DUBAI: Lebanese society was appalled to learn of the death last month of Leen Talib, a six-year-old girl who lived with her grandparents in Akkar in the country’s far north. According to a coroner’s report, Leen died from injuries sustained as a result of repeated sexual assault.

The girl’s maternal grandfather and mother were both arrested in connection with the attack. Meanwhile, the case has provoked outrage across the Arab world, with calls on social media for the guilty parties to face the death penalty.

TEHRAN: A wildfire on the outskirts of Iran’s capital triggered Friday an explosion of mines that had been planted around a high-security prison that houses political prisoners, but there were no injuries, state media reported.
The official IRNA news agency said the incident happened around noon at the Evin prison on the northern outskirts of Tehran, but that it caused no damage or casualties and that firefighters extinguished the blaze.
The report blamed the fire on the country’s current heatwave. Temperatures in Tehran around noon Friday were about 38 C (100 F).

BEIRUT: A seven-year-old girl has been left fighting for her life following a tragic incident at a school in Lebanon.

Naya Hannah is in a coma after a stray bullet struck her in the head while she was having lunch on her school’s playground in Hadath, near Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Hannah’s condition has been described as critical by Dr. Kamal Kanso, a specialist at the pediatric intensive care unit at Sacre Coeur Hospital.

A CT scan revealed that the bullet had penetrated Hannah’s brain and could not be extracted.

BEIRUT: The Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria on Friday called on the US-led coalition to make clear where it stands regarding Turkish drone strikes that have killed and wounded dozens of Syrian Kurdish fighters over the past months.
The appeal by the local authorities — known as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria — came a day after a Turkish drone hit a car, killing four members of the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and wounding two.

MANAMA: Bahrain has recorded unprecedented electricity consumption, authorities said, as scorching summer temperatures and high humidity force increased reliance on energy-intensive air-conditioning systems.
Manama’s Electricity and Water Authority said Bahrain “recorded its highest-ever electricity consumption rate” on Thursday at 3,798 MW.
Beating last year’s record of 3,708 MW, the latest figure came as temperatures on Thursday reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), compounded by 85-percent humidity.