Middle East Experience

Domestic abuse hotlines see over 100% increase in calls amid coronavirus pandemic
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Protesters call on gov't to fund domestic violence prevention program

Hundreds of mourners called for revenge during processions in East Jerusalem on Sunday.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Israel apologies after police kill unarmed Palestinian in Jerusalem's Old City

Netanyahu and Gantz clarify draft of coronavirus legislation.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: ‘Police will not break into homes; children will not be microchipped’

“There has never been a government that mocked its people more, and it is doing it at the hardest time ever,” Lapid claimed.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Government repels four 'no confidence votes' initiated by opposition

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi approved new amendments to the emergency law, granting the army the right to arrest and prosecute civilians in clear violation of the constitution and the law, according to human rights activists.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Sisi grants army more powers under state of emergency

Internet use has surged during the coronavirus pandemic as people find themselves stuck at home due to government-imposed lockdowns aimed at containing the spread of the virus.The unprecedented lockdown has left people turning online for many activities that they may have previously done in person, such as shopping, socializing, and working. While the internet provides many benefits, it can also be a tool for criminals to gain access to personal information or funds.The ongoing pandemic has provided an opportunity for cyber criminals, who have changed their habits in a bid to dupe users into giving out personal information that can be used for financial gain.Online shopping and streaming platforms have, for instance, seen significant rise in usage, leading criminals to create fake websites that seem trustworthy and lure people into a false sense of security.Read more:Coronavirus: UAE reports 796 cases, 4 deaths, urges against Eid gatherings, feastsCoronavirus ban on family gatherings, weddings, funerals remains, says Saudi officialCats can spread coronavirus, cat-to-human COVID-19 transmission possible: Researchers “Cyber criminals have noticed that people are relying on online shopping sites to get what they need and are using streaming websites to keep themselves entertained. Cyber criminals have created websites that imitate online shopping and streaming platforms … This tactic has caused the number of phishing attacks related to COVID-19 to increase heavily,” said Amir Kanaan, managing director for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa at cybersecurity company Kaspersky.Phishing refers to a cybercrime in which a target is led to believe they are interacting with a legitimate person or institution. Scammers can use email to take on false identities or create websites imitating real services to steal information.Video conferencing use in particular has skyrocketed, as users have turned to online services to keep in touch. However, the security of these platforms has been questioned, with Zoom most recently coming under fire for its poor security practices.“Given the recent news about security concerns and media scrutiny, it is vital that users don’t completely rely on the security services provided by these video conferencing applications such as end-to-end encryption,” Kanaan said.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Users should remember to not discuss personal information or share trade secrets in these applications, Kanaan warned, and added that video conferencing applications can only be used if users take the necessary steps to protect their data.Six tips for staying safeKanaan outlined six tips that users can use to protect themselves from cybersecurity threats:1. Protect your accountUse strong, unique and long passwords for each of your accounts. If possible, users should also enable two-factor authentication, a service that allows users to set a second secret code or other information beyond a password to login, such as a one-time-use code from an authentication app.2. Don’t fall for fake applicationsRemain vigilant with all applications downloaded from the internet and don’t download or install anything that has not been checked as legitimate. Best practice is to use only official websites and application stores for all downloads.3. Don’t use social media to share conference linksTo prevent unwanted people joining an online conference call, do not share the link to the call on social media.4. Protect meetings with a passwordUsing a password for each meeting if the application allows it is the best way to make sure only the people that you want can attend the meeting.5. Update operating systems and appsMake sure that all software is updated to its most recent version. This step ensures that any known security flaws can be removed, decreasing the likelihood of successful malicious activity.6. Check antivirus softwareEnsure that antivirus is turned on, or a reputable third party antivirus software is installed.Read more:Wedding ban amid coronavirus: Saudi Arabia trains 5,000 registrars in online marriageUK bookseller WH Smith sees online sales surge as coronavirus hits salesHackers target WHO as coronavirus cyberattacks spike
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Here are 6 tips for staying safe online during the coronavirus pandemic

In Libya’s vast southern desert, three men have resumed what they call their “taxi service.”The passengers aren’t tourists or locals. They are mostly young men from neighboring African countries desperate to cross the border and head north toward Europe. And with each ride paying $180 to $250 even as coronavirus wreaks havoc on some of the world’s poorest people, it’s a business that’s still proving as lucrative as ever.“We don’t reduce our fees because those who want to migrate have no other choice,” said one smuggler based near Sebha, a city in Libya’s southwest, 770 kilometers (480 miles) by road from the war-torn capital of Tripoli.Migration through Libya eased during the height of the pandemic after governments locked down and closed frontiers to curb the spread of the deadly virus. As African economies crater because of disruptions to supply chains and farming, violence and food insecurity are increasing-and traffickers say people are on the move again. The alarm has already gone off in the European Union.Read more:Coronavirus: UAE reports 796 cases, 4 deaths, urges against Eid gatherings, feastsCoronavirus ban on family gatherings, weddings, funerals remains, says Saudi officialCats can spread coronavirus, cat-to-human COVID-19 transmission possible: Researchers The EU has invested heavily in keeping arrivals at bay since 2015, when more than a million people mostly fleeing Middle East war zones sought safety. It’s paid Turkey to house refugees and given money to the Libyan coastguard. But the political damage has lasted as anti-immigrant populists gained succor across the continent.Back then, the influx came on the heels of a debt crisis that crippled Greece, the EU’s gateway to the east, and the country is still struggling to cope. This time, the coronavirus has put Italy, the main destination for people crossing from Libya, in the spotlight as Europe’s soft economic underbelly.In April, the Italian government declared its ports “unsafe” due to the pandemic and said it wouldn’t authorize the landing of rescue boats until the end of the emergency.“In Brussels, the impact of COVID in Africa is something they know they need to address,” said Camille Le Coz, a policy analyst at Migration Policy Institute Europe. “The European Commission is preparing for different scenarios. The last migration and refugee crisis in 2015 taught them they need to plan in advance.”Europe is facing its biggest financial hit since World War II as the virus ripped through the continent and governments confined people to their homes. The UK, Italy, Spain and France have recorded the most deaths after the US. But they also have the money. In Africa, where casualty rates are lower, it’s a matter of surviving the economic fallout.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.On the edge of the Sahara, the south of Libya is bristling with foreign mercenaries and extremist groups, and illicit trading of everything from weapons to gold. Those in the business of trafficking humans said they are mostly seeing people from neighboring Chad, Sudan and Niger because the trip costs less. But they are also seeing some trekking from further afield, such as Eritrea, Ghana, Mali and Nigeria.The three Libyan smugglers interviewed for this story were in their late 30s and early 40s, and hail from the country’s south. They spoke on the condition of anonymity.People paying to transit Libya “feel that once they reach Europe, their lives will be better than it is in their countries, where their salaries and income is weak,” said one trafficker. “In the world and in stable countries, especially Europe, the situation is good, said another. “They have this belief that their arrival means that they will never go to bed hungry.”One of the men said he recently received a phone call from a contact outside Libya who hadn’t been in touch for a long time. After the conversation, he now expects the numbers of new migrants crossing into Libya to increase once tighter border controls in central African countries are loosened.The drivers said they were busiest in the summers of 2015 and 2016, when they made about 30 trips carrying 20 passengers each time. Last summer, they did only two trips as European efforts to thwart irregular migration started to bear fruit. But the trend is upwards again.There were 2,800 arrivals in Europe from the central Mediterranean route between January 1 and April 5 this year, five times more than in the same period of 2019, according to EU border agency Frontex. Many of them would have already been stuck in Libya.People smuggling through the country has generated annual revenues of as much as $1.5 billion, according to an estimate by the International Crisis Group.The “taxi service” meets customers at an agreed point along the Chad-Libya border, a 1,000-kilometer straight line through the red sands of the desert. It’s an area that’s near impossible to police, so the drivers only really fear rival gangs and militants. “We can easily move the meeting point to another spot if we have to,” said one.They then travel in groups of a dozen to a western city near the Mediterranean coast. From there another trafficking ring asks for additional fees to ferry the passengers to the water’s edge, load them onto boats and direct them across the sea toward European shores. What happens next is simply down to luck.While just a snapshot of one part of a vast and complicated network, the activity in this regional crossroads is an early indication of the toll that the measures to fight the pandemic are having on sub-Saharan African countries.Europe’s refugee responseEU policy makers are discussing offering humanitarian assistance, building resilience in African health-care systems, and helping economies, said Le Coz in Brussels. There’s also a focus on how to compensate for the drop in remittances, the money sent home from successful migrants that’s a lifeline to many families.French President Emmanuel Macron has even called for a moratorium on African debt, saying the continent was already facing unsustainable finances before the pandemic. “Difficulties will continue to arise even if COVID does not become a health catastrophe,” he said.Well before the pandemic there were already plenty of potential migrants in Libya. Fabrice Leggeri, Frontex’s executive director, told the European Parliament last month that COVID-19 and Libya’s conflict are prompting more people to attempt a crossing. The Libyan coastguard is also having more difficulty stopping them, he said.Not everyone makes it. Some are arrested and put into Libyan detention camps, others are returned to their point of departure by coastguards. Since the EU ended search and rescue operations, more and more are drowning at sea.Of course, it’s impossible to say how big a new migration flow might be. As Andrew Geddes, director of the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute in Florence, put it, there’s a misconception “that the whole African population is sat on its suitcase ready to go to Europe.”Most African migration takes place within Africa, while there’s also a route through Yemen to the Gulf. Researchers say the true picture will only become clear in months to come and they caution against using the word “wave.”But some European countries and parties that oppose migration have already started talking about the potential for increased arrivals and the need for more border control.In Italy, nationalist opposition leader Matteo Salvini has denounced a government plan to give legal status to some 500,000 illegal migrant workers-many of them in the agricultural sector-because of the coronavirus emergency. He said “just the idea” of legal status “fosters crime.”The smugglers say that as long as they have no other means of income, they’ll continue their work, and as long as people keep arriving, migrants will keep trying.“The migrants, especially those who want to go to Europe, follow only good news,” said one. All they want to know, he said, is “are there migrants who are managing to reach their destination or not?”Read more:Ethiopia migrants recall tragedy when 64 suffocated in a metal containerHundreds protest Afghan migrant drownings at Iran borderUK coastguard rescue more than 120 migrants on seven small boats in English Channel
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Human traffickers are getting rich as coronavirus crisis prompts migration

Kuwait detected 1,048 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 14,850.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.Five people died of the virus, which brings the virus-related death toll in the country to 112.Some of the newly infected individuals were infected through direct contact with others who were infected, while some are still under epidemic investigation to determine how they were infected.So far, 4,093 people have recovered from the virus in Kuwait.Kuwait last week began its 24-hour nationwide curfew to curb the coronavirus outbreak. The ministry urged citizens and residents to adhere to precautionary measures to contain the spread of the virus.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: Kuwait detects 1,048 new infections as cases continue to rise

Saudi Arabia reported 2,736 new coronavirus cases as the Kingdom intensifies its testing capabilities to provide between 15,000 and 18,000 tests a day, the Ministry of Health said on Sunday.This brings the total number of cases in the country to 54,752.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.Ten people of different nationalities died of the virus in the last 24 hours, health ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Abd al-Ali said. They lived in Jeddah, Medina, Kharj, Mecca, Riyadh, and Nairyah, and were between the ages of 26 and 60 years old, he added.Out of the newly reported cases, women make up 22 percent and men make up 77 percent. Meanwhile, Saudi citizens make up 40 percent of the new infections, while non-Saudis make up 60 percent.Al-Abd al-Ali said that the ministry was using contact tracing to determine how people were infected. The method has shown that hundreds of people were infected after failing to adhere to precautionary measures and attending large social gatherings.He urged the public to maintain social distancing practices and to refrain from visiting friends and extended family members to prevent the spread of the virus. Read more:Saudi Arabia has one of world’s lowest coronavirus death rates, critical casesCoronavirus ban on family gatherings, weddings, funerals remains, says Saudi official
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia reports 2,736 new cases, conducts up to 18,000 tests daily

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health is planning to double its coronavirus testing program to conduct up to 36,000 COVID-19 tests daily, the spokesman Mohammed al-Abd al-Ali said on Sunday.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.The Kingdom currently conducts between 15,000 to 18,000 tests daily as part of its efforts to curb the outbreak, he added.Only a month ago, the Kingdom was conducting around 5,000 and 6,000 tests per day, he said, adding that at the time it was a significant number compared to other countries.Saudi Arabia has since tripled the amount of tests to ensure that cases are detected early and isolated to prevent them from spreading further, according to al-Abd al-Ali.A total of 586,405 coronavirus tests have been conducted across the country so far, he said.The Kingdom has reported 54,752 confirmed coronavirus cases and 312 deaths so far.Read more: Saudi Arabia’s coronavirus death rate, critical cases lowest in world: MinisterCoronavirus ban on family gatherings, weddings, funerals remains, says Saudi officialCoronavirus in Saudi Arabia: Eastern Province launches sterilization gate for cars
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia plans to double its testing program to 36,000 tests daily