Middle East Experience

Before arriving in Ras Ali, she had never heard Arabic spoken in her life. Through teaching and speaking with the students, her Arabic improved, as did her relationship with the students.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: English becomes bridge between Galilee schoolkids and American volunteers

Iran International reported that industrial workers from Jahan Pars, Gachsaran Petrochemicals, Tehran Refinery, Abadan Refinery, as well additional plants, took part in the strike.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Labor strikes in Iran‘s oil sector could end regime

Despite around-the-clock work at the site, a shore town near Miami, search-and-rescue teams had not found any additional survivors as of Saturday.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Hopes dim as fire hinders rescue efforts at collapsed Florida building

Rating agencies continue to predict a double-digit growth for India for the financial year 2021-22..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Indian economy expected to rebound stronger, Indian envoy says

The shooting comes amid protests in recent months against rising criminal activity in the Arab sector.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Three family members killed, one injured in Galilee shooting

The Turkish-backed opposition is trying to benefit from the experience of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in establishing a new security apparatus to pursue terrorist cells in the areas under its control in north Syria.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Turkish-backed opposition seeks unified security forces in north Syria

The Egyptian government is rethinking that ministries should have oversight to maintain and protect the sites.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Ancient mosques in Egypt await rescue

Nearly twenty people were wounded in overnight scuffles in northern Lebanon between security forces and protesters angered by a spiraling economic crisis, a medical association said on Sunday.The protests in the city of Tripoli came as the Lebanese pound plumbed fresh lows on the black market due to a financial crisis that the World Bank says is likely to rank among the world’s worst since the mid-19th century.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Calm returned to the city on Sunday after protesters tried to storm official buildings, including a branch of the central bank, overnight, forcing the army to deploy.“18 people, both civilians and soldiers, were injured, including four who were hospitalized,” said the Emergency and Relief Corps, a local medical charity that dispatched ambulances to treat the wounded.Rubber bullets and shrapnel from stun grenades accounted for some of the injuries, a spokesperson for the charity told AFP.The army said 10 soldiers were wounded in the Tripoli clashes, the majority in a single incident that it said involved a group of protesters on motorcycles throwing stun grenades at personnel.The southern city of Sidon and the capital Beirut saw smaller demonstrations against the ongoing dramatic fall in living standards.The Lebanese pound, officially pegged to the dollar at 1,507 since 1997, traded at 17,300-17,500 to the dollar on the black market on Saturday -- a record low.Some social media users said it had fallen as low as 18,000, down from 15,000 earlier in the week.The country is also grappling with a fuel crisis that has led to seemingly endless queues at gas pumps in recent weeks.The price of fuel is expected to rise after the government said it would fund fuel imports at a rate of 3,900 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, instead of the official rate.The move effectively reduces subsidies on fuel as the central bank tries to shore up fast-diminishing foreign currency reserves.The financial collapse has sparked outrage at Lebanon’s political class, seen as woefully corrupt and unable to tackle the country’s many difficulties.Lebanon has been without a fully functioning government since a massive blast in Beirut last summer that killed more than 200 people and ravaged swathes of the capital.The government stepped down after the disaster, but efforts to agree on a new cabinet have repeatedly foundered.Read more:Lebanon caretaker PM approves financing fuel imports at weaker exchange rateLebanese protesters throw stun grenades at soldiers, injuring 10: ArmyLebanon raises price of bread amid crippling economic crisis
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Lebanon protests leave almost 20 injured: Charity

Lebanon on Sunday hailed a coordinated narcotics bust with Saudi authorities that led to the seizure of 14.4 million amphetamine pills in the Red Sea port of Jeddah.Saudi customs officials found the captagon tablets “hidden in iron sheets coming from Lebanon,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday.Lebanon’s interior minister Mohammed Fahmi praised “the coordination between the Lebanese internal security forces and the Saudi forces, which led... to seizing” the smuggled captagon.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.In a statement on Lebanon’s National News Agency, Fahmi added that the shipment came from the Syrian port of Latakia and passed through Beirut port using a forged Greek certificate.In April, customs officials in Jeddah seized 5.3 million captagon pills hidden in a consignment of pomegranates from Lebanon.In the same month, Saudi Arabia announced it was suspending fruit and vegetable imports from the country, saying shipments were being used for drug smuggling and accusing Beirut of inaction.The decision was a blow to Lebanon, which is embroiled in its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.Lebanon has urged Saudi Arabia to rethink the ban.Read more:Lebanon vows to do more on drug smuggling after Saudi ban on fruit, vegetable importsLebanon caretaker PM approves financing fuel imports at weaker exchange rateLebanon raises price of bread amid crippling economic crisis
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Lebanon’s interior minister hails major amphetamine bust in Saudi Arabia

Almost half of adults infected with the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Israel were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer jab, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Friday.Israel’s health authorities found that about 90 percent of the new infections were most likely caused by the Delta variant, Ran Balicer, an expert who leads an advisory panel on COVID-19 for the government, told WSJ.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The Delta variant, which was first detected in India in late 2020, contains mutations that have made it more transmissible. A study by Public Health England (PHE) found that the Delta strain was 50 to 60 percent more transmissible than COVID-19’s Alpha variant.Meanwhile, children under the age of 12 – most of whom were not yet vaccinated – accounted for almost half of the infections.The outbreak prompted the Israeli government to reimpose the mask-wearing rule, as well as other COVID-19 curbs, to contain the spread of the Delta variant.The requirement to wear masks indoors was removed a couple of weeks ago but the government decided to reverse that decision to cope with the highly transmissible strain.“The entrance of the Delta variant has changed the transmission dynamics,” WSJ quoted Balicer as saying.The country was leading one of the world’s fastest and most effective immunization campaigns, with around 80 percent of adults (above 16 years old) vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.According to COVID-19 data from Reuters, Israel’s daily infections currently average at around 124. As of Sunday, the country’s total diagnosed cases and COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic’s onset sit at 840,638 and 6,249 respectively.Israel’s vaccination drive averaged at about 5,182 doses administered per day. If the country continues to vaccinate at this rate, it would take a further 350 days to administer enough doses to another 10 percent of its population, Reuters reported.Read more:Is it safe to mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccines? Here’s what we know so farIndia’s Modi urges people to get vaccinated amid Delta COVID-19 variant concernsDelta COVID-19 variant threatens to destroy another European summer
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Delta COVID-19 variant infects some fully vaccinated adults in Israel: Report