AL-MUKALLA: Yemeni government negotiators said they will boycott any further UN-mediated negotiations with the Houthis over prisoner exchanges until the militia reveals the whereabouts of detained politician Mohammed Qahtan and allows his family and government officials to visit him.
In a message posted on Twitter, Hadi Haig, head of the government delegation involved in the talks, said: “Our position is clear: We will not participate until this visit takes place. We hope that the (UN) envoy’s office will exert pressure in this regard to advance this file.”

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on over a dozen people and entities in Iran, China and Hong Kong, accusing the procurement network of supporting Iran’s missile and military programs as Washington ramps up pressure on Tehran.
The US Treasury Department in a statement said the network conducted transactions and facilitated the procurement of sensitive and critical parts and technology for key actors in Iran’s ballistic missile development, including Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, which is under US sanctions.

ROME: Tunisian President Kais Saied praised Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for speaking her mind as he welcomed her to the presidential palace in Tunis on Tuesday for talks during her official visit to the North African country.

“I’m very happy to speak to you about our problems; I say it out loud, today, you are a woman who says out loud what others think in silence,” Saied told Meloni at the beginning of a meeting that lasted nearly two hours.

A 3-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank last week died of his wounds, Israeli hospital officials said Monday.
Mohammed Al-Tamimi was shot in the head last Thursday near his village of Nebi Saleh while riding in a car with his father. He was airlifted to Israel’s Sheba Hospital, which announced the boy’s death.
The Israeli military has said it opened fire after gunmen in the area shot at an Israeli guard post at a nearby Jewish settlement.

Jerusalem: An Israeli court on Sunday sentenced a Palestinian to life in prison for the 2015 killing of an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank, the military said Monday.
The Israeli military court sentenced Moath Hamed, 39, to two life sentences for the attack, which he admitted to carrying out on behalf of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, the army said.
On June 29, 2015 Hamed fired at a vehicle, killing Malachi Rosenfeld, 25, who was returning from a basketball game near Shilo, an illegal settlement in the West Bank.