AMMAN: A bloc of Arab parties has split ahead of Israel’s November elections — a move that could dilute the minority’s political influence and strengthen former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hopes of a return to power.
The Arab nationalist Balad party will run separately from the other two parties in the Joint List in the general election.
GAZA CITY: Byzantine mosaics dating from the 5th to 7th centuries were unveiled in the central Gaza Strip on Friday, after being uncovered by a farmer plowing his land.
Found in an area less than a kilometer from the often tense border with Israel, the mosaics are “in a perfect state of conservation,” said French archaeologist Rene Elter, a researcher associated with the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem whose team examined the finds.
“It’s work of excellent quality. They used materials that were certainly relatively expensive,” Elter said.
LONDON: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has granted the UAE cities of Sharjah and Ras Al-Khaimah membership of its Global Network of Learning Cities as the culmination of its initiatives and achievements in the field of education, Emirates News Agency reported.
The GNLC is a forum that encourages members to share ideas and learning solutions while also promoting policy dialogue and peer learning to help forge partnerships, develop capacity, and instruments to support the development of learning cities.
BEIRUT: The news of a Lebanese dance group winning the TV competition show “America’s Got Talent” sparked joy on Thursday across the country.
Mayyas, an all-female dance troupe, dazzled the show’s judges and audience on the competition’s 17th season before winning $1 million and a headlining show in Las Vegas.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun called the crew’s choreographer, Nadim Cherfan, who is still in the US with his group, and congratulated him on the achievement.
He informed him of his decision to award the team the Lebanese Order of Merit.
BEIRUT: A Lebanese activist group on Thursday vowed to organize more bank heists to help people retrieve their locked savings as the country’s years-long economic crisis continues to worsen.
Activists from Depositors’ Outcry group accompanied Sali Hafez into a Beirut bank branch on Wednesday, and she was able to retrieve some $13,000 in her savings to fund her sister’s cancer treatment.
