Middle East & North Africa

JERUSALEM, June 9 (NNN-WAFA) – Israeli extremists, carried out a hate crime attack in a West Bank town, vandalising vehicles and home walls, Palestinian residents and Israeli authorities said on Monday.

The attack took place before dawn in As-Sawiya, a Palestinian town, in the south of Nablus city, in the northern West Bank.

Police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said that, the police received a report that “damage was caused to a number of vehicles and graffiti were found in the area.”

CAIRO (AP) — In the darkness, the bodies of suspected victims of coronavirus are carried in silence, one after the other, to be buried in several cemeteries across northern Yemen. Flashlights flicker as mourners make their way through the shadows.

Kuwait City; 09 June 2020 (UMMN): A powerful parliamentarian in Kuwait has called for probing “Hindu doctors and nurses” to check if they are killing Arab Muslims by wrong medication.

In a tweet, Member of Kuwaiti National Assembly Mohammad Haif Al Mutairi urged his country’s Health Minister to immediately halt all health services-related contracts with India.

08 June 2020; MEMO: At least 12 people were killed in airstrikes launched by unknown warplanes which targeted the headquarters of Iranian militias at a military base in the eastern countryside of Deir Ez-Zor.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) monitored eight strikes from unknown planes, targeting Iranian militia’s headquarters in the Maizilah base late on Saturday night. They killed at least 12 Iraqi and Afghan militia members and destroyed vehicles and ammunition.

08 June 2020; MEMO: The University of Jordan is facing a backlash on social media after it extended an invitation to an Israeli-American academic to give a lecture during an online workshop, the New Arab reports.

According to the report, a “pro-Palestine committee” has condemned the university, claiming the invitation is an attempt at normalisation.

08 June 2020; MEMO: New suspected coronavirus infections have been detected in Al-Qanater men’s prison, according to the human rights organisation We Record.

The infections are in four detention cells in which most of the prisoners are detained on criminal charges, the organisation reported.

The symptoms began to appear on 23 May and have spread because of the prison administration’s failure to act quickly and put in place preventative measures.

08 June 2020; MEMO: The US embassy has invited Israelis, Palestinians and technology companies to attend a joint conference aimed at undermining the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s halt of relations with Israel and US, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported yesterday.

08 June 2020; MEMO: According to the semi-official Iranian news agency, Young Journalists Club, former Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, intends to run in the next presidential elections for 2021. The conservative Ahmadinejad who was held the post between 2005 and 2013 is hoping to have a third term in office, however presidential candidates must first gain the approval of the powerful Guardian Council of the Constitution.

DUBAI, June 8 (NNN-WAM) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Sunday announced 540 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 38,808.

UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention, said in a statement that, the new cases of many nationalities are all in a stable condition and receiving medical treatment.

According to the ministry, 745 more patients have made full recovery from the virus, taking the tally of recoveries to 21,806.

The ministry also confirmed one more death, pushing the country’s death toll to 276.

SANAA, June 8 (NNN-XINHUA) – Billions of desert locusts are swarming through war-torn Yemen, threatening crops and exacerbating the food crisis.

They were seen invading cultivation areas in several provinces, including Dhamar, Bayda, Ibb, Dhalea, Mahweet and Hajjah, according to local residents and farmers.

The rainy season and the shortage of pesticides, due to the war, have left the swarms of migratory locusts out of control.