BEIRUT: Lebanon has recorded its first death from cholera as cases surge after an outbreak of the extremely virulent disease in neighboring Syria, the health ministry said Wednesday.
Lebanon has recorded 26 cases of cholera this month, as the country struggles amid poor sanitation and crumbling infrastructure after three years of unprecedented economic crisis.
“The common point between these cases is that the majority of patients are displaced Syrians,” Health Minister Firas Abiad said on Tuesday.

LONDON: Iran’s political elite appears to be split over their reaction to widespread protests in the country, with a senior figure stepping forward for the first time to question the country’s compulsory hijab laws.

Former parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani is the first figure to publicly deviate from the regime’s claims that the countrywide protests — which began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini — are the a result of US and Israeli intelligence efforts.

DUBAI: Niloofar Hamedi, an Iranian journalist specializing in women’s rights, got away with hard-hitting stories for years — until the day she took a photo of Mahsa Amini’s parents hugging each other in a Tehran hospital, where their daughter was lying in a coma.

The photo, which Hamedi posted on Twitter on Sept. 16, was the first sign to the world that all was not well with 22-year-old Amini, who had been detained three days earlier by Iran’s morality police for what they deemed inappropriate dress.

NABLUS: An Israeli soldier was shot dead Tuesday near a settlement in the occupied West Bank in an attack claimed by Palestinian militants, the second deadly assault on armed forces within days.

The killing is the latest as violence surges in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israeli army said the soldier was killed when “two assailants arrived in a vehicle adjacent to the community of Shavei Shomron and shot live fire,” referring to an Israeli settlement.

RIYADH: The family of an elderly Palestinian-American man who died after being detained by Israeli soldiers have denied agreeing on a compensation deal with Israel’s defense ministry.

The family’s comments came after the ministry issued a statement saying it had reached a settlement with relatives of 78-year-old Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad.

According to the ministry, the family’s claim against the state in an Israeli court had been settled by a 500,000 shekel ($140,000) payout “in light of the unfortunate event’s unique circumstances.’’