RIYADH: The Houthis have violated the ceasefire in Yemen 114 times during last the 24 hours, the Arab coalition said on Friday. 

The coalition said it is committed to the ceasefire and supports the efforts of the UN special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths.

It added that it is exercising the utmost degree of self-restraint but is reserving its right to self-defence on the front. 

On Thursday, the coalition said that it had recorded 100 Houthi violations of the truce.

The Arab coalition fighting to restore the legitimate Yemeni government recently announced a two-week ceasefire in Yemen that came into effect on April 9. 

DUBAI: Dubai has announced that it will extend the comprehensive national sterilization program for one week in efforts to curb the outbreak of the coronavirus, Emirates News Agency reported on Friday.

The emirate announced a two-week lockdown starting on April 4 at 8 p.m. to disinfect certain areas and contain the coronavirus.

As it stands, the UAE’s total number of coronavirus infections stands at 5,825 cases, with the death toll at 35.

ALGIERS: Inmates at 30 Algerian prisons are being mobilized to make personal protective equipment to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, official news agency APS reported.
Authorities will “open sewing workshops for the production of 200,000 masks by prisoners in 30 penitentiaries… to meet their own needs and those of the courts,” prisons chief Faycal Bourbala told APS on Thursday.
Prisoners will also make clothing and protective suits for medical personnel, he added, with disinfection chambers also being manufactured at three facilities.
Prisoners will take part on a voluntary basis at the sewing workshops, which already exist and mainly attract female detainees who want to become dressmakers.
Authorities say no confirmed cases of the COVID-19 illness have been detected among 58,000 inmates at the country’s 150 prison facilities.
Since the start of the outbreak, the justice ministry has suspended family visits and ordered new prisoners into 14-day quarantines in isolated rooms.
Inmates are not allowed to leave the prisons except in case of emergency, and all direct contact with their lawyers has been banned.
According to officially declared figures, Algeria has seen Africa’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak so far.
It has seen 348 deaths and 2,268 cases since the end of February, from a population of 44 million.

DUBAI: The Turkish parliament has ratified a bill that would alleviate the economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Among the raft of measures in the legislation includes the postponement of rental payments for three months on several types of state-owned immovable properties. Municipalities and their sub-institutions will also be able to postpone water bills for three months for private homes and companies.

Municipalities will also be able to provide financial support to natural and legal persons who have public transport certificates or postpone several types of payments to provide uninterrupted public transport services, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Annual advertisement and environment taxes supposed to be collected from enterprises, but were closed due to the coronavirus lockdown measures, will not be collected during this period.

Payments on student loans have also been postponed for three months, while those on some agricultural loans have been postponed until next year, the paper added.

The validity of some commercial licenses has been likewise extended by the newly passed legislations.

JERUSALEM: Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound will be closed to Muslim worshippers throughout the holy fasting month of Ramadan due to the coronavirus epidemic, Muslim clerics at Islam’s third-holiest site said on Thursday.
Ramadan typically draws tens of thousands of Muslims daily to the mosque and the adjoining Dome of the Rock for evening prayers known as Taraweeh. Muslim faithful believe the site to be where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
The decision to ban Muslim prayer at the 35-acre complex, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and site of the Jewish temples of antiquity, extends a March 23 ban on Muslim prayer there.
In a statement, the Jordan-appointed council that oversees Islamic sites on the sacred compound called the decision “painful” but said it was “in line with legal fatwas (clerical opinions) and medical advice.”
Muslims should “perform prayers in their homes during the month of Ramadan, to preserve their safety,” the council said.
Ramadan will start around April 23.
In one sign of normalcy, the Muslim call to prayer will still take place five times daily at the site during Ramadan, and religious workers will still be allowed entry, the statement added.
Jerusalem has sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and all three religions have taken coronavirus precautions.
Last week, Jews marking Passover in Jerusalem and across Israel were required to stay at home and celebrate only with immediate family.
Typically large Passover prayers at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, the holiest place Jews are allowed to pray in the city, were attended by only a handful of worshippers.
At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, what are usually festive, pilgrim-filled Easter ceremonies at the shrine revered as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial have been marked by small groups of clergy, often wearing face masks.
Israel has reported at least 140 deaths and nearly 12,600 cases of coronavirus. There have been two deaths and nearly 300 cases in the Palestinian Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
All mosques in Gaza have been closed since March 25, and since March 14 in the West Bank.