Middle East Experience

Oman facilitated the release of 14 foreigners who were held in Yemen and transferred them from Sanaa to Muscat on Sunday, Oman’s foreign ministry said.The people freed included a British man, his wife and child, seven Indian nationals, a Filipino, an Indonesian, an Ethiopian, and a Myanmar national, the ministry added.Britain said on Sunday it had secured the release of a citizen held since 2017 in Yemen, where he was allegedly tortured.“Delighted that Luke Symons, who was unlawfully detained, without charge or trial since 2017 in Yemen by the Houthis, has been released and will shortly be reunited with his family,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement issued by her department.“I pay tribute to our Omani and Saudi partners and our team for securing his release.”Symons, 30, was detained by Houthi rebels in southwest Yemen along with his Yemeni wife on suspicion of espionage, which his family strongly denies.They say his arm was broken during one interrogation in a bid to force a confession, and that his physical and mental health has degenerated during solitary confinement in the capital Sanaa.His wife was released and has been able to visit him periodically in the prison, and recently voiced concern at his condition, according to Symons’s grandfather Robert Cummings.“Luke’s going through hell. He’s getting no medical attention, and we’ve been going backwards, not forward, with this (UK) government,” Cummings told AFP by phone in February from the family’s home in Cardiff.Read more: First Sanaa flight in six years canceled over Houthi-issued passports: Yemen govt
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Oman secures release of 14 foreigners held in Yemen: Ministry

Almost five hundred thousand people in the Gulf nation have registered to donate their organs after their passing..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Qatar records 39% rise in registered organ donations

Raz: "I am happy about Israel's friendships with Turkey and Azerbaijan, but they are not a good reason to ignore what happened"
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: MK Mossi Raz marks Armenian genocide in Armenia

Opinion: Jonathan Feldstein shares his "liberating" Passover thoughts
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: 'Next year we'll be in Jerusalem'

Israel reexamining promise to double workers from Gaza after rocket fire, foreign minister says.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Lapid: Temple Mount status quo to remain, no plans to divide holy site

Luke Symons, 30, was imprisoned without charge in the war-torn Middle Eastern country since 2017..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Luke Symons: Cardiff man freed after five years in Yemen detention

The tremor shook JSW's Borynia-Zofiowka mine on Saturday morning. There were 52 workers in the area, 42 got out on their own, and 10 remained underground.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Four miners dead, six trapped after tremor in Polish coal mine

Other lives: Sociology and psychosocial studies lecturer whose studies were informed by her early upbringing in Egypt..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Amal Treacher Kabesh obituary

Cairo’s oldest cemetery is being razed, and thousands of families living amid the grand mausoleums face eviction. “You’re not at ease when you’re living. You’re not at ease even when you’re dead.”..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Demolishing City of the Dead Will Displace a Lively Quarter of Cairo

Lebanese rescue teams searched the Mediterranean for survivors Monday after an overloaded people-smuggling boat capsized while under pursuit by naval forces, with dozens unaccounted for still missing at sea.At least seven people died as a result of the disaster, which occurred late Saturday and ignited widespread rage just three weeks before May 15 parliamentary elections.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The body of a woman was retrieved from the water on Monday morning, bringing to seven the number of confirmed deaths in Lebanon's worst such disaster in years.“The body of a woman from the Al-Nimr family was recovered today from the Tripoli beach,” the director general of Tripoli Port Ahmed Tamer told AFP, adding that rescue efforts were ongoing.The Lebanese army said on Sunday that 48 people had been rescued, but it was not immediately clear exactly how many would-be asylum seekers were crammed onto the boat when it set sail.The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said the boat was carrying at least 84 people when it capsized, about three nautical miles off the coast of Tripoli.According to UNHCR figures, that means potentially some 30 people are still unaccounted for.The passengers included Syrian and Palestinian refugees, but most were Lebanese, the army said.The circumstances that led the small overloaded craft to sink were not entirely clear, with some survivors claiming the navy rammed into their boat, and officials insisting the smuggler attempted reckless escape maneuvers.Lebanon was once a transit point for asylum seekers from elsewhere in the region who were hoping to reach the shores of European Union member Cyprus by sea, an island 175 kilometers (110 miles) away.However, an unprecedented economic crisis that has caused hyper-inflation and plunged millions into poverty is driving growing numbers of Lebanese to attempt the perilous crossing.The UN says more than 1,500 would-be asylum seekers tried to leave Lebanon illegally by sea since the start of 2021.“Lebanon’s economic crisis has triggered one of the largest waves of migration in the country’s history,” said Mathieu Luciano, Lebanon head of the International Organization for Migration.Read more:Six migrants drowned off Lebanon’s Tripoli coast: State mediaIsrael retaliates after projectile fired from Lebanon: Israeli militaryJapan confirms 10 dead after tourist boat sank
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Lebanon rescue teams search Mediterranean for migrant boat disaster survivors