Middle East Experience

Israel said Sunday two million people will have received a two-dose Covid-19 vaccination by the end of January, a pace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasts is the world's fastest.Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.Starting on December 19, when Netanyahu got his first jab, Israel launched an aggressive push to administer the vaccine made by US-German pharma alliance Pfizer-BioNTech.Health Ministry Director General Hezi Levy said that because of the enthusiastic takeup, Israel would be easing the speed of vaccination to eke out stocks.The vaccine must be given in two separate jabs, administered three weeks apart.“We are slowing the pace of vaccinations of the first dose, so that we can keep reserved stock for a second dose for all those who got a first shot,” Levy told public broadcaster KAN.But he added that around a fifth of Israel's people, starting with health workers and those over 60, would have had both shots by the end of this month.“By the end of January, we shall have inoculated two million residents, most of them elderly,” he said.As of Friday, one million people had received their first injection.“We are breaking all the records,” Netanyahu said Friday, during a visit to the Israeli Arab city of Umm al-Fahm, where the millionth jab was reported administered.“We are ahead of the entire world,” the premier said.The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics said in a year-end statement that Israel's population stood at 9.29 million.The figure includes annexed east Jerusalem, where Israeli sovereignty is not recognized by most of the international community.The health ministry said on Sunday that 435,866 people in Israel had so far tested positive for the virus since the first confirmed case was reported in February. Almost 3,400 people have died, it said.The ministry said on Friday that it had confirmed 18 local cases of a new strain of coronavirus first detected in Britain.Read more:US distributes over 13 mln doses of coronavirus vaccines, 4.2 mln administered: CDCUAE reports 1,590 COVID-19 cases, five deathsUS hits 277,000 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours setting new record
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: Israel plans to vaccinate 2 mln people by end of January

The lives of thousands of Syrian families in the Idlib camps lives turn into hell every year with the start of winter amid the lack of heating and rainwater drainage.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Humanitarian disaster looms over camps during winter

Saudi Arabia reported 82 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, marking its lowest daily toll in nine months, the Ministry of Health announced on Sunday.Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.The total number of confirmed cases increased to 363,061, however, only 2,372 active cases remain in the Kingdom.Of the new cases, 35 were detected in the city of Riyadh, 24 in Mecca and five in Medina, according to the ministry.The total number of recoveries reached 354,443 after an additional 180 individuals recovered.Meanwhile, seven people died due to COVID-19 complications over the past 24 hours.Saudi Arabia launched its COVID-19 vaccine campaign in December with over 700,000 people signing up since registration opened on December 15.The Ministry of Health has confirmed the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, after successful tests showed it provided a strong immune response and antibodies in trial participants, according to SPA.Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah told Al Arabiya last week that vaccines are set to reach all the regions of Saudi Arabia within three weeks.Saudi Arabia is set to receive three million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine by the end of May 2021, according to Al Arabiya’s correspondent in Riyadh.Read more:Saudi Arabia resumes intl. flights, sets entry conditions for countriesCoronavirus vaccine is safe, should be taken by all: Saudi Arabia’s Health MinistrySaudi interior, culture ministers, GEA chairman receive COVID-19 vaccine
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia new COVID-19 cases drop below 100 first time in nine months

Since the coronavirus first emerged, the prolonged pandemic has lent itself to endless headlines about the virus; from its rampant spread across the globe, border closures, worldwide lockdowns and the hunt for a vaccine.But in times of crisis, conspiracy theories can spread just as quickly as the virus itself.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.The advent of the world’s biggest public health crisis in nearly a century has also led to a year of misinformation, in which conspiracy theorists had plenty of fuel to burn and a vulnerable audience – burdened by lockdown-induced social anxiety – susceptible to fake news spread across the internet and social media platforms.From theories that the new 5G wireless broadband caused or spread the virus, to suggestions that the virus was created as a biological weapon, here are the biggest conspiracies theories since the pandemic began.5G: A super spreaderOne of the first strange ‘explanations’ for the virus was that the rollout of 5G mobile technology was to blame. Some argued that the coronavirus was created to ensure people stayed in their homes while the 5G technology was rolled out, while others stated that radiation waves emitted from 5G weakened people’s immune systems – making them more vulnerable to infection. Other theorists claimed that 5G directly transmitted the virus.Conspiracy theorists linked two incidents which they said were correlated; the rapid rollout of 5G networks at the same time the pandemic hit.In the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project, a survey of about 26,000 people in 25 countries, more than a fifth of respondents in Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa believed it was definitely or probably true that symptoms were “caused or enhanced by the direct, physical effects on the human body” of 5G.But, as the World Health Organization pointed out in response to the theories, viruses cannot travel on mobile networks, and that COVID-19 spread rapidly in many countries that do not have 5G networks. Even so, this conspiracy theory — after being spread by celebrities with big social media followings —led to cellphone towers being set on fire in the UK and elsewhere.Bill Gates to blameConspiracy theorists also made claims that the coronavirus pandemic was a cover for a plan to implant trackable microchips inside vaccines – with the blame pinned on Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation publicly debunked the claim, with Bill Gates himself referring to the theory as “stupid” and “bizarre.”Gates also became a new target of disinformation after gently criticizing the defunding of the World Health Organization. It led to anti-vaxxers seizing upon a video of a 2015 Ted talk given by Gates — where he discussed the Ebola outbreak and warned of a new pandemic — to suggest Gates had foreknowledge of the COVID pandemic or even purposely caused it.Coronavirus: A new bioweaponFor every hypothesis, research and study into the origin of the coronavirus and how it mutated, there was a conspiracy theory that it didn’t have a natural origin at all.Online, theorists claimed COVID-19 was actually engineered in a high-level biological warfare laboratory, with the blame commonly pinned on Chinese scientists, and designed to spread quickly and kill efficiently, as a modern-day biological weapon.According to a study by PEW Research at the height of the pandemic, “nearly three-in-10 Americans believe that COVID-19 was made in a lab,” either intentionally or accidentally (the former is more popular: Specifically, 23 percent believe it was developed intentionally, with only six percent believing it was an accident).COVID-19 imported into China by US militaryIn response to the notion that COVID-19 emerged in a laboratory in Wuhan, a competing conspiracy theory emerged that the US military could have brought the coronavirus to China, supplanting the traditional view that the pandemic began in the Chinese city of Wuhan.This idea was spread initially by Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, who tweeted at the time, that “it’s possible that the US military brought the virus to Wuhan.”For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.These comments – widely circulated in China – added fuel to rumors that US military personnel had brought the virus to China during their participation in the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan last OctoberCOVID-19: Fiction not factAccording to professional conspiracy theorists like InfoWars’ far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, COVID-19 doesn’t actually exist at all.Instead they have spread the theory that the pandemic is merely a ploy by governments to rob citizens of their freedoms.Early versions of this theory was notion that the coronavirus is no worse than flu.Read more:UK says 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory is ‘dangerous fake nonsense’Coronavirus: Bill Gates denies conspiracy theories he created COVID-19 outbreakBill Gates responds to ‘stupid,’ ‘bizarre’ coronavirus microchip conspiracy theories
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: The top conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19

Two of the three men executed in southeast Sistan-Baluchistan….
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Three executed in Iran for 'terrorist' acts and murder

Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria are the countries most at risk according to the IRC Emergency Watchlist for 2021..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Why 2021 could be an even worse year for the Middle East

A report published by Yemen's military said thousands of Houthi fighters were killed in battles with Saudi-backed pro-government forces between January and December..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: 9,000 Houthis killed in 2020 battles: Yemen gov

He made the revelation in an open letter he wrote as he completed 15 years as the Head of the UAE Government..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Sheikh Mohammed reveals his ‘greatest friend, companion’

President Michel Aoun Sunday said Lebanon had no partner in in maintaining its independence and sovereignty, after a top Iranian Commander claimed that Lebanon’s missile capabilities were a result of their support..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Lebanon has no partner in defending sovereignty: Aoun

While the outgoing deputy director-general of the Health Ministry suggested limiting coronavirus vaccines to one dose per person, other experts were not sold on the idea.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Experts disagree on one-dose vaccine, report spotlights British mutation