Middle East Experience

Abu Dhabi has operating touristic trips to Socotra island, in violation of Yemen and the island's sovereignty..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: UAE 'running Socotra tours without Yemen's permission', ministerial aide says

The popular cleric Moktada al-Sadr got a coronavirus vaccine, persuading many of his followers to do the same. Yet millions of Iraqis remain unconvinced..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Cleric Lifts Iraq’s Faltering Vaccination Effort, but Perilous Summer Awaits

Iran-backed militias have sought to fill the vacuum left behind by the Islamic State group in Iraq, according to a Newslines Institute report..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Iran-backed militias now controlling IS group's 'legacies' in Iraq: report

The tensions in Jerusalem go back to late April when Ramadan began and Israeli police restricted access to Damascus Gate.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah join to incite terror against Israel - analysis

The announcement came soon after Australia said they would not attend, and several days after the US said it would boycott the conference.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Domino effect: Canada announces Durban IV boycott after US, Australia

Tensions have risen throughout Israel during Ramadan over the potential eviction of Palestinians from Jerusalem homes on the disputed land of Sheikh Jarrah.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Israel Police prepares for more expected Temple Mount violence

The second cargo plane full of medical equipment took off from Israel early on Friday and is expected to be followed by more shipments over the next few days.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Israel sends additional COVID-19 aid to India to combat severe outbreak

A large segment of a Chinese rocket re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated over the Indian Ocean on Sunday, the Chinese space agency said, following fevered speculation over where the 18-tonne object would come down.Officials in Beijing had said there was little risk from the freefalling segment of the Long March-5B rocket, which had launched the first module of China’s new space station into Earth orbit on April 29.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“After monitoring and analysis, at 10:24 (0224 GMT) on May 9, 2021, the last-stage wreckage of the Long March 5B Yao-2 launch vehicle has reentered the atmosphere,” the China Manned Space Engineering Office said in a statement, providing coordinates for a point in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives.It added that most of the segment disintegrated and was destroyed during re-entry.Monitoring service Space-Track, which uses US military data, also confirmed the re-entry.“Everyone else following the #LongMarch5B re-entry can relax. The rocket is down,” it tweeted.The segment’s descent matched predictions by some experts that any debris would have splashed down into the ocean, given that 70 percent of the planet is covered by water.But the uncontrolled re-entry of such a large object had sparked concerns about possible damage and casualties, despite there being a low statistical chance.American and European space authorities were among those tracking its orbits and trying to determine when and where it may come down.Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had said the US military had no plans to shoot it down, but suggested that China had been negligent in letting it fall out of orbit.Last year, debris from another Long March rocket fell on villages in the Ivory Coast, causing structural damage but no injuries or deaths.“An ocean reentry was always statistically the most likely,” Harvard-based astronomer Jonathan McDowell tweeted.“It appears China won its gamble (unless we get news of debris in the Maldives). But it was still reckless.”McDowell had said earlier that China should redesign the Long March-5B to avoid such scenarios.Read more:China space rocket debris set to re-enter Earth: US, R&D centerChina says its rocket debris 'extremely unlikely' to cause any harmDebris from China space rocket likely to fall in international waters: Global Times
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Chinese rocket debris reenters earth over Indian Ocean near Maldives: Officials

A crisis between the Egyptian and Ethiopian churches erupted over the ownership of Deir al-Sultan in Jerusalem.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Egyptian, Ethiopian churches clash over Deir al-Sultan in Jerusalem

A shooting in New York’s bustling Times Square on Saturday injured a four-year-old girl and two women, in the latest incident of gun violence in the city, police said.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The shooting took place just before 5:00 pm local time (9:00 pm GMT), at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 44th Street, a NYPD spokesperson told AFP.The three victims were a four-year-old child in a stroller, who was hit in the leg while her family was buying toys, a 46-year-old woman hit in the foot, and a 23-year-old tourist from Rhode Island hit in the leg.They were hospitalized in Manhattan, and their lives were not in danger, said New York police commissioner Dermot Shea, at a press briefing.Shea said the three bystanders -- who did not appear to know each other -- stumbled into an argument between two to four men, at least one of whom fired a gun.No arrests had been made by early evening. Police issued an appeal for witnesses and released surveillance camera footage of a wanted man.Times Square, one of New York’s tourist hotspots before the pandemic, has changed since theaters all closed in March 2020.According to a recent report by the Times Square Alliance, the neighborhood business association, the area recorded 25 violent crimes in the first quarter of 2021, up from 17 in the same period of 2020.At the end of March, a video of an assault on an older woman of Asian descent shocked the neighborhood.A man with a criminal record, who lived in a hotel near Times Square that had become a reception center for the homeless, was arrested and charged.Neighborhood theaters are set to start reopening on September 14, however, and the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, recently announced a major campaign to revive tourism from June.Shootings in New York have sharply increased since the summer of 2020 and the protests against the police violence that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, official data show.Crime in general was up 30 percent over the same period.Read more:Chinese rocket debris reenters earth over Indian Ocean near Maldives: OfficialsIsraeli troops kill 2 Palestinian attackers, injure third as West Bank tensions riseTwo people shot dead in Wisconsin casino; gunman killed: Police
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: New York Times Square shooting leaves three injured, including four-year-old child