DOHA: Qatari Ambassador to Egypt and Permanent Representative to the Arab League Salem Mubarak Al-Shafi hailed the significance of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s visit to Qatar on Tuesday, Qatar News Agency reported.

Al-Shafi said that the visit to Qatar, El-Sisi’s first since the four-year rift, reflects the “level of excellence” in relations between the two countries.

He told QNA that the positive momentum in Doha-Cairo relations culminated during Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-visit Thani’s visit to Cairo in June.

LONDON: Sudan’s permanent representative to the UN Security Council has urged the lifting of a 17-year sanctions regime amid a rapidly deteriorating socioeconomic situation in the country.

Hassan Hamid Hassan told the UNSC that his government is ready to work with the UN on finding a path to review and lift the sanctions, but said it is “disappointing” that they have persisted for nearly two decades without reappraisal.

BAGHDAD: The main coalition of pro-Iran parties in Iraq said Monday it would keep its candidate for the post of prime minister, despite a backlash from its main Shiite rival.
The country is at a political impasse, with the two main Shiite groups clashing since October 2021 elections over who will be the next premier and how to appoint him.
The group headed by firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr wants parliament dissolved and early elections, but the Coordination Framework alliance of pro-Tehran factions wants a government to be put in place first.

LONDON: The UN Security Council on Monday highlighted the positive effects the ceasefire in Yemen is having on the country and its people.

The council said that since the implementation of the truce there has been a 60 percent reduction in casualties in the ongoing conflict and a four-fold increase in fuel shipments passing through Hodeidah port. In addition, the resumption of commercial flights to and from Sanaa has allowed 21,000 passengers to travel to receive medical treatment or reunite with their families.

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s economic meltdown worsened on Monday as protesters blocked roads in Beirut and Tripoli over power cuts and the Banque du Liban’s decision to permanently remove fuel subsidies.

The demonstrations coincided with the Lebanese caretaker government’s renewed call for international efforts to help with the Syrian refugee crisis in the country.

In Qasqas and on Corniche Al-Mazraa, in Beirut, crowds used waste bins to block streets in response to the latest cost-of-living blow.