German leaders deny Saudi ‘reports’ attributed to them

German Parliament President Norbert Lammert and German Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Claudia Roth have both denied rumours circulated in Saudi media of statements attributed to them by Saudi Minister of Culture and Information, Awwad bin Saleh al-Awwad, on the Gulf crisis. Al Jazeera quoted sources inside the German Bundestag as denying any meeting between the Parliament President and the Saudi minister.For her part, Deputy Speaker Claudia Roth dismissed the statement by the Saudi Minister of Culture and Information on the Gulf crisis, stressing that it has not stated at any time her being in favour or her agreement or her understanding of the embargo imposed on Qatar by its neighbouring countries.In a statement to Al Jazeera, Roth added that Germany must make it clear that it stands at equal distance from both sides of the conflict, asking the German government to immediately stop all arms exports to all the Gulf States.Tensions between Qatar and other countries in the Gulf region, led by Saudi Arabia, are indicative of strong conflicts, Roth said.Al-Awwad had said he  provided Roth with information proving Qatar’s involvement in supporting terrorism, and Roth found that information convincing.Call for halt to supply arms to Saudi: Omid Nouripour, member of the German parliament and foreign policy spokesman for the Greens, has called for a halt to Berlin’s supply of German arms to Saudi Arabia. His call came in view of what he described as the “hostile policies of Riyadh and its financing of extremism and extremists”, Al Jazeera said.In a statement to Al Jazeera, Nouripour said the current Gulf crisis further complicates the situation in the Middle East, stressing that Saudi Arabia seeks to infringe on the national sovereignty of Qatar. Such infringement should end, he said.Nouripour added that the demands of the Saudi-led bloc were tantamount to pushing Qatar into “surrender and submission”.Croatian journalists condemn demand for closure of Al Jazeera channelThe Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA) condemned the siege countries’ demand of closing Al Jazeera channel, QNA reports from Zagreb.The association supported its colleagues in regional centres of the network in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, as well as in other countries.CJA said, “Countries should not use interstate disputes for attacking media pluralism and freedom of expression; therefore insisting on closing down Al Jazeera is not admissible.”Emir sends congratulatory cable to US President Donald TrumpQNA/DohaHis Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, His Highness the Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani, HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani have sent cables of congratulations to US President Donald Trump on the anniversary of his country’s Independence Day.Attorney General meets US delegationHE the Attorney General Dr Ali bin Fetais al-Marri met a delegation from a number of US think-tank institutions yesterday. They exchanged views on issues of common concern and discussed means of cementing future co-operation.