WASHINGTON: Palestinian officials in Ramallah said that US President Joe Biden’s recent promotion of US State Department official Hady Amr as special US representative for Palestinian affairs falls short of their expectations of a more comprehensive engagement by the administration.

Amr, who previously served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, will now focus on Palestinian issues as part of the State Department’s Bureau of Near East Affairs.

BEIRUT: Lebanese MPs failed for the seventh time on Thursday to elect a successor to former President Michel Aoun.

MP Michel Moawad won the support of 42 MPs, but his tally fell well short of the required majority and was exceeded by the number of spoiled ballots cast by pro-Hezbollah lawmakers.

Next Thursday has been set for a new session of parliament to elect the president.

Moawad obtained two new votes from Change MPs Najat Saliba and Mark Daou. He said that his support was growing and called on the opposition to build bridges among themselves.

CAIRO: Egyptians delivering incorrect weather forecasts through media channels or providing weather information without a license could face fines of up to 5 million Egyptian pounds ($205,000) under a new draft law.

The law approved by the Egyptian Cabinet sets out to regulate the Egyptian Meteorological Authority, and imposes penalties starting at 100,000 Egyptian pounds on anyone who issues meteorological data, information or studies and falsely attributes them to the EMA.

DOHA: Qatar is to provide $2.6 million to aid almost 100,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon with food, medicine, and shelter.

The Qatar Fund for Development agreed to the disbursement through the UN Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, in the early winter months to more than 13,500 Syrians in Jordan and nearly 82,400 in Lebanon. 

“QFFD spares no effort in responding to the ever-growing humanitarian needs around the world,” said Director General Khalifa Al-Kuwari. “The onset of winter makes our efforts more crucial to support those in urgent need of assistance.

PARIS: The Kurds are a non-Arab ethnic group of between 25 and 35 million people whose dreams of an independent homeland were brutally quashed throughout the 20th century.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed Kurdish militants for a deadly bombing in Istanbul earlier this month, an accusation they have strongly rejected.

In retaliation, Turkiye has hit nearly 500 Kurdish targets across Iraq and Syria as part of a campaign of air strikes in recent days, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Wednesday.