TRIPOLI: Around 61 migrants were missing and presumed dead after their boat sank off Libya’s coast, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Saturday, in the latest migrant tragedy off North Africa.

DUBAI: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces battled the army outside the central city of Wad Madani on Saturday, pressing an attack that has opened a new front in the eight-month-old war and forced thousands to flee, witnesses said.
Crowds of people — many of whom had taken refuge in the city from violence in the capital Khartoum — could be seen packing up their belongings and leaving on foot in video posted on social media.
“The war has followed us to Madani so I am looking for a bus so me and my family can flee,” 45-year-old Ahmed Salih told Reuters by phone.

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to confirm on Saturday that new Qatar-mediated negotiations were underway to recover hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, after a source said Israel’s lead negotiator met Qatar’s prime minister.
Netanyahu sidestepped a question at a news conference about a meeting on Friday in Europe between his lead negotiator, Mossad head David Barnea, and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. However, he confirmed he had given instructions to the negotiating team.

GAZA: Three Palestinians, including a teenager, were killed by Israeli gunfire in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
A 20-year-old died of his wounds after being shot in the abdomen by Israeli forces in the town of Beit Ummar, the health ministry said in a statement.
A 25-year-old was killed in the city of Tulkarm and a 16-year-old was killed in the town of Deir Ammar, Ramallah, the ministry added.

CAIRO: The Egyptian project Women-Friendly Cities is helping many housewives become entrepreneurs, enabling them to financially support their families alongside their husbands.

Sponsored by the UN, the project was launched in the governorate of Damietta, north of Cairo, two years ago.

Jameela Sayed, one of the beneficiaries of the project, said: “I suffered from long periods of idleness and was looking for a way to utilize my time. There was no place for me and my children to go out and learn something new, so I decided to use my talent and produce handmade works.