Middle East Experience

Lebanon registers 984 new COVID-19 cases, three deaths in last 24 hours..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Lebanon registers 984 new COVID-19 cases, three deaths in last 24 hours

Cavalli owns the Florence-based Italian fashion house Roberto Cavalli group, which he founded in the 1970s - famed for its animal prints.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Israeli fashion icon Tamara Yovel Jones meets Roberto Cavilli in Italy

One of the drones was directly aimed at the tanker's bridge, to kill people, defense and security analyst Farzin Nadimi has stated.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Iran trying to draw retaliation red line at sea against Israel - analysis

Taliban fighters struck Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan with at least three rockets overnight, the extremist group’s spokesman said on Sunday, adding that the aim was to thwart air strikes conducted by Afghan government forces.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“Kandahar airport was targeted by us because the enemy were using it as a center to conduct air strikes against us,” Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, told Reuters.Afghan government officials said the rocket attacks forced authorities to suspend all flights and that the runway was partially damaged. There were no immediate reports of casualties, the officials said.“Last night three rockets were fired at the airport and two of them hit the runway... Due to this all flights from the airport have been canceled,” airport chief Massoud Pashtun told AFP.Pashtun said work to repair the runway was underway and expected the airport to be operational later on Sunday.An official at the civil aviation authority in Kabul confirmed the rocket attack.The Taliban have for weeks launched withering assaults on the outskirts of Kandahar, stirring fears that the insurgents were on the verge of capturing the provincial capital.Kandahar’s air base is vital to providing the logistics and air support needed to keep the militants from overrunning Afghanistan’s second-biggest city.The attack on the airport came as the Taliban inched closer to overrunning two other provincial capitals -- Herat in the west and Lashkar Gah in the south.The Taliban’s significant territorial gains during the final stages of the US military withdrawal have largely been in sparsely populated rural areas.But in recent weeks they have brought increasing pressure on several provincial capitals and seized key border crossings.The capture of any major urban center would take their current offensive to another level and fuel concerns that the army is incapable of resisting the Taliban’s battlefield gains.The government has repeatedly dismissed the Taliban’s steady territorial gains over the summer as lacking strategic value.Read more: Hospital ‘erroneously’ bombed in southern Afghanistan as battles rage First evacuation flight of Afghans lands in US: BidenTaliban and Afghan forces clash again on outskirts of Herat city
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Taliban rockets hit Kandahar airport in Afghanistan, flights canceled

A project to build a new axis aimed at easing traffic congestion in the Egyptian capital will divide the Maadi area in Cairo and result in several citizens’ evacuation from their shops and homes.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Green area in Egyptian capital threatened with state road project

Scientists have discovered hundreds of thousands of animal and human remains in a cave in northwestern Saudi Arabia, which they believe were gathered by striped hyenas over the past 7,000 years.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The discovery was made in the Umm Jirsan lava tube, a 1.5-kilometer tunnel filled with “beautifully preserved” remains located in the Kingdom’s Harrat Kaybar lava field, the scientists wrote in a published study.The discovery included bones of cattle, caprids, horses, camels, rodents, and even humans.The accumulation of the bones over thousands of years shows that the lava tube makes for “excellent conditions for preservation of bone,” scientist Stewie Stewart said in a Twitter thread.“In a region where bone preservation is very, very poor, sites like Umm Jirsan offer an exciting new resource,” he added.The scientists were able to conclude that the remains were brought in by stiped hyenas based on their studies of the types of bones, frequencies and locations.“These critters are avid collectors of bones, which they transport to dens to be consumed, fed to young, or cached,” Stewart said.Despite the study focusing on hyenas, the scientists concluded in their published article that “donkeys have been an important livestock in the region for thousands of years.”“Umm Jirsan (and other similar sites in the region) is likely to hold valuable insights into the ecologies and environments of Holocene Arabia. This study is just the tip of the iceberg,” Stewart said.Read more: Saudi Arabia discovers 6th-century rock inscriptions of Babylonian king in HailTales as old as time: Get to know Saudi Arabia’s Thamudic petroglyphsNew discovery: Saudi Arabia’s ancient stone structures older than Egyptian pyramids
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Scientists discover hundreds of thousands of animal, human bones in Saudi Arabia cave

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that he did not care if people who denied COVID-19 vaccines died from the virus, online news media Business Insider reported on Saturday.In a national address on Wednesday, he stated: “For those who do not want it, well, for all I care, you can die anytime.”For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“To those people who do not want to be vaccinated, I am telling you, don’t go out of your house. If you go out of your house, I will tell the police to return you home. You will be escorted back to your house because you are a walking spreading [of COVID-19].”President Duterte on Friday approved the imposition of lockdown measures in the capital region, in a bid to contain the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant and to shield the country’s medical system.The Manila capital region, a sprawl of 16 cities home to more than 13 million people, will be placed under the tightest quarantine curbs from August 6 to 20, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a televised address. “While it is a painful decision, this is for the good of all.”The lockdown, which is expected to cost the economy $4 billion, will mean people cannot leave their homes, except for essential shopping, while indoor and al fresco dining is banned.“Delta is all over Metro Manila already. This is proper intervention,” Benjamin Abalos, chairperson of the capital’s council of mayors, told Reuters.The mayors planned to step up vaccinations to 250,000 doses a day, up from 150,000 now, he said.The highly transmissible Delta variant, first detected in India, has spread rapidly across much of Southeast Asia.The Philippines also extended a ban on travelers coming from 10 countries including India, Indonesia, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates to August 15.Philippines’ COVID-19 battle Already battling the second-worst coronavirus outbreak in Asia, the Philippines has recorded over 1.58 million COVID-19 cases and 27,722 deaths.On Friday, authorities reported 8,562 new infections, the highest daily increase in two months, and 145 deaths.The country has reported 216 cases of the Delta variant, but health experts say more could have gone undetected because of the slow pace of genome sequencing.The second wave in the Philippine outbreak peaked in April but infections have started to rise again in recent weeks. Currently hospital occupancy in the capital area is 49 percent, while the rate for intensive care beds is 58 percent.With only 7 percent of the country’s 110 million people fully vaccinated, tens of millions remain vulnerable to COVID-19.The lockdown prompted a share selloff, with the Philippines’ index slumping 3.5 percent to its lowest close in more than nine weeks.Economic Planning Secretary Karl Chua told reporters the lockdown could cost the economy 210 billion pesos ($4.18 billion), cut 444,000 jobs, and increase the number of poor people by up to 177,000.After suffering a record 9.6 percent contraction in 2020, the Philippines is aiming for a 6.0 percent-7.0 percent economic expansion this year.With ReutersRead more:Philippines orders children back indoors as COVID-19 cases surgePhilippine President Duterte retains key defense pact allowing US war exercisesPhilippines extends ban on travelers from 10 countries including UAE, Oman
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Philippine president tells unvaccinated: ‘for all I care, you can die anytime’

Scientists warn of a new and more lethal COVID-19 variant with a similar death rate to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus with the potential to kill one in three infected people, according to a report released on Friday.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.The research, written by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies under SAGE publications, stated that there is a “realistic possibility” that this strain could hold MERS-like characteristics.However, the United Kingdom-based experts also mentioned that this could mean that the virus could result in “less severe disease” in older people and clinically vulnerable individuals in the long run, both of whom were at the highest risk of hospitalization and death with COVID-19.The paper also stated that the eradication of the coronavirus was “unlikely”, adding that “there will always be variants”.‘Recombination’ of variants For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The study, which analyzed the ‘long term evolution of SARS-CoV-2,’ considered scenarios where a COVID-19 variant were to cause more severe reactions to the disease in a large proportion of a given population than a previous strain, with similar death rates to SARS, which stands at 10 percent, and MERS, standing at 35 percent.The researchers said that the “recombination” between two variants of concern, interest or under investigation, would cause this type of reaction, warning that the likelihood of this happening given the current circumstances of the virus, was a “realistic possibility.”Vaccines and future variants The study said that a scenario where a COVID-19 variant evades the available vaccines due to ‘antigenic drift’ was “almost certain,” suggesting that the UK continues to regularly vaccinate vulnerable age groups with updated vaccines to help protect them against dominant variants.It also found that a scenario where the COVID-19 virus becomes less severe, becoming something more like one “that causes common colds” was “unlikely in the short term” but could be a “realistic possibility” in the long run.UK-based clinical epidemiologist took to Twitter to warn the public about the long-term implications involved in virus transmission, stating that the report was “a stark warning.”“We seem to be taking the very path that will get us to this devastating outcome. Given the impact delta has already had, & in light of recent evidence from the CDC, we cannot afford any more new variants emerging - we need to take preventive action now,” she said in a Tweet on Saturday.“…Contrary to suggestions by some that SARS-CoV-2 is moving to becoming more benign (refuted by the fact that several more severe variants have already evolved and spread), it considers a move to more severe variants a ‘realistic possibility’,” she added.Read more:UAE records 1,519 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths in 24 hoursPhilippine president tells unvaccinated: ‘for all I care, you can die anytime’US memorials to victims of COVID-19 pandemic taking shape
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Possible MERS-like COVID-19 strain that could kill 1 in 3 infected people: Study

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces continue to empty al-Hol camp of Islamic State-affiliated Syrians.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: More women prisoners linked to Islamic State released from al-Hol camp

Mired in what the World Bank calls one of the worst economic crises since the mid-19th century, Lebanon has designated a new premier to try to break its political deadlock..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Timeline: crisis-hit Lebanon