BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has called on all politicians, especially deputies representing Beirut, to ensure the capital’s unity and safety after tensions flared in the Christian area of Achrafieh on Saturday.

The problems arose when dozens of people celebrating Morocco’s win over Portugal in the FIFA World Cup headed to the area on motorbikes carrying the flags of Morocco, Palestine and Syria, reportedly chanting religious slogans.

The convoy clashed with locals when they were mistaken for members of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement.

CAIRO: Top officials from Egypt and the EU are to pursue plans to set up a joint business forum aimed at attracting increased European investment in the north African country.

Egyptian minister of trade and industry, Ahmed Samir, recently held talks with the EU’s envoy to Cairo, Christian Berger, about ways to boost economic cooperation.

CAIRO: Customs officials at Cairo International Airport have thwarted an attempt by an Egyptian passenger to smuggle five gold bars into the country.

An official at the arrivals hall stopped the passenger and had him searched as he was acting suspiciously, and because he had only planned to stay for two days in the country. An initial search of his bags revealed no banned or restricted goods. He had arrived on a Jazeera Airways flight.

BEIRUT: US forces killed two Daesh “officials” in an overnight raid in eastern Syria, US Central Command said on Sunday.
The forces “conducted a successful helicopter raid in eastern Syria at 2:57 am (2357 GMT)… killing two Daesh officials,” CENTCOM said in a statement without providing a more specific location.
It identified one of those killed as “Anas,” a Daesh “Syria province official” who was involved in “plotting and facilitation operations in eastern Syria,” according to the statement.

JEDDAH: Iran’s currency fell to a record low against the dollar on Sunday, with nationwide anti-government protests now in their third month.

A breakdown in negotiations to restore Tehran’s nuclear deal has also hurt the value of the rial.

Traders in Tehran were exchanging the rial at around 370,000 to the dollar on Sunday, up from 368,000 on Thursday.

Iran’s currency was trading at 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of the 2015 nuclear accord that dropped international sanctions in exchange for tight controls on Iran’s nuclear program.