Oman on Sunday lifted all Covid-19 precautionary measures across the sultanate. The decision was announced by Oman’s Covid-19 Supreme Committee, which was tasked with managing the pandemic in the country. The committee called on Omanis to keep abiding …
Israeli soldiers ‘used Palestinian girl as human shield’
Israeli soldiers used a 16-year-old Palestinian girl as a human shield last week in the West Bank city of Jenin, a Palestinian human rights organisation has said. The troops forced Ahed Mohammed Rida Mereb to stand in front of their military vehicle in…
UN praises ‘potential’ of Syria prisoner amnesty
UN special envoy Geir Pedersen on Sunday welcomed a general amnesty aimed at freeing thousands of Syrians from the Assad regime jails. President Bashar al-Assad has decreed several amnesties during the country’s devastating 11-year conflict, but the la…
No food, baby milk left in Rukban, desperate residents warn
Residents of Syria’s al-Rukban camp warn they are on the brink of famine after weeks of intensified regime siege. “The situation is terrible,” a mother living in the camp told The New Arab on Sunday. “We are out of baby formula. There is no more flour,…
Iran Revolutionary Guard member shot dead in Tehran
A senior member of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard was killed outside his home in Tehran on Sunday by unidentified gunmen on a motorbike, state TV reported, giving only scant details about the attack. The two assailants shot Col. Hassan Sayad Khoda…
Saudi billionaire prince to sell 16.87% of firm to sovereign fund
A Saudi billionaire detained in a 2017 anti-graft crackdown is to sell a 16.87 percent stake of his company to a sovereign wealth fund run by the kingdom’s crown prince, a statement said Sunday. The sale by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal of 625 million sha…
Palestinians condemn US removal of Kach from terror list
The Palestinian Authority on Saturday condemned a decision by the US State Department to remove the Jewish extremist group Kach from its list of terrorist organisations. The extremist group, which was founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1971, supp…
Man arrested in Morocco for false messiah claims
A man who claimed to be a messiah during a Friday sermon in Morocco was arrested, local media said. The man, in his fifties, reportedly told worshippers at a mosque in Marrakech that he was the Mahdi – a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology – who ha…
Millions trapped as floodwaters recede in Bangladesh, India
North-east Bangladesh’s worst floods in nearly 20 years began receding on Sunday, but rescue workers were struggling to help millions marooned by extreme weather across the region that has killed around 60 people. Floods are a regular menace to million…
Israel leaked millions of biometric data to ‘mystery agency’
Israel’s interior ministry illegally shared the biometric data of millions of Israelis with another Israeli government agency, officials said last week, raising concerns from Israeli rights groups. The breach, which started in 2015 and went on until Ma…