday – you will see that while many things are missing, there is no shortage of food," he said, referring to Gaza’s southernmost town where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians have sought shelter from the fighting. 

"I recommend to anyone writing about this to base their words on the facts and not on the basis of political agendas," Tetro said.

"Our figures come from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA,)" said a spokesperson for the State Department. The spokesperson also noted that Blinken met with the U.N. Secretary General in Davos and spoke with the "U.N.’s newly appointed Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag underscoring the importance of strengthening the humanitarian assistance coordination mechanism in Gaza and facilitating assistance to the northern part of the Gaza Strip."

Last week the heads of the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF and the World Health Organization issued a joint press release calling on Israel to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip as "the entire population of Gaza – roughly 2.2 million people – are in crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity." 

"Virtually all Palestinians in Gaza are skipping meals every day while many adults go hungry so children can eat," said the statement, citing the latest Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Phase Classification report. The report has warned of famine if current conditions in Gaza persist.

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"People in Gaza risk dying of hunger just miles from trucks filled with food. Every hour lost puts countless lives at risk. We can keep famine at bay but only if we can deliver sufficient supplies and have safe access to everyone in need, wherever they are," WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said in the statement, which made an urgent appeal for Israel to open additional crossing points, as well as its nearby port in Ashdod, so more aid being sent from around the world could be received.

Currently, most of the aid – mainly from Arab and Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey – arrives at the smaller Egyptian port of al-Arish in northern Sinai. From there, it is transported to two stations on the border with Israel, where soldiers from Tetro’s unit check the shipments for weapons and ammunition that may be smuggled to Hamas terrorists inside the Strip.

Following a thorough security inspection, the trucks, which include food, medicine, and essential supplies such as blankets and tents, enter Gaza either through the Kerem Shalom Crossing from Israel or at the Rafah Crossing from Egypt. International aid agencies and local Palestinian organizations then distribute the goods among the needy across the war-stricken territory. Israel has also agreed to aid shipments of flour to its port in Ashdod. 

A spokesperson for Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the military body that oversees the CLA Gaza, pointed out that Israel had already opened an additional checkpoint and another aid entry point at the Kerem Shalom crossing and increased its inspection capabilities in recent weeks. 

"We are checking more trucks than the U.N. is able to accommodate in Gaza," the spokesperson said.

UNITED NATIONS ALLOWING HAMAS TO ‘LITERALLY GET AWAY WITH MURDER,’ EXPERT SAYS

According to the latest figures published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) – based on information from the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza – more than 1.9 million people, or nearly 85% of the Strip’s population, are internally displaced. The majority of those seeking refuge are sheltering in facilities run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, OCHA said.

At a recent meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Martin Griffiths, the U.N.’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, called the situation in Gaza "horrific," highlighting what he said were "the appalling conditions on the ground."

"Shelters are overflowing, and food and water running out, and the risk of famine is growing by the day," he said. "The health system is in a state of collapse: women are unable to give birth safely; children cannot get vaccinated; the sick and injured cannot get treatment; and infectious diseases are on the rise."

Last week, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres echoed the same sentiments saying, "the long shadow of starvation is stalking the people of Gaza – along with disease, malnutrition and other health threats."

At the Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza unit headquarters, where Israeli soldiers monitor news and social media reports coming out of Gaza 24 hours a day, speak to their local contacts on the ground and coordinate humanitarian aid efforts with international organizations, including the U.N., Col. Tetro said that he was not surprised by such comments.

"We know these agencies systematically lie and use false narratives, but we are in close contact with international and Palestinian officials in order to assess the civil situation in the Gaza Strip," he said, reiterating that there is no shortage of food or water inside Gaza. 

Tetro also refuted claims that infectious diseases were on the rise. If that’s true, he said, "then why do those diseases not exist? None of the data we have, including that from the international agencies, has identified any outbreaks of diseases."

"I’m not saying the situation in Gaza is pleasant," said Tetro, who recently authorized additional vaccines for hospitals in case of potential outbreaks. "But there is a great distance between the truth and the lies and propaganda that sadly, the international community and also the media promotes, repeating the narrative of a barbaric terror organization without even checking the facts."

On Monday, COGAT announced that the 10,000th aid truck had arrived in Gaza since the start of the war with Hamas. The statement noted that "close to 99% of the coordinated trucks were approved for entry."

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