LONDON: The Arab League on Saturday welcomed Norway’s decision to label products from Israeli settlements with their place of origin.
Saeed Abu Ali, the Arab League’s assistant secretary-general for Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories, said the decision was an important legal and moral step in the right direction to boycott Israeli settlement products and prevent their entry to European countries and the world.

AL-MUKALLA: The UN thanked Saudi Arabia on Sunday for donating $10 million to efforts to maintain the decaying Safer oil tanker in Yemen, as the country’s officials and analysts called for more aggressive pressure on the Iran-backed Houthis to facilitate the arrival of UN teams to the vessel.

KHARTOUM: A second round of UN-facilitated talks aiming to resolve Sudan’s political crisis following a military coup have been postponed, a spokesman said Saturday, with a key civilian bloc still refusing to join.
The United Nations, the African Union and regional bloc IGAD launched “direct talks” on Wednesday in an effort to break the political stalemate since last October’s military takeover, led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
Military officials, representatives of several political parties and senior members of ex-rebel groups attended.

GAZA: Palestinians flocked to the beach in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday as students start their summer vacation.
“The sea is our only outlet here in the Gaza Strip,” says 65-year-old Farid Naeem. 
“Last year, coming to the beach was not an option; there was an atmosphere of war,” says young Gazan Ahmed Al-Attar. 
The water looks crystal blue, with no trace of sewage, the yellow sand is clean and the smell in the air is salty and pleasant, also giving beachgoers in Gaza their first experience in years of clean and safe beaches.

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s death toll from tick-borne Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever has increased to 27 this year, according to the latest figures released Saturday by authorities struggling to contain an outbreak.
The latest figure marks a sharp uptick from last month’s toll, when 12 deaths were recorded among the 55 cases registered since the start of the year.
Also known as Congo fever, the disease causes severe bleeding. People usually catch it through contact with the blood of infected animals, according to the World Health Organization.