21/01/2026

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UAE denies running ‘secret prisons’ in Yemen

Shark bites surfer in New South Wales SYDNEY: Swimmers and surfers were warned yesterday to steer clear of beaches in parts of eastern Australia after four shark attacks in the space of 48 hours. Heavy rains stirring up murky waters have been blamed for the unusual spate of attacks in the state of New South Wales. Surf Life Saving New South Wales said the turbid waters were ideal for bull sharks, urging people to stick to the pool until conditions cleared. “We have such poor water quality that’s conducive to bull shark activity,” the water safety body told national broadcaster ABC. “Just go to a local pool, because at this stage, we’re advising that the beaches are unsafe.” A surfer on the state’s Mid North Coast was lucky to escape with “minor” injuries after he was bitten by a shark while catching waves yesterday, Surf Life Saving New South Wales said. It was the state’s fourth recorded shark attack over the past 48 hours. In one of those attacks, a shark bit a man’s legs as he surfed at Manly, leaving him in a critical condition. A few hours earlier, an 11-year-old boy escaped uninjured when a shark took a bite out his surfboard a little further north. All of Sydney’s northern beaches have been closed until further notice. On Sunday afternoon, a 12-year-old boy was seriously injured as he swam at a beach on Sydney Harbour. “It was a horrendous scene at the time when police attended. We believe it was something like a bull shark that attacked the lower limbs of that boy,” said Superintendent Joseph McNulty, New South Wales marine area police commander. “That boy is fighting for his life now,” he told reporters on Monday. Scientists suggested recent heavy rain had attracted bull sharks to coastal areas where rivers emptied into the sea. “Sharks, especially bulls, are drawn to freshwater flushes to feed on fish and dead animals as they drift down from rivers,” said Culum Brown from Macquarie University. “Given the incredible rainfall we have had of late, the risk of encountering sharks is high. Stay out of the water till it clears.” – AFP 5 tonnes of cocaine seized from ship PAPEETE: France’s navy has seized 4.87 tonnes of cocaine, believed to be bound for Australia, from a fishing vessel in the South Pacific, French officials said. The vessel, coming from Central America, was intercepted on Friday, France’s High Commission in French Polynesia said in a statement on Monday, adding their armed forces mobilised “significant human and material resources” for the operation. The cocaine was being transported on a ship sailing under Togo’s flag and destined for the Australian market, according to a source close to the investigation. The 10 Honduran and one Ecuadoran crew would not be prosecuted by French authorities, according to the source, but their home countries had the option of launching legal proceedings against them. The United Nations has said in recent years that organised crime groups trafficking cocaine and methamphetamine have expanded their presence in the Pacific. Large amounts of drugs are transported from North and South America for Australian and New Zealand markets, according to the UN. – AFP

o Abu Dhabi withdraws troops from contested areas

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates yesterday denied running secret prisons in southern Yemen following claims from Saudi-backed Yemeni officials that widened a rift between the Gulf powers. The allegations are “deliberate fabrications” and a “blatant attempt to advance political agendas at the expense of truth”, a Defence Ministry statement said. Monday’s claims from Hadramawt province followed clashes between UAE- and Saudi backed forces that prompted Abu Dhabi to withdraw its remaining troops from Yemen. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the Gulf’s biggest economies, joined forces to fight Yemen’s Iran sponsored Houthi rebels in 2015 but ended up backing opposing camps in the south. The rivalry came to a head after an advance by UAE-backed separatists in Hadramawt and Mahra provinces last month was pushed back by Saudi airstrikes and allied ground forces. On Monday, Hadramawt Governor Salem Al-Khanbashi told foreign media invited by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, including AFP, that “a number of secret prisons used by Emirati forces” had been uncovered. The UAE Defence Ministry said the “facilities referred to are merely military accommodation, operations rooms and fortified shelters, some of which are located underground”. “The attempt to implicate the United Arab Emirates in such allegations raises serious questions about the true motives and parties behind the promotion of these falsehoods,” the statement said. Saudi Arabia is now attempting to shore up control in government-controlled southern Yemen. Northern areas including most of Yemen’s population remain under the Houthis. Salem told a televised press conference that necessary measures would be taken against the UAE and the head of Yemen’s main separatist group, the STC, who the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen alleged had been spirited out of Yemen by the UAE. Two Bills for stricter gun control and anti-hate measures passed yesterday by the House of Representatives in a special parliament session will now go to the upper house Senate for debate. The gun control laws are expected to pass with the support of the Greens party despite opposition from the conservative Liberal National coalition. The anti-hate laws are likely to pass with support from the Liberal party. Introducing the gun reforms, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said individuals with “hate in their hearts and guns in their hands”, carried out the Dec 14 attack at Bondi Beach that killed 15 people. “The tragic events at Bondi demand a comprehensive response from government,” Burke said. “As a government, we must do everything we can to counter both the motivation and the method.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recalled

Saudi-backed Yemeni forces in Mukalla city yesterday. – AFPPIC

A second Bill steps up penalties for hate crimes, such as jail terms up to 12 years when a religious official or preacher is involved, and allows bans on groups deemed to spread hate. The Bill, which also provides new powers to cancel or refuse visas for those who spread hate, passed the lower house 116 to 7, with support from Liberal party lawmakers while the National party, their coalition partners, abstained. “This Bill targets those that support violence, in particular violence targeted at a person because of their immutable attributes,” said Attorney-General Michelle Rowland. Such conduct was not only criminal but sowed the seed of extremism leading to terrorism, she said. The measures were originally planned for a single Bill, but backlash from the coalition and the Greens forced the government to split the package and drop provisions for an offence of racial vilification. – Reuters in the port of Mukalla, before backing an offensive that saw the STC collapse and the UAE withdraw after nearly a decade as the main force on the ground in Yemen. Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Saudi backed presidential council, met on Monday with Lt-Gen Fahd bin Hamad al-Salman, commander of the Saudi-led coalition’s joint forces, to discuss coordination and military cooperation. Disagreements between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi span the region, and range across topics from geopolitics to oil output. The two countries are also engaged in fierce economic competition, including over who can attract more foreign capital and visitors and take the biggest share of the global AI boom. Over the past weeks, Saudi and Emirati pundits have traded attacks on social media in an unusually open display of discord. The Gulf monarchies have in the past kept their disagreements out of the public eye, partially in an effort to show a united front against their main common foe, Iran. – AFP/Reuters

The proposed gun control measures enable the largest national buyback scheme since a similar campaign after a 1996 massacre in Tasmania’s Port Arthur, in which a lone gunman killed 35 people. They also tighten background checks for firearm licences issued by Australian states, making use of information from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Australia had a record 4.1 million firearms last year, the government said on Sunday, with more than 1.1 million of those in New South Wales, its most populous state and the site of the Bondi attack. “The sheer number of firearms circulating within the Australian community is unsustainable,” Burke said. The Bill passed by a vote of 96 to 45 without the support of the coalition. “This Bill reveals the contempt the government has for the million gun owners of “All the measures will be taken to hold perpetrators of violations accountable, either Aidarous al-Zubaidi or the UAE – its elements, officials, or people working for them ... to achieve justice for the victims and their families.” UAE reiterated that the Gulf country’s forces officially withdrew from Yemen last month. The STC is fully committed to human rights and justice, an official of the group told Reuters. “We have engaged constructively with UN and other human rights bodies to ensure the rights and protection of the Southern (Yemeni) people,” he said. Salem’s remarks are among the most severe accusations levied against the UAE in a war of words with Saudi Arabia. The dispute broke into the open last year when UAE-backed STC fighters pushed Saudi-backed forces aligned with the internationally recognised Yemeni government out of key provinces. Then, in late December, Saudi Arabia struck what it said was an Emirati shipment of weapons and equipment destined for the STC

Australian lawmakers back stricter gun, hate crime laws SYDNEY: Australia’s lower house of parliament has passed new laws for a national gun buyback, tighter background checks for gun licences and a crackdown on hate crimes, in response to the country’s worst mass shooting in decades. parliament early from its summer break for this week’s special two-day session to toughen curbs after the shooting shocked the nation and prompted calls for more action on gun control and antisemitism. Australia,” said shadow attorney-general Andrew Wallace of the Liberals. “The prime minister has failed to recognise that guns are tools of trade for so many Australians.”