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Saudi Arabia strikes Yemen

appointing cats, dogs, rabbits and other animals as stationmasters across Japan. In front of the station building in Kinokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama Electric Railway President Mitsunobu Kojima placed a medal engraved with Yontama’s stationmaster title around the cat’s neck, drawing applause from the crowd. Chisako Asano, a 52-year-old housewife from Osaka Prefecture’s Fujiidera who has been a fan since Tama’s time, hope the cat stationmasters will continue to watch over Kishigawa Line. After the ceremony, Kojima told reporters he hopes Yontama will “lead the way as stationmaster at a time when local railways are at a turning point of major changes”. – Bernama contact delegation following its arrival in Riyadh, expressing “grave concern”. “This raises serious questions that require urgent clarification,” the STC said. Alzubidi “continues his duties” in Aden, the group said, calling on the Saudi-led coalition to halt the air strikes. It said it remained open to talks. The Presidential Leadership Council announced Alzubidi’s removal, accusing him of committing several crimes, including “high treason” and “engaging in armed insurgency”. “It has been established that (Alzubidi) has abused the just cause of the South and exploited it to commit grave crimes against civilians in the southern governorates,” it said. More than 100 people have been killed in the Saudi-led coalition’s strikes on the separatists’ positions and in clashes on the ground. The Saudis and Emiratis have long supported rival factions in Yemen’s fractious government, after they had initially joined forces in the Saudi-led military coalition against the Houthis. A security official in Aden told AFP that the task of securing Aden has been assigned to forces and the Aden police which are all controlled by STC vice-president Abdulrahman Al-Mahrami, a deputy chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council. These forces have been deployed in the streets and government buildings, including the presidential palace, the official said. Another security official told AFP that two days ago, the STC evacuated its headquarters in Aden and moved the operations of its TV channel to an unknown location for fear of Saudi bombing. Last week, after separatist forces grabbed resource-rich Hadramawt province bordering Saudi and neighbouring Mahra, on the Oman frontier, Alzubidi announced a two year transition towards creating a new country, “South Arabia”, in Yemen’s south. – AFP with the

response has sent relations with the United Arab Emirates, fellow oil power and rival powerbroker in Yemen, plummeting. Alzubidi “fled to an unknown location ... after he had distributed weapons and ammunition to dozens of elements inside Aden”, coalition spokesperson Major General Turki al-Maliki said in a statement. The coalition carried out new strikes to prevent Alzubidi from “escalating the conflict” and extending it into Dhale governorate, he said. An STC official told AFP that Alzubidi decided not to join the delegation flying to Saudi Arabia for talks after hearing he would be asked to dissolve his group, which forms part of the Presidential Leadership Council. Later, the STC said it had lost

According to the coalition, Alzubidi fled and mobilised “large forces” in Dhale, his home governorate in southwest Yemen, after failing to attend the talks in Riyadh. Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, which holds executive power and groups rival factions, then announced Alzubidi’s removal, accusing him of high treason. Yesterday, more than 15 airstrikes hit Dhale, killing four people, said two hospital sources. Violence between the UAE supported STC and pro-Saudi forces has spiked in recent weeks around Aden, home to Yemen’s internationally recognised government since it was ousted from Sanaa by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in 2014. The STC’s advance and the Saudi

ADEN: A Saudi-led coalition conducted airstrikes on the home province of a UAE-backed separatist leader in Yemen yesterday, after his divided government kicked him out and accused him of treason. Aidaros Alzubidi’s Southern Transitional Council (STC) grabbed swathes of territory last month before being rolled back by the Saudi-led coalition and allied Yemeni forces. He was due in Riyadh for talks aimed at de-escalating the violence, but his plane ended up being delayed and he was not on board when it departed. o Separatist leader accused of treason

Ex-CIA agent Ames dies in prison WASHINGTON: Aldrich Ames, the Central Intelligence Agency spy who was sentenced to life in prison for selling secrets to Moscow, costing the lives of a dozen double agents, died on Monday in custody. He was 84. Ames worked as a counterintelligence analyst for the CIA for 31 years and, along with his wife Rosario, was convicted of selling information to the Soviet Union between 1985 and 1993 – compromising secret missions and costing lives – in exchange for more than US$2.5 million (RM10 million). Ames had been head of the Soviet branch in the CIA’s counterintelligence group, and gave the Kremlin the names of dozens of Russians who were spying for the United States. The couple’s luxurious lifestyle at the time – they kept cash in Swiss bank accounts, drove a Jaguar and ran up US$50,000 annually in credit card bills – drew suspicion. Federal prosecutors said Ames spied for the Soviet Union and kept selling Russia information after its collapse until he was exposed in 1994. Relying on bogus information from Ames, CIA officials repeatedly misinformed US presidents Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush and other top officials about Soviet military capabilities and other strategic details. Ames’ prosecution heated up tensions between Washington and Moscow as Russia and the US were trying to normalise their relations after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Then-CIA director James Woolsey resigned over the scandal, after refusing to fire or demote colleagues over it in Langley, Virgina, where the spy agency is headquartered. His successor, Belgian-born John Deutch, oversaw an overhaul of the spy agency, resulting in arrests and charges. Then-US president Bill Clinton called Ames’ case “very serious” and suggested it could harm ties with Moscow, while the Kremlin downplayed the incident, with one Russian diplomat calling Americans “extremely emotional”. The White House eventually expelled a senior Russian diplomat, Aleksander Lysenko, who was accused of involvement with Ames, after Russia refused to withdraw him. – AFP Ames is led from US Federal Courthouse in Alexandria on Feb 22, 1994. – AFPFILEPIC

Police troopers gathering around a military vehicle at a checkpoint in Aden yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Cardinals want bigger role VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV hosts cardinals from around the world in the Vatican after calls for a more collegial governance of the Catholic Church.

Third cat stationmaster named WAKAYAMA: A calico cat named Yontama was appointed yesterday the third feline stationmaster of a Japanese railway station, abroad to stay financially afloat. This sparked a trend of other struggling local railways

The consistory “will be marked by moments of communion and fraternity, as well as times dedicated to reflection, sharing, and prayer”, it said. The meeting could also give important insights into Leo’s leadership style and plans for the Church as his agenda has until now mostly been taken up with fulfilling commitments previously made by Francis. The consistory is an“extraordinary” one – a definition for meetings to discuss important Church matters. “Ordinary” consistories are usually held for the naming of new cardinals, the top rank in the clergy. The Catholic Church’s 245 cardinals from around the world have been invited to the meeting. Francis only ever held one “extraordinary” consistory during his pontificate and preferred to govern the Church through a smaller group of around 12 cardinals. – AFP

continuing an almost two-decade tradition that has boosted tourism and helped rescue the line from financial difficulties while sparking similar moves by other rail operators. During a ceremony at Kishi Station on Wakayama Electric Railway Co’s Kishigawa Line, the railway company also introduced its latest feline apprentice recruit, Rokutama. New stationmaster Yontama’s predecessor, Nitama, also a calico cat, died in November last year and has been named honorary stationmaster. The Kishigawa Line drew nationwide attention after it named a cat, Tama, its first feline stationmaster in 2007, successfully attracting tourists from home and

The meeting, known as a consistory, will be the first held by Leo since he was elected pope by fellow cardinals in May 2025 after the death of Pope Francis. Vatican sources said that the cardinals want a bigger role in governing the Church on a global level. During his 12 years as pope, Francis was sometimes criticised within the Church for his personal, tough leadership style that sidelined many cardinals. There is no agenda for the meetings but the Vatican said in a statement that the cardinals would offer “support and counsel to the Holy Father in the exercise of his lofty and weighty responsibility in the governance of the universal Church”.