AIN AL-HELWEH, Lebanon: Fruit and vegetable seller Ismail Akkawi had no choice but to brave days of intermittent but deadly fighting in Lebanon’s biggest Palestinian refugee camp in order to make ends meet.
The produce market at the heart of the restive Ain Al-Helweh camp — in the southern coastal city of Sidon — is usually bustling with vendors, but few have ventured out since clashes broke out in the camp late Saturday.
“I have to leave the house, despite the horrific circumstances for selling vegetables,” said Akkawi, who is in his sixties.

BEIRUT: A halted landmark grain deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to flow to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, along with donor’s fatigue, is rattling the operations of the United Nations food agency, its deputy executive director said Tuesday.
“What we have to do now is to look elsewhere (for grain) of course,” Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program told The Associated Press. “We don’t know exactly where the market will land, but there might well be an increase in food prices.”

FALLS CHURCH, Virginia: A federal judge has again refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by former Abu Ghraib inmates against a military contractor they accuse of being complicit in torture at the infamous Iraqi prison.
The horrific mistreatment of prisoners there two decades ago sparked international outrage when photos became public of smiling US soldiers posing in front of abused prisoners.

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s prime minister said on Tuesday Baghdad is in contact with the United States on settling outstanding debts of $10 billion the country owes Iran for gas imports.
Iranian gas is crucial for Iraq’s electricity generation, but US sanctions on Iranian oil and gas impose restrictions on how Baghdad can pay for its imports.
Iraq cannot directly hand over cash to Iran, but payments must be held in a bank account and be used by Tehran to fund imports of food and medicines.

LONDON: Britain’s government on Tuesday formally declared that atrocities committed by the Daesh group against the Yazidi people in Iraq were acts of genocide.
The UK Foreign Office said the government’s official acknowledgement came after a recent landmark ruling by the German Federal Court of Justice, which found a former member of Daesh, also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.