Middle East Experience

Pfizer: Efficacy of COVID vaccine drops over time
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: FDA: Immunocompromised authorized to receive COVID vaccine boosters

Around 250 people come together on top of Jebel Jais to witness the best meteor shower show of the year..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: UAE Perseid meteor shower: Residents star struck by celestial show

Lebanon’s prime minister Hassan Diab rejected President Michel Aoun’s call to convene the cabinet to discuss the country’s fuel crisis, saying such a meeting fell outside the caretaker cabinet’s constitutional duties, Diab said in a statement.The Lebanese government clashed with the central bank on Thursday over its move to end fuel subsidies that have drained the currency reserves, saying prices must not change and subsidies must continue until measures are in place to help the poor.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.With the government and central bank adopting conflicting positions, petroleum importers demanded clarification, with one warning of huge fuel shortages due to inadequate supply.The loss of fuel subsidies would open a new phase in the financial crisis that has sunk the value of Lebanon’s currency by more than 90 percent since 2019 and thrown more than half the population into poverty.Since the crisis began, the central bank has been effectively subsidising fuel by using its dollar reserves to finance imports at exchange rates well below the rates on the parallel market.The central bank defended its decision to provide dollars at market rates, saying it had told the government a year ago that legislation would be needed to dip into the mandatory reserve, a portion of deposits that must be preserved by law.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Lebanon’s prime minister rejects president’s call for fuel crisis meeting

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab Friday rejected President Michel Aoun's call to convene the cabinet to discuss the country's fuel crisis..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Diab rejects Aoun's call for Cabinet meeting over fuel crisis

Firefighters battled wildfires still raging across northern Algeria Friday assisted by volunteers, but the deadly blazes in the worst-hit province of Tizi Ouzou were largely extinguished, the emergency services said.The North African country was observing a second day of national mourning for the 71 people confirmed killed in by far the deadliest wildfires to hit the Mediterranean this summer.Mosques across the country were expected to hold prayers for the departed after the main weekly Muslim prayers at midday.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Even in Tizi Ouzou province, fire crews remained on high alert for any resurgence of the flames that have reduced its mountain forests to charred wood and ash.After first reporting that “all the forest fires that broke out in Tizi Ouzou were extinguished this morning”, the emergency services reported “five new fires” in the province.Fire crews continued to battle blazes in Bejaia and Boumerdes, the other two provinces of the mainly Berber Kabylie region that extends along the Mediterranean coast east of the capital Algiers, as well as in Jijel, further east.Some 35 fires raged across 11 northern provinces, the emergency services said.A total of 76 of the more than 100 fires that had broken out since Monday were now under control.Two French firefighting aircraft have been supporting the emergency services in Kabylie since Thursday.They were expected to be joined later Friday by three tanker aircraft from Spain and Switzerland, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said.High winds fuelled the rapid spread of the flames in tinder-dry conditions created by a heatwave across North Africa and the wider Mediterranean.Meteorologists expect the regional heatwave to continue until the end of the week, after temperatures in Algeria reached 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).Across the border in Tunisia, where almost 30 fires have been recorded since Monday, the mercury hit an all-time record of 50.3 Celsius in the central region of Kairouan.On the northern shores of the Mediterranean, deadly wildfires have been raging in Turkey and Greece for the past two weeks.In Italy, where firefighters were battling more than 500 blazes, Sicily recorded a temperature of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday that is believed to be a new European record.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Firefighters make headway as Algeria holds second day of mourning

The restrictions on transportation of goods in and out of Gaza have been eased for the first time since Operation Guardian of the Walls.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Israel eases Gaza restrictions as war threat subsides

New survey shows 75% of Israelis expect to be placed under lockdown
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Who are Israel’s COVID-19 anti-vaxxers? New survey

A 21-year-old man from Shiloh was arrested on Friday on suspicion of physically attacking a bus driver with his cellphone after the driver requested that he wear a mask.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Bus driver attacked after telling passenger to wear a mask

Tributes paid to doctor whose NGO set up world-class hospitals in war zones such as Iraq, Yemen and Sudan..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: ‘Maestro of humanity’: Italian surgeon Gino Strada dies at 73

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi stressed the need for security leaders to develop new plans to protect electricity transmission towers, and render them less vulnerable to targeting by terrorists and saboteurs, considering the significant impact of such disruptive acts on electricity supply..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Kadhimi calls on security forces to develop new plans to protect electricity pylons