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By Amanda Mouawad The much-touted Ain Dubai (Dubai Eye) was designed as a tourist-luring landmark in the United Arab Emirates’ glam-hub, which is home to the world’s tallest building. But now it stands idle for undisclosed reasons, its extravagant light fixtures the only parts seemingly still working. “Ain Dubai remains closed until further notice,” says an official website for the attraction. “We continue to rigorously work on completing the enhancement works that have been taking […]
WASHINGTON, Aug 3, 2023 (AFP) – The United States is preparing to deploy Marines and Navy personnel aboard commercial tankers transiting the Gulf as part of efforts to deter Iran from seizing ships, a US official said Thursday. The security forces would provide a further layer of protection for the tankers in addition to the warships and planes operating in the strategically vital area, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil passes. […]
JERUSALEM, July 24, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli lawmakers on Monday prepared for a final vote on a major component of the hard-right government’s controversial judicial overhaul, even as US President Joe Biden called for postponing the “divisive” bill that triggered months of mass protests. Lawmakers debated through the night amid last-ditch efforts by Israel’s President Isaac Herzog to reach a compromise. He met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a hospital where he had undergone surgery […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia said late Thursday it was summoning a Swedish diplomat to denounce the issuing of permits for protests that desecrate the Koran. The foreign ministry of the Gulf kingdom, home to the Muslim holy places, said in a statement it would hand the Swedish charge d’affaires “a protest note that includes the kingdom’s request to the Swedish authorities to take all immediate and necessary measures to stop these disgraceful […]
By Jerome Rivet and Ahmad Parhizi Agence France-Presse YAZD, Iran (AFP) — Tall, chimney-like towers rise from centuries-old adobe houses in Iran’s desert city of Yazd, drawing in a pleasant breeze for residents of one of the hottest cities on earth. The wind catchers, called badgirs in Persian, are just one of the engineering marvels inhabitants have developed in this ancient city in central Iran — where temperatures reach well over 40 degrees Celsius (104 […]
ATHENS, July 17, 2023 (AFP) – Temperatures reached new highs on Monday as heatwaves and wildfires scorched swathes of the Northern Hemisphere, forcing the evacuation of 1,200 children close to a Greek seaside resort. Health authorities have sounded alarms from North America to Europe and Asia, urging people to stay hydrated and shelter from the burning sun, in a stark reminder of the effects of global warming. Near Athens, a forest fire flared in strong […]
By Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS Agence France-Presse UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Syria will let humanitarian aid flow through its main border crossing into rebel-held areas, reopening a conduit that had closed after a Security Council stalemate, the country’s UN ambassador said Thursday. Damascus has made a “sovereign decision” to let aid move overland from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing in northwest Syria for six months starting Thursday, ambassador Bassam Sabbagh told reporters. He said […]
BEIRUT, July 12, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli fire wounded three members of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement Wednesday in an incident near the border with Israel, a security source in southern Lebanon said. “Three Hezbollah members were wounded by Israeli fire near the border,” the source told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media. Three other sources with knowledge of the incident also said Hezbollah members had been wounded. One […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — A UN-brokered agreement that allows for the delivery of aid overland from Turkey into rebel-held areas of Syria expired on Monday after the Security Council failed to hold a vote to reauthorize it. The 15 members of the council had been trying for days to find a compromise to extend the deal, which since 2014 has allowed for food, water and medicine to be trucked to northwestern Syria without […]
WASHINGTON, July 7, 2023 (AFP) – Twitter threatened to sue Meta just hours after the Instagram parent company launched Threads, an app it hopes will beat out the struggling site owned by Elon Musk. In a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, published by online news outlet Semafor on Thursday, Musk lawyer Alex Spiro accused the company of “unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.” The letter accused Meta of hiring dozens […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The United Nations chief on Thursday accused Israel of using disproportionate force against Palestinian groups in a recent raid and warned against escalating the violence. A large-scale military operation by Israel in the occupied West Bank earlier this week killed 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier. “There was an excessive force used by Israeli forces,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters in New York. Israel has “legitimate concerns over its […]
By Rosie Scammel, with Gareth Browne in Ramallah and Jay Deshmukh in Jerusalem Agence France-Presse JENIN, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — The Israeli army said five rockets were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip Wednesday, as the military began withdrawing forces from Jenin in the occupied West Bank after a major two-day operation in the area. Twelve Palestinians and an Israeli soldier have been killed during the assault on Jenin refugee camp, launched early Monday […]
