DUBAI: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the premiers of two EU member states will travel to Tunisia on Sunday to finalize a deal worth more than €1 billion ($1.12 billion) that aims to combat people smuggling and human trafficking, and help boost the country’s ailing economy.
Citing unnamed sources, The Guardian newspaper reported on Friday that the prime ministers of Italy and the Netherlands will join the head of the commission to sign off on a memorandum of understanding with the Mediterranean country.

TUNIS: Undocumented sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia received 3 billion dinars (about $1 billion) in remittances from their countries during the first half
of 2023, an official from the national security council said in a meeting.
President Kais Saied, who chaired the meeting, said: “This figure is shocking and indicates that Tunisia is being targeted.”
Saied denounced this year undocumented sub-Saharan African immigration to his country, saying in comments criticized by rights groups that it was aimed at changing Tunisia’s demographic make-up.

AL-MUKALLA: People in Yemen’s southern city of Taiz staged a protest near a Houthi-manned checkpoint on Saturday to condemn the militia’s ongoing siege of the city. Yemenis have also organized an online campaign to mark 3,000 days since the Houthis’ siege began in the spring of 2015.

Dozens of Yemenis stood in a line near the Houthi-controlled eastern entrance to Taiz to protest the siege, which has lasted more than eight years, and to urge the world to intervene.

BEIRUT: A Lebanese MP and several journalists suffered minor burns after Israeli troops launched smoke and tear gas grenades at the group during a visit to the border of Shebaa Farms, a disputed strip of territory near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, on Saturday.
The media delegation, accompanied by MP Qassem Hashem, advanced to within a few meters of Israeli troops before the soldiers took up combat positions and warned the group against coming any closer.

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday was rushed to a hospital, where he was assessed to be in “good condition” as he underwent a medical evaluation, his office said. Initial tests determined the Israeli leader was suffering from dehydration.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said that he had spent Friday enjoying Israel’s Sea of Galilee at a time of high summer temperatures. It said he felt dizzy and his doctor instructed him to go to Sheba Hospital, near the coastal city of Tel Aviv.