LONDON: Egypt announced on Wednesday it had detected the first monkeypox case in the country, who is an Egyptian man who has a residency in a European country.

“The Ministry of Health and Population announced that, as part of the continuous follow-up of the epidemiological situation, an Egyptian citizen tested positive for the monkeypox virus, and his infection was discovered through epidemiological monitoring procedures carried out by the ministry,” it said in a statement.

The 42-year-old was isolated in a hospital and his condition was stable, the statement added.

BEIRUT: Relatives of some of the victims of the massive explosion at Beirut’s port in 2020, which killed at least 218 people, on Wednesday protested against the judiciary’s plan to appoint a new judge to the official investigation. They denounced the move as an attempt by the country’s political class to avoid justice.

The probe into the blast, which caused billions of dollars in damage, has been stalled since December, after three former cabinet ministers filed legal challenges against the investigating judge, Tarek Bitar.

RIYADH: Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Central Asian countries will hold a joint ministerial meeting of the strategic dialogue between the Gulf and Central Asian countries on Wednesday at the headquarters of the General Secretariat in Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
The meeting will be headed by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, who is also the chairman of the current session of the GCC’s Ministerial Council.

TUNIS: A bitter showdown between Morocco and its arch-rival Algeria over the disputed Western Sahara territory is causing diplomatic rifts with other nations and even risks sparking a full-blown conflict, analysts say.

“We’re seeing a diplomatic war, where both sides are resorting to anything short of open conflict,” said Riccardo Fabiani, North Africa project director at think-tank the International Crisis Group.

Western Sahara, a Spanish colony until 1975, is mostly desert but boasts immense phosphate resources and rich Atlantic fishing grounds.

DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities announced on Tuesday they had seized 24 kilograms of Captagon that had been crushed and reconstituted to look like hummus bowls.

The amphetamine is produced in pill form but these smugglers had crushed it and used the resulting paste to “mold pottery-like dishes coated with a brown adhesive,” the Interior Ministry said.

One man was arrested in Damascus in connection with the thwarted trafficking attempt, the statement said, without specifying where the shipment of fake hummus bowls was bound for.